Easter Sunday Sermon- April 21, 2019
Overview
The Eternal God and Our Numbered Days
Psalm 90:1-2 sets a striking contrast at the heart of Moses' oldest psalm: "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations… from everlasting to everlasting, you are God." Over against the eternal, unchanging God stands our mortality. "You turn us back to dust and say, 'Turn back, you mortals'" Psalm 90:3. The cause of death is no mystery in Scripture—it is God's righteous judgment on sin, traceable to the warning given in the garden Genesis 2:17. However the means may differ from person to person, the cause is the same.
Scripture is equally honest about how brief life is. James calls our life "a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" James 4:14. Psalm 144:4 likens our days to a passing shadow, and Moses says we are swept away like grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening Psalm 90:5-6. This is why Moses prays, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom" Psalm 90:12. Counting our days is a wisdom practice: it reminds us that life is not an endless pursuit of self-indulgence, that our breath is given for the service and glory of God, and that every person will one day stand before God's throne.
Recognizing our mortality drives us to the cry of Psalm 90:13—"Turn, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants!" Luther called this a cry for life eternal. God's mercy has appeared in history before—Hezekiah's life was extended fifteen years in answer to prayer Isaiah 38:5—but the fullness of mercy is found at the cross. Jesus bore our sin, took the wrath we deserved, and reconciled us to God by His blood. The empty tomb is God's public declaration that the sacrifice has been accepted; without the resurrection, there is no atonement, but because Christ is risen, sin and death are truly overcome. This victory is personally applied to us in baptism, where we receive forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, faith, and a place in God's family.
So Moses' prayer in Psalm 90:14 becomes ours: "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." For the baptized, when this life closes, we are immediately ushered into Christ's presence. Today is one more day in an eternity that has no end. Number your days honestly—and then keep counting, because in Christ those days go on and on. Like the woman in the supermarket who took the cross from her own neck and placed it on a stranger's, we are entrusted with the privilege of bestowing this same gospel on others: the cross has secured mercy, the tomb is empty, and your destiny in Christ has been changed from death to paradise.
Transcript
Would you open your Bible, please, with me to Psalm 90 for our study today? 0s
It was a trip to the zoo. 5s
It had been, well, a long time since we had been to the zoo. 9s
It's a wonderful, wonderful day. 15s
It was packed. 17s
There were people of all ages that were there, 19s
and there was just a spirit of a festive gathering. 23s
It was wonderful. 27s
And one of the exhibits, there was a sign. 30s
And on the sign, they had the life-expectancies for several different animals. 33s
Oh, it was rather interesting. 40s
And so I was reading through that sign. 41s
And then right next to it was a sign that gave the average life-expectancy of a human 46s
being. 55s
All of a sudden, a midst that crowded zoo, 59s
I found myself in my own thoughts. 63s
A midst of the crowd, I was alone. 68s
And I was doing the math. 72s
I didn't like the outcome of that equation. 77s
And so I thought to myself, well, I don't want to think 82s
about this anymore. 84s
Where are the elephants? 86s
But you see, thinking about that is precisely what God calls us to do. 89s
Psalm 90 is the oldest Psalm in the book of Psalms. 102s
And notice in this Psalm, as we study at this morning, 111s
that there's this amazing contrast between the eternal nature of God 114s
and our mortality. 120s
For example, look at verse 1 with me, please. 123s
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 128s
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, 133s
from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. 138s
God is eternal. 145s
God has always been. 146s
God is and God always will be. 148s
Contrast that then to our mortality. 153s
Look at verse 3. 157s
You turn us back to dust and say, turn back, 160s
you mortals. 165s
What was it? 169s
The words that we shared on Ash Wednesday, 170s
when the ashes were made with the sign of the cross on our foreheads. 173s
But we shared with one another, 178s
remember that you are dust and to dust. 180s
You shall return. 188s
God created Adam out of the very dust and scripture says, 191s
and it is to that dust that we return. 195s
The cause of death is God's judgment on our sinfulness. 202s
By the means will vary for all of us. 209s
But we're all going to have the same cause of our own of our deaths. 213s
And that is God's judgment for sin. 219s
Remember back in the garden, when you turn to our first parents and said, 222s
you can eat every tree of the garden, say one. 225s
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 228s
The day you eat of that tree, you die. 230s
You die. 236s
So every time a death occurs. 238s
Every time that occurs, it's because the cause, 241s
because of our sinfulness. 246s
It is God's judgment upon sin. 251s
I will tell you how brief life is here and now. 258s
James writes in the fourth chapter. 264s
He says, what is your life? 266s
For you are a mist that appears for a little while, 267s
then vanishes. 272s
Psalm 144, speaking of humans, 274s
it says, they are like a breath. 277s
Their days are like a passing shadow. 280s
Notice, verse 5 of our text from Psalm 90. 286s
You sweep them away. 291s
They are like a dream. 292s
Like grass that is renewed in the morning. 294s
In the morning, it flourishes and is renewed. 297s
In the evening, it fades and withers. 300s
We understand the cause of death. 307s
This God's judgment upon sin. 310s
We understand the brevity of life. 312s
The quick number of years of which we experience in the here and the now. 317s
Notice then. 327s
Notice what Moses praised in verse 12 of Psalm 90. 330s
He praised so teach us to count our days. 338s
Teach us to count them. 346s
That is asking the Lord to teach us 349s
that we will remember our mortality. 353s
That we will remember why death has come into the creation, 357s
that we will remember that the days here are brief. 361s
So Moses says, teach us Lord. 369s
Teach us to count them. 373s
Why? 376s
Look at the very next part of verse 12. 378s
So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. 380s
You see when we count the days when we reflect on our own mortality, 389s
that leads to wisdom. 396s
It leads to a wise heart. 400s
Why is that when we count the days when we are reminded 405s
of the shortness of life and the here and now, 410s
we reminded that indeed for however long gives us the Lord gives us breath here, 415s
that we are to use our breaths, our life in service, 421s
and in giving glory to God Almighty. 427s
When we count our days when we reflect on our own mortality, 432s
we are reminded that the day will come when every single human being 435s
will stand before God on judgment day before the almighty throne of God. 442s
When we count our days, we are reminded of why death came into creation. 451s
When we count our days, we are reminded that life is simply not this pursuit of 458s
pleasure that our days here are limited, that they're not to be spent on this endless 464s
pension for self-indulgence. 473s
Moses, praise, Lord teach us to count, to count our days. 478s
But oh, that could be a hard lesson to receive, can't we? 497s
A death occurs and the person in the family says, quote, 509s
I guess that means I'm next in line. 516s
It's that lesson that we learn as we look at our loved ones and we count their days. 523s
It is indeed the lesson that we learn when we say things like, 534s
where did the years go? Where did they go? 541s
It's the lesson that we learn when we find ourselves going to more and more funnels. 546s
It's the lesson that we learn. 556s
When we're standing in a crowd at the fourth-worth zoo, but for a few moments, 562s
one is all alone doing the math, comparing their life to the life expectancy on the side. 570s
Moses says, teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. 589s
I think though of Hizakaya, Hizakaya is a king mentioned in Holy Scripture. 609s
He was one of the kings of Judah. 615s
And the prophet Hizakaya came to him one day and said, 619s
Hizakaya, make things ready because you're about ready to die. 622s
Well, Hizakaya turns to the Lord in prayer and he prays, 630s
and the response then from God comes through the prophet Hizakaya. 636s
It's recorded in Hizakaya 38. 640s
Go and say to Hizakaya, thus says the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, 643s
I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears, I will add 15 years to your life. 649s
And the days for Hizakaya were extended. Why? 658s
Because God simply showed mercy. 666s
He simply showed mercy. 672s
Why listen to the cry from mercy in our text? Look at verse 13. 677s
Moses cries out and says, turn O Lord, how long have compassion on your servants? 683s
Luther said, that was a cry for life eternal. 691s
There was one who understood the reality of death. 696s
There was one who understood that death came into creation because of humankind's disobedience. 698s
There was one who understood of the shortness, the brevity of life, 705s
and he's crying out from mercy, from mercy. 710s
Beloved, is there mercy for us? 718s
Is there mercy? 726s
For us. 731s
The other day I was in the supermarket. 735s
As I put the items there on the little conveyor belt there and then took my place. 739s
As I looked up to the checker, I noticed that she had this beautiful cross around her neck. 745s
It's just lovely. It's this wood carving. It's kind of a modernistic look to it and a movement to the 751s
losses. Absolutely lovely. 758s
Overlaid in that cross. It looked like it had been burned in was the image of Jesus with his arms 762s
extended on the cross. It was absolutely beautiful. I turned her and I said, that is a beautiful, 769s
beautiful cross. She says, oh, I know. I know. And she said, do you know the other day, a customer 778s
came through my line and she was wearing this exact same cross. 788s
And she said, I turned to her and I said, that's a beautiful cross. 793s
And she said, the woman turned to me then and said, do you like it? She said, oh, I love it. 799s
And she said, here, take it, take it. And she took it right off of herself and she put it on the woman. 806s
She delights in that cross. She delights in what it communicates. She delights in how she received it. 815s
She delights because the cross is the mercy of God. 828s
Look at verse 14 with me, please. Moses praised, satisfied us in the morning with your steadfast love. 842s
So that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. So that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 853s
Jesus Christ on the cross has taken our sin upon Him. The penalty for sin was laid upon the Lord Jesus. 869s
The wrath of God laid on the Son. And this reconciliation was affected through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. 882s
That reconciliation that had been broken, that relationship that had been broken because of the reality of sin. 896s
Now it had been reconciled through the blood of Jesus as Jesus took the sin of the world upon Him, dying in our place. 902s
When they took his body down from the cross, they put it in a tomb. 915s
But the tomb is empty. Christ rose, overcoming death. 920s
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is God's declaration to us that the sacrifice for sin has been accepted. 931s
If there is no resurrection, then there's no sacrifice for sin. 941s
But the sacrifice has been accepted because death has been overcome. 948s
That glorious word of the gospel, that the tomb is empty, that the sacrifice has been accepted. 956s
That that which Christ has won through the cross and the empty tomb is given to us in the waters of baptism. 965s
We are washed in the victory. The personal application of the victory to us, 974s
where we receive the forgiveness of sins and life eternal faith, the Holy Spirit, where we are made 983s
a member of the family. What an incredible privilege we have to be able to bestow this glorious 990s
message on others, like putting the beautiful, beautiful cross around someone's neck, what a beautiful 1002s
privilege it is for us to be able to bestow that glorious message of the cross in the empty tomb. 1011s
To others. For baptized child, your destiny has been changed. From hell to paradise itself. 1020s
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love so that we may rejoice and be glad 1041s
all our days. All our days. And so go ahead. Go ahead beloved and count them. 1051s
Go ahead, baptized child and count your days. For you see for the Christian, 1070s
indeed when life this side of heaven comes to a close we are immediately transferred into the presence of 1078s
paradise itself. That is an immediate transfer. That means that means baptized child that today is one more day 1088s
in all of eternity for you. So go ahead. Go ahead. Count your days. 1100s
Because you're going to keep counting and counting and counting aren't you? Go ahead. 1114s
Count your days. Because those days just go on and on and on 1120s
and on 1130s
and on and on and on and on and on Und on and on 1136s