Song of the Drunkards

JESUS FACED A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF OPPOSITION FOR HIS HARD WORDS AND UNFLINCHING DEVOTION TO YAHWEH. NO SURPRISE THEN IF WE FIND OUR NAME FESTOONED IN BARROOM BALLADS (CF. PS 69:12).

The Blessing of Children

December 20, 2012 in Abortion, Bible - OT - Psalms, Children, Meditations

Psalm 127:3–5 (NKJV)
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
This morning we meditate in the sermon on the nature of the songs we sing around Christmas – songs that celebrate the birth of the Christ Child. When Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive and give birth to a Son this was received for what it was – good news, Gospel, glad tidings of great joy. Why? Because children are a blessing from God.
It is this reality that the psalmist sings today. Behold children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Increasingly as a culture we have come to the conclusion that children are a burden more than a blessing. Birth control has, under the Obama administration, become a right as near and dear as life itself. The insurance companies are positively tripping over themselves to assure us all that there is no longer any copay for birth control pills while coverage for maternity costs becomes subject to increasingly high deductibles. The system increasingly highlights the cost of children.
But the psalms focus on the blessing. Does it cost something to have children? Absolutely. Is it at times a struggle to bring up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Absolutely. But the psalms orient us to the blessing. Children are a heritage from the Lord – children are God’s reminder to us that he intends to bless us and to cause us to inherit the earth. The fruit of the womb is his reward – a treasure far greater than second homes, new cars, expensive toys, or undistracted minds.
So, brothers and sisters, let us remember at this time that Mary responded in faith by rejoicing in the news that she would bear a child and let us imitate her by giving thanks for the children that God has given us and anticipating with joy the arrival of others. And let us confess that as a culture we have despised the little ones – let us kneel as we do so.

Obama versus Museveni

December 20, 2012 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Confession, King Jesus, Meditations

“I have found My servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him, With whom My hand shall be established; Also My arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face, And plague those who hate him. “But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, And in My name his horn shall be exalted. Also I will set his hand over the sea, And his right hand over the rivers. He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ Also I will make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven.” (Psalm 89:20–29, NKJV)
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the time of year when we recall God’s promises to our fathers that one day He would send a Son of David to rescue His people and rule among the nations of men. The words of Psalm 89 remind us that this Son of David, our Lord Jesus, will be victorious over his enemies and is Lord over all the kings of the earth. Listen to God’s promises to Jesus: “I will beat down his foes before his face and plague those who hate him…” – He will be victorious. “I will set his hand over the sea and his right hand over the rivers…” – His dominion will encompass all the earth. “Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth…” – He will rule over all other rulers.
Given these promises that God has made to Jesus, what is the obligation of men and nations, what is the obligation of our nation? Our obligation is to worship and serve this One whom God has exalted to His right hand. It is to live in light of His rule. And it is to this that our Advent Call to Worship summons us – because Jesus is Lord those who trust Him can take comfort; because Jesus is Lord those who spurn Him must take warning.
For the fourth year in a row, President Obama has neglected to thank God in his annual Thanksgiving address let alone to request God’s forgiveness for our personal and national sins. This is a travesty of monumental proportions and will bring God’s judgment down on our nation. Jesus is Lord and will beat down his foes.
Contrast our current national pride and impenitence with the recent declaration of the President of Uganda. This last October President Museveni prayed the following:
I stand here today to close the evil past and especially in the last 50 years of our national leadership history and at the threshold of a new dispensation in the life of this nation. I stand here on my own behalf and on behalf of my predecessors to repent. We ask for your forgiveness.
Museveni then listed the various sins which have afflicted Uganda in the last 50 years and requested God’s blessing on their nation, closing his prayer thus:
We want to dedicate this nation to you so that you will be our God and guide. We want Uganda to be known as a nation that fears God and as a nation whose foundations are firmly rooted in righteousness and justice to fulfil what the Bible says in Psalm 33:12: Blessed is the nation, whose God is the Lord. A people you have chosen as your own.
I renounce all the evil foundations and covenants that were laid in idolatry and witchcraft. I renounce all the satanic influence on this nation. And I hereby covenant Uganda to you, to walk in your ways and experience all your blessings forever.
I pray for all these in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This is how men and nations are to honor the Son of the Highest, our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning we need to confess that we as a people have elected a man to office who defies God and refuses to thank Him for the manifest blessings He has showered upon us. But the reason Obama refuses to honor God is that we as a people refuse to honor Him as well. We are a stiff-necked people and have rebelled against the Lord. So let us kneel and confess our sins to Him.

Giving Thanks Always

November 27, 2012 in Bible - NT - Ephesians, Meditations, Thankfulness

Ephesians 5:17, 18b, 20
“Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is… be filled with the Spirit…giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
This last week we had opportunity as a people to celebrate Thanksgiving – remembering God’s faithfulness in our past and petitioning His grace for the future.
Today I would like us to reflect on why such feasts are fitting – and the reason they are fitting is that they express the will of God for us. Paul exhorts us in Ephesians that we are not to be “unwise” but are to understand the will of the Lord. So what is the Lord’s will? The Lord’s will is that we be filled with the Spirit. And what does it look like to be filled with the Spirit? Part of the answer that Paul gives is that when we are filled with the Spirit we will be giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note carefully Paul’s words.
Paul writes that we are to be giving thanks always. He excludes no times – we are always to give thanks. When the car starts right away in the morning, when the car won’t start at all; when there are six inches of snow on the ground, when it fails to snow at all; when we’re feeling robust and well, when we have the stomach flu; when work is going well, when we have trouble with employees; when our children obey, when they disobey. We are always to give thanks.
How is this possible? Because the One to whom we are giving thanks, God the Father, is Sovereign over all. Nothing happens apart from His will. No one and no thing can say to him, “What have you done? Or why has your hand determined thus?” Our God is in the heavens – he does whatever he pleases. So if there is calamity in the city, will not our Lord have done it? God is the Lord – He raises up and He puts down. And so our calling as the people of God is to render thanks to Him – precisely because this One who is Sovereign, who is God, is also our Father – He cares for us and works on our behalf. So we can give thanks always. Our demeanor should be one of grateful acknowledgment of the wisdom of our Father – not just when it appears wise to usbut when it is in fact wise, namely, always.
But not only are we alwaysto give thanks, we are also to give thanks for all things. All things, we ask? Surely Paul didn’t mean to say it quite that way. But I’m afraid he did. For all things that enter our lives come from the hand of our loving Father who has orchestrated them for our good and for His glory. Thanking Him – for the kind and the hard providences – is the key to glorifying him in the midst of both. And this, to some extent, explains why we are to give thanks “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” – for he too gave thanks to God while suffering. So do we thank the Father for the hard providences, the failure of the crops, the loss of our job, the rebellion of a child, the loneliness of singleness, the frustration of working at a job we don’t enjoy? According to Paul we ought to. Why? Because God is the one who has brought this into our lives for a very good, distinct, and just reason. Therefore, we are to abound in thanksgiving.
And so, reminded that rather than abound in thanksgiving we frequently complain and grumble, let us kneel and confess that we are an unthankful people.

Our Father,

We have failed to be thankful for the gifts and graces which you have freely bestowed upon us. You have treated us much more graciously than we deserve – and yet we grumble and complain at your graces. Not only do we refuse to thank you in hard times, we forget to thank you in good ones. So too our culture. We refuse to give you thanks. We act as though we are entitled to the things we receive; we demand more; insist that what You have given is not enough. Forgive us for the sake of Christ and enable us to abound always in thanksgiving in all things.
AMEN.