Psalm 2 - “The Heir to the Throne is Born This Day”

Christmas Day (Year C - Lutheran Service Book readings)
Monday, December 25, 2006

Please take your hymnals and find Psalm 2 in the front. Right after the preface pages you’ll find the Psalms arranged in order. We’re going to look at Psalm 2 this morning. It’s the appointed psalm for Christmas Day; it’s used by the New Testament writers to point to Jesus; and it continues the psalm theme we’ve had here at Redeemer this month.

Psalm 2 is a coronation psalm—a hymn written to celebrate the coronation of the king, the ceremony where the crown is placed on the king, making him the ruler of the kingdom. We don’t know which of the Old Testament kings this psalm was written about, but the psalm shows how much the king is celebrated. Yet, even more than celebrating the king, it celebrates the true king of Israel, the One who gives the king his power, God Himself.

I’m going to ask you to imagine the scene at the coronation, because I want you to see the drama in Psalm 2.

But I’ll give you a hint about what’s coming after we use our imaginations: we’ll see how this coronation is connected with the birth of Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. The heir to the throne is born this day, so it’s no mistake that Psalm 2, a coronation psalm, is our focus today. See if you can guess the connections to Christmas as we go along.

But first I want you to imagine that this is the throne room of a king. I want you to imagine with me that today is a huge day of celebration as the new king receives his crown. Looking at Psalm 2, we can see all of the different voices heard in the throne room that day.

(center aisle, halfway back into nave, facing the altar)
It begins with the people who have come to the court for the ceremony. They’re asking,

Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his anointed. (English Standard Version, ESV)

The people are distressed over how the other nations, their enemies are rallying against God and the anointed, God’s chosen king for Israel. The people are asking,

Why are the nations up in arms, and men drawn into insane dreams?
The world’s rulers are in accord—against God and the Lord’s Anointed (Gordon Jackson, gj)

So the people are in the court of the king asking this question, distressed by what’s happening. They’re asking God, “What’s going on?” And they report what those enemy nations are saying.

(outside back doors of sanctuary)
Outside of the court, outside of the kingdom, that’s where the other nations are saying,

Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us. (ESV)

In other words, those nations plot to overthrow the king, to reject any rule that Israel might have. The nations are standing at the door, so to speak, watching as the new king receives his crown, and they think they will beat him.

Old God’s authority is at an end – long live the Revolution! (gj)

(front of nave)
But then from inside the court of the king comes laughter, laughter that fills the room and echoes all around, echoes that are heard by those enemy nations.

He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury. (ESV)

Perhaps these words are a report from a priest who answers the distress of the people. The people are concerned about what the other nations are plotting, but the priest reports that God Himself is not concerned. God finds it humorous that the nations think they will win the day.

Lord in heaven is laughing; to him their threats are a joke.
But one day his top will blow; and his fury flow like lava. (gj)

(from behind the altar)
Then we hear the very words of God. In the throne room of Israel, these words would have been spoken by the High Priest or a prophet, speaking for God.

As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill. (ESV)

The nations can plot all they want, but God has crowned his new king, God has put his king on the throne, God has given his king power and authority, God has established the kingdom, God will follow His will and the enemy nations will not disrupt God’s plan.

Here on my holy mountain, behold the man, the Anointed

(from the pulpit)
In response to this, we finally hear the new king speak. He says,

I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, (ESV)

The new king’s response to the enemy nations and their evil plots, the new king’s response to the worried questions of the people is to read the decree of God, the decree, the document that makes him king. And so the next words are again the words of God Himself.

(from behind the altar)
You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. (ESV)

This decree from God has placed the new king on the throne, and God has given a strong promise—a promise to be the king’s father, a promise to give the king victory over the other nations, a promise to give the king strength and power.

You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.
The nations are yours for the asking, the ends of the earth your estate;
With a sceptre of iron judge them; smash them to smithereens. (gj)

(from the pulpit)
The new king reads this decree to give confidence to the people—no more do they need to worry about the enemy nations. The new king reads this decree to warn the other nations—they need to know what they’re coming up against. The new king reads this decree to remind everyone that he is king at the invitation, instruction, intervention, institution of God—he is God’s representative on earth.

(center aisle, halfway back into nave, facing the back)
The new king’s reading of the decree is just what the people need to hear. Here they had begun standing in the court with their hands wringing, worrying about the other nations, and now that the king has reminded them that God Himself is in charge, now the people turn as if to talk directly to the enemy nations.

Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (ESV)

The people warn the other nations—while perhaps inviting them to realize the truth—that the only way to be safe is to worship the true God. The only way to avoid destruction to “kiss the son,” pay homage, give respect to the new king, the one who is like a son to God the Father.

Learn wisdom smartly, O Captains and Rulers, remember your place
Bow to the Lord in fear, and rejoice in him with trembling;
Kiss the Son, stay his displeasure; and beware his infolded fire;
Once it erupts it will engulf
all but the blessed he shelters. (gj)

The people are now ready to truly begin the celebration of the coronation of the new king, because now they see that all is God’s hands. Now they see that God will win the day. Now they see that salvation, power, honor, and glory belong to the Lord. God has given them a new king, but God is the true King who will save His people.

(front of the nave)
Do you remember that I said we’d connect this to Christmas? Do you remember that I said this coronation psalm has everything to do with Jesus because He is the heir to the throne born this day?

Take the picture that you just had in your head of the throne room and the people and the enemy nations and the priests and God and the new king, and now let’s imagine this scene is in the throne room of God. Watch as the scene unfolds and leads us straight to Bethlehem and a baby born in a manger.

(center aisle, halfway back into nave, facing the altar)
God’s people since Adam and Eve have been aware of their sin. We come before God knowing that His enemies surround us, that even if we come to His court, still we’re surrounded by enemies. We ask,

Why are the nations up in arms, and men drawn into insane dreams?
Why are they against your ways, God?
The world’s rulers are in accord—against God and the Lord’s Anointed
The people are against you, and they’re dragging us down with them.

(outside back doors of sanctuary)
The people who are against God are all around us—and sometimes we even that we’re part of them—as we rebel against God. We stand with sinful pride and say,

Old God’s authority is at an end – long live the Revolution!

(front of nave)
But then from the Church, from God’s Word, from God’s messengers comes the reminder that God isn’t concerned about His enemies. He’s not concerned about the evil ones who surround us; He’s not even worried when we claim we’ll rebel against Him. God’s Word tells us,

The Lord in heaven is laughing; to him their threats are a joke.
But one day his top will blow; and his fury flow like lava.

(from behind the altar)
Then we hear the very words of God.

As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.

God has a plan to break the evil of the world; God has a plan to save us from the enemy; God has sent One who will be King.

Here on my holy mountain, behold the man, the Anointed

The Anointed—an English word for the Greek word, Christ—which is a translation of the Hebrew word, Messiah. God is crowning His king, Jesus Christ, who will come to break the cruel oppressor’s rod and save His people from their sins. This Messiah, Christ, Anointed One, the newly crowned King, was born this day in the town of Bethlehem.

(from the pulpit)
The heir to the throne is born this day, and when He grows up, He will rightfully claim His throne. But He doesn’t make this claim on His own authority; the authority comes from God the Father. So Jesus Christ-Messiah-Anointed One says,

I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me,

(from behind the altar)
You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

God is the Father of Jesus from all eternity. God gives Jesus victory over all enemies—sin, death, and the devil. God gives the Son strength and power. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to this new king, this heir to the throne born this day.

(from the pulpit)
The new king has announced this decree to give us confidence—no more do we need to worry about the enemies—sin, death, and the devil. The new king reads this decree to warn those who don’t believe—they need to know what they’re coming up against. The new king reads this decree to remind everyone that He is king at the invitation, instruction, intervention, institution of God—He is God’s representative on earth.

(center aisle, halfway back into nave, facing the back)
The new king’s reading of the decree is just what we need to hear. We began standing in the court with our hands wringing, worrying about the other people, the enemies of the Lord, and now that the king has reminded us that God Himself is in charge, now we have the confidence to turn as if to talk directly to all of the Lord’s enemies.

Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

(front of the nave)
Today we celebrate Christmas, and perhaps it serves as a warning to those who don’t believe in Christ—while also inviting them to realize the truth—that the only way to be safe is to worship the true God. The only way to avoid destruction is to “kiss the son,” pay homage, give respect to the new king, the Son of God the Father, the One born today. More than just warning the non-believers around us, our announcement today to all people is that you will be blessed if you take refuge in Jesus. You will have the promise of forgiveness and eternal life if you believe in Jesus.

We are now ready to truly begin the celebration of the coronation of the new king, because now we see that all is in God’s hands. Now we see that God will win the day. Now we see that salvation, power, honor, and glory belong to the Lord. God has given us a new king, Jesus, the true King who will save His people.


English Standard Version, © 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles. All Rights Reserved.
Gordon Jackson, The Lincoln Psalter, London: Carcanet, 1997.

Isaiah 11:1,6-10,12 - “What Hope! An Eden Promise Among Us”

4th Sunday in Advent (Year C - Lutheran Service Book readings)
Sunday, December 24, 2006 (morning)

In a moment, we will sing Stephen Starke’s hymn, “What Hope! An Eden Prophesied,” which is based on those verses from Isaiah chapter 11 which we just heard. In your bulletins, you have both the words of the hymn and the verses from Isaiah.

Those verses from Isaiah talk about the new Eden. While Isaiah doesn’t call it the new Eden, certainly that is what he is describing in this prophecy from God—cows and lions and children laying down together, cows and bears raising their young together, the vegetarian bears eating grass not thinking of eating the cows. It’s a description of a peaceful paradise, a return to the way God designed things in the first Garden of Eden. This is a prophecy, a promise for the future when God will take us to a new earth for eternity. Eternal life will be like Eden restored, the way He meant for us to live

Starke’s hymn gives us words to sing about this new Eden:

What hope! An Eden prophesied
Where tame live with the wild;
The lamb and lion side by side,
Led by a little child!

In the fourth stanza, Starke references the fact that when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, God placed an angel to keep guard so no one would be able to enter Eden again. Now, through Christ, the garden is open again.

, Jesus, come Messiah Lord,
Lost Paradise restore;
Lead past the angel’s flaming sword—
Come, open heaven’s door.

This hymn makes me think of how as a congregation we’ve been studying prophecy, the promises of God. Starke’s hymn is called “What Hope! An Eden Prophesied,” but it’s not just some dead promise, some old words that we dig up and dust off once in awhile. The prophecies of the Old Testament are fully a part of what we do together—because those promises point to Jesus Christ. And so we say, “What Hope! An Eden Promise Among Us.” An Eden Promise Among Us.

That Eden Promise has been among us in many places in our congregation lately.

This month the 7th Graders on Sundays and Wednesdays have been studying this very passage from Isaiah 11 about Jesus being from the family tree of David and Jesse.

The Tuesday Morning Men’s Bible Study was studying Leviticus and all the ways that “Christ came to suffer loss” as a fulfillment of all of the Old Testament sacrifices.

The Tuesday Morning Women’s Bible Study was studying Micah and seeing there the promises that God would send His “Prince of Peace in Bethlehem.”

As Pastor Miller’s Sunday Morning Bible Study looks at the readings for the next week, they encounter the Old Testament prophets, especially in Advent, who show us that Jesus is the “banner of God’s love unfurled.”

Last Sunday’s Children’s Christmas Program took so many of these Old Testament promises and showed that they come true in Jesus.

The sermons for our Advent Midweek services focused on three different psalms—words that applied to the people of the Old Testament but psalms that all point to Jesus, “the fruit of God’s design.”

Those of you who have experienced the death of loved ones, or seen people struggling in health — you’ve taken comfort in knowing the Eden promise. What hope! we have in Christ knowing He will take us to an eternal paradise. That hope for you comes directly out of the prophecies of the Old Testament, fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

But even as we’ve studied prophecies, and seen how Jesus fulfills those promises, we’ve seen that we’re still waiting for the final promise to come true, the day when we will be with Christ forever. And so. . .

(Usher brings up rope attached to a cart with a manger on it that is in the center aisle at the back of the church).

Today’s service is built around the simple Advent prayer: Come, Lord Jesus. (pull cart towards front of church)

It’s in Stephen Starke’s hymn: “Come, Jesus, Messiah Lord…Come, open heaven’s door.” (pull)

Our prayers have all concluded: Lord, come soon. (pull)

In our opening hymn, we prayed: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus. (pull)

We sang that familiar Advent hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. (pull)

Soon the Senior Choir will use that hymn as part of their anthem, “Every Valley,” singing: “Emmanuel shall come to Thee, O Israel.” (pull)
We’ll sing, “Savior of the Nations, Come.” (pull)

The Hmong choir will sing about how Jesus did come, He “came upon the Midnight Clear.” (pull)

The final anthem by the senior Choir gives this prayer another name: The Advent Cry. In Latin, you’ll hear the choir singing, “Veni, veni, Redemptor,”—“Come, Come, Redeemer.” (pull)

(manger cart arrives in front)
Come, Redeemer. Lord, come soon.
Come, Lord Jesus. . .to be born in Bethlehem

But the Advent Cry isn’t just about a manger. It’s also about what comes from this manger.

Come, Lord Jesus . . .to live a holy and perfect life. (pull out a picture of Jesus from manger’s straw)

Come, Lord Jesus . . .to preach the Good News. (pull out a Bible)

Come, Lord Jesus . . .to die on the cross. (pull out a cross)

Come, Lord Jesus . . .to return and take us to the Eden promised. (pull out a globe)

Right now, we have the manger. We have the cross. Jesus came and was born. Jesus came and He died. But now we’re asking that He come again, that He come to rescue us forever from sin, death, and the devil.
Come, Lord Jesus. . .to return and take us to the Eden promised.

While we can’t actually pull a rope and make Jesus come back, that’s the sense behind the prayer: Come, Lord Jesus. It’s that urgent; it’s that powerful—wanting to bring Jesus to be among us, to be here. The Advent prayer is a big tug on the rope around the waist of Jesus, pulling his pant leg, as it were, asking Him to come.

Stephen Starke’s hymn is our Advent Cry. See how his hymn is like the Advent prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus.” His hymn is urgent; it’s hopeful; it’s expectant; it’s a tug on Jesus; it’s looking to the sky with the sense that he might just answer us right now. As we sing, remember that we are asking Jesus to come again, to save us, to bring us to the Eden promised, a promise among us through God’s Word. He will come again and open heaven’s door for us. What hope! An Eden promised among us!


“What Hope! An Eden Prophesied” Text: © 1988 Stephen P. Starke, admin. Concordia Publishing House.

Psalm 42-43 - "Laments That Repeats the Sounding Joy"

Advent Midweek
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Tomorrow night is the longest night,
The winter solstice,
Thirteen hours of darkness.
On this eve of the winter solstice,
Perhaps you’re in the middle of trouble and dark—
Your life feels like the longest night.
People tell you,
“Stop being so glum; it’s Christmas!
But having a positive attitude,
trying for that Christmas spirit,
can’t chase away your darkness.




This sermon is a compilation of poetry that reflects the teaching and thoughts behind Psalm 42-43. Because of the formatting, I have posted the sermon using Google's Docs and Spreadsheets function. You can view the sermon by clicking here.

Compilation by Pastor Benjamin C. Squires. © 2006
All text in handwriting font by Pastor Benjamin C. Squires. © 2006




Sources
Irving Berlin, “White Christmas,” © 1942 Irving Berlin.
Richard E. Bryd, Alone, New York: Putnam, 1938, pp. 104,280.
William Cowper, “O for a Closer Walk with God,” in Conyer’s Col¬lect¬ion of Psalms and Hymns, 1772.
Emily Dickinson, Poems by Emily Dickinson, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1957, pp. 174,195,217.
English Standard Version, © 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles. All Rights Reserved.
F.B.P., “Jerusalem, My Happy Home,” as appears in Lutheran Service Book, St. Louis: Concordia, 2006.
Peter S. Hawkins, “A Howl of Despair (Psalm 42),” The Christian Century, June 6-13, 2001, p. 12. © The Christian Century Foundation.
Billy Hayes and Jay Johnson, “Blue Christmas,” © 1948, J. Albert & Son.
Gerard Manley Hopkins, “I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day,” Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, London: Humphrey Milford, 1918.
Gordon Jackson, The Lincoln Psalter, London: Carcanet, 1997.
John Henry Jowett C.H., M.A., D.D, Arthur Proitt, New York: George H. Doran, 1924, p. 290.
John MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary, © 2005, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., p. 626.
Reynolds Price, A Palpable God, New York: Atheneum, 1978, p. 14.
Ray C. Stedman, “A Song of Confidence,” from Folksongs of Faith, © 1969 (as at www.pbc.org).
Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, “Psalm 42,” New Version of the Psalms of David, 1698.
Arie Uittenbogaard, “Psalm 42:7,” Abraim Publications’ Bible Commentary, www.abarim-publications.com.
Ann Weems, Kneeling in Bethlehem, “Yesterday’s Pain,” “In December Darkness,” “The Christmas Spirit,” “Into This Silent Night,” Philadelphia: Westminster, 1987, pp. 14,15,51,52.
Eldon Weisheit, 150 Psalms for Teens, St. Louis: Concordia, 2002.
Richard Wilbur, “Ballade for the Duke of Orléans,” New and Collected Poems, Harcourt Brace, 1988.
Philip Yancey, Reaching for the Invisible God, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000, pp. 87.


Art
“03-Assurance”, Lament Sequence, © Steven Koster, www.leadingwithlight.com. Used by permission.
#223 and #232 from the Lament Collection, © 2006 David Sweeney. www.davidsweeneyart.com. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Psalm 24 - “Dancing Before the Lord, Christ Supplying the Beat”

Advent Midweek
Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Psalm 24

Dancing on the Way to Jerusalem
The globe is God’s and everything it is full of,
all of the earth and all that the earth sustains;
He made it like a ball and set it spinning,
Gave it its place among the scheme of stars.

Priest:
Who dare visit the Lord on his holy mountain? Who dare walk up to his door?

The Answer from the Congregation
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart
and does not long for what is false or lie when he is under oath.
The one with an undissimulating heart,
Who has not sacrificed honesty to importance.
This person will receive a blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from God, his savior.
Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Congregation’s Shout
Stand up, you gates, stand tall,
Swing open wide to let the King of glory come in.

Gatekeeper:
Who is this King of glory?

The Answer from the People and Another Shout
It is the Lord, it is the Almighty,
who comes victorious from all his battles.
Stand up, you gates, stand tall,
Swing as wide as you can to let the King of glory come in.

Gatekeeper:
Who is this King of glory?

The Answer from the People
It is the Lord, it is the Conqueror
Who comes victorious with all his armies.

This version of Psalm 24 is compiled from the following versions: New Revised Standard Version, God’s Word to the Nations, and Gordon Jackson’s The Lincoln Psalter (1997). Compilation, alterations, and titles by Pastor Ben Squires. For more information, see endnotes.

(play a clip of Guem’s “Secret” from Rose des Sables)

(fade music) I wanted you to hear that beat, a song by the Algerian-French musician named Guem, because there’s a beat to Psalm 24, the psalm you have printed in your bulletins tonight. Psalm 24 is a psalm of dancing, the dance song of King David as he danced on his way to Jerusalem. I want you to imagine the scene as David, the Old Testament king, led a train of people towards Jerusalem. They had conquered the city and were making it the royal city, but now they were bringing the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred chest that carried the tablets with the Ten Commandments on them and the Law of God, they were bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, asking God to be among them in the city.

(music up) It’s a cause for celebration, and so David dances and the people are singing, praising God with the beginning words of Psalm 24 that you have printed for you:

The globe is God’s and everything it is full of,
all of the earth and all that the earth sustains;
He made it like a ball and set it spinning,
Gave it its place among the scheme of stars.

The people are celebrating that God is the Creator of all things, that He is Lord over all things. (music down) Just in case you’re wondering, I’m using a translation there that helps put the psalm into modern terms. The original didn’t understand the world to be a globe, obviously, but that’s the way we celebrate the Lord—He is the One who set the world spinning on its axis, and He’s the One who still watches over this world.

(music up) So this is an incredible day of celebration, singing and dancing on their way to Jerusalem. But on the way, the priest stops the group and asks (music stop): “Who dare visit the Lord on his holy mountain? Who dare walk up to his door?” Those are the next words of Psalm 24, the voice of the priest. In other words, he is asking, “Are you really prepared to go up and enter God’s sanctuary? Are you truly ready to go before God’s holiness?”

The people answer in the next verses:

The one who has clean hands and a pure heart
and does not long for what is false or lie when he is under oath.
The one with an undissimulating heart,
(a heart that doesn’t hide it’s true feelings)
Who has not sacrificed honesty to importance.
This person will receive a blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from God, his savior.
Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

With that kind of answer, perhaps it sounds like the people are confident in their own worthiness to go before the Lord. It kind of sounds like they think they’ve gotten clean and pure by themselves, that they don’t sin, and so they can go up to meet with the Lord.

Yet, the people understand that their relationship with God is based on grace, a gift from Him; it’s not based on what they do. The language they’re using about being clean and pure and true, receiving a blessing and righteousness from the Lord, that’s the language of the sacrifices and rituals that the Lord had established to cleanse the people from their sins. The people aren’t saying they’re able to go up to meet with the Lord because of their own actions; they’re saying that going up to see the Lord can only happen through the sacrifices, through the gift of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

To really understand this, I want you to look at the picture of Guem in your bulletins. It’s the picture on his CD, and it makes a fine reminder that God supplies our righteousness, makes us holy so that we can approach Him. The picture of Guem’s hands makes me think of Christ’s hands. Guem’s hands supply the beat for the dance. The hands of Christ supplied our salvation when they were nailed to cross.

So David dances on his way to Jerusalem, but all of his worship is based on things supplied from God. God supplies the victory, power, glory, and honor, all of the blessings. The people dance and sing and celebrate, but the entrance of the people into God’s presence is based on God’s actions. God supplies their holiness and purity of heart through the sacrifices.

We dance before the Lord based on what Christ has done for us. We dance—maybe only figuratively—we dance before the Lord, but Christ supplies the beat. We celebrate that we come before the Lord this evening, but it is Christ who supplies the salvation and forgiveness making it possible for us to approach God with confidence.

So look at those words of Psalm 24 again and realize that they are about you because of Christ:

You have clean hands and a pure heart—because of Christ
You do not long for what is false or lie when you are under oath
—because of Christ working in you.
You will receive a blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from God, your savior.

You may dance before the Lord, because Christ is supplying the beat. We approach the Lord based on what He has done. Advent is about dancing before the Lord, celebrating the beat that Christ give us. So, then, the dance continues. . .with Christ supplying the beat. (music up)

(music low underneath) After answering the priest, after showing that they understood they could only approach the Lord because of what the Lord did to give them forgiveness, the group continues singing and dancing on their way to Jerusalem. They approached the wall of Jerusalem and the gates of the city. With singing and dancing, the group shouts those next verses of Psalm 24,

Stand up, you gates, stand tall,
Swing open wide to let the King of glory come in.

The Gatekeeper asks the group: (music stops) Who is this King of glory?

The gatekeeper’s job is to keep the gate closed unless the people were Israelites or friends. This group approaching—well, you couldn’t easily identify King David among them, because David wasn’t wearing his royal robes. Instead he dressed humbly, plainly, wearing a linen robe more like a priest. So the gatekeeper doesn’t automatically open the gates for them.

Plus, this group was dancing and singing praises to the “King of glory.” The gatekeeper might have been thinking, “No other king should enter except David, and I don’t see him,” or maybe this was simply part of the liturgy, the ritual, the celebration, checking to see what the people would say. Were they dancing and singing, celebrating David as the King of glory? In that case, they would be forgetting that it was God who supplied the beat for the dance. The gatekeeper’s question seems to be double-checking: who is your King of glory—David or God?

The people’s answer in the next verse shows that they remember who supplies the beat. They said,

It is the Lord, it is the Almighty,
who comes victorious from all his battles.

And with that, the people shout again to the gatekeeper:

Stand up, you gates, stand tall,
Swing as wide as you can to let the King of glory come in.

And the gatekeeper checks one more time. . .

Gatekeeper: Who is this King of glory?

And again, the people show that they remember who supplies the beat for the dance:

It is the Lord, it is the Conqueror
Who comes victorious with all his armies.

So the gates open wide to allow the group to bring in the Ark of the Covenant. The King of glory comes to dwell in Jerusalem. The Lord comes to live with His people there in the royal city. The people have access to the Lord, because of what God did for them through the sacrifices, through the rituals, through His forgiveness, love, and mercy. God was in the city and supplying the beat, so that people could dance the dance of salvation.

The Lord is the victorious king, He is the true leader of the people. He is the one supplying the beat. The dancing and singing continue all the way inside Jerusalem, but it is because God is victorious and strong and glorious. It is the Lord’s power that is celebrated.

It is the same with Christ. Christ doesn’t live among us because we did something. Christ comes into our world at Christmas, and there it is God who supplies the beat, who supplies the way for His Son to come and rescue us from sin. Christ is the victorious one who defeated death and rose again. Christ is the King who brings salvation It’s the hands of Christ, His hands nailed to the cross, that supply the beat to this dance of celebration.

So as you’re “Rockin' around the Christmas tree,” remember that you’re not the one doing the rocking, you’re not the one on the guitar, you’re not the one on the drums. You’re not supplying the beat for this Christmas celebration. You didn’t get yourself clean and pure and holy and true; you didn’t go out and find your own salvation. You didn’t end up on Santa’s good list by your own actions.

No, if you’re “Rockin’ around the Christmas tree,” it’s because Christ is supplying the beat. Christ is the one-man band playing guitar, drums, bass. Christ is laying down the music for this celebration through the forgiveness He brings. Christ laid down His life to make you clean and pure and holy and true; He came down and found a way to bring us salvation.

I want you to pay careful attention as we sing the next hymn, “Lift Up Your Heads, You Everlasting Doors.” It’s Psalm 24 set to music by Stephen Starke, written for the Lutheran Service Book. The hymn puts the words of Psalm 24 into our mouths: “Lift up your heads, you everlasting doors. . .to greet your coming king/Lift up your heads, you everlasting doors, Your King awaits!” It’s another way of translating what we have in our bulletins, “Stand up, you gates, stand tall, Swing as wide as you can to let the King of glory come in.”

Yet, the rest of the hymn shows us that the gates don’t open by our power or works or because we’re so wonderful. The gates open because Jesus is the King of glory, the Messiah who came to save us, the One who is worthy, because He came into the world to save us from our sins.

This hymn won’t have the same beat as Guem’s drumming, but Christ is still supplying the beat, the rhythm, the reason for singing. With this hymn, we are singing to the Lord, we are dancing—at least, figuratively—celebrating what Christ has done, but Christ supplies the beat. He is the One who forgives us, loves us, shows us His mercy and grace. Please stand to sing and dance before the Lord.


Exegesis of a Translation: Psalm 24
Compilation, alterations, and headers by Pastor Ben Squires. This version of Psalm 24 is compiled and/or inspired by the following versions: New Revised Standard Version (nrsv), God’s Word to the Nations (gwtn), and Gordon Jackson’s The Lincoln Psalter (1997) (gj). Abbreviations below show which version(s) are represented or provided inspiration for that line (alt.=altered).

The globe is God’s and everything it is full of,
all of the earth and all that the earth sustains;
He made it like a ball and set it spinning,
Gave it its place among the scheme of stars. (gj)

Who dare visit the Lord on his holy mountain?
Who dare walk up to his door? (gj)

The one who has clean hands and a pure heart
and does not long for what is false or lie when he is under oath. (gwt)
The one with an undissimulating heart,
Who has not sacrificed honesty to importance. (gj, alt.)
This person will receive a blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from God, his savior. (gwt)
Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. (nrsv)

Stand up, you gates, stand tall,
Swing open wide to let the King of glory come in. (gj)

Who is this King of glory? (gwt)

It is the Lord, it is the Almighty,
who comes victorious from all his battles. (gj)

Stand up, you gates, stand tall,
Swing as wide as you can to let the King of glory come in. (gj)

Who is this King of glory? (gwt)

It is the Lord, it is the Conqueror
Who comes victorious with all his armies. (gj, alt.)

This arrangement © 2006 Benjamin C. Squires.

"Lamb of God" (Twila Paris) - “TLH, LW, LSB: The Letters of Worship”

1st Sunday of Advent (Year C - Lutheran Service Book
Saturday, December 2, and Sunday, December 3, 2006

“Lamb of God”
Hymn #550
Lutheran Service Book
Text and tune by Twila Paris
©1985 Straightway Music; Admin. by EMI

Your only Son, no sin to hide,
But You have sent Him, from Your side
To walk upon this guilty sod,
And to become the Lamb of God.

Refrain
O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God,
I love the holy Lamb of God,
O wash me in His precious blood,
My Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Stanza 2
Your Gift of Love they crucified,
They laughed and scorned him as he died:
The humble King they named a fraud,
And sacrificed the Lamb of God.
Refrain

Stanza 3
I was so lost, I should have died,
But You have brought me to Your side
To be led by Your staff and rod,
And to be called a lamb of God.


That was beautifully done—a new hymn from the Lutheran Service Book, our new hymnal, which we will dedicate during today’s service. The accompaniment edition of the Lutheran Service Book includes two options—one for the organ, and one for the piano—and Stephanie chose the piano version today, highlighting the more contemporary feel of this hymn.

And indeed, the hymn is fairly contemporary, written in 1985 by Twila Paris, one of the early stars in the Contemporary Christian Music scene. Take a listen to what it sounded like when she originally recorded it.

(play clip)

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s hymnal committee chose to put “Lamb of God” in the Lutheran Service Book, because the song is faithful to Scripture and to our Lutheran Confessions. The song is Christocentric, meaning that Christ is the center of the song, He is the true actor, the One who brings our salvation. Plus, there is biblical imagery in the song; the song works to develop the picture language of God’s Word.

I want to celebrate our new hymnal today by finding the connections between “Lamb of God” and the rest of our service. This song works wonderfully with our Scripture readings for the first week of Advent, and it picks up on the themes of the hymn we sang earlier, “The Advent of our God”—an old hymn that’s in all three of our hymnals.

“The Advent of our God” is in the red one, The Lutheran Hymnal, from 1941. It’s in the blue one, Lutheran Worship from 1982. And it’s also now in the burgundy one, Lutheran Service Book (a different translation titled “The Advent of our King”). A lot of times, we’ve just referred to our hymnals by acronyms: TLH—The Lutheran Hymnal, LW—Lutheran Worship, and now we have LSB—Lutheran Service Book. TLH, LW, LSB, those are the acronyms of our hymnals. You could say that TLH, LW, LSB are the letters of worship. But all of those letters stand for the same thing: hymns that teach God’s Word. TLH, LW, or LSB, all point to Christ.

As I said, we’re going to look at the connections between “Lamb of God” and God’s Word, and the insert in your bulletin will help us walk through the hymn. While you’re taking out your insert, I’m going to play you a clip of a worship band from Mars Hill Church in Pennsylvania doing “Lamb of God” in a pretty different way.

Click here to see insert.

Click here to listen to Red Letter.

I wanted you to hear that clip, because I want us to see that just because a song is in a hymnal, a formal leather-bound pew book, doesn’t mean that there isn’t more than one way to sing and play a hymn.

Anyway, I want to celebrate our new hymnal by finding connections between “Lamb of God” and the rest of today’s service. Dedicating a new hymnal is a great time to pause, really study a hymn, and see just how it much it has to teach us about God’s Word.

So then, on the left hand side of the insert, A. Today’s Old Testament reading from Jeremiah chapter 33 in verse 15 says, “In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” God’s promise to send a Savior, the Savior who came as a baby at Christmas, Jesus Christ, that promise connects with the first stanza of the hymn where Twila Paris wrote, “Your only Son, no sin to hide,/But You have sent Him, from Your side.” Indeed, God promises to send His righteous Son, His holy, sinless Son, and that’s the gift He sent on Christmas Day.

B. As the song says, Jesus left His heavenly throne “to walk up this guilty sod/and to become the Lamb of God.” That’s what is happening in today’s Gospel reading from Luke 19. Verse 36 talks about Jesus entering Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, coming among the people on this guilty Earth, this sinful planet.

Perhaps this is a good time to mention that the Palm Sunday Gospel is the traditional reading for the First Sunday of Advent. The Palm Sunday Gospel shows Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey while people wave palm branches; it’s the Sunday before He is crucified. We can see His humility as the King of all Creation rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. And Advent is about preparing to celebrate that same humility, how Christ humbled Himself and was born as a child on Christmas. That’s the amazing part of Christmas and Palm Sunday: Jesus is a humble King—no one would even think He is a King—and yet, through faith, we celebrate Him as the Savior of the world.

C. As Jesus rides into Jerusalem, the crowds shout, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” They celebrated Jesus with those wonderful words that compare to the refrain of “Lamb of God”: “O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God,/I love the holy Lamb of God.” Those are words of praise, words that come from faith seeing that Jesus is truly the Son of God.

D. The refrain continues, “O wash me in His precious blood,/My Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God”; it’s a celebration of what the Son of God does for us. He forgives us, takes away our sin, and does just what today’s Epistle reading from 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 13 says: “So that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” We have been washed in the blood of Jesus; we have been made blameless in God’s eyes.

E. Knowing that we’ve been forgiven, stanza 2 of “Lamb of God” reminds us of what Christ had to go through in order to forgive us. “Your Gift of Love they crucified,/They laughed and scorned him as he died.” Jesus died after being mocked, threatened, beaten, and falsely accused of crimes. Even in the middle of the celebration as He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, “[S]ome of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’” In other words, “Jesus, make your disciples stop celebrating you as King, because you’re not a king.” They didn’t believe in Him, and they made His life difficult, and they killed Him. Jesus went through all of that, so that our sins could be forgiven.

F. Here’s another reminder that humility is the connection between Palm Sunday and Advent. The song calls Jesus “the humble King,” and indeed, while Luke says, “Throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it,” while it looks like the disciples were giving Jesus a royal treatment, really, it was a borrowed donkey with some ratty cloaks for a saddle. And from there, He rode on to die; they “sacrificed the Lamb of God.”

G. The last connection on the left side of the insert shows that a couple of the other verses from Jeremiah line up with stanza 3. God says, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: 'The Lord is our righteousness.'” Judah and Jerusalem were lost, but God saved them from their sin and their rebellion. Twila Paris writes that same promise into her lyrics: “I was so lost, I should have died,/But You have brought me to Your side.”

In these verses from Jeremiah, God promises to save His people. In another passage in Jeremiah, God makes the same promise, saying that He will come as the Shepherd of His people. God did this through Jesus, and the song makes a fine connection with that image: “To be led by Your staff and rod, And to be called a lamb of God,” helping us to see that while Jesus is the Lamb of God, we are also His lambs and He is our Shepherd.

So there are many biblical connections in “Lamb of God, ” but we can also see that “Lamb of God” picks up on the tradition of our hymns, having a lot of similarities with “The Advent of our God”.

“The Advent of our God” was written in 1736 by a Frenchman named Charles Coffin. Perhaps an unfortunate last name, but Coffin wrote many hymns in French that have been since translated into English. “Lamb of God” was written 249 years after Coffin’s hymn, but there’s no doubt that both songs are working with the same truths of God.

Point H. on the right hand side, the first stanza, “The advent of our God/Shall be our theme for prayer;/Come, let us meet him on the road/And place for him prepare.” Advent means “to come, approach, arrive,” and so this stanza is talking about Jesus coming into the world. That’s what we’ve already seen in stanza 1 of “Lamb of God.” Jesus left His Father’s side to enter our world, and He came and walked among us. “The Advent of our God” uses the imagery of Palm Sunday, the crowds lining the road as Jesus entered Jerusalem, but that is symbolically what happens in our heart’s through the Holy Spirit. Through faith, we meet Jesus on the road.

I. Stanza 3 of “The Advent of our God” continues the imagery of Palm Sunday, a picture of the crowds celebrating Jesus as He enters Jerusalem: “Come, Zion's daughter, rise/To meet your lowly king,/Nor let your faithless heart despise/The peace he comes to bring.” The stanza makes you picture the crowds lining the roads, shouting, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” It’s the celebration that we sang each time in the refrain of “Lamb of God,” “O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God,/I love the holy Lamb of God.” Where Coffin wrote “the peace he comes to bring” in his hymn, Twila Paris wrote, “O wash me in His precious blood”; both pointing to the forgiveness that Jesus came to bring. More than just on that one Sunday 2000 years ago, though, the imagery helps us to celebrate Jesus entering into our hearts through faith.

J. With stanza 2 of “The Advent of our God,” we have the theme of humility: “The everlasting Son/Incarnate stoops to be,/Himself the servant's form puts on/To set his people free.” Jesus, the eternal Son of God, humbles Himself, comes down to our level and takes flesh, becomes a human, so that He can be the servant and redeem us from sin, get us out of slavery to sin and Satan. It’s the humility that we also sang in “Lamb of God”’s second stanza, “Your Gift of Love they crucified,/They laughed and scorned him as he died:/The humble King they named a fraud,/And sacrificed the Lamb of God.” God sent Jesus as this wonderful gift of love and mercy, but He was crucified—by the sinners in His day and by our sin which made it necessary for Him to die in our place. Where Twila Paris uses the imagery of sacrifice in stanza 2 to talk about how Jesus forgives our sins, Coffin in his stanza 2 uses the image of slavery, that Jesus came “to set his people free.” Both are talking about this incredible act of humility that allows us the hope of eternal life.

K. When we first look at “Lamb of God”’s stanza 3, it might just seem to be about our experience of Jesus working faith in our hearts: “I was so lost, I should have died,/But You have brought me to Your side/To be led by Your staff and rod,/And to be called a lamb of God.” But when we lay it side-by-side with stanza 4 of “The Advent of our God,” we realize that both work with the Advent theme of being prepared for Jesus to come again, waiting in faith for Jesus to return and bring this world to an end. Coffin’s hymn says, “As judge, on clouds of light,/He soon will come again/And all his scattered saints unite/With him on high to reign.” Where Twila Paris talks about us being “lost” and deserving death, Coffin talks about being scattered. Where Twila Paris talks about Jesus coming to be our Shepherd to lead us, Coffin talks about Jesus coming as the Judge to take us to be with Him forever.

Stanza 3 of “Lamb of God” seems like words we might sing on that Last Day, standing staring into the sky, celebrating Christ returning, overwhelmed with awe and fear, saying, “I was so lost, I should have died,/But You have brought me to Your side/To be led by Your staff and rod,/And to be called a lamb of God.”

So, then, the letters of worship, TLH, LW, and LSB, plus A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K, all of these letters of worship lead us right through the themes of Advent—the entrance of Jesus into the world, humbling Himself in order to save us, forgiving us of our sins, preparing us to be with Him forever when He comes again. These letters of worship lead us to stand here waiting. . . . .stand here waiting for Jesus to return and take us to be with Him forever. . .stand here waiting for that day when we will stare up into the sky and see our Lord coming in all of His glory. . .and as we stand here waiting we will sing His praises.

Daniel 7:9-10 - “Where is the Sunday School Daniel?”

2nd Last Sunday of the Church Year (Year B - Lutheran Worship Readings)
Saturday, November 18, and Sunday, November 19, 2006

“As I looked,
thrones were set in place,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
and its wheels were all ablaze.
A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated,
and the books were opened.”

Where is the Sunday School Daniel? This is too tough to understand—thrones, wheels with fire, river of fire. What court? What books? No, give me the Sunday School Daniel. You know, the stories from the book of Daniel that maybe we remember from Sunday School or books or children’s movies or VeggieTales. Give me Daniel in the Lion’s Den. Give me Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. (place Sunday School lesson on stand)

Give me stories of adventure. Give me stories where I can see what’s happening. Give me the stuff I already know. These verses from Daniel chapter 7 are too difficult. I can already hear some of you saying to me, “Pastor, who can understand this? The common people back then didn’t understand this, did they?”

Thankfully God’s people didn’t have this attitude. Otherwise we would’ve just had a few Bible stories (hold up Sunday school lesson) instead of the entire Bible, the entire Word of God (place Bible on stand). Thankfully, God’s people were good stewards of God’s Word. God gave the people His Word, His Bible, and the people were good stewards, good caretakers of the gift. They kept the stories that they could understand; they kept the clear verses that tell us things like “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son”; but they also kept difficult passages, things that are tough to understand, things like the vision in today’s verses from Daniel.

Take a look again at those verses from today’s Old Testament reading. They’re difficult to understand, because Daniel is trying to put into words something that’s hard to describe. Chapter 7 of Daniel is a vision from God. This vision came to Daniel during the time when God’s people were living in exile, living in Babylon, living far away from the land that God had given them. This vision speaks about a future hope, a future day when God would destroy the Babylonians and send His people back to Jerusalem. But it’s a vision of the future, something we call apocalyptic, which means it doesn’t just come right out and say what will happen. It doesn’t tell us a specific time, place, or even how it will happen. The vision works with images and symbols, because the detail aren’t as important as knowing that God has a plan, God will come, God will rescue.

So we look at those two verses from today’s Old Testament reading, and we realize that even though they’re not one of the Sunday School stories we’re familiar with, they do give us a glimpse into something very important about God.

It’s a description of God the Father on the throne; He is the Ancient of Days, the One who is older than anything else, and truly, the One who is eternal, who has always been. So God the Father, the Ancient of Days, is sitting on His throne in the center of all the thrones, and what He looks like can’t really be described. His hair is white, showing again His age and wisdom. His throne has fiery wheels on it, kind of symbolizing that from His throne He can still be everywhere. Thousands attend Him, surround Him, worship Him, perhaps these are the angels and those who have died in the faith.

This is a description of God the Father whom Daniel saw in the vision, but really, there’s no way to describe what God the Father looks like. It’s tough to put into words, and so Daniel tries, using a few descriptions, Daniel tries to explain what God the Father is like.

But again, more than details, the important message coming out of this vision is that here is God the Father in all of His glory, and God the Father is coming to destroy His enemies, coming to rescue His people. When Daniel first shared the vision with the people, it gave them hope that God would rescue them from the Babylonians. For us, it gives us hope that God will come and rescue us from the final enemies: sin, death, and the devil. God is on His throne, He rules over everything, and He will send His Son, Jesus, to bring an end to this fallen world. Jesus will bring a final end to Satan’s hold on us, and then Jesus will take us to be with Him forever.

Thankfully, then, God’s people were good stewards of God’s Word and they kept these difficult verses, because these verses give us a glimpse into the future hope that we have in Jesus Christ. At the end of the church year, this is the Second Last Sunday of the Church Year, next week is the Last Sunday, at the end of the church year, we focus on the End Times, looking forward to the Second Coming of Christ, and certainly, it is good to find these verses from Daniel that tell us about God the Father in His glory coming to save us from sin, death, and the devil.

So I am so glad that God’s people were good stewards, good caretakers of God’s Word. They didn’t just keep what they liked or what they found easy to understand; they kept His entire Word.

Of course, someone will ask me, “How did you figure out what those verses mean?” And I’ll happily admit: that’s why there’s so many books in my office. I studied probably at least 10 different books and articles trying to understand these verses from Daniel chapter 7. Besides being thankful that God’s people long ago kept all of the words of the Bible, I’m also thankful for all of the good stewards of God’s Word over the years. Many people have used their skills, time, and lives to study God’s Word, to write about God’s Word, to help teach others about God’s Word. Those people that wrote those books on my shelves are good stewards of God’s Word. They’re good stewards of the abilities that God gave them. They use their lives to serve God and others by helping me, you, and a lot of others understand the Bible.

Perhaps that’s why I’m always surprised when an adult tells me they don’t come to Bible study because they learned it all when they were in Sunday School. Sunday School teaches us a lot, we learn a lot about the Bible and the Christian faith, but you probably didn’t study these verses from Daniel chapter 7. You got the Sunday School Daniel (hold up the Sunday School lesson), but that doesn’t mean you were done studying the Bible (hold up the Bible). If you really decided you were done studying the Bible when you were done with Sunday School or when you were confirmed, you have to ask yourself: are you being a good steward of God’s Word? Are you being a good caretaker of the Word of God that He gave you? Are you using your time for God? Are you seeing how much God has to teach us in His Word, and that that teaching is meant to keep going every day of our lives?

It’s no mistake that I’m talking about being good stewards of God’s Word, because as you can see on the back of the bulletin, we’ve been thinking about stewardship a lot around here. The back of the bulletin shows that we’re around $7000 behind for the year. Frankly, we’re not sure if that means that you’re trying to tell us through your offerings that you’re unhappy with how things are going, you’re not giving as much because you don’t like how we’re doing things. Or is the problem that you’re not being good stewards, not using what God has given you to make sure His Word is taught and proclaimed and shared and shown and used in this place?

Good stewardship starts with the kind of stewardship we’ve been talking about today—stewardship of God’s Word. We work very hard as a congregation to make sure that our focus is on Jesus Christ, the salvation through the cross, the salvation that we learn about through the Bible. Our worship, our choirs, our Bible studies, our Sunday School, our youth, our Confirmation, our Preschool, everything we do is focused on being good stewards of God’s Word.

Yet, that’s got to affect our personal lives as well; it’s got to affect how you use your money. I’ll be honest with you: I don’t know why we’re behind in giving. I don’t know what the cause is, but let me take one guess: you’re only thinking about the Sunday School Daniel and not the entire Bible; you’re only thinking about Sunday morning (Saturday evening) and not about the rest of the week.

You’ve probably heard someone joke to a pastor, “Well, you’ve got a pretty easy job, Pastor. You just work on Sunday.” (With a couple of hours on Saturday thrown in—they must’ve given you a raise for that, right?). Most of the time I know that people don’t really mean it, but somewhere in there it does seem like many people don’t realize what’s really going on around this church building during the week.

I’m not so concerned about whether you think I only work 3 hours on Sunday when really I work 40-50 hours during the week. That’s a small concern compared to realizing that sometimes we’re just not aware that this building isn’t quiet during the week. Sure, there are some hours of the evenings that the building lays quiet, but everyday there’s something going on here between worship services, preschool, Bible studies, Hmong services, Hmong classes, confirmation, office work, pastors at work, parish nurse office hours, choir practices, youth activities, meetings, and counseling.

I’m not sure if this is related to your giving to the church or not, but if you’re only thinking that these lights and heat need to be on for a few hours a week, if you’re only thinking that this church is doing stuff on Sunday (or Saturday), then maybe you’re thinking that the church doesn’t need much of your money. Like only wanting the Sunday School Daniel instead of the entire Bible, if you only want the Sunday morning Redeemer Lutheran Church instead of the entire week’s worth of Redeemer Lutheran Church, then you’re not being a good steward of the ministry God has given us.

That’s kind of a negative way of putting it, so let’s turn it around: instead of just celebrating the things we do together on the weekend in worship, let’s celebrate everything we’re doing in this ministry of Jesus Christ. We can see the church at work when we’re here in worship, but let’s be good stewards of all of the things God has given us to do in this place, let’s be good stewards of this ministry at Redeemer Lutheran Church which happens everyday in many different ways. There are beautiful, exciting things happening here, so that many people are finding out about Jesus or being built up in their Christian faith. There are amazing things happening as we meet together, as we go out into the community with God’s Word, as we show others the love of God.

So I’ll be as plain as I dare: I’m asking you to consider again how much you are giving to the church, because I want us to keep doing these amazing, beautiful, exciting things for God. The more we as pastors, staff, and leaders worry about money, about cutting back on spending our budgets so that we don’t end up with a deficit, the more we worry about that, the less we’re focused on doing what we’re supposed to be doing—studying God’s Word, teaching God’s Word, sharing God’s Word, supporting people with God’s Word. In other words, we could go bare bones and still give you the Sunday School Daniel, but then I don’t think we’d be good stewards of God’s Word.

God’s people long ago were good stewards of God’s Word—and we get the benefits. For instance, if they had just kept the Sunday School Daniel, we wouldn’t have had a hymn to sing today before the sermon. Today’s sermon hymn, number 458 in the “old hymnal,” “Oh, Worship the King,” is loosely based on our Old Testament reading. Take a look at the front of the bulletin where you have two of the stanzas printed, the ones you were looking at for today’s pre-service meditation.

God’s people were good stewards of God’s Word, and so they kept those difficult to understand verses from Daniel’s vision, those verses that try to describe God in all of His glory in His throne room. Then along came the hymn writer, Robert Grant, who took that image to be part of his hymn. The hymn talks about the King, God the Father, in His throne room above. Grant uses that title, Ancient of Days, and also calls Him “shield and defender,” the idea of coming to rescue us. Let’s sing these two stanzas again, remembering that they bring us this beautiful image of God from a rather difficult passage of Scripture.

Oh, worship the King, all-glorious above.
Oh, gratefully sing His pow’r and His love;
Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.

Oh, tell of His might; oh, sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space;
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.

Thankfully, by God’s Holy Spirit, God’s people were good stewards of His Word and kept the vision of Daniel in chapter 7. Thankfully, by God’s Holy Spirit, Robert Grant wrote this beautiful hymn to help us through music get a glimpse of God in His throne room. Thankfully, by God’s Holy Spirit, we have these words today to help us to see God the Father in all of His glory, to see that God the Father will come and rescue us from sin, death, and the devil. And now prayerfully, by God’s Holy Spirit, God will help us to be good stewards of His Word—sharing this word of a future hope through our ministry here.

Because even though sometimes God’s Word is difficult to understand, the truth that we find is good, true, and the hope that we need. We find that Jesus will return, He will take us out of this place of sin and death, trouble and despair, He will bring an end to Satan’s grip on our lives, He will rescue us and take us to eternal life. God the Father is in His throne room, and that means He is ready to save us. Oh, worship the King, indeed!

“Oh, Worship the King”
Text: Robert Grant, 1779–1838, alt. HANOVER
Tune: William Croft, 1678–1727 10 10 11 11
Text and tune: Public domain

Amos 5:6-7,10-15 - “Establish Justice in the Gate”

Reformation (21st Sunday after Pentecost – Year B - Lutheran Worship readings)
Saturday, October 28, and Sunday, October 29, 2006

Today we celebrate the Reformation. As the notes on the front of the bulletin remind us, the Reformation began on October 31, 1517, the day when Martin Luther nailed his “95 Theses” to the door of the Wittenberg church; 95 statements which questioned the teaching of the Church especially when it came to indulgences.

Indulgences were pieces of paper being sold by the Church that freed people from a certain amount of time in purgatory. Purgatory itself isn’t even in Scripture, but the people had been taught that if they weren’t good enough to go to heaven, they would have to go to purgatory, an in-between place where they’d have to work off their sins. Well, if they bought indulgences, they could get out of some of those years in purgatory.

Luther realized through the Gospel in the Bible that this whole teaching of indulgences and purgatory went against Scripture. It caused people to be afraid of God, and it was causing the poor to spend all of their money on getting these indulgences.

I’d like you to see one scene from Luther, the 2003 film. You’ll see Hanna, a poor woman in Wittenberg, as she comes to tell her priest, Martin Luther, that she just bought an indulgence for her crippled daughter. After their conversation, you’ll see how it leads toward Luther putting up the “95 Theses.”

(Clip: first 2-3 minutes of Chapter 8 of DVD)

In that clip, you see two monks reading Thesis 43 that you have on the front of your bulletins, “Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better work than buying indulgences.” Every year we celebrate the Reformation, about how Luther re-discovered the Gospel, that salvation is a gift of God through faith in Jesus. However, I don’t even think I remember how much of his motivation came from wanting to help the poor.

As you saw in the scene with Hanna, it troubled Luther that the poor people were being cheated out of their money to buy worthless pieces of paper. Indulgences weren’t just a false teaching; they were also causing suffering for the poor.

So that’s how we find a connection between Luther and the Old Testament reading today from the prophet Amos. Amos says,

“You trample on the poor/and force him to give you grain. I know how many are your offenses/and how great your sins./You oppress the righteous and take bribes/and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.”

Like Luther who was concerned about the poor, Amos had preached a message against the people’s sins that were causing suffering for the poor. Like Luther who came to call people back to the truth of God’s Word, Amos had wanted people to remember who God is, but both Luther and Amos also saw that knowing God, believing in God, being God’s people means living in such a way as to support the poor and needy.

So today, Reformation Day, is about more than getting our theology right; it’s also about getting our practice right, our daily living—which brings us to the gate.

(A gate has been set up on the chancel steps)

Amos says, “Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate;/it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,/will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” Establish justice in the gate.

The gate of the city was where the ancient Israelites had their court. There weren’t official government judges like ours today. Instead, people who were accusing each other of crimes would bring their cases to be heard by a group of elders, or perhaps a judge selected by the elders. The gate was in the thick wall of the city, and court was either held in the opening or in a room inside of the wall.

So when Amos says, “Establish justice in the gate,” he’s calling on the people to live out their faith, to follow in the ways of God, and seek justice and righteousness. Instead of cheating the system, bribing judges, making it so that the poor didn’t have voice, instead of avoiding justice, Amos is calling on God’s people to show the justice of God in the way they live their lives.

It’s kind of like Amos got the people “gate trapped.” He told them to “establish justice in the gate,” but he also pointed out their sins that were happening on either side of the gate.

Amos said, “Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,/you will not live in them;/though you have planted lush vineyards,/you will not drink their wine.”

You look at this punishment, and you realize it “gate traps” the people. They weren’t going to go inside the gate into the city where they had built their elaborate houses; their homes would be taken from them or destroyed. And they weren’t going to go outside the gate into the vineyards where they had great crops; their vineyards would be taken from them or destroyed. So they were “gate trapped”; they weren’t going in or out. God’s punishment would show the people that they couldn’t trust in things inside the gate or outside the gate; instead, they needed to focus on living in God’s way, on establishing justice, on seeking good—and that started in the gate, with the community, looking for ways to support the poor, needy, oppressed, troubled, and cheated. The people needed to be “gate trapped,” so that they could see their own sin, how justice meant that they too had to be punished.

I think it’s good for us to be “gate trapped,” too. We need to see how we trust in our belongings, our jobs, our way of life; we need to see how all of those things can be taken away from us so easily. By bringing us back to the gate, by bringing us back to see how we can support others, by bringing us before His court to see how we’ve sinned, God is getting us back to a community focus, seeing that our lives as Christians are meant to reflect God’s justice, righteousness, mercy, and love.

So God’s Word comes to us today, pointing out our sin, showing us how we don’t always seek to do good and establish justice for all people. God’s Word comes and “gate traps” us today, and there in the gate God also comes to find us and hand down his final judgment. He is the judge, and he will tell us what will happen to us because of our crimes, our sins against Him.

And here is God’s verdict for us who are “gate trapped”: “You are forgiven, you are pardoned, you are free, you are innocent and holy in My eyes, because Jesus took your punishment on the cross.” God shows mercy in the gate.

Amos spoke God’s judgment on the people, “gate trapping” them, showing them how they had neglected their faith and other people, but God was working through those words of Amos to call people to repent, to turn away from their sin, to ask for forgiveness, to call out from the gate and ask God to show mercy. And God does; He shows mercy to those who call on Him.

Luther spoke God’s judgment on the Church and Empire leaders, “gate trapping” them, showing them how they had corrupted the Bible and caused fear and suffering for the people, but God was working through those words of Luther to call people to repent, to turn away form their sin, to ask for forgiveness, to call out from the gate and ask God to show mercy. And God does; He shows mercy to those who call on Him.

Today I spoke God’s judgment on us, “gate trapping” us, showing us how we don’t always live God’s ways, how we forget the poor, needy, and others who need our help, but God works today to call us to repent, to turn away form our sin, to ask for forgiveness, to call out from the gate and ask God to show mercy. And God does; He shows mercy to those who call on Him.

So again, let me remind you of God’s verdict today. He’s heard your testimony, your confession of sins; he’s heard you say that you don’t always seek good or serve other people. And this is God’s verdict: “You are forgiven, you are pardoned, you are free, you are innocent and holy in My eyes, because Jesus took your punishment on the cross.”

To experience the power of that verdict, the incredible forgiveness that God offers us, to experience that, we’ve got to go to the gate, appear before God’s court ourselves, and admit how we haven’t established justice in the gate. If we want to call ourselves Christians, if we say we are followers of Jesus, then we will need to look at ourselves honestly and admit where we don’t always seek justice. Where do we ignore the needs of the poor and needy? Where do we cause suffering for the poor? Do we live in a such way as to avoid justice, cheat the system, make someone else pay?

Are we doing anything about the great tragedy in the Darfur region of Sudan, a genocide of epic proportions? Do we forget that there are Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine, who suffer the same consequences as the minority of terrorists, suffering from closed borders, little work, and a broken down economy?

Do we really consider how our actions affect the poor in our community? As a congregation, we support Peter’s Pantry and other efforts, but could we do more? Do we really think about issues of justice, making sure that people—even the poor—are given a fair-hearing, getting all of the same protections of the law? As a congregation, we support the Domestic Violence Center, which helps women and men make sure they receive the protection they need, but could we do more?

When we come to God’s gate, we hear these difficult questions, questions that bore right into our souls. They are questions that find where we keep our sins of selfishness, pride, and blindness to the needs of others. When we come to God’s gate, we realize we may not want to be there, and yet, God “gate traps” us. He shows us how nothing inside or outside of the gate will help us; being saved won’t come from anything or anyone except from the judge who sits in the gate. The Lord is His Name.

Listen again as God’s establishes His justice in the gate—a justice that punishes Jesus for our sins, but how God also establishes mercy and forgiveness in gate. Listen again to God’s verdict on our sins: “You are forgiven, you are pardoned, you are free, you are innocent and holy in My eyes, because Jesus took your punishment on the cross.”

You are free; you are no longer “gate trapped” by God’s word of judgment. However, God’s Word actually invites us to stay in the gate. Instead of going inside the gate or outside the gate, instead of returning to our houses or going out to our vineyards, in other words, instead of going back to trusting in our belongings, instead of going in or out, God’s Word invites us to stay in the gate.

The gate is where the community gathered to establish justice. The gate is where people found ways to support the poor, the needy, the victims in society. The gate is where people worked together.

In that same way, stay in the gate. Yes, you are free, you are forgiven, you are no longer “gate trapped,” facing God’s judgment on your sin, but now, God’s Word works in your heart to lead your actions. While we are free to enjoy all of the gifts that God has given us in life, our houses, our vineyards, our belongings, our jobs, our hobbies, our world, while we are free to enjoy these things, God’s Word asks us to stay in the gate in our minds. Stay in the gate, share that freedom of forgiveness with others, tell them what they’ll find in the gate of God, look for ways to support the poor, needy, sick, depressed, troubled, and victims of crime. We seek to do good; we want to establish justice; we want to use our lives to serve others.

You are free; stay in the gate.

Psalm 119:25-32 - “Today’s Service is Brought to You by the Letter ‘D’”

18th Sunday after Pentecost (Year B - Lutheran Worship readings)
Saturday, October 7, and Sunday, October 8, 2006

Sesame Street, the children’s television program on public television, has always kind of mimicked commercial television, especially when they close show the saying, “Sesame Street is brought to you today by the letter ‘D’ and the number ‘10’.” The kids’ show has sponsors—sponsors from the alphabet and numbers.

Well, in a similar way, today’s service is brought to you by the letter ‘D’. The reason the letter ‘D’ is a sponsoring today’s worship service is because of our reading from Psalm 119, verses 25-32 featured on the cover of your bulletin—if you’d keep that handy for the sermon.

Psalm 119 is the longest psalm, 176 verses. It’s an acrostic psalm, meaning that it’s organized around the alphabet. The psalms of the Old Testament were originally written in Hebrew, and there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. So Psalm 119 has 22 sections, one section for each of the letters of the alphabet. Each section has 8 verses, with each verse starting with a word that begins with the same letter. Verses 25-32, then, are the daleth section, the Hebrew letter D, with each verse starting with a word that begins with D.

The writer of Psalm 119 probably designed it as an acrostic, using this repetition of letters in alphabetical order, so that people could more easily memorize the poem. It’s an educational tool, so that someone could keep God’s Word in their head.

So that’s why today’s service is brought to you by the letter ‘D’, because we’re focusing on the daleth section, the D section of Psalm 119.

Of course, most of our English translations just translate the Hebrew words, but they don’t keep the alliteration, they don’t try to make all of the lines begin with D. I was doing some research, though, and found some translators and a poet who developed a version of Psalm 119 that does try to repeat in English that poetic art of each line starting with the same letter.

What you have on the cover of the bulletin is my arrangement of many different versions, trying to let you hear something that has the poetry, meaning, and imagery of the original. I want you to hear how Scripture can sing with God’s truth, how the Psalm was constructed carefully to paint a picture in your mind of what it means to trust in God’s Word.

So now, listen again as I read these verses of Psalm 119. Listen for the pattern of D’s; watch for the imagery; and then we’ll unpack this beautiful section of poetry, a beautiful section of God’s Word.

Psalm 119:25-32
Translation arranged by Pastor Ben Squires

Dirt is my soul’s adornment, six feet under,
Give me new life according to Your Word!
Didn’t I pour my heart out? And you answered me;
Teach me Your will:
Direct my understanding in Your ways
So I may study Your wondrous acts.
Depression has dulled me, has drained me, has melted my soul—
Yet the sound of Your voice would solidify me.
Detour my footsteps around false ways,
And graciously lead me in Your instruction.
Determining to follow the way of faithfulness,
I set Your governance before me.
Dear Lord, I cling to Your testimonies;
Do not let them mock me and my Bible.
Dashing, I will run in the way of Your commandments
When you stretch my heart!

This version of Psalm 119:25-32 is compiled and/or inspired by the following versions: English Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society Version, God’s Word to the Nations, The Psalms: Chronologically Arranged (Hibbard, 1856), and Gordon Jackson’s The Lincoln Psalter (1997). For more information, see endnotes.


Dirt. It begins with dirt. Our soul’s are clothed in dirt, the kind of dirt that’s six feet under. We’re not talking about getting muddy while working in the yard or riding an ATV. We’re talking about the dirt of the grave. The emotion, the spiritual condition that the writer is describing is the feeling that your soul is dying, symbolically already buried.

Dirt. That’s what you feel covering up your soul when you’re mourning for a loved one, when you’ve been dragged through the mud by life, when life’s circumstances threaten to take you under, when you’ve let yourself go too far down that swampy road dug by the devil. Dirt. You’re feeling death haunt your soul with a cold, clammy, closed-in layer of deep, dark earth.

Yet, if that first line of the poem puts us down in the grave, then the second part of the line comes just as quickly to make us alive again. “Give me new life according to Your Word!” It’s a resurrection for the soul; it’s a shaking off of the grave’s dirt. When all hope seemed lost as your soul was six feet under the dirt of sin, suddenly God speaks, God resurrects, God raises you up to new life.

Certainly, this first line talks about Jesus Christ Himself. On Good Friday, Christ felt that dirt of death, but then on Easter, the Father raised Him to new life. Now, looking at these words, we see that what happened for Christ will also happen for us. That first sentence of poetry tells the whole story of Law and Gospel, the whole story of God’s plan of salvation, saving sinners like you and me from death, raising us to new life through His Word.

So now the poem continues, exploring what God has done, exploring it from different directions, as we try to get our heads around this incredible truth, this incredible thing that God has done.

“Didn’t I pour my heart out?” In other words, “Didn’t I confess everything? Didn’t I tell you, Lord, every sin that I keep in this heart of mine?” Confession is death talk again; confession leads us back to seeing the dirt grave we deserve.

Yet, again, as quickly as we speak God’s Law, we hear His gracious, loving answer. “And You answered me, Lord; Teach me Your will.” What is God’s will? His will is to give us new life according to His Word. His will, His heart of hearts is to forgive our sins, to save us from death, to pull us out of the dirt grave. Confession of sins doesn’t end with judgment; God follows it up with this hopeful knowledge of His will—He wants to save us.

And now that we know this beautiful, gracious news, well, now we pray in the psalm asking, “Direct my understanding in Your ways/So I may study Your wondrous acts.” If it’s no longer true that our souls are headed for eternal dirt, if we don’t have to be afraid that God will destroy us because of our sins, then the best way to keep ourselves from feeling that we’re doomed is by studying God, studying His wondrous acts. The poem shifts to a prayer asking God to “direct my understanding,” to work His Spirit in our hearts and minds to see His truth for our lives. May we not just go by what we see, hear, and feel; may we go through life through the understanding that comes from God’s Word.

Yet, that’s sometimes easier to say than to believe. Sometimes it’s easy for us to come here, nod our heads in agreement, thinking, “Yes, Jesus loves me, this I know,” but really, we don’t feel loved, we don’t feel secure, we’re still concerned that we’re sinful, dirty, creepy, evil.

The writer of Psalm 119 certainly knew that it was hard to hold onto God’s truth, and so the poem keeps coming back to the feelings of sorrow and fear as it does in the next line: Depression has dulled me, has drained me, has melted my soul.” Here’s one of those powerful images to help us understand the truth being described here. The image is of melted wax. Depression—not in a clinical, psychological sense, but just in the sense of overwhelming sorrow—has hit us in our souls like flame to wax. Faced with sorrow over our sins, our souls melt. Our souls can’t stand up on their own against the flame of the devil, the flame that slowly turns us into a puddle of melted wax.

But again, the poem immediately comes back with God’s Word that renews: “Yet the sound of Your voice would solidify me.” God’s Word takes our melted souls and makes them solid again. The puddle becomes a candle again. God’s Word renews, restores, re-forms, re-molds, reshapes us. That depression, that overwhelming sorrow, that flame of Satan is completely extinguished by God’s Word. God’s Word gives us shape again.

Another line, and now another image and prayer. “Detour my footsteps around false ways,/And graciously lead me in Your instruction.” The only way to avoid that depression and sorrow, those lies of Satan that would drag us down into the dirt again, the only way to avoid that is to follow God. The image sets up a prayer with two requests: put me on the detour and bring me to the right road. In praying “Detour my footsteps around false ways,” we’re asking God to put up all of the barricades to block the dangerous road ahead, to mark the detour that goes around Satan’s road, and really, this prayer asks God to grab our feet and make them walk in the way of His detour.

Keep that image in your mind, because the prayer continues with the same picture. God has grabbed your feet to put you on the detour, but He’s going to continue moving your feet in the right direction, in the way of His instruction. If God were to let go of our feet, or if we shake off God’s hands, we’d be right back to climbing over the “Road Closed” barricades, sneaking around the cones and barrels and fences, so that we could go on that muddy road of Satan. So we pray with this image that God would grab our feet, make us walk in His ways.

And just in case you might be thinking that maybe God doesn’t know just how hard it is to walk away from the dangerous road of Satan, just in case you think God doesn’t understand what it means to be tempted to go down the wrong road, just remember that this image and prayer certainly describes Jesus Himself. Jesus was tempted by Satan. For 40 days, Satan kept trying to get Jesus to climb the barricades, to head down the dangerous, muddy road, but for 40 days, Jesus resisted and followed the way, the instruction of God the Father. Jesus knows what it means to be tempted, and Jesus knows that without His help there’s no way we can follow the detour and get on the path of the Father. So you can be very sure that Jesus is kneeling down throughout your life, grabbing your feet—even when you’re kicking Him—and He makes your feet go in the right direction.

Melted wax that’s been made solid again. Wandering feet that are made to walk the right road. And now another image in this poem that shows how God changes our hearts: “Determining to follow the way of faithfulness, I set Your governance before me.” Jesus moving our feet in the right direction gives us the determination to follow the way of God the faithful One. Wanting to follow the Lord, we set “His governance” before us.

“Governance,” the word here, is often translated as “judgments,” and I suppose it really has the sense of the written opinion of a Supreme Court Justice. In order to follow God, we read His Word, read the Bible, which is like His court opinion, His ruling on what it means to follow His Law. Yet, the word means more than just what happens in our Judicial Branch. It means more than what the courts and judges say. It also covers the Executive Branch—how God as our President leads us; it also covers the Congressional Branch—how God writes His laws. We set all of this before us; we read everything about how God rules, reigns, governs, judges, decides; and that’s what will show us the way of faithfulness. That’s how we’ll know what it means to follow God.

But again, remember the determination to follow God’s governance comes from Jesus moving our feet down this right path; we are just melted, muddy souls without Jesus, and so it’s taking the Lord’s determination to keep us on the path of truth.

Perhaps, that’s why the writer of the psalm then hints at some fear that he’s going to backtrack, get off the right path, sin again, fall away. He says, “Dear Lord, I cling to Your testimonies; Do not let them mock me and my Bible.” It’s like saying, “Lord, I’m trying to hold onto Your Word, but everyone around me is laughing at me, making fun of me for carrying my Bible.” There’s a real sense that this whole determination to follow God’s ways could very quickly end.

And isn’t that how life really is? Sometimes I haven’t really wanted to read Psalm 119, because it just seemed absurd to say things like, “So I may study your wondrous acts.” I know myself, and you know yourself, and sometimes the furthest thing from our minds is God’s Word. Psalm 119 seemed so happy-go-lucky, so falsely committed, like a fake believer who says, “Oh, yes, I love God’s Law; I never think about anything else.”

Yet, already in the D section, we’ve seen how the writer is fully admitting his sins, his need for God’s help. He knows that God provides the truth, but God is also the One who gives new life, makes us solid again, detours our footsteps, and gives us that determination of faith.

So when the writer says, “Don’t let them mock me,” the poem’s still right with us today. The poem’s still speaking from our experience. The poem is still all too aware that we’re not going to be able to cling to God’s Word if God doesn’t help us when we’re under threat of mocking, insults, and more. It’s like saying, “If those people laugh at me for going to Bible study, Lord, I might just give up. You’ve got to help me!”

And that brings us up to the last line, the last image of the D section of Psalm 119: “Dashing, I will run in the way of Your commandments/When you stretch my heart!” Again, at first the image seems so self-assured: “Oh, I am faithful to Jesus; I run in the way of His commandments,” but really, it’s nothing like that. The writer doesn’t say he decided to follow Jesus, that he always makes sure to follow Jesus; the writer isn’t bragging about being faithful to Jesus.

Instead, everything hinges on the last phrase, the last image: “When you stretch my heart!” If you run without stretching, you’re going to pull a muscle or worse and seriously injure yourself. You can’t just run without helping your muscles to be ready to move and work.

In that same, we can’t run after God without stretching, but notice in the psalm, we’re not the ones who can do the stretching. Our hearts need to be stretched, and that’s something only God can do. If we try to run without God stretching our hearts, we’re going to pull a muscle, pull up lame, be on the disabled list, be out of the game, lose the faith.

However, with God stretching our hearts, with God’s Spirit working in our souls, with God bringing us out of the dirt grave, solidifying our melted wax puddles, detouring our footsteps, giving us determination of faithfulness, with God stretching our hearts to make room for faith, then surely we will run in the way of His commandments.

So today’s service is brought to you by the letter “D”—the “D” section of Psalm 119. But really today’s service is brought to you by God, His action. While at first it seems that Psalm 119 talks as if we are the ones who will faithfully follow God’s ways; as we’ve seen, God is the actor. God is the One who works faith in our hearts, raising us from the dead on the Last Day through Jesus Christ. As we run the race of faith, the crowds are lining the road, cheering and shouting, but they are cheering for God, the One who stretches our hearts, the One who gives us faith, forgiveness, love, and salvation.


Exegesis of a Translation: Psalm 119:25-32
Translation arranged by Pastor Ben Squires. This version of Psalm 119:25-32 is compiled and/or inspired by the following versions: English Standard Version (esv), New Jewish Publication Society Version (jps), God’s Word to the Nations (gwtn), The Psalms: Chronologically Arranged (Hibbard, 1856) (pca), and Gordon Jackson’s The Lincoln Psalter (1997) (gj). Abbreviations below show which version(s) are represented or provided inspiration for that line.

Dirt is my soul’s adornment, six feet under, (gj)
Give me new life according to Your Word! (esv)
Didn’t I pour my heart out? (gj)
And you answered me; (esv)
Teach me Your will: (esv, gj)
Direct my understanding in Your ways (gj, esv)
So I may study Your wondrous acts. (jps)
Depression has dulled me, has drained me, has melted my soul—(gj,esv)
Yet the sound of Your voice would solidify me (gj, esv).
Detour my footsteps around false ways, (gj)
And graciously lead me in Your instruction. (esv,gwtn)
Determining to follow the way of faithfulness, (pca,esv)
I set Your governance before me. (esv)
Dear Lord, I cling to Your testimonies; (esv)
Do not let them mock me and my Bible. (gj)
Dashing, I will run in the way of Your commandments (esv)
When you stretch my heart! (esv)

This arrangement © 2006 Benjamin C. Squires.

Ephesians 6:10-20 - “Water Armor”

15th Sunday after Pentecost (Year B - Lutheran Worship readings)
Saturday, September 16, and Sunday, September 17, 2006


Back in the 1980’s, there was a television cartoon series called Super Friends which brought together a group of superheroes in one league of justice—heroes like Superman, Batman & Robin, Wonder Woman, and others. The Wonder Twins were a pair of young superheroes, still learning about their powers and how to best help everyone else. Zan and Jayna, the twins, could transform when they put their hands together and said, “Wonder Twins powers, activate!” Jayna could transform into any animal, and Zan would transform into water in any form—liquid, gas, or ice.

It wouldn’t seem like Zan’s power to become water would be that helpful—a bucket of water doesn’t seem like it would stop super villains, but Zan took the power of water to cause machines to fail, people to slip, villains to be frozen in a block of ice. So really, for the Wonder Twins, Zan’s ability to transform into water was highly successful for the cause of good and justice. It was like Zan had water armor, a way to make water protect him, shield him, and help him defeat enemies.

Today Jude got his water armor in baptism. The water was placed on Jude’s head, and that water will protect him, shield him, and bring victory over the enemy. In fact, we’ve all received water armor in baptism. It’s not Zan’s superpowers, and we didn’t have to say, “Wonder Twins powers, activate,” but in what was said at Jude’s baptism, and at your baptism, those words, “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” those words of God bring about something more powerful than any superhero. Those words put God’s water armor on all of us when we were baptized, and now those words put God’s water armor on Jude.

Our son Jude was born on June 6. Working with Lutheran Social Services, Jude’s birthparents, Chelsea and Julius, asked to meet us back in March. Then Chelsea and Julius asked us to adopt their baby. On June 6, we were with Chelsea and Julius in the hospital when Jude was born. In July, Chelsea and Julius went to court to end their parental rights, legally making it possible for us to adopt Jude. That day Jude left his foster care home and came home with us. Susan and I are foster parents through Lutheran Social Services until in January when the adoption will be legally complete. However, Chelsea and Julius will always be a part of Jude’s life. They are here with us today, and they will always be his birthparents, always a very important part of who Jude is.

Now, though, more than Jude having birthparents or adoptive parents, more than any of that, now Jude is part of the family of God through baptism. And looking at the reading from Ephesians where Paul is talking about putting on the full armor of God, I see in there a description of what has happened for Jude in baptism.

Paul says, “Put on the full armor of God,” and describes this spiritual armor from God that protects us in the spiritual battle against the devil’s evil forces. When I read these verses thinking about Jude’s baptism today, I realized that we often talk about how baptism saves us, baptism creates faith in our hearts, baptism works the Holy Spirit in our souls, baptism brings forgiveness, life, and salvation. So it’s really not so strange to say that this armor of God that Paul talks about, it’s watery armor. One way God puts His armor on us is through the waters of baptism.

We wouldn’t think that water armor would be very helpful in a battle, but just like with Zan the Wonder Twin, there’s more power in water than we might imagine. We wouldn’t think that baptism would be very helpful in a battle against unseen forces, the armies of Satan, but there truly is God’s power in the water and Word of baptism. Jude got his water armor today, and it’s more than we might think. It is the Lord’s water armor which brings all of the benefits that Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter 6.

What does it mean to have the Lord’s water armor? Or to ask it another way, why does Paul even say that we need armor? Because we can’t be strong on our own. Yes, in baptism, Jude has new life, we all receive new life through the Holy Spirit in baptism, but as one commentary said, “If the new man were to depend on himself alone, he would soon fail and be crushed” (Stoeckhardt).

If Jude tries to depend on himself to keep his faith and win the fight against Satan, Jude will fail. If any of us try to do this on our own, we will quickly find that all hope is lost.

So when Paul says put on the armor, he’s not saying that we’re putting our own armor on. We’re not trying to make ourselves strong. We’re not trying to do this on our own. Instead, Paul says, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” The strength comes from the Lord, so let the water armor drip down your body, let the water of baptism wash over you and protect you against the devil’s schemes.

Jerome was one of the early church fathers, and I really love how he explains what it means to put on this water armor, this armor of God. Jerome said that putting on the armor of God means the same as putting on Christ. And sure enough, you look at Paul’s descriptions of the different parts of the armor, the ways that these items symbolize God’s spiritual protection, and each part describes Christ.

The belt is truth, and Christ is truth. The breastplate is righteousness, and Christ is righteousness. We are armed with sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh.

This water armor, this spiritual armor that comes to us through baptism, this armor is Christ Himself. He is the One that protects our bodies and souls against sin, death, and the devil. Jude has that water armor now through baptism; we all have that water armor through baptism. We all have been clothed with the armor of God, clothed with Christ Himself.

And this means that God is near. The whole image of wearing armor, wearing Christ, shows us how close God is to us.

While we face the spiritual battle that goes on around us everyday, while we face temptations from Satan, God isn’t offering some kind of distant protection.

This isn’t like some game of tag where you could be tagged “it” unless you’re on safe. In tag, there’s only one place, and if you’re not near it, you might get tagged. With God’s protection, though, with His water armor, it is on you. You are wearing it. In fact, the metaphor of clothes gets at the idea of God’s protection always being with you, but it’s even closer to you than clothes. God’s protection is around your soul; His water armor guards your heart. God’s protection is with you at your most vulnerable place—the very soul that’s under attack by Satan.

That lends a whole other level of joy to what Moses was saying in today’s Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy. Moses said, “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to Him?” Other people had religions with distant gods, but Moses is right in saying our Lord is different. He is near, as near as can be, protecting us against the enemy that seeks to destroy us for eternity.

Paul uses this metaphor of armor which brings out that image of the spiritual battle that is taking place around us and in us. However, one war is over—our war with God. Another early church father named Chrysostom explained this, saying that we had been in a war with God. Our sinfulness made us enemies of God. Our sinful ways pitted us against God’s holy ways.

Then in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God brings an end to the war between us and Him while us preparing us for the new war, the war against Satan. Once we were Satan’s allies, we were completely sinful, we were turned against God, we were fighting against God’s ways, doing the work of the devil, but now through faith, through the Holy Spirit, through the waters of baptism, now we are God’s allies. The tables have been turned. God took hold of us, and instead of destroying us as His enemies, instead He gave us His armor, His uniform, made us a part of His army, His team, and now sends us into battle against Satan, our former commander, our former coach. The tables have been turned on Satan, and Jesus has him running scared.

Chrysostom said it this way: “As we are making war with the devil, we are making peace with God.” If we are in a battle against Satan and his ways, then it means that we have peace with God. And while in our lives this battle rages on, this battle continues between sinfulness and holiness, this battle between Satan’s lies and God’s truth, while this battle continues in us, the Good News is that the ultimate peace, the ultimate victory has already been won by Jesus Christ on the cross.

There’s no question about who will win—Satan or Jesus—because Jesus defeated sin, death, and the devil when He died and rose again. When Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God, when Paul draws these pictures preparing us for the spiritual battle, Paul is saying, “Put on the victorious armor, the victorious uniform of Christ.”

As Satan is lashing out against us, trying to win some small battles against even though the writing is on the wall, even though he knows he will never rule the day, as Satan continues to tempt and torment and trouble our souls, so the water armor of God protects us from this unseen enemy.

You won’t see the enemy coming. Yes, we can see when other people oppose us, but there are also spiritual forces at work, wielding their power in the world. The devil is both cunning and powerful, but his cunning hides his power from our eyes, duping us and thereby ambushing us. Wear your helmet at all times. Don’t neglect your armor. (see Stoeckhardt)

And what is the helmet that you must wear at all time: salvation, the truth of how God saves you through Jesus Christ. What is the armor that you can’t leave at home: faith in Christ, remembering how you have been baptized, you have water armor, you have God’s protection against Satan and his tricks.

That’s why we’re always reminding each other about our baptisms. If Jude never thinks about his baptism after today, well, that’s like leaving his armor laying in a heap on the floor while he goes out onto the battlefield. We all need those constant reminders of God’s salvation that comes to us through His Word, through baptism. God’s Word and our baptism clothe us with Christ, give us that full armor, and that’s not something to be left in here while we go out into the world and our daily lives.

Take your armor with you today; take your faith with you today. If you are tired of falling for Satan’s tricks—the ways he tempts you to sin, the ways he fools you into thinking God doesn’t know what He’s talking about—if you are tired of seeing yourself fall back into old habits as soon as you leave church, then perhaps today is the day to think about taking that full armor of God with you.

God doesn’t expect you to fight off Satan on your own; God sends His protection with you. God doesn’t leave you unguarded while you’re in battle; God gives you water armor, armor around your soul, clothes you with Christ Himself. God doesn’t think that He’s battles you; the war between God and you is over. Instead, God knows that the battle is between you and Satan, your new life in Christ which desires to serve the Lord, that new life is in battle against Satan who still wants you to sin and serve the darkness. God knows the battle that you face, and that’s why He sends you out with His armor, the armor of the winning army, the victorious uniform of God.

When you walk out of here today, don’t think of yourself as going alone. Don’t think that you are leaving God’s fortress and now you’re unguarded against attacks in this unseen spiritual battle.

Instead, when you walk out of here today, touch your shoulders, your chest, your heart, your head, and realize that there’s armor on every inch of you. Touch your heart again, and remember that God’s water armor covers you with His protection and mighty power. His protection, power, and salvation are dripping off of you, you have been soaked in baptism with His water armor.