The Journey
Security
Psalm 125
Introduction: How much do you spend on security? We have locks on our houses, firewalls and virus protection on our computers, alarms and security companies, the police, the military, and probably more that we are not aware of. The budget for Homeland Security was over $40 billion in 2005 and is undoubtedly more for this year. Security seems to be something we lack as enter the journey we have been talking about these past few weeks. Sometimes it seems like our journey is more like walking a tightrope rather than a path. Is our journey really that uncertain?
I. Like Mt. Zion
We do so much to be secure in our world and yet that security often fails us. But what is the basis of our security on our journey? The psalmist compares us to Mt. Zion, Jerusalem. In ancient times Jerusalem was in an ideal location surrounded by mountains that provided a natural barrier to enemies. The walls of Jerusalem were strong and needed in a time when there were powerful enemies and great lawlessness. Within Jerusalem there was a sense of safety and protection. The world was a dangerous place but inside the city, people could relax a bit.
But what men worked so hard to obtain the psalmist sees as something God gives to those who trust him. The Lord surrounds his people providing protection to those who trust in him. It is not something we do or create but something we receive as his people. Those who abide in God will not be shaken or moved.
II. The Problem
All of that sounds great but reality is a bit different. We are shaken; we are moved by the anxiety and uncertainty of our time. Some days we are full of faith and confidence but the next day something may happen that fills us with fear and dread. Recently I was talking with a former missionary friend who shared something I had forgotten. It was in August 1982 when an attempted coup occurred in Kenya. We were several hundred kilometers from Nairobi where most of the trouble took place but what we heard was not good. I had come down with malaria and had gone into downtown Kisumu to see the doctor when suddenly everyone started running away from the downtown area. It was scary and I got home as quickly as I could. Steve said when I came in to tell everyone what had happened I was extremely pale, probably due to the malaria as much as the experience. We are never as unmoved as we think we are.
That is always true of God’s people. We can experience great victory and then be plunged into sin and despair. Israel experienced what one person described as the saw-tooth of history. One day they marched through the Red Sea to victory and a week later they are full of doubts and complaints about Moses and his God. One day they are marching around Jericho in obedience to God’s command and days later are defeated because of their disobedience. This history of Israel is a constant up and down. It is our history also. There is one constant however, it is God who never wavers in his commitment to his people. Whatever our feelings, whatever our fears, God does not change in his heart toward us. If we have a loved one who is sick or depressed we don’t abandon them or love them less. How much more so with our God. As Paul wrote,
if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself. 2 Timothy 2:13
We need to live in the reality of God’s promises not out emotions and feelings. Our security is in God who loves us and has made sacred promises to us.
There is another area that causes us to waver, and that is when pain, sickness and death touch the lives of those we love and ourselves. As we grow older it is so easy to fall prey to worry over health and security. The psalmist knew this also. He lived in a world without hospitals, anesthesia, aspirin, and all the things we take for granted. It is difficult when the pain of life grabs us and doesn’t seem to want to let us go. The phrase the psalmist uses is, “The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous,” Psalms 125:3. There is no doubt that there is evil in our world but this is not how it will always be. Evil is a temporary thing even if it seems things never change. God is moving toward a time when evil will be forgotten and tears and sorrow will be no more. God surrounds us. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Romans 8:35-36) Paul’s answer is, “Nothing.” Nothing can separate us from God’s love.
But there is one more area that unsettles us as we think about the journey and our security in it--backsliding. I didn’t do much mountain climbing when I was in Kenya. All three of my children climbed Mt. Kenya to Pt. Lenana but I never attempted it. We did as a family climb a volcano about an hour drive out of Nairobi, Mt. Longonot. Lots of people climbed it and then would hike around the rim of the crater. It wasn’t a terribly difficult climb except for one thing, the loose rock and shale that you had to go over to get to the top. If you weren’t careful you would slide back down the mountain.
We know people who have backslidden and maybe there have been times in your life when you that word would fit you. The psalmist describes them as, “those who turn to crooked ways,” Psalm 125:5. A lot of Christians worry about this and live lives of doubt and insecurity because they are so afraid of falling. But the Christian life is not like walking a tightrope. It is not possible to unknowingly wander away from God. God is relentless in his desire for you and for me. I do believe it is possible to reject the way of faith if that person so chooses. But we are all sinners. We are all lost sheep who have gone astray. We have times of weakness and doubt. We break our promises to God. We never quite live up to our potential. We may break our covenant with God but he does not break it with us.
The last phrase of the psalm tells us, “Peace be upon Israel,” Psalms 125:5. In other words, “Relax,” you are secure in God. All kinds of things may threaten us on the journey. We may stumble and fall innumerable times. But our security doesn’t rest in our performance. It doesn’t rest in the fact that things always go our way. It rests in our mighty God in whom we have put our trust. We are secure.
Livonia Church of Christ: July 23, 2006
Monday, July 24, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
The Journey: Psalm 130
The Journey
Hope
Psalm 130
Introduction: What do you hope for? ‘Hope’ is a word that has come to mean various things. We hope something happens, sort of like wishful thinking, “I hope the Lions win.” We hope for things that don’t seem likely to happen though we wish they would. ‘Hope’ seems like a rather weak word in our day and yet it is a powerful word in our faith. Paul writes, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) While we often focus on love, the greatest, it is good to remember how much hope is valued.
I. The Good News of Sin
It seems that for many people hope is a rather weak thing. Hope is about the future not the present. As Paul writes, “Who hopes for what he already has?” (Romans 8:24) The problem is that many people are very content with life. That is not to say they don’t hope for things like a new car or a bigger house but materially they are quite comfortable. Hope is weak because if they don’t get what they hope or wish for they may be disappointed but life will continue.
But the psalmist is not there. The psalmist is in the depths. That image is one that most of us can relate to in some fashion. I’ve been lost deep in a jungle. I’ve been stuck in the mud. I’ve also been buried in problems that seemed unsolvable. Most of us have had situations like that in our lives.
But the psalmist is in a deep more hopeless than that. He is in a pit of sin. There is probably no more helpless feeling than when we are caught in sin. You would think when we make the decision to follow Jesus, to make the journey to God that somehow sin would not be so great a problem. Do you remember when you were baptized? You placed your faith in Jesus, stood before other Christians and confessed him as Lord and Savior and then went down into the water to be buried with him. I don’t know about you but when I came up out of the water I felt wonderful, freed, forgiven. The journey began for me many years ago in Spokane, Washington. But on my journey there have been times when I’ve been trapped again by sin. How could I have fallen so far when I was saved so wonderfully? How could Jesus forgive me again, and again, again? I think that is how the psalmist must have felt.
Sin is amazing in its power. It is not just missing the mark or breaking the law; it is a power that binds and entraps us and robs us of hope. Our society has tried to help us with sin by saying that there isn’t any sin. We are messed up by society, by our parents, by repressive religious belief. We are confused, mixed up and we just need to accept ourselves. The problem with all of this is that there is no mercy, no grace, no forgiveness, and no hope.
In one sense sin is good news and the psalmist tell us why,
If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared. Psalms 130:3-4
God is a forgiving God and that is the good news of scripture. It amazing how often that fact becomes obscured. God wanted to forgive us so much that he was willing to become human and die to redeem us. The scripture uses many metaphors to help us understand the death and resurrection of Jesus. We ask, “Why did Jesus have to die?” Jesus gives one answer in John 12:24, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Jesus had to die in order for a new kind of life to come into the world, a life a spiritually dead humanity could share in. With God there is forgiveness and so we fear, revere the one who blesses us in this wonderful way.
Sin is good news in that you can repent, you can turn, and you can continue on your journey. The forgiving God will give you another chance. There is no “three strikes” law that limits the number of times you can fall. Do you need another chance? Then repent and turn to God and he will give you that chance. In a world without God there is no forgiveness, no way to start over and begin a new life because there is no ‘new life’. A story goes that a leading British humanist was being interviewed on a religious program and said, "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness. I have nobody to forgive me." Because we have a forgiving God it does not matter how deep we are stuck, how dark things may seem, we always have hope because of our God.
II. Waiting and Hoping
While hope is a blessing it is always tied to waiting and waiting is never easy. Just ask a watchman who is waiting for the sun to come up so that he can go home. People who do shift work know what I am talking about. The hours can seem to drag and last forever. I think it must have been worse for a watchman, however. There were no watches to tell him how long till the dawn, how long darkness will endure. What is true for the watchman is true for people in the depths. How long will the darkness, the oppression endure? How long must I wait for relief?
The psalmist writes, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” (Psalms 130:5) In his word I put my hope. Our hope is in the promises of God. The psalmist knew what God had done in the past. He knew what God had promised his people and so he could wait, maybe not always patiently but he would wait and hope. Part of our difficulty in waiting is our ignorance. If we don’t know what God has done, if we don’t know what God has promised then it is difficult to wait and hope.
“Put your hope in the Lord” the psalmist writes because his love will not fail. We look at scripture and know that this is true. It did not fail Abraham who waited and hoped for a son. It did not fail David who endured hardship and oppression waiting for God to fulfill his promise to make David king. God’s love did not fail Israel who endured 70 years of enslavement in Babylon before God restored them to their land. God’s love did not fail Jesus who went to a cross and died only to rise to life. All of these could have sung this psalm on their journey. We need to sing it also because we have hope in God whose promises, whose love, whose forgiveness will not fail.
Livonia Church of Christ: July 16, 2006
Hope
Psalm 130
Introduction: What do you hope for? ‘Hope’ is a word that has come to mean various things. We hope something happens, sort of like wishful thinking, “I hope the Lions win.” We hope for things that don’t seem likely to happen though we wish they would. ‘Hope’ seems like a rather weak word in our day and yet it is a powerful word in our faith. Paul writes, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) While we often focus on love, the greatest, it is good to remember how much hope is valued.
I. The Good News of Sin
It seems that for many people hope is a rather weak thing. Hope is about the future not the present. As Paul writes, “Who hopes for what he already has?” (Romans 8:24) The problem is that many people are very content with life. That is not to say they don’t hope for things like a new car or a bigger house but materially they are quite comfortable. Hope is weak because if they don’t get what they hope or wish for they may be disappointed but life will continue.
But the psalmist is not there. The psalmist is in the depths. That image is one that most of us can relate to in some fashion. I’ve been lost deep in a jungle. I’ve been stuck in the mud. I’ve also been buried in problems that seemed unsolvable. Most of us have had situations like that in our lives.
But the psalmist is in a deep more hopeless than that. He is in a pit of sin. There is probably no more helpless feeling than when we are caught in sin. You would think when we make the decision to follow Jesus, to make the journey to God that somehow sin would not be so great a problem. Do you remember when you were baptized? You placed your faith in Jesus, stood before other Christians and confessed him as Lord and Savior and then went down into the water to be buried with him. I don’t know about you but when I came up out of the water I felt wonderful, freed, forgiven. The journey began for me many years ago in Spokane, Washington. But on my journey there have been times when I’ve been trapped again by sin. How could I have fallen so far when I was saved so wonderfully? How could Jesus forgive me again, and again, again? I think that is how the psalmist must have felt.
Sin is amazing in its power. It is not just missing the mark or breaking the law; it is a power that binds and entraps us and robs us of hope. Our society has tried to help us with sin by saying that there isn’t any sin. We are messed up by society, by our parents, by repressive religious belief. We are confused, mixed up and we just need to accept ourselves. The problem with all of this is that there is no mercy, no grace, no forgiveness, and no hope.
In one sense sin is good news and the psalmist tell us why,
If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared. Psalms 130:3-4
God is a forgiving God and that is the good news of scripture. It amazing how often that fact becomes obscured. God wanted to forgive us so much that he was willing to become human and die to redeem us. The scripture uses many metaphors to help us understand the death and resurrection of Jesus. We ask, “Why did Jesus have to die?” Jesus gives one answer in John 12:24, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Jesus had to die in order for a new kind of life to come into the world, a life a spiritually dead humanity could share in. With God there is forgiveness and so we fear, revere the one who blesses us in this wonderful way.
Sin is good news in that you can repent, you can turn, and you can continue on your journey. The forgiving God will give you another chance. There is no “three strikes” law that limits the number of times you can fall. Do you need another chance? Then repent and turn to God and he will give you that chance. In a world without God there is no forgiveness, no way to start over and begin a new life because there is no ‘new life’. A story goes that a leading British humanist was being interviewed on a religious program and said, "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness. I have nobody to forgive me." Because we have a forgiving God it does not matter how deep we are stuck, how dark things may seem, we always have hope because of our God.
II. Waiting and Hoping
While hope is a blessing it is always tied to waiting and waiting is never easy. Just ask a watchman who is waiting for the sun to come up so that he can go home. People who do shift work know what I am talking about. The hours can seem to drag and last forever. I think it must have been worse for a watchman, however. There were no watches to tell him how long till the dawn, how long darkness will endure. What is true for the watchman is true for people in the depths. How long will the darkness, the oppression endure? How long must I wait for relief?
The psalmist writes, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” (Psalms 130:5) In his word I put my hope. Our hope is in the promises of God. The psalmist knew what God had done in the past. He knew what God had promised his people and so he could wait, maybe not always patiently but he would wait and hope. Part of our difficulty in waiting is our ignorance. If we don’t know what God has done, if we don’t know what God has promised then it is difficult to wait and hope.
“Put your hope in the Lord” the psalmist writes because his love will not fail. We look at scripture and know that this is true. It did not fail Abraham who waited and hoped for a son. It did not fail David who endured hardship and oppression waiting for God to fulfill his promise to make David king. God’s love did not fail Israel who endured 70 years of enslavement in Babylon before God restored them to their land. God’s love did not fail Jesus who went to a cross and died only to rise to life. All of these could have sung this psalm on their journey. We need to sing it also because we have hope in God whose promises, whose love, whose forgiveness will not fail.
Livonia Church of Christ: July 16, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The Journey: Psalm 129
The Journey
Perseverance
Psalm 129
Introduction: Do you ever have a problem finishing a project? I do. Now Diane gets great satisfaction when she is able to check something off her “to do” list. I never have gotten much satisfaction from that kind of thing. It is so easy to start something, difficult to finish it and yet no one remembers a good beginning if the finish doesn’t happen. No one remembers who is fastest at 95 meters, it is the last five meters that make a difference in who wins or not. That’s true not just with races but half finished quilts, or anything else we start but have trouble finishing. The Christian life is like that also. It is easy to start with a burst of enthusiasm and dedication but the way is difficult; the gate is narrow.
I. Oppression
The psalmist had found the way difficult, filled with oppression. And not just himself, the whole nation had faced tremendous periods of opposition. Israel’s history was marked with long periods of slavery and captivity so that the metaphor of a plowman leaving furrows on their backs was almost literally true.
Sometimes people have seen the way of Christ as something weak and fragile, a way that can only be lived when things are good, when the blessing are rolling in. Somehow I don’t think Jesus saw it that way. What appears weak can have great strength. Isaiah described Jesus in these words, “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2) It is difficult to think of something less significant than a little plant growing up through cracked, dry soil and yet that is how Jesus is described. Some years ago we visited Mt. St. Helens in Washington State. You may remember in 1980 the volcano exploded and devastated a beautiful part of the Northwest. In the aftermath of the eruption it looked like a barren lunar landscape. Scientist weren’t sure how long it would take the area to recover but thought it would be decades. Today the devastation is still evident but within months life began to recover. Jesus was like that. That Friday night after the crucifixion the world was buried in ash, death reigned. But Sunday morning life appeared where all hope was lost.
We have all heard the old saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” For a lot of us when the going gets tough we start asking questions. Is this really what the Lord wants me to do? If this is the right path why is it so hard? Maybe I’m on the wrong path. If people ridicule my faith then maybe something is wrong with what I believe? It almost seems that Jesus struggled with these all too human questions in Gethsemane as he faced the cross. His back was plowed on the way to the cross. It looked like he was crushed and destroyed, ground into the earth only for the earth to break open to allow new life to appear.
Paul is another whose back was plowed. His list of trials in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 staggers me and yet more trials were in front of Paul. Our list could go on and on. Not every Christian has faced the kinds of trials Paul faced. Instead we each face trials that test our faithfulness to God.
II. But . . .
Oppression and trial are terrible times. The key to this psalm is found in one small word, “but”. “But they have not gained the victory over me.” (Psalms 129:2) Again, the psalmist writes, “But the LORD is righteous.” (Psalms 129:4). Why in the midst of adversity does the pilgrim survive? Why doesn’t the adversary gain victory when he has such great strength and power and the pilgrim is so weak and powerless? It is because God is righteous. We often slide over the statement “God is righteous” because it seems self-evident. God is always right isn’t He? But that is not what is being stated here. God’s righteousness has to do with his relationship to his people. God will not abandon his covenant, his relationship with his people, with you and me. God is committed to us no matter what happens. It is in this sense I am “righteous” in my relationship to Diane when I faithfully keep my marriage promises to her. Those promises are for “better or worse, in sickness and in health.” God is like that for us; he is righteous.
It is hard to believe God is with us when times are bad. We feel abandoned, that God has some how disappeared from our lives. It would be easy to look at Jesus’ life, at Paul’s life and say, “If God is with them then why did they face such trials?” But the righteousness of God is seen in the fact the Jesus was not abandoned to the grave but rose to life. Paul was martyred for his faith in Jesus and he believed he would share in Jesus’ resurrection just as he shared in his sufferings. (Philippians 3:10) God is righteous; therefore, we are not overcome.
III. Anger
The last part of this psalm makes some Christians uncomfortable. After all we are to love our enemies and bless those who persecute us. But the psalmist doesn’t want God to bless his persecutors. This makes us uncomfortable because we understand his feelings, we have felt this way about people who have done wrong to us and we know as Christians that these feelings are not what God wants us to act on. The thing about anger is that it is real and everyone has felt it. The psalmist had reason to feel anger towards those who had persecuted him because it was wrong. Those people were enemies of God. The psalms are very genuine in that they express the emotions we feel, whether it is anger or grief.
Jesus could express strong emotions about things. He displayed anger (Mark 3:5) and expressed some harsh judgments on the most stubborn unrepentant hearts of people who opposed him. Paul also could express strong emotions when he saw things were not right.
While I am not recommending anger as a response to persecution there is one thing about the psalmist we need to emulate, his passion. What arouses your emotions? What do you feel passionate about? What are you willing to lay your life on the line for? I’m not talking about getting angry and doing something to someone but what moves you to action? Injustice? Poverty? Lostness? Children? The elderly? Racial prejudice? Abortion? Marriage breakup? World missions? The problem is that often we aren’t very passionate about anything that matters. It is not that cars, sports, gardening and crafting are bad hobbies but our faith is about people and helping people find God. If you are not passionate about something that is close to the heart of God then do some self-examination and ask why aren’t you? We need to stoke and encourage the fires of passion in each other for the things of God.
This psalm points to one quality that is important if we are to complete the journey, perseverance. The journey is not always easy but in the end the Lord is righteous and we will win through if we don’t give up.
Livonia Church of Christ: July 2, 2006
Perseverance
Psalm 129
Introduction: Do you ever have a problem finishing a project? I do. Now Diane gets great satisfaction when she is able to check something off her “to do” list. I never have gotten much satisfaction from that kind of thing. It is so easy to start something, difficult to finish it and yet no one remembers a good beginning if the finish doesn’t happen. No one remembers who is fastest at 95 meters, it is the last five meters that make a difference in who wins or not. That’s true not just with races but half finished quilts, or anything else we start but have trouble finishing. The Christian life is like that also. It is easy to start with a burst of enthusiasm and dedication but the way is difficult; the gate is narrow.
I. Oppression
The psalmist had found the way difficult, filled with oppression. And not just himself, the whole nation had faced tremendous periods of opposition. Israel’s history was marked with long periods of slavery and captivity so that the metaphor of a plowman leaving furrows on their backs was almost literally true.
Sometimes people have seen the way of Christ as something weak and fragile, a way that can only be lived when things are good, when the blessing are rolling in. Somehow I don’t think Jesus saw it that way. What appears weak can have great strength. Isaiah described Jesus in these words, “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2) It is difficult to think of something less significant than a little plant growing up through cracked, dry soil and yet that is how Jesus is described. Some years ago we visited Mt. St. Helens in Washington State. You may remember in 1980 the volcano exploded and devastated a beautiful part of the Northwest. In the aftermath of the eruption it looked like a barren lunar landscape. Scientist weren’t sure how long it would take the area to recover but thought it would be decades. Today the devastation is still evident but within months life began to recover. Jesus was like that. That Friday night after the crucifixion the world was buried in ash, death reigned. But Sunday morning life appeared where all hope was lost.
We have all heard the old saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” For a lot of us when the going gets tough we start asking questions. Is this really what the Lord wants me to do? If this is the right path why is it so hard? Maybe I’m on the wrong path. If people ridicule my faith then maybe something is wrong with what I believe? It almost seems that Jesus struggled with these all too human questions in Gethsemane as he faced the cross. His back was plowed on the way to the cross. It looked like he was crushed and destroyed, ground into the earth only for the earth to break open to allow new life to appear.
Paul is another whose back was plowed. His list of trials in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 staggers me and yet more trials were in front of Paul. Our list could go on and on. Not every Christian has faced the kinds of trials Paul faced. Instead we each face trials that test our faithfulness to God.
II. But . . .
Oppression and trial are terrible times. The key to this psalm is found in one small word, “but”. “But they have not gained the victory over me.” (Psalms 129:2) Again, the psalmist writes, “But the LORD is righteous.” (Psalms 129:4). Why in the midst of adversity does the pilgrim survive? Why doesn’t the adversary gain victory when he has such great strength and power and the pilgrim is so weak and powerless? It is because God is righteous. We often slide over the statement “God is righteous” because it seems self-evident. God is always right isn’t He? But that is not what is being stated here. God’s righteousness has to do with his relationship to his people. God will not abandon his covenant, his relationship with his people, with you and me. God is committed to us no matter what happens. It is in this sense I am “righteous” in my relationship to Diane when I faithfully keep my marriage promises to her. Those promises are for “better or worse, in sickness and in health.” God is like that for us; he is righteous.
It is hard to believe God is with us when times are bad. We feel abandoned, that God has some how disappeared from our lives. It would be easy to look at Jesus’ life, at Paul’s life and say, “If God is with them then why did they face such trials?” But the righteousness of God is seen in the fact the Jesus was not abandoned to the grave but rose to life. Paul was martyred for his faith in Jesus and he believed he would share in Jesus’ resurrection just as he shared in his sufferings. (Philippians 3:10) God is righteous; therefore, we are not overcome.
III. Anger
The last part of this psalm makes some Christians uncomfortable. After all we are to love our enemies and bless those who persecute us. But the psalmist doesn’t want God to bless his persecutors. This makes us uncomfortable because we understand his feelings, we have felt this way about people who have done wrong to us and we know as Christians that these feelings are not what God wants us to act on. The thing about anger is that it is real and everyone has felt it. The psalmist had reason to feel anger towards those who had persecuted him because it was wrong. Those people were enemies of God. The psalms are very genuine in that they express the emotions we feel, whether it is anger or grief.
Jesus could express strong emotions about things. He displayed anger (Mark 3:5) and expressed some harsh judgments on the most stubborn unrepentant hearts of people who opposed him. Paul also could express strong emotions when he saw things were not right.
While I am not recommending anger as a response to persecution there is one thing about the psalmist we need to emulate, his passion. What arouses your emotions? What do you feel passionate about? What are you willing to lay your life on the line for? I’m not talking about getting angry and doing something to someone but what moves you to action? Injustice? Poverty? Lostness? Children? The elderly? Racial prejudice? Abortion? Marriage breakup? World missions? The problem is that often we aren’t very passionate about anything that matters. It is not that cars, sports, gardening and crafting are bad hobbies but our faith is about people and helping people find God. If you are not passionate about something that is close to the heart of God then do some self-examination and ask why aren’t you? We need to stoke and encourage the fires of passion in each other for the things of God.
This psalm points to one quality that is important if we are to complete the journey, perseverance. The journey is not always easy but in the end the Lord is righteous and we will win through if we don’t give up.
Livonia Church of Christ: July 2, 2006
Monday, July 03, 2006
Psalm 133: Community
The Journey
Community
Psalm 133
Introduction: This is the time of year most of us take vacations. As parents we plan vacations for our kids. We may take them to some place fun. We may go camping or to some educational historic sight. And I think as we plan we have sort of an ideal in mind. Everyone is going to have fun and enjoy what we plan. Everyone is going to get along and we are going to be that happy family that really enjoys each other. Then the vacation happens and reality sets in. There are complaints of boredom. There are fights and arguments and disagreements over every little nit-picky thing. Vacations may be memorable but they are not always pleasant.
I. Children? Unity?
We read these psalms and we think, “That’s a nice picture.” But then we really think about it. Brothers? Siblings? Living in unity? Does the psalmist know what families are like? Since he was knowledgeable in the Scripture then I have to believe he does. Fratricide has a long history beginning with the story of Cain and Able. That wasn’t just a fight between siblings; it was a religious fight. It sometimes seems the closer people are to each other the more likely they are to fight.
I have often wondered at describing the church as a family. I know it is biblical because we are part of God’s family, Ephesians 3:15. God has made us his children, John 1:12-13. But too often we fight like family also and family fights can be terrible.
But in spite of the difficulty of living with others we are commanded to do so. The Bible knows nothing of the solitary Christian, those who love Jesus but hate the church, who worships God on their boats or golf carts. The journey we are on is communal, not solitary, and we will not make it alone. So much of scripture is about living with each other. The Hebrew writer warns those Christians, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25) Each of the gospels emphasizes what Jesus calls the second great command of scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) John tells us that Jesus put it in even stronger terms to his disciples, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34) The context for love is the church, the community and the family gathering is Sunday morning at 11 AM when we gather around the table. It is good when brothers dwell together in unity. When the peace of God is truly present God's Spirit is in charge.
II. Avoiding Community
The problem that we encounter, however, is that we are good at avoiding community. When we fight we fight to win, since we are right. We fight like siblings. The story of Cain and Abel happens early in Genesis because it doesn’t take sin long to infect our closest relationships.
Church fights often devolve into contests of will that have little to do with God’s will. It is easy to find something over which to make a stand, something that is worth fratricide. I don’t mean physically, though that has happened, but spiritually we kill our brothers and sisters in our hearts (Matthew 5:21-22).
We also get in modes of avoidance by only coming to those required family gatherings. People may move away from the area. They may quit talking to a family member, ignore them and pretend they don’t exist. We know all about these creative ways of dealing with family. In the end though, we are still part of the family. It even seems to work in some fashion. It keeps people from fighting which for many passes for peace but it doesn’t build relationship or bring about true peace, the true shalom of God.
There are many examples of this but one of the most disturbing to me is the relationship between Black and White churches in our area. As I have been meeting with leaders from other churches in our area in planning for the Unity event in August we have all become aware that we are like two separate church bodies. This needs to change and to do so our attitudes need to change. Most of us say we don’t have a problem with people of other races and ethnic background. So why do we have two churches so disconnected, so separate, so divided? We know our Bibles well enough to know this is not what Jesus wanted of his people. Jesus died to break down the barriers that separate people (Ephesians 2:14). It is time for us to become faithful to Jesus’ vision for us as his people. That means we can’t just sit back and say we don’t have a problem. It doesn’t matter where the problem came from, what caused it or why. The way things are now is wrong, sinful, and ungodly and we must begin to act. It does matter what we do about it. We need to find ways to work with and learn from others who are different from us. No matter what we think, we need each other just like the left hand needs the right. We need to quit avoiding each other and calling it peace. That is why this unity event in August is important for us to attend and participate in. It won’t solve the problem but it may begin to bring us together as God desires.
III. Unity Because of Christ
The psalmist uses two images to express the beauty of God’s people united. The first is oil being poured on Aaron’s head. The reference is to the time Aaron was chosen as priest and the oil was a sign of his calling to be priest to his brothers (Exodus 29:7).
One of the most radical teachings of the New Testament is that we are all priests to each other (1 Peter 2:9). When you become a Christian you become a priest but not a priest like Aaron or a priest as in some Christian denominations but a priest like Jesus. Jesus is a priest different from any priest in history. To become like him does not mean putting on special robes and acting spiritual but to minister to others in God’s name. Do I need a priest? You bet I do! I need every person in this church to be my priest. This is not an option; it is who we are. It also means that we need all our brothers and sisters, no matter what color or background, to be priests to us. That is the basis of unity. We all have the oil pouring down our heads; we are all chosen as priests and need the ministry of others.
The second image is of dew on Mt. Hermon. This is the highest mountain in the region. In a dry desert region heavy wet dew must have been seen as an almost magical gift of moisture. I believe that kind of blessing is what we experience when God’s children are united. The blessings that others bring into our lives are amazing and unexpected. People we have been alienated from add things to our lives we didn’t even know we were missing. Every culture I have ever visited has blessed me in unexpected ways. This is what God desires and why we will be blessed if we are faithful to God’s vision of unity for his people.
Livonia Church of Christ: June 25, 2006
Community
Psalm 133
Introduction: This is the time of year most of us take vacations. As parents we plan vacations for our kids. We may take them to some place fun. We may go camping or to some educational historic sight. And I think as we plan we have sort of an ideal in mind. Everyone is going to have fun and enjoy what we plan. Everyone is going to get along and we are going to be that happy family that really enjoys each other. Then the vacation happens and reality sets in. There are complaints of boredom. There are fights and arguments and disagreements over every little nit-picky thing. Vacations may be memorable but they are not always pleasant.
I. Children? Unity?
We read these psalms and we think, “That’s a nice picture.” But then we really think about it. Brothers? Siblings? Living in unity? Does the psalmist know what families are like? Since he was knowledgeable in the Scripture then I have to believe he does. Fratricide has a long history beginning with the story of Cain and Able. That wasn’t just a fight between siblings; it was a religious fight. It sometimes seems the closer people are to each other the more likely they are to fight.
I have often wondered at describing the church as a family. I know it is biblical because we are part of God’s family, Ephesians 3:15. God has made us his children, John 1:12-13. But too often we fight like family also and family fights can be terrible.
But in spite of the difficulty of living with others we are commanded to do so. The Bible knows nothing of the solitary Christian, those who love Jesus but hate the church, who worships God on their boats or golf carts. The journey we are on is communal, not solitary, and we will not make it alone. So much of scripture is about living with each other. The Hebrew writer warns those Christians, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25) Each of the gospels emphasizes what Jesus calls the second great command of scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) John tells us that Jesus put it in even stronger terms to his disciples, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34) The context for love is the church, the community and the family gathering is Sunday morning at 11 AM when we gather around the table. It is good when brothers dwell together in unity. When the peace of God is truly present God's Spirit is in charge.
II. Avoiding Community
The problem that we encounter, however, is that we are good at avoiding community. When we fight we fight to win, since we are right. We fight like siblings. The story of Cain and Abel happens early in Genesis because it doesn’t take sin long to infect our closest relationships.
Church fights often devolve into contests of will that have little to do with God’s will. It is easy to find something over which to make a stand, something that is worth fratricide. I don’t mean physically, though that has happened, but spiritually we kill our brothers and sisters in our hearts (Matthew 5:21-22).
We also get in modes of avoidance by only coming to those required family gatherings. People may move away from the area. They may quit talking to a family member, ignore them and pretend they don’t exist. We know all about these creative ways of dealing with family. In the end though, we are still part of the family. It even seems to work in some fashion. It keeps people from fighting which for many passes for peace but it doesn’t build relationship or bring about true peace, the true shalom of God.
There are many examples of this but one of the most disturbing to me is the relationship between Black and White churches in our area. As I have been meeting with leaders from other churches in our area in planning for the Unity event in August we have all become aware that we are like two separate church bodies. This needs to change and to do so our attitudes need to change. Most of us say we don’t have a problem with people of other races and ethnic background. So why do we have two churches so disconnected, so separate, so divided? We know our Bibles well enough to know this is not what Jesus wanted of his people. Jesus died to break down the barriers that separate people (Ephesians 2:14). It is time for us to become faithful to Jesus’ vision for us as his people. That means we can’t just sit back and say we don’t have a problem. It doesn’t matter where the problem came from, what caused it or why. The way things are now is wrong, sinful, and ungodly and we must begin to act. It does matter what we do about it. We need to find ways to work with and learn from others who are different from us. No matter what we think, we need each other just like the left hand needs the right. We need to quit avoiding each other and calling it peace. That is why this unity event in August is important for us to attend and participate in. It won’t solve the problem but it may begin to bring us together as God desires.
III. Unity Because of Christ
The psalmist uses two images to express the beauty of God’s people united. The first is oil being poured on Aaron’s head. The reference is to the time Aaron was chosen as priest and the oil was a sign of his calling to be priest to his brothers (Exodus 29:7).
One of the most radical teachings of the New Testament is that we are all priests to each other (1 Peter 2:9). When you become a Christian you become a priest but not a priest like Aaron or a priest as in some Christian denominations but a priest like Jesus. Jesus is a priest different from any priest in history. To become like him does not mean putting on special robes and acting spiritual but to minister to others in God’s name. Do I need a priest? You bet I do! I need every person in this church to be my priest. This is not an option; it is who we are. It also means that we need all our brothers and sisters, no matter what color or background, to be priests to us. That is the basis of unity. We all have the oil pouring down our heads; we are all chosen as priests and need the ministry of others.
The second image is of dew on Mt. Hermon. This is the highest mountain in the region. In a dry desert region heavy wet dew must have been seen as an almost magical gift of moisture. I believe that kind of blessing is what we experience when God’s children are united. The blessings that others bring into our lives are amazing and unexpected. People we have been alienated from add things to our lives we didn’t even know we were missing. Every culture I have ever visited has blessed me in unexpected ways. This is what God desires and why we will be blessed if we are faithful to God’s vision of unity for his people.
Livonia Church of Christ: June 25, 2006
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