Praise for God’s Justice
Psalm 146
International Sunday School Lesson
August 5, 2012
Commentary
By
Jed Greenough
If you live long enough someone is going to disappoint you. It might be a politician who seemed to have it all: the answers, the charisma, the wit and intelligence. Then a scandal or something as simple as a lack of desire takes them out. Perhaps for you it was a romantic interest, that certain someone who you knew was the love of your life. Then they did something that changed everything.
People are people, in a lot of ways we are all like each other. We have our strong suits, our good runs of time, our weaknesses and our failures. Even the best among us in whom we invest so much faith are going to meet the same fate in the end just as it tells us today in verse 4.
Last week I mentioned in the “For Discussion” section that we have a secular system in place similar to Jehoshaphat’s of 2 Chronicles but not a religious or Christian one. Ours is one of following men and as today’s scripture points out when men are gone they are gone back to the ground but God is forever. Just imagine the superiority of the system or the superiority of a country that day after day, season after season and life after life followed God as the people come and go, live and die. That system or that country would do the things of God such as what we read of in today’s verses.
When you think of empires what do you think about? The Nazis lasted a mere 12 years, the Mongols rule is debated but we will say it lasted 54. The British Empire lasted over 400 years and at least a couple Persian empires each lasted longer. There were some that many do not think of often such as Portugal and a few in Africa. The most famous, longest lasting and probably most familiar to Christians was the Roman Empire.
Each of these empires was here for a time but eventually all of them fell. The Nazis defeated by the Allies, the Aztecs by the Spanish, the Mongols by a succession of squabbles. With the British it seemed it was more the times that overtook it but the results are always the same.
The famous saying about the British Empire was that the sun never sat on the British Empire but the sun was and is God’s and it is still here while that empire is not. One could also say that the church is His and the sun never sets on it either as it has now spread from one small part of the world to the farthest corners.
Just like the empires there are parts to the church that have seen them rise and then fall. Some in spectacular fashion as they had meteoric rises and descents often times tied to their captivating leaders. Others have been here for quite some time in human terms but their decline is visible and in the offing somewhat similar to the British Empire.
Whether it is the empires of the world, tiny churches or a mega-church each is made up of those who did as verse 3 says not to do, “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.”
No empire or church has truly lived up to its expectations. As the psalm today says in verse 5 and 6 it is better to hope instead in God because He alone is faithful. As a ruler makes promises or a church chooses to spend only certain amounts to sustain the hungry, help the oppressed, or reach the untouched so that they can spend more on their infrastructure instead, it is God who will remain faithful forever.
It seems easy to look at the empires of the world and see where in not following God they have failed but what about the empire that is the church that has lasted more than 2000 years? Since it is His we know that it will last until the end but while we are here and a part of it how can we do a better job of ensuring that it reflects more of Him instead of resembling a worldly empire?
For Discussion:
1. When considering verse 3 from today it is not that we can’t have trustworthy leaders especially in the church but we should not put too much trust there as only God saves.
2. Discuss in general terms where you have been burned by placing your trust in someone.
3. I watched a sermon last night by one of the most gifted preachers of our time in Adrian Rogers who passed away in 2005 and I have marveled at many of the sermons written by Charles Spurgeon who died in 1892. Discuss this type of “prince’s” contribution and those of others you may be aware of across the church spectrum and discuss in light of verses 3 and 4.
4. Those things in sight in verse 6 remind us of the timelessness of God. Discuss how many different ways we can look at God’s being eternal.
5. From your place in the empire that is the church, how is it doing in reflecting God in taking care of the issues mentioned in verses 7-9?
6. If you decided that your church needed to devote itself more to those items mentioned in verses 7-9 rather than the plans as mentioned in verse 4, how would you go about that, what results would you produce, what kind of opposition would you face?
7. This may seem like a question you won’t want to consider, but has your church leader become a prince? Have our leaders come to think of the church as their empire? If they have, that will be a hard one to discuss, but I challenge you.
8. In our worldly lives most of us plan for our inevitable demise when we reach the end of our life whenever that might come as it is only responsible. Have you ever considered that it might be prudent to do the same in our churches however long a life they might yet have?
Upcoming Adult Sunday School Class Commentaries
8-12-12: God Promised a Righteous Lord Isaiah 9:2-7 or Isaiah 9:1-7
8-19-12: God Promised a Righteous Branch Jeremiah 23:1-6; 33:14-18
8-26-12: God Promised to Be with Us Ezekiel 34:23-31
9-2-12: Faith Calls for Perseverance Hebrews 10:19-31
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved
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