Working Through the Night

Hello, my name is Ben Jones. Again, I'm one of the elders here at Lowertown. The elders like to fill in to preach for Brian, to give him a break, serve him, also serves you guys to get a different voice up here in the pulpit. Brian is actually preaching at our Columbia Heights location to likewise serve that pastor, so kind of a circle there. We're continuing on in our series through the Psalms this summer, and we're on week 5. We have kind of unofficially titled this series, The Anatomy of the Soul, which comes from John Calvin's commentary on the Psalms. And so, here is just the roadmap for that. Don't worry about it too much. And importantly, I finally got Brian to change the word for today's sermon, my sermon, from whatever he had before to expectation. I know that matters to all of you. Amen. But here in the Psalms, we have a wide range of emotions, and so that's why John Calvin calls it that, why we are calling it that. But today, we're going to be in Psalm 134, and unlike what it says on the handout, today's sermon is called Working Through the Night. Now, my answer to the question of a thankless job is a bit more of a story, just a one-off, thankfully, but After college, my wife and I worked for a campus ministry, and we were chaperoning some students on a spring break trip down in Florida, week-long trip. And we were at a resort, kind of a simple resort, and we were making our own food through the week. So we had sort of like a small commercial kitchen to use, kind of like we have here. And at the end of the week, we had to throw away the leftovers and all that stuff. So we had a big kitchen bin, you know, it was, I don't know, maybe 64 gallons or something like that, you know, it was round, but— That's a lot of food. large, and we had to put in all the leftovers. And then I was, I was not there, otherwise of course I would not have done this, but some enterprising person dumped all the liquids we had in the trash can too, you know, like chocolate sauce and tomato sauce and various sauces. And at the end of the night, you know, the night before we left, I was the one to take out the trash and put it into a dumpster like this one. So it was very heavy. So I took the bin across a gravel road, which was not easy to do. And then I had, you know, I'm not tall and I had to figure out how to hoist it out of this bin that, you know, kind of comes to like my rib cage. And that was great effort. But the real problem was that in hoisting it out and kind of, you know, leaning it over the bin, it got a gash in the bag. And so you can imagine there was lots of stuff spilling out. And then I had to figure out how to then get it off the ground and into this dumpster that was more like at my shoulders. And there were cold spaghetti noodles and baked beans, chocolate sauce oozing out of this gash. And it was night, it's not like it was lit up nicely. So, you know, there was nothing for it except just shoving it back in there like it was a war zone and hoisting it into the dumpster. And I didn't tell anyone until today. So there you go. Did you know that? No. Yeah. Okay, she knew it. I might have told her. But anyway, today we're going to be in Psalm 134 and this is the NIV. We're just going to jump in. So this is part of a Song of Ascents and this is just 3 verses. Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who minister by night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who is the maker of heaven and earth. And that's it. Now, it may seem random today, but I'm going to try to relate this to our ordinary daily life of faith. So let's dig in. So first of all, the Songs of Ascent is this group of psalms in our book of Psalms. You know, they span 150, but this is specifically Psalms 120 through 134. And these were for celebrating 3 important festivals in the life of a Hebrew, ancient Hebrew person: the Passover Feast, the Feast of Weeks, which celebrates and remembers when Moses delivered the Ten Commandments, and the Feast of Booths, which remembers for the people when they were traveling through the wilderness to get to the Promised Land. So these were annual regular trips that the people. would take pilgrimages to Jerusalem, which is often called Zion here in the Psalms, and what we see in this Psalm today. Now, Jerusalem was this mountaintop city, and the temple in particular was high up where approaching the city, you would be literally looking up and traveling uphill to see this meeting place with God. And so that is also why it's called the Song of Ascents. And this would be people flocking into what they knew as the meeting place with God. It served as a visual, this temple and the city itself served as a visual reminder for God's mercy, power, and majesty through their story, through history. God's grace to them to give them a nation, give them a place, and even just mercy to meet with them at all despite their uncleanness. And the priests and the temple and the sacrifices all served to remind them of that, of God's mercy, power, and majesty. And then, of course, for us today on this side of the cross, we know that Jesus changes things. He changes all this, in fact, that it's through Jesus' sacrifice and priesthood that we are cleansed and have a face-to-face relationship with God. And when Jesus was crucified, we read that the temple itself was even broken. That the temple curtain was torn in 2 that separated the most holy place where God came to meet with just the high priest. That was torn and Jesus made a way for all of us to have access to God the Father. And now, of course, we are his temple. If you believe in Jesus, you are his temple with the Holy Spirit indwelling you. And it's not to say that this building is the temple, but it is us that make up the church. Not only as individuals, but together we are his temple. So then if we go back to the passage, there's this phrase, serving by night, or in the NIV it says, minister by night. It really is the same word. But what would it mean to serve by night? You know, this is, in a sense, a psalm to, or a command exhortation to the rank and file priests. You know, this isn't the high priest. who has a jewel-encrusted gold vest that he wears, special ephod is what it's called. But these are normal priests, maybe still a special position, but these are servants. And their responsibilities included bread making, cleaning, butchering animals to do the sacrifices. They also had to keep the altar burning 24/7. And there's kind of this note here in the psalm where it seems like they're talking to the people on the graveyard shift. And I kind of wanted just to imagine that this role in their society is probably not too glamorous, but it's probably a little grimy, maybe like that bag leaking chocolate sauce and spaghetti noodles. That in the evening, you know, in this Middle East climate, you would like to be able to enjoy the cool, but instead they have to Run the ovens to make the bread for the next morning, the showbread. They had to keep, like I said, the altar burning all through the night. And I would have to imagine that it can be kind of a thankless job, which relates to that question I had you discuss. And this is kind of then the jumping-off point to bring this closer to home. And maybe we have a similar experience of just maintaining in life in a pretty thankless context. Yeah. What I have been wrestling with lately and what kind of motivated me to put this psalm together or put the sermon together based on this psalm is just stuff I have going on outside of work. You know, we do work with a group called Little Hopes, which is a local, just grassroots St. Paul charity. And then I also serve in my local neighborhood's council, which sounds fancy, but I promise it's not. It's really just a bunch of busybodies. And There's a lot of ways that it is a frustrating experience, feels inefficient, where I'm doing these things for the sake of honoring God by trying to better my community. But countless times, you know, with the charity group, you can see people backslide after you help them. Very frustrating. It's hard to continue to extend empathy to a person like that. Choices that the groups make are not choices I would make necessarily. Not that I have the answers, right? But that's just how it feels. Feels frustrating. And then with the neighborhood council, oh man, it feels frustrating to know and understand what power we don't have, but what kind of expectations there still are on the group and kind of the limits of our impact on the community. And to appreciate that some people just don't care about what we have to say, which is fine. And so maybe you have similar experiences. And maybe these priests had a similar experience. So the question I want to put in front of you is just simply, are you in a night of some kind? And not, you know, kind of narrow, maybe with occupation or stuff you do outside of work. But that's just reading this psalm is just kind of how it hit me and kind of sat with me that way, that I'm thinking of working in a slog like these priests serving through the night. In some kind of fruitless, thankless, maybe inefficient environment. And with your work or outside, I would hope you are wrestling with these questions. If you are honoring God with what you're dedicating so much time to, if society is being bettered, which I think does honor God. So again, I would ask, do you think a priest ever complained or do you think a priest ever wanted the day shift? Maybe something with a bit more notoriety? A recognition. And so, of course, our context is way different than that of a priest and our occupation is not a temple. I want to make that clear. But like I said, we are priests, we are God's temple now indwelt by the Spirit. So there is some bridge there. And then I do want to take a moment to call this out that maybe you are in a different night altogether. Regardless of what you are paid to do or volunteer to do, even just personally in your own sphere, you're in some kind of night. And I want to communicate to you that God is with you in that as well. We have this perhaps well-known Psalm, Psalm 139, as a reminder of that. And I'll just read that. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I say, surely the darkness will hide me and the light will become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you. The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. And it may be chronic medical challenges, addictions, stuck in some kind of financial way, anything, that that might be your night. And to think kind of further afield from your own personal responsibilities A little too much and that's okay. God is with you in that. We are taught that Jesus can empathize with us in our weaknesses because he has experienced deep darkness himself, sacrificing himself for our sake. But then that does bring us to sort of the last phrase in this psalm, blessing from Zion. And again, we're going to be looking at this as a perspective on the other side of the cross. Here, Jesus in John chapter 12 says this, verses 44 through 46. Then Jesus cried out, whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. So, here in the Gospel of John, we see that the blessing has come. It has come from Zion. Jesus, as the Son of God, came to us. And not only in history is this true that he came to earth 2,000 years ago, but in the special grace every day that we experience for whoever would bend the knee to King Jesus. Him coming to us personally is that blessing from Zion. And we can take this further in Philippians 2 from the Apostle Paul. It says this, verses 13 through 16. For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. And so here, I think this is saying that God uses us as light with the light of Christ in us. And so as we work, to work out God's good purpose, as it says there in verse 13. We are ourselves the blessing come from Zion, from God to the world. And it is that blessing that is his good purpose. And then we can look ahead to the end of things in Revelation 21:22-23. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the lamp is its lamp— sorry, the Lamb is its lamp. And so, here at the conclusion of all things, this new city coming to earth, again, literally this blessing coming down from Zion to us, the maker of heaven and earth will finally be with us, and his presence, the presence of Jesus, will be our light. To dispel all that darkness. And so now that we have this trifecta of light, past, present, and future, but to put a fine point on it, I'll recap it this way. So in the gospel accounts, we looked at John 14, that's not right, John 12. I have come as a light, Jesus saying that he has come to earth for our sake as a light in our darkness. And that is the past, in history at least. Amen. And then we have the epistles, Paul writing to the church and sort of our, you know, it is in history in the past, but it is now our present call, our present calling to be like stars, to shine in this dark, dark world. And then in the end, we looked at Revelation that the glory of God gives its light. This is a promise to us, our hope for the future. Amen. That the end of all things is light and not darkness. But then I also had these visuals that were kicking around in my head as I was preparing this and thinking about this. So this is another set of 3, if you can see that on the left there, to represent the past and the finished work of Christ is this cornerstone with bricks laid on top of it. And this is the image that the Bible itself uses to describe Jesus as a cornerstone. Amen. He is the foundation upon which the church is built and he is the beginning. It is where this all must start with Jesus as King. And to be a person for all people, I have gone ahead and mixed my metaphors for you. You are welcome. But we have got a picture of a garden there, if you can tell, planning and planting, as well as a picture of bricklaying on top of that cornerstone. Yeah. But these are the things that are enabled by Jesus to start a new work, to break corrupted ground in our hearts and in the world around us, and to give us a place to start, to start building things out for, again, God's good purpose. But these are grueling tasks, laying bricks one at a time. If you've ever done that, it's unforgiving, and usually you're going to be doing that in the sun. And then even planning and planting a garden, You know, that's years of work if you're starting from scratch. And then, of course, what we await. This is a painting inspired by the book of Revelation. We have the tree of life kind of in the foreground there and then the holy city behind it. Just to picture both tying those things together in a sense, a complete city without any weaknesses, any, no broken parts of it. And the tree of life that it's said in Revelation brings healing to the nations. And so, the key questions with this is, can we build and plant while we wait for that ahead of us? Can that inspire our work day to day? Can we endure the night we're in, whether it, again, it's just in your own personal sphere or maybe a bit further afield? Can we endure the night in hope of the day? Can we pray for extraordinary things while we ourselves are ordinary? And for me, this really does help me. It's not that I am always feeling positive about those things I've mentioned, but these things help me to know that what I am doing is something that honors God. I think if your heart is in the right place, that counts for a lot. And seeking the betterment of my community as I think I am gifted and as the opportunity presents itself, I think that does honor God. But it's not just a doubt necessarily of if God approves of this, but it is good discernment to ask yourself just that question. Does this honor God? Is it something that can honor him? And so helping people out of difficult financial situations through Little Hopes, that's very important. It helps people survive disaster. And I come— we live right now in a working-class neighborhood that really gets neglected, if I buy into my cynical self, neglected in the whole city of St. Paul. And so any bit of advocation— advocacy that I can do for my neighborhood is important. So I hope you can relate to some of this, that You can think of yourself as a priest serving through the night. And when I challenge you to work through the night, I do want to say that this isn't to say you should work 24/7. I'm not saying add a night shift to your day shift, but just to work when it is difficult to work. So, I want to give you these 2 final thoughts in application of this, this Gospel. First is, again, that question, will you work through the night? Amen. And the second one is just this, don't let fruitfulness be the enemy of faithfulness. And I think the gardening metaphor works very well there because fruit is only born in its season, right? But the work to make that happen takes all year around the clock. But what we also have in Scripture, the Apostle Paul uses this phrase where he plants, then a different minister of the gospel, Apollos, he waters. Amen. watered, but God himself is who gives the growth and gives the fruit, in a sense. So let me reassure you, reassure you, as elders, we have to wrestle with this, right? That we have to do that discernment of what is bearing fruit, what should we just kind of stay the course on, what should we maybe change up. And I like to think we all discuss that together too. But even in whatever spheres and whatever opportunities God has given you, I want you to wrestle with these things. So now we're going to be practicing communion where we remember that cornerstone of Christ sacrificing himself for our sake. We celebrate his body broken for us and we remember that through the cracker and we drink the juice to remember his blood shed for us. Here at Hope, we practice open communion so you don't have to be a member of this church or any church to partake of this. But we just ask that you do bend the knee to King Jesus. If that's true of you, we invite you to participate with us. We're gonna have a couple songs and I invite you to reflect and take time to meditate on this and the, the gifts that Christ has given us. Then when you're ready, you can stand and sing with us. So I invite the worship team back up while I pray for our time. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word and your mercy toward us through Christ. We thank you for giving us purpose, and I ask that you strengthen us to the task in all of our various spheres of influence. Would you give us love for the people around us, generosity toward the hurting, and courage for your gospel? Shape our hearts to be more like yours as we seek to glorify you this week. Amen. Amen.