SERMON SPOTLIGHT * 6/1/25
Today, we want to present three reasons why you should bother with the Psalms for another summer. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.
SERIES: Summer in the Psalms, Vol. 3
TEXT: Ephesians 5:18-21
TITLE: Why Another Summer in the Psalms?
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
POINTS:
I. The Psalms Promote Godliness in Our Lives
II. The Psalms Teach Us How to Engage with God (prayer and praises)
III. The Psalms Connect Our Lives to Christ
SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.
“Of course, the ultimate answer to the question—Why another summer in the Psalms?—reaches far beyond pastoral goals. We are spending another summer in the Psalms because they are essential to a healthy, Christ-centered, Spirit-filled life that pleases and glorifies God. So much so that the NT, as we just read, assumes the Psalms would be central to the individual believer’s life and the church's corporate life.”
“We just spent the last five weeks talking about sanctification. We are being conformed to Christ as we pursue holiness in the power of the Spirit. Godliness is the point of the broader context of Eph 5 and Col 3. In both passages, Paul exhorts us to live for the glory of God. “
“Ephesians 5
Paul begins Ch 5 by saying—Be imitators of God
In 2, he exhorts us to walk in love as Christ loved us
Then, in 3-15, Paul says to resist sin by walking in the light
All this is summarized in 15-17 when Paul commands us to reject foolishness and pursue what is wise in the eyes of the Lord.”
“Colossians 3
In 1-4, we are told to set our minds on or identify with Christ.
Then Paul says go to war with your sin in 5-11
In 12-15, Paul says killing sin isn’t the end; pursue righteousness”
“Both texts go on to describe what characterizes a Christian household. But before they do that, they put the psalms in the center of the activity.”
“Teaching, admonishing, singing, and addressing one another with the Psalms. The Psalms are so much more than an inspiring verse of the day that makes us feel better without demanding much from us. They offer us the perspective, wisdom, and hope we need to live godly lives pleasing to the Lord. The psalms are the very voice of God comforting, edifying, instructing, and exhorting us to godliness.”
“Psalm 128 teaches a husband and wife the key to a healthy marriage is fearing the Lord. Psalm 46 comforts the anxious soul with God’s sufficiency and trustworthiness in times of trouble. Psalm 14 warns the young person against worldly ambition. When I was in secular workplace, Psalm 73 instructed me how to fight greed and view worldly success and all its sparkle: But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went to the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end—Psalm 73:16-17.”
“The Psalms encapsulate the whole of Scripture, God Himself bringing us into a deeper understanding of what He is like and what He desires from and for us.”
“Eph 5:18—Do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. Paul exhorts us to pursue the power of the Spirit daily and to live under no other influence but the Spirit in every aspect of life. In Col 3:16, Paul exhorts us—Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly. The word dwell means to be at home. In other words, we are to give the gospel and God’s word unrestricted access and freedom in our hearts. Like telling a guest our home is your home, truth should feel right at home in our hearts. In one sense, Eph 5 and Col 3 are two different exhortations. But ultimately, they are getting to the same matter, which Christopher Ash describes as “A rich and full indwelling of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, given by the Spirit through the word of Christ.”
“More than mere commands, these exhortations remind us that as God’s people, we are Spirit-filled people. And as Spirit-filled people, we exist in an intimate relationship with God. And he desires that we engage with Him.”
“So it’s no surprise that in Eph 5 and Col 3, Paul immediately exhorts us to the Psalms. Why? Like no other book in the Bible, the Psalms reveal God being engaged by His people, particularly through their prayers and praises. We learn how to engage with God in gratitude and hopefulness even in our most desperate moments in Psalm 13—How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? And yet it ends—I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”
“From beginning to end, we learn how to engage with God from a genuine and grateful heart in good times and bad times, in tragedy and triumph, in loss and gain.”
“One reason we love the Psalms is that they portray human emotion in such a relatable way. But the Psalms do more than portray emotion; they show us how to express our feelings. The Psalms turn our prayers of desperation into life-giving praises, not by manipulation or threat but by presenting our reality according to God’s character and purposes.”
“The psalms also teach us how to engage with God through praise and worship. Over the years, I have learned so much from reading, studying, and meditating on Psalms like 145-150 about my liberty to worship God as He desires to be worshipped, from the heart with exuberant, faith-filled, joyful expression.”
“Simply put, the Psalms are God saying—Pray to me this way. Praise me this way! Engage with me this way!”
“Colossians 3:16 says—Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly—How?—teaching and admonishing one another—with what?—in part, with the psalms. Whether studying the Psalms, teaching the Psalms, or singing the Psalms, the Psalms enrich our understanding of a Christ-centered life.”
“We will take a closer look at this next week, but briefly:
- The Psalms reveal our need for Christ inherently.
Who can truly be the Psalm 1 person?
Who treasures and keeps all God’s commands as Psalm 119 says it should be treasured and obeyed?
Psalm 49:7 says—Truly no man can ransom for another, or give to God the price of his life—no one but Jesus that is.
In life, there are some things we should never do alone. Chief among them is approaching the Psalms. Never go to the Psalms without Jesus—The Perfect Man!
- The Psalms link us to Christ intimately.
David's physical and spiritual struggles are unique and, at the same time, ordinary. He had his place in time and calling in life. But sin, temptation, sorrow, and suffering are the same today as yesterday. Whether it’s the fight of a downcast soul for hope and faith in Psalm 42, the humility to bow one’s heart in repentance in Psalm 53, or courage in the valley of the shadow of death in Psalm 23, the Psalms draw our hearts to Jesus as our all in all.”
“Why another summer in the Psalms? They connect us to Christ, teach us how to engage with God, and promote godliness.”
QUOTES:
Hans-Joakim Kraus- “This reminds us that the Psalms are not the aimless expression of an emotion-filled faith and that in the Psalms we do not hear human voices raise to express noble thoughts but rather the voice of God Himself who speaks in His Spirit to human hearts, to exhort and comfort, to instruct and assist.”
John Calvin - “They will principally teach and train us to bear the cross…so that the afflictions which are the bitterest and most severe to our nature, become sweet to us, because they proceed from Him.”
Gary Millar - “The psalter as a whole provides us with the most detailed and sustained treatment of how God’s people can, should, and must call on Him.”
Christopher Ash - “When the charismatic movement swept across British and North American Christianity in the 1960s, one of the sad consequences was the loss of proper emotion in some conservative churches. In reaction against errors in parts of the charismatic movement, in which emotion became disordered emotionalism, those who defined themselves as conservative or classical evangelicals sometimes retreated into a spiritual life with very little emotion. This was a strange historical anomaly for those whose forefathers had been nicknamed "enthusiasts," and it meant that a young Christian in a conservative church might look across the street at the emotion of a charismatic church and wonder, by contrast, if his or her own church had room for emotion at all. The Psalms show us how to develop strong and godly affections—and indeed, fierce and healthy aversions as well. They train us to avoid both the unpredictable reefs of error and the deserts of a dusty orthodoxy. For the Psalms perfectly combine thought and feeling, theology and prayer, longings and realism, the subjective and the objective.”
Deitrich Bonhoeffer - “Whenever the psalter is abandoned, an incomparable treasure is lost to the Christian church. With its recovery will come unexpected power.”
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Ephesians 5:19
Colossians 3:16
SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
He Is Our God
Jesus Paid It All
Christ Is Mine Forevermore
When We See Your Face
NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Luke 24:44 - Finding Christ in the Psalms
THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:
