An older brother, Grady McKnight, asked a young man who occasionally preached, “When will you bring us another sermon?” The young man replied, “When I have something original to say.” Brother McKnight replied, “If it is original then it is not biblical. The preacher is never to bring an original message, but only to preach the old message in a fresh way.”
We have this foolish idea that something must be new to be relevant or useful or exciting. Here we have a psalm of 13 verses, five of which were borrowed from psalm 57, and eight of which were borrowed from psalm 60. What do we learn from this?
We learn that the old truths are still relevant. This psalm is telling us, “You do not have to reinvent the wheel all the time. Often an older statement of the matter can be reapplied very effectively.”
God is still saying, as he said through Jeremiah, “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” But we are still saying as they said in Jeremiah’s time, “We will not walk in it” (Jer 6:16).
We must neither blindly accept tradition, nor blindly oppose it. Of the two, the blind opposition of tradition may be the most foolish, it is certainly the most self-centred. Those who follow tradition are at least not looking to themselves. While they would do better to learn from God than to learn from earlier generations, at least those who follow traditions are learning from someone. Those who embrace current fads as the measure of wisdom are trusting only in their own generation.
The song “And Can it Be” is very popular with teens and young adults these days. I hope that it is not just because they think it is a new song. The author, Charles Wesley, died in 1788. I am glad that the hymn was rediscovered by a new generation. And I hope that they will continue to rediscover old truths, and old expressions of truth, that will prove valuable today.
Steadfastness is one of those truths. We must strive to be steadfast. “My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being!” (1) No human is perfectly consistent, but we ought to strive for faithful, steadfast, consistency.
Thus Paul exhorts the Corinthians, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58).
It is even more important that we trust in the steadfastness of our Lord. Trust in his steadfastness is the foundation of our steadfastness. As verse four says, “For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds” (4). And Isaiah tells us, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you” (Isa 26:3).
There are times when it will appear that God is not keeping his promises. In verse eleven the psalmist asks, “Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies” (11).
At times like that we must remember that the most remarkable instance of God appearing to fail one of his servants, was in truth his greatest moment of faithfulness.
Our modern love affair with the new and novel has a crippling effect on our ability to trust in the steadfastness of God, and to live steadfast lives ourselves. So, the borrowing of older material in the psalm, and the theme of the psalm, complement each other.
How are we doing? Could we be more steadfast? Could we be more steadfast if we concentrated on how steadfast our Lord has always been?
We are still awaiting the proof copies of the next book. It seems that the brother who is bringing them took a side trip on his way here. He left Oklahoma over a week ago but is not expected to arrive in Eswatini for almost another week. So, we have not yet been able to see the books and approve publication. But The Climax of God’s Mission, Volume two should be published very soon.
We have informed the Timbutini congregation that we will no longer meet with them every week. Instead, we will just visit them occasionally – perhaps once per month. We hope that this will help them to develop stronger leadership. It will allow us some time to visit other congregations, to see if our help may be needed elsewhere.
It will also help us conserve fuel. The dollar has fallen against the Emalangeni over the last couple of years. In 2023-2024 we were receiving 18 Emalangeni for each dollar. This month it was only 16.1 Emalangeni for a dollar. Meanwhile fuel for our car and electricity have both risen sharply. So, the savings on travel to worship, although undertaken for different reasons, will help financially.
This Sunday the leadership at Timbutini will inform the congregation of new rules for receiving food assistance. From now on, those receiving assistance must put in some work either at the church building or on the land owned by the church. Either help with cleaning the building, or help to grow some food, or there will be no food assistance. Those who are elderly and unable to work are encouraged to send a member of their family to put in some work each month before receiving any assistance. “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thess 3:10).
The local leaders came up on this plan on their own. They showed it to us before announcing it to the congregation, but it was totally their decision. We are proud of the stance they have taken.
Plans for travelling to Zambia in September are still sketchy, but we hope they can be completed this month. Thayer will get another blood test soon, to make sure his iron saturation is returning to normal. If that checks out okay, and if the leadership of the education and the nursing schools communicate with us about what they need, we will probably be heading that direction about the middle of September.
Chery continues to make steady progress on more appropriate children’s material. Thayer covered four more psalms this past week in the series that is appearing in The Gospel Herald, and which will become a book once the series is complete. Progress on developing more evangelistic material has been slow, but at least there has been some development.
Yet another need for literature came to mind two weeks ago, and we immediately began working on it. Many of you have noted, we suspect, that Lord’s Supper talks tend to be too predictable. The situation is worse here. One might as well just turn to 1 Corinthians 11 every Sunday. Only rarely is Matthew 26 used instead. In most congregations, one would think that those were the only two passages in the whole Bible that could be used to prepare our minds for the Supper.
Instead of bemoaning that neglect, Thayer will be writing a series of sample Lord’s Supper devotionals – based on passages drawn from all parts of scripture. Brother Maseko will then translate these into SiSwati so that they can be used even in places where English is little known. Two Lord’s Supper devotionals drawn from Genesis are ready in English, and one of these has already been translated.
This is being written on July 4, which is one of the occasions when the loneliness bug tends to bite missionaries. We love the work we are doing, but it is sometimes sad to be so far from family and old friends.
African Textbook Ministry, %Church of Christ, 5130 Flanders Road, Toledo, OH 43623
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We have come to the last book of the Psalter. Throughout book five we seem to be dealing with later psalms — exilic and post-exilic. Only five of these forty-three psalms have a heading indicating a connection with David. The content and themes indicate a later period of history for most of the psalms in book five.
It seems likely that this psalm may be a post-exilic psalm, but that is not certain and does not greatly affect the interpretation. Psalm 107 is simple, straightforward, and yet highly profound.
It opens with a statement of the psalm’s intent as an exhortation to praise (1-2). Then four typical examples are given of those who ought to praise the Lord.
The psalm then closes with general statements of the Lord’s goodness and calls on the reader to consider the steadfast love of the Lord (33-43).
The psalm is clear that some of those mentioned have brought their difficulties on themselves. On the other hand, some may have just been going about legitimate business and been caught in trouble not of their own making. Joshua and Caleb were leaving Egypt, and were personally faithful, but were caught up with the unfaithful majority as they wandered in the wilderness (4-9). Any returning exiles who had difficulty on the journey would naturally fit into this category as well. Sailors have their job to do (23-32) and face dangers associated with that job.
But in some of these cases the cause of the trouble is within the person (11, 17). If 107 is post-exilic, they needed to recognize their own national, if not personal, guilt as the cause of the exile. Amid troubles we need to recognize any way in which we have contributed to our situation and to confess our wrong.
We also need to recognize that the Lord’s willingness to save is not dependent on our being faultless. It is a comfort to know that some of those described in this psalm were at fault; yet they are saved.
Whether at fault or not, the turning point comes when they cry out to the Lord (6, 13, 19, 28). It is never suggested that any of these found the way out of the desert, escaped from prison, cured their own illness, or skilfully guided their ship to harbour. They were all saved by the grace of God.
The expected response to deliverance is praise (8, 15, 21 & 22, 31 & 32). Our story does not end with faith, repentance, and baptism. After these comes the life of praise. If the life of praise does not follow, it would appear that the person has not really acknowledged his sinfulness or the greatness of the Lord’s salvation.
43 Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
One of my favourite quotes has long been R.L. Whiteside’s statement, “He is a poor preacher who cannot preach better than he can practice.”1 I mention that statement because this psalm is about confident single-mindedness; and I cannot claim to be a wonderful example of that trait. We should all praise it, teach it, and encourage it, even if we do not currently live up to it.
Confident single-mindedness is difficult to develop, difficult to maintain, and of tremendous value in maintaining and promoting the Christian walk. The path to single-mindedness is not direct. Merely telling ourselves to be focused on one thing is not likely to work. Trying to drum up confidence by a personal pep talk will not succeed. That approach is inward focused. Instead, we do better to focus outside ourselves. It is to the Lord we must look, not to ourselves.
In structure, Psalm 27 might be called a confidence sandwich.
Let us look at each layer of the sandwich in a bit more detail.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
Here confidence is expressed. The writer is sure that even an army of evildoers will fail to overcome him. This confidence is not based on his own strength or insight but on the Lord. It is the Lord who is his light (providing vision) and his stronghold (providing security). The confidence is strongly expressed, but on what basis does he have such confidence?
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
His confidence is based in part on the fact that he has sought the Lord. He has made his request of the Lord, and he will continue to seek the fulfilment of that request. The request is not merely deliverance from enemies but permission to dwell in the presence of the Lord (4). He expects protection not so much as a right but as a consequence of being with the Lord. His goal is God himself, not merely something he expects to receive from the Lord. He will receive light and protection. But these are not commodities separate from God, but results of dwelling in the Lord’s presence.
Currently, there seems to be a crisis in the writer’s life.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. 11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.
There are several aspects to the current crisis.
The writer feels forsaken even by his parents (10 ESV), or at least he considers it possible that his parents might forsake him (10 NRSV). But he is confident that the Lord will be even more faithful than earthly parents.
There is the danger of losing his way as he attempts to navigate life while hounded by enemies. But he seeks guidance on a level path (11).
There is the danger of false witnesses whose lies could lead to violent death (12). Again, his response is not to try to deal with this danger on his own. Instead of seeking to boost his self-confidence, he seeks the presence of the Lord and appeals to him.
Even during this crisis, he again expresses confidence in the Lord.
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
His confidence is complete. It erases all fear (1). It erases fear even in the face of enemies (2-3). Even if abandoned by family, God can still be relied upon (10). Such confidence is desirable. But such confidence does not come from self-confidence, nor from seeking many things of the Lord. “One thing” has the psalmist sought. That one thing is the Lord’s presence, for in that presence all the desirable things he might request will be assured.
If we are found waiting on the Lord, seeking to be in his presence to praise and honour him, all the other things we might ask will transpire in due time. This is the one thing we must seek. This is the path to confident single-mindedness.
My goal is God himself
Not joy, nor peace;
Nor even blessing.
But himself, my God,
Tis his to lead me there,
Not mine, but his –
At any cost, dear Lord,
By any road. (from a hymn by Frances Brook)
1 It is found somewhere in his commentary on Romans – which I seem to have left behind when I moved back to Africa.
Psalm 106 is rather long. This article will be rather short. This will give the reader more time to examine the psalm to see if what the article says is true. Please do so.
We know that we should praise the Lord, and we know that we should confess our sins; but does it ever occur to us that confession is itself a form of praise? Do we ever face the fact that, apart from confession, it is not possible to praise the Lord?
This psalm is a fine example of confession as praise. It opens as any psalm of praise might, with a call to worship (1-3). It quickly turns to a recounting of the national sins in general terms (6-7): sin, iniquity, wickedness, failure to remember his works.
After a bit more praise (8-11), the sins of the nation are confessed more specifically (12-39):
The point here is that without confession, we cannot praise the Lord, for it is only in our confession that the goodness of God can be seen.
In admitting their sin, the goodness of the Lord is made evident.
Confession admits that his periodic punishment was fully justified (40-42).Christians today have bought into a lie of Satan. We often justify our sin rather than confessing it. We deserve punishment and have nothing to complain of when we receive it (Rom 1:18-20). When we admit this, we justify God rather than justifying ourselves.
Confession shows that his deliverance was undeserved (43-46), that when we receive blessings, these are undeserved.
The psalm closes with a request for salvation. This salvation is requested without a claim of meriting it in any way (47-48).
Let us beware of stealing God’s glory by sounding as if we have earned our salvation. Let us confess our unworthiness, individually and as a people. Let us allow honesty about ourselves to be a form of praise to God. May our lives be a request for salvation, without a claim of merit.
Eswatini
A young woman was riding a train. She was reading as the train moved along. As she read it was clear that she was enjoying what she read. She smiled frequently and laughed hilariously at times. Before the train had gone far, someone in a nearby seat asked the title of the book she was reading.
Does anyone ever ask us the reason for the hope within us? (I Pet 3:15)
We must realize that to praise the Lord is a form of pre-evangelism. The Orthodox Churches do not understand evangelism as we do.They see worship itself as evangelism enough.That is an extreme, one that is clearly wrong. Yet we should recognize that proper worship will always serve as a pre-evangelistic activity at least.
Notice the parallelism of verses one and two.To “give thanks” is paralleled with to “make known” (1).”Sing to him” is paralleled to “tell” (2).
Some things will have to change to allow worship to serve this pre-evangelistic function.
To serve a pre-evangelistic function, worship must be freely and exuberantly given. “I do not have to go to worship”, my grandfather would sometimes say, “I want to go to worship.”Even our choice of terms reveals something of our attitude. Are we going to church (misuse of the term ‘church’), or are we going to the church building (focus on correctness of terminology), or are we going to worship?
Worship must not be of the formal type only.Very few outsiders will wander in to see our worship at the church building.Home worship is more likely to attract, but even that is likely to be misunderstood.It is a joyful, thankful daily attitude that will attract people.
We must also seek the Lord (3).
There is a difference between praising the Lord and seeking the Lord. Seekers will always praise, but not all who praise remember to seek.We need to be people who make our decisions based on the Lord’s will.We need to be people who get to know him better as the years go by.Seeking God’s blessings is not always seeking him.To learn the Bible better is not necessarily the same as knowing him better. Seekers of God will be Bible students, but not all Bible students are seekers of God.
We must remember his past deeds. We must remember and repeat the mighty acts of God.
5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, 6 O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
Very few people are ever argued out of Christianity. They simply drift away. They stop remembering.
Remembering has always been a key first step toward evangelism (Dt. 4:6-8, 9).Christians also have their command to remember, and it has an aspect of proclamation in it. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26).
Joyful remembrance of God’s past action is critical to faithful proclamation.They needed to remember his mighty faithfulness (7-11).We also need to remember that God is faithful. We can count on his promises.That is what Romans 8 is all about. Remembering his faithfulness is key to resisting temptation. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor 10:13).
Let us joyfully serve the Lord. It will be good for us. It will attract others.
Let us seek the Lord, to want to be near him.
The key to is to remember the great things he has done and will do.
Eswatini
This psalm begins and ends with the same words which began and ended Psalm 103. In both, the writer exhorts himself and us to “bless the Lord.” The difference between the two psalms is in the choice of the motives given for blessing the Lord.
An overall outline of the psalm looks like this:
One difference between ancient man and modern man is in what and whom we are drawn to honour. Whereas men of the past were drawn to honour greatness, whether that greatness was of a type that directly served their ends or not, we honour anything or anyone serving our ends — no matter how unworthy they may otherwise be. We fail to honour greatness that does not immediately serve us.
We honour moral reprobates, and even complete fools, if they happen to entertain us or provide us with goods and services we desire. We often fail to honour those who are the true great ones of the earth, unless their greatness happens to serve us in some tangible and immediate manner.
On the other hand, this psalm is notable in that the author calls on himself to bless the Lord while not mentioning the gracious blessings that the Lord has sent his way. Rather than emphasizing the blessings of God to the individual or the chosen people, this psalm considers God worthy of praise simply for being the wise creator of all. The closest he comes to mentioning God’s gifts to humans is in 14-15. “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth 15 and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.”
Nature should, and often does, inspire a sense of awe that leads us to worship. But this sense of awe must be carefully directed.
Unfortunately, most of us spend very little time contemplating nature, and it shows. We, especially urban dwellers, are so surrounded by the works of man. We forget the works of God. We increasingly work indoors, away from nature and the natural cycle of the seasons. The reading of the psalms, coupled with intentional contemplation of nature would be particularly helpful if that is our situation.
But nature alone is not enough. We must intentionally sing the praises of the creator, not of the creation. Nature religions are almost invariably cruel. This is not surprising, for the creation has been affected by the fall. It is not the perfect world that God created, but a fallen order.
Child sacrifice has almost always been a feature of nature religions – and it is increasingly so in our age. For example, the Obama administration insisted, at a conference hosted in Canada, that abortion be forced on African countries. The moral left want to protect nature at the cost of human life. They claim to be “pro-choice,” yet they want to force their ways on others. They claim to reject cultural imperialism, but on this issue (and on homosexuality) many Western nations openly engage in cultural imperialism.
Romans 1 tells us to expect such illogical behaviour from those who have rejected God. This psalm tells us how we should respond.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. 34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord. 35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!
Eswatini
On Friday, June 5, we completed the proofreading of The Climax of God’s Mission, volume two. We have asked that five proofs be prepared so that a final check can be made before any copies are sold. Normally, proof copies are ready quickly, but there can be delays for various reasons. Lord willing, the book should be ready for sale by the end of the month.
Even while awaiting the proofs, we are already gearing up for other projects. We will be, at least for some months, shifting gears a bit. Longterm, Thayer’s focus will continue to be the textbook work; but sometimes the mind needs a change of pace, and there are numerous other things that are needed. For the next few months we will work on some of the following.
Evangelistic literature
We have received permission from World Bible School to have their lessons translated into SiSwati. Unfortunately, we do not have a copy of the most basic introductory WBS course. All the WBS material we have found in Eswatini is too advanced for people who do not yet know the Lord. Brother Maseko is ready to do the translating, but we need to begin at the beginning. We started him out translating “How the World Went Wrong” a very basic overview of the Bible we have used since our time in Nigeria (1993-1997). But we will need more than that four-page tract. So, Thayer will spend a little time writing a few basic lessons that Brother Maseko can translate.
Psalms
The Book of Psalms is one of the longest book in our Bibles. It served as the first hymnbook of the early church. But it is often neglected. Writing a textbook on the Psalms would be beyond our expertise. And that may not be what African students would want or need. Thayer has taught the Psalms several times and is currently writing a series of brief articles for the Gospel Herald on the Psalms. The series has reached Psalm 102. He hopes to complete that series of articles by early next year and to collect them into book form so that they can be used in churches, in schools, and by individuals (even those who have never heard of the Gospel Herald). This book will not have all the narratives and other helps we include in the textbook series. But it should be of considerable value to the many brothers and sisters who know that the Psalms are in the Bible, but who have little understanding of how the Psalms might be useful in our lives.
Zambia
We are still considering the possibility of spending several weeks in Zambia (September-October). They want our help at Namwianga (George Benson Christian University), but there are some details that are currently unclear. Hopefully clarity concerning that trip will come by July.
Children’s lessons
Chery is still working on children’s lessons and making good progress. That will be a very long-term project.
We both feel blessed to enjoy better health than others our age. When compared to others, even in our own families, we are greatly blessed. But Thayer has not had much energy for several months. A recent blood test revealed below normal levels of one hormone, of vitamin D, and low iron saturation in his blood. Treatment has begun, but prayer would be appreciated.
African Textbook Ministry, Church of Christ, 5130 Flanders Road, Toledo, OH 43623
thayer@africantextbook.com, africantextbook.com
Many psalms are man talking to God. Some are one worshipper talking to others. This one opens with the psalmist talking to himself. We all talk to ourselves, but rarely in so profitable a manner. How should we talk to ourselves?
As individuals, we should review the Lord’s blessings and praise him.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Hebrew for “Bless” is literally “bend the knee.” God condescends to bless us. We bend down in worship before him.
C.S. Lewis said regarding our blessing of God, “Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your while life exclusively to His service you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already. So that when we talk of a man doing anything for God or giving anything to God, I will tell what it is really like. It is like a small child going to his father and saying, ‘Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.’ Of course, the father does, and he is pleased with the child’s present. It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction.” (Mere Christianity p. 127)
My soul is the totality of my being. Adam “became a living soul.” He did not come to possess a soul but became a soul when he came to life.
We must not forget God’s benefits. Our need to constantly remember the action of the Lord is a consistent theme of scripture.First of all, we are not to forget forgiveness, healing, redemption, steadfast love, and mercy. We are not to forget the results or the cause behind the result. And, as Christians, we should have a much clearer picture of the price the Lord paid to forgive and redeem us.
As individuals we must daily take the time to hold before our minds the ways the Lord has bent down to bless us, or we will soon be failing to bend down before him in praise.
As God’s people, we should review the Lord’s blessings and praise him.
The pronouns change in verses 6-19. Instead of only addressing himself, the writer is now calling others to take note of the Lord’s goodness.
He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
It is never enough to praise him as individuals.Those who have clearly seen any truth, inevitably become evangelistic. They desire that others should see that truth as well. Even pluralists become evangelistic for pluralism.
Purely individual praise tends toward self-centeredness. In purely individual praise there is a tendency for God to be treated as important only in terms of what he does for us. Corporate praise is not a complete corrective to this danger, but it corrects it to an extent. In corporate praise we at least move away from being individually the centre of attention. Hopefully, we are also taught to remember that the initiative of our salvation is God’s.
The reference here in verses 7-8 could be to Exodus 33 and 34. The people have sinned in making the golden calf, yet the Lord is going to restore and bless them. This he does on his own initiative.
All creation should praise the Lord (19-22).
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Just as the truly converted individual desires to worship with others, so the truly converted church desires that all the earth should praise the Lord.It is desired that not only other people but angels and other heavenly beings bend the knee before the Lord (20-21).
All his works are to praise him (Psalm 19). Human sin affected not only humanity but all of creation. The creation has not glorified God as it ought, but we look forward to the freeing of creation from decay (Rom 8:20-22).
Praising the Lord is a matter of bending the knee before him in thankfulness for his bending down to bless us. The final phrase (22) takes us back to the start and reminds us that, if we expect others to bless the Lord, we must do so. It is something to be done as individuals but must not be limited to that. We must seek to hasten the day when all creation will praise him.
Luke 11:29-54 [Matthew 12:38–45]
We should be careful of calling someone or something a “type” unless the Bible does so. At times a parallel is drawn without using the language of “type and antitype.” Such is the case with Jesus and Jonah. There are both similarities and differences. Let us learn both from the similarities and the differences.
Delivered from death
Both were delivered from death. There were differences, of course. Jesus was delivered from actual death. Jonah from potential death. Jesus’ death was undeserved. Jonah deserved to die. Those who tossed Jonah overboard did not want to do so. Those who killed Jesus did so willingly.
Perhaps the similarity between Jonah and Jesus is slight compared to the differences. But even slight things may be significant (Matthew 12:40).
Choice
Both preached a choice between repentance and judgment. This choice, rather than the resurrection prediction, receives the emphasis.
Again, there are differences. Jonah preached the possibility of repentance and forgiveness unwillingly. Jonah seemed to prefer to preach only judgment. In his recorded preaching, he does not seem to hold out any hope. The people of Nineveh repented. But Jonah does not seem to have encouraged it.1 Jesus preached repentance willingly and held out hope for those who would repent (Luke 5:32; 15:7,10).
But, of course, Jesus also preached that there would be judgment if there was not repentance (Luke 13:1-9). It may be popular to picture Jesus as having only a positive message with no demands and no threat. But that is simply dishonest. It is far from the whole truth.
Included non-Israelites.
Both included non-Israelites. Again, Jesus did this willingly. Jonah did it unwillingly (Jonah 1:2–3; 3:10–4:1). Both Matthew and Luke emphasize the universal nature of Jesus’ appeal by linking the mention of the men of Nineveh with the coming of the “Queen of the South” (Matthew 12:41–42; Luke 11:30–31).
The message
The message of the Jonah-Jesus three days in the grave comparison is this:
First, Christianity is about life from the dead. It is about Jesus being resurrected from an undeserved death. It about the servants of the Lord (like Jonah) being delivered from the death they deserve.
Secondly, the message of Christ has to do with a choice between repentance and judgment. Not that our repentance makes us deserving, but it shows that we really believe the message.
Thirdly, everyone is to be given this message. We should give the message to people like us and to people unlike us. We should share the message with people we like and with people we may not like.
Connections
Matthew follows the discussion of Jonah with the story of the person who is cleansed of a demon only to have several demons return (Matthew 12:43-45). Luke had covered that saying right before the part about Jonah (Luke 11:24ff). Luke follows the mention of Jonah with a brief statement about making proper use of the light given to us (Luke 11:33-36). He then continues with an event at a meal, where Jesus does not engage in the ceremonial washing that was so important to the Pharisees (Luke 11:37-54).
All of these seem to be thematically connected to the Jonah statement. Jonah knew the truth about the Lord. He could even preach it, but he failed to live by it. Jonah derived no benefit from what he knew of the Lord. The person freed from a demon who does not fill his life with good, will find himself repossessed by demons. The person who has a light, but puts it under a basket, is wasting what he has.
Jonah did not want to associate with non-Israelites. He wanted them to perish. The Pharisees did not wash for hygienic reasons. Their “washings” involved no soap and sometimes little water. They washed to show their disdain for Gentiles, women, and less scrupulous Jews.
There is no Mosaic law for this. The priests were to wash before their temple duties (Exodus 30:19-21). But there was no law that an ordinary person eating a normal meal should wash. Jesus is not rejecting hygiene or the Mosaic law. He is rejecting an attitude of superiority. That attitude might be expressed as “the belief that spiritual danger comes to us by inadvertent contact with inferior beings in the course of daily life.” This attitude had become central to the Pharisees, and to their scribes.
There are many things wrong with this attitude. It was an insult to Gentiles and women. It was a constant reminder to a Pharisee of his self-assumed superiority to others. And it took attention off the things that mattered most in our relationship with God.
The “things that matter most” are short-listed in various ways in scripture. Jesus uses just two terms (“justice and the love of God”) on this occasion (Luke 11:42). He used three (justice, mercy, and faithfulness) in Matthew 23:23. On another occasion he states it differently (Matthew 22:37–40), but with essentially the same meaning. Other scriptures give the “things that matter most” list in various ways (Micah 6:6–8; Amos 5:21–24; 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, 19–20; Galatians 5:18–21, 22–24).
Of course, salvation is no more by keeping the short list than it is by keeping a much longer list. We ought to give attention to justice and the love of God, but we will not thereby save our souls. This is not a passage about how to be saved. It is a warning against a works salvation that emphasizes minor things and will destroy us.
When it comes to an issue like this, Jesus is not afraid to give offense. In fact, he seems to have sought to upset them (Luke 11:37–38, 45ff). Jesus would at times go out of his way to get along with others (Matthew 17:24ff). But on other occasions he sought controversy (Mark 3:1–6).
Why the difference? Paying the tax mentioned in Matthew 17 did not seriously misrepresent God. That tax was not destroying souls. But practices that said, “I am better than you,” or “this person does not matter,” are soul destroying practices. The idea that we might wash off sin’s defilement by dipping our hands in water was a God denying and soul-destroying idea.
The lessons
The lessons are clear.
We are “not to neglect” the ceremonial aspects of the faith (42), but ceremonies will not make us right while we refuse to repent. We are not defiled by incidental contact. But we are defiled when we disregard justice and the love of God.
Justice means treating others right. It means no cheating, no keeping what is owed, no oppressing of the weak, no gossiping. For the believer it means doing for others what we would have done to us (Matthew 7:12). It includes the mercy mentioned in the Matthew 23 short-list.
The love of God is much more than a warm feeling. The love of God is a compelling appreciation of what he has done for us (2 Corinthians 5:14). The love of God will lead to obedience to his instructions (John 14:15; 1 John 5:3; 2 John 1:6). It thus includes the faithfulness of the Matthew 23 list. Love of God will lead us to teach only what he taught and to honour his worship commands (Matthew 15:9). Disobedience is the antithesis of loving. It is crucifying Jesus all over again (Hebrews 6:6). Trying to run from his instruction, as Jonah did, shows our faith to be a dead faith, no matter how well we may state the faith with our lips.
Those who gossip about or cheat others, those who refuse to share the message with others, are sinning. Showing up for worship, or washing our hands before a meal, does not absolve us. Yes, we should worship. But the value of that worship is canceled when we willingly live unholy lives. A faith that does no good to others, or a faith that disobeys God is a dead faith.
There is the three day comparison between Jesus and Jonah. But there is plenty of contrast between the two. Jesus is not seeking more narrow, nationalistic servants like Jonah. The priorities of Jonah are radically different from those of Jesus. Followers of Jesus should exemplify justice and the love of God, not the tribalism Jonah practiced.
Eswatini, Africa
1 Jonah 3:4-9 “Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.’”
The structure of this psalm is interesting. The first 11 verses are personal lament. It is self-focused, although at verse 10 the focus shifts a little to the relationship between the speaker and the Lord.The focus in 12-16 is the Lord and His city. Personal considerations have been pushed aside in favour of a vision of God’s greatness (12), the importance of Zion to God’s people (14) and the praise of God in the world (15).
As we move on to verses 17-22, the focus remains on God, his people, and his praise.The focus returns to the personal relationship with God briefly in verses 23-24, but the glory of God overwhelms concern for self (25-27), and the psalm ends on a note of confidence that God’s people will be secure (28).
So, what starts as a self-focused personal lament ends focused corporately, on the confidence that the Lord’s people should have in him. Now, for some observations regarding the psalm.
Pain & suffering tend to make us self-focused. So it is not surprising that we see self-focus in the personal lament psalms, nor that we feel that way at times in our own lives. But we need not become that way regularly, and we (the best fed – and even overfed – generation in history) certainly ought not to be that way all the time.
Note the heading. This is a model of prayer in affliction. It is teaching us that it is forgivable to be self-focused a bit when in pain or suffering, but we should move beyond that.
We need to see God in our suffering. For some reason, the Lord allows his people to suffer (10, 23-24).God may allow suffering because we are guilty of sin (Isa 1:5-6, 16-17; 59:1-2).God may allow suffering to open a door of opportunity (Gal 4:13).God may allow suffering that will never be explained to us (Job’s sufferings were explained to him).
The reasons for our suffering may not be clear, but God’s permissive will is always involved. The circumstances are never beyond his control. The suffering is never meaningless.The timing may seem a problem to us (13).But God’s time is very different (24).
We need to turn from self-focus to focus on God’s people and purpose. God’s purpose is that a people be redeemed for fellowship with him — the fellowship that existed in the garden before the fall (Gen 3:8; Rev 21:3, 6). But for that to happen, the suffering of another garden experience must take place (Lk 22:44).
To accomplish God’s purpose, he may often have to deal with us in ways that are unpleasant in the here and now.God’s purpose for his people may require that one of his people suffer inconvenience, ill health, injustice or even death. The willingness My Days and Your Years – Psalm 102
The structure of this psalm is interesting. The first 11 verses are personal lament. It is self-focused, although at verse 10 the focus shifts a little to the relationship between the speaker and the Lord.The focus in 12-16 is the Lord and His city. Personal considerations have been pushed aside in favour of a vision of God’s greatness (12), the importance of Zion to God’s people (14) and the praise of God in the world (15).
As we move on to verses 17-22, the focus remains on God, his people, and his praise.The focus returns to the personal relationship with God briefly in verses 23-24, but the glory of God overwhelms concern for self (25-27), and the psalm ends on a note of confidence that God’s people will be secure (28).
So, what starts as a self-focused personal lament ends focused corporately, on the confidence that the Lord’s people should have in him.
Now, for some observations regarding the psalm.
Pain & suffering tend to make us self-focused.
So it is not surprising that we see self-focus in the personal lament psalms, nor that we feel that way at times in our own lives. But we need not become that way regularly, and we (the best fed – and even overfed – generation in history) certainly ought not to be that way all the time.
Note the heading. This is a model of prayer in affliction. It is teaching us that it is forgivable to be self-focused a bit when in pain or suffering, but we should move beyond that.
We need to see God in our suffering.
For some reason, the Lord allows his people to suffer (10, 23-24).God may allow suffering because we are guilty of sin (Isa 1:5-6, 16-17; 59:1-2).God may allow suffering to open a door of opportunity (Gal 4:13).God may allow suffering that will never be explained to us (Job’s sufferings were explained to him).
The reasons for our suffering may not be clear, but God’s permissive will is always involved. The circumstances are never beyond his control. The suffering is never meaningless.The timing may seem a problem to us (13).But God’s time is very different (24).
We need to turn from self-focus to focus on God’s people and purpose.
God’s purpose is that a people be redeemed for fellowship with him — the fellowship that existed in the garden before the fall (Gen 3:8; Rev 21:3, 6). But for that to happen, the suffering of another garden experience must take place (Lk 22:44).
To accomplish God’s purpose, he may often have to deal with us in ways that are unpleasant in the here and now.God’s purpose for his people may require that one of his people suffer inconvenience, ill health, injustice or even death. The willingness of his Son to suffer death is the heart of our faith.
God’s purpose demands our holiness, not our earthly happiness.It is not all about us. It is about God being God and we being his people.Often, his glorification is best served by things going well, but occasionally, his glory is served in some less pleasant way (Rom 14:8).
Our suffering, individually and corporately, is never beyond his control and never allowed without his purpose. There are no meaningless moments. There is no meaningless pain in our lives.of his Son to suffer death is the heart of our faith.
God’s purpose demands our holiness, not our earthly happiness.It is not all about us. It is about God being God and we being his people.Often, his glorification is best served by things going well, but occasionally, his glory is served in some less pleasant way (Rom 14:8).
Our suffering, individually and corporately, is never beyond his control and never allowed without his purpose. There are no meaningless moments. There is no meaningless pain in our lives.
Eswatini
This is one of the most challenging psalms. Its teaching is clear and straightforward. It is not difficult to understand, but it is challenging to carry out.If it is a psalm of David, it is one that he struggled to live by. We also may live up to it but poorly, but still, it is the ideal toward which we should strive.
We should praise God’s steadfast love and justice. Let us notice verse one in two translations.
I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music. (1, ESV). I will sing of your love and justice; to you, Lord, I will sing praise (1, NIV).
Although the “your” in the NIV of verse one may have weak grammatical justification, it is to God that we should first look in seeking to understand how to live. Praising him for his nature is the best first step toward correcting our nature.
Hesed is a word that defies definition. Many translations are offered: Steadfast love (ESV), Mercy (KJV), Love (NIV), Lovingkindness (ASV), Loyalty (RSV).As one moves through the psalm various other words are used that seem to be intended as synonyms for this one: blameless, integrity, faithfulness.Other terms are antonyms: slander, haughty, deceitful.
Hesed seems to mean giving what is needed rather than what is deserved. It means going beyond what can justly be demanded of us, giving up something due to us to bless another, and doing so repeatedly and faithfully.
The translations are more agreed on the second term, Mishpat.The KJV used the term “judgment” to translate this term. Translations since have used “justice.”Justice is “right and fair behaviour.”
It is the balancing of something that has been made unbalanced. It is the principle that when something wrong has been done it must be made right by restitution or correction of some type.Justice in measurement means giving correct measure and correcting errors if they occur.Justice in property means that the thief must give back what he took plus a penalty for the trouble he caused.Justice in regard to life demands, “if anyone sheds the blood of man, … (Gen 9:6).
Does God demonstrate steadfast love and justice?The cross is the great demonstration of both.
“For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. “For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:22-26).
We should practice integrity and justice ourselves.
I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; 3 I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. 4 A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil. I will ponder the way that is blameless (2-4).
Doing so starts internally but works itself out in our lives. We must ponder and walk (2).We cannot walk right while thinking wrong. Yet thinking alone is useless.
“What goes in goes out,” so we must not set evil before our eyes or cling to it in our hearts (3). Our goal should be to know nothing of it (4).
We should expect honesty and justice in those under our authority.
Whoever slanders his neighbour secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure. 6 I will look with favour on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me. 7 No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes. 8 Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord (5-8).
What is the point of living right if we allow those under our authority to do wrong? The author plans to reward those who are faithful and blameless (6). He will not give lodging (or other aid) to those who are deceitful (7; cf. 1 John 10-11).He will even punish those who practice evil (5, 8).If wrong is done under our authority, although we personally may not do it, we are still responsible for it (cf. Rom 1:32).
David fell rarely and repented quickly concerning his personal integrity; but in allowing Joab to serve him he undermined his own work and helped cause the greatest tragedies of his own life (2 Sam 3 and 18).
God will work with us, even if we make such mistakes. That is the good news.But it will be far better for us, for those with us, and for those who follow us, if we expect repentance in those under our authority and cut off those who refuse to repent (8).
We spend too much time looking at things from a worldly point of view. The steadfast love and justice of God should be our standard. We should seek to imitate it ourselves.We should expect steadfast love and especially justice of those under our authority.
Eswatini