Marriage: A Three Legged Race

Presented to Blaine and April Erikson on the occasion of their wedding, 24 January 2011, and at the public celebration of their wedding, 03 Sept. 2011
by Captain Michael Ramsay

The Marriage covenant, which you are entering into today with God, is like a three-legged race. The three-legged race is always fun to watch at a fair or another event. Some people seem to run it with ease while others fall down and trip all over each other. I’ve seen dads tied to their children who’ve simply picked them up and run with them without breaking the tie that binds. It is a lot of fun. The secret to the three-legged race is that the winning couple is the pair who moves in sync with each other so that with every stride each matches their partner. Two independently minded people determined to do their own thing have no chance!

It is like that with the marriage covenant that you are entering into today. Did you know that the most commonly translated word for covenant in the Hebrew Bible refers to being bound, tied or even shackled together? It is like the expression ‘the old ball and chain’ or, more positively phrased, like the three-legged race.

In a marriage, we are a covenanted people. We are tied together with each other and the Lord through our marriage covenant vows. Our covenant is dear to us who are married in the Church. It can certainly be one of our glorious sources of strength. General Clifton of The Salvation Army wrote in his third pastoral letter that our covenants are one of the main ways in which the Lord chooses to provide opportunities for us to join Him in His work for the salvation of the world. A marriage covenant is more than a promise; it is more than a legal contract. It is a sacred covenant through which the Lord binds you together now as husband and wife and even more than that as he binds you two together, now and forever, or at least until death do you part. He also binds himself to you both and to your immediate family as it grows in Him. Covenants are important.

Commissioner William Francis wrote in the Canadian Salvationist in June 2008: ‘The key to upholding our sacred covenant is staying close to God, keeping faith with Him.’ This is significant and this relates very closely to the three-legged race of your marriage covenant.

Any of us who have ever been in such a race with our children – or years ago with our brothers and sisters or parents – will remember the challenges that the race represents. When one partner tries to move at a different pace than the other partner, neither goes anywhere very quickly. I am sure I am not the only person who has fallen on the ground laughing, as my partner has started heading in the wrong direction. It’s difficult to move, let alone win the race, when the one you’re yoked together with is going in the opposite direction.

          It’s the same with our marriage covenants. If we tie ourselves our spouse and to God in a sacred vow and we do not walk step-in-step with our partner, following God closely; it’s impossible to even finish, let alone win the race and experience the full blessing of our marriage and that final victory with Christ. Once we’ve committed to the marriage race, we need to press on towards the goal and not give up. The race will be challenging but as we persevere we will enjoy the race and experience the victory but if we try to go our own way, our marriage covenant will be of little or no use to us, our spouse, or to our Heavenly Father.

               If you do move in step with each other though, bound together through Christ, with your arm around your partner, relying on the Lord’s strength, even as life’s obstacle course becomes very difficult, the race in the end will be easy and then as you are bound together in Christ, Jesus can move you even more efficiently than if you were running just on your own power.

               As you remain faithful to your covenant and as you allow our Heavenly Father to partner with you and to put His arm around the both of you as you run through this life, you will find it much easier to walk in step with our Lord. At times, often when things are most challenging, you will notice as well that God is actually carrying both of you towards the finish line where you will indeed celebrate victory in Jesus.The Lord is faithful to his covenants and I pray and I challenge you both today to be faithful to each other, to be faithful to the Lord and to be faithful to your marriage covenant until death do you part. As you do this, I promise that indeed you will find that you experience all the joys of the marriage covenant and also will experience that ultimate victory with Christ for now and evermore. Amen.
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Based on a chapter from
Ramsay, Captain Michael. 'Praise The Lord For Covenants: Old Testament wisdom for our world today'. Vancouver, BC: Credo Press, 2010. (c) The Salvation Army. For more info: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Praise-The-Lord-For-Covenants/155941614427110?v=info
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www.sheepspeak.com/

Psalm 147:10 (&11) – “Neither delighteth he in any man’s legs…”

Presented to the Swift Current Corps 23 Janaury 2011

By Captain Michael Ramsay

Psalm 147:10 records “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man.” I thought this was an appropriate passage to look at on Robbie Burns Day. For Christmas Susan bought me some Bible Commentaries on Psalms from the Word Biblical Commentary set – this is part of the reason why we are still looking at the book of Psalms in our Sunday meetings. In one of these books, in the author’s preface to the first edition of Volume I, the author, Peter C. Craigie, writes:

… for years I had been mystified by the psalms. I belong to a tradition in the church in which the psalms continue to be used regularly in worship. And yet as a teenager singing the psalms, their words for the most part contained little meaning for me; they were songs of a remote and distant land, with no evident relevance to my own world. It was the custom in Scotland for boys to wear the kilt to church on Sunday; to this day I can recall singing the words of Psalm 147:10 ‘Neither delighteth he in any man’s legs’. I pondered at that time the question of whether scripture condemned the kilt.[1]

When I read Peter Craigie’s quote I knew immediately what I should preach on while I am wearing my kilt for Robbie Burns Day. First, does anyone know who Robbie Burns is? Robert Burns (1759-1796) was an 18th Century Scottish poet and songwriter who wrote hundreds of lasting tributes to Scottish life in both song and poetry. Of himself, he wrote: 

A Scottish Bard, proud of the name, and whose highest ambition is to sing in his country’s service, where shall he so properly look for patronage as to the illustrious names of his native land: those who bear the honours and inherit the virtues of their ancestors? The poetic genius of my country found me, as the prophetic bard Elijah did Elisha—at the plough, and threw her inspiring mantle over me. She bade me sing the loves, the joys, the rural scenes and rural pleasures of my native soil, in my native tongue; I tuned my wild, artless notes as she inspired (ROBERT BURNS, Edinburgh, April 4, 1787).[2]

Robert Burns is a poet; he is not to be confused with Scotland’s patron saint, who is St. Andrew from the Bible. St. Andrew’s Day is the 30^th of November and it is a national holiday in Scotland. Robert Burns Day is the 25^th of January and this is a good time for people of Scottish heritage in this country here to get together, wear the kilt, eat haggis, and listen to the bard’s poetry. Sarah-Grace danced with her highland dance troop at the Robert Burn’s dinner at the Legion yesterday.

All right, to our text. In the NIV Verse 10 reads: “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior [or 'man' in place of 'warrior' depending on the year published];” the rest of this sentence is contained in verse 11: “the LORD delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.”

This sentence tells us something very straightforward. It tells us what God does not delight in and what he does delight in. Psalm 147:10 is not necessarily talking about wearing a kilt, bathing suit, or shorts when it says that God doesn’t delight in a warrior’s legs.[3] This passage is not addressing Christian modesty. It is telling us that if we put our faith in people – in this example the passage by referencing ‘horse’ and ‘warrior’ is specifically referring to devoting our resources to and, by extension, our faith in the army[4] – if we put our faith in people, we will not impress God,[5] who is the creator, preserver, and governor of all things (cf. TSA d. 2). Some scholars suggest that this psalm was once two psalms and that Verse 10 was the conclusion of the first psalm and Verse 11 the commencement of the next one summing up its whole meaning and purpose.[6] Most scholars agree however that in this psalm in the form that we have it now, Verses 10 and 11 sum up the theme and the intent of the entire psalm. As such we shall look at each of these verses today.

Verse 10: “His [God’s] pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior” This verse is specifically referring to the cavalry and the infantry. We have discussed from this pulpit before how for most of their existence Israel and Judah were surrounded by hostile nations until God finally used these hostile nations to destroy Judah and deport the people in 586 BCE (2 Chronicles 36:17-21). Israel and Judah only had a very brief history as a united kingdom. God used King David to unify the kingdom at the end of a long civil war (1 Samuel 31 – 2 Samuel 5) and then because of the sins of David’s son, Solomon, God broke it apart again (1 Kings 11-12; cf. 2 Chronicles 10). One of the things the children of Israel were told way back when they left Egypt with Moses was not to get horses from Egypt (Deuteronomy 17:16). This reference to horses – just like in our text today - was a reference to putting faith in the military instead of in God.[7] One of the very first things the second king of Israel (Solomon) did was to get horses from Egypt (1 Kings 4:26, 9:19, 10:26; 2 Chronicles 1:14, 9:23; cf. Deuteronomy 17:16). The prophet Samuel warned the people – when God and the people were in the process rejecting the leadership of his own corrupt sons – he warned them that if they were a unified country under a single political leader that the leader would press their children into military service (1 Samuel 8:1-22). King Solomon and his heirs and his descendants did just this and more as they ignored this advice and continued to put their faith in themselves, their military, their legs, and their horses until God finally has enough and puts an end to all of their reigns (2 Chronicles 36:17-21).

How about us here today in this room? Do we ever fall into this same trap? Do we sometimes put our faith in the strength of the horse or the legs of a warrior, of a man? Do we ever put our faith in something other than God? I think we can be tempted to do this in a number of different ways in our society today. I think we do this whenever we do not believe that God will look after our needs. Most people acknowledge that we should give God at least a tenth of the money He gives us through our jobs, our pensions, our businesses, or whatever. I think we fall into the trap of Psalm 147:10’s sin of putting our faith in the horse and the legs of a man when we don’t at least tithe our income. I think when we withhold more than 90% of our income from God; we are saying pretty vocally that we don’t trust Him to provide for even ten percent of our needs (cf. Psalm 20:7, 33:17, Amos 2:14-15, Matthew 6:31-34; Luke 9:57-62, 18:19-30; Acts 2: 42-47; Hebrews 4). I think when we just try to solve our problems with our own thoughts and abilities; failing to petition God in prayer when we have decisions to make, we are showing God we don’t have faith in God. I think whenever we know what is right to do in a given circumstance but give into peer or a colleague’s pressure, it shows that we are putting our faith in the majority – democracy, the sin of the book of judges (cf. Judges 21:25) – instead of putting our faith in God. I think that when we make our decisions as to what we should do with our time and our abilities based on our wallets rather than on revelation from God - which comes from praying and reading the Bible - then we are committing the sin of our text today of putting our faith in the strength of the horse or the legs of the warrior man.

Let me give you a horrible example of putting one’s faith in money rather than God that has been near and dear to my heart lately (cf. Matthew 6:19-34). The advancement of the Kingdom of God has suffered what looks like some serious set backs in Swift Current here over the last couple of weeks. We know that putting faith in anything other than God is basically a rejection of Him and His kingdom. A New Testament equivalent to this warning about putting our faith in horses and men’s legs would be from Matthew 6:24-27.[8] I know you’ll recognize it as I read it:

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 

You cannot serve both God and money. ‘The Center’ downtown – which was started by God through a local church, renounced its Christian faith in the past weeks in favour of the secular religion. They wrote this:

The Community Youth Initiative as of December 15, 2010 has officially obtained a nonprofit status. From this point forward we will be known as the Swift Current Community Youth Initiative (SCCTI). Our entity or registration number is XXXXXX. This has opened the door to more corporate funding. Additional grant monies are now available because the SCCTI is NOT designated as a religious organization.

The Center’s programme decided NOT to be a Christian ministry anymore so that they could get more money. Now this claim that you are able to raise more money if you are not a Christian organization is not true but even if it were true, Matthew 6:24: ‘You cannot serve both God and money’; ‘you will devoted to the one and despise the other’. Psalm 147:10 “His [God’s] pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior.”

We don’t have to make this wrong choice our lives that the Center and the Swift Current Youth Initiative did. There is another way, Psalm 147:11: “the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

Now ‘fear’ can mean a lot of things in the Bible. Don’t worry I am not going to do an exhaustive word study here. The word translated ‘fear’ in this verse, ‘yare’, in the tense and context that it is used here refers quite simply to a moral reverence. It is a kind of deference but it does not include any of the moral dread that is involved with other variations of the word.[9] An example of this ‘fear’, ‘yare’ in our society is sort of like when one is in court and the judge tells you specifically to remove your hat, you do it. Mind you this may have a little bit of the aforementioned dread involved. This ‘yare-fear’ would probably be – in this context - more like if someone meets me on a Saturday or when I am on vacation and I am out of uniform and they are using rather rough language with a lot of profanity and swear words. As soon as they find out that I am an Officer, the equivalent of a pastor plus, they immediately apologize for every swear word they ever uttered in my presence (or anyone else’s sometimes) prior to making that discovering. Their ‘watching their language’ is out of respect for my vocation, my calling. It is not out of fright at all. Likewise, we in the Lord’s courtroom need to respect his authority and we can also put our faith in his unfailing love. 

This unfailing love (checed), as it is translated relates to a strong sense of goodwill especially as can be relied on in real times of need (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7,12; Psalm 89:24, 28, 33, 49; 2 Samuel 7:15; Isaiah 55:3).[10] Sometimes this word is translated as ‘mercy’ or ‘kindness’. This word, checed, relates to the person you can turn to in a crisis. We all have friends and family but we know that when the chips are down we really can’t rely on all of them. Some people let us down. This word for love or mercy applied in this context refers to one who will never let us down in a time of need. And this is God.

The Lord delights in those of us who respect Him – who care enough about His station and His feelings to watch our language around Him. And He can be trusted in our time of need because of His unfailing love for us (cf. John 3:16ff.). We don’t need to rely on horse and men’s legs. We don’t need to rely on cavalry and infantry. We don’t need to rely on man or Mammon. We don’t need to rely on people or money. We don’t need to rely on anyone in place of God. God will provide.

Corporately we should never deny our Christian faith in order to get government money like the Swift Current Center’s Community Youth Initiative did by intentionally rejecting its Christian roots and adopting the secular, so-called ‘non-religious’ religion instead. Individually we should make sure that we don’t make our decisions based on what other people think or on our own abilities and prejudices. We don’t need to withhold our tithe money because we think we can’t make ends meet without it. Do you really think that if you give God His tithe that He will unjustly let you starve to death? Do you not trust God? Do you put your faith in your own ability to handle your finances more than you put your faith in God? Who is best to look after you: you, the government (as is the hopes of the Center’s SC Youth Initiative), or God. Doctrine 2 of The Salvation Army says, “We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.” We need only to serve God. Not money, not pride, not laziness, not whatever else it is that takes our focus off of God.  When we seek first the Kingdom of God, all else that we need will be given unto us (Matthew 6:33).

So today I charge us all, if we have been intentionally withholding any of our time from God by not reading our Bibles; if we have been withholding any of our time from God by not praying to Him but rather have been spending all of our so-called ‘free time’ watching television, playing video games or gossiping with friends; if we trust more in Oprah or Dr. Phil, Law and Order or your cousin Fred’s advice than we do in God; if we have not been tithing because bills are tight; then indeed we are putting our faith in horse and the legs of men. If there is anyone or anything in our life that we are tempted to put our trust in ahead of God than that is the naked knee in our life that we must cover up (cf. 1 Corinthians 8-9). Today I trust that none of us will be distracted by the naked knees of life but that we will all instead trust in the merciful love of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Let us pray.

http://www.sheepspeak.com/

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[1] Peter C. Craigie, 'Psalms 1-50', 2^nd  ed. (WBC 19: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 2004), Author’s preface to the first edition.

[2] Cited from, C.D. Merriman, ‘The Literature Network: Robert Burns’ (Jalic Inc. 2006), cited 17 January 2011, available on-line at http://www.online-literature.com/robert-burns/

[3] Cf. Charles H. Spurgeon, ‘The Treasury of David Vol. 3: Psalms 101-150’, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, page 429.

[4] John H. Stek, ‘ Note on Psalm 147’, (NIV Study Bible: Zondervan: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2002), 950.

[5] Cf. Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1975 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 16), S. 523

[6] Cf. Leslie C. Allen, 'Psalms 101-150', 2^nd ed., (WBC 21: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 2002), 383 – some even suggest 3 psalms; Cf. also Charles H. Spurgeon, ‘The Treasury of David Vol. 3: Psalms 111-150’, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers,

[7] Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Deuteronomy/Exposition of Deuteronomy/III. The Second Address: Stipulations of the Covenant-Treaty and Its Ratification (4:44-28:68)/C. Specific Stipulations of the Covenant-Treaty (12:1-26:19)/2. National concerns (16:18-19:21)]/d. Appointment of and rules for a king (17:14-20), Book Version: 4.0.2

[8] Cf. Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1975 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 16), S. 523

[9] 'Yare', in The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words. (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1966), p. 395. Cf. also Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, ‘3373: yare’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.59.

[10] John H. Stek, ‘ Note on Psalm 6:8’, (NIV Study Bible: Zondervan: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2002), page 792; Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, ‘2617: checed’ yare’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.46.

Acts 2 and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Presented to Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service 16 January 2011 at St. Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church in Swift Current. Based on an earlier sermon presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on 12 August 2007 and to the Swift Current Corps on 23 May 2010. A further version was presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, 12 June 2022 by Captain Michael Ramsay

To read the more detailed earlier sermons, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/acts-2-act-ii-scene-1.html

We are going to look at the reading from Acts today. Acts is a neat book. Did you know that it is the only history (book) in the NT? Did you know that the books Acts and Luke were written by the same author and these books actually come together as sort of a two volume set that many scholars like to call ‘Luke-Acts.’ Together this set comprises more than 30% of the NT. 

Acts always reminds me of a play. Maybe it’s the name (Act 1, scene 2). But particularly in the first part, Acts reminds me of a Shakespearian play. Anyone remember studying Shakespeare in school?

All right, here’s quiz for you. Who can name the play these quotes are from: ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen lend me your ears;’ “to be or not to be, that is the question” – here’s an easy one - “Romeo, Romeo, where art thou Romeo”?

Shakespeare wrote very dramatic plays and some of the tragedies are pretty tragic like Hamlet. Remember, his ‘to be or not to be’ speech where, of course, he is either pretending to be insane or actually goes insane while trying catch his father’s killer who happens to be his uncle and is also married to his mother. (Sounds like a soap opera actually) And in the end - everybody dies…

Or on a happier note, there is Romeo and Juliet. Young love. But their parents object so they sneak around for a while and then eventually (pause) kill themselves…okay so not a lot of happy endings…but they are very dramatic and neat stories nonetheless.

Shakespeare was a master playwright and Acts reminds me of Shakespeare’s work. (Only its better) God uses the author, Luke, to communicate VERY dramatic REAL events that happen and he attributes to Peter some amazing speeches that could cause the post-modern reader to recall Mark Anthony, Lady MacBeth, or Hamlet.

And Luke uses the scenes and speeches that we will look at today God’s Spirit comes at Pentecost creating unity out of diversity and releasing the disciples to proclaim the gospel of Jesus’ death resurrection and the forgiveness of sins.

Acts really does remind me of a play and just before we open the curtain on Acts II, we should know a bit about the way the stage is set. When the curtain comes up not only will all the disciples still be together in the spirit of Christian unity but also in the scene will be ‘Jews from every nation under heaven (2:5)’ and they have come together in unity to celebrate Pentecost. This is hopefully like us today as Christians are prayerfully gathering from our different traditions and religious expressions of our Christian faith in unity here. The curtain opens on Acts II. Picture this with me as I read from the first verses, which are like a scene from a Shakespearian play:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing (sound effects) of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be (pillars) tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?

And this is the dramatic scene in the opening of Acts 2. And if this were a Shakespearean play, now, hundreds of years later, there would be - Cole’s Notes! – Do you remember Coles Notes? The notes so that we can all understand the nuances of what is happening before us and there are many nuances…

If we had our Cole’s Notes with us today there would probably be an asterisk beside the word ‘Pentecost’ (vs. 1) because when we think of Pentecost we usually think of this very moment: the advent of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts – but it is more than that.

Your Cole’s Notes would probably say that Pentecost is also known by various other names: the feast of weeks (Exod. 34:22; Dt 15:10, 16:9-12; Nu 28:26-31), feast of harvest (Exod 23:16), the day of first fruits (Exod 34:22; Nu 28:26; Lev 23:9-14) and this is neat: Pentecost occurs on the 50th day after the Sabbath Passover (Exod. 19:1) and in Acts II it is about 50 days after Jesus was crucified and the disciples were scattered and now 50 days later they are gathering together in prayer and Christian unity.

Now the Jewish festival of Pentecost is a time to celebrate God giving the Law to Moses on Mt Sinai: Remember the Ten Commandments and how Moses climbs the Mountain (twice; Exod. 19-20, 31, 34; Dt. 4-5, 10) and God writes the 10 Commandments on the stone tablets with his own finger (Exod. 31:18; Dt. 4:13, 10:1) and when Moses returns from the mountain his face is literally radiant (Exod. 34:29-35): it’s shining. All the events recorded in Acts 2 I think ar meant to link Jesus to Moses as a deliver – and those present in this scene are probably beginning to understand that.

And even more – you see the Bible is REAL. These things really did happen but it is also a literary masterpiece with symbolism everywhere – really would we expect anything less from God’s own Word?

Look at 2:6: “each one heard them speaking in his own language;” some have compared this passage to an un-doing, as it were, of the tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9), just before God makes his promise to Abraham. Do you remember that story? The people provoke God by disobeying His command to scatter and fill the earth through the building of this tower and as a result, the people are babbling in different languages. God confuses their talk. But now what happens in Acts II? The opposite. Christians become unified. Instead of language being confused, people can actually now hear the Gospel proclaimed in their OWN language. This sure helps Christian unity – which we are praying for today. There is so much more relating the Spirit of God in Acts 2 comparing the creation of the church to the creation of the world that we just don’t have time to get into today but this is all part of the world and understanding of the Jews present. They understand as the scene unfolds and as Peter continues to speak that Jesus is the Christ, and that we together have killed our Christ.

These people now standing in front of Peter as he delivers something akin to a masterful Shakespearian soliloquy – they are like repentant children in front of the principal, realising that they’ve done something terribly wrong. They realise that Jesus is the Christ and they realize (PAUSE) that they’ve killed him; we’ve killed him. And now Jesus is back from the dead. If we didn’t know the ending, it could be like a 1970s horror movie. You wrongfully kill someone and they come back from the dead to set things right! The people in our text today are hoping against hope to somehow make it right (cf. John 21:15-17 re: Peter’s own restoration) when in a spirit of good repentant Christian unity: Verse 37, “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter says, verse 38, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Now this is significant. Jesus is ushering in this Kingdom of God.  And what does this Kingdom look like? This is what our readings for today announce. It is a Kingdom of Christian unity and of forgiveness. It is a Kingdom –like the Lord’s Prayer says - where we, in perfect unity, forgive those who do things against us and God forgives us what we have done – even our sending [as was his purpose and with God’s perfect foreknowledge (vss. 22-23)] God’s own son to die on the cross.

What is it that one does as one is united in Christ with fellow Christians as a part of God’s Kingdom? We repent (This doesn’t just mean change our way of acting – it means change our whole way of thinking). We repent – we believe that Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead and Jesus is Lord. We believe and are baptised (which in the text here is an initiation ceremony through which the early Christians are united); we must be initiated and united in the Kingdom of Forgiveness of Sins and the Kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus – and this is everything.

Peter says in the text “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This same Holy Spirit who is at creation and at is the same Holy Spirit who is at Pentecost and it is the same Holy Spirit who is with us today. The Bible promises us, Acts 2:39 that, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off —for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be united in Salvation. Isn’t that glorious? Isn’t this wonderful? Isn’t this amazing?

And look what it says, just before the curtain closes on our scene here in Acts II: Our words that we are supposed to hold as our own today. It says that as they are gathered together in Christian unity that - Verse 47- “day by day the Lord added to their number those being saved.” How wonderful? How marvellous?

And may it be continue to be so. Come; let us pray for a unity of the Spirit in our lives. Come let us pray that Christ will be our light. Amen.

To read a detailed related paper on this passage click here: http://www.sheepspeak.com./NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Acts%202:%20An%20Interpretation

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Bibliography

Achtemeier, Paul J., Joel B. Green, and Marianne Meye Thompson. Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.

Bruce, Fredrick Frye, The Book of Acts. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988.

Durant, Will. The Story of Civilisation III: Caesar and Christ. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1944.

Gilbert. “The Lists of Nations in Acts 2.” Journal of Biblical Literature 21, no. 1 (2002): 497-529.

Harrison, Roland Kenneth. Introduction to the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977.

Hays, Richard B.  The letter to the Galatians. The New Interpreter’s Bible 11. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2000.

Lenski, R.C.H. The Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961.

MacGregor, G.H.C. and Theodore P. Ferris. The Acts if the Apostles. The Interpreter’s Bible 9. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1978.

Neil, William, The Acts of the Apostles. The New Century Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981.

Squires, John T., “Acts.” Pages 1213-1267 in Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Editted by James D.G. Dunn and John W. Rogerson. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003.

The Timechart of Biblical History. Chippenham, England: The Third Millenium Press, 2003.

Wall, Robert W.  Acts. The New Interpreter’s Bible 10. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 2002.

Willimon, William H., Acts. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1988.

Psalm 2: Bound and Determined and in the Principal’s Office

Presented to Swift Current Corps, 09 January 2010

By Captain Michael Ramsay

Christmas is an exiting time around The Salvation Army. This year was no exception: we provided around 230 families with Christmas hampers. We had nearly 200 friends at the corps for dinner. Our community of less than 17 000 people here raised more than $153 000 for our community and family services. We had a nice Christmas Eve and an intimate Boxing Day service. There are many wonderful testimonies and interesting things that happen around The Salvation Army at Christmas time. I want to share with you one story:

It’s Hamper Day everything is going well – we have so many volunteers helping from the community, it is great. I think it gets better every year as we become that much more efficient. In the morning I receive a phone call: someone is asking if he can register for a hamper that day. I explain to him that not only do we not register people for hampers on pick-up day but that the deadline for registering was three weeks ago. He is way too late. (I really do not believe in rewarding bad behaviour; if I start making too many exceptions than soon everyone will just try to drop-by and get a hamper and this will make it impossible to properly help those who are in a legitimate need. It will ruin it for everybody) I tell this person that he is WAY too late. He is persistent. He tells me that he was speaking to John earlier in the week. He tells me he has health issues. He tells me this. He tells me that. He is like the persistent widow in the parable of that name (Luke 18:1-8). He is so persistent that eventually I do give in and tell him he can come later in the day – after the others have gone through and after he goes through the full registration process with John over the telephone, of course, which he does. This man is bound and determined to get something today.

Later in the day, when his time comes, he still has to wait to be dealt with. Laurie, who is taking tickets, calls me to the door. I come when I can. She rightly holds him up because this man doesn’t have a ticket and his name isn’t on the list – remember he just registered in the morning by phone, which isn’t typically allowed but he is bound and determined to get something today. As I am speaking with he and Laurie, another one of our volunteers (Cortney) pulls me aside and asks me to have a coffee with this fellow while we process the others. We have our coffee while we wait; he registered late, it makes sense that he has to wait. We talk. This fellow has spent some time on Vancouver’s DTES; my wife and I were urban missionaries there for a while. We are chatting about this and that and how he is bound and determined to get something this day – well, he does get something that day: the police show up and he gets… arrested; he is bound - and it is determined that he will stay in the cells that day and the next and the next.

What happened? One of our volunteers saw him and identified him as a man whom they suspect defrauded their business. If he had not been so persistent on the phone about his hamper then he never would have got what was apparently coming to him that day. He seemed to want his hamper so much that when he was arrested I offered to keep it for him until he gets out. I went to visit him in the cells a couple of times. He is in Regina now. He has a three-month sentence. We have actually gotten to know each other a little bit through the process. I look forward to getting to know him better when he returns from Regina.

Today we are going to look at Psalm 2. Like our friend was bound and determined to get what was coming to him, Psalm 2 speaks about what the king hopes is bound to come to him during his reign. First, I want to review a little bit.[1] Can anyone tell me what a psalm is? A psalm is a poem, a song, a hymn, etc. The book of Psalms is a collection of hymns and songs written by different people; in this way it is not unlike our Songbook (or a hymnal). Psalms, in the form that we have now, was probably pulled together from other Psalm-books for worship in the newly rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem[2] the same way we traditionally have used songbooks in worship in The Salvation Army.[3] Psalms is one of the most quoted books not only in the New Testament but also in sectarian Jewish writing from Qumran (cf. Matt 3:17, 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; Acts 13:33; Revelation 1:5, 2:27, 4:2, 6:17, 12:5, 19:5; cf. Romans 1:4).[4]  Psalm 2 may have at one time been combined with Psalm 1 as an introduction to this whole psalm-book.[5]

Now as Psalms is one of the most quoted books in the New Testament, Psalm 2, that we are looking at today, is one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament (cf. Matt 3:17, 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; Acts 13:33; Revelation 1:5, 2:27, 4:2, 6:17, 12:5, 19:5; cf. Romans 1:4).[6] It is also the perfect Messianic psalm. It relates obviously and miraculously to Jesus as the Christ and to the glorious New Covenant (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8).[7]  Psalm 2 was almost certainly originally composed as a coronation psalm. Who can tell me what a coronation is? It is the ceremony when a king or queen is crowned, when they are officially made king or queen. This psalm may have been composed for one of the last kings of Judah before the fall of Jerusalem when country of Judah and Solomon’s Temple was completely, utterly and finally destroyed.[8]

Let’s take a moment and picture the possible coronation scene together: this psalm may have been read out in four parts by the King and three groups of people much like we heard the different people reading it today - near the end of the coronation ceremony, probably just after the king is crowned right when he is being presented to those present.[9] The people speaking at the ceremony certainly represented different groups. XXX read Psalm 2:1-3: they presented the arrogant words of foreign leaders. AAA read Psalm 2:4-6: here the psalmist presents the Lord’s response to the world’s political leaders. I read Psalm 2:7-9: this text would have been read by the new king as he accepted his commission; and Psalm 2:10ff that MMM read is a warning for the nations to submit to God’s choice for his vassal.[10] This psalm is meant to have a powerful impact on the newly bound, the newly covenanted king and on his people, as to how God’s will might be determined in his reign.

Let us look at this quickly, section by section. First AAA’s section representing the foreign leaders, Psalm 2:1-3 (NIV):

 ¹ Why do the nations conspire
   and the peoples plot in vain (AV: murmur murderously)?
² The kings of the earth rise up
   and the rulers band together
   against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
³ “Let us break their chains
   and throw off their shackles.”

We know that throughout most of Israel and Judah’s history, they are surrounded by hostile nations.[11] God even eventually uses these nations to conquer and occupy Palestine and to put an end to the nations of Israel and Judah (Cf. for ex. 2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chronicles 36; Ezra 1; Isaiah 39, 45; Jeremiah; Amos 3:2). This psalm was probably written just before Judah was to begin its long history of exile and of successive military occupation. This psalm however wasn’t probably added to the psalm-book we talked about earlier until much later, when Palestine was still occupied but the exiles -with the blessing of the then regional superpower- the king of Persia, were returning to the occupied territories. So the redactor, the editor, the compilers of the psalm-book realize that this psalm refers not to a present regent  - because there isn’t one when the psalm-book is pulled together – this psalm looks to a future Messiah.

Today it is now about 2500 years since the psalm-book was compiled and about half a century after it was compiled we know this Messiah did actually come. Jesus came but sometimes today it looks like the nations of the earth have forgotten this – even we who should know better: many of the world powers since Christ who as Psalm 1:1 in the AV says ‘murmur murderously’, many of the superpowers who commit the brutal crimes against humanity that only superpowers can really get away with, many of the people today and throughout history who have committed all these offences against Christ and against the world once upon a time these nations professed Christ (cf. Matthew 7, 25:31ff).[12] Just look at the ways our English-speaking countries of today are warring against Christ: invading countries with weapons of violence for Mammon (Capitalism) and Pride (Democracy) instead of with the Gospel of Christ for the Prince of Peace and the Kingdom of God (Isaiah 9:6; Ephesians 6:15); our English-speaking nations it seems are fighting hard against the gospel in the name of free speech (I cringe when I hear this term because of this) to make pornography available to any and all who can find it on-line. Even though OTHER countries (such as China, for one example) are actively protecting their citizens from pornography, our politicians and media condemn China for this; we –who once were a Christian country - are actively promoting this so called ‘free speech’.[13] As we all know too we are removing prayer and scripture from our public institutions across this country and even more than that: in Canada legislation passed by elected politicians can see the Bible classified as hate literature in this country.[14] (It appears that for some ‘free-speachers’ pornography is okay but the Bible is not!) The sins of the foreign kings from antiquity and from our text today seem to be the sins of Canada and the rest of the English-speaking Empire today. Our country seems to be bound and determined to get what is coming to us and it looks like – just like our friend on hamper day - we will! And it may not be what we want. Canada and England were once dedicated to God but now even the faithful seem to be bound by the shackles of the secularists.

This brings us to our second section of the psalm, Verses 4-6. This is the LORD’s response to these shackles that the world tries to put on His followers:

 ⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
   the Lord scoffs at them.
⁵ He rebukes them in his anger
   and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
⁶ “I have installed my king
   on Zion, my holy mountain.”

God when necessary justly punished those whom He used to correct His people. God has raised up many powers and He has also rebuked many in his anger, terrified them in His wrath and allowed them to fall. If they reject God and His servants, He will reject them. If we reject God’s grace and are bound and determined to get what we think we deserve, then like we said and like our friend on hamper day, we will indeed be bound, arrested and He will determine what we deserve (cf. TSA d. 9, 11).

The kings of Judah and Israel clung to a promise of security that God has promised for His people (cf. Genesis 15; Genesis 17:11; Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 5:32, 33; 2 Samuel 7; 23:5; 1 Chronicles 17; Psalms 89:3, 28-29; 93; 110:4; Hebrews 7-13). It seems however, that while they were doing this they became through their disobedience, as the prophet Hosea says, ‘not My people’ (Hosea 1:9). The chosen people neglected the environment of the Promised Land (Leviticus 24, 2 Chronicles 36), they neglected the marginalized and they rejected God (Cf. for example Exodus 23:6,11, Leviticus 19:10,15, 23:22, 27:8, Deuteronomy 15:7, 15:11, 24:12-15, 1 Samuel 2:8, Psalms 22:26, 34:6, 35:10, 82:3, Isaiah 61:1, Ezekiel 16:49, 18:12, 22:29, Amos 2:7, 4:1, 5:11-12, 8:4-6, Zechariah 7:10...). God will not be mocked. Judah was overrun and Palestine was occupied militarily and then half a millennium later Christ came to offer freedom to the world from our self-imposed shackles.

But we seem to have forgotten this here today: we don’t need to be bound by the shackles of the world (cf. 2 Corinthians 13; Colossians 1:28; Hebrews 11,12; 1 Peter 1:15, cf. also Leviticus 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7). Christ has come already but we seem to be determined to make the same mistakes on this side of the cross that people did on the other side of the cross. Instead of living up to our responsibilities in Christ’s proleptic kingdom here on earth, we –like the chosen people of the Old Testament – we also neglect the environment, we also neglect the marginalized, and from the examples we looked at before – wars for money and power, promoting free speech in favour of pornography but denying it in re-electing MPs who vote for legislation that can classify the Bible hate literature – we in Canada now, even on this side of the cross, are acting very poorly; we seem to be acting like a child who is deservedly about to be sent to the principal’s office for a stern rebuke (Psalm 2:5).

Anyone here ever spend some time in the principal’s office? I spent some time in the principal’s office (not very much actually). My Grade 7 principal had the loudest voice in the world, I am sure. When we were caught for doing something wrong and we were waiting outside his office in the hall until he took the time to loudly rebuke us, it was actually terrifying. Our whole nation today seems to be like this child sitting on a bench in the hallway waiting to be berated by God, our principal, for not listening to the Bible and for not listening to our other teachers. This should be terrifying.

This brings us to our next section. The response of the Lord’s vassal king when he hears all this, Psalm 2:7-9:

7 I will proclaim the LORD’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;
   today I have become your father.
8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,
   the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron;
   you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

We recognize these words don’t we – verse 7 - “You are my son; today I have become your father.” We recognize these words don’t we? They are part of the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. They are quoted directly by the preacher to the Hebrews in Hebrews 1:5. They also remind us of Jesus’ baptism when the Holy Spirit descends from Heaven upon Jesus and God says “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17; Luke 3:22). This is the good news that nations of the earth are Jesus’ inheritance and so long as we follow Him we will be okay (cf. Genesis 3:2). We know the ‘Parable of the Sheep and the Goats’ from Matthew 25:31ff – all the nations are before Christ when he returns (Matthew 25:32). Those of us that serve him now will continue to serve him then (Matthew 25:34). We will receive our reward that has been prepared for us since the beginning of the world (Matthew 25:34).  We don’t need to be shacked by sin, we don’t need to be bound and have it determined that we will be cast outside to where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:46; cf. TSA d. 10, 11). Instead of trying to be like a rebellious republic breaking away from the Kingdom of God and shackling ourselves to sin, we should instead just turn our eyes towards Jesus and then we will live. Jesus is the Messiah in all the socio-political, religious-spiritual, contemporary, eschatological aspects of that term. Jesus is the Christ and He is coming back, therefore verses 10-12:

 ¹⁰ Therefore, you kings, be wise;
   be warned, you rulers of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear
   and celebrate his rule with trembling.
¹² Kiss his son, or he will be angry
   and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
   Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

We must kiss the Son of God, Verse 12. We must celebrate Christ’s rule, Verse 11. We must – like John exhorted us last week through his homiletical exegesis of Psalm 95 – we must shout out our praises to the Lord. We must not be afraid to be a fool for the gospel of Christ (cf. Romans 1:16-17, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Isaiah 29:14). This foolishness for the gospel of Christ –again reminiscent of John’s encouragement last week for us to call out to God – this foolishness is the wisdom we are called to display in Psalm 2:10. In our world today that has gone so far astray, the hostile, wealthy, secular, goat nations are like a schoolyard bully who upon hearing us say something nice about Principal Jesus comes up to us, bound and determined to beat us up unless we follow this secular bully in defying Principal Christ by breaking a window of Salvation or some other such thing. It may seem wise in that moment to do what the bully wants - to submit to his authority to save a beating but it isn’t. Principal Jesus is coming. If we defy Jesus by breaking this metaphorical window (or in any other way) just before the Principal Jesus comes what will He do when He rounds the corner and His eyes meet ours? If we reject Jesus’ authority then we will rightly receive the same penalty as the bully who encourages us to break the window (Matthew 10:33; cf. TSA d. 9, 11). Make no mistake, Principal Jesus is right around the corner (Revelation 3:11; 11:14; 22:7,12,20). He is coming back soon, so rather than disobey him like the hostile nations in Psalm 2 and apparently like our nation today we here all need to do the opposite. We need to yell at the top of our lungs, like John told us last week. We need to yell out, ‘Principal Jesus, I’m on your side’. And then when He comes around that corner and gives that bully what that bully is bound and determined to get, when He gives him what is coming to him; as we faithfully seek Principal Jesus’ refuge, we will experience the full blessing of His protection: we will be delivered from the bully, we will be delivered from all temptation and we will be delivered from all harm. Jesus will deliver us. Then for us for all eternity, everything will be okay. Verse 12 of our text today says, ‘blessed are those who take refuge in the Lord’. He is the Messiah; he is the Christ and He is coming back and He is coming back soon!

Let us pray.

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[1] Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Psalm 1:1-2:Which one of these things is not like the other things?' Presented to the Swift Current Corps 07 November 2010. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/11/psalm-11-2which-one-of-these-things-is.html

[2] Steven Shawn Tuell, 'Psalm 1' in Interpretation Issue 63 no. 3 (July 2009), p 278

[3] John H. Stek, ‘Psalms: Introduction’, (NIV Study Bible: Zondervan: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2002), 777 and Derek Kidner, ‘Psalms 1-72: An Introduction and Commentary’, Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1973 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 15), S. 21

[4] Peter C. Craigie, 'Psalms 1-50', 2^nd  ed. (WBC 19: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 2004), 45.

[5] Steven Shawn Tuell, 'Psalm 1' in Interpretation Issue 63 no. 3 (July 2009), p 278. Cf. Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Psalms/Exposition of Psalms/BOOK I: Psalms 1-41/Psalm 1: God's Blessing on the Godly, Book Version: 4.0.2. Cf. also Peter C. Craige, Psalms 1-50, p. 59 and William H. Brownlee "Psalms 1-2 as a Coronation Liturgy," Biblica 52 [1971]: 321-36.

[6] Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Psalms/Exposition of Psalms/BOOK I: Psalms 1-41/Psalm 2: The Messianic King, Book Version: 4.0.2

[7] Peter C. Craigie, 'Psalms 1-50', 2^nd  ed. (WBC 19: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 2004), 68.

[8] But cf. William H. Brownlee, "Psalms 1-2 as a Coronation Liturgy," Biblica 52 [1971]: 321-36.

[9] But cf. J.H. Eaton, ‘Kingship and Psalms’ in SBT: Second series no. 32. (London: SCM Press; 1976), 111.

[10] Peter C. Craige, 'Psalms 1-50', 2^nd  ed. (WBC 19: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 2004), 65.

[11] Cf. John Riches, “Matthew for the Church's year,” The Expository Times, Vol. 122, no. 2, eds.  Paul Foster, Alison Jack, John Riches, Karen Wenell, (London: Sage Publications, November 2010): 75.

[12] That being said many more people have been killed by the secularist wars since the 18^th Century than in all other conflicts combined throughout history, i.e.: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, US Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Nazi Holocaust, WWII, Stalinist purges, Mau’s great leap forward, etc.

[13] Cf. EDWARD WONG and ASHLEE VANCE, "China Intent on Requiring Internet Censor Software," The New York Times, Internet Edition (June 18, 2009). available on line at www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/business/global/19censor.html : A version of this article appeared in print on June 19, 2009, on page A10 of the New York edition.

[14] Cf. Catholic World News Brief, “CANADIAN COURT AGREES THAT BIBLE IS HATE LITERATURE,” EWTN: Global Catholic News Network, (February 11, 2003), available on-line at www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=33759