Psalms and Celine Dion | Psalm 73

This message explores Psalm 73 and honestly acknowledges a struggle many believers experience but are often reluctant to admit: feeling envious when people who ignore or reject God seem to prosper. Through Asaph’s transparency, the message reminds us that it is normal to wrestle with jealousy, but dangerous to let that jealousy grow into anger and bitterness. Asaph’s turning point comes when he enters the presence of God, where his perspective shifts from temporary success and material possessions to the eternal purpose and faithfulness of God.

This message also teaches that the antidote to envy is not getting more, but drawing nearer to God through worship, Christian community, serving, and generosity. These practices reorient our hearts toward what truly matters, reminding us that possessions, status, and popularity can never satisfy the soul, while God’s purpose and presence offer lasting fulfillment. Ultimately, this message calls us to build our lives on God’s eternal priorities instead of the temporary promises of success, trusting that true joy and purpose are found in Him alone.

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Alright, so I'm going to start with a question and I'm going to ask you something, and you don't have to audibly answer, but I want you to think about it. Is there something in your life that you would be embarrassed to admit? Like maybe, and before you're like, oh man, he's going there, like, even something simple, maybe something that you like that you are embarrassed to admit. Like, I'll go first and I'll break the ice in the conversation. Uh, because I think everybody has something that if we admitted it out loud, would be like, oh, please don't make fun of me for that. Please don't judge me for that. Like, I'll give you one. As a man in my 40s, I love Celine Dion. I love Celine Dion. And you would think, man, is he embarrassed to admit that? No. No, I am not. Not at all. I will sing her songs at the top of my lungs, regardless of whether or not my family asks for it. They get it, and they are welcome for that. I'll go. I'll go number. Maybe, maybe you're one of those you love those cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. And you know, my goodness, that got some claps from people. That's awesome. And for you, Christmas does come in July, and you are watching those cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies in July. Maybe you like that. I talked to somebody this last week who they were embarrassed to admit they had never seen the Goonies. So I witnessed to them. This same person was like, I've not seen the sand lot or remember the Titans. So then I prayed over them. I was like, look, dude, we gotta, like, we gotta. I I like solicited help from other believers, like you did with this person for real needs that maybe you're like, look, I like nickel back. Some of you are like, what? People, you know. We got things. It's silly, but there are some things that we would probably be embarrassed to admit that we like or we don't like because everybody else likes them or we're supposed to like them. And it's it's a little goofy. But I think sometimes as Christians, there's something very, very common for us to struggle with, but we don't want to admit it out loud because we we're not gonna sound as spiritual and we're afraid that others might judge us. And I want to kind of share that with you guys because we're gonna find an individual in Scripture who pens Psalm 73 who struggles with something that I think a lot of us do, but we're afraid to admit out loud. And what's wonderful is that the solution to the struggle is simpler than you might think. It's gonna sound routine, but it's gonna be powerful. And we're gonna look at that because I think a lot of us struggle with this thing. And so if you would, you can go to Psalm 73. You can find it in your phone, turn there in your Bible. Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna read this straight through. We're gonna look at it, then we're gonna learn some things about it, and then prayerfully, we're gonna take some things from it that we can use to apply to our lives and grow in our faith, because after all, that's why we come together to do this, right? Our mission as a church is to help people what? Know and follow Jesus. So when we gather together, when we serve together, when we give together, the entire goal is to grow in our faith together, because as a church, our desire is to produce fully devoted followers of Jesus. So we're gonna look at scripture, we're gonna learn from it, and prayerfully take things with us after we leave this place today. So here we go. Psalm 73. I'm gonna read it straight through. A Psalm of Asaph. That's the name of the person who wrote this. The Psalms have authors, writers, the songs have writers. Asaf is the name of this author. 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. They have no struggles, their bodies are healthy and strong, they are free from common human burdens, they are not plagued by human ills, therefore, pride is their necklace, they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts come iniquity, their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff and they speak with malice, with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore, their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say, How could 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 and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishment. If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God, that I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground ground, you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors? They are like a dream when no one uh when one awakes, and when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies. When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant, I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand, you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will 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. Those who are far from you will perish. You destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge. I will tell of all your deeds. You're gonna see something here toward the first half of this psalm, and this writer, Asaf, is going to admit something that a lot of us struggle with, and it's this it is easy to be jealous of other people who have things we wish we had. And it is easier to allow that jealousy or that envy to turn into anger when we look out and we see people who seemingly dishonor God being blessed left and right. God, how could you let that happen? Why do they have this? I'm a Christian, God. I read my Bible at least once a week. God, I I I have uh I have uh, you know, uh five different Spotify playlists and they're all worship song. I mean, only 30% of my music is secular. I've got 70% Christian music and 30, I'm doing great. Why do other people, right? We we tend to rationalize and we think that our religious practices are are what uh are what you know uh secure earthly blessings for us, and it's something we don't want to admit, but most of us have encountered that on some level. God, why would they be blessed by this? And why wouldn't I be? I want, I want these things, God. I have struggles, I have worries, I have burdens, I've gone through stuff. How come it looks like these other people who aren't as Christian as me? Deal with. Here's what's interesting about Assaph, the writer here, as we dig in and learn some things about Psalm 73, here's what you need to understand Asaph's uh life was like. Assaph was, by modern terms, a worship leader. So if you were to tap your Apple remote and scroll back a little earlier into the Old Testament on Rewind, you're going to meet up with King David. You know who he is, David Goliath, you know exactly who King David is. King David had been tasked by God to lead the people, and one of his initiatives at one point was to bring something called the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. And so if you know anything about Old Testament history, the people of God uh they were a bit of a mess sometimes, and they dealt with oppression, they dealt with their own poor choices, and basically some things had happened, and they were uh essentially kind of church on the go, as it were. There was no temple that was ready for them, and so they would set up this tent. You might hear the word tabernacle, they would kind of set it up, uh kind of pop-up church if you've ever you know done that, maybe a setup teardown type of situation. And so David, in his leadership, uh they had, of course, uh had possession of what's called the Ark of the Covenant. Raise your hand. If when I say Ark of the Covenant, the first thing you think of is Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yeah, yeah, of course. Can I say that? Yeah, of course you could say that. It's fine. That's where most of us got our first interaction with Ark of the Covenant. And it represented the holiness of God, the presence of God. There were items in it. It was sacred to uh the Israelite people. And David, they had uh the Ark of the Covenant and they needed to uh bring it back to Jerusalem, and along the way, they would set up a tent where they would worship, they would gather, they would recite uh kind of the law and the scriptures and historical narratives that had been passed down through oral tradition, and they would give, they would give of their sacrifices, they would give of their means, and this would happen in the temple. And so what uh David did is he assigned people to basically lead worship where uh in front of the Ark of the Covenant. They would put it in a special place in the tent, and they would put people in front of it to lead worship. And and in your your Bible in 1 Chronicles, it's gonna call Asaf a chief worshiper. He was the chief, so he was the worship leader, band leader. He was that man who uh the this whole worship team led under his supervision, and that was his job, and he was picked because he was a man of godly character. And it's interesting if you look in 1 Chronicles, the his job as worship leader. It's not like so we have a worship team up here, right? And so Renee just finished that last song, Leading Us in Worship, and she's singing a soft, he led worship with the symbols. So be prepared next week when you come back to church for the worship leader to just come out with symbols and say, All right, here we go. You know that would throw you off big time if you came into church next week and it's literally popping out like this, and you're like, I don't know where we're going, but I like this church. This is cool. But you can picture, but it was because they would they would make these melodic uh, you know, prescriptions to these lyrics, basically. And so everybody had different instruments and they would put it together, and it was the reason for that is because that got everybody's attention and it kicked off. We are going to worship an Almighty God in the presence here. We have this Ark of the Covenant that represents the presence. So you have Asaf, who is a worship leader, godly man. His entire job was to lead the people in worship, to reflect the goodness of God and the glory of God. And what happens to him? He says in Psalm 73, he was frustrated and he started to envy the arrogance and the prosperity of the wicked. You know why? Because it doesn't matter who you are, at some point, envy will sneak into your life and start to tell you things. Even if it's just for a split second, you can be the most content person on planet earth. It will still slip in there and try to tell you things. It will tell you that you deserve things that other people are getting. And Asof looks out and he is frustrated. He's jealous to the point of anger, and he's like, Look, I know, I know what's straight ahead, but I'm wanting to look left and right here. I'm starting to lose my footing. He says that in verse 2 of Psalm 73. I'm starting to get a little shaky here because I'm starting to envy them and I'm starting to wonder, God, why am I doing all the things I'm supposed to do? Because these people are getting all the things that I want, and I'm doing all the things that they're supposed to do. And that doesn't line up sometimes with our human logical way of thinking. And he's frustrated and he admits it in this song. And I want to encourage you with this. It's not good for you, but it's normal. It's normal to deal with jealousy and envy sometimes. It's normal. Look, you know why it's normal? Because you desire things. You're a human being and you desire things. And here's where we get caught up is we tend to believe internally that the things we desire will ultimately make us happy if we get the things we desire. I'll prove it to you. We've all experienced this, whether we can articulate it or not. Look at the most followed Instagram accounts. Hundreds of millions of people. If you were to look at the top ten Instagram accounts with the most followers, you are going to find they are all athletes, they are all uh entertainers, uh musicians or actors, actresses, or media personalities, which I'm pretty sure is another way of saying this person's famous for being famous, and we're not terribly sure what they do. But if you were to look at the top 10 accounts on Instagram, they are all comprised of that archetype of person. Do you know why? It's because. It's because in our minds we see people like that as having everything we could want. And so we want to understand what it would be like to be them because our infatuation with them is tied to this internal belief that if we were to live the life they lived, if we were to have the things they have, we would ultimately be happy. So because we are desirous beings looking for things to fill us up, it becomes easy to get jealous when we look out and we see people getting things we wish we had. It's normal. But what is dangerous for us is when we let those feelings linger, and when they linger, that envy can turn into anger because we get frustrated, just like Asof did, because we look out and we say, I don't think they should be getting these things. They're not doing the right things. So why are they getting the good things? And we end up getting trapped in this envy to anger journey sometimes in our lives. And so while it's normal to desire things and see that, no one's gonna beat you up for that. We have to check that and understand what to do with that. So you you have Asaf here, who's this chief worship leader, band leader, team leader, that's his entire job. And he's looking out and he's wondering, what's it worth? And why am I doing this? And I'm so frustrated, God, with all of this. And and he gets to this place where in Psalm 73 he just finally says, Look, I'm going to admit it. I am having a hard time with this God. But then what happens? Not only does he admit he struggles with it, something special happens in Psalm 73. And you'll pick up on it if you read through it again. You're gonna see that not only does he admit his struggle with envy and anger, but that Asaf comes to the to the realization, and it is it is a profound and pivotal realization. That stuff that he wants, that status that he may wish that he had, that that that happiness that seems to be on display, rooted in stuff and status, is not everything we think they are. It sounds so simple, but it is so profound, and it was it was pivotal in a soft life, and it's something that we experience all the time because most people want stuff, most people want status because of this internal belief that if we had more, we would be more. That the more we have, the more liked we will be, that the more we have, the more important we are, and that the more we have, the happier we will be. We actually call this the myth of social currency. The myth of social currency, it tells us that if we get enough followers, if we have enough stuff, if we drive this type of car, that we will be liked, loved, appreciated, valued, and happy. But what does Asaf realize? He realizes it as you get about halfway down, he realizes okay, it's not everything it's cracked up to be. Because the myth of social currency tells us the more you have, the happier you will be. But how many of us have experienced this truth? The more you want, the more you want. The more you want, you get it, and what happens? You want more. I got that new iPhone. Yes, and then three weeks later they announced a new iPhone. I hate my phone. We do it, don't we? We do it. That's why we call it the myth of social currency. Stuff and status will never satisfy the soul. You know why? They overpromise and under deliver. And so Asaf, he realizes that look, okay, stuff does not equal satisfaction. And yes, I'm gonna leave these up for everybody. Status does not equal peace. Oh, but if I have this title, if I have this this this position, that I'll finally be good. Something that applies to us in our in our modern day, that followers do not equal love. He realizes this myth of social currency, and he realized that all of these things are temporary. He says it. He says, Okay, I finally get it, but how does he get it? How does he get there? Because it's easy for me to say it, right? We can look back on this, we can read the entire psalm. We weren't living it, we weren't writing it, and we can apply it to our modern world and the things that we deal with, and we can understand, I can see it on your faces when we talk about the myth of social currency. You're like, yeah, that's right, I have wanted stuff, and then I got it, and I was not as happy. You know, you maybe you go through a midlife season, and you're like, I've always wanted that car, you get that car, and then it gets scratched at target, and then you're just angry at the car. And it didn't give you, it over-promised and it underdelivered. How does he get to this realization? It is profound and pivotal, it changes him. How does he get there? It says in verse 17. He says, I was struggling with this. I felt like what is the point? I was losing my footing, I was jealous of the wicked till I entered the sanctuary of God. In verse 17. That word sanctuary in its original language represents the presence of God. Do you remember what Asof's job was? Chief, worship, leader. Now, what do we understand? The presence of God. The Ark of the Covenant represented the presence of God, the holiness of God, and his job was to be in proximity to it, to lead people in worship. So what we derive from verse 17, when he says, Till I entered the sanctuary of God, what we are understanding is that when he returned to the thing he normally did inside of the tent, inside of Christian community, our modern way of saying this would be inside of church, he was reminded. And he came to this realization. Man, I was struggling with jealousy. My envy turned into anger. I started wondering what is the point of all this? If people who do not honor God, who are far from God, are just gonna be blessed and blessed and blessed seemingly to me, then what is the point, God? I feel like just packing it in. Till I entered the sanctuary of God. Do you know what happened in that tent? Do you know what happened when I saw? Would would wake up and go to work and lead worship. Here's what happened. Four things happened. You ready? This is what happened inside the sanctuary of God. Worship. Community. Service. And generosity. Let's break it down. His whole job was to point people to the goodness and the glory of God. They led worship. They worshiped the name of God. That's what happened. Community. We're going to call that learning and growing in our faith together. They would recite certain things. Some of the songs that would be penned in the Psalms would be even used in these settings. They would recite the goodness of God through oral tradition and God's provision for his people. We do that a little differently now. We have this whole council of God's word that we learn together and we grow in our faith together. They served people would contribute and they would be generous. They would give of sacrifices, they would give of time, they would give of talent, they would give of abilities. And here's the deal. Yeah, we get it. We get it. The weekend happens every weekend. So how are you telling me that this that Asaf experienced in Psalm 73 when he struggled with the myth of social currency? How does worship, community service, and generosity, how do these seemingly routine, regular weekend happening, every weekend things help me with the struggles of envy and anger when I look out and I see, hey, hey, hey, look, I'm not perfect, but I deserve more than they deserve. Hey, no, no, no. God, I know what your word says. They're not doing those things that you say do, and how come they have a private jet? Do you know why worship, community, service, and generosity, these seemingly basic things we do inside of the sanctuary, the presence of God, inside of our Christian community? Do you know why they help us with the struggles of envy and anger? Here's why. Because they remind us of what matters most. We look to temporary things to tell us what matters most. But temporary things are indeed temporary. What matters most is this God's purpose. That any who would believe in his son Jesus would know love, grace, truth, mercy, and have, we call it salvation, a rescue, right relationship with God. You know what God's purpose is? People knowing and following Jesus. Why does that minister to our hearts so much when we struggle with something that most of us would be embarrassed to admit we've struggled with at times? Because it reminds us that God's purpose is an eternal one. Stuff is temporary. Status is temporary. That title you had today could be gone tomorrow. The stuff you have today could be gone tomorrow. For the Christian, purpose is eternal because you do have an expiration date. Happy July. And the only thing you can take with you is people. God's purpose is an eternal one. And it's greater than stuff, status, or followers. I would say it like this: purpose lasts longer than possessions. Service lives longer than stuff. Are you living your life with a posture of collector or contributor? Your generosity will bless more people than your status ever will. And worship works better than envy. Because envy focuses on what we wish we had. Worship focuses on what we know God has done. And it shifts your posture. And I know that sounds like a super pastor thing to say. Okay, we get it. We struggle with this. And you're gonna tell people to show up and jump into church and live out your faith. Got it? Because that's the discipleship pathway that we have adopted here at Sunrise Church. So you got to check a box and say that X amount of times a year, or you know, you don't get your points in the heaven arcade system. No. No. I tell you to jump in to worship, community, service, and generosity because they are the anecdote to a normal struggle that we experience. And they remind us of what matters most. Look at what it did for Asaf. He spent his whole life as an adult. He was this, he was handpicked by David. Can you imagine? Just the status that was there. He his whole existence was devoted to the glory of God. He put everything into this, and even he looked out and struggled. But what brought him to this profoundly pivotal realization that stuff and status will never satisfy the soul, that the thing that matters most is God's purpose. What brought him there? Look, in verses 23 through 28, he worshiped God. It says he was led by God, his voice. For us, we call that the word of God because here we have this whole council. It says that in verse 24. You guide me with your counsel. That's what he says. Does God's word guide your life? Because he talks about in the very second verse, he says, look, I nearly lost my footing. I was on kind of, you know, rocky ground. It was slippery footing. But he says in verse 26, but your strength is what I build my life on. Here's the neat thing that word strength in Hebrew, it might read strength in your Bible, but the actual Hebrew word is the word we get rock. Meaning it was this foundational thing to build on. It was strong, it was firm. Are you building your life on the principles and priorities of God? If not, you're going to potentially lose your footing sometimes. See, Asaf was dealing with this. He was struggling because his attitude was not set on the solid foundation of godliness, but on the slippery slope of envy and anger. And if we're not careful, something so commonplace can catch up to us. And we start to believe the myth of social currency. And so we drift from these things, but we need to get back here so that it helps us return to what matters most. They're normal words that you hear inside of Christian community all the time: worship, community, service, and generosity, but they're powerful. You know why? How many of us have experienced this? Worship can help pull you out of the pit of discouragement and even despair at times. It can lift you up because it reminds you of who God is. God's word is this guide for our life. It's a value here at Sunrise Church, the Bible. We learn God's word because it is the source of truth. And here's the deal the stuff that we see as we look out into the world will easily try to convince us that nothing matters outside of selfish pursuits and that this Christian life is foolish. But God's word tells us that our lives matter, and that we were made for greater, and that purpose is not temporary, it is eternal. What does service do? Service reminds you of that greater purpose in life. When you choose to put love on display, generosity reminds us that everything we have is a gift from God and that it helps us trust Him with everything we have. If you struggle with envy, it's normal. But don't get caught in the transportation trap from envy to anger. You got to get back on track. Several years ago, our nephew, he's in middle school now, but when he was a little guy, uh we went as a group to Disneyland, and there's a ride at Disneyland called Autopia. Maybe some of you have heard of it. And it's basically a way to let children drive without a driver's license and put adults through that, which is a lot of fun. So they strap you in, and of course, our nephew, he's a little guy at the time, and he wanted to drive, and he wanted to drive with uh Unky Scott. That's how that's how it goes, at least back then. And uh so Unky Scott volunteered, yeah, sure, buddy, I'll I'll ride with River, let's do this. And so he gets in and we start driving, and exactly what you think is going to happen is going to happen. He does not know how to drive. He's four. And there's me, and we're just doing this. And I'm like, okay, okay. Should have taken a ibuprofen. You know, it was one of those. And it just back and forth. And the track doesn't allow you to veer too far off, right? Like it keeps you. But every now and then I had to kind of reach over and be like, that's great, buddy. You're doing great. Please don't do that to me again. And I'd have to just reach over and grab it and kind of steer it back to the middle because River, just on Autopia, was just having the time of his life. I'm just thinking, my chiropractor's gonna be able to put in that pool. And I had to get to steer it back. Here's the deal: sometimes envy and anger can take us this way, and we start to get thrown off. And if we're not careful, it will infiltrate us and it will throw us off. And so, what do we learn from Psalm 73? Look, it's normal to struggle with these things, but the blessing of sanctuary, God's presence, Christian community, where we gather and we jump in to worship community, service, and generosity, they can help get us back on track because they remind us what matters most. And perspective is powerful. He got it when he entered the sanctuary of God. Someone who had done something so often that it had become commonplace. It is very easy to practice a Christian community, but miss the purpose of Christian community. It is easy to check a box and not grow the way God wants us to grow. We will only experience the richness of Christian community if we jump in to what it's designed for. The worship of God, the learning and growing in our faith together, the living out our faith on display, and helping others do the same. Seemingly simple words inside of a church, worship, community, service, and generosity, but profound and pivotal when we understand why God gives them to us, to remind us what matters most and help us when we struggle with seemingly obvious things we are maybe embarrassed to admit. But he blesses us with Christian community so that we would experience more in our relationship with him so that when life wants to do this to us sometimes, it steers us right back. So don't just jump in because the pastor's up here telling you to do that. No, no, no, no. Jump into worship, community, service, generosity. Because it's where you experience God's purpose for your life and where you grow in your faith. Let me pray for us. We'll get out of here. You can linger in the lobby, meet somebody, grab a coffee, hang out. We'll hopefully see you Wednesday or next Sunday. Let's pray. God, thank you again for today. I thank you for your word. I pray that it teaches us. That it's not just something we tune into for half an hour and we forget. But God, that I pray that it it sticks and it stirs and it sends us. So, God, we thank you for your word. I pray that you're honored by everything that we have learned here. And I pray again, as we always pray, that we don't leave what we learned here, but that we take it with us. Thank you again for all we have to celebrate as a church. As you are growing your church in and through our faith, not only helping us reach new people, but to serve as a beacon of gospel light to our community. We ask that you continue to go before us and bless your church so that many more will know and follow your son Jesus. It is in your name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

Thank you so much for joining us today at Sunrise Church. We hope this message encouraged you and blessed you. If one of the ways that you choose to worship with us here at Sunrise is by giving online, there's a link right here that you can follow and it'll take you to that payment portal. Everything that you donate helps not only go towards reaching people in the greater San Diego area, but also all around the world for our ministry partner. If you want to get further connected, whether in person or online, you can email this email right here, and either myself or some one of our team members will be there to answer it and help you get connected in any way that you need. Thank you so much for joining us, and we'll see you next week.