A New Year at the Door of God. Psalm 84

 A Beginning to the New Year Message. Second Sunday after Christmas Day:Jeremiah 31:7-14; Ps 84; Eph 1:3-14 ;Luke 2:22-40 or Matt 2:1-12

"Living without Christ

Fred Craddock once told a parable about a man who moved into a cottage equipped with a stove and simple furnishings. As the sharp edge of winter cut across the landscape, the cottage grew cold as did its occupant. He went out back and pulled a few boards off the house to kindle the fire. The fire was warm, but the house seemed as cold as before. More boards came off for a larger fire to warm the now even colder house, which in return required an even larger fire, demanding more boards. In a few days the man cursed the weather, cursed the house, cursed the stove, and moved away.

The futility that man felt is the futility of those who try to live the Christian life without Christ. He is the Word that was in the beginning with God and was God. And he is alive today. To those of us who are drowning he is someone we can hold on to. He is someone who can set our feet on dry ground again in this New Year.

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com"

"This psalm speaks about the greatness of God, and it  speaks to those who are leaders in God’s house today. More than offering programs, social connections, entertainment, excitement, or self-improvement, they must make places and meetings in which people meet the living God. "blueletterbible.org

1. How lovely is your tabernacle.  Heb word here is mishkan...."the  term "mishkan" primarily refers to the portable sanctuary or tabernacle that the Israelites constructed in the wilderness as a place of worship and the dwelling place of God's presence. It signifies a sacred space where God meets with His people, emphasizing the concept of divine presence and communion"...biblehub.com More here.."..It was meticulously designed according to divine instructions given to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 25-31). The tabernacle served as the focal point of Israel's religious life, housing the Ark of the Covenant and other sacred furnishings. It was a symbol of God's covenant with Israel and His desire to dwell among His people. The mishkan was later replaced by the permanent structure of the Temple in Jerusalem, built by Solomon."

Do we have such experiences with worship when we are not at the Church?  Our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. God's presence travels with us wherever we may go.  

It may be we see something in God's creation that enlightens our spirits such as the red cardinal after a long absence on the fence.

The sparrow finds a nest for herself....where she may lay her young..Even so vs 3 tells us about our heavenly home, where we may lay too.

2.  The traveler or pilgrim through this life too experiences dry places, the Vally of Baca, but the rain comes and refreshes him . vs 4-6

Some have said this Psalm rivals Ps 23 in its beauty and message.  Charles Spurgeon called it " the Pearl of psalms.  If the 23rd be the most popular, the 103rd the most joyful, the 119th the most deeply experiental, the 51st the most plaintive(sad and mournful) , this is one of the most sweet of the Psalms of Peace."

In this Psalm we meet the living God. vs 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.

How do we get there to the presence of God?  The Lord has a way of moving us to Him.  Sometimes we are needing solitude and to be alone.  Other times we need the encouragement of another.  In our emptiness we discover He is the only refuge and shield.  

3.  And we learn as it concludes in vs. 12, " O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee." The pilgrim can trust in the providence and the paths that God directs us to.  If we get off the path, He has ways of bringing us back.

 " Note here how the heart of religion always has been, and is, trust in God.

This Psalmist, nourished amidst the externalisms of an elaborate ceremonial, and compelled, by the stage of revelation at which he stood, to localise worship in an external Temple, in a fashion that we need not do, had yet attained to the conviction that, in the desert or in the Temple, God was near; that no weary pilgrimage was needed to reach His house, but that with one movement of a trusting heart the man clasped God wherever he was. And that is the living centre of all religion"  Alexander Maclaren

I conclude with one of my favorite vs. :" For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness" vs 10

We cannot live in the House without Christ.  It is empty and void of love and life.  For the New Year we should choose to be a doorkeeper in the House of God .