Sermon Psalm 121:1-2 “Does God Care About Me?”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
New Covenant Presbyterian Church
Sermon Psalm 121:1-2 “Does God Care About Me?”
September 16, 2018

Listen to this sermon.

Last week we began Believe the Story of the Bible to Become Like Jesus in our Christian education classes and in worship.   We asked the question, “Who is God?”.   We worship the creator God who is one being in the community of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.   This God created us in his image to live in community with each other in families, neighborhoods, and churches.   God creates communities in his image of grace, love, and fellowship.

Today we will ask the next logical question, “Does this God of the Bible care about me?”.  We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.

Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen. (John Calvin)

There are three questions we will be asking today:  First, “Is God Good?”.  Second, “Does God care about me?”.  And Third, “Does God have a plan for my life?”.   Let’s look at each of these.

Is God good?  Let me tell you a story.   God had promised children to Abram and Sarai.  Their descendants would number more than all the grains of sand in the sea.  But as they grew older with no children they became impatient and decided to take matters into their own hands.   Abram and Sarai conspired to have Abram get a slave, Hagar, pregnant so that he would have his child.  Hagar conceived and bore  Abram a son, Ishmael.   As you might expect Sarai regretted her decision and was very jealous of Hagar and her son.

Years later Sarai had her own son.   She laughed so hard when she knew she would have a baby in her old age she named her son with the Hebrew word for laugh, Isaac.  Once Isaac was born there was no longer any need for Hagar and Ishmael in the family.   So they were sent out.   And you would expect that this would be the end of their story.  The biblical focus will be on Isaac and his family.   But we have this curious story from Genesis

 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also because he is your offspring.”

14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[c] began to sob.

17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

So what do you think?   Is God good?  I think so.   He took this boy, born in the sin of adultery, and blessed him richly.   And God blesses us too.  So I think we have to conclude that God truly is good.

Now, let’s turn to the next question.   Does God care about me?  Consider these words of the psalmist from the familiar King James Version.

Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God blesses us with many things.  He has given us a world where we have plenty to eat and drink.   It is filled with beauty in streams and forests and beaches and mountains and everything else.  God has forgiven our sin and restored our relationship with him.  God gently guides us with his word.   God protects us from evil.  God blesses us with families, neighborhoods, and churches.  And God promises us eternal life.   So what do you think?   Does God care about us?  Of course, God cares for all of us.

So far we have found that God is good and God cares about us.   That leaves us with one more question.   Does our good God who cares for us have a plan for our lives?  Listen to this story from the first chapter of Jeremiah.

4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,  5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.  I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” 

6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.

God chose Jeremiah to be a prophet before he was even born.   God revealed this plan to Jeremiah when he was still a child.   And God promised to give Jeremiah the gifts he needed to do what God wanted him to do.  So God had a plan for Jeremiah’s life.

God has certainly had a plan for me.   I spent a great deal of time trying to implement my own plan.   I wanted a successful business and a family.   But time after time something came up to block me.   It seemed like I was always going uphill.  But then one day I realized that God wanted me to serve his church.   I was ordained a deacon and became a Bethel teacher.   Then I went to seminary and began the process to become a pastor.   Since then God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and ministries where I can serve his kingdom.  I know now that God had a plan for my life all along.   And I am certain that God has a plan for all of your lives as well.

So what have we learned today?  We know that the God of the Bible is good.  God cares for you and me.   And God has a plan for our lives.
Listen to these wonderful words from the 121st Psalm.

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.
 
Let’s pray.  Father in heaven we praise you for your goodness.   We thank you for caring about us and blessing us with a plan for our lives.   Bless us each day as we live out your plan assured that you will always care for us.   This we pray filled with your spirit and in your Son’s name.  Amen.

Sermon 2 Corinthians 13:14 - “Who is God?”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
New Covenant Presbyterian Church
Sermon 2 Corinthians 13:14 - “Who is God?”
September 9, 2018

Listen to this sermon.

This morning I am beginning a series of sermons drawn from Believe, Living the Story of the Bible to Become Like Jesus.  This is part of a combined effort of both the Christian Education and Worship Committees.   Each week the same topic with be the subject of my weekly sermon and Bible Study classes for adults, students, and children.  So there will be one topic each week that we all hear in worship and can talk about in small groups at all age levels.   And our hope is that the entire church will begin “living the story of the Bible to become like Jesus.  Let’s pray.

Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen. (John Calvin)

According to a recent Gallup poll, 89% of Americans believe in God, https://news.gallup.com/poll/193271/americans-believe-god.aspx.  This should not be surprising.   As we look around our world we see many created things.   This building, the chair you sit in, the windows you look out and the sound system I am using are all designed by humans.  And we can see the sky, sun, moon, stars, soybean fields, and grass lawns which are also created, but not by humans.  We know that the creator is God.   Psalm 19:1 puts it this way, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”   So just by looking at the world, we live in we know that there is a God.

We also know that there is a God because of our minds.   Aristotle asked people to consider the following.   Suppose you take a bottle of cold water from your refrigerator and put it on the kitchen counter.   Suddenly your phone rings and you leave the kitchen to answer it.   You forget about the bottle of water until you return later that afternoon.   Now, is the water still cold?  No, it is now room temperature.  Why?  Because the kitchen is warm.  Why is the kitchen warm?  Because it is a hot summer day.   Why is it a hot summer day?   Because the sun is high in the sky and has been warming the air all day.   Why is the sun high in the sky?   We could keep asking these questions again and again until we get to something that causes everything else, a first cause.  And this we call God.   God started everything going.   God is here today keeping everything going.  And since cause and effect is an intelligible process God must know what is happening and his will is causing it to happen.

So we know that God exists from both our experience and intellect. The Bible assumes all of this.   We read this in Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”   Anyone who opens their eyes and engages in thought will realize that God exists.

The real question we have,  the one the Bible deals with is, “Who is God?”.   We must select the God we will serve.  We read this in Joshua 24:15 “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

So according to Joshua, we are to worship and serve Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel.   This is the creator God who made the world and made you and me.   And this is the only God we believe in and worship.  We read this in Deuteronomy 6:4

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” 

So we believe the one true God, the creator, and we are to pass this belief on generation to generation.

But in the New Testament, we see something a little different.   In 2 Corinthians 13:14 we read,

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 

So here we seem to have three gods: the Lord Jesus Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit.   There seems to be a math problem here.   The Old Testament told us that we have one God.   But here we seem to have three Gods.   So what is going on?  Are Christians still worshiping the one creator God?

The answer is yes we are worshiping the same God.  Theologians have come up with a fancy term, “Trinity”,  to describe this.  They tell us that the God we worship has one being, the Lord God of Israel, but has been revealed to us as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.   God has one essence.  But our God is not a God of individualism.  Rather our God is a God of community, a community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

America is a land that values individualism.   We want to believe that we can do it ourselves.   We don’t really need community.   We can go it alone if we want.  We don’t have to worship as part of a church we can worship alone and develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.   But there is a problem with this because our God is a God of community who created us to be in community too.  Listen to this from Genesis 1:26

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  27 So God created mankind in his own image in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Notice what God said as he was creating us.   God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.”  “Our”!  It was our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who created us.   God exists in community.   God gave us his image by placing us in community.   Men and women are created to be in fellowship with others in family, neighborhoods, and churches.   So the church is created in the very image of our triune God.  We are a community that worships the God who exists in community.

So what should a community, created in the image of God’s community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be like?  What would be the characteristics of that kind of community?    Remember our scripture for this week, 2 Corinthians 13:14,  “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”   God’s community is filled with grace, love, and fellowship.   The church was created in the image of this community.   So church must also be a community of grace, love, and fellowship.   We must treat each other with kindness, be forgiving, offer friendship to others, and care for those in need.

As I said before America is a land that values individualism over community.   We believe in God and think we can act out our belief alone without community.  In my generation, many of us have no real friends.  Our best friend is for many of us the television.   Today there is a new generation whose best friend is a cell phone.  People are with their phones all the time.   They constantly talk to their phones by text messages.   The closest thing they have to community is a group chat or social network.   So as a result of cell phone technology, we are becoming a nation of radical individualists unable to form true communities.

Once people leave school there are few places where they can find real fellowship.   Sometimes they can find fellowship at work if social interaction goes on among people.   Maybe they find community in a bar with people drinking with each other.   Community could be found across the fence in your backyard with your neighbor, but most people are afraid of their neighbors.   So where can you go to meet people, make friends and be a part of a community?  I think the best place for that to happen is right here in church because church was created as a community in the image of our loving, gracious, and communal God. 

So people right here in Middletown are living isolated lives with few if any real friends.  They go to work.  Then they come home to their computer check messages and maybe stream something on youtube.   They are truly lonely because God created them to be in community.   What would be the loving and gracious thing that we could do for them?   I think the most loving thing we could do is to invite them to church where they can find the community they crave.  So the best thing you could do is invite people you meet to come here to a loving and gracious fellowship of believers and be part of a genuine community.
 
So we worship the one true God, our creator.   This God exists in community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.   This community is characterized by grace, love, and fellowship.  The church is created as a community in the image of God.   So church is also characterized by grace, love, and fellowship.   And we can offer this community to a world that is desperately looking for it.  People crave community because they were created to be in community in the image of our communal God.   So let’s love our neighbor by inviting him or her to be a part of our divine community here at New Covenant Church. Let’s pray.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit create for us a community filled with grace, love, and fellowship.   The help us to invite people to be a part of this community satisfying their deepest desires to be in community with others.   This we pray in your glorious name.   Amen.

Sermon Song of Solomon 2:8-17 “Loved By God”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
New Covenant Presbyterian Church
Sermon Song of Solomon 2:8-17  “Loved By God”
September 2, 2018

This morning we are going to look at something a little different.  The Song of Solomon or the Song of Songs or Canticles is an Old Testament Book.  It contains poetry about the love between a man and a woman.  This is a topic people have been writing about since writing was invented.  And some of the most beautiful poetry ever written is about the love a man has for his wife and the love a wife has for her husband.  We will hear today some of the most beautiful poetry about love the world has ever heard.  We will get to this, but first, let's pray.

Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen. (John Calvin)

Song of Solomon 2:1-7
I am a rose of Sharon a lily of the valleys.
He
2 Like a lily among thorns
    is my darling among the young women.
She
3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest
    is my beloved among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade,
    and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
4 Let him lead me to the banquet hall,
    and let his banner over me be love.
5 Strengthen me with raisins,
    refresh me with apples,
    for I am faint with love.
6 His left arm is under my head,
    and his right arm embraces me.
7 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
    by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
    until it so desires.

The Song of Solomon is unquestionably beautiful.  But a question about it has been raised by faithful believers for centuries.  They have wondered, should the Song of Solomon be in the Bible?  Yes, it is beautiful love poetry.  But does it tell us anything about God?  God is not even mentioned in the book.

A debate raged in the first century among Hebrew scholars.  Some argued for its removal from the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament because it did not contain any of the names of God.  But Rabbi Akiva argued that it should remain.  He said that we should read it allegorically, as a metaphor.  He said to read the Song of Solomon as if it is talking about God's love for Israel.  Rabbi Akiva's interpretation was accepted by the rabbis and this is the way Jews read this book today.  In modern Judaism, the Song of Solomon is used for personal meditations during the season of Passover.  Jews are encouraged to see in it God's great love for his people.

Christians have also had their problems with this book as well.  The second-century Christian scholar Origen wrote ten commentaries on the Song of Solomon.  In them, he agreed with Rabbi Akiva that the book should be read allegorically.  But Origen said that the groom is understood to be Christ.  And the bride is his church.  Origen's allegorical interpretation guided the church throughout the Middle Ages.  And during this time more books were written about the Song of Solomon than any other biblical work.

But by the time of the Protestant reformation allegorical interpretations had gone out of favor.  We wanted to read scripture more literally.  And so we had big problems with the love poetry of the Song of Solomon.  Calvin never wrote a commentary on it.  And the Song of Solomon is assigned by the revised common lectionary to be read on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend when most preachers are on vacation and can avoid it.  As far as I know, none of my preacher friends have ever preached on it.

But I think it would be a shame to miss out on the beautiful love poetry of the Song of Solomon.  And I think this is how we should interpret it.   Jesus told us to love God will all our heart, soul, and strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  The Song of Solomon is a celebration of this love.  God loves us and we love God and we love one another.  And so in this spirit, I offer to you the Song of Solomon chapter 2.

8 Listen! My beloved!
    Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
    bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.

God loves us so much he is constantly searching for us.  For those of us who have never heard his name, he will search for us over hills and in the valleys until he finds us.  For believers, he looks for in daily prayer and Sunday worship hoping that we will be there.  And in his search for us God will never ever grow old, never get tired and never give up.  God loves us so much, just as a man loves a woman.  And his passionate pursuit lasts forever.  Let's get back to the song.

    Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
    peering through the lattice.
10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
    “Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, come with me.

God loves us so much he is constantly here with us.  He is looking at us through these windows.  He is listening to us as we sing his praises and he speaks to us in scripture.  Our hearts beat faster and faster as our beloved God approaches.  And we faint with excitement as God tells us that he loves us and wants us to come away with him.  Let's return to the song.

11 See! The winter is past;
    the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
    the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
    the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
    my beautiful one, come with me.”

God has invited us to return with him to the Garden of Eden.  The sin, of our parents Adam and Eve, has been forgiven.  Our love affair with God is back on.  And we can enjoy being with him for eternity.  God loves us even more than a bride loves her husband.  God wants us to be with him even more than a groom wants to be with his new wife.

But there is a problem.  God wants us so much, but we seem to be missing.  Since the time of Adam and Eve, we have been hiding from God.  So God is searching for us.  Let's go back to the song and hear God's voice.

14 My dove in the clefts of the rock,
    in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show me your face,
    let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
    and your face is lovely.

And so God is searching for us.  He loves us and misses us.  He wants to see our beautiful faces in worship.  He wants to hear our sweet voices in prayer and singing.  God grieves when we miss worship.  God celebrates when we are here. And God will find us wherever we are hiding.  Back to the song.

15 Catch for us the foxes,
    the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
    our vineyards that are in bloom.

God has placed us in a beautiful garden with blue sky and green fields.  He has given us ample food and everything we need for a good life.  All he asks is that we be with him in worship, speak to him in song and prayer, and listen to his voice in scripture and sermon.  God loves us so much.  And so how are we to respond to this wonderful offer of love from our God?  Do we spurn him?  Do we run away?  Or do we embrace him as a young woman embraces a man who wants to marry her?    Here is our response to God:

16 My beloved is mine and I am his;
    he browses among the lilies.
17 Until the day breaks
    and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved,
    and be like a gazelle
or like a young stag
    on the rugged hills.

The relationship God wants with us is like that of man and woman on their honeymoon night.  God loves us so much he wants to hug us and kiss us and hold our hands and whisper poetry in our ears.  God wants to live with us, as our companion, in paradise.  And so God wants to hear from us in prayer and speak to us through scripture every day.

And so we are richly loved by God as a man deeply loves a woman or a woman deeply loves a man.  God wants to be with us in worship.  God wants to hear our voices in prayer and singing.  God loves us so much he sent his son Jesus Christ to be with us.  God has wiped away our sin, forgiven us so that his relationship with us is restored.  Rest in the arms of the God who loves you more than anything.

Song of Solomon 3:1-5
All night long on my bed
    I looked for the one my heart loves;
    I looked for him but did not find him.
2 I will get up now and go about the city,
    through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
    So I looked for him but did not find him.
3 The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.
    “Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed them
    when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
    till I had brought him to my mother’s house,
    to the room of the one who conceived me.
5 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
    by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
    until it so desires.

Let's pray.  O God we love you.  We love to hear your voice in scripture.  We love to be with you in prayer and worship.  We love your Son and love your Spirit.  We love you.  Amen.