Sanam Doctrinam

Preaching a last sermon and then not really…

It’s a little hard to describe what it’s like to step out of one area of ministry into another while still remaining in the same church body. Most guys that I know leave one ministry for another, and that means moving to another state or country. The strange thing for my situation is, it’s kind of like saying goodbye to people you are going to see again every day. There is a sadness that I find as I come to the end of ten years of student ministries, yet I know that I will see and minister to many of these students and their families still. Actually, one of the advantages to this is being able to see these students step into life on their own, and be there to minister to that aspect of their life.

All of this left me with the strange task of preaching a “last” sermon ( although there will be times I will fill in for the new youth pastor as well as preach many times in the pulpit.) I was actually circumstantially (by the passing of my friend Alex) forced to preach my last sermon from Hebrews as my last passage (with little breaks for small series here and there, it took us the better part of 2 1/2 years to get through Hebrews, yeah I know, not long enough!). I could not have come up with a better passage to be “forced” to preach as my “last” sermon. I thought I might share a few points from that with you…

It was taken from Hebrews 13:17-29 and entitled Final Words of Encouragement. In this the author of Hebrews has continued a long list of imperatives to the church and in his final words gives them three areas of concern.

The first deals with leadership in the church, how they are to submit (lit. give assent or be in agreement with) and obey them. (lit. to come under them and do what they command.) This is stark in a time, when we think democracy is the best form of government, to say that there are a plurality of men raised up by God (Acts 20:28) whom you need submit to and obey. But the purpose of this is stark as well. If we read on we see that it is because of their duties that we must do this. They are the ones who keep watch over our souls. Even though I am an elder in our church, I still need to follow this as well. Those other men watch out for me and serve me as well as I serving them. I remember once at an event with some of our students, one of our girls sort of joking about how much I seemed to care for them, and my mind went to this passage, and I told her, “Well it is because I am the shepherd of your soul.” I was told by one of her friends recently that this has stuck with her even to this day! This is true, we need to submit and obey those whom God has placed over us, and in so doing we are submitting to the protection of our own souls!

It also goes on to say the manner in which we ought to do this. We are to let these leaders do their duties with joy and not with grief. And their is good reason for this as well, it would not be profitable for us to do it any other way! Why would we want to make it difficult for the people whom God has placed over us to shepherd and feed and guard our souls? How is that going to help? No we are to graciously give deference to those whom God has appointed over us and humbly obey Him in all He tells us. He does know what is best.

That is all I have time for today. I will continue my thoughts on this at a later time…

For those of you who are wondering, why the new look… I am a bit of a style/layout freak. I actually have occasionally looked at some different themes, but have never been quite satisfied with what I have found. Alas, after months of on and off searching, I found one that appealed to me. I wanted something darker, but with enough personality to pull off a sort of streamlined look. So I present to you, the new Sanam Doctrinam!

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap;
they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them;
how much more valuable you are than the birds!

Luke 12:24

The church where I serve has tall light poles spaced around the perimeter of the parking lot. These poles make a perfect observation deck for the large, black crows that like to perch there. These birds seem fearless on these elevated spots. In fact, sometimes they will caw menacingly from above as I walk from my car to the building.

I never have liked crows much. I always think of them as bullies of the bird world. In fact, my assistant reminded me that a cluster of crows is properly called a “murder,” and appropriately so. Crows are big compared to other birds, it seems, and whether or not my perception of them is correct, they seem to have an “attitude.” In my crankier moments, in fact, I have hurled a rock or two at them when they have seemed particularly smug as they peered down at me.

Crows may not be our favorite bird, but Jesus had a word about them in Luke 12. I looked in my Greek dictionary, and the first definition it provides is “crow” for the word translated “raven” in our verse today. So, for our purposes, I’ll stick with this common name for a large black bird.

Jesus used crows as a point of departure for discussing God’s provision in our lives. Using the common rabbinic argument from the lesser to the greater to make His point, Jesus said that God takes care of these big, black birds. It’s important to note that Jesus said these birds don’t fret and fume over their provisions, as we do. No crow has ever been observed rushing to plant crops with the intention of harvesting them in the fall. Certainly no crows have grain silos in which they store their harvest. No, crows live day to day, living, as it were, directly from God’s hand.

We’re much different. We fear the effect on our retirement portfolio when the Dow Jones takes a dip. We wonder how we’re going to pay medical bills. We stress over car repairs and broken furnaces and plumbing woes and how we’re going to get all the Christmas gifts purchased and a host of other things. All the while we have a Father watching over us and providing for us in perfect faithfulness. If we believe this, anxiety and fretting necessarily get crowded out of our lives. To the degree that we recognize God for who He is, we experience His peace.

God provides for the least desirable of birds without those birds laboring for what they have. Jesus’ words, of course, were not spoken to encourage sloth or inactivity or lack of planning in our lives. Rather, Jesus’ emphasis is that when the Father’s children have done all they can do, it is their calling to rest in His care.

Jesus says that if the Father cares for winged menaces—the bane of farmers, everywhere—surely He will care for us, who are His beloved children through faith in His Son.

An unknown author wrote a poem about birds, and although it does not contain any crows, it does convey Jesus’ message in today’s verse:

Said the robin to the sparrow,
“I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”

Said the sparrow to the robin,
“Friend I think that it must be,
That they have no Heavenly Father,
Such as cares for you and me.”

We have such a Heavenly Father.

Sin is so easily justified in our lives. I know this because, unfortunately, I find myself doing it all the time. I think most of it is because we get caught up in the theology of making excuses. It generally carries with it the activity known as the “comparison game.” You know this game, it’s the one where you compare yourself to Ted Bundy and then you say, “See, I’m not that bad.” Or sometimes it is just that old standby, “It (my sin) is not that bad compared to murder.” We know the Scriptures. We know that Jesus that being angry is on par with murder (Matthew 5:21-22), but we still make excuses.

The amazing thing is that we are so quick to catch it in others, and not so quick to see how we are doing it in our own lives. I agree that we should be quick to help our brothers and sisters to see this in our own lives, but this comes with a condition. We know what that is, don’t we. Matthew 7:1-5 gives us the prescription for this.

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (ESV)

Many take this out of context, pointing out v.1 and leaving the rest of what Christ was saying, just sitting there, as if it doesn’t exist. In fact we could say the isegesis of this passage has been adopted by the world system at large. How oftern do we hear that, “ah, ah, ah, Judge not lest ye be judged.” (They throw the “ye” in there, just so it is more spiritual sounding, because that is of course, how we will speak in heaven.) But the important thing to see, is that this passage is not saying don’t judge altogether, but it is giving us a prescription for how we handle our own sin before we point out the sins of others.

The frst thing we see is that there is a measurement for judgment. when I measure someone by my standards, I am always going to come out on top. When measured against God’s standard, it is always going to be even steven. (Romans 3:23) This is not setting aside the privilege and reality of being God’s child and no longer benefiting from that status (just in case any of my “sonship” brethren are getting worried). I stand there only as a result of God’s grace, as a sinner just the same, my righteousness only being that of Christ’s which clothes my sinful nakedness.

The second thing to see is that if I take time to look at my own sin and remove it (the log in my own eye,) I see more clearly and with a proper perspective the speck in my brothers eye.

But I do need to be aware of the speck in my brothers eye. I free myself from the excuse game and then, help them to see where they are justifying sin in their life…or maybe they’ll do that for me first.

Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified.”

Psalm 70:4

If your inbox has been unusually uncluttered the past few Mondays, it is only because the Monday Muser was on a three-week hiatus.

The hiatus, for better or for worse, is over.

We’re well into the Christmas season. For many, this time of year is rife with invitations. And when you think about it, it’s good to be invited. It’s good to have someone extend to us a welcome mat for an opportunity—at least unless it’s an RSVP to something we’d rather not attend!

I came across a wonderful invitation in Psalm 70, the other day. Let’s take a little time to consider it this morning.

The invitation is framed with the use of the word “let.” It’s worth pointing out that the invitation here is only extended to two select groups. These groups, however, are those which anyone can join. This verse comes to us in the form of a prayer, but since we are privy to this prayer’s contents, we get in on the invitation.

The first group bears the name, “all who seek You.” That group is invited in the opening line of Psalm 70:4. The image of seeking God is wonderful. Perhaps you recall the words of the author of Hebrews in Hebrews 11:6 where we read that God is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him. The idea of seeking God involves our pressing on to know Him better in our life experience with Him and in the pages of His Word. Our seeking after Him is motivated by our desire to know Him more fully. In this connection, I think about some of us, in the course of dating our spouse (if we’re married) and how we pursued him or her. We wanted the relationship to be more than it was. Our seeking of God is quite similar. When we seek Him, we are attempting to draw closer to Him.

This group of seekers is invited to “be glad” in the Lord. There are two significant aspects to this phrase—the idea of being glad, itself, and the location in which this gladness is to be found. Being glad isn’t hard for us to understand. We’ve all experienced lightheartedness and unbridled joy (although perhaps not often enough). That’s the idea here. But what’s particularly significant is the location in which this gladness is to be found, namely, in Yahweh. We look for gladness in a lot of places. We try to find it in entertainment, in food, in drink, in friendship, in nature. The list goes on. To be sure, there is a measure of gladness to be found in each of these places. Pure, unmitigated gladness is to be found in none of them, however. If we want gladness in limitless bounty, we’ve got to find it in the Lord. Our Creator is the source of gladness. If we are glad in the things that pertain to His character, our rejoicing will be without bitterness. And the reasons to rejoice are boundless, as far as our Lord is concerned. Think about His faithfulness, goodness, justice, and provision. Just those four constitute a well deep enough to satisfy our thirst for gladness for time and eternity. What an invitation!

The second group David mentions in his prayer are those who “love Your salvation.” That’s great. While salvation can refer to physical or spiritual deliverance in Scripture, I can’t help but believe that this refers to spiritual salvation, from the way it’s used. David knew what it was to have His Creator dismiss the case against him in the court of heaven. After his sin with Bathsheba he asked God to restore to him the joy of His salvation (Psalm 51:11). David knew what it was to have a right relationship with God, made right and established by God (2 Samuel 23:5).

A question: Do we love His salvation? When we think of the blessings provided by God that fill our experience, our minds often gravitate to the temporal blessings we have. It might be well for us to turn our attention to the marvelous fact that as those under the wrath of a holy God (John 3:36), we had no hope (Ephesians 2:12). But God rescues us if we believe in His Son (Romans 5:9). What a thought. “Awesome” may be an overused word in our day, but if anything is worthy of that designation it is our profound deliverance from an eternity in darkness to that of an eternity in the presence of God’s beloved Son. Instead of eternal wrath, we enjoy eternal life. Instead of condemnation, we face the certain prospect of the magnificent grace of God.

What is the invitation of those who love God’s salvation in today’s verse? Just this: that they might say, “Let God be magnified.” You put the magnifying glass over fine print and it becomes large. These salvation-lovers view their Savior through the magnifying glass of praise. We’re invited to this. Like John, we can have the privilege of saying, “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Psalm 70:4 is a summons of sorts. It’s an invitation for those who seek the Lord and who love His salvation to revel in who He is and to magnify Him in praise. These are invitations we all ought to accept.