DUNCAN/Our story
If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Psalm 106. The story of the Israelites is recorded for us and what we see is that the history of redemption remains our story today, and thus there are things that we can learn from it as Christian disciples. There’s so much that we won’t have time to look at in this Psalm, but I want to draw your attention to three things that this Psalm teaches us about being true disciples.
I. True Disciples Worship God with Their Lives
The first thing I want you to see about true disciples is how they worship the Lord with their lives and not just with their lips. You see this in the first three verses of the Psalm. The psalmist begins with: “Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!” And then listen to the question that he asks in verse 2: “Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all His praise?” The psalmist gives the answer in verse 3: “Blessed are they who observe justice who do righteousness at all times!”
What the psalmist is saying is that there’s got to be integrity between your lips and your life. Disciples worship the Lord with their lives, and thus they worship the Lord with their lips. You worship the Lord with the whole of your life. Sometimes you worship the Lord by doing things that you would rather not do, but you do them not only because you love your families or because you love your friends, but because you love God, and you want to worship Him.
Sometimes you worship the Lord by extending forgiveness in relationships or repairing relationships by asking for forgiveness. Jesus says that if you’re on your way to worship and you remember that somebody has something against you, stop and go be reconciled to your brother, and then go to worship. One way you can ready yourself to worship is by forgiving one another. That’s why Peter says to husbands, “Husbands, be loving in the way you treat and speak to your wives, or else your prayers will not be heard.” What’s the point? The way you live your life measurably affects your capacity to worship the living God. And the psalmist is telling us here that those who worship the Lord are those who walk their talk. With their lives and with their lips, they worship God.
II. True Disciples See God’s Larger Story
The second thing we learn from this Psalm is this: Disciples understand that the story of God’s people is going somewhere, and they see themselves as part of that larger story. Look at verses 4 – 5. I love the way the psalmist puts it: “Remember me, O Lord, when You show favor to Your people.” Now notice that that’s a personal prayer, but it’s set in the context of what God is doing for all His people. The psalmist wants to have a personal part of the blessings of God, but he sees his part in the blessings of God as being incorporated into God’s purposes for all His people.
If you turn on your television and look at the majority of what passes for Christian teaching today, you would get the idea that the main purpose of God in this world is to bless individuals – to make you healthier, or handsomer or prettier, or wealthier, or happier in some way. But if you asked the question, “Well, how does your personal happiness relate to the blessing and the happiness of the people of God?” you wouldn’t really get an answer from the teaching and preaching that you hear on television. In other words, we are fundamentally individualistic in the way that we approach religion, and how God blesses the other people of God is of lesser concern to us. Mostly we want to know how He’s going to bless “me.” I love the way the psalmist puts it, though. The psalmist’s enjoyment of the blessings of God is set squarely in the context of God’s blessings for all His people.
Christian disciples care about the Lord’s plan for His whole people, and they see their salvation as a part of a larger plan that God is accomplishing. This story that is unfolding in God’s redeeming history of His people is our story, and the story is going somewhere, and we’re a part of it. And that means that we care about what God is doing for all His people in all places in all times, and not just for ourselves. We come to God personally and even individually by faith in Jesus Christ, but when we do so we come into a great family. And one of the marks of true disciples is that they care about other believers.
III. True Disciples Understand Grace
Thirdly, true disciples understand grace. Look at verse 6: “Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.” That announcement precedes a painfully long and detailed catalogue of how the people of God have sinned and entered wickedness and rebellion against the living God. And what’s the point? The point is that it’s obvious from this story that the people of God are not entitled to God’s mercy. No one can stand up before God and say, “You owe me mercy.” The whole point of this catalogue of sin of the unfaithfulness of the people of God is to remind us of grace. We’re not entitled to God’s mercy, so when God shows us mercy it’s not what we deserve; it’s because of His great love and lovingkindness. This whole passage reminds us of the grace of God. Just go back and look from verses 7 – 43 at how specific he is in detailing the rebellion and sin of God’s people. And this whole catalogue of sins is a witness to the gospel. It is a witness that God’s forgiveness is not based on our faithfulness, it’s based on His grace. It’s all about Him. It’s not about us. Isn’t that one of the great lessons of this Psalm?
It has nothing to do with what you’ve done; it has everything to do with what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on the cross. And every time in the deepest woe of your sin that you cry out to God by faith and say, “Lord God, forgive me because of Christ, forgive me because of Your grace,” you get to bear witness to what? To the gospel! To a watching world! That’s what this long catalogue of sins is all about. It’s all about the gospel. It’s all about the principle that God’s forgiveness is not based on our faithfulness, but on His lovingkindness. And the people that understand this are freed, happy, blessed, forgiven sinners whose lives have been turned inside out because they’ve realized that God’s grace is greater than all their sins.
Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III is Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson.