Psalm 49
Psalm 49
[ 001 ] Good morning, River City! It is so good to be with you again, as we come off of our Summer Sabbath break. It’s one of our annual rhythms where we just push pause on all the action that goes into Sunday gatherings, and rest, visit other churches, visit family, etc. Then, to kick things off with Worship Night last night was really special as well, so thank you to Nevin and the team who put that on last night.
But today, we’re back on and are starting the home stretch of our summer in the book of Psalms. Got a few more weeks here before Vision Sunday on the 8th and then back to finishing out the book of Acts for the rest of the school year.
If you were paying attention while the Psalm was being read this morning, or you look at the heading for Psalm 49 you can tell that this Psalm has to do with finances and wealth. I did a little research this week to see what top priorities should be in place when you are thinking about finances and building. One article was especially geared toward young adults looking to get started in growing wealth and what not, and had three priorities that you should look at when thinking about where to start when it comes to finances.
#1 was to identify your goals. What are you trying to accomplish with your money? Are you looking to save for retirement, pay off college debt, or make a large purchase? Are you wanting to be really generous and give away a certain amount? Are you wanting to own your own jet and fly around the country whenever you want?
#2 was to build up an emergency fund and be aware of your cash flow. Putting some money aside for those unforeseen bills is helpful, plus knowing when your monthly bills are due and when your income happens is great knowledge to have so you know when you have to be frugal and when you can spend a little more.
And #3 was to establish a good habit of investing on a consistent basis. Keep adding to those mutual funds, 401k, and investments regularly.
There were some other good thoughts about investing in people more than you invest in the market, prioritizing family and relationships over bottom line and bank accounts – things like that.
That is solid advice, I would say, but today we jump into a Psalm that would add another step to those three. This is our first Psalm that we’ve studied this summer that was not written by David. This one is written by the sons of Korah. According to the book of 1 Chronicles, this family were the gatekeepers of the tabernacle. The security team. The greeters. And eventually, that role may have morphed into them being musicians and songwriters who became involved in more than just security at the time of worship. It may have included leading corporate singing as well, which would make sense given that this Psalm is for the choir director – for the public gathering.
I am curious if any of the River City security team are also secretly writing songs and playing music. The next worship night will be led by the security team and the front door greeters, or at least we only sing the songs that they wrote. Nevin, make it happen.
So this Psalm begins with a call to worship: [ 002-1 ] Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who inhabit the world, 2 both low and high, rich and poor together. [ 002-2 ] 3 My mouth speaks wisdom; my heart’s meditation brings understanding. [ 002-3 ] 4 I turn my ear to a proverb; I explain my riddle with a lyre.
It’s a call to wisdom and understanding. Which is what? Wisdom is making a sound decision based on knowledge and experience and intuition, right? But what is wisdom and understanding according to the scriptures? The Bible has a few books that are called “wisdom literature.” The books of Job, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs are books of wisdom and understanding. So what is wisdom from a biblical perspective? It is a call for all people who live in the world – powerful or weak, rich or poor, influential or unknown, masters or slaves, to approach life from God’s perspective.
Earthly wisdom says trust your experiences. Trust history to repeat itself. Trust what you’ve been taught. A trap I often fall into is that when I need wisdom, I think I need to read another book. I need to gain more knowledge so that I can then lean on it and make a wise decision. Earthly wisdom says trust your gut. Go with your instincts. And one of the first things the book of Proverbs says is “Oooo, yeah, don’t lean on your own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.”
So biblical wisdom is not trusting your own experience, but trusting God’s experience. Biblical wisdom is not trusting your own knowledge, but trusting God’s. So the author of the Psalm says, listen up – I’ve been thinking. [ 003 ] 5 Why should I fear in times of trouble? The iniquity of my foes surrounds me.
This again is the song of a worshiper who struggles with his own circumstances, and is tempted to lean on his own understanding. He calls it a riddle. There’s something strange in the world that he’s trying to work through, and he admits it can lead to fear. But this isn’t David being chased by King Saul’s army anymore. This is a worship leader surrounded by adversity and trouble stirred up by people who are against him – quite possibly people in the “church” – other worshipers. That word translated “foes” in the Christian Standard Bible that I’m reading really means “One who lies in wait.” In other words, this author is surrounded by people who are accusing him of things, lying about him, trying to trap him or catch him in the wrong.
And to make matters worse, [ 004 ] verse 6, they are wealthy enough to pay off anyone they need to pay off. They are using their financial power to bribe and manipulate and threaten.
This still happens to this day. I know that many pastors throughout the years (thankfully not me) have been threatened by people who give a lot of money to the church – hey, if you don’t preach this way or lead this way or make this change or that change in the church, I’ll stop giving what I’m giving. That seems to be what’s happening here in this Psalm!
No doubt those of you who run your own companies know that there are clients that you would be tempted do just about anything for – even against your better judgment – because they carry a lot of financial firepower. You see it in government, schools, communities, youth sports – I mean, let’s be honest: Money talks. That’s not a new concept, it’s not a modern day reality – it’s been around as long as people have been around.
But here’s what the author is seeing. This is what Psalm 49 would add to all the financial advice that’s out there: [ 005-1 ] verses 7, 8 [ 005-2 ] 9. Money is powerful in this life, but it cannot make you right with God. You couldn’t make enough wealth or print enough cash in your lifetime to get God to overlook your sin and call it square. You can’t put enough in the offering. You can’t give enough to missions or people in need. You can’t donate enough to the church where God would look at your offering and say, you know what… we’re square. We’re good.
The national debt in the US is now over $35 trillion. Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in the world right now, worth $222 billion dollars, which is a lot of dollars. If he gave his entire net worth toward the national debt, it would cover less than 1%. .63 %. Now, you might laugh and say wow that’s not much, or you might be impressed and say, one guy can cover almost 1% of our national debt, that’s crazy!
But what Psalm 49 would say is that even with all of his wealth, no amount of money will save him from attending his own funeral. [ 006 ]
That’s verses 10-12. You might give millions of dollars to the athletic booster club and have the school football field or gymnasium or science lab named after you, but you still die. V 13-14 points out that it’s arrogant to think that your money somehow protects you from death and decay. All the insurance in the world isn’t going to stop you from dying. All the savings in the world won’t purchase you out of sin. Only God has that kind of power, verse 15. [ 007 ]
And so, when you find yourself doing well for yourself, verse 18, that’s fine, but don’t forget – even if you die with a bunch of assets and honor and things named after you, it all stays behind when you cross that line into eternity. So, this psalm says, if you want to live forever – if you want eternal life – you’re going to need something other than money to pay the asking price for your soul.
Let’s take a theology break here, because words matter: [ 008 ] at verse 7. You have two words here: redeem and ransom. The ransom is the asking price. Kidnappers demand a ransom. That’s the price to free the person held captive. To redeem someone is the act of paying the price; to buy that person out of their captivity. In other words, wealth and riches cannot buy us out of the captivity we are in to sin and death and Satan, that is, they cannot actually pay the cost, or pay the “asking price”.
Now who is demanding the asking price in verse 7? Who is the ransom owed to? When we say Jesus’ death “paid for our sins” where did the payment go? Satan? Did Jesus pay Satan to get our souls back? Look again at verse 7 – who is presenting the asking price? God.
Here’s how the [ 009 ] Apostle John put it in John 3:36 – The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him. John says, that’s the problem of sin right there. It’s not that Satan has you in a powerful headlock and Jesus had to die so he would let you go. It’s that you and I stood under the wrath of God because of our rebellion against him. We stand condemned, not by Satan, but by God because of how we have demanded that we should be able to live life by our own standards, our own wisdom, our own free will instead of fully surrendering to him.
CS Lewis’ popular story, The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, gets this part wrong. If you don’t know the story, this won’t make sense. But if you know the story, Aslan shouldn’t die on the stone table to satisfy the white witch’s claim on Edmond’s life. Aslan should die to satisfy the Emperor-Over-The-Sea’s demand on Edmond’s life. It is not Satan who has the right to take our life because we have sinned: It’s God in all of his holiness and perfection who has the right to snuff out the people he created who refuse to acknowledge him, worship him, listen to him, submit to him.
Why does it matter? Who cares who the ransom goes to? Well, if the ransom for our souls is only paid to Satan, to purchase us out of his grasp, then any future sins would start the bill over again. If Edmond gets tricked by the white witch again, he once again is under her grip, a slave to her power and his own flesh. His record of rebellion would once again start adding up, and Aslan can’t just keep dying every time someone gets trapped by the witch.
God set the ransom price for human rebellion: Death. I gave you the breath of life so that you would work with me in the world, but if you’re going to refuse to acknowledge me, I will take my breath back. Romans 5: by one man (Adam) death entered the world; Romans 6:23: the wages of sin is death. Ephesians 2: You were dead in your trespasses and sins. Death physically, death relationally, death spiritually.
But the gospel of Jesus tells us that if the same Person who sets the terms also pays the price, you can be certain it is fully satisfied, both now and always, and that you’ll never be under his wrath again – but only under his grace. Hebrews 2 says Jesus’ death satisfied the wrath of God, because when he died, 1 Peter 3 add, he died once FOR ALL SIN… past, present, and future! That’s what makes the death of Jesus good news to EVERYONE – verse 2 – both high and low, rich and poor together. That’s why we as believers don’t have to panic every time we sin, as if God is going to drop us from the team. Jesus paid for all the sins you haven’t committed yet, so again, there is no more wrath remaining for you – only grace.
Now, If it were true that wealth accumulation and riches are part of salvation, or contribute to eternal life, then the poor don’t have good news. Same with a worker or a slave who doesn’t get to determine their own salary. If deep pockets can pay your sin debt, the poor don’t have hope – they have a mountain to climb. You gotta figure out how to get wealthy, or else you’re toast. And if you’re disabled or elderly or injured or sick, well, it’s not good news - it’s good luck.
But if verse 15 is true, that God is the one who can redeem us from the power of the grave by taking us into himself, then what John 3 is saying is that that is what Jesus has done in his life, his death, and his resurrection, and it’s good news for EVERYONE who will believe in the Son!
Romans 5 and 6 go on to say that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord; By one man death entered the world, and by one man salvation entered the world! Ephesians 2 says we were dead in our sin, but have been made alive in our union to Jesus Christ! All of what Jesus did was for the purpose of redeeming sinners from the power of sin and Satan by meeting God’s demands for sin, not only for the rich or those who donate a lot of money, or those who have great influence and reach millions – But for anyone who will believe! It is by grace you are saved, through faith.
- Revelation 7 says that the future for those who believe, instead of death being our shepherd, Jesus will be our shepherd guiding us to springs of the waters of life, wiping away every tear from our eyes.
- 1 John 3 says instead of our form wasting away, when Christ returns we will be “as he is.”
- John 14 says that instead of that coffin or gravesite being our permanent home, the Father and the Son will make their homes with us!
- And Ephesians 2 says that our future is one where we will be abundantly satisfied with “the riches of his glorious grace in Christ Jesus!”
[ 010 ] 2 Corinthians 8:9 says we see the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in this: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. Jesus left the glories and worship of heaven to come to earth to be mocked and ridiculed, to suffer with the realities of death and loss and hunger and pain and rejection, so that anyone who believes in him would not stay under the wrath of God, but receive every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in their union with Christ. And Paul goes on to add, that’s your motivation for being generous with the needs of the church! I’m willing to go without, so that someone else can have enough.
Last month we asked you to consider giving to the needs of a woman here in the church whose home needed some massive repairs. And I want to thank all of you who gave toward those needs! It was encouraging to me to see people stepping up to take care of one of our own, so thank you for doing that. Jesus emptied himself so that we could be filled, and that’s our motivation to be generous.
So, when you see people trying to manipulate people or situations with money, just like we learned from Psalm 37 a few weeks ago, our instruction here is the same: Do not be agitated by this because, “Death is the great equalizer” and it’s not your power and position here on earth that earn you entrance into the kingdom of God.
Now, Psalm 49 stirs the waters a bit, but does the author conclude that wealth is a bad thing? Does he say you should not look for, work for, pray for, or accumulate assets? Does he imply in Psalm 49 that wealth will fast track you to hell? Nope. He simply concludes that assets without understanding will kill you. He is saying that understanding the shortness of your life, understanding where money will fail you, understanding that only God can redeem your soul – that understanding is more important than all the wealth in the world, and would be worth giving up all the wealth you have in order to find.
This should lead us to two applications:
- [ 012-1 ] The tragedy of a person dying with their faith in something other than Jesus. This Psalm is graphic. Look at what he calls people who trust their own wealth: Foolish and stupid; the grave is their permanent home; perish like animals; death is their shepherd; form will waste away; emptiness; never again see the light; perish like animals. The church (starting with myself) needs to wake up to this reality. People are perishing like animals all around us. Every day. In Riverside. In the surrounding communities people are dying with their hope in something other than Christ, and as John 3 said, if they refused to trust Christ in this life, they are dying still under the wrath of God. They may be wealthy, they might not. You don’t even have to be wealthy to trust your money. But this Psalm says there is an urgency to understanding the ways of God, an urgency to redemption, an urgency to the good news of Jesus.
- And [ 012-2 ] secondly: Our entrance to the kingdom of heaven comes only through Jesus. In fact, if you were able to gain the whole world, Jesus said – if all the assets on earth were yours: All the land was yours. All the money (all the dollars, the euros, the shekels, the yen, the pesos and whatever else) was yours. All the companies of the world fed into your bank account. All the kingdoms of every nation on every continent answered to your authority, Jesus says none of that is a marker that you are blessed, saved, loved, valued – in fact you can gain the whole world, and yet lose your soul. The greatest blessings you can ever receive come through faith in the grace of Christ.
[ 012 ] Ephesians 1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ Jesus.
Do you believe that? Every spiritual blessing in heaven is yours in Christ. Not some of the spiritual blessings in heaven – all of them. Here’s the list from Ephesians 1: Chosen by God before the foundation of the world – blessing. Adopted as sons – blessing. Not stingy grace, but grace lavished on us – blessing. Redemption through Christ’ death not our own - blessing. Forgiveness of sin - blessing. Grace richly poured out on us – blessing. Wisdom and understanding – blessing. Opened our eyes to the mystery of the gospel – blessing. An inheritance waiting for us – blessing. We heard the gospel presented to us – blessing. He gave us the faith to believe it – blessing. He sealed us with his Holy Spirit when we believed – blessing. Our inheritance isn’t wishful thinking or a “maybe” – there is a down payment already in place – blessing. And one day, he will redeem us and make us his own possession to the praise of his glory – blessing.
Do you see how small money is when compared to all of that?
SOURCES
J. A. Motyer, New Bible commentary: 21st century edition, 1994