Monthly Archives: August 2017

Singing with the King (93) – The Necessity of Community

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122:1)

I suppose I inherited it from my mother—she loved to walk. Now I’m not sure I love to walk, but I do need to walk, as I’m dealing with heart disease. So Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I go to the gym. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, I walk.

But today, I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone, and walked down to the Whole Foods and picked up some healthy snacks: apples, nuts, etc. So here I am, walking back to work, with my bag of healthy goodies, and walking in the opposite direction I approach a young man, and begin to say, “Good morning”, but then I notice he has his earbuds in and he won’t hear me, and he doesn’t look up.

And therein lies the danger of social media, smart phones, et al. We isolate ourselves from personal touch. We lose even the common courtesy of being able say “Good morning” to someone. Who knows, perhaps you’re having a bad day, and if someone happens to look at you and smile and says good morning, wouldn’t that help at least a little bit? Maybe even more than you can imagine.

This verse from Psalm 122 reminds us of the necessity of community. Not only should worship be done together, but going to worship, and leaving worship, whenever possible, should be done together. Why?

Well, the conversation is going to be a blessing and encourage you. You will be after all, talking about Jesus, what He’s done for you, how He’s answered prayer, or how you need prayer. How you’re feeling lost, or how He’s been guiding you. There’s a whole myriad of topics and thoughts and hopes and needs that could be expressed in your coming and going to and from church. Or, maybe you’ll talk about the sermon, or the worship pastor (hopefully mostly good).

As far as being in worship, it’s all about Him. Your fixing your eyes on Jesus, and worshiping Him. And you’re doing it with people you love. Your adding your voice to a host of others, and lifting your praise to the Most High. Perhaps there is prayer time, and you hear about those who are going through some really tough times, or the latest request from one of the missionaries, or maybe the church is starting a new ministry, or a building program. You as a community, you as a congregation, are lifting up these needs… Together. “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matthew 18:20)

And so for a time, you’ve got yourself out of yourself, you’ve got your eyes off of yourself, and your focus has been on the Lord, and your concerns have shifted from self to others. The apostle Paul talks about that:

Love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than you do yourself. Never give up. Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord. (Romans 12:10-11)

Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

Now unfortunately, I need to make a disclaimer. Not all churches are kind churches. Not all churches are friendly churches. There are some who are judgmental, critical, legalistic, and cold. Now in regards to the latter two in that list, some could make a case that they are being biblical. But when grace and love are lacking, how long can you stand upon a “good doctrine” platform? But I like to think that most churches that love Jesus, love people; and I hope you can find one. I’m fortunate, in that I attend two churches that love Jesus and love people in my hometown. So I know they’re out there. So don’t get discouraged. Keep looking.

But for now, take out your earbuds, and look for opportunities to smile and say hello. Let the love of Jesus shine through you. And get off that little screen—or big-screen— and go to church, with friends, and share what’s going on. And when you’re in church enjoy the fellowship, embrace the community, as you worship the One True Living God

Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Save

Singing with the King (92) – The Big Question

Leave a reply

O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? (Psalm 15:1)

That is a good question. The Apostle Paul’s take on this question could be:

If I live, it will be for Christ, and if I die, I will gain even more. I don’t know what to choose. I could keep on living and doing something useful. It is a hard choice to make. I want to die and be with Christ, because that would be much better. (Phil 1:21-23)

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:7-12)

So for King David, for the Apostle Paul—and for the follower of Christ—our greatest goal is to be with the Lord.

Now there are times when David asks questions, but no answer is forthcoming, because like us, he is waiting on the LORD for an answer. But this time, in this short little Psalm, we have the answer to the question. Now understand, the Psalmist doesn’t give the names of those who may abide, who may dwell (only the LORD knows who are His.) But he does give a description. Does it describe you?

He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.

In just this one sentence it talks about your walk, your works, and your words. Your walk is the sort way of saying how you live your life. It’s your worldview. Works are obviously what your do. And words are what you say. It’s your character, your actions and your speech that exhibit integrity, righteous living, and a truthful heart.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. (Psalm 84:11)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. (Ephesians 4:15)

But wait. You don’t have to wait for Heaven to dwell with God. As a follower of Christ, you have His Spirit dwelling within you here and now:

People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves. Everyone who is ruled by the Holy Spirit thinks about spiritual things. If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace. Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God’s laws. If we follow our desires, we cannot please God. You are no longer ruled by your desires, but by God’s Spirit, who lives in you. People who don’t have the Spirit of Christ in them don’t belong to him. But Christ lives in you. So you are alive because God has accepted you, even though your bodies must die because of your sins. Yet God raised Jesus to life! God’s Spirit now lives in you, and he will raise you to life by his Spirit. (Romans 8:5-11)

I asked earlier if David’s description describes you. It should. People should see the life-transforming effects that the Spirit of God has upon you. You walk, your works, and your words will show that you are abiding and dwelling with the LORD.

Singing with the King (91) – Precious

Leave a reply

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His godly ones. (Psalm 116:10)

jesuschild9 I believe this is the Old Testament precursor of a passage from Revelation:

And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

I first ran across this latter verse when I performed the Brahms Requiem with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Now don’t get all impressed with me. I was just a Bass in a choir of about 150 singers. There are seven movements in the great work, and the one based on the above verse is the final movement, which makes sense. And at the end of this post, you’ll hear this movement. Now back to the Psalm.

From a contextual point of view, verse 10 is rather interesting, because it is the only one dealing with someone actually dying. The remainder of the other 18 verses speak of one that has been delivered from the grasp of death.

The cords of death encompassed me and the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I beseech You, save my life!” Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. For You have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. (v. 3-8)

jesus

So why insert this verse about death, when all the others are about escaping from it (and being thankful)? I think the key is in verse 8: For You have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. You see, for those who have lost a loved one, their eyes have shed many tears, and they have stumbled. But the Psalmist gives them a glimmer of hope when he tells them that their loved one is one of the Lord’s godly ones, and their death is precious in His sight.

Some of the meanings of the Hebrew word for precious are: prized, rare, highly valued and influential. And all those describe my friend Mark. For those who knew him, and many much better than I, you can see those words describing Mark. But the most important aspect of Mark 20245779_10154842661725872_4178047506386990472_n is that he was and is one of the Lord’s godly ones. And since his death is precious to God, I have no doubt that it grieved our Heavenly Father—or rather—our Heavenly Father grieves for Mark’s wife Lorri, and their families; because Mark is now with Him, probably shooting videos—and the resolution is out of this world.

So for those who have grieved, cried and stumbled, know two things (at least):

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.. (Philippians 4:12-14)

Because Mark is one of His godly ones, we DO have hope. And despite our tears and stumbling, we need to continue to press on. For like him, we too will one day rest from our labors.

Save

Singing with the King (90) – My Shepherd

Leave a reply

The LORD is my Shepherd. (Psalm 23:1)

Good Shepherd2 Years ago, I heard a preacher—I don’t know if it was live or on the radio— who talked about the choices we make and the paths we take. So there you are, walking along with God, side by side, fellowshipping with Him, following Him, just being WITH Him. And then you decide to take a right turn, and go off in your direction. Now this is not without biblical precedence.

Note what He has done for us:

He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. (Isa 53: 4-5)

And what do we do after all this?

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. (v.6a)

So yeah, wandering off is in our nature. Now, back to the sermon. This preacher talks about us wandering off, to go down our own path, probably to do something sinful, something selfish, something displeasing to God. And the picture he painted was that God remained on the chosen path, while we trotted off on our own. And when we finally come to our senses, like the prodigal son did, we then turn around and go back to the path, and find God patiently waiting there for us.

THAT IS WRONG! And here’s why.

Does a shepherd just let his sheep wander off? Or does he go get them? He goes and gets them, because He knows we are too stupid, or too lost, to find our way home. Now granted, we may be off on this little tangent, this little side trip, and be totally unaware that He is with us—but He is. Because The LORD is our Shepherd. (Who by the way, laid down His life for us – John 10:11)

Also consider His nature.

Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence? If I went up to heaven, you would be there; if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there. If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west, you would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me. I could ask the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night, but even darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you. (Psalm 139:7-12) With the exception of Hell, the is no place He is not.

Omnipresence is pretty tough to escape.

So, a role He willingly embraces, and a divine characteristic which is tough to get by (pun intended). God is not waiting at the beginning of your detour with arms crossed and foot tapping. He is with you. Now, you may not know that He is with you, because you’re trying to avoid Him, or ignore Him, or forget Him. But He is with you, and He always will be.

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. (Hebrew 13:5)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

Save