"David arranged for the composition of the Psalter because he had received a covenant promise from God that his heirs would serve as the leaders of God's people forever. (2 Samuel 7) The Psalter was prepared in David's temple arrangements for use in the Lord's worship."
(From '150 Questions about the Psalter' by Bradley Johnston;http://www.crownandcovenant.com/product_p/ds199.htm)
What is the general office of believer?
It is the calling that we have to serve as a prophet upholding the word of God and confessing the name of Christ, as a priest who is being presented as a living sacrifice of thanks, and as a king who strives with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life.
One of the things that the church of Jesus Christ through the ages has struggled to understand and teach properly is the value and joy of serving as a steward of God's grace without being involved in a particular calling as a minister, elder, or deacon.
All too often the general office of believer, to serve as a prophet, priest and king of Christ, is downplayed or diminished and to tragic consequences.
The servants who do the master's will are variously given a variety of gifts – and there is no place for the claim that the office of believer is somehow of less significance than the giving of talents for those who have these particular callings in the church.
The great multitude of the Church of Jesus Christ, composed of children, women, and men, are made up of many who have been given 5 talents!
Do you see in your life the evidence of a great gifting from God?
That's your five talents – to be used in service of God, to bring Him glory, and in service of your neighbour, to bring them relief and care!
Learning from Lord Mackay: Life and Work in Two Kingdoms
Cameron Fraser, a pastor and writer from Lethbridge, Alberta, has written a book about Lord James Mackay of Scotland. For our congregation, there is a special connection with Lord Mackay as he is a member of one of our sister congregations in the Associated Presbyterian Churches.
The book is available on Amazon.ca and the foreword was written by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson.
Still need convincing to pick up your copy? Then read a little overview for yourself:
“James Mackay served as Lord Advocate of Scotland (1979-84) and Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (1987-97). He is, in the words of a past President of the Law Society of Scotland, “not only an outstanding man in his profession, but one of the most brilliant Scottish scholars of all time.” He is also a humble Christian who has served his Lord in church and state. This book seeks to introduce him to a wider Christian audience, while pointing out lessons that may be learned by others in political office and seeking to locate him in terms of the contemporary (largely American) “two kingdoms” controversy. “There is no Scotsman, indeed no British person in public life whom I admire more.””
Available in Paperback and Kindle versions
I (Pastor Norm) am working on a sermon on Daniel 7 and the answers God gives us to the question, “How Will the World End?” Lord willing, I will post the first part of the sermon after our 5pm service this coming Sunday.
While doing so, I was deeply moved by this rendering of the Genevan tune which was originally set to the words of Psalm 42 as it was expressively and masterfully played by the Dutch organist Gert van Hoef. The words of a hymn set to this tune are deeply ingrained in me from my life in the church and I wanted to share the text of this hymn with you and the splendid organ performance of the accompanying tune. The LORD’s promise of comfort to us is amplified when we consider our humble circumstances and profound needs in a time of world upheaval.
1 .Comfort, comfort ye my people,
speak ye peace, thus saith our God;
comfort those who sit in darkness,
mourning 'neath their sorrow's load.
Speak ye to Jerusalem
of the peace that waits for them;
tell her that her sins I cover,
and her warfare now is over.
2. Yea, her sins our God will pardon,
blotting out each dark misdeed;
all that well deserved his anger
he no more will see or heed.
She hath suffered many a day,
now her griefs have passed away;
God will change her pining sadness
into ever-springing gladness.
3. For the herald's voice is crying
in the desert far and near,
bidding all men to repentance,
since the kingdom now is here.
O that warning cry obey!
Now prepare for God a way;
let the valleys rise to meet him,
and the hills bow down to greet him.
4. Make ye straight what long was crooked,
make the rougher places plain;
let your hearts be true and humble,
as befits his holy reign.
For the glory of the Lord
now o'er earth is shed abroad;
and all flesh shall see the token
that his word is never broken.
Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #298
website https://www.gertvanhoef.nl/. Wegens een Corona verordening werd dit concert afgelast. Toch hebben we voor de fans een aantal stukken uit het programm...
I love Iain Duguid’s commentary on the Book of Daniel and I thought his reflections were so helpful on the name “Son of Man” that is given to Jesus Christ our Saviour in the Bible.
“‘The Son of Man’ was the perfect title for Jesus to bear on his incongruous mission precisely because it combined in itself the incongruous ideas of ‘mere humanity’ with the unparalleled glory of God himself. In his earthly ministry, it was the ‘human’ aspect of the son of man that was prominent. In Eugene Peterson’s words: “This Son of Man has dinner with a prostitute, stops off for lunch with a tax-collector, wastes time blessing children when there were Roman legions to be chased from the land, heals unimportant losers and ignores high-achieving Pharisees and influential Sadducees.” Ultimately, he hung pierced and bleeding upon a cross; he died and was buried in a tomb, surely the most ungodlike of acts. But his majesty, even though veiled while he was on earth, was still present. He taught as one with unparalleled authority (Matt. 7:29), he forgave people their sins (Luke 5:24), and he spoke of possessing a kingdom (John 18:36). Both divine and human aspects are present because Jesus is son of man and Son of Man, very man and Very God. ”
This week we are looking at Genesis 15 and the remarkable interaction between the God and His servant Abraham. Fresh off of a victorious military excursion, Abraham receives word from the LORD that he would be blessed and receives again a fresh declaration of God’s intention to provide Abraham with the land of promise and the heir (son) of promise.
But Abraham’s response isn’t an immediate, “Hallelujah, Praise be the Lord!” Instead, he asks “how shall these things be?”
What stands out here is that God is listening.
The God of promise is hearing the complaint of Abram. And, mercifully, there's no wrathful entry of God rebuking Abram for questioning Him. There's no appearance in fury to confront this man who challenges and questions the plans of God! There's a most important lesson unfolding here – a lesson which is on display in the psalms in a most particular way as the servants of the Lord later recorded them. The God who speaks to us will also heed our responses! He will heed and listen to our complaints and will listen as we bring our needs to him and ask him the questions that perplex us.
God hears you when you ask God why certain things must trouble you. For example, you might ask God why certain sins must cling to you or why certain hardships have come upon you in this life. We are a complaining people – and in his mercy, the God of promise listens to us and our children.
He who sits in the heavens listens with love and tender mercy to us, His children!
Consider this: Psalm 2 makes clear, the Lord sits and listens to the wicked as they plot and he laughs at their schemes.
But it is very different for those who believe – for those who place their trust in God but still struggle to know what God is doing in any particular time or circumstance. He listens and responds gently!
Doesn't that resonate?
Doesn't that fill you with a thankfulness for what God is doing and how He controls all things?
Know, therefore, that you can properly bring your needs – your concerns – even your complaints to him in prayer – to ask God, as Abram does, “why do you promise rewards when I don't have anyone to share it with when I die?”
Go to the Lord in humility and bring your needs to him with honesty. For your God listens! The God of heaven and earth hears when His people pray!
And he responds. Halleljuah!
Tony Reinke, in his study of the Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin, makes a profoundly relevant observation about the types of hearts which will genuinely appreciate biblical preaching and theology. Without being self-congratulatory in a sort of piously exaggerated humility, the Vancouver APC pulpit is certainly a place where sinners receive the truth about who we are and how we must be redeemed in Christ.
Churches that understand the inclination of the sinful heart will place great stress on biblical preaching and theology. I fear many churches get bored with scriptural preaching and offer only ‘practical’ messages on finances, children, marriage, etc. because they fail to see the towards ‘religious atheism’ in our hearts. Nothing is more central to Christianity than a proper understanding of God that brings humility and fear of Him. Preaching about God’s wrath and holiness and judgment upon sinner, preaching about His Son Who lived a perfect life and died a wretched death because I lived a wretched life and want a glorious death … These doctrines bring us back to the love of God and humble us for a life of godliness. Theology – a true knowledge of God – requires a life-long re-calibration of the sinner’s mind and heart.
The whole piece is worth checking out here
(Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash: Thank you!)
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in this psalm] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: “Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you.” (Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, 20)
Pastor John Piper’s sermon on this same psalm is also really helpful guidance and an uplifting message for you if you’re wrestling through any hardships at present. Watch or read his sermon here
Iain Duguid wrote a powerful reminder for us about the contrast between the golden statue erected by the ancient king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the humble cross on which Christ Jesus our Lord was crucified for our sins.
In his commentary on Daniel 3, he reminds us of the centrality of Christ’s cross in building God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
“No one has to force us to bow to Christ. It is our joy and delight to throw ourselves down at his pierced feet. The cross is the towering symbol that binds God’s empire together as one.”
Image Credit: Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
All this time had passed since the judgement Day but Moses, the author of Genesis, showcases the precise moment when the waters were unleashed by showing us the opposite day here: all is calm and life has begun.
And what do we read about? An olive branch in the mouth of a dove-messenger. Now, the olive tree doesn't grow in the highest parts of the mountains but grows wherever people are able to live and that's what the dove brings back by God’s divine appointment.
That's what God shows Noah in this moment: the waters of judgement have passed. The day when God unleashed the waters is now past and the day when God has everything in its place has returned. After judgement comes peace.
And those who are brought through judgement receive the olive branch of everlasting peace from God Himself. Talk about a lesson!
This was a sign of the goodness of God - “Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.”
The same theme is echoed in the exodus from Egypt when God brings his people through those judgement waters that drowned Pharaoh and His hosts.
Christ, your guarantee, your covenant head, has endured the waters of judgement and as our ark, he brings us through onto dry ground.
And when we take up the waters of baptism, we announce that same deliverance through judgement is being promised in Christ to us and to our children!
You and I don't wait, cooped up in an ark, like Noah did. We are free now – standing in the new creation life which Christ has won for us!
Look at this whole flood story: do you see the total deliverance that is outlined here? How God leaves nothing to chance? How everything is according to His will?
If you’d like to hear more, consider listening to the sermon Pastor Norm preached on this passage by visiting this link.
