C, The Third Sunday after Epiphany - Psalm 19:12-14 "Presumptuous Sins"

Psalm 19:12–14 (ESV) Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

These are the words of King David.  Why does he end this psalm in this way?  We’ve all heard variations of these words before.  Usually as a prayer… May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Often prayed at the beginning of a sermon, pastors pray that they preach God’s word acceptably in his sight, to the congregation.  Hopefully, this preaching comes about through the pastor allowing the Holy Spirit to guide his meditations in God’s word, so what is preached is what the Lord God needs his people to hear.  So therefore, pastors pray that the hearer’s meditations are also acceptable to the Lord, our Rock and Redeemer.

So why does David end the psalm this way?  He wants to be blameless and innocent of great transgression. Why does the pastor pray this way?  Pastors, faithful to the word of God, know they are accountable to God for what is taught and preached to God’s people. 

In the letter to the Hebrews we hear, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.”  (Hebrews 13:17a ESV)

And from the epistle of James, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” (James 3:1 ESV)

Although David has many liberties as king, he knew as the leader of the liturgical congregation of Israel, David does not presume anything.  He does not gauge his blamelessness nor his innocence by his position or how he feels!  But rather, he is counselled by the warnings in God’s word, spoken by the likes of Samuel and Nathan, and those who came before.

Again, we should ask, “why does he the king, listen to God’s word of warning?”  David knows his true hidden self, in the face of God’s word!   He is a leader in constant learning in the face of death.  David does not have to think too hard to remember, both his failures, and the forgiveness of his failures.  He also knows his rise to power came at the Lord’s hand, in the wake of King Saul’s presumption, removal from leadership, and death.

King David knew he was a sinful man forgiven and sustained by God after his lustful adultery with Bathsheba and its coveting that led to the murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite.  Just as Nathan the prophet was sent to call David out for these sins, David knew of Saul’s fate sealed by the judge and prophet Samuel who revoked his life and leadership saying, “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:23 ESV)

David knew that being presumptuous was deadly and he didn’t want what happened to Saul, to happen to him.   Like David, we cannot declare ourselves innocent nor blameless, nor do we want our death to be eternal.  The knowledge of death brings a baptised Christian back to the foot of the cross, where like David, we seek the mercy of he who created all things, and continues to sustain us and his creation, despite our corruption and creation’s corruption. 

This knowledge of death comes as a shock to humanity who’ve made the presumption that their goodness will save them from death.  Especially those who no longer believe God exists, nor created life, justice, and love.  Without God, life is shallow and hopeless.  Without God, justice is every man for himself.  And without God, love is nothing more than human yearnings, boiling in the bowels of desire.

In fact, this is the definition of presumption.  The Hebrew word for presumption is the same word for cooking or boiling stew.  This reminds us of the presumption of both Esau and Jacob when Esau despised and sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of boiling stew. Like Esau, we all know how the smell of boiling food can entice presumptuous desires within us.  Similarly, like Jacob, we know how to act with hidden deceit, cooking up presumptuous plans to get what we want, to get our own way!

But these are not God’s way.  Presumption is meditation without Godly wisdom.  Presumption takes the will and ways of the heart and leads a person to death.  Presumption works in the realm of unwise jealousy and selfish ambition.  As we hear, “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” (James 3:15 ESV)

How often does your frustrations lead you to presume you’re better than your neighbour, to force your way as the way!  This is playing God.   Our presumption works contrary to God’s word, especially the wisdom and meekness of God’s word implanted within.  Presumption opposes the way of Jesus.  Presumption uses the truth of Jesus’ word to serve one’s own imperfect truth.  And presumption foolishly leads one to believe the human spirit over against the Holy Spirit for life.

This is why like King David we call out to God and pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” (Psalm 51:10–12 ESV)

Three times David says,  renew a right spirit within me, take not your Holy Spirit from me, and uphold me with a willing spirit.  Like David, every believer’s spirit needs to be sustained by the Holy Spirit.  Presumption makes us forget we are human, or at least what being human is, and tricks us into putting God aside in favour of everything else.  Presumption makes fools of us!

Being recreated, not cast away through repentance and forgiveness, restored and upheld by the Holy Spirit, David says, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” (Psalm 51: 13 ESV)

And he does just that here in Psalm nineteen.  Don’t be fazed by the numbering of the Psalms.  They were liturgically ordered and numbered years later.  Nevertheless, David reigned thirty-three years in Israel, and constantly struggled with the sins of his humanity, especially within, when threatened from others, tempting him to look to himself instead of God.

And so, David not only teaches the congregation of Israel. But he himself is taught by the words of this psalm and others he authored and authorised for use as he leads the congregation in Jerusalem.

From Isaiah sixty-two Jesus proclaims, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:18–19 ESV)

After saying this he says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4: 21 ESV)

David sought not to be presumptuous and trusted the Holy Spirit to lead him with the Word of God.  In meekness, Jesus came to implant the fulfilment of his word within us.  The Holy Spirit was upon Jesus to do this, and the Holy Spirit continues to work faith within us and remove presumption from within.

We hear in James, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21 ESV)

Jesus is the Word made flesh implanted in us by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit counsels us to remain in what we’ve received through being baptised into Jesus’ wisdom and meekness.  This is the wisdom and meekness that overcomes your humanity, your presumption.

The words of Psalm nineteen are fulfilled in Jesus, as are all of the Psalms. 

Jesus perfects the law of the Lord, reviving the soul; Jesus’ testimony is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts or teachings of Jesus are right, rejoicing the heart.  Jesus has kept the commandments of the Lord pure, enlightening our eyes, to allow the Holy Spirit’s enduring cleansing with Christlike meekness and wisdom.  The rules of the Lord’s law of liberty are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired is Jesus than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.  Moreover, by Jesus’ words is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great eternal reward.  Let us pray.

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, by ourselves we cannot discern the errors of our human spirit from the new person you have recreated each of us to be!  Thank you for daily sending the Holy Spirit with your implanted word, to expose and set each of us free from the desires and deeds that frustrate and cause us to seek our own way.  You declare me, and other repentant sinners, innocent from hidden faults.  Help us to believe this equally of ourselves and of others. Keep back your servants, from presumptuous sins seething within; let them not boil up and have dominion over us!  In feeling the bubbling dread of our guilt, lead us to innocence through the confession of our transgressions.

Lord Jesus, let the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart be sweet desirable honey and gold in my life, and in the lives of this congregation, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. 

C, First Sunday of Advent - Psalm 25:1-10 Good and Upright is the Lord

There once was a working-class man, who became king.    He treated his palace staff as though they were royalty; he even refurbished the workers’ living quarters to palace standards.  The new king was compassionate and kind; he wanted the best for his servants having been a labourer once too. 

But in time his staff became conceited and loathed the king — even his generous rule.  They got up to all sorts of revelry in their plush living quarters and after a short time it looked more like a pigsty than the property of the palace.  They destroyed their regal residence, and the name of the king was slandered inside its wall. 

In fact, his servant subjects had completely rejected his rule, and they credited themselves with the prosperity which had been bestowed upon them.  The king knew about this and was grieved in his heart.  But rather than rid himself of these workers, he patiently and continually encouraged them to renew their allegiance to him and his rule so that peace and harmony would return once again to the servants’ living quarters.

In time the king had a son, but the staff had become so rebellious and distracted by their own importance they didn’t even realise the king had borne an heir to the throne.  This boy knew nothing of the working-class life from which his father had come.  All he had ever experienced inside the walls of the palace was his princely life. 

So, the king lovingly sent his son, to live as a working-class servant boy, to experience life outside the palace walls, so he might better understand his father’s kingdom and better lead the country when he became king.  The boy went to work and live with the palace staff; no doubt he very quickly got some real-life experience. 

Picture what this young boy walked from… cleanliness, prestige, excesses, good manners, honour, and respect.  Now picture what he walked into… dirtiness, coarseness, hard work, debauchery, drunkenness, disrespect, disunity and fighting.  This was hardly an inheritance for a king!

King David was an earthy working-class man too.  He grew up as a shepherd boy.  But God saw that this lowly boy became king. 

David seeks God’s mercy in Psalm 25, saying, To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; 2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.  4 Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord.  8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.  (Psalm 25:1-10 NIV)

King David knew where he stood with the Lord; he knew he was a sinner.  In the very next verse, after what we have just heard, David pours his heart out to God, saying, For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. (Psalm 25:11)  David knew the Lord’s way was loving and faithful.  However, for a sinner like David to keep the demands of the covenant is impossible, and it brings this cry of contrition from his lips — for the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my sin, though it is great. 

For the sake of God’s name, these inspired words from David among others, needed to be fulfilled in the advent of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  So we do well to see this Psalm, and all Psalms—in fact, the complete Old Testament—fulfilled in Christ.  Jesus needed to come into the world as a servant; the creator needed to be created, it was advantageous for us that God make his advent amongst us.

 We—like King David and the rebellious workers we’ve just heard about—need a Saviour.  None of us can keep God’s covenant, and, therefore, receive God’s loving and faithful ways.  All of us left to our own devices become treacherous without excuse; before God our best work still brings us shame.  We all need Christ’s coming and his supreme sacrifice.  In fact, we do receive God’s faithfulness and loving guidance, but only because of Jesus Christ.

In this Advent season as we prepare for Christmas, the coming and birth of God amongst us, let’s focus on two things.  Firstly, the heights from which God the Son came to dwell among us.  And secondly, the lengths and depths to which he went, so that we his sinful rebellious and treacherous servants might be saved.  In clearly hearing and grasping the sanctity and privileged position of Almighty God over against the utter depths to which we and all people have slumped, only then do we even begin to truly appreciate just what the grace of God is and how privileged we are to receive it!

Look at it from the point of view of the son sent to live in the servant’s quarters.  How much would the contrast have struck him between princely exuberance in which he had lived and the squalor and filth into which he was delivered?  Think of the shame and despair he could have felt!  Had he done something wrong, did his father, the king, still love him?  Had he been sent to the palace quarters to die with the sacrilegious servants?

Now let’s use Psalm 25 to see Christ’s advent — from his point of view.  To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.  Jesus came from heaven to us, he came from timelessness to a point in time, he the creator was created as a weak baby, he came from infinite knowledge and power, to be born by a mother who was pregnant outside wedlock, and grew to be the son of a lowly Nazareth carpenter.  He was handed over to treacherous men, and put to shame because of our sinful ways.  It looked as though his enemies had triumphed over him.  And yet, he still trusted in his Father who sent him into his fallen sinful creation to save us.

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.  God taught him his paths and showed him the way that led straight to the cross.  Jesus knew the truth, he was innocent and we are guilty.  Yet Jesus’ hope remained in God all day long and now we are called to faith in him who was faithful to his Father’s will for our benefit.

Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord.  Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.  Put yourself in Jesus’ place.  How great would God’s goodness and mercy and love “seem to be” if it was you he had sent to die.  Our sin and rebellious ways have continued from of old, right back from our youth.  God remembered them and placed them on his innocent Son.  How good was that for Jesus, who is good?  How good is this for us, who are not good?  Yet we walk in freedom while the Almighty King of the universe, in all goodness and godliness, walked the way of the cross.

 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.  Christ came as King and humbled himself and became obedient unto death, death on a cursed cross.  This is the loving and faithful way the Lord walked even though he kept every demand of the covenant.

As we reflect on Christ’s first coming, and wait for Christ’s second coming, know that all the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for us, because Jesus Christ has kept the demands of the covenant.  So be humble, repent, seek what is right, and allow him to teach you his way. 

By your Holy Spirit, Lord, give us the power to trust your Word, to watch, and to pray.  Amen. 

B, Post Pentecost 11 Proper 13 - John 6:27&29 "Eat your Cake and have it too"

The desire to have something can be so strong.  So much so it can cause all sorts of emotions to occur, even physical reactions or mental torment.

Have you ever been shopping for groceries when you’re hungry?  Have you ever seen a fast-food ad on television when you’re starving?  You can almost savour the flavour of the herbs and spices in your mouth. 

The eyes sharpen the mind, the desire intensifies, your saliva glands prepare themselves, you want it, and you want it now.  Food glorious food, hot food — chips, burgers, chicken, a big juicy steak, with plenty of sauce or gravy!  It makes your stomach churns with delight.

Perhaps every time you past the car yard, the motorcycle centre, the bakery, the clothes shop, or the shoe store, your mind is filled with visions of sitting high in the seat of a shiny new machine, the best in the district.  Or you picture yourself stepping out in style with those new shoes or the latest outfit similar to what the movie stars are wearing these days.  Isn’t it interesting how desire works its way within!

As you salivate over these things from afar, your mind plots and your heart beats quicker, as you scheme how to make the imagination a reality.

Similar occurs when one is attracted towards someone else.   Most should be able to remember the time the blood rushed on seeing that someone for the first time!  You become sweaty, desperately seeking their attention!  The thought of separation causes you pain.  You want them, but for whatever reason you can’t have them!  You lie on your bed at night and desire fills your heart, you toss to and fro without satisfaction. 

You fanaticise over them; perhaps even let your mind become X-rated; you can get no satisfaction.  The fantasy only increases the desire, you burn with passion, and the pain is almost too much to bear.  

What we want, but for one reason or another cannot get, plays on our mind.  Have you ever noticed sometimes that the less chance we have of getting it, the more we want it.  The intense yearning debilitates our whole being — mind, body, and spirit. 

These strong feelings and desires make us do all kinds of things with our minds, our mouths and our movements.  From children throwing tantrums before their parents, to teenagers manipulating things to suit themselves, to God’s adult children growing more and more materialistic and self-centred, it’s all the same thing in God’s eyes.

King David burned with desire over someone he shouldn’t have been obsessing over.  In fact, he should never have let himself be in this position to do what he did.

As the saying goes, “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.”  And so, while David should have been leading his armies in battle out in the field, he hangs about Jerusalem not doing much.

He gets off his bed, probably aroused, but if not soon finds himself that way as he leers over Bathsheba, fanaticising over her beauty and her nakedness.

Instead of using his power to lead his fighting men, he misuses his authority and takes Bathsheba, another man’s wife into his bed.  The sin cannot be concealed when Bathsheba falls pregnant.  And so, David summons the husband, Uriah, and tries to cover his sin, but it doesn’t work.  So finally, he resorts to ordering Uriah’s murder to cover his guilt.

Nathan, the prophet of God, goes to see David, and feeds him a story which surely takes David in.  This is a story about a poor man who loves a lamb but when the rich neighbour has visitors, butchers the poor man’s solitary lamb instead of preparing one of the many lambs he owns.  David burns with anger against the rich man.  But God had set David up, and Nathan says…

 “You are the man! You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. …Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’  …“Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.”  …Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:7, 9, 10, 11, 13)

David had free choice, but like us all who have free choice, the consequences are never free and so beginning with the death of the child he and Bathsheba conceived, his whole family begins to unravel.  And the ripple effect takes its toll on his family’s kingship and on every member of the kingdom of Israel.

Have you ever heard of the saying, “You can’t eat your cake and have it too.”?  David’s desire led him to eat his cake of desire, when he should never have had it in the first place.  He ate his cake in secret, but it soon soured in the belly.

The unravelling of David’s kingdom continued with a repetition of similar sorts when David’s son, Amnon, fell in love with his half-sister, David’s daughter, Tamar.  His desire led him to deviously set up a situation where they would be alone in his bedroom.  She is sent to him with bread as Amnon is apparently not well.  But once alone with Amnon he seeks to seduce her, but on her refusal, he rapes her. 

Amnon had his fill, then he treated Tamar as trash.  After such great desire and yearning for her, he ate his cake of desire and then he no longer had his idol of desire.  Therefore, the idol of desire turned into one of contempt and hatred. 

These are the results of David’s desire to not fulfil his kingship, leading Israel in battle, but rather, stay in Jerusalem.  Desire drove David’s delusion on that afternoon when he mused about Bathsheba; and desire continued to devastate in waves of consequence after the wake of Amnon pining over his sister.  Retribution came from Absalom, Tamar’s full brother, who kills Amnon, and then pits himself against his father, King David, for the kingdom of Israel.  In the sight of all Israel, he defiantly takes the concubines of his father into his bed.

Who would have known the twitch of David’s sexual desire would have led to this tangled mess of death and destruction?  We are always free to choose!  But the other half is choice always has consequences that are never free.  It’s why deception is a deception; because our desires delude and deceive us into overlooking the other half of the free choice reality.

Have you ever noticed that after coveting the new car, the new clothes, or whatever it is you just have to have?  That on receiving it, it loses its sheen extremely quick!  The new car smell disappears, and it gets dirty, the shoes and clothes end up wearing out and become rags, or they date and become relics in the back of closet.  This never seem a reality when we’re in the midst of desire.

What about those food ads on television, or going to the supermarket after you’ve had a big meal?  The smells don’t have the same effect as when you’re hungry.  The burgers might be better, but you can’t even bear to look at them!  You can’t eat your cake and have it too! 

Or more to the point, “you can’t satisfy your desires and have the desires too!”  The feelings of wanting, disappear the moment you devour what you’ve desired.  But then the mirage of desire soon pops up somewhere else, ready to deceive us all over again.

In the gospel of John chapter six, Jesus tells us,  “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:27 ESV)

Food that endures to eternal life!  This food is unusual!  We eat it, yet we still have it.  It’s the food which satisfies, really satisfies with lasting effect.  This food is unlike the food we crave one moment then reject once we’ve had our fill.  This is the food that gives us the sense of joy, but once eaten the sense of joy goes on and on and on, without ever becoming too much.  This is the food once eaten we still have it.  You can eat this cake, and have it too!

So, what must we do to eat and have this cake that endures into eternal life?  Jesus answers, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6:29 ESV)

God calls you to taste and see that the Lord is good.  Open your hearts and let God fill you with satisfaction that lasts into eternity.  Jesus really satisfies! 

So, what must we do to get the food that endures to eternal life:  Believe that Jesus is the Bread of Life!  He is the food of life; he is the only bread of eternal satisfaction!

Jesus is the cake.  Come and eat, you can eat this cake and have it too. “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!  Blessed are those who takes refuge in him!  Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!” (Psalm 34:8–9)

Amen. 

B, Post Pentecost 5 Proper 7 - 2 Corinthians 6:1–13 "Big Problems & Narrow Hearts"

2 Corinthians 6:1–3, 11-13 (ESV)  Saint Paul says, “Working together with him (Jesus Christ), then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.  For he says, “In a favourable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.  We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry… We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.  You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.  In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.”

Nine foot six is a problem.  The Israelite army closes ranks.  No one wants to go out and face this enemy.  The problem seems too big to handle, let alone defeat!  So much so, King Saul and his army fall on their faces in fear, frozen and unable to find someone to fight Goliath.

The terms were simple.  Send someone to fight and if Goliath wins, and his opponent dies, then Israel becomes a servant to the Philistines, and if the one whom Israel sends kills Goliath, then the Philistines will become servants of Israel.

Like the advertisement says on television, “Chances are you’re about to lose!”  Goliath was a monster of a man.  He was a military machine!  Just shy of three metres tall, two hundred and eighty-nine centimetres in height!  That’s nine foot six inches of muscle covered in metal.  It’s no wonder all of Israel fell flat on their faces, prostrate in fear.  To say, “the odds weren’t good” was the understatement of all understatements!

Unbeknown to Jesse, he sends David from shepherding his flock to visit his brothers with the Israelites who are cowering before Goliath and the Philistines at the front line.  David goes to the battlefront and hears Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, taunt Israel.  Even despite the reward of riches, the king’s daughter in marriage, and freedom for his father’s household from Saul’s leadership, no one steps forward to fight Goliath.

To the shame of David’s oldest brother Eliab, which angers him, David says, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26 ESV)

The youthful David, fresh faced and handsome, full of the Holy Spirit, says to King Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him.  Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”  (1 Samuel 17:32 ESV)

But this young boy who previously had been made Saul’s armour bearer, through his playing of the lyre, could not even bear the weight of Saul’s armour for battle.  So, he faces Goliath without anything but trust in God and five smooth stones.  But he does not face Goliath in fear!

Picture it!  David wearing his shepherd clothes facing off against the three-metre giant with a brass helmet, wearing a vest weighing fifty-five kilograms, that’s one hundred and twenty-one pounds.  Probably more than what David weighed!  Goliath bears a javelin slung across his back and brandishes a spear with a head weighing six and a half kilograms, that’s fourteen and a half pounds.  Verses a boy with a sling and a shepherd pouch holding five smooth stones!

David runs to the battle without shield or sword.  Before David stood Goliath, but he did not see the threat.  He saw victory in the Lord saying, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,  and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.” (1 Samuel 17:45–47 ESV)

For all intentions and purposes, it seemed that Saul was putting David forward for defeat, but the chance David would die was nil.  As a result, David stood over the headless body of the pagan thug that once tormented Israel.

Trouble also appeared to brew on Lake Galilee, as Jesus slept on a cushion in the back of the boat.  The feeling of impending death filled the disciples as waves surged into the boat.  It was Jesus’ idea to go to the other side, and now it looked like they weren’t going to get there.  They woke Jesus thinking he did not care for their circumstances.

But they were less aware of their circumstances than was Jesus.  They saw the problem, but they did not see the answer, Jesus Christ in their midst. Jesus knew his death was coming, but not through the chaos of a watery grave. With a couple of words, he stills the storm, and with a couple more, he puts the fear and faithlessness of the disciples in front of them!

The disciples learn a lesson!  The power invested in Jesus by God the Father calls them to faith.  But it wasn’t the kind of power we would expect from the Son of God, who put his divine power aside to be the person you and I were meant to be.  Jesus’ power was that of complete trust in God the Father who carried Jesus along by the power of the Holy Spirit.  It was this power in which they were called to trust!  And so too us!

Jesus’ earthly forebear, David, similarly was carried along by the Holy Spirit, to face the problem that Saul and the entire Israelite army couldn’t conquer.  David too trusted in God the Father to deliver him from the heathen henchman, despite being overshadowed by this military monster.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, “We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.” (2 Corinthians 6:11 ESV)

Prior to this Paul gives quite an extensive list of problems one endures as a faithful servant of God, of which three times he seeks to open wide the hearts of the Corinthians with his Holy Spirit inspired words saying that, “Working together with him (that is Jesus Christ), then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.  For he says, “In a favourable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.  We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry.  (2 Corinthians 6:1–3 ESV)

Paul calls them to graciously receive the grace of God, for at a gracious time God has listen and gives salvation, therefore now is the time to graciously receive salvation.  There is no time like the present to allow the Holy Spirit to grow one’s faith in God.  To make one’s heart wide in the Lord!

What causes a narrow heart? What causes a lack of faith?  Paul tells the Corinthians, “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.”  (2 Corinthians 6:12 ESV)

Literally Paul says they are restricted by their own spleen, their own intestines, their own indwelling!  To put it in today’s language, one’s own feelings!  

All people are challenged today, for their narrowness of heart in putting individualism, emotionalism, and one’s own affections before God, his word, and his will in his word.  To many Christians it seems there are many goliath problems.  Waves are coming into the boat, threatening the life of the boat and its occupants.

We are called not to lay prostrate in fear, nor be overcome by the fierceness of those who seek to subvert the narrative of God’s church by watering down his word.  God calls you to open wide your heart, to trust what he says in his word as Jesus’ way forward.

As people of the church, each one of us will have to face spiritual problems and work out what is the heart of the matter.  There are only two people who know what a person believes, yourself and Jesus Christ.  You owe it to yourself and Jesus Christ, to allow the Holy Spirit to expose and make your heart wide through repentance.  A deeper love of Jesus Christ comes only through allowing him to forgive your sin.  So, you allow the Holy Spirit to show you in the word, when your emotions and individualism are the Goliath problem.  The Holy Spirit seeks to widen your heart, so you do not sink in yourself! The only way forward is Jesus’ way in submission to his word!  The way of affections or one’s own feelings imposed onto the word of God is contrary to God’s way.  

Many issues come to our attention as Christians living in a pagan society.  As Christians we are called to trust God works in his church through his word.  His will is being done through the processes faithful to him and his word in his church! 

There are impasses in the church, not in what we might suspect though!  Rather most deadlocks occur because faith is misplaced with the deception of sight or emotions!  It’s not an impasse, so to speak, but rather faithlessness in Jesus’ way in the word of God, in the processes given in the life of the church for eternal life, and the effective way of the Holy Spirit in the baptised priesthood of all believers to make disciples of all nations. 

It is both a big problem, but it’s not a problem at all! 

When we allow the Holy Spirit to work the reception of the word of God in us, the problem is no problem at all.  He will cause to make our hearts wide, to repent of our affections and return to Jesus’ word that calms the storm and brings the Goliath within to repentance.  When you allow this, you do not receive the grace of God in vain!  Amen.

B, The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany - Psalm 147:1, 11, 20c God Pleasing Praise"

Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!  The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.  Praise the Lord. (Ps 147:1, 11, 20c)

When we praise God, we do it in either of two ways.  We praise him in prayer – thanksgiving prayer.  Or we praise him in song or hymnody.  But why do we praise God?  What is the purpose of praise?  What does singing songs or hymns of praise do?  Do we need to praise God?  And how do we praise God in prayer and song – is there a way of wisdom, a proper process for praising our Lord?

In the Psalms God gives us his words of praise and lament.  So, if God gives us praises and laments in his Word, then it is right to give him thanks and praise, and also to lament and express our grief before him too.  But why; what purpose does it serve?

In many of the praise Psalms the opening line reads “Praise the Lord”, or “Hallelujah”.  These openings are the same thing, one is in English, and the other is the original Hebrew.  It’s interesting to note that Hallelujah is a contraction of two words, Hallelu and Yah, short for Yahweh.  Hallelu means to shine or radiate, and even to boast or brag.  And so to Praise the Lord, hallelujah, we are called to shine or radiate God, to boast or brag of the Lord. But the question still remains, “Why; what purpose does it serve?”

One must also be specifically clear when discussing praise; that we are not just speaking about singing praises.  Praises are sung in song and hymnody, but, in the context of praise’s meaning “to shine”, praises can happen just as easily through being spoken.  In fact, the praise of God goes right back through the history of humanity’s response to God, but singing of praises became a regular response only in the days of King David.

Psalm 147 falls in amongst the last of the Psalms, of which are all praise Psalms.  The book of Psalms finishes with a crescendo of praise for God.  In Psalm 144 we hear God is praised for being King David’s rock in battle.  In Psalm 145 David goes on to lift up the name of the Lord in praise.  David praises God with the Word of God inspired within him by the Holy Spirit.  David receives the Word of God, the Son of God, yet to be born as “the Word made Flesh”.  David in the stead of Jesus Christ leads the congregation in this climax of praise.  In Psalm 146 the repetition of praise, hallelujahs, becomes common right to the end in Psalm 150.  

In verse one of Psalm 147 the psalmist begins, Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!   Why is it good, and pleasant, and fitting to praise God?  It all depends on the source and content of the praise!

One of the most astounding things to occur in the bible is that in God’s calling us to response to his Word, he also gives us his Word as response.  The Psalms are a book of responses written by men, inspired by God the Son, for us to respond to our Father in heaven.  And even more amazing than the Psalms of praise are the Psalms of lament.  God gives humanity a vent to spew out our anger, grief, and even out hatred towards those who refuse to submit to his authority and the authority of his Word.

First, it’s fitting, pleasant, and good to praise God, because he gives us praises in his Word to do just that — praise him.  Jesus praises the Father, and likewise we too praise him, as we are carried along by the Holy Spirit.  We are caused to obey him and honour him, and his Word, when we praise him with his Word.

But then notice in many of the Psalms the community context of praise.  When King David introduced the use of Psalms in the temple worship, the Psalms functioned as responses to the reading of the Law.  So, it was David’s job as king to lead the congregation in response to the priest’s reading of the Torah – the Law.  This is why the 150 Psalms are broken into five books (Ps 1-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106; 107-150) so they parallel the five books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy).  

God calls us to praise him in this community context for a very important reason.  When we praise God, we join with Jesus Christ, a greater king than David, to declare who God is and what he has done for us.  The praising of God with his Word not only radiates and shines glory back to God, but in the community, we radiate the Triune God’s glory upon each other.  And so, the second reason we sing praises in worship response is to teach each other about God’s work and mercy, and to admonish, or warn, each other with the Word of God.

This is best explained by Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians where he says…

[E]verything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”  Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.  Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.  Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph 5:13-21)

 So, when we sing praises, we submit to each other out of respect for Christ.  We allow ourselves to be vessels through whom God works to wake each other up.  Christ shines on those to whom we sing praises. 

Also, Paul tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit rather than to get drunk on wine or other types of spirits.  Singing praises from God’s Word, especially in declaration of the gospel, promises sober, orderly, and wise worship and it makes the most of every opportunity for us to hold each other up before Christ. 

Praising God does not make us delirious to the realities around us.  It doesn’t encourage us to become debauched in the things of the world.  And nor is its function to build up God for God’s own sake.  God’s divinity does not depend on how much we build him up.  However, people’s salvation is dependent on them hearing God’s Word in all its truth and purity. 

Therefore, all of us must be careful not to stray from the truth of God’s Word to sing praises that only serve to make us feel good.  Who then is the praise for?  When praises are reduced to a feel-good mantra God is not glorified or taught, but rather the praise singer is glorified as they teach others about what they swear they will do for God. 

After all, the psalmist declares…

[God’s] pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. (Ps 147:10-11) 

Paul also says to the Colossians…

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.  (Col 3:9-10) 

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Col 3:13) 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:15-17)

In the church today, the saddest sight amongst the priesthood of believers is when people sing songs deemed as praise songs where they promise to God what they are going to do and then fail to do it once they return to the normality of life.  Whipped into a frenzy they hide their sin and swear oaths before God, but on Monday having realised they cannot keep their oaths they’re crushed by their unfaithfulness and unforgiven sin. 

However, praising God is meant to shine God’s light of mercy and forgiveness, to dismiss the darkness, rather than creating by-polar Christians, who are high one day and depressed the next.

Rather the praises Paul and all others in Scripture encourage us to sing builds up Jesus Christ in others, exposing the necessity of grace over sin, increasing faith, and giving a real sense of God’s peace. 

True Christ-centred praise unifies all of us as one in Christ enabling us to do God’s will on earth and forgive each other as the Lord has forgiven us. 

Praising God then is not only something we sing, say, or pray on Sunday, but it becomes deed as we reflect and shine the mercy of Almighty God on those we meet in the street.  Amen.

C, Lent 2 - Genesis 15:1-15,17-18, Psalm 27, Phillippians 3:17-4:1, Luke 13:31-35, "Forsaken House - Forgiven House"

Luke 13:31–35 (ESV) At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”  And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.  Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  Behold, your house is forsaken.  And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

Two of the readings today speak about a house. 

First there is Abram.  He saw his house would be inherited by a servant of his household and not a born heir.  Then, in the Gospel reading, Jesus speaks about Jerusalem and its house being forsaken.

Saint Paul’s epistle to the Philippians, speaks of the body of a person being transformed into a glorious body by Jesus, to be like Jesus.  He teaches the listener to imitate him and others who set an example, as those who have been made Christ’s own (Phil 3:12) through the righteousness of faith (Phil 3:9).

There is no mention of a house in this text per se,  but the body of a person houses one’s understanding, feelings, and desires.  Paul laments over those who have let their bodies become houses of unrighteousness, just as Jesus laments over Jerusalem becoming a forsaken house, that no longer was willing to allow God to gather its people from danger.

These two examples of unwillingness and rejection to follow God’s will, are warnings for us as individuals and church who wish to be of the house of God.  Do we above all else seek God, and want to be with God?

In Psalm twenty-seven it reads, “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4 ESV)

Is your ultimate goal to do as the Psalmist does?  To dwell in the house of the Lord, ALL the days of your life!  Is God the most beautiful of all beauty to you?  Do you wait for the Lord?  Or rather, do you trust in your own efforts? 

Those Paul speaks of as putting their understanding, minds, or feelings in earthly things, will be misguided, and will not be transformed from our lowliness into the glory God wants for us.  He says their end is destruction.  They’re unwilling to stand firm in the Lord, and therefore, are enemies of Christ.

Jerusalem is the centre of Jesus’ attention, and he says of those who should be the children of God, but have rejected the prophets, “your house is forsaken”.  If God’s house in Jerusalem can be forsaken, then so too can the house of your body, if you or I push away God’s protection and the transformation, he seeks to perform in all of us. 

This makes us more like King Herod than King David.  Have we become sly cunning foxes, parading  as people of God, justifying ourselves in a princely lifestyle and seeking Jesus for our entertainment only as Herod did? 

Should we be more like King David who trusted in the Lord, even though he was the highest in the land?  Who allowed God to confront his sin as an adulterer, and murderer, and confessed his sin to the Lord?  Who despite being king of Israel, allowed God to make him increasingly aware that his greatest enemy, was not the foreign countries around him, but rather the very core of his own sinful being?

If all this makes you feel uncomfortable and uneasy, good, it should!  If you feel like a fox that has been caught in the spotlight of God’s glory, and your life has been one of secret doubling back on yourself to hide your tracks in the darkness, this too is good.  If you feel, understand, and realise your situation as caught out, with impending doom as a result of your activities, it’s not a bad thing.  And if this hasn’t happened in your life as of  yet, it will.

When your death is put on your agenda, when the end of your life is imminent, if you haven’t beforehand realised what the consequence of sin is, death will show you.  How does the thought of death make you feel?

Abram saw his house was dead, because he had no heir onto which he could pass on his inheritance.  In his old age he was as good as dead, and an heir seemed impossible.  But it’s when we are as good as dead, that the power of God can be realised, and we’re called to put all our understanding, feelings (good and bad), and trust in him.

With Abram God first takes him outside and shows him the stars, then after this he makes a covenant with him.  But this is a covenant like no other in the Old Testament.  Covenants require both sides to make a promise.  Here though there is only a promise made by God.  Abram was in the state of deep sleep, a stunned, or deathly state, and is solely the recipient of God’s covenant.

When the severity of God’s law comes upon us, it causes death within us, and although it makes us feel woeful and as though we are dead, it’s a good thing.   We need to see what the house looks like if God vacates and leaves the house empty.  Here I am speaking specifically of the house of your body.

Jesus declares Jerusalem forsaken, dead, rotten, and off.  Like a piece of rancid meat, he rejects its house.  Yet Jesus returns to Jerusalem to die and be cast out, as if he was the cunning and sly fox that we have become in our sinfulness.  He becomes our rottenness and is cast out!  He dies because of the deadliness we bear.  That which he wishes to expose in us, he covers with forgiveness.  He also casts out feelings of guilt and gives us his blessing.  We are blest because he comes to us in the name of the Lord!

When we allow the Holy Spirit to expose our sin, so we can confess it, it gets covered by Jesus’ death.  When we allow the Spirit to invoke the death of our sin, we allow him to raise us with Jesus Christ to life eternal. 

When God does this, he out foxes the fox within us, he out cunnings the cunning within us, he shrewdly uses fear of eternal death to save us from our second death.  We are reminded in baptism eternal death is now deceased in those who hold onto faith in God and reject faith in oneself.

We also know of the deadliness of our house and the life Christ brings to it, and in this we continue in hope for those who have become dead to God’s church, and to be restored in love.  So we pray, doing the work of God, asking they be once again given the desire to be in God’s presence, and receiving his gifts of life, that will take all who seek God to death and through it into God’s eternal presence.

Saint Paul holds out hope for the Jewish people, despite their unbelief.  He knows, he was made dead by Christ but was graciously grafted into him through his death on the cross.

We too, stand before God with the same hope as Paul, having been grafted into Christ, despite being as good as dead…

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.  Otherwise you too will be cut off.  And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.  For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.  (Romans 11:22–24 ESV)

If God can sever his chosen people, the Jews, and graft them back in, he can also revive the faith of those who have become dead in the faith.

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,  despite the deadliness within.  In fact, we can thank God for showing us our deadliness, in just the same way Jesus knew Jerusalem was the place where others died and he would die, yet declared, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Let us pray.  Heavenly Father let us die to self, pick up our cross and resolutely walk with Jesus.  Protect us from all that can sever us from eternal life, and hear our prayers for those whose faith has died, so they might be grafted back into the life-giving blood of Jesus Christ. Amen.