Tawa Baptist

10 May 2020 – Oceans

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33, Acts 10, Psalm 131:2, Song of Solomon 2:16

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Walking on water
  • I am yours and you are mine
  • Trust without borders
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone and happy Mothers’ day to all the mums out there. A special shout out to my own mum, who is listening to this in Hamilton. 

You may be familiar with the phrase, ‘Measure twice, cut once’. It’s a carpentry metaphor. When a builder is cutting a piece of wood he or she wants to make sure it is the right size to fit, before cutting, otherwise the wood is wasted. 

If making a decision is akin to cutting a piece of wood, then thinking things through and doing your due diligence first is akin to measuring twice.

There are two opposites to measuring twice and cutting once. At one extreme there are those who cut first and try to make it fit later. And, at the other extreme, there are those who are always measuring and never get around to cutting. They never commit to a decision. 

You may like to do a little exercise in your bubbles now. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is equivalent to cutting first and making it fit later, and 5 is equivalent to measuring twice before cutting and 10 is equivalent to always measuring and never committing to a decision, what number would you give yourself? 

(You could pause the audio recording at this point and share your answer with those in your bubble. See if they agree with your self-assessment.) 

Hopefully this was a fun sharing time and you are still talking to each other. 

It is important to know there is no ideal number. It often depends on the circumstances. Some situations call for us to cut first, without measuring. In other situations, we do well to measure but not commit to a decision, perhaps because we don’t have enough information. Most of the time though, measuring twice and cutting once is our best option. Wisdom is the ability to discern which approach is best under the circumstances. 

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series. In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith. 

The song we are looking at this morning is called Oceans. 

Oceans was written by three blokes from Hillsong United in Australia; Matt Crocker, Joel Houston and Salomon Ligthelm. It was released in 2013 and has been very popular in church circles around the western world. 

Oceans is largely based on Matthew 14:22-33; the story of Peter getting out of the boat to walk on water toward Jesus.   

Joel Houston explains, “It’s really a song about stepping into the unknown, about faith and raw trust in God.”

Walking on water:

Since so much of the meaning of Oceans is found in Matthew 14, let’s revisit that story of Jesus & Peter walking on water now. From verse 22 we read… 

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.  

The impression we get of Peter, in the gospels, is that he was naturally inclined to cut first and make it fit later. It appears that Peter didn’t really think things through when he said to Jesus, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” What a strange and peculiar test. To be fair to Peter though, it had been a very long and exhausting day and it is difficult to think straight when you are under stress.  

The opening verse of the song Oceans begins…

You call me out upon the waters, the great unknown where feet may fail.

This line recalls Jesus telling Peter to get out of the boat and walk on the water towards him. It also recalls how the feet of Peter’s faith failed, and he began to sink, when he took his eyes off Jesus.   

Verse 1 of the song continues…

And there I find You in the mystery, in oceans deep my faith will stand.

This line rightly acknowledges the mystery of God. We can’t know God completely or understand all his ways. God reveals himself to us, in part, through creation, through the Bible and most notably through Jesus. But our minds are too small, too finite to fully grasp God, who is infinite. The things about God that remain inaccessible to us are in the realm of mystery. When it comes to the mystery of God we are not able to measure twice, nor do we have to commit to a firm position. We simply trust. 

Now it was fashionable for a while (during the 20th Century) to explain the miracle out of the account of Jesus walking on water. Some people postulated that Jesus was just walking on the beach beside the lake so it only appeared to the disciples that he was walking on water. Others came up with the theory that Jesus was walking on a sand bar. None of these natural explanations make sense though.

Matthew is very clear that Jesus miraculously walked on water. There was no trick of the light and no sand bar. Verse 24 of Matthew 14 tells us the boat was far out on the lake. There are no shallow spots far out on the Sea of Galilee and, from that distance (in the dark), the disciples wouldn’t be able to see Jesus until he got quite close to the boat. What’s more Jesus rescued Peter and got into the boat with the disciples, so he was definitely out in the deep part of the lake. 

A belief in the miraculous power of Jesus does not make our faith less credible. If anything it points to the greatness (or the mystery) of God. If we could explain everything about Jesus, he wouldn’t be the Son of God.   

The first half of the chorus of the song reads…

And I will call upon Your name and keep my eyes above the waves.
Again this connects with Peter’s experience in Matthew 14. When Peter started to sink he called out to Jesus to save him. I like the observation Neville made in his all-age activity earlier in today’s service. 

Neville said, ‘When Peter started sinking he did not call back to his friends to throw him a rope – he called to Jesus for help.’ 

Peter’s instinct was to rely on Jesus. 

The song Oceans encourages us to learn from Peter’s experience and keep our eyes above the waves – that is, keep our eyes focused on Jesus (As we sang earlier, Turn your eyes upon Jesus…) 

Verse 2 of the song continues the walking on water theme where we sing… 

Your grace abounds in deepest waters, Your sovereign hand will be my guide.
Peter experienced Jesus’ grace in deepest waters when Jesus held out his sovereign hand to rescue him. You might remember from last week that God’s sovereignty refers to his supreme power and ultimate authority in this world. God is free to do whatever he wants but he chooses to use his power for the well-being of his creation. Jesus, who is full of grace & truth, used his power to save Peter.   

But it wasn’t just Peter who experienced God’s grace out on the lake that night. The other disciples received the grace (or the gift) of seeing Jesus calm the waters when he got into the boat. This revealed to them that Jesus is in fact Sovereign over creation – even the wind and waves obey him.  

Verse 2 of the song also reminds us that even though the feet of our faith may fail and fear sometimes gets the better of us, Jesus will never fail us. Jesus’ faithfulness does not depend on us. Jesus is faithful because he is the Son of God and God is faithful. 

God’s grace and faithfulness is as deep and abundant as the water of the oceans. This means we are not condemned if our faith fails. It’s not the end of the world if we make a mistake. God is big enough to forgive and redeem our mistakes. Whether Peter should have got out of the boat on that occasion or not is beside the point. The fact is, he did get out and walk on water for a little bit. And although he took his eyes off Jesus and started to sink it wasn’t the end of his life, nor was it the end of his relationship with Jesus. God’s grace was sufficient for Peter and it is sufficient for you too. So if we fail, we don’t give up. We ask for Jesus’ help and we learn from the experience. 

I am yours and you are mine:

Returning to the chorus of today’s song. The second half reads…

When oceans rise, my soul will rest in Your embrace, for I am Yours and You are mine. 

Certainly Peter rested in Jesus’ embrace, when Jesus lifted him out of the water. 

But these lines make other connections as well. ‘When oceans rise’, makes us think of global warming and the way the world’s oceans are literally rising due to the melting of glaciers and ice shelfs. Our world is anxious about the ecological crisis we are facing. As Christians though we find our security in God. We do what we can to stem the tide and we trust ourselves to God.   

My soul will rest in Your embrace reminds me of Psalm 131:2 which reads, 

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is within me.” 

Just as a mother holds a child in her tender embrace, so too God holds our soul in his embrace. 

Twice, in Psalm 131, David says his soul is like a weaned child. To be weaned is to become accustomed to managing without something which we were previously dependent on. For example, the child stops drinking its mother’s milk and starts eating solid food. It’s not that milk is bad – it is good for a time – but as the child grows it needs more substantial nourishment. A baby cries when it is hungry so the mother will feed it. A weaned child does not cry though because a weaned child knows it will be fed and waits for mum to prepare the meal. 

How does God feed the human soul? God feeds our soul with meaning. When something is meaningful it is worthwhile – it has a point to it, a purpose that is satisfying. Meaning answers the ‘why’ questions of life & death. Ultimately God is the one who gives meaning to our lives. The thing is, we often have to wait, in quiet trust, for that meaning to be revealed.  

We quieten our soul by abandoning outcomes to God. By not seeking to manipulate the end result. Embracing the truth that we don’t have all the answers, let alone the resources to make things turn out right. How will God deliver the world from global warming and Covid-19 and any other threat we may be anxious about? I don’t know. What I believe is that God can deliver us. The fact that Jesus walked on water demonstrates that he is Lord of creation. Nothing is too difficult for him. He won’t let the storm or the waves get out of control. Ultimately God is in charge. 

The chorus of the song Oceans includes the line, For I am Yours and You are mine. This means we belong to God, exclusively. As I said a couple of weeks ago, God is jealous for us. He will not share us with anyone or anything else. 

For I am Yours and You are mine, reminds me of the Song of Solomon 2:16, which reads: My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies.

On the face of it, the Song of Solomon is a love poem describing the experience of young love, falling in love, romantic love between a man and a woman.  

Some Christians throughout history have interpreted the Song of Solomon as an allegory or parable for the church’s relationship with Jesus; where the church is the woman and Jesus is the bridegroom.

My beloved is mine and I am his; This is talking about an exclusive, close personal relationship with Jesus.

And, He browses among the lilies, is a metaphor which basically means he admires my beauty. 

Perhaps you don’t feel all that beautiful at the moment. Perhaps you’ve done things that make you feel ugly or gross. Perhaps other people have said and done things to you that make you feel worth less. Let me say this; you are not defined by how you feel about yourself. You are not defined by your mistakes. Nor are you defined by other people’s actions toward you. You are defined by God and you belong to Jesus. You are his beloved. When Jesus looks at you he is browsing among the lilies – he is admiring your beauty, in other words. He sees you, the real you, and he loves you. 

It is the power of God’s love for us, in Christ, which makes us feel safe enough to get out of the boat. 

Trust without borders:

The bridge of the song Oceans is a brave prayer. It reads…

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders,
Let me walk upon the waters wherever You would call me.
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Saviour.

That phrase ‘trust without borders’ sounds like its borrowed from the organisation called Doctors Without Borders. As the name would suggest Doctors Without Borders is an international humanitarian agency that provides medical aid across national boundaries, irrespective of race or religion or political affiliation. It is a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) known for its work in conflict zones and other hard places that are not well resourced. 

Returning to the song. When we sing Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, we are saying something like: Spirit lead me out of my comfort zone. Help me to trust God in those extreme circumstances where things are unfamiliar and I’m over my head; where material resources are scarce and my normal supports are taken away.

It needs to be said that these are the sort of words you might sing from a place of confidence; a place of wanting to be challenged and looking for an adventure. If you are already in a place of crisis and feeling stretched beyond your own capacity, then you probably won’t want to sing these lines, as catchy as the tune is.  

That phrase trust without borders brings to mind the life and work of Jackie Pullinger. Jackie was born in England in 1944. She went to church as a child and was quite serious about God but didn’t really like him all that much. Then she had a personal encounter of God’s love which changed her life. After that she just wanted to share God’s love with others. 

At the age of 22 Jackie had a dream and a vision in which she sensed God was calling her to overseas mission. She applied to various mission organisations but none of them would accept her. So Jackie went to ask a vicar what she should do. I suppose this was a case of measure twice, cut once. The vicar said, ‘Get on a boat and ask God to show you where to get off’. That’s a bit like saying, ‘Let the Spirit lead you where your trust is without borders’. So that’s what she did. 

In 1966 Jackie left England and got as far as Hong Kong where she stepped out of the boat and into the unknown. She served the poor in miraculous ways, in what was once called ‘the walled city’. Gang members came to Christ and drug addicts were set free through the power of prayer. Jackie turns 76 this year and has never looked back. Her trust in Jesus is without borders. 

The Spirit of God also led the apostle Peter where his trust was without borders. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Peter and the other disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit. To receive the Holy Spirit is to be filled with the love and truth of God so that you can’t help but show and tell others about God’s love. 

In Acts 10 we read how the Spirit led Peter way outside his comfort zone. Peter had a vision in which God declared all kinds of animals and birds clean or kosher to eat. This vision was shocking to Peter. He was Jewish and the Law of Moses prohibited consumption of certain animals. At first Peter resisted the voice that was telling him to eat these forbidden foods. It seems he was measuring twice, or three times in fact, because he had the vision three times.  

God gave Peter this vision because he was preparing Peter to reach out beyond the borders of ethnic Israel to a Gentile by the name of Cornelius. The Jewish food laws had to be put aside if Jewish Christians were going to reach the Gentile world.   

As Peter was wondering what the vision meant, some men arrived. They came to invite Peter to Cornelius’ home. Normally Jews didn’t enter the house of Gentiles because it made them ceremonially unclean. But God had just shown Peter it was okay. So Peter stepped out of the boat of Jewish custom and went to Cornelius’ house. 

When Peter started telling Cornelius and his household about Jesus’ death and resurrection, …the Holy Spirit came down on all those who were listening to his message. 45 The Jewish believers who had come from Joppa with Peter were amazed that God had poured out his gift of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles also. 46 For they heard them speaking in strange tongues and praising God’s greatness. Peter spoke up: 47 “These people have received the Holy Spirit, just as we also did. Can anyone, then, stop them from being baptized with water?” 48 So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay with them for a few days.  

Peter learned from his experience of walking on water with Jesus. He didn’t let his failure in faith define him. He didn’t remain reckless in his approach to discerning God’s will. Nor did he become so cautious that he was always weighing things up and never committing to a decision. 

When we sing, Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders we are not throwing all caution to the wind. In my experience, if God is going to ask you to step out of the boat and into a difficult place, where you have no choice but to rely on him, he usually provides good confirmation. Peter and Jackie both measured twice and cut once. So if you sense God calling you into something unknown then please measure twice. Pray and talk with a Godly person who you can trust and keep your eyes on Jesus. 

Conclusion:

In an interview with Premiere Christianity Magazine, just last year, Jackie Pullinger was asked: “Is there a particular message that’s on your heart for Christians? 

And Jackie replied, “My message is always the same; it’s how to get us sure enough of God’s love, so we can go out and share it with the lost. …to me it’s quite simple. Having tasted of his love all I want to do is share it until I die.” 

Although Jackie’s interview had nothing to do with the song Oceans, I think her theology (at this point) sums up the song quite well. Oceans expresses a desire to be so close to Jesus, so sure of God’s love, that we will trust him to go out and share his love with those who don’t yet know him. 

Of course, you don’t need to go to the other side of the world to share God’s love. God might be calling you to share his love with someone a lot closer to home. 

Let us pray…  

Lord Jesus Christ, be real for us we ask. Make us so sure of God’s love that we can’t help but share it with others. May we each know deep down, through the work of your Spirit, that I am yours and you are mine. Amen.  

Oceans

Verse 1

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep my faith will stand

Chorus

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise, my soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Verse 2

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now

Bridge

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Saviour

Questions for discussion or reflection

Listen to the song ‘Oceans’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?)  

How do you prefer to make decisions? Where did you place yourself on the scale from 1 to 10? Did others in your bubble agree with your self-assessment? Did you agree with their self-assessment? 

Has there been a time in your life when you sensed Jesus calling you out of the boat (metaphorically speaking) and into the unknown? How did you respond?  What happened?

How might we keep our eyes above the waves and on Jesus? (What practical things can we do?) 

In what sense is God like a mother to us? How does God feed your soul? 

What does Song of Solomon 2:16 mean for us? That is, ‘My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies’. 

What does it mean to sing, Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders? Why might we sing this? 

What is your experience of God’s love? Is there someone God is calling you to share his love with? How might you do this? 

Outtakes

Being filled with the Spirit is not something we just do once and that’s it. Being filled with the Spirit is something we need to go on doing, like drinking water.      

Tawa Baptist

How He Loves

Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:6-9, Nahum 1:2-3, Matthew 10:37-39, Luke 15:1-7, Romans 8:18, Psalm 85:10-12

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jealousy
  • Transcendence
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series. In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

The song we are looking at this morning is called How He Loves, written by John Mark McMillan. It was released in 2005.

We don’t sing How He Loves in our Sunday worship services very often, probably because it is difficult for a smaller congregation to sing. It works better with a larger gathering. I quite like the song though. It has some salty, bold lyrics. God’s love is not pedestrian.

As usual we don’t have time to unpack every line of the song but I do want to focus our attention on two themes: jealousy and transcendence. First let us consider jealousy.

Jealousy

Okay, here’s a quiz for you. What was the name of the rock band who wrote the song Mr Brightside?     

That’s right, The Killers. You’re on to it. They almost have a cult following. The Killers wrote Mr Brightside around the end of 2001. It’s a song about jealousy. One of the band members had a funny feeling that something wasn’t right in his relationship with his girlfriend and sure enough, when he turned up at the pub, he found her there with another guy. Mr Brightside describes the feeling of jealousy provoked by cheating.

So what has this got to do with John McMillan’s worship song, How He Loves? Well, John McMillan’s song is also about jealousy, but jealousy of a different kind, divine jealousy. The opening lines of How He Loves read… 

He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
 

Jealousy is not a word we usually associate with God. It tends to be a word that carries negative connotations for us. Jealousy often makes us think of envy and people behaving badly, as with The Killers’ song Mr Brightside. So what is jealousy and in what sense can we say God is jealous?

Well, jealousy is a very strong, very intense emotion. We might call jealousy a passion or a zeal or a fury. Jealousy is triggered by an affront to our rights or our honour. If we believe something belongs rightfully to us but is then given to another we will instinctively feel jealous. For example, a husband or wife may feel jealous if their partner in marriage is unfaithful in some way. By its very definition marriage is an exclusive relationship. There are some things in marriage that should not be shared with anyone else. Both husband and wife have every right to expect faithfulness from their partner. So a jealous reaction (a feeling of intense fury or passion) in the context of unfaithfulness in marriage is fair and understandable. In fact, the more you love your husband or wife the greater the potential for jealousy.  

But not all jealous reactions are fair or right. Some jealousy is misplaced. For example, if you don’t like your hair (or if you don’t have hair) you might look at someone who has perfect hair and feel jealous. That is, you might believe that the hair on their head should belong to you. Clearly, that kind of jealousy (which we might more accurately call ‘envy’) is not fair or justified. We have no right to the hair on someone else’s head. This is a frivolous example of misplaced jealousy – I’m not meaning to get at anyone who may be bald.

Another example of jealousy is when someone gets the praise or the promotion or the prize that we believe belongs to us. In that situation we may feel quite justified in our jealous indignation (our anger), but really we are seldom in the best position to judge. Sometimes life is unfair. Sometimes things don’t go our way but God, who is jealous for justice, has a way of making things right, if not in this life then in the next.

The point is, jealousy is that strong feeling we get when something we believe rightfully belongs to us goes to someone else. Sometimes our human jealousy is appropriate and other times it is not.

But God’s jealousy is always righteous and justified because God is the creator of all there is, so everything rightfully belongs to him anyway.

Now you might be wondering if this idea that God gets jealous is just a human notion, something we have projected onto God. Let me assure you it’s not.

God describes himself as jealous in the Bible. For example, in Deuteronomy 5:6-9, while giving the ten commandments, God says to his people Israel…

6 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 7 you shall have no other gods before me. 8 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…

The specific context for God calling himself jealous is the command to not worship any other God and to not make an idol. We might not bow down to actual statues, like people in the ancient world did, but we do sometimes place a higher value on things that are created, things that are less worthy than God. For example, we may worship money or our career or our reputation or our family or our own pleasure.

God is saying he has every right to insist upon our absolute loyalty and obedience. If we give our worship to something that is not God, then we are denying God what rightfully belongs to him and we will trigger God’s jealousy. 

God does not insist that we worship him exclusively because he needs it. God is not insecure. He doesn’t need to have his ego propped up with praise every five minutes. God doesn’t actually need anything from us.

No. God insists that we worship him exclusively because we need to. Worshipping God is good for us – it gives our lives value and meaning.

When we worship things that are not God we devalue and demean ourselves. We make ourselves less than whatever it is we bow down to and we empty our lives of any sort of lasting meaning.

The Bible often depicts God as a husband whose wife (Israel) has been unfaithful to him by worshipping other gods (with a little ‘g’). If God didn’t experience intense jealousy over infidelity, then that would indicate he didn’t care at all. The fact that God rightly feels jealous when we worship other things proves that he cares a great deal.

Returning to the first line of the song for a moment…

He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

Putting the image of a hurricane alongside the idea of God’s jealous love is perfect. It’s so Biblical. In the book of Nahum chapter 1 we read…

A jealous and avenging God is the Lord, the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and rages against his enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.  

They are strong words.   

The thing about a hurricane or a whirlwind is that we can’t tame it. We can’t domesticate it. A hurricane is a powerful and dangerous force.

Sometimes we forget how dangerous God can be. The jealous love of God is like a hurricane – we need to make sure we are on the right side of it.

Sometimes Israel got on the wrong side of God’s jealousy, but in the reading from the prophet Nahum, it was Israel’s enemies, the Assyrians, who were on the wrong side of God.

To say that ‘God is jealous for me’ is to say that God is on my side and he is going to deal to my enemies with the rage of a hurricane.

Now, as I alluded to in our responsive prayer (earlier in today’s service), our enemies are not flesh & blood (our enemies are not other nations). Our enemies are unseen; things like pride, resentment, fear, loneliness and depression. But even though our enemies are unseen, they are still very real and just as dangerous as bullets and bombs. God’s love is greater than those things.

The other thing I need to make clear about the hurricane image is that it is a metaphor for God’s jealous love. We shouldn’t take it too literally. If an actual hurricane passes over a country and wreaks havoc, that doesn’t mean God is angry with that nation. The survivors of an extreme weather event need compassion, not condemnation.

Now some of you may be thinking, ‘Okay, fair enough, the Old Testament does describe God as jealous. But what about the New Testament. How does God’s jealousy fit with the person of Jesus? After all, isn’t Jesus supposed to show us what God is like on the inside?’

Good question. Thank you for asking it. Yes, Jesus does show us what God is like on the inside. And yes, Jesus does reveal God’s jealousy. Let me give you some examples…

In Matthew 10:37-39 Jesus says, “Whoever loves his father or mother more than me is not fit to be my disciple; whoever loves his son or daughter more than me is not fit to be my disciple. Whoever does not take up his cross and follow in my steps is not fit to be my disciple. Whoever tries to gain his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will gain it. [1]

These verses are difficult for us and yet in them we find an example of divine jealousy. Jesus is not saying we shouldn’t love our family. We need to honour our parents and not turn away from our family when they are in need. But, at the same time, Jesus is saying that he is entitled to a greater loyalty from us than our own family is. So if our family give us an ultimatum and ask us to choose between them or Jesus, then we need to choose Jesus. If Jesus were just a man, then he would have no right to say this. But because Jesus is also God, he has every right to say it. 

A.T. Luter observes how the Biblical words that are used for jealousy are closely associated with zeal and zealousness. Zeal represents intense emotional effort and energy focused toward a goal. Jealousy is the relational counterpart to zeal, primarily a focusing of emotion toward a person in the desire for a closer, better relationship. [2] 

Thinking of jealousy in this way (as an intense desire to be closer to a person) reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15. Jesus said…

4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them—what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it. 5 When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders 6 and carry it back home. Then you call your friends and neighbours together and say to them, ‘I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate!’ 7 In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent.

This parable is an example of the jealous love of God. We rightfully belong to God. He is our creator, our heavenly Father. If we are lost or carried off by something else, then God jealousy pursues us with his love to find us and bring us home. God’s jealous love will not abandon us or share us with the evil one. Jesus is the good shepherd who restores the lost sheep.

Perhaps the clearest example of how Jesus reveals God’s jealous love was in going to the cross. God was so jealous for us, he felt so strongly that we belong to him, and not to sin or death, that he redeemed us back for himself through Jesus’ crucifixion and death. Indeed, God’s act of raising Jesus from the dead also demonstrates the power of God’s jealousy. God’s jealous love is stronger than the grave.

Okay, so that’s one of the themes of the song, divine jealousy. The other aspect of the song I want to highlight is transcendence. 

Transcendence

By transcendence I mean ‘rising above’ our circumstances, being lifted out of our troubles. (This has nothing to do with transcendental meditation by the way.) A transcendent experience is one which is extraordinary, incomparable, matchless, second to none. The song How He Loves describes the kind of transcendent experience one can have through the love of God.   

In the movie Forrest Gump, Forrest and Lieutenant Dan are out one night on their boat, fishing for shrimp, when a huge storm hits. It’s the worst storm in that area for decades. Lieutenant Dan is angry with God. He’s up in the rigging yelling insults at God, ‘You call this a storm…’ He’s practically goading God to sink their ship. Forrest is more circumspect, more humble. He’s got his hand on the wheel navigating the boat through the waves.

Lieutenant Dan’s fury is a jealous sort of rage. He believes he was destined to die a hero’s death in battle (in Vietnam) but God spared his life through Forrest Gump and now Lieutenant Dan feels cheated. Dan thinks God has taken something from him that wasn’t his to take. But God’s jealous love for Lieutenant Dan is greater than Lieutenant Dan’s jealous rage at God. In fact, God’s love lifts Lieutenant Dan out of his hurt and resentment.    

They survive the ordeal at sea and when they come into port the next morning they see all the other boats in the harbour have been smashed to pieces. Prior to the storm they couldn’t catch a cold. Now, after the storm, all their competition has been taken out and they catch tons of shrimp.

Eventually Lieutenant Dan makes his peace with God. He breaks off his romance with death and transcends his troubles, he rises above his self-pity and rage, to embrace a new life.        

John Mark McMillan, the author of How He Loves describes how his song came about (and I paraphrase here)…

Some of my friends were in a car crash. One of them (Steven) died later in hospital that night. I was angry and confused and hurt. Steven was a youth group leader and had been in a prayer meeting earlier that day. I process things through music. The song ‘How He Loves’ is not about a pretty, clean, Hollywood, ‘hot pink’ type love. It’s the kind of love that is willing to love things that are messy and difficult. Gross things. God could still love me in my anger and frustration and resentment. He could love me through that. God wasn’t offended that I was angry at him. ‘How He Loves’ is a song that celebrates a God who wants to hang with us through the mess.       

John McMillan’s song describes something of the extraordinary, incomparable, matchless, transcendent experience of God’s love. Sometimes in worship we become so absorbed in God that we transcend our troubles. Whatever mess we are in fades away and we lose ourselves in awe and wonder and delight at the goodness of God. It’s like our soul is granted a Sabbath rest from its pain and struggle and we are actually able to heal.

We notice transcendence in verse 1 of the song when we sing…   

When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, And I realize just how beautiful You are, and how great Your affections are for me.

Afflictions eclipsed by glory reminds us of Paul’s words in Romans 8:18…

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

As I’ve said on other occasions, suffering and glory go hand in hand in the Bible. If we share in Christ’s suffering, we will also share in his glory.

What strikes me about Paul’s words in Romans 8 is that the glory will be revealed in us. It’s like we are vessels or containers for God’s glory. As Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 4:7, we have this treasure in jars of clay to show this all-surpassing power is from God.

Verse 2 of the song continues the theme of transcendence where it says…

And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss, And my heart turns violently inside of my chest, I don’t have time to maintain these regrets, When I think about, the way that He loves us,

We are reminded here of Psalm 85:10-12…

Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. 11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. 12 The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.

Jesus is heaven’s kiss on the earth. In and through Christ heaven meets earth.

Back to the song, …my heart turns violently inside of my chest suggests a deep internal heart change, repentance in other words.

Or perhaps it’s more like the way our heart races or skips a beat when we come near to the one we love.

We may regret some of the things we have done in our life. We may keep going back in our mind rehearsing our past mistakes, feeling bad and playing the ‘what if’ game with ourselves.

But when we think about the way God loves us we don’t have time to maintain these regrets – we transcend our past. We rise above ourselves. We realise it’s not about us. It’s about Jesus.

Conclusion

God loves us jealously. His love is transcendent, extraordinary, incomparable, second to none. In God we find our rest.

Let’s sing in our bubbles now, How He loves us…

How He Loves

He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

And oh, how He loves us oh,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way that He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us…

Questions for discussion or reflection:

Listen to the song ‘How He Loves’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 

What is jealousy?

How might we handle (process) our jealous feelings in a healthy way? 

Why is God’s jealousy always right and good? In what sense is God’s jealousy an expression of his love?

Why does God insist that we worship Him exclusively?

In what ways does Jesus reveal divine jealousy? Can you give examples from the Bible?

What is transcendence?

What is your experience of God’s transcendent love? What is your response to His love? (If you are not aware of God’s love for you personally, you might like to ask Him to show you.)

Outtakes

One another occasion in the gospels we read how Jesus fell asleep in a boat during a hurricane. Imagine that, Jesus is so at home in the middle of a storm that he is able to sleep like a log. Why is Jesus so relaxed? Because he is God and his way is in the whirlwind and storm.

God’s jealous love isn’t just contained in the first line of the song. Verse 2 also implies God’s jealousy for us where it says,

…we are His portion and He is our prize…
Deuteronomy 32:9 tells us the Lord’s portion is his people.

The apostle Paul talks about ‘thinking of others as better than ourselves’ (Philippians 2:3). When we do that we prevent feelings of jealousy in the first place. For example, if someone else gets the praise, the promotion or the prize, then we are happy for them because we believe they (and not us) are rightly entitled to it.

John McMillan also wrote the song King of my heart, which we sang earlier today during our on-line service.

[1] Refer M. Erickson, ‘Jealousy’, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, page 410.

[2] Refer A.B. Luter, Jr. ‘Jealousy, Zeal’, DPL, page 461.

Tawa Baptist

As the deer pants for the water

Scripture: Psalm 42, Numbers 16 & 26:10-11, Romans 7:15-25, John 4:14.

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Psalm 42
  • Romans 7
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone

Many of you will be aware that Shona is uploading a recording of a hymn to her Facebook page most days while we’ve been in lockdown. Last Wednesday afternoon I was at my computer, working on the sermon, when Robyn walked in and played me Shona’s hymn for that day. It so happened that Shona’s hymn was ‘As the deer pants for the water…’, the very song I had been working on for this morning’s ‘Anthems’ series message. I didn’t know Shona was going to play ‘As the deer…’ and she didn’t know I was going to preach on it. 

Some would call that serendipity. Some would call it chance. Others might call it providence or a God moment. When things like that happen, I like to see God’s hand in it. For me it is a sign of God’s presence.       

As the deer pants for the water is a song about longing for God more than anything else. It was written by a guy called Marty Nystrom. Marty was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1956. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in music education in 1979. It is unclear to me exactly when Marty wrote ‘As the deer…’. Some sources say it was 1981, while others say it was 1984. In any case, the story goes that Marty had travelled to Dallas Texas to attend summer school at the ‘Christ for the Nations Institute’. Possibly there was a girl there he was interested in but that relationship didn’t work out the way he had hoped. For whatever reason it was a difficult summer for Marty. He was struggling with some inner turmoil, and he was struggling physically with the Texas heat.

Marty’s roommate suggested he go on a water fast to draw close to God. A water fast is when you don’t eat any food, you only drink water. Marty recalls what happened next…

“I took up the challenge, and on the 19th day of the fast I found myself sitting at a piano trying to write a song. I was simply playing chord progressions when I noticed a Bible on the music stand of the piano. It was open to Psalm 42. My eyes fell on the first verse of that chapter… ‘As the hart (deer) panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.’ After reading the verse I began to sing its message, right off the page. I wrote the first verse and the chorus of a song, pretty much straight through.”

Marty had no intention of showing the song to anyone. It was to be for his own devotional time with the Lord. However, before leaving the school to go back to Seattle, he did share it with one person, Dave Butterbaugh. Dave then introduced it to the students of the school and it became a favourite.

As the deer pants for the water is special for many people. (Neville tells me they played this song at his baptism.) On the face of it, As the deer appears to be quite simple, but its roots run deep in Scripture. There are many interpretative possibilities. This morning’s message focuses on just two of the Scriptures I’m in touch with as I reflect on this song. First let us consider Psalm 42… 

Psalm 42

The opening verse of Marty’s song reads…

As the deer pants for the water so my soul longs after You
You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship You

These lines find their inspiration from Psalm 42. Psalm 42 is oozing with the pathos of longing for God. From verse 1 we read…

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.

6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

You may have heard on the news this past week of the New Zealanders who were stranded in Peru due to corona virus border closures. It was desperate times as many of them were being turned out of their accommodation and unable to “safely shelter” in Peru. I imagine they were longing deeply to return home. Fortunately, God’s providence came in the form of a government-organised mercy flight, which left Lima last Tuesday (14 April) and touched down in Auckland on Wednesday. I expect those on the flight and their loved ones were greatly relieved.

The psalmist’s home was Jerusalem. However, when we read Psalm 42 all the way through, we discover in verse 6 that the psalmist is writing these words not from the temple in Jerusalem but from the slopes of Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon is nearly 340 km’s from Jerusalem which, in the ancient world, was a formidable distance. In some ways being on Mt Hermon was (for the psalmist) sort of like being a New Zealander stranded in Peru.

The author of psalm 42 remembers how he used to lead people in a procession of worship to the temple in Jerusalem and he longs to be able to do so again. For ancient Jews the temple embodied God’s presence. It’s not that God was only present in the temple. God is omnipresent – like the air we breathe he is everywhere at once. But to the Hebrew mind, God was somehow present in a special way in the Jerusalem temple. Consequently, the psalmist longs to return to Jerusalem and worship God there. Mount Hermon just isn’t the same.   

For Christians, Jesus is our home. He is our sanctuary, our safe place, our temple. On more than one occasion Jesus identified himself as the new temple. Jesus embodies the presence of God in a special way. Jesus taught us that wherever two or three people are gathered in his name, there he is also. So, in Christian understanding, the new temple is not a building – it is a gathering of two or more believers in Christ.

With this in view there is a connection between Psalm 42 and our current experience in lockdown. Some people, perhaps especially those in a bubble by themselves or in a bubble without any fellow believers, may be longing to gather with other Christians to worship God. It’s not that we can’t worship God by ourselves. It’s just that it’s not quite the same.

Having said that, even when we are able to gather for church services, there are still some things that prevent us from worshipping God. On one level we might want to give God praise but on another level we just can’t because what we are feeling on the inside is incongruent (it doesn’t fit) with praising God.   

We may, for example, be going through some inner turmoil. Certainly the writer of Psalm 42 was in distress. He says, ‘My soul is down cast within me.’ If we are feeling anxious or sad it is very difficult to praise God and mean it. In that situation we are best not to fake it. God wants our honesty. Sometimes we don’t have words to offer God. Sometimes all we have are our tears. In verse 3 of Psalm 42 the psalmist says, ‘My tears have been my food day and night…’  He longs to worship God. He longs to have intimacy with God but all he has is a deep and overwhelming feeling of sadness. ‘All your waves and breakers have swept over me.’

If all you have to offer God are tears, then that is where you start, but it’s not where you finish. Please, don’t settle into self-pity. It is a trap. After flushing out his emotions with tears, the psalmist then engages his brain and his resolve (his will). More than once he says to himself, ‘Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?’ This shows us the psalmist is thinking about the cause of the problem, so he’s looking for a solution, or at least some way of managing his feelings. Then he engages his resolve by saying to himself, ‘Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.’  Resolve is that grit, that commitment, that discipline of your will to put one foot in front of other and just keep going until you get through it.   

Praise and worship is not always the starting point. More often it is the goal and we have to do a fair bit of processing before we can reach the goal of praising the Lord. Very simply, the psalmist gives us a three stage process for dealing with our inner turmoil…

Step one: express your feelings in a healthy way – don’t bottle things up and don’t pretend but also don’t wallow in your tears for too long.

Step two: engage your brain – think about why you are in turmoil. This is where talking to someone who knows you and is wise can be helpful.

And step three: resolve to move forward in faith & hope toward God.    

Marty Nystrom was not able to worship God in the way he wanted to while he was downcast and in the pit. He had to do some processing first. In fact, Marty wrote his song at the end of 19 days of processing by fasting. Now I’m not suggesting you need to go on a water fast for 19 days. That may have been the right thing for Marty at that time but it’s not the right thing for everyone. We are all having to give up enough during this lockdown without adding a water fast to the mix. So we need to exercise some common sense.

The point is, we may long to worship God but are prevented from doing so because of what is happening inside of us. Another thing that can hold us back from worshipping God is a feeling of shame. Shame is different from guilt. Guilt is usually a private internal feeling, whereas shame is more of a public external thing. Shame is something we are made to wear so it’s something everyone sees. Often shame is undeserved.

Psalm 42 is one of the songs of the sons of Korah. The sons of Korah were part of the tribe of Levi who served in the temple, but not as priests. They were called the sons of Korah because they were descended from a man named Korah. The book of Numbers tells us that Korah rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and was killed by fire. However, the line of Korah did not die out. [1]

I imagine the descendants of Korah had to wear quite a bit of shame through no fault of their own, because of what their granddaddy did. But God is so gracious and just. Some centuries after Korah’s rebellion, his descendants served as worship musicians, composing and performing songs in the temple in Jerusalem. This is a beautiful picture of God’s providence and redemption. By giving the sons of Korah a valuable role in his service, the Lord clothed them with honour.

Perhaps, like the sons of Korah, you have a chequered ancestry, a few skeletons in the family closet. Perhaps, through no fault of your own, you live with a sense of shame because of this. Maybe this feeling of shame inhibits you from worshipping God as freely as you would like. May be you don’t feel good enough. Jesus came to set the captives free. God has a place of honour for you in his purpose.

There is more we could say about psalm 42 but I would like to move on to our next Scripture, Romans 7

Romans 7

In his letter to the Romans, chapter 7:15-25, the apostle Paul writes …

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Now you might be thinking, how on earth does this relate to today’s song? Well, let me explain. In this reading from Romans Paul is describing the war that rages inside each one of us. On the one hand, we love God and want to do his will. But on the other hand, there are forces at work within us that seem to sabotage our best intentions, so we end up not obeying God as we want to do. Paul calls those sabotaging forces our ‘sinful nature’. While Jesus has conquered sin on the cross, we still wrestle with sin in this life.

I don’t know if you have ever tried swimming in jeans and a pull over. It’s very difficult, not to mention dangerous. Every movement is heavy and sluggish and you keep feeling like you’re being dragged down. Swimming in a wet suit is quite the opposite. A wet suit is streamed lined and naturally buoyant – it actually helps you to stay afloat and makes swimming easier.

Obeying God is the purest form of worship. Trying to obey God while we are encumbered by our sinful nature is like trying to swim in jeans and a pullover. Our sinful nature is one of those things that gets in the way of us worshipping God properly, as he deserves. In contrast, being clothed in the righteousness of Christ is like swimming in a wet suit.

Returning to this week’s song. Part of the chorus reads: You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship You.

The heart here is a metaphor for a person’s inner self – our core.

In the Bible the heart isn’t just a container for our emotions. The heart more accurately refers to the mind and will.

To sing, You alone are my heart’s desire seems like a grand claim indeed.

For those of us who take seriously the words we sing it may feel dishonest to say that God is our only desire. In reality our hearts generally have a number of competing desires.

But the chorus is not the only part of the song that makes bold claims. We may also feel like we are stretching the truth when we sing lines like, ‘I love You more than any other, so much more than anything’ in verse 3.

Or ‘I want You more than gold or silver… you’re the apple of my eye’ in verse 2. While God certainly deserves our greatest loyalty and affection, he doesn’t always get it.
 

And this is where Paul’s words in Romans 7 are so helpful. Paul gives us a way of separating our heart’s desire from the competing desires of our sinful nature. In verse 25 of Romans 7 Paul says: So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

‘In my mind’ is another way of saying ‘In my heart’ because remember, in the Bible, the heart refers to the mind. ‘In his mind’ Paul is 100% devoted to doing what God wants (he’s a slave to God’s law). But in his ‘sinful nature’ (which is something different from his heart and mind) Paul is not inclined to do what God wants.

King David helps us to see the distinction Paul makes between our heart and our sinful nature. In the Bible, the prophet Samuel describes David as ‘a man after God’s own heart’. [2] Which is another way of saying that ‘in his mind’ David wanted what God wanted. And yet, despite being a man after God’s own heart, David’s sinful nature led David to commit adultery with Bathsheba and orchestrate Uriah’s murder. These were clearly things God did not want. So while the desire of David’s heart & mind was to do God’s will, David’s sinful nature sometimes sabotaged his obedience to God. This did not stop David from praising God though. David’s sinful nature did not stop him from writing psalms and delighting in the Lord.       

What I’m saying here is that we can sing to God, ‘You alone are my heart’s desire…, and mean it, because the desire of our heart & mind is something quite different from our sinful nature. While it is true that we all still struggle with sin in this life, the good news (for those who trust in Jesus) is we won’t have to wrestle with sin in the next life. Our ‘sinful nature’ was nailed to the cross with Christ and will not drag us down in the life to come. In eternity we will be free to swim (or worship God) without being encumbered by our sinful nature.  

Therefore, when we sing ‘and I long to worship you’ we mean, ‘I long for the time when Christ returns in glory and I am finally free of my sinful nature, finally free of that force in me that keeps sabotaging my obedience to God.

In verse 3 of the song we sing to Jesus these words, ‘You’re my friend and you are my brother even though you are a king…’ 

Friend, brother and king. These three relationships all have one thing in common: obedience. But the kind of obedience one gives to a friend or a brother is different from the sort of obedience one gives to a king.

We obey a king because we have to – that is our duty. But we do what a friend or a brother asks because we want to – because we love them.

In Matthew 12:48 Jesus says, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Then pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus is saying that obedience to God is what makes us part of God’s family.

Likewise, in John 15 Jesus says to his disciples, “My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command…”     

Obedience is the purest form of worship. When we sing ‘I long to worship you’, we mean ‘I long to obey you Jesus, not just as a king (because I have to) but as a friend and a brother because I love you’. 

In Matthew 5 Jesus says to his disciples, ‘Blessed are you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you will be satisfied.’ If you truly hunger and thirst to be free of your sinful nature and to worship God in spirit and in truth, then God who looks upon the heart (and mind) will satisfy your desire. 

Conclusion

In verse 2 of the song we say of Jesus, ‘…only you can satisfy…’

Jesus is God’s providence, God’s serendipity for our thirsty soul. As Jesus says in John 4:14…

“…whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The water Jesus was talking about is the Holy Spirit. Jesus satisfies our thirst for God through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ Spirit is water to our soul.

What is it you long for?

Let us pray.

Father God, you know our needs and you care for us.

We pray for those who are thirsty for you but don’t know it. Save them from looking in all the wrong places. Help them to realise their need for you. May they encounter the living Christ and be satisfied by the water of your Spirit. 

We pray too for those who are thirsty for you and do know it. Help us as we wait for you. Lead us beside still waters and refresh our spirit with your Spirit. We pray these things in the name of Jesus our brother and our friend. Amen.

Let’s sing, ‘As the deer pants for the water’ in our bubbles now…

Verse 1

As the deer pants for the water
So my soul longs after You
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

          Chorus

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

Verse 2

I want You more than gold or silver
Only You can satisfy
You alone are the real joy giver
And the apple of my eye

Verse 3

You’re my friend and You are my brother
Even though You are a King
I love You more than any other
So much more than anything

Outtakes

The chorus of the song begins, You alone are my strength, my shield.

The image of God being a shield is found in a number of psalms. It is a way of saying that God is our protector, especially when we are under attack.

To say that God alone is my strength and shield is to admit our own vulnerability. We are like sheep (basically defenceless) but God is the one who defends us.    

Questions for discussion or reflection:

Listen to the song ‘As the deer pants for the water’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 

Have you had any God moments lately? Who might benefit from hearing about your God moment?

How do you feel when reading through Psalm 42? What are you missing (longing for) most during this time in lockdown?

On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being extremely thirsty and 10 being satisfied) where would you place yourself in longing for God? Why?

Discuss / reflect on the three practical steps the writer of psalm 42 gives for processing his inner turmoil? How might these apply to your life?

What prevents you from worshipping (obeying) God properly? Is it in your power to do anything about this? If so, what? If not, what is in your power to do?

What is Paul saying in Romans 7:15-25? How does Romans 7:15-25 help us to sing, ‘You are alone are my heart’s desire’?

What are the implications of calling Jesus our friend and brother?

[1] For the story of Korah refer to Numbers 16 & 26:10-11

[2] 1st Samuel 13:14

Tawa Baptist

In Christ Alone

Scriptures: Ephesians 2:20, John 1:11, Romans 5:18-19, 2nd Corinthians 5:21, Matthew 20:28, Romans 8:38-39, 1st Corinthians 15:20-22.

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Security
  • Atonement
  • Hope
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

What is your favourite comfort food? Is it chocolate? Is it a bag of chips? Is it freshly baked bread? Is it KFC or fish n’ chips? Or maybe you like a good old fashioned roast with lots of crispy potatoes and lashings of gravy.

Comfort food is food that provides consolation or a feeling of well-being. We tend to eat comfort food when we are sad or anxious. It usually has a high sugar or fat content and is often associated with some kind of warm memory from our childhood, like when your grandad made pikelets or your mum made apple pie.

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series. In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

The song we are looking at this morning is called In Christ Alone. This modern day hymn has proved very popular in churches around the western world. In many ways it is comfort food for the Christian soul.

In Christ Alone was released in 2002. The music was composed by Keith Getty and the lyrics were written by Stuart Townend. Keith Getty was born in Ireland in 1974 and Stuart Townend was born in England in 1963. Stuart also wrote How deep the Father’s love.

In Christ Alone is lyrically rich, touching on many ideas from Scripture.

This morning I would like to explore three of the key themes I see in the song. Namely: security, atonement and hope. First let us consider the theme of security.      

Security:

A few weeks ago, when it became apparent that the world was about to go into lockdown, we saw some panic buying at supermarkets. Some people felt anxious that grocery supplies would run out and started stock piling food.

Flour was one of the first things to disappear, which makes sense because flour is versatile. It can be used in the making of so many comfort foods. But other supplies have also been in high demand – things like sugar, coffee, pasta, lollies, bread, Nuromol, soap and, for some reason, deodorant. Now, I can understand why most of these things would fly off the shelves in difficult times. Having plenty of coffee and sugar and bread gives people a sense of security. But I can’t understand why people felt they needed to stock pile deodorant. We are meant to be practising physical distancing so one would think there was little need to smell nice. Robyn will be the first to tell you, I haven’t really bothered much with deodorant since we’ve been in lockdown. (I’m pretty sure you can’t smell me over the internet.)      

Seriously though, the events of the past few weeks have tested our sense of security and some have been more sorely tested than others. Sadly, people have lost work and income. Fortunately, our government has provided some financial assistance to cushion the blow and many banks and landlords have extended grace to those worst affected.

These physical and financial comforts are helpful for maintaining a sense of security and well-being but, at the same time, the human soul also needs to feel secure at a deeper level – in our spirit.    

In Christ Alone is filled with words of comfort that remind us of the security we have in Christ. Verse 1 reads…

Christ is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground.

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace. When fears are stilled, when strivings cease. My Comforter, my All in All. Here in the love of Christ I stand.

Jesus is the light of the world. If you are in the dark and feeling afraid then turning the lights on makes you feel safe – it gives you a sense of security.

Likewise, Christ is our cornerstone, our solid ground – he is a firm and secure foundation on which to build the house of our life. This reminds us of Jesus’ parable of the two builders – one who built his house on the rock and the other who built his house on sand. When the storm hit, the house built on sand fell but the house built on rock stood. To build our life on the rock is obey the teaching of Jesus. There is security in the wisdom of Jesus. We can trust his word.

Jesus is referred to as a cornerstone in a number of places in the Bible, like in Ephesians 2:20 for example where Paul writes…

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

The security that is in view here is that of belonging to the household of God. The title of the song In Christ Alone might give some the impression of being alone in their faith in Christ. But this is not what is meant. Actually we are in Christ together. Even if you are alone in your bubble at this time you are not alone in Christ. You are part of the household of God.     

I’m conscious that a number of people in our congregation and community have immigrated to NZ recently. I’m told that residency applications (even before the Corona virus hit) are a slow process. And that can create a feeling of discomfort and unease. Without residency there’s a whole lot of things you can’t do, like buying a house and putting down roots. This challenges one’s sense of security. Jesus offers himself as a cornerstone for anyone who will believe in him. In and through Christ we have residency in the kingdom of God.

Verse 1 of the song also describes Jesus as my comforter. Jesus is the ultimate comfort food – he is the bread of life. Jesus is the flour which never runs out.

The last line of verse 1 of the song reads, Here in the love of Christ I stand. God is love and, as the apostle John reminds us, perfect love drives out all fear. God’s love is a reliable source of security.

Atonement:

The second major theme we find In Christ Alone is that of atonement.

Atonement is a word which has a very long and complicated history. It is a technical word used by theological experts to describe what Jesus achieved on the cross. Perhaps the simplest way to understand it is at-one-ment. To atone is to be ‘at one’, whole, reconciled.

During this past week there was a news article on TV about bowling greens. Green keepers were asking for a special dispensation from the government to be able to continue looking after the country’s lawn bowling greens. They were saying that safely maintaining what is already there will be cheaper in the long run than letting things get out of control and having to put it right later on.

Many bowling greens in NZ are sown in a species of grass called Cotula (Leptinella dioca). Cotula is a small native herb that spreads out as it grows, forming a very compact mat. You wouldn’t sow a bowling green in Cocksfoot or Buttercup because those kinds of grasses (which you often see on the side of the road) grow up tall, rather than out flat. 

For the bowling green to be an even playing field the lawn needs to be one type of grass. If part of the green is sown in Cotula with patches of Cocksfoot and Buttercup interspersed, then that’s no good. The bowls won’t roll evenly. A well-kept bowling green is one type of grass. In a sense the job of a green keeper is to achieve atonement (or ‘at-one-ment’) of their bowling green.

If we were to think of our relationship with God as a bowling green and ourselves as green keepers, then the truth is, we haven’t looked after the green. We have allowed patches of pride, selfishness and fear to grow. Consequently, the green (of our relationship with God) isn’t right. It doesn’t run true and we can’t fix it ourselves.

On the cross Jesus was making our relationship with God one again – he was removing our sin and making the divine / human relationship whole, making it right, so that things run true.  

Now, if you don’t understand my illustration, then don’t worry. Just think of atonement as reconciliation.  Verse 2 of the song brings to mind Jesus’ work of atonement – making us one with God.      

In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe

In John 1 we read how Jesus (the Word of God) became flesh. To take on flesh is a poetic way of saying ‘God became human’. We call this the ‘incarnation’. Christian doctrine says that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine at the same time.

The next line of verse 2 of the song reads…
This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save
Jesus is God’s gift of love to the world. As John 3:16 says…

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.

Sadly, as John’s gospel tells us, Jesus came to his own but his own received him not. (John 1:11). Jesus was scorned (rejected) by those he came to save.

The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, could see that Jesus was innocent and tried to save him but the crowd called for Jesus to be crucified.

So far so good, until we get to the next line in verse 2…    

‘Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ I live.


Hmmm. Most people probably read these lines without giving the words a second thought. But one phrase there has proved quite controversial.

No one disagrees with the fact that Jesus took our sin upon himself and died on the cross. That is generally accepted by Christian believers. The difficulty is with the line; the wrath of God was satisfied.  

The Presbyterian church hymnal committee, in the United States, asked the authors of the song if they could change the words from ‘the wrath of God was satisfied’ to ‘the love of God was magnified’.

Townend and Getty politely said ‘no’.

The Presbyterians respected the author’s wishes but, on the basis of that one phrase, did not include In Christ Alone in their hymn book, even though they agreed with everything else in the song.

So what’s the problem? Well, before I answer that, it is important to acknowledge that the authors of the song are sincere Christians who I believe genuinely want to honour God and build up the body of Christ. It is not my intention to put them down. It is my intention to help us understand the songs we sing in the best possible light. 

The problem is, that line (about the wrath of God being satisfied) makes God look bad. It gives some people the impression of an angry God who must be appeased – sort of like a pagan god. Now I don’t think the authors intended that meaning. After all, the line actually reads …as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, which suggests timing rather than causation and so allows for some flexibility of interpretation.

Nevertheless, the ambiguity is not ideal. Not only does this line create a problem with people’s perception of God, it also raises a difficulty in logic. It doesn’t make sense to think that the wrath of God was satisfied by the death of Jesus. Jesus was an innocent man. If God is filled with wrath at sin and injustice, then the death of an innocent man is not going to satisfy God’s wrath – it’s only going to add to it.    

So, if we are going to sing this song, what is the best way to understand that infamous line?

Michael Green describes God’s wrath as ‘his settled opposition to all that is evil.’ God’s wrath is different from human anger. God is just and merciful. He doesn’t fly off the handle in a rage and take out his anger on people who don’t deserve it. By the same token his character will not allow him to tolerate evil.

If we agree with Michael Green, that God’s wrath is ‘his settled opposition to all that is evil’, then the thing that satisfies God’s wrath (the thing that turns God’s wrath away) is the end of evil and the beginning of faithful obedience to Him. As we sing in another hymn, ‘Trust and obey for there is no other way.’

Therefore, it would be more accurate to say that it’s not Jesus’ death that satisfies God’s wrath but rather Jesus’ obedience of faith in going to the cross as God asked. Jesus, who is fully human, obeys God on behalf of humanity and in doing so atones for us – he reconciles us to God.

As we read in Romans 5:18-19, 18 So then, as the one sin condemned all people, in the same way the one righteous act sets all people free and gives them life. 19 And just as all people were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man [Adam], in the same way they will all be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man [Jesus].

That phrase ‘the wrath of God was satisfied’ needs to be read in context with the very next line of the song which says, ‘For every sin on Him was laid’.  

This reminds me of what the apostle Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 5:21,

We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him [Jesus] who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

What Paul is saying here, is that our sin was nailed to the cross with Jesus. Therefore, from God’s point view, our sin died on the cross with Jesus.

Once again, it’s not the death of Jesus that satisfies God’s wrath. More precisely, it is the death of sin which satisfies God’s wrath. Sadly, we can’t have one without the other. For sin to die, Jesus also had to die. 

Verse 4 of the song picks up another angle on atonement where it says…

For I am His and He is mine bought with the precious blood of Christ.

This is probably a reference to the way Jesus understood his crucifixion.

In Matthew 20:28 Jesus said of himself, for the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

To ransom something is to pay a price to redeem it or secure its freedom. Jesus’ blood ransoms us – it buys us back, setting us free from the bondage of sin.

As with any metaphor we need to be careful not to make it walk on all fours. That is, we shouldn’t over interpret it by imagining that Satan demanded and received a payment from God in Christ’s blood. [1]  That gives the devil too much credit. Satan is not able to leverage God like that.

There are two main ideas to take away from the ransom analogy:

Firstly, that Jesus’ sacrifice was costly, it was paid in his life blood. So we shouldn’t take it for granted.

And secondly, we now belong to Christ. In other words, we are now at-one with Christ and with God.

Now, if you’re still listening, well done. You may be thinking, ‘Wow. This atonement stuff is really complicated and hard to understand, especially for a Sunday morning.’ I make no apology for that. It doesn’t hurt us to think deeply about our faith from time to time. One of the advantages of an on-line service is that you can go back and listen to the message again or read the sermon notes until the complicated stuff makes sense.    

By the same token, don’t stress about it if you can’t get your head around the atonement. Our salvation does not depend on understanding how the cross of Christ works. Our salvation depends on faith in Jesus.

When I get in my car to drive somewhere I don’t have to understand how the engine works in order to get from A to B – I just have to turn the engine on and drive.

Likewise, if I go to the doctor with an infection, I don’t need to understand how the medicine works for it to make me better – I just need to take it.

We don’t have to understand how Jesus saves us – we just have to believe that he does. Like I said in my Good Friday reflection: “We cannot understand the full meaning of the cross of Christ. We can only stand in silence before it, acknowledge its wonder, and submit to its power.”  [2]

Okay, so far we’ve considered two themes of the song: security and atonement. A third theme we notice is hope.    

Hope:

Often with Christian hymns the subject of hope is raised in the last verse, at the end of the song. ‘In Christ Alone’ sounds a note of hope in the very first line, where it says, In Christ alone my hope is found.

Hope is a word that is closely related to faith. Hope is believing we have a good future. Hope says, we will get through this. The best is yet to come. Worry and believing the worst about the future is the opposite of hope. The ‘panic buying’ we saw in supermarkets recently was a sign that some people were not hopeful. On the other hand, the way most New Zealanders have supported the lockdown and stayed in their bubbles indicates many people do have hope – we do believe we can eliminate the spread of this virus. If we didn’t have hope, we wouldn’t bother staying home.   

Hope is like a kite. It rises against the wind. When things are going well we don’t tend to think about the future all that much. There’s no need to. We are happy enough in the present. But when things are difficult, when we face some sort of opposition, we look to better days ahead and hope rises. The word we use to describe the positive energy of hope is joy. Joy lifts us when we are going through difficulty.    

I don’t know about you but one of the things I’ve noticed this year is an unprecedented use of the word unprecedented.

Unprecedented means ‘never done or known before’. Therefore, by its very definition, unprecedented is not a word we should use very often.

One thing that is truly unprecedented in human history is the resurrection of Christ. While it is true that Jesus raised at least three people from the dead during his earthly ministry, those miracles were different from the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection. Lazarus and the two kids who Jesus raised from the dead would have eventually died again but Jesus was raised to eternal life. He received a new body, one not subject to sickness or death.           

The third and fourth verses of In Christ Alone celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and the certain hope this creates for us. Verse 3 starts with the words…

There in the ground His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain.
Then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave He rose again.

All four gospels testify to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus’ resurrection is proof that Jesus was who he said he was – the Son of God.

Jesus’ resurrection shows us the justice of God – it was God’s way of vindicating Jesus. By raising Jesus from the dead God was saying Jesus was innocent and did not deserve to die.

Jesus’ resurrection also shows us that Jesus is Lord over life and death – he has victory over sin and the grave. The song picks up this theme of Jesus’ supremacy in various lines. For example, in verse 3 where we sing…   

And as He stands in victory, sin’s curse has lost its grip on me.

In the context of the song, Sins’ curse most likely refers to guilt and death, which are mentioned in the opening line of verse 4.

Our sin was nailed to the cross with Jesus so sin has been crucified. Sin no longer has power over us and this gives us hope. It assures us we have a good future to look forward to.   

Verse 4 of the song continues the theme of Christ’s supremacy where it says…

From life’s first cry to final breath Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand.
This reminds me of Romans 8:38-39 where Paul writes,

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Because Jesus is Lord of all, because He reigns supreme we have hope and security, both in this life and the next. 

But wait, there’s more. Jesus’ resurrection provides Christian believers with evidence that God will raise us to eternal life one day too. In 1st Corinthians 15:20-22 Paul writes about the certain hope of resurrection…

20 But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised. 21 For just as death came by means of a man, in the same way the rising from death comes by means of a man. 22 For just as all people die because of their union with Adam, in the same way all will be raised to life because of their union with Christ.

Christ’s resurrection has real implications for those who place their trust in him. Christ’s resurrection guarantees our resurrection to eternal life. This is not an unlikely hope (like winning lotto). This is a certain hope and a real comfort when a believer dies.

Conclusion:

The song finishes with the line, Till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

This reminds us that Jesus will return in glory one day. Therefore, we need to be ready. No one knows the day or hour.  

It also reminds us that we don’t stand in our own strength. We stand in the power of Christ’s Spirit. This means we are not alone and it doesn’t all depend on us.  

Jesus is our all in all. He gives us security. He reconciles us to God. And, through Christ, we have the hope of a good future.

Intercessory Prayer

Let us pray.

Generous God, we pray for those who are struggling financially during this time of lockdown. Help people in need who are applying for government assistance. Open doors to release your providence where it is needed.

Father God, may you help those who are managing the pressures that come with working from home and caring for children. Give them the grace of patience and good humour. Make our marriages and families stronger through this experience we pray.

Gracious God, may you help those who are feeling insecure or anxious at this time. Calm all ungodly fears and bring stillness to every racing mind. May your peace be our security.

Loving God, we pray for those who are working in essential services. Protect them from all harm and encourage them in the vital work they do.

Suffering God, may you help those (in NZ and overseas) who have lost loved ones and are unable to gather for a funeral. Comfort them by your Holy Spirit and bring to their minds happy memories. The love we give is never lost. 

Faithful God, may you help those who are seeking residency in NZ, wanting to make this country their home. Give them your reassurance and provide them with a turangawaewae (a place to stand), a cornerstone.

Compassionate God, may you help those who are feeling disconnected or lonely. Make the at-one-ment of Christ real for them. Help them to draw near to Jesus and feel the warmth of God’s people. Help us all as we tend the bowling greens of our relationships.    

Living God, may you help those whose hope is waning. Cause them to rise against the wind and soar on wings like eagles. Keep the truth and wonder of Jesus’ resurrection present in our minds we ask.     

Immanuel, may you help those who are trying to care for parents and family members from a distance. Watch over our loved ones for good. May we all remember that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Wise and merciful God, we pray these things in submission to your perfect and pleasing will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

In Christ Alone is comfort food for the Christian soul. Not junk food, but real hearty nourishment. Let’s nourish our souls as we sing, In Christ Alone…

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Questions for discussion or reflection

Listen to the song ‘In Christ Alone’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 

What is your favourite comfort food? Is there a special memory attached to this comfort food?  In what sense are certain worship songs like spiritual comfort food?

Discuss / reflect on some of the images of security in the song. E.g. light, cornerstone, firm foundation, comforter and love. How do these connect with Scripture? Which image of security resonates best with you?  Why is that do you think? 

What does atonement mean?

What problems can you see with the line, ‘Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied? What is God’s wrath? How does Jesus turn God’s wrath away? (Think obedience, not punishment.)

What is hope? How is hope related to faith and joy?

Why is the resurrection of Jesus so important to Christian faith? What are the implications of Jesus’ resurrection for you personally?  

Outtakes

The cornerstone metaphor is also used of Christ in 1 Peter 2:6 where the apostle writes: 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual houseto be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

In the verses above, from 1 Corinthians 15, we see our three themes of security, atonement and hope drawn together.

Union with Christ speaks of the result of atonement – Jesus makes us one with himself and with God.

Likewise, Christ’s resurrection speaks of hope in that it guarantees our resurrection to eternal life.

And, when we put Christ’s work of atonement and the hope of resurrection together, we have security in Christ.

[1] Refer to the Ransom article in the ‘Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, page 695

[2] Stanley Grenz, ‘Theology for the Community of God’, page 340

Tawa Baptist

When I survey the wondrous cross

Scriptures: Galatians 6:14, 1st Corinthians 1:18-31, Matthew 22:37

Good Friday Reflection:

Good morning everyone.

For many years the BBC Good Friday radio broadcast has started with the hymn, When I survey the wondrous cross. ­The words for When I survey were written by Isaac Watts in 1707 in preparation for a communion service. Isaac Watts was about 33 years old at the time. The hymn was originally named “Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ,” but apparently that didn’t catch on and these days we simply call it by the opening line When I survey.  

Isaac Watts was the son of a deacon in the Independent Church. As an 18 year old Watts was critical of the hymns they sang in church in the 17th Century, so his father said to him, “Make some yourself then.”

And that’s exactly what Isaac Watts did. He started writing his own hymns. Over his lifetime he penned the lyrics for about 750 songs, including Joy to world, which we sing at Christmas time.

Many consider ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’ to be one of the greatest hymns ever composed. Certainly it was ground breaking in its day. When I survey is unlike the other hymns, of that time, in that it reflects a personal spiritual experience. It describes the affect the cross of Christ can have on the human soul.

The sentiment of the opening line (and indeed the whole song) is that “We cannot understand the full meaning of the cross of Christ. We can only stand in silence before it, acknowledge its wonder, and submit to its power.”  [1]

At that stage in church history many people had been focused on getting their doctrines right. While good doctrine is helpful for guiding our thinking about God, Watts could see that doctrine by itself wasn’t enough. Faith in God isn’t just a set of philosophical principles or ideas to be examined under the microscope of our mind. We don’t define God. God defines us.

On some level Isaac Watts knew that God is relational and people need to have a personal encounter with Jesus. We need the love of God to touch us on the inside. Songs like When I survey were controversial in Watts’ day, perhaps because they were considered too subjective or too emotional. And yet, for over 300 years,the song When I survey the wondrous cross has opened people’s hearts to the wonder of God’s love and given us a way to express our deep personal gratitude to Jesus.

The second line of the song refers to the ‘Prince of Glory’. This is a title for Jesus. Prince of Glory (with a capital G) means Prince of heaven.

‘Prince of Glory’ also indicates that all glory and honour are due to Jesus.   

In the last line of the first verse of the song Watts talks about pouring contempt on all my pride. Contempt is the feeling that something is worthless. And pride, in the context of this song, is a feeling of self-satisfaction. Pride says, ‘I don’t need God. I can do this on my own.’ Therefore, ‘to pour contempt on our pride’ is to consider our own achievements as worthless and to rely, not on ourselves but rather, on what Christ has achieved through the cross. 

C.S. Lewis had some things to say about pride. He said, for example,

…pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense. [2]

A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you. [3]

…it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

In verse 2 of the hymn we speak directly to God saying, ‘Forbid it Lord that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my Lord’. This is a paraphrase of Paul’s words in Galatians 6:14, where the apostle writes,

‘May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’  

The world, in this verse from Galatians, refers to everything that is against God. The world then is not so much a geographical place. The world, in this context, refers to an ‘anti-God state of mind’. Paul is saying the cross of Christ has (for him at least) killed his pride. In other words, Paul’s anti-God state of mind has been crucified. He no longer thinks of himself as not needing God. He now thinks and acts with reference to what God wants.

Taking his cue from Paul, Isaac Watts (like C.S. Lewis) had the insight to see that the cross cuts to the core of the matter – human pride. When we face the cross of Jesus squarely and honestly it humbles us.  

To put it another way; if we think of our pride as a house of cards (something we have spent a lot of time carefully constructing, but which isn’t very stable or resilient), then Christ’s sacrifice on the cross flattens our house of cards. 

The second part of verse 2 of the song continues the theme of ruthlessly crucifying our pride: All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood. This line reminds me of what Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 1:18-31. Let me read you read some of the verses from this passage of Scripture…

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

… 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong…

31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”   

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

What the world values and holds in high esteem: things like youth, beauty, wealth, skill, success, popularity, performance, winning and so on, these are of little eternal consequence. What really matters in the end is faith expressing itself in love [4], as demonstrated by Christ’s obedience to God in going to the cross.

You know, as we grow older and more self-aware, we come to understand the paradox that our strengths contain the very seeds of our weaknesses.

What are the vain things that charm you the most?

If verses 1 & 2 of the song seek to crucify pride, then verse 3 of the hymn shows us what we see when we survey the wondrous cross … 

See from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet? Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

This verse sets our minds on Jesus, bleeding out on a cross; a crown of thorns on his head, nails through his hands and feet. Sorrow mixed with love speaks of self-giving love. It also suggests not just the physical pain Jesus endured but also the mental anguish and grief Jesus suffered over his separation from God.

The final verse of the song indicates what our response should be…

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

This verse speaks of the fact that Jesus was the only one worthy to make the sacrifice to atone for our sin. Nothing else in all creation could have sufficed. When we understand that God did not hold back even his own Son for us, our conscience requires us to not hold anything back from God.

We know from the Law of Moses and from Jesus’ teaching that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. Jesus shows us, by his example, what that means and through the cross he provides the motivation to love God.

Now it needs to be acknowledged that we are all on a journey with this. While the final verse of the song holds up an ideal response, we don’t always manage to love God with our all. Wherever you are at on the journey I encourage you to not give up. Keep walking with Jesus. God is gracious and he understands our intentions are often bigger than our capacity to deliver (like a child at a smorgasbord whose eyes are bigger than his belly).

Peter was adamant that he would never abandon Jesus and yet, within a few hours, his enthusiasm was drained and he denied Jesus three times to save his own neck. Like Peter, we have all fallen short of our own best intentions. The good news is that Jesus did not condemn Peter. Jesus restored Peter and Jesus wants to restore us too.

When we survey the cross we face mystery. We cannot understand the full meaning of the cross of Christ. We can only stand in silence before it, acknowledge its wonder, and submit to its power.”  [5]

Let’s do that now as we sing in our bubbles, When I survey the wondrous cross…         

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God:
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.

See from his head, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet?
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my All.

[1] Stanley Grenz, ‘Theology for the Community of God’, page 340

[2] C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.115

[3] C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.114

[4] Galatians 5:6b

[5] Stanley Grenz, ‘Theology for the Community of God’, page 340

Tawa Baptist

Abide with me

Scriptures: Luke 24:29, Matthew 9:10-13, Malachi 4:1-2, 1st Corinthians 15:55, John 14:1-4

Introduction:

Good morning everyone

From midnight last Wednesday we have all been in our self-isolation bubbles. But even before that we have been washing our hands more than usual. When you wash your hands you inevitably make lots of tiny bubbles with the water and soap.

Soap bubbles are wonderful really – although fragile and fleeting they are also beautiful, each one containing its own little rainbow. 

A single bubble naturally forms the shape of a sphere (as opposed to a square or a triangle) because that’s the smallest stable structure it can take.

While the life of a bubble is short the joy they inspire lasts a lot longer. Children never get tired of blowing bubbles.

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series. In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

In some ways singing songs of worship is a bit like blowing bubbles. While the singing doesn’t last very long, the beauty and joy of it linger after the music has popped and we find ourselves coming back again and again to sing the same songs, like a child blowing bubbles over and over.

Origins:

The song we are looking at this morning is called Abide with me.

Abide with me is actually a prayer for Jesus to be close to us personally and yet it is one of those songs that people, who don’t usually go to church, keep coming back to

Those of you who are football fans will know that the crowd sing a couple of verses of Abide with me before the start of the FA Cup final. They have done this every year since 1927 as a matter of tradition. It was a favourite of King George the fifth who was present at the FA Cup final that year.

Abide with me was also sung by British soldiers in the trenches during World War 1 and it is often sung at ANZAC services in NZ & Australia.

On Sept 21, 2001 it was played at Ground Zero by a Salvation Army band during the commemoration of the September 11 attacks.

It also features on the soundtracks of several movies, like The Full Monty, 28 Days Later and A Bridge Too Far.

Abide with me was written by Henry Lyte. Henry was born in Scotland in 1793, educated in Ireland and then served as an Anglican priest for a number of years in England.

For much of his life Henry Lyte did not enjoy good health but he didn’t let that stop him serving the Lord. On more than one occasion he was heard to say rather jokingly, ‘it is better to wear out than to rust out’. These are the words of a man who knows his days are numbered and wants to make the most of them. They are not good advice for most of us though. The journey of faith is a marathon, not a sprint and we need to pace ourselves.

Henry Lyte died at the relatively young age of 54, from TB

It is uncertain when Henry Lyte wrote Abide with me. Some say it was around 1820, after visiting a friend on his death bed. Others say Henry wrote the song in 1847, just weeks before his own death. Whatever the case, Erik Routley was surely right when he said Abide with me is a hymn which, “looks death itself in the face”. It is a song which expresses our human desire for companionship when we are in extreme circumstances, which may be one reason why it is so popular outside of church walls.    

While Henry Lyte did write music to accompany his lyrics, the tune we sing it to these days was written by William Monk following the death of his daughter, Florence. William had been standing, hand in hand with his wife, at the window of their cottage, ‘silently watching the glory of the setting sun until the golden hue faded’, when suddenly the words of the hymn Abide with me came to his mind. He wasted no time in composing the music he called Eventide

Death and resurrection:

The opening verse of the hymn reads…

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

The word abide, in this context, means to ‘stay with’, to ‘reside’ or to ‘hang out’ together – for example, we abide with those in our bubble.

Abide can also mean to tolerate or put up with or obey, but that’s not the meaning here. In this song abide is about spending time together, enjoying each other’s presence, connecting with one another on the inside.

Eventide means the end of the day when the sun sets and night falls. It is a metaphor for the end of this life, when the sun sets on our mortal body and we are facing death. It could be our own mortality we are facing or the death of a loved one    

That phrase, the darkness deepens, is a poetic way of talking about the sadness, the loneliness and the powerlessness we feel in the face of death. When you are grieving, the things that once comforted you and helped you no longer hold any enjoyment. You might go off your food, for example, or you might find it hard to sleep. In that situation Jesus is the help of the helpless. Jesus comes to the aid of those who are powerless to help themselves.

Now some of you may be thinking, why is Will preaching on a song that reminds us about death and mortality – especially when the world is threatened by an epidemic?

Well, it’s not my job to distract people from reality. We have Netflix for that.

Part of my job involves helping people to face reality and the reality is, everyone dies eventually. But that is only a small part of our reality. The bigger part, the good news, is that Jesus has conquered death and so death does not have the last word. You see, facing our own mortality opens the door to thinking about resurrection.

Henry Lyte, who lived in the constant shadow of death, was very conscious of resurrection.  

The inspiration for verse 1 of Henry’s song comes from Luke 24:29. In Luke 24 two people are facing the deepening darkness of death. Just a couple of days before they had witnessed the murder of someone they loved dearly – they saw Jesus crucified. The bottom has fallen out of their world and the sun is setting on hope. As Cleopas and the other disciple are walking away from Jerusalem toward Emmaus, Jesus himself comes alongside them. They don’t recognise him at first. At that point their minds are closed to the possibility of resurrection. They can’t comprehend that Jesus has been raised to new life.

Jesus asks them what they are talking about and they are shocked that he hasn’t heard all that has happened over the weekend. It would be like someone not knowing we are at level 4 alert for Corona virus. After listening to them Jesus says…

26 “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going further. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us [abide with us], for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him…

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

What we notice here, in this eye witness account from Luke’s gospel, is that it is the risen Jesus who abides with his bewildered and grieving disciples. And somehow his presence is enough. Although he disappears from their sight, soon after their eyes were opened, he continues to abide in their hearts and minds. Because of his resurrection, they don’t feel alone or sad anymore. To the contrary, they feel connected and joyful – they run back to Jerusalem to tell the others the good news. 

The next verse of Henry Lyte’s song starts with the words…

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;

These lines are talking about how short life is.  

I remember sitting with my grandfather as he was dying. He said about his life, ‘It all went by so quickly’. He was 72. I was 24 and, at that age, you feel like you’ve got all the time in the world. But really, in the light of eternity, this life is like a soap bubble. It is fragile and fleeting but also quite beautiful in its own short way   

The second half of verse 2 finds a note of hope  

Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

In other words: Yes, life is short and constantly changing (how quickly things have changed in the last couple of weeks) but God does not change. God is stable and secure, faithful and reliable. The Lord is our rock, a firm foundation.

As we read in Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Or as Yahweh says through the prophet Malachi, “I the Lord do not change. So you… are not destroyed.” (3:6)     

Or as we read in the Psalms, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end.

Fear not:

There are actually eight verses to the original version of Abide with me, but we normally only sing four. We don’t have time to examine every verse in detail but I would like to touch on one of the less well known verses, where we say to Jesus…

Come not in terror, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings;

This line of the song recalls Malachi chapter 4 where we read about the day of the Lord’s return – the day of judgment…

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.  

The day of God’s judgement is frightening. Even though Malachi is using poetic language, the image of being burned up in a furnace is terrifying, especially when you consider that none of us are perfect. All of us have participated in some evil in our life.

But it’s not all bad news. Those who revere God’s name receive healing and are set free to frolic like well-fed calves. Clearly, we want to be on the side of those who revere God’s name. But what does that mean, to revere God’s name? Well, the next line in the song gives us a few clues…

Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea.
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.

Jesus is the picture of God’s compassion – he feels our pain and weeps with us for our woes. He has a heart that listens to and understands the cry of our heart. What’s more, Jesus is a friend of sinners, which comes as a great relief in light of Malachi’s furnace metaphor.

In singing the words, Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me, we are identifying ourselves as sinners, humbly calling on the compassion and mercy of Jesus, our friend.

In Matthew 9 the Pharisees saw Jesus abiding with disreputable people, people they considered to be evil doers, so they said to Jesus’ disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ To which Jesus replied…

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

You see, God doesn’t want to destroy people – he loves people and wants to save us – that’s why Jesus came, so that we might have abundant life. Those who revere God’s name are not perfect but they are not arrogant either – they are humble. True humility is about being honest with ourselves. Those who ‘revere the name of the Lord’ are under no illusion – they rely on Jesus’ mercy, not their own power.

The risk with living in a bubble is that people may become fearful and anxious. Consequently, there has been a lot of talk in the media about taking care of our mental health while we are in self-isolation. The pen-ultimate verse of Henry Lyte’s song addresses this very thing…

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

This verse implies that having Jesus abide with us does not mean nothing bad will ever happen to us. Jesus’ presence is not a bullet proof vest or Personal Protective Equipment. We may still suffer illness but the ills have no weight – they are lighter somehow when Jesus abides with us. Likewise, we may still suffer injustice & grief but our tears hold no bitterness – if anything the presence of Christ brings release. How is this possible? It is possible because when Jesus abides with us we know we are loved by God

I am mindful of several verses from the Bible which hold together the paradox of suffering with joy (and without fear). In particular…

Psalm 126:5, Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

And the beatitudes where Jesus says, Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted (Matthew 5:4)

Also Paul’s letter to the Romans (5:3-5), We rejoice in sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  

And that’s the key right there isn’t it. When we have faith in Christ we are not afraid of illness and calamity because we know God loves us. Therefore, we know our suffering is not a punishment from God. We may get sick, we may even die, but we are not destined for the furnace. As the poet Robert Browning said, ‘The best is yet to be’.  

Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? This is a quote from 1st Corinthians 15:55, where Paul is talking about the resurrection of Christ. When Paul wrote this he was making reference to the Old Testament prophet Hosea (13:14) where God says to the nation of Israel…

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where O death are your plagues? Where, O grave is your destruction?    

Henry Lyte could say, with a chuckle, ‘it is better to wear out than to rust out’, because (despite having TB) he believed God loved him and would raise him to new life. Henry was not afraid of dying. His last words were, “Peace! Joy!” He was looking forward to heaven

We don’t need to be afraid of this plague we are in either. We do need to be careful, but we don’t need to be anxious, for our God is greater than illness and death – we have resurrection to look forward to.

Conclusion:

Abide with me starts with the sun going down and the darkness of night deepening. In the final verse the darkness of night has past and we have the picture of light breaking at the dawn of a new day… 

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

The last verse looks beyond this life to the next. For those who trust in Christ, death is not the final reality. Yes, we all die but Jesus has transformed death from an ending to an open door. When the brief bubble of this life pops those who are in Christ are released from their self-isolation into a wonderfully spacious intimacy with God. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.  

In John 14, the night before he died, Jesus said to his disciples…

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

That’s a verse about abiding with Jesus forever in the house of God  

The song Abide with me is a prayer for Jesus to stay close with us through life and death and resurrection. It is a prayer God is happy to answer.

Let’s sing now, in our bubbles, Abide with me. Make this your heartfelt prayer.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

Listen to the song, ‘Abide with me’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 

How are things going for you in your bubble? What rainbow moments have you had this past week?

Why do we need to face the reality of our own mortality? What is the bigger part of reality (the good news)?

What difference did it make to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus to learn that Jesus was alive? What difference does Jesus’ resurrection make for you, personally?

Why do we not need to be afraid? What basis do we have for facing suffering with joy?

What does it mean to revere God’s name?

How might you abide with Jesus while in self-isolation? Take some time this week to be with Jesus.    

Tawa Baptist

The Lord is gracious & compassionate

Scriptures: Psalm 145:8-9, Psalm 103:1-13, Exodus 22:16-27, Exodus 34:4-9

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The Lord is gracious and compassionate
  • The Lord is slow to anger and rich in love
  • The Lord removes our transgressions
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Some of you may have been on the Inter-Islander ferry

  • The Inter-Islander is a relatively large boat that transports people and cars across Cook’s Straight, between the North and South Island
  • Sometimes, when there is a bit of a swell on the ocean, the boat heaves backward and forward like a see-saw
  • When that happens the best place to stand is in the middle of the boat
  • If you try to walk around it is hard to keep your footing – each step is uncertain
  • And if you are standing at either end of the ship you will feel the up and down motion of the swell a lot more
  • But when you are near the centre, holding on to something firm, it doesn’t feel so bad

The world is in a bit of turmoil at the moment with this COVID-19 virus

  • For some people it feels like being on a ship in a heavy swell.
  • People’s plans are being thrown out and shut down
  • The horizon is constantly changing and each step feels uncertain
  • Perhaps the best thing we can do is find a firm hand hold and centre ourselves, stand still for a while.     

For Christians, Jesus is our centre. He is the rock, the firm foundation on which we stand and find security in unsteady times.  

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

  • In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

The song we are looking at this morning is called The Lord is gracious and compassionate

  • The words of this song come straight out of the Bible – they are woven throughout the Old Testament and find human form, in the person of Jesus Christ, in the New Testament.
  • These words reveal the heart of God and, consequently, are at the centre of Jewish and Christian faith
  • For centuries they have given millions of believers, stability and a firm handhold in unsteady times.

Although the lyrics to The Lord is gracious and compassionate have been around for literally thousands of years, the music is relatively new

  • Graham Ord recorded the song in 1998 with Vineyard music

Graham Ord was born on the 22nd March 1961 in the U.K. which means today is his birthday – he is turning 59. (Isn’t that a lovely piece of synchronicity)

  • Graham learned guitar when he was 15 and got heavily involved in the punk music scene during the 1970’s. He describes his conversion…

“I met a girl and she told me about the Lord and that was when I first got interested in Christianity. I never had any background of Christianity at all. I spent six weeks trying to find out if it was true, doing a lot of soul searching…

I thought about the Lord, and eventually I got on my knees in my bedroom and asked the Lord to come into my life. At that point I realised that was why I was born, to use the music that God gave me to communicate something about Him, His love and all that sort of stuff.

I gave up music for a while because before it had been like an idol, really. Then one day, about a year later, the pastor says to me, ‘Are you hiding your light under a bushel?’ I thought, ‘What the flippin’ heck is a bushel?’ I’d never heard of a bushel before… But he said, ‘I hear you used to play, in a band.’

I said, ‘Yeah’, and he said, ‘Well don’t you think it would be good to play your guitar in church?’ So I started playing in my punk style” [in church].

That was Graham Ord’s story of becoming a Christian

  • He didn’t end up playing all his music in church though – he also plays in pubs and bars, both covers of popular songs as well as Christian worship songs – so he’s not afraid to publicly express his love for Jesus.
  • There is an authenticity to his character and his faith

The Lord is gracious and compassionate:

A backbone gives strength and stability to the body

  • It runs through our centre (physically) and keeps us steady & flexible
  • Graham Ord’s song starts with the words, the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love
  • This is a direct quote from Psalm 145, verse 8, in the NIV
  • These words provide a backbone for our faith

So let’s consider what each of the key words in this phrase mean    

  • ‘The Lord’ is the personal name of God Almighty – that is, Yahweh.
  • Yahweh revealed his name to Moses.
  • The name, Yahweh, cannot be contained by any definition we might try to give it. Yahweh may mean something like ‘I am who I am’, which is another way of God saying, ‘You don’t define me. I define myself.’   
  • And the backbone of the way God defines himself is, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.

We heard last week about the graciousness of God when we took a closer look at the song Amazing Grace

  • Grace is a word which simply means ‘gift’
  • A gift is not something we earn like wages and it’s not something we deserve like justice, nor is it something we are entitled to by law
  • To receive grace is to be given something good that we haven’t earned, don’t deserve and are not entitled to 
  • God’s grace, his gift of unmerited favour, is multi-faceted
  • Sometimes God’s grace feels pleasant and other times it may feel painful but it is always good for us. 

The word compassion is also very rich in its meaning

  • Our English word for compassion comes from a Latin word
  • In Latin, ‘com’ means with and ‘passion’ means suffer – so to have compassion for someone means to suffer with that person
  • We might also call that empathy – putting ourselves in the other person’s shoes, feeling what the other person is feeling
  • Therefore, to say ‘the Lord is compassionate’ is to say that God suffers with us – he feels what we feel.
  • God is not aloof or unfeeling or disconnected from the suffering of his creation

But suffering with someone only goes so far. If you are going through difficult times you don’t just want God to empathise with you – you want God to be moved – to do something to help you      

  • Which is where the Greek word, splagchnizomai, comes in
  • Splagchnizomai is the New Testament word for compassion
  • Splagchnizomai means to be deeply moved in the depths of your being, in your guts, in your spleen.
  • For the people in the ancient world love and compassion didn’t come from your heart (like we might think of it) – love and compassion come from your bowels
  • So compassion is a gut wrenching feeling that moves you to action    
  • This was a revolutionary thought. The gods of the Romans and Greeks had no compassion for mortals – they were unmoved by our situation
  • The living God, Yahweh, is deeply moved by our predicament and will take action for humanity’s well-being.

But wait, there’s more. The Hebrew word for compassion, used in the Old Testament, is taken from the word rechem, which means ‘womb’

  • I like the connection Bonnie Wilks makes here when she talks about the womb of compassion…

To have compassion on someone means, symbolically, to carry them in your womb. In the womb of compassion, the suffering one is nurtured and protected and given what is good for them. They are carried until they are strong enough to come out of the womb.

Now when we think of God’s compassion as a womb, it makes us feel safe and close and connected to God with the deepest bond known in human experience 

  • Like a woman in labour God suffers with us to give us life
  • God’s compassion is a source of security for us

In Exodus 22, God gives some laws about social responsibility.

  • Things like, don’t take advantage of a widow or an orphan,
  • Don’t mistreat immigrants,
  • Don’t lend money at interest,
  • Don’t make life hard or uncomfortable for the poor, that sort of thing.
  • And in the same breath (in verse 27) God says: For I am compassionate.  
  • In other words, the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, the poor and the powerless are like a baby that I carry in the womb.
  • This means if we mistreat them, we are mistreating God and he will be moved to take action in their defence.

There is a line in Graham Ord’s version of the song which reads…

  • The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all that he has made
  • This is a quote from Psalm 145, verse 9
  • It basically refers to the universal scope of God’s goodness and compassion.

Jesus spoke of God’s goodness and compassion for all, in Matthew 5

  • Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

God’s love and compassion makes him vulnerable to rejection and abuse

  • We human beings sometimes take God’s goodness for granted.

Graham Ord was well aware of God’s vulnerability to rejection. He says,

“When I first got saved I wrote a tract, and I used to go out on the streets with a friend of mine and give this tract out to people…. So we started giving them round, we used to pray for people at bus stops, all sorts of things.

I gave one chap this tract, and he said, ‘I don’t want to know’.

  • So I said, ‘Well, Jesus loves you’.
  • And he said, ‘Well I don’t give two monkeys. So what?’
  • That really shocked me, because I thought everyone must be interested in Jesus; it was such a real thing to me.

So I went home and prayed saying, ‘Lord, how do you feel when people just completely reject you?’ The thought came to me,

  • ‘Well, I know all of that. I know that people turn their back on everything I’ve done for them. But just like a bird doesn’t need to try to fly, so I can’t do anything but love you. That’s the way it is… I don’t make up the love I have for people – I just feel love for people. That’s the way I am.'”

God shows goodness and compassion and love for people (whether they appreciate it or not) because that’s who he is – he’s simply being himself.

The Lord is slow to anger and rich in love:

As well as being gracious and compassionate, the Lord God also defines himself as slow to anger

Many of us don’t like this idea that God is capable of anger but actually anger is part and parcel of love and justice and compassion

  • My spiritual director said to me once, ‘If you cut yourself you bleed. If you experience injustice you feel angry’
  • And it’s true, if someone does something to harm a person you love then it cuts you and you naturally feel angry
  • Or if you yourself are treated unfairly you will inevitably feel angry
  • If God did not get angry over injustice then he would not be a loving and compassionate God, he would be an apathetic god
  • Apathy (not caring at all) is the opposite of love

Anger is essentially an emotional energy. Anger is not a sin in itself.

  • So it is okay to feel angry. The critical thing is what we do with the emotional energy of anger
  • Do we use that energy to destroy and take revenge?
  • Or do we use that energy to declare the truth and restore?    

It needs to be said that God’s anger is not the same as human anger

  • God is always in control of his anger. We human beings, on the other hand, are not always in control of our emotional energies
  • God’s anger is carefully measured. Our anger is often out of proportion.
  • God’s anger is provoked by injustice and untruth, whereas our anger may be fuelled by fear or selfishness rather than love or righteousness
  • To say that God is slow to anger is to say he has a long fuse – he is patient and fore-bearing
  • We human beings tend to have a lot shorter fuse
  • God’s anger is always righteous. Human anger is often unsteady.   

In thinking about the contrast between divine anger and human anger I’m reminded of the story of Jonah

  • Jonah was a Jewish prophet, in the Old Testament, who was told by God to preach a message of repentance to his enemies – the people of Nineveh
  • Jonah did not want to do this and ran away in the opposite direction
  • But God, who is gracious and compassionate and slow to anger, pursued Jonah with his love, turned him around and put him on the right path

Jonah went to Nineveh and told the people that God was going to destroy their city. The people repented and God relented

  • The people turned their lives around and God saved the city.
  • This made Jonah angry – he was furious with God and said…
  • “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.
  • Don’t you love the irony – God’s grace and compassion and slowness to anger actually made Jonah angry. God listened to Jonah and then he said,
  • Have you any right to be angry, Jonah? Nineveh has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?  

There is a bit of Jonah in all of us I think. We want God to be patient and gracious with us but quick to anger with our enemies.

  • We can’t have it both ways.

The Lord God is slow to anger and rich in love.

  • What does it mean that the Lord is rich in love?
  • Well, the Hebrew word, translated as love here, is actually hesed.
  • I’ve spoken before about the meaning of hesed but for those who missed it, hesed refers to loyal love or steadfast (covenant) love
  • Depending on the context in which it is used, hesed can also be translated as mercy or kindness

There are three criteria to hesed in the Hebrew Bible:

  • First, an act of hesed is done for someone you know already
  • Second, the action is essential to the survival or basic well-being of the recipient (it is no small thing)
  • And thirdly, the needed action is one that only the person doing the act of hesed is in a position to provide [1] (no one else can do it)

When God gave Sarah & Abraham a son (Isaac), that was an act of hesed

When Joseph saved his family from starvation and forgave his brothers for selling him into slavery, that was an act of hesed

And, when God delivered the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt that was an act of hesed.

  • There are many other examples of divine and human hesed in the Bible

To say ‘the Lord is rich in love’ is to say God is not mean or stingy with his hesed – his love for humanity is long and deep and generous.

The Lord has removed our transgressions:

The second verse of Graham Ord’s song reads…

  • As far as the east is from the west, that’s how far he has removed our transgressions from us

This line is a direct quote from Psalm 103, verse 12

  • It is basically talking about God’s forgiveness of Israel’s sin
  • Transgressions is a word which means breaking God’s law
  • The distance between the east and the west is an infinite distance
  • It is immeasurable – you can’t get further apart than the east and the west

Now we may be inclined to take a romantic view of God removing our transgressions from us

  • We might think it happens without any cost or inconvenience to us
  • But that is not always the case
  • For example, if you are a recovering alcoholic or a drug addict then having God remove that addiction from you is not usually an easy process. Withdrawal can be painful and requires your cooperation.
  • Or perhaps your sin is less obvious, more socially acceptable.
  • Maybe you love money or your reputation or your personal freedom or something else, more than you love God. We call this idolatry
  • If money is our idol, then having God remove our transgressions and sin means losing our excess wealth
  • Or if our reputation is more important to us than God, then having God remove our transgressions will probably involve some form of public humiliation 
  • And if personal freedom is what we worship, then the remedy will sound something like, ‘deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me’.

God’s forgiveness may be free but it’s not cheap.

After God had done hesed for the Israelites, by rescuing them from slavery in Egypt, they did a terrible thing in the wilderness

  • They repaid Yahweh’s loyal love with betrayal and disloyalty
  • The people made a golden calf and bowed down to it in worship and then they had a big booze up
  • Moses was on the mountain at the time getting the ten commandments
  • When he came down and saw what was happening Moses was so angry with the people he broke the stone tablets on which the commandments were written and destroyed the golden calf
  • Then Moses interceded for the people, asking God to forgive them, and God listened to Moses. (A good use of angry energy one thinks)

Afterwards Moses went up the mountain again with new stone tablets for God to write on. Take two.

  • While he was up the mountain The Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed his name, the Lord. He passed in front of Moses saying, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…”
  • The Lord showed hesed (loyal love) to the nation of Israel by forgiving their sins and renewing his covenant with them
  • In that situation those who had sinned eventually died in the wilderness but the next generation were allowed to enter the Promised Land
  • In this way the Lord removed Israel’s transgressions as far as the east is from the west.  

God’s grace and compassion and love don’t always make us feel good but they are always good for us. 

Conclusion:

The song finishes with the opening and closing line of Psalm 103 where David says, Praise the Lord, O my soul;

  • In this context the soul refers to the individual person – in particular to a person’s inner self, their inmost being
  • David is intentional about worshipping God genuinely, from the inside out, in spirit and in truth; not just putting on appearances    

Graham Ord understood this when he chose these words from the Psalms

  • In an interview he talks about the need to be real in worship, saying…

“I’ve worked a lot in Eastern Europe in the past. I used to smuggle Bibles…

One thing I’ve learnt is that Christians out there [in Czechoslovakia] aren’t afraid of the pain as well as the joy when they worship. Like if you hear a Romanian choir they very rarely sing songs that are all happy-clappy. Their music is very mournful; minor key type songs, because they’re singing about things that are touching their hearts. Worship… is about expressing everything, every facet of human experience… It’s very, very important to be honest in worship.”

With many of the events that are unfolding in our world today it may feel difficult to ‘praise the Lord with our soul, our inmost being’

  • We don’t need to pretend. We have freedom to be honest with God
  • Honesty in worship ultimately enables us to take our eyes off the situation and leads us to praising God for who he is, not just what he can do for us
  • When we get to that place of praising God for who he is, our perspective and our peace are restored.

Let us pray…

  • Father God, we praise you, for you are bigger than Corona Virus or empty supermarket shelves or any other threat
  • Lord, we praise you, for you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love
  • You are able to bring good out of the current circumstances and make all things serve your purpose. Blessed be your name. Amen. 

Song Lyrics:

The Lord is gracious and compassionate
Slow to anger and rich in love
The Lord is gracious and compassionate
Slow to anger and rich in love
The Lord is good to all
He has compassion for all that He has made
As far as the east is from the west
That’s how far He has removed our transgressions from us

Praise the Lord, oh my soul
Praise the Lord
Praise the Lord, oh my soul
Praise the Lord.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

Listen to the song, ‘The Lord is gracious and compassionate’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 

  • How are you feeling about recent events in the world? Why do you think you feel this way?  
  • What gives you strength and stability in times of uncertainty or change?
  • Discuss / reflect on the meaning of compassion.
    • What are some of the implications, for us, of God’s compassion? (E.g. Exodus 22.)
    • What are some of the implications for God in being compassionate?
  • Why is God’s anger inseparable from his love?
    • How is God’s anger different from human anger?  
  • What does it mean that God removes our transgressions from us? What are the implications of this for you personally?
  • What does it mean to praise the Lord with our soul, with our inmost being?
    • Why is honesty in worship so important? 

Take some time this week to remember God’s particular acts of hesed for you and give him praise.

[1] Katherine Doob Sakenfeld, Ruth, page 24.

Tawa Baptist

Amazing Grace

Scriptures: Romans 10:12-15, Luke 15:11-32, Acts 26:12-18, Psalm 66:8-12, Psalm 28:6-7, 2nd Peter 3:10, [Psalm 73:26]

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The grace of forgiveness
  • The grace of fear
  • The grace of providence
  • The grace of heaven
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

I have here a pendulum

  • If I let the pendulum go from just a little height it won’t swing that far the other way
  • But if I let the pendulum go from a greater height it will swing further to the opposite extreme

People can be a bit like pendulums. Often the further we go to one extreme, the greater we are inclined to rebound to the opposite extreme

  • For example, if your mum made you vegemite sandwiches every day for your school lunch you may develop a life time aversion to vegemite
  • Or, if you grew up not having much and not knowing where your next meal was coming from you may (as an adult) be inclined to save aggressively to avoid ever going hungry again.

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

  • In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

The song we are looking at this morning is called Amazing Grace. There are two versions of this song. We sang the newer more modern version last Sunday

  • Today we are looking at the older, more traditional version 
  • Amazing Grace was written by John Newton in 1772
  • John Newton was one individual in which the pendulum effect was certainly noticeable
  • As a young man he led a pretty immoral life but later went to the other extreme and became a church minister
  • Amazing Grace draws heavily on John Newton’s personal experience of God’s grace for him. 

There are a number of verses to the song, each of which focus on different aspects of grace. God’s grace is not one dimensional – it is multi-faceted

  • For example, there is the grace of forgiveness, the grace of fear, the grace of providence and the grace of heaven.

The grace of forgiveness:

The opening verse of the song reads…

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.

A wretch is a person who behaves badly

  • And grace is a word which simply means ‘gift’
  • A gift is not something we earn like wages and it’s not something we deserve like justice, nor is it something we are entitled to by law
  • To receive grace is to be given something good that we haven’t earned, don’t deserve and are not entitled to 
  • God’s grace, his gift of unmerited favour, is amazing both in its generosity and in its scope.

In the opening verse of his song John Newton describes grace as a sound that saved him. Perhaps he was thinking of the sound of the gospel of Jesus being preached. As we read in Paul’s letter to the Romans

God is the same Lord of all and richly blesses all who call to him. 13 As the scripture says, “Everyone who calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.” 14 But how can they call to him for help if they have not believed? And how can they believe if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear if the message is not proclaimed? 15 And how can the message be proclaimed if the messengers are not sent out? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

So the grace of God is a sweet sound – it is something which can be heard as the gospel is preached – it is the sound of Jesus saying, ‘Do not be afraid. Your faith has saved you.  Your sins are forgiven. Come follow me.’

I once was lost but now I’m found; was blind but now I see is probably a reference to the story of the lost sons, aka the parable of the prodigal son

  • In Luke 15 Jesus tells a parable about two sons. The younger son runs away from home and squanders his inheritance on wine, women and song
  • Eventually, when his cash runs out, he ends up feeding pigs
  • He is so hungry he could eat the slops being fed to the pigs
  • It is at that point, when he is at his lowest, that his eyes are opened and he comes to his senses.
  • He realises his father’s servants are treated better than this so he returns home with a plan to ask to work as a hired hand for his dad
  • In an extraordinary act of grace, the father generously welcomes his wayward son and throws a party to celebrate his return
  • The older brother is angry and refuses to join the party so the father says to him: we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost but now he is found.   

That’s a picture of God’s amazing grace in the form of forgiveness and salvation and it was John Newton’s experience too

The grace of fear:

Verse two of the song reads:

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.

Fear is one of those words which can take on a different nuance or meaning depending on the context

  • Fear can mean panic and terror, but it can also mean the deep calm of reverence and respect

We may think of grace as a lovely pleasant feeling – something nice that we enjoy or that makes us happy – and while it can be like that, grace can also be something painful, which we don’t enjoy and which makes us feel afraid

  • The hunger the prodigal son experienced was just as much a part of God’s grace as the warm welcome he received from his father
  • Without the hunger the young man would never have come to his senses and returned home.
  • God’s grace is multi-faceted – not only does it teach us to fear (in the sense of creating reverence and respect for God), it also relieves our fears, in the sense of removing panic and terror

I don’t know if there are any Johnny Cash fans here but if there are you may be familiar with his song ‘When the man comes around’

  • It’s a song which reminds us that Jesus will return one day and when he does, ‘will we be ready?’
  • Johnny Cash was a bit like Johnny Newton in that, as a young man, he led a pretty immoral life but later, by the gravity of God’s grace the pendulum swung the other way and Johnny turned his life around
  • Johnny Cash has a line in his song where he says, “It’s hard for thee to kick against the pricks”
  • A prick is a long pointed stick that was used in the old days to get a stubborn animal (like an ox) to move in the right direction, sort of like a cattle prod or a goad
  • A prick teaches the animal to fear or respect the farmer so they walk in the right path

“It’s hard for thee to kick against the pricks” is a quote from the Bible – from Acts 26, verse 14, where we read of the apostle Paul’s conversion

  • As Paul (or Saul as he was known then) was on his way to Damascus, hunting down Christians to persecute, he encountered the risen Lord Jesus in a flash of blinding light and he heard a voice say to him…
  • ‘Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by kicking against the pricks’
  • Naturally Paul was terrified and fell to the ground saying, ‘Who are you Lord?’
  • And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus whom you persecute.’

‘To kick against the pricks’ is to learn to fear God the hard way

  • Johnny Cash, Johnny Newton, the prodigal son and the apostle Paul all learned to fear God the hard way
  • God would rather not use the pricks on people but he will if he has to
  • Although not pleasant, the pricks are one of his instruments of grace

The grace of providence:

John Newton’s conversion wasn’t as quick as the apostle Paul’s – it actually took John Newton many years to learn the fear of the Lord, but all through those years God offered John the grace of providence

  • Providence is the protective care of God – it’s God giving us just what we need at the right time    

One of the verses of the song acknowledges God’s providence through the difficulties of this life

Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

John Newton certainly knew about dangers, toils and snares

  • When he was just six years old John’s mother died of tuberculosis
  • His father was a shipping merchant and therefore was away a lot
  • John was sent to boarding school.
  • At age 11 he joined his father in the shipping trade   
  • As a teenager John’s faith was like a pendulum swinging wildly back and forth, from one extreme to the other.
  • He was in a pattern of behaving badly, then being corrected by the pricks, before falling back into bad habits again 
  • On one occasion John was talked out of his faith by a crew mate
  • Newton later wrote, “Like an unwary sailor who quits his port just before a rising storm, I renounced the hopes and comforts of the gospel at the very time when every other comfort was about to fail me.”

John’s behaviour became so bad he was made to join the Navy but, before long, he deserted in order to visit his sweet heart Mary Catlett.

  • The Navy couldn’t handle him so they traded John Newton to become a crew member on a slave ship, where John’s profanity became legendary
  • (Profanity is the opposite of holiness)
  • John created obscene poems and songs about the captain much to the delight of his fellow sailors.
  • Not only did he use the worst swear words you are ever likely to hear, he also created new ones – brains and vulgarity

As a consequence of his behaviour John Newton was punished severely

  • They withheld food from him, imprisoned him while at sea and chained him up like the slaves they carried.
  • Then he was made a slave himself and forced to work on a plantation in the British colony of Sierra Leone
  • After several months as a slave his father intervened and arranged for the rescue of his prodigal son

In 1748, while aboard a ship called the Greyhound in the North Atlantic, John Newton read a book called The Christian’s Pattern, which is a summary of Thomas a Kempis’ classic The Imitation of Christ

  • While on that same voyage a storm hit
  • It was so bad one of Newton’s crew members was swept overboard in the very place Newton had been standing
  • He and his crew mates fought for many hours to keep the ship afloat
  • During this time of fear and terror, Newton cried out in desperation ‘Lord, have mercy upon us’.  
  • God did indeed have mercy on John and the crew – two weeks later the battered ship limped into port on the coast of Ireland.

During those two weeks John kept thinking about the words he’d spoken “Lord, have mercy upon us”

  • He began to ask if he was worthy of God’s mercy after all he had done
  • He had turned his back on God, mocking those who believed and denouncing God as a myth and yet he could not deny the hand of God’s providence in his life 
  • As he contemplated this, the grace of God slowly went to work in John’s heart and mind.

John Newton’s conversion was not instant or quick (like the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus), rather it was more gradual

  • Despite his own experience of slavery John Newton did not quit the slave trade straight away
  • He continued in that line of work for several voyages and participated in many of the same activities he had before, except for his profanity   
  • The prick of a severe illness helped to remind John Newton of God’s grace for him and it strengthened his resolve to walk in God’s ways but he wasn’t yet ready to give up transporting slaves from Africa.
  • To be fair to Newton though, we need to remember that slavery was simply an accepted way of life at the time, sort of like we used to accept plastic bags or burning coal or CFC’s or drinking and driving
  • Those things are frowned upon now but they were considered normal in the 1970’s and 80’s 

Some things are deeply ingrained in us and don’t come out in the first wash

  • Sometimes we are slow to learn but the grace of God is patient, refining us like silver

In Psalm 66 we read…

Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; 9 he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. 10 For you, God, tested us;
you refined us like silver. 11 You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. 12 You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.

Believe it or not, Psalm 66 is a song of thanksgiving, much like the song Amazing Grace. It recognises God’s hand of providence in painful events.

  • Verse 10 mentions the refining of silver.
  • Silver has antibacterial properties, which means germs can’t survive on it, which is one of the reasons it is used as a shared cup in communion – silver is a symbol of holiness and cleanliness.
  • The refining of silver in ancient times involved melting the metal so the dross rose to the top, then removing the dross
  • The writer of psalm 66 used this as a metaphor for the way God had tested and refined the Israelites
  • Although the process of being refined in a furnace is not pleasant at the time, the poet is able to look back and see God’s providence in it
  • Despite all they have suffered he is able to say, God preserved our lives and brought us to a place of abundance 
  • It seems John Newton was familiar with this refining process
  • And, despite the dangers, toils and snares he went through, God protected him and he was able to praise God for his multi-faceted grace.

There is another verse of the song which celebrates the grace of God’s providence. It reads…

The Lord has promised good to me, His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be, as long as life endures.

Our hope is based on God’s promises – God always keeps his word.   

  • To say that God is my portion is to say that God provides all I need
  • The image of a shield is a metaphor for God’s protection – we are reminded of Psalm 28…

Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. 7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

This was certainly true for John Newton – the Lord did hear his cry for mercy and eventually John wrote many songs of praise to God.

The grace of heaven:

So far we have considered the grace of forgiveness, the grace of fear and the grace of providence. Now we turn our minds to the grace of heaven  

  • If the grace of fear is God’s stick, then the grace of heaven is God’s carrot

‘Kicking against the pricks’ only went so far in reforming John Newton’s behaviour. The thing that finally got him out of the slave trade and back on shore was his love for Mary Catlett – Mary was one of God’s carrots

  • John found it harder and harder to leave Mary as he went away on those long sea voyages, so around 1754 or 55 (about 10 years after his experience of God’s mercy during the storm at sea) he gave up his life as a ship’s captain and began studying Christian theology.
  • John was 30 at the time.
  • The Anglican church were reluctant to accept him at first, but in 1764 (10 years after he quit the sailor’s life) the Bishop relented and John Newton became the curate of Olney. (A curate is sort of like an apprentice priest.)
  • It was at Olney that John Newton met the poet William Cowper and they started writing Christian verse together
  • The transformation brought about by God’s grace is truly amazing
  • The young sailor who used to write obscene songs was now writing sacred hymns for the church.

God’s grace is multi-faceted – He uses the stick and the carrot. At least one of the verses of the song we sing alludes to the grace of heaven

When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.

This verse may not have been written by Newton himself – some say it was added later in the 19th Century as part of the African American gospel tradition.

  • On the mount of transfiguration Peter, James & John saw a vision of Jesus glorified, bright shining as the sun  
  • In these lines of the song John Newton imagines heaven as a place where the Christian believer is transformed into the likeness of Christ – so that we too share in Christ’s glory, ‘bright shining as the sun’.
  • Heaven is also pictured here as a place of singing praise to God tirelessly forever – which implies that the goodness of God’s grace will totally absorb us and sustain us, so we will be saved from ourselves.

Conclusion:

The original version of Amazing Grace finishes with the verse…

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below, will be forever mine.

For many years this verse was dropped and replaced by When we’ve been there ten thousand years…

  • Only recently was it restored by Chris Tomlin, who did a modern version of the song with the chorus My chains are gone…
  • The imagery in this verse is misleading if you don’t understand the context. It seems to suggest that God is going to destroy the universe  
  • And if you think that then you might end up thinking, we might as well trash the planet because it’s going to be burned up anyway
  • This is stinking thinking – it is not helpful
  • The bigger picture of Scripture indicates that God’s plan is to bring a new order to the earth – this new order is known as the kingdom of God
  • So we shouldn’t think this verse from Amazing Grace is talking about the physical destruction of the planet earth – that wouldn’t be grace
  • It’s using poetic language to talk about the destruction of the old order – the dissolving of evil power structures.

When John Newton wrote this verse of the song he may have had 2 Peter 3:10 in mind, which in the NRSV, reads…

  • But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. 

To disclose something is not the same as destroying it

  • 2nd Peter 3 is talking about the second coming of Jesus (or as Johnny Cash would say, ‘When the man comes around.’)
  • It is clearly poetic language not intended to be taken literally
  • When snow is on the ground you don’t know what’s underneath, whether it’s grass or mud or rocks. But when the snow melts all is revealed.
  • The main point is that when Jesus returns in glory the true state of things will be disclosed
  • In other words, the true character of our deeds will be revealed
  • The wheat will be separated from the chaff
  • The old world order, which is false and without substance, will be dissolved. While that which belongs to the new order, that which has been done in love and truth, will shine like purified silver
  • So, with this in mind, we need to make sure we are living truly holy lives, in line with the new order of God’s kingdom.

John Newton practiced what he preached, eventually.

  • From about the 1780’s onwards he joined William Wilberforce in the abolitionist movement speaking out against slavery
  • Once again we see God’s amazing grace. God did not destroy John Newton but rather transformed him from a human trafficker to an advocate for the poor and oppressed.

God’s grace is multifaceted.

  • It reaches out to us with forgiveness
  • It corrects us with Godly fear
  • It provides what we need and purifies us so we are prepared for God’s kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.  

Questions for discussion or reflection:

Listen to the song, ‘Amazing Grace’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 

  • Is there a pendulum effect in your life? What caused the swing?
  • What is grace? (What is not grace?)
  • God’s grace is multi-faceted. John Newton’s song touches on at least four aspects of God’s grace – i.e. forgiveness, fear, providence and heaven.
    • Which of these aspects of God’s grace have you experienced? How?
    • What other aspects of God’s grace are you aware of?
  • Which verse of Amazing Grace do you most identify with? Why?
    • Which verse do you find most difficult? Why?  
  • How might God go about refining us (like silver)?
  • Consider the line, ‘The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine;’
    • How are we to understand this line of the song in the light of the bigger picture of Scripture and in light of 2 Peter 3:10?

Outtakes:

Another of the song’s verses, which we don’t sing very often, also makes us think of heaven…  

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil, a life of joy and peace.

The veil here is a reference to death

  • The purpose of a veil is to hide something (like a curtain) – to prevent us from seeing what’s on the other side
  • In this life we can’t see what lies beyond the veil of death but for those, like John Newton, who place their trust in Christ, there is the hope of heaven – pictured here as a ‘life of joy and peace’.

This verse of the song may find its inspiration from Psalm 73 where the poet writes: My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

  • The idea here is that God sustains us with the grace (or gift) of himself not just in this life but even through death.  
Tawa Baptist

Seek Ye First

Scriptures: Matthew 6:25-34, Matthew 7:7-11, Matthew 4:1-4

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Seek ye first the kingdom of God
  • Ask and it shall be given unto you
  • We cannot live by bread alone
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

The order in which we do things matters

  • When you are packing your car to go away on holiday it’s a good idea to put the larger suitcases in first and then pack the smaller things around them
  • If you have a leak in your roof, then your priority is to fix the roof before you start painting and decorating inside the house
  • When you buy a flat pack of furniture, the first thing to do is read the instructions before you start assembling the product
  • Likewise, when you prepare a sermon or a Bible study you start by praying and reading the Scriptures, then you write down your thoughts
  • And, if your wife or husband or child is telling you something important, your priority is to listen to them, before attending to the dinner or your emails.  

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

  • In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

The song we are looking at this morning is called Seek Ye First

  • The words for Seek Ye First come from the mouth of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew
  • Verse 1 of the song is a quote from Matthew 6:33, where Jesus is talking about the futility of worry
  • Verse 2 of the song comes from Matthew 4:4, where Jesus is responding to one of the temptations of Satan in the wilderness
  • And verse 3 is from Matthew 7:7, where Jesus is helping his listeners to understand that God is a loving Father who knows how to give good things to his children 
  • All three verses are about giving God priority – putting God first   

Seek ye first the kingdom of God

The music for Seek Ye First was written by a woman called Karen Lafferty in 1971. Karen was a worship leader for Calvary Chapel in California at the time

  • She was 23 years old, had graduated University with a degree in music and recently returned to the Lord and to church after some time away  
  • In an interview Karen Lafferty says this about the origin of Seek Ye First,

“I had quit my entertainment job and was trying to support myself with teaching guitar lessons. I had three students! When my savings were all gone and I had no money to make my car payments, I became very discouraged and confused.” One evening I went to a Bible study at church, and we talked about Matthew 6:33. [Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.]I was tremendously encouraged and challenged by the words about Christ’s kingdom. So I went home, wrote the tune, recorded it on a tape recorder, and then sang this little descant part.”

  • Karen taught the song in church the next week, and it caught on right away.

So what is Jesus saying in this verse from Matthew 6?

  • Well, to understand the meaning, we need to hear the verse in its context.
  • From Matthew 6:25-34 (in the NIV) we read…

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.   

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

The word ‘worry’ appears six times in this passage. Worry (or anxiety) is part of the human condition.

  • It doesn’t seem to matter what culture you come from or what time in history you live, we all have to deal with worry at some point in our lives

Jesus says we are not to worry and then he gives a number of reasons why we don’t need to worry. He effectively uses reason and logic to disarm worry.

  • Reason is to worry what waking up is to a bad dream – reason puts us back in touch with reality and restores our perspective
  • Reason is to worry what sunlight is to mould – reason dries out the dampness in our mind to prevent the mould of worry
  • Reason is to worry what companionship is to loneliness – reason is a friend who brings understanding and makes us feel connected

The first reason (or logical argument) Jesus gives for not worrying about food and clothes is that there is more to life than food and more to the body than clothes

  • While food and clothes are basic to human survival and we need to attend to them they are not the only needs we have in life and they are not the most important needs either – we must keep things in proportion
  • For example, other things needed to support human life include:
  • Right relationships and community,
  • Hope and a sense of purpose,
  • A rhythm of worshiping God, which gives us something positive to occupy our minds, something greater than ourselves.

Another reason Jesus gives for not worrying is that worry is pointless – like running on a treadmill it wears you out, it gets you nowhere.

Jesus also gives evidence from nature for not worrying

  • God feeds the birds of the air and we human beings are far more valuable to God than birds, so how much more will God feed us
  • And, following the same logic, God clothes the grass of the field with beautiful wild flowers which are here today and gone tomorrow, so how much more will he clothe us, for we last a lot longer than grass.

Now, at this point some of you may be thinking, ‘Okay, if it’s true that God feeds the birds, why are some species of birds going extinct? And more to the point, why do so many people in the world starve or walk around in rags?’

  • Well, some of the responsibility lies with human beings. While God provides what the world needs humanity doesn’t always manage God’s resources in a way that is fair or equitable
  • Having said that, humanity can’t bear the full responsibility – some things are not in our power to do anything about
  • The world we live in is not perfect or fair or safe – God’s will is not always done on earth as it is in heaven
  • Jesus’ teaching here seems to picture the world as it should be rather than as it is [1]     

This is not to imply that Jesus’ teaching is out of touch with our reality. Quite the opposite – Jesus’ teaching is very down to earth  

  • In verse 34 of Matthew 6, Jesus says, Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  
  • Jesus acknowledges that the world isn’t perfect – each day has enough trouble of its own – it simply does no good to worry about what we can’t control and what might never happen in the first place.

The other thing we need to be aware of is that Jesus is not saying we shouldn’t make provision for the future – he’s simply saying don’t worry about the future

  • Making provision for the future is not the same thing as worrying about it
  • Jesus’ point is not that we should throw all caution to the wind, when it comes to financial matters
  • Jesus’ point is that we should not let fear and worry tie us up in knots or impede us in the present

Returning to verse 33 of Matthew 6, the focus of the opening verse of the song; Jesus gives us an alternative to worry – something far more meaningful and fruitful to spend our time and energy on

  • Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

God’s kingdom and righteousness means God’s way of doing life

  • So, instead of worrying, we need to give top priority to living under God’s direction and governance – we need to obey God in faith that he will provide for our needs.  

Karen Lafferty, the author of Seek Ye First, went on to work for Youth with a Mission (YWAM). She said,

  • “The Lord really paved the way for me with that song. “Seek Ye First” has opened doors for me all over the world. And because it’s in so many hymnbooks, about 40 percent of my mission support comes from that song!”
  • As I mentioned earlier, Karen had been worrying about making ends meet and paying her bills
  • But when she went to the Bible study and spent time seeking God, the Lord sorted out her priorities, dispelled her fears and provided her with an income stream by giving her a tune to put to the words of Jesus.
  • And all these things shall be added unto you.

Sometimes the priority is not clear to us. Sometimes what we think is most important is actually not as important in hindsight

  • You may be in a hurry to get out the door for work or school drop off but you’ve lost your keys and you are starting to feel stressed
  • In the heat of the moment you might think, ‘okay I just have to look harder to find my keys’
  • But the faster you look the more flustered you become
  • In that moment the priority is not finding your keys but finding your calm
  • The best thing to do is stop, be still, let your brain stem settle and then retrace your steps to find your keys 
  • In the long run it won’t matter if you are a few minutes late
  • In fact, being still for a few moments may help you to find your keys quicker and it will also help you to drive safer.  

It is similar with seeking first the kingdom of God. Sometimes the priority (finding what God wants us to do) is not clear at first

  • Sometimes we can be in such a hurry doing the work of ministry or serving God that we miss the spirit in which God wants us to serve
  • In that moment the priority is not doing the work of ministry but finding God’s heartbeat, getting back in step with the Lord again.   

We cannot live by bread alone

Verse two of the song reads: We cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Again, these are the words of Jesus, this time from Matthew 4. To understand the meaning we need to read the verse in its context. From Matthew 4, verse 1, in the NIV…

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be temptedby the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Satan then went on to try and tempt Jesus in other ways and each time Jesus resisted the devil with Scripture

The phrase, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’, is a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3 where Moses is addressing the Israelites at the end of their 40 years in the wilderness

  • Moses is essentially saying to the people, ‘As a father disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.’
  • That’s why you’ve spent all this time wandering around in the wilderness facing various deprivations – so you can learn to trust and obey God
  • Among the lessons you should have learned during these past 40 years is not to depend on bread alone but on God’s word
  • Not to put God to the test
  • And not to worship any other god – but rather to make the Lord God the exclusive object of your worship and obedience [2]

Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness recalls Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness

  • Israel (the nation) was known as God’s son
  • So too Jesus is God’s son – he embodies the new Israel
  • Where the ancient Israelites failed, Jesus passes the test, doing for Israel what they were not able to do for themselves

For a long-time I was puzzled by the temptation to change stones into bread

  • I mean, what’s wrong with that? Everyone has to eat.
  • What’s more there were other occasions when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes in the wilderness to feed thousands – so what’s the problem?
  • Why was not okay on this occasion (for Jesus to use his power to make bread) but it was okay on a different occasion?  
  • Well, as Richard France explains, it is a question of obedience to God’s will in this particular situation…

Obedience to God’s will takes priority… Jesus understood his experience of hunger as God’s will for him at the time and therefore not to be evaded by a self-indulgent use of his power as the Son of God. To [turn the stones into bread] would be [to disobey God] to call into question God’s priorities and set himself at odds with his Father’s plan. [3]

Although Jesus understood his hunger to be God’s will for him at the time, this doesn’t mean that every occasion of hunger or deprivation is God’s will, but sometimes it is and when it is we must trust God to provide for us in his way and his time.

  • In Matthew 4, God sent angels to minister to Jesus’ needs after Satan had left him – Jesus passed the test where Israel had failed

You know, sometimes we go without things and we don’t like it

  • Perhaps we don’t go without food for 40 days like Jesus did but maybe we go without something else important, for a significant period of time
  • We might, for example, go without work for several months,
  • Or without our health for several weeks
  • Or without joy for several years,
  • Or without an answer to prayer, or something else
  • Those wilderness times of testing don’t necessarily mean God is angry with us or against us
  • To the contrary they show that we are God’s children because he is taking the time to teach us to rely on him – to trust and obey.
  • God disciplines those he loves

We are in the season of Lent at the moment – that 40 days (or so) before Easter

  • Traditionally many Christians give up something during Lent (maybe chocolate or swearing or justifying yourself or whatever)
  • The point of this self-imposed fast is to draw close in solidarity with Jesus – to remember his time of testing and to embrace our identity as children of God who rely on our heavenly father, not on ourselves    

Jesus’ words in Matthew 4, verse 4, about needing the word of God as much as we need bread, connect with his words in Matthew 6:33 about seeking first God’s kingdom

  • The word of God is actually more important than food, just as seeking the kingdom of God is more important than seeking money
  • Food and money are useful for this life but the word of God and the kingdom of God have value for eternal life.  

Ask and it shall be given to you

A couple of weeks ago Lotto jack potted to $50 million. When it gets that big someone has to win. Apparently the key is getting the Powerball

  • So even if you were to win first division, you don’t get the $50 million unless you also have the Powerball number
  • Of course it was a popular draw. At one point they were selling 2,000 tickets a minute
  • When you don’t have much and life is difficult winning Lotto seems like a silver bullet, something that will fix all your problems
  • But excess can be just as harmful as poverty – there is wisdom in moderation. Better a regular sized portion with peace, than a double portion with worry.
  • I imagine thousands of people prayed, asking to win the $50 million but, as it turned out, the grand prize was shared by only two families.

In Matthew 7 Jesus says…

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 10“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

In the movie Bruce Almighty (starring Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman), God gives Bruce the power to answer people’s prayers and so Bruce just says ‘yes’ to every request, with the result that almost everyone wins the lottery

  • Of course when $50 million is split equally between 2 million people the winners end up with only $25 each. People took to the streets in riot

When Jesus says, Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you, he doesn’t mean God is obligated to answer ‘yes’ to every prayer we pray

  • In the context he means God will give you what you need and what is good for you, which may not necessarily be what you want
  • As the little parable in verse 10 indicates, the son isn’t asking for a luxury, he’s asking for his basic needs; bread and fish (carbs & protein) 
  • So praying to win Lotto won’t help your chances but praying, give us this day our daily bread will help you.

Jesus’ point is that God is a loving Father who knows how to give good things to his children    

  • God Almighty is not like the pagan gods of the Greeks and Romans. We don’t have to sacrifice things to try and persuade God to provide for us
  • God is ready & willing to help us with genuine needs, we just have to ask
  • And even if we ask God for the wrong things he will still give us the right thing.
  • God won’t give us something useless (like a stone), nor will he give us something harmful (like a snake). God wants to do us good.

Jesus’ words about asking, seeking and knocking are supposed to cast out worry and inspire trust in God.

  • They invite us to explore the scope of God’s generosity

Having said that, Ask and it will be given to you; also needs to be understood in the context of God’s freedom

  • Sometimes our requests may be entirely reasonable and unselfish; maybe we are praying for healing for someone we care about or perhaps we are asking to be spared from some injustice and yet God is silent
  • The will of God is inscrutable at times.
  • Inscrutable simply means we can’t always understand God’s will and purpose. We can’t put God’s will under a microscope and scrutinize it

Oswald Chambers once said: “Whenever the insistence is on the point that God answers prayer, we are off the track. The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not of the answer.”

God will always do his best for us but sometimes it’s not about us and sometimes the options available to God are limited

  • Jesus wrestled in anguish, as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking God to spare him the ordeal of the cross
  • (Jesus didn’t want to be separated from his heavenly Father)
  • But, for whatever reason, God did not change his mind
  • While Jesus did not get the answer he wanted to his prayer, he did get hold of God and submitted himself in obedience to God’s will.    
  • For Jesus, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness took priority.

Conclusion:

Each of the verses of the song Seek Ye First ends with the descant or chorus, Allelujah, which is a shortened form of the Hebrew word, Hallelujah

  • Allelujah simply means ‘praise the Lord’
  • The message is clear; giving priority to what God wants is the truest act of worship and praise we can offer the Lord.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. Listen to the song, ‘Seek Ye First’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 
  2. How do you begin each day? What’s the first thing you do?
  3. What sorts of things worry you? What reasons does Jesus give for not worrying? How do you deal with your worry?
  4. Why does Jesus tell his disciples to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness? How might we do this? (What does this look like specifically for you?)
  5. Discuss / reflect on the parallels between Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness and the Israelites’ 40 years in the wilderness.
  6. Why did Jesus refuse to turn the stones into loaves of bread? (in Matthew 4) What have you had to go without for a significant period of time? What have you learned through this experience of deprivation?
  7. Take some time this week to reflect on how God has responded to your prayer requests over the years. For example, what things has God said ‘yes’ to? What things has he said ‘no’ to? And what prayers has he answered in a way you weren’t expecting?    

[1] R.T. France, NICNT, Matthew, page 266.

[2] Ibid, page 128.

[3] Ibid, page 131.

Tawa Baptist

Highlands (Song of Ascent)

Scriptures: Psalm 139:7-12, Psalm 145:18, Luke 15, Luke 18:9-14, Psalm 23:4

Psalm 24:3-6, Matthew 17:20.

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The hunger for God
  • The river of grace
  • The centrality of Christ
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Human development experts tell us there are different stages in the human life cycle and with each stage there is a particular task to attend to

For example, when we are very young we need to learn basic trust – without this foundation (or basis) of trust we can’t function or relate

Then in our teenage years we begin to discover our own identity – we learn to think for ourselves, figure out who we are and where we belong, where we fit

  • Identity formation continues beyond adolescence

In early adulthood the task is learning intimacy – how to be close to someone on the inside, without getting hurt.

  • You can’t really have intimacy without some sense of identity

By the time we reach our 40’s (or thereabouts) we begin to realise that we are not going to live forever and so we feel a need to use what time we have left to pursue the things that are most important to us

  • You sometimes hear the expression ‘mid-life crisis’
  • This is a phrase which can mean a variety of things but often it describes the feeling of frustration or confusion which comes when one is not free to do what they want to do but rather forced to do what they must
  • Maybe you want to travel the world on your motor bike but you can’t because you are still paying off the mortgage and supporting your family
  • So you make do by growing a beard (like a hipster) and riding your bike on the weekends, between the kids’ sports games and mowing the lawns
  • (Now just to be clear, people grow beards for all sorts of reasons. So we can’t assume that everyone with a beard is having a mid-life crisis.)

When you get to the end of your life you want to leave a legacy

  • You want to pass on something valuable to those you care about, maybe your wisdom, maybe your story, maybe your faith and hope.

Of course, we are speaking in general terms. Often the life cycle is more varied and complicated than the text books suggest, but the general pattern holds true for many

  • The point is, where we are at in life’s journey has some influence on the way we think, behave and relate with others, including God. 

In fact, some of this life cycle stuff finds parallels with our spiritual journey

  • We start our walk with God by learning basic trust – just learning to rely on God day by day.
  • Then as we grow in trust our identity is formed in Christ.
  • At some point in our journey of faith we may feel a deep longing for intimacy with God and so we search for ways to be close to God, maybe through theological study or going on spiritual retreats or spending time in nature or immersing ourselves in Christian music.

Inevitably there comes a time when the beliefs and doctrines and theoretical frameworks we have constructed around God are challenged and perhaps deconstructed

  • At that stage we have to decide what beliefs we will keep and what we will lay aside
  • We call this life long process, with all its highs and lows, ‘spiritual formation’.   

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

  • In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

The song we are looking at this morning is called Highlands (Song of Ascent)

  • This song is about the journey of faith, both God’s journey to us and our journey with God through all the highs and lows (the mountains and valleys) of our spiritual formation. 
  • As Joel Houston (one of the authors of the song) says, ‘This faith of ours is a climb [an ascent] but we are not in it alone’. 

Highlands is a song which came out of Hillsong Church

  • Hillsong is a charismatic Christian church based in Sydney Australia, established by Brian & Bobbie Houston in 1983.
  • Hillsong United is the name of the worship band, formed in 1998, as part of Hillsong’s youth ministry.

The words and music for the song Highlands were written collaboratively by Joel Houston and Ben Hastings in 2018 

  • Joel Houston, who is now 40 years old, is Brian & Bobbie Houston’s son
  • And Ben Hastings, who is now 28, originally came from Northern Ireland

In an interview Joel and Ben talk about how the song Highlands came into being. Joel was actually in the Highlands of Scotland at the time

  • He had just finished a project and was facing what he describes (with a chuckle) as a bit of a mid-life crisis
  • He was taking stock, trying to figure out the next steps in his own life
  • This is understandable – Joel Houston is like a rock star in the world of Christian music
  • He has reached great heights – it is natural at this stage in his life that he should grow a beard and ask, ‘Okay God, what next?’   

The first line of the song and the chords came to him at 3 in the morning

  • He didn’t know what it meant at the time but, like I said a couple of weeks ago, often the meaning comes later
  • After Joel had talked about it with Ben for a couple of hours, Ben wrote the rest of the lyrics.

The hunger for God:

One of the themes of the song is our hunger for God


O how high would I climb mountains if the mountains were where You hide
O how far I’d scale the valleys if You graced the other side…
Cause in the highlands and the heartache You’re neither more or less inclined
I would search and stop at nothing, You’re just not that hard to find.

Some of you have two stomachs. A dinner stomach and a pudding stomach.

  • I’m like that. Even if my dinner stomach is full I still feel a bit empty if I haven’t had something sweet. I love a little bit of ice-cream to finish.
  • I wonder if the opening lines of today’s song describe a hunger for intimacy with God – a longing to be close with God on the inside
  • It’s like we have a pudding stomach for God and no matter what other good things we might fill our lives with we never quite feel satisfied while our God stomach is empty
  • Blaise Pascal said, ‘There is a God shaped hole in every heart’, meaning we are born with a desire to connect with God intimately.

So, if we have this God shaped hole in our heart, how do we fill it?       

  • C.S. Lewis was once asked, ‘What makes Christianity different from any other religion?’
  • And he answered, ‘Oh that’s easy. Grace.’
  • What he meant was, with most other religions the goal is for humanity to try and reach God somehow
  • But with Christianity it is different. In Christ, God comes to us.
  • The opening lines of the song make this point – if we want to find God we don’t have to go far. God is near. He is not absent or hiding.

As we read in Psalm 139:7-12…

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

And in a similar vein, Psalm 145:18…

          The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

As you can see on the wall, there’s a line in the song which reads…

  • You’re neither more or less inclined
  • We might call this the disinterested virtue of God
  • And by ‘disinterested virtue’ we don’t mean that God doesn’t care
  • We mean that God’s virtue, his goodness and faithfulness, is not conditional on our performance
  • God is good to us because of who he is, not because of what we do   
  • God’s love is steadfast – he is not fickle, his character remains consistent
  • It’s the idea that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make him love us less.
  • This doesn’t mean God will indulge our evil (sometimes God’s steadfast love moves him to discipline us) – it just means we don’t need to earn God’s favour. It is freely given.
  • God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. [Matthew 5:45]

Given the constancy of God’s steadfast love and given his disinterested virtue, the chorus suggests what our response needs to be…


So I will praise You on the mountain
And I will praise you when the mountain’s in my way
You’re the summit where my feet are
So I will praise You in the valleys all the same
No less God within the shadows
No less faithful when the night leads me astray
You’re the Heaven where my heart is
In the highlands and the heartache all the same

Just as God’s love and goodness does not depend on us, so too our praise and worship of God should not depend on our circumstances

  • We praise and worship God for who he is, not for how we experience life or how we feel
  • I am reminded of the example of Job. After he had lost all his wealth and all his children had been killed, he fell to the ground in worship and said,
  • The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.
  • This shows that Job had a strong basis or foundation of trust in the Lord.
  • He wasn’t relying on his wealth or his children – his life & faith was based on the name of the Lord (on God’s reputation and integrity). 
  • Like the song says, I will praise you on the mountain… and I will praise you in the valleys all the same
  • In other words, I’ll praise you when things are going well and I feel on top of the world and I’ll praise you when life is hard and I’m down in the dumps.

The words in this chorus are incredibly challenging – we hope our praise of God is pure and doesn’t depend on our circumstances but, at the same time, we pray (under our breath) that this won’t be tested. 

I spoke before about mid-life crisis. Often the journey of faith formation includes a kind of spiritual mid-life crisis

  • We (like Job) may suffer some loss or injustice and find that everything we had previously held to be true is now challenged and uncertain
  • We may feel filled with doubt, confused, angry with God and ready to chuck the towel of our faith in
  • These feelings may be symptomatic of a desire for something more real – a greater intimacy with God – sort of like being hangry for God  
  • When we find ourselves in that space there’s a number of things that help. Firstly, be honest – both with yourself and with God. Don’t pretend
  • Secondly, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water – figure out what’s important, what’s true. Hold on to Christ.
  • And thirdly, find something about God you can honestly praise him for.
  • Maybe you are angry with God and the last thing you feel like doing is singing a worship song – but you can still praise him that he is big enough to handle your anger.     
  • Praising God saves us from self-pity and self-centeredness. Praising God takes the focus off ourselves.  

The river of grace:

On the wall here we have the picture of a waterfall

  • Now there is no way anyone could swim up that waterfall – it’s just too powerful. At best we might stand below it and admire its beauty.

One of the verses of the song reads like this…

O how long have I chased rivers from lowly seas to where they rise
Against the rush of grace descending from the source of its supply

Now at first this sounds complicated, but it’s really quite a simple metaphor

  • As the authors of the song, Ben & Joel, explain:
  • A river connects the highest points on earth (the mountains) to the lowest points (the valleys) – that’s Jesus – he is the river that connects heaven and earth.
  • ‘Our God [Jesus] came down the mountain like a pilgrim in reverse’
  • We are sometimes slow to understand this
  • Sometimes we chase the river against its flow – against the rush of grace descending (God’s grace is like a waterfall) 
  • But we can’t reach God that way, any more than we could reach the top of a river by trying to swim up a waterfall. God’s grace is overwhelming

Following this metaphor of grace descending: just as water always chases the lowest point, so too Jesus finds us at our lowest point. It’s like Jesus said…

  • Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  • The poor in spirit are at their lowest point, which is exactly where the river of God’s grace finds them

Jesus told a number of parables about God’s grace finding people at their lowest point. For example, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18

  • The Pharisee stood before God, praying about himself, confident of his own goodness
  • Whereas the tax collector stood at a distance, not daring to look up to heaven but instead praying for mercy
  • God’s grace did not find the Pharisee because he wasn’t yet at the end of himself  
  • But God’s grace did find the tax collector who was at his lowest point.

Continuing this theme of God finding us at our lowest point another verse of the song reads…

O how fast would you come running if just to shadow me through the night
Trace my steps through all my failures and walk me out the other side

Please turn with me to Luke 15, page 100 toward the back of your pew Bibles  

  • Jesus tells a series of parables in Luke 15 about God running to find us, when we fail, and walking us out the other side
  • In Luke 15 we find the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin and the parable of the lost sons. Let’s read verses 1-7 now…

15 One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus, 2 the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling, “This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!” 3 So Jesus told them this parable:

4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them—what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it. 5 When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders 6 and carry it back home. Then you call your friends and neighbours together and say to them, ‘I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate!’ 7 In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent.

God’s grace descends to us and, like water, finds us at our lowest point when we are lost and at the end of our rope

  • God’s purpose in finding us is to restore. All heaven celebrates over the one who repents.

On the wall here are the opening lines of a poem by Francis Thompson

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears…

Can anyone tell me the name of that poem? [Wait]

  • That’s right, it’s called “The Hound of Heaven”
  • This poem was first published in 1893 and had an influence on J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of Lord of the Rings

J.F.X. O’Conor describes the poem like this…

“As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying… pace, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in human love, away from God [the human soul] seeks to hide itself, Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit.”

We are complex creatures and we don’t always behave in ways that make sense.

  • Sometimes in our spiritual journey we try to run away from God
  • But the Lord pursues us with patience and love.

The centrality of Christ:

For Christians, Jesus is integral to faith formation

  • We are saved by faith (a foundation of basic trust) in Christ
  • We find our true identity and belonging in Christ
  • We have intimacy with God through Christ
  • And, whether life is stable or in crisis, we hold to Christ
  • Ultimately, our hope and our legacy is to become like Christ.  

In singing about the God who descends to save us, Ben Hastings & Joel Houston remember the centrality of Christ

For who could dare ascend that mountain that valleyed hill called Calvary
But for the One I call Good Shepherd who like a lamb was slain for me.

This verse is about the crucifixion of Jesus

  • Jesus is both the Good Shepherd and the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
  • The hill of Jesus’ crucifixion is (metaphorically speaking) a low point where God’s grace is found.
  • The line, who could dare ascend that mountain, is a direct reference to Psalm 24:4-6…

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?

The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.

They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Saviour.

 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.

As Joel Houston explains, Jesus gives us clean hands and a pure heart so we can stand before God in his holy place and receive his blessing. 

Of course, we can’t sing of Jesus’ crucifixion and death without also thinking of his resurrection and ascension to heaven – the two go together.

And so a verse follows on the resurrection of Jesus…

From the gravest of all valleys come the pastures we call grace
A mighty river flowing upwards from a deep but empty grave.

The metaphor used here for God’s grace is pasture or nourishment

  • We feed on God’s grace at the lowest point – in the valleys 
  • The mighty river flowing upwards is a reference to Jesus’ resurrection.
  • Through faith in Christ we too can be carried upwards in the river of Jesus’ resurrection to eternal life.

The bridge of the song reads…


Whatever I walk through, wherever I am
Your Name can move mountains, wherever I stand
And if ever I walk through the valley of death
I’ll sing through the shadows my song of ascent

The bridge revisits the theme of spiritual journey which pervades the whole song. It affirms that (in Christ) God is with us and for us through all the stages and difficulties we may face in this life.

Your name can move mountains is a reference to Jesus’ words in Matthew 17:20

  • I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

The mountain is a metaphor for some insurmountable problem

  • Even a small amount of faith (or basic trust) in Jesus can restore our perspective and bring our problems down to a manageable size.

And the line about walking through the valley of death is a reference to Psalm 23, which talks about the Lord being our shepherd

  • Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.     

Jesus’ rod is like a weapon that he uses against the forces of evil in order to protect his sheep, and his staff is like a shepherd’s crock which Jesus uses to gently guide his sheep onto the right path if we go astray.

  • Jesus is the good shepherd who stays close to guide & protect us when the going gets tough

Conclusion:

One of the things I like about Tawa Baptist is the diversity of the congregation

  • We are intergenerational, with people of all ages and stages of faith
  • Where are you at in your journey of spiritual formation?
  • Wherever you are at, God is near – he’s just not that hard to find
  • May we all be aware of Jesus’ nearness and grace throughout the week, with the beginning of Lent on Wednesday (26 Feb 2020).

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. Listen to the song, ‘Highlands (Song of Ascent)’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 
  2. How hungry are you for God? How do you feed your hunger for God?
  3. What makes Christianity different from other religions?
  4. Why do we praise God? (What is the basis of our praise?) Think of something you can honestly praise God for. How might you best express your praise for this?  
  5. What can we do when we face a (mid-life) crisis of faith?
  6. Discuss / reflect on the image of Jesus being a river of grace, finding the lowest point. How does this fit with Scripture? (e.g. Luke 15 & 18.) Thinking of your own experience, where/when have you experienced God’s grace most profoundly?
  7. Discuss / reflect on Psalm 24:3-6. How does this relate to Christ?
  8. Take some time this week to reflect on where you are at in your journey of spiritual formation. For example: Where have you come from? What do you need from God at this point? What are the next steps for you?