Perspective
Problem
- Time of unprecedented change, glad to be in silicon valley. Seeing the end makes all the difference
- some things are not going to change.
- Example of indian managers and their caste system – nothing changes.
- Sometimes we can feel that way about God.
- Amazingly Psalm 73 is about exactly that. Asaph’s autobiography.
- Vs. 1-3 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
- It’s the people who are not following God that are doing well
- …never seems to have any troubles. He is well fed, well clothed, even expensively dressed; pride is like an ornament to his life. His carriage, his bearing, is one of self-assurance and authority. He appears never to have any difficulty. If he is crossed he is very quick to retaliate. He is given to self-indulgence in food and pleasure.
- Vs. 11-13 They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?” This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
- V. 16 – When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply,
- almost concluded that a good life has not brought him wealth or freedom from troubles and therefore has been in vain,
- Asaph in the church.
God
- V. 17 – till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.
- At the core, my problem is not with others or myself, but with God.
- this unmasks his heart. His obedience was not a way of pleasing God, but rather a means of getting God to please him. When we say to God “I’ll serve you only if X happens, then it is X that we love, and God is just a necessary apparatus for obtaining it. The shock of this admission begins to clear his mind.
- during the worship he discovered that light which ‘surprises the Christian while he sings’. when we commune with Him, we see the things of this world in their right perspective.
Application
- LAZARUS knowing how the story ends changes your perspective
- SKATEBOARD not looking in the right place for a demonstration of God’s goodness.
- DESTINY got a new perspective on the problem when he considered, not the circumstances around him, but the destiny before him. Our perspective comes not from the circumstances around us but from our destiny before us.
- FAMILY It is important to see them not from a worldly perspective of success and happiness but from the eternal perspective of God who one day will judge.
- DESTRUCTION To be far from God now does not mean that you’re going to have a terrible life now; it means that you will have a terrible life forever. It means eternal destruction & death
- GODLY PERSPECTIVE Viewing from a godly perspective rather than from a worldly…
Vision
V. 28
- “it is good to be near God.
- I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge …
Vs. 23-26
- I am always with you;
- you hold me by my right hand.
- You guide me with your counsel,
- and afterward … take me into glory.
- Whom have I in heaven but you?
- And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
- My flesh and my heart may fail,
- but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever …. ”
- BENEFITS We must never forget
- the riches we have as the people of God—
- friendship with the Creator;
- eternal security guaranteed;
- meaning and purpose in life;
- kinship with a family that transcends every barrier of race and nationality;
- the promise of divine protection, guidance, provision, and help;
- and so much more.
- RESPONSE When I think about the goodness of Jesus and all that he has done for me my soul cries out hallelujah
- VISION I suspect that like me, your vision of God is too small. Your perspective… Fill your eyes with the vision of God, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim. Seeing the end makes all the difference.