March 26, 2020
Acts 2:42-47
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Americans seem to be less connected than ever. Thanks to social media we appear to be connected. Facebook and snapchat give the veneer of social connectedness. Ironically, however, our almost constant access via social media has actually worked toward an increasing sense of alienation. It is a counterfeit fellowship. It is isolation masquerading as and then replacing genuine connection.
The current crisis has required the great majority of churches to connect on Sundays through live-streaming or pre-recorded “worship services.” I am not protesting that of course. It is the choice we have made in order to guard each other’s health and to honor the civil authorities. But we have found that “virtual gatherings” are not worthy substitutes for actually being together on the Lord’s Day.
In his book Coming Apart, Charles Murray found that the difference between the average poor person’s happiness and the average upper-middle class person’s happiness could be explained most easily by what he calls “high social trust” – basically, lots of close relationships. Interestingly, when you add faithful religious observance, you’ve bridged the happiness gap between the poor and upper middle class almost entirely. Fellowship matters, perhaps, more than we even know.
J.I. Packer has written:
"We should not…think of fellowship with other Christians as a spiritual luxury, an optional addition to the exercises of private devotion. We should recognize rather that such fellowship is a spiritual necessity; for God has made us in such a way that our fellowship with himself is fed by our fellowship with fellow Christians, and requires to be so fed constantly for its own deepening and enrichment."
What is described at the end of Acts chapter 2 is a fellowship. It is a uniquely Christian reality. Indeed, the two words (Hebrew in the O.T. and Greek in the N.T.) used in the Bible most often to describe the people of God literally mean gathering. The church is a communion of believers united to one another through Christ. The saving power of the Lord Jesus, his Word, his people, and his priorities lie at the heart of the church’s fellowship.
What Luke records in Acts chapter 2 is the remarkable conversion of thousands (Jews primarily) who had traveled to Jerusalem for Pentecost. A megachurch was born through one sermon. It was a unique moment in redemptive history. It also presented an immediate challenge. Indeed, it could have ended disastrously. Thousands of men, women, and children who now found themselves devoted to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship were far away from their homes without necessary income and food and shelter. What Luke goes on to describe is the extraordinary mobilization of the fellowship to meet those needs suddenly present.
Don’t you find yourself – when you read Luke’s description of that first church – thinking, “If only I was part of a church like that!” We often times have romantic ideas about the way we think the church’s fellowship ought to be. We imagine that somewhere there exists a church that does everything or nearly everything right. A church where the pastor is always “on.” A church where the people are always loving. A church where only my favorite songs are sung. A church where my needs are always attended to with great sensitivity.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer addresses this in his little book on Christian community. He points out that churches have been torn apart by what he calls our “wish dream” of a Christian community which just does not exist on this side of glory. He writes that if we are to be healthy contributors to the fellowship then we have to go through a kind of disillusionment. That is, we have to get realistic about ourselves and each other. He writes:
“By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world…Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial…He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God himself accordingly.”[1]
This fellowship will often be challenging given the fact that we are all still works in progress struggling against our own sin. We will disappoint one another. We will fail from time to time. Some of those failures will be significant. And yet this has always been the case with the church. Nevertheless, it has pleased God to make the fellowship of his people a means by which he draws unbelievers to himself and forms them according to the image of his Son.
Luke concludes his brief description of the church in Jerusalem by pointing to the fruit of their fellowship:
“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (2:46-47).
Even a fellowship as flawed as that very first church surely was, nevertheless was a means by which God daily drew sinners to himself. Let this be a comfort to us. The current crisis may well prove to be a gift from God to his church to learn better not only how to love one another but how to shine for his glory.
[1] D. Bonhoeffer, Life Together, p. 27
March 25, 2020
1 Peter 4:7-11
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
We’ve probably all seen billboards or walking sandwich signs – either in real life or in movies – which read, “The End Is Near!” Such warnings seem comical to most as they suggest a belief in a final judgment, a decidedly unpopular view in our day. But even the most skeptical among us know that their days are numbered. It is a jarring truth. And whether we respond to that reality with despair or hope depends upon what we believe will greet us on the other end of that fact.
Nevil Shute’s nightmarish novel from 1957 On the Beach is about the terrifying aftermath of an accidental nuclear war. The original cover blurb reads like this:
In the Northern Hemisphere, the end had come suddenly, disastrously…In the Southern Hemisphere, the end would come slowly, as radiation drifted in the wind. There would be time to prepare, time to seek solace in religion, or alcohol, or frenzied [pleasure], or in the thing that one had always wanted to do. To drive a fast, expensive car. To buy some splendid object with one’s life savings. To consume the best bottles of wine from the cellar of one’s club…In the end, when the sickness could not be stopped, the government would issue cyanide pills to those who waited, hoping they would not have to use them, knowing they would.
As one New Testament scholar has stated, “What one believes about the future shapes how one lives today” (Jobes, 274). Belief in a future which is essentially full of loss and despair will produce a particular kind of living. On the other hand, the Christian confidence in eternal life in the blessed presence of God in the new creation should produce an alternate society which is noticeably distinct from the surrounding world. This alternate society is the church of Jesus Christ.
In chapter 4 of his first epistle the Apostle Peter directs our attention to the coming judgement and “the end of all things.” This eternal perspective which has as its focus on life in the age to come is essential for Christians, who because of their status as strangers and aliens, are never quite at home in this sinful world.
The four exhortations in this passage are predicated upon the knowledge that the risen Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead (vs. 5) and then inaugurate his everlasting kingdom in the new creation (vs. 7). The biblical teaching on the end times (eschatology) is never given so that God’s people can busy themselves making charts and predicting dates. Repeatedly, eschatology is used as a means to encourage believers to live in a way that honors Christ, serves the family of believers, and advances the gospel to the unbelieving world.
In the passage recorded above, the Apostle specifies four ways that we ought to respond to the knowledge that the consummation of the ages is at hand:
- Be self-controlled and sober-minded.
God’s people are not to be foolish but rather sober-minded. We are not to be governed by sinful passions but rather be possessed of self-control. This we are told is “for the sake of your prayers.” Frivolous and self-indulgent people know not how to pray. And as the Day of Judgment approaches, the need for ceaseless praying will become all the more apparent.
- Love one another earnestly.
As the “end of all things” draws nearer Christians must love all the more. In the crisis we are presently facing we can see the powerful witness of earnest love. While we ought to honor the civil authorities and practice wisdom, Christians must never be those who raise the proverbial draw bridge and cut themselves off from others in misguided attempts at self-preservation. Living with a proper view of the end ought to generate love which is earnest, not shallow or fleeting.
- Show hospitality.
One of the marks of Christians is that they are a welcoming people (at least, that’s the way Christians ought to be). After all, we serve a God who spared not his own Son but gave him up so that he might welcome a vast multitude of redeemed sinners to his banquet. Contemplating the end of this present age ought to prompt the church of Jesus Christ to welcome not avoid, to plead with not condemn our neighbors.
- Use the gifts God has given you.
There are no unnecessary members of the Body of Christ. God has given each one of a role to play. Indeed, he has invested in each one of us a gift to use for the building up of the church. With the end in view Christians do not run for the hills. They keep serving. They keep giving. They keep instructing and preaching and helping. And this, all for the glory of God.
To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
March 24, 2020
Job 42:1–7
Then Job answered the LORD and said:
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
Job is a long book – 42 chapters. In addition to being long, Job requires that the reader plod through a vast middle section made up almost entirely of lengthy, poetic speeches which often repeat the same themes. Surely this is by design. The length of the book and its methodical pacing tell us, at least, that God desires for us to take our time reading through Job’s story. It is tempting to focus almost exclusively on the opening and closing narratives while neglecting the larger middle portion. But those chapters function like carefully placed speed bumps requiring the reader to move slowly and cautiously through the challenging terrain of God’s providence in human suffering. Questions about God’s role in human suffering are profoundly difficult both intellectually and emotionally. So, it is no surprise that God gave his people a book that requires the reader to slow down, read carefully, and digest slowly. Questions from the ash heap of sorrow cannot be answered with a Tweet.
Technically, Job is classified as wisdom literature. This is appropriate for Job possesses many of the key features of biblical wisdom literature. However, Job is unique among the books of the Bible in that it is a mix of prose, poetry, and speech. Most of all, however, Job is poetry. God, of course, inspired not only the words of Scripture but the various genres as well. And it pleased Him to give us a book which grapples so honestly with human suffering written primarily in a poetic structure. Why might this be? We can only speculate but J.I. Packer is probably getting at the truth when he concludes that poems “are always a personal ‘take’ on something, communicating not just from head to head but from heart to heart” (quoted in Ash).*
At the beginning of the Book of Job we are introduced to the spiritual reality of the universe. Specifically, we see that there is a spiritual conflict instigated by Satan. The story of Job is not about suffering and evil generally. It is about the faithful believer who suffers. It is about the wicked intentions of Satan against God and his people. And Job suffers precisely because he is a righteous man.
It is his faithfulness which makes him an attractive target to the enemy. Jesus said in John 10:10 – “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy.” The Apostle Peter said, “Your enemy of the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” One sobering moment described in Luke 22 Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” Jesus did not pray that his disciples would be spared from the attacks of the evil one in this life. He gives permission for the attacks and then prays for their perseverance.
Don’t ever believe that knowing Jesus lifts you above the warfare. Quite the opposite. Knowing Jesus puts you smack dab in the middle of it. In 1 Peter 4:12 the apostle tells us not to be surprised at our suffering, “as though something strange were happening to us.”
After experiencing unimaginable suffering Job endured the misguided counsel of his friends. Those friends held to a worldview in which suffering only came to the unrighteous. Therefore, their litany of rebukes against Job acted like salt in the wounds. Indeed, so great was the pain that even righteous Job began to challenge God’s justice. And then God spoke. And rather than offering answers to every question about “the problem of evil” God gave Job what he truly needed. God spoke. He put Job in his place as it were. “Where were you when I made all these things?”
After hearing God’s searing words Job responded with repentance: “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know (vs. 3). The Lord then turned his attention to Job’s friends: “After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: ‘My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has” (vs. 7).
Unlike his three counselors, Job had spoken rightly: “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” “Shall we receive good from the Lord and not calamity?”
But Job repents precisely because all of his words and attitudes were not right. And this likely indicates that God’s commendation of Job is more than just about the words Job spoke. It is likely that God is affirming the totality of Job’s faith in contrast to the lack of understanding of the three friends. Throughout, Job displays a passion to know God and understand his ways. He never lets go of God. God is not merely a system or philosophy to Job. For Job, God is his only hope to be justified. He waits actively, prayerfully, and painfully for the vindication of God.
“Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” - James 5:11
* Ash, Christopher, Job: The Wisdom of the Cross (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014) p. 22.
March 23, 2020
Psalm 129
A Song of Ascents.
“Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”—
let Israel now say—
“Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me.
The plowers plowed upon my back;
they made long their furrows.”
The LORD is righteous;
he has cut the cords of the wicked.
May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward!
Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
which withers before it grows up,
with which the reaper does not fill his hand
nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
nor do those who pass by say,
“The blessing of the LORD be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the LORD!”
One of the great gifts of the Psalms is that they give us a language for lament and even holy complaint (yes, there is such a thing). In this particular Psalm of Ascent the psalmist reflects on a particularly harrowing time in the life of God’s people. In our present crisis we would do well to learn from this psalm how deep trust in God can exist simultaneously with griefs.
Of this Psalm Derek Kidner writes:
“Whereas most nations tend to look back on what they have achieved, Israel reflects here on what she has survived. It could be a disheartening exercise, for Zion still has its ill-wishers. But the singers take courage from the past, facing God with gratitude and their enemies with defiance.”
There are two primary movements in this Psalm of Ascent. The first part (vv. 1-3) reflects on the afflictions God’s people have endured at the hands of God’s enemies. The second part (vv. 5-8) is a curse pronounced upon God’s enemies. In between is verse 4 which is a pivot point between the two: “The Lord is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.”
The metaphor used by the psalmist to describe the people’s suffering is gruesome. “The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long furrows” (vs. 3). Picture the blade of a plow meant to cut through fallow ground now employed to dig into the backs of God’s people. The Bible never shies from acknowledging the suffering experience by the righteous in this life. A fallen world provides no small number of opportunities for the people of God to lament. But their griefs are always temporary. This is so because “the Lord is righteous” (vs. 4).
That the Lord is righteous means that he will only ever act rightly. He will never do what is wrong or unjust. He will never withhold from anyone what is due them. Neither will the Lord ever judge in a way that is more harsh than what is deserved. The Lord’s righteousness means that all his actions are in full accord with his perfections. We must keep this in mind in those times when we wonder whether God has dealt fairly with us. His righteousness must also be remembered in those times God’s justice toward the wicked is challenged.
This Psalm promises that the righteous Lord will one day completely vanquish evil. The salvation of God’s people will be fully realized in the age to come when all sin, sickness and death are finally and forever removed. God has worked this victory through the dying and rising of Jesus, the eternally begotten Son. On Christ’s cross the kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of God collided in the greatest battle ever fought. The Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15) faced off on the execution grounds outside the city of Jerusalem. And at the very moment when it appeared that the Lord had lost, the cry of the Son – “It is finished” – was actually the epitaph of Satan.
We live in that age when the death throws of the serpent are especially violent. We see his hateful thrashings throughout the world. But his days are numbered. The day is coming when the risen Christ will return to judge the living and dead. He will separate his people from the wicked. He will welcome home all those who are his and cast away all those who have remained in their sin. At that moment all that we have hoped for in this life will become sight and death and sin will be no more. “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).
March 20, 2020
Matthew 8:28-34
And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.
The modern West has little room for the miraculous. Plenty of people consider themselves to be spiritual and may even make room for the supernatural to some degree. But when it comes to the specificities of the miracles recorded in the Bible the responses range from the scoffing of unbelievers to embarrassment from some believers.
However, since God exists (It defies reason for the universe to be uncreated) we live in a world that is more than merely natural. Likewise, since God is supernatural it makes perfect sense that among his works will be those which transcend the merely natural. Jesus was widely recognized not only by his followers but by his critics and secular historians as a miracle worker.
Jesus performed miracles primarily as signs pointing to his identity and mission. The miracles demonstrate that God is actively involved in his creation. This is no more powerfully demonstrated than in the incarnation, God in the flesh. The miracles also demonstrate the authority of Jesus over all realms of creation. Jesus commanded nature, healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons.
According to Scripture Satan, or the Devil was an archangel who was cast out of heaven when he rebelled against God. Along with Satan were cast down a sizeable number of angels who had joined his rebellion. These fallen angels are what are referred to as demons. It is of particular interest that in the present passage the demons instantly recognize who Jesus is and know that His presence means judgment for them. They remember Him from glory. They know His mission on earth. And they know that he is ultimately their Judge.
Descriptions of demon possession are only hinted at in the Old Testament and there are few examples of it after the Gospels. “In the Bible [an outbreak of] demon possession seems rather to be part of the upsurge of evil opposing Jesus in the time of his incarnation” (Morris, 208). It makes sense that the coming of the Messiah into the world would be met with frequent opposition from Satan. Jesus’ encounter with demons was an important element in his ministry because of what those encounters revealed about God’s kingdom, the kingdom of this world, and the nature of Jesus’ mission.
In his encounter with the Gadarene demoniacs Jesus demonstrated his comprehensive authority. There was nothing the demons could do to manipulate Jesus or curtail his power over them. It is also clear that demons are aware that a time is coming when Jesus will judge them once and for all. It was Jesus’ death on the cross for sinners and his victorious resurrection which finally sealed the fate of the demonic powers of sin and darkness. The Apostle Paul states that through his death on the cross Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities [a reference to all opposition to Christ] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them” (Col. 2:15).
In this time of crisis remember that King Jesus has not lost control of his creation. Satan is not running wild exercising dominion over the earth. He is a powerful foe, yes. But he is also a dog on a leash. He is a defeated enemy. What we see now in the wickedness that seems to prevail around the world is the death rattle of his guile and opposition to God. Praise be to God that we will not be lost; that we will not be victims of our ancient foe.
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14).
March 19, 2020
Luke 13:1–5
“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’”
The question of why bad things happen is surely almost as old as humanity. Not surprisingly, Jesus was asked those sorts of questions. In the account provided by Luke, Jesus is asked about two events which resulted in great suffering. One event fell under what we might call a natural disaster. A tower in Siloam collapsed and killed 18 people. The other event was a particularly heinous act of human evil. Galilean Jews had traveled to the temple to offer sacrifices. Pilate, the Roman governor of that region, had them slaughtered at the temple and their blood mixed with that of their offerings. This was a double tragedy for not only were the Galilean Jews murdered but the temple was defiled.
Such instances have long been fodder for unbelievers to mock the idea of the existence of God. “How can you believe in God when there is such suffering in the world?” they ask. Of course we know from Romans 1 that even the firmest of skeptics cannot escape the knowledge of God. But that is another subject. The question itself is not without merit. Even the most faithful Christians will from time-to-time cry out with the Psalmist, “Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?” Godly men and women have long grieved over the evil and suffering in the world and perhaps even wondered if the skeptics are right.
But God’s Word never grants legitimacy to the skeptics. Without exception the Scriptures uphold the existence and goodness and power of God as self-evident and undeniable truths written across creation (Romans 1:18-20) and even within the consciences of all people (Romans 2:15). That is not to say that God does not sympathize with those who honestly struggle with the cruel realities of this fallen world. The Bible is full of comforting words for those whose hearts – and perhaps bodies – have been broken by the hard realities of sin and sin’s consequences. There is a wealth of comfort in the Bible for those who suffer.
But notice how Jesus chooses to deal with these two particular disasters: one natural, the other an act of unmitigated evil. He applies the same question to both events. He asks whether those who died and were murdered suffered their fates because they were worse sinners than those who did not suffer the same fate. Essentially, Jesus asked, “Did those poor souls die because they were worse sinners than you?” The question is rhetorical. The answer is supposed to be obvious. “Of course not!”
So what exactly are they (and us, for that matter) to ponder in the face of disaster and human cruelty? Jesus tells us: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And just so we don’t miss it, he says it twice. Keep in mind this is not mean old Apostle Paul speaking. Nor is it one of those unreasonably harsh Old Testament prophets. This is Jesus, meek and mild! Our Savior did not consider it rude or unfitting to call to repentance those who were struggling with the tragic news of disasters and murder. Indeed, Jesus is the great preacher of repentance in the New Testament. He is the great Herald of the judgment to come. It is Jesus who warned against the terrors of hell more than anyone else.
In our current trials there are a number of ways for us to think and respond which are legitimate and God-glorifying. Certainly we ought to consider ways to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ. We ought also to find practical ways to love our neighbor. We should be praying for our national leaders and for those scientists who are working to perfect a vaccine against COVID-19. But if we do not include with those responses a sober look at our own hearts and daily repentance from sin then we have not gone far enough.
“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7).
“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19).
March 18, 2020
Psalm 130
A Song of Ascents.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared. (vv. 1-4)
Psalm 130 is composed of four sections of two verses each. The first two verses record the Psalmist’s cry to the Lord out of the depths of despair. The next two verses express confidence that with the Lord there is forgiveness of sins (this indicates that “the depths” of verse 1 is the despair of a guilty conscience). The third section (vv. 5-6) describes the psalmist’s waiting for a word of assurance from the Lord. The final section (vv. 7-8) is a call for the people to hope in the Lord for he is the one who will redeem them from all their sins.
With this Psalm’s emphasis on sin and full atonement, Martin Luther referred to it as a “Paulline Psalm.” So deep is the hope in God’s forgiving mercy expressed, it could easily be placed in the book of Romans.
The theme of the Psalm is summed up in verse 4: “But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” The “depths” from which the psalmist cries is the knowledge of his own iniquity. The problem of sin cannot be adequately captured in purely therapeutic language. Sin is iniquity which is another word for wickedness. It is from wickedness that the sinner must be delivered. The psalmist expresses the confidence that with the Lord there is forgiveness.
Notice that the forgiveness which is found in the mercy of the Lord is not without its effect. God forgives the iniquity of his people so that they may fear him (vs. 4). That is, there is a direct connection between forgiveness of sins and fearing the Lord. God’s redemptive work in the lives of his people is comprehensive. He not only washes them clean from their sin, he changes them from sin lovers to God fearers.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning. (vv. 5-6)
God calls his people to put their hope in him. Specifically, the call here is to hope in “his word.” We can trust that all God says is true and reliable. He is present with his people by means of his word. In God’s word we find his law and gospel. We are comforted by his great and gracious promises. To hope is to wait. It is look with expectation toward the fulfillment of that which God has promised. Notice the repetition of the clause “more than watchmen for the morning” (vs. 6). God’s people hope in the Lord with the eager watchfulness of those whose job it is to scan every horizon.
O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities. (vv. 7-8)
Redemption from sin comes as the fruit of God’s “steadfast love” (vs. 7b). How God loves his people! The theme of God’s steadfast, covenant love is of central concern in the Scriptures. Indeed, the Bible tells the story of God’s commitment to his gracious covenant with his people. God will never break faith with his people. He will never betray his word. He saves us from all of our sin. He redeems our lives from destruction.
“The psalm is saying that the present (and repeated) cycle, for the remedy of sin – forgiveness and deliverance – is a harbinger of the final and complete deliverance from all sin. In other words, every deliverance is a preview and a pledge of that great day of redemption, and every experience of forgiveness is a foreshadowing of the final redemption from sin and everything connected to it” (Allen Ross, 711).
March 17, 2020
Psalm 46
To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah (vv. 1-3)
We know from the superscription that this Psalm was written as a song. Some passages of Scripture beg to be sung. Certainly this is one. In difficult times, is there a more appropriate theme of which to sing than that of God as our refuge and strength?
There is a world-wide perspective to the Psalm. It proclaims God’s supremacy over nature (vv. 1-3), over hostile forces (vv. 4-7), and over the whole violent world (vv. 8-11). “Its robust, defiant tone suggests it was composed at a time of crisis, which makes the confession of faith doubly impressive.”[1] As we are currently living during a time of global pandemic we need to see once again the universal reign of the God who is our help in time of trouble.
Notice the calamitous conditions described by the Psalmist in the first three verses. The earth gives way. The mountains fall into the sea. The waters roar and the mountains tremble. In verse 6 he points out the rage of the nations and the instability of the earth’s kingdoms. In verse 9 he acknowledges the violence of war.
And yet despite these tumultuous conditions the Psalmist declares that “we do not fear.” This sense of security is not justified on the basis of positive self-talk or false expectations that calamities will not occur. Rather, it is because “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” God does not lift us up out of all our troubles. He is our very present help “in” trouble. It is within the valley of the shadow of death that our God is with us.
This Psalm anticipates the final consummation of the ages when those pillars of creation which seem most sure are wiped away by the chaos of the seas. The picture is one of undoing the created order; a portrait of final judgment. But fear not child of God for “there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved” (vv. 4-5). For you, child of God, the presence of the Almighty is one of comfort. The roaring seas become a river of gladness. The ruined nations are replaced by God’s holy city.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah (vv. 10-11)
March 16, 2020
Beginning today I plan on posting daily (Mondays – Fridays) devotions for anyone interested. First and foremost these are for the folks I get to serve as pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church. But I hope they are encouraging to anyone who may happen upon them.
I’ve been preaching through Genesis so I figure I’ll start with the passage I preached this week.
Genesis 12:1-9
There are tremendous riches here not least of all the first announcement of God’s covenant with Abraham; the everlasting covenant of grace.Remember where and who Abram was when the Lord called him. He was raised in the pagan city of Ur. No doubt his view of reality was shaped by that wicked culture. Not only did Ur have within its walls a ziggurat dedicated to the moon god Nanna but human sacrifice was practiced there. By grace the LORD called this man out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Indeed, the former idolater Abram would become Abraham the worshipper of Yahweh. He entered Canaan to declare the universal dominion of the Lord over that pagan land.
“And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” (vv. 5-7)
The clause "the place at Shechem" seems to indicate the site of a pagan shrine. The “oak of Moreh” was almost certainly a sacred tree to Canaanites. And to Abraham and his offspring the Lord promises to give this idol laden land. It was at Shechem that the people of God had to make the choice between cursing and blessing; between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim. At Shechem Joshua gave his final address to the people of God. At Shechem the kingdom of Solomon was divided. And here, God brings Abraham to Shechem in the very shadow of a Canaanite shrine and promises the land will soon change tenants.
Notice Abraham’s response: “So he built there an altar to the LORD” (vs. 7). Abraham built an altar in the very shadow of the paganism of the world in which he now lived. This was a defiant declaration that God's dominion extends everywhere. The LORD Is not a regional or ethnic deity. His rule extends over all the earth and over all peoples. Abraham’s altar declared this fact.
This is the life of the Christian in a pagan land. It is the life of the Christian anywhere in this fallen world. Our lives, our worship, our words, our families, our fellowship, our attitude toward money and possessions, our views on marriage, sexuality, and human identity, the way we love each other and love our neighbor – all of it! – stands as a living witness against sin; against the world’s idolatry of sex and money and power.
And such a life will always make us strangers and pilgrims in this world.
“From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb” (vv. 8-9).
Notice the two things Abram is described as doing in verse 8: He pitched his tent and builds an altar. Even in the Land of Promise Abraham lives in impermanent dwellings. This will be his practice and that of his descendants. “By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise” (Hebrews 11:9).
Abraham knew that even the land which the Lord had given him was not his permanent home. So he lived like a nomad in the land of promise. Are we Christians any less nomads? Are we not “sojourners and exiles” so long as we live in this fallen world? (1 Peter 2:11). Abraham lived like a visitor but worshipped like a permanent resident. His altars to the LORD would stand for many generations after his tents had fallen apart and passed away.