Lutheran Brethren Church of Nampa

Aleph : Blessed

For today’s sermon, we’re embarking on a new sermon series walking through Psalm 119. If you’ve got your bible open in front of you, chances are that Psalm 119 is broken up into 22 parts with each part beginning with a funny little Hebrew letter, or it has the name of a Hebrew letter spelled out before each part. This is because for each section of Psalm 119 the first words start with each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. As you can see on my graphic here, this section starts with the letter, “aleph,” the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The next section starts with, “beth,” the second letter. And so on all the way through the whole alphabet. So as I bring each of these parts of Psalm 119 to you, we’re going to use each of these words as a kind of focus in understanding what each part has to say to us.

So let’s get into it! Psalm 119, verses 1-8, begin with the letter, “aleph,” and the word that begins with that letter is, “ashre.” That word in English is, “blessed.” And it has a range of meaning including “happy” and “fortunate” but it’s core meaning is to be blessed. And we typically do translate that word as “blessed” because its meaning goes much deeper than the simple feeling of happiness or the temporary fortunes this life can offer. It is much richer than that. It’s a state of being where inwardly we’re content, at peace, fulfilled, and joyful, and outwardly we are blessed by God by having him look upon us with joy and with favor. It’s the fullness of all of that that comes with the idea of being blessed.

Blessed by the Law

So, what follows, then, is how a person achieves this blessed state. We’re given instruction on how we can find this peace, contentment, fulfillment, and joy. And it’s pretty simple. Verses one and two: “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart.” If your way is blameless, you are blessed. And it’s helpful that the writer of this Psalm goes on to describe what it means to be blameless; it is to walk in the law of the Lord. Or, in the original language, to walk in the law of Yahweh. And I mention “Yahweh” here because that is God’s personal name. That is the name by which He wanted to be known, and by using it, His desire for a personal relationship with His creation is emphasized. That’s important because His law is an extension of that personal relationship. As our Creator and our Father, it was very important to Him that He show to us what it is to be His creation and His children. Yahweh’s law shows us exactly that. Being image-bearers of God means that we think and act as He would in any given situation in life, so He gives us His law in order to guide us into reflecting His own goodness and holiness into the world around us. Or, in the words of verse one here, to walk in the law of Yahweh. To conduct our lives in such a way so that we never depart from the goodness and holiness reflected in His law.

With that, verse two is a repetition of verse one, but with a slightly different shade. The testimonies mentioned there are simply another way of saying, “God’s law.” And so, to be blessed is to observe – to to know and engage in – the behaviors His law requires. Not so different from the idea of walking in His law. But verse two goes on to describe the motivation behind observing God’s laws, and that is to seek Him with all your heart. Of course, we’re not talking about seeking Him as if He’s lost and nobody knows where He is. Rather, it’s the idea that we seek to learn all that we can about Him. To seek to learn His will and His ways; to seek to learn what His motivations are and what He desires for His creation, and to do those things with the same motivation He has, the same desires He has, and to act in the same way He would, again, in any given situation in our lives.

And how can we not be blessed when we do that, right? I mean, just look at the laws that made the top ten list. How wonderful is it to know that there is but one God, and that we are worshiping Him in Spirit and in Truth. How blessed are you to know that you value God’s creation so much that you wouldn’t even consider taking the life of another person? How blessed are you to be perfectly faithful to your husband or wife; to be so totally devoted to them that you become an image of God’s perfect devotion to you. How blessed are you to be so completely contented with everything you have that you never look at your neighbor’s possessions and want the same things? Those are just a handful of the top ten laws and already you can see the blessedness there is in observing and walking in His laws. You will truly have a blessed life if you are diligent in keeping all of the laws God has revealed to you.

And what’s more is the fact that by walking in God’s laws and observing them, you will have the confidence of being perfectly righteous in all that you do. Think about that! You would never have to second-guess yourself as to whether or not you’re doing the right thing. You wouldn’t have to look back at your past behaviors and feel the guilt or shame of having done something wrong. You wouldn’t have to apologize for anything you’ve done because you will have done exactly what it right. And along those same lines, if you’re ever criticized, ostracized, or persecuted for what you’re doing, that won’t really matter because you will still have the confidence of knowing that you are right and your critics are wrong. What a blessing that is, right? The confidence of righteousness is no small thing. It is a place where you can truly rest because you know that against the things you do, there is no law. To paraphrase Galatians 5:23.

Blasted by the Law

But therein lies the problem. You aren’t blessed in this way, are you? I mean, let’s break it down. Are you blameless? That is, if God were to show up right here, right now and look to blame you for doing something wrong, can you look Him straight in the eye and say that you’re blameless? Can you say to Him, “Lord, I have always walked the path of your law and I have never strayed to one side or the other?” Or, as you reflect on your life up until this point, can you honestly say that you have always lived up to what it means to be His creation and His child? That you’ve consistently and accurately borne the image of God to the world around you? That you have always thought and acted as He himself would have in any given situation in your life?

And have you sought Him with all your heart? Has your sole passion in life been to know God as well as you could possibly know him, out of an earnest desire to submit entirely to His will and His ways. Or have you submitted to your own will and your own ways? Have you submitted to your own motivations and desires, deciding that what you think and what you feel and how you think you should act are better than whatever God thinks? See, as beautiful as this psalm is, and how absolutely true it is that you are blessed by following God’s law, the truth of that blessing falls apart around you as you realize that you have not done what is required in order to be blessed. The law, now, rather than being a blessing to you becomes a curse. It becomes the means by which you are shown how you’ve strayed from your loving Creator’s path, how you’ve sought after your own heart, how you have done unrighteousness, and how you have not kept His precepts diligently.

And now that the law is a curse to you, God is no longer a loving Creator and caring Father to you. He is a judge, a merciless prosecutor, a source of terror who never was and never will be appeased by your failed attempts to obey His law. You are no longer blessed by Him, but condemned, because you have taken His own image and trampled it into the dirt. The psalmist knew this all too well. We see that in verses 5, 6, and 8. “Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes!” He knows full well that he has not kept God’s statutes, just like you haven’t. “Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Your commandments.” If his ways were established to keep God’s statutes, he wouldn’t have cause to be ashamed. But that’s not him. He is ashamed when He looks at the commandments of God because he has not kept them. Same for you and me. The law, already a curse, is also a source of shame to us as we know full-well that we ought to have lived out our lives in the way God intended us to, but we’re ashamed to find that we haven’t. We are an embarrassment, a failure, in being children of God, and we can only cry out to God in the same way: “Do not forsake me utterly!”

Blessed by God

And that, my friends, is the cry of faith. That is the cry of someone who has come face-to-face with their unrighteousness before God. It is the cry of someone who is painfully aware of their own faithlessness to God, but who still trusts in the faithfulness of God. And, boy, is it a cry that God loves to answer. When your sin-broken heart cries out, “Do not forsake me utterly!” God’s response is, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” His answer is, “I am so glad you stopped trying to be righteous yourself, so that I can be righteous for you.”

See, the psalmist here, again, is absolutely right. God’s judgments are righteous. If His law calls you a sinner, you’re a sinner indeed. And if His gospel calls you righteous, you are righteous indeed. It it is entirely based on the person and work of Jesus Christ that He calls you righteous. How? Let’s go right back to the beginning. Jesus Christ is blessed. He is blessed because his way is blameless. He never departed once to the left or the right when walking in the law of the Lord. Jesus Christ always observed God’s testimonies. He knew and engaged in all of the behaviors that law required. Right from the beginning, He was circumcised as the law required. He submitted to John’s baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as God called Him to. He celebrated – with perfect fidelity and piety – He celebrated all of the days and festivals the law required. He alone sought God with all His heart, never taking His eyes off of God even as the world and as Satan himself tempted him to seek his own way instead. He diligently kept the precepts of God and never did a single ounce of unrighteousness.

And what happens when this blessed, blameless, perfectly righteous man willingly takes on the entirety of your sin? He gives back to you his own perfect righteousness. By His gift of atonement and by your acceptance of that gift, you are now the one whose way is blameless. You are now the one who walks in the law of Yahweh, your Father. You are the one who observes His testimonies and seeks Him with all your heart. You are – listen now! – you are the one who does no unrighteousness because, in God’s eyes, you do walk in His ways. Because of Christ’s atonement and His gift of righteousness to you, you always have and always will keep His precepts. Now, you can honestly and confidently cry out to God, “I am established to keep your statutes! I am not ashamed when I look upon all Your commandments! I do give thanks to You with uprightness of heart! I do keep Your statues. Yet not I, but through Christ in me.” You are now blessed. You have the confidence – not the pride, mind you; you’re not the one who achieved this – but you have the confidence now to, like I said before, if God were to show up here and now, you have the confidence to stand before Him unashamed. If he asks you if you’re blameless, you can look Him straight in the eyes and say, “Yes. Praise and glory to you, yes, because you saw fit to credit me with Christ’s righteousness.” And He would nod, and smile, and embrace you as the beloved child that you are.

How’s that for a great way to start the New Year? Blessed, blameless, and unashamed. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray…