Psalm 103—Psalm 145 The Lord is Compassionate and Gracious

 

What a beautiful moment we’ve just experienced together in the baptisms of Leigh and Irelyn. Sacraments are holy acts where God reaches down to us, acts which call for a response from us. Travis and Mary, Bowen and Rebekah, you’ve chosen Scripture that calls us to respond; to respond with praise to God for his faithfulness expressed in the baptism of your beautiful daughters. Both of these psalms are hymns of praise and trust in the Lord, hymns that remind us of who God is, and who we are, his people, his children.

Psalm 103 praises God for his great love, and is part of a group of psalms from 101 to 110 that tell the story of God’s relationship with his people from creation until these psalms were written, how God saved his people and provides for them. They talk about God’s mighty acts in saving his people, how God is a God of justice and unfailing love, and how he responds to his people’s cries. Psalm 103 and 108 pair together in this group to celebrate and praise God for his great love.

I appreciate Bowen and Rebekah that you pointed out how the Lord’s faithfulness and compassion is limitless and goes on beyond our lifetime, “from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.” Our Lord is committed to us beyond our own lifetime, he’s committed to us down through the generations, calling us to respond to him with obedience and faithfulness and to teach our children and children’s children to be obedient and faithful to God. We’re reminded that the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love; so great is his love that as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. What a great thing to teach our children!

This is a very personal psalm, “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name,” David is writing this psalm to himself, reminding himself of the importance of praising the Lord. It’s easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day things of life that we can forget. It can be hard to remember to praise the Lord when the kids have been fussing all day, when work is hard, when you’re tired or not feeling well. Through it all, even when we sometimes forget to praise the Lord, he remembers we’re dust, that the worry and stress of life, even our mortality can sometimes weigh on us and then we remember again that Jesus understands, that he has walked the way of life as we do, and his compassion flows out to us to give us strength and hope again.

You mentioned how you see these verses 8-11 showing how God relates to us as the ultimate parent, the one both of you can look to as you seek to parent your children. We see a compassionate Father, one who doesn’t get angry quickly, who pours his love into his children, giving them a strong sense of belonging and importance. We know that he’s on our side filled with grace and forgiveness, while also calling us to respond with obedience and faithfulness back. Great parenting advice and skills here!

Travis and Mary, you chose Psalm 145, one of the early psalms of ascent that pilgrims to the Temple would sing as they walked the road up to Jerusalem, keeping their eyes focused upwards to see the house of the Lord. This is a psalm of praise, a hymn of celebration calling us to praise the name of God the King. Like Psalm 103, this psalm is an acrostic poem where each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Acrostic psalms poetically describe their topic from a to z. In Psalm 145, King David leads the Israelites and all of creation in words of praise and thanksgiving to God as king over all creation. The heart of the psalm is found in verses 10-18, verses that describe God’s sovereignty over creation and God’s care for that creation. As you mentioned, one of the things that drew you to this psalm was that God is above all and eternal, king of an everlasting kingdom. There’s no fear that Jesus’ kingdom will ever fall, we can live with courage and grace knowing that Jesus is in control, and will remain in control of all creation, including our lives.

You pointed to verses 3-5, “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—and I will meditate on your wonderful works.” What stood out for you was how we’re called to tell our children what God has done, from creation to saving his people. We’re called to talk to our children about who God is, of God’s majesty, how we’re called to show our children how God shapes us as we meditate on his wonderful works, also allowing the Holy Spirit to shape who you are as parents and as children of God. Teaching the stories of God, and allowing them to guide you and shape you as parents will fill your children with confidence and assurance as they listen and watch your faith in action. The psalm begins by reminding us that our God is King, a majestic king who has done great things for his people to show the nations around Israel who he is.

Both of these psalms talk about God being compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in love. This is the type of king God is, a king focused on his people, on providing for them, protecting them, and providing opportunities for them to flourish and become who he has created them to be. This is why we come together each Sunday to worship and praise God, this is why we share the stories of God with our children so they learn to praise God as a natural part of their lives and grow up wanting to share Jesus with their friends. Sharing our faith, talking about Jesus, begins early on in our children’s lives.

Praising God is the beginning of our response to who he is. As Psalm 103 tells us to “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” These are beautiful promises to fill us with strength, courage and hope as we journey through life, important promises to teach out children. We see the Lord’s great love for us especially in Jesus, who in his death on the cross, removed our sin from us, offering healing in times of despair, saving us from the power and hold of death over our lives. We know that our physical death leads to eternal life with God, so the fear has been taken away. I know this is where the Harriet and her family are finding strength in today.

Nancy deClaissé-Walford reflects on Psalm 145, “The message for the church today is simple and yet complex. In the midst of turmoil and uncertainty in the world, praising God as sovereign is the solution. But what does that mean? We can speak the words, but how do we put them into action? God is indeed sovereign but we must be the hands and feet of God in God’s world — what some scholars call “a communitization” of kingship.”

King David goes on in Psalm 103, “The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.” We teach our children God’s ways, what Jesus taught and who he calls us to be as his followers. We are the hands and feet that Jesus uses to work for righteousness and justice for all the oppressed, we teach our children through our actions as well as our words. The Holy Spirit enters our hearts and shapes us in Jesus’ compassion and grace, opening our eyes, ears, and hearts to the needs, the results of injustice, inequality and need within our communities.

This week I met with the director of the Central Alberta Pregnancy Center who shared how their volunteers are such a blessing as they walk alongside single mothers who often don’t have any other place to go, here in Lacombe there’s Big Brothers and Big Sisters who are always seeking people to become mentors to children in our community who can use the encourage and blessing of someone willing to care about and bless them. There’s Youth Unlimited, the Food Bank, and others who are serving the most vulnerable and would be blessed by having others join them in their mission of working towards righteousness and justice.

Together, as parents and as a church, we teach our children that faith is a living thing, shown through our acts of compassion and service as we serve and worship Jesus in our lives.

 

 

Psalm 51; Mark 2:1-12 Forgiveness—Healing Power

 

This morning we are looking at forgiveness. We are focusing on the forgiveness we receive through Jesus, after Easter we will reflect on our call to forgive. The Apostles’ Creed says, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the forgiveness of sin.” in the forgiveness of sin. The Heidelberg Catechism teaches us, “I believe that God, because of Christ’s satisfaction, will no longer remember any of my sins or my sinful nature which I need to struggle against all my life. Rather, by grace God grants me the righteousness of Christ to free me forever from judgment.” At the heart of the Christian faith is the belief that God forgives us for our sins because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross where he took on himself all the sin and brokenness of the world so that we can receive forgiveness and healing. In and through Jesus we receive grace and freedom. Forgiveness is serious stuff, without forgiveness, there is no reconciliation, no healing in relationships, especially with God.

This is so central to our relationship with God our Father that it can never be overstated. David gets that in Psalm 51. David sinned badly, taking Bathsheba, who is not his wife, and then protecting himself from her husband Uriah and the consequences of his actions by arranging for Uriah to die on the battlefield by abandoning him. It’s important that we have names to David’s confession in Psalm 51 because it reminds us that sin is always personal, always hurts someone, even if the only person we hurt is ourselves. But ultimately sin hurts God by betraying God as we put our desires and wants ahead of who God has created us to be, who Jesus calls us to be.

David cries out for mercy, basing his plea on God’s unfailing love, on God’s ‘hesed.’ Hesed is a Hebrew word meaning love based on a prior relationship, covenantal loyalty, unfailing kindness. David’s counting on a God who doesn’t give up on his people, a God who is willing to take unfathomable amounts of abuse and still stay in relationship with us. David admits that any punishment God decides to give is justified. He goes on to plea for God to cleanse his heart, to create in him a clean heart and renew a steadfast, a strong solid committed to God spirit within him. He knows that on his own without God’s help, he can’t stay true to God. David knows what the Catechism teaches us, that it’s by grace that God grants us the righteousness of Jesus to free us forever from judgment.

Jesus is the only one able to achieve our forgiveness from God since he is both God and human. Q&A 14 teaches us, “That the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God took to himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit, from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, a truly human nature so that he might become David’s true descendant, like his brothers in every way except for sin.” As God, Jesus is able to take all our sin on himself and as fully human, he’s able to take our place. It takes a descendant of David to bring the cleansing that David so desires.

As God, Jesus is able to forgive our sin. In the story in Mark, we see a group of friends bringing a paralyzed man to Jesus for healing. When they’re prevented from getting close to Jesus, they go to the roof of the house Jesus is in, and dig a hole through it, big enough to lower the paralyzed man in front of Jesus. Then Mark says something that surprises me each time, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Matthew and Luke both say the same thing, that Jesus turns to the paralyzed man and forgives his sin when Jesus sees his friends’ faith! Jesus responds to their act of faith and offers a greater healing than they had ever anticipated, Jesus offers healing for the paralytic’s soul, healing in the relationship between God and the man, by granting the man forgiveness for his sins. As you read through the Gospels and the stories of Jesus’ life, you begin to see a pattern; Jesus is always on the lookout for strong faith in the people around him, and when he sees it, Jesus acknowledges it with encouragement, and in this situation, with healing.

Forgiveness is a big thing; it brings healing and hope for the person being forgiven. Forgiveness brings healing for the person doing the forgiving. The teachers of the law think to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” If our sins are truly against God alone, as David confesses, then the only one who can forgive sin is God; Jesus is claiming here to be God! The teachers of the law get that, but the people get it too. This is dangerous ground for Jesus to walk because the penalty for blasphemy is death. In the end, Jesus is convicted for blasphemy in Mark 14 for claiming to be God, “The high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as worthy of death.”

Our forgiveness comes at the cost of Jesus’ life, but it also impacts Jesus’ relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is led to the cross, a death that shows he’s cursed by God, Deuteronomy says, “you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.” Paul reminds us in Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole." Listen to this a moment, Jesus is cursed by his Father because of our sin. Jesus is cursed for us so that we can be forgiven by God. Jesus knows this when he tells the man, “Son, your sins are forgiven,” knowing the cost that his forgiveness is costing him.

Dietrick Bonhoeffer talks about cheap grace. David doesn’t know about cheap grace; he knows just how messed up sin has made him and how he cannot make things right between him and God; that he has no chance of making things right on his own, he needs God to do the hard work of reconciliation and forgiveness. Bonhoeffer talks about how we feel it’s God’s job and responsibility to forgive us. So many of us, because our asking for forgiveness from God seldom goes much deeper than, “Father forgive me for I’m a sinner,” we leave our prayer and continue on doing everything just like we’ve been doing, confident that we’ve done our part and now Jesus needs to do his, which he already did on the cross. We don’t understand just how much our sin has cost Jesus and God, and so our hearts and lives never really change.

Jesus took all the sin of the world on himself, all the brokenness and wrong, all the hurt, and it was so heavy that God blocked the light of the sun in the middle of the day so that we wouldn’t witness the anguish of Jesus as he experiences his Father’s curse on our behalf. Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit have never been separated from each other. They’ve been together for eternity. Now think of the pain that you see in someone whose spouse has died after 40 or 50 years together, of the huge loss in their life. Think of how great the loss that God and the Holy Spirit is when our sin separates Jesus from them for the first time in eternity. It helps us understand what Jesus means on the cross when he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” just how hard it is for Jesus to take the punishment our sin, how hard it is for the Father to curse his only begotten son; all because of us, all for us.

This is not cheap grace, this is costly grace, as Dietrick Bonhoeffer calls it, and it’s precious. “Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.”

Are you content with cheap grace that accomplishes nothing except giving you permission to never change or be changed by the Holy Spirit, or is Jesus’ costly grace finally enough to move you to leave your old life and values behind and embrace Jesus as your only Lord and Saviour?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joshua 1:1-9 God’s in Control

 

On July 15, 1859, Blondin walked backward across a tightrope over Niagara Falls to Canada, while blindfolded, and returned pushing a wheelbarrow. After pushing a wheelbarrow across while blindfolded, Blondin asked if someone would get into the wheelbarrow. He had shown that he could do it; there was no doubt that he could do it. He asks for a volunteer to get in the wheelbarrow and take a ride across the Falls. He asked everyone, "Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?" Of course, the crowd shouted, “Yes!” Then Blondin asked, "Who will get in the wheelbarrow?" Of course, nobody did. Would any of you have gotten into the wheelbarrow and let Blondin take you across Niagara Falls on the tightrope?

Have you ever had times where you were scared or anxious about something? How did you handle it, did you turn to someone to help you through it? In our Bible story this morning, Moses has died, but God has prepared Joshua to lead Israel. Joshua knows he has big sandals to fill. The Lord comes to Joshua and says, “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot… No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life."

God gives Joshua his orders to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land and then gives this powerful promise to Joshua, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." This is powerful because Joshua now knows that God will be with him through thick and thin. Have you ever been afraid about doing something, maybe thinking that it’s too hard or too scary to do? A friend of mine Pat was afraid of rock climbing. We would sometimes go camping at Sleeping Giant Park in Thunder Bay and they had some great cliffs for climbing. We would head out there, but Pat was too afraid to climb the cliffs. Finally, one weekend, another friend came along with us and he actually taught people how to climb cliffs. He had all the right equipment to do it safely, so he helped Pat put all the equipment on correctly and then climbed right beside Pat all the way to the top of the cliff. Because he knew what he was doing and he stayed close to Pat, Pat was able to do something that he was too afraid to do before that.

This is a word for you cadets and all of us, God’s with us and he’s always with us. Jesus promised us when he returned to heaven, "I will be with you always to the end of the age," and this helps us "be strong and courageous." Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to live in us, to guide us to Jesus and give us courage. It hasn’t always been easy the past two years. Sometimes you’ve had to do school from home, there were times you couldn’t see or be with your friends, there were times it felt afraid all the time. You’ve had to wear masks and some of you became afraid because you or someone in your family might get really sick if they caught the virus. But we remember that God’s with us and he’s in control. When you’re afraid, you can talk to him and he’ll always listen to you. This is why you are working on your prayer badge right now.

There were lots of people in the Bible who were in hard times, but kept on going because they knew God was there with them. David fought a giant with only a slingshot, he trusted that God was with him and in control. Daniel was thrown into a lions’ den, but he trusted that God was in control and with him, and God sent an angel to keep the lions from eating Daniel. Jesus came from heaven to be with us; Jesus fought against Satan in the wilderness by using Scripture to defeat him, and then Jesus died on the cross and defeated Satan by washing all our sin away with his death.

God knows it's going to be hard at times for Joshua and reminder him, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Strength and courage come from knowing what God expects of us, from knowing God's Word. The more you fill yourself with the words of Scripture, the more strength and courage you will have because you are filling your mind and heart and soul with God instead of yourself. God wants everyone to know him and follow him.

The better you know God, the less afraid you will be and the more courage you will have. God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous 3 times. God knows we need to hear these words of hope, challenge and reassurance many times before they stick in our heads and hearts. God encourages Joshua; he builds Joshua up and encourages him. Paul tells us to do the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 5, "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." When we encourage each other, the Holy Spirit gives us courage, reminding us that Jesus is in control and has power and authority over everything. One of my cadet counsellors, Gerry Van Ginkel would encourage us ono canoe trips in Northern Ontario. When the wind would get strong and we would get afraid of tipping our canoes, he would come up and paddle alongside us, giving us encouragement and helping us too not be afraid anymore. I remember him telling us that God is with us and watching over us. That always helped us to be brave.

Jesus calls us to trust in him. Jesus knows it can be hard at times for us. He even tells us that people will pick on us for following him, that we have to carry our own crosses. Jesus tells us that we need to follow and obey him, even if it’s hard, even if we want something to do something different than what Jesus tells us to do. We do things like loving our enemies, forgiving people who hurt us, or not being angry with each other and calling them fools. We’re called to love God first and then other people. It also means we need to be ready to serve them when they need help because we trust that God is in control, he’s with us, and he put us here to serve them and tell them about Jesus.

God has given your counsellors the Holy Spirit. God is with them so that they can be there for you when you need their help and guidance. Counsellors, lead through example and your own walk and relationship with Jesus. Lead with grace and love, with compassion and understanding, but also with courage as you teach the cadets to be faithful to Jesus in a world that doesn’t always love Jesus. Lead out of trust in Jesus' presence and the Spirit's guidance, lead from your knees through much prayer and reading of Scripture.

Lead the cadets into a deep obedience and dependency on God through your obedience and dependency on God. The cadets will follow how you live before they follow what you actually say. Lead out of humility, remembering that we’re all sinners and it is only because of God's grace and forgiveness in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that allows us to be children of God. Lead the cadets to live lives of gracious service in order to create places of peace and hope, health and grace pointing to God. May Jesus give you courage and bravery, know that God is in control and with all of us always!

Deuteronomy 6:1-12 Jesus’ Laws in Our Hearts

 

What a special Sunday! It’s a day to celebrate the gift of life in the baptism of Elanor and the reminder that our life is rooted in Jesus. This is why I appreciate this passage that Adam and Heather chose for Elanor’s baptism; it’s a passage that reminds us of the importance of deliberately and consistently talking about what we believe and why with our children. If we desire for our children to grow up loving God and knowing Jesus, it takes a deliberate investment in time and energy to work with the Holy Spirit to grow the seed of faith into a flourishing love of, and belief in God.

Israel is spending time at Mount Sinai after being freed from slavery in Egypt by God. Israel left Egypt as slaves, but as they passed through the Red Sea and then God covered Pharaoh and his army, who were chasing Israel in order to bring them back into slavery, Israel truly became a free people. In the 430 years that Jacob’s family lived in Egypt, they grew from about 70 people to 600,000 men plus women and children; they have become a nation in that time; a nation of people chosen by God to be a blessing to the nations, as he told Abraham. Now God takes the time here at Sinai to give them the Ten Commandments, as well as a number of other laws, ceremonies, and festivals to shape them into his people.

Moses emphasizes the importance of teaching their children these laws, “These are the commands, decrees, and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you.” These laws and commands are to be embraced by Israel to make God’s people different from the nations around them, a people who are going to reflect who God is to the world. God’s not just thinking about the people sitting at the foot of the mountain, God is thinking of their children, their grandchildren, and all the generations yet to come.

As God’s people, it’s important that they pass on and teach their children what God has commanded them by making it a regular part of their lives, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Everywhere they go, whatever they’re doing, the people are called to teach the children who God is and who God is calling them to be. It begins by the parents and adults to hold God’s law in their own hearts first. As we see over and over again in Scripture, it doesn’t take long to get drawn away from God towards other gods. Perhaps the most important task we have as a church family is to help our children know and love Jesus with all their hearts and lives.

The Hebrew word for ‘impress” means to repeat often, to go over again and again until it becomes a part of who you are and it becomes part of what you believe. As a sign of your commitment to God’s ways, the Israelites were called to place these words close to their minds so that it shapes their thoughts, and on their hands so that it shapes what they do. They are written on their doorframes of their houses to show their families follow God’s way. This shows the children that our faith is part of our daily life.

You need to have a love for God in your own hearts before you can pass that love on to your children, or to the children in our church family. Moses reminds Israel, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” The first part of this is called the Shema and it reminds us that we serve one God and that God is Yahweh, the I Am who met Moses in the burning bush, the one God who created everything else. There is no other God, only created things that we make gods. This is still an important reminder for us today, we may not make wooden or stone idols to worship anymore like the nations around Israel did, but we make all kinds of other things gods today: power, individual liberty, sex, money, and more can all take first place in our lives over Jesus. This is why Jesus takes the second part of what Moses says here, and makes this the central part of what the Law is all about; loving God with everything you are and have. When this is true for us as adults, it becomes true for our children as well.

The deeper our love for God, the more natural our conversations about God become, when your relationship with God becomes more based on love than obligation and fear, the more you want to know how to please God with how you live. This is why Jesus connects loving him with obeying him, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” It is because of Jesus’ love and commitment to us that led him to the cross to take our sin on himself so that we can be made right with God our Father.

As you read this passage, you hear God speaking in covenantal language, the language of commitment and promise, especially in verses 10 to 12, “When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” God has committed to bring his people into a land filled with blessings, however they need to remember their side of the relationship with God in order to fully live into the blessings.

Jesus has given us a way of living that we find in the Gospels. Just as God called Israel to impress his ways on the hearts of the children, we are to impress the commands of Jesus on our children’s hearts today, teaching them that he is the way, the truth, and the life and we’re called to shape our lives in obedience to his teaching. When we do so, we will experience his blessings. Adam and Heather, you have been entrusted with the beautiful gift of Elanor Jane, your call is to raise her to know Jesus, to impress on her Jesus’ commands, and guide her in living in obedience to Jesus. Bethel, we have committed to walking alongside Adam and Heather to help them to raise Elanor to follow Jesus. May we all be faithful in helping Elanor to learn to love Jesus with all her heart, soul, and strength and to follow him all her days.

 

 

Acts 2:1-4; 14-17; John 15:26-16:15 Spirit at Work

 

Can you imagine being in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost? Pentecost is already a great festival, called the Feast of Weeks that’s connected with the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. It’s a harvest festival, a first fruits festival, reminding Israel that God demands from them the first fruits of their crops as a sign that it all belongs to God, but it’s also an act of trust that God will provide for his people. This is a festival that calls Israel to remember the poor and provide opportunities for them to participate in the harvest too, Leviticus 23:22, ^“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.”

Jesus left ten day earlier and the disciples are all gathered together; their Lord no longer with them, likely wondering what exactly is next for them? Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem for the gift that God has promised, that in a few days they will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. But what does that mean or look like? So, they wait. Then the Holy Spirit comes, with the sound of a freight train laying on its horn in the middle of the night, filling the house with the noise of its arrival! In this moment, the world is changed, the Spirit’s on the move, and he’s making his people his home. No more temples. The Holy Spirit enters into each of them and they begin to speak in tongues, everyone can understand and hear the Gospel news in their own language; there’s no being silent with the Holy Spirit blowing into the world, something for us to remember today!

Peter tells the people that what God promised through the prophet Joel has come true, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” This is a time of hope, a time God is revealing himself in powerful ways. God’s entering into a deeper, more intimate way of relating to his people by sending his Spirit to make our hearts its home!

Who is this Spirit that is being poured out on all people? The Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 53 asks us, “What do you believe concerning "the Holy Spirit?” The pastor and the scholar answer us, “First, he, as well as the Father and the Son, is eternal God. Second, he has been given to me personally, so that, by true faith, he makes me share in Christ and all his blessings, comforts me, and remains with me forever.” Jesus talks about who the Holy Spirit is in John. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate, which comes from the Greek word parakletos which can be translated as Helper, Counselor, Encourager, or Mediator; all things that an advocate does for others.

At the beginning of chapter 15, Jesus taught the disciples that they need to remain closely connected to him, that he is the vine and they are the branches that get their life from him. Reverend Patrick Keen writes, “In chapter 15, Jesus reminds them of their and our connectedness with him and to God through him. "I am the true vine. My Father is the gardener." He tells them that the world will hate them because the world hates him. The world hates the truth and Jesus is the truth and it is the Spirit of Truth that is being promised to be poured out upon humanity. Truth that exposes sin and evil. Truth that calls for accountability and responsibility. Truth that beckons God's people to faith and faithfulness.” The Holy Spirit keeps us connected to Jesus; calling us to faith in Jesus. He warns that the disciples are going to get kicked out of the synagogue, may even get killed, and people will believe that they’re doing a good thing for God. The Holy Spirit’s given to help them, and us in the church to stay true to Jesus, to remain strong in our faith in Jesus even when the world might hate us for following Jesus.

The church is a fascinating creation of Jesus. It’s a group of people called by God from all kinds of backgrounds and brought into one family. The Catechism talks about the church in Q&A 54 as part of the work of the Holy Spirit, “I believe that the Son of God through his Spirit and Word, out of the entire human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, protects, and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life and united in true faith. And of this community I am and always will be a living member.” Jesus says it’s good that he’s leaving because when he returns to heaven, he’s going to send them the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth who will keep pointing them to Jesus, who he is and what he’s done through his sacrifice on the cross for our sins.

I’m always fascinated by Jesus’ description of what the Holy Spirit’s going to do. We often turn straight to verses 12 through 15 where the Spirit guides us into all truth, reminding us that if we’re looking for truth, looking for what reality really looks like, we need to look to Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is sending the Holy Spirit to testify about him so that the disciples, and now us, can testify to the world about who Jesus is. We have this fascination with the Spirit telling us what is yet to come; we’re so eager to know what’s coming that we sometimes forget to keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open to who Jesus is calling us to be, to the opportunities to share the gospel, to bring shalom and advance the kingdom of heaven right now. There’s a bit of escapism in many Christians, wanting to focus on heaven and what we get by going there, instead of our responsibilities in the here and now. Jesus reminds us that the Spirit will “glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.” This is important, the Spirit comes to work in us and through us to glorify Jesus. Do you take time to reflect on the person you are becoming, the things you do and say, and ask yourself, “Is Jesus being glorified, is he being honoured through me?”

The work of the Spirit that fascinates me the most is what Jesus says before these verses, “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” The Spirit has come and he reveals people’s sins and teaches them the ways of God through the presence and teaching of the church.

Right now, we’re in the process of reflecting on the Healthy Sexuality Report as a church and a denomination. This report shows us how God created the world good and very good, but sin came into the world and brought brokenness into our relationships with God, each other, and ourselves and this brokenness often comes out in our sexuality and how we will look for our identity in these places instead of Jesus. The Spirit works through the church to show the world a healthier way of living together, a healthier place to look for our identity, one that looks first to Jesus. We look to Jesus and the Holy Spirit for our values, to shape our morality and character instead of our society, government, or other groups and organizations that tickle our ears with what we want to hear and believe.

The Spirit comes to show the world, through the church, right ways of living: with God, with each other, with ourselves and with creation. The Spirit reminds us of how Scripture calls us to live, who Jesus is calling us to be, and calling us to obedience to him. Jesus told us, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Jesus gives us his way so that we can experience life in the full, we can experience the joy and excitement that comes from living in good healthy relationships.

Throughout the history of the church, Jesus’ problem with his people has been our inability to fully believe in the power and ability of the Spirit to perform in our lives and our world. The Holy Spirit comes to us with power saying, "I am able. I Am is able. Able to do the impossible, to reach the unreachable. I Am is able!" Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit to testify to us about Jesus so we can testify to the world. Who are you testifying to about Jesus?

 

 

Psalm 121; Matthew 16:13-28 On This Rock

 

The Apostle’s Creed spends a lot of time on Jesus, the core of it’s teaching is focused on Jesus, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.” Jesus is central to our faith.

Psalm 121 is a ‘pilgrimage psalm,’ a psalm that pilgrims to Jerusalem would sing as they climbed the road up to Jerusalem. As the pilgrims walked the road up the mountain, they would keep their eyes focused upwards so they could see Jerusalem and the temple as soon as possible. For the Jews, mountains were important places because that’s where God often appeared to his people; Mount Sinai and Horeb, Mount Carmel where Elijah went up against the prophets of Baal, and Mount Zion where Jerusalem is. Matthew sets Jesus’ greatest teachings on a mountainside in his Sermon on the Mount as a sign that Jesus is God. Mountains keep our eyes focused upwards, even beyond the top of the mountain into the heavens. There is something solid and permanent about mountains, which makes them a good example of strength.  

This is why the psalmist turns his eyes to the mountains when he’s looking for help. He’s looking for the God of Israel, Yahweh, the great ‘I Am,’ of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He turns to the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, the one who watches over his people; a God who cares and acts to protect his people. There’s deep trust in the Lord, that he “will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life.” The Lord will keep us from harm, but not necessarily hard times; it’s in hard times that we lift up our eyes to the mountains, to the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. The eternal nature of hills and mountains reminds us, as the Heidelberg Catechism does in Q & A 35, “That the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God… took to himself a truly human nature so that he could become David’s true descendant, like his brothers in every way except for sin.” Jesus is eternal.

Israel kept looking for the promised Messiah, the one who would come and lead them into freedom. But the messiah comes in humility and weakness at the foot of the mountain in Bethlehem. Jesus comes to save his people from their sin, not their Roman oppressors, to lead them back to God, and send us his Spirit. The Catechism, when asked why the Son of God is called Jesus, tells us, “Because he saves us from our sins. Salvation cannot be found in anyone else; it is futile to look for any salvation elsewhere.”

Today it’s easy to look back and, with the eyes the Holy Spirit gives us, see that Jesus is the Son of God. But it wasn’t so easy for Jesus’ disciples to see what we see. Because Jesus is so unique, both God and man, recognizing exactly who Jesus is doesn’t come easy. Israel expected the Messiah to be a king and warrior like King David. But Isaiah points to a different kind of a Messiah, but the disciples aren’t any different than many of us today, they see or hear what they want to see and hear when they read Scriptures or listen to the prophets.

Jesus is with his disciples and he’s done a lot of teaching, healing, and miracles. Now Jesus starts preparing them for his upcoming death. Jesus turns to his disciples and asks a pretty simple question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” The title Jesus uses is a title the prophet Daniel uses to describe the coming Messiah. The disciples reply, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” It’s easy to see where the people are coming from. The Heidelberg Catechism also calls Jesus a prophet. When asked why Jesus is called Christ, the first part of question and answer 31 tells us, “Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed by the Holy Spirit to be our chief prophet and teacher who perfectly reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God for our deliverance.”

Now Jesus turns to his disciples and asks them, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Peter jumps in and tells Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Peter, and the others, see that Jesus is much more than a prophet, that he’s the promised Messiah they’ve been waiting for. They see this in terms of strength and power, mountain and Son of Man imagery, but they’re realizing that Jesus is truly from God.

Jesus tells Peter that on this rock he is going to build his church: on Peter's confession, but also on Peter, who is renamed rock and becomes one of the main leaders in the early church, on Peter’s work, life, and ongoing witness to Jesus. The church is also built on Jesus who is the cornerstone of the church. The church is built on strength, the strength of the confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God; it’s built on the work and faithfulness of followers of God who are willing to die for their confession that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is our Messiah.

This question reverberates down to us today, “Who do you say Jesus is?”. C.S Lewis in Mere Christianity wrote “You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”

Isaiah introduces us to a Messiah who’s going to come as a servant. In Isaiah 42 the servant is concerned about justice, not power, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.  A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.” This is a servant king who is concerned about justice for the weak, the poor, and the broken. Isaiah tells us the sign of the Messiah will be that the blind will see, the lame will walk, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. When John the Baptist asks Jesus if he’s really the Messiah, Jesus points to the healing ministry he’s doing to reassure John that he is the promised Messiah.

I respect our government because God tells me to, but I sometimes wonder if the poor, the suffering, or even justice is the most important goal for most governments anymore. The Messiah brings justice for those who seldom experience real justice because he has compassion on them. We see Isaiah’s compassionate servant in Jesus. Jesus offers compassion because that is who he is, and he acts on his compassion, offering hope to those seeking justice, healing and wholeness.

In Isaiah 52 and 53 we get a shocking picture of who the Messiah is. He’s a suffering servant; despised and rejected, pierced for our sin and crushed for our rebellion. The Messiah Isaiah reveals to us is one who willingly sacrifices himself for the very people who despise and reject him. This is Jesus’ strength; his love, compassion and sacrificial life for others. When I’m honest with myself, I have to confess that I often reject my own cross because I don’t want to suffer, even after he suffered for me. I don’t always care most for the people that Jesus seems to care the most about, the oppressed, the broken, the poor, widows, orphans, or strangers.

Zechariah echoes Isaiah, “They will look on me, the one who they have pierced,” and goes on to describe the coming Messiah who “will cleanse the people from their sin and impurity as the Good Shepherd who is struck down.” Daniel speaks of the Messiah as one who is cut off and will have nothing, adding to the image of a Messiah who more servant than royal king. This is a Messiah that no one notices if they’re not looking. Jesus left heaven for you, he suffered his whole life on your behalf, he died for you so that your sins might be forgiven, he was even buried and went to hell for you, and he was raised from the dead so that you can also experience eternal life with God.

Jesus willingly died in your place; Jesus calls us to “deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow him.” We are his church, called out to be his witness to the world, called to make disciples, inviting others to follow Jesus with us.

 

Exodus 3:1-15; Romans 8:1-17 Our Eternal Papa

 

This morning we’re beginning a new series based on the Apostle’s Creed. We will reflect on the three persons of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the work of the Spirit. We will be using the Bible and the Heidelberg Catechism to guide us in understanding this beloved Creed that unites churches from many different traditions and ethnic backgrounds into something much bigger than denominations and cultural groups by reminding us that Jesus’ body is much greater than our human limitations on understanding who God is and who we are as followers of Jesus.

The Apostle’s Creed is the shortest of the three creeds we have embraced as Reformed churches. The very first established creed that was accepted throughout the church as a whole was the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed was established by the ecumenical church in 325 A.D. The first recorded copy of the Apostles Creed appears about 340 A.D. It was not written by the apostles, even though one church legend has it that each of the apostles contributed one statement about God and the church and that became the Apostle’s Creed. It is an early creed, a simplified statement of the basics of the Christian faith and is representative of apostolic teaching. It was often used in the early church as a confession of faith during baptisms.

The creed begins, “I believe in God, the Father, Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” Moses’ meeting with God in the wilderness while he was watching over his father-in-law’s sheep reveals a powerful God who cares about his people and who comes to his people in their distress. Israel has been made slaves to Egypt and Egypt is a cruel slave master. Just before God meets Moses, we read, “The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” God now connects with Moses, calling Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery into a land flowing with milk and honey.

Moses has his doubts, asking, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Moses may doubt himself, but he grew up in the palace of Pharoah, trained and educated in the ways of Egypt, trained to lead. God’s been at work to provide for and save his people already at Moses’ birth, arranging for Pharoah’s daughter to find him in the river and adopt him as her own child, giving us hints at the creed’s confession of God being almighty. It also points us to how God is providing for his people long before they even realize it. The Catechism talks about how God provides in question and answer 27, “The almighty and ever present power of God by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.” We follow an almighty God, the one who has all power in his hands. There’s a great divide between God and his creatures; any power the creatures have comes from God, and is miniscule compared to God’s. God uses his power for his people and his plans to redeem and renew creation after the fall into sin.

When Moses asks what he should call God when he goes to the Israelites with God’s message, God tells him, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” In Biblical Hebrew there is no past, present, or future tense, so as one Hebrew scholar wrote, God is telling Moses, “I was who I was, I am who I am, and I will be who I will be,” indicating his power and eternity, that there is no one who is like Yahweh, like God. This is why the Catechism introduces us to God the Father in question and answer 26 by pointing to his timelessness, “the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence.”

Moses does finally go to Pharaoh and there’s this God battle between Pharaoh’s magicians and Moses where Moses’ God, Yahweh, “I Am” reveals his power over all Egypt’s gods, showing his power is infinitely greater than Pharaoh’s gods’ power. God gathers his people together and leads them safely into freedom from one of the most powerful nations in the world at that time, showing his mighty power over all gods and peoples. This is one of the main images of God in the Old Testament: Yahweh is creator, almighty, God of gods, and yet there are glimpses of God as more than simply almighty; we get glimpses that God is relationship focused. In Hosea, we see God comparing his relationship with Israel as a husband who marries an unfaithful wife, we also get father references to God in Jeremiah 31:9, “They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.” Isaiah 64:8 also uses the image of God as Father, “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

Israel’s relationship with God grows deeper, and over the centuries God reveals more and more about himself to his people. We call this progressive revelation; we know much more about who God is than Israel did in Biblical times, especially the Old Testament times, because of the gift of the Bible and Holy Spirit. It’s in the New Testament that we get a fuller picture of God as our Father, beginning with Jesus’ teachings, especially the invitation when we pray to God to call God, “Our Father who is in heaven…”

Then we come to Paul and Romans 8, a powerful chapter on who God is. It comes right after Paul’s been talking about our struggle with sin, confessing that even he does things he doesn’t want to do because they’re sins, and the things he wants to do, he doesn’t, sinning against God by failing to be who he’s called by God to be. We can all relate to Paul’s confession because we all too often find ourselves in exactly the same place. Paul knows he can’t place his hope for salvation in himself; he needs God so he reminds us that Jesus came to be a sin offering on the cross so we have forgiveness from our sins and are made right with God the Father. Jesus sends us the Spirit who governs our minds and lives in us, bringing peace and life, affirming that we are God’s chosen adopted children, that God is our father, “for those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God… the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father.”

As our Father, God does the father things; God provides for us, as we heard in the Catechism, all things come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand. God our father provides for our souls by giving us the Bible so that we can know God as father, but we also learn who we are as his chosen beloved ones. As a father, God protects us through the Holy Spirit from the power of Satan and evil. This doesn’t mean that horrible things don’t happen. God, through Jesus lets us know that he understands our pain and joins us in our pain and suffering by becoming human in Jesus, who goes to the cross and takes the punishment for our sin, and through the Holy Spirit’s presence who is within us, experiencing our pain and suffering and bringing our cries to God.

Our father disciplines us, not our favourite father thing, but God uses discipline to form us into who he has created us to be, he also allows the consequences of our actions and choices to play out, he doesn’t protect us from our own actions; this teaches us wisdom. God, as our father, challenges us to live up to his family name. God does this through Jesus’ teaching and preaching.

When we listen to what Jesus taught us about who we are called to be, when we hear Paul’s instructions on what it means to follow Jesus, we’re challenged to take good hard looks at who we are and how we carry our father’s name through life, how we’re witnesses to who God is as our father. I remember my own father, when I left home to strike out on my own, he told me, “Son, I don’t have a lot to give you, but I’ve worked hard all my life to keep our family name honourable, this is what I give you, a name you can be proud of; as you go, make sure that you keep it good for your kids.” God our father calls us to remember who we are, his children, precious and beloved, and to keep his name precious.