Friday, June 28, 2013

Touching Base! Part 210

Heart Conversations with God 2013 - Part 3
Fear: friend or foe?



(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)

This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
What do you do when your transmission fails, your basement floods, and the teacher wants to speak to you after school about your son (…again)? Or when your house is broken into, your contract isn’t renewed, and you’re awaiting medical results? Or when your livestock is stolen, your employees are killed, your kids all die, and you get an itchy skin disease?

Let’s start off with some questions.

1. Have there have been times in your life that you did not take the next step because of fear?
2. Is your fear often rooted in the truth or in a lie?
3. Did you grow up in a home that used fear as an unhealthy tool for discipline?
4. The greatest thing that you fear today is..... ?

In part 3 of our summer series, Heart Conversations with God, we looked at Psalm 49. This series is intended to enrich our language of prayer, and to expand our thinking on how we can pray. The Psalms were used in the liturgical worship of the Jews. As they recited, sang or listened to these Psalms, their language was enriched and their theology was deepened.

The big idea that we looked at was, fear can be a friend and fear can be a foe. Fear can act like a warning system that tells us what is to be avoided and what we should flee. It can also be an enemy that restricts us and confines us. Note what one writer says about the pervasiveness of fear:

“All anxieties are in some form rooted in fear and many people never
get past their fears and live restricted lives because of their fears.”

Is fear your friend or foe?

Psalm 49

V.1-4 - Who is the writer addressing?
Proverb - a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people
Riddle - A perplexing saying or question - so we should expect to find a question perhaps.

V.5-20
What is riddle?
Where is the proverb in this text? Check out v.12, 20

Notice that while the audience may be broad in v.1-4, the writer focuses in on two types of people - let me introduce them to you:
Mr. Yikes (as in “Yikes! I’m scared!”)
We find him in v.5. The writer is asking a question that, no doubt, is meant to address some in his audience who were fearful. Notice how v.16 illustrates that there were those who “feared” (were overawed by) the rich. The writer is saying he has no fear as a means of encouraging those who have fear.

Mr. On Top Of The World
We are introduced to him in v.5b and 6. Mr. OTW represents the wealthy who have chosen to use their wealth to oppress and deceive the Mr. Yikes’ of the world. They are on top of the world because they have all they want, all they think they need and can do whatever they want. At least that’s what they think!
Note the contrast thus far. Mr. Yikes has fear, Mr. OTW has no fear.

What does the writer of the Psalm attempt to do?
How does the writer attempt to dismantle, to diffuse the fear of Mr. Yikes?
How does the writer attempt to instill some healthy fear into Mr. OTW?

Based on the proverb (v.12, 20) and the whole context, what is the lie that Mr. Yikes is believing? How would you state it? On Sunday I stated it this way,

“My oppressor has ultimate power, a power that I need to cower to.”

Would you agree that fear often can find its life blood, its nutrition and sustenance from a lie. It is parasitic. It sees something we believe (that isn’t true) and attaches itself to that lie and grows. Thus the object of our fear has power over us that is unfounded and not rooted in reality. If you dispel the lie, you dispel the fear even though the object might still be very real.

What lies often feed our fears? Can you identify with Mr. Yikes? If so, in what way?

Now think of the proverb and the overall context from Mr. OTW’s perspective. What lie does it reveal he believes? This is how I would state it.

“My ‘stuff’ is my god and it will sustain and define me.”

If he believes the proverb, fear is not dismantled but infused and planted in his heart. He will come to the realization that what he has been trusting in is faulty. Healthy fear (reverence, worship) will lead him to the true God.

Know anybody that needs a little healthy fear in their life?
Do you see the contrast of these two characters? For Mr. Yikes, a lie is feeding his unhealthy fear. Fear is a foe! For Mr. OTW, a lie is preventing him from having healthy fear. The writer wants fear to be his friend and lead him away from that which will cause him to perish like the beasts.

Finally note that both are experiencing a hindered relationship with God:
• For Mr. Yikes, the fear of man has skewed his relationship with God. Fear inflates the object to such a great degree that God gets lost in its shadow. The writer of this Psalm is trying to help Mr. Yikes get perspective. Notice v.15 - who is the redeemer? “To redeem” means to buy back someone from slavery or from incarceration as a prisoner of war. Note the contrast with how money cannot redeem (v.7-11). I think that for Mr. Yikes the writer is attempting to not only remove fear as a foe-fear based in a lie, but to reestablish some healthy fear (reverence, awe) of God. Have you ever found that fear rooted in lies can distort your relationship with God? This is what was happening to Mr. Yikes. Fear was a foe.

• How about Mr. OTW? Is his relationship with God distorted? Again notice the contrast. Mr. OTW, needs some healthy fear to cause him to renounce his faulty faith foundations and embrace the fear (worship, reverence) of God. The writer is trying to scare the “stuff” out of Mr. OTW so he will fear God. Fear, if embraced, would be Mr. OTW’s best friend, saving him from peril. Know anybody whose relationship with God is hindered, nonexistent or low on the priority list because they have bought the lie that “stuff” can satisfy? Do you need to pray for anyone that God would scare the “stuff” right out of them?
Let me challenge you to pray for Mr. Yikes and Mr. OTW this week. There are many in our world who need to be released from fear that is rooted in a long list of lies. Many Christ-followers have had their relationship with God deeply impacted by unhealthy fear. There are also many in our world who could be seen as identifying with Mr. OTW. They need a good dose of healthy fear to move them away from building their life on faulty foundations and draw them to the Savior.

If you think about these two characters, they should really switch names.
• Mr Yikes should be “on top of the world”, for the Lord is his redeemer.
• Mr OTW should be “yikes” for the Lord says of him he will perish like the beasts.

Fear: Friend or Foe? Which is it for you?

Mark
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com

Monday, June 24, 2013

Touchng Base! Part 209

Heart Conversations with God 2013 - Part 2
Rouse Yourself!



(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)

This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.
What do you do when your transmission fails, your basement floods, and the teacher wants to speak to you after school about your son (…again)? Or when your house is broken into, your contract isn’t renewed, and you’re awaiting medical results? Or when your livestock is stolen, your employees are killed, your kids all die, and you get an itchy skin disease?

Do you scream that the universe is unjust? Do you curse God? Do you seek consolation from friends? Do you repeat, “Your will be done” over and over? Do you stop praying altogether?

This sermon series on the Psalms is about prayer. Pastor Mark showed in Part 1 that the psalms are often addressed to God like prayers and fall into several categories: penitential, liturgical, praise, etc.

Psalm 44 is a prayer of honest and difficult questions for God, interspersed with stark accusations – “You sold your people for a pittance,” “you crushed us” – and commands – “Rouse yourself!” (yes, again addressed to God).

Question: When you have your own hard questions, do you pose them to God? Have you ever accused Him of something?

The people speaking in Psalm 44 are pretty clear that they’ve done nothing to deserve rejection, defeat in battle, mockery, and misery (and we’ll have to take their word for it). They’re pretty clear that they would almost expect all this pain if they had been worshipping other gods or drifting away. But they haven’t. Injustice.

Job – whose kids died and, to add itch to bereavement, was then covered in boils – also was careful to proclaim his innocence (and God agrees with him). And yet the very worst befell him.

This is the Bible, not the prosperity gospel. This is not a message of “follow God as a path to earthly success and riches”.

Question: How do you think of God’s goodness and power when you are “brought down to the dust” (Psalm 44:25)?

If you turn from God, He may allow events to teach and redirect you just like a good Dad cares about his kids and doesn’t let them get away with disobedience. Our actions and choices have consequences: managing money poorly may result in debt and angry spouses may result in unhappy marriages, and we can’t scream injustice when these happen.

This is not what Psalm 44 and the Book of Job are about though. They are about the silences, times when the only noise is our questioning. Psalm 44 gives us a model, even permission, to question. For God can handle our questioning.

But can we handle His response?

If “Be careful what you ask for” is true, at least be ready for God’s answer when you question. It will be a divine answer for sure and, therefore, probably not the one you expect – more of a “response”, perhaps, than an answer.

Question: When you question God in prayer (if you do), do you actually expect a response? Can you think of an unanticipated – or unwelcome – divine response that you received?

Psalm 44 is mostly just a one-sided prayer. Only at the end is there a glimmer – and that’s all it is – of a potential response: “Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your [here it comes…] unfailing love” (v. 26, emphasis mine). Even as the psalm ends the people are simply entreating and commanding God to help, but they have, even while miserable and baffled, faith in His unfailing love.

Read: Take time this week to read the 4 short chapters in Job that are God’s own speech (Job 38-41).

Question: Is the speech comforting? Does it make any sense? Remember, it should probably be in red letters in your Bible. It’s God talking.

Question: How is God’s relationship to Job similar to His relationship to Adam in Genesis? God’s speech in Job is all about His creation, and it is only by comparing Job and Adam that I can get comfort from that speech.

Finally, Psalm 44 is quoted by the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:36. Paul doesn’t say that, with the New Testament, all will be answers and prosperity and comfort. It is in the context of writing about persecution and famine that he quotes the despair of Psalm 44. However, he then writes some famous words about the love of God (Romans 8:37-39). Read that, too, this week.

Eric.

If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com

Monday, June 10, 2013

Touching Base! Part 208

Heart Conversations with God 2013 - Part 1
What's in a Sandwich


(You can find a recording of this sermon here.)

This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.

On June 9th, we started our summer series entitled Heart Conversations With God. One of the goals of this series is to enrich our prayer language with God by looking at some of the Psalms. Some of us get stuck - how do I talk to God? What is permissible? How do I take my conversations with God deeper? We trust this series will take you deeper.

First, some background material on the Psalms.

The 150 psalms are organized into five books. Book I (Ps. 1–41) is Davidic (i.e. composed by King David and compiled prior to his death). Book II (Ps. 42–72) was most likely added in the era of Solomon. Books III and IV (Ps. 73–89; 90–106) were probably collected during the Exile, and Book V (Ps. 107–150) was collected in the time of Ezra. This last book is the most liturgical.

In The Old Testament Speaks (Harper and Row), Dr. Samuel Schultz notes that the psalms “express the common experience of the human race. Composed by numerous authors, the various psalms express the emotions, personal feelings, attitudes, gratitude, and interests of the average individual. Universally, people have identified their lot in life with that of the psalmists.”

The Psalms were written over an extended period of time, most probably coming between 1000 and 400 B.C. They were written by different authors, and at several times new groups of psalms were added to the collection. Seventy-three of the psalms were written by David, and forty-nine are anonymous.

The psalms were used in public worship in Israel, as well as for private devotions. They show us how intimate and free our relationship with God can be, as we share every thought and feeling with Him.

➔ “Selah” - This word appears 71 times in the psalms. The word means “to lift up” and most believe it is a musical sign, perhaps indicating a pause.

While the book of Psalms is not organized by topic but by the era they were added, it does show a number of repeated themes, so we can classify some psalms by their content. The following types have been identified:
  • Praise psalms, focusing on the person of God and praise Him by describing His nature or His qualities. This type of psalm is illustrated in Psalms 33, 103, and 139.
  • Historical psalms, reviewing God’s dealings with His people. Illustrations are Psalms 68, 78, 105, and 106.
  • Relational psalms, exploring the personal relationship which exists between God and the believer. They are illustrated in Psalms 8, 16, 20, 23, and 55.
  • Imprecatory psalms, in which the worshiper calls on God to overthrow the wicked. Among them are Psalms 35, 69, 109, and 137.
  • Penitential psalms, where the psalmist expresses sorrow over his failures and confesses his sins to God. Examples are Psalms 6, 32, 51, 102, 130, and 143.
  • Messianic psalms, referring in some way to Christ, who is to come from David’s family line. Many such psalms are indicated by references in the New Testament. Psalms which the New Testament indicates refer to Christ are Psalms 2, 8, 16, 22, 40, 45, 69, 72, 89, 102, 109–110, and 132. Others also may have messianic elements or make prophetic references.
  • Liturgical psalms, used in Israel’s worship at specific times of the year or on special occasions. While most of the psalms were used in public worship, these are linked with such events as coming up to Jerusalem for one of the annual festivals. Liturgical psalms may be illustrated by Psalm 30 (used in the dedication of the temple), 92 (a psalm for the Sabbath), and Psalms 120–134.

Psalm 146.

Take some time to read through this Psalm. As we noted on Sunday, the psalm is a “chiasmus” - it begins and ends with verses depicting the object of praise (vv. 1–2; 10). Like a sandwich, remember from Sunday?

The big idea of this text is, better to praise God who is forever versus man who returns to the ground!

V.3-4 Why is putting our trust in men a bad idea?
V.5-6 How are men and God seen as different in this text?
Why would the writer of this Psalm call the person who puts their trust in God blessed?

This next section is where we spent our time on Sunday. One of the “so what’s?” of this text is, praise doesn’t disconnect us from the needs of the world, but connects us to the needs around us.
How does this text do that?
• It lists the needy (v.7-9)
Note the needy mentioned in this text.
Notice v3. How are these people needy?

• It illustrates how God meets these needs (v.7-9)
What are the actions God is involved in?
On Sunday I talked about partial and ultimate fulfillment of God’s actions. How do you reconcile this?

Imagine that a Jewish person enters into the synagogue and by using this Psalm in their praise and prayer focus they are reminded of the needs of the world. Praise doesn’t disconnect them from the needs of the world, but connects them to the needs around them.

Not only would they have been reminded of the needy, they would have been aware of the countless Old Testament texts that spoke of Israel’s responsibility to meet the needs of the oppressed. For an example see Lev 19:9,10, Deut 15:11. They were to be the hands and feet of God on the earth!

How is our prayer and praise to be any different today? Bottom line, it isn’t! Jesus clearly defined His ministry by talking about the needy. Check out Luke 4:18-19. Now, today, we are the body of Christ, sent out to be Jesus in the world in which He has placed us. We are the body of Christ... can you think of examples in the NT that show the church engaged with the alien, the fatherless, the widow?

Here is your homework assignment. In this series we are talking about enriching and expanding our language of prayer.

  1. Prayerfully read this Psalm each day this week
  2. Ask God to show you who are the oppressed, the hungry, the prisoners, the blind, the bowed down, the alien, the fatherless and the widow in your life. For example there might be a literal prisoner you need to go and visit. However, there are other kinds of prisons that people live in - the prison of addiction, of self hate, of isolation and marginalization. How can your friendship help them find release?
  3. What is He asking you to do?
  4. As we think of Constance Lake, our summer focus, how might you describe their state? What might God be asking of you regarding our First Nations focus? Go… Pray… Give?

Our heart conversations with God can expand our world as we embrace the rich language of the Psalms. Praise doesn’t disconnect us from the needs of the world but connects us to the needs around us.


Mark
If interested in joining or starting a small group contact bethelcommunitygroups@gmail.com