Resurrection Of The Body...Part 5
Jesus came to give you the privilege of being a healthy materialist.
You didn't expect that, did you? Those of us who emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus Christ so often elevate the spiritual to the neglect of the physical. We become content with the mystical part of our faith, tending to see that which is spiritual as at a higher level than that which is physical and material. The fact is that God created all that is. He looked at it, saw it, and declared it "good." He put Adam and Eve, the highest of His creation, in the garden to preserve, to watch over all His creation. When they disobeyed, sin entered the world. God's redemption in Jesus Christ is to set right that which is broken. He has redeemed His creation. He wants you and me as His people to be part of His enterprise here on earth, to be caretakers of His kingdom, which exists in a world as fallen as it is. We are His ambassadors to do and say what He tells us to do and say.
We do not earn our salvation by the works do we?. But we do flesh out the work of the Holy Spirit of God in the world by taking seriously our responsibilities for this world.
You know how, during His public ministry, Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath at Nazareth. Luke tells us:
He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:17-21).
He calls you and me to be engaged in this kind of enterprise with Him, in which we have a healthy materialism. We understand that people have physical needs as well as spiritual needs. The two are interlinked. You cannot separate one from the other. We are called to join Him in His enterprises here on earth.
It has been exciting to see some of you tutoring over at Shalimar and to see these precious Hispanic young people move forward educationally because of your servant ministry in the name of Jesus Christ.
It is exciting to see some of you engaged with Habitat for Humanity, building houses for the poor right here in South Carolina or going down across the border into Mexico to build houses, churches, orphanages, and to run daily vacation Bible schools, all in the name of Jesus Christ.
How exciting it is to see some of you who are trained Stephen ministers or serve as Deacons. Many of you have gone through the Lay Ministry Discovery Class so you can know your spiritual gifts, your passion, and your natural style for ministry.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Resurrection of the Body { Part 4}
Resurrection Of The Body... part 4
Then something very curious happened. The runners took a step or two or three across the starting line, and then abruptly stopped. One man fell to his knees, crying, "I have crossed the starting line! This is the happiest day of my life!" He repeated this again and again, and even began singing a song about how happy this day was for him.
Another woman started jumping for joy. "Yes!" she shouted, raising her fist in the air. "I am a race-runner! I am finally a race-runner!" She ran around jumping and dancing, getting and giving high fives to others who shared her joy at being in the race.
Several people formed a circle and prayed, quietly thanking God for the privilege of crossing the starting line, and thanking God that they were not like the skeptics who didn't come dressed for the race.
An hour passed, and two. Spectators began muttering; some laughed. "So what do they think this race is?" they said. "Two or three strides, then a celebration? And why do they feel superior to us? They're treating the starting line as if it were a finish line. They've completely missed the point."
A few more minutes of this silliness passed. "You know," a spectator said to the person next to her, "if they're not going to run the race, maybe we should."
"Why not? It's getting boring watching them hang around just beyond the starting line. I've had enough boredom for one life."
Other's heard them, and soon many were kicking off their dress shoes, slipping out of their jackets, throwing all this unneeded clothing on the grass. And they ran ? past the praying huddles and past the crying individuals and past the jumping high-fivers. And they found hope and joy in every step, and they grew stronger with every mile and hill. To their surprise, the path never ended ? because in this race, there was no finish line. So they were never bored again.
McLaren concludes with these observations:
Is salvation for you a one-time experience? Or is it a lifelong journey? It is about rescue from your uncomfortable circumstances (as it was for the ancient Jews), or rescue from this world after death (as it is for many modern Christians) ? or is it about being rescued from a life that is disconnected from God and God's adventure, both in this life and the next? Is salvation about stepping across a line ? or is it about crossing a starting line to begin an unending adventure in this life and beyond?
What is for certain about the present?
Jesus came to give you the privilege of a mystical experience with God.
John writes, ". . . we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). You and I are set free in this life for that mystical dimension of daily relationship with God, the fellowship that comes from reading the Scriptures, prayer, spiritual meditation, and from being a part of the community of faith called the church. You are privileged to engage with God in ways that go beyond the commonplace, boring, day-in, day-out, prosaic existence.
Then something very curious happened. The runners took a step or two or three across the starting line, and then abruptly stopped. One man fell to his knees, crying, "I have crossed the starting line! This is the happiest day of my life!" He repeated this again and again, and even began singing a song about how happy this day was for him.
Another woman started jumping for joy. "Yes!" she shouted, raising her fist in the air. "I am a race-runner! I am finally a race-runner!" She ran around jumping and dancing, getting and giving high fives to others who shared her joy at being in the race.
Several people formed a circle and prayed, quietly thanking God for the privilege of crossing the starting line, and thanking God that they were not like the skeptics who didn't come dressed for the race.
An hour passed, and two. Spectators began muttering; some laughed. "So what do they think this race is?" they said. "Two or three strides, then a celebration? And why do they feel superior to us? They're treating the starting line as if it were a finish line. They've completely missed the point."
A few more minutes of this silliness passed. "You know," a spectator said to the person next to her, "if they're not going to run the race, maybe we should."
"Why not? It's getting boring watching them hang around just beyond the starting line. I've had enough boredom for one life."
Other's heard them, and soon many were kicking off their dress shoes, slipping out of their jackets, throwing all this unneeded clothing on the grass. And they ran ? past the praying huddles and past the crying individuals and past the jumping high-fivers. And they found hope and joy in every step, and they grew stronger with every mile and hill. To their surprise, the path never ended ? because in this race, there was no finish line. So they were never bored again.
McLaren concludes with these observations:
Is salvation for you a one-time experience? Or is it a lifelong journey? It is about rescue from your uncomfortable circumstances (as it was for the ancient Jews), or rescue from this world after death (as it is for many modern Christians) ? or is it about being rescued from a life that is disconnected from God and God's adventure, both in this life and the next? Is salvation about stepping across a line ? or is it about crossing a starting line to begin an unending adventure in this life and beyond?
What is for certain about the present?
Jesus came to give you the privilege of a mystical experience with God.
John writes, ". . . we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). You and I are set free in this life for that mystical dimension of daily relationship with God, the fellowship that comes from reading the Scriptures, prayer, spiritual meditation, and from being a part of the community of faith called the church. You are privileged to engage with God in ways that go beyond the commonplace, boring, day-in, day-out, prosaic existence.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Resurrection of the Body { Part 3}
Resurrection Of The Body...Part 3
Or take your wedding day. It is meant to be the beginning of a life long commitment to a growing relationship. For some of us, it becomes a kind of de facto end to romance. We have accomplished what we have set out to accomplish. We are now married to that person of our dreams. And we begin to take each other for granted. We would never have done that during the engagement. Symbolically, as a couple kneels at the altar having their vows consecrated, they then stand up, receive the blessing of the pastor, priest or rabbi, and they turn and walk down the aisle into a brand-new life. It is not the end. It is the beginning. Oh, there will be sorrows. There will be joys. And most of life will be lived in an oscillation between those two extremes. That life will have its problems. But it is a new life in which one is able to see in the perspective of "'til death doth part." That's what marriage is meant to be.
Some of us view salvation this way. We see it as the end, not the beginning. We forget that salvation is not only with our past, but it is transformational of our present.
Brian D. McLaren, pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in suburban Washington, D.C., quite insightfully addresses this dynamic in his book, Adventures in Missing the Point. In his chapter titled "Missing the Point: Salvation," he writes that the modern Christian way of missing the point is thinking that salvation is only about escaping hell after you die. There's another approach: that salvation means being rescued from fruitless ways of life here and now, to share in God's saving love for all creation, in an adventure called the kingdom of God, the point of which you definitely don't want to miss."
He goes on to acknowledge that salvation does involve the wonderful gift of assurance that you and I will not perish after this life, but will forever be with the Lord. Then he illustrates the importance of how distorted we can be in our understanding of salvation as an end in itself for this life, instead of a beginning with what he calls the "Parable of the Race."
Once upon a time, in a land of boredom and drudgery, exciting news spread. "There is going to be a race! And all who run this race will grow strong and they'll never be bored again!" Exciting news like this had not been heard for many a year, for people experienced little adventure in this ho-hum land, beyond attending committee meetings, waiting in lines, sorting socks, and watching sitcom reruns.
Excitement grew as the day of the race drew near. Thousands gathered in the appointed town, at the appointed place. Most came to observe, skeptical about the news. "It's too good to be true," they said. "It's just a silly rumor started by some teenaged troublemakers. But let's stick around and see what happens anyway."
Others could not resist the invitation, arriving in their running shorts and shoes. As they waited for the appointed time, they stretched and jogged in place and chattered among themselves with nervous excitement. At the appointed time they gathered at the starting line, heard the gun go off, and knew that it was time to run
Or take your wedding day. It is meant to be the beginning of a life long commitment to a growing relationship. For some of us, it becomes a kind of de facto end to romance. We have accomplished what we have set out to accomplish. We are now married to that person of our dreams. And we begin to take each other for granted. We would never have done that during the engagement. Symbolically, as a couple kneels at the altar having their vows consecrated, they then stand up, receive the blessing of the pastor, priest or rabbi, and they turn and walk down the aisle into a brand-new life. It is not the end. It is the beginning. Oh, there will be sorrows. There will be joys. And most of life will be lived in an oscillation between those two extremes. That life will have its problems. But it is a new life in which one is able to see in the perspective of "'til death doth part." That's what marriage is meant to be.
Some of us view salvation this way. We see it as the end, not the beginning. We forget that salvation is not only with our past, but it is transformational of our present.
Brian D. McLaren, pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in suburban Washington, D.C., quite insightfully addresses this dynamic in his book, Adventures in Missing the Point. In his chapter titled "Missing the Point: Salvation," he writes that the modern Christian way of missing the point is thinking that salvation is only about escaping hell after you die. There's another approach: that salvation means being rescued from fruitless ways of life here and now, to share in God's saving love for all creation, in an adventure called the kingdom of God, the point of which you definitely don't want to miss."
He goes on to acknowledge that salvation does involve the wonderful gift of assurance that you and I will not perish after this life, but will forever be with the Lord. Then he illustrates the importance of how distorted we can be in our understanding of salvation as an end in itself for this life, instead of a beginning with what he calls the "Parable of the Race."
Once upon a time, in a land of boredom and drudgery, exciting news spread. "There is going to be a race! And all who run this race will grow strong and they'll never be bored again!" Exciting news like this had not been heard for many a year, for people experienced little adventure in this ho-hum land, beyond attending committee meetings, waiting in lines, sorting socks, and watching sitcom reruns.
Excitement grew as the day of the race drew near. Thousands gathered in the appointed town, at the appointed place. Most came to observe, skeptical about the news. "It's too good to be true," they said. "It's just a silly rumor started by some teenaged troublemakers. But let's stick around and see what happens anyway."
Others could not resist the invitation, arriving in their running shorts and shoes. As they waited for the appointed time, they stretched and jogged in place and chattered among themselves with nervous excitement. At the appointed time they gathered at the starting line, heard the gun go off, and knew that it was time to run
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Resurrection of the Body { Part 2}
Resurrection Of The Body... part 2
Second, Jesus came to give you salvation (rescue) to a new life now ? a NEW BEGINNING.
Salvation is rescue to be all you were created to be in the now.
You can't do this on your own. You need a Savior.
This is where the Gospel of Jesus Christ becomes so exciting.
The Apostle Paul declared to fast-living, bogged-down sinners with meaningless first-century existences, struggling with success issues, that they could have a new beginning in life. He put it in these words: "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). He wrote that to people living in that very materialistic coastal city named Corinth, with pressures on them so similar to those on us today.
He wrote to citizens in the northern Greek city of Philippi on the major East/West trade route, declaring how he had learned to "forget what lies behind," based on what God had done for him in Jesus Christ. No longer was he weighed down by the sins of the past. He was a forgiven man. No longer was he trying to energetically please God, saving himself by zealous actions. No, he had learned God's love, His amazing grace, and his life had been transformed by the person of Jesus Christ, who offered meaning and purpose for existence. He no longer had to define himself by past successes and failures. He was free to live in the now as he was created to live.
Some of us have a very distorted understanding of salvation.
Whether we have thought it through or not, we live as if becoming "born again" is the end instead of the beginning. We forget that to repent of sin and put our trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation is not only the end of an old life; it is the beginning of a new life. The day a baby is born is the day of beginning. It is not the end.
Or you can put it in the terms of graduation from college. What do we call graduation? It is "commencement." What does commencement mean" The end? No! It means the beginning of a whole new life. When a person graduates from college it does not mean that they now never need to open a book again, or study, or have creative thoughts. It means that
they now have been given, at great expense and effort on the part of many, including themselves, the tools to be an intellectually growing person. I have read that the average male college graduate reads less than one book a year. I am not certain if that statistic is accurate. I am not certain I have ever met an "average" person. But I do know that there are people who assume that the life of the intellect is that of formal, academic matriculation. A period of formal education brings us to a point, if we take advantage of it, that we see a larger world of ideas, both in the natural and social sciences. We have an appreciation for art, literature, history. If we nurture that, we are a growing person intellectually all through life. Graduation is truly a commencement, a beginning
Second, Jesus came to give you salvation (rescue) to a new life now ? a NEW BEGINNING.
Salvation is rescue to be all you were created to be in the now.
You can't do this on your own. You need a Savior.
This is where the Gospel of Jesus Christ becomes so exciting.
The Apostle Paul declared to fast-living, bogged-down sinners with meaningless first-century existences, struggling with success issues, that they could have a new beginning in life. He put it in these words: "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). He wrote that to people living in that very materialistic coastal city named Corinth, with pressures on them so similar to those on us today.
He wrote to citizens in the northern Greek city of Philippi on the major East/West trade route, declaring how he had learned to "forget what lies behind," based on what God had done for him in Jesus Christ. No longer was he weighed down by the sins of the past. He was a forgiven man. No longer was he trying to energetically please God, saving himself by zealous actions. No, he had learned God's love, His amazing grace, and his life had been transformed by the person of Jesus Christ, who offered meaning and purpose for existence. He no longer had to define himself by past successes and failures. He was free to live in the now as he was created to live.
Some of us have a very distorted understanding of salvation.
Whether we have thought it through or not, we live as if becoming "born again" is the end instead of the beginning. We forget that to repent of sin and put our trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation is not only the end of an old life; it is the beginning of a new life. The day a baby is born is the day of beginning. It is not the end.
Or you can put it in the terms of graduation from college. What do we call graduation? It is "commencement." What does commencement mean" The end? No! It means the beginning of a whole new life. When a person graduates from college it does not mean that they now never need to open a book again, or study, or have creative thoughts. It means that
they now have been given, at great expense and effort on the part of many, including themselves, the tools to be an intellectually growing person. I have read that the average male college graduate reads less than one book a year. I am not certain if that statistic is accurate. I am not certain I have ever met an "average" person. But I do know that there are people who assume that the life of the intellect is that of formal, academic matriculation. A period of formal education brings us to a point, if we take advantage of it, that we see a larger world of ideas, both in the natural and social sciences. We have an appreciation for art, literature, history. If we nurture that, we are a growing person intellectually all through life. Graduation is truly a commencement, a beginning
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Resurrection of the Body { Part 1}
Resurrection Of The Body
Know What You Believe ? A series based on The Apostles' Creed ? [Part 1]
1 Corinthians 15:51-53
Why did Jesus Christ come?
The historian Luke records the declaratory statement of the angel to the shepherds in Luke 2:10-11: "'Do not be afraid; for see ? I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.'"
The word savior literally means "rescuer." So why did Jesus come? Jesus came to give you salvation. He came to rescue you.
It is important to realize that this salvation, this rescue, has both individual and corporate implications. Let us look at this rescue, this salvation, in a three-step, time progressional perspective.
First, Jesus came to give you salvation (rescue) from an old style of life ? an END.
Jesus came to help people with a past put that past behind them. Salvation is rescue from the past. You can't do this on your own. You need a Savior. What is for certain about the past?
Jesus rescues you from your bondage to past sin.
The fact is that none of us is perfect. All of us have sinned. The Bible tells us that there is no way in which we can atone for our own sins. We need a Savior. God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ to die for your and my sins. If we repent of sin, confess our need, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all iniquity. The Bible uses a most graphic description when it declares, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."
Jesus also rescues you from a meaningless existence.
Meaningless is the human predicament, isn't it? Is there anything more empty than trivial cocktail-hour chatter? Oh, it is nice at times, in a laid-back situation that has no pressure. Some people spend all their lives flitting around to such non-pressured situations, talking about shopping, golf scores, and the escalation of housing prices. All topics of some importance, but not of ultimate significance. How easy it is to anesthetize ourselves to the deeper significant issues of life, living trivial, surface existences that, at the end of the day, leave us empty.
And Jesus rescues you from successes of the past.
Many of us look back to days in which, on human terms, we would be perceived to be more successful than we are at this moment. Our athletic prowess fades. Our earning capacities are diminished. Our physical bodies age. Our minds are not as sharp as they used to be. And the list goes on.
Jesus came to rescue you from an old style of life. He wants to bring to an end your and my bondage to past sin. He wants to bring to an end our meaningless existence. He wants to bring to an end our preoccupation with a backward look to the successes of yesteryear
Know What You Believe ? A series based on The Apostles' Creed ? [Part 1]
1 Corinthians 15:51-53
Why did Jesus Christ come?
The historian Luke records the declaratory statement of the angel to the shepherds in Luke 2:10-11: "'Do not be afraid; for see ? I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.'"
The word savior literally means "rescuer." So why did Jesus come? Jesus came to give you salvation. He came to rescue you.
It is important to realize that this salvation, this rescue, has both individual and corporate implications. Let us look at this rescue, this salvation, in a three-step, time progressional perspective.
First, Jesus came to give you salvation (rescue) from an old style of life ? an END.
Jesus came to help people with a past put that past behind them. Salvation is rescue from the past. You can't do this on your own. You need a Savior. What is for certain about the past?
Jesus rescues you from your bondage to past sin.
The fact is that none of us is perfect. All of us have sinned. The Bible tells us that there is no way in which we can atone for our own sins. We need a Savior. God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ to die for your and my sins. If we repent of sin, confess our need, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all iniquity. The Bible uses a most graphic description when it declares, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."
Jesus also rescues you from a meaningless existence.
Meaningless is the human predicament, isn't it? Is there anything more empty than trivial cocktail-hour chatter? Oh, it is nice at times, in a laid-back situation that has no pressure. Some people spend all their lives flitting around to such non-pressured situations, talking about shopping, golf scores, and the escalation of housing prices. All topics of some importance, but not of ultimate significance. How easy it is to anesthetize ourselves to the deeper significant issues of life, living trivial, surface existences that, at the end of the day, leave us empty.
And Jesus rescues you from successes of the past.
Many of us look back to days in which, on human terms, we would be perceived to be more successful than we are at this moment. Our athletic prowess fades. Our earning capacities are diminished. Our physical bodies age. Our minds are not as sharp as they used to be. And the list goes on.
Jesus came to rescue you from an old style of life. He wants to bring to an end your and my bondage to past sin. He wants to bring to an end our meaningless existence. He wants to bring to an end our preoccupation with a backward look to the successes of yesteryear
Monday, March 10, 2008
The lesson of the Paperclip
The Lesson of the Paperclip
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
The ingenious little device known as the paperclip has been in use for well over 100 years. Unlike so many items of “old technology,” there’s no retirement in sight for the tool that most of us use to keep our important papers together. I read an article recently from the archives of Time magazine, from the July 17, 1958 issue to be exact, that revealed results from a Lloyd’s Bank survey on the fate of 100,000 paperclips. (It must have been a slow time in the banking business!) The survey yielded the following information: Out of 100,000 paperclips, 25,000 fell to the floor and were swept away, 19,413 were used as chips in card-games, 14,163 were twisted or broken during phone conversations, 7,200 were used as temporary replacements for broken buttons, snaps or zippers, 5,434 were used as toothpicks or ear cleaners, 5,308 were used to clean fingernails, 3,916 were used as pipe cleaners, leaving only 20,000 paper clips which served their proper function. It stinks to be a paperclip, if you ask me!
How wasteful that 80% of paperclips are never utilized for their intended purpose. It also seems to me that people are a lot like paperclips! Just as the creator designed the paperclip for a specific purpose (Johan Vaaler, 1899), God has created each one of us purposely, to fulfill His own design. Today’s Scripture passage speaks to the heart of that issue: “we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” Still, like the paperclip, far too many people do not fulfill the purpose for which they were created. How tragic! But it doesn’t have to be this way!
We fulfill the purpose of our Creator when we live according to the principle Jesus states in Matthew 10:39, which reads. “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” We truly become all that God intends for us to be when we decide to make following Jesus our top priority. Today, may the “lesson of the paperclip” motivate you to live your life as God designed you to live!
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
The ingenious little device known as the paperclip has been in use for well over 100 years. Unlike so many items of “old technology,” there’s no retirement in sight for the tool that most of us use to keep our important papers together. I read an article recently from the archives of Time magazine, from the July 17, 1958 issue to be exact, that revealed results from a Lloyd’s Bank survey on the fate of 100,000 paperclips. (It must have been a slow time in the banking business!) The survey yielded the following information: Out of 100,000 paperclips, 25,000 fell to the floor and were swept away, 19,413 were used as chips in card-games, 14,163 were twisted or broken during phone conversations, 7,200 were used as temporary replacements for broken buttons, snaps or zippers, 5,434 were used as toothpicks or ear cleaners, 5,308 were used to clean fingernails, 3,916 were used as pipe cleaners, leaving only 20,000 paper clips which served their proper function. It stinks to be a paperclip, if you ask me!
How wasteful that 80% of paperclips are never utilized for their intended purpose. It also seems to me that people are a lot like paperclips! Just as the creator designed the paperclip for a specific purpose (Johan Vaaler, 1899), God has created each one of us purposely, to fulfill His own design. Today’s Scripture passage speaks to the heart of that issue: “we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” Still, like the paperclip, far too many people do not fulfill the purpose for which they were created. How tragic! But it doesn’t have to be this way!
We fulfill the purpose of our Creator when we live according to the principle Jesus states in Matthew 10:39, which reads. “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” We truly become all that God intends for us to be when we decide to make following Jesus our top priority. Today, may the “lesson of the paperclip” motivate you to live your life as God designed you to live!
Restoring Lost Sheep [part 4 ]
Restoring Lost Sheep ... [part 3]
Verse 176. -- I do not think that there could possibly be a more appropriate conclusion of such a Psalm as this, so full of the varied experience and the ever changing frames and feelings even of a child of God, in the sunshine and the cloud, in the calm and in the storm, than this ever clinging sense of his propensity to wander, and the expression of his utter inability to find his way back without the Lord's guiding hand to restore him; and at the same time with it all, his fixed and abiding determination never to forget the Lord's commandments. What an insight into our poor wayward hearts does this verse give us -- not merely liable to wander, but ever wandering, ever losing our way, ever stumbling on the dark mountains, even while cleaving to God's commandments! But at the same time what a prayer does it put into our mouths, "Seek thy servant," -- "I am thine, save me." Yes, blessed be God! there is One mighty to save. "Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
As far as I have been able, as far as I have been aided by the Lord, I have treated throughout, and expounded, this great Psalm. A task which more able and learned expositors have performed, or will perform better; nevertheless, my services were not to be withheld from it on that account, when my brethren earnestly required it of me.
Hints for Pastors and Laypersons
Verse 176. --
My confession: "I have gone astray."
My profession: "thy servant."
My petition: "seek thy servant."
My plea: "for I do not forget," etc.
Verse 176. --
The confession: "I have gone astray."
The petition: "Seek thy servant."
The plea: "For I do not," etc.
--G.R.
Verse 176. -- The last verse as such. The closing minor cadence.
The highest flights of human devotion must end in confession of sin: "I have gone astray."
The sincerest professions of human fidelity must give place to the acknowledgment of helplessness: "seek thy servant."
The loftiest human declarations of love to God's law must come down to The mournful acknowledgment that we have only not forgotten it.
Verse 176. -- I do not think that there could possibly be a more appropriate conclusion of such a Psalm as this, so full of the varied experience and the ever changing frames and feelings even of a child of God, in the sunshine and the cloud, in the calm and in the storm, than this ever clinging sense of his propensity to wander, and the expression of his utter inability to find his way back without the Lord's guiding hand to restore him; and at the same time with it all, his fixed and abiding determination never to forget the Lord's commandments. What an insight into our poor wayward hearts does this verse give us -- not merely liable to wander, but ever wandering, ever losing our way, ever stumbling on the dark mountains, even while cleaving to God's commandments! But at the same time what a prayer does it put into our mouths, "Seek thy servant," -- "I am thine, save me." Yes, blessed be God! there is One mighty to save. "Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
As far as I have been able, as far as I have been aided by the Lord, I have treated throughout, and expounded, this great Psalm. A task which more able and learned expositors have performed, or will perform better; nevertheless, my services were not to be withheld from it on that account, when my brethren earnestly required it of me.
Hints for Pastors and Laypersons
Verse 176. --
My confession: "I have gone astray."
My profession: "thy servant."
My petition: "seek thy servant."
My plea: "for I do not forget," etc.
Verse 176. --
The confession: "I have gone astray."
The petition: "Seek thy servant."
The plea: "For I do not," etc.
--G.R.
Verse 176. -- The last verse as such. The closing minor cadence.
The highest flights of human devotion must end in confession of sin: "I have gone astray."
The sincerest professions of human fidelity must give place to the acknowledgment of helplessness: "seek thy servant."
The loftiest human declarations of love to God's law must come down to The mournful acknowledgment that we have only not forgotten it.
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