“On the Sunny Side of the Street” … sung by Colleen …
On the sunny side of the street …
That’s where we live …
Because Christ is risen from the dead!
The stone is rolled away.
Death has met its match in the matchless grace of God.
On Easter morning, a new world.
A new world walked outta that dank and dark tomb.
A new world created by the word and work of Jesus Christ.
A new world … the other side of sorrow.
The sunny side of the street.
We join the chorus of gratitude …
Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered.
Worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.
The Psalmist says it well:
MY prayers have been answered favorably.
I’ve been saved.
Rescued.
Made whole, made new.
My life given back to me
Psalm 30 is all about God.
God’s goodness.
God’s faithfulness.
God’s kindness and mercy.
God’s sovereignty.
God’s rule over our lives.
God’s governance within our affairs.
God’s determining will and purpose.
We are not our own, but we belong to God!
Psalm 30 is powerfully honest.
It seems that God takes our Psalmist to the dark side of the street for a while.
This is a very difficult doctrine for us …
The doctrine of God’s sovereignty …
God’s management of our lives for God’s purpose.
That we were created by God for God.
For godly purposes.
For love of God, and for love of neighbor.
Because that’s the best of it.
It’s the only way!
It’s the truth.
And the truth sets us free.
The Psalmist was having a good time of it.
Life was good for the Psalmist.
Everything coming up roses.
Prosperity and safety.
Comfort and security.
Peace and plenty.
But with every gift, the angels hold their breath.
What will we do with God’s good gifts?
The angels know our track record.
And our track record is a mixed bag, isn’t it?
Who in this room hasn’t taken the blessings of God, like a kid sneaking a cooking, and then running away.
Thinking the cookie is ours.
It seems the Psalmist made a fatal mistake.
A common mistake.
I said in my prosperity, ‘I shall never be moved.’
The ego grows large.
Pride and privilege.
Power and self-confidence.
In all the wrong ways.
The Psalmist begins to think:
I did this.
I’m pretty cool.
I’m really smart.
I’m king of the hill.
I’m safe and secure.
So what? we might ask.
Who cares?
Why would God be concerned about our ego?
Terrible things happen when the soul grows proud.
Once pride takes root, it’s like mint in a garden; no stopping it … pride soon chokes out everything else!
Rich or poor, it makes no difference.
Successful or a flop.
We have our pride, don’t we?
But it’s never good.
It never leads to a good place.
Pride turns the world upside down.
We take instead of give:
Pride has no interest in God.
Pride may wear God on the sleeve,
Or like a cross around the neck.
But in the heart of pride, there’s no room for God!
Because God is truth and God is love.
Pride has a hard time with that.
Pride likes to think we’re self-made.
Pride is always patting itself on the back.
But it only leads to bad places.
We judge and we condemn.
We look down our noses and we make snotty remarks.
We take and we demand.
We scream and we shout.
And we take things:
A mugger takes a watch.
A thief takes a car.
A banker cooks the books.
A nation goes to war.
Pride turns the world upside down!
And we grow lonely in our pride.
Pride isolates.
Pride imprisons.
There is no greater loneliness than a man who believes himself to be self-made.
There is no darker dungeon than a woman locked in her pride.
So why does God care?
Because God loves us.
That’s why God intervenes.
And takes the Psalmist to the dark side of the street.
To shake some sense into him.
To return him to sanity.
The sun sets one day and doesn’t rise the next.
The Psalmist is taken to the dark side of the street.
The man is dismayed.
The man is frightened.
He’s not so tough after all.
He’s not so smart.
He’s just a man, like any other man.
And what he was, was a gift from God.
And the man forget it.
The man forgot all about God.
Now, on the dark side of the street,
In a moment of pure grace, the man turns to God.
He rightly asks, What good would it do, LORD, to destroy me?
It wouldn’t do a bit of good for God to destroy the Psalmist.
God is no destroyer.
Destruction is never God’s purpose.
Never.
But only life.
Life abundant, says Jesus.
Life lived for the truth:
Not to be served, but to serve.
Not to take, but to give.
To bring good news to the poor.
Proclaim release to the captives.
Recovery of sight to the blind.
To let the oppressed go free.
To proclaim the year of the LORD's favor (Luke 4:18-19).
Jesus said it well in one of my favorite verses: Luke 12:32 -
Do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Father’s will to give you the kingdom!
God is a healer.
God is Savior.
God is merciful and loving.
God’s anger is but for a moment.
God’s favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping there may be, at night.
But joy comes with the morning.
The LORD comes quickly to save the Psalmist.
Like Peter sinking beneath the stormy waves.
The simplest and shortest prayer: LORD, save me!
And the LORD is there, quickly to save!
The Psalmist regains his balance.
Comes to his senses.
Embraces the true purpose of life.
To honor God.
To love God.
To enjoy God.
God at the center.
God in the morning.
God in the evening.
God at suppertime!
To know who we are because we know whose we are.
We are not our own, but we belong.
We belong to a most faithful savior.
And for Christ we live!
On the sunny side of the street. Amen and Amen!
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