Rev. David Holwick ZI Psalms
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
November 23, 2014
Psalm 65
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I. It was almost our national anthem.
A. A young professor's poem.
Things weren't going well in 1893.
The country had settled into a depression that put one in five
Americans out of work.
Still, Katharine Lee Bates, a young English teacher who had
taken a summer teaching job in Colorado, scanned the horizon
and saw hope.
Her train ride from Massachusetts had passed through enormous
wheat fields in Kansas.
Later in the summer she had ridden a donkey to the summit of
Pikes Peak.
She was only on the top for 30 minutes, but she later remarked,
"It was then and there, as I was looking out over the sea-like
expanse of fertile country spreading away so far under
those ample skies,
that the opening lines of the hymn floated into my mind."
After she returned to her hotel room that night, she remarked
to friends that countries such as England had failed because,
while they may have been "great," they had not been "good."
She added that "unless we are willing to crown our greatness
with goodness, and our bounty with brotherhood, our beloved
America may go the same way."
Based on her experiences on that trip, she wrote a poem that
two years later was published in a church newspaper for their
4th of July edition.
They paid her $5.
Churches loved the poem and soon it was put to music.
The most popular tune, and the one we use today, was written by
Samuel Ward, a church organist living in Newark, New Jersey.
He wrote it on the detachable cuff of a friend's shirt.
Ward died before the song became a success.
And it was a huge success, so much so that by 1926 a strong
push was made to adopt the hymn as the national anthem.
However, President Hoover chose the "Star-Spangled Banner"
instead.
Many still prefer "America the Beautiful" and think it is an
expression of patriotism at its finest.
One writer has said it conveys an attitude of appreciation and
gratitude for the nation's extraordinary physical beauty and
abundance, without being triumphalistic.
#64635
B. King David understood how Katharine Bates felt.
1) He also appreciated the abundance that God had given his
country.
2) But David saw beyond our need for material things to what
really matters - giving the glory to God.
II. It all had to come from somewhere.
A. David believed God is the One who put it all together.
1) He says God formed the mountains by his power. 65:6
2) We understand God may use a process - growing mountains
inch by inch over long periods of time.
a) Note that the whole psalm talks about how God uses
natural processes to grow things.
b) Every farmer knew that crops don't just pop up - you
spend much of a year watching it develop.
3) The view of the Bible is that God is behind creation.
a) Pope Francis recently made some statements about
creation that got a lot of press.
b) Many missed his main point - no matter how the earth
and humans were made, God is behind it.
B. God keeps it going, too.
1) Living in a mostly dry land, David appreciated the impact
of rain.
2) Notice the beautiful expressions he piles up - God's water
fills and drenches and softens the land.
3) Because of water, the grasses and crops can grow.
4) Even today, water is one of the biggest sources of blessing,
and conflict, in the Middle East.
C. The earth's nourishment nourishes us.
1) David says God blesses the crops and fills their carts
till they overflow. 65:11
2) We can definitely see that in our country.
a) Consider the amazing productivity of America's farms.
1> Corn production per acre has increased 6-fold over
the last century.
2> That's 600 per cent!
b) Think of the variety of foods you can get in New Jersey
that don't grow anywhere near here.
1> Pomegranates, bananas, raspberries in winter...
III. God's provision should prompt praise.
A. An interesting contrast between King David and Katharine Bates.
1) Bates acknowledges God but focuses on America.
2) David acknowledges Israel but focuses on God.
a) Notice who does the praising in Psalm 65 - the land
itself shouts for joy. 65:13
B. We should be praising God, too.
1) We should praise him for how he has provided for us.
In 1621, Edward Winslow, one of the 50 or so members of the
Plymouth colony (and an ancestor of my wife Celeste),
wrote these words about their first harvest festival:
"Our harvest of corn came in well, and God be praised, we
had a good increase of Indian Corn, and our Barley crop
was also good...
Once our harvest was brought in, our Governor sent four men
out to hunt fowl [that must be where the turkey comes
from], in order that we might have a special
celebration, rejoicing together over the fruit of
our labors.
Those four hunters, in one day, killed enough fowl to feed
our Company for almost a week.
...The great Indian King Massasoyt, along with some ninety
Indian men, joined us for three days of entertainment
and feasting [that's where Black Friday and football
comes from].
And although our harvests are not always so plentiful, as
it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God,
we are so far from want, that we often wish that you
could be partakers of our plenty."
#28669
2) We should also praise him for things we can't touch.
a) David felt blessed that he had a God who cared.
1> God hears our prayers. 65:2
2> God forgives our sins. 65:3
3> God is our Savior. 65:5
b) Our salvation is the greatest gift God can impart.
1> We should seek it.
2> We should praise God when he grants it to us.
3) When you consider what God has done for you, it should
make anyone's heart glad.
a) Scholar Derek Kidner's summary of this psalm:
1> Our God is a God of grace. (verses 1-4)
2> Our God is a God of power. (verses 5-8)
3> Our God is a God of plenty. (verses 9-13)
b) God is the focus throughout.
IV. If God has done this for us, what can we do for each other?
A. This is a season of sharing.
1) The youth group collected a table's worth of canned goods.
a) They even got Mike Bassano to sing "I'm a little teapot."
(we have the video to prove it)
2) Others have dropped off hams and turkeys.
a) I know other churches do the same thing and many
people look forward to it.
B. God uses processes for growing and for giving.
1) He uses rain to make the crops grow.
2) He uses us to spread his bounty.
C. One church does this very creatively.
Emmanuel Enid is a large Baptist church in Oklahoma.
By "large" I mean they have four morning worship services.
Sometimes they are $300,000 behind in their annual budget -
that would be how much we raise for an entire year.
Even so, they have a very interesting tradition.
When they pass the plates to take up the collection, people are
invited to either give to the offering or receive from it.
Those who are having a hard time financially are encouraged to
take money out of the plate if they have a genuine need.
The church even announces that if your pew's plate doesn't have
enough cash in it for you, talk to them after the service.
There are no restrictions - members and guests alike can dip
in.
Money can be taken by the same person every week for 52 weeks.
Some people get a little too enthusiastic.
Recently a member saw a woman scoop out the entire contents of
the plate - cash, checks, and envelopes.
That creates a problem because the church won't have a record
of what people contributed, and the woman wouldn't be able
to cash the checks anyway.
Though some have tried.
On occasion they have had banks call them up and say someone is
trying to cash a check from one of the church members.
The church never presses charges and explains it is just a
misunderstanding of what people can take out of the plates.
The eyes of the bank employees always get real big when the
pastor tells them attenders can take what they need from the
offering.
The leaders have heard many stories of people who have been
helped, sometimes in surprising fashions.
One young woman who was in college stopped the pastor one
Sunday with tears in her eyes.
She was an only child.
Her only surviving parent, her father, was dying of cancer.
She was driving sixty miles one way every weekend to relieve
her father's caregiver.
She could not afford the gas, and for the past several weeks
she had been faithfully taking her gas money from the
offering plate.
She was a believer in Christ but her father was not.
After she told her dad what the pastor had said about the
offering, and what she was doing for gas money in order to
get home to care for him, he said, "If that is what
Christians are all about, then I want to be one."
You can understand her tears.
Emmanuel Enid doesn't pressure people about giving, even when
the church falls behind in its budget.
They don't emphasize tithing.
They tell people to give what the Holy Spirit leads them to
give.
Here is their guiding philosophy:
(1) God is quite capable of meeting their needs as He sees fit.
(2) If they ever fall short in their budget, they cut the budget
to reflect the giving they have received (or not received).
In this situation, the answer is not for the leaders to demand
more, but for the leaders to trust more.
(3) Trust in God involves trusting Him to work in the lives of
those who participate in their church.
They know that some people will abuse the generosity - they will
let God handle those people.
(4) Thanksgiving reminds them not only to give thanks, but to
be thankful for giving.
As Jesus himself said, it is more blessed to give than to
receive.
#64621
Who are you going to bless this Thanksgiving with the bounty
God has given you?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#28669 “First Harvest,” Father Jim Cook of St. Luke's Episcopal Church,
Shawnee, Kansas. SermonCentral.com internet newsletter,
November 15, 2004.
#64621 “They Are Allowed To Take As Well As Give,” Wade Burleson,
<http://www.wadeburleson.org/2012/11/thankful-for-giving-this-thanksgiving.html>
#64635 “The Story Behind ‘America the Beautiful’,” David Holwick,
adapting from these articles:
“America The Beautiful: The ‘Almost’ National Anthem of the
United States,” <http://pikespeak.us.com/Learn/america-the-beautiful.html>
“America the Beautiful,” The Library of Congress: Performing
Arts Encyclopedia,
<http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200000001/default.html>
“Her Hymn Endures,” Nick Charles, People magazine,
<http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20135652,00.html>
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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