Psalm 112: Sermon

Before we read the passage there are just two things I’d like for you to note about this Psalm. The first is purely for interest sake – it is known as an acrostic poem… this means that if we were to read it in Hebrew each new line begins with a consecutive letter in the alphabet, for example in English it would start with A, like Alleluia, Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Children he has will fill the earth. The thought behind why psalms were written like this was to make memorising it easier!

The second note is about the Psalm just before our one - Psalm 111. That Psalm and this one are linked, partners in a sense. They’re a little like the sun and the moon. Psalm 111 talks of God’s glory and Psalm 112 man’s blessedness in reflecting God’s glory. With those two things in our minds, let’s go to our passage for today: Psalm 112:1-9

“Praise the Lord

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.

His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.

Good, will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.

Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever.

He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord

His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honour.”

This is a beautiful Psalm brimming with promise and goodness. With a simple reading of the text, one might claim that this is the very heart of the prosperity gospel – follow God, stay in his path and you will be blessed, and not just you but your children and your family and you can expect a life full of wealth and riches. 
Perhaps.

Another way of reading the text could provide quite a different image of what it means to be blessed and what riches and wealth mean. The psalmist offers a connection between riches and wealth with that of someone who is righteous, gracious, compassionate, generous, just, and who trusts in God. Perhaps the wealth and riches are not to be understood as simply financial, but as stepping stones to attain a well lived life– Stepping stones of grace, compassion, generosity, justice, and faithfulness. These are the treasures after which one might strive.

In personal worlds touched by violence, relational and economic hardship, greed and unfulfilled desires, this psalm offers people an alternative. It is as if the psalmist is offering something to which a person might cling as a life jacket of hope. I’m praying that in this study, we might find that hope.

The first verse in the psalm is what I have labelled: The heart of the righteous. This is the person to whom the rest of the psalm applies.

“Blessed is the person who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.”

This concept of “fearing” the Lord is to some extent lost in our modern society. Fear is known almost exclusively as a negative thing and is linked to images of abused power and cowering and distrust. However in the translation from the Hebrew that is not what it means at all, many more modern translations use the word ‘reverence’, ‘in awe of’ or ‘respect’… We find this word translated as love in Dueteronomy 10 verse 12:

“And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your Soul.”

And later in verse 20 it is translated:

“Hold Fast to the Lord”, or in another translation: “Cling to the Lord.”

This is hardly the kind of fear that has one cowering or running. Rather it is a deep knowledge of the magnificence and greatness and supremacy of God, and responding to that with the correct reverence, awe and love.

And delighting in his commands stem from this heart attitude of awe and love; we have good friends, Chris and Hayley who on Wednesday became parents to their baby boy Caleb. And as those parents among us know – Caleb commands a lot… feeding, changing, dressing, comforting, teaching, but do you think it’s done out of duty?  Of course not! While the 3am feeds are something of a trial, it is all done out of love for a child that only a parent can know. In the same way we do not obey out of duty, or because we are told to – rather because we Love God, these commands become as natural as breathing. Of course I’ll take care of my baby. Of course I’ll obey God.

The heart of the righteous is one which holds love and obedience together in reverence for our God who loved us first.

Reading on from there the psalmist writes:

“His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.”

I have called this section the “Hope of the righteous”…

Blessed and mighty children, wealth and riches, light in darkness.

One of the ancient commentators said of verse 2, (and I’m paraphrasing from the Shakespearean English) If anyone wishes to leave behind him flourishing prosperity, let them not think along the lines of storing up hoards of gold and silver. Rather let him rightly recognise and serve God and entrust his children to Christ’s guardianship and protection.

Another quote reads “To be honest, the real reason it's so hard to bring up children right is that they insist on imitating their parents.”

Funny, but in truth the power of influence one has one the younger generation is both encouraging and terrifying. It is also interesting to note what happens down family lines. Research by a Richard Dugdale was done of two men, living in the 1700s to see what had happened to their descendants…

Firstly Max Juke: Born 1700. He lived as a backwoodsmen. He is described as 'a hunter and fisher, a hard drinker, jolly and companionable, averse to steady toil,' working hard by spurts and idling by turns, becoming blind in his old age. He had a numerous children, some of them almost certainly illegitimate." There was a huge amount of intermarrying and incest which happened within his family.

Of his estimated 1200  descendants:

280 died as paupers

140 were known criminals

130 went to jail – 7 for murder

More than 128 became prostitutes

142 lived off state aid

60 became thieves

20 became tradesmen, 10 of whom learned their trade in prison.

300 died very young.

Secondly we have Jonathon Edwards: Born 1703

A man of God and married a woman of like character. He was 17 and she was 13 (this was the 17 hundreds after all!) On their wedding night they committed their marriage to the Lord. Their descendants included:

• "practically no lawbreakers"
• more than 100 lawyers, 30 judges
• 13 college presidents, and hundred and more professors
• sixty physicians
• 100 clergymen, missionaries, and theological professors
• 80 elected to public office, including 3 mayors, 3 governors, several members of congress, 3 senators, and 1 vice president (Aaron Burr)
• 60 have attained prominence in authorship or editorial life, with 135 books of merit
• 75 army or navy officers

How to explain this? Yes, Jonathan Edwards was very godly. But he was also uncommonly hard-working, intelligent, and moral. And the research says about his wife, "Much of the capacity and talent, intensity and character of the more than 1,400 of the Edwards family are due to Mrs. Edwards." From his description of her, I suspect this is true.

Returning to our verse there are two things to note, firstly this is not an individual, but a general promise- those who fear God and lead holy lives, as a rule are doing the best they can for the future of their family. No inheritance is equal to that of an unblemished name and, the children of righteous parents commence life with greater advantages than others, and are more likely to succeed in it, in the best and highest sense.

Secondly, this isn’t only speaking of physical children, but of all those following you and your example. Just as we sing the song Father Abraham had many sons, I am one of them and so are you… etc. etc. – so too if you were to look around and see how many spiritual children you have, you might be surprised and hopefully overjoyed by their blessedness.

The second hope is what is spoken of in terms of wealth and riches…

“Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.”

In the physical sense, we may read these words literally of abundant wealth given to the righteous by God, and used, not for pride and luxury, but for on-going acts of generosity, so that it is said of the person so enriched, that his righteousness endures for ever. But the higher meaning here calls us to see those true spiritual riches which are stored up for the poor in spirit, often the most needy in the world. The Apostle Paul says it beautifully in his letter to the Corinthians where he writes of himself and his follow workers, "We are poor, yet make many rich; we have nothing, and yet possess all things." 2 Corinthians 6:10 . For who can be richer than he who is heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ?

A Baptist minister: F.E. Marsh has listed some of God's blessings:
An acceptance that can never be questioned. (Ephesians 1:6).
An inheritance that can never be lost (I Peter 1:3-5).
A deliverance that can never be excelled (2 Corinthians l:10).
A grace that can never be limited (2 Corinthians 12:9).
A hope that can never be disappointed. (Hebrews 6:18, 19).
A bounty that can never be withdrawn. (I Colossians 3:21-23).
A joy that need never be diminished (John 15:11).
A nearness to God that can never be reversed (Ephesians 2:13).
A peace that can never be disturbed (John 14:27).
A righteousness that can never be tarnished (2 Corinthians 5:21).
A salvation that can never be cancelled (Hebrews 5:9).

The third Hope is that of Light… light in the midst of darkness. The psalmist in no way removes trouble from the righteous person’s life – rather in the darkness, The Lord himself will be their light. Light is synonymous with His presence. And although we are never promised that life will be easy, the hope that we cling to is that it is never done alone… I will be with you always… promises Jesus. Just as we was in the fire with 3 men in Babylon, in the Lion’s Den with Daniel and in the stormy sea with his disciples – so too he can be our light and our hope in times of doubt, loss, confusion, rejection, and despair.

The other hope of light is at the end of all things – we as believers have this incredible, unkill-able hope that this isn’t all there is – that the most beautiful things of this earth are merely the sketching’s of something much greater and magnificent in the world to come. That the trials and troubles and tears of this world will be wiped out and wiped away – that there is a glorious future for all who love the Lord.

Lastly, the psalmist speaks of the Honour of the righteous.

“Good, will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.

Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever.

He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord

His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honour.”

The Message Bible ends it this way:

“An honoured life! A beautiful life!”

These are the deeds that lead to honour, and to a life bursting with meaning and significance. Is not this what we desire? An honoured life? A beautiful life? A righteous person who will be remembered forever?

There is a form of ancient spirituality which is still practiced in some churches, primarily the Anglican Church – called Ignation Spirituality. It comprises a series of spiritual exercises where one meditates on the meaning of the Cross and Christ’s death for us. It allows one to draw near to God in a very deep way. One of these exercises is to design your own funeral in detail. Who would be there? What would they say? How would you be remembered? It seems awfully morbid but provides one with a perspective on life that is often missed.

We often lament the lack of “good” people in society today. Yet fail to look at ourselves. The world is desperate for morality in the work place, honesty on tax-returns and purity in relationships. It is crying out for encouragement in place of gossip, for generosity rather than greed, humility rather than self-advancement and compassion rather than indifference. And we’re so quick to go “well why aren’t people changing the world”, when the real question is God, how should I be changing the world. Nicky Gumbel talks about being too young to make a difference, and then all of a sudden he feels he is too old. Sometimes the “too” is replaced with too busy, too stressed, too stretched financially… and we go through our whole lives becoming flavourless salt and lights under baskets. The righteous man will be remembered forever… writes the psalmist… and it is for good reason he is remembered… at your funeral – what will you be remembered for?

Fred Craddock, in an address to ministers, caught the practical implications of this. "To give my life for Christ appears glorious," he said. "To pour myself out for others. . . to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom -- I'll do it. I'm ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory. "We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking Rl,000 bill and laying it on the table-- 'Here's my life, Lord. I'm giving it all.' But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the Rl,000 for 5 cent coins. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listening to the neighbor kid's troubles instead of saying, 'Get lost.' Going to a committee meeting. Not losing our temper over little things. Praying for our country’s leaders. Sponsoring a needy child. Knitting a jersey. Usually giving our life to Christ isn't glorious. It's done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it's harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul."
Mother Teresa once said, “I am not called to be successful, I am called to be faithful."

In Conclusion then, I do not think the psalmist is trying to say that only people who are perfect in their devotion to the commands of God or that exhibit a life completely in line with the will of God will receive these blessings. This would exclude each and every one of us. Instead, it seems he is talking of a heart attitude of the righteous which leads one to love God and obey his commands. It is a heart attitude that cannot come from ourselves – but through the Holy Spirit’s work within us.

A transaction takes place when we say, Lord Jesus, work inside us – grow this heart to love you, to obey you. The Hope and the Honour which follow a heart that is seeking after God ultimately grow us until we want nothing of this world, and everything of him.

Prayer:

Radiant God, you are the vibrant Light that leads us to life in all its fullness; you are the Light that takes the harsh sting out of fear and uncertainty; and you are the Light that helps us in our choices, our options and priorities in life and living.
We praise you our God for your gracious goodness.

God our Leader, you are the Guide that shows us the path of justice and mercy; you are the Guide that takes us by the hand to lead us into the direction of trust and confidence in your unfailing goodness; and you are the Guide that teaches us about living with our brothers and sisters in peace and contentment, and not being anxious by the need for ’things’.
We praise you our God for your gracious wisdom.

Unsparing God, you are the Generous Giver that gives us many blessings and mercies; who shows love for your children, however deserving or otherwise they are of such love; you are the Generous Giver that enriches our life with the blessings of love given and received; of forgiveness offered, received and shared; and the Generous Giver of courage and endurance, to enable us to live faithfully each day, following your commands.
We praise you our God for your gracious bounty.

Compassionate God, forgive us for turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to your teachings, through our self-centredness, are unable to see your generosity as a gift; and we seek to exploit your goodness to our own advantage.
We praise you our God for your gracious forgiveness. Amen.

Happy are those who fear the LORD,
 who greatly delight in God’s commandments.
The generation of the upright will be blessed;
they rise in the darkness as a light for the upright.
It is well with those who deal generously,
who conduct their affairs with justice.
They will never be moved;
they will be remembered forever.
And the blessing of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you,
now and forever.
Amen