We’re coming towards the end of the summer holidays, and by this stage, the boys and girls might be glad to be going back to school, to have something to do! There are only so many exciting daytrips to do; and only so many really sunny days to be playing outside. So what do you do on a rainy day? If you manage to keep them off their computer games or iPad then you might resort to the old classic boardgames. At some point over the summer we’ve played Monopoly, Frustration, and the cardgame Uno. But there’s another classic game that I used to love to play: Guess Who.
You probably know how to play it, but just in case you don’t, here’s how it works. You have a lineup of people in front of you, and you’re trying to work out which of them the other player has on their card. So you have to ask yes or no questions to narrow it down and then, finally, to ‘guess who’ is on their card.
Now, I’ve brought it along today, because I thought it would be good to remind ourselves of how it works. But rather than just playing it on this little board - it would be too small for everyone to see what’s happening - I thought we could play real life Guess Who? So I need a volunteer.
I’ve got the name of someone on my card here, and I need you to ask me yes or no questions to see if you can guess who I’m thinking of. So, if you’re able, please stand up, until you’re eliminated.
[Play Guess Who?]
Well done! We started with the whole church, and after ... questions you were able to guess who it was. Now, why did we play that game this morning? It wasn’t just for a bit of fun, and something to fill in some time during the sermon. We played guess who because that’s what’s going on in the Psalm that we’re looking at today. If you look at Psalm 24 on your sheet (or p. 555 in the pew Bibles), you’ll see that the word ‘who’ comes up a whole lot of times.
Look at verse 3: ‘Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?’
That’s the question the Psalm is asking today. Who is it that can come near to God? Who can stand in his holy place? Who is good enough for God? Can you guess who?
All over the world, people are trying to do just that, in all sorts of different ways. By following all sorts of religious rites and rituals, people are trying to be good enough for God - if I go on pilgrimage enough; or if I pray every day; or if I give enough; or if I fast from food enough. Perhaps you have a bargain with God - if I do this, then, God, will you accept me?
Or maybe, if you think you’re not good enough, then you have someone else in mind. I might not make it, but surely so and so would. They’re far better than I am. They’re good at being good. Someone like the Pope, or the Archbishop, or the Dalai Lama. The thing is, though, that our good isn’t good enough. Can you see what the answer to the guess who question is?
‘Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands...’ (3-4)
Imagine that we’re all standing again, in this new game of Guess Who. And the first requirement is clean hands. So have a look down - are your hands clean today? You’ve washed them after you’ve been to the bathroom. No obvious dirt on them? Have they been clean all week? Not involved in any wrongdoing? Never caused harm?
We might still stand for that, but what about the next bit? ‘He who has clean hands and a pure heart...’ We can see your hands, but we can’t see your heart. We can’t, but God can. He can see what’s on the inside - what we’ve been thinking about; what we’ve been dreaming about; what we focus on when no one else is around. And the truth is that none of our hearts are pure.
If it was guess who, then we’re all down and out. We don’t have a pure heart. We do lift up our souls to idols - by putting other things in the place that God deserves; and we do swear falsely. Everybody here today fails to meet the standard. None of us can, by ourselves, come near to God. And that’s true of everybody in the whole world, all 7.7billion of us. As we heard in our first reading: ‘If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O LORD, who could stand?’ (Ps 130:3)
We’re thinking about board games today, but for a moment, I wonder if you can remember the gameshow that used to be on TV - Bullseye. If the team failed to win the final round, and missed out on the mystery star prize, then Jim Bowen would have said: ‘Look at what you could have won!’ In verse 5 we see what was on offer for anyone who could come near to God:
‘He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Saviour. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.’
Blessing and vindication were on offer. But we can’t make it. We can’t do it. We can’t come near. But before we get too disappointed, the Psalm continues by asking ‘guess who’ all over again. The command comes in verse 7 to ‘Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.’
Someone is approaching; someone has fulfilled the entry requirements; someone does have clean hands and a pure heart. And it’s a bit like a knock knock joke. So verse 7 is the knock knock, and the answer comes in verse 8: ‘Who is this King of glory?’ Who’s there? Who is it?
‘The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.’ (8)
And then the sequence repeats again knock knock, who’s there? ‘The LORD Almighty - he is the King of glory.’ If you look closely, you’ll see that the word Lord is in capital letters. That’s the name for the promise-making, covenant-keeping God. And so we see that God himself has come down to earth, has become one of us, has lived the perfect life with clean hands and a pure heart, fully devoted to God, fully obedient to everything God required, and never spoke falsely. And his name is Jesus.
Who can come near to God? Who is the King of glory? It’s Jesus. He obeyed so fully that he died on the cross to take away our sins. All the things that disqualified us? Jesus has dealt with them. As Psalm 130 continues: ‘If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O LORD, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.’ (Ps 130:3-4)
Jesus has opened up the gates of heaven so that we can join him there. The blessing and vindication that he has received from the Father is shared with us as well. And that’s what he offers to you today. Jesus has won the victory over sin and death and hell. And he invites you to join him in his holy place. You just need to ask him to forgive your sins, and to receive you in.
So who can come near to God? Who is good enough for God? Only Jesus - but he makes us good enough by cleansing our hands and our hearts, and sharing with us his blessing. Who will come to him today? Will you?
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 25th August 2019.
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