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Posts Tagged ‘God’s strength’

Through brokenness comes life

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

It is a central truth of our faith that new life comes through brokenness. We all want new life right? But we don’t want brokenness because brokenness is all about humility, weakness, suffering, pain and sacrifice.

I want to share with you today three examples of how new life can come from brokenness:

1. The brokenness of repentance

Turn with me to Psalm 51:17. This is, of course, David repenting for some very serious failures before God. He is confessing his sin and seeking cleansing and renewal. And then he talks about animal sacrifices and how what God really wants comes from the heart. v. 17 – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”  This is a description of his repentance.

As Elders we have focused on calling the church to spiritual renewal; on prayer and on seeking God for renewal in our congregation. For our vision we have not focused on a new building or some new defining program. We believe that God is calling us to be renewed and that God needs to come and move powerfully among us to transform us – and then we can talk about these other things.

This is what I would highlight for us this morning in terms of what I am talking about:

  • we are too comfortable as a congregation and set in our ways. We don’t want to take risks for God. Many like things just the way they are, as long as their needs are taken care. There is too much focus on us and not on the needs of others and the work of the kingdom.
  • we have too many walls that separate people in their relationships with each other. Not that people are fighting, but there are wounds, scars and bitterness from the past that haven’t been dealt with, which creates separation. So that we aren’t the close, loving and caring community that we could be.
  • we are too busy, always doing things and overwhelmed with our fast pace of life. Often what gets cut is our local congregation – investing in relationships with each other and doing ministry together. Let’s be clear, we are not victims here. Our lives are like they are because of choices that we make. And we need to make different choices.

And so spiritual renewal is needed. I don’t know if you accept this or not, but I am your pastor and I am telling you that spiritual renewal is needed. And this requires repentance as a first step.

Now if we do have the brokenness of repentance, God can come in and renew us. As David says in Psalm 51:10-12 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” New life comes through the brokenness of repentance.

2. The brokenness of difficult situations

Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 12:7-8. Paul is here talking about various “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities” (v. 10) that he has gone through. Starting halfway through v. 7  he says, “a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.” He is most likely talking about some physical ailment or the constant persecution that followed him around everywhere.

Well, we have difficulties in our congregation –

  • people who have physical needs – some long term with no fix.
  • people who struggle with depression, anxiety and more.
  • people who have gone through deep waters.

And as a congregation we have experienced brokenness in our most recent trial . . .

All of our trials are painful, whether our individual trials or our congregational trial. There is definitely brokenness among us.

When these things happen we can despair and give up. Or our suffering can lead us to God; to come to God in our weakness and pain and to find strength through more fully relying on him.

Paul talks about the new life that suffering can bring when he goes on in 2 Corinthians 12 to talk about the strength God gives. In vs. 9-10 he quotes the Lord who said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And then he says, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” A deeper spiritual life of greater dependence and relationship with the Lord can be ours, because of the brokenness of our trials.

3. The brokenness of serving God

This comes from the verse on the front of your bulletin from John 12:24. Jesus is talking about his own life which he is about to give up, but it teaches the path that we are to take as well. “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Serving God is all about walking in weakness. We are called to do things that no one is capable of doing in their own strength. And serving God is all about sacrifice – giving of ourselves to others, laying down our lives – even if people don’t receive it.

But through such death to self comes new life – for ourselves in terms of inner joy and the hope of the coming resurrection, and for those who respond to the ministry. It “bears much fruit.”

That life comes through the brokenness of service to God is supremely illustrated in the Lord’s supper. Jesus’ body was what? It was “broken” on the cross. Jesus’ blood was what? It was poured out on the cross. He laid down his life. But his brokenness led to his resurrection, and it also poured forth new life for all who will receive it.

As we receive the Lord’s supper today let’s remember the three kinds of brokenness:

1. If you need to repent, I invite you to do so, so that you can receive new life from God – a new heart and a renewed spirit.

2. If you are going through hard times, and as a congregation as we go through a hard time, let us throw ourselves at his feet and find spiritual renewal as we completely rely on him, so that in our weakness the power of God will shine forth more powerfully.

3. If you are tired and broken from serving God, I invite you to receive encouragement from God to know that it’s worth it; to receive joy now and remember your great hope for the future.

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God’s glory and strength. Psalm 29

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Today we are looking at Psalm 29 and its message about the glory and strength of God. As we will see, the basic idea of this psalm is that there are many evidences of God’s glory and strength in his displays of power over his creation. And because of this all should rightly acknowledge God’s glory and strength.

You have a handout of an outline of Psalm 29.

 Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength

“1Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.”

This is a call to worship, but a very specific one. It is calling “the heavenly beings” to praise God. It is directed at them.

Who are these? Literally it says the “sons of God.” This is a phrase that is used in the Old Testament to speak of the angels or they are even called “gods,” who are under Yahweh and do his bidding (Psalm 103:20; Job 1:6). They are sometimes referred to collectively as God’s “divine council” (Psalm 82; 89:5-7). Some of these sons of God are also those worshipped by the nations as gods (Deuteronomy 32:8) and are thus given glory beyond their measure.

So here we have a call for these heavenly beings to give proper worship to Yahweh, the one true God.

They are to “2Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.” God’s glory and strength far surpass that of these heavenly beings, glorious as they may be. And they are to give God his due.

Also, they are to “worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.” God’s holiness refers to God’s utterly unique greatness. It refers to God as the one who is higher and better and more glorious than anything that he has created. And God in his holiness is “splendid” or “beautiful.” Have you ever thought of God as beautiful?

The Psalm goes on to spell out some of the ways in which God is so great.

But first we need to note that it does so by speaking of –

God’s coming in thunderstorms

As a kid I loved the thunderstorms that would roll through the south like clockwork in the Summer. I was in awe of such displays of power with the ground shaking thunder, the lightning, wind and rain.

As we have seen, when God rescued Israel from the Red Sea, God is portrayed as coming in a great storm. And we saw this recently reflected on in Habakkuk 3 which talks about this same event (Exodus 14; Psalm 77:16-20)

Yahweh is the great God who is above all – in the sky, as it were, who can display his glory in powerful storms. (Although not all storms are of God – Mark 4:35-39).

The phrase “the voice of the Lord” is used 7 times in this Psalm. And it is referring to the thunder, lightning and wind of a powerful storm. His majestic and powerful  voice is heard in the sounds of a great thunderstorm.

Alright, with this background in mind –

Why should these heavenly beings glorify God?

1. Because of God’s power over the waters

“3The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters. 4The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.” And then also in  “10The Lord sits enthroned over the flood.”

Once again, the waters refer to the powers of evil, chaos and death. These verses portray God as in full control of the waters.

– God overcame the waters at the time of creation. He separated them into the waters above the above the sky, where the rain comes from and the waters below on the earth, in the seas – Genesis 1:7.

– And God overcame the waters again at the time of the flood, restraining them after he had used them, putting them back in the boundaries that he ordained, above in the sky and in the sea – Genesis 6.

Our Psalm pictures God as above the waters, like a thunderstorm would be over the Mediterranean sea. Such storms show that God is still in control of the waters. They are a display of his continued dominance and power over the deep. God is still in control of the chaos, and this chaotic world. God is still in control of the powers of evil and death.

And this is a power that the sons of God do not have. As Job 41:25 says of Leviathan, the sea serpent who is the personification of the waters, “When he raises himself up the gods are afraid.” So the heavenly beings must acknowledge Yahweh’s superiority over them.

Next, God should receive praise 2. Because of God’s power over all that is exalted on this earth.

“5The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.” And then also, “9The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare.”

I just finished cutting up some limbs that came down in our yard from a storm a few months ago. And still have a limb hanging from a storm several years ago that is too high for me to get. And we have all seen how a powerful storm can damage and destroy trees.

But the point is not just that God has this power, trees can represent that which is tall and lofty, what is strong and exalted in this world. Isaiah 2 talks about how God will come against all that is proud and lifted up, and they will be brought low before him. And Isaiah 2:13 specifically says that he is coming “against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan.”

All that is powerful and exalted in this world is as nothing before the power of God.

Finally, God should be glorified 3. Because of his power over all of Israel.

“6He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. 7The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.” He lights up Lebanon. As the lightning and thunder come, Lebanon is like a young animal that runs and skips, here out of fear of the storm. And Mt. Sirion, also called Mt. Hermon, does the same.

“8The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.” The thunder, which as we know, can make the ground shake under our feet, shakes Kadesh and the surrounding wilderness.

When we look at the geography of this it is really talking about all of Israel.

  • Mt. Hermon or Sirion is on the northern border of Israel and
  • Kadesh is on the southern border.

So God’s power is over all of Israel, from its northernmost point and beyond, to its southernmost point and beyond.

And then we have in vs. 9-10 –

The response of the heavenly beings to God’s power

“9And in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’ 10The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.”

The temple here is most likely God’s heavenly temple, where these heavenly beings are.

In response to the glorious, powerful and majestic voice of the Lord in the storm, they cry out with their own voices, “Glory to God!” They recognize the Lord as the king he is, and that he reigns forever.

And then finally –

The Lord can give us strength and peace

“11May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!”

This isn’t just an add on at the end. This is where we come into this Psalm.

This same God who has power over all things, is the one who takes care of his people. And so he can give us strength when we need it; when we are weak; when we are overwhelmed. The Lord can help us through.

This same God who has power over the chaotic waters, is the one who can give us peace in this chaotic world that we live in. We can have wholeness, settled calm and experience true life.

And so I encourage you to see these from God, who is the source of all our strength and peace and God’s people.

William Higgins

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