Why Do the Nations Rage

In one paragraph

This message moved through Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 together, treating them as the two-part unit they originally formed. Pastor Nathan traced the psalm's opening question, "Why do the nations rage?", through to its resolution in the anointed King, and drew out what it means to walk the way God has provided rather than straining against it. Psalm 2 opens with a question that cuts straight to the heart...

Read together

1. Psalm 1 summarized as 'listen up, meditate, don't be cynical, seek righteousness by seeking God earnestly'
2. Psalm 2 primary text of the sermon, read and expounded at length
3. Psalm 18:29 David saying with God he could run at warriors and leap over a wall
4. Hosea 11:4 quoted from New King James Version: God drawing his people with gentle cords and bands of love
5. Isaiah 30:15 briefly referenced: in repentance and rest is your reward, quietness your strength, but you would have none of it
6. Matthew 3:17 voice from heaven at Jesus' baptism: 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased'
7. Mark 1:1 opening of Mark's gospel: 'The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God'
8. Mark 1:11 voice from heaven at baptism: 'You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased'
9. Luke 3:22 Holy Spirit descending and voice saying 'You are my beloved Son, in You I am well pleased'
10. John 1:18 no one has seen God; the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father has declared him
11. Acts 4 noted as calling Psalm 2 a psalm of David
12. Acts 13:33 God fulfilled the promise by raising Jesus, as written in the second Psalm: 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you'
13. Hebrews Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest; the Father said to the Son 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you'
14. Philippians 2 Christ took on the nature of a servant and died a humiliating death on a cross
15. Galatians 5:22-23 fruit of the Spirit listed: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law
16. 2 Peter 3:9 referenced as benediction from prior week: God is not slack concerning his promise, working so all may have opportunity to repent

Talk about it

1. Pastor Mark described Psalm 1's core message as 'listen up, meditate, don't be cynical.' Where do you find cynicism creeping into your own thinking, and what does meditating on God's word actually look like in your daily life?
2. The sermon looked at Hosea 11:4, where God says He drew His people with 'gentle cords' and 'bands of love,' and contrasted that with our instinct to break free from those cords. Can you think of a time when a command or boundary from God felt like a burden at first, but later you could see it was actually an act of love?
3. Pastor Mark said that when Psalm 2 describes the nations raging against God, it is not just about foreign kings but goes all the way back to Adam and applies to every one of us. In what ways do you still see that impulse in yourself, wanting to make your own rules rather than trust God's way?
4. The sermon described two kinds of scoffing: the licentiousness that dismisses God entirely, and the legalism that writes certain people off as beyond God's reach. Which of those two temptations do you think is more common in church culture, and why?
5. Psalm 1 pictures the person who meditates on God's word as a tree planted by streams of water, producing fruit in season. How does that image connect to what Pastor Mark said about the fruit of the Spirit being the thing that draws people toward a relationship with God?