RESURRECTION SUNDAY

feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)

Dearest family,

Christ is still risen!! It was wonderful to have such a full house last Sunday, and to worship and take communion together. Taken as a whole, the words of the hymns and songs were thorough in their presentation both of the nature and character of Jesus, and his atoning work, as well as of the meaning of the events of Holy Week. As I suggested on Sunday, our service was very much like a catechism of the resurrection event, both fact and meaning. In a similar catechetical (what a lovely word!) way, my message took you through over 40 scriptures that help fill in the blank after: BECAUSE HE WAS RAISED…. The practical question is simply this: What difference does the resurrection of Jesus make to our daily lives as Christians, to how we expect to both live and die?

But I am also in a Psalm Pseries, so as I did on Palm Sunday, I acknowledged the connection between the psalms and this day. As we looked last week at psalms like 22, 31, 41, 69, 110 and 118, it is understandable why they are quoted so much in the narrative of Holy Week, and particularly in relation to the suffering and the death of Jesus. But what about the resurrection? Is there any psalm that relates to it? There are certainly foreshadowings in other parts of the Old Testament:

• Job, arguably the earliest written book in the Bible, announces “I know that my Redeemer lives” and goes on to say that even when the worms have destroyed his body, “yet in my flesh shall I see God. I myself will see Him with my own eyes” (19: 25-27)

• In Hebrews 11:17-19 we learn that Abraham believed in God’s power to raise the dead Isaac.

• Isaiah prophesies that God will swallow up death in victory (25:8) He also talks about the suffering servant, Jesus, prolonging his days and seeing the outcomes of His travail (53:9-10). In a prophetic song of praise Isaiah says “your dead will live; their bodies will rise.” (26:19)

• Daniel speaks of those “who sleep in the dust of the earth” who will “awake – some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” (12:2)

• But what of the Psalms?

• In Psalm 17:15 David talks about awaking and says “I will see your face.”

• There is an intimation possibly in Psalm 139:8 when he declares that even if he made his bed in Sheol, “you are there.”

• In Psalm 49:15 there is a confident declaration: “God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.”

But for the clearest link we read Acts 2:22-36 and Acts 13: 26-36, sermons of Peter and Paul. Peter says: “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25 David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’ … 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand 35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ 36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Je-sus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

Paul preaches: 32 “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: “‘You are my son; today I have become your father.’ 34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’ 35 So it is also stated elsewhere: “‘You will not let your holy one see decay.’” 36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.”

A remarkable agreement and consistency is presented here in the use of Psalm 16 both by Peter and Paul, no less. Old Testament predictions are related to New Testament fulfillments. In Psalm 16, in its original context, David is expressing confidence in two things: that the Lord is His portion, and that the Lord is His preserver. At first, he only appears to be talking about a deliverance from a potential brush with death. Was he actually thinking about the idea of eternal life, about resurrection, about deliverance out of death? Much has been written about this, but what is clear is that scripture itself provides the interpretation in the texts we read from Acts. Furthermore, Peter quotes Psalm 110 in the same context as Psalm 16 and we already know that Jesus himself used that same passage in his arguments with the teachers of the law about the question, “Whose son is the Christ?” (Lk. 20:41) “Jesus said to them…David himself declares in the Book of Psalms…” In the same way that Peter gives the same exegesis as Jesus of Psalm 110, It is almost certain that the exegesis of Psalm 16 that you hear Peter giving is that of Jesus himself, when he spoke to them from the Psalms about things concerning himself. Peter is explicit that David spoke of the Christ, the ultimate Holy One. He could not have been talking of himself because he had no expectation of personal resurrection. In any case, David died and was buried and, as Paul said, his body did decay. “Seeing what was ahead he spoke of the resurrection of Christ.” (2:31) The witness to this fulfillment is affirmed by “we are all witnesses of the fact.” (2:32) Prophetic witnesses and present witnesses are in agreement. The prophetic of the past combines with the personal present, the spoken with the seen, the explanation with the experience. In the same way, Paul brings scripture and history together.

As you read through the passion narratives you will hear a repeated refrain in all gospel writers.

• In the upper room when Judas puts his hand in the dish: “That the scriptures may be fulfilled” (Jn.13:18)

• In the High priestly prayer of John 17:12 “so that scripture may be fulfilled”

• At the arrest of Jesus in the garden: “All this was done that the scriptures might be fulfilled.” (Mt.26:54-56)

• At the cross when it was observed that Jesus’ bones were not broken: “These things were done that the scriptures might be fulfilled” (Jn.19:36)

• At the tomb when Peter and John arrived and tried to process what they saw: “They still did not understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” (Jn.20:9)

• The encounter on the Emmaus Road: “He explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.” (Lk.24:27)

• At one of Jesus’ last appearances to the disciples: “This is what I told you when I was still with you: everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. He told them: this is what was written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.” (Lk.24:44-46) Indeed he told them when he was still with them. In Jn.5:39 Jesus had said “You search the scriptures…and these are they which testify of me.” When Jesus cleared out the money-changers from the Temple, it says that the disciples remembered Psalm 69. Then, when asked for a miraculous sign, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days…After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.” (Jn.2:19-22)

• Are we therefore surprised that the very words that Peter spoke in the upper room, as recorded in Acts 1:16 were the Psalms: “Brothers, the scriptures had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David…” Then a few verses later we read: “”For” said Peter, “it is written in the Psalms.” (2:20 referring to Ps. 69:25 and Ps. 109:10) Or that the first apostolic evangelistic sermon ever given, by Peter again, begins with: “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel…” and then he goes on to quote the psalms again, as we have just seen. Sounds to me that Jesus taught them well and they learned well.

• And are we therefore surprised that Paul, the greatest of the apostles, would sum up his entire preaching like this: I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” (1 Cors.15:3-4)

Do you believe this? Do you believe the scriptures? The witness of Jesus himself, about himself, particularly about his resurrection, is firmly founded in scripture. His view of his own mission, his prophecies about his own death and resurrection, are both rooted in earlier prophecy but also corroborative of those prophecies. So the key issue on an “Easter day” is not about what I should say about the resurrection, so much as it is about what scripture speaks about it.

It is clear then why those who oppose the Christian gospel are so committed to first subvert and minimize the credence and credibility of the scriptures, and it explains the relentless attack of unbelief on the gospel accounts during the last 100 years, despite them being the most attested writings by extant manuscripts that exists. You may have read Homer’s Iliad at school or College and I guarantee that you did not spend most of the course doing a study that demythologized, deconstructed and generally debunked the text. Yet in all literature, the Iliad is the SECOND most attested and proof-texted work: no less than 643 manuscripts survive. Incredible! Second only to what? You guessed it…the New Testament with 24,633 manuscripts with not a single point of doctrine hinging on a variant reading!

So what do the scriptures tell us are the consequences for our daily lives and experience, because God raised Jesus from the dead? Well, if you want all the scriptures I went through you’re going to have download the message! If you take the effort to do that it means you really are committed to know what these outcomes are. Be blessed in your meditation and study and turn the points into an active prayer list for your own life. Make sure that none of the pastoral questions I asked by way of application have unresolved answers for your spiritual life right now.

As I said at the beginning, He is still risen, and his resurrection power is TOWARD YOU!

Pastorally yours

Stuart

PSALMS: PALM SUNDAY

feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)

A Pastoral Letter

Dearest family,

Blessings for a hallowed “Holy Week”. Don’t forget the opportunities available for worship, meditation and remembrance at the services on Thursday and Friday evenings, and on Sunday morning.

When it comes to this time in the liturgical calendar, a series on the Psalms could not be more appropriate and applicable, as I sought to emphasize on Sunday. The New Testament, taken as a whole, is crammed with direct quotations from the Psalms (over 125 of them) but arguably there are hundreds of cross references, and inferences. No Old Testament book is quoted more. 103 of the 150 psalms are referred to. The psalms are quoted by every NT writer, especially by Paul (22 references, 20% of his OT quotations) and by John (22 in his gospel and apocalypse), and not surprisingly, by the writer to the Hebrews who in his one letter quotes the psalms the same number of times as Paul does in all of his. But most particularly, they are cited by all the gospel writers as a vital part of their persuasive presentation of who Jesus is.

The very opening line of the NT in Matthew’s gospel describes Jesus as “the son of David” and he goes on to prove Jesus’ messiahship with no less than 17 psalm quotations. Mark does the same with 9 strategic supportive and corroborating quotes. But we should really mention Luke as this is the gospel Bo is teaching from. The psalms are everywhere you read, starting in the very first chapter in the prophetic outbursts of Mary (9 allusions) and Zechariah (8 allusions). It has been noted that Satan himself has a go at quoting them in Luke 4 but needless to say, he misquotes Ps. 91:11-12! Jesus uses the psalms in Luke’s account:

• In the expression of his own self-understanding

• In his teaching of the crowds

• In his confrontation with enemies

• In his defense of his messiahship

• In his grief over Jerusalem

• In his last words on the cross

• In his post-resurrection communication: “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Lk. 24:44)

Luke also is very specific about the way certain events fulfill the psalms, whether it is the use of the psalms by the crowd at the triumphal entry, or the actions of the religious leaders; whether it is the actions of the soldiers at the foot of the cross, or the Lucan record of the apostles’ use of the psalms in their preaching in Acts. Chapter 13 is a good example of the use of the Psalms in apostolic preaching that presents Jesus’ sonship and resurrection (2:7 in 13:33 and 16:10 in 13:35) Someone has summed it up like this: “The good news of Jesus Christ is almost unintelligible apart from the psalms.” Before I leave this let me just briefly address the objections made by those who deny a Christian reading of the psalms, that is reading Christian theological meanings, particularly messianic ones, into a Jewish pre Christian text. There are two good reasons for doing so.

1. Theological: we are called to discover Christ in the OT at his own invitation and it was foundational to his own teaching about himself. Jesus did it. He used OT references as signs of his death and resurrection (Jonah, Solomon, Temple, brass serpent) It was actually in his commentary on the Psalms that Augustine made his famous oft-quoted statement: “The NT is concealed in the Old and the OT is revealed in the New.” The rightness and the necessity of this theological response is verified by the use of the OT in the gospel preaching and teaching of the early church and all the apostles.

2. Historical: To so read the psalms is not a Christian quirk. It is the historical continuation of Jewish exegesis, as the psalms are read with the anticipation of the messiah who would restore the Davidic kingship over a re-united Israel. At the time of the exile, when this collection was put together, there wasn’t really much to shout about. It seemed that the covenant had failed. “Your house and kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.” Jews never ceased their longings for Messiah and for the fulfillment of God’s promise to David of a king in his line, who would rule the nations and reign forever. The psalter strategically and powerfully and spiritually maintained and provoked this longing and preserved the expectation for a millennium. So the messianic reading of it was not a Christian innovation, but was the legitimate reading of the predictive texts from the vantage point of the incarnation, of the coming of Emmanuel who had indeed come to save Israel, announced to Mary as the Son of the Most High who would be given the throne of his father David and who would reign over the house of Jacob forever with a kingdom that would have no end. He was the Son of David in the town of David. Thus there was a direct continuity with the messianic expectations and Christological meanings of the psalms.

It is in the Passion narratives, however, that arguably we find the most strategic and influential use of the psalms. This is not just because the evangelists are citing them to make their points, but because Jesus himself is using them for the communication of his own self-understanding. He lived and breathed them, he prayed them, he quoted them all the time. Don’t forget that Jesus would have sung the Passover psalms of praise at the Last Supper among one of his last earthly expressions of worship (Ps. 113-118). Post-resurrection he makes this very clear: “These are my words which were written in… the Psalms concerning me.” (Lk. 24:44-48) As we read the gospel accounts of the passion, it is his use of the psalms that conveys to us the very depths of Jesus’ soul as he walks out his obedience unto death.

As an example, on Sunday I drew your attention very briefly to psalms 31 and 41, that in different ways, delineate the extent of Jesus’ suffering. Of course, there are others, like Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 that anatomize the terrors and the horrors. I urge you to go back to these passages and read them through again, prayerfully and meditatively, accepting that Jesus has left us an example that we should follow in his footsteps, particularly in the experience of suffering that is the consequence, not of anything wrong on our part, but as a result of things that are inflicted upon us from other sources, whether direct enmity, or just the pressures and oppressions that come against Christian witness in the public square and in the market-place, sliming our spirits with discredit and disgrace. We can follow Jesus’ example in his usage of Psalm 31. We can commit our spirits into HIS hands (v5) and rejoice that we are not in the hands of the enemy. (v8)

The praise of the welcoming children did not last long, and of course was opposed and derided by the Pharisees. The cheering at the beginning of the week became the jeering at the end of it. The adoring crowds melted away, as did the abandoning disciples. I suggested that the harrowing week was marked by two important things: warnings and weepings. As clear as the parables of grief and judgment are in that week, as clear as the prophetic warnings about the signs of the age, equally clear is the broken heart of Jesus that had been weeping long before he entered the Eastern gate. The Redeemer’s tears had already been shed at Lazarus’ graveside, over a rich young ruler and over the city of Jerusalem itself.

One might say, during this Holy Week, that the tears of the Redeemer continue to fall wherever there is a refusal to accept his revelation (as at Bethany); a refusal to accept his requirements (as with that young ruler); a refusal to accept his relationship (as with Jerusalem).

Man of Sorrows! What a name
For the Son of God, Who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
Full atonement can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
"It is finished!" was His cry;
Now in heaven exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we'll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Paschal blessings,
Stuart

http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)

PSALM 2, PT. 2

The Reign of the Lord's Anointed

2 Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
    and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
    and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
    and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
    lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
    for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.(ESV)

Psalms 2

PSALM 2, PT. 1

The Reign of the Lord's Anointed

2 Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
    and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
    and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
    and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
    lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
    for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.(ESV)

Psalms 2

PSALM 1 - INTRODUCTION

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

1 Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

4 The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.(ESV)

Psalms 1

CHRISTMAS WISE MEN

feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)

Dearest family,

So we ended up having our candlelight service by daylight! Different ambiance but hopefully the same spirit of thanksgiving and worship. It’s always lovely to have a packed church. Many thanks to those who participated in the service and all of you who attended. And weren’t the kids terrific? You never know what you are going to get when you do things live but they never disappoint! Don’t forget that we are holding a Christmas Candlelight Communion Service from 6-7p.m. on Saturday evening, December 22nd . THERE IS NO SERVICE ON SUNDAY MORNING DECEMBER 23RD .

In the incarnation story, we have wise men coming to Jesus, bringing their treasures. How fascinating then is the perspective of Paul on Jesus in Colossians 2:3 when he describes Jesus as the one “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom.” It is Isaiah (33:6) who describes wisdom as a treasure. So the wise by this world’s description, bring their worldly treasures to the one who is in fact the depository of all the spiritual treasures of wisdom. It’s really interesting to me that the single most dominant description of Jesus in his formative years and in his early ministry is that he is “wise”. “And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was on him…And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” (Lk. 2: 40, 52) And when Jesus bursts onto the public scene, the folks in his hometown ask, “Where did this man get this wisdom?” (Mt. 13:54) Years later, Paul gives one of the best descriptions of Jesus to the Corinthians, who prided themselves on their intellectual acumen: “Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God.” (1 Cors. 1:30)

You could argue that scripture is all about what it takes to be wise. Paul said to Timothy “the scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation.” How much more so the scriptures that actually record what Jesus said wisdom was about. Did he not do that in the simplest and shortest of stories, like the parable of the two men who built their house on very different foundations? The wise guy, the one who built on rock, is the man who simply “hears these words of mine and puts them into practice.”

I think the wise men of the incarnation narrative are the trailblazers for this unquestioning obedience to the dictates of the Word and the Spirit.

• “Where is the one…” (Mt. 2:2) they unashamedly inquired about Jesus, determined to find out the truth about him for themselves. This is Wisdom.

• “The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was… they were overjoyed.” (2:9) they pursued undeterred till they found him. This is Wisdom.

• “They entered the house…” (2:11) They took the necessary steps to come into the geography of God’s kingdom, to come into the gravitational pull of Christ, on bended knee. The search was ended by their submission. This is Wisdom.

• “They opened their treasures and presented him with gifts…they worshiped him…” (2:11) The revelation of Christ sprung the latch of their hearts and they opened up their treasures, yes, but themselves to Jesus. This is Wisdom.

• “They returned by another route…” (2:12) Having found Christ it was impossible to leave the same way they had come. It was the beginning of a new journey, a new route. This is Wisdom.

The root of the wise men’s joy was their obedience to follow where God would lead them and thus they were arguably the representative forerunners of the wise men that Jesus spoke about in his parable. And hopefully our forerunners as we come celebrating this birth, though regarded by a watching world as fools, but by Jesus as the truly wise. Wise, not because we are wise in our own eyes, but because we have at last discovered that indeed in Christ himself, are the treasures of wisdom.

This is a long preface to a poem I wrote some years ago that captures something of this. The idea is that the wise men represent Everyman, and Everyman is the sum of the journey from Eden to the present. It is called: The journey of a wise (every) man.

The journey of a wise (every) man

I fell for fork-tongued hissing wiles,
Believing that the tree would make me wise.
I sold my soul for what beguiles,
That damned me darkly deep to folly’s guise.

Thus east of Eden, banished,
I Would scan for pin-prick light the pit-bull black,
And curse the eyeless, deaf, mute sky
That mocked remorseful heart-pleas to go back.

Until that “just another” night,
When not just any natal star white-burned
And bade me follow its pure light.
To westward, homeward my steps turned.

I knew where this star-path would wend.
Was that not the Euphrates that we crossed?
Where could this mystery journey end,
But in the glades of paradise once lost?

But where it halted, where it stayed,
I tell you that no seer or sage could know.
A child within a manger laid?
Is this where wisdom would have bid me go?

In Bethlehem, not Eden’s joy,
But heaven’s pristine glory come to earth;
The second Adam as a boy,
My paradise regained by this new birth.

They called me wise who saw me come,
But I was altogether foolish, dim.
Before I worshiped, I was dumb,
I had no wisdom when I first found him.

I wide-eyed waited through the years.
I followed his signs now, and not a star.
Until the day when I once more wept tears,
And watched a Roman gibbet from afar.

My mind raced back through centuries,
To Eden’s shame and Satan’s lies.
I fell again upon my knees.
At last there was a tree to make me wise.

Stuart McAlpine
Christmas 1999

Pastorally yours,

Stuart

http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)

INTRODUCTION, PT. 2

feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)

Dearest family,

Thank you for the kindness of your attention on Sunday as we attempted Part 2 of the introduction to our Psalm Study. If you were there you will know that there now is a Part 3 pending! As the biggest book of the Bible, with such incredible internal variety, it is not surprising that it is challenging to give a comprehensive introduction. I am doing my best. What have we basically dealt with?

• The Psalms and how they relate to Israel

• The Psalms relate to themselves (interpretation)

• The Psalms and how they relate to other Psalms (genres)

• The Psalms and how they relate to key themes and subjects

• The Psalms and how they relate to the New Testament

• The Psalms and how they relate to Jesus

• The Psalms and how they relate to the church

But once we’ve done the reading and taken stock of all these relationships, we must take care of one more: the Psalms and how are they relate to us, to me. Our observation of the text, our asking questions of it, our interpretation, our meditation is incomplete without the application. That’s what the study of scripture is ultimately unto. One might argue that the great depths of the greatest teachers and preachers had to do with their devotional love for and identification with the Psalms. One of these was Charles Spurgeon, whose multi volume “Treasury of David” is in my theological library. He said this: “More and more is the conviction forced upon my heart that every man must traverse the territory of the Psalms himself if he would know what a goodly land they are. They flow with milk and honey, but not to strangers; they are fertile to lovers of their hills and vales…Happy the one who knows for themselves the secret of the Psalms.”

It is my desire, not only that you will get a feel for the Psalms, but that they will get a hold of you. I have some thoughts about some of the Psalms we will consider but I have by no means decided on a complete list. I’m going into this as if on the very kind of spiritual journey that I have said the Psalms chart and describe. So I am inviting you to join me to be taught:

• How to make these Psalms your own as Spurgeon suggested

• How to let them teach you how to express yourself to God, how to meditate, how to consider

• How to help you to pray when you’re not sure how: for suffering, about sin, about sinners, about evil, about nations, for enemies, when in doubt or angry.

• How to encourage your confession and your repentance, in your desire to be right, to get it right, to trust for your future

• How to learn how to intercede in wartime, in the context of trouble and trial, whether personal, communal, national or global

• How to bring reality into the presence of God

• How to relate godlily to the past, live godlily in the present and hope godlily for the future, how to relate past holy tradition to present experience and thus keep anticipating an ancient future; how to relate to the redemptive history of faith and to the lives of the saints

• How to bring our fears back to the moorings of faith

• How to trust God with our emotions in the raw and watch them being refined as things are revealed

• How to understand scripture in the light of what God has supremely and superbly done in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So many palms, so little time! It’s not surprising, is it, that Athanasius would describe the Psalms as “an epitome of the whole scriptures” or that Luther would describe the collection as “a little Bible and the summary of the OT.” Another commentator has observed: “It includes illustrations of every religious truth which it is necessary for us to know.”

In the last section of my message, I began to address the textual introduction to the Psalms themselves – in other words the Psalms that act as the front door to the entire collection, namely Psalms 1 and 2. We didn’t get very far than set them up, and I will spend the next message dealing with this necessary part of introduction – how the Psalms introduce themselves. These two Psalms are brilliantly and strategically placed together at the threshold of the Psalter. They are in fact a custom-made introduction. The Psalms is an edited collection, so the editors deliberately chose the preface to the most important and influential piece of devotional literature in the world.

You know what an overture is, right? It is an introduction or an approach to something. In music it’s the orchestral piece at the beginning of an opera, or suite or any composition. It comes to us from Latin, via Old French into Middle English, from the word which gives us “aperture” – a small opening into a new vista. That’s precisely what these Psalms do as we approach the whole volume.

They have been described in many ways other than my image of an overture: as a threshold, as a doorkeeper. I love reading the scholarly commentarians on the Psalms, the linguistic experts, the grammarians, but I also love studying the responses to the Psalms of pastors down through the centuries, from the early church fathers to the Puritan pastors to giants like Spurgeon, to our present time, to pastors like Eugene Petersen whose writings on the Psalms are extraordinarily sublime and have been extremely formative in my own understandings as they resonate so closely with my own innate responses. Talking of Petersen let me quote him on the matter at hand: “The text that teaches us to pray doesn’t begin with prayer, We are not ready. We are wrapped up in ourselves. We are knocked around by the world…In prayer…we decide to leave an ego-centered world and enter a God-centered world…But it is not easy…Psalms 1 and 2 pave the way. They get us ready to pray…set as an entrance to them, pillars flanking the way into prayer. We are not unceremoniously dumped into the world of prayer; we are courteously led across an ample porch…we are adjusted to the realities of prayer…They put our feet on the path that goes from the non-praying world in which we are habitually distracted and intimidated, into the praying world where we come to attention and practice adoration.” Superb!

So how do these first two Psalms actually work as that kind of introduction? Why were they deliberately chosen by the editors of the Psalms (probably post-exile) for this purpose? Ah! Join me next time for the discussion about this, but I the meantime, read them yourselves and try and get your own thoughts about it. And next time, if you are still sitting comfortably, we’ll begin yet again to try and finish this introduction!!

Pastorally yours,
Stuart

http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)

INTRODUCTION, PT. 1

feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)

Dearest family,

On Sunday we began (at last) a new “pseries”: PSERMONS ON THE PSALMS. This book of the Bible is a challenge to introduce, apart from the fact that it is the largest book in scripture. It has a breadth of range, whether authorship or historical chronology, whether themes or subjects, whether moods or tones, whether literary features or theological meaning. My goal on Sunday was to give you a feel for this variety and diversity and hopefully some helpful tools for the study of their meaning. Early on I quoted Walter Brueggemann, a prolific scholar of the psalms: “The Psalms are a centerpiece of Christian liturgy, piety and spirituality. They have been so from the beginning of the Christian movement for good reason. They have been found poignant in expression, able to empower believing imagination in many ways. This is evident in the rich usage made of the psalms in the New Testament, most especially in the passion of Jesus. But the use of the psalms by Christians is not without awkwardness, for the psalms are relentlessly Jewish in their mode of expression and their faith claims. And with our best intent for generosity and good faith, the different nuances of Jewish and Christian faith are not to be overlooked or easily accommodated.” Brueggemann’s statement is a useful springboard for some necessarily obvious introductory comments. Yes, the Psalms are indeed “relentlessly Jewish.” The psalms constitute Israel’s Prayer Book, known as the “sefer tehillim”, the Book of Praise. To Christians, they are the indispensable Psalms, from the Greek “psalmos” meaning a song sung to a stringed instrument, the translation used in the Greek version of the OT, read by the early church community.

I’m going to give you some of the lists that I put up on powerpoint so you have a record of them in case you were unable to take notes. Also, attached to this email is an article that will elaborate on some of the important principles of interpretation that we need when studying the psalms.

Structure:

• BOOK 1: 1-41

• BOOK 2: 42-72

• BOOK 3: 73-89

• BOOK 4: 90-106

• BOOK 5: 107-150

Some general movements:

• Spiritual movement

• Historical movement

• Emotional movement

Genres:
Hymns; Laments; Imprecations; Penitence; Thanksgivings; Confidence; Remembrance; Wisdom and Instruction; Celebration.

Essentially, of course, the Psalms are all about who God is.

• Because He is CREATOR and we are creatures we just cannot live anyway we like.

• Because He is HOLY and we are sinners, we cannot just come to Him anyway we like.

• They are all about the covenantal love relationship between God and His people.

Some of the main themes/subjects (Bonhoeffer’s schemetaics)
Creation; The Law and Word; Holy History; The Messiah; The people of God; The life of faith; Suffering; Guilt; Enemies; The end of things

Principles of interpretation:

1. Read a psalm in its context

2. Identify the genre

3. Note the poetic structure and literary devices (they are poems!)

4. Examine and unpack images and metaphors

5. Read psalm in light of its title where relevant

6. Check out its theological meaning

7. Consider how it relates to Jesus Christ

8. Meditate on ways psalm speaks to you

9. Deal with difficult expressions and experiences

10. Apply! Learning, loving, living.

Unfortunately, I did not have time to finish the introduction so that was Intro Part1. We covered more of the “Jewishness” aspects: the Psalms in relation to Israel; the Psalms in relation to other psalms; the Psalms in relation to key themes and subjects; the Psalms in relation to principles of interpretation.

In our next session, Intro Part 2, we will focus specifically on the Christian usage and relationship to the psalms, making comments on: the Psalms in relation to the New Testament; the Psalms in relation to Jesus; the Psalms in relation to the church; the psalms in relation to…US… to ME!

Then we will look briefly at the introduction to the collection that comes at the very beginning, Psalms 1 and 2, which set us up for what is to come. Don’t forget your homework and be sure to read these two psalms before our next session. If you can spend a little time meditating on them that would be excellent.

It’s not surprising, is it, that Athanasius would describe the Psalms as “an epitome of the whole scriptures” or that Luther would describe the collection as “a little Bible and the summary of the OT.” Another commentator has observed: “It includes illustrations of every religious truth which it is necessary for us to know.” I think you got the idea that there was going to be no shortage of possible content. I invite you to join me over the next few months and see where they lead us. I certainly know who they will lead us to, as they will source our learning, inspire our loving, equip our living, and tutor and nurture our leading through the holy direction of our wills that choose to obey the statutes of the Lord. And don’t forget, we are all expecting to become psalm-makers, so get that journal! It would be wonderful to end this “pseries” with a public reading and singing of Christ Our Shepherd’s new Psalm collection.

Pastorally yours,
Stuart

http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)

WISDOM PT. 2

feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)

Dearest family,

Last Sunday I tried to complete my unfinished message from the previous Sunday and I still did not manage to “close the deal”! How longsuffering you all are! (I think! I hope?) I spent a little time talking about the book of James in the context of the message’s encouragement to us all to pursue wisdom. James is in the great tradition of what we call biblical Wisdom Literature. It is as close to a NT commentary on the book of Proverbs as you will get. Because James’ letter is all about wisdom, it is not surprising that it is absolutely soaked, suffused, veritably stuffed with the scriptures. Scholars have carefully annotated the text, and whether by direct reference or allusion, can relate James’ teaching and commentary to: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, 1 Kings, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Zechariah, and Malachi. Why is James wise himself? Because he breathes and thinks scripture. It flows through his communication with an indiscriminate, unself-consciousness, spraying truth and spewing wisdom wherever he goes. He is not quoting verses like a know-it-all, chalking up his apostolic credentials, but simply oozing truth through his pastoral passion. I’m reminded of Spurgeon’s exhortation to his students to study the Word until their very blood was bibline!

I wonder where James got that from? Listening to the apostles use of scripture takes us into that inner sanctum where Jesus, post-resurrection, “explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.” (Lk.24:27) But may I remind you of Jesus’ words that prompted his exegesis of the scriptures? “He said to them, How foolish you are!” What did these fools need? The wisdom of the scriptures, and Jesus obliged them.

Would we be censured any less by Jesus for our foolishness? If our relationship with God’s word, and our love for it and obedience to it are any measure, where are we between folly and wisdom? How integrated are we? Would we be chided by Jesus any less for our abject lack of embroilment with the scripture? Do not the statutes of the Lord yet “make wise the foolish”? (Ps.19:7) The point is that James was nurtured by Jesus’ words and Jesus’ words were the words of scripture. So without laboring the point, note that connection, the integration, between the wisdom of God and the Word of God.

The fact is that James was intimate with a wise trinity. His personal life was integrated with the trinity and the relationships between Father, Son and Spirit.

With the “only wise God” of Roms.16:27, the God to whom all wisdom belongs (Job 12:13)

With Jesus, who became for us, wisdom, who is our wonderful counselor, of whom they asked in Mt.13:54 “where did this man get this wisdom from?” How subversively and infectiously wonderful is it that his disciples would provoke the same questions after his ascension! “They were unschooled ordinary men… and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)

With the Holy Spirit, the “spirit of wisdom” of Isaiah 11:1-3. Did not Jesus promise his disciples that the Father would give them another counselor (another source of wisdom), even “the Spirit of truth.” (Jn.14:17) “Ask that God may give you the Spirit of wisdom” writes Paul to the Ephesians. (1:17) We must heed what scripture teaches about the mind without the Spirit. This is why Romans 8 is so crucial here. Having prepared your message on the relationship between wisdom and the word, now you need the non-negotiable message about the relationship between wisdom and the Spirit. Remember Stephen in Acts 6:3, described as “full of the Spirit and wisdom”. What integration, what integrity. Should we then be surprised that a few verses later in 6:8 he is described as “full of grace and power”. None of these can be separated. You cannot be big into doctrines of grace without being big into the work of the Spirit. You cannot separate wisdom from power.

It is not ultimately your attendance at this church that will improve your integrity or further the integra-tion of heart and mind, but the attentiveness you give to the personality of the Godhead. It is not so much about your fellowship with others in this church, as good as that is, but all about being in fellowship with the trinity: God as your Father, Jesus as your fellow, the Spirit as your filler: God only wise, Christ the wisdom of God, and the Spirit of wisdom.

It is impossible to treat James’ letter as if it is a functional manual of “do’s and don’ts.” The wisdom extolled here is no less than a mighty and brilliant manifestation of the Holy Spirit. One theologian has described it as “wisdom pneumatology”. Wisdom is totally charismatic, though you’d be hard-pushed to believe that given the silliness and stupidity, fleshliness and foolishness that is so often presented in conjunction with much that is called charismatic ministry or behavior! It is understanding this relationship between the Spirit and wisdom that makes sense of his descriptions of spiritual wisdom in chapter 3, that reads like a list of the fruits of the Spirit. (“pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy…righteous”) I’m suggesting why James is a wise man, who is qualified to write about wisdom. It isn’t that he had a better handle on the rules for good living, on the rubric, but that he was intimately related with God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the NT, wisdom, as in the Hebrew understanding of wisdom in the OT, is not about theoretical or academic theological insight. It is all about a loving, willing, submissive, obedient adherence to God’s word. It is related to understanding God’s declared plans and purposes and determining to do them, and actually doing them. Did not Jesus himself say, “Wisdom is proved right by her actions.” (Mt.11:19) Here is the dominical requirement of integrity between what is learned and what is lived, between acquired knowledge and applied knowledge. The Jewish view of wisdom is utterly God-centered. It’s first all about knowing God’s purposes, not negotiating the world’s problems.

Hopefully you have already gleaned enough to begin to understand James better before we even look at his specific exhortation. How could Luther, with all respect, get it so wrong about this book that he called “an epistle of straw.” I’m sure he and James have sorted it out by now, and Luther has confessed that he was not the first one, in Jeremiah’s words, to confuse straw with grain! The fact is that the letter of James is not a polemic about faith versus works. It is primarily about wisdom that is demonstrated in a faith that works: the wisdom of faith that discerns and accepts God’s will, and the wisdom of action that does God’s work. Wisdom is demonstrated in the speaking of God’s words and the living out of God’s ways.

Obviously, I did not have time for a detailed study of James’ text. However, there is a macro contextual point that will help you understand why the need for wisdom is such a big deal for James – and guess where he got it from – yes, the book of Proverbs, but more importantly, from Jesus himself. I would argue that James’ letter is a strategic “last days” book, given its urgency, intensity and catholicity. The reason it is all about wisdom is because it is all about the dangers of deception. He wants to know how we are going to discern in a day of deception, when the foundations of personal faith, of churches, of so-called Christian institutions are hit by the tsunami of anti-Christ. Proverbs 14:8 says: “The folly of fools is deception.” So if you are deceived, you are a fool, whatever you are deceived about. It is a fool who says in his heart there is no God. It is a fool, according to Proverbs, who will embrace illicit sexuality. You could sum up James’ appeal in the oft-repeated refrain “Do not be deceived.” (1:16) It is no wonder then that he begins his epistle with the necessary prior appeal for wisdom from God. “If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God.” (James 1:5) Look what happened to Solomon when he asked! Particularly in a context when faith is being tested and under trial, when things aren’t making sense, when survival seems difficult; when events yield no purpose and energy yields no perseverance; when the natural response to trying circumstances would be to consider it jeopardy or maybe judgment but certainly not joy. Without wisdom in such times, wrong decisions, wrong discernments, wrong departures are possible. James is essentially a volume of Fool’s wisdom, and by fool I mean the “fool for Christ” the holy fool. As many of you asked for the outline I gave on Sunday I am including it with this letter. Listen to his appeal against deception:

• 1:1-18 – don’t be deceived about
ο trials: to develop not destroy
ο treasures: transitory not trustworthy
ο temptations: our desire not God’s design

• 1:19-27 – don’t be deceived about true religion
ο not just hearing but doing
ο not just thinking about it but truly knowing
ο not formal obedience but faithful obedience ο not our words but God’s word

• 2:1-13 – don’t be deceived about people
ο judging by appearances
ο showing favoritism
ο being unmerciful

• 2:14-26 – don’t be deceived about true faith
ο professing without producing
ο declaring much but doing nothing

• 3:1-12 – don’t be deceived about your communication
ο small sparks start big fires
ο praising God and cursing others

• 3:13-18 – don’t be deceived about true wisdom
ο heavenly or earthly?
ο Holocaust of evil or harvest of righteousness?

• 4:1-17 – don’t be deceived about your desires
ο your willfulness or His will?
ο Resisting evil or resorting to it?
ο Friend of the world or enemy of God? ο Single-hearted or double-minded?

• 5:1-6 – don’t be deceived about stuff
ο what you hoard (wealth) vs. what God hears (cries of unpaid workers)
ο godly use vs. greedy abuse

• 5:7-11 – don’t be deceived about time
ο our waiting – His coming
ο patience not presumption

You’ll have to download the message for the rest of the points. I spoke about the necessity to ASK FOR WISDOM (exhortations to pray are the bookend of James). I also spoke about the need for wisdom in order to DISCERN THE TIMES, without which, you will not be able to DISCERN THE STEWARDSHIP AND USE OF YOUR PERSONAL TIME. “Be very careful then how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” (Ephs. 5:15-17)

Pastorally yours,
Stuart

P.S. Thank you to the sweet person who asked me if I’d carry on with this as a series!

http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)

WISDOM PT. 1

feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)

Dear Church Family,

Stuart began a message this Sunday that he will complete this coming weekend. He spoke on the subject of wisdom and how crucial it is for us in the days we live in. In light of the coming tumult and the tyranny of the Beast of Revelation 13, the Apostle John warns us in 13:8, “This calls for wisdom.” John implores us like Solomon from Proverbs 4:7, “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

You can listen to part one of Stuart’s message on the web, but in the meantime before part two, it would be good to read and meditate on Proverbs 2 and the book of James (described by some as commentary on the book of Proverbs).

Rich blessings to you this week,
Ben

http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)