I Am a Stranger

Below is an excerpt from the sermon...

Alright, take your Bibles, if you will, tonight. Turn the book of Psalm 119. I mentioned this morning how special Psalm 119 has become to me in recent weeks and months. And it truly is. I was telling Brother Berto this morning after the morning service that I’ve been preaching so much in Cambodia, and a couple of times now that I’ve been back in the US, from Psalm 119. It’s just so on my heart lately, and it’s just become so special and precious to me—some of the truths that are there. And so, I want to go back to Psalm 119 again this evening. Verse number 19 is where we’ll start. Then we’re going to jump over to Hebrews for the remainder of the message. We’ll just read this verse, have a prayer, and get right into the message. Psalm 119:19 “I am a stranger in the earth: Hide not thy commandments from me.” I’m particularly interested in the first seven words of the verse. We read the whole verse. “I am a stranger in the earth: Hide not thy commandments from me.” I’m particularly interested, as I said, in the first seven words of this verse that says “I am a stranger in the earth.”

Now, the truth of the matter is that in the Bible, I think it’s over 100 times, there are references to a “stranger.” And maybe you’re thinking like, you know, we’re told when we’re little kids to be aware of strangers—people we don’t know and things like that. That is not the meaning of this word “stranger.” The meaning of the word “stranger” in the Bible is literally a foreigner. You say, “Oh great, he’s going to go all political tonight, preach on foreigners and all that.” No, no, we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about one who belongs to another country. There are sometimes where the words “stranger” is used in the Old Testament, talking about Israel and foreigners, people that came into Israel came along with them in the wilderness wanderings. But oftentimes in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament. When this concept is brought up, it is brought up in the context of being a stranger in the earth. A stranger in the earth, meaning we’re not from here and we’re not going to be here.

And there is another word that comes up a lot. It’s the word “sojourner.” Sojourner is simply a traveler. Another definition that comes up for a “sojourner” is a temporary resident. And then, another word that comes up a lot is the word “pilgrim,” and a pilgrim simply means a traveler, especially a traveler who's on a long journey. They’ll talk about a pilgrimage. It’s someone that goes and takes a long journey for some religious ritual, religious purposes like that.

But I want you to think about these terms tonight, stranger, sojourner, and pilgrim. A foreigner, a temporary resident, someone who’s not from here and someone who is ultimately not going to end up here, one who belongs to another country, another kingdom, a traveler who is on a long journey. And I want to just simply preach tonight on this subject that we are only traveling through. The title of the message is “I am a stranger.”

Now, if you’re a Christian tonight, this is true of you. Even if you’ve never looked at yourself like this, you need to look at yourself like this. Because when we see ourselves for what we truly are, when we see ourselves as temporary residents of this planet, when we see ourselves as strangers that are just traveling through, I can tell you it will change a whole lot about the way we live, about our perspective, about our priorities, about the way we spend our time. And yeah, even about the way that we spend our money. We’re just traveling through, and it’s vital for Christians to understand this.

So, let’s have a word of prayer and then I’ll let you be seated, we’ll begin the message. Lord, I pray that you would be with this brief time in the Word of God tonight. Lord, use this time to challenge our hearts. God, I don’t know what needs are represented in the auditorium tonight, but one thing I do know there are needs and no doubt there are myriad needs, many, many needs, countless needs. And Lord, I just ask that You would reach into each and every heart in a way that only You can do. None of the rest of us knows what each other’s needs are. We’re so good at hiding it. Lord, we’re so good at just putting on a mask and a face, and keeping the real needs of our heart kind of pushed down under the surface. Lord, I pray that we would not have anything hidden from the Lord tonight. It’s impossible anyway. But Lord, may your Holy Spirit just penetrate down into the deepest, quiet little nooks and crannies and recesses of our heart, and really do a work in us tonight in our motives and our motivations, and in our spirit, and in our heart, and in our attitude, in a way that only you can do. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.

And so, Psalm 119:19. It says, “I am a stranger in the earth.” And as I said a moment ago, we are only traveling through, and it is absolutely vital for the Christian to understand this. Here’s the problem: too many Christians I think battle with unmet expectations, depression, jealousy, envy, and all manner of issues in their life because they don’t understand this proposition that we are strangers. They get stuck like in quicksand. Maybe if you’ve ever been driving a moped (we drive a lot of mopeds there in Cambodia). So, you’re driving along, and I’ve learned if you come across some sand, be ready to stop quickly because on motorcycles the wheels are too small, they’re too narrow, there’s not enough power in the engine. And boy, you can just get bogged down really quickly. And you know what happens a lot of times in our Christian life? We get stuck. We get attached to the world. We get in love with the world. We get entangled with the world. We get bogged down in the world like we’ve run through quicksand, and we begin to literally live our lives every day, every hour, every waking moment is all about the things of this world. That is not the way that God intended us to live.