New Sermon Series: The Songs of God's People

I’m sure all of us can pinpoint a number of songs that have formed the soundtrack of our lives. Many of us have a special song designated ‘our song’ with our spouse. Most of us can’t help but singing along to whatever hits came out when we were in high school. I’ll never forget my soccer team’s hype music, the songs that played at a particular going away party, or the Backstreet Boys hit that played at my first middle school dance. And for some reason Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U, will forever be associated in my mind with The Chronicles of Narnia books because that was what my mom was listening to when I began to read them on one long car trip!

The songs that we listen to and sing both mold us and reveal us. I sometimes invite amusement when I share about my love for musical theater, but what I love about the genre is the way songs can show the inner-workings of a human heart; sometimes speech is not enough to capture what we are feeling.

For generations, Christians have had their own songbook that both molds and reveals the narratives of our lives: The book of Psalms. This summer at Redeemer, we will embark on a new sermon series, "The Songs of God's People: A Study Through the Psalms." The series starts on June 12^th and will conclude in August. 

Martin Luther said this of the psalms:

“The Psalter is a little book for every Christian. Every reader, whatever his circumstances, finds in the Psalter psalms and words which rhyme with his own circumstances. It seems to him as if the psalm had been placed there for his sake alone, and that even he himself could neither write, nor find, nor hope for a better psalm. When they are well received, such life-rhyming words also offer the benefit of assurance that the reader is in fellowship with the psalmists.”

The image of “life-rhyming words” is fitting for us. The psalms do not rhyme the way we expect poetry to rhyme. Their tempo and rhythm is different than modern English poems and songs. But we find the echoes of our own life experiences in these songs of lament, praise and confidence.

There are times in our lives when we need the words of lament that come to us from Psalm 13: “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?” But we also need to climb to the heights of thanksgiving when God graciously hears our pleas for help, such as in Psalm 116:

“I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me. I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the LORD: ‘O LORD, save me!’ The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.”

At the same time, the psalms lift our eyes to something more than our personal emotional world. In the historical epics, wisdom psalms, prophecies, coronations, and songs of ascent, God is shaping our hope and strengthening our confidence in the better world of his kingdom that he inaugurated in Jesus. We need Psalm 21 to remind us that the true King, Jesus, will never be moved: “For the king trusts in the LORD; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken.” We need the comfort of being reminded by Psalm 99 that God reigns over all the earth: “The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble, he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. Great is the LORD in Zion; he is exalted over the nations.” We need the confidence we receive from Psalm 106 that God's determination to save his people will never go away: “Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people…Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress, when he heard their cry. For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.”

The Psalms were ultimately Jesus’ songbook and his prayer book as well. When he needed to describe himself as the foundation of what God was revealing to Israel, he called himself the cornerstone the builders rejected (Psalm 118). When he was struggling with the betrayal of Judas, he likely had Psalm 41 in mind: “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” When he was on the cross, his lament was the lament of Psalm 22: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” And when he gave up his spirit to God on the cross he quoted Psalm 31:5: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

This is why Tim Keller could call his devotional on the Psalms, The Songs of Jesus, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer says "...in the Psalms, the Son of God who became man, and who carried all the weakness of the human race in his own flesh, pours out the heart of all humanity before God, stands in our place and prays for us. He has known torment, pain, guilt, and death deeper than we have."

The Psalms are a gift given to us for our growth, encouragement, and to point us to Christ. It is my hope this summer that the psalms would help us to know Jesus better, aid our prayer life, reveal our need for God, and help us to grow. Join us this summer as we delve into the riches of the psalms together!

Rev. Matt Beham is RPC Associate Pastor of Spiritual Formation.