“Contrite Spirit”
Sermon 1-15-17
Psalm 51
1
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your
abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and
cleanse me from my sin. 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4
Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you
are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5Indeed, I was
born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.6You desire truth in the inward
being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let
the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all
my iniquities.10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within
me. 11Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.13Then I will
teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14Deliver me from
bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your
deliverance.15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16For you
have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God,
you will not despise.18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of
Jerusalem, 19then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt
offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Message:
As many of you know, one of our 2017 goals, part of the 2020 Double
Vision, is to “Build A Culture of Prayer.” One of the suggestions the elders made
was to preach on our favorite prayers. So you may hear some other preachers
throughout the year preach about their favorite prayers. Today, I am preaching
from Psalm 51 because this prayer has been a guiding prayer for my life over and
over again. I briefly touched on this Psalm a few months back, but today I want to
go deeper into its meaning and how rich it is for our lives.
First, I want to tell you how this Psalm first spoke into my life. Forgive me
if you have heard this personal story before. When I was 16 years old, I lived and
breathed soccer. I was attending Lancaster Mennonite High School. A private
Christian school. I went there primarily for a better soccer team. My parents
wanted me to go there for a better education. God wanted me there for a different
reason. I had a high school Bible teacher who spoke boldly and often times rubbed
me the wrong way. He challenged me. One day he challenged that soccer was my
first love. And God was not. I felt judged. I was resistant. I thought his
assessment was ridiculous.
Well…a few months later, I was playing in a soccer game outside in the
beginning of December. You can imagine how cold that was. In the heat of the
moment, a player beat me one-on-one with the soccer ball. I was frustrated. So I
angrily chased him down. When I caught up to him, I grabbed his shirt, pulled him
my direction and I stuck foot in for the ball. Unfortunately, my ankle was at an
awkward angle and all my opponents weight came down on me. I felt a snap in
my ankle. Two days later, I found out that I broke my ankle and I would need a
cast. I got what I deserved. At first, my vanity creeped in. I knew that with a cast
and crutches I would get a lot of attention and sympathy from the ladies.
Well…that lasted for a minute. Then it sunk in, I wouldn’t be able to play soccer
for over a month. And it may take a few more months to go through therapy to
rebuild my strength. Furthermore, this was in the middle of my permit period for
my drivers license. It was my right ankle that was broken. There was no way I
could use a gas pedal. I started to go into a depression. I start a few months prior
to this event, attending a worship service on a Tuesday night. It just so happened
that the Bible teacher that rubbed me the wrong way was one of the leaders of this
worship service. On this Tuesday night, they felt the Lord leading them towards
miraculous healings. I was skeptical at first, but my friends looked at my bum
ankle and thought it was obvious, “You have to do this.” So we went up. Lo and
behold my Bible teacher was the one available to pray with me. Ugh. We began
to pray and listen for what God was saying. My Bible teacher confronted me again
about soccer being my first love. This time, I was at such a low point and I was
literally broken that I knew it was time to admit that indeed soccer was the first
love of my life. So I repented. (Return to Script) Then, one of my friends was
prompted to give me the scripture you have before you today. It felt like the whole
scripture spoke to my life.
“1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to
your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me thoroughly from my
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” I felt this in that moment. As those words
were read, I knew this was me. I needed God’s mercy. I had made soccer first in
my life. I had not fully surrendered my life to Jesus. I needed to be cleansed of
my sin.
For King David, he also needed the mercy of God. David made a grave
mistake. If you remember, David saw a beautiful women, Bathsheba. David’s
hormones elevated to new heights and felt this insatiable need to have her. With
his charm he wooed Bathsheba into bed with him. One problem. Bathsheba was
married to one of David’s soldiers. To make problems worse, this one lapse in
judgment created a bigger problem: Bathsheba was pregnant. What would David
do? Easy, have Bathsheba’s husband killed. Not openly because this would break
trust with the citizens of Jerusalem.
So David put Bathsheba’s husband on the front lines of battle. A sure way that he
would die without a direct link to David. Her husband died as expected. David
then took Bathsheba to be his wife. But God knew what happened and he wasn’t
pleased. God sent Nathan to confront David. And here we see David’s repentance
in this Psalm.
The thing about my sin and David’s sin is that it’s not just a once and done
deal. We sin. We ask for forgiveness. Done. We never sin again. Not really.
We all have this knack for being drawn to sin rather than being drawn to God.
And the hardest part about sin is that it’s not always obvious. It sometimes builds
over time. It’s not like I sin on Monday, but I didn’t sin on Tuesday. There might
be very clear lapses of judgment like David’s. But then there are the slow lures of
things like greed, vanity and power. In the next section of our passage David
acknowledges the pervasiveness of sin, “3For I know my transgressions, and my
sin is ever before me. 4Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil
in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you
pass judgment. 5Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived
me.” Due to Adam and Eve’s decision to know good and evil in the Garden of
Eden, we are all susceptible to sin the moment we are born. Or for David, even in
the womb. We are all susceptible to disobedience with our God. What we fail to
often recognize is that our obedience is not just merely being rule followers, but
that God asks us to follow these rules because it is in our best interest. It is in our
best interest to not worship idols. It is in our best interest to honor our father and
mother. It is in our best interest not to murder. It is in our best interest to not
commit adultery. Furthermore, even when we follow the rules really well and we
are the most benevolent people in the world, sin is still prevalent. Let me give you
a quick example. When I was in Haiti a few years ago after the Earthquake.
Nobly, people sent used clothing and synthetic rice to help people survive as they
rebuilt their country. While this was very benevolent of American people and
especially Christians, we unintentionally destroyed two Haitian industries: The
garment industry and the rice industry. Now, Haitians sell our used clothing on the
street markets. Haitians continue to purchase cheap synthetic rice instead of
growing their own. We didn’t intend to do this damage. We just wanted to help.
And if we had to do it all over again, I’m sure we do just the same. And we should
provide relief in such crisis. But the pervasiveness of sin is that even when we
intend good, we can do harm. It doesn’t mean we should stop good intentions, but
it shows that we are constantly in need of God’s grace. We are constantly in need
of God’s grace. The lie some would have us believe is that once we repent for this
particular sin, that we do not need to repent of again. We are constantly in the
need of God’s grace.
David takes repentance to a whole other level. That it’s not just about
repenting, but being made clean. “6You desire truth in the inward being; therefore
teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the
bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all
my iniquities.” This section particularly spoke to my scenario that Tuesday night
with a broken ankle. “…let the bones you have crushed rejoice.” My bones had
broken, but it is also what broke my spirit. Broke my stubbornness. Broke my
pride. Have you ever been there? To this point of brokenness. You have no more
answers. You cannot do anything more. Us Americans can be the most stubborn
people because we believe that by sheer willpower we can accomplish all things.
Until we fall flat on our face. For God to enter, often times our will has to be
broken. For God to enter, often times our will has to be broken. To understand a
new level of dependence and intimacy with our God.
David continues, “10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and
right spirit within me. 11Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take
your holy spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in
me a willing spirit.” Do you sense David’s humility in this part? David has been
broken. He has repented. He has asked for forgiveness. And now he is willing to
be molded into whatever God has in store for him. In a meeting with Tim Doering
the other week for this Netzer Discernment Process, the elders and I acknowledged
that our most intimate moments with Jesus come in those moments of brokenness.
The hard part is that you can’t orchestrate those moments. You can’t manipulate
people into brokenness. But one of the things I want to invite you into today is to
acknowledge your brokenness. Maybe even your sinfulness. By acknowledging
this and admitting to your brokenness that you will be able to recognize your need
for Jesus. And you will have an opportunity to acknowledge your brokenness
before Christ after this message.
In my study of this passage, Biblical scholar J. Clinton McCann Jr. reiterated
over and over again how this Psalm is not an emphasis on human sinfulness but of
God’s grace. If David didn’t believe that God was gracious and merciful, he never
would have prayed this prayer. If David didn’t believe God could forgive him and
make him clean, he wouldn’t have said these words. Of course, we know of the
one who takes on all of our sin, Jesus Christ. God in the flesh. Jesus was more
gracious than any of us deserve. Jesus is gracious to the worst of the worst in this
world. Jesus took on all of our sin at the cross with his body and blood. With
God’s body and blood. He is the ultimate sacrifice for us.
Once you know this grace of Jesus. Once you experience the freedom Jesus
gave you through his sacrifice on the cross, you will want others to know it. I hate
to ask this of church people, but I have to ask it, do you know the grace of Jesus?
You may know about Jesus. You may have biblical knowledge. But do you know
Jesus in your heart? Have you experienced Him? And is that evident in your life
as you try to teach others? David is so transformed by God’s grace in this passage
that it is oozing out of him to teach others and to know that same grace. “13Then I
will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14Deliver me
from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of
your deliverance.” Grace leads to evangelism and praise. David has experienced
God’s salvation. And I hope many of us sitting here today have experienced God’s
salvation. If you haven’t, I’d be happy to pray with you after the service for God’s
salvation to enter your life. Because when you know God’s salvation, nothing will
stop you from praising him. Joy and thanksgiving will pour out in song and
otherwise.
David continues, “15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your
praise. 16For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering,
you would not be pleased. 17The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a
broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” That last part is the heart
of our passage today. If you take nothing else away from this sermon or
understanding of prayer, take away this. The only sacrifice acceptable to God is a
broken and contrite heart. You can do a nice service project. You can be
benevolent with your finances. You can come to worship 52 weeks out of the year.
But if you don’t have a broken and contrite heart, you do not understand the things
of God.
We wouldn’t pray if we don’t understand our need for God. Another piece
that I love about this prayer of David is that he is naked before God. His soul is
laid bare. He is hiding nothing. He isn’t trying to hide this one ugly part of his life
from God. David is totally barring his soul in this passage. And this is what most
speaks to my heart. When we go before God barren, God honors that. I’m not
saying that God will magically make everything in your life right. But you will be
right before God. Prayer has a way of digging into the deep recesses of our heart.
It realigns our desires with God’s desires. We begin to see God’s vision and heart
above our own. David begins to see God’s vision at the end of this passage, “18Do
good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 19then you will
delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls
will be offered on your altar.” David begins to see the great things God has in
store for Jerusalem. When we humble ourselves before God, we will see the great
things God has in store for your life. The great things God has in store for
Royersford. The great things God has in store for Providence Church.
Over the next month, we are going to have some in depth preaching on
prayer. I want to invite you into acknowledgment of your brokenness. To get
more intimate with Jesus through prayer.
One of the things that perplexes the people of Providence, is that we feel we
have such a good thing going here, why aren’t others in the broader community
seeing it and wanting it? Let me relay Tim Doerings teaching, it’s because we
need to pray for more of the presence of God. And the only way we can have more
of the presence of God, is if we open our hearts to a more intimate faith with him.
Folks, if you want God to reign. If you want His Kingdom to come, it means
coming first before him in repentance/brokenness and recognizing that we cannot
do anything without his presence and power.
Before we move into communion, I want to finish two stories. The first is
David’s. Unfortunately, David’s first child with Bathsheba died. But God has
much grace upon David after his repentance. Bathsheba became pregnant again
and she bore the son Solomon. Whom we know would also be a great King for
Israel. For me, God had grace upon me as well. After repenting and hearing
Psalm 51, we prayed for healing. And I began to feel a hot, tingling, sensation
around my ankle. I knew in that moment that I was healed. I had the cast for a
few more weeks, but I walked on it without crutches most of the time. When I got
the cast off, the first thing the doctor said to me was, “Walk.” Just like Jesus told
Peter to walk on the water. So I walked. And I walked perfectly. The doctor
couldn’t believe it. He said that he usually recommends physical therapy, but
didn’t see the need to recommend that for me. It was a miracle. God had grace
upon me. And I have tried to make God my first love ever since. When we go to
God in prayer, we don’t tell God what to do. We cannot impose our will upon
Him. To experience intimacy with God, it requires a broken and contrite spirit. To
recognize that we are not God and we are wholly dependent upon Him. Jesus
wants to be present in you. Jesus wants to be present in His church. Do we have
the humility to acknowledge that we are nothing without Him? Can we embrace
the grace of Christ? Amen.