“No doubt, [God] adopted Abraham freely, but, at the same time, he stipulated with him that he should live a holy and an upright life, and this is the general rule of the covenant which God has, from the beginning, made with his Church. The sum is, that hypocrites, who occupy a place in the temple of God, in vain pretend to be his people, for he acknowledges none as such but those who follow after justice and uprightness during the whole course of their life.”
John Calvin, Commentary upon the Book of Psalms, Psalm 15.
Salvation Accomplished and Anticipated
November 30, 2014 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Christmas, Church Calendar, King Jesus, Meditations, Prayer, Singing PsalmsPsalm 9:13–14 (NKJV)
13 Have mercy on me, O LORD! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death, 14 That I may tell of all Your praise In the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in Your salvation.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, a time of year when we look both backwards and forwards. We look backwards – recalling God’s fulfillment of the promise to our fathers that one day He would send a Child of Eve to rescue us from sin and death. Jesus has come to save us – hallelujah! But we also look forwards – anticpating the fulfillment of God’s promise that one day that same Son shall return in glory to vindicate all who trust Him. Jesus will come to save us – hallelujah!
This Advent our sermons focus once again on Jesus in the Psalms – and today we consider Psalm 9 a portion of which we have just read. In Psalm 9, David praises God for maintaining David’s right and cause in the world in the face of those who oppose Him. But he not only praises God for what He has done in the past, he prays that God would deliver him yet again – and it is this request that God vindicate him again which we just read. Have mercy on me, O LORD! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death – David recognizes that it is the Lord who has vindicated him and who must do so again. To the Lord our God belong escapes from death.
So why did David want God to rescue him from his troubles? Listen closely: Have mercy on me, O LORD! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death, That I may tell of all Your praise In the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in Your salvation. David petitioned God to rescue him so that he could sing further praises to God in the future. He wanted God to deliver him so that he could go to the Temple and declare: listen what God has done for me! He wanted to sing God’s praises in the company of His people.
So as we remember God’s act of kindness in sending His Son Jesus to rescue us from sin and death; and as we pray that God would yet again send Jesus to vindicate those who trust in Him – why do we do it? So that we might praise His Name in the company of His people! God saved you that you might proclaim His praises, that you might offer up spiritual sacrifices, that you might offer up the fruit of your lips in the gates of the daughter of Zion, in the Heavenly Jerusalem, in the Church. Singing praise to God is the goal of our salvation – it is the reason God delivered you from your sin. So sing; don’t be self-conscious. Sing; don’t make excuses. Sing; don’t deprive the assembly of your voice.
And as we gather in His presence to sing, let us acknowledge that we often are so consumed with our own selves or troubles or desires that we neglect to bring praise and petition to God. Reminded of this, let us kneel and seek the Lord’s forgiveness through Christ.
Add to Perseverance Godliness
October 20, 2014 in Bible - NT - 2 Peter, Bible - NT - Matthew, Bible - NT - Titus, Bible - OT - Psalms, Ecclesiology, Meditations, Sanctification, Singing Psalms, Worship2 Peter 1:5–9 (NKJV)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Thus far in Peter’s exhortation we have learned to employ all diligence as we add to our faith virtue, to our virtue knowledge, to our knowledge self-control, and to our self-control perseverance. Today we consider Peter’s admonition to add to our perseverance godliness.
Webster defines godliness as “the quality or state of being spiritually pure or virtuous; devoutness, piety, sanctity.” We might define it more simply as the quality or state of becoming more like God – reflecting the moral character of God in our lives.
Jesus instructs us in the Sermon on the Mount that we are to be perfect even as our Heavenly Father is perfect. We are to become like our Lord – an observation we will consider at length in the sermon this morning. To be godly, therefore, is to enjoy the sum of all virtues – it is the goal of our sanctification: becoming like God. We persevere not for perseverance sake but that we might reflect the character of God.
Godliness is often set in opposition to worldliness – becoming increasingly like the world. Paul reminds us in Titus 2:11–12:
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
God’s grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age. This is one of God’s purposes in salvation. So how do we grow in godliness? As with all graces, we grow in godliness only by the grace and mercy of God. As Paul said, it is the grace of God that teaches us to be godly in this present age. Peter likewise reminds us God’s divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. God is the One who teaches us to be more like Him; He holds us by the hand and shapes us into His image.
One of the primary means God uses to cultivate godliness in our lives is worship. We worship God and as we worship Him we become more like Him, we become godly. Worship fixes our eyes on the Lord and shapes the trajectory of our lives. Just like driving – where you fix your gaze determines where you go.
This is one reason God has given us an extensive collection of psalms in the biblical canon – psalms that we can sing so that we become more like God; psalms that we can imitate as we compose new songs to the praise and worship of the Lord. We are to grow in godliness and God has given us the psalms to help accomplish this.
So how intentional have you been to memorize the psalms, to sing them in times of temptation and struggle, and to use them as you labor against the Evil One? One of the reasons we have psalm sings as a congregation is to enable us to fight more effectively. We don’t sing the psalms just so we can sound pretty or edgy or manly – we sing the psalms so that we can become more godly.
So reminded of our calling to become more like God by worshiping Him, let us confess that we have often taken our eyes off the Lord and drifted toward worldliness. Let us kneel as we confess together.
Unite My Heart to Fear Your Name
August 31, 2014 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Confession, Cross of Christ, Depravity, Heart, Meditations, SanctificationPsalm 86:11–13 (NKJV)
11 Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. 12 I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore. 13 For great is Your mercy toward me, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
As a result of our rebellion against God in the garden we are all by nature, at birth, estranged from God. We are alienated from God in the womb. As we will read in our sermon text this morning, our rebellion against God resulted in our expulsion from the garden, from God’s presence.
By the grace of God this estrangement from Him, this alienation, is recoverable. We who were once alienated from God, strangers to the covenants of promise, have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, our sins which separated us from God, have been covered. Therefore, for all those who turn from their sin and approach God through Christ there is forgiveness, reconciliation and peace with God.
But even if you are at peace with God, you sense the remnants of the sinful nature. In this life we groan – we groan under the consequences of living in a sinful world and we groan under the folly of our own sin. It is this latter groaning which prompts the psalmist’s prayer in Psalm 86. The psalmist prays, Unite my heart to fear Your name. In other words, he asks God to give him singleness of heart. Why? Because as believers in Christ we still face a divided heart – sometimes we find ourselves longing for the glory of God and the praise of His Name; other times we long for our own glory and sin against God and others. We need God to give us a united heart.
So this morning as we enter into God’s presence to worship – let us approach Him only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ; and let us beseech him to root out of our lives the sinful desires which divide our hearts from him and from one another. Let us kneel as we confess our sins together.
Worship and Posture
June 22, 2014 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Bible - OT - Psalms, Ecclesiology, Liturgy, Lord's Day, Meditations, WorshipPsalm 95:6–7 (NKJV)
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand.
One of the most frequent questions visitors have about our service of worship, one of the questions that you may also have, is this: What’s with all the different postures? We sit, we stand, we kneel, we bow heads, we lift hands – why all the variety?
The answer to these questions is threefold: first, God did not create us as mere spirits but as creatures with body and soul. As those who have bodies, God expects us to use them for His honor. Paul writes, “…you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Our bodies belong to God and so what we do with them is important. Our actions should should reflect our reverence for Him and our knowledge that one day Christ will return in glory and raise these very bodiesfrom the grave. Our bodies matter.
So this leads us to the second answer to our question: why all the variety? The answer is that in worship there are a variety of things we do. We praise and thank the Lord; we confess our sins; we hear the assurance of forgiveness; we listen to the reading of God’s Word; we confess the creeds; we present our tithes and offerings; we pray; we learn from the Scriptures; we feast with God at His Table. This wonderful variety demands a variety of responses – both verbally and bodily. There is no “one size fits all” bodily posture.
And this is why, third, the Scriptures invite us to worship God with a variety of postures – standing, kneeling, sitting, lifting hands, etc. So notice our text today from Psalm 95 – Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. This is but one example of the types of bodily invitations given in the context of worship.
But let us beware that we not merely go through the motions. For the ultimate reason that our posture changes is that we worship in God’s very presence. He is here with us and we dare not treat Him lightly. He calls us to worship; we respond by standing to praise Him. He thunders at our sin; we respond by kneeling to confess it. He assures us of pardon; we stand to listen and enter boldly into His presence through the blood of Christ. He instructs us from His Word; we stand to give our attention to its reading. This is the drama of the Divine Service – but it’s a drama that is meaningful only when accompanied by hearts that love and cherish Him.
So what of you? Why do you stand? Why do you kneel? Why do you sit? Do you do it just because that’s what you’re being told to do? Do you kneel so you won’t appear out of place? Do you sit so you can take a nap? Or do you do all these things because you recognize with awe and wonder that the God we worship this Day has invited you into His very presence to worship?
So today as we have entered into God’s presence He has thundered at our sin – let us confess that we have often just gone through the motions of worship; and let us kneel as we confess together.
The Ascension of Jesus
June 1, 2014 in Ascension Sunday, Bible - OT - Psalms, Church Calendar, Easter, King Jesus, Meditations, ResurrectionPsalm 110 (NKJV)
A Psalm of David. 1 The LORD said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” 2 The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!
Today is Ascension Sunday. Forty days after rising from the dead, forty days after Easter, Jesus ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. What is the significance of this?
Oft times in history, the coronation of kings was followed by a time of travel – the new king would journey throughout his kingdom and show himself to his people. It was an opportunity for the people to see the new king, pledge allegiance to him, and rejoice in his coronation. But eventually the circuit would come to an end and the king would return to his palace, take his seat on his throne and begin to rule.
It is this narrative that ties Easter and Ascension together. In the NT, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is understood as coronation day. When Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, he rose as God’s triumphant King; the ruler over all the kings of the earth. “You are my son,” God declares in Psalm 2, “Today I have begotten you.” And that “today”, Peter declares in Acts 2, is the day of Jesus’ resurrection, the day God crowned Jesus King.
For the next 40 days Jesus showed himself to his people. It was an opportunity for them to see the new king in his glory, to pledge their allegiance to him, and to rejoice in his coronation. But eventually this time came to an end and Jesus took his seat on his throne and began to rule – He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God Almighty, there to rule until all his enemies are subdued beneath his feet. The Father said to Jesus, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”
And it is sitting on the throne of His father David, sitting at the right hand of God Almighty, that Jesus continues to reign even now and will continue until he has subdued all his enemies beneath his feet. Jesus is Lord! Jesus reigns! Let the earth be glad and the righteous rejoice! And so we are instructed to pray that God’s kingdom come, his will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We are told to pray for the expansion of Jesus’ rule, the full manifestation of His kingship in human history. For as Jesus’ kingship becomes increasingly acknowledged, light and life come in ever greater degrees.
And because Jesus is Lord, because Jesus is God’s anointed king, the only way that we can come to God is by pledging our loyalty to Jesus. He who honors the Son, honors the Father; he who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him. This morning we have been summoned into the presence of God Almighty; let us kneel as we enter his presence and pledge our allegiance through His Son Jesus.
A Wedding Homily
January 28, 2014 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Children, Ecclesiology, King Jesus, MarriageIt is a privilege to be here and to have met with you for the last few months. I am encouraged by your desire to do things right, to honor Jesus while loving one another. So may my words today be of encouragement as you pursue this path.
As you know I wanted to share with you this afternoon from Psalm 45. Scripture holds before us a vision of the ideal marriage: the union between Jesus Christ and His People, His Church. Psalm 45 sings of this union, it sings of Jesus as the Bridegroom and the Church as His Bride. It is, we are told, A Song of Love, a model of wedded love.
The psalmist first describes the bridegroom and then addresses the bride. So, —, first for you: the psalm identifies three traits, three attributes of Jesus, which I want to highlight as an example of true husbandhood. First, the psalmist praises the words of Jesus, the words of the King.
My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever. (Ps 45:1-2)
Alongside praising the good looks of the king – something I gather — thinks is true – King Jesus is glorious because grace is poured upon his lips. The words of Jesus give life to His bride and pleasure to God. And this is your task as a husband – to guard your lips and with them to encourage, instruct, counsel, comfort, correct, and cherish your wife. Even as Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, uses the Word of God to sanctify and purify his bride, so we as husbands are to use our lips to bless our wives. The tongue of the righteous, Solomon tells us, is a tree of life. So give life to — with your lips.
Second, the psalmist praises the strength of the King.
“Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One, With Your glory and Your majesty. And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness; And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies; The peoples fall under You.” (Ps 45:3–5)
As a former military guy this kind of language no doubt resonates with you! Gird your sword on your thigh! Or perhaps better in our day, Sling your M-16 over your shoulder! I have no doubt that this command will be natural for you: you’ve got to protect your wife. Jesus took this call so seriously that he sacrificed His life to rescue His Bride from sin, Satan, and death. So you too are called to protect your bride from threats; and sometimes these threats will come from inside your home – from you or from her. You are to protect her from harsh words, from abdication, from bitterness, from wandering eyes, from pride and selfishness. Your calling is, like Jesus, to in Your majesty [honor, integrity, glory, authority] ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness. Protect —.
Finally, the psalmist praises the godly authority of the King.
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. (Ps 45:6-7)
Jesus rules his household, exercises his God given authority as Husband, in righteousness. He does not use his authority to promote himself, to seek selfish ends, or to pander to his own sinful desires. Rather, he uses his authority to pursue what is good and pure and right. He loves righteousness and hates wickedness. Consequently, God has anointed him with gladness. So here is your King teaching you that godly authority is exercised for the blessing of those under that authority. God is giving you, as the husband, the opportunity to lead your home in the fear of God, to lead by serving, to go into the difficult places first. As you do this, you can expect God to anoint you with the oil of gladness. So love — by using your authority to honor God and to bless her.
So — this is the Jesus we follow, the Bridegroom who provides us with a model of glorious husbandhood: cherish your wife with your lips, protect your wife with your strength, and lead your wife in the fear of God. As you do this, you will be a truly honorable man.
And now for — – the psalm doesn’t stop with the Bridegroom but moves on to the Bride. How is the Church to respond to Jesus and how does this teach you to respond to your husband? For here is your husband, the man whom you have chosen as your own, the man to whom you are pledging your life under God. How ought you to respond to him? First, the psalmist urges you to leave your father and cleave to your husband:
“Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house; So the King will greatly desire your beauty;” (Ps 45:10-11a)
What bride doesn’t want her husband to desire her and pursue her? And so the psalmist advises you: the way to your husband’s heart is to be staunchly loyal to him. Even as the Church is to be loyal to Jesus, to listen to his voice, so be loyal to —. Don’t undermine him; don’t compare him with others; esteem him and he will greatly desire your beauty – not mere external beauty, but the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. Cleave to —.
Second, the psalmist urges you to honor your husband:
Because He is your Lord, [honor] Him. And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; The rich among the people will seek your favor. (Ps 45:11b-12)
The Apostle Peter remind us that in former times, the holy women who trusted in God [made themselves beautiful by] being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord… So your call is to honor your husband, to praise his accomplishments and be his most ardent cheerleader, his most faithful follower. As a wife your greatest challenge will be to challenge your husband to be the man and to lead your home. The way to do this is to honor him by expecting him to do it. “I believe in you, —! I know you can do it.” So honor —.
Finally, the psalmist urges you, as God blesses, to train up children to the glory and praise of your husband:
Instead of Your fathers shall be Your sons, Whom You shall make princes in all the earth. [The Lord] will make Your name to be remembered in all generations; Therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.” (Ps 45:16–17)
God’s design for marriage is that the husband and wife be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Even as the Church is to give birth to new disciples and train them to glorify the Lord, a wife is to bless her husband with children and train them to honor him. So rejoice as God blesses and receive children as a gift from God; but don’t merely receive them, train them, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, that they may be princes in the earth. Respect — by treasuring and training your children.
So — this is the call that God issues to the Bride. Leave your father and cleave to your husband, honor your husband as his most faithful follower, and, as God blesses, train his children to honor him as well. As you do this, your name shall be remembered in all generations and the peoples shall praise you forever and ever.
May God bless you both as you enter into the covenant of marriage.
Why Sing Psalms?
January 27, 2014 in Bible - NT - James, Bible - OT - Psalms, Ecclesiology, Meditations, Singing Psalms, WorshipJames 5:13 (NKJV)
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
What are we to do when facing the ups and downs of life? When we are suffering and weighed down, heavy of spirit – what are we to do? On the other hand, when cheerful, full of joy and wonder at the world in which we live – what are we to do? Today James tells us. “Is anyone among you suffering – feeling poorly, enduring trouble? Let him (an imperative, a command – this isn’t simply good advice) Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him (again, an imperative, a command), Let him sing psalms.”
James tells us that when we are suffering we are to pray. We are to take our troubles straight to the Lord. Cry out to God; He wants to hear; He wants to be the one to whom you direct your cries.
Likewise, when we are cheerful, we are to sing psalms. Why? Because singing enables us to funnel the joy that we are experiencing in the right direction – in praise and thankfulness to our Creator and Redeemer. When joyful, James tells us, that which should first come out is the psalms.
But as you think about the psalms, you will perhaps remember that some of the psalms are expressions of grief and longing for God’s presence – how do they fit with James’ theme of thanksgiving? It is here that we are directed back to James’ command to pray when burdened. James’ exhortation to pray also directs us to the psalms – for the psalms embody for us what despairing cries to God look like.
Notice then the priority that James places upon the psalter for the life of the people of God. What are we to do when suffering? We are to pray. And where do we find examples, patterns of prayers offered up in the midst of suffering? In the psalter. What are we to do when joyful? We are to sing psalms. And where do we find these psalms to sing? In the psalter.
So here’s the question for you – do you know your psalter well enough to obey James’ exhortations? How well do you know your psalms? Do the psalms, when you are burdened and weighed down, come to your mind and fill your soul with cries to God? Do the psalms, when you are cheerful and lifted up, come to your mind and fill your home with praise and thanksgiving?
I dare say that if you are like me there is some lack in this regard. Not many of us grew up singing the psalms. This is a new experience for us. Many of the psalms may be strange and foreign to us. Some of the tunes that we have in our English psalters are hard to learn. Some of the words of the psalms are difficult to understand and believe. But is the problem with the psalter? Hardly. It is with us. We need to grow in our ability to sing and to understand the psalms. And so, one of the things we are committed to do as a congregation is to become more excellent in our ability to sing the psalms and more knowledgeable of their content. And one of the things that we do every month to enable us to fulfill this duty is hold a psalm sing. The psalm sing is specifically geared to help us fulfill the exhortations given to us by James – is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
Reminded that in our suffering and in our joy God expects us to cry out to Him with the psalms and to praise Him with the psalms, let us kneel and confess that we have neglected to do so.
Shod with Wool
January 1, 2014 in Bible - OT - Jeremiah, Bible - OT - Psalms, Church History, Judgment, Sovereignty of GodWhile reading Spurgeon’s Treasury of David today I came across an old Roman proverb:
The feet of the avenging Deity are shod with wool.
Spurgeon comments: With noiseless footsteps vengeance nears its victim, and sudden and overwhelming shall be its destroying stroke. One of our follies as human beings is that we imagine that God’s silence means that He doesn’t care.
Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD. They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ” (Jeremiah 23:16–17)