C, First Sunday of Advent - Psalm 25:1-10 Good and Upright is the Lord
But in time his staff became conceited
and loathed the king — even his generous rule.
They got up to all sorts of revelry in their plush living quarters and
after a short time it looked more like a pigsty than the property of the
palace. They destroyed their regal residence,
and the name of the king was slandered inside its wall.
In fact, his servant subjects had
completely rejected his rule, and they credited themselves with the prosperity
which had been bestowed upon them. The
king knew about this and was grieved in his heart. But rather than rid himself of these workers,
he patiently and continually encouraged them to renew their allegiance to him
and his rule so that peace and harmony would return once again to the servants’
living quarters.
In time the king had a son, but the
staff had become so rebellious and distracted by their own importance they
didn’t even realise the king had borne an heir to the throne. This boy knew nothing of the working-class
life from which his father had come. All
he had ever experienced inside the walls of the palace was his princely
life.
So, the king lovingly sent his son, to
live as a working-class servant boy, to experience life outside the palace
walls, so he might better understand his father’s kingdom and better lead the
country when he became king. The boy
went to work and live with the palace staff; no doubt he very quickly got some
real-life experience.
Picture what this young boy walked
from… cleanliness, prestige, excesses, good manners, honour, and respect. Now picture what he walked into… dirtiness,
coarseness, hard work, debauchery, drunkenness, disrespect, disunity and
fighting. This was hardly an inheritance
for a king!
King David was an earthy working-class
man too. He grew up as a shepherd
boy. But God saw that this lowly boy
became king.
David seeks God’s mercy in Psalm 25,
saying, To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; 2 in you I trust, O my God. Do
not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one whose
hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are
treacherous without excuse. 4 Show me
your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O
Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the
sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me,
for you are good, O Lord. 8 Good and
upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides
the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the
Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. (Psalm 25:1-10 NIV)
King David knew where he stood with
the Lord; he knew he was a sinner. In
the very next verse, after what we have just heard, David pours his heart out
to God, saying, For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity,
though it is great. (Psalm 25:11)
David knew the Lord’s way was loving and faithful. However, for a sinner like David to keep the
demands of the covenant is impossible, and it brings this cry of contrition
from his lips — for the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my sin, though it
is great.
For the sake of God’s name, these
inspired words from David among others, needed to be fulfilled in the advent of
God’s Son, Jesus Christ. So we do well
to see this Psalm, and all Psalms—in fact, the complete Old Testament—fulfilled
in Christ. Jesus needed to come into the
world as a servant; the creator needed to be created, it was advantageous for
us that God make his advent amongst us.
We—like King David and the rebellious workers
we’ve just heard about—need a Saviour.
None of us can keep God’s covenant, and, therefore, receive God’s loving
and faithful ways. All of us left to our
own devices become treacherous without excuse; before God our best work still
brings us shame. We all need Christ’s
coming and his supreme sacrifice. In
fact, we do receive God’s faithfulness and loving guidance, but only because of
Jesus Christ.
In this Advent season as we prepare
for Christmas, the coming and birth of God amongst us, let’s focus on two
things. Firstly, the heights from which
God the Son came to dwell among us. And
secondly, the lengths and depths to which he went, so that we his sinful
rebellious and treacherous servants might be saved. In clearly hearing and grasping the sanctity
and privileged position of Almighty God over against the utter depths to which
we and all people have slumped, only then do we even begin to truly appreciate
just what the grace of God is and how privileged we are to receive it!
Look at it from the point of view of
the son sent to live in the servant’s quarters.
How much would the contrast have struck him between princely exuberance
in which he had lived and the squalor and filth into which he was
delivered? Think of the shame and
despair he could have felt! Had he done
something wrong, did his father, the king, still love him? Had he been sent to the palace quarters to
die with the sacrilegious servants?
Now let’s use Psalm 25 to see Christ’s
advent — from his point of view. To
you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put
to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will
ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without
excuse. Jesus came from heaven to
us, he came from timelessness to a point in time, he the creator was created as
a weak baby, he came from infinite knowledge and power, to be born by a mother
who was pregnant outside wedlock, and grew to be the son of a lowly Nazareth
carpenter. He was handed over to
treacherous men, and put to shame because of our sinful ways. It looked as though his enemies had triumphed
over him. And yet, he still trusted in
his Father who sent him into his fallen sinful creation to save us.
Show me your ways, O Lord,
teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my
Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long. God taught
him his paths and showed him the way that led straight to the cross. Jesus knew the truth, he was innocent and we
are guilty. Yet Jesus’ hope remained in
God all day long and now we are called to faith in him who was faithful to his
Father’s will for our benefit.
Remember, O Lord, your great
mercy and love, for they are from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth and
my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O
Lord. Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. Put
yourself in Jesus’ place. How great
would God’s goodness and mercy and love “seem to be” if it was you he had sent
to die. Our sin and rebellious ways have
continued from of old, right back from our youth. God remembered them and placed them on his
innocent Son. How good was that for
Jesus, who is good? How good is this for
us, who are not good? Yet we walk in
freedom while the Almighty King of the universe, in all goodness and godliness,
walked the way of the cross.
He guides the humble in what is right and
teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for
those who keep the demands of his covenant.
Christ came as King and humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
death on a cursed cross. This is the
loving and faithful way the Lord walked even though he kept every demand of the
covenant.
As we reflect on Christ’s first
coming, and wait for Christ’s second coming, know that all the ways of the Lord
are loving and faithful for us, because Jesus Christ has kept the demands of
the covenant. So be humble, repent, seek
what is right, and allow him to teach you his way.
By your Holy Spirit, Lord, give us the power to trust your Word, to watch, and to pray. Amen.
