God's people face opposition from this point until the end of Nehemiah. The events in Ezra 4 takes place over a period of nearly 100 years, from Cyrus' decree in 539 to the reign of Artexerxes (465 BC-424 BC).  Though they returned to the land, things were not easy for God's people. Pluralism, syncretism, apathy and political power plays have plagued God's people from outside the covenant community and from the within.    It is the same for us today isn't it?

Speaking of the Old Testament Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:11–12, Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come (ESV). 

One of the specific applications of Ezra 4-6 relates to Christians in the workplace.  The main point of the sermon was this: God is at work through the opposition we experience in our workplaces. 

Since many of us spend most of our week at work (or school), it's important to learn how to apply the gospel in our workplace. Let's take the opportunity this week to explore how the gospel empowers us to face opposition in the workplace. 

1. Zerubbabel navigates a moral decision by refusing to partner with the syncretistic peoples who remained in the land over the previous 150 years. This would have been a compromise of the task at hand.  What moral questions do you face in your industry? 
2. Describe a time when you faced opposition in the workplace.
3. Looking back at the experience from question 1, what lessons would you say that you learned?  
4. When you face the stress of opposition or temptation how do you typically deal with it?  

A helpful way identify your tendencies is to recognize how you "connect the D.O.T.S."

D.  Distract ourselves

O. Opt out / shut down / withdraw 

T. Thinking / overthinking / obsessing

S. Substance abuse / soothing strategies (over-eating, drinking, etc.)

 1. Which of these do you most relate to?  

2. If that is a difficult question to answer, ask someone close to you what they see about your coping strategies (opposed, tempted, etc.)

5.  Consider the temptations Jesus navigated to accomplish the task given to Him by His Father. The Greater Zerubbabel, Jesus perfectly accomplished the task for you.  Spend time as a community group praying for one another and praising God for the astounding work of Christ on your behalf. 

In the fourth-century Athanasius reminded the people that the Psalms were an “epitome of the whole Scriptures”.  Basil of Caesarea noted that the Psalms were “a compendium of all theology”.   Martin Luther called the Psalms a “little Bible” in the midst of the big one.

More recently, Tremper Longman has said, The Psalms appeal the whole person, the demand a total response.  The Psalms inform our intellect, arouse our emotions, direct our wills and stimulate our imaginations.  When we read the Psalms with faith we come away changed and not simply informed.{1}

I need to be changed and not simply informed.  I need to learn to drive my mind, emotions, desires, and will to God and you know that you do too.

Let’s listen to Psalm 40, a favorite of many.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

[1] I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
[2] He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
[3] He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.

[4] Blessed is the man who makes
the LORD his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!
[5] You have multiplied, O LORD my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.

[6] In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
[7] Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
[8] I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”

[9] I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips,
as you know, O LORD.
[10] I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.

[11] As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will
ever preserve me!
[12] For evils have encompassed me
beyond number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
and I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head;
my heart fails me.

[13] Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me!
O LORD, make haste to help me!
[14] Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether
who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
[15] Let those be appalled because of their shame
who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

[16] But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, “Great is the LORD!”
[17] As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God! (ESV)

Like life, Psalm 40 is messy.  It’s complicated.  Many Psalms have fairly clear structure according to genre.  This Psalm doesn’t.  The Psalm opens the way an individual thanksgiving psalm would; it speaks of past deliverance.  Yet Verse 4 has wisdom connections.  And the verses after verse 11 sound much like an individual lament.  This Psalm is all over the place.   It is highly emotional.  Sort of like your experience on any given week.

Many of us have contrasting experiences simultaneously that creates confusion:

• the excitement of a new child on the way >> helplessness when our children cry late into the night 
• the joy of a new video game >> frustration when mom or dad ask us to wait to play it
• the news of a good report from the doctor >> despair as a family member struggles with an illness
• joy of a new job with good insurance >> a sense of being overwhelmed with financial demands
• joy of a church community >> loneliness at home when our spouse travels for work
• gratitude for the new house >> frustration when unrealistic expectations greet us at the office
• excitement of a vacation with family >> anger we feel at the foolish decision of a relative
• solidarity you feel with a close friend >> confusion when that relationship grows tense
• security we have in Christ >> insecurities about how God made us
• And on and on…

Good when He gives, supremely good;  Nor less when He denies:
Afflictions, from His sovereign hand, Are blessings in disguise.{2}

We try to maintain sanity without looking to God, but grow even more confused.  But this Psalm teaches us that waiting for the Lord paves the way for transformation. 

Verse 1: I waited patiently for the Lord, he inclined and heard my cry. 

When we hear he word waiting, we might think of waiting in line. Sociologists tell us the average human being spends six years waiting in line, five months of which is spent waiting for traffic lights to change.{3}  But this of course is not the kind of waiting David is talking about.  The language here is not sitting in your car waiting for a traffic light to turn, but lying down in the operating table bleeding to death as you waiting for the surgeon.  It is a watchful-waiting.  Verse 1 literally reads, I waited, waited for the Lord.  In other words, “I waited and waited and waited for God.” Waited patiently in the ESV and NIV is a too placid.  David is actively waiting, actively looking to God to deliver him.{4}

To wait in Scripture means to look in hope for God to act.  The idea of watchful-waiting is seen throughout Scripture.  It is a waiting for God to act. God’s initiative to rescue us in the midst of our need (rather than His waiting for us to rescue ourselves) is the primary difference between the God of the Bible and all other religions.  Jonathan Edwards said in the History of the Work of Redemption that God’s pursuit of His own glory in His movement to move toward and act on behalf of His people is the chief uniqueness of the Triune God.

Isaiah reminds us of this when he prophesied to Judah:

Isaiah 64:4 - From of old no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen a God like you, who acts o behalf of those who wait for him.

Elsewhere we are commanded to wait for the Lord:

Psalm 27:14 – Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

And we should make it our prayer:

Psalm 62:1-8 – For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.  He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.  On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.

Watchful-waiting is a waiting with hope.  

Psalm 33:21-22 – We wait in hope for the Lord, for he is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice for we trust in his holy name.  May your steadfast love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we hope in you.”

To watchfully wait is to wait with hope.  Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.  We bank our happy future on that which holds our hopes.  And right off the bat the Psalmist is waiting with hope. Watchful, looking in hope for God to act.

Once my daughter was at a birthday party for one of you.  And she walked too close to the pool and fell in.  Immediately her head goes under and when she comes up she looks in terror and hope for daddy to act.  She couldn't find me because I was already in the pool holding her up. 

There are two types of unbelief typical in believers:  1) “Intellectually self-confident” Christians. We would say we are a Christian, but we have not yet allowed the Gospel to saturate our lives.  The gospel remains primarily an intellectual exercise.   We’ve heard the story of redemption.  We know the creation, fall, redemption, glory paradigm of Scripture.  We’ve been to the theology conferences, maybe even taken courses at seminary.  But in the midst of the existential crisis we struggle to know how to apply the Gospel story at the level of their heart.  We’ve over emphasized the intellectual component of the Gospel.  You know this is true because when you experience stress you handle it the same way you did before you became a Christian.  If things get really, really bad, then you will finally turn to the God. But the gospel is like the net beneath the tightrope walker.  It’s important but you really use it unless you fall. 

Now, on the other hand, we have 2) “morally self-sufficient” Christians. We might know our Bibles very well!  And apply passages with ease.  For example, when we get angry about the decision a relative has made, we claim a verse like Psalm 141:3, “Set a guard over the door of my lips, O God, let not my heart be drawn to what it evil.  And we deal with the anger by obeying what the Bible says. Not bad!  Except it’s deadly if not driven by faith.  We can obey out of a self-reliance that is another form of works-righteousness.  Using the Bible as a how-to manual can destroy you.  It destroys you because you’ll run, run, run and never rest, not rest in the righteousness of Jesus to change you.  John Bunyan knew this danger when we wrote, 

“Run John Run the Law Demands, 

but give us neither feet nor hands.  

Far better news the gospel brings, 

it bids us fly and give us wings. 

The “morally self-reliant Christian” looks good, but his self-reliant obedience is cancer of the heart.  Anyone who’s been in that situation knows it is only time before self-reliant people have a bigger mess on their hands.  

The intellectually self-confident and the morally self-reliant method is not the gospel.  The “cognitive” road and the “moral” road can lead you away from Jesus. 

But there is a third kind of person here.  3) The “curious, cynical, skeptic.”  You know this in your own life, too, don’t you?  You’re tired because you’ve tried the intellectual route and you’ve tried the moral route, and found both disappointing.  You feel able to see the holes in the arguments better than the intellectual self-confident and the hypocrisy more clearly than the morally self-righteous.  Maybe now you’re on the cynics road.  Or the skeptics road.  Or the protestors road.  Or the justice-seeker road.  Or the figuring-things-out road.  Whatever road you’re on, welcome!  The Gospel’s appeal is found in our experiences of helplessness.  Sometimes we feel that helplessness in our depression, or our shame, or our cognitive dissonance.  You know you’re unable to save yourself because you can’t seem to be able to pull yourself out of the muck and mire.  You’re stuck.  

These are moments when we see how God enters into our pain in the person of Christ to bring us through these death moments to life.  That is where David found himself in verse one.  He understands that God is the only one that can help.  He trusts this to be true and he calls out for help. Beneath his knowledge and his obedience is a trust in someone outside of himself!  

By the way Christians are aren’t necessarily better people.  We are just utterly dependent upon grace -- a grace that is given to us; a righteousness that we didn’t earn.{5}  And that marks us throughout our lives. 

Notice that this Psalm does not end at verse 11.  The same sense of dependence upon God that justified David before God in his conversion is the same sense of dependence that will sanctify David.  Verses 12-15 are in the present tense.   David remembered how God delivered him when he was once at the end of his rope.  And now he finds himself there again!  And the constant sense of dependence upon the Gospel is the only thing that brings us confidence, for our confidence is not in ourselves but in God.

So, Christians and non-Christians in the room, what does waiting look like and what does it feel like. The hinge verse is verse 11, the promise that God will “not restrain your mercy from me; your love and steadfast love will ever preserve me!” Good. News. Indeed.

What does waiting like this looks like? 

Waiting looks like verses 1-10. 

1. Witness: 1-3.  David is confessing his utter dependence upon the Lord.  When others see it, “many will see and hear!”  David’s vulnerability is one of the chief marks of his integrity.  He neglect his need (like so many intellectually self-confident) nor hide his need from others (like so many morally self-reliant).  Instead he tells his story of need that finds it’s need met in the Lord.  That story has power.
2. Wonder: 4-5. David begins to wonder at the beauty of the Lord.  “You have multiplied your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them.”  In David’s wondering and meditating on God’s wondrous works, he becomes an evangelist.  What beauty!  “Oh, see it with me!” he calls to us. 
3. Will: 6-8. David’s will is sanctified, changed, redirected toward that which pleases God. No longer do I operate with a striving will to please you through sacrifices, but I please you through my faith in your ultimate sacrifice, the coming Lamb of God.  

The author of Hebrews says that the sacrificial system of the Old Testament was a shadow of the good things to come.  And he quotes Psalm 40.  Hebrews 10:1, 4-7. [1] For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.... [4] For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

[5] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;  [6] in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. [7] Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

“But a body you have prepared for me” is a paraphrasing the Hebrew text, which literally says, “ears you have dug for me.”  That’s the Hebrew metaphor for the incarnation, fashioning a body.  The Father says, “They’ve seen the shadows, but now that [4] the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law (Galatians 4:4).  I love verse 6.  The fact that the Father fashioned a body for Jesus, and Jesus took on flesh and gave his life for sinners like you and me is good news that we can have hope and salvation as sons and daughters of God. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Jesus said.{6} Jesus came [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God (Gal 4:5-7). 

That’s what waiting looks like, but what does it feel like? 

Waiting feels like verses 11-17.

1. Confidence: 11-12  Even in the midst of trouble, David remains confident in God’s protection.  And this leads him in term to pray: 
2. Cry: 13-15  David cries out to God at the start of his plight, not as the last measure.  
3. Contrast: 16-17 What a contrast!  This produces not doctrinal pride (like the intellectually self-confident) or a moral pride (like the morally self-reliant), but a profound humility. 

Do you see what this does to David?  It humbles him!  Verse 17, “I am poor and needy.”  Not I WAS (but I AM!).  “But the Lord takes thought for me.”  That’s enough for him.  You are my help and my deliverer continually.  “And what should I say of myself?  I’m a mess, a redeemed mess.  A saved and secure (have confidence in Christ!) mess (walk with humility)!  I’m nothing and have nothing (humility); make something of me, O God!" (security and confidence in Him!)  "You can do it; please God, don’t put it off!  Deliver me! Change me!”  Men, especially hear me:  lest we think this is ladies’ stuff, trusting in something other than yourself is the strongest thing you could ever do.  Faith is the stuff of strength.  Because the Spirit has given you the supernatural strength to do it.

In conclusion, let's embrace the main point.  David helps us in Psalm 40 see that we try to maintain sanity without looking to God, but grow even more confused.  But waiting for the Lord paves the way for transformation.  Look to Jesus, our Greater David, for our deliverance.  May we say as we come to this table, “On the cross, He bled and died, bled and died for me!”  Do not delay, O My God.  Wait with watchful-waiting!  O, Trinity, may we watchfully-wait for our King with hope!  And allow our doctrine and our obedience to adorn our faith, hope and love, rooted in Jesus our Deliverer.

AMEN. IHS.

Footnotes references are straight from my sermon notes and not formatted to any style.

{1} Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms, 13.

{2} Brother Lawreence, The Practice of the Presence of God (see original sermon notes for page.)

{3} This study is quoted in Elizabeth Vierck and Kris Hodges, Aging: Lifestyles, Work and Money, 220.

{4} William Lynch says, “The ability to wait is central to hope, and must there fore has an essential place in human wishing.  If hope directs us toward good things that belong to the future and that are often difficult to achieve, then it must know how to wait.  The kind of wishing that can wait is the mark of ongoing maturity...Two kinds of waiting must be carefully distinguished.  One waits because there is nothing else to do.  The other, which goes with hope, is positive and creative.  It waits because it knows what is wishes and wants. (William Lynch, Imaginations as Healer of the Helpless, quoted in Richard J. Nydam’s Adoptee’s Come of Age, 125.)

{5}  Augustine said when expositing Psalm 40:4, “Let our God be our hope. He who made all things is better than all things; he who made beautiful things is more beautiful than all of them; he who made all that is strong is himself stronger; he who made all greatness is greater than any.  Whatever you have loved, her will be that for you.  Learn to love the Creator in the creature, the Maker in what is made.  Do not let something he made so captivate you that you lose him by whom you were made yourself. “Blessed is the one who’s hope is the Lord, who has no regard for empty things and lying foolishness” [Psalm 40:4].  (Augustine, “Exposition of Psalm 39 [40]” in Exposition of the Psalms, 204.)

{6} Notice the way Jesus uses this metaphor in his teaching to refer to God’s initiative in our redemption because of our sin “plugging our ears”(as it were) to the truth: Matthew 11:15 - He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Mark 4:9 - And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  Luke 8:8 - And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”   Luke 14:35 - It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 

1. God’s Spirit Indwells Believers.  In the New Testament Jesus said that His Father would send His Spirit to be our Comforter and to point us to the truth (John 14:16-17; 26).  At Pentecost we see that promise fulfilled as the Holy Spirit permanently indwells God’s people, even as Joel prophisied 850 years earlier (Joel 2:28). In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit frequently came upon the prophets intermittently with supernatural power.   For example, after Samuel annointed David, “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13), but David still prayed “take not your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11).  In his prayer David was not afraid of losing his salvation; rather he knew that the Holy Spirit rested temporarily upon him.  He treasured God’s nearness and did not want God’s Spirit to leave.  A millenium later, fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, the Holy Spirit came with power to take up permanent, continuous residence in God’s people (Acts 2:1-21).  Christians today can now cry out “Abba! Father!” in power, love, security, and sustained intimacy with God.  Because of this, give you best at worship today!!  

2. God’s Great Unified Story Unfolds.  Pentecost reminds us that God is making all things new through a new exodus and a new unity in Jesus Christ.  

A New Exodus from Sin & Death.  Pentecost, which means “fifty,” stretches all the way back to Leviticus 23:16, where God instructs his people to “count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath.”  These fifty days followed the Exodus at Passover, which commemorated the climactic event of the Old Testament, the day God delivered his people from slavery.  Today, fifty days after Easter we celebrate the Greater Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, who rescues us from sin and death (Gal 1:4; Col 1:13; Eph 2).  

The Reversal of Babel.  In Genesis 11 the whole world had one language and joined together and build a tower to heaven to “make a name for themselves.”  In response, God confused their language, scattering them over the entire earth.  At Pentecost, God brought His people together, allowed them to hear in their own language, and they praised God’s name together “full of gladness with your presence” (Acts 2:28).

3. The Holy Spirit’s Power at Work Among Us.  Trinity exists to show that grace changes everything in Jesus Christ by equipping you to rest in worship, grow in community and rediscover your calling.  As we live out our vision, we are a snapshot to the world of God’s coming Kingdom!  At the first Christian Pentecost, the apostles filled with the Spirit proclaimed the gospel in multiple languages, and by the end of the day a community of believers had been established, drawn from “every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5).  Today we minister in our respective spheres of influence as agents of God’s Spirit -- the church -- to extend the beauty of his redemption in the quality of our labor, devotion to our friends, witness to our neighbors, care for our families, sabbath rest, and everything else we set out to do (Col 3:17).  As His counter-cultural comunity for the world, God’s Spirit changes the world through us in gradual yet significant ways for His glory and kingdom in Oklahoma.

Our prayer at Pentecost: 

O Jesus, Fill me with your Spirit that I may be occupied with his presence.  I am blind -- send him to make me see; dark -- let him say, “Let there be light!”  May he give me faith to behold my name graven in your hand, my soul and body redeemed by your blood, my sinfulness covered by your life of pure obedience.  Replentish me by his revealing grace, that I may realize my indissoluble union with you; that I may know that you have espoused yourself to me forever, in righteousness, love, mercy, faithfulness; that I am one with you, as a branch with it’s stock, as a building with its foundation.  May his comforts cheer me in my sorrows, his strength sustain me in my trials, his blessings revive me in my weariness, his presence render me a fruitful tree of holiness, his might establish me in peace and joy, his incitements make me ceaseless in prayer, his animation kindle in my undying devotion.  Send him as the searcher of my heart, to show me more of my corruption and helplessness, that I may flee to you, cling to you, rest on you, as the beginning and end of my salvation.  May I never vex him by my indifference and waywardness, grieve him by my cold welcome, resist him by my hard rebellion.  Anwer my prayers, O Lord, for your great name’s sake.  Amen.

[8] And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. [9] And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. [10] And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. [11] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. [12] And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” [13] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

[14] “Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (ESV)

We are confronted today not with angels in the field, but with the conviction of God’s existence upon the heart.  Romans 1: says,

“[18] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. [19] For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [20] For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. [21] For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Claiming to be wise, they became fools, [23] and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:18–23). 

Fear in the presence of God’s glory is the only response when is nothing else offered.   The Law of God works in the same way. Paul says in Romans 7, “The Law tells me how we can be right with God!  But no one can achieve it.  What good does a map of the world give to you while you’re stranded on a desert island?  It only makes you longing for rescue worse!” 

Some of you are here and you’re struggling with your doubts. There is not better place for you to be then right here.  Because your response to the holiness, and glory of God might change? Do you want it to?  The fear can give way to joy.  Notice how that happens to the shepherds. 

 [10]  The angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. [11] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. [12] And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

They quickly got their sheep in the pen, arranged their affairs and went to see Jesus.  Luke tells us,

[15] When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” [16] And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. [17] And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. [18] And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. [19] But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. [20] And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them (Luke 2:15–20).

You too can move from fear to joy when you come into Jesus’ presence.  Take that table spoon you're using and trade it for a bucket to fill with the only thing that can satisfy you, Himself. 

It is God’s intension for the creation to return glory back to him.  When our lives image the attributes of God, others see the glory of God’s presence in us as his living temples.  So we bring God’s glorious reputation into the lives of others.  In that way we ourselves forever enjoy the light of God’s glory as his vice-regents. 

That’s why Scripture calls us to glorify God.  In one sense we cannot increase God’s glory.  But when we speak truly of him and obey his Word, we enhance his reputation on earth (and among the angels - Eph 3:10).  In this way we part of the light by which people come to know God’s presence.  So Jesus says that his disciples, like himself, are the “light of the world” (John 8:12).  Doxa is the Greek word Luke uses twice in Luke 2:8-14. The light of God’s reputation appears before the shepherds and the angels cry out for us to join them in saying, “Glory to God in the highest!”  Because our words and our lives bring praise to God and we find in that praise a taste of the final glory we will experience when we find ultimate peace forever in His eternal presence.  Shalom!  

C.S. Lewis preached a now famous sermon in the summer of 1942 called the Weight of Glory. He famously said at the beginning fo the sermon,  “Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  The whole sermon is about our pursuit of glory, and our relentless choice of lesser glories masquerading as the ultimately glory we crave most deeply.  He uses the analogy of a schoolboy learning Greek as an example.  No one wants to learn grammar -- it’s hard!  But when you’re able to read the great poets you realize all that grammar was worth the effort.  You find that you delight not that you can brag that you know Greek but that you can read it for the deep enjoyment and pleasure of it. 

Lewis writes, “enjoyment creeps in upon the mere drudgery, and nobody could point to a day or an hour when the one ceased and the other began. But it is just in so far as he approaches the reward that be becomes able to desire it for its own sake; indeed, the power of so desiring it is itself a preliminary reward.”

The reward is not simply tacked on to it like a bonus at the end of good sales year.  The act itself gradually grows more rewarding and suddenly you find yourself enjoying it.  Lewis’ point is that God is the only thing that is an end in itself.  Everything else you give yourself to in pursuit of glory is a means.  You use money to buy reputation, happiness, membership, possessions. Money is a means to an end.  But God is the end and the means.  He is the consummation. You can never get to the end of God, and when you realize the weight of his glory, the weight of what Jesus did for you on through the cross, resurrection, and ascension, you see for the first time an option you never knew existed.  You don’t have to work yourself to the bone for salvation: it’s offered to you freely because Jesus paid the price.  

Lewis continues “The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation.”  The books or the music [or the hobbies or jobs or homes or family or education or freedom or liberty or independence] in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty [of these things]—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers.  Lewis writes, “For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

And that transcendent beauty is captivating to those who believe and threatening to those who do not.  In The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. by George Steiner the “A.H.” is Adolf Hitler.  Steiner tells the fictitious story that Hitler does not die in a bunker in East Berlin, but escapes in a small plane that flies south. Thirty years later Jewish bounty hunters find him in the jungles of the Amazon.  Hilter by this time is a very old, frail man. They can hardly imagine this man being the source of so much atrocity.  As they are transporting him out of the jungle for trial in San Cristobal, the press core eagerly waiting.  The men ask Hitler to explain why he did what he did.  Hitler essentially responds, “The Jews pressed on him the blackmail of transcendence.”  Hitler found such enduring hope to be horribly threatening to his soul. 

Lewis says much the same thing in Weight of Glory:

In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or with the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised. I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how He thinks of us. It is written that we shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God...to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness...to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.

We can be left outside - forsaken, rejected, turned away, ignored, pitied.  Or we can be brought in - welcomed, accepted, delighted in, rejoiced over, taken up in the glory of the Lord of glory.  We don’t want to be rejected so we produce idols on earth, land and sea to accept us and gain false-glory.  Calvin said our hearts are idol-making factories because we don’t want to do the grammar of faith and repentance. But eventually the fellowship with the Father becomes so precious to us that we trade up our affections for the joy of being his, whatever the sacrifice. 

God says through the prophet Jeremiah, 

[12] Be appalled, O heavens, at this;

be shocked, be utterly desolate,

declares the LORD,

[13] for my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.  (Jeremiah 2:12–13)

And as we drink of His glory -- his brightness, splendour, luminosity, we shine as the Sun. As one poet has said, “The leaves of the New Testament rustle with the rumour that [these fallen world and these lesser glories] will not always be so.”  And as Jesus promises, “Behold, I am making all things new!” (Rev 21:5). 

And this breaks out into love for the person sitting next to you.  As Lewis writes, “All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations -- fear of joy of God’s glory!  Which is a profound responsibility given that there are no ordinary people. “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.... you have never talked to a mere mortal.”  God’s glory reveals your deepest needs and highest hopes. And it can be yours as your fear turn to joy and delight in the his presence of satisfying beauty.

Hail the Heav'n-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings

Ris'n with healing in His wings

Mild He lays His glory by

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth 

Hark! the herald angels sing:

“Glory to the newborn King!”

IHS Amen. 

1. What is something you have seen that weighs a lot?  
2. What did Pastor Blake say that the word glory means? 
3. What does that say about God’s character?
4. What are two responses to the God’s glory in Luke 2:8-14?
5. Which response to God’s glory do you have? 
6. How does Jesus -- the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8; James 2:1) -- meet your deepest need for glory?
7. How can we appreciate the glory of God in our neighbor?  What's something we can do for others this week that reflects God's glory?  How does your understanding of God's glory help you love others?
8. Consider reading C.S. Lewis’ famous sermon called The Weight of Glory this Advent and reflect on the human longing for glory -- a glory that can only be found in the Father’s acceptance of you through Jesus.
9. Read the third verse of Hark the Herald Angels Sing! and look up these verses that support Wesley’s lyrics.  Take time to meditate on each line in light of the Scripture reference.  Thank God for glorious work of redemption!

   Hail the Heav'n-born Prince of Peace! (Isaiah 9:6)

   Hail the Son of Righteousness!  (Jeremiah 33:14-15)

   Light and life to all He brings (John 8:12; 10:10)

   Ris'n with healing in His wings (Isaiah 35; Luke 7:20-23; Rev 21:5)

   Mild He lays His glory by (Phil 2:8-11)

   Born that man no more may die  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

   Born to raise the sons of earth (Eze 37:13; John 6:40)

   Born to give them second birth  (John 3 and the story of Nicodemus)

   Hark! the herald angels sing: (Luke 2:8-14)

   “Glory to the newborn King!” (Luke 2:14; Rev 5)

Don't show up Sunday tired and worn out from the weekend.  Start preparing today.  Gathered worship will be far richer for you and for all at Trinity.

Hail the Heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth 
Hark! the herald angels sing:
“Glory to the newborn King!”

John’s Wesley’s original lyrics to the famous hymn that we know today “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!” erupted out of his reflection one day walking to church on Christmas morning in 1739 hearing the church bells in London toll.  Later, reflecting on Luke 2:14, Wesley wondered, “What did those shepherds hear the angels sing in those fields between Bethlehem and Jerusalem so many years ago?”   “What must they have thought?”  “Did they understand all that was happening when they heard these words at first frozen in fear?”   Peter says that when the gospel is preached by the power of the Holy Spirit, the angels crane their necks to look (1 Peter 1:12).

Why are we looking at a Christmas hymn this Advent?  I can think of two reasons: 1) Our worldviews needs some stretching.  Three times at the beginning of an account Luke writes to Theophilus, he mentions angels.  That’s not the way a modern account to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ would start today.  Modern apologetics involve evidence of presuppositions, science, natural law, etc.  Angels don’t exactly count as witnesses in modern scholarly journals.  But they did in the Ancient world, and perhaps we could us a dose of humility to consider things from their point of view and find ourselves better for it.  2) If you don’t disciple your children, then the world will.  You’ll never keep pace.  The song “Hark The Herald Angels Sings” has rich theology. Praise!  Incarnation!  Glory!  Born again!  Let us teach our children (and ourselves!) the depth of Christ’s gift and the extravagance of His love toward sinners like you and me.  This hymn’s theology is a teaching tool. Sing it as a family and talk about the themes is brings out of Luke 2:8-14.

So, this Sunday, let's go back to the fields between Bethlehem and Jerusalem about 4BC, when the Angel appeared.  Read Luke 2:8-14 prayerfully and carefully as you prepare your heart for worship.  

Don't show up Sunday tired and worn out from the weekend.  Start preparing today.  Gathered worship will be far richer for you.    

READ 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; 16:13-14

^1:1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— ⁶ even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

^16:13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. ¹⁴ Let all that you do be done in love.

QUESTIONS

1. 1 Corinthians has a fairly typical introduction (1:1-9) for one of Paul's letters. What would you assume to be Paul's purpose in writing based on this introduction?

2. Based on the introduction, what do we learn about the Corinthian church? What do we learn about God?

3. Look now at the closing instructions in 16:13-14. How are the five commands in those verses related?

Pastor Blake mentioned four reasons for studying 1 Corinthians, namely that it teach us how to:
a) apply the gospel.
b) cover relevant issues.
c) value and maintain unity in a divided world.
d) lay the foundation of a healthy church in biblical doctrine and pastoral affection.

4. Using these four reasons as a guide, discuss 16:13-14. (I.e., how does 16:13-14 apply the gospel? How does it cover relevant issues? Etc.)

PRAY

Take prayer requests and pray. Close prayer by singing the Doxology together:

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; 
Praise Him, all creatures here below; 
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host: 
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Psalm 89:1-4

¹ I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
    with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
² For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
    in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
³ You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
    I have sworn to David my servant:
⁴ ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
    and build your throne for all generations.’” 

INTRODUCTION

We all owe our faith in Christ to the labor of others. The Holy Spirit, of course, is the one who gives faith and establishes the community of faith. But the Spirit also uses others to instruct us in the gospel, for “how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard” (Rom 10:14ff)? We want Trinity’s building to play a role in this: to celebrate the Lord’s work in building us up, and hoping for the Lord’s work in using us to build others up. As we witness the foundation of Trinity’s building being laid and its walls rising, may it serve as an opportunity for thanksgiving of the past and a hopeful anticipation of the future. Today, pray along these lines.

PRAYER

1. Give thanks to the Lord for the witness and faith of those who taught us the gospel—maybe even decades ago—and for their enduring impact upon Trinity in and through us. Name them, and thank God for them.
2. Christianity isn’t new or inventive, but old and teeming with wisdom. Pray that God would enable Trinity to become a place where the ancient truths of the faith are embraced and cherished.
3. Pray that God would establish Trinity as an enduring community in Owasso and northeast Oklahoma, and that he would use his church to establish future generations in the faith.

Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV)
[6] Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, [7] rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 

SERMON SUMMARY

Main point: you grow in the Christian life not by what you earn, but by what you learn and apply. Christ is not only to be believed as Savior, but also submitted to as Lord.

The gospel orients the entirety of our lives to truth. And it is truth that outlasts our competing allegiances.

DISCUSS

1. Notice the participles in v. 7: “rooted,” “built,” and “established.” These aren’t commands to do, but things that God has done. Why does this matter?
   
   
2. Most of the time, we read the phrase “established in the faith” as referring to individuals, which is a great way to read it. But in what way can a local congregation be “established in the faith”?
   
   
3. At this young but important moment in Trinity’s history, what things should we be thinking about to make sure that future generations are “established in the faith”?
   
   
4. For a local congregation, what does having a church building say about that church being “established in the faith”?

Exercise: Think of those teachers who taught you the gospel. Tell your community group something you remember about them or how they impacted you.

PRAY

Take prayer requests in normal fashion. Pray for these, as well as Trinity’s growth in the gospel through the RISE campaign.