Sermon # 1024
January 16, 2011
Colossians 3:1-17
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Spiritual Formation in Christ”
Jesus once said: “The Kingdom of the heavens is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened” (Matthew 13:33).
Any of you who have ever baked bread know the truth behind Jesus’ statement. A bit of yeast affects the entire loaf in such a way that permeates the loaf. The yeast infuses all the other ingredients giving the bread its fullness. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is the yeast of our life. A bit of the kingdom mixed into our lives will permeate everything about us. No part of our life is unaffected by the kingdom of God. A passage of scripture memorized and lived out will affect all our life. A prayer for us, or by us, will change our life. The routine of worship will enrich our being. A Christian spiritual discipline practiced will reform our spirit.
Today I want to lift up spiritual formation in Christ, the “yeast” of spiritual growth. There are a lot of religions and movements and philosophies in the world that speak of the spiritual, that offer opportunities for spiritual formation. But when we refer to spiritual formation, it is, or should always be, spiritual formation in Christ. Christian spiritual formation is about taking on the character of Christ. Spiritual formation is about the change of mind, attitude, and disposition that leads us to be like Christ. Spiritual formation in Christ is about finding ways to infuse a little spiritual yeast into our lives.
Colossians is a good book to study for spiritual formation. Colossians 1-2 engage us in what Dallas Willard calls – enthralling the mind with Christ. The first two chapters of Colossians teach of the supremacy of Christ in all things. All things were created in him and through him. Paul realized the number of philosophies of the world that threatened the life of the church: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.” And then he speaks of the supremacy of Christ: “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead... If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?” (Colossians 2:8-12, 20).
Christ’s authority is over all things. These writings encourage us to be enthralled with Christ’s supremacy or authority, to be gripped and captivated by the person of Jesus Christ.
When Paul moves to Colossians 3-4, he engages us in the objective of becoming Christ-like. The task in this teaching is to remove all the responses or tendencies of our life that oppose the kingdom of God. The metaphor Paul uses is an outward object to speak of an inward condition: clothing. The church was called to “change clothes.” Put on the fresh garment of Christ. Discard the old clothes – those tattered old clothes of evil desires, malice, slander and the like. They were to strip off the old self with its practices. In spiritual terms this meant being crucified with Christ, an action symbolized at our baptism. In practical terms this meant a change in disposition. We cannot simply keep living the same old life that sins against God and against one another.
To change our clothes is to take off the old, bad habits of our lives. Paul lists some inappropriate activity. He may have been listing some activities he had observed in the community or simply taking some random behaviors he knew to be inappropriate. Paul lists examples of inappropriate behavior for Christians. They are all old clothes to be removed. Take off those old rags of sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. Take off the clothes of bad tempers, irritability, meanness, lying, and toss them in the fire.
Once those clothes are removed we are given new clothes to wear. Paul says: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (3:12-14).
Above all, out on love – putting on love. Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. Love is that favorite shirt that you like to put on in the evenings to relax. Love is that comfortable pair of shoes that you wear when you go out for the day.
Paul gives us some ideas of what wearing these clothes looks like when he says, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (3:15-17).
Paul tells us to do something – to take off the old, put something to death, kill it, hang it on the cross and to put on something else – the character of Christ. Paul does not really tell us HOW to do this. Perhaps this is what he means by the phrase in Philippians “work out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12). Work out what you need to do to live in responsive obedience to Christ. Within the framework of salvation, tend to your life as faithful disciples seeking to please God and grow in Christ.
Did everyone who read what Paul wrote to the Colossians understand what to do and how to do it? How do we do put off the old and put on the new? Well I suggested two weeks ago that we keep the Lord always before us according to Psalm 16:8. I lifted up Paul’s letter of Philippians last Sunday that we seek to know Christ. Today we are looking more specifically at what Psalm 16 and Philippians 3 and Colossians 3 can mean for our life – that some things will be crucified in our life as we seek to keep the Lord ever before us and some things, godly things, will take their place when we are seeking to know Christ.
There are many things the scriptures reveal to us as specific acts of obedience: seeking first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33); loving God and neighbor (Matthew 22:34-40); studying and meditation on scripture (Psalm 1, Proverbs 4:20-23); pursuing God (Psalm 42; 63); worship (Psalm 95:6).
We also learn from what Jesus did: he prayed, he got away for times of solitude and silence, he studied the word of God, he worshipped, he served and taught and preached and healed and showed compassion and treated others with dignity and fairness and kindness and love. The classic spiritual disciplines enable us to be formed in Christ and to have Christ formed in us. Practicing silence offers us the time to escape from the constant noise of life. It frees us from feeling like we have to always have something to say. Solitude places us in a position away from people, phones, internet, television – and isolates us in a positive way so that we might focus on being with God. Be still and know that God is God (Psalm 46). Study of the word enhances our experience of worship and worship feeds our study of the word.
One thing we might consider is asking ourselves when we are going about our daily tasks with the thought of Paul’s words in our minds: Do all things in the name of Jesus…ask ourselves - can I do this or that in the name of Jesus? Is this activity or action something I can truly do in the name of Jesus?
Spiritual formation in Christ is a life long journey. It takes a plan to put to death the earthly. It takes discipline to hang on the cross those things that reject Christ. It takes a plan to put on the heavenly, to seek the things that are above. It takes effort.
Dallas Willard in his book The Great Omission, points out eight issues dealing with spiritual formation in Christ:
1. The first is obedience. Spiritual formation in Christ deals with obedience to Christ’s life and teaching – obedience to the Christ.
2. The second is spirituality, that is, it is a matter of spirit. It is “from above”, like the wind. We cannot see it. And living in a visual oriented culture, we tend to discount the spiritual.
3. Third, spiritual formation is living from the reality of God. This means trusting that the reality presented us in Jesus Christ is the truth! We trust the Bible. We trust God. We trust that we live in the kingdom of God today.
4. Fourth is that spirituality is supernatural. This is again the recognition that our Christian spirituality is from above, from the Spirit, and therefore, from God – God is at work in you.
5. Fifth, spiritual formation is about the process of shaping our spirit – in the sense of shaping our will, shaping the heart to automatically bring us to act and live as citizens of heaven.
6. Sixth, spiritual formation reworks the whole self. We are transformed in this formation spirit, soul, and body. We are not primarily seeking to control actions through this work, but to rework the self in such a way that our actions naturally or supernaturally become natural to us – seeking to get this spiritual yeast to permeate our life.
7. Seventh, transforming our thought life, setting God always before us. Spiritual formation changes how we think.
8. Eighth and last! I mentioned this last Sunday when speaking about grace and works. Grace is not opposed to effort but grace is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude, effort is an action. Spiritual formation in Christ takes effort and it is only by God’s grace that we can take action to grow in Christ.
Spiritual formation in Christ entails obedience, a matter of spirit, lived from the reality of God, supernatural, shaping our will, shaping the whole being, transforming our thoughts, and takes effort! Put off the old garment of earthly desires and put on the new garment of Christ.
“[So] let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another…sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossian 3:15-17). Amen.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Sermons
Sermon # 1023
January 9, 2011
Philippians 3:7-15
Dr. Ed Pettus
“To Know Christ”
Last Sunday I preached on keeping the Lord always before us. Today is along those same thoughts in that we keep the Lord always before us by our knowledge – that is, getting to know Jesus Christ. The reading from Philippians speaks of the value of knowing Christ: “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings.”
Knowing Christ surpasses all things for Paul. We are told that if we have lots of money we will be happy or if we get more stuff, we will be satisfied. If we conform we will be liked. If we accept things as they are we will be balanced. But none of these things are biblical thoughts. The Bible teaches us that there is nothing more important to our lives than knowing God.
The apostle Paul is a classic example of a disciple seeking Christ. He is one of the most important figures in the church of Jesus Christ. Paul was also an important figure before his life as an apostle. He was a Pharisee in the Jewish religion, a very high position. He had all the credentials that made him well known and respected. Paul had a certain status, reputation, and I imagine if he were alive today we would want to meet him as much as any celebrity or famous athlete. But Paul had enemies as well, because the Church had enemies. When Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians he was in prison because of his faith. The Church at Philippi encountered teachers who sought to add requirements to the gospel and sought to confuse Paul’s message. Those enemies would often use their credentials to elevate their own importance and seek to bring credibility to what they taught. Paul was as qualified as anyone of his day and perhaps more so because of his background both as a Jew and an apostle of Christ. Yet Paul regarded all his status and all his credentials as nothing compared to the value of knowing Christ. Paul “boasted” of his status in order to show that it meant nothing to him when it came to knowing Jesus.
Paul wanted to know Christ. Nothing else mattered to him. He didn’t just give up things he could not have cared less about, but he counted everything, even the things that meant the most to him, as garbage in comparison to knowing Christ.
If we were to take the time to look closer at scripture we would find many more references to knowledge than we might expect. Jesus says this: “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life means knowing God and Christ. This also means that eternal life is not something we look to in the distant future or only in heaven, but eternal life is now in knowing God. The more we know, the greater our awareness of the life God gives us.
John tells us in 1 John: “Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments” (1 John 2:3). Obedience to God’s commands is a way of knowing that we know! We have assurance of knowledge when we do what God calls us to do. We develop a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. A real relationship is not in knowing about someone, it is in knowing someone personally. Anyone can read the Bible and know about Jesus, but one who receives Christ and obeys Christ and seeks to be like Christ, this is the one who gets to know the person of Christ.
What does it take to get to know someone? It takes time. It takes talking and listening. It takes sharing life experiences. As we learn more about one another and get to know one another we may begin to share more; we care more for each other, we receive care and give care. We get to know Jesus also by reading and studying his life and his words. We get to know Jesus by what he did and by what he commands us to do. We know more about Jesus through the letters of the early church and how they understood and knew Jesus.
Paul knew that Jesus laid down his life and Paul laid down his own life each day for Christ, and yet, Paul said he had not yet obtained the closeness to Christ for which he was constantly searching. “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus”. There is always more depth to this friendship with Christ. There is more depth to Christ and more depth to the human person, but we live for the most part on the surface of our lives. We become seduced by the superficial, by appearances, by possessions, by the empty promises of a world that never wants to look below the surface. Our tendency is to hide, to mask ourselves so that the surface of our lives is all that is seen.
Paul wanted to get to the depth of Christ, to the resurrection and to his sufferings. We may want to share in his resurrection until we think about it awhile and realize that in order to share in the resurrection we must first die. Die to self, die to the world, die to sin…therefore, we must first become like him in his death. To be like Christ is to share in his suffering and death so that we may also share in his resurrection. Symbolically we do that through our baptism, going under the waters, dying to self, to be raised out of the waters to new life. That is one of the meanings of baptism and in light of Philippians it means we share with Christ in his suffering and resurrection. True friendships share in the ups and the downs of life. To really know someone is to know both the joys and the sufferings of that person. My best friends are among those whom I have shared great tragedies and we have also shared experiences of celebration.
We know something of Christ’s suffering when we suffer, and we take comfort in knowing that Christ understands our suffering because he has suffered himself and has been with us through our own suffering. Paul said in Philippians 1:29: “for it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.” That means that trusting and suffering are both gifts granted by God. Eugene Peterson renders that passage beautifully when he says: “There’s far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There’s also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting.” We share in Christ’s suffering by paying attention to our pain, by learning from it, by trusting that God will bring us through it to something better on the other side. Walter Brueggemann, when writing about the story of the blind man Bartimaeus, says: “Had [Bartimaeus] not cried out in pain, he never would have some to a new life of discipleship” (p. 56, Finally Comes the Poet). That is, our suffering will lead us to knowing Christ, for Christ has suffered, and even more, Christ has suffered for us.
After Paul talks about sharing in the suffering of Christ he moves to the metaphor of running (and I think that by linking suffering and running Paul shared the same view of running that I do). Paul uses several phrases that allude to the Greek athlete, “pressing on, straining forward,” and “reaching the goal.” It takes a little more effort to run. Dallas Willard says that grace is not opposed to effort, but grace is opposed to earning. That is, we do not get to know Jesus in order to earn our salvation, but when Christ has entered our lives we continue to make every effort to know him. Effort. It takes effort to get to know Jesus.
We value that which we give our time and effort and resources. The value Paul placed on knowing Christ may cause us to ask ourselves about the value we place on knowing Christ. We all may ask ourselves that question, “Do we value knowing Christ?” “Do we consider everything else as nothing compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ?”
One of the ways we keep the Lord always before us (Psalm 16:8) is to know Christ. In my experience, the more one knows Christ, the more we want to know. Paul knew that he could seek his goal to know Christ because Christ already knew him. He could seek because he had been found. This is the Christ who knows us already; we can make it our goal to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and his suffering. Get to know Christ through your own struggles and joys. Get to know Christ through prayer and fellowship and the scriptures and worship; get to know Christ, press on toward that goal, forgetting what lies behind for our prize is not on this earth but is God’s heavenly call. If we have any other goal in mind, anything less than total commitment, we will stumble and fall. Let us strain forward to what lies ahead. Let us press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
January 9, 2011
Philippians 3:7-15
Dr. Ed Pettus
“To Know Christ”
Last Sunday I preached on keeping the Lord always before us. Today is along those same thoughts in that we keep the Lord always before us by our knowledge – that is, getting to know Jesus Christ. The reading from Philippians speaks of the value of knowing Christ: “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings.”
Knowing Christ surpasses all things for Paul. We are told that if we have lots of money we will be happy or if we get more stuff, we will be satisfied. If we conform we will be liked. If we accept things as they are we will be balanced. But none of these things are biblical thoughts. The Bible teaches us that there is nothing more important to our lives than knowing God.
The apostle Paul is a classic example of a disciple seeking Christ. He is one of the most important figures in the church of Jesus Christ. Paul was also an important figure before his life as an apostle. He was a Pharisee in the Jewish religion, a very high position. He had all the credentials that made him well known and respected. Paul had a certain status, reputation, and I imagine if he were alive today we would want to meet him as much as any celebrity or famous athlete. But Paul had enemies as well, because the Church had enemies. When Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians he was in prison because of his faith. The Church at Philippi encountered teachers who sought to add requirements to the gospel and sought to confuse Paul’s message. Those enemies would often use their credentials to elevate their own importance and seek to bring credibility to what they taught. Paul was as qualified as anyone of his day and perhaps more so because of his background both as a Jew and an apostle of Christ. Yet Paul regarded all his status and all his credentials as nothing compared to the value of knowing Christ. Paul “boasted” of his status in order to show that it meant nothing to him when it came to knowing Jesus.
Paul wanted to know Christ. Nothing else mattered to him. He didn’t just give up things he could not have cared less about, but he counted everything, even the things that meant the most to him, as garbage in comparison to knowing Christ.
If we were to take the time to look closer at scripture we would find many more references to knowledge than we might expect. Jesus says this: “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life means knowing God and Christ. This also means that eternal life is not something we look to in the distant future or only in heaven, but eternal life is now in knowing God. The more we know, the greater our awareness of the life God gives us.
John tells us in 1 John: “Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments” (1 John 2:3). Obedience to God’s commands is a way of knowing that we know! We have assurance of knowledge when we do what God calls us to do. We develop a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. A real relationship is not in knowing about someone, it is in knowing someone personally. Anyone can read the Bible and know about Jesus, but one who receives Christ and obeys Christ and seeks to be like Christ, this is the one who gets to know the person of Christ.
What does it take to get to know someone? It takes time. It takes talking and listening. It takes sharing life experiences. As we learn more about one another and get to know one another we may begin to share more; we care more for each other, we receive care and give care. We get to know Jesus also by reading and studying his life and his words. We get to know Jesus by what he did and by what he commands us to do. We know more about Jesus through the letters of the early church and how they understood and knew Jesus.
Paul knew that Jesus laid down his life and Paul laid down his own life each day for Christ, and yet, Paul said he had not yet obtained the closeness to Christ for which he was constantly searching. “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus”. There is always more depth to this friendship with Christ. There is more depth to Christ and more depth to the human person, but we live for the most part on the surface of our lives. We become seduced by the superficial, by appearances, by possessions, by the empty promises of a world that never wants to look below the surface. Our tendency is to hide, to mask ourselves so that the surface of our lives is all that is seen.
Paul wanted to get to the depth of Christ, to the resurrection and to his sufferings. We may want to share in his resurrection until we think about it awhile and realize that in order to share in the resurrection we must first die. Die to self, die to the world, die to sin…therefore, we must first become like him in his death. To be like Christ is to share in his suffering and death so that we may also share in his resurrection. Symbolically we do that through our baptism, going under the waters, dying to self, to be raised out of the waters to new life. That is one of the meanings of baptism and in light of Philippians it means we share with Christ in his suffering and resurrection. True friendships share in the ups and the downs of life. To really know someone is to know both the joys and the sufferings of that person. My best friends are among those whom I have shared great tragedies and we have also shared experiences of celebration.
We know something of Christ’s suffering when we suffer, and we take comfort in knowing that Christ understands our suffering because he has suffered himself and has been with us through our own suffering. Paul said in Philippians 1:29: “for it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.” That means that trusting and suffering are both gifts granted by God. Eugene Peterson renders that passage beautifully when he says: “There’s far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There’s also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting.” We share in Christ’s suffering by paying attention to our pain, by learning from it, by trusting that God will bring us through it to something better on the other side. Walter Brueggemann, when writing about the story of the blind man Bartimaeus, says: “Had [Bartimaeus] not cried out in pain, he never would have some to a new life of discipleship” (p. 56, Finally Comes the Poet). That is, our suffering will lead us to knowing Christ, for Christ has suffered, and even more, Christ has suffered for us.
After Paul talks about sharing in the suffering of Christ he moves to the metaphor of running (and I think that by linking suffering and running Paul shared the same view of running that I do). Paul uses several phrases that allude to the Greek athlete, “pressing on, straining forward,” and “reaching the goal.” It takes a little more effort to run. Dallas Willard says that grace is not opposed to effort, but grace is opposed to earning. That is, we do not get to know Jesus in order to earn our salvation, but when Christ has entered our lives we continue to make every effort to know him. Effort. It takes effort to get to know Jesus.
We value that which we give our time and effort and resources. The value Paul placed on knowing Christ may cause us to ask ourselves about the value we place on knowing Christ. We all may ask ourselves that question, “Do we value knowing Christ?” “Do we consider everything else as nothing compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ?”
One of the ways we keep the Lord always before us (Psalm 16:8) is to know Christ. In my experience, the more one knows Christ, the more we want to know. Paul knew that he could seek his goal to know Christ because Christ already knew him. He could seek because he had been found. This is the Christ who knows us already; we can make it our goal to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and his suffering. Get to know Christ through your own struggles and joys. Get to know Christ through prayer and fellowship and the scriptures and worship; get to know Christ, press on toward that goal, forgetting what lies behind for our prize is not on this earth but is God’s heavenly call. If we have any other goal in mind, anything less than total commitment, we will stumble and fall. Let us strain forward to what lies ahead. Let us press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Sermon
Sermon #1022
January 2, 2011
Psalm 16
Dr. Ed Pettus
“The Lord – Always Before Me”
Thursday is Epiphany, the day we recognize the wise men coming to the stable where the Christ was born. The church year begins with the anticipation of the birth of Christ and Advent. We began the church year on November 28 of 2010, but our calendar year began yesterday, January 1, 2011! This is a time for beginnings, a time to think about birth, genesis, a new start. Some will make new year resolutions and consequently places like the fitness center will be full for the next two months. Some will vow to pray more or be kinder to co-workers or finally clean out the basement. For others life will go on as usual, perhaps with just a sense of the new year bringing in a new sense of excitement.
I’m not really one for new year resolutions only because I never really keep them very well. I want to. I think about what I would like to do differently, but as those of you older than I know, it gets more and more difficult to teach an old dog new tricks. But – the Christian life is consistently renewing, repenting, learning, growing. Christians who are truly growing are learning new things, growing closer to God, experiencing conversions and always hoping for even more.
Psalm 16 is a great prayer for renewal and recommitment. Psalm 16:8 could be adopted as a discipleship theme and a new beginning: “I keep the Lord always before me!” That is what a good disciple does; that is what an apprentice does. A disciple is just like an apprentice. An apprentice keeps the master of the craft always before him or her so that the apprentice may one day become as skilled as the master. The apprentice watches, listens, studies, and does what it takes to become like the master.
Our goal is to have Christ formed in us, in fact, that was a goal of the apostle Paul, that Christ be formed in people. He writes to the Galatians: “I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19).
I remember when I was learning how to play the guitar I was always trying to play like the people who seemed to me to have mastered the art. I would spend as much time as I could with them, watched how they played, asked questions, and tried to emulate their style and technique. I did my best to master their skill. When I was much younger and learning to play football, I watched other players: Joe Namath was one of my favorites and I wanted to be able to throw a ball like he did and play with the same confidence I saw in him.
Any of you who have sought to learn a new craft or skill know what you had to do to learn and the same is true for learning to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We spend time with the master, studying what he did, listening for what he is doing now, and seeking to keep Christ always before us.
One of the ways we study and learn from Christ is to study the Bible. We study the gospels which tell us specifically about Jesus and what he did and said. No less important are the words Jesus himself studied in the Old Testament like Psalm 16. Imagine Jesus at home or in the synagogue hearing the same words we heard a moment ago. I imagine him listening to verse 2: “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” Later in his life Jesus would be teaching the disciples as he says: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Apart from God we have nothing and we are nothing. Colossians 3 speaks of Christ as our life: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.” Christ is our life. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. No good apart from God. Apart from Christ we can do nothing.
Well, my thoughts on a new year have revolved around Psalm 16 and specifically verse 8: “I keep the Lord always before me.” How do we keep the Lord always before us. One way is by prayer. Psalm 16 is a prayer beginning with a petition for protection. “Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you.”
It is significant that the Psalm is a prayer, as all the Psalms are! Prayer is a primary discipline for keeping the Lord always before us. Whether we are praying for something, praying to praise God, or just simply focusing our heart and mind upon God’s presence, we do that in prayer.
Sometimes prayer is just wanting to be with God, wanting to keep God always before us. Not asking God for everything on our shopping lists, not a one-way conversation we may offer, but simply being with God, aware that God is with us.
What, then, does this prayer offer? The Psalmist understands that protection comes when one takes refuge in God. Refuge – taking shelter from the rain, a child running to her mother for protection. We take refuge, we trust God for shelter, protection, and security. A disciple trusts in Christ to be protected.
Verse 2 acknowledges that there is nothing good apart from God, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” The simple affirmation is that all we are and all we do depends on our relationship with God. Apart from God we are not much more than empty shells. Apart from God we have no hope. Apart from God we can do nothing. Apart from God we have nothing.
Verses 5-8 are all about God. The Psalmist acknowledges God is our chosen portion, cup, and lot. The Lord gives counsel and instructs even through the night. The Lord is thus blessed, in prayer, by the disciple and kept ever before him.
The result, verse 9, is a glad heart, a joyous soul, and a secure body. Three desires we seek in our lives: happiness, joy, and security. You see, we are not a people who pursue happiness, who seek joy, or who search for security. Life is not all about the pursuit of happiness. The life of the disciple is lived in pursuit of God, keeping the Lord always before us, and the result of that pursuit is happiness, joy, and safety.
That, I believe, is a problem in our nation. We have pursued what amounts to the god of happiness, rather than the living God of Psalm 16. We have come to believe in our pursuit of happiness that we deserve certain rights or ownership, a certain standard of living, and we will do everything in our power to “make it” our own. A disciple of Christ can certainly enjoy the blessing of this life, but a disciple understands that the blessing is not the object, not the goal of this life. The goal is to follow God, to keep the Lord ever before us. Psalm 16 affirms that if we do that, good things will come. If we pursue happiness there is no assurance that we will find God, but if we pursue God there is the promise of happiness. What are we pursuing in our lives today? Let us strive to keep the Lord always before us.
The prayer concludes with confidence in God – God will not abandon! “For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let you faithful one see the Pit.”
God will direct and give pleasures: “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
In this Psalm we see a picture of discipleship. One who prays to God. One who proclaims affirmations of faith and trust and confidence in God. This is one who knows that God is at work in his life. He has seen the results of God’s presence in the marks of gladness, joy, and security. Psalm 16 gives us a good beginning, keeping the Lord continually before us.
Keep the Lord always before us! We might have various views about the Muslim faith, but one thing I admire about them is their prayer life. As I understand it they stop whatever they are doing five times during the day and pray. We, instead, claim we do not want to be legalistic about prayer, or something like that, and what we end up with is no prayer at all…well, except in an emergency. We treat prayer like a “break glass in case of fire” scenario rather than a discipline to know God and keep the Lord always before us. Paul asks us to go even further than praying five times a day when he encourages us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). The Christian life is to be a life of prayer – keep the Lord always before us.
We read Paul’s words and on the face of it we rationalize that Paul did not mean we should always be praying, but what does he mean? The Psalmist is not saying anything different in keeping to Lord always, always before us. We think of how we might live this way and we become somewhat paralyzed by it and, like a new year’s resolution, we simply give up. It is a work of God consciousness. One of my favorite books is Joshua, a novel about Jesus in a modern setting and one of the phrases used to describe Joshua was that he breathed God. He breathed God! Imagine a life of faith that breathes God! Every minute of thought is brought back to God. Every opportunity available is a prayer to God.
Now we know that we have other things to think about. I hope that a surgeon will be focused on the tissue about to be cut, the CPA is clear on what figure to put on a certain line, but also that when the moment allows, God is also in their thoughts. Our task in keeping the Lord before us is to direct and redirect our minds to God. Dallas Willard likens this to a compass: “Soon our minds will return to God as the needle of a compass constantly returns north” (The Great Omission, p. 125). As we are constantly distracted by our busyness, by our noisiness, and by our yearning for things other than God, we need to foster this compass mentality. I have recently lost my laptop computer, it sits at the shop for repairs if even able to be fixed, so I have been living without my constant distraction, without the constant glow of the screen. (How could I possibly get this sermon prepared? ) What am I going to do for news, sports, games, general surfing, not to mentions all the Bible resources so easily accessed? I had to resort to writing with a pen! We grow accustomed to certain ways of doing things and when those patterns are disrupted we grow anxious. We need a compass to get our bearings.
The Christian compass is with keeping the Lord always before us. Willard says that “this is the fundamental secret of caring for our souls” (p.125). We begin when we receive Christ into our lives and we nourish this discipline of mindfulness through prayer and scripture and worship and silence and solitude and other disciplines that help us to train the mind for discipleship – that is, for keeping the Lord always before us.
I encourage you to think about a new or renewed commitment to keep the Lord always before you. Memorize Psalm 16:8, “I keep the Lord always before me.” Better yet, memorize the whole Psalm! Psalm 16 is a good Psalm for discipleship. As we look to 2011, we might ask: are we living as those who keep God continually before us? Are we pursuing God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength? Is our heart glad? Does our soul rejoice? Does our body rest secure? These are the marks of discipleship. I pray that we may have those marks in our life as a result of keeping God always before us. Amen.
January 2, 2011
Psalm 16
Dr. Ed Pettus
“The Lord – Always Before Me”
Thursday is Epiphany, the day we recognize the wise men coming to the stable where the Christ was born. The church year begins with the anticipation of the birth of Christ and Advent. We began the church year on November 28 of 2010, but our calendar year began yesterday, January 1, 2011! This is a time for beginnings, a time to think about birth, genesis, a new start. Some will make new year resolutions and consequently places like the fitness center will be full for the next two months. Some will vow to pray more or be kinder to co-workers or finally clean out the basement. For others life will go on as usual, perhaps with just a sense of the new year bringing in a new sense of excitement.
I’m not really one for new year resolutions only because I never really keep them very well. I want to. I think about what I would like to do differently, but as those of you older than I know, it gets more and more difficult to teach an old dog new tricks. But – the Christian life is consistently renewing, repenting, learning, growing. Christians who are truly growing are learning new things, growing closer to God, experiencing conversions and always hoping for even more.
Psalm 16 is a great prayer for renewal and recommitment. Psalm 16:8 could be adopted as a discipleship theme and a new beginning: “I keep the Lord always before me!” That is what a good disciple does; that is what an apprentice does. A disciple is just like an apprentice. An apprentice keeps the master of the craft always before him or her so that the apprentice may one day become as skilled as the master. The apprentice watches, listens, studies, and does what it takes to become like the master.
Our goal is to have Christ formed in us, in fact, that was a goal of the apostle Paul, that Christ be formed in people. He writes to the Galatians: “I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19).
I remember when I was learning how to play the guitar I was always trying to play like the people who seemed to me to have mastered the art. I would spend as much time as I could with them, watched how they played, asked questions, and tried to emulate their style and technique. I did my best to master their skill. When I was much younger and learning to play football, I watched other players: Joe Namath was one of my favorites and I wanted to be able to throw a ball like he did and play with the same confidence I saw in him.
Any of you who have sought to learn a new craft or skill know what you had to do to learn and the same is true for learning to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We spend time with the master, studying what he did, listening for what he is doing now, and seeking to keep Christ always before us.
One of the ways we study and learn from Christ is to study the Bible. We study the gospels which tell us specifically about Jesus and what he did and said. No less important are the words Jesus himself studied in the Old Testament like Psalm 16. Imagine Jesus at home or in the synagogue hearing the same words we heard a moment ago. I imagine him listening to verse 2: “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” Later in his life Jesus would be teaching the disciples as he says: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Apart from God we have nothing and we are nothing. Colossians 3 speaks of Christ as our life: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.” Christ is our life. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. No good apart from God. Apart from Christ we can do nothing.
Well, my thoughts on a new year have revolved around Psalm 16 and specifically verse 8: “I keep the Lord always before me.” How do we keep the Lord always before us. One way is by prayer. Psalm 16 is a prayer beginning with a petition for protection. “Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you.”
It is significant that the Psalm is a prayer, as all the Psalms are! Prayer is a primary discipline for keeping the Lord always before us. Whether we are praying for something, praying to praise God, or just simply focusing our heart and mind upon God’s presence, we do that in prayer.
Sometimes prayer is just wanting to be with God, wanting to keep God always before us. Not asking God for everything on our shopping lists, not a one-way conversation we may offer, but simply being with God, aware that God is with us.
What, then, does this prayer offer? The Psalmist understands that protection comes when one takes refuge in God. Refuge – taking shelter from the rain, a child running to her mother for protection. We take refuge, we trust God for shelter, protection, and security. A disciple trusts in Christ to be protected.
Verse 2 acknowledges that there is nothing good apart from God, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” The simple affirmation is that all we are and all we do depends on our relationship with God. Apart from God we are not much more than empty shells. Apart from God we have no hope. Apart from God we can do nothing. Apart from God we have nothing.
Verses 5-8 are all about God. The Psalmist acknowledges God is our chosen portion, cup, and lot. The Lord gives counsel and instructs even through the night. The Lord is thus blessed, in prayer, by the disciple and kept ever before him.
The result, verse 9, is a glad heart, a joyous soul, and a secure body. Three desires we seek in our lives: happiness, joy, and security. You see, we are not a people who pursue happiness, who seek joy, or who search for security. Life is not all about the pursuit of happiness. The life of the disciple is lived in pursuit of God, keeping the Lord always before us, and the result of that pursuit is happiness, joy, and safety.
That, I believe, is a problem in our nation. We have pursued what amounts to the god of happiness, rather than the living God of Psalm 16. We have come to believe in our pursuit of happiness that we deserve certain rights or ownership, a certain standard of living, and we will do everything in our power to “make it” our own. A disciple of Christ can certainly enjoy the blessing of this life, but a disciple understands that the blessing is not the object, not the goal of this life. The goal is to follow God, to keep the Lord ever before us. Psalm 16 affirms that if we do that, good things will come. If we pursue happiness there is no assurance that we will find God, but if we pursue God there is the promise of happiness. What are we pursuing in our lives today? Let us strive to keep the Lord always before us.
The prayer concludes with confidence in God – God will not abandon! “For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let you faithful one see the Pit.”
God will direct and give pleasures: “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
In this Psalm we see a picture of discipleship. One who prays to God. One who proclaims affirmations of faith and trust and confidence in God. This is one who knows that God is at work in his life. He has seen the results of God’s presence in the marks of gladness, joy, and security. Psalm 16 gives us a good beginning, keeping the Lord continually before us.
Keep the Lord always before us! We might have various views about the Muslim faith, but one thing I admire about them is their prayer life. As I understand it they stop whatever they are doing five times during the day and pray. We, instead, claim we do not want to be legalistic about prayer, or something like that, and what we end up with is no prayer at all…well, except in an emergency. We treat prayer like a “break glass in case of fire” scenario rather than a discipline to know God and keep the Lord always before us. Paul asks us to go even further than praying five times a day when he encourages us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). The Christian life is to be a life of prayer – keep the Lord always before us.
We read Paul’s words and on the face of it we rationalize that Paul did not mean we should always be praying, but what does he mean? The Psalmist is not saying anything different in keeping to Lord always, always before us. We think of how we might live this way and we become somewhat paralyzed by it and, like a new year’s resolution, we simply give up. It is a work of God consciousness. One of my favorite books is Joshua, a novel about Jesus in a modern setting and one of the phrases used to describe Joshua was that he breathed God. He breathed God! Imagine a life of faith that breathes God! Every minute of thought is brought back to God. Every opportunity available is a prayer to God.
Now we know that we have other things to think about. I hope that a surgeon will be focused on the tissue about to be cut, the CPA is clear on what figure to put on a certain line, but also that when the moment allows, God is also in their thoughts. Our task in keeping the Lord before us is to direct and redirect our minds to God. Dallas Willard likens this to a compass: “Soon our minds will return to God as the needle of a compass constantly returns north” (The Great Omission, p. 125). As we are constantly distracted by our busyness, by our noisiness, and by our yearning for things other than God, we need to foster this compass mentality. I have recently lost my laptop computer, it sits at the shop for repairs if even able to be fixed, so I have been living without my constant distraction, without the constant glow of the screen. (How could I possibly get this sermon prepared? ) What am I going to do for news, sports, games, general surfing, not to mentions all the Bible resources so easily accessed? I had to resort to writing with a pen! We grow accustomed to certain ways of doing things and when those patterns are disrupted we grow anxious. We need a compass to get our bearings.
The Christian compass is with keeping the Lord always before us. Willard says that “this is the fundamental secret of caring for our souls” (p.125). We begin when we receive Christ into our lives and we nourish this discipline of mindfulness through prayer and scripture and worship and silence and solitude and other disciplines that help us to train the mind for discipleship – that is, for keeping the Lord always before us.
I encourage you to think about a new or renewed commitment to keep the Lord always before you. Memorize Psalm 16:8, “I keep the Lord always before me.” Better yet, memorize the whole Psalm! Psalm 16 is a good Psalm for discipleship. As we look to 2011, we might ask: are we living as those who keep God continually before us? Are we pursuing God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength? Is our heart glad? Does our soul rejoice? Does our body rest secure? These are the marks of discipleship. I pray that we may have those marks in our life as a result of keeping God always before us. Amen.
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