Bless the Lord, O, My Soul

 

Let’s begin this message by first looking at the entire 103^rd psalm. Although I’ll focus primarily on the first two verses, I read the entire psalm for context.

 

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion, who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord  performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust."

 

"As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer. But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, To those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the Lord, all you works of His, in all places of His dominion; Bless the Lord, O my soul!"

 

Look with me again at those first two verses: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities.”

During my morning time with the Lord, I’m trying to redevelop once again the habit of praying back to Him one or two of the adoration psalms. I find that doing so centers me on Him who loves me and whom I want to love more and more with each passing year of my life.

 

David wrote at least four psalms at some points after his wicked adultery with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of Uriah, her husband. Along with psalms 32, 38, and 51, he wrote this 103^rd psalm, all for the same reason. 

 

And let me add this note: It’s good from time to time to revisit our own past sins – certainly not to dwell on them, nor to carry them with us like heavy baggage – but as a distant voice in the back of our minds to ever cut at our pride and tendency toward self-righteousness – toward the idea that we are not all that bad.

 

Not that bad? Really? If you don’t think your past is all that wretched, then I challenge you to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you HIS view of your past. If you do so with an honest heart, you will melt with anguished grief. Listen for a moment to the Holy Spirit’s charge against all humanity – every one of us:

 

“There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, there is not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” (Romans 3:11-14)

 

When we let God speak to us about our pasts, and we are brutally honest with ourselves about our pasts, then we cannot help but to be brought face to face with our unworthiness of God's mercy.

 

‘Unworthy,’ but NOT worthless. There’s a stark difference between the two. ‘Unworthy’ means to be ‘undeserving’ – and yes, we ARE undeserving of God's mercy. ‘Worthless,’ on the other hand, is to be without any value. Christ’s death for us on Calvary should forever put to rest any doubt of our tremendous VALUE to God – even though our sins make us undeserving of His mercy.

 

So, as I said a moment ago, it’s good from time to time to revisit our past sins so they can remain a voice – a distant voice – in the back of our minds to remind us of our unworthiness, but at the same time remember His incomprehensible love that DRAWS us to Himself. Our memory of our sins – perhaps especially our worst sins – should remind us that it is only by God's mercy that we stand blameless before Him. It is He Himself who assures us that He has cast all of our sins – every last one of them – as far from Him as east is from the west.

 

You might remember another of David’s psalms that speaks of such incredible love. Here is a portion of Psalm 139 (verses 1-6) “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it all . . . Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, [I cannot understand] it."

 

Our God knows everything about us: Our thoughts. Our words. Our deeds. Our motives. And yet, He loves us from eternity and back. O, such love. Such incomprehensible love. That God should love a sinner such as I – and as David – How wonderful is love like this.

 

I urge you to read Psalms 32, 38, and 51 on your own, and when you do, do so in light of what you know about David’s sordid and murderous affair surrounding Bathsheba and Uriah. There are important lessons in those psalms – lessons God will teach you about His mercy toward YOU, despite your sordid past.

 

I’ve said this in earlier studies and sermons that David broke at least three of the Ten Commandments in that Bathsheba incident. He ignored God's commandment against coveting another man’s wife. He defied God's commandment about committing adultery. He set aside God's commandment about murder. And we need to remember that God made no provision in the Law for forgiveness for anyone who willfully trashed any of those Ten Commandments. His law required David’s death for his crimes. Nothing less. And that is exactly what would have happened to him – were it not for God's mercy.

 

When God forgave David, it was not on account of anything he’d done other than his remorseful confession his sins. And the forgiveness he received from God was entirely rooted in God‘s mercy. And David knew that. Listen to what he wrote in the 32^nd psalm: “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute [or, charge with] iniquity.” (Psalm 32:1-2)

 

And it is at that point I want to pause. There is not a person in this sanctuary who has not willfully trashed any number of those Ten Commandments – and done so repeatedly. As Jeremiah wrote in the midst of Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonian army: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.” (Lamentations 3:22).

 

We get into serious trouble when we think we can do something to even the score, to compensate for our sins, that our good deeds will somehow outweigh the bad. To think that is to fall into a demonic trap. There’s nothing David could have done, and there is nothing WE can do to cleanse our sins. There is no atonement WE can make to cover our sins. That’s because God designed it that way. He alone will receive all the glory and praise for our salvation. As Paul wrote to the Christians at Ephesus (2:1ff):

 

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ . . . so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

Please trust God's promise of total forgiveness because as was true of His mercy toward David, so is His mercy toward YOU, and me, and all who repent before the Almighty. Indeed, God's compassion toward the penitent sinner frames this entire 103^rd Psalm. Listen again to what David wrote:

 

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”

 

How far is east from west? That’s not a trick question. The answer is – the distance goes on and on forever and into infinity. And THAT is the point David makes here. When God forgave his sins, He removed them completely and infinitely from David’s record. God promised to never bring those sins up again to David after death. It is as if he never committed them.

 

The application for you and me? Don’t think for a moment that God has not ALREADY done the same with YOUR confessed sins – MY confessed sins – as He did with David’s. They are cast from God's memory as far as east is from west and into infinity.

 

Now do we begin to understand why David wrote: Bless the Lord, O my soul”? And do we begin to understand why it should not be difficult for any of us to pray this psalm of adoration back to God: “Bless the Lord, O my soul”?  

 

When you return to your apartments today, think for a while of the Lord’s incomprehensible mercies toward you when He redirected His wrath against your sins and onto Jesus, His only begotten Son.

 

And this is also important: For David, God's forgiveness was not theoretical. It was his daily reality. It was THE reason he could move on with his life, instead of wallowing in paralyzing guilt. When the king believed the prophet Nathan’s words that God had forgiven him, he was then able to move on with his life and complete the work God had given him to do for the rest of his life.

 

Do you believe the prophets and the apostles who all assure you of God's forgiveness of every sin you’ve ever confessed and of which you repented? Even the most terrible sins? If not, why not? CS Lewis said it well: “I think that if God forgives us, we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

 

So now, and in the very short time remaining today, let’s move on to what David wrote next in this 103^rd psalm: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits;

 

He lists a few of those benefits in the following verses, and while those benefits are certainly not all-inclusive, they’re a starting point for us:  “[He] pardons all your iniquities, [He] heals all your diseases;  [He] redeems your life from the pit, [He] crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion, [He] satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.”

 

Not only, as I’ve already stated, not only does God pardon all our iniquities – the Biblical definition of ‘pardon’ means to be set totally free from all punishment for the offense – but God also heals us; He redeems us from the eternal terrors of His judgment and of hell; He crowns us with lovingkindness and compassion, and He satisfies our years with good things.

 

But there are yet more benefits to being a true child of God. We know from experience that life is not – even for the Christian – a proverbial Rose Garden. Each person in this sanctuary has had his and her share of thorns. But think of the Christian’s awesome privilege, the astonishing benefit that God allows us – that He USES us to turn our thorns into a means of comfort and a source of hope and, yes, even to encourage perseverance in others who are wounded by their own thorns.

 

This is not at all an insignificant point. How many people do you know or have heard of who turned away from Christ because of disappointments or trauma in their life? But God reminds us of the beautiful benefit we have as Christians to support others who are on the precipice of desperation: (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 

 

Let us not be ignorant or unaware of Satan’s tactics. How often has the devil whispered doubts or disillusionments into the ears of God's children as they suffered illness, or loss, or heartache? How often has he been able to seduce them from their Savior?

 

THAT is why it is so much a privilege to come alongside and lend comfort to those who need comfort. And we can do so because we also have received God's comfort through the words and actions of others. The writer to the Hebrews understood that principle: (Hebrews 3:13) “Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

 

Whenever you sit in the dining room there will be people all around you – maybe even at your very table – for whom YOU can be the encouragement of God. A word, a hug, a kind look, a soft hand on their arm.

 

During the last few weeks, we looked at ways to bear fruit for Christ. Well, here is a way to do so. Only God and the person with whom you speak will know how your words, or touch, or look has blessed them in their time of need.

 

As I said, we must not be ignorant of Satan’s tactics to seduce any of us away from our Lord. But God has blessed us with the wonderful benefit to be used by Him to help and encourage our brothers and sisters to persevere for and with the Lord.

 

But what about the non-Christian, the ones who don’t believe God loves them because of their sins? They don’t believe God will – or can – forgive them for the terrible things they’ve done in their life.

 

Well, the Christian knows such doubt is designed and then nurtured by Satan himself. But God has blessed the Christian with the extraordinary benefit of telling them God DOES love them – despite their sins. That Calvary’s cross is God's immutable answer that, yes, He will forgive everything they’ve ever done. All they have to do is confess their sins to God, repent, and ask Jesus to be their eternal Lord, King, Master, and Savior.

 

Coveting. Adultery. Murder. God forgave David of them all. He then cast David’s sins as far as east is from west and into infinity.

 

And God will also forgive you and me – anyone, everyone – when we confess and repent. We have the unalterable promise of the Holy and Righteous God.

 

Yes, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”

A Cornucopia for Our Father in Heaven

Father’s Day

A Cornucopia for Our Father in Heaven

 

 

We spent time last week looking at what it means to bear fruit for the King. We spent that time because no one wants to arrive emptyhanded before His Throne and – more importantly, Jesus told us: John 15:8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” And so, I thought it would be helpful for us to spend a little more time again today looking into what we must do to produce for Him a glorious cornucopia of fruit.

 

My message today centers around the first three verses of Psalm 1. If you were with us in our Bible study several months ago, you may remember we studied this psalm for several consecutive weeks. I now read the entire psalm for context:

 

(Psalm 1) How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

 

The key to our fruitfulness for Christ is there in those first three verses: How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

 

And age does not matter when it comes to our ability to be fruitful for Christ. Listen to Psalm 92:12-15 - The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

 

So, let’s unpeel these first verses in Psalm 1, first to look at God's warnings about what to AVOID if we want to be fruitful. Verse one: How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

 

The basic point and in simple terms is this: If we want to be fruitful for Christ, we must stay away from the wrong friends and the wrong paths. Why? Because one bad apple spoils the whole bunch.

 

Why do parents tell their children to avoid certain ‘friends’ and places? It’s because we know the inevitable result of a child getting mixed up with the wrong people and places.

 

And so, all the more the Christian should expect our Father – who loves us from eternity and back, who loves us from the Cross and back – we should expect Him to warn His children how to walk and with whom to walk. He does so not only to enable those who WANT to bear fruit for Him to do so, but – and I imagine much more importantly – when we obey His warning, we avoid experiencing first-hand what all ongoing sin inevitably does to a person.

 

The ultimate cost of sin is, of course, the dark and ever pervading agony of eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire. Please do not let anyone try to talk you into thinking that the fiery Lake is a fictious place. Do a simple internet search and you’ll discover a multitude of theologians and pastors scoffing at the idea of eternal judgment – despite how often the Lord Jesus and His apostles spoke about that destiny for those who die in their sins.

 

That is the ultimate cost of sin. But during our lifetime, the cost of persistent and willfully rebellious sin often results in painful loss of health, finances, and enduring relationships with others – including our parents, our spouse, and our children.

 

You may have heard the true and sober adage: Sin will take you where you do not want to go, it will keep you longer than you want to stay, and it will cost you more than you want to pay.

 

Yet, in contrast, “How blessed – how happy, how contented, how favored – how blessed are those who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”

 

When Scripture speaks of the ungodly, of sinners and scoffers, it refers to those who actively live in disobedience to God. It refers to those who live by the sentiment summarized by Frank Sinatra’s signature song: ‘My Way.’ Here are only a few of the lyrics:

 

Regrets, I've had a few/But then again, too few to mention/I did what I had to do/And saw it through without exemption/I planned each charted course/Each careful step along the byway/And more, much more than this/I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got?/If not himself, then he has not/To say the things he truly feels/And not the words of one who kneels/The record shows I took the blows/And did it my way.

 

And please also understand this: The ungodly are not only found outside the Church. They’re also found in pews and pulpits across this city and around the globe. Such imposters claim to be Christians, but in truth are wolves in sheep clothing. They are Judases in fine suits and dresses, some who sit next to us in the pews and who sing with us the hymns. Some also stand in pulpits and at the front of seminary classrooms.

 

Beware of them. The apostle Paul wrote about such people to Titus: (Titus 1:16) “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

 

What are some irreverent and ungodly counsels and mockeries the spew from imposters and seduce men and women? The list is long, but all godless counsellors will have several things in common, those being a disregard for Jesus as God incarnate; Their disdain of His claim that He alone is the door to eternal life; Their satanic-inspired opinion that ALL religions lead to eternal life. Godless counsellors scoff at the idea that the Scriptures are fully inerrant, infallible, and inspired by God. And you have surely noticed that their mockery and dilution of Biblical truth typically manifests itself in immorality – especially sexual immorality.

 

Such depravity is as old as the Garden. Listen to the apostle Paul state the obvious. You’ll find this in the first chapter of Romans:

 

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools . . .

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them . . . [F]or their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind . . . and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:18ff)

 

Do you want to bear fruit for Christ? Then NEVER take the council of anyone who advises about faith and morals when they themselves do not believe or adhere to the clear teaching of God's word and the historic teaching of the Christian Church that dates back to the first century. Don’t be swayed by their popularity, or academic and theological degrees, or their positions in or outside the Church. Do we need reminder of St Jude’s warning: (Jude 1:4) “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness [sexual depravity] and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

 

“Certain persons have crept in unnoticed.”  Crept in where? By context of Jude’s letter, they crept into the Church. And even to this modern day there are clergy even in this town who affirm the sins among their congregations and leadership, sins that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

You want to bear fruit for God? Then be ever alert to the very real possibility that any one of us can be led astray by smooth-talking liars. Sin is deceitful. And THAT is precisely why the Psalmist says what he does in the next verse about the godly: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law, he meditates day and night.”

 

Such counsel of the Holy Spirit should not surprise anyone who seeks to faithfully and fruitfully follow Christ. God told Joshua: (Joshua 1:8) “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”

 

Psalm 1 reiterates the message: “In His law he meditates day and night.” Isn’t that a great strategy to employ in the morning and before bedtime? Do you read God's word in the morning? Do you read it before retiring for the night?  If not, why not start today? God’s Word ALONE changes our lives for the better.

 

Listen to the apostle Peter (1 Peter 2:2) “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”

 

And to the apostle Paul: (Romans 12:2) “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

 

A couple of years ago, I read a post on one of my social media sites from someone who has maintained a consistent habit of reading and meditating on the Bible. He wrote: “I read an average of three chapters each day. Doing so means going from Genesis through Revelation in a year. Been doing this for over three decades. As a result, every passage has become both familiar— and fresh— in subsequent years. Every verse is known— yet new. Every chapter is a well-travelled territory as well as terra incognita (unexplored territory).

 

And what is God's promise to those who hunger for the milk of the Word and whose minds are transformed by the Scriptures? Look at verse three of this first Psalm: “He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.

 

The prosperity Scripture speaks of here and elsewhere has absolutely NOTHING to do with the prosperity touted by some televangelists, authors, and pastors. Prosperity, in God's view, transcends such carnal materialistic things. God's view of prosperity has much more to do with eternal things. It has to do with FRUITFULNESS for Christ. It has to do with not appearing emptyhanded at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

 

Listen to Jesus: (John 15:5, 8). “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. . . . This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

 

Look again with me at the first part of that verse: [“And he] “will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water . . . .”

 

‘Planted by water’ carries the idea of CONSTANT quenching of spiritual thirst with life-giving water. Remember what the Lord told the woman at the well in Samaria: (John 4:13) “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

         

Being planted by streams of water implies the digging down of deep roots – and that reminds me of the Parable of the Sower in which the Lord taught His disciples: (Matthew 13:23) “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

 

The Lord Jesus told us: “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” And I believe there is not a Christian in this sanctuary who has not from time to time looked back over your life and asked yourself at least one hard question: “What have I done with my life for my Lord Jesus?”

 

As I stated last week, no one wants to arrive empty-handed at the Father’s Throne. How awful that day will be for those who wasted their time, talents, and treasure on things that were ALL doomed to disappear into ashes.

 

What are you now doing with your life? What do you WANT to do for your Lord for the rest of your life? If you’ve already been offering Him your time, talent, and treasure – then continue to do so. Indeed, I urge you – I urge all of us, including myself – to excell still more.

 

But if the Holy Spirit is nudging you, making you feel uncomfortable because you know how much time and talent and resources you’ve wasted on yourself for all those years – then repent. And be assured of His forgiveness if you asked with a humble and contrite heart.

 

And then ask Him what He wants you to do now and for the rest of your life. We cannot go back in time and change what we’ve done or haven’t done. But today, on this day in June 2025, we can change our tomorrows.

 

We ought to seek to be fruitful for Christ because we love Him and want to give back to our Lover what He has abundantly given to us. We ought to seek to be fruitful because we do not want to show up at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb empty-handed. And, as we saw last week from that passage at the end of Matthew 25, we ought to seek to be fruitful because there is a judgment for those who are willfully, selfishly, lazily unfruitful.

 

“How blessed are those who do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But their delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law they meditate day and night. They will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in whatever they do, they prosper.”

 

We all know time is slipping through our fingers even as we sit here. So, as we listen to this closing song, may we each, in the silence of our hearts, ask the Lord how we can do better with whatever more time He has ordained for us. Ask Him what we can do to bring Him a cornucopia of our fruitfulness.

 

Amen.

Gifts for the Master

Have you ever been invited to a celebration – whether a birthday, a graduation, a housewarming, or whatever, and discovered when you arrived that you were not dressed appropriately. Or when you arrived you discovered you were the only one who’d not brought a gift? Maybe you have. Maybe you haven’t.

 

But I’d like us all to think about our invitation to the celebration every Christian will enjoy – the marriage supper of the Lamb spoken of in Matthew 22 and Revelation 19.

 

Yes, every Christian will be dressed appropriately for the occasion, dressed in robes of righteousness. Listen to Revelation 19:7-8 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

 

But what about your gift? Do you want to show up empty-handed?

 

Several weeks ago, I began a short series about the fears many Christians live with at various times in their lives and that rob their joy in the Lord. The first message in this series focused on the impossibility of failing in our walk with Christ if we WANT a successful walk with Him. He who created worlds and galaxies by simply speaking is the same One who holds us in His arms and guides us in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. My second message focused on the impossibility for true Christians to fail to grow in intimacy with the Savior if they don’t want to fail. After all, we are each as intimate with Jesus as we want to be. Think about that a moment. Jesus will never hold US at arm’s length. He always seeks to draw us into His embrace and hold us to Himself as a shepherd cradles a hurting lamb. Jesus will never hold us at arm’s length, but WE so often hold Him off.

 

And so I spoke last time about how much He loves us and wants to be intimate with us – and what we need to do to draw closer to His embrace. And, if you remember, the key to growing in intimacy with the Savior is wrapped up in the word – and practice – of obedience.

 

Today, I continue this series to address another area of our walk with Christ in which it is impossible to fail – if we don’t want to fail. Specifically, it is impossible for the Christian who WANTS to be fruitful for Christ to fail to be fruitful for Him. It is impossible for the true Christian to arrive at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb emptyhanded. Why? Because Almighty God will not permit such a thing to happen to the one who WANTS to arrive with gifts for the Savior.

 

And what kinds of gifts are we talking about? Having won a thousand souls to the Lord in personal evangelism? Having taught hundreds of children about Jesus in Sunday School classes? Having opened your own city mission to feed and house the homeless?

 

Certainly, who wouldn’t want to do something as big and grand and impressive as those things? But those are NOT the things every Christian can do because God has not CALLED every Christian to do such grand and ambitious works for His kingdom.

 

Listen to what He tells us through the Moses: “What does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes.”  (Deuteronomy 10:12-13a)

 

Listen also to the prophet Micah: “With what shall I come to the Lord
And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? . . . He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8)

 

Surely, those who CAN do big things for Christ ought to do big things for Christ. But what of the bulk of Christendom – people like you and me whose place in the kingdom does not lend itself to win thousands to the Lord or reach hundreds of children, or build orphanages, or feed multitudes?

 

Listen to only two of scores of examples of so-called ‘little people’ who did what they could for Christ and received His praise. In the first example, Luke tells us Jesus was speaking in the Temple area to His disciples and the wealthy rulers and theologians. Then something caught His eye. “And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4 

 

Mark records the second example. A woman entered uninvited to a dinner party. She approached the Lord as He reclined at the table and she poured an expensive ointment on His head. Mark tells it this way:

 

“But some were indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.” (Mark 14:4-9)

 

Did you catch what the Lord said about both women? In the first, the Lord praised the woman for doing what she could – even more than she could afford. In the second example, the Lord said of her effort? “She has done what she could.”

 

Do we think Jesus doesn’t know when you do all that you can do for Him. Do you think He doesn’t know when you sacrifice your time, your talents, your resources for His kingdom? So – what is it that YOU can do?

 

And if you don’t know what you can do – then ask Him in prayer – consistent, intentional, concerted prayer. Not just once or twice or a dozen times – but again and again until He shows you. And He WILL show you because it is His pleasure that you give to Him what you can.

 

I think now of what God told Jeremiah 33:3 – ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

 

So, what can you do – what do you WANT to do for your Lover? The same questions apply to me as well. What do we want we give to the One who loves us not only ‘to the moon and back’ – but who loves us to the Cross and back? What will we sacrifice to the One who loves – who loves us like a rock, who loves us like the Rock of Ages?

 

Many of us know the hymn by Isaac Watts, who died in the 18^th century:

 

When I survey the wondrous cross/On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss/And pour contempt on all my pride.

 

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast/Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most/I sacrifice them to His blood.

 

See from His head, His hands, His feet/Sorrow and love flow mingled down!/Did e’er such love and sorrow meet/Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

 

Were the whole realm of nature mine/That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine/Demands my soul, my life, my all.

 

Small or large, what can you and I give to the Lord? What can we do for Him? Well, the foundation of all the gifts we can bring to Him must begin with the foundation of – in the words of Micah: “To do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God.” ANY gift that does not spring from that root – justice, kindness, and humility is unacceptable to God.

 

Listen to what He tells us through Amos (5:21-24): “I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

 

In other words – first things first: Obey His commandments.That must be the root of all our gifts. The apostle Peter helps us with this issue of obedience resulting in fruitfulness for Christ in his second letter:

 “[G]iving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8), NKJV)

 

Rooted in our humility before Christ, this text alone (and there are many others) is our RECIPE for fruitfulness for Christ. Obedience to His instructions here and throughout Holy Scripture guarantees that we not arrive at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb emptyhanded.

 

Let’s look a bit more closely at this text from the apostle’s pen: If we truly have a faith that saves, then we will add to that faith ‘virtue’, which means moral goodness in what we do in public AND in private. To virtue we add ‘knowledge’ – an ever-increasing familiarity with God – His words, His commandments, and so forth.

 

To virtue and knowledge, we add self-control, mastering our passions and desires especially when those passions and desires are at variance with God's revealed word and will. Self-control also applies to mastery of our tongue.

 

To these things we also add perseverance – a patient endurance in our walk with Christ, not being swayed away from our hope in Him who provides us hope. And to these we add godliness in our lifestyles. To godliness, we add kindness – even to those we do not particularly like. And to kindness, we add love for one another.

 

Note again what Peter says next: “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, when we do these things, growing in Christian maturity, God PROMISES we will be fruitful.

 

That is precisely why it is NOT POSSIBLE for anyone, regardless of age, health, wealth, poverty, religious background – or any other factor – it is impossible for a Christian who WANTS to be fruitful for Christ to not be fruitful if he or she simply follows the recipes God gives us – doing justice, loving kindness, walking humbly before our God, and maturing in our relationship with our savior according to His various recipes such as this here in Peter’s letter.

 

And please here this. This is important: We ought to seek to be fruitful because we love Him and want to give back to our Lover what He has abundantly given to us. We ought to seek to be fruitful because we do not want to show up at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb empty-handed. And we ought to seek to be fruitful because there is a judgment for those who are willfully, selfishly, lazily unfruitful.

 

Many of you remember the parable at the end of Matthew 25. All the nations will at the judgment be separated into two groups – sheep on His right hand and goats on His left. Now listen to this text from that chapter:

 

Matthew 25:34ff “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

 

But that’s not the end of the story, is it? Now to verse 41: “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

 

I don’t know how Christians get the idea that doing ‘good works’ is not as important to our salvation as is ‘faith.’ That idea is totally unsupportable by Scripture. Indeed, I will say that idea stands in direct opposition to what Scripture teaches us about works – which are the requisite evidence of saving faith. Feeding the poor. Clothing the naked. Protecting the unborn. Visiting the sick and lonely.

 

Look for a moment at James 2:14-20 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

 

Now listen to Paul as he wrote to the Church through Titus (3:8,14), “This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men . . . . “Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.”

 

As I said a few moments ago, and I close by repeating myself for emphasis: We ought to seek to be fruitful because we love Jesus and want to give back to our Lover what He has abundantly given to us. We ought to seek to be fruitful because we do not want to show up at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb empty-handed. Just think for a moment of how embarrassing it will be to see even those we knew in life presenting to the Savior the souls of men and women and children they won for Christ, the ones they encouraged in Christ, the ones they fed and clothed and nurtured for Christ – and meanwhile, we stand emptyhanded.

 

And we ought to seek to be fruitful because there is a judgment for those who are willfully and selfishly and lazily unfruitful.

 

What are you doing with the rest of your life? What do you WANT to do for your Lord for the rest of your life? How often will you seek His answer until He tells you want He is asking of you?