| “BENEFITS FIT FOR A KING” Psalm 103; Ephesians 1:3-10 Olivet Covenant Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA © Rev. Linda Jaymes, 2/14/2010 |
When you hear the word “benefits,” what is the first thing that comes to your mind? These days we probably think of
health insurance first, followed by pension plans, vacation time, sick days, educational reimbursement and perhaps some special
non-salary “perks” that may come with some jobs. I say “usually” because some jobs offer better benefits than others and
some jobs don’t offer benefits at all, especially part-time jobs. We may even make job choices based on what the benefit
package includes. We would probably agree that employee benefits are extremely important, and those who have recently lost
their jobs may understand that better than the rest of us.
But we should remember that the word “benefits” has other meanings and applications. It can actually refer to a cash
payment, such as the benefit paid by an insurance policy. Or it can refer to a fundraising event for a non-profit organization.
But if we go back to its original meaning, we find that the word benefit comes from two Latin words that mean “to do” and
“good.” Literally, the word benefit means “to do good,” or when used as a noun, “a good doing.” Interestingly enough, this
particular meaning of the word is not very popular today, at least according to Webster’s College Dictionary. It tells us that at
one time, the word meant “an act of kindness,” but that meaning is considered archaic today.
But I doubt if the psalmist we heard from today—or anyone else who has any kind of a relationship with God—would
agree that that particular meaning of the word is archaic. On the contrary, the idea that God’s benefits are acts of kindness is
central to the whole Judeo-Christian understanding of God. It seems like wherever you look in the Bible, God is constantly
pouring out benefits—acts of kindness—on his people. There are so many, in fact, that it is hard to keep track of them. For
example, the writer of Psalm 103 uses the word “all” five times in the first six verses and four times in the last four verses to
emphasize how many there are.
Unfortunately, we humans tend to do a better job of keeping track of all the acts of unkindness against us, and we
sometimes allow the negative things in life to eclipse many of God’s acts of kindness toward us. That is why the psalmist
exhorts us not to forget all God’s benefits. In effect, when the psalmist says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all
his benefits,” he is really telling us to review them, rehearse them, to repeat them over and over again and praise God for them.
If we do that, it keeps all the negative things in life in perspective. It helps us become people with thankful hearts, people eager
to serve and thereby to bless God in the world. It keeps our eyes on the goal, which is the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.
One of the things we should “forget not” about God’s benefits is that unlike our job benefits, earned in return for our labor,
God’s benefits to us are gifts. We don’t earn them or deserve them and we can’t begin to do or give God anything valuable
enough to repay Him for them. But the one thing we can do, the one gift we can give that may be an acceptable return for an
unearned gift from God is to give Him our praise, our thanks, our blessing. We can remember all that He has done for us and
respond by praising Him and blessing Him not only with our lips but with our lives as well.
The psalmist gives us quite a list of reasons why we should remember and bless God for what He has done for us. Even
so, the list is not exhaustive. We could add our own specific and personal reasons to those the psalmist gives us, but his list is
certainly a good place to start. In the first five verses alone, he outlines six of God’s benefits toward us, beginning with
forgiveness. And God’s forgiveness is no minor benefit, because all his other blessings flow out of it. It is a comprehensive
forgiveness. And to help us understand just how all-encompassing this forgiveness is, the psalmist leaves no stone unturned.
He uses all the words in the Hebrew language that describe our willful rebellion against God—the words sin, iniquity and
transgression—and he tells us that God’s forgiveness is big enough and all-inclusive enough to cover any sin we can dream up
and carry out.
But make no mistake; his point is not to encourage us to sin more boldly, but to more fully appreciate the breadth and
depth and height of God’s forgiveness, and to respond to it with our worship, love and service. The psalm reminds us that God
doesn’t deal with us according to our sins or repay us in a way that those sins deserve. Though we rebel just as Israel did in
the time of Moses—and as God’s people have ever since—in his compassion God restrains his anger and does not hold onto it
forever, even though He would be perfectly justified to do so. In fact, God does exactly the opposite. God’s desire is not to
mete out justice on his people, but mercy. God’s steadfast love for us is so great that in his mercy He removes our
transgressions and casts them far beyond reach, as far as the East is from the West. This is what God’s forgiveness means for
those who “fear” Him, or in modern words, those who regard Him with an awesome reverence, a reverence we can
demonstrate in trust and obedience, worship and service.
The second benefit the psalmist mentions is physical healing. He says that God heals all our diseases. Apparently the
writer of this psalm experienced a first-hand healing from God. Yet we may look at this verse and shake our heads, knowing
that sometimes our diseases are not healed. But surely the psalmist had seen enough of life to realize that too. Nevertheless, he
knew that God can heal all our diseases; that God has the power to heal and often does. It is impossible for us, on this side of
heaven, to know or understand why God does not always heal. But if we remember God’s mercy and compassion, and trust
that He always does what is best in the grand scheme of things, then perhaps we can also trust that sometimes it is not God’s
best to heal. And in those cases, we can also remember that one day we shall all be healed: fully, wholly, bodily, spiritually
and emotionally in every way. Exactly what that will look like is unknowable right now, but we know that we shall be like
Christ, and there is no better health insurance benefit than that!
The next benefit the psalmist mentions is redemption. He says that God redeems our life from the Pit, an Old Testament
term which refers to the place of the dead, of evil spirits and lost souls—or more simply, hell. I find that there is something
very comforting about the word redemption, something familiar and personal about it, maybe from all these years of clipping
coupons and knowing in a very practical way what it means to redeem one. If we want the discount, we have to surrender the
coupon. An exchange has to take place. Considering what God does for us, perhaps an even better word for this exchange
would be “ransom.” Nowadays, the word ransom has more serious overtones, and perhaps the first thing we associate with
that word is a kidnapping. Someone has been taken hostage and is being held in the kidnapper’s grip, and something drastic has
to be done to break that hold, that power, because a life is at stake. It takes a ransom, a very costly payment made at the
expense of the kidnapper’s loved ones—unless a way can be found to capture or destroy the kidnapper without harming the
hostage.
This is exactly what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Apart from God’s grace, we are in bondage to sin. Satan holds
us hostage and we cannot redeem or ransom ourselves. It takes someone on the outside, someone who is not held in bondage
by the power of sin and who also has the power to overcome the kidnapper. The only one who fits that description is Jesus
Christ, and He not only ransoms us from the enemy by trading his life for ours through his very costly sacrifice on the Cross,
but in dying and rising from the dead He also captures, ties up and destroys Satan, the kidnapper of life itself. How can we ever
forget God’s benefit of redemption, when it is the very thing that makes the difference for us between eternal life and eternal
death?
The fourth benefit the psalmist speaks of is “crowning.” We are “crowned” with good gifts, for every good gift comes
from above, from God’s hand. We are crowned with both material blessings and spiritual ones, or as the Apostle Paul phrases
it, God “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” God’s blessings of forgiveness, grace,
redemption and the revelation of the mystery of his will in Jesus Christ are all part of that crowning. But to top it all off is the
promise that we are heirs with Christ, sons and daughters of the King. That promise will be fulfilled in glory, but it is a benefit
even now to know that we are crowned with God’s steadfast love and mercy. We are not alone, but members of God’s
family, adopted sons and daughters of the King of the Universe; brothers and sisters of the King of kings.
The fifth benefit is satisfaction. What a benefit in a world where people are never satisfied! Without God’s steadfast love
and mercy, without his forgiveness, healing and redemption, without his promise of sonship, no matter how much we have it is
never enough. The illustration that always comes to my mind in this regard is the story of the interviewer who asked financier
J. P. Morgan, “How much money do you need before you have enough?” and who was chagrined at Morgan’s answer, “Just a
little bit more.” What a sad commentary on the life of someone who had so much going for him, yet was a slave to wealth,
always needing more.
But when we belong to God, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can learn that true satisfaction and peace of mind comes
through trust and obedience. When we are in relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, we have the mind of Christ. We
begin to think as He did; we begin to want what He wanted. Our desires, like our Lord’s, become one with God’s, and those
desires are always satisfied with God’s best for us. No matter what is going on around us, no matter what the circumstances,
we can be content because we are satisfied with God’s goodness, love and mercy, which no circumstances can change or take
away.
The last benefit the psalmist has found in God is renewal. The psalmist uses the metaphor of youth, because it suggests
strength and vitality, endless energy and a sense of immortality. When we are renewed by God’s Spirit, we have a whole new
outlook. Like the young, we feel that we can soar like an eagle and conquer the world. And the truth is that in Christ, we can
soar, on the wings of the Holy Spirit that He has given us. We can face anything the world throws at us, because Jesus has
already faced the worst—death—and conquered it for us. And In Jesus Christ, we are young, because we are going to live
forever. This time now is merely the gestation period we must go through and grow through so that we will be prepared for
resurrection and eternity with the Lord.
When you add up all these benefits, they truly are benefits fit for a king. Only a king could grant benefits like these, and
only those in the king’s family or in his favor are in line to receive them. Thank God that in Jesus Christ, we are in the King’s
favor; we have an audience with the King and are even considered his blood relations—through the blood of Christ, poured out
on the Cross—that is. We should take the advice of the psalmist and praise God with all of our soul, with all of our inmost
being. In fact, that’s why we come to this table now, that we might, praise and “Bless the Lord… and forget not all his
benefits,” benefits of forgiveness, healing, redemption, crowning, satisfaction and renewal. Benefits fit for a King and his
family, a King who calls us to this Table to remember what it cost Him to provide us with such a royal benefit plan.
Let us pray.
health insurance first, followed by pension plans, vacation time, sick days, educational reimbursement and perhaps some special
non-salary “perks” that may come with some jobs. I say “usually” because some jobs offer better benefits than others and
some jobs don’t offer benefits at all, especially part-time jobs. We may even make job choices based on what the benefit
package includes. We would probably agree that employee benefits are extremely important, and those who have recently lost
their jobs may understand that better than the rest of us.
But we should remember that the word “benefits” has other meanings and applications. It can actually refer to a cash
payment, such as the benefit paid by an insurance policy. Or it can refer to a fundraising event for a non-profit organization.
But if we go back to its original meaning, we find that the word benefit comes from two Latin words that mean “to do” and
“good.” Literally, the word benefit means “to do good,” or when used as a noun, “a good doing.” Interestingly enough, this
particular meaning of the word is not very popular today, at least according to Webster’s College Dictionary. It tells us that at
one time, the word meant “an act of kindness,” but that meaning is considered archaic today.
But I doubt if the psalmist we heard from today—or anyone else who has any kind of a relationship with God—would
agree that that particular meaning of the word is archaic. On the contrary, the idea that God’s benefits are acts of kindness is
central to the whole Judeo-Christian understanding of God. It seems like wherever you look in the Bible, God is constantly
pouring out benefits—acts of kindness—on his people. There are so many, in fact, that it is hard to keep track of them. For
example, the writer of Psalm 103 uses the word “all” five times in the first six verses and four times in the last four verses to
emphasize how many there are.
Unfortunately, we humans tend to do a better job of keeping track of all the acts of unkindness against us, and we
sometimes allow the negative things in life to eclipse many of God’s acts of kindness toward us. That is why the psalmist
exhorts us not to forget all God’s benefits. In effect, when the psalmist says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all
his benefits,” he is really telling us to review them, rehearse them, to repeat them over and over again and praise God for them.
If we do that, it keeps all the negative things in life in perspective. It helps us become people with thankful hearts, people eager
to serve and thereby to bless God in the world. It keeps our eyes on the goal, which is the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.
One of the things we should “forget not” about God’s benefits is that unlike our job benefits, earned in return for our labor,
God’s benefits to us are gifts. We don’t earn them or deserve them and we can’t begin to do or give God anything valuable
enough to repay Him for them. But the one thing we can do, the one gift we can give that may be an acceptable return for an
unearned gift from God is to give Him our praise, our thanks, our blessing. We can remember all that He has done for us and
respond by praising Him and blessing Him not only with our lips but with our lives as well.
The psalmist gives us quite a list of reasons why we should remember and bless God for what He has done for us. Even
so, the list is not exhaustive. We could add our own specific and personal reasons to those the psalmist gives us, but his list is
certainly a good place to start. In the first five verses alone, he outlines six of God’s benefits toward us, beginning with
forgiveness. And God’s forgiveness is no minor benefit, because all his other blessings flow out of it. It is a comprehensive
forgiveness. And to help us understand just how all-encompassing this forgiveness is, the psalmist leaves no stone unturned.
He uses all the words in the Hebrew language that describe our willful rebellion against God—the words sin, iniquity and
transgression—and he tells us that God’s forgiveness is big enough and all-inclusive enough to cover any sin we can dream up
and carry out.
But make no mistake; his point is not to encourage us to sin more boldly, but to more fully appreciate the breadth and
depth and height of God’s forgiveness, and to respond to it with our worship, love and service. The psalm reminds us that God
doesn’t deal with us according to our sins or repay us in a way that those sins deserve. Though we rebel just as Israel did in
the time of Moses—and as God’s people have ever since—in his compassion God restrains his anger and does not hold onto it
forever, even though He would be perfectly justified to do so. In fact, God does exactly the opposite. God’s desire is not to
mete out justice on his people, but mercy. God’s steadfast love for us is so great that in his mercy He removes our
transgressions and casts them far beyond reach, as far as the East is from the West. This is what God’s forgiveness means for
those who “fear” Him, or in modern words, those who regard Him with an awesome reverence, a reverence we can
demonstrate in trust and obedience, worship and service.
The second benefit the psalmist mentions is physical healing. He says that God heals all our diseases. Apparently the
writer of this psalm experienced a first-hand healing from God. Yet we may look at this verse and shake our heads, knowing
that sometimes our diseases are not healed. But surely the psalmist had seen enough of life to realize that too. Nevertheless, he
knew that God can heal all our diseases; that God has the power to heal and often does. It is impossible for us, on this side of
heaven, to know or understand why God does not always heal. But if we remember God’s mercy and compassion, and trust
that He always does what is best in the grand scheme of things, then perhaps we can also trust that sometimes it is not God’s
best to heal. And in those cases, we can also remember that one day we shall all be healed: fully, wholly, bodily, spiritually
and emotionally in every way. Exactly what that will look like is unknowable right now, but we know that we shall be like
Christ, and there is no better health insurance benefit than that!
The next benefit the psalmist mentions is redemption. He says that God redeems our life from the Pit, an Old Testament
term which refers to the place of the dead, of evil spirits and lost souls—or more simply, hell. I find that there is something
very comforting about the word redemption, something familiar and personal about it, maybe from all these years of clipping
coupons and knowing in a very practical way what it means to redeem one. If we want the discount, we have to surrender the
coupon. An exchange has to take place. Considering what God does for us, perhaps an even better word for this exchange
would be “ransom.” Nowadays, the word ransom has more serious overtones, and perhaps the first thing we associate with
that word is a kidnapping. Someone has been taken hostage and is being held in the kidnapper’s grip, and something drastic has
to be done to break that hold, that power, because a life is at stake. It takes a ransom, a very costly payment made at the
expense of the kidnapper’s loved ones—unless a way can be found to capture or destroy the kidnapper without harming the
hostage.
This is exactly what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Apart from God’s grace, we are in bondage to sin. Satan holds
us hostage and we cannot redeem or ransom ourselves. It takes someone on the outside, someone who is not held in bondage
by the power of sin and who also has the power to overcome the kidnapper. The only one who fits that description is Jesus
Christ, and He not only ransoms us from the enemy by trading his life for ours through his very costly sacrifice on the Cross,
but in dying and rising from the dead He also captures, ties up and destroys Satan, the kidnapper of life itself. How can we ever
forget God’s benefit of redemption, when it is the very thing that makes the difference for us between eternal life and eternal
death?
The fourth benefit the psalmist speaks of is “crowning.” We are “crowned” with good gifts, for every good gift comes
from above, from God’s hand. We are crowned with both material blessings and spiritual ones, or as the Apostle Paul phrases
it, God “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” God’s blessings of forgiveness, grace,
redemption and the revelation of the mystery of his will in Jesus Christ are all part of that crowning. But to top it all off is the
promise that we are heirs with Christ, sons and daughters of the King. That promise will be fulfilled in glory, but it is a benefit
even now to know that we are crowned with God’s steadfast love and mercy. We are not alone, but members of God’s
family, adopted sons and daughters of the King of the Universe; brothers and sisters of the King of kings.
The fifth benefit is satisfaction. What a benefit in a world where people are never satisfied! Without God’s steadfast love
and mercy, without his forgiveness, healing and redemption, without his promise of sonship, no matter how much we have it is
never enough. The illustration that always comes to my mind in this regard is the story of the interviewer who asked financier
J. P. Morgan, “How much money do you need before you have enough?” and who was chagrined at Morgan’s answer, “Just a
little bit more.” What a sad commentary on the life of someone who had so much going for him, yet was a slave to wealth,
always needing more.
But when we belong to God, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can learn that true satisfaction and peace of mind comes
through trust and obedience. When we are in relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, we have the mind of Christ. We
begin to think as He did; we begin to want what He wanted. Our desires, like our Lord’s, become one with God’s, and those
desires are always satisfied with God’s best for us. No matter what is going on around us, no matter what the circumstances,
we can be content because we are satisfied with God’s goodness, love and mercy, which no circumstances can change or take
away.
The last benefit the psalmist has found in God is renewal. The psalmist uses the metaphor of youth, because it suggests
strength and vitality, endless energy and a sense of immortality. When we are renewed by God’s Spirit, we have a whole new
outlook. Like the young, we feel that we can soar like an eagle and conquer the world. And the truth is that in Christ, we can
soar, on the wings of the Holy Spirit that He has given us. We can face anything the world throws at us, because Jesus has
already faced the worst—death—and conquered it for us. And In Jesus Christ, we are young, because we are going to live
forever. This time now is merely the gestation period we must go through and grow through so that we will be prepared for
resurrection and eternity with the Lord.
When you add up all these benefits, they truly are benefits fit for a king. Only a king could grant benefits like these, and
only those in the king’s family or in his favor are in line to receive them. Thank God that in Jesus Christ, we are in the King’s
favor; we have an audience with the King and are even considered his blood relations—through the blood of Christ, poured out
on the Cross—that is. We should take the advice of the psalmist and praise God with all of our soul, with all of our inmost
being. In fact, that’s why we come to this table now, that we might, praise and “Bless the Lord… and forget not all his
benefits,” benefits of forgiveness, healing, redemption, crowning, satisfaction and renewal. Benefits fit for a King and his
family, a King who calls us to this Table to remember what it cost Him to provide us with such a royal benefit plan.
Let us pray.
