Pillars Sculpted in Palace Style

June 14, 2010 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Children, Meditations

Psalm 144:11-15 (NKJV)
11 Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, Whose mouth speaks lying words, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood— 12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; That our daughters may be as pillars, Sculptured in palace style; 13 That our barns may be full, Supplying all kinds of produce; That our sheep may bring forth thousands And ten thousands in our fields; 14 That our oxen may be well laden; That there be no breaking in or going out; That there be no outcry in our streets. 15 Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!

Here in our text today, our Lord Jesus identifies why it is that he prays for God to rescue Him and His people from His enemies, from those not in covenant with Him, who are prone to deceit and falsehood. And the first thing that He identifies, the main reason why He wants God to protect and guard us, is for you young folks out there. He prays so that the sons and daughters of Zion may grow into maturity in the midst of their youth. “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daugthers may be as pillars, sculptured in palace style.”

Jesus’ prayer reveals to us not only his desire for our protection from enemies but also His vision for young adulthood. Our Lord hungers for you young adults, young men and young women alike, to grow into maturity. He wants young men to be like plants grown up – fruitful, strong, resistant to disease – in your youth. He doesn’t want you to wait until your twenties or thirties like so many. He wants you to be mature now – so how are you doing striving for it?

Likewise, he prays for the daughters of Zion that they may be as pillars, sculpted in palace style. Since we have been doing a series of exhortations on the lessons young women teach us, it is fitting that we get a sense of Jesus’ vision for young womanhood here. First, note that he wants you to be pillars. And what is the purpose of a pillar? Pillars hold things up. They are strong, steady, stable. Notice in this young ladies, that Jesus’ vision for your calling in the Church is to be a source of stability, strength, wisdom, and gravitas. Young women – at one level because of your sensitivity to art, beauty, and spirituality, at another because of your immense influence upon young men – Jesus’ has put you in our midst to hold us up in your labors, in your prayers, and in your purity.

But beware that as a pillar you truly are what you portray yourself to be. Our word sincere comes from two Latin words, sine – which means without – and cera – which means wax. A sincere person is a person without wax. For you see ancient Rome, just like modern America, had her unscrupulous contractors. And these builders were often contracted to make marble columns. But it was quite a task to find the right kind of marble and craft and polish it to perfection. So some builders would take shortcuts. They would fill the gaps and cracks in their piece of marble with wax. Only when the column collapsed would the trickery be revealed – and it might be a few years out. So make sure that you are a sincere pillar.

But not only does Jesus pray that you would be pillars, he also prays that you would be one sculpted in palace style. Jesus knows that pillars come in various designs. A rough yewn log pole can be a pillar. Not very lovely but it does the job. That’s not the kind of pillar for which the Lord prays. He doesn’t want just a sturdy pole, he wants a beautiful column, one whose beauty makes all those around stand in awe. That pole barn you saw on your way to worship may be just as sturdy as the Acropolis in Athens – but who would dare claim it is just as lovely? I remember Douglas Wilson telling the story of the atheist Edward Tabash’s visit to Moscow when Tabash remarked at dinner, “I’ve never met so many beautiful, confident women.”

So what does this beauty look like? Peter tells us, “Do not let your adornment [your beauty] be merely outward – arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel – rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” This is the beauty that our Lord Jesus desires for you – a beauty which shall be a source of strength, stability, and glory for the Church of God.
Reminded that our Lord Jesus prays for us, that he prays for our young men and young women to be mature even in their youth, let us seek the Lord’s forgiveness for failing to value maturity. Let us kneel together.

The Virtue of Scorn

June 6, 2010 in Bible - OT - Isaiah, Children, Meditations

Isaiah 37:22 (NKJV)
This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning [Sennacherib, the King of Assyria]: “The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!”

Sometimes Christian girls are far too nice. We have become hesistant to hurt others’ feelings; hesitant to tell men what we really think of their scandalous behavior; hesitant to shower scorn on those who deserve it. So let me speak this morning on the biblical virtue of scorn.

One of the things most evident in the relationship among the sexes is that men frequently overestimate their charms while women underestimate theirs. I recall a cartoon with two frames. The first showed a decidedly corpulent fellow, midsection protruding between shorts and dirty t-shirt, with unkempt facial hair who looked as though he hadn’t showered in a week. As he gazed at himself in the mirror, he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Go get ‘em tiger! You handsome devil!” Meanwhile the other frame showed a woman of stunning beauty, all dressed up, having meticulously groomed herself – hair, makeup, and all. As she gazed at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh, I look so terrible!”

In our text today Isaiah pictures Sennacherib as a typical man – puffed up with himself, imagining that he is God’s gift to the female sex, sure that all the ladies will be swooning at his feet. For Sennacherib was treating the people of God this way. He was sure that Jerusalem would fall under his sway and so he tells them to acknowledge his greatness before he has to prove it. But here is the Word of the Lord to him: You are such a buffoon that the daughter of Jerusalem is laughing you to scorn! You are God’s gift to women – a gift to cause them to laugh. The virgin daughter of Israel is shaking her beautiful head of hair at your foolishness. For what was God preparing to do? He was going to crush Sennacherib’s pride, killing his army in a single night and sending him packing back to Assyria.

Here’s what I want you young ladies to see this morning. One of the lessons which you are to teach us as the people of God is how to scorn those who are full of themselves and rabidly opposed to God. Consequently, there are times when a young woman should scorn a man. Mr. Collins deserves your derision. Gaston is fool despite his three fauning admirers. Willoughby is a cad. When a fool presents himself before you, longing for your approval, longing for your admiration, sure that you will fall at his feet and acknowledge his charms, disappoint him. Scorn his advances.

And here’s a word of encouragement – your scorn can be a means of salvation. Nothing is more likely to cause a man to examine himself closely and evaluate himself than the scorn of a woman. Nothing is more likely to inspire a man to greatness than the prospect of earning a woman’s admiration. So young women – cultivate the biblical virtue of scorn and use it well. Do not be captivated by a fool.

And we as the people of God are called to learn this lesson from the young women in our midst. When the enemies of God vaunt over us, when they are swollen with pride and imagine that we shall soon fall under their sway, yes – even when they mock us and persecute us and kill us – we are to shake our heads in scorn knowing that God is on our side. Need we fear Sennacherib with his mighty host? No! Our God who sits in the heavens laughs, “As for me, I have installed My King on Mount Zion.” So we too can laugh, “As for us, our King is installed on Mount Zion. He is the King of Kings and Lord of lords and you shall have to answer to Him.”

Reminded that we have failed to cultivate the biblical virtue of scorn, that we have feared our enemies, showed pity where we ought not, indulged fools and answered them in accordance with their folly, let us kneel and confess our sins to God.

Trinity Sunday 2010

June 4, 2010 in Bible - NT - John, Meditations, Trinity

John 4:21-24 (NKJV)
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth.”

The text before us today is frequently misconstrued. It is imagined that Jesus is contrasting the external, formal worship of the Old Testament period with the heartfelt, internal worship of the New. At one time people worshiped externally, now all worship is “in spirit and truth” – that is, heartfelt and genuine.

The difficulty faced by advocates of this approach is not the insistence that worship is to be heartfelt and genuine. That is most certainly true. The difficulty is that this was no less true in the Old Testament than in the New. “Sacrifice and burnt offering you did not desire,” David declares. “The sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite spirit.” Heartfelt, genuine worship was to characterize the Old Testament no less than the new?

What then is the change Jesus is anticipating? There are actually two changes. First, Jesus insists that the corporate worship of the people of God would be decentralized. No longer on Mount Gerizim in Samaria nor on Mount Zion in Jerusalem would corporate worship be confined – rather corporate worship would be spread throughout the earth. Note that he is addressing corporate worship, for that was what happened in Jerusalem and, idolatrously, on Mt. Gerizim. Jesus is announcing that wherever the servants of God gather together in the Name of Christ and lift His Name on high, there is Mount Zion, there is the City of our God, there is the place of corporate worship. Jerusalem in Israel is no longer the center of God’s dealings with man; the heavenly Jerusalem, Mount Zion, the Church is the center.

Second, Jesus informs us that not only would corporate worship be decentralized, it would be explicitly Trinitarian. When Jesus rose from the dead and sent forth His Spirit, the worship of God’s people was forever transformed. It became explicitly Trinitarian – worshiping the Father in Spirit – the very Spirit whom Jesus promised would come and lead His people into all righteousness – and in Truth – the very Truth who took on human flesh and declared to His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Today is Trinity Sunday, the Sunday the Church has historically emphasized the Triune nature of God. It is this that Jesus does in our text. Worshiping the Father in Spirit and Truth is not an exhortation to heartfelt, genuine worship – that exhortation had been given throughout the Old Testament. Worshiping the Father in Spirit and Truth is to worship the Triune God not some vanilla deity. It was this transformation that Jesus anticipated and announced in His words to the Samaritan woman. “The time is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth.”

So what does this mean for us? It means that this morning as we gather together to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth, as we gather to worship the Triune God, we are entering into the presence of God Himself. Brothers and sisters, the roof has been ripped off and we have been ushered into the presence of the Most High. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first born who are registered in heaven…” (Heb 12:22-23) And, like Isaiah, who entered into the presence of God in the Temple, the first thing that should strike us is our own unworthiness – in ourselves, we are not worthy to be here. And so let us kneel and seek His forgiveness through Christ.

The Law and the Spirit

June 4, 2010 in Bible - OT - Isaiah, Holy Spirit, Law and Gospel, Meditations, Pentecost

Isaiah 59:21 (NKJV)
21 “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”

There was once a boy who imagined that when he was 18, when he reached the age of majority, he wouldn’t have to do any of the things his parents had taught him to do when he was young. This boy was particularly irked that his parents made him brush his teeth each evening. Getting the toothbrush out of the drawer, squeezing the tube, brushing for a minute – it was all such a nuisance, so time consuming. And what was the value of it anyhow? He just ate the next day and got his teeth dirty again. What’s the point.

Eagerly the lad awaited his 18th birthday. His 16th came and went; his 17th came and went; and finally, his 18th birthday arrived. He was free. He got a job, moved out of his parents home, and commenced his long coveted practice of not brushing his teeth.

Ah, he thought with pleasure on his first night in his new apartment, this is the life. no one to tell me what to do. no more brushing my teeth at night. Joy and gladness wrapped their way around his heart. And joy and gladness stayed with him – for a time. But soon the consequences of his decision began to be felt. His teeth took on a decidedly brown appearance; he found it hard to get a date; his teeth began to ache from the cavities that filled them. In the place of joy and gladness came doubt; in the place of doubt, frustration; in the place of frustration, anger. Until the day he found himself facing the mirror, extracting his long-neglected toothbrush from the drawer, scrounging for that toothbrush tube with the dried paste around the top, squeezing the requisite amount onto his brush and scrubbing with all his might. But try as he might, he couldn’t get those stains off and he couldn’t fill those cavities.

Many have imagined that the purpose of the outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the people of God was to free them from the burden of God’s law. Such people are foolish and naïve, totally misrepresenting the relationship between the OT and the NT. Our text today makes this plain.

“As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”

The Spirit was given not to free us from the law but to make our hearts free to obey it. The problem isn’t the law; the problem is ourselves.

So, children, have you reckoned with the corruption of your hearts? Have you considered that God gives His Spirit precisely to enable you to obey your parents? Adults, have you reckoned with the corruption of your hearts? Have you considered that God gives His Spirit precisely to enable you to love and cherish His ways?

Reminded that we frequently pit God’s Spirit against His law, that we frequently imagine that maturity means freedom from responsibility rather than the love of the same, let us kneel and let us confess our sins to God.

Ascension Sunday

June 4, 2010 in Bible - NT - Ephesians, King Jesus, Meditations

Ephesians 4:7-8, 11-13
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” …11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

As we worship the Lord today on Ascension Sunday, I want to call to your mind some of the remarks we made last year in connection with this passage of Paul in Ephesians 4. Ascension Sunday celebrates – along with Christmas, Epiphany, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost – one of the most pivotal events in the life of Christ and, hence, in the history of the world. On this day, Jesus ascended into heaven and took His seat of authority at the right hand of God Almighty, ruling there as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And from this position of authority, He sent forth His Spirit upon His disciples – an event we shall celebrate next week in Pentecost.

In our text today, Paul indicates one of the implications of the Ascension for the people of God. When Christ ascended on high, was enthroned in state, sat down at the right hand of God Almighty, he was then the victorious conqueror, in a position to distribute spoil among his followers. “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

And what is the nature of the gifts he bestows upon His retainers? Ah his gifts are numerous and glorious – for His gifts are not merely objects but persons. He gave apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers – from other places we learn that he has given helps, works of mercy, humility, joy, contentment, peace, self-control, wisdom, virtue. Glorious gifts He has bestowed on His retainers.

Why? Why has he given these things? Here is the startling message of Paul. He has given them “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” In other words, the gifts that Christ has given to us are to be given in turn for the benefit of the whole body, for the Church.

So what does Ascension Sunday mean for us? First, we must take note of the gifts that our great King has granted to us. What gifts has the exalted and enthroned King bestowed upon you? He does not leave anyone out. Second, having acknowledged the gifts, our first response should be to thank the Giver. Jesus Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father and poured out gifts upon the Church; he has poured out some gift on each of us; and so our calling is to thank Him both for the gifts which He has given me personally and for the gifts He has given to my neighbor– our Lord Jesus thank you for calling the Twelve and giving them to the church; thank you for Paul, for Athanasius, for Clement, for Gottschalk, for Helena the mother of Constantine, for Zwingli, Bullinger, Peter Martyr. And coming closer to home, we say thank you for George over there and for Freddy – for the gifts you have given them so they might bestow them on the body. Having given thanks to Him for the gifts that He has bestowed upon us and upon the rest of the body, our final task is to use the gifts He has given us for the body. Our calling is to imitate our King and give gifts in turn.

But frequently our attitude and actions are far from this. Frequently, we complain that we have not been given the gifts that others have received and we endeavor to horde the gifts, increasing our own cache rather than to bless the body. Reminded of this, let us kneel and confess our sins to Him.

Bewailing her Virginity

May 11, 2010 in Bible - OT - Judges, Children, Ecclesiology, Meditations, Sexuality

“So [Jephthah’s daughter] said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.” Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.” So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.” Jdg 11:36-40

For the last several weeks I have been writing an essay for the Omnibus V curriculum on a medieval English historian by the name of William of Malmesbury. William was a monk who lived in Malmesbury Abbey for most of his life, serving as the librarian there. He wrote a history of England in an attempt to continue the Venerable Bede’s story up to William’s own day – the middle of the 12th century and the reign of Henry I.

As always in reading an old book there is a refreshing breeze which blows through one’s thinking. William is decidedly un-modern. For example, he thinks the First Crusade was a grand endeavor and explains at length the benefits that it brought to the Christians. Another area where William reveals his un-modern stance is in his approach to the topic we discussed last week – virginity. He routinely praises women who preserved their virginity and in this honors the principles we discussed last week.

But one of the things that William reveals is a distortion that entered into the Church regarding this topic of virginity. Paul had written that it was good for a man or a woman to remain single so that he or she may be able to serve Christ more effectively. The medieval church took this and insisted that Paul’s words meant that perpetual virginity was the ideal state. One’s virginity was intended to be preserved entire for the Lord. Monasticism, of which William was a part, was the result.

Of course, as with any misuse of the biblical text, there is an element of truth in this medieval distortion. Paul’s comments continue to have application even now – there are ways that single people, who remain perpetually celibate, can serve Jesus that married people cannot. And praise God for those to whom He gives this gift. We need men and women who are able to devote themselves wholeheartedly to the advancement of the kingdom. However, this acknowledgement is a far cry from the medieval exaltation of virginity into the most blessed state. For men and women to marry and have children was, by and large, viewed as a compromise, a forfeiture of God’s ideal.

And this brings us back to our text today. Jephthah, you may recall, made a rash vow, swearing that if God granted him victory over the Ammonites, he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house upon his return. God granted him the victory. Unfortunately, however, Jephthah’s daughter was the first to exit the home upon his arrival.

Whatever happened to Jephthah’s daughter – whether she was actually offered up as a human sacrifice (which would have been an abominable thing) or whether she was dedicated to the Lord’s service in the tabernacle – I want you to notice the way his daughter responded to his oath. She insisted that Jephthah must fulfill his vow but requested that she be given a period of two months to go out to the hills with her friends. Why? So that she might bewail her virginity. Now why would she do this? Because she understood that virginity, in Scripture, is not normally a gift to be kept to oneself for a lifetime but is normally intended to be given to a man as a gift. And when a young woman gives this gift, that God has given her, to a man, God frequently gives back to her in the form of children and a family. Jephthah’s daughter, in other words, wanted to be a wife and a mother, and this was a good thing. Indeed, so good, that from this day forth, all the virgins of Israel would go into the wilderness for four days each year in remembrance that Jephthah’s daughter was unable to give her virginity as a gift.

Today is Mother’s Day – a day in which we celebrate that many virgins of the past gave the gift of their virginity to a man so that they might have children and raise a family. Let us praise God for this. And, praising Him, let us be reminded of our tendency to distort the Word of God and fail to remember that our mothers gave a gift to conceive us and that when we give away that which God gives to us, He gives us even more in return. So let us kneel and confess our sins to the Lord.

Virgins in Israel

May 11, 2010 in Bible - OT - Deuteronomy, Children, Ecclesiology, Meditations, Sexuality

Deuteronomy 22:13-19 (NKJV)
13 “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and detests her, 14 and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin,’ 15 then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16 And the young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he detests her. 17 Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, “I found your daughter was not a virgin,” and yet these are the evidences of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him; 19 and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.

This morning we continue our series of lessons taught by young women. As members of the body of Christ, young women have important lessons to teach the rest of us and it is prudent for us to learn these lessons that we might honor our Lord more fully. We have seen that one of the titles by which God’s people are called is the “daughter of Zion” revealing God’s affection, protection, and provision for us.

The text today reveals another title by which young women in Israel were called, the “virgins of Israel.” A virgin, as most of you know, is a woman who has never been sexually intimate with a man. And, in ancient Israel, one of the titles by which young women were called, in addition to the title “daughters of Jerusalem” and “maidens” (which we saw last week), was the Virgins of Israel. None of this innocuous “teenager” language. When God began developing a young man or young woman, He took note of his or her respective treasures. And one of the greatest treasures that a young woman possesses, which she can give only once to one man, is her virginity.

God takes this virginity, this sexual purity, seriously and so he honors young women in Israel by protecting their good name. For example, in our text today, if a man were to marry a virgin, have intercourse with her on their wedding night, and then charge her falsely the next day with failing to be a virgin, he was to be punished by the elders of the city – likely beaten with a rod – fined an enormous sum of money that would be given to the father lest his daughter have to return home, and forbidden by law from divorcing his wife ever for any cause. Why? Notice the rationale: “Because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel” and that’s something you just don’t do.

The seriousness with which God takes this sexual purity is likewise evident in the way that young women who pretended to be virgins and were not were treated. The text goes on to describe what should happen if the charge were true. If a young woman were to contract a marriage on the assumption that she was a virgin and were to deceive her parents and fiancé into thinking she was still a virgin, only to be discovered the day after the wedding night that she wasn’t a virgin, then she was to be stoned to death with stones. Why? “Because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house.”

Young women, God takes your virginity seriously and acts to protect it in His law. So treasure and guard it well. Beware young men who would seduce you. Beware older men who would seduce you. Beware the pressure that will be put upon you to be sexually active by our current culture. You may be told that you haven’t fully experienced life if you haven’t had sex. You may be told that you are prude, naïve, silly. You may be mocked and scorned by the Hollywood crowd. But this is where the Word of God comes to our rescue by speaking very bluntly. What is a harlot? A harlot is a whore, a prostitute, a woman who gets paid to perform sexual favors. If we despise a harlot – which the Word of God says we ought – then how much more ought we to despise a woman who gives her sexual favors away for nothing? Who spreads her legs under every green tree and only demands “love” in return? Such a woman is both a harlot and a fool.

Young women, this is your charge. You are the Virgins of Israel, so be a Virgin of Israel – pure, unsullied, glorious, beautiful. Men, particularly young men, your task is to protect the purity of the Virgins of Israel. In relation to women, there are two types of men in the world: protectors and predators. To our shame, many, if not most, are predators – looking for yet another young woman they can defile, and, when they do, chalking up another victory on their achievement board. But your job is to be their protectors. Defend them and honor them even as Your God does.

And all of us should be reminded by these things the extent to which God values purity and chastity – both outside of marriage and inside. Reminded of this, reminded that we have been impure in our thoughts and often impure in our actions, let us kneel and confess our sins to God.

Maidens Playing Timbrels

May 11, 2010 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Children, Ecclesiology, Meditations

Psalm 68:24-26 (NKJV)
24 They have seen Your procession, O God, The procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. 25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; Among them were the maidens playing timbrels. 26 Bless God in the congregations, The Lord, from the fountain of Israel.

In the last couple weeks we have learned that two lessons young women teach us both highlight our identity. The Church collectively is called the daughter of Zion to indicate how beloved the Church is – God loves us just as a father delights in his daughter. In addition, we saw last week that throughout the Scriptures young women are frequently identified by the title, “daughters of Zion” or “daughters of Jerusalem” or “daughters of Judah.” All these titles assure young women – God claims you as His own; He loves you; He cherishes you; He delights to be called your God.

Precisely because God claims you, He simultaneously invites you into His house to worship. When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, they were given two tasks: to tend the garden and to cultivate it. This latter calling of cultivating the Garden relates directly to worship. In the ancient Hebrew, as well as in Latin from which we get our word “cultivate”, the idea behind the word is to offer up in worship. So in English we not only get the word “cultivate” from the Latin cultus, we also get the words “cult” and “culture” – both pointing to the product of our cultivation. Adam and Eve, in other words, were to guard and cultivate the Garden and the work that they did was to be offered up to the Lord as their service of worship. From the beginning, man and woman were not created first and foremost as homo sapiens (wise man) but as homo adorans (worshiping man). We were created to worship.

Consequently, when God claims you young women for Himself, He invites you into His presence to worship; he invites you to offer up your labors as sacrifices, a pleasing aroma, to Him. Listen again to our psalmist:

24 They have seen Your procession, O God, The procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. 25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; Among them were the maidens playing timbrels. 26 Bless God in the congregations, The Lord, from the fountain of Israel.

Note that the psalmist is careful to note that in the assembly of God’s people, worshiping before Him, were the maidens, the young women. And note that these maidens are not there half-heartedly, not there disinterestedly, not there sulking or pining for some other activity, but there rejoicing. Their joy in worship was evident for they were playing the timbrels – and timbrels always draw the attention.

This description of young women is made an imperative in another psalm – the psalmist in the 148th psalm calls upon the whole creation, including maidens, to worship the Lord: Praise the Lord from the earth… Both young men and maidens; Old men and children. (Ps 148:7,12)

So, young women, you are exactly where you are to be this morning. God has invited you here, welcomes you into His presence, delights over you with songs of love. He has brought you here to assure you that you are welcome; he speaks to you and says to you, “You are mine”; He receives you at His table and says to you, “I will provide for you, I will protect you.”

So, having been invited, come into worship with all your heart. Do not come distracted; do not come half-hearted; do not come unwillingly. The Lord Himself calls you here – not your parents, not your friends, not your elders. And for all you saints of the Lord – learn this lesson from the young women in our midst – just as God delights over them, inviting them to worship before Him with all the congregation, so too the Lord delights over all of us and call all of us homo adorans, worshiping man, called to offer up all our labor in worship.

Reminded that we are first and foremost worshiping creatures and that we have frequently failed to come into the Lord’s presence with joy and gladness, but have instead been sulky and disinterested, let us kneel and confess our sins to God.

Daughters of Zion, Part Two

May 11, 2010 in Bible - OT - Zechariah, Children, Ecclesiology, Meditations

Zechariah 9:9-10 (NKJV)
9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.’

Last week we began to consider the lessons which young women teach us. The first thing we learn from young women is a matter of identity: the Church collectively is called the daughter of Zion, the daughter of Jerusalem. This title reminds us that we are near to God’s heart – the special object of His affection, protection, and provision. Even as a Father delights over his precious daughter, so the Lord delights over His people. So, young women, learn from the Lord’s decision to call His people His daughter how precious and valued you are.

Today I would like us to note that our text also teaches you young women about your identity. Who are you? This is a question which we all ask others and which we all want to know about ourselves. Who am I? There are, of course, numerous answers to this question. I am the child of certain parents, belonging to a particular father and mother either by birth or by adoption. I am the resident of a specific geographical area – perhaps a city, a county, a state or more than one of these simultaneously. I am a citizen of a particular country. But of all these identities, the identities that shape us and make us who we are, the most central and important is the one mentioned in our text today: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!” Young women, when you think about yourself, when you ask yourself, “Who am I?” the first answer that God wants to come to your lips is, “I am a daughter of Zion – in other words, I belong to Zion, to Jerusalem, to the Church. I am a Christian.”

Throughout the psalms and prophets, it is this language that is used frequently to identify young women. “Let Mount Zion rejoice, Let the daughters of Judah be glad…” (Ps 48:11). “Zion hears and is glad, And the daughters of Judah rejoice because of Your judgments, O Lord” (Ps 97:8). “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem. Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases” (Song 8:4). And even our Lord Jesus used this language, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children” (Lk 23:28).

Young women, God claims you as His own, claims you as His daughters. In the waters of baptism, He has identified you as members of His own people, as His special possession, separated out from the rest of the females in the world and devoted unto Him. You are daughters of Zion, daughters of Jerusalem, daughters of Judah, daughters of the Church.

So here’s the challenge that comes in the wake of that identity: because you are daughters of Zion, daughters of Jerusalem, the Lord summons you to act like it. You are a daughter of Zion; be a daughter of Zion. Why are you consumed with looking like the daughters of Philistia? Why are you enamored with the skimpy clothing of Pharaoh’s concubines? Why bedazzled by the glitzy glamor of Jezebel’s shrine prostitutes? Those aren’t your people, God declares to you, don’t act like they are. Be a daughter of Zion, act like your mothers in the faith – like Sarah, like Tamar, like Deborah, like Ruth, like Elizabeth, like Mary.

Reminded that we all are tempted to act like something we are not, to allow others to define who we are rather than God Himself, let us kneel and let us confess our sins to God.