Collierville First Baptist Church

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Let's face it.

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We live in a complex and chaotic world.

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And this world can sometime overwhelm us.

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With that being said, let me ask you a question. How's your spiritual life?

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How is it?

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Is it growing? Is it stagnant? How is your spiritual life? Is your calendar full while at the same time your soul is empty?

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The Lord has a word for you today.

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It's found in Psalm 131. Take your Bible and turn to Psalm 131. We're in a series entitled Psalms for the Summer. Now this is a very short psalm. There's only three verses in this psalm. And I know you're already anticipating that you're going to get out early and you're going to be the other church members to the restaurant. Don't count your chicken for the hatch, okay?

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No, it's not going to be a long sermon.

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This psalm was written by King David and it's labeled as a song of assent.

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Now the songs of assent covered from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134.

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And this psalm was a part of that. The songs were sung by the Jewish people as they made their way to Jerusalem for the great feast, the three great feasts that they were required to be a part of.

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They were designed, the songs were designed to prepare them for a true worship experience once they got to Jerusalem.

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Now this is a short psalm for sure.

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But I tell you, it is packed with spiritual significance.

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Let me just read it to you. Psalm 131 verses 1 to 3. "Oh Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes hearty,

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nor do I involve myself in great matters or in things too difficult for me.

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Surely I have composed and quieted my soul like a weaned child rest against his mother.

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My soul is like a weaned child within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever." Now when I read this psalm, I was struck by that phrase.

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"Like a weaned child rest against his mother.

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My soul is like a weaned child within me."

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And I began to dig into this and it raised some questions in my mind and heart that I just had to find some answers to them. Questions like these, what does it mean?

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When David said, "My soul is like a weaned child within me," what did he mean?

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And then secondly, why did David use this metaphor? Why did he pick this metaphor?

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And thirdly, how does it apply to us today?

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The weaned child is an important biblical image.

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Infant mortality rate was sky high during the biblical times.

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So when Isaac, remember Isaac was promised to Abraham and Sarah, he promised them even though you're old,

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he made this promise when Abraham was 75 and Sarah was around 65. Do you know when they had Isaac?

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Abraham was 100 and Sarah was about 90.

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Can you imagine that? But God kept his promise, didn't he?

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And when Isaac made it through those important first few months, first couple of years, when he was weaned, Abraham and Sarah threw a great party.

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We read about it in Genesis 21, verse 8.

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The Bible says, "The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned." Now we know that there are other instances of important weaning moments,

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not weaning moments, but weaning moments. Remember, Hannah prayed that God would give her a child,

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and God gave her a special child by the name of Samuel.

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And when she weaned Samuel, the Bible says, "She brought him to the temple to serve in the temple with the priest at that time."

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Now traditionally, weaning could take place between the ages of two and five.

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Physically, weaning marked the transition from exclusive dependence upon the mother's milk to more solid food. And it was a process. It didn't happen just like that.

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Spiritually, David used this image to demonstrate his maturing faith in God. H.B. Charles, the great black preacher, made this statement.

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"As they traveled to the place of worship the Jewish people, they would sing this psalm to force themselves to consider whether they were growing up as they were going up.

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If you have placed your faith in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you need to know that your own spiritual journey,

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it began the moment you were born again, the moment you were converted, the moment you became a part of the family of God. At that moment, it began, and it will continue until you arrive at heaven's gates." We used to sing a hymn all the time. We're marching design. Remember that hymn? Great old hymn. And we are, literally, if you're a born again believer, you're marching design.

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The great city of God.

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And on this journey, you're going to have many experiences.

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Some will be difficult. Some will be full of joy, mountain top experiences.

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And it's absolutely imperative. I want you to listen to me now. It's absolutely imperative that we grow up as we get ready to go up. Don't ever stop growing spiritually.

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Now, it's a process. You can't microwave this process. It happens over a period of time. And this process demands several things from us. If we're really going to grow up as we get ready to go up, then number one, there must be humility in our lives. Humility.

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In Psalm 131, verse 1, David said, "O Lord, my heart is not proud."

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Now, you may say, "Well, that sounds like a prideful statement."

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But it was a statement of fact. David searched his heart and he was able to say to the living God, "My heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty, nor do I involve myself in great matters or in things too difficult for me." Now, this short psalm is in fact David's testimony.

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He's highlighting the impact of God's grace upon his life. From the moment he became a follower of God to the moment he was at this time, and the impact of grace during the whole process. You see, on your spiritual journey, God's grace is so, so important.

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Now, the first thing he points out is that his heart is not proud. Now, God hates pride. Do you know that? You say the Bible doesn't say God hates pride. The Bible doesn't say God hates anything. It does. It does.

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In Proverbs, chapter 6, the Bible says that God hates hardy eyes or pride. He hates it. In Psalm 138, verse 6, the Bible says, "For though the Lord is exalted, yet he regards the lowly,

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but the haughty he knows from afar."

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James, chapter 4, verse 6, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. First Peter 5, verse 5, "You younger men likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

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Now, the proud heart pictures the exaltation of self over God.

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And the haughty eyes picture the exaltation of self over others.

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Pride is like a cancer, a slow, growing cancer that eats away at our spiritual life.

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John Stott wrote this, and I love this statement.

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He said, "At every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is our greatest enemy and humility is our greatest friend."

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Great statement. So true.

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Now look at the last part of verse 1. "Oh Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes hearty. I don't exalt myself over you, God. I don't exalt myself over other people, nor do I involve myself in great matters or in things too difficult for me." Now, what did David mean when he made that statement? Well, I want you to think back to Job. We have a whole book of the Bible called Job.

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And you know what Job did? Job was a righteous man. He loved God.

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Even God says he was a righteous man. But God allowed the enemy to come and attack Job.

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And Job's 10 children were wiped out in one fatal swoop during a storm. They all died. And Job lost his health. Why, his wife, she was so encouraging. She went to him when he lost his health. And here's what she said to him. "Hey, Job, curse God and die."

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Man, how'd you like to be married to somebody like that?

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"Curse God and die. I'm ready to get rid of you. I can't put up with this any longer." And then the book of Job, as it goes along, Job begins to get anxious. He begins to get a little argumentative with God. And he begins to challenge God. "God, why did you do this to me? Why? Why? Why?" Have you ever asked that question?

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Somebody close to you died. You said, "Why?"

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You lost an account in a business and you asked, "Why?"

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Your children have strayed away from the Lord. You asked, "Why?"

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We have all these "why" questions.

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And then at the end of the book, God shows up. After Job had said all this stuff, God shows up and he says, "Who is this that makes all these kind of statements?" And you don't have any idea what you're talking about. That's my paraphrase.

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In Job 42.3, here's what Job said to God.

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He said, "Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,

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things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." That's exactly what David's talking about here in the last part of verse 1.

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There are things that you and I will never understand.

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God does not have to answer our questions. You do know that, don't you?

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The Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 29 verse 29,

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"The secret things belong to the Lord our God,

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but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law."

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Now humility prevented David from playing God and prying into files that God has that are marked top secret.

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Humility kept him from doing that.

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Humility kept him from asking all of the why questions.

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Humility allows us to keep growing up as we're going up, getting ready for heaven.

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Now in this psalm, David confessed to being humble by highlighting three things.

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"My heart is not proud, my eyes are not haughty,

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and I don't try to play God." Are you trying to play God?

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Listen, there's some things that you'll never understand. I remember theologically, I was trying to balance this idea of God deciding who goes to heaven

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and man's free will to respond to Jesus.

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And sometimes I felt like I was absolutely twisting myself in circles. And I came to a point, I remember I preached verse by verse through the book of Romans. And I remember I got to Romans chapter 9 through 11,

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where this subject is covered in great detail.

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And I remember thinking to myself, "Man, I wish the rapture would occur before I get to this." But the rapture did not occur.

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And so I preached verse by verse through chapters 9 through 11 of Romans.

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And I was so blessed.

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And do you know what I got to the point? I realized that this was above my pay grade. I believe that God selects who's going to heaven, and I believe that God allows people who believe in Jesus to go to heaven, and I can't put them together.

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I believe in man's free will to respond to the grace of God. And I believe in election that God elects people.

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And I got to that point and I say, "You know what? I don't have to understand this. This is above my pay. This is exactly what David is talking about here." I think there are a lot of believers who get themselves in a conundrum because they're trying to understand things, are trying to explain things that they can't understand or explain. And sometimes we just have to leave it in the hands of God and say, "This is the secret things of God and it's okay." God knows exactly what he's doing and I don't have to understand it. Have you gotten to that point? I hope you have in your life.

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So here's the whole point of this psalm. Keep on growing spiritually.

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Don't stop. Don't get knocked off your game.

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Now to do that, we've got to have humility. But the second thing I notice in verse 2 is the concept of contentment.

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Contentment. Humility provides a proper perspective of yourself while contentment provides a proper perspective of your circumstances.

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In Psalm 131 verse 2, "Surely I've composed and quieted my soul,

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like a weaned child rest against his mother.

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My soul is like a weaned child within me." Is your soul like a weaned child within you?

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In his commentary, Boyce made this statement about why David used this metaphor. He said, and I quote, "He is reflecting on the difficult weaning process in which a child is broken of its dependence on its mother's milk and is taught to take other foods instead.

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But weaning is necessary if the child is to mature." David is saying that he's come through the weaning process and he has learned to trust God to care for him and to provide for him not on David's terms but on God's terms.

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So true. Great statement by Boyce. So Paul stressed himself the importance of contentment. In Philippians chapter 4 verses 11 and 12, "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means and I also know how to live in prosperity.

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And in every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry both of having abundance and suffering need."

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Spiritual growth and development mean that you are increasingly becoming less childish and less immature. Now Paul dealt with this too in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 11, "When I was a child, I used to speak like a child."

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Think like a child. Reason like a child.

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"When I became a man, I did away with childish things."

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What does a weaned child do? "A weaned child climbs into his mother's lap because he desires her presence, not her milk."

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Oh, listen. I hope and pray that you're here today and you say, "Pastor, I've moved beyond that infant stage where I had to have all the answers. I had to have all the things just in lockstep." I hope and pray that you've learned that humility is a very important part of your spiritual life. And I hope that you've learned that being in God's presence is more important than anything else in your life. You say, "But pastor, my calendar is full. It's full." Well, clear it. Find some times where you can be alone with God. Find some time where you can get up in God's lap and just enjoy his presence by reading his word, by praying, by worshiping him. You don't have to come to church to worship. You can worship in your living room. You can worship around your kitchen table. You can worship as you're driving your vehicle to work.

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Worship is such an important part of our spiritual growth.

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Have you learned to love God for himself and not merely for what he can do for you? I hope and pray you have. You see, here's the thing.

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This Psalm calls upon every person in this room to keep on growing spiritually.

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Don't stop.

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Don't allow the pressures of this life to cause you to have a hiccup in your spiritual life.

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Keep on growing spiritually. To accomplish this, we got to have humility and we got to have contentment. I thought about that contentment.

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And this morning as I was going over my message, I thought about the apostle Paul in Silas

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who had gone to Philippi to preach the gospel.

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And they preached the gospel. People were getting saved.

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And they took a young lady who was a slave girl who was demon possessed and she was providing a lot of revenue for the folks who owned her.

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And she kept saying about Paul, "These men are bond servants of the Most High God." And Paul got tired of it and they cast the demon out of the young lady.

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And her benefit to her owners was suddenly gone.

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And you know what they did?

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They got together and they took rods and they beat the stuffing out of Paul and Silas and they cast them into the inner prison there in Philippi.

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Now think about this.

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If that were you, would you be asking God, "God, why? Why?

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Why didn't you let this happen to us? Why do I have this blood dripping down my back?

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Why am I hurting? Why are my feet in stock? Lord, I serve you. Why would you allow this to happen to me? Why? Why?

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Why? Those things are above your pay grade, right?

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They were above Paul's pay grade.

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And you know what they were doing? You know what Paul and Silas were doing in prison? They had just been beaten. The Bible says it's midnight and they were singing praises to God.

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They were singing praises to God.

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You know, that tells me that these are men who were continuing to grow up as they were getting ready to go up. Amen?

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Man, that's so powerful.

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And they were content with the presence of God.

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Now here's the third thing that you got to have in your life if you're going to continue to grow spiritually. Not only do you need humility,

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not only do you need contentment, but number three, you need hope.

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You need hope. Look at verse three.

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Verse three.

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David turns from rehearsing what God's done in his life and where he is spiritually.

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And now he begins to exhort the nation of Israel. He said, "Oh, Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever."

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Now keep in mind that the word hope

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does not mean wishful thinking.

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It is a confident expectation of what God will do and what God can do in light of his word and his promises.

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Let me say this.

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This is what David's saying to us.

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David's saying you can trust God to meet every need you have in your life. You can trust Him.

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He knows exactly where you are. He knows exactly what you're going through.

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He knows the hurt and the pain. He knows all about it.

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And he can meet the deepest needs of your life. You say, "Well, Pastor, I'm here today and my heart is absolutely about to explode with anxiety."

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I'll tell you, God can meet your need. He can remove the anxiety.

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He can give you a peace that passes all understanding. You're here today and you say, "Well, Pastor, I have a disease that is sapping the life out of me. It's killing me.

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Pastor, what do I do?

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My doctors say there's no hope."

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Turn to God.

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He can meet your needs when everybody else has gone home and it's dark and you're there and you're thinking about all the things that are in front of you. I'll tell you, He can give you the peace that passes all understanding.

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Or maybe you're here today and guilt is beating you up to a pulp.

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There's some things in your life.

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Yes, they're under the blood of Jesus if you're a believer, but the enemy has a way of reminding you of those things that you wish you could forget, but you can't forget them.

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And He's using those things as a sledgehammer

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to beat away at your heart and your soul and your sense of comfort.

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I'll tell you, Jesus can take away your guilt.

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Your family's a mess. It's a mess. You came here today. You're looking for hope. You're looking for a reason to believe that you can go on in your marriage. You can go on in the family. You can go on with that wayward child and you can find an answer. And I'll tell you, God can meet every need that you have in your life. You can trust the Lord to meet the need you have in your life today. Today. Right here today. And you can trust Him to meet the needs you'll have tomorrow.

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You can trust Him.

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Take your Bible. Look at Matthew chapter 18, just a moment.

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Sam referred to this briefly, a different gospel. Same thing.

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The Bible said, now remember the disciples have been with Jesus about three years.

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About three years.

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Jesus is heading to the cross.

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The Bible says at that time, verse one, the disciples came to Jesus and said, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

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You know what they were doing.

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They were trying to discern if Peter was greater than John and if John was greater than Andrew and so on and so forth. They were trying to get their name out there before the Lord before He went into His kingdom. Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And He called a child to Himself and said Him before them. Now what's Jesus doing?

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He called a child. And look at this.

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And said, verse three, truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children,

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you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

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Whoever then humbles Himself as this child,

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He is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It amazes me how that goes right along with what David wrote in Psalm 131.

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Psalm 131.

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Listen, you can trust the Lord to meet your needs today. You can trust Him to meet your deepest needs tomorrow. I love what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 19.

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He said, "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only,

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we are of all men most to be pitied." I tell you, my hope in Jesus is not just for this life.

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It's not just for my anxiety.

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It's not just for my fear of death. It's not just for these things we battle in this life.

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My hope for Jesus transcends this life and it goes all the way into eternity. Let me tell you something. I know for a fact that when I die, if I were to die of a heart attack right up here on this stage, I'll tell you before I hit the ground, I'd be with Jesus in heaven. Not because I'm a pastor,

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not because my good works outweigh my bad works.

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I would be with Jesus in heaven because there came a point in my life as a 20-year-old young man at Mississippi State University where I repented of my sin and I placed my faith in Jesus as my Savior and my Lord. And he forgave my sin and he gave me the gift of eternal life. He promised me eternal life. So I know that my Lord keeps his promises and I know that I can trust Him to meet my needs today and I can trust Him to meet my needs tomorrow and the next day and the next day all the way through all of eternity. You can trust the Lord.

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God's promised you a fantastic destiny. The Bible said Jesus is going to prepare a place for you if you're a believer.

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And He wants you to be with Him where He is, He says in John's gospel. And He wants you to see His unveiled glory in John's gospel. All those things are promises. And you can count on Him to keep His promises.

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Even though our world is filled with hate, with violence, with lawlessness, and moral madness, you can trust the Lord to meet your needs today and tomorrow and every single day. Your hope is well-founded if your hope is in Christ.

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So here's the thing. The thing you should walk out of here today

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is this, keep on growing spiritually.

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Keep on growing spiritually. Now if you've started this spiritual journey, now remember what Jesus said over there in Matthew 18, when the disciples came to Him and said, "Who's greatest in the kingdom?"

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He called a child and He says, "Unless you are converted,

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have you been converted?

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Have you been born again? Have you come to the place where I came to as a 20-year-old at Mississippi State where I realized that I could not go on living the way I was living?

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I needed Jesus. I needed forgiveness. I needed salvation.

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And I turned to Him in repentance and faith, and He saved me and He changed my life. I've never been the same. That's 51 years ago I've been following Christ. And I wouldn't trade that for a million dollars, I promise you. He'll do the same for you. But you've got to be converted. Have you been converted?

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You say, "Well, Pastor, I come to church." Well, whoop-de-doo, you come to church. That's not going to get you to heaven. "Well, Pastor, I've been baptized." Well, that's not going to get you into heaven.

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Jesus said, "Unless you've been converted

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and become like a child with childlike faith, you'll never make it to heaven."

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So today I want to invite you to repent of your sin,

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to place your faith in Jesus as your Savior and your Lord. In just a moment, I'm going to ask the staff to come forward. I'm going to ask the worship team to come forward. And we're going to have a time of worship. And you can come to one of our staff members, and you can say to them today, "I want to be converted. I want to know that I'm saved." And we'll share the gospel with you. And today can be the greatest day of your life, the day that you begin a spiritual journey that will end up in heaven with Jesus. And I hope and pray that you'll give your heart to Jesus today. You put your faith and trust in Him. He loves you. He died on the cross for your sins. He was raised from the dead so that you could be justified before God. Come to Christ today.

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But I want to say a word to those of you who are already on this spiritual journey.

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You have that moment in your life, like I talked about my moment a few minutes ago.

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And for you, it may have been 10 years old.

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It could have been 15. It could have been five. I don't know. But you had a moment where you trusted Jesus as your Savior and your Lord. And you began this spiritual journey.

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And I began this message by asking you, what about your spiritual life?

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Is your calendar full and your soul empty?

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Are you growing spiritually?

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Are you closer to Jesus today than you were last month, last year?

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Hey, there's no excuse. You got a Bible.

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You got time to pray, read your Bible, worship. You can grow spiritually. Everybody can grow spiritually. But it has to be a priority in your life.

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But the only way you can grow spiritually is to make sure you have humility,

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contentment that you're satisfied in Jesus,

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and that your hope is in Christ alone.

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Oh, I hope and pray that today will be an incredible day in your life. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in chapter three of 1 Corinthians. He said, "I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men,

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but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.

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I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it." Let me ask you a question.

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Have you transitioned from milk, the simple things of God, to the meaty things of God's Word? Are you reading and studying the Bible?

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Oh, I hope you are.

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Let me make this very clear.

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Don't ever allow your spiritual life to be stunning, your spiritual growth to be stunning.

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Keep on growing spiritually. I'm going to ask the staff to come, worship team if you'll come,

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and we're going to worship the Lord.

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Before we do, I want to pray. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus,

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I thank you for this amazing song.

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Lord, it's a short one, but it should jam-packed with spiritual significance for everybody within the sound of my voice.

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And I pray, Heavenly Father, that you would use your Word today to change the hearts of those who have not been converted.

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And I pray they'd be saved, that you would give them a childlike faith,

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and they begin this spiritual journey today. And I pray for those who are on the journey, Lord, and I pray in the name of Jesus, that they will continue to grow spiritually, that you would make sure, Lord, that through the Spirit's ministry you create that humility, that contentment, and that hope in Christ alone.

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Lord, we love you. Have your way in our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen. So you may stand and begin to worship. Now listen, you may be here today and you're looking for a church home. Come to one of our staff members. We'll help you. You may be here today. You want to be saved. Come to one of our staff members. We'll help you. Or you may want to come to the altar as somebody already on the spiritual journey and kneel before the Lord and ask him to help you to grow spiritually.

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You do as God leads you. Let's worship.

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