Psalm 133 - 2010.02.27

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” — Psalm 133:1

Careful meditation on this short psalm, of which our “nugget”” for today is the key verse, will quickly take the scripturally informed believer to the New Testament where unity” is a vital concept. The unity of the true family of grace is divinely revealed in the Word of God. For example, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all [Eph. 4:4-6].” This is not offered as an ideal; it is declared to be a fact. The realization of that unity is declared to be the essence of God’s purpose in grace, God “Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him.

It was the Savior’s burden, shortly before His crucifixion, that this unity might be evident in His body, the church, when He prayed,

“As Thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and has loved them, as Thou hast loved Me. [John 17:18-23].”

Not only is the unity of believers underscored in this prayer, but the impact of the gospel is unmistakably linked to it. “That the world may believe…that the world may know.” A divided church will lack the persuasive power of the Spirit of God before the watching world, both globally and locally. Little wonder then that believers are enjoined, “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring [lit. “striving”] to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [Eph. 4:1b-3].” The fragmented church throughout the world, and the fractured local assemblies so often seen in any given area, reveal the success of Satan’s counter attack against the divine purpose on the world stage. ‘How wretched and unpleasant it is to see “wars and fightings” among brethren in Christ!’

There is a most interesting illustration in the life of Abraham in his engagement with Lot. When both men enjoyed exceptional success in the cattle business, there was a contest for grassland. “And there was strife between the herdmen of Abraham’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled in the land.” (Their pagan neighbors were watching.) “And Abram said unto Lot, Let their be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.” (My italics.) Then the Friend of God takes further initiative, deferring to his younger relative and saying, “Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, than I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left [Gen. 13:7-9].” Lot made his choice and took the best of the land; in the interest of unity, Abraham yielded to his brother and got the blessing of the Lord.

Many, of course, have seen the problem and issued a cry for unity that misses the mark. The scriptural appeal is for unity among “brethren,” those born into the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Satan’s genius is to scatter the church, then unite it around another center. Unity at the expense of Truth is not what God is looking for, but “the unity of the (Holy) Spirit.” The tragedy occurs when those who are true believers in Christ are guilty of dividing over matters and issues that have no basis in the Scriptures. Material matters and/or personality conflicts that have no root in the word of God are oftentimes matters of individual priority and pride, giving aid and comfort to the adversary. It is with reference to such that we are instructed in the Bible to lay aside our differences and “in honor preferring one another” to strive, at our own expense if necessary, to set before the world the fragrance of the grace and glory of God: “Like the precious ointment upon the Head (!) that ran down…to the skirts of [Aaron’s] garments.”

Are you helping make your church a fragrant place?

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalm 132 - 2010.02.20

“For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.” —Psalm 132:10-12

This Psalm is a bit enigmatic, and one is hard pressed to determine its exact origin. I am inclined to side with those who see it as a psalm of David and his use of the third person (vss. 1 and 10, e.g.) as a not altogether unusual literary device. It is from that perspective, trusting the Lord for wisdom, that we approach our “nugget” for today.

There is in v.10 an impassioned plea that ought to be the heartfelt and frequent prayer of every believer. “Turn not away the face of Thine anointed.” The first question is, who is the “anointed?” Some deem it to be David himself, divinely anointed as king of Israel. If that were the case, the essence of the prayer would be, ‘Don’t turn my face away from you,’ That does not make a whole lot of sense. The more logical meaning is, to paraphrase, ‘Do not turn the face of Your anointed from me.’ The Psalmist’s vision, then, is focused upon God’s anointed and his plea is for His sustained favor. The numerous references in scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s anointed surely give legitimacy to this understanding and the plea then becomes a prayer for the sustained favor of God in the king’s life. This, I say, should be the passion and prayer of every true believer. Nothing in our life is more important than knowing we are in His favor and abiding in fellowship with Him.

The divine response is remarkable. God, Who cannot lie, replies with an oath that amounts to an assurance of everlasting favor to David, manifested in a successor to the throne for ever (see v.12, the last clause.) That promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in “the Son of David,” our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In fact, this very text was employed by the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost:

"Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ…"(Acts 2:29-31a)

The divine promise is made unconditionally, and rests upon His grace. David’s anointing and his temporal throne foreshadow Christ’s eternal anointing and His position as King of Kings and Lord of Lords forever. The glorious assurance thus given to David parallels our assurance of God’s eternal favor because of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins according to the scriptures. Thereby He has made us “kings and priests unto God and His Father” forever (See Rev. 1:6) This glorious truth is reiterated in the chorus of the beasts and elders in Rev. 5:9-10: “For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” All of grace, to the glory of God the Father!

But what of the next verse? “If thy children will keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.” That is a conditional promise relating to David’s earthly descendants, and in due season they failed to meet the condition. As a result, David’s temporal throne has been vacated for many generations. The promise to David has not failed, but the disobedience of his children in the interim has cost them the rights and privileges of reigning.

What the spiritual significance of this suggests to me is this: Those who become children of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are authorized to “reign in [this] life.” “For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ [Rom. 5:17 my italics].” Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it [John 14:12-14].” That is “reigning in life,” and many Christians know nothing of what it means, Why? The next verse offers a suggestion: “If ye love Me, keep my commandments.” Redemption requires only faith in Christ and His atoning work;Reigning demands obedience!

All the sons of David were legitimate heirs to his throne, but their disobedience to God has denied them the right to reign. All the children of God are authorized to reign now with Him and through Him (and for Him) but disobedience will deny them the privilege. If there is a “power outage” in our life, the problem may lie just here!
For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalm 131 - 2010.02.13

“LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.” —Psalm 131:1

Self exaltation is the curse of the human race. It was the tool by which the tempter twisted the heart of Adam in the garden of Eden and brought the catastrophe of sin into our being. Created to reflect the glory of God, Adam and Eve were lured to seek it as their own when the adversary suggested that if they secured what God had forbidden, they would in their own right “be as gods.” (Gen. 3:5)

Under the direction of the Holy Spirit the apostle Paul warns believers of the menace of pride, declaring,”I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith [Rom. 12:3].”

Twice in the book of Proverbs we are instructed, “before honor is humility.” Accordingly, James first declares, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble,” then exhorts, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up [James 4:6,10].” The apostle Peter echoes him when he writes, “Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time [I Pet. 5:5-6].”

The Savior, of course, taught the same truth when in Luke’s gospel He declared, “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (See Luke 14:7-11 and 18:10-14) And it is He who said, “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven [Matt. 18:13].” Certainly for the believer, “the way up is down.”

Many have been barred from the kingdom because they are too proud to admit themselves sinners and helpless to save themselves. Sadly, too many who have passed that test and trusted the Savior have forgotten that humility is not merely a passport to eternal life, but a garment to be worn throughout our journey from here to eternity. You will remember king Saul. When chosen by God, though “head and shoulders” above his fellows and impressive to behold, he responded to Samuel’s announcement, “Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou to me?” But years later when displaced from God’s favor Samuel explained, “When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel [I Sam. 15:17]?” Divested of his earlier humility, he was no longer qualified to serve the Lord. How many saints and servants of God have been similarly disqualified, and many a church suffered in consequence.

Every person who stands in the presence of the Lord will be mindful of his own woeful inadequacy—his heart will not be haughty. He will be aware of his own inability to judge others rightly—his eyes will not be lofty. And he will appreciate something of the limitations of his own understanding, and so able to leave some things to God alone for their resolution, not exercising himself in things beyond his measure, understanding that “the secret things belong unto the Lord [Deut. 29:29].”

That is the spiritual posture exhibited by the Psalmist in this short, but significant psalm. It stands in striking contrast to those vain persons of whom the scripture speaks who, “…walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption [II Pet. 2:10-12].”

May God give us the wisdom and the grace to share the psalmist’s testimony.

"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” — Micah 6:8

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalm 130 - 2010.02.06

Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.” —Psalm 130:1-4

There is no greater blessing for a straying soul, whether a believer or an unbeliever, than conviction of sin. The writer declares, “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee.” Until he discovered his plight, God was not in all his thoughts; at best, he “followed…afar off.” When he found himself in the pit, in the mirey clay, he was moved to cry unto the Lord, and that is a good thing.

It was out of the depths that Job engaged his long and difficult cry to the Lord and came out at last with a vision of God he did not have before. “He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. I cry unto Thee… [Job. 30:19-20a],” but when the battle was over, he declared, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and Ashes [42:5-6] .” His vision of God’s holiness, a vision many of us lack, emerged from the depths.

Jonah went AWOL from the Lord until he was cast into the depths (literally) but it was there that he was restored to service:

“Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple [Jonah 2:1-7 italics mine].”

Peter, filled with self confidence, walked on the water until seeing “the wind boistrous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt [Mat. 14:30-31].” There he learned the importance of walking by faith and “having no confidence in the flesh.”

Someone has said, “Every one prays; but very few cry.” The superficiality of our prayers indicates our insensibility to both sin and holiness. It was in the depths that the psalmist discovered and reflected upon the universality and the horror of sin: “If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?”

And it was out of that “depth” that he reflected upon the measure of God’s mercy. Thankfully there is with the Lord “plenteous redemption,” (v.7) but It is not until we have been convicted—really convicted—of sin that we discover the significance of God’s mercy. We may sing about it and talk about it, and even preach about it, but we will never really appreciate it until we know the “pit from which we have been digged.” Isaiah cried, “Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged [Isa. 51:1].” The greatest distance in the world is the distance between that Rock and the pit, but we may fail to measure it appreciativey until we have spent some time in the depths.

Finally let us note, “There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.” Conviction of sin resulted in consternation, but through it all there emerged a confidence in God that eventuated in a new and deeper respect and reverence for God. “We love Him because He first loved us,” and the magnitude of our love is the measure of our appreciation for His grace.

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“If ye love me, keep My commandments.”

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier