Psalm 22 and the Judgment of History

This particular sermon on Psalm 22 was incredibly moving to me as I meditated on the text of the Psalm, prepared to preach its life-giving message, and then actually preached it!

Our flock was fed from a choice portion of God's Word yesterday - may the Lord bless our hearing of His Holy Word! 

For it’s the gospel (good news of salvation) that we find in Psalm 22!

And this gospel must fill our hearts and transform our lives – it is good news concerning the One who Trusted in God – and who now calls you and me to trust in God.

We must be confident of this: He has not hidden his face from you, but has heard, when you cry to Him! (vs 24, the heart of this psalm)

Jesus has undergone the judgment of God which was suffered in the flesh and blood of man.

He has undertaken the payment-in-full of the debt of sin for all His people!

Sermon: Psalm 22

Plus: A textual outline in the stanzas of lament and response can be found below. I make mention of it in the sermon.

Psalm 22 Handout - Stanzas of Lament & Response

Our Exodus Bible Study Schedule is Ready!

We are launching our new Bible study this week and the assigned readings for homework are all outlined below. We’d love to have you join us for this time of meditation and reflection on God’s Holy Word.

study schedule - exodus

As Dr. Bryan Estelle of Westminster Seminary California sums up the impact of the exodus in the Bible,

“The exodus motif is the Bible’s grand narrative, and it is one of the best stories because it encompasses all the major aspects of God’s work of salvation through Christ: redemption from sin, suffering, and the tyranny of the devil (the exodus from Egypt and Pharaoh); bringing us into the very presence of God (represented at Sinai); wilderness wanderings (pilgrimage toward a special place); and possession of the land of Canaan (ultimately symbolizing entitlement to the world-to-come; cf. Heb 4) in order to be a unified, holy people in a place where they might worship God perpetually.”

Bryan Estelle, Echoes of Exodus, pg 5

The Ornamentation of the Preached Word

The letters to the churches in Revelation feature the refrain “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev 3:22). This is no accident.

The apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, explains “ the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it” (2Ti 4:17).

The same Paul asks “how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Rom 10:14)

The congregation called by the voice of God gathers in expectancy, waiting for the sight of Christ to be revealed to them as they hear the shout of the archangel and the blast of a trumpet (1 Thess 4:15-17) on the Last Day.

Until that day, the Christian church is defined by the way in which it is to receive the Word: audibly through the preaching of the Word (Rom 10) and visibly/tangibly in the administration of the sacraments.

The ornamentation of the preached Word rests on the communion table that sits in the front of the House of God.

The visual enhancement of the preached Word is contained in the cup and the bread in this period of waiting for the return of Christ (Acts 1:11).

The adornment of the preached Word is the fruit it bears in the hearts and lives of believers in all stages of Christian maturity.

 

Photo by John Mark Arnold on Unsplash

Is Every Day of Your Life Filled With Screens?

As a thought experiment, think about the last five screens with images on them that you saw: what type of content was being communicated to you?

Business, advertising and entertainment are the realm of the screened image.

Scholars studying the field of online education are skeptical about screen-based education because of the association with aesthetic pleasure it creates in the mind of its audience.

One recent study observed, “because visual media are normally used in our culture to provide aesthetic pleasure, in the form of entertainment, the use of visual media in education tends to break down the distinction between education and entertainment.” (a)

The link between a medium and the messages it normally communicates must not be understated. (b) Presentation technologies are primarily employed in the business world and the world of entertainment. After all, business and entertainment are the two areas where screens are used most commonly; advertising, movies, sales pitches, and video games all feature projected images. The connotations these tools carry are varied for different people but there is certainly a common thread between the use of these technologies and the expectations that it creates in culture at large.

My point in this account is simple but I think it is profound: the waves of advertising and entertainment encountered in daily life are increasingly communicated via presentation technologies. (c) As a result, the decision to modify the practice of the church in corporate worship to include these presentation technologies is risking a lot for the marginal returns that come from it. (d)

What is the risk? Consider this analogy: if six days of the week are spent driving on the right side of the road, what would be the effect of switching to the left side of the road for one to two hours each Sunday? Using screens to take in advertising and entertainment throughout the week predisposes congregants to react with certain instinctive responses when screens are pressed into service as platforms for holy meditation and participation in worship. The visual 'seen' is always competing for attention with the 'heard'. A tool that carries the same DNA as the presentation technologies of the broader culture which have contributed to the decline of 'hearing' should be treated with utmost caution and ultimately avoided if possible. (e)

Resources

(a) Louis Tietje and Steven Cresap, “Hegemonic Visualism,” Radical Pedagogy (2005)
(b) Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore, The Medium Is the Massage (New York: Bantam Books, 1967)
(c) I am not saying that I am opposed to presentation technologies outside of the context of corporate worship. As I continue to learn more about the effects of these technologies on the brain and the psyche I think it is wise for individuals to reflect on their own consumption habits.  In the context of corporate worship, I argue that it is unnecessary and detrimental to the basic principles of corporate worship that the church is bound to uphold.
(d) Pragmatic and financial returns must be judged as subordinate to the significant effects such a change might have on the piety and vitality of the church.
(e) Yes, it is possible to not put a screen in a church in the 21st century. Picture a projector screen in a monastery or another 'sacred' space. Screens are uniformly obtrusive and an intrusion of our own lust for technology in a space that should be timeless and conducive to meditation, listening, and corporate singing. For more resources on digital tech's dehumanizing impact, consult Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains (W. W. Norton & Company, 2011).

 

Photo by Olu Eletu on Unsplash

Book Recommendation: Ordinary

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Michael Horton's book Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World is a great read for every believer who is struggling to keep up with the demands of every new kid on the block with a new strategy to make us bolder and better Christians. 

I'd highly recommend Dr. Horton's message of finding life in the ordinary activities of the Christian life. We so easily neglect the most important means by which God builds our faith and nourishes our souls: His Word and the Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord's Supper). 

Here's an excerpt that identifies precisely what is the problem in our time:

Commonly, the rhetoric of radical in our churches actually mirrors our culture, even when — no, especially when — it invokes the lingo of “countercultural,” “subversive,” “alternative,” “extreme,” and so forth. The likes of Athanasius, Augustine, Bernard, Luther, and Calvin sought to reform the church. But for centuries now radical Protestants have been trying to reboot, reinvent, start over, and reconstitute the real church of the true saints over against the ordinary churches.
— Michael Horton, 'Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World'

Buy the book here

Read a helpful review of the book here

One of the Longest Psalms to Learn...

It was Charles Spurgeon who once said of Psalm 131, “it is one of the shortest Psalms to read but one of the longest to learn”. And he’s right, isn’t he?

We can pick this Psalm up and read it quite swiftly – and with just a few hours of practice we can have it committed to memory so that we can recite it at will. 

But to learn this way of living – this way of humbling ourselves before God – this way of Christian lowliness... of a will subdued to the will of God – that is a lifelong lesson. 

To simply sum up the psalm’s lesson, it is this: a believer rests with the greatest contentment in the Lord’s abiding love, without the grand boasting of those who are enemies of God. 

Looking for Signs to Assure Us of Salvation?

Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash

Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash

In the Westminster Confession of Faith, the divines addressed the nature of our assurance of salvation. While many in our day strive after special signs or think they need a verbal affirmation from God before they'll be assured, we believe that the ordinary use of the means of grace is the greatest source of assurance to us! Why? Because these are the means the Holy Spirit uses to build up our faith and direct our lives! We don't need neon signs or fleeces (see story of Gideon in the book of Judges) - we need the Word of God!

Westminster Confession of Faith 18.1, 3

Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with
false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God, and estate of salvation
(which hope of theirs shall perish): yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love
him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may, in this life, 
be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the
glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed.
This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true
believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it: 
yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, 
he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary means, attain
thereunto. And therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his call-
ing and election sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the
Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the
duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance; so far is it from inclining men to
looseness.
 

On the Office of Deacon...

On the occasion of Mr. Gerald Epp's ordination as a deacon in our congregation (for which we give thanks!), we reflected together on 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and what the Lord says regarding the elders and deacons which are to serve in each congregation of Christ. We take this instruction very seriously and believe that churches which do not have elders or deacons (or worse, fail to have either office) will surely be weak. Why? Because this is to neglect the means that Christ Jesus has established for his church!

So what is the particular calling of the deacons?

In brief, they are to serve as stewards of the needy and caretakers of the church. 

Arising from the division of responsibilities in the book of Acts, chapter 6, the calling of the deacon is to be of service to those who are in need – first to the widows of the Greeks who were being overlooked in the distribution of bread to alleviate poverty – and through the history of the church as those who minister to the various needs of those who are beset by sickness or accidents or hardships of many kinds. 

The office of the deacon was established by Christ through his apostles so that the poor and distressed may be relieved and comforted, according to their needs.

We should see in the deacons the hand of mercy of our LORD and his recognition that the weak and weary, the hungry and poor, are so precious to Him that he prepares men with a particular calling to oversee and provide for their care. 

This doesn't alleviate you of any responsibility to the needy but rather it directs us to be responsibly giving to others and ensuring their well-being. 

Much more could be said about the hundreds of ways that the deacons can actively take up their service – for they are much more than just the offering collectors and bill-payers for the church. They are men of dignity and thoughtfulness – who hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. They are Christ Jesus' gift to the church and the church knows great blessing through the active ministry of the deacons!

"Do Not Forsake the Work of Your Hands" -- Psalm 138

The Psalmist David closes Psalm 138 with a remarkable plea that we echo as believers in this age: 

"Do not forsake the work of your hands."

Dean John. W. Burgon, an Anglican preacher from the 19th century, composed a beautiful reflection on David's plea in which he wrote: 

“His creating hands formed our souls at the beginning;
His nail-pierced hands redeemed them on Calvary;
His glorified hands will hold our souls fast and not let them go forever.

Unto His hands let us commend our spirits, sure that even though the work of our hands have made void the works of His hands,
Yet His hands will again perfect all that our hands have unmade.”

Augustine, the great 4th century church father, also wrote similarly in his Confessions: 

“Behold in me thy work, not mine;

for mine, if thou seest, thou condemnest;

Thine, if thou seest, thou crownest.

For whatever good works there be of mine, from Thee are they to me;

and so they are more Thine than mine.”

As you reflect on this, our prayer that the Lord will build you up in Christ Jesus and assure you with the confidence of the Apostle Paul: 

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

A Comprehensive Portrait of a Christian Disciple

“The beatitudes [in Matthew 5:1-12] paint a comprehensive portrait of a Christian disciple.

We see him first alone on his knees before God, acknowledging his spiritual poverty and mourning over it. This makes him meek or gentle in all his relationships, since honesty compels him to allow others to think of him what before God he confesses himself to be. Yet he is far from acquiescing in his sinfulness, for he hungers and thirsts after righteousness, longing to grow in grace and in goodness.

We see him next with others, out in the human community. His relationship with God does not cause him to withdraw from society, nor is he insulated from the world’s pain. On the contrary, he is in the thick of it, showing mercy to those battered by adversity and sin. He is transparently sincere in all his dealings and seeks to play a constructive role as a peacemaker.

Yet he is not thanked for his efforts, but rather opposed, slandered, insulted, and persecuted on account of the righteousness for which he stands and the Christ with whom he is identified.” (John Stott, "The Message of the Sermon on the Mount", p. 54)