1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:14,000 A couple of weeks ago I preached a sermon here on the politics of Genesis 17. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:22,000 Since here I am again today I thought I'd continue the theme and talk about the politics of today's Psalm. 4 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:28,000 Psalm 111. So here we go again. 5 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:37,000 Last Thursday Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for the New York Times wrote an article entitled 6 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,000 The Looming Contest Between Two Presidents and Two Americas. 7 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:50,000 In the article Baker makes the point that the general election this year represents the clash of two presidents 8 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:58,000 of two profoundly different countries. The president of red America and the president of blue America. 9 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:04,000 The two country divide goes beyond the conservative liberal dichotomy that we usually assume. 10 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:11,000 He says that Americans do not just disagree with each other, we live in separate realities. 11 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:19,000 Our country is becoming an increasingly tribal society, he says, with red and blue Americas moving farther and farther 12 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:27,000 apart geographically, philosophically, financially, educationally, and informationally. 13 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Now as I read the article I immediately asked and then just as immediately answered the first question that comes to 14 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:46,000 people like me in our line of work. What about us Christians? How do the political winds blow us? 15 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:53,000 And of course I immediately knew the answer. All the research shows that when it comes to politics Christians divide 16 00:01:53,000 --> 00:02:01,000 along the same ideological lines and the same identity markers as everyone else. We are just as divisive as our 17 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:12,000 respective tribes. Now people outside of the church notice this of course. What do people think when they watch us? 18 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:27,000 What kind of people do others think that Christians are? Well as you again probably undoubtedly know already the 19 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:34,000 news is not good. The question why would someone outside of the church be interested in the Christian faith if it is 20 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:45,000 even asked has an easy answer. There is no reason, at least no reason that they can see. It's pretty bad. 21 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Something is messed up in the body politic and I mean by that the body of Christ. Something is messed up in the way 22 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:06,000 that we live our lives together. Now Douglas Hall in his book, Waiting for Gospel, has his take on the messed upness. 23 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:15,000 He argues that it is not really new. It has in fact been centuries in the making and so it is in a sense systemic. 24 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Hall describes the problem very succinctly as a fundamental disconnect between Christendom and gospel. 25 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:35,000 Now you may be tempted to not take what he says very personally. That may be true of other churches but not us, 26 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:47,000 not our church, not my church, not me. I don't know. I've been thinking a lot about Hall's words. 27 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:57,000 The angel said to the shepherds, fear not for behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be for all people. 28 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:06,000 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord. And at that moment the gospel, 29 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:12,000 the good news became the center plank of the political platform of the kingdom of God. 30 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:26,000 It is a powerful word that promises deliverance from all evil. It is a powerful word that promises that one day all things will be made right again. 31 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:32,000 It is quite unlike the promises proposed by all the laws that we argue about and fight about. 32 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:42,000 And quite unlike all the promises of government policies. And unlike all the pious moral posturing in which we are inclined to engage. 33 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Christendom at its heart, Douglas Hall says, is quite different. It is the bearer of things that gladden the heart of men. 34 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:02,000 Christendom is the bearer of things that gladden the heart of man. 35 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:12,000 Now I love that description and I have decided to cling to it. And if you cling as well then you might enjoy today's poet. 36 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,000 Who over the past week and a half I've come to know a little bit better. 37 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:27,000 He also is a fellow citizen of Christ's kingdom. An ancient one of course. But a citizen none the less. And he is worth listening to today. 38 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:33,000 One thing that I admire about him is that he is not only the bearer of things that gladden the heart of man. 39 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:40,000 But he has a glad heart himself. I will praise Yahweh with all my heart he starts out. 40 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:47,000 And he never stops the praise line after line until the end. You may not know this but the Psalm is an acrostic. 41 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:54,000 Every line of the Psalm starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. He goes from A to Z so to speak. 42 00:05:54,000 --> 00:06:02,000 The poet's praise exhausts the Hebrew alphabet but the Hebrew alphabet does not exhaust his praise. 43 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:09,000 It is sustained from beginning to end and at the end. He only leaves you wanting for more. 44 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:17,000 I get the impression that not one corner of his heart is untouched by his joy at the good news that he proclaims. 45 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:24,000 There is not one small seed of bitterness that he nourishes. There is no grudge that he holds onto. 46 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:32,000 He is completely captivated by the Lord and by his marvelous works. He is completely captivated by good news. By gospel. 47 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:42,000 The poet carries in his heart the things that gladden the heart of man and he is very happy to share his heart with us. 48 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:50,000 But now it's time for me to stop my train of thought for a minute because I do have a confession to make. 49 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:57,000 First I need to let you know that I didn't really have much difficulty at all understanding the poem. 50 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:12,000 It's quite a simple psalm when you look at it. And I also have to say that I didn't have much trouble seeing how all the things that the poet is praising the Lord for also apply to me. 51 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:22,000 His truths are my truths. I know how to make all the right moves to bridge those gaps. 52 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:29,000 So my study of the poem was not really about learning anything new. 53 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:37,000 So here comes my confession. I had a firm cognitive grasp of the psalm. 54 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:44,000 But the trouble was I could not participate in the poet's joy. 55 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:52,000 Too many other things were bugging me as soon as I got this assignment to preach so soon after I had already preached. 56 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:58,000 I had too much stuff to do this week. Too many other things are not right in my small world. 57 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:06,000 And of course in the larger world around us. I know of course all the wonderful truths of our faith and I believe them. 58 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:15,000 And I know and I am comforted by the truth that I am forgiven for my crabby and cramped and sinful heart. 59 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:27,000 But still on that gut level I felt a loss. I remained detached from the experience that the poet is so obviously having as he meditates on the works of his Lord. 60 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:37,000 The truths over which he exalted were not penetrating much beyond my brain. That's my confession. 61 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:43,000 But as life goes for the sake of this sermon I had to live with this guy for a few more days. 62 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:47,000 I couldn't just have a cup of coffee with him and go my grouchy way. 63 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:55,000 So I kept turning his poetry over in my mind. I kept thinking about it. And he was patient with me. 64 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:02,000 It was almost as if he was saying come on let's celebrate this together. Don't just intone the words. 65 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:07,000 Now don't get me wrong here. It's not as if heaven opened up for me a couple days ago. 66 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:17,000 I didn't get overwhelmed with enthusiasm but I can truthfully say that after a few days of living with his verse the poet started to rub off on me. 67 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:29,000 I admit now I was still sort of like that crabby man sitting alone in the corner of a party whose foot finally starts tapping a little to the music that he has been hearing. 68 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:36,000 Just a little. But for me I think it was enough. Just enough. 69 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:44,000 Now as I think about my small experience with this psalm it occurs to me that this is a good example of how things in God's kingdom work. 70 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:51,000 We don't come to his kingdom. It comes to us. Through the gospel it comes. 71 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:59,000 And in hearing and in contemplating and in thinking and remembering the gospel it comes again and again. 72 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:09,000 And so the gospel has to come and come and come. Because our hearts grow so quickly hard as I can testify. 73 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:15,000 And when that good news comes it influences us again and again and again. 74 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:31,000 This I think is one of the secrets of the power of the gospel. Its power is not only in the once and for all big pulling away from our bondage to sin and death and hell that we commonly talk about. 75 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:40,000 But its power is also in the little pullings away. The daily pullings from our self-centeredness. 76 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:47,000 From the sinful thoughts of our heart. From our foul moods and joyless moments. 77 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:54,000 This is the precious gift of sharing the gospel with each other. Encouraging each other in our Lord. 78 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:04,000 Forgiving each other. Treating each other with the kindness and grace of Jesus. 79 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:10,000 And that gospel does this small work of shaping our desires and our loves. 80 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:17,000 It certainly, as some of you can testify, can make us into different persons with a different vision for our lives. 81 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:22,000 With a whole new set of values and a whole new way of being in this world. 82 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:28,000 Or sometimes it just chips away a little at our cold heart. 83 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,000 This is life in the kingdom of grace. 84 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:40,000 And so it strikes me that in the politics of our kingdom, especially as we interact with the rest of the world and as this psalm so eloquently demonstrates, 85 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:46,000 it is important that we lead with the gospel so that people don't think we are all about the law. 86 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:54,000 The gospel is what attracts. The gospel is what lightens burdened hearts. The gospel is what raises people from the dead. 87 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:00,000 Reconnect Christendom to the gospel with the enthusiasm and joy of our poet today. 88 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:05,000 Captivate people with the stories of the great things our God has done for each other and His Son. 89 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:14,000 And in the way we treat each other. In the way that we lead lives of praise and joy and humble thanksgiving and trust. 90 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:22,000 Perhaps they will start to get a different idea of what it looks like to be a Christian. 91 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:30,000 And maybe in spite of themselves they will start tapping their feet just a little bit to the beautiful sound of the gospel. 92 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:36,000 Tish Harrison Warren wrote something last year that has really stuck with me. 93 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:47,000 In her column she was discussing the character of the holy fool as it has been portrayed in TV's and movies and literature. 94 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:55,000 And she writes this, Holy fools dwell in ordinary secular life. 95 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,000 But they approach it with completely different values. 96 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:14,000 Rejecting respectability and embracing humility and love. Holy fools are so profoundly out of step with the broader world that they appear to be ridiculous or insane or often invite ridicule. 97 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:19,000 And yet they teach the rest of us how to live. 98 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:37,000 Now I like to think that in our world today's poet would be one of those holy fools. And what I found out when I finally started to listen to him was that this was all he was really trying to do. 99 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:43,000 He was trying to teach me how to live. Amen. 100 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:51,000 Now may the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ which passes all our understanding keep your hearts and minds together in Christ Jesus. Amen.