“God in the Psalms, Part 2: God’s Mercy” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, August 4, 2024, Year B / Pentecost 11 (Proper 13) -  Psalm 51

THEME:  Trust in God’s grace and mercy, and live a life of gratitude and humility in conformity to God’s Word.

Did you figure it out? What do the two hymns have in common? Last week we recited together Psalm 145.  It spoke of God’s great goodness in delivering Israel from 50 years of captivity, finally bringing them home to Judah.  Today, we shift gears. We are looking at a different kind of psalm. Psalm 51 is a psalm of penitence. Like Psalm 145, it, too, speaks of God’s greatness and goodness, but in a very different way.

Psalm 51 was written on the occasion of King David’s greatest personal failing. You will remember from our sermon series, “The Trouble with Kings,” earlier this summer that, once he was king, David’s power went to his head. He seduced Bathsheba, the wife of his commander Uriah.  As if that was not bad enough, when she became pregnant, David had Uriah killed.  David’s prophet Nathan confronted him and gave him the bad news. God was aware of what he had done, and there would be a steep price to pay – for David, for his family, and for Israel.  In light of that, it is easy to see David offering this heart-felt confession to God.

David did not just break some minor legal statute.  He shattered half the Ten Commandments: coveting, stealing, adultery, false witness, and murder. That is quite a list, isn’t it? When Nathan confronts him, David repents. He still has to pay the price, but he trusts in God shows mercy and God forgives him. Psalm 51 gives us a good picture of what God’s mercy looks like in practice.

First, comes the confession of sin and the plea for forgiveness. “I know my transgressions,” David says, and he knows who he have sinned against. It wasn’t just Bathsheba or Uriah. It was God himself. And this was not the first time, either.  Like all of us, David knows himself to be a repeat offender, a habitual sinner. He confesses that he has been inclined to sin since birth.  It is what the Apostle Paul talked about when he said, “I do not understand my own actions.  I do the very thing I hate.” 

Don’t we all?  As Christians, we know what we are supposed to do, and how we are supposed to treat each other, but with distressing regularity, we do not. No matter how hard we try, we keep on sinning. Sometimes badly. And all of us do it. It is the nature of humankind. It reminds me of a somewhat cynical but humorous anecdote from Oscar Wilde.  He said, “The surest way to get rid of a temptation is to give into it.” It is funny, but it makes the point that we are unable by ourselves to overcome our sinful nature.

Only God can remedy that. So, after confessing his sin and pleading for forgiveness, David prays for healing. He knows that only God can wipe away our sin.  Only God can restore our ruptured relationships with him and with one another. God did that by becoming one of us in Jesus of Nazareth. 

Here is how that works. Sin separates us from God. Think of it like the formation of the Grand Canyon. Sin is like the Colorado River. Over time, the constant flow of our sin digs a chasm. It leaves us on one rim of the canyon, and God on the other.  But God loves us far too much to let that separation stand.  That is where Jesus comes in. Jesus is the bridge across the canyon that restores us to God’s intimate, constant, loving presence. But there is still one more step in this process of divine forgiveness, and reconciliation. We have to respond to God’s grace by changing the way we live. We have to show others the love, grace, and mercy that we have received.

As David puts it, the sacrifice which is acceptable to God is not empty words or false worship.  It is a transformed life, and nothing less.  What God wants is a life lived with gratitude, humility, and submission to his will. As Paul wrote to the Romans, the proper response to God’s gracious salvation is to offer our whole lives as a living sacrifice. That is true for you and me, too.

Let me close with a story that illustrates that. In just a few moments, we will sing the classic hymn, Amazing Grace. The words we will sing were written by an Englishman named John Newton.  They are not just any words. They are his spiritual autobiography. Newton was born in London in 1725. His father was a ship captain.  His mother was a devout Christian. As you can imagine, his father was frequently away. In his absence, Newton grew into a rebellious and profane young man. Like his father, he became a ship captain.  As is all too often the case when ambition overrides judgement, his desire to make money in a hurry outweighed his moral scruples. He decided to enter the lucrative slave trade.

By his mid-20s, John Newton was transporting slaves from West Africa to the horrific dock-side slave market in Charleston, South Carolina. If he had any ethical issues with his work, he kept them quiet. On one particular voyage, that began to change. Caught in a terrible storm off the coast of Ireland and fearing that all was lost, Newton called out to God in desperation – and God answered him, sparing him and his ship. That was the turning point in Newton’s life. He became a Christian. As his faith grew, God began to reshape his heart. This conversion of his heart eventually led him leave the slave trade to pursue a calling to ministry. On the eve of his 40^th birthday, John Newton was ordained an Anglican priest. 

He began to reconsider the terrible part he played in enslaving other human-beings. He came to two conclusions. Those conclusions are reflected in the two hymns we are singing this morning, both of which he wrote. Later in life, Newton described them like this. He said “Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior.” Finally, at the age of 63, Newton let the world know about the conversion that God had worked in his heart. He published a powerful pamphlet, called “Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade.” There he described the horrific conditions of the slave ships.  Confessing and repenting of his sin, he said, “It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders."

He sent copies of that pamphlet to every Member of Parliament. It quickly became a best-seller. Newton joined forces with William Wilberforce, the young British politician who was leading the movement to abolish the African slave trade.  That was when he wrote these words:

Amazing grace how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now I'm found.

Was blind but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved.

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.

Like the apostle Paul, struck off his horse by the blinding light of Christ whose followers he had been persecuting, Newton had a conversion experience. He came to understand his own sin, and the grace of God that erased that sin. With that grace, came the gift of a new heart, a new life, and a new mission – God’s mission.  And he took it.

Friends, God holds out to each and every one of us that same opportunity. Sometimes, like David and Paul, we see our sin right away. Other times, like John Newton, it takes time to see our sin. Sometimes, it takes years of reflection. It is never too late. Nor is it ever too soon. Either way, the important thing is to trust in God’s grace. 

We do that by doing what David did. We confess and repent. We ask for God’s forgiveness. We ask him to heal us, to change our hearts. But we do not leave it there. We say ‘yes’ to God’s mission to share his love and grace with others. 

The question is will we?

May it be so.