November 5, 2017 NOTES NOT EDITED
Dumpster Diving God
Dumpster Diving God
Psalm 107
That statement is not profound in any
sense. It is simple and to the
point. Yet, very few people really
comprehend what it meant for God to enter into the disgusting environment of
our sinful lives. It is unfathomable
that Jesus would leave the glories of heaven to willingly endure the gore of
human existence. He left the throne of
heaven to die on a cross at Calvary. Our
sin nailed Jesus to the cross. Our sin
plucked the beard from His face. Our sin
tortured and twisted his body on the cross to such an extent that the Psalmist
prophesied centuries earlier that Jesus would be “barely recognizable as a man.”
Sin did all of that and more. Yet, do we really comprehend what Jesus did when He left heaven to join humanity? I’m not sure we do. I am sure of what He did: He turned the trash of my life into treasure.
Yahweh is a Dumpster Diving God. His “steadfast love” drove Him to dive into the disgusting dumpster of our lives to find the treasure hidden beneath the stinking rot of our sin.
I am sure you have heard the phrase, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Nothing particularly earthshaking or disturbing about that statement. But, what if you change it a little by saying, “One man’s dumpster is another man’s dining room?” Two words that definitely don’t seem to fit together in my mind are, “dumpster and dining.” Of course, we know of homeless people so starved in their circumstance that they pick through garbage just to find a morsel to ease the pangs of hunger. That is as sad as it is disgusting, but it is a reality for homeless people—a matter of survival.
But, there are others that see great value in “dumpster diving.” Maximus Thaler is a Ph.D. student at Binghamton University in New York. He is a “freegan” who relishes what many call, rubbish. He said in a recent interview online, “I eat like a king and I spend almost nothing.” Dumpsters are his diner. He turns bruised bananas into breakfast. He also said, “I can go to the grocery store and I can spend $100. Or I can go to the dumpster and not spend anything and I can throw a banquet for all my friends.”
Another dumpster diver is Matt Malone, an Austin, Texas, security consultant. He dives part time but estimates he could make an easy $250000 a year if he dove dumpsters full time!
I know what I have thrown into dumpsters, and it is disgusting thinking about eating anything that has passed that way. It may be that some are comfortable turning trash into treasure, but I’m not one of them.
But, I’m glad Yahweh is a “Dumpster Diving God.” God dove from the indescribable glories of heaven into the disgusting dumpster of our sinful lives in order to redeem us from our sin.
Sin did all of that and more. Yet, do we really comprehend what Jesus did when He left heaven to join humanity? I’m not sure we do. I am sure of what He did: He turned the trash of my life into treasure.
Yahweh is a Dumpster Diving God. His “steadfast love” drove Him to dive into the disgusting dumpster of our lives to find the treasure hidden beneath the stinking rot of our sin.
I am sure you have heard the phrase, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Nothing particularly earthshaking or disturbing about that statement. But, what if you change it a little by saying, “One man’s dumpster is another man’s dining room?” Two words that definitely don’t seem to fit together in my mind are, “dumpster and dining.” Of course, we know of homeless people so starved in their circumstance that they pick through garbage just to find a morsel to ease the pangs of hunger. That is as sad as it is disgusting, but it is a reality for homeless people—a matter of survival.
But, there are others that see great value in “dumpster diving.” Maximus Thaler is a Ph.D. student at Binghamton University in New York. He is a “freegan” who relishes what many call, rubbish. He said in a recent interview online, “I eat like a king and I spend almost nothing.” Dumpsters are his diner. He turns bruised bananas into breakfast. He also said, “I can go to the grocery store and I can spend $100. Or I can go to the dumpster and not spend anything and I can throw a banquet for all my friends.”
Another dumpster diver is Matt Malone, an Austin, Texas, security consultant. He dives part time but estimates he could make an easy $250000 a year if he dove dumpsters full time!
I know what I have thrown into dumpsters, and it is disgusting thinking about eating anything that has passed that way. It may be that some are comfortable turning trash into treasure, but I’m not one of them.
But, I’m glad Yahweh is a “Dumpster Diving God.” God dove from the indescribable glories of heaven into the disgusting dumpster of our sinful lives in order to redeem us from our sin.
Dumpster Diving is what they call the practice of reclaiming useful stuff from discarded trash in modern language. Redemption is how the Bible describes a similar process when God reclaimed us from sin. Redemption is a very important word in the Bible. This morning, we will seek to more fully understand, and more honestly appreciate the redemption we receive because of God’s “faithful love that endures forever.”
Psalm 107 describes how God dove into the
dumpster of our lives to turn the trash of our life into a treasure. I’m not sure we can truly appreciate just how
horrible sin really is in the eyes of a Holy God, but this Psalm may help us at
least try. Let’s read from this Psalm.
READ Psalm 107:1-3 as an introduction to Psalm 107.
This Psalm explains four important aspects of redemption. What we are redeemed FROM. What we are redeemed BY. What we are redeemed FOR, and what we are redeemed TO. Each of these aspects taken together show us just how great the gap is between holiness and sinfulness, and what it took for God to bridge that gap.
1. First, what are we saved FROM.
In a word, “sin.” Sin is impossible to fully describe in terms available to us in our languages. We’ve worn the edge off of sin by calling it a “mistake in judgement or a faux pas. In 1973 a Christian psychiatrist, Carl Menniger, wrote a book, “Whatever Happened to Sin.” Forty-four years ago, it was acknowledged that the idea of “sin” had nearly disappeared from the human conscience. All these years later, it has only become worse. Another writer observes, “Drunkeness is now chemical dependency, pride is a superiority complex, living in sin has now become living together, adultery has become an affair, and perversion has become an alternative lifestyle” (Peter Hammond).
The reason people—even people sitting in church pews on a regular basis—do not appreciate the redemption of God in Christ is because they do not understand the depth of the depravity of their sin. We cannot get excited about where we are going in regard to heaven, if we don’t fully appreciate where we were—that is, hell.
READ Psalm 107:1-3 as an introduction to Psalm 107.
This Psalm explains four important aspects of redemption. What we are redeemed FROM. What we are redeemed BY. What we are redeemed FOR, and what we are redeemed TO. Each of these aspects taken together show us just how great the gap is between holiness and sinfulness, and what it took for God to bridge that gap.
1. First, what are we saved FROM.
In a word, “sin.” Sin is impossible to fully describe in terms available to us in our languages. We’ve worn the edge off of sin by calling it a “mistake in judgement or a faux pas. In 1973 a Christian psychiatrist, Carl Menniger, wrote a book, “Whatever Happened to Sin.” Forty-four years ago, it was acknowledged that the idea of “sin” had nearly disappeared from the human conscience. All these years later, it has only become worse. Another writer observes, “Drunkeness is now chemical dependency, pride is a superiority complex, living in sin has now become living together, adultery has become an affair, and perversion has become an alternative lifestyle” (Peter Hammond).
The reason people—even people sitting in church pews on a regular basis—do not appreciate the redemption of God in Christ is because they do not understand the depth of the depravity of their sin. We cannot get excited about where we are going in regard to heaven, if we don’t fully appreciate where we were—that is, hell.
Here in our text, the Psalmist speaks of
what we are redeemed FROM, using four “word pictures.” First
the condition we find our sinful selves in is compared to an AIMLESS WANDERER
LOST IN A DESERT, hungering and thirsty for more out of life but never
being satisfied.
4 Some wandered in the desolate wilderness, finding no way to a city where they could live. 5 They were hungry and thirsty;
4 Some wandered in the desolate wilderness, finding no way to a city where they could live. 5 They were hungry and thirsty;
their spirits failed within them.
Hunger and thirst are here used to
express the deepest sense of “dissatisfaction.”
What better describes our world today than the picture of men and women
stumbling through life with no real sense of purpose and no real feeling of
satisfaction. We get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch T.V., get up
and do it all over again all week long hoping for that sweet release we call
the “weekend.” Then we simply shift to a
whole new regimen of mindless activities.
We think if we can buy enough “toys” and watch enough mindless T.V., we
somehow can escape the aimlessness of our lives. But not so.
Life that is not rooted in Christian devotion is aimless and
unsatisfying.
Second, the Psalmist describes the plight of man living in sin as people in a dark DUNGEON chained by the burdens and cares of life, with their spirits utterly broken, as they sit useless in a dank corner of sorrow.
10 Others sat in darkness and gloom — prisoners in cruel chains —
Second, the Psalmist describes the plight of man living in sin as people in a dark DUNGEON chained by the burdens and cares of life, with their spirits utterly broken, as they sit useless in a dank corner of sorrow.
10 Others sat in darkness and gloom — prisoners in cruel chains —
11 because they rebelled against God’s
commands and despised the counsel of the Most High. 12 He
broke their spirits with hard labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to
help.
The overriding issue of “imprisonment” is
that one’s life is not one’s own—a prisoner’s life is completely controlled by
the jailer. The jailer in this case is “sin
and rebellion.” Our minds are fettered
by sinful thoughts and our spirits are broken by the constant beating of our
life against the anvil of our circumstances.
Without Christ, the anvil always wins in that battle. A blacksmith will go through many hammers in
pursuit of his career, but the anvil is passed down from generation to generation. In a similar way, the “sins of the fathers are visited unto their children unto the third and
fourth generation” (*****). Generation
after generation remain locked in the cage of sin and oppression, with lives
controlled and consumed by circumstances.
Third, the Psalmist pictures the terrible plight of the life of an unrepentant fool languishing on his DEATH BED. Even food has become detestable. The gnarled claw of the devil is scraping at his door, biding his time until he can enter and drag his sorry soul into the bottomless pit of hell.
17 Fools suffered affliction because of their rebellious ways and their sins. 18 They loathed all food and came near the gates of death.
Third, the Psalmist pictures the terrible plight of the life of an unrepentant fool languishing on his DEATH BED. Even food has become detestable. The gnarled claw of the devil is scraping at his door, biding his time until he can enter and drag his sorry soul into the bottomless pit of hell.
17 Fools suffered affliction because of their rebellious ways and their sins. 18 They loathed all food and came near the gates of death.
Those who foolish disregard the offer of
forgiveness from God because of his faithful
love that endures forever has the stink of death’s decay upon their life.
Fourth, the Psalmist pictures the sinful soul
as a ship on DANGEROUS seas.
23 Others went to sea in ships, conducting
trade on the vast waters.
24 They saw the Lord’s works, His
wonderful works in the deep. 25 He spoke and raised a
tempest that stirred up the waves of the sea. 26 Rising up
to the sky, sinking down to the depths, their courage melting away in
anguish, 27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men, and
all their skill was useless.
People who have never gone to sea in
ships find it hard to fathom the vastness, power, and menace that a large body
of water poses. In a tempest, even the
largest vessels are at the mercy of the waves.
Going to sea, even in calm weather is a very, very dangerous
undertaking. Add a tempest, and it
becomes deadly dangerous.
In each of these examples, you will notice a pattern. It could be called the “pattern of redemption.” First is problem. Second is the realization of the problem. Third is the resolution. Many, perhaps most people never get out of the first phase. Their problems have so consumed them they don’t even know they have a problem. That problem is sin. It has devastated their lives like termites devastate a home all the while going unnoticed by the inhabitants until the damage is irreparable. Sin is insidious—it destroys from the inside, out. Like necrotizing bacteria destroys tissue, sin causes the rot of one’s soul until our soul becomes a stinking mass of decomposed potential, fit for nothing but the dumpster of hell.
It is into that rot and stench God dives in to rescue us—but, only when our eyes have been opened by the conviction of the Holy Spirit and we “realize” the rotting state of our being apart from God.
This is where God has redeemed us FROM—a horrible, painful, purposeless existence. It is also helpful, necessary actually, to answer the question, what are we saved BY? BY what means does God bring about the restoration of souls that have been consigned to the dumpster of sin headed for eternal deposit on the trash heap of hell, “where the fire never goes out and the death worm never dies.” (*****). True redemption comes BY only one means.
In each of these examples, you will notice a pattern. It could be called the “pattern of redemption.” First is problem. Second is the realization of the problem. Third is the resolution. Many, perhaps most people never get out of the first phase. Their problems have so consumed them they don’t even know they have a problem. That problem is sin. It has devastated their lives like termites devastate a home all the while going unnoticed by the inhabitants until the damage is irreparable. Sin is insidious—it destroys from the inside, out. Like necrotizing bacteria destroys tissue, sin causes the rot of one’s soul until our soul becomes a stinking mass of decomposed potential, fit for nothing but the dumpster of hell.
It is into that rot and stench God dives in to rescue us—but, only when our eyes have been opened by the conviction of the Holy Spirit and we “realize” the rotting state of our being apart from God.
This is where God has redeemed us FROM—a horrible, painful, purposeless existence. It is also helpful, necessary actually, to answer the question, what are we saved BY? BY what means does God bring about the restoration of souls that have been consigned to the dumpster of sin headed for eternal deposit on the trash heap of hell, “where the fire never goes out and the death worm never dies.” (*****). True redemption comes BY only one means.
2. What are we redeemed BY?
Look again at verse 2:
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that
He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe.
The key is to understand the word, “redeemed, or redeemer.” In English, it means “to buy back.” In Hebrew it means
that, but also had two very specific applications.
The noun and verb forms translated redeemed and redemption occurring this Psalm are related to the Hebrew, גָּאַל gaal. It occurs in slightly different spellings in various places in the O.T. Since the entire theme of the Bible is God’s story of redemption, it is important to understand this word. The basic English definition simply means to “buy back.” Even dictionaries, however, will include the idea of “atoning for a fault or mistake, or deliverance from sin.” The Hebrew is broader. Ga’al (go’el), referred to the specific practice of a “kinsmen redeemer,” as with Boaz, who was a relative that would marry a deceased relative’s wife in order to preserve his property and lineage. Ga’al also referred to the “blood avenger” which acted as the “Family Executioner” responsible for bringing the murderer of a relative to justice, as in, capital punishment (Num. 35:19).
This is the force and foundation for Paul’s declaration in Heb. 9:22:
22 According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
So, our text is concerned with God, “redeeming” His children, or “rescuing” them from various calamities which reached its ultimate expression when God redeemed us from our sins, once for all, through the blood of Jesus Christ.
The key component in God’s plan of redemption is “blood.” “5 He saved us —
The noun and verb forms translated redeemed and redemption occurring this Psalm are related to the Hebrew, גָּאַל gaal. It occurs in slightly different spellings in various places in the O.T. Since the entire theme of the Bible is God’s story of redemption, it is important to understand this word. The basic English definition simply means to “buy back.” Even dictionaries, however, will include the idea of “atoning for a fault or mistake, or deliverance from sin.” The Hebrew is broader. Ga’al (go’el), referred to the specific practice of a “kinsmen redeemer,” as with Boaz, who was a relative that would marry a deceased relative’s wife in order to preserve his property and lineage. Ga’al also referred to the “blood avenger” which acted as the “Family Executioner” responsible for bringing the murderer of a relative to justice, as in, capital punishment (Num. 35:19).
This is the force and foundation for Paul’s declaration in Heb. 9:22:
22 According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
So, our text is concerned with God, “redeeming” His children, or “rescuing” them from various calamities which reached its ultimate expression when God redeemed us from our sins, once for all, through the blood of Jesus Christ.
The key component in God’s plan of redemption is “blood.” “5 He saved us —
not
by works of righteousness that we had done, but . . . 6 He
poured out this Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior
Sin cost God the very blood of His only Son. Jesus experienced all the horrors of hell when He hung as the God-Man upon the cross. Though I can’t explain “how,” God the Father had to watch what the sins of the world would do to His beloved Son—and it wasn’t pretty!
This is why failing to accept the gift provided by God at such a terrible price is the “unpardonable sin.” Callously ignoring or viewing with contempt God’s holy sacrifice is like spitting in the face of Yahweh, Himself. This God hates, and hates eternally. This sin can never be pardoned—such a soul can never be redeemed. God “despises and rejects those that despise and reject His son by failing to comprehend what it cost God to redeem us.”
Jesus is our kinsman redeemer Who redeemed us by His own blood. The Bible describes Jesus “diving into the dumpster of our lives”
Redemption is about what we have been rescued FROM—that is sin; and what we have been rescued BY—that is the blood of Jesus; but also,
3. What we have been redeemed FOR.
If one examines the common apathy that has such a hold on church-goers in America, one must conclude that they did God a favor by allowing Him to save them. This callous, cold, emotionally atrophied approach to Christ and His Church is nothing less than abominable in God’s eyes. Treating God and the Church like a giant buffet laid out to satisfy our every whim and pleasure is beyond disgusting in God’s eyes. Loving God means loving and loving others as God has loved us.
If we call ourselves “followers of Christ,” then we need to do what God in Christ did for us. He found us wandering aimlessly and gave us purpose and meaning in life (4-9). He found us locked up in the prison of “gloom and darkness,” bound by the chains of rebellion and He “broke our chains apart” setting us free (10-16). God found us on out “death bed without any hope beyond the grave” and He “rescued us from the pit” of our despair turning our cries of despair into “shouts of joy” (17-22). Finally, the Psalmist declared that God discovered us tossed about and tormented by the tempestuous seas of life “sinking down into the depths” of sure destruction and He “stilled the storm . . . guiding us into a safe harbor” (23-30). This is the God we say we follow if we are redeemed, so what God did for us, we should be doing for others.
This is the time of year we think about “thanksgiving,” or being grateful for the bounty in our life. How can we truly say, “thank you” to a God who dove into the disgusting dumpster of our sinful lives to “redeem” from the hell we were in? Jesus tells us what we can do, and should do, in response to what God has done for us. Jesus said to His disciples in regard to God’s final evaluation of our lives at His Second Coming (Mat. 25:35-36).
35 For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.’
The disciples were confused because they never remembered doing any this for the Lord. He had always been ministering to them and meeting their needs. Jesus understood the confusion and clarified what it means to minister to God. In Mat. 25:40 Jesus said,
I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.
The way we “repay God for His love to us” (and of course we could never truly “repay” God for what He has done for us), is to “love and serve others.” That’s the essence of the Great Commandment,
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. t 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
God redeems us to “love Him and to love others” and we love others by serving them as God has served us. God saved us to serve Him, not sit and soak up His blessings until we die and go to heaven. If all God cared about was getting us into heaven, He’d yank us out the moment we were saved. We are left behind for a reason—and that reason is to serve. Service is what we are redeemed FOR.
We’ve considered God’s redemption from several angles: what we are saved FROM—which is sin; what we are saved BY—the blood of Jesus; what we are saved FOR—service. Our understanding of God’s redemption and His “steadfast love” also involves,
4. What we are saved TO.
Perhaps the most exciting word in this
Psalm could easily be overlooked. It is
not the noun, “love,” as modified by the adjective “faithful.” These are important words to be sure. It is not the verb, “redeemed,” even though
it is the very foundation for this Psalm.
The most exciting word is a noun in Hebrew that functions like and
adverb in the English translations. That
word is, “forever!” Literally, the
text says, “forever is His love.” It could read, “eternal is His love.” A
paraphrase would be, “because of God’s
goodness, heaven is the endgame of His love.”
Every undertaking in life involves a desired consequence or outcome, though most people don’t give much thought to the outcome and consequences. Another term for the outcome of a series of events (life) is “endgame.” In business, the endgame is to “dominate the market amassing large returns on investments.” In football or other sports, the endgame is to end the game with more points than the other team. For a doctor, the endgame is to relieve suffering and bring health. A simple definition of an endgame is, “the ultimate agenda or desired consequence of a planned series of events.”
What was God’s endgame when He created the universe? God created the end when He created the beginning. God sees the end and beginning as one. It is too complicated to unwrap all of God’s purposes in creation but central to the story as God has revealed it from Genesis through to Revelation it can be summed up in one word, “REDEMPTION.” Go back the first three verses:
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe 3 and has gathered them from the lands— from the east and the west, from the north and the south.
Every undertaking in life involves a desired consequence or outcome, though most people don’t give much thought to the outcome and consequences. Another term for the outcome of a series of events (life) is “endgame.” In business, the endgame is to “dominate the market amassing large returns on investments.” In football or other sports, the endgame is to end the game with more points than the other team. For a doctor, the endgame is to relieve suffering and bring health. A simple definition of an endgame is, “the ultimate agenda or desired consequence of a planned series of events.”
What was God’s endgame when He created the universe? God created the end when He created the beginning. God sees the end and beginning as one. It is too complicated to unwrap all of God’s purposes in creation but central to the story as God has revealed it from Genesis through to Revelation it can be summed up in one word, “REDEMPTION.” Go back the first three verses:
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe 3 and has gathered them from the lands— from the east and the west, from the north and the south.
Whatever is gathered “from” something is at the same time gathered “to something.” Redemption not only gathers us from the disgusting, despairing, dissatisfied, decaying death of our sin, but it gathers us TO God Himself. And . . . where does God reside. In Psalm 107 we see a great multitude “gathered from the lands, from the east and the west, from the north and the south.” In the Book of Revelation, we see a glimpse of where these “redeemed” are gathered to:
I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands (Rev. 7:9).
Psalm 107:1-3 specifically details God gathering His chosen people, the Nation of Israel, from the vast Kingdom of Babylon after 70 years in bondage (actually Persia by the end of the Babylonian Captivity). That is the immediate context of Psalm 107, but the ultimate expression of God’s redemptive love, God’s endgame, was to gather all the redeemed to His throne in heaven.
Redemption brings about a glorious, eternal “turn-about.” What really took place when God “dove into the dumpster of humanity?” Think about this: Jesus came to experience our hell so we could experience His heaven! That’s what we are saved “TO.” Heaven.
So few people really comprehend fully the depth of God’s “faithful love that endures forever.” For most church-goers redemption is just a story we read about in a book or hear about in a Sunday School class. If we are even somewhat devoted, we think about God’s “faithful love that endures forever” perhaps once a week.
But, do we really, truly comprehend the extreme nature of God’s redemptive act in Christ? Do we really live as if we comprehend what it meant for Christ to dive into the dumpster of humanity to turn our trash into treasure? I don’t think it is even possible for any human being to fully comprehend the words, “faithful love that endures forever.”
What is truly sad, however, is not that man CANNOT fully comprehend the depth of God’s love, but that we WILL NOT even try. We take God’s faithful love for granted—a HUGE SIN AGAINST THE LOVE OF GOD IN CHRIST.
This Psalm does not merely describe the condition of man’s sinful soul, and the salvation brought to that soul by God. This Psalm outlines the full panorama of the act of redemption, from repentance and rebirth, through sanctification, and on to glorification—the three expressions of the idea of salvation: was saved, is being saved, and will be saved. Once we understand, and fully comprehend what we have been saved FROM, and what we are saved BY, we can more fully understand the broader scope of our redemption and explore what we are saved FOR, and what we are saved TO.
And . . . if we will contemplate the distance between a Holy God and a ungodly sinner; or, if we meditate on the distance between hell’s dungeon and heaven’s throne, at least we are attempting to truly appreciate what God did when He dove into the dumpster of our lives.
Let’s not pass over this message without setting aside some time this week to reflect upon the full panorama of God’s redemptive work in Christ.
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