Perhaps you saw this week that physicist Stephen Hawkings’ book “The Grand Design” hit the market. In an act of brilliant publicity to boost sales Hawking announced that God wasn’t necessary for the creation of the universe. I’m sure God was shocked and almost choked on the morning toast reading the news. The predictable hubbub that followed reminded me of a T-Shirt I saw once that said, “God is Dead.” Nietzsche. Below that it said, “Nietzsche is dead.” God. It really isn’t news when someone says that God isn’t necessary to the creation of the universe or the world. That has been said by some people for centuries.

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September 5, 2010: Psalm 104 – God is Our Creator and Provider
Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
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For several thousand years the Bible from beginning to end takes the position that there is a Creator. Paul in Romans 1:20 writes about how the creation reveals and points to the presence of a Creator who is to be worshiped.

^“Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.” Every person has to come to her or his own conclusion. While the scriptures affirm the existence of the Creator of the universe, nature itself in the Bible is seen with some ambivalence, which we can understand after Hurricane Earl also known meteorologically as “The Big Nothing,” just passed by. Psalm 29 praises the God of the storm and declares (verses 4, 5, and 9),

“The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. The voice of the Lord makes the oaks to whirl and strips the forest base; and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

In the Psalms there is awe for the power of God displayed in nature as well as reverence for nature as the handiwork of the Creator and as a means of revealing and knowing God. In the poetic words of Psalm 19:1- 4 about the beauty of the sun, moon, and stars,

“The heavens are telling the glory of God;

and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

² Day to day pours forth speech,

and night to night declares knowledge.

³ There is no speech, nor are there words;

their voice is not heard;

⁴ yet their voice goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.”

In other words, the silent witness of the sun, moon, and stars tell of and point to something beyond themselves and beyond ourselves every day and night if we just have eyes and ears to see and hear their message. Some people get the message and some don’t see or hear it.

Psalms 65 and 67 praise the God of the harvest who provides food for people to eat in abundance. Because much of the religion of the peoples around them was centered on nature and things in the natural world, the writers of scripture didn’t want to be accused of idolatry so they didn’t talk about it too much and there was a lot that remained a mystery to them that we now know. Yet the Psalmists also recognize that we are part of God’s creation, part of a web of life that begins with God and the sun, moon, and stars, as well as the wind, the rain, the mountains and valleys, hills and plains, the sea, the fields, birds and animals – all of it is connected and all living creatures look to God for life.

You have heard part of Psalm 104 earlier in the service so listen to the rest beginning at verse 19:

¹ Let all that I am praise the Lord.

O Lord my God, how great you are!

You are robed with honor and majesty.

² You are dressed in a robe of light.

You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;

³ you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.

You make the clouds your chariot;

you ride upon the wings of the wind.

⁴ The winds are your messengers;

flames of fire are your servants.

⁵ You placed the world on its foundation

so it would never be moved.

⁶ You clothed the earth with floods of water,

water that covered even the mountains.

⁷ At your command, the water fled;

at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.

⁸ Mountains rose and valleys sank

to the levels you decreed.

⁹ Then you set a firm boundary for the seas,

so they would never again cover the earth.

¹⁰ You make springs pour water into the ravines,

so streams gush down from the mountains.

¹¹ They provide water for all the animals,

and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹² The birds nest beside the streams

and sing among the branches of the trees.

¹³ You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home,

and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.

¹⁴ You cause grass to grow for the livestock

and plants for people to use.

You allow them to produce food from the earth—

¹⁵ wine to make them glad,

olive oil to soothe their skin,

and bread to give them strength.

¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are well cared for—

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

¹⁷ There the birds make their nests,

and the storks make their homes in the cypresses.

¹⁸ High in the mountains live the wild goats,

and the rocks form a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹ You made the moon to mark the seasons,

and the sun knows when to set.

²⁰ You send the darkness, and it becomes night,

when all the forest animals prowl about.

²¹ Then the young lions roar for their prey,

stalking the food provided by God.

²² At dawn they slink back

into their dens to rest.

²³ Then people go off to their work,

where they labor until evening.

²⁴ O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!

In wisdom you have made them all.

The earth is full of your creatures.

²⁵ Here is the ocean, vast and wide,

teeming with life of every kind,

both large and small.

²⁶ See the ships sailing along,

and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.

²⁷ They all depend on you

to give them food as they need it.

²⁸ When you supply it, they gather it.

You open your hand to feed them,

and they are richly satisfied.

²⁹ But if you turn away from them, they panic.

When you take away their breath,

they die and turn again to dust.

³⁰ When you give them your breath, life is created,

and you renew the face of the earth.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord continue forever!

The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!

³² The earth trembles at his glance;

the mountains smoke at his touch.

³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.

I will praise my God to my last breath!

³⁴ May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

³⁵ Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth;

let the wicked disappear forever.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!”

In the Bible God tells us that the created world and all that is in it and the heavens are good. The Creation story in Genesis 1 features the repetition of, “And God saw that it was good,” after each aspect of creation climaxing in 1:31, “and indeed it was very good.” Psalm 104 is almost like a poetic commentary on the Creation story as it describes all that God has done to create and sustain life and how all living creatures look to and depend on God for their life and food. I have been helping my father clean out his house in Brookline and I’ve brought home dozens of bags of books. It is amazing how many of my mom’s books were about some aspect of nature – birds, trees, the ocean, the stars, atlases, maps, stories of people in nature and stories about animals. Through my mom I learned to look at nature as an expression of God’s creativity, artistry, and power. Throughout Christian history, in addition to the scriptures and Christian writing, nature has been seen as a significant venue for learning about the Lord and the spiritual life.

One of the sayings I like from the Desert Fathers is, “A philosopher asked Saint Anthony: Father, how can you be enthusiastic when the comfort of books has been taken away from you? He replied: “My book, O Philosopher, is the nature of created things, and whenever I want to read the word of God, it is usually right in front of me.” We can learn from almost anything – a tree, a bird, a squirrel – you name it. What do I mean by that – here are some examples: from a tree we learn that the reach of our branches can never exceed the depth of our roots. As we grow deeper in our relationship with God we become more stable and the reach of our influence and service grows. Storms reveal if our roots are deep enough to hold fast because even if we look good on the outside, like a tree if we are decaying or rotten on the inside – that will be revealed in the storms of life. Birds teach us to sing every day – whether it is clear or stormy, summer or winter, no matter what’s happening, every day as the hymn says, “the birds their carols raise” in praise to God. What about us? So often we look at squirrels as pests, however, if only we shared the persistence, determination, and creative problem solving skills of the squirrels in our yard we’d probably be better off.

An example of this sort of learning from God’s creation in the Bible is the wisdom of small creatures in Proverbs 30:24-28 which says, “Four things on earth are small, yet they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people without strength, yet they provide their food in the summer;

the badgers are a people without power, yet they make their homes in the rocks;

the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank;

the lizard can be grasped in the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.”

We can learn much about God, faith and life from observing nature, even small creatures like ants, badgers, locusts, and lizards.

Think about the following scenario – what if a friend of ours offered to let us stay in and use their large beautiful home and gardens, what would we do? I’d hope in that situation we’d do our best to care for the home and property and when we left to leave it as least as nice and clean as we found it. We’d want to respect our friend’s property and care for it well enough that they might even be open to having us return. On the other hand, how would we feel if we owned such a property and someone came in and trashed the house and grounds, left all their garbage lying around, dirty dishes in the sink, the shower still running, lights, computer, and TV on, and the gardens trampled? How would we feel in that situation? I think most of us would be pretty mad. Sadly, the second scenario is much closer to how human beings have treated God’s creation than the first.

The world we live in is kind of like a house and gardens that doesn’t belong to us that the Owner has graciously granted us permission to live in for a short time, it is not ours and we will be accountable for how well we took care of it while we lived in it. Our future is directly tied to having clean air to breath, clean water to drink, and managing our lives so we can produce enough food and not bury ourselves in our own waste and pollution.  It is imperative for our children and grandchildren that we do all we can as stewards to care for the Creation God has made. Things as simple as: Using less water.

Turning off the lights when you leave a room.

Don’t litter and that includes cigarette butts and pick up stuff when you see it.

Recycle everything you can – plastic, glass, cardboard, metal, and paper.

Compost all your fruit and vegetable waste.

Coordinate your driving trips. Car pool with a friend to church or the grocery store – it makes it a social time and saves gas, money, and pollution. Figure out how to take a few less trips by yourself. There are many websites and books that have lots of suggestions, tips, and ideas that we can all do as stewards of God’s creation and virtually all of them save money too. Since God is the Creator, we should take good care of all that the Lord has made.

From a Christian perspective – we don’t worship nature or a part of nature – like a tree or a shark – as a god or as divine, but we believe that nature can teach us about and point us toward the Creator. Christians also believe that being in nature can help restore our sense of perspective and allow us to hear the voice of God – this is part of why the Gospels regularly portray Jesus as going away by himself up a mountain or in a deserted place or by the shore. It is why so many of us enjoy going for walks on the beach or in the woods, or out on the water, or even up to the mountains.

The Psalms are the prayers, poems, and songs of the Bible so I want to close with poem, The Worship of Nature by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) which is not about worshiping nature, but the unending chorus of the worship of nature to God.

HE harp at Nature’s advent strung

Has never ceased to play;

The song the stars of morning sung

Has never died away.

And prayer is made, and praise is given,

By all things near and far;

The ocean looketh up to heaven,

And mirrors every star.

Its waves are kneeling on the strand,

As kneels the human knee,

Their white locks bowing to the sand,

The priesthood of the sea!

They pour their glittering treasures forth,

Their gifts of pearl they bring,

And all the listening hills of earth

Take up the song they sing.

The green earth sends its incense up

From many a mountain shrine;

From folded leaf and dewy cup

She pours her sacred wine.

The mists above the morning rills

Rise white as wings of prayer;

The altar-curtains of the hills

Are sunset’s purple air.

The winds with hymns of praise are loud,

Or low with sobs of pain,–

The thunder-organ of the cloud,

The dropping tears of rain.

With drooping head and branches crossed

The twilight forest grieves,

Or speaks with tongues of Pentecost

From all its sunlit leaves.

The blue sky is the temple’s arch,

Its transept earth and air,

The music of its starry march

The chorus of a prayer.

So Nature keeps the reverent frame

With which her years began,

And all her signs and voices shame

The prayerless heart of man.

As we come to the end of our Psalm Series Summer Songs, one thing I hope you will remember is the Psalms teach us is that the greatest good of life is to enjoy God’s presence. This is a theme that continues through the Bible. In fact, in Revelation 5:13-14, part of the climax of history is that every creature, not just people, will worship the Creator and Christ.

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing,

“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might

forever and ever!”

¹⁴ And the four living creatures said, “Amen!”

And the elders fell down and worshiped.”

Here’s hoping each of us will be part of that chorus of praise and worship to our Creator and Provider and to Christ.

Think for a moment about a place you’d love to go – it could be a vacation spot, a family retreat, or a place in the city or country, it could be in North America or on another continent. It would be the kind of place that makes your heart beat a little faster, gets your adrenaline flowing, the type of place when you finally arrive you feel like shouting or singing or standing in breathtaking silence and awe. It might be somewhere you are blessed to go to annually or a few times or a destination you dream of going to that you might only be able to visit once in your life because of cost, distance, or circumstances. Can you picture a place like that for you? Get one in your mind.

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August 29, 2010: Psalms 84 & 150 – The Joy of Worship
Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
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In the Psalms we hear people praying, singing, and writing about how they feel going to a very special place – a destination they might visit every year or only once in a lifetime. No, it wasn’t Disney World or even Tennessee; it was the Temple in Jerusalem. Some of you have gone to Israel and Jerusalem, I never have. I am happy to say that the Cape Cod Council of Churches is leading a Pilgrimage trip to Jerusalem and the Holy Land next May 8-20, 2011 that Jill and I are going to help lead. They have given us brochures that cover all the important details for those who would seriously consider going. I hope there may be some people who will go with us to walk where Jesus walked and where so many pilgrims have traveled praying and singing the psalms for several thousand years.

This summer I have preached from a number of different types of psalms and today we are going to look at Psalm 84 which is a Song of Zion. Songs of Zion (which is another word for Jerusalem) are also known as pilgrimage psalms that might be sung or prayed while on the way to or in Jerusalem as part of worship.

Psalm 84 is about The Joy of Worship in the Temple.

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!

² My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

³ Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

⁴ Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.

Happy are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

⁶ As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

⁷ They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

⁸ O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!

⁹ Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed.

¹⁰ For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than live in the tents of wickedness.

¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly.

¹² O Lord of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you.”

Psalm 84 begins almost panting with excitement and anticipation about being able to go worship in the Temple. “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.” Isn’t it great to hear verses from the Bible like that which describe so perfectly how we feel today about getting up and coming to worship at BBC? Don’t you find yourself singing a favorite song as you get ready to come to worship? When you are driving here on Sunday morning does your heart quicken as you get closer until with reassurance you see the building as you come around the corner or down the hill? Don’t you nearly shout with joy when you pull in? Do you almost run in from the parking lot, not because we’d ever be late for heaven’s sake, but just because we can’t wait to worship God and be with fellow pilgrims from all across the Cape and beyond? Well of course that’s the way we all feel every Sunday so I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know or experience, right? You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not.

In fact, I received a lovely Psalm from someone at BBC who accepted my invitation in a sermon a few weeks ago to write your own Psalm of Praise. Here it is: A Psalm of Praise

“Praise You, O Lord!

My grateful heart sighs and finds its hiding place – sheltered and safe.

I worship You, the God with power to create the universe

And tenderness to wipe my tears away.

There is no better solace or comfort found

Than in worshipping You and You alone.

And there is no one like You to trust.

You know me far better than I know myself.

I have choices before me, tempting and seductive,

But the momentary satisfaction is empty.

I will choose You and be filled and made whole.

To You who holds the Master Plan be praise!

To You who holds the future’s key be all glory and honor!

If I am so easily transported with this mortal worship, what will I find in heaven?

Why is it the “sacrifice” of praise, when I receive much more than I give?

Why do I hesitate to praise you in all things, when I am the one to gain?

I worship You and the healing balm of peace floods my grieving heart.

I praise Your name and contentment warms my soul.

I glorify Your name, O Lord, and am filled with joy

For You are worthy to be praised!

You are my reason to sing.”

I think that is an excellent contemporary Psalm don’t you?

Psalm 84 and Psalm 150 which began worship today and this contemporary Psalm all touch on the joy and happiness we experience when we go to meet God in the company of God’s people. In Psalm 84 even birds like living in the temple and find a place. People with their hearts and minds set on Jerusalem come into the Temple feeling one day spent in worship there in God’s presence is better than 1,000 days, almost three years, spent elsewhere. It is better to stand in a doorway without having a seat in the place of worship than it is to live with the wicked in a big house with a soft couch to relax on in front of a great HD TV. At least that’s what the psalmist thinks!

Psalm 84 describes the incomparable value of being in the place of God’s presence for even the shortest time in the most minimal way. Just to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord would be amazing. How blessed, how happy are those, who get to live and work in the temple whose job is just to sing the Lord’s praise. I know all the guys with the Called Out Quartet have jobs beyond singing and making music, but I’ll bet if you asked them, “Would you rather go to your job full-time or get to praise the Lord full-time?” I think I can guess what most of them would say.

Four times in Psalm 84 God is called by the title “Lord of hosts.” This title is especially associated with the Ark of the Covenant, (yes, that Ark of the Covenant Indiana Jones fans) which is the symbol of the Lord’s desire to be present and with God’s people at all times, wherever they are. I have spoken about different types of Psalms this summer including laments and hymns of praise, but one of the things I really like about the Songs of Zion and the pilgrimage Psalms about going to worship the Lord and being in the Lord’s presence in the Temple is the sense of joy and gladness. I truly wish it was something we could capture and duplicate at BBC. Psalm 122:1 another song of Zion begins, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” It would be ideal if we came to worship, came to church, came to do whatever service we might be rendering or sharing in with that sense of gladness. Churches are plagued by people coming for other reasons – coming out of duty or obligation or habit or pride or a desire for control the list goes on – the Psalm says, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” What about us? I hope you are glad today to be in the house of the Lord. The psalms convey joy and gladness at coming to the house of the Lord because there we meet a God who is love who loves us and when you are in love, I mean when you are head over heels in love with someone you know beyond any doubt is head over heels in love with you – the emotion that you feel is joy. Joy is expressed and found throughout the Bible for a host of reasons, but the greatest is for our relationship with a loving God.

If you ask even really committed Christians why Jesus came to earth or what his purpose was –probably the number one response you would get is, “He came to die on the cross to save people from their sins.” Now that is true he did, but why did he do that?

In John’s Gospel Jesus talks about why he came and he says it is so his joy may be in us and our joy may be full or complete. This surprises many people. Jesus came that we might have joy. If you aren’t finding your life to be full of joy, well some of that can depend on what is going on in a particular season or moment of our life. But, there is a level of joy and gladness that we have when we truly know Jesus that the world cannot take away. When Jesus speaks these words about joy in John chapters 15-17 it is not because he has the stock market beat and he is looking forward to an early retirement. Chapters 15, 16, and 17 in the Gospel of John include Jesus’ final major speech to his disciples and perhaps his most important prayer to God. These are the words of a teacher to his students on the night before his violent, painful death. They are the words of someone who is going to die to those he loves and who love him. 

One could say many things in such a situation. If we were in Jesus’ place we might speak of the injustice and unfairness of it all and feel sorry for ourselves. We could speak angrily of revenge and how no one appreciates us and all we’ve done and how hard we’ve worked. We could lament our unfortunate condition before God and within earshot of everyone else in an attempt to garner sympathy. At times when we were stressed we may have spoken this way in our own life. It might come as somewhat of a surprise in this situation to hear words of joy. Jesus speaks of joy not once or twice but three times in these chapters. Three times Jesus speaks, not of an occasional burst of happiness but of complete joy.

The first time in John 15:11, Jesus is speaking of our relationship with him. Jesus came so that his “joy may be in us, and that our joy may be complete.” As we are united with Jesus through worship, his word, prayer, and loving obedience the result in our lives will be joy. Jesus wants us to have the complete joy that comes from an intimate and lasting relationship with the loving and gracious God who gives us life. 

If we’ve got the joy of Jesus down in our heart like some of us learned in the song when we were kids, it should show on our face. Dennis Prager in his book, Happiness Is a Serious Problem, shares this experience:

“I once asked a deeply religious man if he considered himself a truly pious person. He responded that while he aspired to be one, he felt that he fell short in two areas. One of those areas, he said, was his not being a happy enough person to be considered truly pious.

“His point was that unhappy religious people reflect poorly on their religion and on their Creator. He was right; in fact, unhappy religious people pose a real challenge to faith. If their faith is so impressive, why aren’t these devoted adherents happy? There are only two possible reasons: either they are not practicing their faith correctly, or they are practicing their faith correctly and the religion itself is not conducive to happiness. Most outsiders assume the latter reason. Unhappy religious people should therefore think about how important being happy is – if not for themselves, then for the sake of their religion. Unhappy, let alone angry, religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists.”^[1]

While joy and happiness are not exactly the same, I believe it is true that following Jesus is conducive to joy. Therefore if we practice our faith correctly, the fruit of joy will begin to grow and become increasingly evident in our lives over time. If we can learn how to have the joy of Jesus in our lives, through worship, hearing his word, prayer, and loving obedience; perhaps we will be able to face life, even the challenging and heart-breaking times, with an attitude that is marked by joy.

The second time Jesus speaks of Joy in John 16, he says to his disciples, “So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” Having the joy of Jesus does not spare us from the hardships of life, for some people, it may actually increase them. All of us have pain in our lives of varying degrees and intensities – it’s how we cope while we’re enduring it that matters and reflects our faith or our lack of it. I am always struck by the fact that Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, written under circumstances of severe suffering, is also the most joyous of all his Letters.

The third time Jesus speaks of joy in his farewell discourse in John 17, Jesus is praying for us, not himself. Jesus wants his followers to understand that his death is not cause for sadness; it is his glorification because he is returning to the Father. Jesus prays that his followers will be one, even as Jesus and the Father are one, and “that they may have my joy made complete in (or among) themselves.” In John’s gospel, the arrival of Jesus is cause for joy and the departure of Jesus will bring joy as well.

For the Psalmists, the focus of their joy and gladness was on the presence of the Lord of hosts they experienced in the Temple in Jerusalem. For us, having the joy of Jesus comes from being intimately united with Christ through our habits, attitudes, and decisions so that Jesus is increasing in us and our old grumpy, angry, depressed, selfish self is decreasing. Having the joy of Jesus comes through praying for God’s Spirit to grow the fruit of joy within us in all circumstances. Finally, we can be encouraged knowing this is not only our prayer, but Jesus prayed and is still praying that we may have his complete joy in our lives. A theologian (Helmut Thielicke) wrote this about joyless Christians,

“The glum, sour faces of many Christians…They rather give the impression that, instead of coming from the Father’s joyful banquet, they have just come from the Sheriff who has auctioned off their sins and now are sorry they can’t get them back again.”^[2]

Do you know what it is like in the presence of God?

1 Chronicles 16:27 says, “Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and Joy in his dwelling place.”

Psalm 16:11 declares, “In your presence there is fullness of joy.”

Jesus radiated joy; that is part of what made him attractive to all kinds of people: children and adults, the troubled, the grieving, tax collectors, prostitutes, people from all walks of life. About the only people who didn’t like Jesus were the religious people who thought Jesus hung around with the wrong crowd, went to too many parties, and gave God a bad name. The gospels record Jesus as breaking up every funeral he attended and turning it into a real surprise party!

Jesus who knew no sin had a personality overflowing with joy and gladness.

What about those of us who claim to be his followers?

Blessing

“This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Psalm 118:24,

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[1] Dennis Prager, Happiness Is A Serious Problem (Regan Books, 1998), 4.

[2] Helmut Thielicke, Leadership, Vol. 1, no.4.

Today’s subject is heavy.* The weight of guilt for things we have done or not done, for things we have said or failed to say can be overwhelming and crushing. Guilt – the awareness of having done wrong accompanied by feelings of shame and regret - is a powerful emotion, but guilt isn’t helpful if it doesn’t lead to a change in our thinking, behavior, or speech. Guilt is good when it causes us to be penitent. The word “penitent” means, “expressing or feeling regret or sorrow for having committed sins or misdeeds.” Guilt is good when it leads to penitence and repentance, when it leads to change within us.

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August 8, 2010: Psalm 51 - Create in Me a Clean Heart
Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

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*Note – For those not present for worship, we put on the screen, “Which weighs more?” followed by a picture of an aircraft carrier, then a skyscraper, a mountain, and finally the word GUILT.

According to a tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages, seven psalms are considered penitential psalms (6, 32 [a Song of Thanksgiving and Augustine’s favorite], 38, 51, 102, 130, 143). In these Psalms the affliction which people plead for deliverance from is a heavy and deep sense of guilt because sometimes the enemy is not “out there” in the world but is present “in here” in the depths of our own being. Sometimes our greatest battles are fought internally. If you look in your Bible there should be a superscription or title to Psalm 51, that says, To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Earlier in the service you heard the scripture from 2 Samuel 11:27-12:15 (this is included at the end of this message) that recounted King David’s sins of lust, adultery, and murder as he violated about half of the Ten Commandments. Psalm 51 conveys David’s desire for mercy and cleansing in such an eloquent way that it has been used and said by countless people through the centuries who have sought God’s mercy, renewal, and hope after they have sinned. Listen to Psalm 51:

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned,

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are justified in your sentence

and blameless when you pass judgment.

⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty,

a sinner when my mother conceived me.

⁶ You desire truth in the inward being;

therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

⁹ Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and put a new and right  spirit within me.

¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence,

and do not take your holy spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and sustain in me a generous spirit.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

¹⁶ For you have no delight in sacrifice;

if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.

¹⁷ The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Old Testament scholar Bernhard W. Anderson wrote, “The sentence that is basic to all penitential prayer in the Old Testament is the simple confession, ‘I have sinned.’” Psalm 51 is the fullest exposition of that sentence in the Bible.”[1] One of the things I truly appreciate about Psalm 51 is that David fully admits and accepts responsibility for the wrong he did, and says it is his fault. “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.” There is no complaint against Bathsheba or Uriah or God, there is no passing the buck, no ducking or denying; there is no stepping and fetching, there is no blaming genes or environment or someone else. This is refreshing because it is so rare in our time. The problem is within, in him and he knows it and he says so. The problem is a self that has broken relationship with God and with other people because of sin and needs the renewal that can only come through God’s grace and re-creation.

The whole structure of the prayer is in the asking mode. The psalm asks for God to do whole lot but it all builds off the theme of the opening verse,

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” It is far better to appeal to God based on the Lord’s character, based on God’s steadfast love and abundant mercy, rather than on our merits or because we think we deserve it or have earned it. Especially when we are praying in a humble penitential way because we have sinned, we don’t want our prayer to be based on our character. Can you imagine how David’s prayer would have sounded if he had done that? “Have mercy on me, O God, because basically I’m a good person even though I broke a lot of commandments including murdering one of my most faithful and trusted soldiers after I got his wife pregnant.” I know a little about prayer and I can tell you this is not a prayer that is going to be received favorably. When we have sinned, we are far better off admitting our fault and appealing to God’s character rather than our own, rather than trying to downplay what we’ve done and justify ourselves before God or others. Psalm 51 models how to pray when we are seeking cleansing and forgiveness from our transgressions, iniquities, and sins. Our confession of sin is based on the grace and mercy of God. We are sinners, God is gracious. This is also what Jesus taught.

In Luke 18:9-14 Jesus told a story about two men who went to the temple to pray, “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Jesus says the man whose prayer was heard prayed the opening words of Psalm 51. The reason why someone would be reluctant to look up to heaven,  beating on his chest crying out for mercy is that he knows and believes that his life is judged by God and he knows what he has thought, said, and done. Some people don’t believe in God and so don’t feel accountable to anyone but themselves. Some folks who claim to be Christian don’t live in a way that seems to reflect that they truly believe their life will be judged by God either. The reality of sin is that it puts our life in question before God. Our sin also always impacts other people as well as God and ourselves. If I lose my temper, someone else is impacted. If I abuse someone verbally or physically someone else is impacted. If I gossip, if I grouse and complain, someone else is impacted. The idea that what I do doesn’t impact or concern anyone else is nonsense from a biblical point of view. Anytime we sin, we are hurting someone. There are hidden sins and unintended sins but no private sins. David’s sins impacted Bathsheba, Uriah, and an unborn child – and that was just the beginning – the circle of pain spiraled out to their families, the Israelite army, and the nation. Psalm 51:4 defines sin as doing “what is evil in (God’s) sight.” The idea we live with is that God sees us and judges us so we should live accordingly

The prayer of Psalm 51 confesses not simply a few sins, it confesses sinfulness. It concerns the condition of our sinful self, not just accepting responsibility for a particular transgression. It uses words like, “sin, iniquity, and transgression,” to explain what is wrong, but basically it is making the point that “I am a sinner. My problem is not just the need of pardon for a particular wrong but deliverance from the predicament of myself.” This is something we need to grasp and accept. Of all the doctrines of Christianity the sinfulness of humanity is the one for which there is perhaps the most evidence. All one has to do is look around and the evidence is everywhere in the world from the smallest, pettiest words and deeds to the largest, most grievous, and violent offenses.

If we look at our own lives honestly the difficulty of our own sinfulness is apparent. Most of us would probably say that there are areas that we may perpetually struggle with or have for years and years. This is a reflection of our sinfulness. We know what we don’t want to do and we do it anyway. It could be any number of things or issues – I don’t have to enumerate them – you know what it is for you if you just honestly think about it for a moment. Paul sums up the problem we all face in Romans 7 when he wrote: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do…Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Paul is dealing with the same issue as Psalm 51: the sinfulness of humanity and our need for renewal and salvation that comes from outside of ourselves. The good news is when we confess our sin, when we truly desire to turn away from it God is willing to grant us forgiveness and renewal. The central desire of Psalm 51 is in verse 10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right  spirit within me.” This is a prayer many of us could pray is it not? It is important to understand what is being asked for in this verse. Many prayers for help both in the Psalms and in our own lives basically say “Change my situation God so I may praise you.” Psalm 51:10 says, “God, I am the problem, change me.” The Hebrew verb “create” (Hebrew bara) is a special verb that is used only of an action that God performs freely. It means to bring into existence what was not there before (see Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 45:12). In Psalm 51 it describes the action of God that restores one to a right relationship with the Creator. So “create in me a clean heart” means a heart that wasn’t there before, that I didn’t previously possess. It’s kind of like asking for a heart transplant in a spiritual rather than a physical sense. The Hebrew word for “heart,” refers to the mind and the will that is the center of the self from which our actions and loyalty spring. What the prayer is seeking is a clean heart and a steady spirit that can only come from God. A steadfast spirit would be a mind and will fixed and steady toward God – true to God’s covenant (Psalm 78:37), trusting even during evil times (Psalm 112:7) and ready to praise (Psalm 57:8).

The psalm asks God, “wash me, cleanse me, purge me.” It is looking for renewal and creation that goes deep and to the core. We all know there is a difference between surface cleaning and really cleaning. There is a difference between just cleaning the areas folks will see and cleaning every room. There is a difference between “straightening up” our room by throwing everything in the closet and shutting the door and actually going through everything and opening up and cleaning every spot. Psalm 51 is asking God for a complete top to bottom scouring job. Interestingly, Psalm 51:11 contains one of only two occurrences of “Holy Spirit” in the Old Testament (the other is Isaiah 63:10) as it asks for God not to take the Holy Spirit away in the process of cleansing.

With all this heavy talk about guilt, sin, iniquity, and transgressions and the sinfulness of the human self that leads us to perpetuate many of the same mistakes and to struggle with some of the same issues for many years or even throughout our life, the good news is that God doesn’t give up on us. If we have a humble and contrite heart and spirit, God will forgive us and work with us and in us. Being willing to humble ourselves is crucial though, because as long as we don’t see ourselves as sinners who need to confess our faults and humble ourselves before God each and every day, we won’t see our need for repentance and the Lord’s forgiveness and re-creation. Instead we will remain prideful, self-focused, “want to get our way and we’ll be grumpy if we don’t kind of people” that aren’t any different from folks who don’t claim to have any faith at all.

When you start looking at your life honestly in light of God’s judgment as David does in Psalm 51 – how comfortable are you with what you see? If Jesus followed you and me around 24 hours a day, for seven days this past week, what would he have seen and heard and witnessed? Is there anything we might need to confess? Where is your heart this morning?

Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.”

The Bible also tells us many times that God promises to re-create and renew our hearts if we humbly repent and turn to the Lord. Repentance concerns who I am and not just something I have done that is an expression of who I am.

1 John 1:8-9 states it plainly, “^“If we say that we have no sin,

we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins

and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Some of the best verses about the new heart that God wants to give each of us are found in the prophet Jeremiah.  Jeremiah 24:7, “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.”

Jeremiah 31:33-34, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”

Jeremiah 32:39-40, “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for all time, for their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them, never to draw back from doing good to them; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they may not turn from me.”

The weight of guilt and sin is immense and it is a great feeling to confess it and turn from it. God has blessed us in Christ with the way for us to unburden ourselves of the guilt we are carrying because of our sin. Paul wrote in Romans 5:6-11“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. ⁸ But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.  ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. ¹¹ But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Saint Augustine says that there are two kinds of people because there are two kinds of love. One is holy while the other is selfish. One is subject to God and the other endeavors to equal Him. Jesus came to transform our hearts with the love of God. Do you allow God’s love to purify your thoughts, words and actions?

God will judge us not only for the wrong we have done but also for what we have failed to do. Now is the time for God’s mercy seeking His help and grace to turn away from sin and walk in the way of God’s love. Ask the Lord to purify your heart and love as He loves. Do you treat others with mercy and love as God has treated you?  Lord, may Your love rule in our hearts.

Prayer:

Mighty Lord, Savior and Friend,

Change our hearts from hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh

and let them turn to You Lord, as flowers turn toward the sun.

When we are filled with hatred, fill us with Your love.

When we complacent about Your love and goodness,

incite us to a closer discipleship with You.

When we are following the wrong path, direct us onto Your way.

When we are stubborn and close-minded,

open us to the influence of Your Holy Spirit.

When we are selfish and think only of ourselves,

give us generous hearts and willing hands.

When we are angry, fearful and mistrusting, show us Your peaceful presence.

Help us, O Lord, to continually put on the mind and heart of Jesus

to Whom we dedicate our lives.

Amen.

Invitation

We have all sinned and deserve God’s judgment. God, the Father, sent His only Son to satisfy that judgment for those who believe in Him. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who lived a sinless life, loves us so much that He died for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve, was buried, and rose from the dead according to the scriptures. If you truly believe and trust this in your heart, receiving Jesus alone as your Savior, declaring, “Jesus is Lord,” and committing to live for him as he taught us to, you will be saved from judgment and spend eternity with God in heaven.

2 Samuel 11:27-12:15

“But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, 12 ¹ and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had very many flocks and herds; ³ but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” ⁵ Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; ⁶ he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

⁷ Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; ⁸ I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. ⁹ Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. ¹¹ Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. ¹² For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” ¹³ David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord,  the child that is born to you shall die.” ¹⁵ Then Nathan went to his house.”

---

[1] James L. Mays, The Psalms, page 197.

Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

Psalm 107

Congratulations to those who took up my invitation to read 5 psalms a day during the month of July. I hope you found it a rewarding experience. I would encourage all of you to consider reading 5 psalms a day in August as we continue our series on “Summer Songs” based on the Book of Psalms. Those of you who did it in July will get even more out of doing it again in August, if you choose to do so. Today we are looking at Psalm 107, the first psalm in the fifth and final book the Psalms, it is a Community Thanksgiving for deliverance from many troubles. It praises the steadfast loyal love (Hebrew, hesed) the Lord has shown in delivering people who have cried to God in their distress. The redeemed are divided into four groups who face different kinds of adversity. There are those who were traveling through the desert and perishing from hunger and thirst (verses 4-9), those who were in prison for defying God’s word (verses 10-16), those who were sick because of their sinful living (verses 17-22), and those who voyaged safely on ships through a storm at sea (23-32). The psalm describes what God’s steadfast love is all about – compassion for people in need, including forgiveness, since the distress in two of the situations is the result of human sinfulness (verses 11, 17). Let’s continue reading with verse 23:

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^1–3 Oh, thank God—he’s so good!

His love never runs out.

All of you set free by God, tell the world!

Tell how he freed you from oppression,

Then rounded you up from all over the place,

from the four winds, from the seven seas.

^4–9 Some of you wandered for years in the desert, (see verse 33)

looking but not finding a good place to live,

Half-starved and parched with thirst,

staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.

Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God.

He got you out in the nick of time;

He put your feet on a wonderful road

that took you straight to a good place to live.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;

the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

^10–16 Some of you were locked in a dark cell,

cruelly confined behind bars,

Punished for defying God’s Word,

for turning your back on the High God’s counsel—

A hard sentence, and your hearts so heavy,

and not a soul in sight to help.

Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;

he got you out in the nick of time.

He led you out of your dark, dark cell,

broke open the jail and led you out.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;

He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors,

he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!

^17–22 Some of you were sick because you’d lived a bad life,

your bodies feeling the effects of your sin;

You couldn’t stand the sight of food,

so miserable you thought you’d be better off dead.

Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;

he got you out in the nick of time.

He spoke the word that healed you,

that pulled you back from the brink of death.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;

Offer thanksgiving sacrifices,

tell the world what he’s done—sing it out!

^23–32 Some of you set sail in big ships;

you put to sea to do business in faraway ports.

Out at sea you saw God in action,

saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean:

With a word he called up the wind—

an ocean storm, towering waves!

You shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out;

your hearts were stuck in your throats.

You were spun like a top, you reeled like a drunk,

you didn’t know which end was up.

Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;

he got you out in the nick of time.

He quieted the wind down to a whisper,

put a muzzle on all the big waves.

And you were so glad when the storm died down,

and he led you safely back to harbor.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

Lift high your praises when the people assemble,

shout Hallelujah when the elders meet!

^33–41 God turned rivers into wasteland,

springs of water into sun-baked mud;

Luscious orchards became alkali flats

because of the evil of the people who lived there.

Then he changed wasteland into fresh pools of water,

arid earth into springs of water,

Brought in the hungry and settled them there;

they moved in—what a great place to live!

They sowed the fields, they planted vineyards,

they reaped a bountiful harvest.

He blessed them and they prospered greatly;

their herds of cattle never decreased.

But abuse and evil and trouble declined

as he heaped scorn on princes and sent them away.

He gave the poor a safe place to live,

treated their clans like well-cared-for sheep.

^42–43 Good people see this and are glad;

bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.

If you are really wise, you’ll think this over—

it’s time you appreciated God’s deep love.^[1]

Each stanza or section of the Psalm is shaped in a similar way: an account of adversity, a cry to the Lord, God’s deliverance in the nick of time, then a call to praise the Lord for his loyal love (hesed).

The whole psalm is an invitation to join in song with all those the Lord has redeemed praising God whose loyal love has saved them. The different groups of worshippers are those who have lived through their own story of salvation. The psalm teaches us to understand ourselves as the redeemed. We are the helpless and the sinners whose cry to God is answered by God’s deep love. We are the hungry and thirsty who have been fed.

We are the bound who have been freed.

We are the sinners who deserve death who have been given life.

We are those who have been fearful before the terrors of existence who have been given hope.

What sets God’s steadfast love (hesed) in motion each time is the cry of those in trouble. The four different situations described illustrate the essential weakness, sinfulness, and neediness of humanity. The psalm concludes (verse 43) by saying people who are wise and heed these things will realize there is never a time we are not in “trouble” (verses 2, 6, 13, 19, 28). Living in dependence upon God and crying out to God is not just an emergency measure, it is not the last act of a desperate man (nor the first act of Henry the Fifth); it is a way of life. Much of our culture emphasizes that our security lies in taking care of one’s self, planning, investing, managing – being as self sufficient as possible. There is a sense in which that is good; we want to be responsible people, but we don’t want our self-sufficiency to go so far as to exclude God from having any role in our life. The Bible teaches that God is real and dependable. We can cry out to God when we’re in trouble, and when God answers we are to lift our voices in praise and thanksgiving for help, deliverance, and steadfast love. The Psalm asserts that human life depends on God. The good news is God is reliable, trustworthy, and good (Psalm 107:1), and shares that goodness (verse 9) with us and all creation. God loves us with steadfast love that we believe is seen supremely in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

When we turn to the New Testament we see that Jesus is portrayed in the Gospels as doing the same things God does in Psalm 107. Jesus feeds the hungry in the wilderness (Mark 6:30-44; 8:1-10), delivers those bound by demonic powers (Mark 1:21-28; 3:20-27; Luke 4:16-21), heals and forgives the sick (Mark 2:1-12), and even stills storms at sea (Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41). Our Vacation Bible School theme this year is “High Seas Expedition” and since we have this awesome set all around the front of the sanctuary, I’d like to focus on storms for a moment.

In the Gospel story the disciples are in a storm at sea like the people in Psalm 107. They’re anxious so they wake Jesus up and say with concern, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

These words come from a group that includes professional fishermen, who had spent their lives on that body of water.

They were experienced men who knew exactly how those storms came up.

These men were frightened enough to think this might be it.

So they wake Jesus up with words we often address to God:

“Do you not care?”

I wonder how many of us have said that to God in our moments of fear, anguish, anxiety or anger.  “God, don’t you care? Jesus, don’t you care what is happening to me?” In times of danger, a natural human reaction is to wonder if there is a God, and if so, whether God is even aware of my problem.

We sometimes cry out to God as Psalm 44:23-24 does,

“Rouse yourself!  Why do you sleep, O Lord?  Awake, do not cast us off forever!

Why do you hide your face?  Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?”

Jesus is not the first character in the Bible to be sleeping on a boat while a storm is raging. Jonah 1:5-6 says, “Jonah, meanwhile had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep.  The captain came and said to him, ‘What are you doing sound asleep?  Get up, call on your god!  Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.’” Jonah’s captain and the disciples accuse Jonah and Jesus respectively with being indifferent to their plight; with not caring about whether they live or die.  The difference is Jesus doesn’t have to call on his God in order to save the crew.  Jesus can handle the job himself. Jesus wakes up, rebukes the wind, and says to the waves “Peace! Be still!” (literally, “Be muzzled and remain so”). The wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 

Anyone who is familiar with the ocean or been at sea knows that when the storm stops, the sea usually doesn’t. The waves often continue for days and are great for surfing. This is a two-for-one miracle. Not only does the wind stop, the waves stop as well. Jesus then asks the disciples, “Why are you afraid?”

Why, of all people, are the disciples afraid?  Jesus had just spent all day teaching from this very boat (Mark 4:1). The disciples listened to Jesus saying things, like, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.” With a series of parables, Jesus spoke to the people, “but he explained everything in private to his disciples.”

The disciples were in an all-day class on faith taught by Jesus from the boat.

They stayed after school and got personal help from Jesus who explained more fully exactly what he meant.  Then they went out that evening in the same boat and flunked the test on faith.  When they woke Jesus up they called him, “Teacher,” but they hadn’t learned the lesson on faith in a classroom, they had to learn it in life, in a boat on stormy seas.

The disciples’ question, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” overlooks the obvious fact that Jesus is in the same boat as the disciples.

He is in the situation with them. Jesus doesn’t abandon us to the storms of life or leave us to our fate; he shares them with us. What Jesus doesn’t share in a storm is our sense of panic. Oftentimes we expect other people to share our panic or distress when we are upset or in a crisis.  If they seem calm, relaxed or detached from the situation we face or from us- we may accuse them of not caring about us or our suffering (even though in a crisis we’re probably better off with people who can remain calm when we are having difficulty keeping ourselves together).  Panic reactions can divide us from those who might help just as they can cause us to doubt God’s love and care for us.  Jesus is present with us in our fear even if we don’t sense his presence or perceive that he cares for us. Sometimes more of a miracle than calming wind and water is how Jesus can speak to and calm the storms raging within us, telling us, “Peace!  Be still!”

As we reflect on this Gospel story and Psalm 107 perhaps it helps to remember a couple of things. If Jesus is in your boat, he is a worthy object of faith and as long as we’re close to him, we’ll be all right no matter what else happens. Secondly, storms and adversity of different kinds come to everyone, but storms don’t last forever. God is interested in developing our faith and in our growing in faithfulness and thanksgiving. God knows we can learn a lot in the storms on the high seas of life.

Psalm 107 and the experience of the disciples with Jesus challenge us to have faith in God and Christ and to trust them more and to thank and praise them for their love toward us.

Storms can be faith-forming, developing, and growing times if we are faithful to the God who is faithful to us. The question for us today is, will we trust & have faith in Jesus  – Jesus who is present with us even in our times of adversity, anxiety & fear. Elton Trueblood, wrote,

“Faith is not belief without proof, But trust without reservations.”

I like the song by Bonnie Raitt, Love in the Nick of Time, which speaks of a person finding love when they are no longer young. It reminds me a little of Psalm 107 because it is about adversity and love. It says in part,

“When did the choices get so hard, there’s so much more at stake
Life gets mighty precious
When there’s less of it to waste
Ooh ooh ooh ooh

Scared to run out of time

Just when I thought I’d had enough and all my tears were shed
No promise left unbroken, there were no painful words unsaid
You came along and showed me how to leave it all behind
You opened up my heart again and then much to my surprise
I found love, baby, love in in the nick of time
(Love in the nick of time) I found love, darlin’, love in the nick of time

I found love baby, love in the nick of time.”

Psalm 107 is also a song about finding love, God’s love that comes in the nick of time to redeem and deliver us in our storms and adversity.

Our response to God’s steadfast love, goodness, and deliverance is joyfully sharing our thankfulness, gratitude, and praise with other people. When you are excited, happy, and thankful – you need other people to celebrate with you.

On Friday night for the second week in a row our church softball team won a playoff game in our last at bat. As Tory Summey launched the ball to deep center field and the winning run crossed the plate – everyone looked for someone to high five or hug because God made us to celebrate with other people. This is precisely why Psalm 107 encourages and invites us to join all the redeemed and to : “Give thanks to the Lord” (verse 1, 8, 15, 21, 31).

Blessing:

Thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

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^[1]Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Ps 107:1-43

Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

Psalm 139

This last week was really interesting. From last Sunday to this morning some of the events I shared in included: a wonderful BBC new member party last Sunday afternoon organized by the Assimilation Team and graciously hosted at the home of Fred and Mary Downs. What a fun time we had visiting with one another, talking, eating, and enjoying the day. Then later that night the player we were hosting for the Brewster Whitecaps told us he was heading home on Monday morning. I always enjoy hosting players and it is sad to see them go, especially in this case since Anthony left with our garage door opener still in his car. Tuesday evening Nancy Whitehurst called to ask if we could host another player who was arriving the next day, Wednesday. Wednesday we were already planning for the arrival of around 20 guests from Nagaland in northeast India, but we said “Sure,” and began cleaning to be ready for our new player.

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Wednesday our guests from Nagaland arrived in the United States but their luggage didn’t. Everyone who was hosting them came to the Downs, again, (we go to the Down’s to eat like Forrest Gump goes to the White House) for another wonderful meal, this time delicious Indian food made by Mary, only the Nagas hadn’t arrived on the Cape yet because they were delayed leaving Boston trying to figure out the luggage issue. They eventually made it to Brewster and even though they didn’t have their costumes or instruments we had a fun dinner with them at church and they sang beautifully and shared a DVD about their history, culture, and faith. After we finished the program at church, we quickly headed down to Breakwater Beach, because they wanted to get a picture by the ocean. We got down there about 10 minutes before sunset and the sun and sky were beautiful, the tide was in so the light was reflecting on the water. People at the beach and in their houses were treated to a little impromptu singing as the group sang Oh Lord God Almighty and an indigenous song. One of the lines of Oh Lord God Almighty is, “How lovely is your dwelling place, Oh Lord God Almighty,” and you couldn’t have had a better backdrop then the lovely sunset over the water. When they finished singing the people who had come out of their houses applauded. It was special.

Meanwhile in our home we were welcoming our new player Billy and trying to get Greg ready for his 12 day trip with the Boy Scouts to Washington D.C. and the 100^th National Boy Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia so Jill was sewing merit badges and patches for hours for several nights until her fingers were bleeding, (not literally true – the bleeding part, but it seemed like it). Friday we had a church softball playoff game in the pouring rain that we won in walk off fashion in the bottom of the 7^th which was fun. After the game Mitch and Tory Summey kindly drove me over to Camp Greenough where I had left Greg and Jill because I had been asked to give the Boy Scout troop a word of encouragement and prayer of blessing before their departure which I did in my soaking wet and very muddy softball uniform. Then Jill left at 5:15 am Saturday morning to surprise her mom on her birthday. Yesterday we had a nice memorial service and reception for Richard Lynch a fine man and member of BBC of many years and then capped off the week with a great concert last night by the Lesters. Mix in my first birthday and anniversary since my mom died, our son Nathan’s rehab after shoulder surgery, and some other ministry related things – it has been quite a week and one thing I will say is that for me, it has been a week that illustrates again the truth that Psalm 139 speaks of – that God is real and always near.

God is real and always near. Choosing to believe that is true will change our life more than choosing to believe or not believe almost anything else.

One amazing thing about the Nagaland choir visit was that Jill assigned Naga guests to stay overnight with BBC folks. Obviously she knew nothing about the people from Nagaland who were dealing with having none of their luggage or belongings and unfortunately they had placed their medications in the bags of the member of their group who is a medical doctor. Two of the members of the group were sick when they got to the US and they needed an antibiotic but there was no way to find a local doctor willing to write a prescription for it without tests and an examination. Providentially, Jill assigned the two men who were sick to stay with a BBC couple who had traveled to India themselves in the past year. Their doctor had prescribed for them the very same antibiotic the men from Nagaland required! They bought the medicine but hadn’t needed it – so there it was in their medicine cabinet! Apparently it did the trick. Amazing.

Listen to the second half of Psalm 139 beginning at verse 13:

¹ O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from far away.

³ You search out my path and my lying down,

and are acquainted with all my ways.

⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,

O Lord, you know it completely.

⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is so high that I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit?

Or where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

⁹ If I take the wings of the morning

and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light around me become night,”

¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is as bright as the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For it was you who formed my inward parts;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

that I know very well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.

In your book were written

all the days that were formed for me,

when none of them as yet existed.

¹⁷ How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸ I try to count them—they are more than the sand;

I come to the end—I am still with you.

¹⁹ O that you would kill the wicked, O God,

and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—

²⁰ those who speak of you maliciously,

and lift themselves up against you for evil!

²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

²² I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; (see verse2)

test me and know my thoughts.

²⁴ See if there is any hurtful way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.”

I’d like you to look at something on the screen: GODISNOWHERE

What do you see? What does it say to you?

Some people look at that and see “God is nowhere.”

Other people look at it and see “God is now here.”

How we look at life; what we perceive when we look at the world; makes all the difference in the world. People can look at the same letters, the same situation, the same news – and see and receive very different messages.

It’s not too hard to imagine God when we’re at worship in a beautiful sanctuary or along the ocean on a beautiful evening or in the nice parts of nature like the singing of the birds or looking at the moon. Not so much in mosquitoes, ticks, and poison ivy although all of those have caused more than one person to call on God quite fervently. It is one thing to sense God’s presence with Christian friends on a beach with a beautiful sunset. It is harder perhaps to sense that God is real and always near when we’re sitting in a hospital waiting room for days wondering if our loved on is going to live or die, wondering if God is near to us in our pain, in our numbness, in the dark of night when the world is going to sleep and you are listening to the silence. If God is now here… how do we know that? How do we move from thinking God is “no where” to “now here?”

Psalm 139’s answer is by grasping who God is. Of all the psalms in the Bible, none is more personal or intimate than Psalm 139. The language of Psalm 139 is all “you” and “me, my and I.”  Think how different Psalm 139 would sound if it was written in the third person, “I have found in my experience that God has searched me and known me” – that doesn’t have the same power or impact of the personal nature of “O Lord, you have searched me and known me.”

This psalm makes the stunning claim that God is everywhere we are and knows everything about us. If I am seated quietly at home, active at work, at rest or play, or on the go, God with me. God hears every word I say and knows me so well that God can tell how I am likely to respond in any given situation, even what words I will speak before I say them. Nobody can run away from God. Those who think they can, like the wayward prophet Jonah, fool no one but themselves. If we could soar as far as humanly possible out into space, we cannot go beyond God, if we go down to the deepest depth, there too the Lord is present. Even if we went at the speed of light from one side of the world to the other, God would be waiting for us when we arrived. Anywhere we go, God gets there first. Anything we try to hide from God, God can see.

We can’t run away from God, no matter how hard we try or how far we go.

What does it mean to believe this is true? What difference would it make to you if you lived as if this was so?

Psalm 139 reminds me of the song by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, imagine God singing these words to you (and please forgive that I am suggesting God would sing using improper grammar J):

“Listen, baby
Ain’t no mountain high
Ain’t no valley low
Ain’t no river wide enough, baby

If you need me, call me
No matter where you are
No matter how far
Just call my name
I’ll be there in a hurry
You don’t have to worry

‘Cause baby,
There ain’t no mountain high enough
Ain’t no valley low enough
Ain’t no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you.”

Psalm 139 wants us to get that God is real and always near us with complete knowledge and inescapable presence. The outline of the psalm is simple. Verses 1-6 say The Lord knows what we think and do. One of the most popular movies of the summer is Inception and the plot involves the ability to get inside someone’s mind, to inhabit their dreams, to plant an idea in their head. Psalm 139 suggests God has the ability to know what we’re thinking, to know what we’re going to say before we even utter the words. It is not enough to know that God knows us through and through; we are to be seeking to become the kind of persons who want God to know us this way.

Verses 7-12 affirm The Lord is present to us wherever we are. God is now here is true… God doesn’t abandon us whether we can sense or see God or not, the Lord is here and near and real. We can choose to believe God is now here even if our eyes do not see him.

Verses 13- 16 claim The Lord was even present to us when we began to be. Before we were born God was already present with us in our mother’s womb.

This all leads to a statement of awe and assurance in verses 17-18 about how mind blowing God is and what a blessing it is than even when we get to the end of life, we are still with the Lord.

In verses 19-24 the Psalm closes with a few thoughts about evil in the wicked and in oneself and inviting God once again to do a searching personal inventory to help the psalmist stay on the path that leads to everlasting life and not to be like those who ignore or oppose God and God’s ways in the world. Psalm 139 is like an expanded version of Proverbs 15:3, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” The psalmist wants to be found with the good and so do we.

Rick Warren wrote in The Purpose Driven Life that we were “made by God and for God – and until you understand that, life will never make sense.  It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny.”^[1] It is crucially important to understand that “God made you so God could love you.  This is a truth to build your life on.”

We are created to be loved by God. 1 John tells us “God is love.” “Love is the essence of God’s character.” and God wanted to create something to love so God created us.  God wasn’t lonely, God didn’t need us, but God wanted us.

God had a purpose in bringing you here today. God wants to be in relationship with us and for us to live out the Lord’s purposes for us now and for eternity.

Psalm 139:7-10 tells us that we can’t escape God, it doesn’t matter how far we try to flee. In a positive sense, it means there is no where we can go that God won’t be with us. One of the scriptures on my mom’s refrigerator was, Psalm 139:9-10, “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me.” No one can be with you all the time, someone can be with you in different moments, hours, or days… but no one is with you “24/7.” If God is real and always near, that is something no one else can be or do for you. We have to choose to believe that and act on that, even if we do not see or sense God. In Luke 12:6-7, Jesus explains that God doesn’t forget even the smallest animals and because we are worth more to the Lord than sparrows, Jesus won’t forget about you either. Your life matters to God.

Psalm 139 tells us that God knows, searches, and tests the heart of every person; that from conception to the present moment there is no aspect of our life that is unknown or hidden from God – on the one hand that can be terrifying on the other it can be very reassuring. Psalm 139 says that if we choose to believe that God is real and always near then God will lead us in the way everlasting.

In 1 Corinthians 13 when Paul is writing about the nature of love he says, “Now I know only in part; then I will know fully even as I have been fully known.” We are fully known by God now, even if our knowledge of God can only be partial at the moment, it is more than enough to make a huge difference in our life. On the trash barrel next to the garage out back there is a sign that says, “Bagged trash only, God is watching.” Yesterday after the reception following the memorial service I received a call on my cell phone and I excused myself to take it and walked out the back sidewalk to take it. As I was walking out toward the parking lot a young woman was walking toward the church dumpster with garbage in her hands and opened the gate and threw it all in the dumpster. By then I was nearby, dressed in a suit and she shut the door and backed against the door. I said, “Hello.” She nervously pressed against the gate and tried to make conversation about what kind of church it was, what made a Baptist different than other churches. I answered her questions and told her I was one of the pastors and showed no sign of leaving. I finally said, “It’s okay that you put garbage in the dumpster.” She visibly relaxed and stammered there were no garbage cans at the library. I wished her well and told her I hoped she enjoyed her visit to Cape Cod. I walked back to the church laughing to myself and thinking, “How often do we try to do this with God? Thinking we can sneak our garbage into the dumpster without God seeing or knowing?”

What would it be like to live each day believing, “Wherever I go, whatever I do, whatever I say, the presence of God goes with me, seeing what I do, and hearing what I say?” Remember a person truly believes something when he or she lives as if it is so. The title for this sermon came from John Doberstein’s introduction to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book  Life Together (New York: Harper & Row, 1954). In that introduction, the story is shared of an English officer, imprisoned with Dietrich Bonhoeeffer during the last weeks of his life before he was hanged by the Nazi’s just before they surrendered in the spring of 1945 at the end of World War Two. The officer wrote about Bonhoeffer’s faith, “He was one of the very few persons I have ever met for whom God was real and always near.” What would it mean for you and me to aspire to be men and women and boys and girls for whom God is real and always near? What difference would it make?

Let’s pray together:

“Dear God, I realize that if it weren’t for you. I wouldn’t be alive. But because you made me, you must have a purpose for me. I admit that at times I focus on my plans for my life, not yours. But I want to know who you want me to be and what you want me to do. Thank you for making me so you could love me. Thank you for caring for me when I didn’t know or care for you. Thank you for making me to last forever. I want a life filled with meaning. I know that starts by getting to know you better. So as best I understand, I ask you, Jesus, to come into my life and help me to know and live your purposes for me. I am taking the first step today, in your name I pray, Amen.”

Blessing:

Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord.”

For further reflection or discussion:

Note the emphasis on word “search” in verses 1, 3, & 23. How do you feel about the idea of God searching you and knowing you completely?

Think about your own life – on what occasions has God seemed closest to you?

When did God seem farthest away? How does Psalm 139 help us at this point?

Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God!

I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”

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[1] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, page 18.