Morning Message Text: Psalm 30: 1-12
A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.
1 I will exalt you, LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.
3 You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.
4 Sing the praises of the LORD, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
6 When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.”
7 LORD, when you favored me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.
8 To you, LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
10 Hear, LORD, and be merciful to me; LORD, be my help.”
11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise you forever.
Morning Message:
This is my twentieth Easter message. That may not seem like a big deal to most people, but I am astounded by it. I never imagined that I would preach one Easter message and it seems that in the blink of an eye I am at number twenty.
This is the first time I have used this text in a sermon. There are eleven suggested texts in the lectionary for Easter; this is not one of them. What could I possibly be thinking? Why would I not use the traditional Easter story? After all that’s what people come to church on Easter to hear. Well, I think that you should know the story by heart after all these years. I don’t think that we necessarily need to be reminded that Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning. I believe that we, as a congregation, should be ready to celebrate our salvation and be filled with joy and thanksgiving over the facts of Easter.
Let’s look at the facts. When man reaches for God we call it RELIGION. Is that what we are here to celebrate today? No, that is an everyday occurrence in this world. Mankind is constantly reaching to some god to solve their problems. There are so many religions out there where you can make yourself feel good by doing some action of trying to reach out to and appease a god. Even so-called Christians do this. When God reaches for man, we call it CHRISTMAS. Millions of people, whether they are true believers or not, celebrate the fact that God reached down for man by sending His Son Jesus to this earth. Simply believing in Christmas and the fact that Jesus came is not enough. When Jesus built a bridge with a hammer and three nails we call it GOOD FRIDAY. You know, you will not find many people who will try to deny that Jesus lived on this earth and died a terrible, painful death on a cross, but that’s not enough. When the dead man didn’t stay dead to give life, we call it RESURRECTION SUNDAY or EASTER. These are the facts, and we all come here today knowing them.
Holy Week and this Psalm have a lot in common. They are both kind of a microcosm of are Christian lives. There is a rhythm in this Psalm of praise that shows us the way to true worship. It starts with praise. Holy Week begins with praise. Our birth into this world is something to be praised. God created us, gave us life and breath, and no matter the circumstances of your life, the fact that you were born is praiseworthy. You are here today because God gave you life and has sustained your life to this point. We all have something that we have come through in this life. We have all had trials and tribulations. “I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.” Maybe God has brought you up from the realm of the dead and spared you in some way. The point is you are here, so sing praises to the Lord.
Life, just like Holy Week, brings us to a place of trials. Every one of us who has made it this far in life has faced our Thursdays of betrayal and our Good Fridays of turmoil and sadness. We have all had those moments in life where we felt like God had hidden his face from us, like we were alone in this world, like God was not present. If you haven’t had those moments, you may in the future. Jesus, God incarnate, felt that separation on the cross. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The psalmist cries out and so have we for God’s mercy and help. Is there anyone here who has not felt the need for God’s mercy at some point in their lives?
Listen, this is why we are here this Easter morning. “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” From your devotional for today, it says: “I have a friend whose wife passed away some years ago. Every day he goes to visit her grave. He brings flowers and sits by the grave and just talks. This morning, Easter morning, I thought of him. I thought what it would be like if one day he went to visit her grave and she wasn’t there. What if he came with his fresh cut flowers and his little sack lunch and found an empty hole where his wife should be?”
“The women who came to pay their respects to Jesus on Easter morning certainly didn’t come expecting to see anything other than the lifeless body of their beloved Lord. What they didn’t realize was that this Jesus, whom they loved, was about to change history by turning death into life, weeping into wonder.”
The reason for Holy Week is for us to appreciate the joy of resurrection. The meaning, the whole purpose of every life, the hardships and the strife, all designed by a loving God to bring you back to him and find the joy of salvation in Jesus. As the psalmist says, “Lord my God, I will praise you forever.”
Last time, from your devotional: “There’s a moment in the Book of Acts (17:6) when people say of the disciples: ‘These men … have turned the world upside down …’ I smile when I read that, and I think to myself, ‘Yes, but Jesus did it first.’”
The Easter story is beautiful, but you don’t need to hear it every Easter, you need to live it every day. God has turned your weeping into wonder, hasn’t he? We come here on Easter to respond. We come here to give God the worship and adoration that the Creator of the universe and Savior of mankind deserves. God has changed your life, or you wouldn’t be here. He is moving in your life and changing you every day into the perfect creation that he intends you to be. God has turned your weeping into wonder, go therefore, and turn this world upside down for him.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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