Lent 4 - PSALM 107 - REDEMPTION SONG

Readings: Numbers 21:4-9, John 3:14-21, Ephesians 2:1-10, Psalm 107: 1-3,17-22
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on March 18th 2012

A printable PDF file can be found here

Psalm 107 is a redemption song. It is subtitled in some bibles as "The Lord delivers man from manifold troubles”. In England a 'manifold' is the name given to the pipe that runs under a vehicle taking the exhaust gases from the engine. I think you guys call it a 'Muffler' .

The English meaning gives a whole different picture to 'Manifold troubles! 'God the great auto mechanic in the Sky', 'Lord of the Ford' and the Chevy and Cadillac or any other model that you can get for a down payment and a rebate and an unrepeatable one time offer.

Yet you know, and I know, that however much you pay for a vehicle, the thing is not going to last for ever. There will be manifold troubles and troubles with many other parts as well. Same thing with our lives. No sooner have we stopped growing than we start growing older. We fill our minds with knowledge and then we forget it all.

Some times I can't even remember the simplest things. Like; "Where did I put the car keys. Did I leave them in the kitchen? Did I leave them in my coat pocket? Hope I didn't leave them in the car - because I've locked it up already.’ It drives my wife mad. There we are all ready to go somewhere and she'll be saying, "Come on, let's go, what are you waiting for?"

I'll smile sweetly and say, "Have... erm... have you happened to have seen my .. erm.. .keys anywhere?". "You and your keys" comes the frustrated reply. One of the great mysteries of love. She loves me in spite of my forgetfulness, certainly not because of it. One of the things you pledge yourself to at the altar is to commit yourself 'for better or for worse' to helping each other through the sometimes stupid situations that we get ourselves into.

I thank God that I have a partner in my wife, Yvonne, who has stuck with me through the years and I'm not afraid to tell the world that I'm even more madly in love with her than the day when we first started going together many moons ago.

The Psalmist pictures God as being a faithful partner. Faithful in the sense that God has not only stuck by him, but has actively worked to get him out of the bad situations that had come his way. Pictures God and God's people as being in a covenant, committed relationship. A relationship like a solid marriage. The very first verse of the Psalm says, “O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever.”

Think about your own life for a moment. Everybody here, from the youngest to the oldest, has been in situations where things didn't turn out right. From the moment your born things don't happen quite as you expect.

A baby has disappointments. You want your milk and you can't speak, so you cry and you cry… and you don't get it... and then your tired, and they're trying to keep you awake, and then you’re wide awake and they are trying to get you to sleep. Life is hard. All you want is some milk and a snooze and the world can't even get itself organized to provide them at an appropriate time!

From the moment we're born - "Manifold troubles". As we go through life we never know what is around the next corner. It never seems to be what we expect. Yet when we look back, we see that, especially in the hard times, God has walked with us. His love has carried us through. Even when things have turned out wrong, God hasn't abandoned us. We got through that experience. We are still here to tell the tale. As we've said before;

"God is Good, All the Time
All the Time, God is Good"

Speak it out. Tell the world. Let people know. Sing them a redemption song. This is what the Psalmist encourages us to do. The second verse. “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those He redeemed from trouble.”

As you follow the Psalm through you see how the Psalmist speaks of four situations where God had come through for God's people.

• When they were lost wandering around aimlessly in the desert - God gave direction.
• When they were imprisoned by darkness and the shadow of death - God set them free.
• When because of their rebellion they grew sick - God healed them
• When they were at the mercy of the sea - God put a stop to the chaos and brought them home.

One commentator, Jorge Mejia, suggests that these four situations are arranged 'chiastically'. That the Psalmist gives us two images of "Chaos" - the chaos of being lost in a sun drenched, wind storm prone, life sapping desert and the chaos of being caught in a storm at sea - that surround two images of "Crisis" - the crisis of imprisonment, addiction and paralyzing fear from which we need deliverance, and the crisis of personal sin and sickness for which we need healing.

There is the 'Chaos' that goes on outside of our lives - the environment that surrounds us over which we often have very little control. Then there is the 'Crisis', the situations and dilemmas that we get into our personal lives. Chaos all around us, a Crisis within us. God alone is the One who can deliver us from the chaos around us and the chaos within us.

If we consider our New Testament lectionary reading from John we see that it is to the very midst of this crazy world of manifold troubles and inner turmoil that God sends the light of Jesus Christ. John 3:17-19.

"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Those who believe in Him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light ......."

Wonderfully, God opens up the options for us. We can stand in the darkness or we can walk in the light.

Jesus is our Bread of Life. We can live with our hunger or we can feed our lives upon the bread of the life of Jesus Christ. Feed on His Word. Build up our spiritual life through practicing regularly the disciplines of worship and prayer.

The Dove is symbol of the Holy Spirit. We can still our lives and wait upon God to bless, gently, as though we were trying to get a bird to land on our hand. Or we can bluster and muster our way through life thinking we are so clever at being able to handle everything that comes our way, yet wondering all the time why that thing they call 'peace' never seems to descend our way.

Then there's the famous verse, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life."

"May not perish." The love of God comes to us so that instead of being perishing people we become praiseful people, prayerful people, purposeful people... maybe even Presbyterian people "May not Perish". In the community where I grew up on Merseyside, there used to be an evangelist, called Peter Partington. He put on his business cards, "Pastor Peter Partington Preaching Perfect Peace to Perishing People".

The love of God comes to the people of God when they put their trust and belief in God's love, in God's promises, in God's ability to turn things around, to change crosses to empty tombs and darkness to light. Miracles come to pass. Breakthroughs take place. Peace happens. 'Shalom' comes.

Verse 35-37 of Psalm 107 – “He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there He lets the hungry live, and they establish a town to live in; they sow fields, and plant vineyards, and get a fruitful yield.”

Do you see how such things were fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus? He fed the hungry in the wilderness. He liberated those bound by demonic powers. He healed the sick and forgave those who had got into situations which were way out of their control. He stilled the storms. He dealt with the chaos that was around them and the crisis they experienced within them.

Psalm 107 is a redemption song with a simple, yet radical message. The bad news is that our lives are surrounded by chaos without us and inhabited by conflicts within us. The Good News is that we can depend upon God to get us through, for God is good 'all the time' and God loves God's people with steadfast, enduring love.

There is that verse in John that says, "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life." Time doesn't permit to go into that whole story of Moses and the snake in the desert, but you are aware that the snake is a poisonous, often feared creature.

In a similar way, the cross that Jesus was crucified upon was a despised place, considered to have been cursed by God, fearsome, lonely and barren. Yet the eye of faith looks at that cross through resurrection eyes. The eye of faith looks at the chaos and the crisis in peoples lives, not as signs of God's abandonment, but as touching places for the Presence of God.

I encourage us today to sing a redemption song. For sure life will bring its share of manifold troubles, around us and within us; but as we place our trust in God, God promises to carry us through.

He makes us this promise through His Son, Jesus Christ. As He is lifted up, so we are to lift up our eyes to Him. Nobody else has been prepared to go to such lengths as a cross to win us over by their love. Nobody else promises the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit to those who seek to live His Way. Only Jesus.

"Oh, Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good,
For His loving kindness is everlasting"
AMEN and AMEN!

To God’s name be the glory!

Rev Adrian J Pratt

Lent 2 - PSALM 22 - From Abandonment to Hope

Readings: Genesis 17:1-7, Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38, Psalm 22:23-31
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on March 4th 2012

A printable PDF file can be found here

It happened in a Nigerian church. Just as the service was drawing to a close. Two hooded gunmen, members of a political Islamic extremist group burst in, automatic weapons let out a stream of bullets that took a number of lives, including that of the pastor and his two young children who stood at the communion table. They fled leaving behind incendiary devices that burnt the building to the ground.

It happened on a city street in Liverpool a few days before Christmas. Mum had just picked up her toddler from Nursery-School. She was waiting on the sidewalk preparing to cross the road. A lunchtime drunk driver lost his concentration and plowed into them both. They never stood a chance. The driver was to drunk to remember what happened when the case went to court.

A man sits in a foreign jail cell awaiting sentencing. His crime? Being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Despite his protestations of innocence, there is enough false evidence to condemn him. The local militia have already decided that his death will send a message to the leaders of his country that shows they are a force to reckon with.

Why Lord? Why do these things happen? Why are people left abandoned, accused, at the mercy of powers they can not control? Why is life so unpredictable? Where is the sense of fairness, of justice, or meaning?

A man is nailed to a cross on a hillside outside Jerusalem. His friends have deserted Him. His accusers mock Him. He is taunted by those who look upon Him whilst soldiers gamble for His clothes in an effort to pass the time. From His mouth falls these words, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

The words are a quotation from Psalm 22. In the original Psalm they are the complaint of a man who is in great suffering because life has turned against him. For the first twenty one verses of the Psalm, the man’s thoughts veer from accusing God of abandoning him to descriptions of the treachery and cruelty of the punishments he is enduring. “I am nothing” he declares, “An earthworm, something to step on, to squash”.

As we travel towards Easter, I will continue to focus on the Psalms that the Lectionary gives for the Sundays of Lent. Today’s readings deal with the dilemma that suffering, particularly suffering which seems unnecessary and undeserved, raises for those of us who want to live our lives by faith.

Jesus tells would be followers in Mark’s gospel that to follow Him meant accepting a cross. The symbols of bread and wine that we share from the communion table remind us that an act of ‘undeserved suffering’ lies at the very heart of our faith.

One startling thing about the Psalmists cry of abandonment... his honest questioning “Why?” is that he never receives an answer. Instead there slowly comes a conviction that his abandonment is not without a purpose. That somehow, this terrible experience his life was going through would serve as a witness to the Presence and reality of God... even though in reality he had never felt further away from God or God’s promises.

It should not surprise us that this was the Psalm that Jesus chose to recite as He hung upon the cross. Despite the abandonment He felt, somewhere mixed into the picture there was a hope that His suffering was not without purpose, but would for ever be a sign of God’s redeeming love to the world.

Indeed the section of the Psalm that we read this morning bristles with promises of God that go way beyond the narrow confines of life on earth, but put the whole question of suffering in a different framework. What starts out as a Psalm of abandoned hopelessness becomes a song of triumphant hope; that at the last, God’s glory will far surpass the depths of any suffering.

There is a dramatic transition from hopelessness to hope, from despair to rejoicing, from defeat to victory. The closing verses are full of images of God’s love breaking out throughout the whole world, of all peoples of all nations coming to know the salvation of God.

This, as we’ve observed, was the Psalm that Jesus turned to in the hour of his bitterest anguish. The depths of suffering He went through on the cross, we can not even come near to estimating. Yet in the midst of that suffering, before He would cry, “It is finished’, came the hope that through His death would come the consummation of the Kingdom that He had given everything for, the hope that God would take the horror and naked brutality of the cross and transform it into the beauty and mystery of the empty tomb.

The New Interpreters Bible says of this passage “The Psalms final images are not of abandonment but of satisfaction, remembrance, deliverance, worship and dominion. Images of salvation, not just for the privileged few, but for the poor, for the humble, for all who seek God to the ends of the earth, in all nations. God’s redemption is promised to those who have died, to those who are alive now, and to those as yet unborn.

And the whole focus of the promise is the action of the Lord, “He has done it!” The glory and praise are to be given to God. We are to offer that praise through living our daily lives for God, as the Psalmist declares, “I shall live for him”.

“I shall live for Him”! This is the perspective that Jesus embodied. He lived in humble dependence on God. He did not welcome suffering, yet was ultimately prepared to embrace it on behalf of others. He faced an undeserved, untimely, unjust, death with the conviction that God’s power is greater than death’s power, that God’s justice is greater than life’s injustice, that love is a stronger force than hate.

Jesus was, like the Psalmist, one of the afflicted, but lived in the knowledge that God loves the afflicted and desires to share in their suffering. Jesus gathered to himself a community of the suffering, the poor, and the outcast. He sat at table with them. He healed them. He told stories of love to them. He still invites to His table those who profess the desire to live in humble dependence upon God.

All of this is a far cry from answering the question as to the “Why?” of suffering, or explaining the presence of evil in the world or the terrible tragedies that take place. What it does is invite us to cry out to God in our pain, to be brutally honest about those times where we sense the darkness of abandonment and feel that God doesn’t even care.

Somehow, the Psalmist implies, such brutal honesty will draw us nearer to God. We will discover that God is not standing far off, but desiring to walk through our trials with us. This is the assurance that comes in the Psalm that follows Psalm 22, namely Psalm 23; “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with me!”

The Cross that we use as a motif for our faith is a symbol of the valley of the shadow. The sign of the Cross us remember that Jesus died, feeling deserted and abandoned at Calvary. Symbols such as bread and wine speak of a broken body and poured out blood and we are even bid to “Remember” Jesus in such a way.

Senseless tragedies, like those I mentioned at the start of the sermon, like that of the crucifixion of Jesus, will always be a feature of life on earth. We do not welcome them. We do not understand them. They sap our faith and leave us cold. Yet... still... God calls us to put our faith in Him. Still..... God promises that, although for a while we may feel utterly abandoned by His love and far from His presence, the experience of abandonment will not be the final word.

The same Psalmist who framed the words Christ uttered on the Cross, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me” also declares “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.” His final words are words of hope.

I pray that as we travel through this Lenten season that we may know that wherever our life may lead us, God stands with us. We may feel abandoned. We may feel distant. But maybe as the realization comes that God knows the deepest feelings of our soul, we will also find in God a peace that surpasses all human understanding.

May God’s Spirit be upon us and within us today as we share in bread and wine and in prayer and fellowship. To God’s name be all glory. Amen.

Rev Adrian J Pratt