13. Songs of the Redeemed Part XIII

13. Songs of the Redeemed

Series: Songs of the Redeemed
Preacher: Gareth Maggs
Bible Reading: Psalm 110
Date: 14 January 2024

An unbalanced view of Jesus can break your Christianity. Many will come to Jesus for his forgiveness, but if he is not king, then they’ll only see one side of him and this may cause these people to fall away from Christ. Similarly, if they only see him as king, a guide for their lives, but not as the forgiving priest, they will become religious and not feel the joy of having their sins forgiven.

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Christ Church Midrand · Songs of the Redemeed – Psalm 110 – Gareth Maggs – (Sunday 14 January 2024)

At this point in the year to start to reflect on our lives. I’m not entirely sure why, but for some reason we look at our lives and we think, it’s a new year, we need to do things better. It could be going to the gym to work off that Christmas belly (Some of you don’t have the problem, will I do… I blame it on the Gamon and Fiona Lombards Short Bread… Ask her if she won’t mind making you a tin and I’ll see you on the tredmil in a few weeks time), or you have a new worth ethic, or you decide you need to spend more time with your family, etc.

For many of us, this includes our walk with Jesus. In fact that’s why many of you have actually come back to church for the first time in a while, because you think to yourself you need to come back to the Lord. Something’s not right in your life or you just feel like you need to come back to Jesus.

If you’ve been at church for a while, perhaps you feel you need to get a little bit more serious about your walk with the king.

If you are looking today to come to Jesus, whatever motivation you have, are you coming to the right Jesus?

Because here’s what happens, people come to Jesus, but they have a view of him that is often not balanced. For example, they’ll come to him and see him as loving, but they don’t see him as king or Judge of the world. Therefore, they don’t make him Lord of their lives. Others will come to him longing for instruction or help with guidance in their lives, so they’ll see him as king or lord of their lives, but they don’t see him as a loving father.

Because we have this miss balanced view of Jesus, we will either lean on one side or the other and if we lean to far in one direction, we’ll likely end giving up on our faith and that my friends, not only gives us issues in this life, but it has eternal consequences.

So what is a balanced view of Jesus. Psalm 110 is going to help us here, but before we get into that, you might be asking, how in the world is Psalm 110 all about Jesus?

Side Road: How do we know this passage is about Jesus?

Jesus isn’t mentioned in this Psalm, and in fact, this Psalm is written nearly 1000 years before Jesus. Let me get you to this answer…

It says that this Psalm is written by David, it tells us there in the Subscript of the Psalm. Another Side Road within a Side Road (That’s likely a first for this church. Listen this congregation has got so used to side roads, I’m just trying to keep it fresh). The titles within your bibles are not actually in the original Greek, Aramiac and Hebrew that the bible was written in. They are added by the English translators of our bibles. So the title that’s written in our ESV bibles, ‘Sit at My Right Hand’ was not written by David. But, that little Subscript, ‘A Psalm of David’, that was written in their by David himself. So we know this Psalm is from David.

So now that we are convinced that this Psalm is written by David, it makes vs 1 very confusing. In verse 1 David says, ‘The Lord (Which is God) says to my Lord’. This is confusing because David was a king of Israel, who would a king possibly call Lord? Who would be above them that they’d call Lord? This question baffled many people in History and caused them to clutch at straws. I looked at teaching from Rabbi’s that lived around Jesus’ time and they all had different answers. Some say it’s referring to David himself. But that doesn’t make sense, because in no other Psalm has David referred to himself in the third person, some said he’s talking about Abraham, who is known as the father of the Jewish nation (and therefore someone who would be possibly greater than David) but If you look further down in our text, in vs 4, this King is also known as an eternal priest. And Abraham… well he died. He’s not eternal.

If you open up your bibles to Mark 12: 35 – 37, you’ll see that people thought this passage was prophesying a human king who would descend from David? This king would be A Messiah, or Christ (basically a rescuer) who would rescue God’s people from Roman oppression. At that time, the Jewish nation was captive to the Roman Empire? Unfortunately, this can’t be and Jesus points this out in Mark 12:35 – 37, that same passage, he says, why would David ever call a child who is decendant of him Lord? He would call him son, or says, ‘God says to my child’.

He can’t be Abraham, he can’t be David, he’s not a human decendant of David. Who is He? In Hebrews 1: 13 the author quotes this passage and tell us that he can’t be an angel either? Who he is? Well our final piece of evidence comes in Matthew 26, when Jesus has been captured and is before the Roman authorities who are about to sentence him to death and they ask him if he’s the Christ and Jesus tells them that he will be seated at the right hand of the Lord. That’s a quote from this Psalm. So all the evidence points to Jesus.

If you think about it, it totally makes sense to be Jesus. Who is the only ruler greater than David, Jesus, who is the only ruler that is eternal, Jesus, who is the only one who can sit at the right hand of Yahweh, Jesus.

Which is incredible. 1000 years before Jesus was born, David wrote about him. Did anyone write about you 1000 years ago? Probably not.

So what does it say about Jesus?

1. He’s Ruler and Priest

When you look through vs 1 – 4, what does it tell you about Jesus? For starters you see that he’s a ruler.

Vs 1 it says that he’s lord and God has given him the opportunity to sit at his right hand until his enemies are a footstool.

Vs 2, he rules over his enemies.

What kind of ruler is he. Well in vs 5 and 6, he’s a ruler that shatters kings and he executes Judgment by Judgment by filling nations with corpses and he scatters the heads of those corpses over the earth. Your translations will says ‘Shatters chiefs’ but the phrase there is litterrally shatters heads. So he’s a ruler, and quite a scary one at that.

He’s quite a scary imposing force. He’s not somebody to take lightly and yet, even though he is quite intimidating, it says in verse 3 that people run to him. I think the reason for that is found in vs 4. Although he’s a mighty fierce ruler, he’s also a priest.

A priests job was essently in the realm of connecting people with God. Sin means people can’t have a relationship with God. So priests offered sacrifices to the Lord as we way of asking for his forgiveness. What would happen is, you as a jew would find a lamb that was without fault and you’d bring it to the priest who would sacrifice this lamb for you. When you sacrificed this lamb, your sins were put on the lamb and the lamb would be punished in your place. Then since your sin had now been dealt with, you are now no longer guilty of sin and so therefore you can have a relationship with God.

Can you see now why people flock to this king? Although he’s king of their lives, he’s also a priest. He offers forgiveness, he offers a relationship with the Lord. He offers a solution to death because death is a result of sin, and so if sin is forgiven it means that eternal life is on offer. Death is no longer a problem for you.

So this Lord spoken about in the passage is not just a mighty ruler, he’s worth coming to because he offers forgiveness. When we get to the New Testament, we see that the way he offers forgiveness is, instead providing an unblemished lamb, that can’t ultimately forgive you from sin because no lamb can ever be completely spotless, he offers himself, because he is the only completely spotless living thing. He is the only perfect sacrifice.

So Jesus is Lord and he’s priest. He is one hand a ruler of our lives, but he’s also worth coming to because through him we can have a relationship with God.

Why does the author of Psalms chooses to mention that Jesus is both Lord and priest. Why not focus on one aspect and leave the other for another psalm perhaps? Well, because you need to have both of those views of Jesus in your life. You need to see him as both Lord and priest. You need to have a balanced view of Jesus. If you see him as just one, you will struggle in your Christian walk, and you possibly fall away from the Lord.

What do I mean. Well if he’s too much priest in your life, then here’s what can happen. You will turn to Jesus and he will fulfil the role of priest in your life, he’ll forgive you of sin and you’ll have a relationship with the father, but he’s not king.

Think about it, there are many people coming here today because they want to find forgiveness. That is a great thing. You are here because your lives are broken, you have done things wrong and you’ve decided to start the new year by coming to church and sorting out your life. So you come to Jesus seeking forgiveness, starting a fresh. Then the joy is you find you leave this place, rejoicing in your new found forgiveness because the eternal priest has done his job.

Here’s the thing, you’ll start praying, but if Jesus is not king of your life, then your prayers are going to be all about you. Why is that, because you’ll leave this place and start doing this. You’ll start praying about your career, your family, your health, etc. All of these are good, but if God is not guiding your life, then 6 months from now, when you look back on your relationship with the Lord, you’ll see that your relationship was all about you asking him for everything, and there was nothing in there about you seeking his guidance.

To this kind of person: Things like church and God’s word are not really important. Sure they’ll likely read verses sent to them on Whatsapp, but they don’t desire God’s word, you won’t see them reading whole books of the bible and discussing it in bible studes and church is just something they attend, not something they can’t do without. What’s really important is to simply believe in Jesus, because that means I’m forgiven and I can have a relationship with the Lord. He’s done his priestly role.

All I need to do is trust in him and then I can ask for whatever I want and the Lord will do it. For you church isn’t important, holiness isn’t important, growing in your understanding is not important, rather what is important is having my communication channel with the Lord working so that I can get whatever I want. If I pray for my job, God’s got to do what I say, if I pray for my childs future, God’s got to give it, if I pray for company not to fail, God’s got to keep it a float, if I pray for my marriage, God’s got to keep it together.

And here’s the thing – If the loving leader choses to do something different to what you pray for, perhaps because he knows better, you don’t like it, because Jesus is not ruler in your life, he’s merely the priest who gives you communincation with God.

He’s more of your servant to you. He’s not your God. He worships you and if he doesn’t do his job, he’s out.

You can tell if someone sees Jesus as king and priest. If they have a balanced view. because they are hungry to seek the one who has forgiven them. They choose to get to know his Word and as they do that, you see them change. Church and serving in church becomes important. Holiness becomes important, and most importantly, God becomes important.

The funny thing is. If you just see Jesus as the priest. You think you have a relationship with him, but you don’t. If he’s just the genie that you continually give your requests to without getting to know him. Then you don’t really have a relationship. You think you have one because you say you trust in him and you are praying to him. But that’s not a relationship. This is like going on date and you do all the talking. Never stopping to get to know the other person. That’s not a relationship. A relationship involves 2 way communication.

We’ve really been focusing more on what it means to see Jesus as priest, and we’re going to move to focusing on seeing him as king. But before we get there, I want to ask a few questions,

If someone asks for Christian advice, does your advice come from the bible? If not, Jesus is likely more priest than king.

Is your commitment to church only attending on a Sunday. If yes, Jesus is more priest than king.

Does your life look more like a non-Christians than a Christians. If yes, Jesus is more likely priest than king.

Can you tell the difference between a Christian and a non Christian? If not, Jesus is more likely priest than king.

Are your career goals more important than the growth of God’s kingdom? If yes, Jesus is more likely priest than king.

When you parent, is academic achievement more important than a relationship with God? If yes, Jesus is more likely priest than king.

Just as likely as we can see God more as priest than king. We can also see God as more king than priest.

These people are the suck ups. They tend to think that life will go better, if they tick off all the religious boxes. If they go to church, read their bibles, do what God says, so don’t swear, don’t drink, don’t wear revealing clothing, only listen to Gospel Music and don’t go to night clubs, only get down with the church choir then God will be happy with you and some how you will receive blessing by doing this.

It’s great to be holy and to live godly lives, but if you are doing it to impress God. You need to know something. God cannot be impressed by sinners. Why, because sin prevents us from having a relationship with God. Sin is like a huge blanket between God and us. The only way that sin can be removed, is not through you being impressive, it’s by the great priest being impressive. He lived a perfect life so that he could die spotlessly in your place on the cross.

God does so that you don’t have to be good enough. Listen if you have come to church and your desire this year is to be the right person. You want to change your life around, and so you are going to go to bible study, start serving in church, start dressing right and give up a whole lot of things, like alcohol, swearing, etc. Good on you, but that’s not going to impress the Lord and 6 months from now, you are going to feel guilty. Why, because you can never be good enough for God. Here’s the joy, you don’t have to be. He takes the burden of being good enough on himself. He lived your perfect life, so when you trust in him, he takes the burden of being good enough on him and takes that burden right through his life, onto that Cross and dies as the perfect priest.

Let me tell you where I fall into this trap. I know Jesus died for me, I know that my sin is forgiven. But there are times when I stuff up. I do something wrong and then I think, ok it’s time to clean up my act. Sometimes it’s one thing, but most times it’s multiple things. I look at myself and I see that I’m not a great husband, I’m not a good dad, I have been spending very little time in God’s word, I’m swearing too much, I’m angry all the time. I think to myself. It’s time to clean up the act, so I open my bible app, start a new devotion, start heading to church more, decide that Bethal and Hillsong are the only things that are going to come out of my speakers and again there is nothing wrong with this, but very often I found the one person that I’m missing is Jesus. I’m doing everything around him, I’m going to church, reading his word, but I’m not actually just simply talking to him.

What is a joy as a Christian, is he’s my priest. I can communicate with God through him. Jesus says, Knock and the door will be opened. In that same passage where he says that, he also says, ‘If a child asks for a good thing, does a father give him a snake’. That means he treats like a loving day, he’s not just my king, but he’s fatherly priest. He listens and he wants to hear from me. He want’s me to come to him.

Finally on this pojnt and then there is really 5 minutes on the last point.

Some questions:

Are you a good scholar of God’s word with very little prayer? If yes, Jesus is more king than he is priest.

Do you continually feel guilty for not living up to God’s standards? If yes, Jesus is more king than priest.

Do you find Christianity difficult because of all the rules? If yes, Jesus is more king than priest.

Do you think God will not accept you because of who you are? If yes, Jesus is more king than priest.

In your parenting, is morally right children more important than their relationship with Jesus? If yes, Jesus is more king than priest.

Should children come to church more than come to Jesus? If yes, Jesus is more king than priest.

2. Judge

Look in the final verses what this Lord of David does. He will judge the nations vs 6 and after that, he will be victorious in what he does because in vs 7, the author uses a symbolic picture. It’s of a person who has finished battle and is now drinking from the rive as if to say the job is done, I can now rest, and he’s lifting his head, which is a symbol of triumph. He’s won.

What you see here is that he’s a ruler, but he’s a ruler not to be messed with because he will judge the world and he will be victorious in it. This judgment is not something that might come. It will and he will fulfil it perfectly. If you see him as just priest, than his judgment will not matter to you.

I was watching this TV show called last man standing and in one of the episodes a little boy comes to his grandfather and says ‘Grampa, what happens when you die?’ and his grandfather gives the answer that most Americans and South Africans give. ‘All people go to this place called heaven and there’s no suffering, no tears, etc’. When I watched that, I thought ya, that’s what we want to believe. Everyone, when they die, enters heaven. Ofcourse, if that were true, than God wouldn’t be judge. He wouldn’t care for right and wrong because there is no justice. Everyone gets rewarded with heaven. The greatest gift to man kind, a place where we have all the good things in this life, without the bad. Ofcourse if God didn’t care about justice, then he wouldn’t be loving would he. If my kid punches my other kid in the face, and I say that’s amazing, let me go find the greatest gift I can give you, that wouldn’t be loving. No, God is loving because he doesn’t take the greatest gift in the world, eternity with him and give it to evil. He takes evilseriously. He takes it so seriously that he rips the heads off of those who need judgement. That’s a metaphorical image to show how seriously he takes sin. He doesn’t really rip heads off, but he punishes sin so severely that it’s like he does. I want to know that murderers who get off scot free will one day not get off freely. I want to know that there is consequences for all the evil in this world.

If you only view God as priest, than you will hate Jesus as judge, because isn’t he just the one who forgives? This is often what many people from the LGBTQAI+ community will often say about Jesus if they become Christians. The trust in Jesus and so now have access to the father, but the idea of him judging them is something that they don’t want to hear. If they came to him, saw him as king as well then they’d realise that Jesus does judge our actions and he is against certain ways of life. But, the good news is, he’s not just a king who judges, he’s a priest, who gives you access to the Lord. What better place to find help and comfort as you walk along the journey of fighting your own sin. Jesus is a priest who is warm and inviting, but he’s not barney the dinosaur. He detests sin and he judges it.

However, if you just see Jesus as king, but not priest. Then you will be petrified of God’s judgment. Why, because you will not be sure if you’ve ever been good enough. One of the questions I ask teenagers all the time is, are you guaranteed of getting into heaven. Most times, I get the answer no. When I ask why, they say it’s because I’m not sure if I’m good enough. That answer tells me that Jesus is more ruler, than priest. They see him as giving a set of rules that they must follow, forgetting that that’s not the way to God. The way to God is to come to the eternal priest.

If you are here today and you fear judgement, perhaps today is your day to come to the priest and receive forgiveness. When that happens, Jesus punish your sin as it should be punished, but he’ll do it on himself and you can be on the right side of the warrior who takes sin seriously.

Do you have a balanced view of Jesus?