Third homily in the Heaven Scent series.
Presented to the Swift Current Corps 12 December 2010.
By Captain Michael Ramsay
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Last week we spoke about the justice that comes with salvation and how it is our responsibility as servants of the Lord to be just (Psalm 72:1-7)[1] and verses 5-10 of Psalm 146, which we read a little bit earlier, tell us how and what this holiness looks like when we do put our trust in the Lord. These verse 5-10 are actually the verses of the psalm that are associated with the third week in advent this year but I was struck by verse 3: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.” So that is what we will talk about today.
Trust is an interesting thing and it is important. I love wearing my uniform, it is a symbol of trust and as we who are wearing them continue to deal openly and fairly with people, it continues to grow as a symbol of trust in the community. The trust that we wearing the uniform garner for it comes in direct proportion to our service to the Lord while wearing it. God has been able to use me to help diffuse many varied and difficult situations involving armed people, disgruntled people, intoxicated people, and violent people, through the trust embodied in this uniform of one who serves the Lord in His army. In one community in which I served, our soldiers were doing such a solid job of living up to that trust that was placed in our uniforms that other evangelical clergy lamented to me that they did not have a uniform to wear. At times it can be like a Superhero costume.
I did not always have my Superhero costume though. I was not always an Officer. I was not always a soldier. I remember once when I was in elementary school. We were at a Christian camp. They were teaching us this very important value of trust and reflecting the truth and the trustworthiness of God. We did a number of these trust exercises, some of them involving blindfolds. We were to take turns being blindfolded and being led around. When it was my turn to be blindfolded – well, I peeked. Trust took a little while to develop for me but my partner – he passed with flying colours. This guy was the epitome of trust and trustworthiness. I led him everywhere and he never once peaked. How do I know he never peeked? Well, I led him into a building and we walked through a door and when he took off his blindfold I wasn’t there and he happened to be in the middle of the girls change room – he was quite surprised when he took the blindfold off. He was more than a little embarrassed but this person really did pass the trust test. He trusted me in those days. He passed the trust test not only in letting me lead him into this spot without even peeking; but after I did this I said to him, “Okay, okay, let’s do this properly this time” and he put the blindfold on and he didn’t peek this time either. How do I know that he didn’t peek this time either? Because… When we were back outside, I walked right behind my trusting blindfolded friend climbing ever higher and higher on the steps in the centre of the camp and out on this platform when all of a sudden one of the leaders called out ‘get off of that diving board…’
Psalm 146:3 “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.” Actually I don’t think I got right to the diving board; I don’t remember getting any closer than the pool deck in reality but the idea is the same. My partner passed the trust test with glowing colours – I, however, did not. Praise the Lord that I changed - not only because of my life and my job nowadays but because there is absolutely nothing worse than an untrustworthy person. A person, who misrepresents the truth for whatever self-righteous reason, is a person that you can never give any responsibility to. That being said the lesson for today that is technically outside of the Advent reading (one has to love the freedom of being an evangelical at times) is from Psalm 146:3: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.”
Last week we spoke about King Solomon. There were these great blessings that were available to him and his reign, provided that he was just faithful in serving YHWH by providing justice and salvation to the poor (Psalm 72). One who reflects the love and life of the Lord, our text tells us today will uphold the cause of the oppressed and give food to the hungry (Psalm 146:7; cf. Psalm 9:9, 10:18, 103:6 and Psalm 17:14, 34:10, 107:9, Isaiah 49:10). The LORD will set the prisoners free (Psalm 146:7; cf. Psalm 68:6, 79:11, 102:20, 107:10-14; Isaiah 42:7), give sight to the blind (Psalm 146:8; cf. Isaiah 29:18, 35:5, 42:7, 43:8), watch over the marginalized and frustrate the ways of the wicked (Psalm 146:9; cf. Psalm 104:35, 145:20 and Deuteronomy 10:18; Isaiah 1:17, 9:17; Jeremiah 22:16; James 1:17). None of Solomon’s successors did this (until Jesus! See Matthew 11:4-6) Solomon did not do this. Solomon failed. Instead of setting the captives free, he actually enslaved his own people (1 Kings 5:13, cf. 4:6, 9:15, 12:1-4). In the end this political leader from 1000 BCE, was remembered by the author of 1 Kings as one who did evil in the eyes of the Lord (1 Kings 11). Not an epitaph that any leader should want. And a good reminder for us: Psalm 146:3, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.”
Speaking of (evil?) political leaders, in my home province of British Colombia something interesting has happened in the last couple of months. They had an election not too long ago. The governing party was returned to power. Almost immediately afterward they won, they rid themselves of the person who had just led them to victory in that election – they pushed the premier to resign. Now this political turmoil is not uncommon in western democracies; I think we can all name off the tops of our heads politicians who have been metaphorically stabbed in the back and politically purged in Canada: Stephane Dion, Jean Cretien, Joe Clark, ... Backroom dealings and underhandedness – at least since the 1950s - sometimes seem to be inherent to Canadian politics and many politicians. The interesting thing in BC right now is that this week, after the government had purged itself of its leader there was a successful revolt in the opposition party too and they also sacrificed their leader. Usually in Canada when one party decides to kill itself by falling on the sword of party revolt, the other one just watches and rejoices in its good position. In BC this past week, the opposition party decided otherwise: they thought, I guess, if the government is going to implode with internal decent, maybe we should too. Politics. Democracy.[2] These comments are all somewhat tongue-in-cheek of course, and I haven’t lived in BC in quite a while so I really don’t know what has been happening there or why these revolts are taking place but it struck me as interesting that the two parties with seats there would ditch their leaders at exactly the same time. I think some of this is because we put our leaders on pedestals and have unreasonable expectations, forgetting the advice of Psalm 146:3 “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.”
Every election in the western world many of us who bother to vote seem to continually forget the wisdom of Psalm 146:3. The recent myth of Obama is a great example of this. Leading up to the previous US presidential election, reading their press, it sounded like they thought he was the second coming of the Messiah. The world too seemed to buy into this: you remember that they gave Obama, who is the leader of the world’s most expensive and most active armed forces; they gave Obama, who in one of his very first acts of office bombed a foreign country – they gave Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. What were they thinking? We’re they thinking that the tiger of a Superpower would change its stripes as fast as it changes its president. Obama is no Prince of Peace. He is no Messiah. In the last election his party was trounced. This is no knock against him personally; he is just a mortal man. Psalm 146:3: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.” Lest you think I am partisan, I have another example of people becoming disillusioned with leaders after putting a false hope in them. After George Bush Senior invaded Iraq in the first Iraq War he, I seem to recall, had the highest popularity rating ever to that point in US history, many people put their faith in him; he lost the next election. Psalm 146:3: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.”
In King Solomon’s reign as King of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah his responsibilities and his failures are compounded by the fact that he is not just a political leader; more importantly he is also supposed to be a spiritual leader just like the Queen of the UK is given the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ (cf. Deuteronomy 17:18-20).[3] The English monarch is traditionally in charge of the military, the government, and the Church of England: even more so with Solomon. People had high expectations of Solomon and his reign and he did not measure up (cf. Psalm 72, 1 Kings 11).
In our world today we see this all the time. We see people wrongly believing that if a certain person is elected as leader of one of the world’s superpowers that overnight the nature of that superpower will change from a profit-seeking, war-making machine to a God-fearing, peacemaking regime that looks after the poor. It is just not true.[4] Likewise in Saskatchewan and in Canada, as good as our local MPs and MLAs may or may not be, they will not significantly change the course of history and save us all from poverty, sin, and the evils of society. They will not heal the lame and give sight to the blind (cf. Matthew 11:4-6) therefore, Psalm 146:3, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.”
Likewise we can’t put any spiritual leaders on a pedestal. I cannot save anyone. Your favourite author cannot save anyone. Your favourite televangelist cannot save anyone. When we look to political leaders or spiritual leaders for our salvation, we will be disappointed. They cannot save us. I have heard many stories of people who have wrongly put their faith in their pastors instead of in Christ and when their pastor sins, they become disillusion and fall away (cf. TSA Doctrines 2,6,9). Can anything be more sad than that? Psalm 146:3: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.”
In The Salvation Army soon and very soon we have a High Council meeting in London, England; where we will attempt to discern God’s choice for the next General of The Salvation Army. While trusting that God will raise up the right person for this role and that our leaders will acknowledge God’s choice in this we must not forget the warning of Psalm 146:3: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.” We must put our faith in God, not in men and women.
This brings us to our ‘heaven scent’ for today. First let’s review. What was our ‘heaven scent’ last week? (Gingerbread) And what did that represent? (Justice and Salvation). The first week of Advent, what was our ‘heaven scent’? (The Evergreen) And what id that represent for us? (Everlasting Life) This week I have a little quiz for us – sort of a word association, rhyming quiz. I will say a word and we will see which side of the congregation can come up with a rhyming word first:
1) Fruit
2) Heat
3) Monkey
4) Grape
5) Orange
There isn’t an English word that rhymes with Orange. Just like, as Psalm 146:3 says, there isn’t a person who can save us. Only God can save us and He does this through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord for whose return we are eagerly waiting and this waiting is what Advent is all about. The scent today in our ‘heaven scent’ series today is oranges. Oranges, we are going to associate with the faithfulness of God (Psalm 146:3, 6). We cannot put our trust in people for they cannot save us. We must put our faith in God who is faithful even when we are faithless (Psalm 146:6; Romans 3:3,4). He is the Orange – the one for whom there is no rhyme. He is the Orange – the one for whom there is no match. He is the Orange – the one for whom there is no equal. He is the Orange. His faithfulness stands alone and Salvation comes from no one other than from God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is no other name by which (hu)man(kind) can be saved (Acts 4:12; cf. Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13). So then, this week and forever more let us not put our faith in princes, in mortal men and women who cannot save but instead let us put us faith in Christ and in Christ alone.
Let us pray.
http://www.sheepspeak.com/
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[1] Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Psalm 72:1-7: Gingerbread Cookies of Justice and Salvation’, presented to the Swift Current Corps, 05 December 2010. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/12/psalm-721-7-gingerbread-cookies-of.html
[2] God’s country is to be ruled as a theocracy (rule by God) not as the people-centered rule of the other nations (i.e. democracy ‘rule [by] people’). Cf. Isaac Watts, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Psalms/Exposition of Psalms/BOOK II: Psalms 42-72/Psalm 72: The Glory of the Davidic Kingdom/I. Prayer for Davidic Kingship (72:1), Book Version: 4.0.2
[3] cf. Isaac Watts, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Psalms/Exposition of Psalms/BOOK II: Psalms 42-72/Psalm 72: The Glory of the Davidic Kingdom/I. Prayer for Davidic Kingship (72:1), Book Version: 4.0.2
[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Vote for Jesus’ in the Journal of Aggressive Christianity. Available on-line at http://www.sheepspeak.com/Michael_Ramsay_JAC.htm#Vote for Jesus
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