WEBVTT 00:00:00.629 --> 00:00:03.149 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:06.209 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:06.830 --> 00:00:08.750 It's our hope that these sermons will draw you 00:00:08.750 --> 00:00:11.169 more into the life of following God, Father, 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:14.150 Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:16.289 joining with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m. 00:00:16.370 --> 00:00:18.809 in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find 00:00:18.809 --> 00:00:22.350 us online at secondcitychurch .org and on Facebook, 00:00:22.609 --> 00:00:25.030 Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this 00:00:25.030 --> 00:00:33.310 sermon. God bless. 80, but I just want to say 00:00:33.310 --> 00:00:35.670 I love the sound of the kids in our church. I 00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:37.350 felt like they were saying amen earlier when 00:00:37.350 --> 00:00:40.549 we were singing. And Psalm 8 came to my mind, 00:00:40.630 --> 00:00:43.469 verse 2, out of the mouths of babies and infants, 00:00:43.590 --> 00:00:46.909 you've established strength because of your foes. 00:00:47.070 --> 00:00:49.350 That there's something lovely in the sound of 00:00:49.350 --> 00:00:51.590 the little ones among us. Praise the Lord for 00:00:51.590 --> 00:00:55.250 them. Let me pray. Lord God, we're thankful for 00:00:55.250 --> 00:00:57.490 Your Word, even these passages that are lesser 00:00:57.490 --> 00:01:00.619 known. and these stories that may be lesser known. 00:01:01.219 --> 00:01:03.320 And God, I pray that we would receive it as Your 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:07.140 Word and Your gift to us, or You give us Your 00:01:07.140 --> 00:01:09.379 Word because You desire to reveal Yourself to 00:01:09.379 --> 00:01:12.239 us, and that we might find life and life in You, 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:15.280 the life that we long for, the life that we desire. 00:01:15.939 --> 00:01:17.959 And so Lord, I pray that our ears should be open, 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:20.560 not just to my words, but to Your words. Their 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:24.030 hearts would... be softened to you, and that 00:01:24.030 --> 00:01:27.469 we would be desirous having spent this time with 00:01:27.469 --> 00:01:30.849 you to live our life with you in faith and belief 00:01:30.849 --> 00:01:35.349 and trust and love. And we pray all this for 00:01:35.349 --> 00:01:38.469 our good, Lord, but mostly for your glory, for 00:01:38.469 --> 00:01:41.730 the glory of your holy name. In Jesus' name we 00:01:41.730 --> 00:01:45.750 pray, amen. All right, many of you, my guests, 00:01:46.010 --> 00:01:50.120 are familiar with the name Arthur Brooks. Maybe 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:53.579 you've listened to his podcast, Office Hours. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:56.579 Maybe you've heard him as a guest on other podcasts. 00:01:57.480 --> 00:02:00.560 He seems familiar to many. Maybe you've read 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:02.299 one of his books. He's written a lot of books. 00:02:03.780 --> 00:02:06.599 One of the books is titled Love Your Enemies, 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:09.740 How Decent People Can Save America From the Culture 00:02:09.740 --> 00:02:12.219 of Contempt. I mean, isn't that just kind of 00:02:12.219 --> 00:02:14.139 an interesting idea that just loving each other 00:02:14.139 --> 00:02:17.000 and fighting against contempt? What an important... 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:19.699 sort of subject in our time. Maybe you found 00:02:19.699 --> 00:02:23.879 him by just Googling, how can I be happier? And 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:26.539 there's a reason why maybe you'd find him. He's 00:02:26.539 --> 00:02:28.659 a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School and Harvard 00:02:28.659 --> 00:02:30.419 Business School, but a lot of what his work has 00:02:30.419 --> 00:02:32.919 been focused on is happiness. Maybe you've heard 00:02:32.919 --> 00:02:34.699 about some of the studies that Harvard has done 00:02:34.699 --> 00:02:36.780 over the last decades about human happiness. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:40.879 But he studies it, like what is it? How do we 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:44.979 get it? How is it acquired? Oh, so what can we 00:02:44.979 --> 00:02:49.180 do that we might live happier lives? And he has 00:02:49.180 --> 00:02:51.939 come up with what he calls his sort of four pillars 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:56.560 of happiness. Here's what they are. Faith. And 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:58.419 he doesn't necessarily mean the Christian faith, 00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:01.520 though he's a devout Catholic, but he is sort 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:04.280 of talking about this guiding faith, this guiding 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:07.020 understanding of where we are, where we're going, 00:03:07.539 --> 00:03:12.659 whose are we. What gives us meaning and perspective? 00:03:13.060 --> 00:03:16.379 Second one is family, sort of foundational bonds 00:03:16.379 --> 00:03:19.560 from which we have a sense of our belonging, 00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:24.580 sort of relational security. The third is friendship. 00:03:25.219 --> 00:03:29.900 by which he means sort of non -contractual social 00:03:29.900 --> 00:03:32.419 relationships outside of family. It's not kind 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:34.120 of like, I'll just scratch your back, you scratch 00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:36.099 mine. You go to work and that's a contractual 00:03:36.099 --> 00:03:37.539 relationship. I put in these hours, I get paid 00:03:37.539 --> 00:03:39.479 this much, but relationships that exist beyond 00:03:39.479 --> 00:03:42.740 family and these contracts. The third one is 00:03:42.740 --> 00:03:47.020 work. And this has to do with actions that sort 00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:51.259 of exercise your talents. that provide an opportunity 00:03:51.259 --> 00:03:54.039 maybe for a degree of success. And often actually 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:56.979 he says, most of the time it is tied to the idea 00:03:56.979 --> 00:04:00.319 that what you're doing serves something, serves 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:02.740 others. And so he says, work in this kind of 00:04:02.740 --> 00:04:04.560 way doesn't have to be work that you're gaining 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:07.539 money from though it often is. It can be volunteer 00:04:07.539 --> 00:04:10.060 work. It can be joining the English language 00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:14.349 classes this fall. Pastoral plug. that others 00:04:14.349 --> 00:04:17.610 might learn English, right? Or, you know, visiting 00:04:17.610 --> 00:04:20.009 and volunteering over at pacts and ministries, 00:04:20.110 --> 00:04:22.050 or I don't know, all kinds of number of things, 00:04:22.470 --> 00:04:25.149 serving at a food bank. But it's creating value 00:04:25.149 --> 00:04:27.810 in the world that you kind of move into the world. 00:04:27.910 --> 00:04:29.949 You exercise your gifts for the blessing of others 00:04:29.949 --> 00:04:32.389 and for the good of the world. And he's saying 00:04:32.389 --> 00:04:34.410 that these four things, the happiest people in 00:04:34.410 --> 00:04:36.310 the world seem to have these four pillars in 00:04:36.310 --> 00:04:41.180 their life. These four pillars. And I think it's 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:42.740 just kind of good just to sit there for a moment 00:04:42.740 --> 00:04:46.040 because we tend to, of course, in our world, 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:49.120 that primarily work brings happiness because 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.339 work brings money. So you work, work, work. So 00:04:52.339 --> 00:04:57.259 you can buy, buy, buy. Maybe you know Chris Jansen's 00:04:57.259 --> 00:05:00.660 famous country song from 2015, Buy Me a Boat. 00:05:01.399 --> 00:05:03.420 I know this crew doesn't listen to country music 00:05:03.420 --> 00:05:06.100 much, but here's how part of it goes. I'm not 00:05:06.100 --> 00:05:08.000 going to sing it. Yeah, I know what they say. 00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:11.680 Money can't buy everything. Well, maybe so, but 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:15.740 it can buy me a boat. Somebody knows it out there, 00:05:15.779 --> 00:05:19.279 right? Buy me a boat. And of course, the idea 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:21.120 of maybe says the boat will make you happy, or 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:22.680 maybe the boat will get you the girlfriend, or 00:05:22.680 --> 00:05:24.819 maybe the boat will facilitate time with friends. 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:26.959 And maybe there's some degree of truth that it 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:30.980 can facilitate some of those things. But interestingly, 00:05:32.200 --> 00:05:35.040 Another huge part of his sort of theory of happiness 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:39.040 is that it has this bedrock idea of contentment 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:41.639 too. And that contentment is on that first pillar 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:44.680 of faith. Having a sense that there's meaning 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:46.079 beyond us and there's actually something that 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:49.699 you can put your trust in and have meaning in 00:05:49.699 --> 00:05:52.800 and a deep sense of belief and trust. So anyway, 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:55.839 we're in Psalm 80. And if you were listening 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:57.360 when I read it, you probably noticed that there 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.660 was a chorus. a refrain. Not all the Psalms do 00:06:00.660 --> 00:06:02.480 this. Actually, not a lot of Psalms do this. 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:05.220 A lot of Psalms are maybe more like the old hymns 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:07.620 where they go from stanza to stanza to stanza. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:10.079 Kind of like the first song that we sang today. 00:06:10.579 --> 00:06:12.920 But then some have choruses like the last song 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:14.800 that we sang where it goes back to the same idea 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:18.699 to repeat it. And this is the refrain that we 00:06:18.699 --> 00:06:22.319 find in 3 and 7 and 19. Restore us, O God. Let 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:26.040 your face shine that we may be saved. Restore 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:28.740 us, O God. Let your face shine and we may be 00:06:28.740 --> 00:06:31.319 saved. And that word restore us in Hebrew actually 00:06:31.319 --> 00:06:37.100 can also be translated, turn us back. Turn us 00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:42.199 back and turn to us, which is to say we've been 00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:47.600 going some other direction for life, for meaning, 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:51.519 for happiness. Turn us back, restore us, turn 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:56.850 us back to yourself. the author Asaph or at least 00:06:56.850 --> 00:07:00.550 in sort of the lineage of Asaph is asking for 00:07:00.550 --> 00:07:02.170 the people to be turned back because the people 00:07:02.170 --> 00:07:04.889 have sought happiness, their wellbeing, their 00:07:04.889 --> 00:07:09.589 life outside of God. So this cry for restoration, 00:07:09.689 --> 00:07:12.930 what I want you to see today, this cry for God's 00:07:12.930 --> 00:07:15.689 face to shine upon them is because they've sought 00:07:15.689 --> 00:07:19.149 this happiness outside of God. And oddly, I was 00:07:19.149 --> 00:07:21.709 sitting with this passage and I thought, you 00:07:21.709 --> 00:07:26.089 know, this passage actually kind of can have 00:07:26.089 --> 00:07:28.370 these happiness pillars laid on it. So I kinda 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:31.310 want you to see how this passage fits in with 00:07:31.310 --> 00:07:33.149 these happiness pillars. So I'm not gonna start 00:07:33.149 --> 00:07:34.910 with the first pillar. I'm actually gonna come 00:07:34.910 --> 00:07:38.110 back to that. But the first thing I want you 00:07:38.110 --> 00:07:41.290 to see is that what we have in this psalm is 00:07:41.290 --> 00:07:45.230 a destroyed family. If the second pillar is familial 00:07:45.230 --> 00:07:48.480 relations. What we actually find in this Psalm 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.759 first is a destroyed family. So here's the first 00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:53.180 couple of verses. Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, 00:07:53.300 --> 00:07:55.240 you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who are 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:57.779 enthroned upon the cherubim shine forth before 00:07:57.779 --> 00:08:00.180 Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up your 00:08:00.180 --> 00:08:03.399 might and come and save us. How does that have 00:08:03.399 --> 00:08:05.680 to do with the family? That's what you're asking. 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:11.439 Let me tell you. So this Psalm was almost certainly 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:14.959 written in the context of the Assyrian Empire 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:18.439 coming in from the North, the Northeast into 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:22.040 destroy and take over, take away the best and 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:25.100 brightest of the 10 Northern tribes of Israel. 00:08:25.379 --> 00:08:27.120 Last week, if you were here, you may remember 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:30.120 that we looked at Psalm... 79, we talked about 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:32.080 the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.779 of the temple under the Babylonian exile. That 00:08:34.779 --> 00:08:37.419 happened, that destruction happened in 586. Well, 00:08:37.620 --> 00:08:41.179 the event of this Psalm was about 140 years earlier, 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:45.720 722, when the Assyrians came in and they destroyed 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:48.500 the 10 Northern tribes. Well, two of the 10 Northern 00:08:48.500 --> 00:08:52.360 tribes, in fact, the two of the 10 largest of 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:54.899 the Northern tribes are the tribes of Ephraim 00:08:54.899 --> 00:08:59.120 and Manasseh. In fact, sometimes the 10 northern 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.980 tribes together can be referred to as Ephraim, 00:09:02.179 --> 00:09:04.519 because it was the main one. It was sort of just 00:09:04.519 --> 00:09:08.000 north of Judah and Benjamin. So it was sort of 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.399 the neighboring tribe to the two southern tribes. 00:09:11.139 --> 00:09:14.460 But if you notice, it's not just mentioning these 00:09:14.460 --> 00:09:17.440 two dominant tribes of the 10 northern tribes 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:20.539 of Israel. Right between those two tribes, kind 00:09:20.539 --> 00:09:22.840 of sandwiched between them is the tribe of Benjamin, 00:09:23.379 --> 00:09:26.620 which was not destroyed by the Assyrians. And 00:09:26.620 --> 00:09:28.240 it's actually, you know, Judah and Benjamin are 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:29.980 the two Southern tribes of Israel. The 10 Northern 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:32.059 ones are the ones that were taken over by the 00:09:32.059 --> 00:09:37.820 Assyrians. So why would Benjamin be mentioned 00:09:37.820 --> 00:09:41.460 in the context of this Assyrian conflict sandwiched 00:09:41.460 --> 00:09:44.600 right between Ephraim and Manasseh? What it's 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:48.059 saying is that our familial relations are destroyed. 00:09:48.820 --> 00:09:51.700 We're being torn apart. They're crying out to 00:09:51.700 --> 00:09:55.120 God, give ear, oh shepherd of Israel, you who 00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:00.480 lead us, keep your family together. And the family 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:04.179 was destroyed because they did not look to the 00:10:04.179 --> 00:10:07.139 shepherd. They didn't look to the leader. They 00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:12.340 didn't look to their father in heaven. If you've 00:10:12.340 --> 00:10:13.620 been around the Bible a little while, you might 00:10:13.620 --> 00:10:16.750 know that shepherding is a... is a metaphor that's 00:10:16.750 --> 00:10:18.330 kind of common in the scriptures. And that's 00:10:18.330 --> 00:10:21.149 no surprise, of course, they led these pastoral 00:10:21.149 --> 00:10:25.409 lives tending to sheep and all that. And they 00:10:25.409 --> 00:10:29.370 knew the dynamic of a sheep needing to live under 00:10:29.370 --> 00:10:32.850 the care of another. They also knew the dynamic 00:10:32.850 --> 00:10:35.190 as Jesus picks up on in John chapter 15 that 00:10:35.190 --> 00:10:36.809 we heard that sometimes the sheep want to listen 00:10:36.809 --> 00:10:40.639 to another's voice. They hear other shepherd's 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:42.360 voice and they say, maybe I should go over there. 00:10:42.379 --> 00:10:45.360 They hear other voices of sort of parental figures 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.720 who are to care for them. They say, let's go 00:10:47.720 --> 00:10:50.740 there. And that's exactly what they were doing 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:52.139 time and time again. They were saying, you know, 00:10:52.139 --> 00:10:53.879 I don't want to hear, I don't want to hear the 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:56.259 voice of the good shepherd, our father who has 00:10:56.259 --> 00:10:59.519 led us as his people. I want to listen to other 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:01.279 shepherds or I just want to be my own shepherd. 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:04.059 That's what's been, that's what's going on. And 00:11:04.059 --> 00:11:07.480 so they reject the father and the family is destroyed. 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:10.159 Which is to say in some ways that they sought 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.240 their happiness, but they sought it outside this 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:17.120 foundational bond. This bond that sort of leads 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:21.299 them out into life with others. They found it 00:11:21.299 --> 00:11:24.879 in a foundational bond, which was not God. And 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:27.240 so the happiness which they sought actually destroyed 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:29.039 one of the things that actually would build their 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:32.720 happiness. Their families destroyed. Their family 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:35.529 ties are broken up. breaking up the tribes of 00:11:35.529 --> 00:11:37.909 Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh and all their 00:11:37.909 --> 00:11:41.690 relationships. But, so interestingly, I think 00:11:41.690 --> 00:11:45.669 if you look at the second stanza there, we actually 00:11:45.669 --> 00:11:47.929 find another one of these pillars of happiness 00:11:47.929 --> 00:11:50.950 that's taken down. And I want to call this destitute 00:11:50.950 --> 00:11:53.450 friends, okay, the second, so destroyed families 00:11:53.450 --> 00:11:57.059 and destitute friends. Verse four. Oh Lord, God 00:11:57.059 --> 00:11:59.820 of hosts, how long will you be angry with your 00:11:59.820 --> 00:12:02.600 people's prayers? You fed them with the bread 00:12:02.600 --> 00:12:04.679 of tears and given them tears to drink in full 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:07.440 measure. You make us an object of contention 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:11.480 for our neighbors and our enemies laugh among 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:13.779 themselves." Now, you might think that's odd 00:12:13.779 --> 00:12:16.000 that I would title this under friendships because 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:19.820 the last thing was enemies. Enemies were mentioned. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.320 But right before that, talking about neighbors. 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:26.179 Not family, right? Not those foundational bonds, 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:29.519 but necessary relationships for our wellbeing 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:31.840 that exists outside of our families, like our 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:34.799 neighbors, these relationships that we have outside 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:38.539 of these immediate family ties. And here it's 00:12:38.539 --> 00:12:41.139 saying that they're torn. They've actually become 00:12:41.139 --> 00:12:45.639 relationships of contention. And why is that? 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:50.220 One of the reasons is because it says God hasn't 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:54.559 heard their prayers. He's angry with their prayers, 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:56.840 right? Oh, Lord God of hosts, how long will you 00:12:56.840 --> 00:13:00.700 be angry with your people's prayers? Does that 00:13:00.700 --> 00:13:02.759 seem strange to you that God would be angry with 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:05.340 the prayers of his people? I think that's kind 00:13:05.340 --> 00:13:09.000 of maybe an odd passage, odd thing to say. Well, 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:11.220 here's what had happened, right? Again, this 00:13:11.220 --> 00:13:13.120 is geared towards the Northern tribes, the tribes 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:15.759 that are sort of set as a whole to be Ephraim 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:20.059 and Manasseh. They had set up places of prayer. 00:13:20.269 --> 00:13:22.769 They've set up places of prayer all over throughout 00:13:22.769 --> 00:13:25.210 their tribes, but most of those places of prayer 00:13:25.210 --> 00:13:27.190 were not places of prayer that God had told them 00:13:27.190 --> 00:13:29.809 to set up, either to pray to Him or they were 00:13:29.809 --> 00:13:35.289 used actually to pray to other gods. The exile 00:13:35.289 --> 00:13:38.490 itself, this Assyrian exile happens because they've 00:13:38.490 --> 00:13:41.049 decided to worship other gods to pray to other 00:13:41.049 --> 00:13:44.470 idols. They've made other gods and they've offered 00:13:44.470 --> 00:13:47.490 up these prayers, but not to Yahweh, not to the 00:13:47.490 --> 00:13:49.830 true God. And also what they've done, the other 00:13:49.830 --> 00:13:51.950 big reason why the exile happens is because they've 00:13:51.950 --> 00:13:55.690 made these alliances with these neighboring countries 00:13:55.690 --> 00:13:59.750 when God told them not to. So here's an interesting 00:13:59.750 --> 00:14:02.590 thing that's happening. The very thing that they're 00:14:02.590 --> 00:14:05.409 going for, which is friendship with their neighbors, 00:14:06.889 --> 00:14:10.529 is destroyed because they made their friends 00:14:10.529 --> 00:14:16.679 the main thing. So they're setting up these places 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:20.200 of prayer that are the gods of their neighbors. 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:23.000 They're making alliances with their neighbors 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:25.559 in such a way that denies their alliance with 00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:27.460 God, which is to say they're making their friends 00:14:27.460 --> 00:14:30.100 the main thing. Their neighbors are becoming 00:14:30.100 --> 00:14:32.480 the main thing. And what it ultimately ends in 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:35.320 is destroying the friendship that they have with 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:40.580 those about them. Think about this. Have you 00:14:40.580 --> 00:14:45.799 ever seen this happen where someone doesn't seem 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:48.379 to exactly have an identity of their own, but 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:52.460 their identity exists almost completely in how 00:14:52.460 --> 00:14:56.200 they associate with another. And so they almost 00:14:56.200 --> 00:14:58.659 seem to mimic another's speech. They don't have 00:14:58.659 --> 00:15:00.299 music that they love. They just love the music 00:15:00.299 --> 00:15:02.080 of the other. They don't have jokes that they 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:03.820 make up. They just make up the jokes of another. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:05.539 It's almost as though they're just saying, I 00:15:05.539 --> 00:15:09.100 just wanna be you. And it actually destroys the 00:15:09.100 --> 00:15:11.000 relationship because you don't offer yourself. 00:15:11.340 --> 00:15:14.480 You just sort of mirror the other person completely. 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:17.659 And the friendship doesn't bring life and fit. 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:19.700 In fact, the friendship often withers and fades 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.139 because that kind of relationship that's bending 00:15:22.139 --> 00:15:24.320 over backwards just to be whatever the other 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:27.340 person wants kills the relationship. Those friendships 00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:30.809 don't work. And this is What's happening, these 00:15:30.809 --> 00:15:32.309 10 Northern tribes are saying, we just wanna 00:15:32.309 --> 00:15:35.169 be liked by all these people. And so we're gonna 00:15:35.169 --> 00:15:36.950 put up these places of prayer. We're gonna pray 00:15:36.950 --> 00:15:38.769 to their gods. We're gonna make alliances. And 00:15:38.769 --> 00:15:42.110 what happens is that those friendships wither 00:15:42.110 --> 00:15:43.629 and fade and actually those very relationships 00:15:43.629 --> 00:15:47.850 come in and destroy them. So in some ways, of 00:15:47.850 --> 00:15:49.610 course, God wouldn't listen to their prayers. 00:15:50.090 --> 00:15:54.129 They weren't offered to Him. Their prayers were 00:15:54.129 --> 00:15:58.080 for the sake of them. were for the sake of finding 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:04.320 their identity in their friendships. Again, this 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:07.899 song to another of its pillars of happiness that 00:16:07.899 --> 00:16:11.480 was taken away from them. So they lose their 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:14.259 familiar relationships, they lose their friendships, 00:16:14.259 --> 00:16:20.600 and they also lose their work. So we have destroyed 00:16:20.600 --> 00:16:24.460 families, depleted friendships, and then, sorry, 00:16:25.699 --> 00:16:28.220 What did I say? Not depleted. I have depleted 00:16:28.220 --> 00:16:30.559 work here. What did I say? Destitute. Thank you, 00:16:30.659 --> 00:16:33.899 destitute friends. And depleted work, which is 00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:36.059 to say they're a fruitless vine. That's the last 00:16:36.059 --> 00:16:39.659 sort of main paragraph. And again, this is a 00:16:39.659 --> 00:16:41.419 metaphor that you find in the Bible a lot, the 00:16:41.419 --> 00:16:43.200 metaphor of a vine. And this makes sense, right? 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:44.639 Just like the shepherd thing makes sense. You're 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:46.659 like, oh, there's sheep, shepherd, and there's 00:16:46.659 --> 00:16:49.519 like vines. And so they use these metaphors to 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:53.029 talk about themselves. Vines were to bear fruit. 00:16:53.490 --> 00:16:55.710 As they were tended to, they were to bear fruit. 00:16:55.769 --> 00:16:58.269 As they were pruned and trained along trellises, 00:16:58.309 --> 00:17:00.370 they were to bear fruit. And if you didn't bear 00:17:00.370 --> 00:17:02.250 fruit, what would you do? You'd say, ah, well, 00:17:02.409 --> 00:17:05.289 this is a defunct vine. We need to get rid of 00:17:05.289 --> 00:17:07.190 it and plant something else here so that it will 00:17:07.190 --> 00:17:10.390 bear fruit. And a lot of times Israel as a nation 00:17:10.390 --> 00:17:13.650 was actually talked about as the vine of God. 00:17:14.170 --> 00:17:15.769 And we find this in a few different places. In 00:17:15.769 --> 00:17:18.789 Genesis 49, you can read of Joseph being called 00:17:18.789 --> 00:17:21.369 a fruitful vine near a spring whose branches 00:17:21.369 --> 00:17:25.490 climb over a wall. It's growing because it's 00:17:25.490 --> 00:17:29.750 near the stream of God. Isaiah, we can read this, 00:17:30.029 --> 00:17:33.730 my loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside, 00:17:34.130 --> 00:17:37.309 which is say Israel was to be planted by the 00:17:37.309 --> 00:17:41.009 waters of God and in a fertile hillside by the 00:17:41.009 --> 00:17:43.890 Lord. Near the end of Hosea, we can read, he 00:17:43.890 --> 00:17:46.390 will blossom like a vine, referring to Israel, 00:17:46.990 --> 00:17:49.980 the nation. And his fame will be like the wine 00:17:49.980 --> 00:17:51.779 of Lebanon, which is to say that not just as 00:17:51.779 --> 00:17:54.440 he's to be planted by the stream and on a fertile 00:17:54.440 --> 00:17:57.220 soil, but he's to bear, right? This work is to 00:17:57.220 --> 00:18:00.119 actually be sort of the work that Arthur Brooks 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:02.720 talks about. Something that's offered into the 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:08.099 world, the blessing of the world. So come to 00:18:08.099 --> 00:18:10.720 this stanza. I'm not gonna read all of it for 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:12.509 us, but starting in verse eight. You brought 00:18:12.509 --> 00:18:15.750 a vineyard out of Egypt. You drove out the nations 00:18:15.750 --> 00:18:18.170 and planted it. You cleared the ground for it. 00:18:18.170 --> 00:18:20.529 It took deep root and filled the land. The mountains 00:18:20.529 --> 00:18:22.490 were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars 00:18:22.490 --> 00:18:24.490 with its branches. It sent out its branches to 00:18:24.490 --> 00:18:27.930 the sea and its shoots to the river. Why then 00:18:27.930 --> 00:18:29.769 have you broken down its walls so that all who 00:18:29.769 --> 00:18:32.769 pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar 00:18:32.769 --> 00:18:36.130 from the forest ravages it and all that move 00:18:36.130 --> 00:18:40.569 in the field feed on it." Now again, maybe kind 00:18:40.569 --> 00:18:43.650 of like prayers. I think we get to this and we 00:18:43.650 --> 00:18:48.009 do go, wait, why would God do this? Why would 00:18:48.009 --> 00:18:52.569 God break down the walls and allow the boar from 00:18:52.569 --> 00:18:57.069 the forest to ravage the plant? Well, this is 00:18:57.069 --> 00:19:00.549 answered for us in John chapter 15 that we heard, 00:19:01.049 --> 00:19:03.509 every branch in me that does not bear fruit, 00:19:03.630 --> 00:19:06.410 he takes away. And every branch that does bear 00:19:06.410 --> 00:19:08.369 fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. 00:19:09.369 --> 00:19:10.930 Artie, you're clean because of the word that 00:19:10.930 --> 00:19:12.890 I've spoken to you, abide in me and I in you, 00:19:12.930 --> 00:19:15.509 as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless 00:19:15.509 --> 00:19:17.509 it abides in the vine, neither can you unless 00:19:17.509 --> 00:19:20.170 you abide in me. So why are the walls broken 00:19:20.170 --> 00:19:22.109 down? Why are the boars from the forest coming 00:19:22.109 --> 00:19:27.069 in ravaging the plants? Because they're not bearing 00:19:27.069 --> 00:19:31.529 the fruit of abiding in the vine. And Lord says 00:19:31.529 --> 00:19:36.009 enough. Lord says enough. So here's what's happening. 00:19:36.109 --> 00:19:37.930 Here's what I'm suggesting in this. What this 00:19:37.930 --> 00:19:41.589 psalm is doing is saying that you've sought to 00:19:41.589 --> 00:19:44.509 find this happiness in these things, but you've 00:19:44.509 --> 00:19:48.829 sought to find them outside of me. You know, 00:19:48.890 --> 00:19:51.769 in your family relations and your friends and 00:19:51.769 --> 00:19:54.990 in your work, these are to be actually places 00:19:54.990 --> 00:19:57.170 that you're to grow and to bear fruit and to 00:19:57.170 --> 00:20:00.529 have life, but all along they're doing it outside 00:20:00.529 --> 00:20:04.799 of the Lord. destroyed family, destitute friendships, 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:11.380 depleted work. So Arthur Brooks has more to say, 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:14.140 of course. He's written all these books. But 00:20:14.140 --> 00:20:16.259 he's an economist, and so a lot of times he uses 00:20:16.259 --> 00:20:19.680 economic language. And he says that oftentimes 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:24.900 with these four pillars we over -index, or what 00:20:24.900 --> 00:20:28.259 we do is we don't diversify. So we put all of 00:20:28.259 --> 00:20:34.210 our chips in one pillar. So we're like, oh, happiness 00:20:34.210 --> 00:20:36.289 can happen if I just work, work, work, work, 00:20:36.289 --> 00:20:38.609 work, or if I just give all of my life to my 00:20:38.609 --> 00:20:46.190 family. So Israel was putting their happiness 00:20:46.190 --> 00:20:48.950 basket. At this time, a lot of what they were 00:20:48.950 --> 00:20:50.549 doing is they were putting their happiness basket 00:20:50.549 --> 00:20:52.450 into their friendship relationships, into their 00:20:52.450 --> 00:20:54.920 relationships with their neighbors. Like I said, 00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:56.900 they put up these high places and they worship 00:20:56.900 --> 00:20:58.599 the gods of their neighbors and they made all 00:20:58.599 --> 00:21:00.599 these alliances and they said, we're just going 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:03.440 to do whatever we can because we need friends. 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:10.559 That of course happens to us. We'll give up on 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:12.380 a lot of other things if we could just make a 00:21:12.380 --> 00:21:17.000 friend. We kind of make that the God. The thing 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:18.740 that will bring us happiness. But for the most 00:21:18.740 --> 00:21:21.660 part in our world, we kind of put a lot of our 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:26.420 chips. You know, we kind of over index into our 00:21:26.420 --> 00:21:31.440 work We find our meaning in what we can accomplish 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:34.559 Maybe the amount of money we can make how many 00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:37.740 people we can serve man that can make us feel 00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:42.180 good And of course we need to hear all work and 00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:46.880 no play makes Jack a dull boy But also think 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:48.779 about this I think actually within the within 00:21:48.779 --> 00:21:50.079 Christian settings a lot of times what we can 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:52.500 do is we can sort of overplay the family card 00:21:53.630 --> 00:21:56.509 Like family becomes the main thing, right? What 00:21:56.509 --> 00:21:58.289 we want to do is we just want to keep everybody 00:21:58.289 --> 00:22:06.289 really, really close. So weekends are meant almost 00:22:06.289 --> 00:22:09.869 exclusively for family things. And actually friendships 00:22:09.869 --> 00:22:14.130 sometimes can diminish. One of the other pillars 00:22:14.130 --> 00:22:20.309 can be swallowed up by another. You can think 00:22:20.309 --> 00:22:23.670 about dating and about romance. about how we 00:22:23.670 --> 00:22:26.329 put so many chips into that. We put all of our 00:22:26.329 --> 00:22:28.250 energy into that that actually work and these 00:22:28.250 --> 00:22:29.670 other things diminish. And then when you get 00:22:29.670 --> 00:22:32.089 the date, you're like, what do I talk about? 00:22:32.329 --> 00:22:33.710 Because this is the main thing I've been thinking 00:22:33.710 --> 00:22:37.250 about all the time, which is just say we over 00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:40.069 index, we don't diversify. And Brooke says, you've 00:22:40.069 --> 00:22:45.809 got to have all four of these pillars. So what's 00:22:45.809 --> 00:22:48.910 missing for Israel? Well, what's missing for 00:22:48.910 --> 00:22:51.170 Israel? I wonder, maybe it's missing for you. 00:22:53.160 --> 00:22:57.339 It's worth asking the question. What's missing 00:22:57.339 --> 00:23:06.900 for Israel's faith? Trust. Belief. Commitments 00:23:06.900 --> 00:23:10.440 to the Lord. I mean, you think about it, it's 00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:14.099 not that Israel didn't want family. They did. 00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:19.279 They even wanted sort of a father to look down 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.400 upon them and help give them direction like a 00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:25.160 shepherd. But they didn't want the great shepherd. 00:23:25.880 --> 00:23:28.299 They wanted other voices to care for them and 00:23:28.299 --> 00:23:31.380 to tend to them. And it's not that they didn't 00:23:31.380 --> 00:23:34.140 want friendship. Obviously they did. They just 00:23:34.140 --> 00:23:36.279 made their friends the determining thing of their 00:23:36.279 --> 00:23:39.319 life. And so their prayers went up to the gods 00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:42.660 of their neighbors. And their friendships became 00:23:42.660 --> 00:23:45.500 contentious relationships because they held more 00:23:45.500 --> 00:23:48.720 than they were intended to hold. And it's not 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:50.720 that they didn't want to produce or to work. 00:23:50.920 --> 00:23:53.559 to bring something into the world. I mean, we 00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:57.720 are all made for that, but we're made to do that 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:00.000 in connection with the divine. And so here's 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:02.859 the refrain that we hear, right? In verse three, 00:24:02.900 --> 00:24:06.299 verse seven, down in verse 19. Restore us, O 00:24:06.299 --> 00:24:11.220 God, let your face shine that we may be saved. 00:24:13.140 --> 00:24:17.000 But just say, turn us back. Because we're running 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:19.140 after these other things to give us our meaning 00:24:19.140 --> 00:24:21.859 and our happiness and they are good things, but 00:24:21.859 --> 00:24:23.660 they are not good things in and of themselves. 00:24:25.220 --> 00:24:27.440 If we put all of our chips in these baskets, 00:24:27.500 --> 00:24:32.819 they cannot hold it. They're good. They're to 00:24:32.819 --> 00:24:35.019 be sought after, but not in and of themselves. 00:24:35.140 --> 00:24:39.220 Restore us to your self. Let your face shine 00:24:39.220 --> 00:24:43.759 on us that we may be saved. And if you're thinking 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:46.859 that sounds familiar. Well, you should be thinking 00:24:46.859 --> 00:24:49.380 that. Of course, that phrase comes from the great 00:24:49.380 --> 00:24:52.400 Aaronic blessing that the priests would speak 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:54.759 over the people morning and evening as we so 00:24:54.759 --> 00:24:56.660 often do in Christian services at the end of 00:24:56.660 --> 00:24:58.519 our services with the great benediction, Lord 00:24:58.519 --> 00:25:02.619 bless you and keep you and make his face to shine 00:25:02.619 --> 00:25:06.539 upon you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon 00:25:06.539 --> 00:25:12.279 you, give you his peace. What he's saying is 00:25:12.279 --> 00:25:19.400 give us faith. Renew us again. Help us to turn 00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:22.059 from these other things that we're kind of banking 00:25:22.059 --> 00:25:24.460 on to give us life and meaning and happiness 00:25:24.460 --> 00:25:27.900 and joy and all the rest and turn us to you. 00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:33.480 They're asking for faith that the Lord be gracious 00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:37.420 to them. Faith that they will not find their 00:25:37.420 --> 00:25:42.279 meaning in what they do or don't do. Faith that 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:45.130 God is the source of their peace. Not these other 00:25:45.130 --> 00:25:50.329 things of family and friends and work. So one 00:25:50.329 --> 00:25:53.210 of the stories, one of the stories behind this 00:25:53.210 --> 00:25:56.150 time period, and maybe actually that was happening 00:25:56.150 --> 00:25:57.869 right in the right at the same time of writing 00:25:57.869 --> 00:26:00.349 this Psalm, we're not totally sure. But one of 00:26:00.349 --> 00:26:03.150 the stories that happens around the time of the 00:26:03.150 --> 00:26:04.750 of the Assyrian exile, and actually just sort 00:26:04.750 --> 00:26:08.170 of just after the Assyrian exile, we read for 00:26:08.170 --> 00:26:11.130 part of part of we had part of it we had read 00:26:11.130 --> 00:26:14.299 for us from Second Chronicles 30. that Chuck 00:26:14.299 --> 00:26:19.660 read for us. And it's Hezekiah. Hezekiah is this 00:26:19.660 --> 00:26:21.319 good king. He's a righteous king. He's the king 00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:23.359 of the Southern tribes. He actually lived during 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:26.640 the time of the Assyrian destruction of the 10 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:30.380 Northern tribes in their exile. And so he has 00:26:30.380 --> 00:26:35.420 this spiritual renewal and they desire us to 00:26:35.420 --> 00:26:37.319 follow the Lord. And what he does is he says, 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:39.759 okay, everybody has got to come and worship the 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:43.200 Lord in Jerusalem. And we need the priests I 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:44.440 don't know if you caught that actually, it says 00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:46.920 they had to celebrate the Passover in this month 00:26:46.920 --> 00:26:48.299 because there weren't enough priests yet who 00:26:48.299 --> 00:26:50.000 had consecrated themselves. They needed the priests 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:52.079 there because they were to lead the people in 00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:55.579 worship and lead them in the Passover sacrifices 00:26:55.579 --> 00:26:57.279 and meals, but they were also the ones who were 00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:00.460 supposed to speak God's blessing, His benediction 00:27:00.460 --> 00:27:02.559 that God's face would shine upon them to them. 00:27:03.220 --> 00:27:06.220 And so, What Hezekiah does is he established 00:27:06.220 --> 00:27:07.539 this and he says, hey, we're going to have this 00:27:07.539 --> 00:27:09.460 great feast in Jerusalem. We're going to celebrate 00:27:09.460 --> 00:27:12.339 the Passover and the priests are going to speak 00:27:12.339 --> 00:27:15.119 the blessing over God's people. And he says, 00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:19.259 send out word to everybody. And if you noticed 00:27:19.259 --> 00:27:21.619 actually the passage there in the second Chronicles 00:27:21.619 --> 00:27:23.880 30, it actually mentions Ephraim and Manasseh, 00:27:23.940 --> 00:27:26.400 but this is after the, after the Assyrian exile. 00:27:26.460 --> 00:27:30.660 So he's saying, hey, you've seen You've seen 00:27:30.660 --> 00:27:34.019 that this sort of life of looking for your happiness 00:27:34.019 --> 00:27:36.660 and your family and your friendships and your 00:27:36.660 --> 00:27:39.019 work won't bring it to you outside of God. And 00:27:39.019 --> 00:27:42.799 so come, come and worship Him and receive His 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:45.119 declaration that His face is shining upon you. 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:48.380 He invites all these people to Jerusalem, all 00:27:48.380 --> 00:27:50.380 these 10 tribes of the North and the two tribes 00:27:50.380 --> 00:27:52.299 of the South. And He's trying to unite them again 00:27:52.299 --> 00:27:56.359 around this idea that outside of God, you cannot 00:27:56.359 --> 00:27:58.480 have the happiness and the joy for which you 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:04.579 deeply long. But what did they do? I don't know 00:28:04.579 --> 00:28:06.119 if, you know, this is like one of those weird 00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:07.859 passages that are not terribly well known. So 00:28:07.859 --> 00:28:09.359 I'm sure you probably heard Chuck read it and 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:13.519 you're like, whoop, whoop, you know, that kind 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:15.140 of thing. Well, let me read verse 10 again for 00:28:15.140 --> 00:28:17.960 you. Okay. So the couriers, the guys that are 00:28:17.960 --> 00:28:20.059 inviting everybody to Jerusalem, the couriers, 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:22.920 the people that are bringing these letters, invitations 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:26.359 out, went from city to city through the country 00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:31.089 of Ephraim and Manasseh. And as far as Zebulon, 00:28:31.150 --> 00:28:35.630 up in the Northern part, but they laughed them 00:28:35.630 --> 00:28:40.549 to scorn and mocked them. They laughed them to 00:28:40.549 --> 00:28:44.210 scorn and mocked them. They thought, no, no, 00:28:44.210 --> 00:28:48.390 no, no. No, we actually think that happiness 00:28:48.390 --> 00:28:52.069 can just be found in our family relationships 00:28:52.069 --> 00:28:55.369 that we have or in the work that we produce or 00:28:55.369 --> 00:28:58.940 in the friendships that we have. I don't have 00:28:58.940 --> 00:29:05.119 any interest in that whole God thing. And of 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:06.759 course, I think part of the question for us is 00:29:06.759 --> 00:29:10.559 what would you have done? Actually, what are 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:21.119 you doing? How are you indexing, right? How are 00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:26.119 you diversifying? Where does faith fit for you? 00:29:31.630 --> 00:29:35.970 So if we turn to the last section there in this 00:29:35.970 --> 00:29:42.890 Psalm, Psalm 80, verse 14 down, it says, turn 00:29:42.890 --> 00:29:44.730 again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven 00:29:44.730 --> 00:29:48.390 and see, have regard for this vine, this rock 00:29:48.390 --> 00:29:50.869 that your right hand planted, and for the son 00:29:50.869 --> 00:29:54.089 whom you made strong for yourself. They've burned 00:29:54.089 --> 00:29:56.819 it with fire, they've cut it down, May they perish 00:29:56.819 --> 00:29:58.599 at the rebuke of your face, but let your hand 00:29:58.599 --> 00:30:00.400 be on the man of your right hand, the son of 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:03.640 man whom you have made strong for yourself. And 00:30:03.640 --> 00:30:05.779 we shall turn back from you, give us life and 00:30:05.779 --> 00:30:08.500 we'll call upon your name." And of course, as 00:30:08.500 --> 00:30:10.160 Christians, we read that and we say, this is 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:14.279 talking about our Lord Jesus. It's looking forward 00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:16.900 to the fact that God will restore His wayward 00:30:16.900 --> 00:30:19.519 people. He's going to have grace. He's going 00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:23.640 to make quite literally His face to shine upon 00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:26.349 them. the image of the invisible God for the 00:30:26.349 --> 00:30:30.150 world to see. And think about it, when we look 00:30:30.150 --> 00:30:33.170 to Jesus, when we look to the Gospels, specifically 00:30:33.170 --> 00:30:35.829 the Gospel of John, almost every single thing 00:30:35.829 --> 00:30:41.450 that we have mentioned to us here in this text 00:30:41.450 --> 00:30:45.170 is found in Christ. So in John chapter six, Jesus 00:30:45.170 --> 00:30:48.250 says that He and the Father are one and all whom 00:30:48.250 --> 00:30:51.309 the Father has given Him, He will not cast out. 00:30:51.369 --> 00:30:55.740 There's this familial reality. You're in a part 00:30:55.740 --> 00:30:59.140 of a new family with Jesus. He offers a lasting 00:30:59.140 --> 00:31:04.160 family, the new foundational relationship from 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:06.539 which you can go out into the world. John chapter 00:31:06.539 --> 00:31:09.960 15, Jesus says, no longer do I call you servants. 00:31:10.700 --> 00:31:14.640 The servant does not know what his master's doing, 00:31:14.680 --> 00:31:16.559 but I've called you friends, which is to say 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:18.660 a servant is a contractual kind of thing in a 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:21.240 way. He's saying that's not our relationship. 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:24.680 We're friends. Jesus is offering that pillar 00:31:24.680 --> 00:31:27.980 of friendship to us. John chapter 15, he says, 00:31:28.180 --> 00:31:30.859 I am the vine, you're the branches, whoever abides 00:31:30.859 --> 00:31:35.480 in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much 00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:39.839 fruit. Offering something out into the world 00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:46.779 as you abide in Christ. But all of this, all 00:31:46.779 --> 00:31:48.759 of this in the gospels, and I think what this 00:31:48.759 --> 00:31:52.500 text here in Psalm 80 is getting at. This thing 00:31:52.500 --> 00:31:56.740 for which we desire, right? Family bonds, which 00:31:56.740 --> 00:31:58.700 unite us in a way that help us to go out into 00:31:58.700 --> 00:32:04.279 the world and in life. Non -contractual friendships. 00:32:05.619 --> 00:32:08.339 Work that offers something out into the world 00:32:08.339 --> 00:32:13.809 that is productive and a blessing. What I think 00:32:13.809 --> 00:32:16.009 this Psalm is telling us, and I think what we 00:32:16.009 --> 00:32:18.410 see as we put these things together in these 00:32:18.410 --> 00:32:22.930 texts in John, is those only will take root. 00:32:23.569 --> 00:32:26.289 Those only will actually give meaning if you 00:32:26.289 --> 00:32:29.849 have that first pillar in place first, faith. 00:32:31.869 --> 00:32:37.750 You cannot bear fruit apart from the Lord. Your 00:32:37.750 --> 00:32:39.690 family and your friendships will be places of 00:32:39.690 --> 00:32:44.710 control and of domineering. with outside of the 00:32:44.710 --> 00:32:51.430 Lord. It's true, seek first his kingdom, his 00:32:51.430 --> 00:32:55.410 righteousness. All the other things will be added 00:32:55.410 --> 00:33:01.630 unto you. Look to Christ, the shining face of 00:33:01.630 --> 00:33:09.170 God, who offers you a new family, a greater friendship. 00:33:10.980 --> 00:33:16.119 greater fruit bearing life in the world. Apart 00:33:16.119 --> 00:33:20.240 from Him, we can do nothing. And yet with Him 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:24.140 is lasting happiness and joy. Let me pray for 00:33:24.140 --> 00:33:27.819 us. Lord, think of these stories and this Psalm, 00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:30.519 the occasion of the writing of this Psalm, and 00:33:30.519 --> 00:33:33.559 it's distant from us. And they're stories that 00:33:33.559 --> 00:33:37.839 are not terribly well known, stories of Hezekiah. 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:41.519 the Assyrians, and we're talking about stuff 00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:49.680 that is long ago, and yet how much it really 00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:54.519 does speak to our dynamics, God. I pray that 00:33:54.519 --> 00:33:58.240 you would shine your blessing upon us, that we 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:03.019 have people that know joy, a deep happiness, 00:34:03.019 --> 00:34:08.360 and that we would that we'd be fruitful in our 00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:11.679 work, that we desire to live productive, meaningful 00:34:11.679 --> 00:34:15.280 lives, serving others, producing in your world. 00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:18.340 God, that you'd give us friendships. Maybe new 00:34:18.340 --> 00:34:20.360 friendships would be birthed today at our picnic. 00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:25.659 That would truly increase our happiness, our 00:34:25.659 --> 00:34:30.820 sense of wellbeing and life. God, that you would 00:34:30.820 --> 00:34:36.090 bless our families. God, but I pray that each 00:34:36.090 --> 00:34:39.630 of these things that we desire, good desires, 00:34:41.150 --> 00:34:45.190 we would place them upon the foundation of faith, 00:34:45.769 --> 00:34:49.809 of belief, of trust in you, of looking to you, 00:34:50.110 --> 00:34:55.150 looking to your face, looking to the work of 00:34:55.150 --> 00:34:59.590 Christ for us. God, that we would be those who 00:34:59.590 --> 00:35:02.010 seek first the kingdom. and your righteousness, 00:35:02.190 --> 00:35:04.489 and then know that the other things would be 00:35:04.489 --> 00:35:07.030 added. That we wouldn't seek those things as 00:35:07.030 --> 00:35:11.769 the kingdom, but the fruit of the kingdom. God, 00:35:11.769 --> 00:35:15.570 please do this. What a passage that seems so 00:35:15.570 --> 00:35:19.889 old, is so applicable to us. Apply it to our 00:35:19.889 --> 00:35:22.210 lives, we pray, by the work of your Holy Spirit. 00:35:22.869 --> 00:35:26.840 In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening 00:35:26.840 --> 00:35:29.619 to Second City Sermons podcast. We hope this 00:35:29.619 --> 00:35:31.599 sermon has encouraged you to worship God and 00:35:31.599 --> 00:35:34.440 to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please consider 00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:36.860 subscribing to this podcast and joining us in 00:35:36.860 --> 00:35:40.019 person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us 00:35:40.019 --> 00:35:43.380 online at secondcitychurch .org and on Instagram, 00:35:43.480 --> 00:35:46.059 Facebook, and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. 00:35:46.420 --> 00:35:46.980 God bless.