“Joy to the World” (Psalm 98)

 

Intro: 

Just a few mins ago we confessed our faith together using these historic words of the Apostles Creed. If you would, turn back in your bulletin and look at the creed. This might seem like a strange question, but……. What’s your favorite part?  

 

Perhaps you’ve never thought about it like that before – it’s a creed, we confess it, what do you meant what’s my favorite part – but humor me – if you had to name a line of the creed that makes your heart sing – that makes you want to jump up and shout – YES!!! Praise God!!  What is it? 

It’s possible you’re here this morning and this creed is a bit new to you or you’re not someone who would at this time identify as a Christian… but I would guess there is some part of what we confessed that sounds good, that sounds beautiful, that maybe even if you’re not confident that it’s true, part of you wishes it were…… 

Like perhaps that phrase – “We believe…. In the forgiveness of sins….” – How wonderful would it be to know places in your life where you really failed and messed up – and even those things that will happen in the future – that you could know the healing of God’s forgiveness – in your life.  

 

 Think about the way the creed begins – “We believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth” – You look around at creation, you consider the beauty of nature, as the hymn puts it – “this is MY Father’s world – I take rest and joy in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas HIS hand the wonders wrought.  I take joy in the beauty and wonder of this world and that My Father made all this.  

OR consider what we confess in the creed about God – God – 3 in 1 – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – one God – you think of the Trinity – what Christians and confess and believe about God though we can’t fully wrap our minds around it – this God of love and life made you to share in his love and life, to commune with him and know him.

OR you think about Jesus who came into this world taking on flesh identifying with us, coming in great humility, drawing near to us in our pain and suffering and sin, identifying with us in our sin so that he could die our death – he who is glorious and exalted above all …..descended into hell…. For you…. and for me…

Or you think about the resurrection – the glorious resurrection – new creation, the beauty and wonder of new life that has begun in and through Jesus – how he ascended and is the Lord who rules.  

And we could go on and on – the Holy Spirit – God’s personal presence dwelling in his people – or the communion of saints – and perhaps you’re reminded of dear friends in the faith who you share in Christ together with.  …… 

 

OK – was anyone’s favorite part – “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”  It wasn’t mine.  Flip over in your bulletin to Psalm 98.  

 

Look at the middle of this Psalm – v. 4-6

The whole world is summoned to make a joyful noise to the LORD – to break out in joyful songs of praise.  We are to bust out the instruments – stringed instruments, trumpets and the horn – to praise The LORD our King…. 

 

And the Psalm goes on v. 7 and 8 – all creation is joining in this praise – 

7  Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

the world and those who dwell in it!

8 Let the rivers clap their hands;

let the hills sing for joy together

9 before the LORD,  

 

WHY??!!!!!!!!!!!    

 

for he comes……. BECAUSE he comes…

to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

and the peoples with equity.

 

Confused?  According to this Psalm if you were to ask the created order – what’s one of your favorite parts of the creed – what makes you want to jump up and shout amen!?   It’s that part about God who comes to judge.   

 

This is a good opportunity for us to slow down and ask – so if I don’t feel that way…. What am I missing?  What have I not understood about God coming to judge?  

 

(Transition) This Psalm gives two reasons why we and all the world should praise God.  And as we’ll see, they are more connected than we may think. 

• The first is what we see in v. 1 and following.  V. 1 – Why should we sing to the LORD a new song… for …. Or BECAUSE – 

 

he has done marvelous things!

His right hand and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him.

2  The LORD has made known his salvation;

he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness

to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God. 

 

We should sing to the LORD because of his Salvation.  AND the second reason – v. 7-9 – all creation breaks out in song to the LORD because v. 9 – he comes to judge the earth.  

 

Here’s what I’d like to do – first – I want to start with the reason for praise that comes at the end of the Psalm – “He comes to judge the earth” and then, second, we’ll consider the reason from the beginning of the Psalm and how they fit together.  

 

So first – God is praised because he comes to judge – 

 

So I’m going to quote a line from a pretty famous movie – see if you know where it comes from “We do not train to be merciful here. Mercy is for the weak. Here, in the streets, in competition: A man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy.”  

 

That’s of course – the character John Kreese from “The Karate Kid.”  John Kreese is a bully, who trains other people to be bullies.  He’s harsh.  You don’t want to cross him.  He’s terrifying.  

 

And sometimes when we think about “judgement” that’s more the picture we can have in our minds.  In fact, it was the Atheist, Richard Dawkins, who said, “The God of the OT is arguable the most unpleasant character in all fiction….. a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak, ……a capriciously malevolent bully.” 

 

You may not agree with Dawkins…. And yet still… Judgment sounds harsh.  It doesn’t sound like good news.  Maybe it’s necessary…. But it’s not something we connect to praise and joy in God.

There are a few reasons for this.  

One reasons…….is that we equate judgment with condemnation.  We hear judgment and the category that comes to mind is – condemnation.  And while it’s true that one of the outcomes of judgement can be condemnation – where God declares a verdict of guilty and pronounces the sentence…. a penalty for being found in the wrong….. that’s not the full meaning of judgment in this Psalm.  

 

In many of the Psalms, and certainly here in Psalm 98 – judgment is this bigger category of God setting things right.  God coming to take the mess of the world and put things right.  You can see this especially with the use of the term “righteousness” in this Psalm.  V. 9 – He will just the world with righteousness.  He’s coming to set things right! 

 

Another reason, and I’ll speak more personally here, another reason why I think in the past I have wanted to downplay judgment or have not heard God coming to judge as being “good news” is …

• because I belong to a pretty unique group of people in the history of the world.  I wonder if you have issues with judgment if perhaps you’re in this group with me.  

• Not everything in my life has gone to plan or exactly the way I wanted it to go, but I’ve not experienced being exploited, I’ve not been abused, I’ve not been severely mistreated where the person or group who did this to me were the powerful, where I had no hope of my case ever making it in front of any judge.  I’ve not been in the position where something wrong has been done to me and I am in the right, but there’s no chance my case will ever be heard…..There’s no chance of things done wrong being righted, of justice being done.   

 

If you’re in that group with me…… do you realize what a minority we are in the history of the world.  The world longs for justice.  Which is to say they long for judgment – for things to be declared right and other things to be declared to be in the wrong – for truth to really win out for the wrongs that have been done to be made right. 

 

A year or so ago Erin and I watched the show DOPESICK on Hulu. Dopesick is a show about the opioid crisis that has ravaged parts of our nation.  Specifically the show tells the story of Purdue Pharma, the drug company known for selling OxyContin, and the lives, the families, the communities destroyed by the over prescribing and frankly, the pushing of dangerous narcotics especially among poorer communities, like in the Appalachian region.   The show chronicles characters and familes destroyed by drugs like OxyContin all the while pharmaceutical execs are pushing for larger doses, more pills, higher sales – all the while drug sales people in the company are doing everything they can to sell more and more so they can get the bonus, go on the prize vacation for the top seller.  It was at times hard to watch.  

To my knowledge, I don’t know anyone personally, who has died from an opium overdose.  But part of that is because I grew up around here.  It struck me as we watched the series – this all has happened in my lifetime, and I’ve really been only generally aware.  This was my generation, many of these were people I could have went to high school with.  How many lives and how many families have been destroyed……. Where is justice?   What about those who pushed these drugs into communities leaving a wake of death and despair behind – What debt do they owe? What would fair? And what could possibly be done to make it right?   

 

A few weeks ago I was at our local pool chatting with a friend from the neighborhood.  And we were talking together just about how messed up the world is.  How messed up politics seem to be and how frustrating it is that it seems harder and harder to just get news where what’s reported are facts and not the constant spin or reporting that is clearly partisan whether that’s to the political left or right.  We were talking about how it seems harder and harder to get the truth.  We were talking about stuff like Israel and Palestine and global issues where things are just so messed up – how could you ever make things right again….???? 

 

He knows I’m a pastor and I said – you know, this summer I’ve been reading through the OT book of Psalms and one of the things that has struck me that I don’t think I’ve appreciated enough in the past is that the book of Psalms praises God for and looks forward to – the God who is coming to judge and set things right.  

 

And he agreed….  It made sense…. Because what if………

 

What if……. we could only have someone who could come and look at the mess – someone who had all the information, who knew all the details, who saw all the actions and thoughts, who knew the motives, who understood the situations – someone who could come and sort it all out – render a fair and just verdict – someone who could come and set things right…. 

 

You see if there’s no judgment – there’s no hope for the world.  Many of us here and many of our friends and neighbors, we want to care about the world and want to do good and what to see good flourish in the world.  

 

If there’s no judgment, no final setting things right – what hope is there?   And what does that do to your motivation to seek what is good and right in the world?

 

Consider the options –

Option 1 – you believe there is no judgment at some point human life and the world will pass away whether in some violent, explosive sort of end, or in a whimper as the light fades and life dies out – In other words, you live on a sinking ship – this ship is going down – and at the end there is no one that’s going to remember anything and any work you do to promote the good of this ship now or life for others.  It will not make any difference whatsoever because it’s going down…..You can work to fight poverty, injustice, corruption – but these things will never go away and in the end there won’t be any ultimate justice…. think about that real hard, and then go into the world try and work up the courage to care, to spend yourself on causes that will in the end sink….. 

 

Or – Option 2 – you believe that there is a good God, who made all things and who loves his creation and promises he is coming to make all things right.  This God will take the bent things and the crooked things and he’s going to make them straight – everything is going to be renewed – this world, the creation itself, people, places, relationships……. 

You may feel discouraged, it might feel hopeless at times, but in the end your labors are not for a world that is a sinking ship, but for a world and for people that matter to God who is coming to make things right.  

 

You see….If there’s no judgment – there’s no real hope for the world.  

But …..

this is also where things get complicated for us – and probably why we all somewhere struggle with the idea of judgment – If there is judgement – is there hope for me? 

 

Because if God’s coming to take the bend and crooked things and make them straight – if he’s coming to put right what is wrong, to definitely do away with evil – what about me?  

 

What’s going to happen to me?  What will the God who has seen my every action, knows my every thought, and every motive – what will he say about me?  

Who among us hasn’t done things and said things, that we are ashamed of, that we know were wrong?  Or who hasn’t failed to do what we know we should have?  Who has loved God with all their being and truly loved other people with all the patience and kindness and generosity that we would want to be loved with?  

 

This is where we have to now turn to the first part of the Psalm to see the salvation of God and how this all fits together.  

 

We are to praise God because he is coming to judge, but also because of his salvation – and these two are closer related than we sometimes think.  

 

Central to both judgment and salvation in this Psalm is the term “righteousness” – that God is going to set things right.  We’ve already seen that in reference to his coming to judge.  But look for example at v. 2 

where the Psalmist writes – “the LORD has made known his salvation” and then the second poetic parallel line – restating and developing that same idea says – “he has revealed his righteousness.”  

 

Here’s the way one OT scholar put it.  writing on the use of the term “righteousness” in the book of Psalms – he writes, “God’s righteousness stands for his dealing with his people and the world in a way that accords with what could be expected from him in view of his promises.” 

 

In other words, God setting the world right is not done like you might expect from a judge who’s main concern is just doing exactly what the law requires but has no personal stake in the decision – he’s not an indifferent judge – He’s the judge who made this world, who cares about it deeply, who has made promises, who has acted in history with grace and mercy – and this informs what it looks like when he intercedes and brings his righteousness.   

 

If you look at the opening 3 verses – in each verse you see the word “salvation” – that word could just as easily be translated as “victory.”

 

This is a much richer word than English can fully handle.  It’s big enough to speak of the salvation toward those who belong to the Lord while at the same time emphasizing the victory over evil and those who stand against and apart from the LORD.  IT’s big enough, in other words to hit the note of a resounding “NO” to evil even as it at the same time sounds the note of grace and mercy and saving.

When the writer mentions this salvation….. this victory…….. What does he have in mind?  What would the original audience of this Psalm think of as they heard these words?  

 

They would recall events like the Exodus, or the conquest of the Land, or God bringing his people back from exile.  Think about those events – God intervenes to set things right.  There is victory over evil and there is salvation for his people.  Do you see how these come together.  

 

In each of these events – Exodus, conquest of the land, return from exile – God acts – it is an event that says – NO to injustice, to wickedness, wrong, evil – it is saying NO to the oppressor Egypt and Babylon, NO to the idolatry and wickedness of those living in the land……. While at the same time being YES to Israel – suffering in slavery, coming into God’s good land, being freed from exile.  

 

And yet at each and every point – when God intervened to set things right in Israel’s history – it was not by strict justice – God setting things right is always informed by God’s grace, God’s mercy, and God’s promises.  

 

God tells the people before they go in to inherit the land – it is not because of your righteousness that you are going to inherit this land – it’s because of my grace, my gift, my promise.  

 

When God tells the people they will come back from Exile in the prophet Ezekiel he says in essence again – it’s not because of your righteousness that I’m going to act – no, I’m going to show my faithfulness, my steadfast love.  I’m going to cleanse you and give you a new heart; I’m going to bring you out of the death of exile back to your land.  

 

But we could also go all the way back to the beginning – in the book of Exodus – when God brings judgment against the evil and sin of Egypt, the final plague…. the death of the first born – Israel didn’t escape because they were better – it was because God told them to sacrifice a lamb and smear the lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their home so that when God passed through the land he would Passover their homes.  It’s always been by grace and mercy! 

 

The incredibly beautiful thing that this Psalm celebrates and looks forward to…….

 

The hope of this Psalm is ……..that what God has done in history toward Israel – God will one day do for the world.  

 

The logic is beautiful – if this is how God has acted, acted in history, showing the kind of God he is, bringing victory and salvation, setting things right – but always informed by his grace and mercy and promises – if that’s what God is like – then we can hope he will do this for the world….. 

 

This is why all creation, all it’s inhabitants, and the created order itself is shouting joyful praise to God in the middle part of this Psalm.  

 

Because he’s coming to set things right.  And like with Israel his setting things right will be one where the nations and the world can experience his grace and mercy – his steadfast love and faithfulness – his salvation.  

 

That word “salvation” or “victory” – in Hebrew is Jeshua – it’s where we get the name, Jesus.  The name given to a baby born miraculously to a virgin named Mary.  Jesus of Nazareth came into the world to bring God’s victory, God’s salvation.  

 

What this Psalm looked forward to – God has already begun to do through Jesus and one day God will complete when Jesus returns-  

Because it was at the cross where God said a definitive “NO” to all evil and oppression and injustice and sin and the way of human life sought apart from him – he condemned sin in the death of his Son.  

 

While at the resurrection we see God’s victory and God’s salvation – God’s yes.  Yes to Jesus and his life, yes – that he is righteous and that God is bringing about his righteousness through Jesus – 

 

This is what is yours if you are a Christian, and this is what is offered to all in the gospel.  God’s mercy and grace and salvation that is through Jesus.  God’s definitive “NO” to sin and evil has happened in Jesus and so if you are in him, if you trust him and believe in him, then that judgment of NO, the condemnation – has already happened for you in Jesus, and you can know right now that you have been made right – you are in the right, you are righteous – IN and Because of Jesus.  

 

And one day, when Jesus returns – all creation is going to break out with joyful noise as he comes to do away fully and finally with all evil, all wickedness, all injustice – when he comes to judge the world in righteousness and bring full victory and salvation to all who have trusted in him.   

 

If you happened to look already at the end of the service this morning you may have noticed what seems like a rather odd musical choice for our last song, “Joy to the World.”   We’re not doing Christmas in August or anything  like that.   

What you may not know is that this hymn, by Isaac Watts, was never intended to be a Christmas or Advent hymn.  It was first a poem.  A poem based off Psalm 98.  His goal was not just to literally restate the Psalm, but to capture the meaning of this Psalm in light of the whole Bible and ultimately the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Which is why in v. 3 he pens this line that captures what this Psalm celebrates – Speaking of Jesus he writes, 

 

“He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found.”  He’s talking about the curse that came into the world in Gen. 3 when humanity turned from God and chose to trust ourselves rather than God.  When we sinned and turned from God – the curse of sin entered the world.  And like a cancer that just won’t stop, this curse it has touched everything.  We couldn’t possibly list it all – but we feel it and experience it in our lives – in our work that sometimes is satisfying, but never seems to be enough, often exhausts us, often frustrates us….. we feel and experience it in relationship struggles of marriages, broken promises and divorce… in family strife and conflict, with estranged children, or parents that don’t get us. 

 

• We experience the curse in our own selves and our bodies and in the lives of those we love, in struggles with mental health, additions of all kinds; We see it in disease – that weakens the body, in cognitive decline, in cancer that takes away people we love – 

• We experience the curse in society and the wider word – in wars that rage on and on, in senseless violence, in things like poverty and homelessness…. 

 

You may not know it – but you long for judgment – because you long for these things to be set right.  

 

That’s what his reign will bring about one day…. One day when he comes to make his blessings flow as far as the curse is found.

 

If you have believed in Jesus – this is your hope – God is going to make all things right.  All that is broken and messy in you will be healed and made right.  

 

So Praise him – make a joyful noise to him – the God who judges – who has made you right and one day will set all things right according to his grace, love and promises in Jesus.  

Let’s now turn to a time of prayer.  As we’ve already said – the God we are about to turn to in prayer – already knows everything about us – he knows us more than we know ourselves – the gift of confession is turning to him and speaking honestly as we confess the ways we’ve sinned the ways we are struggling, the ways we are doubting – to seek him who calls us to turn to him and receive mercy and grace through Jesus.  So let’s spend a few moments in silent prayer and then I’ll close us in prayer.