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Psalm 122 - You Are The House Of The Lord · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in Psalm 122.
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  And this is another one of the song of a sense.
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  And this would be one of the 15 songs that the children of
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  Israel would sing as they went to Jerusalem for the three
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  annual feasts of the Jewish calendar.
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  And this is one of those songs. It's one that's particularly
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  praying for and thankful for their capital city of Jerusalem,
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  where the temple was, which was where all of their feasts and
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  festivals and things would take place.
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  So we're going to look at this Psalm.
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  This one's actually written by David.
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  Not all of these psalms have had that inscription.
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  So some of them by omission of the phrase were not written by
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  David, but this particular 1 is. So David was the one that
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  actually set up the nation's capital there at Jerusalem.
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  And so this I can almost kind of picture him writing this perhaps
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  after the city has been won. And especially given what we'll
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  read inside of here, this would be once the ark of the Covenant
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  was taken to Jerusalem. And then as that's there, and
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  then as he's preparing and assembling materials so that his
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  son Solomon would be able to build the temple there in
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  Jerusalem. I can see as a result of those
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  actions taking place, David writes this song and then
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  teaches it to the people. And it's like, hey, you guys
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  should sing this. You know, you're, you're coming
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  here to Jerusalem. 3 * A and so why don't you sing this song as
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  you come along? Let's read through and I think
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  we'll see some really cool things, even for our lives.
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  I have seen this Psalm be misused before.
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  So I do want to take note about what the Psalm both does and
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  does not mean for us as New Testament believers.
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  And I think as we look at some of that, we will be well served
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  through looking at the Word today.
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  Verse #1 begins. I rejoiced with those who said
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  to me, let's go to the House of Yahweh.
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  Our feet were standing within your gates.
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  Jerusalem. Jerusalem, built as a city,
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  should be solidly united where the tribes, Yahweh's tribes, go
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  up to give thanks to the name of Yahweh.
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  This is an ordinance for Israel. Their Thrones for judgment are
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  placed Thrones for the House of David.
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  Pray for the well-being of Jerusalem.
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  May those who love you be secure.
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  May there be peace within your walls, security within your
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  fortresses. Because of my brothers and
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  friends, I will say, may peace be in you because of the House
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  of Yahweh our God. I will pursue your prosperity.
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  All right, So what can we learn from this today?
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  Well, first let's look at what this Psalm is directly stating.
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  So it's kind of split up into three sections.
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  There's the first 2 verses, then verses 3 through 5, then verses
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  6 through 9, verses one and two. There is a joy about going to
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  the House of the Lord. So David here says, I rejoiced
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  with those who said to me, let's go to the House of Yahweh.
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  Our feet were standing within your gates.
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  Jerusalem here, even though so much of this particular Psalm is
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  talking about like it uses the name of Jerusalem, what is
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  actually being discussed is the Tabernacle, and then in later
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  generations the temple. It was where the worship of God
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  was. This Psalm, though, it mentions
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  Jerusalem so many times, Jerusalem is not actually the
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  point of the Psalm. The temple, the House of Yahweh
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  is the point of the Psalm, and it's because that is where
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  worship occurs. It is because that is where the
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  Lord's name and people give thanks to the Lord there.
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  That is why this Psalm is here. Why do I mention that?
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  I have heard some people misuse this Psalm as a way to say we
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  have to perhaps support all of the governmental choices of the
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  Israeli government that is currently in this exact same
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  portion of land with a city named Jerusalem on that exact
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  location. So I've heard people say, well,
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  you know, here it says pray for the peace of Jerusalem, pray for
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  the well-being of Jerusalem. I'm going to look at that word
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  real quick because I bet it's yeah, it is Shalom.
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  So they say, all right, well, this is what God commands.
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  And so therefore, I need to be aligned with every action and
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  every military action that perhaps this one nation would
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  take. Now, as you guys know, this is
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  not a politics podcast. I just want to be faithful to
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  say if you hear someone try to invoke this here as a I am
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  endorsing this military action as a result of what Psalm 122
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  says, they are divorcing their action and their reasoning from
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  the context of this Psalm. The point of this Psalm is not
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  even Jerusalem being a great location and the capital and all
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  of these other things. That's not the point of this
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  Psalm. The point of this Psalm is the
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  worship of God from the very beginning in verse one.
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  Let's go to the House of Yahweh. Now that being put to the side,
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  I won't I won't even mention that again.
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  I just want to get in your mind. This is not saying how do you
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  deal with the geopolitical struggle of the Middle East in
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  2026. I almost said 2025 brand new
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  year in 2026. No, the point of this is let
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  let's worship God, let's be excited about the worship of God
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  and let us ask for security and safety and peace and unity
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  within where God is worshipped. So going back then to verse one,
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  I want to say the point of this because it's the worship of God,
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  we can apply this to our lives. There is a rejoicing here when
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  there is going to the House of Yahweh.
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  Now I know that I have mentioned it so many times here on this
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  podcast. The House of the Lord is not
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  Tabernacle Baptist Church. It is not 143 Bennett Rd.
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  This building that I'm currently in with the sanctuary that we
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  have over some stairs to my left, that is not the House of
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  the Lord. We do not come to God's house
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  when we go to church, when we assemble with other believers,
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  that is not the House of God. God does not live here.
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  He lives in Bryan, he lives in Kathy, he lives in Darrell, he
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  lives in Samantha, he lives in Mary or Shelley or Shelby.
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  He lives in each of us. You are God's house.
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  Now, there can certainly be applicable things of because
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  this is a place of worship for God.
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  This is where we gather. This is where we assemble
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  together. We want to try to take care of
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  what God has given us, but that's not as a result of, you
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  know, some particular chair or computer or carpet or whatever
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  else have you belonging to God. It's because these are the
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  resources that we utilize. And so we are supposed to take
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  good care of all of our resources, including you and I.
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  I think we need to have a renewed joy and excitement about
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  being the House of the Holy Spirit, that we are called the
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  temple of the Holy Spirit, who we have from God and we do not
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  belong to ourselves anymore. I'll shoot straight with you
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  guys because I'm just staring myself in the face.
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  I'm not thinking of anyone in particular when I'm saying this.
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  I know that there was a time and place in particularly American
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  history where the church building was viewed as something
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  incredibly sacred. And I'm not saying that's
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  entirely bad or untoward. But I've seen some people care a
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  lot more about random things at the church, like, you know, a
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  little kid running in the church.
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  And they care more about that than they care about their
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  personal holiness. They care more about, you know,
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  perhaps a carpet or a Pew than they do about their mouth of
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  slander or gossip. And that is not the way that God
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  intended it to work. The point is not we have a
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  beautiful building and it should be viewed with awe and wonder
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  that we can certainly be grateful for the great things
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  that the Lord has given us. No, my friend, the most
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  important thing that you and I can focus on is our walk with
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  God, that we would love Him and love others in the way that we
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  talk and think and act. We are the House of the Lord.
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  Is there a joy for you that the Holy Spirit lives inside of you?
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  Are you excited when you get up in the morning and you have time
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  to interact with God himself within your spirit?
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  Think about that. Like I, I love my wife and one
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  of my favorite things about being married is that every
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  single day I get to wake up and I get to talk to Samantha and
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  all throughout the day, I can, you know, if I'm at work like I
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  am right now, I can text Samantha or I can call her my,
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  my son called me earlier today asking if he, I, I was given a
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  year or two ago the Chronicles of Narnia books, all seven of
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  them just in one giant book. And he is listening right now to
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  the third book in that series, The Horse and His Boy, which is
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  a tremendous, tremendous book. I love that book.
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  And he was like, hey, dad, is it OK if I read the big book and
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  just cracked me up that he asked that He doesn't need to ask
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  that. It's not like a, you know, great
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  heirloom or something. I think it's, you know, maybe
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  20-30 bucks on Amazon and I was like, yeah, absolutely.
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  But anyway, sorry, I, I got off track there.
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  So I love being able to spend time with my wife and that the
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  moment that I wake up, she's right there.
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  And when I go to sleep, she's right there.
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  When we were dating, we had a good, you know, year, maybe year
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  and a half where we were long distance or when we were dating
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  in college, you know, we'd go 2-3 months without being able to
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  see each other in person. She was obviously out here in
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  Maryland, 1 summer she was in Tennessee and I was back in
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  Colorado or I was on one of our like ministry tour groups that
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  were going around recruiting students to the college.
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  And so I know what it's like to not have my loved one right
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  there. I know what it's like to not
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  experience their presence or be able to just talk to them
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  whenever I want. We have God's own presence
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  living inside of us and we overlook that.
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  We don't care about it. We ignore Him.
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  We silence Him when He does talk to us.
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  But let's have a joy that we are the House of the Lord.
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  Then let that spill over into every time that we get to
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  interact with other believers in Jesus, we are going to the House
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  of the Lord. I'm when I, we, we just had, at
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  the time that I'm recording this, we had our elder meeting
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  last night. And as I'm talking with Owen and
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  Myron and Ron, Jim was sick and couldn't make it, but we'll
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  forgive him for that. As I'm talking with them, I'm
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  not just talking with human beings.
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  I'm not just talking with Christians, I am talking to
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  temples of the Holy Spirit. And so as we pray together, as
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  we seek the face of God for our church, that we that I am
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  interacting with the Holy Spirit and that's an amazing thing.
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  And whether it's just a couple of individuals, whether it's the
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  entire assembled church, together we can have joy when we
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  come to the House of the Lord. This is why I think when God
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  says that 7 things are an abomination to him, technically
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  he says 6 things the Lord hates 7 are an abomination.
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  Kind of how Hebrew poetry would work.
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  You'd have whatever list of things and then you would add on
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  one more that was either like one thing that was even better
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  than all the rest or one thing that was even worse than all of
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  the rest. And in that list of seven, you
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  have the one that sows discord among the brothers and sisters.
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  That's one that that stirs up fighting.
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  And I think that God because of his love for his people, his
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  love for his Spirit, operating and working within his church,
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  blood bought and water washed and heaven bound, when there is
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  animosity and bitterness and hatred within a local body of
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  believers, it is a shame to the heart of God.
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  It it hurts him deeply. So let's make a choice when we
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  go to church. Church isn't a time where I'm
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  going to kind of Duke it out with someone else and I'm going
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  to argue and I'm going to this or that.
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  No, when we interact with our brothers and sisters in the
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  Lord, the attitude we need to have is joy, is hope, is a
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  camaraderie and a unity that there should be an excitement
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  about the worship of God with our brothers and sisters.
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  So then I'm going to look at verses 3 through 5.
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  Now don't worry, the rest of this will go very quickly
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  because it's all building on those foundational elements of
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  what I already mentioned. So verses 3 through 5, Jerusalem
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  built as a city should be solidly united.
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  Let's be united as the people of God in our worship together for
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  him that we're not spiraling off into different factions and
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  cliques like the Corinthian church where you had some people
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  that were like, yeah, I'm team Paul, I'm team Apollos, I'm team
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  Cephas, some people even I'm team Jesus.
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  No, no, we are unified together. We are all in the same team.
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  The one and only most important one is Jesus.
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  And so we pursue and follow him together.
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  We are united. Verse 4 where the tribes,
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  Yahweh's tribes go up to give thanks to the name of this is an
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  ordinance for Israel. When we gather together to
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  worship, we are giving thanks to God.
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  We thank him through our prayers.
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  We thank him through our singing and our worship.
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  We can even thank him through the fellowship that we have with
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  one another that we love. Those that the world would go.
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  Why in the world do those people love each other?
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  When we can thank God for the unity that we have, we can thank
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  the Lord through being thankful for His Word as it is preached
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  and proclaimed, and as we respond to it.
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  We can thank God for showing us the areas in our life in which
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  we are not currently walking with God.
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  And so we ought to, when we worship, we ought to give thanks
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  to the name of Yahweh. And then verse 5, there Thrones
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  for judgment are placed, Thrones of the House of David.
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  Here as David's writing this, he's, you know, currently
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  thinking about his actual family and, you know, the Crown Prince
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  and the crown mother. I actually don't know how that
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  worked because David had so many wives.
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  I think eight or nine last time I checked.
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  But as I think about this, I think of Jesus, the lion of the
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  tribe of Judah, the descendant of David that will be seated
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  forever and ever. And he is the one that we
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  worship. We don't go to worship the Lord
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  in some place that has, you know, a fallen king with
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  multiple wives who committed adultery and murder and and
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  lying. We don't serve that kind of
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  king. We serve the one true king, to
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  whom David was only a very imperfect picture.
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  So then verses 6 through 9. What do we make of this
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  statement? Pray for the well-being of
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  Jerusalem. Pray for the Shalom of
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  Jerusalem. This would be the call.
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  Pray for the well-being of your church.
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  Now this can also extend to you can also pray for the peace of
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  your city where your church is. You can pray for the peace of
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  your nation. That is a good thing to pray
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  for. Jesus is the Prince of Peace,
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  and so you'll never be, you'll never be in a bad spot praying
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  for peace for anything. You can actually pray for the
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  peace of literal Jerusalem right now in the Middle East if you so
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  choose. But I think the most faithful
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  application for New Testament believers of this verse is pray
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  for the peace of your church. And then here's the prayer that
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  he says, may those who love you be secure that there would be
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  safety even within your church. He says may there be peace
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  within your walls. May there not be infighting or
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  gossip or something like that. May we experience peace both
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  outside in in our city and in our neighborhood, and may we
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  experience peace within our church.
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  It says security within your fortresses.
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  May we have peace both inside and outside of our church, he
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  says. Because of my brothers and
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  friends, I will say may peace be in you.
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  It's out of love for the people inside that David wants
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  Jerusalem new experience peace. You can't you.
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  We should never be more concerned about the quote UN
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  quote institution of the church or I'll say like the label
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  Tabernacle Baptist Church. I should never be more concerned
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  about Tabernacle Baptist Church than I am about the people that
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  comprise Tabernacle Baptist Church, if you will.
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  I need to love Darrell and Mary and I need to love Melissa and
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  Rod and Emma and Seth more than I love this building or this
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  place. And so I need to be more
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  concerned about the people than about the property.
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  So because of verse 8, because of my brothers and friends, I
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  will say, may peace be in you because of the House of Yahweh,
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  your our God, I will pursue your prosperity.
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  We want our community to do well because as our community
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  prospers, then it makes it so that our church is able to
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  prosper as well within it. If our community goes into
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  anarchy and destruction and chaos and crime, then it will
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  affect our church. It will affect the people within
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  our church as well as our actual, you know, property and
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  buildings and things. And so we ought to seek the
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  well-being, the peace of our church and our community.
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  And then you can extend that out as far as you want.
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  Nations and, and all of that. And because we have brothers and
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  sisters in Christ all across the globe, it means that we do pray
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  for peace all over the earth. I would love to hear from you.
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  I, I'm certain especially for some people from particular
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  backgrounds, you might have some thoughts on me saying this is
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  not necessarily a political statement for 2026.
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  This is a practical applicational statement for us
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  as the people of God indwelt by the Holy Spirit in 2026.
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  I would love to hear from you and thank you for tuning in.
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  Next episode we're going to look at Psalm 123 and I'm looking
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  forward to it. Have a wonderful day.