Established by God (2)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 87.1-3
His foundation is in the holy mountains.
The LORD loves the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God!
Selah

Sing Psalm 87.1-4
(St. Anne: Our God, Our Help in Ages Past)
Upon the holy mountains rest the footings of the Lord,
Who loves of Israel’s flock the best the keepers of His Word.

For glorious things are spoken of the City of our God;
the nations know His matchless love wher’er His feet have trod.

Read Psalm 87.1-3

Preparation
1. What is God’s attitude toward His people, His city?

2. What kinds of things are spoken about that city?

Meditation
The eternal, unchanging, holy God loves His city, His people. The sons of Korah, gatekeepers in the City of Zion – the temple and its precincts – rejoiced in that love. So absorbed in God’s love were they that they felt as if God loved them best of all (v. 2).

The effect of God’s love for His people is that “glorious things” are spoken of them (v. 3). The first Christians, as they became the Body of Jesus Christ, had “favor with all the people” of Jerusalem (Acts 2.47). God had promised through Moses that, when His people reciprocated His love by obeying His Law, the nations would marvel at their incomparable wisdom (Deut. 4.5-8).

The love of God received, embraced, internalized, delighted in, and issuing in transformation, makes of His people a city to be admired – the beauty and joy of the whole earth (Ps. 48.1-3)!

But when that’s not happening, as it seems not to be happening in our day, it does not mean that God has stopped loving His people. Rather, it means His people are taking His love for granted, rather than embracing it and walking in grateful obedience.

If we’re tired of the world looking askance at us, murmuring against us, ignoring us, mocking us, and threatening our freedoms, call on the Lord to renew and revive us in His love. Delight in that love, like the sons of Korah, and let God use you to spread His love to others.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
The sons of Korah knew that they were loved by God. And they rejoiced in that love. They knew that God was looking favorably upon them, because they knew that they were being obedient to His Laws.

The gatekeepers knew that the gates they kept were loved! By God.

Do we know that today? Truly know that we are loved? And are we as confident that we are pleasing to the LORD? Are we keeping His Laws, and living by faith? (Gal. 3.11-14)

One way to gauge our standing with God, and the community at large, is by checking the aroma we exude.
Do we leave behind us the aroma of lavender, bacon, and baking bread? Or is it more akin to garbage?
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me…” (Ps. 23.6) Is that the glorious smell that we leave behind?

Paul explains it this way: “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life” (2 Cor. 2.14-16).

Are we actively participating in the Church becoming the joy of the whole earth? (Ps. 48.2)

Since we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and have the aroma of the Spirit, we must behave as His representatives, so that only Glorious Things are spoken of Christ and His Church.

If fresh fruit has a lovely aroma, then even more so does the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5.22, 23). And through this, God will use us to “spread His love to others”.

“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph. 5.2).

Reflection
1. Why do you think it is that “glorious things” are not much spoken of the Church today?

2. What does it mean for you to be the aroma of Christ?

3. If we know and are certain that God loves and treasures us, we should freely love others in His Name. Explain.

The glorious things spoken of Zion by the Spirit, were all typical of Christ, and his work and offices; of the gospel church, its privileges and members; of heaven, its glory and perfect happiness. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Psalm 87.3

Closing Prayer: Psalm 87.6, 7
Pray for the Church’s work of evangelism. Pray that your church and churches everywhere would be faithful in reaching out to their lost neighbors with the Good News of Jesus and His love.

Sing Psalm 87.6, 7
(St. Anne: Our God, Our Help in Ages Past)
The Lord will count and tally all in Jesus born again.
Then let them sing, who on Him call, “We joy in God, Amen!”

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.