Don’t Be Like That

Father, we do ask that your name would be praised, that the meditations of our hearts, the words of my mouth would be pleasing to you, acceptable in your sight, a rock and our redeemer, our help, our shield, would you help us to trust you more and help us to be encouraged by the good news that idols are vanity, but you alone are worthy of glory and honor. It’s in your sons and we pray. Amen.

If you would open to Psalm 115, we will read this before reflecting on it for a little while tonight. Psalm 115 says this. Not osseous us oh Lord, not to us but to your name give glory. For the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Why should the nations say where is their God, our God is in the heavens. He does all that He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak, eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear, noses but do not smell. They have hands but do not feel, feet but do not walk, and they do not make a sound in their throats. Those who make them become like them. So do all who trust in them. Oh, Israel trust in the Lord, He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron trust in the Lord, He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord trust in the Lord, He is their help and their shield. The Lord has remembered us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel, He will bless the house of Aaron, He will bless those who fear the Lord both the small and the great. May the Lord give you increase, you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. The dead do not praise the Lord nor do any who go down into silence, but we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forever more praise the Lord. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

Those of you who enjoy singer-song writers or a lot of different artists may really appreciate a well-constructed song. Now obviously it is not across the board, this is not a universal statement, but many really good lyrical songs sort of have a specific flow, a progression, a way that it sort of functions. Typically, a song will draw you in, it’ll present some sort of tension, it’ll give some sort of resolution, it’ll kind of ebb and flow as the story goes, it will build on itself and usually it’s gonna argue or maybe make the case for one big specific point. A great example of this, actually a great example in a lot of ways of this passage is by the poet Tim McGraw. Old Tim McGraw, I don’t think he’s been relevant since I was maybe 8 years old, but Tim McGraw has a classic song, classic to me at least that is called Don’t Take the Girl. It starts very famously, “Johnny’s daddy was taking him fishing when he was 8 years old”, and then it goes through whole sort of narrative where he, as a little kid he doesn’t want the girl to come, don’t take the girl, bring any of my friends, and then fast forward 10 years and all the sudden wouldn’t you know it, he is in love with this girl and they’re out at a movie and someone comes and tries to take the girl and he says, no, no, no, take my keys to my car, take my wallet, take my car for a spin, just don’t take the girl. And then five years later she is giving birth and there’s some complications apparently and they say, hey we’ve gotta roll her back, you’ve gotta get out of here and he falls to his knees, and he prays to God, he says don’t take the girl, take my life instead. And then it ends with Johnny’s daddy was taking him fishing when he was 8 years old. My dad loves this song, and he probably uses this song as an illustration more than any other song in the world so dad if you’re watching out there, I hope you’re proud. Also, Tim McGraw, if you’re watching out there, hit me up, I don’t know, let’s be friends. The song, Don’t Take the Girl has a very clear structure and flow. It builds on itself; it’s telling a story and yet it’s sort of meant to focus our attention on one big particular point. Well not all psalms do this, but many times what we see in psalms is they sort of have the same ebb and flow. They build on themselves, they progress, they kinda take you through a narrative and many times you can pick out one main theme. Now this is a side note, but the little italicized headings that are at the top of some of your chapters or all of your chapters and many little subheadings, those are not inspired, okay, those are put in there by Bible editors, I think Crossway does ESV so right here they said to your name give glory. Fair enough? There’s a lot more people in that Crossway committee than me, obviously God’s name is always going to be glorified in scripture, but maybe more accurately the theme of this whole chapter would be more along the lines of trust.

Obviously God’s name will get the glory, that’s how it starts, that’s how it ends, but the big concept that we are going to hone in on here is trust and one of the ways that we’re going to see this is through another structure that Hebrew poetry uses called a kiasm or chiasm. You may have heard about this before, it’s gonna be hard to depict but it’s concept A, concept B, concept C, concept B, concept A, so it kinda moves forward, you hit a peak almost and then it moves backwards. So, what we’re going to do right here to begin with first is look at what we can learn from the flow, the progression of this psalm and then look at what the chiasm, the structure of this psalm sort of focuses in on so very quickly look at how verse 3 leads to verse 4. So conceptually 3 and 4 are linked. Verse 3 he says, our God is in the heavens, He does all that he pleases. And then he builds on that concepts and he says, where as our God is in the heavens and he does what he pleases, their idols are on the earth, they’re manmade and they can’t do anything. So, the argument builds on itself.

Verse 8 says, so do all who trust in them and then verse 9 says, oh by the way Israel, trust in the Lord. Again, builds on itself. Same with verses 11 and 12, the Lord is their help and their shield, He is remembered, He will bless. Talking about how He helps, how He shields his people. Verse 13 He says, both the great and the small, then verse 14 mentions increase to you and your children. Sort socially the familial grade and small, even right there. Verse 15, the Lord made heaven and earth. And then wouldn’t you know it, verse 16 says, the heavens of the Lord and the earth is given to the children of man so this whole psalm is meant to sort of bring you along a logical flow of thought where you are starting to learn more about God, you’re starting to see God more clearly so we’re gonna connect that sort of structure with the chiasm structure and see what do these two things relate about the main theme of this passage. So, look at what happens here. Verse 1 through 3 could be summarized as God is worthy of praise. Verse 4 through 8 summarizes idols are dead and inactive. Verses 9 through 11 talk about who God is and what He has done. Verse 12, the very beginning says this, the Lord has remembered us, what he has done, and he will bless us what he will do so that’s sort of the peak, verse 12. And then it starts to work backward, verse 12 and 13 says again who God is and what he will do. Verse 14 through 15, God is living and active. Verses 16 through 18 summarizing again God is worthy of praise, He stands alone in the heavens. So, all of this passage, the progression of the passage and the structure of the passage is more or less meant to draw us into this really big idea that can be phrased something like this, the more we learn about God, the more reason we have to trust in Him alone. But even that might be a little bit faulty because it’s not necessarily about our investigation of God and our ability to scrounge up some knowledge about it, maybe more accurately the big picture, the big idea is this, the more God reveals to us about himself, the more reason we have to trust and praise Him alone. The more knowledge we acquire because of God’s revelation to us about who he is and what he’s done and what he will do, the more we are called to trust and praise him.

So, this passage is roughly going to answer three questions about the concept of trust. So, number one, what is trust? The three questions are going to be what, why, and how. Pretty simple. So, number one, what is trust? Look at verses 9 through 11, it’s really, really clear that the contrast here is whether you’re going to trust in the idols who are dead and inactive, or whether you’re going to trust in the Lord who is your help and your shield. We’re going to get to that in a second, but first, what is trust, how could we define it? Thankfully psalm 115 is not the only passage in the Bible that mentions the concept of trust. In fact, it’s in there quite a bit, you should check it out. But what is trust? Put really simply trust is belief, trust and faith have a very organic, almost overlapping relationship, trust can be a noun and a verb, faith is almost exclusively a noun often times. Apparently, there were archaic versions where you could faith something, but we don’t really use that language anymore so faith is a noun, trust is a noun and a verb, so when we’re called to trust in something we’re being called to put our faith in something, to believe in it, to rely upon it, to depend on something. Put really simply, trusting in something is having a default posture where you count on that thing, you sort of have an assumption that a certain thing is going to happen, you trust it, you place your confidence in it. Trust is sort of an instinct and yet it’s a gift and we’re gonna see a little bit more of that later, but trust is an instinct that makes us functionally believe and obey, submit to something that we think will help us. Trust is ultimately going to be that knee jerk that pulls us towards obeying and submitting to and believing in something that we think is right and good for us, something that is helpful for us.

Now the obvious thing that you all are thinking is Finding Nemo, the scene where Dory and Marlin are in the whale’s mouth and the whale flicks his tongue up and Dory and Marlin are holding on by their fins, I guess which scientifically I don’t think that’s possible, the only problem with that maybe. They’re holding on by their fins on the tastebuds of the whale and then Dory hears the whale say something and she goes, okay, and she like bales, she just pops off. Marlin catches her and he’s like, “What are you doing?” And she goes, “The whale says it’s time to let go”, and Marlin’s like, “Are you crazy, why would you ever do that, and she goes, “Just trust me, trust me on this” and he’s like, “Trust you, why would I trust you.” She goes, “Trust that’s what friends do.” And then Marlin lets go. Now that’s not the kind of trust that scripture is saying we ought to have, but unfortunately a lot of people think that that is characteristic of the Christian life. A lot of people think that trust and faith the way that Christians talk about it is the blind leap of faith, where it’s like, oh yeah, we don’t speak whale but I’ve got a feeling and I have a gut instinct that like whatever, let’s see if this whale’s moans and groans are actually going to save us. That’s not the kind of trust and faith that scripture is advocating for. It might be more close to, I hate to use a Google Maps illustration, but more along the lines of something like this, you’re driving in your car and you already have a three hour drive and then that terrible, terrible voice saying this terrible, terrible news comes over your speaker, “There has been an incident on I85 South causing an 82 hour delay.” It’s never, it says an 8-minute slowdown, it’s never an 8 minute slowdown, you will arrive tomorrow at midnight. Now in that moment you have to functionally decide what you’re going to trust in and there’s been a lot of people who have had to bear witness to this, but a lot of times I trust in my own instincts. I’m like, I know these roads pretty well, I’ve done this drive quite a bit of time so let me whip it right here and try and do a U-turn and then back it up and hop the median and you know clap three times or whatever and I think I can figure this one out. What I need to do in that moment is submit to the all-knowing Google Maps GPS data because they’re probably gonna give me the fastest route. There’s someone out there, some satellite out there who has way more information than I do and they’re saying, hey buddy trust me on this, you’re gonna want to get off on this exit.

What we have to do is trust in something and this whole passage is asking the question, what are you going to trust in and here’s the answer that it puts out there for us, verses 9 and 11, so clear, it says it, three times it says this, Israel trust in the Lord, He is their help and their shield. House of Aaron trust in the Lord, He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord trust in the Lord, he is their help and their shield. Over and over and over again scripture calls us to trust in the Lord because he is our help and our shield. Now not many of us, and there are some of you out there that quite literally work with like shields and guns and all these things all the time and that’s really hardcore and I’m scared of you, but there are not many of us who know what help and shield and strength and defender mean applicably so maybe put it in our own words. He is our power and our peace. If you’re feeling a little woo woo maybe you can say something like, He is your stability and your tranquility. God is our help and our shield. What this passage is saying is that God is the source, the sole source of our strength and our power that lies behind everything that turns out for our good. He is the only help that we have in this world because He is the source, He’s the power, He’s the strength behind all of it, and then He’s the shield, He’s your protector, He’s your defender, He brings peace, he brings comfort as our shield.

Now that bleeds into the second question, which is why. So, what is trust number two, why trust and particularly why trust God more than idols. Well, look at verse 12. Obviously verses 9 and 11 say all of it, He’s our help and our shield, He lays it out there and then He says this, the Lord has remembered us, He will bless us so why, two specific categories here, He remembers and He blesses, but I’m gonna break it down into three categories and sort encapsulate some of the verses before it. So, number one, why trust in the Lord, number one because He proves, He proves himself over and over again. Look at verse 1, that’s how it starts. Steadfast love, faithfulness, that’s not a one-time thing and it’s not explicitly or exclusively a futuristic thing, but steadfast love and faithfulness that is poured out by God is an everlasting-to-everlasting thing because it reflects His own character, it reflects his own nature. And so, He has proven himself to His people over and over and over again and He is distinct from idols in that He is living and active. Idols are dead, they’re lifeless, they’re inactive and God is living and active, He’s steadfast, He’s faithful, He’s our shield, He proves this throughout time and history so that’s number one.

Number two, because he promises. Number two distinct from idols He actually sets the course, He tells you what your future is going to be like. Idols are purely responsive, idols and in Old Testament times in the ancient cultures would have been responding to the desires and the goals of individuals. They would have said, hey Gods, like it even happened in the Old Testament reading that we read here, hey Baal we would like for you please, if it’s cool with you, to strike the alter with fire because we need to prove something. Idols in the Old Testament times would have been responsible “on the hook” for doing something for you based on what you ask of them and yet God himself says, I’m gonna do this for you, I’m gonna bless you not based on anything that you’ve asked me to do, but based on my own goodness, based on my own character. He is distinct from idols in that He sets the trajectory, He sets the plan, He’s not merely responsive to our desires and our goals.

Then number three, He prospers. Idols bring about death, God gives life. Where do we see that? Look at verses 4 through 7. Look at the characteristics of idols, silver and gold work of human hands. Okay, so, so far not a lot. Have mouths but cannot speak. Have eyes but they can’t see. Ears but can’t hear. Noses no smell. Hands no feel. Feet no walk. They can’t even make a sound in their throat. As I was reading that I just thought like, false idols cannot even clear their throat to try to get your attention. If your focus is on God on something else, they can’t be like, ahem, excuse me, they can’t even do that because they’re dead, they’re lifeless, they’re inactive. They have features, but no functionality. They look good on the outside, but there’s nothing going on on the inside, there’s no life. Now again in the Old Testament times these idols would not have been localized per se in the little like figurine that people may have had in their house or in their temple or anything like that, but rather they would have set up these icons, these carvings, or these ya know, again silver, gold, metal, all this stuff. They would have set these things up as representative of something else that they wanted to happen so the idols here are lifeless, but they’re supposed to represent substantive things that could actually be done for them. So, there were Gods who were in control of the rain, in control of the weather and what that’s really about is, hey weather God, rain God, I need you to rain so that my field will grow. And then there was another God who was in control of crops and harvests, and He would say, hey harvest God I need you to do this thing so that I can grow my crops and then sell them and make money. And then there were fertility Gods and then they would pray and say, hey fertility God I need you to give us children because we need more people to work the farm and we wanna have prestige and we want all these things so even in these Old Testament times, the things that people were looking for in idols was the exact thing that God himself provides. Power, peace, strength, shield, defense, help. That’s God’s jurisdiction, only God provides those things and yet God’s people time and time again have continued to run after idols.

Now it’s really easy to feel like this is very primitive. When we talk about idolatry in the Christian life nowadays, we maybe tend to kind of stick up our noses and say, ha ha, how silly of them carving idols, I would never do that. But remember, it wasn’t necessarily about the little carved icon, about the little image, it was about what they thought the idol could give them and so we may be a little more sophisticated or technologically advanced today, but the things in our hearts that we actually want often times we turn and direct towards idols ultimately. We still look for things in this world that can give us a sense of peace, that can give us a sense of strength or confidence that ultimately can only come in Christ alone. There are things that we look for, idols to do that only God can do. So, what are some of those things that you might look to, to provide that extra pep in your step for the day, to provide that sense of calm, that sense of everything’s going to be okay, it’s all gonna come together. What are some of those things really functionally. It might be personality, it might be, man I’m pretty charming, I’m a good conversationalist so I’m never anxious when I walk into a room because I feel like I can own it, I can work that room, I can win everybody over. It might be looks, it might be, you know what, it’s really hard to get mad at the ugly guy or mad at the attractive guy, whatever it is it might be communication style. You might think to yourself, well I’m a pretty effective persuader, convincer, so even if people are against me, I can convince them, I can win them over, I’m like a lawyer. It might be a particular set of skills, it might be these abilities that you have that you know are really, really valuable in your context, in your culture or it might be things like spread sheets. I’m not gonna pretend to know about spreadsheets. It might be bank statements, it might be financial assets, it might be your own posture of flexibility and open mindedness, all these things that ultimately we’re looking for security in and yet when we evaluate them with realistic eyes and we’re really, really serious about what they provide and what they can do for us, they’re just like the idols that we see here. They have maybe a look about them that says, you’ve got some features, but no functionality. They might look like they could provide some sort of security or stability and yet when it really comes down to it, no comfort, no relationship, nothing like that. What are we trying to use to do something that only God can do.

Now this seems like a pretty obvious moment to scare/encourage everybody about technology. But here’s the deal, parents and kids and teenagers alike, there’s a lot of talk about phone addiction or phone idolatry or idolizing social media or addicted to video games or something like that and that’s absolutely true, there are real things happening there, but here’s the problem, the idolatry, the heart of the issue is actually way worse than we think. Because it’s not ultimately about an app, it’s not ultimately about a game, it’s not ultimately about the newest iPhone, ya know, 1000 or whatever it is, it’s what we’re using that for, it’s what we think we can get from that, it’s about the substance. So, what are we looking for in social media apps, what are we looking for in video games, what are we looking for in any of the things that we might turn to as a conduit, as a mediator for something that we really long for, something that we really desire. Those things are ultimately going to be lifeless and that’s the problem, they’re not going to last long, they certainly aren’t going to last forever and the more you can become honest with yourself, the more you see how dissatisfying those quick hit little consumptive patterns and habits are. So, they’re not gonna last long and number two, even if they do help or can help very momentarily, if we’re going to them for the wrong reasons they’re going to be distorting and warping us to make us look like themselves and again this is the witness of scripture.

Verse 8, those who make them become like them so do all who trust in them. Becoming like them is an incredibly scary thing. In this context you would have been becoming like the lifeless idols, you would have been becoming like the deaf, blind, mute, handicapped idols that aren’t able to function properly. They’re disengaging, they’re shutting down, they’re being dismissed from the world, they’re completely cutting themselves off and yet there are other ways that we are becoming like the things that we idolize even now. We have a Goldendoodle named Dooley, he’s about 7ish, coming up on 7 years old and for better or worse Dooley takes after me in a lot of ways. Dooley is very excitable; he’s a huge extrovert. Whenever people come over he like, lalalala. You guys who have come to our community group and been around our house know what Dooley is like, really excited, big, all this stuff and then there are times where he will just completely crash, he’ll just wipe out because he is so tired. Dogs start to take on characteristics of their owners. You see this all the time and maybe you are walking around, ya know a brewery or something where people have dogs because they think that’s an okay thing to do, and you see like the sleek and sporty guy is carrying around like the Doberman Pincher and he is yoked out of his mind and his Doberman Pincher is like, yeah you better not. The really disheveled climber, whatever category you wanna give, the disheveled guy has like a crazy disheveled dog with the mopey hair and the tongue hanging out, it’s like blala. Dogs start to take on the characteristics of their owners. Lazy people typically breed lazy dogs. Anxious people sometimes have anxious dogs except if it’s like a help dog or whatever and then it’s the exact opposite so maybe that’s the one flaw to this illustration.

Often times we start to be conformed to the thing that is functionally our master. Dogs start to take after characteristics of their owners and likewise we start to take on characteristics of our idols. It’s really scary knowing that other people can more easily, more quickly diagnose and see what your idols are than you probably can. A lot of people told me for a long time Dooley is just like you, and I was like, I don’t see it, then after the 80th person I was like, I guess so. People can typically look at you, as long as they get to know you for a little while, maybe not right off the bat, but typically after being around you for a little while the people in your life are going to be able to sort of identify and pinpoint, okay what are some of the idols, what are some of the things that are shaping you, starting to make you the way that you are? People can tell and you can tell in others as well so if you want to get the inside scoop on what some of your idols are, examine yourself, start to ask yourself really hard questions, am I becoming more fickle, am I becoming more petty, am I becoming more high paced but in an anxious way with high expectations for entertainment value, am I becoming more manipulative, am I becoming less committal, am I becoming more wishy washy, have I stopped engaging spiritually, have I stopped listening during sermons, have I stopped singing, have I stopped praying, have I stopped caring? These are all great diagnostic questions that we need to ask ourselves. Are we truly trusting in the Lord or are we trusting in idols and that comes to point three. How, how do we do all this? Well as is often the case in scripture, a lot of times the propositional statements are also the prescriptions for us. So how do we do this, how can we not turn towards idols but turn towards the living God. Well, just as in verse 12 it says the Lord has remembered us, He will bless us, we ought to mirror that by remembering who God is and blessing Him.

So first remembering what God is like. We could camp out just in this passage alone and meditate on this for weeks and it probably wouldn’t get old. Think about the way that this passage is describing what God is like and what He does. He is full of steadfast love and faithfulness. He is transcendent, he is self-existent. He is distinctly different from vain lifeless idols. He strengthens and defends the weak, His people, He is committed to blessing His people. He rules the heavens. Remember what God is like and as you meditate on who Christ is, who God is, you will see the contrast with idols. You will see that there is no way knowing what God is like, knowing everything about Him that you can turn back towards idols and trust in them and cling to them. Remember what He is like and then after that bless Him. That’s how this passage ends, verses 16 through 18, but in particular verse 18, but we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore praise the Lord. Right before that it says, the dead don’t praise Him, which is another way of saying, don’t be like the dead idols that cannot actually praise Him, can’t respond right, but instead give Him glory and praise for who he is, what he’s done.

Now let’s conclude by looking at verses 9 through 11 and then 12 through 13 one more time. We need to touch on this really cool thing here that’s smack in the middle of the psalm. It has these three categories that he uses twice in a row. The three categories here, Israel, House of Aaron, you who fear the Lord. Now I’ll be honest, we’re not positive why these three exact categories or descriptors are used, maybe the psalm was meant to be written directly to them, maybe it was in a particular context where it just so happened that those three categories were right there and He said, okay this, this, this as I’m reflecting, inspired by the spirit, these are the three categories, maybe they’re just sort of common catch all terms, but no matter the reason why these specific designations are here, here’s what we can be encouraged by. That no matter which category we fall into strictly speaking, here obviously some of the people would have been in the nation of Israel, some of the people would have been of the Lion of Aaron, some of the people would have been outsiders, but ones who feared the Lord and in today’s world no matter what category you feel like you most strictly fit in, whether you feel like 5 star blue chip rated thoroughbred presbyterian or you feel like a theological mind who is kind of just trying to make sense, but you genuinely love the Lord and you’re trying to walk in a reverence of Him and in fear and awe of Him, no matter where you find yourself, here’s the good news, the call is the same, the reminder is the same, the blessing is the same. Whether you feel like you’ve been duped, lulled to sleep, whether you feel like you are way on top of it, whether you feel like you have no idea what’s going on, but you really want to take the steps towards loving and fearing the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength then know that these promises are for you. God is your help and your shield. He will bless you. He is your help and your shield. He will bless you. He is your help and your shield. He will bless you; he is has remembered you, he will bless you in Christ. Put your trust in Him, respond to this call, be conformed to Him and praise him for his faithfulness now and forevermore. Let’s pray.

Lord, we pray that these words would not fall on deaf ears, that we would not take after lifeless vein idols, but that we would respond rightly in faith and praise. We know that only you can give that, only you can enable us to do that so we pray now that you would send your spirit to enlighten the eyes of our hearts, open the ears of our hearts, that we might know you and love you more. In your son’s name we pray. Amen.