PSALMS 51, PT. 1

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

Dear family,

I have been deeply moved by some responses received from Sunday, referencing very specific things that were ministered to by the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that David asked God to be present with him. Over the last two messages in the PSALM PSERIES, I have focused on Psalm 51, the fourth in a group of psalms that have been the historic reading of the church during the period of Lent (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) that are described as “the penitential psalms”. These form a genre within a genre, the primary categorization being “laments”. Psalm 51 is arguably the most well-known and influential, and one of the most definitive presentations of repentance in scripture.

What began as David’s darkest moment of self-knowledge ends up becoming one of the most profound biblical examples of repentance that brings restoration. There are many liberal commentators who describe this psalm as lacking “homogenous construction.” Clearly, I suggested the exact opposite: that there is an extraordinary spiritual logic in the way David recounts his journey to recovered wholeness, in six distinctive identifiable steps, or movements, as he seeks a way forward to resolution. We worked our way through this process that gives us the crucial constituent elements of repentance: in a way the psalm is an anatomy of repentance and therefore of forgiveness also, which becomes a tutor to our own souls, and an example for our own practice of confession. It is our familiarity with it that perhaps robs it of its amazing spiritual power, but if we can get back in touch with its raw truth, then we will find that most presently recited liturgical confessions are pale by comparison.

We noted the following main points about the content of this confession. 1. An appeal to God. 2. An acknowledgement of his rebellion but also of God’s righteousness. 3. An awareness of the depth of his sin but also the depth of his salvation. 4. An agonizing and asking for forgiveness. 5. An aching for spiritual renewal. 6. An anticipation of being used again by God. Please get the CD or download if you want to revisit the teaching on each of these points. This story of David illustrates a complete process: Confrontation, Conviction, Contrition, Confession and Consecration.

And everyone lived happily ever after! Or did they? I said that it would leave a wrong impression if I’d chosen to finish there, though it is easier and more palatable, and less problematic to do so. It is important, having finished reading Psalm 51, to go back to the story (Read 2 Sam. 12: 10-20). True, David’s sentence of death for his sin was commuted by the grace of God but there were two consequences of the sin that need to be mentioned:

1. The baby died. David fasted and prayed but it was to no avail. There is that poignant picture of him getting off the ground where he had spent seven days and nights pleading with God, and going into the house of the Lord where it simply says he “worshiped” (2 Sam. 12:20). As challenging as this is, this is actually a word of hope and encouragement for any who are bearing the consequences of sin, or living with a seemingly unchangeable impasse, or irreconciliation post-sin, post-forgiveness. The power of the grace that forgave you and delivered you is the same saving grace that will keep you and minister to you and give you the grace to bear with an anointed face, the consequences that are not necessarily removed by virtue of that confession and repentance given, and that forgiveness received. These consequences cannot cast a shadow on what God has done, they cannot mute your worship, they cannot accuse you before God. Though they may remind you of the past from time to time, what God has forgiven is already in the sea of his forgetfulness.

2. The things that were prophesied by Nathan came true. (2 Sam. 16:22) From this point on, whatever it was that David had opened up through his sin, his family became the great burden of his soul: the rebellion of his son Absalom, the rape of a daughter. And someone can think that David got away with it?

What is so profound and overwhelming is what we read in 2 Samuel 12: 24-25. Bathsheba gets pregnant again, has a son and they name him Solomon. The text says, “The Lord loved him, and sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.” What do you think David’s first thought or feeling was when he was told after this birth that there was a message from Nathan. Did that bring back all the bad memories of the last message from the prophet after the last birth? Could there be a more poignant message of the grace and love of God, of an affirmation of a restoration and a new beginning. And this would be the son who would be able to complete what David most longed to do, build a dwelling place for the Lord. Wow! Mercy triumphs over judgment. As Moody used to put it, where sin was loud, grace and forgiveness shouted even louder!

Many commentators argue that the last section of this psalm was added after the exile when the collection was put together, because it doesn’t seem to fit. I don’t hold this to be so. The sin of David the King had uncovered the city and the kingdom, in the way that the sin of a husband can uncover his wife, or the sin of a mother can uncover her children, or the sin of a leader can uncover those he leads. Sin breaches the walls of our relationships. Sin undoes the mortar of the bricks of covenant and leaves gaps for bad things to come in, and colonize. Our repentance, gives us every ground, like David’s, to ask for the walls that have been breached to be rebuilt and restored, and for a return of a united sacrificial response to God as a marriage, as a family, as a team, as a friendship, as a city, as a nation. It is always the forgiving intervention of God in our lives that makes us intercessors and interveners on behalf of others.

The nature of all of this, of David’s healing and deliverance is the more extraordinary, given the way it points to Jesus and the consummation of his work to make us those who have a new heart. It is the cross, that David did not know, though more than once he prophetically foresaw it, that convinces us of both the depth of our sin and the depth of our salvation. John Stott has written "If we interpret sin as a lapse instead of a rebellion, and God as indulgent instead of indignant, then naturally the cross appears superfluous." Our understanding of the cross is absolutely related to the depth of our sin. As the old hymn puts it, "O tell me what it meaneth, Help me to take it in, What it meant to thee the holy one, To take away my sin." The cross is the place where there is an equal demonstration of God's justice and his love. The judgment against sin that his holiness demanded is operative with his love that pardons the unjust offender. The depth of sin is seen in the depth of suffering, the depth of separation and alienation from God, the depth of violence. The presentation of the cross as a "propitiation" (Roms.3:24-25; I Jhn.2:1-2;4:10) once again draws attention to the depth of wrath against such depth of sin, that had to be appeased. For those of us who live this side of the cross, the sense of the depth of our sin is affirmed when we realize the nature of the power of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. The depth of sin is great but the reach of God's grace and mercy and delivering power is greater. Where sin abounded, grace abounded more. In the NT, when the depth of sin is exposed with the tragic corruption of a life without Christ, we are immediately shown, not just more of who we were or who we are, but who Christ intends us to become. The NT emphasis is on Christ not sin. Where the realities of the first Adam are mentioned, the glories of the second Adam are exegeted and exalted. Paul refers to, or alludes to many OT scriptures pertaining to the origin and nature of the depths of our sin, but his emphasis is always the difference that the crucified, risen, ascended, glorified Christ makes. Where Adam is mentioned, Paul's Christology soars. As one commentator has put it, the image of the dusty one pales in the light of the image of the heavenly one. The NT emphasis does not skirt the depth of our sin, but acknowledging it, goes on to extol the deliverance from sin that has been wrought through the finished work of Christ.

When we deal with the truth of the depth of our sin, we are confronted not only with the gruesome thing that our sin did to Christ, but with the glorious thing that Christ's salvation did for us.

When we were far away…we were brought near (Ephs. 2:17) We were unrighteous…we have become the righteousness of God (2 Cors. 5:21) We were unholy…we are now God’s holy and beloved (Cols. 3:12) We were broken…we are complete with the fullness of Christ (Cols. 2:10) We were once darkness…now we are light in the Lord (Ephs. 5:8) We were once guilty…now we are blameless in his sight without blemish and free from accusation (Cols. 1;22) We were once no people…now we are the people of God (1 Pet. 2:9-12) We had once not received mercy…now we have received mercy (1 Pet. 2-10) We were once dead in our sins… now we have been made alive with Christ (Ephs2:1-5).

In the words of another old hymn:

There's a way back to God

From the dark paths of sin

There's a door that is open

And all may go in

At Calvary's cross is where you begin

When you come as a sinner to Jesus.

Pastorally yours,

Stuart

PSALM 27: CONFIDENCE

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

Dearest family,

On Sunday in our “Psalm Pseries of Psermons”, we looked at Psalm 27, one of the psalms from the “confidence” genre. There are many psalms in this category with distinctive similarities of style and theme (16, 23, 27, 62, 73, 91, 115, 121, 125, and 131). What are some of the common features?

• They all maintain a note of consistent and persistent and insistent trust in both God’s availability and His ability to provide help and deliverance. Did you note the repetition of “help” and of “trust” when we skimmed through them?

• They share common images to present the nature and character of God: shield, fortress, stronghold, refuge, rock, shepherd, mother, father, guardian and protector, portion. You can understand why these are often called the “protective” psalms.

• However, although there is no question about the confidence they express, there are other things going on. The confidence is not smugness, or swaggering, or presumptuous. It is neither naive optimism nor doctrinaire assertiveness. There is nothing here of the rhetorical faith movement’s pragmatism dressed up as biblical faith, or of the prosperity heresy’s triumphalist claims on victorious provision. One observer has described these psalms as “expressions of faith not cries of victory.” There is a confidence that help is on its way, even though it has not yet necessarily arrived.

• In most of these confidence psalms there are allusions to, or in some cases, explicit mentions of trouble. In Ps. 121, the question “Where does my help come from?” assumes that there is a situation that needs help. Ps. 16 begins “Keep me safe O God.” That means there was a real threat. In Ps. 62, after saying he will never be shaken, there is reference to the assault and lies and curses that are being experienced.

• The reason I chose Psalm 27 is because it illustrates these features so well. Although there is evident confidence, there are places in the psalm where you cannot work out if it is a lament on the one hand, or a psalm of thanksgiving on the other. The psalm seems to go from extreme hardship to extreme blessing. What I am arguing is that these psalms of confidence are so true to our life experiences: they describe how we can be and feel “in the middle” in the way that it does not become a “muddle”. Though there is an element of lament, of deep need and even desperation, they do not have the very strong vocalizations of pain found in the laments. The psalmist has not as yet experienced the desired deliverance or salvation so it falls just short of an unbridled thanksgiving psalm.

• I’m suggesting that these psalms of confidence can be related to precisely because they are so uneven. The truth is that trouble and confidence do co-exist, don’t they? I like to describe them as being somewhere between lamenting and lauding. They border on both threat and thanksgiving. Though they openly articulate trouble, they equally openly declare the anticipated deliverance and thus sound like thanksgiving hymns.

• Don’t forget that these psalms are prayers. They are all about asking. Add this message to my asking series of three years ago! Confidence is the ground of our asking of God in the first place in a context of need and pain, and threat and discouragement, but confidence is exampled in these psalms as the disposition post-asking as we wait for and anticipate God’s timely answers and responses.

Once you’ve read Psalm 27, you realize just how much the psalmist has to ask about. Yet the psalm begins with a thundering declaration of confidence, despite the fact that there are plenty of things going on to undermine and subvert confidence. This is perhaps one of the best known and most consoling of the confidence psalms, but frankly, it’s a bit of a roller-coaster. It’s anything but a smooth ride. It divides into two distinctive halves, so distinctive that it has been argued that they can stand on their own as separate psalms. There is a serious mood change. But the psalm, as most of these poetic pieces do, has a very conscious structure:

• Vs 1-6: reads like a psalm of confident trust. God is addressed in the third person.

• Vs 7-12: reads more like a lament at the beginning. It is an intense and very moving prayer. God is addressed directly in the first person.

But in both halves, there is the presence of enemies, despite the testimony and experience of the presence of God. And note the pattern:

• Confidence in God before enemies

• Desire to seek God’s face

• Desire to seek God’s face

• Confidence in God before enemies.

Does this not make sense? This is not a divided mind or heart. This is not feverish belief one minute and faithlessness the next. This is the way it is: the uneven mix of both trust and trials, of both consternation and confidence. The mood swings are not to be the grounds for condemnation about fickleness. They are real spiritual mood swings, emotionally speaking, but when it comes to the bedrock matter of trust and faith in who God is, even though we don’t know who we are or what’s going on, God’s character is unchangeable. Like the two psalms either side of it, 26 and 28, this psalm presents the invitation to an unchanging, undistracted focus on the Lord, and despite the confrontation, there is confidence.

What kind of psalm would we write in similar circumstances of threat and trouble? What is the basis of your confidence dearheart? What are the piranhas that eat at your faith and strip your confidence? What fears, what anxieties, what ignorances, what timidities, what self-doubts, what shames, what perceived weaknesses? Are there fissures and fractures in your confidence in what you believe; in who you are in Christ; in what you are doing with your life; in what your future is for; in how your relationships are growing? And what about false confidences? The falsities of human smarts, human strengths, human wealth, human wisdom? The false confidences of affiliations and reputations? The counterfeit sources of confidence – our equivalents of Egypt (Ezek.29:16) and flesh (Phils. 3:3)? What is the basis for your present confidence in your life? For your confidence in trial or in temptation? Are you confident in the land of the living? In Paul’s terms, are you confident in the face of what is to come? Are you confident in the face of death? Are you confident about your eternal destiny, that to be with the Lord is preferable? Are you confident about standing at the judgment seat of Christ? Are you confident of the treasure in your jar of clay? Of the grace that is sufficient for your weakness?

As followers of Jesus we have such a greater and stronger confidence than David could ever have had:

• When it comes to unwavering grounds for confidence, we are this side of Holy Week.

• When it comes to the confidence to make our pleas, as in Psalm 27, to ask and seek, we can “approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy [cf. Ps.27:7 be merciful] and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrs. 4:16)

• Do we not “have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus”? (Hebrs. 10:19)

• Is our faith not “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”?(Hebrs. 11:1)

• Did not the apostle John say that God has given us eternal life and that life is in His Son Jesus, so that if we are in Jesus, then “this is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.” (1 Jn. 5:14) This was also Paul’s conviction: “In Him and through faith in Him we can approach God with freedom and confidence.” (Ephs. 3:12)

• Addressing besieged Christians, the writer to the Hebrews is urging them to be content with what they have and he cites the grounds of their confidence by quoting Psalm 118: 6-7, “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’”

• It was the same writer who urged his first readers, and us, to “hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.” What confidence? A few verses earlier he had simply said, “Consider Jesus.” On the natural level, like the psalmist, all they can see are their persecutors and all that is ranged against them but they see Jesus, their apostle and their priest. It is the same language of Psalm 27: consider, literally fix your gaze – it is not a glance but a continuous look. Out of consideration and contentment comes confidence and continuity of faithful experience.

• Finally, in Hebrs. 10:32, the readers are actually invited to recall their Psalm 27 struggles, “hard struggle with sufferings”, but they had confidence when they were vandalized and robbed that they had “a better possession and an abiding one.” Again, how similar is the NT counsel to the OT psalmists’ invitation. “For you have the need of endurance so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised. For yet a little while (“wait” of Psalm 27) and the coming one shall come but my righteous one shall live by faith…we are not of those who shrink back… but of those who have faith and keep their souls.”

For the discussion about the psalm itself you will have to download the message. Let me conclude by reminding you that David’s place of confident safety was “the house of the Lord” (27:4) This was the place of confidence in the presence of the Lord. But there has been a change. According to scripture (Hebrs. 3:6) “we are God’s house if we hold fast our confidence.” In Paul’s words to the Corinthians, (2 Cors. 3:4) “Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God.” That is why he could eschew the false confidences in that passage of self-commendation or self-competence. Opposition was his daily experience but his confidence, like the psalmist, took him from lament to thanksgiving: “Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ.” Paul and David knew the same truths. Paul said that there was so much that was like “the smell of death” to human sensibilities but he was confident that to God, he was the aroma of Christ. This gives a whole new meaning to the next time your response to circumstance is “It stinks.”

Pastorally yours,

Stuart

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

PSALMS: 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

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)