Let Me Tell You What God’s Done! – Psalm 40:1-11

Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me.      God loves me.       God has plans for me.

Close your eyes and think about a past event or experience that made you really excited. Something that was so great, you felt driven to tell everyone – friends and strangers alike – about it. Maybe it’s an engagement. Maybe it’s a trip to a tropical paradise or Disney Land. Maybe it was your first child or grandchild. For me, it’s easily about my dogs or adrenaline-rush experiences. I want you to remember your craving to tell others about your joy.

I love everything about today’s timeless scripture, 4 parts in particular.

1 – The writer has gone through some tough times. Most of us, at one time or another, have felt like we were in the “pit of despair.” This is beyond the mundane irritations of life. Now I want you to imagine a time when you felt like you were in the “pit of despair,” stuck in the emotional “mud and mire” (think La Brea Tar Pits kind of stuck) that prevent us from seeing beauty or engaging with life. Perhaps, in these tough times, you too called out to God for help.

2 – The writer credits God with their survival AND goes one step further saying that in addition to saving them, God has given them a NEW song of praise. Whatever happened, they see their life and their relationship with God in a newer, bigger, better way than ever before.

3 – The writer, whom we will assume is a devout Jew who knew their Torah well, would have understood the life-or-death importance of the detailed system of sacrificial offerings given BY GOD to Moses for the benefit of the Israelites. So it’s a major “red flag” moment when we hear them say, “You God take no delight in sacrifices or offerings.”

Are they, a devout Jew, saying that the offering system was bad? No.
There is every reason to believe that this writer understood that the ancient sacrificial offerings were a way of establishing and maintaining a strong spiritual relationship between God and the individuals in and nation of Israel. Those offerings were meant to be a blessing, not a burden.

And if that sounds familiar, you may be thinking of the Gospel of Mark 12:28-34 where Jesus is asked which of the 613 Jewish commandments was most important. Jesus answers with Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength) and Leviticus 19:18 (love your neighbor as yourself). The Torah-teacher (think modern-day church lawyer with a Ph.D. in theology) who asked Jesus the question complimented Jesus on His answer and added that those laws, “mean more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:33). Jesus responded by saying the church lawyer was close to the Kingdom of God.

4 – From the writer’s experience of God’s saving action, from the writer’s joy of a new, bigger, better life, from the writer’s understanding of God’s greatness and desire for an intimately personal relationship with us… the writer is driven to share their experiences, insights, and deep joy with their community. (Remember your happy moment I asked you to think about at the beginning.) Look at verses 9-10.

9 I have told ALL your people about your saving grace. I have not been afraid to speak out…
10 I have not hidden the good news of your salvation in my heart; I have talked about your faithfulness and saving power. I have told everyone in the community of your unfailing love and faithfulness.

Notice that the writer’s response is to TELL others about God’s love. That’s it. No long history lessons. No lectures about deep theology. It is simply: Let me tell you how God has saved me. There’s not even a “call to action,” no form of “you need to adopt my beliefs.” And the writer is not afraid of rejection. “So what? I still have my experience and my joy. You can’t steal those!”

During the past few months – and for the rest of my time here – I have encouraged all of you to pray for specific people you know who you believe would benefit from being part of our faith community. I also encourage you to invite people to join you at one of our many events (worship or otherwise). For many of us who have grown up in mainline churches, this “invitational culture” is a great theory we rarely, if ever, implement.

Why not? For decades, I’ve heard devoted life-long Christians tell me, “I’m not really comfortable talking with people about my faith or inviting them to church. I don’t think it’s my place to tell them what to believe.”

I get that. I understand exactly how those people feel. I really do. I myself felt the same way for much of my life. But I’ve seen friends struggle through all sorts of hard times – emotional, financial, medical, spiritual, etc. Some have told me that they struggle to find peace, hope, or joy.

Will I share my joy with them? Will I be “bold” enough to share with them the source of my peace, hope, and joy? Will I have the right words? Will they be offended? What I’ve found is encouragement and inspiration from stories like today’s passage.

For instance, take Mark 5:1-20 when Jesus healed a man filled with demons. This “pigs off a cliff” story ends with these three verses:
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 19 But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

Nobody gets amazed if you tell them you go to a nice church with nice people. Nice is not amazing; it’s not compelling; it’s barely interesting. In the last 3 months, I have discovered that we are not a nice church. We are an amazing church with incredible people who have experienced God’s love, mercy, and grace in miraculous ways.

AND you have told me the numerous ways our community needs to be encouraged. The youth need support, the homebound need companionship, the homeless need shelter, the hungry need food, abusers need transformation, and the abused, rejected, and depressed need hope.

We – Susanville UMC offer that. We ARE that. We have LIVED that. We ARE amazing stories of God’s saving touch and amazing grace.

Let me be clear. I’m not asking anyone to tell others what to believe. And guess what, I won’t either. Why not?

Because we are Methodists and as Methodists, we believe that everyone is a precious creation of God’s loving nature. Thus, we love others, simply because they are. “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16-17). That’s all-inclusive.

As Methodists, we believe that God created every human with a brain that is designed to come to an understanding of God (i.e. faith) that makes sense to them through Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience. (I’ll preach on those four another day.)

As Methodists, we believe that everyone deserves to know that God made them, God loves them, and God has plans for them.

As Methodists, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to explore what that means to them.

As Methodists, we believe that we are all called – by God – to share this Good News with our family, our friends, and our community in ways that people see and can receive as true gifts.

The Good News is a gift, not a burden. It is the gift of hope, not blame. The gift of joy, not shame. The gift of love, not disdain. And we can share these gifts by telling others how God has saved us.

This week, I encourage you to share a time or some way, big or small, that God has saved (or blessed) you. Share this gift with someone, anyone. Bonus points if that person is not already part of our faith community because we need to share our joy about God’s love with those who would not otherwise see, hear, or feel it.

I know this may be uncomfortable for some of you – including myself. But God asks for our participation, not our perfection. What a gift! Let’s step into our call and share the Good News of God’s love with Susanville.

Amen? Amen!

Benediction:         Deuteronomy 31:8          “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”