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).

Honoring God with Our Bodies

October 22, 2023 in Bible - OT - Psalms, Meditations, Worship

Psalm 95:6 (NKJV) 

6Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 

Psalm 134:1–2 (NKJV) 

1Behold, bless the Lord, All you servants of the Lord, Who by night stand in the house of the Lord! 2Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the Lord. 

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 bodily creatures. Hence, God expects us to use our bodies for His honor. Paul writes, “…you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:20). Our bodies belong to God and so what we do with them matters. Our actions should reflect our reverence for Him and our knowledge that one day Christ will return in glory and raise these very bodies from 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 consider the texts I have read from the psalms – “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.” And again, “Behold, bless the LORD, All you servants of the LORD, Who by night stand in the house of the LORD! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the LORD.” These are just a couple examples of bodily invitations given in the psalter, different bodily actions we are to perform in worship.

As we consider this threefold rationale, however, we must beware lest we merely go through the motions. For the ultimate reason that our posture changes is that we have gathered to 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 is a drama that is only meaningful when accompanied by hearts that love and fear 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, as you are able, let us kneel as we confess together. 

Beware of Deceptive Appearances

October 8, 2023 in Bible - OT - Proverbs, Meditations

Proverbs 13:7 (NKJV) 

7There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches. 

Paul writes in Romans 8:29 that God has predestined His people to be conformed to the image of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Proverbs assist us in that process, directing us in the way of wisdom and teaching us what it is to imitate our Lord’s character. Today we are instructed to beware judging by appearances.

Masterpiece Theatre’s retelling of Charles Dickens’ novel, Our Mutual Friend, opens with a wedding, the wedding of Mr. & Mrs. Lammle. Bride and groom were extolled by onlookers – he is rich, she is a woman of property, both of excellent reputation. But both Mr. & Mrs. Lammle were in for a shock on their wedding day. For while Mr. Lammle had believed the rumors circulating about his bride and though Mrs. Lammle had believed the rumors circulating about her groom, they soon discovered that they had both been deceived and married nameless paupers. They were deceived by appearances.

And it is this folly that our proverb identifies today: beware judging solely by appearances. There are those who pretend to be rich but yet who have nothing. They drive around in fancy cars, they have a large house, they wear expensive clothes – but it is all a façade. Everything is on loan and the payments are behind and soon it’s all going to collapse. Meanwhile, there are others who live simply and yet possess great wealth. They drive modest cars, they watch their budget, they shop at T.J. Maxx, but they’ve invested well and will retire quite comfortably.

Solomon’s observation reminds us to beware lest we judge merely by the seeing of our eyes. Often our eyes deceive us. This is certainly the case with riches – as the Lammle’s tragic marriage illustrates; but it is also the case in other areas. There are those couples who appear to have it all together, but behind closed doors their marriage is a disaster. There are those teens who appear obedient and respectful, but who give their parents grief when no one is watching. There are those who talk much about God and God’s work in their lives, but who haven’t cracked open their Bibles for years.

On the other hand, there are those couples who shun glory but who enjoy meaningful companionship. There are those teens who are rambunctious but who would do anything to bring honor to their parents’ name. There are those who have little of this world’s wealth but who are rich in things pertaining to God.

Thus we must be careful lest we judge by appearances; lest we, as the adage goes, judge a book by its cover. Often there is more to a situation or a person than first meets the eye. So Isaiah describes the character of our Lord Jesus Christ:

3His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; 4But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth… (Is 11:3-4a)

So what of you? Do you rush to judgment about others? Are you hasty in your assessments of others? Do you jump on the latest social media craze? Join the latest lynch mob? Condemn others just because they are wearing a different jersey than your own or belong to a different political party? Or do you endeavor to look deeper than the surface to see what is below, what is truly the case? To weigh carefully before you judge?

Reminded that we often judge by appearances rather than judging with righteous judgment, let us confess our folly to the Lord. And as we confess, let us kneel as we are able.

A Righteous Man Hates Lying

October 1, 2023 in Bible - OT - Proverbs, Meditations

Proverbs 13:5–6 (NKJV) 

5A righteous man hates lying, But a wicked man is loathsome and comes to shame. 6Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, But wickedness overthrows the sinner. 

Paul writes in Romans 8:29 that God has predestined His people to be conformed to the image of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Proverbs assist us in that process, directing us in the way of wisdom and teaching us what it is to imitate our Lord’s character. Today we are instructed to hate lying.

We live in a morally confused age in which we are told that we must “reject hate.” But “hate” is not intrinsically evil as we see in our text today. Hate is a transitive verb. Hence, we can only determine if it is virtuous or vicious depending on the direct object. To hate God, to hate virtue, to hate righteousness – all these are vices. But to hate arrogance, to hate cruelty, and to hate wickedness – all these are virtues. As Proverbs 6 reminds us:

16These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren. (Prov 6:16-19)

If these are things that our Lord hates, then they are things that we should likewise hate. We should embrace hate – and note that the tongue is mentioned twice in this list. The Lord hates “a lying tongue” and “a false witness who speaks lies.” Thus, He groups liars amid a notorious collection of sinners in Revelation 21:

6… “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (21:6-8)

Liars are grouped among the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, etc. Hence, according to our text, the man who hates lying is righteous – pleasing to God and reflecting the character of our Lord Jesus. Jesus died and rose again because we are a fallen people, “deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim 3:13). We lie to others and are lied to in turn. And this deceitfulness makes us loathsome and shameful, our text declares – a people who lie and deceive one another are a people never at peace. Hence, such wickedness overthrows the sinner – his life falls apart, he has no friends, because there is none upon whom he can rely nor who can rely upon him. Lies beget more lies and destruction comes in their wake. Thus, the one who loves lies hates his neighbor.

But the one who hates lying loves his neighbor. So Paul commands the Ephesians, “Therefore, putting away lying, ‘Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,’ for we are members of one another” (Eph 4:25). Why should we put away lying? Because we are members of one another and thus called to love one another. The one who loves his neighbor speaks truth to him. And this truthfulness begets more truthfulness. Such truthfulness proves to be a guard to him who practices it.

So what of you? Do you hate lying? Do you abhor all manner of deceit and treachery? Do you strive to speak truth always, to be careful with your words? Or do you regularly lie and deceive others? Do you boast of your accomplishments or do you assess yourself honestly? Do you say one thing and do another or do you shun hypocrisy of all sorts? Children, teens – do you hate lies and love the truth? When you are caught in sin, do you openly confess it or do you try to lie and deceive to escape the consequences of your actions? 

Though we ought to be a people who hate lying, we often are tempted to lie and deceive. And God is speaking to us today and summoning us to repent – to love honesty and integrity. And the good news is that He is gracious and gives freely to those who thirst, who acknowledge their sin and thirst for righteousness. So today let us not hide our sin but let us confess it freely to the Lord. And as we confess, let us kneel together as we are able.