Spiritual Gifts as Worship (Romans 12:3-8)

Good Morning. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. But let’s be honest, with Thanksgiving behind us, we’re all thinking about Christmas now. The Christmas decorations are already up in the Holcomb home. Part of me wants to complain that the Christmas decorations are up before it’s even December, but the other part of me thinks, “If we are going through all this trouble to set up the Christmas tree, it’s going to be up as long as possible,” so I’m fine with it. Even though this is the first Sunday after Thanksgiving, it is not an Advent Sunday. There is enough Sundays before Christmas in December this year to hold off the first Sunday of Advent to the first Sunday in December. But I will admit, I am one of those people thinking about Christmas. Hey, at least I’m thinking about the true meaning of Christmas: the historical event in which the Creator of the universe comes down to his creation as a humble baby. I’m thinking about the whole story: Mary, Joseph, the angels, the shepherds, and especially the magi.

Out of all the characters of the Christmas story, I find the magi the most interesting. The historical record of the magi can be found in Matthew 2:1-12, but over the years, as the Christmas story is told over and over again, legends arose about these magi, hence why they got renamed “wise men” and “three kings.” Usually, I quickly dismiss such legends because I don’t want confuse legend with the historically accurate inspired Word of God. One of these legends, however, I do like, just because it displays the symbolism behind the gifts the magi brought. The legend states that one of them was a young man, and in his youthful idealism he looked for a good and pure king, who would rule the people equally and fairly. He carried gold, a fitting gift for king. Another was middle-aged man. He had pushed aside such idealistic hope, and now he wanted the answer to deep the questions of life, ones about origins, meaning, morals and destiny. He realized only a God could answer such questions, and so sought to find God. His gift was frankincense with which to worship God, an incense offered to God as a sacrifice. The third was an elderly man. He was well aware his life was drawing to and end, and death would be near. Looking back on that life, all he could notice was that it was stained with in. He longed to discover a Savior. Through his studies, as well as logic and reasoning, he concluded that a Savior must be a sufferer to pay for his sins, even to point of death. He took with him the gift of myrrh, used to make healing medicine and perfume to embalm the dead.

I can neither affirm this legend as the inspired Word of God, nor can I confirm the historical accuracy of this legend, but this legend does one thing right. It displays and explains the three gifts of the magi very well. Most interesting is relating the symbolism of the gifts to the purpose of the magi’s visit: to worship. We know from the historically accurate Word of God that the magi came to worship the baby Jesus. There’s no doubt about that; just look it up in Matthew 2:2,11. But pay close attention to how they worship. They don’t surround him and sing songs to him. Instead, they worship him by giving him gifts. Also note that these gifts don’t just represent who Jesus is, but they also might reflect the giver and what the giver seeks in Jesus.

If you were to go to Bethlehem and go to the tradition spot of the manger, this is what it looks like now.

Maybe the magi can teach us something about passionate spirituality and vibrant worship. Now I suppose we could take a pilgrimage to Bethlehem, and we could leave at the traditional site of the manger a gift to that represents us and how we see Jesus. But I believe Paul provides us a more practical way to worship Jesus through gift giving. He provides those instructions in Romans 12:3-8.

Below you’ll see the passage, but you’ll notice I start the passage with Romans 12:1. That’s because I believe Romans 12:1-8 should be read as one paragraph, and I want to keep it in context. Some Bible translations will reflect this, while other Bible versions do not. I don’t have the space or time to teach you Greek grammar or syntax to help defend my position, but I know you remember your English classes, which taught you English grammar and syntax. Remember that that the first sentence of a paragraph is your topic sentence, while the following sentence go in detail about the topic. Keep that in mind when you read Romans 12:1-8.

Romans 12:1-2 NIV (1984 ed.)-

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ³ For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴ Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ⁷ If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸ if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully

Remember that the first sentence of the paragraph is the topic sentence. Paul’s topic sentence, if I may summarize Romans 12:1, is a command to offer their bodies as living sacrifices, which is their spiritual act of worship. Also remember that the term “living sacrifice” is a paradox. Both the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, familiar with the Jewish and pagan sacrificial system respectively, would tell you a sacrifice is not at all living, but it is very much dead. The term living sacrifice needs explanation, and Paul does so in Romans 12:2. A living sacrifice, to paraphrase Romans 12:2, is someone who no longer conforms to the pattern of the world, but is transformed by the renewing of the mind. That’s all internal, so how does someone live that externally? Romans 12:3-8 explains how to live out their spiritual act of worship.

12:3. Paul address the believers here on a personal level, as if he were there, speaking live to each one individually. Verse 3 begins with “For the grace given me.” Grace can mean, when used as an object like it is used here, “a spiritual gift that the Lord has given out of his graces.” Considering the rest of the paragraph goes on to talk about spiritual gifts, this definition would work here. With grace and spiritual gifts in mind, Paul issues a command to his readers. In this command, Paul plays around with a couple forms of the word σωφρονέω (sophroneo) “think” in this verse.  Since God has graced everyone with spiritual gifts, Paul commands everyone to not think of himself more highly than he ought. The idiom, “Don’t get a big a head” fits here. Christians with an inflated ego have no place in the church! Instead of having a big head, Paul instructs the believers to think of themselves in “sober judgment.” The Greek word for sober judgment, σωφρονεῖν (sophronein), might more literally translate to “sound thinking,” but many other words could communicate “sound thinking.” Paul picks this word for a good reason. To use another metaphor, the believers in Rome, especially those with sign gifts, might have become egoholics, drunk with their own ego. In this command Paul instructs the Christians in Rome to sober up their judgment with sound thinking.

Verse 3 closes with the phrase “in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” The measure of faith does not mean that people can have different amounts of salvation. The measure of faith does not mean that other people can have different levels of faith. Rather, quite the opposite. We all share the same faith, no matter how different people in a church can be. This faith levels the playing field for all Christians within a church. This faith is what qualifies us for our spiritual gifts, give us our spiritual gifts, and it determines how much or little we should use our gifts. Once again, the measure of faith gives us a healthy balance on how to think of ourselves with our spiritual gifts. A healthy way of viewing yourself is to is to view you as God views you. Not only does it give you a healthy self-esteem, but it also prevents you from getting a big head. This balance of humility and self-esteem should also give a healthy awareness of the importance and significance of the Christian contributing to the church. This will be helpful to remember as we enter our talk about spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts help give a healthy balance between humility and self-esteem. We should not think of our spiritual gifts more highly than they ought to be, but we should use them with sober judgment, in accordance to the faith God has given us. Remembering that the Holy Spirit empowers us with our spiritual gifts to glorify God keeps us in check. We cannot use our spiritual gifts to glorify ourselves, for that’s now what they are meant for.

12:4. Verses 4 starts off by emphasizing one body has many parts. This emphasis is to demonstrate that each body part has its own function, and therefore each body part has a different use for the body. A body all of one body part would not function, so a healthy body needs different body parts with different functions. The body parts work together to serve the body, not the body serving the body parts. When the body is healthy, the rest of the members are also healthy.

12:5. Verse 5 explains the illustration in verse 4. Just like a body has distinct body parts to perform certain functions, so the metaphorical Body of Christ, the church, has many distinct persons that come together to form one body, the Body of Christ. Just like the body has a diversity of body parts, they are all unified as one body. Unity in diversity will become the theme for the rest of the paragraph. God intended the Christian to be a communal one, not an individual one. Christians need the church, and the church needs Christians. When the distinct Christians in the church come together to build up the church or advance the kingdom of God, that’s what unites them in Christ. The metaphor of the body also reminds us that the Christian is to serve the church more than the church is to serve the Christian. When the Body of Christ mutually dependent on one another’s spiritual gift, you have a healthy Body of Christ. But once again, this can only happen if every Christian within the church views themselves and their gifts in the light of the grace God has given them.

12:6. Verse 6 begins a run-on sentence, which will not end until verse 8. Note how this verse starts off with “the graces given us,” whereas verse 3 begins with “the grace given me.” The same grace that made Paul who he was now worked wonders through the church at Rome. Verse 6 utilizes a beautiful wordplay. The Greek word used for spiritual is gift is χάρισμα (charismata), and the Greek word is χάρις (charis). This word play reminds the reader that God’s grace is the source of our spiritual gifts. This word play also reminds the reader that the purpose of God giving spiritual gifts to Christians is that so the Christian may by the tool or method of God’s blessing. Therefore, we should our spiritual gifts to grace others with God’s grace. Verse 6 brings the passage back to the individual level. Each individual believer has his or her own unique, distinct spiritual gift. Christians shouldn’t fret of what spiritual gifts that don’t have, what spiritual gifts other have, or even how other Christians use those other gifts. Nothing can be worse for a church when a Christian over-emphasizes or belittles a spiritual gift, whether that be someone else’s spiritual gift or his/her own. The Christian’s only concern is that he or she is using his or her own gifts, and he or she is using those gifts actively and energetically. In light of the previous verses, however, the reader needs to remember that such a spiritual gift needs to be utilized as God intended.

Paul lists prophecy as the first spiritual gift. Indeed, the Greek word used here is the word which transliterate and translate to get the word “prophecy.” Someone might be tempted to think of prophecy as simply predicting the future accurately, like a fortune teller, but prophecy meant so much more than just that. In fact, prophecy can talk of the past! Prophecy also included inspired utterances, and even sometimes just preaching. To sum it up in short, prophecy means proclaiming God’s message. Perhaps Paul listed this spiritual gift first because without God’s mouthpiece in the church speaking God’s Words, the church wouldn’t know how to prepare themselves to faithfully serve God. Notice how this gift is the only one that has the longest adverbial phrase “in proportion to his faith.” The phrase only appears here in the Old Testament. We know the phrase accurately translates into “measure” because it was used in the mathematics of measuring in the classical Greek period, but that doesn’t help ups theologically. We get a hint of what this means from a parallel passage about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14. The church in Corinth was divided over spiritual gifts. Those who thought they had the “better spiritual gifts” (like prophecy) would uplift themselves because they had that spiritual gift, and they would put others down who didn’t have that spiritual gift. Maybe those who didn’t have that special spiritual gift might act or pretend like they did, just to avoid such humiliation. Paul instructs the church in Rome to that those who do not have the spiritual gift should not feel pressure to prophecy if they do not have that spiritual gift. In order to keep it in check, Paul commands those who have the spiritual gift the prophecy to use it in healthy proportion. The spiritual gift of prophecy should neither be overused or underused. It should be used in relationship to the truth already revealed to the church. By doing so, no one will treat prophecy like an extra special gift.

12:7. Paul lists teaching and service as the next two spiritual gifts. In the original Greek New Testament, the Greek word for service, διακονία (diakonia), is where we get the English word deacon. Earlier English translations would traditionally translate the spiritual gift as the gift of ministry, but modern-day English translations keep it simply to “serving.” Both “ministering” and “serving” are broad words, so neither really help understand what the  Serving might be in relationship the leadership mentioned in the next verse. Just as someone needs to lead in a ministry, someone needs to follow. Some have suggested service refers to the administrative tasks in a church. Today, this could mean everything from folding bulletins to collecting & counting the offering. Others have suggested service related to the ministry of reconciliation. If two members of the church did not get along, the deacon would step in to mediate until reconciliation is achieved. Service could also refer to caring for physical needs of the church.

Teaching differs from prophecy here in the sense a teacher transmits the doctrines and theologies that the prophet preaches, helps the church understand them, and then teaches the congregation how to live these truths out. Some interpreters have even suggested translating this spiritual gift as “mentoring,” for the teacher was more concerned about teaching the Christians how to live out the prophet’s words. Looking at this 2 independent clauses separately, the reader might forget the purpose of Paul listing the spiritual gifts. Therefore, it might be necessary to translate 12:7 as, “If God has given us the ability to teach, we should help the believers by teaching. If God has given us the ability to serve, we should help Christians by serving them.”

12:8. Encouraging could be as broad as other speaking ministries in the church beside prophesying and teaching. The gift of encouraging aims at the emotions and will. The encourager further emphasizes the what the preacher has preached and the teacher. If the prophet speaks the Word of God, and the teacher teaches them how to live out that the word, then the encourager encourages the church to heed God’s Word apply it to their lives. Encouraging is just as important as prophesying or teaching!  If God gave the believer the spiritual gift of encouraging, he or she should use it encourage other believers who need words of encouragement or the like. Someone might naturally think of the gift contributing as giving offerings, but it doesn’t need to be reduced to that. Contributing can be anything. Since God gives to his people in many forms, Christians can give in any form. In any case, if any Christian has the spiritual gift of giving, he or she should give generously and without skimping, and sincerely, without hidden or selfish motives.

 The spiritual gift of leadership should not be mistaken for any official title. Paul simply instructs the believers that if any ministry in the church lacks the guidance of leadership, the church should seek someone with the gift of leadership to fill that role. Paul also commands those with the spiritual gift of leadership to govern diligently.. Instead, Paul might be simply saying, “If a ministry in the church lacks direction or goals, don’t just get anyone in the ministry to supervise them. Find a leader who had the spiritual gift of leadership to help them!” Whether that is the case or not, it is clear that the spiritual gift of leaders is not to give the Christian the power, but rather, by leading, they empower the church. The adverb diligently emphasizes that someone with the gift of leadership should not lead halfheartedly lazily. Rather, a good leader should invest his energy in serving the church in this way.

Finally, Paul lists the gift of mercy. To those with the gift of mercy, Paul instructs them to practice mercy cheerfully. Yes, that too, sounds exactly what it should be. Those with the gift of mercy should help those who need mercy from life and society, such as the poor, the hungry, the elderly, the widow and the orphan. Mercy should be practiced with happiness, smiling, and without any sadness. Those with the gift of mercy should show how grateful and joyful they are for having such a spiritual gift. Those they help do need someone to make them feel like they are a trouble or a burden. Life and society has already done that for them. A Christian with the gift of mercy should exercise his or her gift cheerfully, so the person feels loved and appreciated in this life.

If I were to sum up Romans 12:6-9, I would use the motto of the New England Patriots: Do your job. This motto helped the New England Patriots win Super Bowl LI. Simply put, the motto means that each player has an assignment, and each player is expected to execute that assignment. The players know exactly where to be. They know how to execute the game plan. They push themselves to improve their skills. See, this is why football is my favorite sport. In sports like basketball or hockey, everyone is responsible for passing, shooting, blocking and stealing, regardless of the position you play. In football, roles change with different positions. Quarterbacks are responsible to pass. Running backs are responsible to run (and occasionally catch). Wide receivers are responsible to catch the ball, and then run with it. Tight ends help the quarterback either by catching his passes or protecting him with the offensive line. The offensive line protects the quarterback. Even on defense, while everyone can tackle, sack a land intercept, the defensive line primary sacks, while the secondary primarily intercepts. What a good metaphor for the church! God has given you a spiritual gift to put you to work in the church. Now to what God has spiritually gifted you to do so.

Now that we have detailed understanding of the spiritual gifts mentioned in Romans 12:3-8, let’s put them back into context. Remember these spiritual gifts were mentioned in the supporting sentences of a paragraph. The topic sentence of this paragraph was a command to offer their bodies as living sacrifices, which is a spiritual act of worship. Put it together, and what do you get? When Christian exercise their spiritual gifts in the church, they worship God!

Therefore, I feel confident that I can make a bold statement: there is no one in the church who doesn’t like to worship! Even if you honest enough to confess “I dislike worship,” or even if you willing to admit “I struggle to worship” or “I have to force myself to worship,” I don’t believe it, and neither should the people saying those things. If you think those thoughts or feel that way, you’ve been given the wrong definition of worship. For my Church at Worship class in seminary, I studied the top 2 Hebrew words for worship in the Hebrew Old Testament and the top 2 Greek words for worship in the Greek New Testament, and from those 2 Hebrew words and those 2 Greek words, I constructed this definition: Worship is when a person voluntarily serves God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) with his thoughts, speech and actions, in a way that demonstrates loyalty, submission and honor, which only the Lord deserves. Notice my definition does not go into more detail on how to do that, and I left it that way on purpose. I believe Romans 12:3-8 teaches us that those thoughts, those words and those actions come down to our spiritual gifts, or how God made us and how God equipped us.

I can testify to this in my life. Early on, in 6^th grade, I learned that the Lord gave me the spiritual gift of knowledge and prophecy. At the time, I had no idea how to use that, except to get A’s in my Bible class at my Mennonite middle school (clearly, I did not fully comprehend spiritual gifts at the age of 12). I trusted the Lord with my spiritual gifts, and ever since, I have seen further equip men and build me up in regards to these spiritual gifts. 8 years of Bible Quizzing, 4 years of working for Child Evangelism Fellowship as a Summer Missionary, 4 years of undergrad at Lancaster Bible College and 6 years at Evangelical Seminary all aimed at building up these spiritual gifts God has given me. At this point in my life, I believe the Lord continues to push me, now asking me to earn my Ph.D in Bible. Now wouldn’t be odd if God spoke to me and said, “Graham, I have brought you through 8 years of Bible Quizzing, 4 years of working for Child Evangelism Fellowship as a Summer Missionary, 4 years of undergrad at Lancaster Bible College and 6 years at Evangelical Seminary. And now, I want you to be…A LUMBERJACK! Leaping from tree to tree!  As they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia!  With your girl by your side! Now sing: ‘Oh, I’m a lumberjack and I’m okay, I sleep all night and I work all day!’” (I’m going to stop there before it gets raunchy.) Yes, I know that’s a silly example, possibly too silly, but so many Christians act this way. Either they don’t know their spiritual gifts, or they know them but dismiss them. Either way, Christians think that their God wants them to worship contrary to how God made them or how God equipped them.

At my church, Stony Brook Mennonite Church, the New Church Development process has revealed, through surveys of the congregation, that the congregation feels like the church lack passionate spirituality and vibrant worship. Such thinking and feeling must come a wrong definition of worship. Honestly, I can’t see it. I can worship happening in the church, even where you may not see it. I see Lois worshipping when she collects the soap and the school bags for MCC. I see MaryAnne worshipping when she plans events for the women at Reach Out. I see Shawn worshipping when fixes up the church building, and I see Dawn worship as she balances the budge. I hear about Ron worshipping when I hear your testimonies about maintaining the cemetery, even if that’s mowing the lawn or adjusting tombstones! I see Lorie worshipping when she plans fellowship meals, community meals and rescue mission meals. And I see Carlton worshipping as listens to the congregation’s concerns as the member-at-large. Maybe this sounds like you. Perhaps you serve a similar role or function at your church. I want to encourage you right now by telling you are worshipping! Romans 12:3-8 teaches us that’s all worshipping. See, you can worship, and I encourage you to continue worshipping in this way.  As for me, my spiritual gifts are knowledge, teaching and prophecy. I worship by teaching Sunday School and preaching sermons. Those Sundays where I end up doing both, I always get concerns if I’m overwhelmed. That could be the furthest from the truth. God made me this way, God equipped me this way, so I love doing teaching and preaching, and I enjoy preaching and teaching because I know I worship God and serve the church by teaching and preaching. If I stopped teaching or preaching in the church, I would be doing a huge disservice to both God and the church.

Now you might be encouraged, now that you know you can worship, and you possibly have been worshipping without knowing, but you’re not off the hook just yet. If a may borrow another metaphor from the world of football, God did not create and equip Christians to become church benchwarmers. You, as a Christian are not meant to keep the pew warm every Sunday morning. I already said I would be doing God and the church a disservice if I did not use my spiritual gifts, and now I will say that you are doing your God and your church a huge disservice if you are not using your spiritual gifts. True, God does not expect you to worship or serve in a way that’s contrary to the way he made and equipped you, but he does expect you to worship and serve in the way that he has created you, especially if you know your spiritual gifts. If you don’t know your spiritual gifts, this is probably what’s hindering you from passionate spirituality and vibrant worship. Get to know your spiritual gifts, so you can worship vibrantly and serve the church. If you do know spiritual gifts, find a way use them to worship God and serve the church. On the flip side, I want you to make yourself aware of the needs within the church. Then I want you to think to yourself, “Is there anywhere where my spiritual gifts can help?” If you can honestly say no, then you are off the hook. To be sure if you are honest, I offer what I call “The Mirror Test.” Look at yourself in the mirror and say, “My spiritual gifts do no equip me for that ministry.” If you say into a mirror, and you laugh or get angry, you know you’re lying to yourself. Serve.

If you can say that without laughing or getting angry, you’re still not off the hook. Your new job is now to pray for someone to come to this church, who is spiritually gifted in that way, who can served the church in that need. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I hear an announcement in the church go something like this: “I need someone fill an opening for a Sunday School teacher. Please consider volunteering. Anyone can do it.” No! That’s not what Romans 12:3-8 says. Romans 12:3-8 says that God has spiritual gifted certain people to equip them for certain roles in the church. Not everyone can do it! I like how Bob Kauflin says it his book Worship Matters, “When Moses had to find men to oversee the construction of the tabernacle, he didn’t pass around a sign-up list. He chose craftsmen whom God had gifted with 'skill and intelligence' (Exodus 36:1).” God has in mind someone to fulfill that needed role in a church. That person may already attend the church, or that person may not. If he does not attend that church, God will call that person to come the church a need, and a humbly obedient Christian will answer the call. This stresses the importance of praying for needs in the church. If you serve your church and still have open spots, pray that God will fill them.

Finally, I believe one last lesson we can learn from Romans 12:3-8. Romans 12:3-8 emphasizes unity through diversity. We all come together to worship God, but we worship God different because God has gifted us differently. Therefore, we cannot tell other Christians they worship wrongly because they worship differently. Different worship doesn’t always necessarily mean wrong worship or lacking worship. Once again, I believe Bob Kauflin words it well in his book Worship Matters, “Our highest priority when we gather with the church is not our own personal expressiveness [in worship], but the privilege of serving others.” When we come together to worship, let us remember who we worship. If we concern ourselves with how people worship differently than us, our audience is not God, but ourselves.

One more football illustration to make my point. Carson Wentz is the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. When you watch him practice or warm up, you’ll see his clothing (sometimes his shirts, sometimes his cleats) have inscribed on them “AO1.” “AO1” stands for “Audience of 1.” It is Carson Wentz’s motto. It means that whatever he is doing, whether that be school or work (for him, that’s playing football) or hobbies, he does it as the Lord is his only audience. That’s powerful to hear that coming from the mouth of Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz probably doesn’t go to church on Sunday mornings to belt out praise and worship songs. On Sunday mornings, if anything, he’s probably warming up his arm. Carson Wentz, however, has discovered the beauty using your God-given gifts and talents as worship. He has combined his faith with his quarterbacking talent to worship the Lord on the playing field. He teaches a weekly Bible to his fellow players. God has accepted such an offering. Since Carson Wentz has joined the Philadelphia Eagles, 6 Eagles players have been baptized. And of course, the Philadelphia went 10-1 in their first 11 games. If Carson Wentz can worship the Lord and serve others through his God-given gifts and talents outside church on Sunday morning, we can too!

In closing, I invite you to pray. Pray that the Lord will reveal to you the spiritual gifts and talents that he has given you, whether you know of them or not. Then, pray to God, asking him to reveal to you how you can use the spiritual gifts and talents to serve the church and worship him, and also pray the Holy Spirit will encourage and motivate you to fill it. Some of you will need a tap on the shoulder, some of you will need a smack on the head, and some of you need a swift kick in the butt, but it needs to be done. Next, pray to the Lord that he may open your eyes and reveal to you ministries lacking in your church open spots in current ministries. Finally, if you can honestly and sincerely say that you cannot fill those positions, pray that God will rise up someone to fulfill those positions. May we rise up to serve the church, and thus worship God.

Living Stones (1 Peter 2:4-8)

In August 2016, the 31^st Summer Olympic games took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One of the first games to launch the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics was cycling. Early on in the cycling route, one of the struggles the cyclists had to deal with was cobblestones. The cobblestones caused quite the havoc. They were breaking bikes. They made the water bottles fall out of their holders, giving the cyclists additional obstacles to dodge. The cobblestones caused such a hassle that when a stretch of the cobblestone part had pavement, a majority of the cyclist went out of their way to bike on the paved part than to continue on the cobblestone part. The Bible doesn’t talk about cobblestones, but it talks about another stone that starts with a c: the cornerstone. If you’re not on the right side, the cornerstone will cause you trouble, just like bikers on cobblestone, but if you’re on the right side, you’ll find attitudes and behaviors worth imitating.

I invite everyone to turn in their Bibles to 1 Peter. You’ll find 1 Peter near the end of your Bibles. In fact, it’s the 7^th to last book of the Bible. It is an epistle, meaning it’s a letter, and it’s a general epistle, which simply means this epistle is not written by Paul. It’s written by Peter to churches in what they knew back then as northern Asia Minor, but today we know as northern Turkey. Peter was probably a bishop, or overseer, of these churches. To set the scene, a new emperor has come into power, and he’s not too fond of Christians. A new persecution has broken out across the land. Peter provides hope so the Christians in northern Asia Minor can stay strong, and he also gives them instruction how to behave in such a time. Let’s look at 1 Peter 2:4-8.

While I have much to disagree with when it comes to the theology of John Calvin, one thing I do appreciate about his hermeneutics, or the process he interpreted Scripture, is that he always put God first. It’s a hermeneutic I have adopted myself, but I give it an Anabaptist-Mennonite twist. I believe the best application starts with understanding what the passage teaches about Jesus, and then to apply it, I ask myself, “How do I respond to that?” I believe Peter is thinking the same way. Peter wants all who are reading his letter to understand they are living stones. In order to understand what it means to be a living stone, Peter first wants us to understand that Jesus Christ himself was the ultimate living stone. To prove Jesus is the living stone, Peter does not turn to the life of Jesus, but rather the Old Testament. After looking at these 3 proof texts from the Old Testament, you too will believe Jesus is the living stone.

Before we get into any of proof texts, we need to talk about cornerstones, for the cornerstone are found in both texts. The cornerstone typically was a big stone that supported two walls coming together to form an angle. And when I say big, I mean big. Archaeologists found cornerstones of public buildings measuring up to 37 feet long and weighing over one hundred pounds! The whole foundation rested on the cornerstone. The whole building’s strength and stability relied on a strong, durable cornerstone. The building’s structure and design started at its cornerstone, and it worked around the cornerstone. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the 2 proof texts.

This is the Western Wall inside of the tunnels. The Wailing Wall you are familiar with are in the southern part of the Western Wall. This is more of the northern part. This specific part, the lower part of the walk on the picture, is believed to be the cornerstone of Western Wall. It is the biggest stone on the Western Wall. It is 40 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet deep. It is estimate to weigh 570 tons. Not only in this the biggest stone on the temple mount, but the biggest stone in Israel.

As a proof text that Jesus is indeed the living stone, Peter quotes Isaiah 28:16. I’m going to turn to the actual Isaiah 28:16, for the wording a little bit different. I’m not going into all the details of textual criticism, but let’s just say that Peter is most likely quoting the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, which might have paraphrased and abridged this passage. Since our English Bibles looked at the Hebrew manuscripts first, it has the full text, so I’m going to read out of that one. In Isaiah 28, Yahweh, through the prophet Isaiah, pronounces judgment on the nation of Israel in order to warn Judah they could face the same impending doom. Assyria was on its way to conquer Israel, and Judah would be next on the hit list if they too did not turn back to the Lord. Of course, the response God wanted was a response of repentance and obedience. Instead, Judah turns to making alliances, from alliances to the foreign nations to alliances with the foreign gods. Their latest alliance was with a foreign god, the god of the death. The people of Judah believed that their alliance with the god of death would hold off their time with death. Yahweh informs Judah, through the prophet Isaiah, that if anything, by turning to the god of death, they have hurried along their own death. Rather, the Lord God calls on Judah to trust him instead of trusting in foreign nations or foreign gods. The Lord assures Judah that Judah can trust in him because he has laid a stone which will become the cornerstone and foundation. Those who believe in it, God promises, will not be in haste. Whereas the god of death will hasten Judah’s death, the living God, who has the laid the foundational cornerstone will bring salvation and not hasten death.

Now this is the part where I’d like to pause and tell you what the cornerstone is in original context (that is, how the Jews living in Judah during Isaiah’s lifetime would have understood the cornerstone to mean), but to be honest with you, no one knows! Jewish and Christian scholars alike have debate what it means. They have hypothesized the cornerstone refers to the temple, the Law, the covenant, the city of Jerusalem, the nation of Judah, faithful Jews, the Davidic king, or even Yahweh himself, but no hypothesis has brought up enough proof or evidence to stand out as the leading theory. Yet when Peter quotes in 1 Peter 2:6, and Paul quotes it in Romans 9:33, they declare, without batting an eye or breaking a sweat, “This is about the Messiah, Jesus Christ.” Therefore, many Christian scholars have sided, stating this text to be purely messianic, simply because Peter and Paul said so.

When Peter reads Isaiah 28:16 and he quotes it 1 Peter 2:6, Peter only mentions certain parts of the verse because he wants to highlight those certain parts. Peter chooses to focus on the two words used to scribed this stone: chosen (or elect) and precious (or honored). The Greek word for chosen more specifically refers to a specific one chosen out of many because it is special. The Greek word for precious means to be held in high honor. Together, the emphasis is on God’s master plan. God’s master plan always had Jesus chosen as Messiah, and his death and resurrection honors him as precious. God’s actions also differed from that of the Jewish religious leader. Where God chose Jesus and held him in honor as precious, the Jewish religious leaders of the day rejected Jesus and declared him worthless. More on that later. Instead of closing with the believers “not being in haste,” Peter closes with the phrase “will never be put to shame” as the NIV puts it (I prefer the NIV here. The Greek uses a double negative of the word “no,” which in English, best translates to “never”). The Septuagint chose a more generic word for “haste,” kataischunthēi It best translates to the word “shame,” but it could also mean disappointed, dishonored or humiliated. Put it all together, Peter makes a strong theological statement. Never has the cornerstone brought shame, disappointment or humiliation in the past, and the cornerstone will never do so in the future. God has always been victorious in the past, and so he will be in the future. Therefore, the believer will never be disappointed or ashamed for having faith in the cornerstone. The believer has nothing to fear, for security in Jesus is secured.

As another proof text, Peter quotes Psalm 118:22. From a plain reading of the verse alone, the verse already carries a great irony. The word “rejected,” used here to describe the stone, carries this idea that builders saw it and decided it was useless and good for nothing. What a twist of fate that the stone would go on to become the cornerstone, a very important and significant stone.

Let’s talk about Psalm 118:22 in its original context. Psalm 118 is what Bible scholars call a “declarative praise psalm,” meaning that the psalm is praising and thanking God for his rescuing. Both Jewish and Christian tradition states the psalm was written after the Jews returned from exile, and it was written for the first Jewish holiday the Jews could celebrate back in their home land. How fitting that holiday was the Feast of Tabernacles! Not only does the Feast of Tabernacles celebrate God’s provision of a bountiful harvest, but it also celebrates God rescuing Israel from Egypt, pulling them out of wandering in the desert and putting them in a land of their own, where they could go from hunting and gathering to growing crops, from living in tents to living in houses, and from worshipping in a tabernacle to worshipping in a temple. The Jews returning from the exile must have felt the same way. Coming out of Babylon and coming back into Israel, the Jews had many reasons to celebrate God giving them a home of their own. Coming down to Psalm 118:22 specifically, the worship leader (probably a prophet, priest or king/governor) marvels at the Lord’s decision for a people of his own. Of the great nations and empires of the world, the Lord picked the smallest. While so many of those great empires have dismissed Israel as a bunch of useless people wasting a good land (or maybe won’t even recognize them as a sovereign country!), God has made that nation the foundation of history.

When Peter reads Psalm 118:22, he reads it as if the Psalm 118:22 is looking forward to Jesus Christ, what later theologians would call reading it cristocentrically. So when Peter reads Psalm 118:22, he’s not just thinking about Israel in general, but he’s think about a specific part of Israel, specifically the Davidic king. While the foreign nations and empires rejected Israel as a nation in general, they have also rejected its Davidic king, not seeing him as a legitimate ruler. Centuries later, during Peter’s lifetime, even the rejected nation of Israel would reject their own Davidic king, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Instead of the foreign rulers rejecting the Davidic king, now the Jewish religious leaders reject him. Little they know that the man they rejected as useless and good for nothing would become the king of the kingdom of God. On the flip side, we know Jesus ministered to Gentiles: a Syrophoenician woman, a Roman centurion, even some Greeks, just to name a few. Therefore, Peter concludes the issue no longer lies in the nationality of the person, but rather in their faith. In fact, I believe a better translation of the Greek should start out 1 Peter 2:7 by saying, “It is precious to the believer, but to the unbeliever…” Those who believe will find Jesus, as the living stone, as precious. Those who do not believe, the like foreign rulers and the Jewish Sanhedrin, will find themselves in the same judgment.

For a third proof text, Peter goes back to Isaiah, but this time, he goes to Isaiah 8:14. Once again, Peter uses only the part of the verse relevant to him, so let’s read the passage in its original location, and let’s look at it in its original context. Remember that Israel has chosen to side with foreign nations and foreign gods over the true living God. By doing so, they have made themselves enemies of the Lord. So many Jews have done so, even the prophet Isaiah needs a reminder from God himself not to fall into peer pressure and do the same. In Isaiah 8:14, Isaiah describes the Lord using the metaphor of a rock, and he uses it both ways. When a rock or stone come together to make a sanctuary, that sanctuary can become a fortress of protection and security for someone. On the flip side, a rock or stone can also bring harm to a person when used as a weapon or a trap. Those who side with the Lord find themselves protected, while those who side against the Lord find themselves in danger.

Peter links the stone or rock mentioned in Isaiah 8:14 to the cornerstone mentioned in Psalm 118:22. Not only has the stone builders rejected become cornerstone, but it has also become the stumbling stone and the rock of offense. Not only has the Jesus that the religious leaders rejected become the foundation of the faith, the Jewish religious leaders’ disbelief and disobedience towards will be their downfall, just like the Jews disbelief and disobedience in the Old Testament led them to exile in Babylon.

Now it’s time to put our 3 proof texts together. Remember our hermeneutic process. We start by asking “What does this passage teach me about Jesus?” and we end by asking, “How do I respond to that truth?” What did we learn about Jesus from 1 Peter 2:4-8? Overall, we learn that Jesus is chosen and precious, or elect and honored. Yahweh chose/elected Jesus as Messiah and King of the kingdom of God, so Yahweh held Jesus as precious and honored. No shame, disappointment, dishonor or humiliation can fall on Jesus. Even when governors, kings, emperors or rulers reject Jesus, Jesus will always have the victory. All 3 proof texts defend Peter’s position that Jesus Christ is the Living Stone.

How do we respond to this truth that Jesus is the Living Stone? 1 Peter 2:5 makes it clear. If Jesus Christ is the ultimate Living Stone, then if we as Christians believe in Jesus, we too are living stones. We are precious and honored in sight of God. God holds us in high esteem. We too have been chosen and elect. God has big plans for us, better than the best we could have ever imagined. But that means we have to take the good with the bad. Just as Jesus faced rejection as the Living Stone, so we too, as Christians and living stones, must also face rejection, persecution and maybe even martyrdom. But that bad side even had a good side on the flip side. By believing and trusting in Jesus as the Living Stone, we find our protection in Him. The enemies of Jesus, however, will find themselves in harm’s way.

How do we act in response to this truth that we, as Christians, are living stones? Once again, I point you to 1 Peter 2:5. The only active verb in 1 Peter 2:5 is “offer” as in “offer living sacrifices.” How do we live as spiritual sacrifices? The other place that mentions spiritual sacrifices in the New Testament is Romans 12:1, so I suppose we go could there for more instructions, but I believe a more immediate context gives better instructions. Just look up at 1 Peter 2:1. The verse reads, “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” Then 1 Peter 2:2 goes on to say, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” All those words in 1 Peter 2:1 have a negative tone to them, but the word “salvation” in 1 Peter 2:2 associates with the gospel, or the good news. Put it all together. The Christian, as a living stone, offers a spiritual sacrifice by rejecting all evil and other bad things, while growing in the gospel, or good things. 

While a plain reading of the text of 1 Peter 2:4-8 might have realized the same answer as looking deeper into the 3 Old Testament passages, the 3 proof texts give us an extra enlightenment. The Jews, God’s chosen people of the Old Testament, failed to live up to their role as livings stone. Not until Jesus came to this earth did God’s chosen one succeed and to live up that role. Let us, as Christians, not fail God again, but let us live up to that role as living stone.

As the Eagle Catches Her Young on Her Wings (Deuteronomy 32:10-14)

Good day! Indeed, it is a good day today. After all, Psalm 118:24 declares, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad it in.” Today is an especially good day, for it is Sunday! Ah yes, Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, the day of the week Christian set apart as holy, the day of the week Christians set apart to worship the Lord and to rest. And what a better way to rest than to watch football! I’m not sure if this is a boast or a confession, but in my colleges, I could easily watch right after church, from noon to midnight. As much criticism as football players and coaches have received for working on the Sabbath, think about how many more people rest on Sabbath because they can be found sitting in the stands or on their coach, watching. It’s almost like Jesus had people like me in mind when he resurrected on Sunday, knowing the future Christians would make Sunday their Sabbath, and knowing the NFL would schedule most of its games on a Sunday.

Where I grew up, our mailing address was technically Perkiomenville, but we more like Frederick. If you’re familiar with left half of Montgomery County, my home was halfway between the Boyertown/Gilbertsville area and the Harleysville/Souderton/Telford area. If you’re not familiar with that area, I grew up about 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia. With that being said, if you knew someone who liked a sport, that person most likely rooted for the Philadelphia team in that sport. If a person liked hockey, that person rooted for the Flyers. If a person liked baseball, that person rooted for the Phillies. If a person liked basketball, that person rooted for the Sixers. If a person liked football, they rooted for the Eagles. I fell into that statistic. I liked watching football, and therefore, I rooted for the Eagles.

Another person who fell into that statistic was my Bible quizzing coach. My favorite thing about my Bible quizzing coach was that we could talk about the Bible, which made me both a better quizzer and a better Christian. My second favorite thing about my Bible quizzing coach was that when we weren’t talking about the Bible, we were talking about sports because we liked the same sports. My coach, living in Pottstown (Pottstown is probably the next biggest town to Frederick/Perkiomenville), also rooted for the Eagles. We could spend hours talking about the Eagles. I remember one time my coach turned to me and said, “You know, the Philadelphia Eagles are the most Biblical team name.” I chuckled. My quiz coach was one of those who would joke around and kid around with the guys, so I thought he was just joking or kidding. His face, however, showed he was dead serious. I stopped laughing. “OK, I’ll bite,” I said, “Please tell me how the Philadelphia Eagles have the most Biblical name.” “That’s easy,” my quiz coach replied, “The word Philadelphia appears in the Bible, and the word eagle appears in the Bible. Therefore, the Philadelphia Eagles have the most Biblical team name in sports.” To this day, I’m still not sure how much he was being serious, and how much he was kidding.

Indeed, the word Philadelphia appears in the Bible. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of you know the location of the word. The church in Philadelphia is one of the churches John addresses in the book. Might I also add the church in Philadelphia stands alone as the only church that John compliments and does not discipline. Go Philadelphia! (Not sure he would say the same about the church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania…) Indeed, the word eagle appears in the Bible, 29 times to be exact. Of those 29 times, 26 of them come from the Old Testament. Yes, only 3 times does the New Testament use the word eagle. Interesting enough, all 3 appearances happen in the book of Revelation. This is a helpful reminder that most of the times we see the word eagle in the Bible, it’s the prophets using the eagle as prophetic metaphor. The most famous instance comes from Isaiah 40:31, where Isaiah writes, “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” As famous as that verse is, I don’t find that verse the most interesting. I find the use of eagles most interesting in Deuteronomy 32:11. Today, we’ll observe how Deuteronomy 32:11 uses the eagle as a metaphor, and we’ll observe it in its context of Deuteronomy 32:10-14.

In Deuteronomy 32:10, Moses sings, “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness.” Where exactly the “desert land” and “howling waste of the wilderness” is has caused a lot of conversation among scholars. Most scholars (Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, David Brown, Richard Brathcher and Howard Hatton to name some) think in the immediate context and think that the desert refers to the Sinai Desert, where God established the Mosaic Covenant with the Israelites through Moses. Indeed, the Sinai desert has a lot of howling, from howling animals to howling winds. This, too, would work because, at the foundation of the Mosaic Covenant, God promised that he would provide, sustain and take care of his people, the heart of this Deuteronomy 32:10-14 passage. While a majority of scholars believe Deuteronomy 32:10 refers to the Sinai Desert, a minority of scholars dissent.  Some scholars like, Jack Deere, believe that the desert land referred to in Deuteronomy 32:10 is Egypt. For the Israelites in their slavery, Egypt was a howling waste in the wilderness. It was nowhere near the Promised Land, the land flowing of milk and honey. In Egypt, the Pharaoh, who thought of himself as a god, killed the firstborn of the Israelites. On the contrary, Yahweh, the true God, cared for the Israelites. Eugene Merrill does not believe the desert refers to any even in the Israelites’ present, but rather, it refers to their past. The Lord found the patriarchs in Genesis wandering in desert as nomads. Since then, God has focused on working his redemptive history around these people, which involves protected them and providing for them.  Still other scholars, like Carl Keil and Franz Delitzsch, thinks the first half of verse 10 should be taken metaphorically, symbolizing that the Lord found the Israelites under unfortunate circumstance, and he took them out and placed them into a place of blessing. Still, the emphasis is on a caring God.

Either way, whenever or wherever Yahweh found the Israelites, he reacted to the Israelites’ helplessness with gestures of love and caring. This picture of the Lord encircling the Israelites most likely means God put a protective shielding barrier around the Israelites, but it also has undertones of love, like Yahweh encircled Israel with his arms in a loving embrace. The last words in the Hebrew text reads “The little man in the pupil.” This saying probably came from the fact when a person looks into another person’s pupil, that person sees a miniature reflection. The English phrase “the apple of his eye” will suffice here. This end of the verse explains why the Lord took care of the Israelites: the Israelites are the apple of his eye. The Hebrew word refers to the center of the eye, or the pupil. Just as the pupil is the center of the eye, so God’s people are the center focus for providing tender care.

Deuteronomy 32:11 switches to a new metaphor to explain how much Yahweh loves his people. Verse 11 compares God’s care for his to people to how an eagle cares for its young. Eagles place their nests in high elevations, like mountains, plateaus, cliffs or just very tall trees. When the time comes for the eaglet to learn to fly, the mother eagle has many ways that she teaches the little eaglets. First, she demonstrates how to fly. A mother eagles will fly around her nest, even sometimes hovering over the nest, displaying what flight looks like. Yes, despite having quite the opposite size of a hummingbird, just like the hummingbird, the eagle can flap its wings so fast that it can virtually hover in one place. The eaglets, look at their mother ahead, will begin to realize these wings attached to their back have a purpose. They might begin flapping their wings. In fact, on the opposite end of that, eaglets separated from their mother early in life never become airborne because they don’t know how to use their wings. Second, if the eagle chicks have not yet left the nest, the mother will quite literally push the eaglet out of the nest with a nudge, and the eaglet will begin plummet from the cliff. At this point, instinct kicks in and the eaglet takes flight and begins soaring. If not, the mother eagle will not let her chick fall to its death. Rather, the mother eagle does a nose dive, so she ends up below the eaglet. She catches the eaglet on her wingspan, and she brings the eaglet back into the nest. The mother eagle understands the eaglet is not ready. Third, if the eaglets have yet to fly away from the nest, as verse 11 reads, the mother eagle will agitate the nest. She begins to take it apart piece by piece. The goal here is that the little eaglet will think they can no longer reside in the nest safely or comfortably, so it abandons the nest for a new home. Why does the mother eagle go through all this? The mother eagle’s only concern is that the eaglets learn to fly and take care of themselves. She will go to any lengths to teach her eaglet this life lesson, even if it means pushing the eaglet out of its comfort zone, even destroying the comfort zone to get it to move on in life.

The metaphor works perfectly for the Israelites. Although the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites as slaves in Egypt, it would not surprise me to find out some of them got comfortable in their slavery. In fact, Exodus 16:3 (NIV) reads, “The Israelites said to [Moses and Aaron], ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.’” Yes, shortly once out of Egypt and in the Sinai Desert, some of the Israelites already complained that life got worse leaving Egypt, and they wished they could returning to Egypt! Deuteronomy 32:11 reminds the Israelites that Yahweh, like the mother eagle, had a better plan of a more fulfilling life for his children, which including the Israelites living freely in the Promised Land. This life of fulfillment would take training and discipline. The Lord used the Israelites’ time in the Sinai desert to train them and discipline them. It may not have been what the Israelites wanted, but the Lord knew the Israelites needed it. Just like the eagle, God would catch the Israelites when needed, but only when needed. When the Israelites could not learn their lesson, Yahweh provided for them, protected them and took care of them when the Israelites lived the Sinai desert, just like he did in Egypt. Also remember with this illustration that the rough desert exposes the eaglet as weak and helpless. It would never survive in the desert alone. It needs to learn survival from its mother, and when it can’t learn, it needs its mother to survive. In the same way, the Israelites needed to learn from Lord, yet at the same time they needed to totally depend on God for all things.

In Deuteronomy 32:12, Yahweh makes it clear that no foreign god came to the aid of the Israelites. God alone tended to the Israelites’ needs. Therefore, the Israelites in exchange should only serve and trust in the Lord for help. The Israelites had struggled to stay faith to Yahweh. The previous generation of Israelites forgot this when the built the golden calf. Yahweh warns the next generation to not make the same mistake. The Lord faithfully protected and provided for the Israelites; therefore, the Israelites shall faithfully worship God alone.

When the Israelites obediently trusted in the Lord, they did reap the benefits. Deuteronomy 32:13 describes those benefits. Since God, in the words of Deuteronomy 33:26, “who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty,” the Israelites would reach to the tallest mountains, in both the desert and the Promised Land. Elevation would not stop the Israelites form conquering the land. In Old Testament times, whoever conquered the high lands would rule over the lands below it. Because of the omnipotent hand of Yahweh, who is higher than any human, the Israelites would conquer those high lands, and on conquering the high lands, the Israelites would rule over the land below it. Since the Israelites would have access to the highlands all the land below it, they would also have access to all its produce and other provisions of the land. Moses carefully chooses the verb “suckle” in verse 13. As uncomfortable as this metaphor might sound, this paints a mental picture of a mother breastfeeding her child. Just as a mother shows her love and provision in one act, God’s love and provision is one in the same. You might have noticed the phrase “honey out of the rock” in verse 13. Wild honey bees in Israel can make their nest almost anywhere, even in the crevice of the rocks. Olive trees, which grew abundantly in Israel, can grow in the harshest areas, even in rocky soil, even on rocky ledges. Furthermore, the phrase “oil out of the flinty rock” paints a picture that Israelites will harvest so much olive oil, it will almost appear as if the rocks used on the oil press seeped olive oil! Together, the phrases “honey out of the rock” and “oil from the flint rock” symbolizes that even the most barren areas would become rich and produce.

The list of rich and flavorful foods in Deuteronomy 32:14 illustrate the bountifulness of the Transjordan land, the land the Israelites dwelled just before entering the Promised Land. Even at this point, when the Israelites are in a healthy land and about to enter a bountiful land, Yahweh never said to the Israelites, “You should be good from here on out. You’re on your own.” No, in  Deuteronomy 32:14, the Lord assures the Israelites that he has continued and will continue to provide the Israelites access to any provision they need. In fact, grammar nerds will find it interesting that Moses wrote the whole Deuteronomy 32:10-14 passage in the present progressive, meaning God’s provision is a present action ongoing into the future. By the end of this stanza, Moses communicates a clear message to the Israelites. From Egypt, to the Sinai Desert, to the Transjordan, to the Promised Land, the Lord protected and provided for the Israelites, out of his enormous love for them.

Let’s re-visit that metaphor and symbolism back in Deuteronomy 32:11. Earlier, I used explained the metaphor and its symbolizing in its then-and-there tense, referring to the Israelites. Now, I want to explain the metaphor and its symbolism in a here-and-now tense. Now I will use a more inclusive, all-encompassing term. Instead of using the term “the Israelites,” I’m going to switch to the broader, all-encompassing term “God’s people.” Listen to the metaphors and symbolism in Deuteronomy 32:10-14, now with the term “God’s people” instead of “the Israelites.”

God found his people in an unfortunate situation. God had bigger and better plans for his people. Therefore, God took his people out of that unfortunate situation. Out of pure love, God protected and provided for his people when God’s people could neither protect themselves nor provide for themselves. During that time, God took the time to train, disciple and discipline his people. God instructed his people how to live. Then God gave his people the opportunity to try to live it out themselves. If God’s people stumbled and fell, God would rescue his people and pull them back to safety, and he would continue to protect them and provide for them. Sometime God’s people would get too comfortable in their current position, and then God would push them to an uncomfortable state to encourage them to pursue bigger and better blessings, like God intended. God alone protected and provided for God’s people, with no other help. Never at any point did God abandon the people of God at a “good enough” spot, for the Lord wanted to continue the good work in them until it had come to completion.

The reason I use this inclusive, all-encompassing terminology is because the truths that we learn about God in Deuteronomy 32:10-14 (in regards to his protection, his provisions and his love) can be applied to all of God’s people, both those there-and-then and here-and-now, including the 2^nd generation of Israelites out of Egypt, and including you. I see 4 lessons we can learn from this passage. First, if you ever find yourself in an unfortunate place or an unfortunate time in your life, do not think that means God likes you there or God wants you there. Sometimes God allows unfortunate circumstances into his people’s lives, but God’s allowing does not mean God’s approving! On the contrary, when the Lord finds us in the unfortunate place, the Lord, out of love, desires to protect us from those unfortunate circumstances because the Lord, out of his love, has bigger and better plans of blessing for us. Second, God loves us! We all know that God loves us, but do we really know what that entails? God’s love for us means so much more than God has warm, fuzzy feelings about us. The Lord desires to manifest his love for us outwardly. He does so by protecting us and providing for us. Those protection and provision may not be what we had in mind, but they are what God had in mind, and they are better for us, better than we can ever comprehend. Third, this Deuteronomy 32:10-14 passage also teaches us that, in order to reach bigger and better blessings, sometimes we need to receiving training, discipling and discipling. We may not always like it or enjoy it, but if we want to move on to the bigger and better blessings, God needs to bring us through the trials. Finally, this Deuteronomy 32:10-14 should assure you that the Lord will not abandon you when you reach a “good enough” spot or a “close enough” spot. To borrow from Paul’s words in Philippians 1:6. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…” Until you reach that time of blessing of life, and even when you do arrive there, God will be there for you, protecting you, providing for you, and pouring out his tender love for you.

So then, how shall we, as God’s people respond to these truths about God we learned from Deuteronomy 32:10-14? Remember, Moses speaks to the second generation of Israelites out of Egypt in Deuteronomy 32:10-14. Moses did speak a similar message to the first generation of Israelites out of Egypt. In Exodus 19:4,5, the Lord, via Moses, tells the Israelites, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine.” Although not as poetic as Deuteronomy 32:10-14, Exodus 19:4,5 reminds us that another outward manifestation of God’s love is the covenant he made with his people. When two parties enter into a covenant, both parties have stipulations, or conditions, they must meet. If they meet those conditions, they reap blessings, but if they do not meet the conditions, curses fall upon them. See, God desires to bless his people with protection and provisions, but he expects obedience to his word and commands in return. The first generation of Israelites out of Egypt failed to adhere to the covenant. In fact, if you read the rest of Deuteronomy 32, Moses goes into great detail to remind the second generation of Israelites how the previous generation failed to obey the covenant, to warn the second generation of Israelites to follow the covenant.

Consider this your warning, too. The term “warning” sounds pessimistic, so let’s re-word it to more optimistic terms. The pessimistic will think, “I have to obey, or else I will get cursed,” but the optimistic thinks, “Since the Lord has held up his covenant by protecting me and provided for me, I can’t think of a better way to show my thanks and love toward him by holding up my end of the covenant by obeying his commands.” You’ll find out a circular process will happen. The more the Lord blesses you, the more you’ll desire to obey the Lord’s commands. The more you obey God’s commands, the more God will bless you. There’s no need to “name it, claim it,” there’s no need to actively pursue it. If you hold up your end of the covenant, the Lord will hold up his end. Once again, it may not be what you want or expect, but God knows you better than you know you, so he will bless you better than you can expect.

So next time you see an eagle, whether that’s a bird, a symbol of the United States of America, or a football player from the pro Philadelphia football team, may it remind you that you have a God that loves you very much, and may thinking of his love make you respond with a heart of obedience to his Word.

Is Your Happy Place God's Dwelling Place? (Psalm 84)

Introducing Psalm 84

I wanted to start out with a visual, but I quickly realized that I, in my limited artistic ability, could not create such a visual. So I need you to create your own visual using your imagination. Close your eyes. I want you to go to your happy place. Have you ever been told to go to your happy place? It’s some kind stress reliever to help with anxiety, depression or other kinds of stress. Now that you’re in your happy place, where are you? For some of you, I imagine that you’re in a log cabin, or a ski lodge that looks like a log cabin. You look at window and see the glistening snow softly drop on the snow-capped mountains and hills. You can’t feel the cold, though, because you’re sitting in front of the fireplace, wearing your favorite sweatshirt, wrapped in your favorite blanket, drink coffee, tea, hot cocoa, or whatever your choice hot beverage is. For others, it’s the complete opposite. You’re sitting on the beach of a Caribbean island. You’re reclining in a beach chair, toes buried in the sand. You’re overlooking the sea, so blue that you swear God created with 3,000 Flushes. The warm sun beats down on you, but’s it’s not too hot or too humid. Your beach umbrella gives you shade. A soft, gentle breeze provides cool relief every now and then. And you’re sipping on your cold beverage of choice, and that might just be an iced coffee or iced tea. Perhaps for some of you, your happy place is in the middle of the forest. The only man-made structure you see is the tent you just pitched. You’re sitting on a log, roasting a hot dog or marshmallow over the campfire. Besides the crackling of the campfire, the only sounds you can here are from nature. You look up at the night time sky, and the stars are the brightest you’ve ever seen them. For others, maybe your happy place is quite the opposite. You’re sitting on a park bench in the middle of the city park. You watch the elderly feed the birds and squirrels, you watch the children play on the playground, and you watch the cars just drive on by. On a similar note, when I told you to go to your happy place, you might have found yourself in the food plaza of the mall. You are people watching. Not the judgmental kind, but you’re awestruck and amazed at all the kinds of people God made. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, characteristics, personalities and traits. And still yet for others, you might be on a boat out in the middle of one of Great Lakes. You recline in your boat, waiting for a fish to tug at your reel.

But let’s get honest and be sincere. When I told you to go your happy place, who find themselves in their church on Sunday morning, worshipping the Lord God? I don’t mean to guilt you, and yet I do. If I would have asked the poet who penned Psalm 84 to go to his happy place, that’s exactly where he would go in his mind. He would be in his place of worship, worshipping.

Explaining Psalm 84

84:0. Most Bibles will some kind of heading before diving into the poetic words. It would seem that the heading provided more information for the original audience, more specifically for the choirmaster or director, but for the modern-day audience it feels like it provides less information and more confusion. The heading says, “According to the gitteth.” The scholar’s best bet is that the gitteth is some kind of tune or instrument, but that’s all we know. Some commentators have suggested the word come from root meaning “winepress,” hinting that the tune might be one familiar around the fall harvest, but that’s more of a guess and less of a hypothesis. The heading also states that this psalm is “of the sons of Korah.” The “of” here more likely means “belonging to” or “performed by,” and less likely means “wrote by.” Even if it did mean that, no one could pinpoint a certain Korahite that wrote. Therefore, the author is unknown, and this commentary will refer to the author as “the psalmist.” On a similar note, no one knows the date the psalm was written. As you imagine, this heavily affects the interpretation. If you believe this psalm was written in the time of David or earlier, the dwelling place refers to the tabernacle. If you believe this psalm was written in the time of Solomon or after, the dwelling place is the temple. Each side has its own reasons, but we really can’t be sure. Both the tabernacle and temple had courtyards. Yes, Psalm 84 does later on use the word Zion, but we have to remember we are dealing with a psalm, which loves using figures of speech. “Zion” could simply be a figure of speech for meeting God. After all, Abraham met with God on Zion. In this commentary, I will simply refer to it as “the dwelling place.”

 

84:1. In the opening verse of Psalm 84, the psalmist blurts out how he admires the beauty of Yahweh’s dwelling place. This will be the theme for the first stanza of Psalm 84. In the opening, the psalmist literally calls Yahweh “the Yahweh of hosts,” as most literal English translations follow. The title for Yahweh hints at this idea that Yahweh has invited the worshipper and is hosting the worshipper.

84:2. Awestruck by the beauty of Yahweh’s dwelling place, the psalmist expresses that his whole self, both the material and immaterial, desires to dwell with Yahweh in his dwelling place. Both the verbs “long” and “faints” demonstrate an intense desire, even to the point the soul exhausts itself to fainting. The phrase “cries out” (one word in Hebrew) better translates into “sing for joy,” as most literal translations do translate it. When coupled with the word “faint,” however, the phrase adds a layer of sorrow. Together, they paint a picture of a worshipper, so overjoyed about dwelling in the presence of the Lord, and when the worshipper does not stand in the Lord’s presence, he or she suffers in pain. Rob Lacey depicts in perfectly in his paraphrased version of the Bible, The Word on the Street, where he writes, “Your place is best, God; I’m gasping for it, almost collapsing for it, God; My skin, my soul, the whole of me screams for more of you, vibrant one.” The synonymous parallelism in verse 2 demonstrates that at the heart of the psalmist longing for the Lord’s dwelling space is the longing for the Lord Himself. Whereas most Psalms, like Psalm 138, focus on the building itself, Psalm 84 focuses on the worshipper meeting God in that place. What the psalmist finds most amazing, awesome and beautiful about God’s dwelling place is that God dwells in it.

 

84:3. The psalmist then appeals to nature, in the form of a synonymous parallelism, as proof to justify his feelings. Both the sparrow and swallows are birds found aplenty in Israel. Here, “altar” is a metonym for Yahweh’s dwelling place. I can imagine that, as the psalmist wrote Psalm 84, he noticed a bird, like a sparrow or swallow make its nest nearby (or even on!) the temple. He must have thought to himself, “Hmm, even that bird knows how important it is to be close to the Lord. Should I not be the same way?” For whatever reason that bird put its nest there, the human can learn a lot from it. Perhaps the bird built its home because it felt safe there. If so, the human can learn he or she lives safely in the presence of the Lord. Maybe the bird nested there because the bird knew all it needed was nearby. In the same way, the human can learn that he or she will have all that he or she needs in the presence of the Lord. The author of Psalm 84 closes out verse 3 by calling Yahweh his king and his God. The audience should not take this as a redundancy. By calling Yahweh King, the author submits to Yahweh’s reign. By calling Yahweh God, the author acknowledges only Yahweh is worthy of worship.

84:4. The psalmist closes out his first stanza with a synthetic parallelism. He concludes that those who stand in the dwelling place of God receive a special blessing by just being there just because God is there. The psalmist goes on to explain that that the natural reaction of such emotions would cause the person standing in the presence of God to praise and worship him. The worshipper praises the Lord because he or she realizes how much privilege he or she has for standing in the presence of the Lord. The people the psalmist refers to in Psalm 84:4 most likely refer specifically to the priests and Levites, but it in general encourages the reader to seek to live in the presence of God just as much as the priests and Levites.

 

84:5. Now the psalmist has expressed his love for Yahweh’s dwelling place, the psalmist moves to describe a pilgrim’s journey getting there. In the second stanza, the psalmist wants to make it clear to his audience that blessing does not solely come from dwelling with Yahweh, but blessing can also come from the journey to Yahweh’s dwelling. Therefore, in the second stanza of Psalm 84, the psalmist describes a pilgrim on a pilgrimage to dwell in Yahweh’s dwelling place. The psalmist opens the stanza with a synthetic parallelism, granting pilgrims a blessing of strength. That blessing of strength cannot come from anyone or anywhere buy the Lord. Only those who had their hearts set on worshipping the Lord in his dwelling place would solely rely and trust on the Lord’s strength and power to get them there.

84:6. The Valley of Baka may have been a place all pilgrims would have taken to the tabernacle or temple. The context clues in verse 6 alone already hint that the Valley of Baca is a dry and arid desert. In Psalm 84:6, the psalmist paints a picture that as the pilgrim marches through the Valley of Baca, springs of water come forth, as well as pools, as a result of early rains, which, in the Hebrew seasons, is early autumn. The psalmist depicts a place going from a dry and arid desert to an oasis full of vegetation. Once again, the psalmist illustrates to the readers that the pilgrim receives such blessings because the Lord is with the pilgrim. Once again, the psalmist makes it abundantly clear that the Lord and his blessings do not have to stay confined to his dwelling place. God can dwell with his people anywhere and bless them, even in places where it may seem blessing cannot happen.

84:7. The first cola of Psalm 84:7 has caused some confusion, as the phrase “go from strength to strength” only appears here in the entire Old Testament. Some commentators have proposed it means they get stronger as time goes by, while other scholars suggest it means they travel from refuge to refuge. The latter seems to make more sense in context, especially in light of Psalm 84:6. Psalm 84:7 explicitly explains what the psalmist is trying to illustrate in Psalm 84:6. The pilgrim relies on bits and pieces of Yahweh’s strength from place to place, until the pilgrim reaches his final destination. Not a single worshipper will fall out of God’s sight or man. The Lord will make sure each and every worshipper appears before God in Zion.

84:8. The psalmist closes out his second stanza, using a synonymous parallelism. The psalmist petitions Yahweh that what he described in Psalm 84:5-8 may be so, that the pilgrim will be rewarded with blessings of provision and safety as he makes his way to Yahweh’ dwelling. The psalmist may also feel led to pray that, now that he or she has made such a journey to worship, God will indeed receive the worship as an acceptable offering.

 84:9. The closing stanza wraps up Psalm 84. First, in verse 9, the psalmist reminds Yahweh of his relationship with His people. That’s why the psalmist can use with confidence the plural possessive pronoun. Yahweh’s shield is our shield because Yahweh and his people are now in covenant.

 

84:10. Second, in verse 10, the psalmist re-iterates his love for the Lord’s dwelling. The psalmist states that a day in the courts of Yahweh is better than a thousand elsewhere. Interesting enough, the Hebrew text does not have the word “elsewhere.” Honestly, most English translations add the word “elsewhere,” with the exception of the King James Version, which leaves it out. Most scholars deem the addition necessary, for without the addition, it would sound like the psalmist says that one day in the Lord’s courts is better than one thousand days in God’s house. Some commentators, however, have suggested the psalmist might have attempted to convey another truth. If given the choice of a one-day life in the Lord’s courts or a thousand-day life outside God’s house, the psalmist would choose the one-day life, knowing he spent it in the presence of Yahweh. Either way, the second bicolon in verse 10 reaffirm the psalmist’s love for the Lord’s dwelling. If given the choice, the worshipper would rather sit at the threshold, or door, at Yahweh’s house than dwell among the tents of the wicked. Being close to the presence of God is better than no presence at all. Being the most humbled at the house of God is better than being the exalted among the wicked. While the wicked may have possessions, God is the source of all those possessions, as so much more. The singers, the Korahites, would have understood this metaphor the best. Their ancestor, Korah dwelled in the house of wicked men, as seen in Numbers 16:26. The Lord truly redeemed them. He pulled them out of that situation and gave them the role of serving as the doorkeeper to the temple (see 1 Chron. 9:19; 26:12–19)

 

84:11,12. Third, the psalmist assures himself that God has heard and answered his prayer, that God will bless those who make a pilgrimage to God’s dwelling place. The psalmist remembers that the Lord, in his very nature, wants to protect and provide. Therefore, the psalmist calls the Lord both a sun and a shield, adding to the title given in verse 9. In fact, this is the only time in the Bible the Lord is directly called a sun. Then the psalmist reminds himself that God delights in giving good things to those who done good things. If in the goodness of a person’s heart that person desires to worship God in his dwelling place, then God will bless that person with what the person needs to get there.

Illustrating Psalm 84

After reading Psalm 84, only 1 question, consisting of 2 simple words, comes to mind: "What happened?" How did we go from Psalm 84, about a person who loves the dwelling place of God so much that when he is away from it, his body and soul are hurting, to today? If you were to ask a lot of pastors today what the biggest sign is that society is becoming more secular and less friendly to Christians is, it's not something that's happening in the government, it's not something that's happening in politics, it would be that more and more children sports games are happening on Sunday mornings. And the worst part is that it's sneaking into the church. Parents will take their children to their sports games, not even blinking an eye, not even pausing to think if skipping church for the sports game is wrong or what the right decision is. It's so bad that pastors can't even feel like they can bring this concern up to their congregation. They're afraid they'll be tagged as judgmental or selfishly greedy about the tithe money or their popularity if they try to convict their congregation that is wrong to skip church for sports games. How did we get to this point?

I've studied church history and I've studied ecclesiology (that is, theology of the church) and through the study of both, I've noticed there's a lot of what I like to call "pendulum swings" in church history and church movements. The importance and significance of church is one of them. Earlier in modern church history, believe it or not, we did believe that going to church was necessary for salvation. Our thinking went somewhere along the lines of this: Real, true, good Christians go to church every Sunday. Therefore, if you do not go to church every Sunday, you're not a real Christian, you're not a true Christian, you're not a good Christian. One of the strengths of this view is that, by golly, it got people to show up for church. Your life depended on it. As you can imagine, though, it also quickly led to some very negative drawbacks. People literally thought that because they were sitting in the church pew for an hour a week, they were born again Christians, saved from hell, on the road to heaven. Heck, you even had non-Christians showing up once a week for an hour of church, just so they could tell their Christian parents that they were going to church, and their Christian parents could believe that they were good, real, true Christians, just because they were attending church. Made it a little less tense at the next family get together. Even if some people did not literally think in their minds that going to church saved you, some people would still subconsciously act like it did. In the season finale of season 3 of the hit sitcom Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper meets his girlfriend Amy Farrah Fowler for the first time. Their first conversation consists of this bit of dialogue-

 

Amy Farrah Fowler: In any case, I'm here because my mother and I have agreed that I will date at least once a year.

Sheldon Cooper: Interesting. My mother and I have the same agreement about church.
Amy Farrah Fowler: I don't object to the concept of a deity, but I'm baffled by the notion of one that takes attendance.
Sheldon Cooper: Well then, you might want to avoid East Texas.

Well, Amy Farrah Fowler, I, too, am baffled by the notion of a God that takes attendance. But when you believe that going to church is a part of your salvation, you also believe God takes attendance. Then, you start acting like it, some more literally than others. When I was studying my undergrad at Lancaster Bible College, I was required to attend chapel three times a week. To prove that I was actually there in chapel, I had to scan my school ID badge before entering. I had another friend who went to a different Bible college. They too had mandatory chapel three days a week, but unlike Lancaster Bible College, they didn't have the technology to scan in, so they literally had to sign in for chapel. Yeah, obviously church is not like this. I don't have to scan in or sign into church, yet we still sometimes act like it. It's like we expect one day for Jesus to return in bodily form at our church, and the first thing he's going to do is start taking roll call. It's like we expect that when we appear before God, whether that be before the great white throne or the bema seat, we expect God to bring up our church attendance. We fear he may say something along the lines of, "You only came to church about 67% of the time? Geez, you know that 67% is a failing grade in some places. This is really going to hurt your participation points." Once again, this is all a side effect of believing that your salvation is affected by your attendance at church. And it wouldn't surprise me if some Christians today still think or act this way.

So a lot of pastors got the message out that going to church did not make you a born-again Christian, and it did not save you from the fires of hell. They emphasize that each and every person must make a personal committed relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what saved you from your sin, death and hell, and that's what put you on the path to heaven. After salvation, they emphasized a personal devotion time with God, consisting of private Bible reading and private prayer, to live out salvation. This all cause the church pendulum to swing in the opposite direction. The evangelical church has a theological term for this: reductionism. What is reductionism? If you haven't caught on yet, you'll notice what I just described emphasizes individualism: individual salvation, individual relationship with God, individual Bible reading and individual prayer. Reductionism is when the Christian faith is reduced down to these three concepts: individualize salvation through an individual relationship with Jesus, individualized Bible reading and individualized prayer. 

 Now, believe it or not, reductionism does have its strengths. As crazy as this sounds, earlier in church history, you would've been told that you cannot have a meaningful spiritual experience with God outside of church. Reductionism reminded us that you can indeed have a meaningful spiritual experience with God, even if you are alone, even if you're by yourself, even if you're out in the middle of nowhere. We go doubt that Moses had meaningful spiritual experiences with God on Mount Sinai (or Elijah for that matter in 1 Kings 19), nor do we doubt Jesus had meaningful spiritual experiences with God when he went alone to pray to his Father. But as you can imagine, this has some negative drawbacks as well. Think about it. If you individualize everything about the faith, good luck convincing anyone to do anything corporate. Therefore, the evangelical church is having the hardest time convincing people to come to church. If everything about the faith of individualized, and salvation is not dependent on church, then why bother to go? The best thing the evangelical church can do to get people into church is to convince them that the church is a service, not for God, but for you. The church is there to make sure you are spiritually healthy and spiritually fit. Just like you go to the doctor when you're sick, or you go to the mechanic to get your car fixed, the church is there to serve you, so when you get spiritually unhealthy, the church can make you spiritually healthy again, and when you're spiritually broken, the church can spiritually fix you. This view can only do so much. Let's stick with our metaphor of the doctor and the auto mechanic. You've probably been in this position before. You went to your doctor to get in your annual physical. The doctor does some tests. At the end, the doctor says, "Yeah, you're healthy. That'll be $25” (and that's assuming you have good health insurance). Similarly, you didn't do your auto mechanic to get the car inspected. Your mechanic runs a few tests. At the end, the car mechanic reports to you, "Your car is running just fine. That will be $88." In both instances, you're thinking to yourself, "Gee, I could have told them that for cheaper than what they are charging!" Well, that's how a lot of people feel about the church. If they feel like they're spiritually healthy, they see no need to go to a place that will either verify that they are spiritually healthy or disagree with them, telling them their spiritually unhealthy, and all at a price of a 10% tithe!

To sum up reductionism, I would like to quote D.G. Hart, a leader in the evangelical church, who is struggling alongside the evangelical church to decide the importance and significance of the church. D.G. Hart is quoting saying, "If, as the evangelicals believe, the most important aspect of Christianity is a personal friendship with God through private Bible reading and prayer, then who needs the ministry of the church?" And that's exactly what reductionism has done to the church. It’s left everyone questioning, “Why do I need the church?” and it has no answers.

Applying Psalm 84

At this point, I imagine you too have some questions you want answered. You might be wondering, “How can we avoid this pendulum swing? How can we get the pendulum to stop right in the middle, a balance between public, corporate church and private, individualized church, a balance between needing church for salvation and church being an optional, only desired when wanting a spiritual tune-up? What can we do?” Would I sound blasphemous or heretical if I suggested that there is nothing that we can do?

I italicized do because I want to do draw emphasis to that word. When we say we want to do something, we mean we want to act, but I think acting and doing in this case can actually be a roadblock. I assume that many of you reading this have been born again Christians for years. You know what to do. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you're already doing them. Even if you don't know what to do or how to act, there are tons of books and websites out there that will exhaustively list all the spiritual disciplines you can practice and how to practice them. They would do a better job than I could here and now, so anything I attempted would be redundant. Doing and acting also can be a roadblock because not all applications have to involve activity. Application can be passive, just simply be. Of course, the natural question to follow is, “How do you passively just be?” and then my temptation would be to give you a list of dos, which would be counterproductive. Trust me, I know there’s a very thin line between doing and being.

One of my pet peeves is when people start categorizing Bible verses into doctrine verses and application verses. I actually believe all the Bible is application. It's just a matter of how to apply it. That falls into 3 categories. The first category you're most familiar with as application. It is known by the theological term of orthopraxis. This theological term comes from the Greek language. The Greek prefix ortho most literally means “straight,” “upright,” “right,” or “correct,” but it also carries a connotation of “sameness,” “like-minded,” “agreement” and “consensus.” Don’t get me wrong. This does not mean “This is the right truth because we all agree on it.” Rather, it means quite the opposite. It means, “We all need to come a like-minded consensus on this truth because it is the right truth.” Once again, we already see that true Biblical application is just as much about community as it is about truth. The Greek verb praxis means “to do” or “to act” (this is where we get the English word “practice”). Therefore, the goal of orthopraxis is to get everyone to act correctly that is, acting in a godly, Christ-like manner. This is what we think of most often when we think of application, but it’s not the only application. Another application you might think of is orthodoxy. The doxy orthodoxy means “thinking.” Therefore, the goal of orthodoxy is to get everyone to think correctly, that is, thinking in a godly, Christ-like manner. I sometime call this “checking off on your doctrinal statement.” Again, a common application, but there’s still one more. The last application is orthopathy. The goal of orthopathy is to get everyone to feel correctly, that is, feeling in a godly, Christ-like manner. I believe that’s where Psalm 84 falls.

Psalm 84 isn't commanding you to do anything or act in a certain way. As stated above, you're probably already doing enough, and if not, there's plenty of other Bible verses that can teach you what to do. Psalm 84 isn't instructing you to think a certain. Psalm 84 states the truths matter-of-factly, like it's common sense. The purpose of Psalm 84 is to get you to honestly and sincerely ask yourself, “Do I have a heart to dwell in the presence of God just as psalmist in Psalm 84?” If not, then Psalm 84 motivates you to make your heart match the heart of the psalmist in Psalm 84. So does your heart match the psalmist in Psalm 84? Do you have a heart to dwell in the presence of God? Do you desire the presence of God in your life above everything else, so much so that it hurts to be apart from God’s presence? Would you go any distance just to be in God’s dwelling place? I hate to be this blunt, but if you answered no to any of those rhetorical questions, there's something wrong with you.

I know the 2 most common objections that will come up right now, and to be honest, you could target right back at me. The first and foremost object has you thinking along the lines of, “But Graham, some people just have to work on Sunday mornings to stay alive and provide a living for their family. Heck, weren’t you even working a Sunday morning job at one point?” Indeed, I was at one point in my life working every other Sunday just so I could move out of my parents’ home and move closer to my then-fiancée now-wife Carrie. (But to be fair to me, in my defense, my boss told me at my interview that Sunday mornings were voluntary. He failed to inform me that if no one volunteered, I have to work every other Sunday. If I would have known that, I probably wouldn't have taken the job.) So yes, I do understand that some people just have to work on Sunday mornings to stay alive and support their family, I get it. Heck, I would even go as far as to say that if a person worked 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, and that person slept in on Sunday mornings because it is their only day to sleep in, I understand that, too. After all, the Sabbath is to be a day of rest. I could easily accuse those who work of Sunday morning of not having enough faith to trust God to provide a job that doesn't interfere with Sunday morning worship, but a feel that’s a cop-out. What if the Lord did provide that job, in order that the person may in turn provide for his family? What if that person’s act of worship is providing a godly, Christ-like work ethic to his boss (I can relate to that)? Furthermore, I don't like that accusation because I once again feel like that's focusing too much on the do. Psalm 84 brings up questions of feeling. How do you feel about working on Sunday? For me, I hated and dreaded it! I wanted to be at church, not at work. Once the boss dismissed me, I would race to church (I will not mention how much over the speed limit I was going) hoping to catch some church, even if it was the benediction. When I no longer had to work on Sundays, I felt a joy swell up in my heart, not because I had full weekend off now, but because I could now go to church every Sunday morning to worship my Lord and King. If don’t go to church out of necessity, but your heart hates or dislikes it, then your heart is in the right place.

If you don’t go to church out of necessity, but your heart doesn’t mind it, likes it or enjoys it, I might question your heart. I will wonder and be worried that you might end up like one of Bible quizzing friends. When I was a Bible quizzer, I quizzed with this one quizzing girl. This certain girl I came to know as a sister in Christ who was really seeking God. She wanted to know all the spiritual disciplines, and she wanted to practice each and every one of them. She knew all different ways to read the Bible, and she knew all types of prayers. She practiced everything from evangelism and discipline to fasting and retreats of silence and solitude. So many Christians looked up to her for spiritual discernment. Shortly after graduating high school, she started seeking work, so she could move out of her parents’ home. The first job she found was for the local grocery store. They wanted her to work Saturday and Sunday mornings. At first, she was appalled. She had grown up going to church every Sunday as a child. Soon, though, she quickly justified skipping church work, using the extreme sides of the pendulum swing I just mentioned. She told herself that going to church doesn’t bring about salvation, so she was still a born again Christian, even though she did not attend church. She told herself that she could individually practice her faith, through private Bible reading and private prayer. Just before she took this job, we talked about it over Facebook chat. I tried to remind her of the pros and cons, but she seemed set on taking this job. I offered her my prayers, and that’s where the conversation ended. We pretty much stopped communicating after that (which might be just coincidence), but Facebook kept me updated on her, and I started noticing changes. She started smoking. She started drinking. She started cursing. She got a tattoo. Now, she’s a single mother. Now, although she no longer has that Sunday morning job, she no longer attends any church because she doesn’t like any church.

I know we could debate on whether those things I just listed are sins or not, and I’d be more than glad to have a conversation about the purpose of God giving people laws and commands (that’s for another time). What I’m trying to illustrate is that I noticed a girl go from very godly, very spiritual and very counter-cultural, to a girl who is very cultural and very worldly. I don’t want to oversimplify it, but I can only see one common denominator: she ceased going to church. Christians can no longer fool themselves into thinking they can practice the faith alone. We turn into the people around us, in one way or another. I’ll admit that one of the reasons I avoid sin is because I know that if I sin, you might stop listening to me for Biblical insight, and you might be the least judgmental person in the world! As a church, we equip, edify and encourage one another to live out godly, Christian lives. This alone is a good reason why Christians should develop hearts that desire church.

The second objection goes something along the lines of this: “But Graham, the Sabbath isn’t meant solely for worship. It’s also meant to be a day of rest. You yourself even admitted earlier that you understand if a person working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week would want to sleep in on a Sunday morning. Heck, I’ve seen you on Sunday mornings during the fall. You dart out of the church, so you can make the 1 o’clock kickoff of the football game!” Indeed, I did say that I understand a person working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week wanting to sleep in on Sunday mornings. But once again, I ask you, “Where is your heart?” If you are sleeping in on a Sunday morning to get the rest you to be a godly witness to your boss, supervisor and co-workers for the rest of the week, I get it. But if you sleep on Sunday mornings for church, but you get up early on Sunday mornings to leave for your week-long beach vacation or to grab your coffee at Starbucks before you go on a morning, then there’s a heart issue. That’s what Psalm 84 is asking us to do. Psalm 84 encourages us to honestly and sincerely ask ourselves, “Where is my heart?” and to fix it if it needs fixing.

So yes, I will confess that I do want to make the 1 o’clock football kickoff, but I know where my heart is. One time, my wife Carrie offered to buy me tickets to a 1 o’clock Philadelphia Eagles football game. I looked at her sadly and said, “But then I’ll miss church.” One time, my wife Carrie and I were planning to attend Philadelphia Eagles training camp. When I found out the only days left were Sunday mornings, I immediately cancelled those plans because I did not want to miss church. Once, Carrie and I went down to Virginia Beach for the weekend. She asked me what the one thing I wanted to do was. Of course, I told her I wanted to go to church! I can look deep inside my heart and honestly answer that I put church before football. Can you look into your heart and sincerely say that you put church before everything else?

In the commentary Opening Up the Psalms, pastor Roger Ellsworth tells this story: “One of my fellow-pastors had a church member who refused to attend church because he claimed to be unable to sit on a pew for any length of time. But one day this pastor passed by the pool hall and noticed this gentleman sitting there. Three hours later the pastor went by the pool hall again and noticed the man sitting in the same place. The pastor, thinking the pool hall must have had some very comfortable seats, went inside. The only seats he found were old, unpadded church pews!”

I’ve heard it once said, “There is no such thing as ‘busy.’ There are only priorities.” Think about it. When you say, “I’m busy,” you’re really saying, “There is something else of higher priority I must do instead, which will not allow me to do what you just asked.” We should never be busy for God or his dwelling in our lives. God and his dwelling place should be our highest priority.

Concluding Psalm 84

I get. Sometimes the struggle to desire God and his dwelling place is because we don’t have a God that we can visually see or audibly hear. That’s why we can spends hours with family or friends, yet a half hour, even a quarter hour, with God can seem like a struggle. If you do struggle with that, read the book of Revelation. To borrow the words of the Apostle Paul, right now, when we dwell in the presence of God, it is looking into a poor reflection of a dimly lit mirror. One day, though, we will dwell with God, face-to-face. Remember practicing the presence of God is just that. It’s practice for the day when we will walk with God and talk with God side-by-side, right to his face. May that thought fuel the fire of desiring God’s presence in your place of worship.