Northside Church - Sydney
Stop. Revive. Survive. – Week 5: Psalm 139
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. I saw an interview this week with Dolly Parton, she's back in Australia doing a few concerts and in the context of that interview she made an extraordinary comment. She said I never, and she was very emphatic, she said I never go out anywhere under any circumstances without my full makeup, full hair and with some glamorous outfit that's from my wardrobe. I never go anywhere without all of that and I thought wow, you know, she said nobody sees me in anything but, you know, one would hope that her husband of 45 years Carl may have seen her in a trachydax, may have seen her with the hair down, may have seen her without makeup, I'm not even going to imagine what that may be like, but you know, you'd hope that somebody would have seen her as she really is, that's why it's possible to make a lot of money if you're a paparazzi photographer because it seems like we're fascinated with what celebrities are really like, what they're like naturally, beyond all the glitz in the grammar. So if there's a picture of Nicole Kidman or one of the other stars sort of putting their children in the car after a little bit of a play and if mum's got your hairs a bit matted and no makeup and the camera's able to zoom in on that, that'll sell for thousands because people want to be able to say, oh wow, you know, he looks like me when she's not made up, I don't feel so bad, you know, what if there was a long range photograph of George Clooney, you know, at the pool there, next to his beside his pool there and in the Lake Como Estate, and let's say they really caught him at a very casual moment when he said it wasn't breathing in. So, hanging over the bathers there, wouldn't that be a great shot? I'd feel a lot better about that and I'm sure a lot of you guys would as well. I'm not sure if such a shot exists but if it did, that would crack a lot of money. Look friends, here's the point, how many people know you as you really are? How many people know you, what's and all? How many people are there in your life with whom you can completely be yourself? How many people are there who have seen you at your worst? Who are the people with whom you are prepared to be absolutely honest, open, totally transparent? I'm guessing that for most of you, that list is pretty short, you know, maybe some very close family members, your spouse, if that's applicable, maybe some extremely close friends, your doctor. We tend to really open up and talk about all kinds of things with our doctors. The fact is, we all have parts of our lives that we like to keep private. We all have hidden thoughts and ideas, we'd rather not let everybody know about it. It's just the way we are, there's nothing wrong with that. We have no way of knowing how David would have answered the question, "Who really knows you? How many people in your life really, really know you?" We don't know how he'd answered that question, but we do know, we know one thing. We know that he was acutely aware of God's intimate knowledge of him. We know that because he's written about it. He's written about it in such graphic detail here in Psalm 139. Look at the opening verses, "Lord, you've examined me, and you know me. You know everything I do. From far away, you understand my thoughts and he goes on in verse three. You see me, whether I'm working or resting. You know all my actions. Even before I speak, you already know what I will say. You are all around me on every side. You protect me with your power, your knowledge of me is too deep. It is beyond my understanding." Now friends, David in this Psalm encapsulates some of the qualities of God that theologians have loved to wrestle with for generations. God's omniscience, the fact that he knows everything, his omnipotence, the fact that he's all powerful, he can do anything, and of course he's omnipresence, the fact that he is everywhere, and theologians have delved into these great themes over many, many years. Look, this is a majestic Psalm. If you haven't read Psalm 139 for a while, get into it this week. It's a majestic Psalm, and it has its primary theme, the greatness, as the theologians would say, the otherness of God, but his obsession with having an intimate relationship with you and me, his creation. That's what this Psalm is all about. He wants a very personal, very intimate relationship and adventure, if you like, with each and every one of us. Now, of course, that's all very well and good. You might expect that of God. He can do what he likes, but for such a close relationship to develop, relationships are two way. And for a relationship like that to develop, a number of things are required on our part. And one of those things is vulnerability. And vulnerability, for you wordsmiths, you'll know that vulnerability comes from the Latin word "vonnera," has my Latin, not so good by the sound of it, "vonneraari," which means to wound. That's the root meaning of the word vulnerable. We become vulnerable in a relationship when we are willing to reveal our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions, to the point—watch this—where the potential for it to be a painful experience is very real, painful both in the sense of difficulty in the process of disclosure and painful in the risk of rejection. For many years, I had on my shelves a book with a very long title. It was written by a Catholic priest called John Powell, and the book was entitled, "If I told you who I really am, you may not like what you see, but it's all I have to give. And it's me. And if I give you that and you don't like it, then I'm left with nowhere to go." Well, that level of raw disclosure and honesty can heighten the chances of rejection, would you agree? I mean, because there's a chance that the person we're revealing to is not going to be able to accept us on that basis. And doubtless, numbers of us have had experiences over the years where that's happened—disclosure, telling it as exactly as it is and getting the pushback. That's why at some point in the premarital process, when couples come to me for marriage, at some point in the process, I say, "Now listen, just bear in mind, what you see now is what you're going to get. OK, then try to change this person, don't expect them to change, don't have any thoughts of how they might turn out to be. What you're seeing now is quite likely the best you're going to see. And couples are shocked, you know, when you're kind of as old as me, you can say things like that and get away with it, you know. But couples are sometimes shocked. Of course, in a healthy marriage, in a fantastic marriage, of course, you're going to get a lot more, of course you are, because you're going to grow together through the different seasons of marriage. There's going to be new insights about the need to change and adapt. There's going to be greater levels of awareness as to what's required to make the relationship work. But the word of warning for me is valid, because not all marriages are like that. You don't get that level of adaptability and willingness to change all the time. And sometimes what you see at that initial point is what you get. So getting back to Psalm 139 and acknowledging the fact that the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing God wants to have a deep relationship with each one of us, it's highly likely. God's intimate knowledge of us may make us uncomfortable. That's not only highly likely, it's probably inevitable. God's intimate knowledge of you and me is likely to make us quite uncomfortable. David must have felt like that at times. "Lord, you've examined me. You know me. You know everything I do. You understand my thoughts? You see me. You know all my actions." I mean, when he was what a God? Who's as all-knowing as that? That's a bit intimidating, isn't it? God who knows you like that, I mean, knows you every single part of it. And your thoughts, women have an advantage in this area. They seem to sort of know thoughts. Some of you men may have had a situation where, you know, "Darling, what's wrong?" Well, if you don't know, I'm not going to tell you. You know, that's sort of our ability to, now we struggle with that, ladies, please be gentle with us. We struggle with that ability to know your thoughts. God doesn't have such a struggle. He knows our thoughts. And that's all part of the intimidation. Well, now we know how the Pharisees must have felt, because the Bible keeps saying in the ministry of Jesus, Jesus knew their thoughts, "Ah, now we know how they must have felt." He was always one step ahead of them. Now we know how one particular Pharisee, Simon, must have felt. You remember his story? Jesus goes to his place for dinner. During the dinner, a prostitute comes before Jesus and in an act expressing true sorrow and remorse, she anoints the feet of Jesus with perfume. And Simon the Pharisee, we're told, starts to think, you know, if he was who he claims to be, he would know what kind of woman she is and he'd have nothing to do with her. And the Bible makes it clear, Jesus knew what he was thinking and he offers him a not so gentle rebuke on the topic of self-righteousness and of judgmentalism and of hypocrisy. Wow, now we understand what these guys were going through. What about the woman of the well? And Jesus makes a comment about her marital status. And that one comment completely unlocks all the aspects of her life that were keeping her from becoming the person God intended her to become. Go get your husband. She's startled. Her husband, I don't have a husband, and Jesus says that's right. You've had five and the man you're living with now is not your husband. Ouch. Wow. Lord, you've examined me. You know me. You know everything about me. Now David's writing these words in the context of a sum of Thanksgiving and celebration. He's actually happy God knows him to this extent. He's rejoicing in it. How can that be? Well friends, for David for all of us, here's the point. If you forget everything else, take this one with you. This comfort turns to reassurance and hope when we embrace the intimacy God offers, when we move from hiding to seeking. That's it. And some of you know exactly what I mean and some of you wish you knew what I mean. Any fear, any intimidation, any discomfort turns to hope and reassurance and joy when we move from hiding to actively seeking. And when you think about it, that's how it is in any relationship where there's total trust, total honesty, total vulnerability. These are not possible, where there's deceit, where there's concealment, where there's superficiality. Certainly David, like all of us, would have had things in his life he would rather God knew nothing about. Certainly he would have. But he's come to the realization of this latter point of his life that it's toward the end of the book of Psalms, he's come to the realization that to fully experience the blessing and all the benefits of a life lived in union with God, we need to embrace the intimacy God offers, not run from it. So picking up on some of the words and phrases he uses in this Psalm, particularly the last two verses we didn't read these, let me read them to you. The last two verses, examine me, oh God, and know my mind, test me, and discover my thoughts. Find out if there is any evil in me, and guide me in the everlasting way. So based on those two verses, rather than hiding from God, David said examine me. Rather than avoiding God, David said, try me. Rather than reading from God, David said, lead me. Have you heard me tell the story of the drunken man who was swaying somewhat, falteringly, how long I've put past one afternoon. And it was quite clear that he was really, I don't do that very well. But you know what I'm getting at, and he saw a Catholic priest coming toward him. And he presented himself, right in front of the priest, he said, oh Father, say a prayer for a man who's down on his luck. And the obliging, although somewhat formal, priest responded instantly and said, I will my son, kneel before me right now. And so the man, a little stun, knelt before him, and the priest said, dear God in heaven, bless this drunk. I said, don't tell him I'm drunk. Hello. Here's a question, have you discovered the joy and the freedom possible when one embraced this is the idea of intimacy with God rather than resisted? Have you discovered the joy of that? Are you still consciously or unconsciously hiding from God? Still trying to keep some remote recesses of your life beyond his piercing gaze? Are you still trying to prevent him from doing what needs to be done in terms of redemption and renewal and new beginnings? Are you still trying to run things your way rather than come clean and acknowledge your need of him? It's a risky thing, it's a risky thing to embrace God's desire for intimacy. It takes honesty, it takes trust, it takes vulnerability, but, but the rewards are freedom, forgiveness and spiritual growth. The best example I can give is the one I referred to earlier, the woman of the well. Just record in John chapter 4, do you recall the sequel? After the encounter with Jesus during which her rather tragic life circumstances all became known, she goes back to the village where up until that point she'd been a total outcast. She goes back to that village and what's her message? Oh, take warning, there's a guy out there, he's a religious nut, he's crazy, he thinks he knows everything I've ever done. She warned, got robes and long beard, just stay away from me, he's crazy. No, no, what was her message? Her message was, come see a man who's told me everything I've ever done, everything. Could he be the Messiah? Wow. See friends, for the first time in her recent life, she was walking in freedom. She was walking in victory. She'd gone from hiding to seeking, from anonymity to intimacy. And like her, like David, we can all, we can all make the same choices and it starts with an invitation on our part because God doesn't barge his way in, he's too much of a gentleman for that. It starts with the invitation on our part, last two verses of this Psalm, examine me, oh God, and know my mind, test me and discover my thoughts, find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way. And here's the great news, God will accept us just as we are in that process. But he loves us too much, of course, to simply leave us as we are. He wants to shape us and mold us and bring us into new levels of freedom and forgiveness and spiritual growth. Are you ready for that journey as part of your stop, revive, survive. Don't run from the intimacy God requires of you and me, embrace it, celebrate it. It's the key to everything that he intends for us. Let's bow and pray, shall we?