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LEADER GUIDE

HHIGHLIGHT: Psalm 24

1The earth and everything in it,the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord;

2for he laid its foundation on the seasand established it on the rivers.

3Who may ascend the mountain of

the Lord?Who may stand in his holy place?

4The one who has clean hands and a pure

heart,who has not appealed to what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully.

5He will receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his

salvation.

6Such is the generation of those who

inquire of him,who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Selah

7Lift up your heads, you gates!Rise up, ancient doors!Then the King of glory will come in.

8Who is this King of glory?The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.

9Lift up your heads, you gates!Rise up, ancient doors!Then the King of glory will come in.

10Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord of Armies,he is the King of glory.

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LEADER GUIDE

EEXPLAIN

Leaders: Feel free to use any of the “Explain” materials to guide discussion as it is needed or to expound on a certain area of the text as it comes up during your Life Group time, but the purpose of this section is to deepen your own personal understanding of the Word. Your members have access to all of this material as well.

We know a few things off the bat about Psalm 24: it was written by David, and it was most likely meant to be sung. It is an effective worship song because it has three crucial elements: it begins by praising the greatness of our King, is followed by a meditation on who can enter His sanctuary, and ends with praising Him again. As we contemplate this middle section—God’s standard for holiness—let’s wrap our discussion in how glorious and good our God is.

v.1 Scholars who focus on the form of the psalms believe this is a song that was sung as an entrance liturgy. Think of it as an opening song to prepare people’s hearts for entering the presence of the Lord. They believe it may have been used during the time when Solomon brought the ark into the holy of holies in the Temple (1 Kings 8) and probably not before then, since verses 7 and 9 refer to gates and doors—neither of which the iterations of the Tabernacle had. Additionally, the Mishnah tells us that the Levites recited this psalm in the temple on the first day of the week (Tamid 7.4).

What a way to begin a new year—by examining our hearts and preparing them to enter into the presence of the Lord! We can begin exactly as this song begins: by recognizing that everything in the world belongs to our God.

v.2 This verse refers to the act of creating the world with the same language one would use to describe building a house. It shows how God’s creation is deeply organized by a mastermind, especially through its references to seas and rivers—elements of chaos in the mythologies of the tribes surrounding the Israelites. God is the one who created these things, and He created them to be good (Genesis 1:10). However the world has fallen since, remember that God is the one who stands above it as its sovereign Creator, the one to whom creation points.

vv.3-6 Because God created everything and God Himself is holy and perfect, David asks a rhetorical question: who can enter His holy place? Who is acceptable to the Creator-King? How can we possibly prepare ourselves for fellowship with Him? David answers: with clean hands and a pure heart.

In the Hebrew language, clean hands are a picture of a pure heart, but they represent a different aspect of it. The hands are a metaphor of our exterior life—toward others—and our heart is a metaphor of our interior life—toward God. By referencing both of them, David is acknowledging that cleanliness is not just living a clean public life, but backing it with proper reverence for the Creator. Jesus echoes this sentiment when He explains that simply not doing bad things to our neighbors is not enough; we must also not hate them in our hearts. Jesus must purify both our hands and our hearts.

vv.7-10 This meditation on holiness ends the way it begins: by extolling the King of Kings. It asks more liturgical questions (“Who is this King of glory?” “Who is he?”) not to ascertain information, but to cause our hearts to answer the question for us: He is God, the Lord of Creation, the same One who beckons us into a right relationship with Him and who offers us cleansing from our sins.

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LEADER GUIDE

A APPLY Your Leader Guide will have material that the participant guides do not have. The bolded material is what the people in your group will have, the other material is only for you to help guide discussion.

This guide can be as strict a script or as general a resource as the leader needs it to be.

1. What stuck out to you or challenged you in what you heard in the sermon or read in the text?

2. Why do you think David begins this psalm by talking about God as Creator? What aspects of God does His creation highlight? How does this make you feel about God? How does it make you feel about yourself?

One of the first things we can know about God is that He created the Universe. Paul says in Romans 1:19-20, “what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made.” To this day, cosmologists debate about the origins of the Universe and have yet to come to consensus. Robert Jastrow wrote a book called God and the Astronomers, which he closes this way: “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

We contemplate the heavens because we can’t help it. We get lost in the grandeur of creation because we were designed to—it calls us away from ourselves and makes us realize that there is an incomprehensibly powerful Creator who beckons us into relationship with Him.

3. This psalm tells us “the earth and everything in it” is the Lord’s. How do you treat things that “belong to you”? How does this change the way you see everything around you? Why might David make this observation before talking about holy living?

Once we shift our view of the things we have and the people we encounter from something like ownership (“This is mine,” “That person mistreated me,” etc.) to stewardship (“This is God’s and I will treat it as such”), it should fundamentally change the way we interact with everything. Something that is holy is set apart. It is not mundane or commonplace. Seeing everything as God’s may be some people’s first step to surrendering to Christ and living a life set apart for His use.

4. What is holiness? What does a holy life look like? Who is someone that comes to mind when you think of holy living?

When Isaiah saw God for who He truly was in Isaiah 6, he was, as he said, “ruined.” It fundamentally changed the way he saw himself and inspired him to pursue a holy life, even though it would take him to difficult places. Peter called believers to holy living in 1 Peter 1:13-16 by saying, “Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the one who called you holy is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’

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LEADER GUIDE

R

5. This passage says that those who live holy lives are people who seek God’s face. What does it mean to seek God’s face? How can you seek His face in your daily life?

RESPOND Consider the following and respond either publicly or privately, depending on the dynamic of your group.

• Would someone looking at your life say that you practice holiness? Why or why not? • What do you need Jesus to cleanse you of as we enter this season of renewal?

Encourage one another through email, text messages, or coffee dates throughout the week to build up and encourage each other.