Monday, February 7, 2011

The Favorable Face of God

Have you ever heard people complaining about someone getting in their face? Usually it’s heard in the context of a confrontation within our culture. What it can mean is that someone is too much involved in another’s personal space with a hostile attitude. It’s interesting how we use the word face in our communication, don’t you think? And if you haven’t thought about it, use this opportunity to think with me as I use the word in the following ways: You should have seen the expression on his face! The guilt was written all over her face. It looks like you have to face the facts…face up to it…don’t hide your face…you have nothing to be ashamed of…I can’t bear to face him. And a phrase you’ll find closing so many love letters, I can’t wait to see your face!
Today’s message is another chapter in Becoming Fruit-Bearing Disciples in a Kingdom Culture as we explore the meaning of Psalm 27. The sermon title is The Favorable Face of God. Let us begin as we hear the Word of the LORD.
The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread? When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, in spite of this I shall be confident.
One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice, and be gracious to me and answer me. When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.” Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me up.
Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me in a level path because of my foes. Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD.

It seems wise for us to first try to capture the meaning of what the Psalmist may have had in mind when he speaks about the face of the LORD. Realizing that the Psalms are written in poetic language we can first set to rest that God has a face similar to what people are used to seeing on other people. The psalmist is writing in language that expresses meaning so we can understand. We read in the Bible of the LORD’s strong right arm, His feet on a footstool, and His face that shines upon us. This language is called anthropomorphic and can be defined as the attribution of a human form, human characteristics, or human behavior to nonhuman things such as a deity. So to interpret rightly what the word of God is saying, and whether we should even listen to the rest of this sermon, it seems good for us to think about what it means to seek the face of the LORD.
Biblically speaking, to seek the face is to desire an audience with a prince, or some great sovereign and powerful ruler, to seek His favor. Seeking God’s face assumes some of the same meaning…seeking favor with a Sovereign Ruler. It is a phrase that is symbolic in its figurative language to express the presence of God. In Genesis 3:8 we read that the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. The word for presence is literally face. The phrase in the face of God can mean in the presence of God and is often translated that way. In the Bible we can read that God hides His face, which means that He withdraws His presence, along with His favor. This can be understood as a consequence of man’s personal disobedience to God, the natural consequence of humanity’s sinful condition. For God to hide His face is synonymous with rejection.
In light of this understanding this psalm provides us with life’s progression, both physical and spiritual. If the Psalmist is David, and I believe that it is, then we are given incredible insight into his life. Here he has written about what it has been like for him throughout his life experience. His journey from the fields of a shepherd all the way to the palace of a king is given to us in a thumbnail sketch. The psalm provides us with a progression of life. Physical and spiritual life. A life that bears fruit. Bearing fruit comes with the understanding of living while we are yet dying, and understanding of dying while we are yet living…living and dying. Growing. Maturing. Bearing fruit.
In the middle of the psalm, verse 8 to be exact, I think we find the hinge verse that the whole psalm revolves around and develops from: When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.” This exchange between a man and his God is central to the teaching of the passage. It is the essence of a relationship with God. God initiates contact and gives the psalmist the desire to seek His face. The psalmist realizes this and makes the commitment. This is the psalmist’s testimony. God drew Him to seek His favor, to pursue His presence. The questions to ask today are:
Why does the Psalmist “seek the face of the LORD”? Why should we seek His face?
There are at least three clear motives that we can discover from the text.

I. THE PSALMIST SEEKS THE FACE OF THE LORD TO PUT HIS FEAR IN PERSPECTIVE. (1-3)
He seeks the LORD because he is afraid. Humans have many reasons to be afraid. One of the instinctive and primal fears is the fear of darkness. Many threats to our well-being are hidden there. We have learned that the fallen human condition has planted this fear in the mind because of our fallen nature. In Genesis 3, God finds Adam hiding…because he was afraid. He was afraid because his eyes were opened to the wrong reality…and closed to God’s truth. Some things humans would never again be able to understand apart from the LORD because they had trusted their lives to the counsel of the serpent, or “the shining one,” instead of the LORD God’s illumination. The psalmist reflects upon his need for God’s light to dispel the darkness and illuminate the surroundings of his fearful environment.
The LORD is my light…Whom shall I fear… is the psalmist’s proclamation. The use of the word whom instead of what is instructive for us today. It seems that we as a society are more afraid of what…coupled with if. What if I cannot produce at my job which has ever-increasing demands and I am not able to provide for myself? What if my health deteriorates and I do not have adequate insurance? What if I lose my retirement and my plans for the future are not to be realized? Legitimate concerns for the days of our lives. These are fears that are focused on the physical life. But in the days of the psalmist, the fear was more fundamental…more basic. He was afraid for his very survival. Some things you can live without…but you can’t live without your life.
The psalmist may have been afraid of thieves who wanted to steal his sheep and would not hesitate to take his life as well. Perhaps the preparation of guarding the sheep at night, looking up into the night sky, at the majesty of His Maker’s night lights, he came to truly understand that the LORD is my Shepherd… This kind of illumination would sustain him in dark days ahead when he would flee for years from the wrath and envy of a king who desired to kill him. If he stopped at the wrong place or made one wrong move, Saul would have his hands on him…then his sword would be within him.
He is afraid because death is never far from him. David lived with this reality. And sometimes he hid in the darkness so death may not find him. Adam had done that as well. Knowing that God had promised death to him as a result of his sin…Adam hid from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden…Humanity hid from the face of God…and we hide to this day. Some folks are so busy that they never consider that death is so close by. We don’t want to think about it until the time comes. But who among us can say for sure when that time will be? Are you afraid to die?
David had learned this secret…God wanted to save him when no one else can. God can save you when you cannot hide anymore. God can save you when death is near. That’s why he could say The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread? David had learned the perspective about fear that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 10:28: Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. This is a good word for us in days ahead. A proper fear, or worship, of God puts all fear into perspective. We say we trust God for our eternal lives. So what is keeping us from trusting Him with our earthly lives? Do we really think of seeking God at all or are we too afraid to think about Him? What if He called us into His presence at this moment? What would that be like for you…terror or tranquility? Do you trust God? Consider the Psalmist’s heart conversation with God…it is possible because he has first had a heart conversion from God.

When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.”

II. THE PSALMIST SEEKS THE FACE OF THE LORD TO PLEAD FOR HIS ETERNAL PRESENCE. (4-10)

One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple… You have been my help; do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me up.

He perceives the Presence of the LORD as his sanctuary. He asks to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life. What a contrast to our popular (and permit me to say), shallow question that some may have been exposed to: Would you like to go to Heaven when you die? What’s wrong with that question, someone may ask. Nothing wrong with the question except it simply doesn’t go far enough. Most people would like to go to Heaven when they die. Especially if they believe in its existence and especially when they consider hell as an alternate destination. Many people have had this question presented to them and they have expressed their desire to go to heaven. Someone has led them in a prayer that repeats what the leader says and after they’re finished, there is a proclamation that this person is guaranteed a home in heaven. The problem comes that the person never intended to seek the face of God…their heart never talked to Him at all. And they live the rest of their life with no visible change in the way they think, speak, and act…waiting to die, never converted, believing they have a reservation in eternity. They never even consider that Heaven is all about the Presence of God. The Psalmist has a deeper reality. He needs this sanctuary in the here and now, not the by and by. He desires the Presence of the LORD because he is aware that he is lost and alone without Him. He knows what I know. If you’re looking out into some future experience, waiting for your home on high, that is not enough. God desires more than that. So should we. You don’t have to wait until you die to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of your life. The future is here and now. How will we someday live with God if we have never learned how to live with God? This begins with a heart change, evidenced by the desire to be with God and God to be with you.
The benefit of dwelling with the LORD is to experience the fruit of worship. When we rightly bear the good fruit of godly worship we will reap an unsurpassed harvest in our human experience. The right worship of God can bring us into the deepest places and set us upon the highest places. When we worship the LORD it brings Him glory and it brings us blessing. The temple of the LORD was still a future reality in David’s time but it was a yearning of his heart nonetheless. But God had gently told David that it wasn’t his job to build Him a temple. A house is just too small for a God who has the whole earth as His footstool. The LORD reminded the Psalmist, even though he was a king in his castle, that the LORD was building a place for His people to dwell…in Him.
The psalmist seeks the face of the LORD in order to behold His beauty. In the late twelfth century, about the time of the Crusades in the region known as the Holy Land, a young boy named Baldwin the Fourth was named King of Jerusalem. When this boy began to ascend to the throne as a teenager it was discovered that he was infected with leprosy. He was historically known as the Leper King. The fictionalized version was made into a recent movie named The Kingdom of God. In the movie King Baldwin wore a mask to conceal his hideous image. The mask was an invention of the movie creator and in the story he depicted Baldwin as essentially a peace-lover instead of the warrior king that his claims that he was. His disability as a leper was also diminished. But leprosy was a sorrowful state of life. In Biblical times, leprosy was a visual picture of sin in action. A physical picture of a spiritual reality. Sin conceals itself from us as to what it really is. As we think through this illustration consider that apart from God’s ability to illuminate our darkened minds, we have the appearance of this world seen through eyes that cannot see the truth. The eyes of sinful humanity have been opened to that which should have remained closed and have been closed to the truth of the Living God. The true Leper King, the ruler of this world, surely wears a mask. And the psalmist has seen enough of the ugliness of this world to desire something different. Are we more like the psalmist who knows that the LORD is good and His goodness is greatly to be desired? Or do we even think about the beauty of the LORD and its effects on our lives? Only God’s goodness is beautiful. The mask is off. The ruler of the world has been exposed to us. Do not be satisfied with what the appearance of our culture displays in its hollow promises and flashy presentations. Behind the scene there is a Leper King who has come to kill and steal and destroy. The LORD, the High King of Heaven, reveals His beauty to the ones who will seek His face!
The psalmist is talking about a time when he feels the most alone. His mother and father have forsaken him. Perhaps he has lost them to death. Many of you know that some of our loneliest times are times when we remember that our mothers and fathers are no longer with us in the land of the living. David proclaims that there is a future hope…the LORD will lift our heads …the LORD will raise us up. David saw a future day in the Presence of the LORD beholding the face of God. In two thousand years of funeral services multitudes of preachers have proclaimed the words of Jesus in John 14:
Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. These words of Jesus have comforted untold multitudes of mourners. For some of those who mourn the death of loved ones, there is a promise of a place for them and their loved ones. They will see them again is part of their understanding. But the truth of the words of the LORD brings us to a deeper meaning. Heaven is a place for the people of God…to worship the LORD…it is the place for which we have been created to be…in the Presence of the LORD…living with Him…seeking His face!

III. THE PSALMIST SEEKS THE FACE OF THE LORD TO PREVAIL IN HIS CIRCUMSTANCE AS HE PERSEVERES WITH THE LORD. (11-14)

Desperation is a powerful motivator of human behavior. Listen to the heart of someone seeking holiness: I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. It is more than probable that David came to this understanding after his great sin of adultery and murder. After this incident, the life of God’s good king spiraled downward. It was never the same. Sin and shame not only broke his heart, its destructive impact left its mark on his children and his children’s children. How could a man after God’s own heart be in such a desperate and sinful state? No doubt he became too distracted to seek the face of the LORD. He lived for a season under the wretched burden of his sin. In Psalm 51 listen to his heart cry:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:10-12)

Our desperate condition as sinners takes us to a lowly place. If you have ever been under conviction of the Holy Spirit, if you had ever been in a place where you thought you would surely die…then you have never had the depth of your sin revealed to you. When we have enjoyed living with God, seeking His face, we know that when He comes to us to reveal our sin, it exposes our desperate condition. The next thing we do when we see our souls in misery determines whether we will bear godly fruit. We must be restored. And the good news of our condition is that the Word of God reveals a gracious and compassionate God.
The psalmist had come to believe in the will of the Living God to not only restore but sustain. We too must come to believe that it is God’s will for us to live…and not die. Do you believe that the goodness of God is greater than your present circumstance? We can trust the LORD. We can seek His favor.
Trust is the fruit of a human being seeking the face of the LORD. The psalmist had discovered that in times of despair that he could trust God to help Him. His testimony is that God Himself helps us to persevere. It is here that our spiritual lives will struggle the most. We often are like children. We have not learned the discipline of waiting.

Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD.

It is the mark of a spiritually maturing disciple to understand that God is doing something with our lives. He is developing a trust level that was broken at the beginning of humanity. It takes time and trials. When we wait on the LORD we take our place in the universe. Waiting is necessary to hear Him say, “Seek My face.” Consider your response to Him today. Can you hear Him? Are you still enough to hear His still, small voice? Do you know that it is the will of God to seek His face? He would not be saying it if He did not mean it. Look now and behold the favorable face of God.
Finally, I have discovered this great truth from spending time with the Psalmist. A man’s spiritual life is shaped by talking about God and talking to God. It involves two great parts of one great theme. Both are necessary and need to be cultivated for the Kingdom Culture Disciple to bear good fruit. If you only talk about God to others, about how much you love Him and trust Him, and never talk to Him, there is a serious disconnect in this relationship. If you only talk to Him without talking to others about Him, this falls far short of His purpose for the lives of His people. We are to be fruitful and multiply, sowing the good seed of godly fruit, growing up into God and God’s word as our witness growing out of our hearts.

As we move to concluding this message let us reflect and practice what the LORD has spoken to us in His word: Let us seek His face…Let us savor His favor… We have found Him in His word…let us seek Him in our prayer.

When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.”

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