Let us be honest for a moment. Everyone who has committed a truly horrific sin…maybe even some that have minor sins…are really, really, really glad that Psalm 51 is in the scriptures! I am raising both hands to testify of this!!
Oh it is a Psalm I have gone to more times than I care to admit in my life…this and Psalm 32
I want to point out a couple key thoughts that come to me from this 51st Psalm:
“Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.” Ps. 51:1
David doesn’t appeal to God based on His past actions, “Oh God remember how well I’ve served You and that I have been basically good ’till now…” No, David knows that there is no reason he deserves forgiveness but that forgiveness is accessible to him through the love and power of God. Our appeals for forgiveness should not be based on negotiation of our merits, but simply asking Jesus to pour out His compassion…which He has in abundance…unlimited even.
“For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
4 Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.” -Ps. 51:3, 4
David’s confession does not try and justify or rationalize his actions. There is no, “Well I was under pressure, and I messed-up this once.” He just confesses.
“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.” -Ps. 51:6“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” -Ps. 51:10“For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” -Ps. 51:16, 17
David doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about the actual sin of his adultery and murder…in fact read the Psalm again and notice he never mentions it directly. I point this out because how many times do we spend talking to God about the outward action of our sin but not the true sin, the true issue. David understands that the ultimate sin was not what took place with Bathsheba or Uriah, the ultimate sin was what took place in his heart that allowed him to get to that level of action. So he goes to God and acknowledges and asks God to deal with the root of the problem, his heart…what is one the inside.
“Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.”-Ps. 51:13
David’s commitment to God–as you give me the joy of salvation I will teach people about You and I will lead people to follow You. I will do evangelism.
Do we go back to our sins so often because after we confess and ask forgiveness we don’t then GO TO work for the Lord’s cause?
Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 35 & 36
I was once told or read…I honestly do not remember which…that in the days of Israel’s early history that when a Kingdom was conquered by another Kingdom that the rulers of the conquered Kingdom would be stripped down naked and forced to dance before the people as they entered their new city. Since hearing that, if this is in fact true I have always had a new perspective on 2 Samuel 6:12-16,
“Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, on account of the ark of God.” David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. 13 And so it was, that when the bearers of the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. 14 And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet. 16 Then it happened as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.”
If the historical assessment at the top is accurate than understand what David is doing…
The Ark of the Lord is being brought into Jerusalem and David is, of his own free will, stripping down and dancing before the Ark. What is he indicating? To me based on the historical understanding I have, David is communicating to the people that he, the King of Israel, is actually subject to the King of Kings. Wouldn’t this make sense as to why Michal his wife is so upset? This was the behavior of a conquered king, not a ruling king!
“But when David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself!”” -2 Samuel 6:20
She is saying David acted like a servant, not a king…
But David understands something about Godly leadership that Michal does not, that her father King Saul did not…
“I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes, but with the maids of whom you have spoken, with them I will be distinguished.”” -2 Samuel 6:22
Servant leadership is the greatest power amongst God’s movement and God’s people.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalm 51-53
For this post I want to share a link with you to four sermons I just completed that are from Exodus 20 that I pray will be a blessing to you.
Here is the link
or you can view the sermons:
04-02-2016 Chad Stuart: Remember: Part 1 from Spencerville Church on Vimeo.
04-09-2016 Chad Stuart: Remember: Part 2 from Spencerville Church on Vimeo.
04-16-2016 Chad Stuart: Remember: Part 3 from Spencerville Church on Vimeo.
04-23-2016 Chad Stuart: Remember: Part 4 from Spencerville Church on Vimeo.
So I recently sent out a survey to our church family and one of the questions on there was, “I will invite at least one person to church in the next 12 months.” 23.4% of the respondents said, “NO.” This survey is completely anonymous so I have no idea who those 23% are, and some of them may have very legitimate reasons for saying, “No,” I personally can’t think of any, but some may…I guess if they’re homebound that would make sense for them to say “no” but much beyond that I don’t understand…
But there are some who reason simply, “It is not my responsibility” or “I just don’t care enough to.”
I read something in today’s reading that those folk who said, “No” may want to hear,
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” -2 Corinthians 5:20
Who are the “We”? The church members, that is whom Paul is writing to. The last line is interesting…in order to be ambassadors, true ambassadors we must be “reconciled to God.” And then verse 21 tells us how…
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,” -2 Corinthians 5:21a
For what purpose?
“so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” -2 Corinthians 5:21b
“the righteousness of God” i.e. ambassadors.
Christ became sin for us not so we could sit in church and never reach out to anyone…
But so we could be ambassadors.
Saying “No” could be very close to saying “No” to being God’s ambassador…
And I’m not saved by being an ambassador…but if I am truly saved, then I will be an ambassador…
Something to think about if my “no” is because I just don’t care to or I somehow think being an ambassador is not my responsibility.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Exodus 17-20
Mark 13 hit me with some insights I had never thought of before…
In verse 5 the very first thing Jesus says about the eschaton is,
“And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.”
This should immediately alert us to the importance of understanding what will happen in the last days of earth’s history. Before Jesus gives us any signs of recognizing the end, He informs us through this statement that there will WRONG ideas/interpretations about the end of times.
What should we be doing or supporting in the last days?
“The gospel must first be preached to all the nations.” -Mark 13:10
The preaching of the gospel…the good news of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, intercession in the heavenly sanctuary, and second coming.
It seems as the world becomes more and more wicked there is more and move emphasis by the church on “fitting-in” with the world, but Jesus said,
“You will be hated by all because of My name…” -Mark 13:13a
We should not seek enemies, but we should not be surprised by them either. And as I read scripture there are only two reasons why people hated believers in the Bible, they were arrogant (see Israel at points, Pharisees) or they were different. I don’t believe in this statement Jesus is speaking of hatred due to arrogance, do you? So it must be because we are different. This does not mean weird, it means different. How we speak, what we enjoy, how we act, how we spend our money, how we use our time, how we smile 🙂
“But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.” -Mark 13:23
Everything, to the extent that all we need to know in order to endure and recognize the eschaton, Jesus has provided in His scriptures. This would mean there will come a day, not one of us can say, “How was I supposed to know?”
“What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’” -Mark 13:37
BE ON ALERT–I’ve known many that have said, “We’ve been warning people forever and still Jesus hasn’t come. We need to tone down the second coming talk. We need to tone down the evangelism and the stories of the end times.”
Not by Jesus’ standard. “I say to ALL” that means not one person in any generation should miss this message…BE ON ALERT!
Tomorrow’s Reading: 2 Corinthians 4 & 5
Two points I wrote down in response to today’s reading.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Mark 13 & 14