THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST June 20, 23 & 24, 2001
St. Mark’s Evangelical
Lutheran Church – Watertown, WI
CHRISTIANS HAVE UNBELIEVABLE
BENEFITS PSALM 103:1-5
What kind of a benefit package do you have? Most people as they enter the workforce are concerned about the benefits a company offers to its workers. Do they offer health insurance, dental and eye care? Do they cover the cost of drugs and medications? Do they have a pension plan, stock options, and 401K plan? How many weeks of vacation are offered?
In the past, some employers have lamented the fact that many young people who seek employment are more concerned about the amount of vacation and number of days off rather than what they are expected to do on the job.
Most of us are concerned about benefits, especially health insurance and coverage for drugs and medications. We find that people who retire early often get a part-time job just so that they can have health insurance until they are old enough to qualify for Social Security and Medicare.
Have you ever considered what are the benefits that God offers to his people? Has anyone ever asked you, “What benefit plan do you have as a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ?” Have you ever bragged about the benefit plan that you do have with the Lord? We often hear people speak about the wonderful benefit plan that their company offers to its workers. But how often do we hear a Christian talk up the benefit plan that God offers to his people?
That’s
exactly what King David does in our reading for today. He boasts about the unbelievable benefit plan
that God offers to his followers. David
says to us: CHRISTIANS HAVE
UNBELIEVABLE BENEFITS. David then
proceeds to describe for us I) God’s Benefit Package. He also encourages us as we examine these
benefits in how II) We Respond.
God’s benefit package that he offers to every one of us has no strings attached whatsoever. There is nothing we have to do to receive these benefits. They are freely given and offered to every one. We don’t have to work or pay to get them. Jesus Christ has done all that for us. The list of benefits is rather extensive. Listen to it: Forgiveness. Healing. Resurrection. Love and Affection. Satisfaction. Renewal.
The most important and most wonderful benefit that God offers to all of us here is forgiveness. As David writes, “who forgives all your sins.” (v. 3a) Why do we need forgiveness? We are living in a culture that has taught us that we’re ok. There is nothing wrong with us. And if someone does get upset with what I do or say, it’s not my problem it is his or her problem. In fact, we have been told and our society is beginning to operate on this principle: nothing is right or wrong. There are no absolutes. If there are no absolutes, then there is no need for forgiveness. But the truth is there are absolutes. There are rights and wrongs and we still have a conscience that condemns us. The truth is that many of us have all types of guilt that we carry around. King David, the writer of this psalm personally experienced that. He had committed adultery and murder. He tells us what it is like to carry that guilt with you. He wrote, “When I kept silent my bones wasted away all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” (Psalm 32:3-4) But there is a solution for our guilt and shame. What is it? It is the forgiveness of God. As David wrote, “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity . . . and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” (Psalm 32:5a&c) The word that David uses in our reading is that God lifted off of us a great weight. We don’t have to carry around every day the guilt of past sins. We don’t have to carry around with us the burden that we are not perfect. God has lifted that off of us. We don’t have to carry any guilt or any shame. God has removed all of our sins from us. What a liberating and freeing benefit. When I get up in the morning I don’t have to worry about my sins of yesterday and I don’t have to carry them around with me. God has lifted that weight off of my shoulders and put it on Jesus.
“He heals all your diseases.” (v. 3b) Think back in your life. How many colds have you had? How many bouts with the flu? Have you ever had chicken pox, measles and pneumonia? Are you still here? Have you been healed? You have. Now what about Leona Wetzel who died last week? Did God heal her from all her diseases? I remember early in my ministry, we had only one elderly couple in our congregation. One Sunday we prayed for the wife who was seriously ill. After the service one of the elders came up to me and said, “Well, pastor, if Minn dies or lives God will have answered our prayer. My initial thought was “No. We prayed that God would heal her. If she dies, she hasn’t been healed.” But as I thought about what the elder had said, I realized he was right. God can heal us by either prolonging our life here or ending our life on this earth and taking us to heaven where never again will we get sick, contract cancer, lose our hearing or eyesight. We will have a perfect healing. So, yes God does heal all our diseases. You will never find an earthly doctor who can claim healing for all his patients. God, however, can claim 100% cure rate for all of his people.
As we continue down the list of benefits David notes, “he redeems your life from the pit.” (v. 4a) Literally David is saying, “he buys you back from the grave.” We all know that one day we are going to die. That is the result of being sinful and imperfect. Our souls are going to be ripped from our bodies. Our souls will go to be with the Lord in glory and our bodies will return to dust. But we will not remain in that condition forever. Our bodies will be raised from the pit, the grave. We will be raised holy and perfect, body and soul united forever and live with the Lord and all his saints on the new earth.
And the benefits continue. “He crowns you with love and compassion.” (v. 4b) God is kind and loving to us no matter what. Everything that God sends or allows to happen in our lives as his children is because he loves us. He has a reason and purpose for it all and it will always work for our good. Why? Because God loves us with an unconditional love. God says to the people of Israel when they have been taken by force from their homes and forced to live in exile in Babylon, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) Paul reminds us of this fact that God causes all things to work for the good of those who love God who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Could you ask for or expect any more benefits? “He satisfies your desires with good things.” (v. 5a) What do we need? God says having food and clothes with that be content. (1 Timothy 6:8) You and I have more than food and clothes. We have a roof over our head. We have more clothes than we need and more food that we don’t think about if we are going to eat but what are we going to eat. Just think about your life and consider all the marvelous good things that you have. Why do you have them? Because you’ve worked so hard and have been so wise in your planning? No. Simply because of the kindness and generosity of our Lord God.
Finally the list ends. “Your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (v. 5b) We will be totally renewed at the end of time in the resurrection. David compares that renewal to what happens to an eagle when it molts. It loses its old feathers and grows new ones so that it is beautiful, strong and sleek. We will be renewed in a similar way at the end of time. As the Bible says, “(the Lord Jesus) will transform our lowly body so that it will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:21b)
Can anyone else, any company not only promise, but also deliver such benefits to us? Of course not. But our God can and he does. The benefit package that God gives us is really unbelievable.
How do you respond and react to such benefits? David counsels us to praise and to not forget.
“Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being praise his holy name.” (v. 1) How do you do that? Have you ever been with someone who spent a great amount of time sharing with you the great benefits of working for some particular company? Have you ever sat and listened to someone extol all the good points about some athlete or team? That’s praise. Have you ever told anyone how great your God is and what he has done for you? If you haven’t, you need to start. Tell others about the benefit plan that you have from the Lord, your Savior God. It is unbelievable. Tell them what God has done for you and what it means in your life.
We have been praising God in our worship as we have sung hymns of praise to our God for what he has done. As we have thanked him and told him how great and wonderful he is, we have been praising the Lord in another way.
The other counsel David gives is this, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” (v. 2) Don’t forget the benefit package that God has given to you. How can we not forget? Oh, it’s very easy. We can get so involved and at times overwhelmed by our day to day jobs and experiences that we lose sight of what God has done and continues to do for us. It is so easy to focus on the negatives and problems of life that we are blinded to the benefits that we have.
It’s just like the benefits you have in your health insurance plan. You have no idea what they are until you need health care and then you begin to research what your insurance will pay and not pay. You don’t know what benefits are yours.
How can we not forget God’s benefit plan? What we are doing right now is one way. When we come to the house of God regularly, we are reminded of the benefits that we have as God’s children. When we regularly and frequently kneel at the altar of the Lord and receive the body and blood of Jesus in the holy sacrament, we are reminded of the benefits of forgiveness and eternal life that we have in Jesus Christ. When you and I daily pick up our Bible and read and listen to God speaking to us we are reminded of what benefits we have.
People of God, we have a benefit package that cannot be surpassed by any in this world. Praise God for these blessings and share this news with others.
Amen.