Dr. Christopher Graham

Christ the Judge by Fra Angelica (1447)Pentecost +3 2026
Dr. Christopher Graham
Psalm 50

Offer unto God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and pay your vows unto the Most High;
Whoever offers me a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me,

Over the summer, our preaching will draw attention to our readings from the Psalms. From a historical perspective, this needs little defense. The inclusion of the psalms in Christian worship has transcended the differences throughout the ages. Even in the Reformation, all sides kept the Psalms as an integral part of their worship. So that we keep the Psalms as a central part of our worship has a deep history.

And even the use of Psalms in preaching has been central to the life of the Church from its very earliest days. Having celebrated Ascension and Pentecost just two weeks ago, you may remember that OT poetry is central to Peter’s Pentecost sermon. But since most of our preaching does not focus on the psalms, it may be helpful to offer some comments as we move through our time this summer. Before we dive into Psalm 50 this morning, let me make just two observations.

First, there is a danger in preaching or teaching on the psalms. Because we are more comfortable with prose than poetry, I can preach, and you can expect that I preach, in a way that achieves the clarity and precision of prose. To approach the psalms as prose, though, robs the psalms of their inherent power as song. It’s like explaining a joke. It’s like condensing a beautifully complex novel into an outline. It’s taking Louis Armstrong’s:

Gimme a kiss to build a dream on
And my imagination
Will thrive upon that kiss
Sweetheart, I ask no more than this
A Kiss to build a dream on

It’s taking the power of that and putting it in the service of this dictionary entry for “kiss.” “Two people pressing their moist, creased facial orifices together, cinch tight the sphincter muscles to draw the flesh around the orifice into a bulbous mound, and exchange saliva and breathe.” Precise? Yes. Technically, that is, anatomically, correct? Yes. And yet. . . And yet we know that Louis Armstrong comes far nearer to capturing the essence of a

kiss than a Webster’s editor. And so, over the course of our sermons this summer, we need to be aware that our homilies should be in service to the psalms.

The second comment is to recognize our tendency to accept and acknowledge the power of song in our worship and in our daily lives, and yet dismiss the Psalms as an essential source for our knowledge of and life in God. It is a uniquely modern problem, in that we have placed our sources of knowledge in mutually exclusive categories and then exalted those that lead to rationalistic certainty. We prefer, then, the prose of the NT letters and the teaching of Jesus because they appear as straightforward conduits of knowledge. And yet, only 24% of the Bible is prose discourse, in the form of laws, sermons, letters. Roughly 33% of the Bible is poetry, including songs, reflective poetry, prophetic poetry, and proverbial poetry. If we confess that this is God’s own revelation of himself to us, it is a powerful thought that he chose to use the form of poetry to reveal himself through this medium as often as he does. And this should compel us to pay attention to it. (BTW: ~43% of the Bible is made up of narrative, from historical narrative to parables.)

Over the course of our series, I imagine that we will explore the power of poetry, of song, but it is enough for us to say today that as people committed to the Bible as God’s revelation of himself, we should be (or become) comfortable with approaching God through the Psalms, even with the imprecision, because God has ordained it as a primary means of moving our interaction with him. And this is a great transition to our psalm this morning because, it seems to me, this is precisely the point of that psalm. In fact, in our psalm today, praise is not merely primary it is central. The psalm crescendos not once but twice to the point of praise:

vv. 14-15 Offer unto God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and pay your vows unto the Most High;

V. 23 Whoever offers me a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me

But remember, these are not merely didactic teachings, exhortations, commissions to praise. These are refrains set in a three-part, or three stanza, song.

Part 1, vv. 1-7, and sets the stage, like songs sometimes do.

• It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday, the regular crowd stumbles in
• This is the day, This is the day that the Lord has made
• The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas

But what is the context of Psalm 50? A context oriented dominated by the awesome reality of the God. The Lord, even the most mighty God:

• Whose word has cosmic scope: called the world, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, He shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth beneath merism
• Whose is brilliantly splendid, dazzling. “Great Father of glory, pure Father of light, thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight; all praise we would render, O help us to see ’tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.”
• Whose word has local consequence: there shall go before him a consuming fire, and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about him.

And this God does what? He summons his people to his courtroom:

v. 5-6: “Gather my faithful together unto me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” “And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is Judge.

Nothing like being in the gallery. Watching the judge rule with wisdom and power! Alright, bring in the guilty, let’s get this party started

v. 7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; I myself will testify against you, O Israel, for I am God, even your God.”

Uh-oh. As my kids would say “This got dark fast.” What did we do? Us? Why are we here in this place? Good songs like Psalm 50 evoke memories, and I can feel the pit in my own stomach. Reading verses 1-7 reminded me of the day just a few years ago when I was invited first thing in the morning to meet with the Chairman of the Board and with another Executive at the University I was at. I was less than a month into a deeply rewarding position and was rocking it! Oooh, I thought, what do they have for me next? A promotion would be odd, a raise even odder. And so when I sat down and they slid across a termination letter that told me to be out of my office by the end of the day, I was. . . wait, what? What did I do? What are you talking about?

Me? I had no idea? And so it is as we read Psalm 50 as God’s people. Why are we here? I’m glad you asked, because God answers:

He starts with what it is not: v. 8 I will not rebuke you because of your sacrifices, or for your burnt offerings, because they are always before me.

And yet, he called them to offer a sacrifice in v14. So what is the issue? Their perspective on God and their actions before God have gotten out of whack. In what sense? Well, this is the beautiful power of songs: I’m not sure it’s spelled out here. It is popular to read Psalm 50 in line with other passages in which they have fallen into a perfunctory action, so that their heart is not in it. But, I’m not sure that this is the issue given how the Psalm advances in vv.9-13. In these verses, God does not hold up a mirror to their lack of connection between action and heart. He reminds them of who He is in relation to their actions. There is no reason to believe that they were not sincerely and devoutly obeying God’s law in presenting the major offerings that He has called for. IT seems that they have lost perspective on the fact their service, their sacrifice are not done to prop up and sustain God. And, in turn, they have forgotten that everything they have—even the gifts they offer are from him—are his. Perhaps this is why he reminds them of his character and his ownership and then calls for them to offer that most unique of sacrifices. The sacrifice of thanksgiving. “Offer unto God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, // and pay your vows unto the Most High.” It is, then, with this perspective that when they run into trouble, they seek relief in other means other than.

Praise reorients perspective. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. . . give us this day our daily bread.”

When we acknowledge the God of verses 1-6—the God who owns everything—then we offer praise and we will call out for his provision.

It is what U2 sings at the end of the prefatory reading this morning:

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will.
What no man can own, no man can take.”

But these are not the only ones that God addresses. So also are those whom he calls, “ungodly.” Whew! Someone else is getting called on! Except, remember that everyone who has been summoned are the covenant people of God. So who are they? If the first group is very aware of God and are even suppliants to him in their sacrificial offering, those now addressed have forgotten God (v. 32). Those who hate to be disciplined, and have cast my words behind you? (v. 17-18) This, clearly, leads to a lack of integrity:

• They “recite God’s laws, and take his covenant in their mouths yet speak wickedness, and with your tongue you have set forth deceit (v. 16/19)
• They speak of covenants, but have taken part with adulterers (v.16/19).
• They have even used God’s laws to defend their wickedness (v. 20/21)

This lack of integrity is addressed throughout Scripture. It is this issue, the lack of integrity, that Jesus addressed frequently with his opponents. Their lack of perspective was tied to their lack of integrity.

“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’;and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” Mark 7

So what is the antidote: Whoever offers me a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me, and to him who orders his way aright will I show the salvation of God.”

The author of Hebrew also sees the connection between praise and doing good: “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Hebrews 13.

This reorienting and repairing happens several times through our liturgy. For example, we respond to

Alleluia Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed, once for all upon the Cross
Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia.

And then immediately we offer a prayer of humble access: We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your abundant and great mercies.” And our hymn “Jesus, Lamb of God: have mercy on us. Jesus, Bearer of our sins: have mercy on us Jesus, Redeemer, Redeemer of the world: grant us your peace, grant us your peace.” To which Fr. Doug will say: The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.”

Praise/thanksgiving – – recognition of who we are in proper perspective and with integrity – praise and thankgiving. Reorienting and repairing.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.