The Work of Our Hand

We are thinking and meditating about time this morning as we reflect on Moses' words. All kinds of wisdom in our culture throughout the ages on time. You can actually think about song lyrics. All right, time is on my side, or if you're a country fan, I'm just killing time, or maybe time's killing you, depending on what stage of Vince Gill, or, oh, who was that? Not Vince Gill. That doesn't matter, let's move on. Time is something everyone thinks about. Carpe diem is the famous words that Horace first penned and probably has been misunderstood, popularized by Robin Williams, and then today rewritten as, you only live once. There is a sense there. There's an urgency. Time is fleeting. Life is short. How do we make the most of our time? Well, a famous philosophy is, eat, drink, and be merry. or tomorrow you die. There is a right recognition of how quick life is over and to make the most of it, but is that the way you make the most of it? Paul would say no. If Christ is risen, we do not live according to that philosophy. Making the most of our time is what Moses actually writes about. This morning we're in Psalm 90. If you look at the subtitle here, a prayer of Moses the man of God. We want to just pause here and think about who this is and how the psalm came to us. This is probably the oldest psalm we have in the Bible. Moses wrote it. We do not know of another psalm older than this in the psalm book. So we have one of the oldest psalms. And it doesn't give us immediate context. It's helpful when we know who wrote it and the context, like Psalm 51. But most psalms are written in a way that we can pray them ourselves, sing them for our own circumstances. I think most commentators are right. This is an Ecclesiastes kind of song, a wisdom song. after wandering through the desert, after seeing the failure, the wasting of time, recognizing that it was their sin that caused them to lose their days, that they needed God to return to them. Now, it's interesting here. We see a prayer of Moses, the man of God. This is helpful for us. As we think about how we can approach God, how we can know God, Moses was a murderer. A, a coward. He fled. He sinned in the sense of he kept trying to get out of God's will. He, he actually sinned in such a way that God said, you can't enter my promised land. So it shows the grace of God and his restoring power to call his people to himself. The, the, the picture this morning I believe is a people standing on the outside Just as we just sang on Jordan, somebody banks on the outside of the promised land, looking in, and Moses reflecting, because of our sin, because of the way we wasted our opportunity to obey God, we are on the outside looking in. There's three main points. Three main, main, main points of the sermon. First, everlasting Lord. We see that God is eternal. Second momentary man, that's verses 3 to 11. So first God's eternality, everlasting Lord. Second momentary man, and then our call to wise works in verse 12. First everlasting Lord. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. And notice there, it's all generations. There's a longevity of God. There's a, there's a preceding the creation. He is everlasting to everlasting. There, there's a great emphasis in the repetition that God is forever. The Lord here is, is, is a, attributing Him the authority as, you know, as you've been our dwelling place. Now that's a very special way of thinking of God for that generation. because they've been wandering homeless for 40 years. They did not have a proper dwelling place. They did not get to pitch their tent and build a garden and establish society because they were called to wander in the desert because of their sin. But here He's saying they weren't alone. God said, I'm with you. I'm for you. His presence was disciplining them because of their, their refusing to obey. But, but, but we see here He did not abandon His people. He was with them. We can think about this with our language in, in Scripture. Christ says, abide in Me. I, I, I am the vine, and, and, and, and, and we're the branches, and we're, and the only way to bear fruit is to abide in Christ. We, we, we find Him to be our, our place of comfort and care. The, the, the connection with God because of His love is the way we grow and have a security and, and bear fruit. This is language used throughout Scripture. God says, I am with you. I am for you. His presence is what makes the people holy. Notice verse two, before the mountains were brought forth, but before you formed the earth, you are forever. So that, that verse one, that really declares his unique relationship to his people at all times, but we see something even more unique. He's, he's outside of time. He's set outside of creation. This is important because paganism, which is all of our natural disposition, is to think God must function like our world. The chaos, the insecurity, the, the evil. We want to think, we want to think about what we experience and then put that upon God, but, but know it's very clear He's outside of this world. As we thought about in Sunday school, He, He created all things good beforehand. God is constant in this world that's constantly changing. As we just reflect upon these first two verses, He is constantly present. He is eternal. The insecurity that we often feel in this world, this is good news. The way in which so much of this life just feels like sand, that we're constantly trying to hold up, or you're trying to build your castle there on the shore of the ocean as the waves are crushing it. Just constantly scrambling, feeling fruitless. This world can make us feel so frustrated because it's not the way it's supposed to be. But when we see that God, He's the constant. He's the rock. He's forever. He's trustworthy. It helps us know we can look up and trust Him. Now that means we actually move beyond our own comprehension. It moves beyond our own feeling of competence. And we trust Him to do what we cannot. Well the first point, pretty short, pretty clear. The Lord is the one who's everlasting. He is trustworthy. He is constant. And now look at the second point. Momentary man. And just consider how stark the contrast is. You return man to dust and say return O child of man. For a thousand years in your sight, or but yesterday, when it is past, or as I watch in the night, you sweep them away as the flood. They are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes, and is renewed in the evening it fades and withers. Man is like dust. God is forever. When we see that language of dust, it's most likely reflecting back on Genesis 3.19. Genesis 3.19. From dust you came and to dust you will return. There's a call here that God is not like us. He experiences time different than us because He's different from the creation. Our lives are short. His is forever. We think in this very past, present, future. He is eternally present. He spoke this one to existence, and he forms man out of dust. He gives him his life, but because of sin, we die. Notice even the way the author's writing here, Moses. Even the way he uses these metaphors and illustrations, they're so quick. It's capturing how quick life is. You sweep away as the flood. Like a dream, the grass withers. The morning, it flourishes, and it renews, and then in the evening, it withers and fades. The very way he writes captures it. Life is momentary. If you reflect on life, if you've lived long enough to think about how short life is, even today we can consider, man, just one more moment with that loved one. If I could only have that one more conversation or that one more walk with a parent or grandparent or loved one, There's something helpful about reflecting on how quick life is. How sudden death comes upon us. There's something very confusing about our culture. I need to recognize this. This is a culture observation. We're constantly entertained by death. Movies, video games. and we're regularly avoiding the reality and the true pain of it. We're so often entertained by it that it's a numbing, and then we actually avoid any consideration of the reality of it for real, wise life. We live in a segregated age. How often do you go to a funeral? It is a time to reflect Life is going to end. We live in a multi-generational church, and when there's a funeral, we should attend to honor the believer, but also just a reminder. This life is short. This life is going to end. How am I going to spend my short, precious moments? As we wrestle with the shortness of life, we ask why? Verse 7 and 8 actually tell us. They're the centerpiece. They tell us the origin of death. God did not create death in the good creation, in the original six days. Death is a consequence. I actually want to present it this way. Death is God's way of saving us from sin. If you live forever, you'd be forever a sinner. Death is God's way of ending sin. Death is hard. Death is painful. Death is not the way it's supposed to be. But death was necessary because of our sin. Let's look at verses 7 and 8. If we are brought to an end by your anger, By your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. Now, we live in an age where God's anger and wrath, they make us feel uncomfortable, but does anyone really want a God who's not angry? And does not show his wrath against something like the Holocaust? Remember recently the incredible amount of pain and denial of basic human rights that's happening in China right now as we speak against Christians and Muslims and those who would be against the Chinese government? We want God to hate that. Because it's wrong. We want God's wrath to be against it. or more closer to home. 900,000 infants are murdered every year in our own country legally. God's angry about that. God's wrath is against that. No God has a perfect vengeance. Not just about those sins out there, but about our own sin. If you want to consider that, verse 8. It's easy to think about the sins out there and want God to be angry and have wrath against them, but let's consider verse eight. Brings it home a little bit. You have set our iniquities before you. Our secret sins in the light of your presence. Those actions we pretend are private because nobody else we think is looking. We hope God's kind of looking the other way, or closing His eyes. The sick thoughts, the bitterness, the anger that stirs within, the nasty, hateful words that spew forth, the selfish focus that prioritizes silly idols. God's wrath must punish these as well. Our secret, private sins God sees. The public sins, the hidden sins, the one eternal God who sees all and knows all, He's going to punish them. Verse 9, all our days pass under your wrath. We bring our years to end like a sigh. The word there is hegeh. It sounds like a sigh. Hegeh. Just a too quick, too swift, like meaningless end of life. The cause of how we wasted our life against God. Sin is why we die. Verse 10. The years of our life are 70, or even by reason of strength 80. Yet the span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone, and we fly away. He makes it very clear that this life is full of toil. We can see there another, a curse of the fall. A curse of our sin. A consequence of our sin. Because of the toil. Seventy is a good long life. Eighty if you're strong. But it's, it's full of trouble. Sin is frustrating and it frustrates the life. We were meant to live in a peaceful world. God has called us to be a peaceful people, living and enjoying His blessing, but instead we chose toil. Frustration. I mean, think about how frustrating work is. The person who loves their job the most. Because it's work, it's frustrating. Because you're having to deal with other people, there's frustration. Because you're having to deal with your own sin, it's frustrating. That's what Moses is getting at. Life has its difficulties. It is full of toil and trouble. The short life we have, it's even so full of toil and trouble. Before we move on, I want to remember here that God created us for life. He is the God of life. He intends to give us life. But because of our sin, He had to give us death, and He has to punish our sin as a just God. This is why we come and we celebrate Jesus Christ. God sent His Son to live the life we're supposed to live, the life that's actually pleasing to Him. He declares, this is my Son. I am well pleased with Him. He lives opposite of us. But then God sent Him to the cross. He died as if a sinner, taking the punishment and the wrath we deserve, so that He can then forgive us. As we think about work here in this passage here in a moment, Christ is our substitute. He does our job. He pays our penalty. This morning, if you're not a Christian, we do need to come to terms with life is short. We're going to die. And when we die, we're all going to face a holy and just God who is going to bring his punishment upon sin. And if Christ has not punished, has not been punished for your sin, if you have not believed in Christ and asked Him for forgiveness, you're going to have to face that God by yourself. But if you believe, face that God. He's going to say, Father, this one's mine. I paid the penalty. You must believe in Jesus and His taking your penalty. Or you will face that penalty. Verse 11. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you? What a fantastic way of just meditating and, and wrapping up this, this point of the, the, the quickness of life, the toil of life, and, and the anger and the just of God because, the just of God because of our sin. Death is painful. It's a hard reality. Right? So let's just make sure we're thinking about this like, look at your hand. Soon there's not going to be any flesh on that hand. Soon it's going to be a bone. Look at your hand. You're looking at me. Look at your hand. It needs to set in that this hand is going to stop moving soon. There's going to be no blood movement. It's going to, you're going to die. In the short time you get to use this hand, how are you going to use it? How are you going to promote the works of what God has given you before you return to dust? From earth you came to earth you're going to return. Life is short. No one has any more of the most precious resource. We all have 24 hours a day, seven days a week. How are we properly prioritizing what God has said so that we are fighting our propensity to sin and not wasting our life? This is a wisdom psalm. The wise life is one where you've properly ordered your love to make the most of the time. I want to address something here that's hard, and I'm not going to do it well, and it's going to be too quick, and it's going to be insufficient. But I can, I feel convicted, I have to say it. Moses is burdened that life is too short and too full of toil. There's an opposite problem that many people face. And some of this room probably face it. It's the feeling that life is too long. It's the folks who actually want their life to end quickly, and even want to take their own life, because the toil and the trouble, they look at it and they feel that weight, and they say, life's too long. I don't want to do it anymore. If that's you, I do apologize that I cannot possibly address your need, your concern well enough right now. I want to be very clear that the last thing I want you to do is feel you have to suffer alone in this. God sees you. God sees the toil. God sees the burden. He longs to be with you. He longs to be your dwelling place. Do not suffer alone. There's people around you right here in this room that would love to help you. Do not suffer this alone. In the same way we need to encourage each other that this life is too short, and we need to labor for love. I want to encourage you this morning, do not feel life is too, too long. God loves you. God wants to be with you. He sees you. Do not leave here without asking for help. Again, I apologize that that is insufficient, but I do not want to walk away not saying anything. As we think about our life, there's two ways to think about our time. You either think you own it, or you're a steward of it. There's two ways to think about time. We either think we own it, or we think we're stewards of it. If you think you own your time, you think you're God. If you think it's your time to use how you desire, you're, you're putting yourself in the position of God. However, if you recognize that you're a creature and you've been given time, it's a precious gift, these moments on earth in this life, you want to steward. Even more if you realize Christ redeemed you from the, the wasting of life and the, the rushing in at first to, to sin and death. You're not really created and given life from the great God of life. You're redeemed. Your time has been purchased by the blood of Christ. Do you own your time? Or are you a steward of it? If you want to know how you look at time, look at what's penciled in on your calendar, and what's penned in, and consider how that aligns with God's priorities. Does that make sense? The things you know you're going to do every week, and the things that are optional, the things you prioritize, are they using your time in a way that best glorifies God? Are they really just prioritizing my laziness, my procrastination, and a purposelessness? Consider your time. Are we using our time to invest in others? Are we using our time to meditate on the Word? Are we using our time to complain and grumble, or to rejoice and give thanks? Are you an owner or a steward? As we leave this section, I want to leave you with a passage you can meditate on later. James 4, beginning in verse 13. Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. That's an owner. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. You think you're God, but you're not. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, We will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is sin. What kind of plans do we boast in? In what way are we trusting God to set his agenda? The last section, beginning in verse 12. Wise works. And, and it's very important that these sections go along together. God is perfect and eternal. Our life is short because of sin. And so how will we apply our work? How will we apply ourselves in this short time? Look at the, the turn in verse 12. So. That James, he mentions the arrogance of boasting what we're going to do. Notice how Moses leads us to meditate. Lord, teach us the humility here. Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. We're so foolish. There's a recognition we need wisdom from above. Return, O Lord. How long? Have pity on your servants. Where did God go? Return, O Lord. Where did God go? If I'm right, Moses is on the bank of Jordan. He sees the Promised Land. And he knows God's glory, and his presence of blessing has left, and the presence of discipline is on them. He looks back, and he remembers. God took us here before. And in that moment God said, I want you to go to that land and I'm going to fight for you. I'm going to fight with you. I will defeat the, the inhabitants of that land. You just go. I am with you. What do they do? They sent spies. The spies came back and said, they're giants. We can't beat these guys. So they rejected God. They rejected His promise. They rejected his power. Then God confronted them. He rebuked them. So what does Israel do? Oh, well now we're going to do it on our own. They go in and they get beat. Constantly they're refusing to just listen and obey God. His instruction is not confusing. His promise is, is clear and present. And because Israel had refused that day to obey God in two different ways at two different times, you can just feel Moses' frustration. 40 years this generation wasted and lost because they did not trust God and they did not obey God. Self-inflicted wasting of those precious seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. You can feel his pastoral love, and just the confusion and frustration he has. Forty years lost! Time lost cannot be recovered. They could have been in the Promised Land for those forty years, but instead they're wandering in the desert, continuing, and they're grumbling and complaining. This is one of those sermons I yell a lot the more I'm convicted. Just so you know. I'm not yelling at you. I'm yelling at myself. Most sermons, I feel like this is the best sermon. This is the most important sermon I'm going to preach. This one feels different. Maybe it's true. I don't know. If we could just have the eyes of God in our lives, and see how pathetic we are at figuring out how to live the way He's called us to live. How much time we waste. How, how frustrating. If we could look and see, if we only would just believe Him in what He says, and obey how, the blessing we could have in His presence. How frustrating it would be if it was just as clear as what Moses gets to see. He says, have pity on your servants. According to your abundant mercy and your steadfast love. Notice the, the pleas. Teach us. Satisfy us. Give us rejoicing. Give us the gladness of our day. Make us glad. God's blessing is necessary. He's realizing how much they've lost, and He's longing for the blessing. And, and the ending is, is very emphatic. It's very clear. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us. and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. Work in this world is frustrating. It's full of trouble. It's full of toil. But we need to remember that God created work before sin. Work was originally good, clear, fruitful. It's because of our sin, it's got sweat and it's got toil. We look back at Ephesians chapter 2. We once walked in the works that were produced by our sin. We walked in the works of the devil. We walked in the works of the world. We walked according to our transgression. And then there's that great transition in Ephesians 2. We were dead in our walk, but God made us alive. God made us alive in Christ Jesus because of his great love. And then what did God do? He prepared works beforehand. God calls us to work. God calls us to see he's redeemed us and then to put us to work. And it's glorious work. It's his work. What is that work? How often do you actually pray, God, what is the work you've prepared beforehand for me? Again, that's where that calendar priority, that stewardship or ownership really comes through. What is your work for me? If you're a Christian, I can give you a very clear declaration of what your work is. Make disciples. The work of every Christian is make disciples. Follow me. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow me. We want to be a disciple. That's work. We want to make disciples. How much of our time and energy and work is being a disciple and making disciples? Now I do want to recognize there's, there's work. Right? We have jobs. I wanna start pretty easy here. If you're a student, you really have one of the best jobs. See, your work is getting that syllabus, that glorious syllabus, and it's really clear for you, that's your work. God's call for you, what God wants to establish for you is to do those assignments in a way that will glorify him and please your teacher. Teachers, your, your work is to invest in and trust these students, even when they ask questions that you answer on the syllabus. If you're in the health field, you're, you're patience. You work with your hands. You're, you're producing something for others in a way that you love your neighbor. If you're nannying or parenting the, the child that's in your care. Think about work in the single life. Keeping yourself chaste and pure. The work in the married life. Keeping yourself chaste in the marriage bed, pure, undefiled. Every moment is a sacred gift of God. It is a sacred stewardship. And if we consider just how much of it we waste according to our own desires, we waste in our own procrastination, we waste in our own priorities. We need to be at work. We need to be a busy people that are committed to the work of Christ. If we can reflect, Christ saves us from purposelessness. He gives us a purpose. When Christ redeems us, when Christ calls us, He gives us a new direction. We repent from the old direction so we can follow the new direction, but there's a new purpose. There's a working for a glory and a crown that does not fade. Christ saved us from hopelessness. There's not a fear of death. There's not a fear of the grave. There's not a fear of the unknown. We know that Christ is risen, and therefore we will be risen with Him. To conclude, life is fleeting and quick. We need to long for heaven. We need to work for Christ's glory. Let's take a moment and reflect silently.