Desiring Jesus

Psalm 73

One of the prominent themes of the Psalms is the contrast between the righteous and the wicked. On the one hand, you have the righteous, those who have been turned from loving their sin to being disciples of Jesus. On the other hand, you have the wicked who still pursue the ways of the world. One place where we see the righteous and the wicked compared is the familiar Psalm 1. '... the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.' Our text, Psalm 73, is all about this theme. Asaph, a righteous man, looks around him, and what does he see? He sees the wicked. He sees their prosperity. He sees that they are at ease and that their wealth just grows and grows. He sees them enjoying the good life. And they do this while God seems not to notice. And then, he considers his own life, and what he sees is not so pleasant. Life is hard. Despite his earnest efforts to live as a righteous man, life is hard. What a contrast! It makes no sense to Asaph. This explains Asaph's first response to the situation. He is envious of these people. And he comes close to choosing their way of living - the way of the wicked.

But then comes that existential moment when Asaph is able to see the big picture. 'But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.' Asaph has an answer to his questions about the wicked. The solution is all about understanding what happens at the end. This is where eschatology becomes practical and helpful. In the end the wicked are ruined. Now, Asaph gets it. He understands the very different end results of these two very different ways of life. This solution has been helpful to saints of all eras. You need to understand the end of the story.

There is, however, a slight problem with this solution. It's only a partial answer. It does not deal with an important question. What do we do in the meantime? Yes, we know the end of the story, but what do we do while we all, righteous and wicked, await the end results? The wicked do not go away. They are still around. The are still prosperous. That are still at ease. And their wealth still grows. They are enjoying the good life. And God still seems not to notice. So, what is Asaph to think in the meantime? 'They may have it better now, but just wait!' Is that what he is to tell himself? No. He tells himself something much more helpful than that.

It's here that understanding one verse of our Psalm is so important. Listen to it again. 'Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.' Having had his existential moment, having seen where the wicked end up, something happens within Asaph. Something is changed. Asaph's affections are stirred. There is a change of perspective on his life. There is a change of heart. Asaph desires Jesus. More than anything in heaven or on earth, Asaph desires Jesus. Now, with this desire in place, he grasps righteous living in a new way, and he pursues it wholeheartedly.

I want you to notice two things about this pivotal verse. First, notice that he uses the language of heaven and earth. 'Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.' That's the language of Genesis 1. 'In the beginning God created heaven and earth.' There is no word for 'universe' in Hebrew. When they wanted to talk about all of creation they would use the phrase 'heaven and earth'. So, when Asaph includes a reference to heaven and earth, it is his way of saying, 'Choose anything in all of creation. Anything. Whatever it is, for me it takes second place to Jesus. I want Jesus. Compared to Him, everything else is only second best.' That's the first thing I want you to see. To get the second thing, you need to remember the context of the whole Psalm. The Psalm is about the contrast between the wicked and the righteous. So, Asaph's expression of desire is not just a statement of fact, though it is that. It is also his credo and it stands in contrast to the credo of the wicked. The wicked pursue prosperity and ease and the good life. Asaph pursues Jesus. His is a completely different mindset from that of the wicked.

Jesus is Asaph's chief joy. Jesus is what Asaph wants more than anything or anyone else. Jesus is what occupies him as he waits for promised end results of the wicked and righteous. Asaph's life is all about Jesus.

Asaph mentions some of the blessings of desiring and pursuing Jesus that he enjoys while he waits. '... I am continually with You; You hold my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will receive me to glory.' First, there is the presence of God. I find Asaph's imagery such a great picture. 'You hold my right hand.' Whenever I think of this I immediately picture a little toddler taking a walk with his Dad. This pictures security. The toddler may stumble but he will never fall. His father holds his hand. This pictures protection. Who can harm him while Dad is near? This pictures assurance, the assurance of being loved and the assurance of arriving at the intended destination. Asaph also points to the guidance that he is promised. He has submitted to Jesus' yoke and hears that command, 'Let's take the left fork'. Guidance. Then, there's this. 'My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.' Asaph considers his physical strength, 'my flesh' and his inner, emotional strength, 'my heart'. These are the things that the wicked place their hope in. They tell themselves that they will make out okay because they have the strength to face whatever comes their way. Their hope is in themselves. Asaph puts his hope elsewhere. He knows the limitations of flesh and heart. So, his strength for each day is in his God.

Asaph considers this life of his. His hope is Jesus. Security, protection, assurance, guidance, strength. They are all found in Jesus. And then, he looks beyond this life. '... and afterward you will receive me to glory.' Heaven! If enjoying Jesus here has such blessings how much more will there be enjoying Him there?

Having been re-oriented in the house of God, Asaph now has a response for the wicked. 'I see your lives. I see the benefits you enjoy. And there are benefits: the accumulated comforts, the sense of security, the optimism and all the rest. I see it all. And I reject it all. I reject your way of life, the way of the wicked, the way that will perish forever. Instead, my joy, my desire is Jesus. He satisfies now and more so later. You can have your prosperity and your ease. You can have your riches even if they increase ten times more. I have Jesus!' Asaph has a response that speaks to the present as well as the future. He has something that makes sense of life, something that he builds his life on. As a result, he is a man at peace with himself and his situation, man who rejoices in this life and the life to come. Asaph has Jesus, and that's good enough for him.

Now, what shall we do with what we've seen? How does this bit of Scripture speak to our lives? Consider this. I think that it is safe to say that most of us were not trained to adopt the attitude of Asaph. Our formative years were not marked by our being molded to desire Jesus as our chief joy and to identify and consciously reject the ways of the many around us. And so, as a result, the priorities for our lives, to a large extent, imitate the priorities of their lives: a measure of prosperity, a measure of ease. And so, though we are the righteous, we act way too much like the wicked. How many of us have adopted Asaph's credo as our own? 'Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.' Asaph's attitude is intended to be the norm for the righteous. It's just a different way of talking about loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. It's just another way of talking about self-denial, self-crucifixion and following Jesus. So, just like Asaph before his Aha! moment, we have sinned. Our love for Jesus has not been what it should be and can be by the grace of God. Now, some of you may be the exception, but this is true of most of us. We have been fooled. We have sinned.

I hope that it isn't a surprise that the preaching of the Word has uncovered some more sin. That's what it's supposed to do. So, just like so many other sermons that you've heard from me, this one will include a call to repentance and faith. The goal is for all of us to be able to say, with Asaph, 'Jesus, I want you more than anything. I want you so much that whatever ends up in second place isn't even close.' Jesus is to be our chief joy. And knowing Him better and better is to be our first desire.

Does this mean that our lives to be completely upended? Should we all quit our jobs and sell our homes so that we can be something like monks? That sounds fairly drastic. But consider this. If that's what pursuing Jesus means in your situation, if that's what He calls you to do, then the answer would be, 'Yes, sell everything, give it to the poor and follow Jesus.' When we read the history books as they refer to people who have, in fact, given everything away and have become monks or the like, there is, so often, this subtle mocking going on. 'How silly! No sane person would ever do something like this.' And while the monks of the ages have not been perfect and maybe they didn't properly understand some aspect of following Jesus, still, what an example! They thought that pursuing Jesus, living as a righteous person, included giving up everything. So they did just that. Having Jesus was that important. Now, it's a fact that Jesus doesn't usually call people to jettison everything - though we know of a few cases in the Bible when He did just that. But we all should be ready and eager to do that, if He should call for it. This isn't because it's some rule to follow, but because that would be the route to gain more of Jesus.

So, am I saying that imitating Asaph will require you to quit your job or something else as drastic? No. But what I am saying is that repentance and faith will include you praying something like this: 'Jesus, I desire You. More than anything, I desire You. So, whatever You want me to do is fine with me. Just let me know what it is and please give me the grace to be able to do it.' That's what repentance and faith would look like from this passage: rejecting the way of the wicked and presenting yourself to Jesus for Him to command in any way He thinks best because He is your first desire and your chief joy.

How this Psalm and this sermon speak to your life is something that you will need to pray about. For some of you, this is something that you have been dealing with and working on. Maybe you've used different words, but it's the same basic idea. 'How do I follow Jesus well?' For you, today's sermon is a gift from the Spirit. He has given you a bit more to work with so that you can take another step toward a full answer to that question. So, I would encourage you to keep at it. And remember that even little steps in the right direction will get you to your destination. And really, isn't growth normally just a bunch of little steps. So, continue on. It will be worth it for this life as well as the next.

It might be that for some of you the topic of this Psalm is relatively new. It's something that you haven't thought about much. If this is your situation, I would encourage you to invest some time thinking about it and praying about it. You may want to get a printed copy of the sermon to read through and interact with. I hope that you have a sense of the importance of this topic so that you will give it sufficient attention. If you boil it all down you'll find that our text is about the basics of being a disciple of Jesus.

I want to say something in particular to you teenagers. You are in the process of establishing priorities for your lives. The priorities of many of your peers are fun and games, with a bit of studying thrown in. That's a variation on the themes of the wicked: a measure of ease and a measure of prosperity. You are faced with that attitude, and its pressure to conform, day after day. And it's influence is subtle. You need to face squarely the question of the priority of Jesus. Will He be your first desire? Will He be your chief joy? Is it the goal of your life to be able to say with Asaph and many other Christians, 'Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.' You've been developing an answer to the question of priorities for some time now, and the choices that you've been making reveal the answer your heart is embracing. Consider the list of priorities that govern your life today. These are the things that are really important to you. Where is Jesus on that list?

Wherever you are in relation to this Psalm, you need to consider Asaph, his experience and his conclusions. There is something here for you to work through and deal with. As you do that and respond to what the Spirit calls you to, there will be blessing. Following Jesus well is worth it.