We continue our summer in the Psalms as we're looking at God's faithfulness.
And I chose to kind of work through our three forms of unity, the Belgian
Confession, the Heideberg Catechism, and the Canons of Doric.
Today I'm going to specifically stick with the Belgian Confession as I think it
really brings out and illuminates some of the points that the psalmist is trying to
make, King David, in Psalm 17.
But I want to start by asking a question.
We probably know people in our life that maybe has the title of being someone who
is a, well, let's just call this faith a liar.
Someone that really doesn't know the truth or doesn't really speak into the
truth much.
And we may know those people in our lives.
Possibly, just possibly, we might be that in other people's lives.
And I hope that that's not the case, that deceit is not something that the Lord
approves of in scriptures, that when we lie, we are not only breaking a
commandment, but we're causing division in the body, especially in the church.
But when you know, when you're talking to someone and they are just either
embellishing a story, now this goes way beyond how big the fish might have been,
right, because that really doesn't matter too much.
But understand, in other things in life, when you're talking with someone and you
just kind of know that they are, insert however you want to describe them, in
that, what are some things going through your mind?
When you know that whatever this person is saying is just not true.
What goes through your mind?
Oh, really?
Okay.
I could also hear you saying that out loud, so not just in your thoughts.
What else?
Yeah.
Oh, here we go again.
All right, yeah.
Here we go again.
Anything else?
Charlie Brown teacher noise, right?
Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.
Okay.
Thank you.
That's not when I start preaching, right?
That's just, no, okay, good.
All right.
We just wanted to make sure.
Others?
Yeah.
What?
Must.
Oh, that's some of the new lingo, right?
That's, now we're all hip.
All right, so must.
You think that in your mind, must.
Now, you're going to be in the medical field.
You're going to must a lot, okay, that people are going to come and do a lot of
made up stories.
So, you're just being prepared for it.
Okay, are you going to write that down on their chart?
You probably can't tell because of the HIPAA laws, but, you know, must.
All right.
Hopefully, you're, whoever is your boss knows what that means.
So, how many of you actually just call it out when they start talking and just
go right into the conflict?
It's where people are actively, just like a Smedberg, right?
Yep, just like a Smedberg.
I preach, is that true?
Is why I just call that out?
He has no time for that mess.
Absolutely.
I love that.
You know, but the thing that David does in the Psalms is that David asked the
Lord to change his mouth often.
That David knew that he was prone to embellishing.
David knew that he loved a good story, especially early on in his life.
And the Psalms are filled with him confessing that.
Confessing that he would have a heart that is true because he believes, even
though it would have been after, right, he would have believed what Solomon, his
son, wrote, that the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
And so, one of the things that we're going to talk about today is
understanding that the Lord is faithful, not only in every season, but in
everything we bring, good, bad, and ugly.
That there are cries that we see in the Scriptures are because of what are the
things going on in the world.
And we could do that today.
We could cry out about all the junk going on in the world, and that would
fill our prayer journals if we had them.
But it's also about the junk going on inside of each and every one of us.
That when we are honest with our shortcomings, we're honest with the act
of sin in our life, we cry out to the Lord, hopefully in the same vein.
So, we're going to jump into Psalm 17.
We're going to start with verses 1 and 2, where David writes,
"'Hear a just cause, O Lord, attend to my cry, give ear to my prayer from lips
free of deceit.
From your presence, let my vindication come.
Let your eyes behold the right.'"
So, what we see is we see David in a moment of really on a spiritual high.
We see David coming to the Lord in a good place because he's recognizing
that he's being honest with the Lord today.
And I think for some of us, we struggle with that.
Because no matter how long you've been in church, maybe you've been in church
all your life, and you have this understanding that I'll bring God
whatever I desire to bring God, and he'll just have to deal with it.
It's kind of a denial of the fact that God is sovereign, God is overall,
and he knows exactly what you're going to bring before you bring it.
And that also means he knows what you're not bringing.
And I think, and I know I'm guilty of it, there are times that I only go so far
with God because I go, God, I don't know if you can handle the rest.
Or I'm not ready to give that over to you yet.
Or I'm not ready to confess that yet.
And then I look like the fool, or you look like the fool, because we're talking
to someone who already knows.
And all God is urging us to is to confess, as David says, free from the
deceit in our lips.
David begins by appealing to God's justice and his readiness to listen.
Now, as someone who struggles with listening, this one hit home.
I know you're all surprised.
I love to talk.
It's sometimes very difficult for me to listen because as people are talking,
I'm planning what I'm going to say next.
That is not active listening.
It's something I'm working on.
In this moment, David is wanting to listen because David has a renewed
confidence in his own integrity and his trust in God as the ultimate judge.
On the flip side, we don't go far enough.
We try to hide from God when we are walking in active sin.
And we know the life of David.
David lived and walked in active sin that brought death to people.
And trust and adultery are in his background.
So this idea of confessing, this idea of standing before God without
deceit in our lips actually plays a pretty important point to God's
faithfulness.
It's hard to accept God's faithfulness when you're living in a lie or you're
living in an active sin.
It's hard to accept God's faithfulness in this season of life if you're not
ready to be honest with God about what's going on in your life.
How can you?
It's all made up.
You're putting lipstick on a pig.
However you want to describe it, if we're not being honest, then
ultimately whatever we're trying to build in that relationship doesn't
mean anything.
Because ultimately when the truth comes out, that relationship will fall.
Whether it's us and God, me and my spouse, me and a friend, all of these
things, if we're not being honest, if we're not building upon honesty and
integrity, then it will ultimately fall because the ground is not worth
standing on.
And so understanding that God's faithfulness is there and what do we
need to do to be prepared to receive it, the Belgian Confession helps us in
Article 26.
We believe that we have no access to God except through the only
mediator and advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous.
But this mediator, whom the Father has appointed between himself and us,
ought not terrify us by his greatness so that we look for one another
according to our fancy.
For neither in heaven nor among the creatures on earth is there anyone who
loves us more than Jesus Christ does.
So what is the Belgian Confession encouraging us to stand on that we need
to be honest with ourselves as we come to the Father in prayer, as we come to
engage that intimate relationship with God.
So one way that God's faithfulness can be received by us no matter the seasons
of life is your prayer life.
Now I could ask how, you know, raise your hand if you're comfortable with the
level of prayer life that you have, but I'm not going to ask that because I
think that's the wrong question.
The question is are you praying?
Am I praying?
Now for some of you, like wow, that whole installation thing, that
congregation prayer, we prayed like three times.
I'm good for the week.
That's not how that works.
That is corporate prayer that we are called to have that relationship with God
one on one, mano-e-mano, when it comes to our prayer life.
So how do we grow in prayer?
How do we model that?
Well I know at one point we had a prayer team in this church and I know that we
had a ministry called Praying Apart where it was a rotation of people that went
downstairs and prayed for myself, prayed for the musicians, prayed for the
nursery, prayed for all things going on during the service.
And I think after COVID that stopped.
I'm not 100% sure if it's start back up again, but if it hasn't, this is a nudge
from the stage that we should probably resurrect a prayer ministry in this
church because it is important and right and good for a church to be in prayer
for what is going on.
Now don't get me wrong, elders, deacons, the leaders, staff, we pray as we
discern and we do all of those things, but having those who have a gift of
prayer, that there is actually giftings in prayer.
Now this doesn't get out of anybody.
We all are called to pray, but there are some that bringing about organizing
communal and confessional prayer is gifting and I know there's at least four
of you that I'm this close to naming you from the stage, but I'm not going to do
that.
You know who you are that I know have been gifted in the spirit of prayer, but
maybe you've never thought about that.
Maybe you go, wow, that's something I enjoy praying.
I love praying over people and for people.
I love discerning the body and praying for the church.
Awesome.
I think that's something that we need to probably start back up again because
bringing our needs before the Lord week in and week out is a faithful
understanding of what David is telling us.
But what about our personal side?
An application to this is a regular prayer time.
Setting aside specific times each day for prayer.
Making it a priority to communicate with God and share your heart with him.
Trusting in his faithful listening.
For some of us it's right when we wake up.
For some of us it's we wake up, we go to the bathroom and then we pray.
That's fine too.
For some of us it's late at night that we pray right when our pillow hits the
pillow and then we go, oh, and then we just sleep it away.
If you're anything like my wife, her prayer time cannot be at the end because
I believe she's asleep before her head hits her pillow.
I think it's in that down kind of, she's out.
So that would probably not be fruitful prayer.
I know for some of you, because you've told me, you have long commutes and
that is a time of prayer.
I guarantee that that's probably bringing down your road rage.
Your road rage is if you use your commutes for prayer time, it's probably a
good thing, but having a regular prayer time, becoming a habit.
For some of us it might be the need to journal our prayers.
To actually record and write.
Some of us are built that way in our brain that we need to have it listed out.
And that's a very powerful thing.
So if we're going to be attuned and ask God for that relationship, engage it in a
very practical way.
Because we have to trust that as we're doing that, as we're vulnerable with God,
as we are being honest with ourselves and confessing our sins, trusting He is
faithful and just, we take solace in His faithfulness to be our protection.
Verses seven through nine.
Wonderously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from
their adversaries at your right hand.
Keep me as the apple of your eye.
Hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly
enemies who surround me.
Here is a recognition that when we are in right standing with God, we can receive
a very quippy saying by David that we are the apple of God's eye.
Now, who are the apples of your eyes in life?
Who gets that title nowadays?
Family, right?
Kids mainly, for the most part, right?
That kids get that, oh, they're the apple of our eye.
For some of you, it's your dogs and cats.
I think you're doing it wrong, but I'm not here to judge.
You know, but this understanding of claiming someone as the apple of our eye
means what?
What does it mean to be the apple of somebody's eye?
Very important.
It's kind of a weird sentence that you are the apple of my eye that I don't fully get
it.
I tried to research it, and there are a lot of different takes, and only half of them
would have been appropriate to share from the stage of what that actually means.
But what we can center on this section of scripture, it's an ancient phrase
indicating something precious and carefully guarded.
The metaphor of being hidden in the shadow of the wings draws on a protective instinct
of a bird sheltering its young.
So in this, though there's adoration and an understanding of who I am in Jesus, there's
also a nod and an understanding that I am being protected by him.
But as we grow up, let's take dating relationships for example, trust isn't built right away.
That over the years, months, weeks, whatever, you build that trust, and my hope is 16 years
married, 21 years together, that Carrie knows that in a time where it's needed that I will
protect her.
Hopefully my kids understand that if there ever comes a time where they need that protection
that I would be there.
It's the same relationship we have with God, that in our times of struggle that God is
protecting us, but when we keep tallies and go, well, the cancer came back, or the relationship
still isn't restored, God, how are you protecting me because I'm being hurt?
There's an understanding of physical and eternal protection.
You know, we need to understand that as we grow in God, we grow in a common understanding
of what God is bringing and doing in our lives.
It's not necessarily for the 90, 72, 104, 11 years we may have on this earth.
That when we grow in our relationship with God, we need to grow that it's his way, his
will for our lives.
But for a lot of us, we just tightened up because we don't like that.
We don't like that when all of a sudden there's a tragedy and a child dies.
When that relationship that we have that's been hard for 20 years still isn't resolved.
We don't like that because we want it on our comfort level.
We want it done via our will, not God's will.
In order to be a follower of Jesus, we need to submit 100% to God's will, to his sovereign
reign in our life.
Because God's playing the long game.
I've said it before, I'll say it again.
If we're given 90 years on this earth, that is a crumb of dust in light of eternity.
And that's where God wants you with him forever and ever.
Amen.
And so we look to that protection.
We confess those things to a God that loves us and protects us.
Article 13 of the Belgian Confession says, we believe that the same God after he had
created all things did not forsake them nor give them up to fortune or chance.
That he rules and governs according to his holy will.
So that nothing happens in this world without his appointment.
But if you want to struggle with that, you want to look at the things of the world and
put up your dukes with God and say you're not doing your job, you're putting yourself
in a very unhealthy place.
You're putting yourself into a destructive place.
And this is going to sting.
You're putting yourself in the same place Lucifer did before he fell from grace.
Before he fell from heaven.
Because now you're on par with thinking you can do it as good or, if we're being honest,
better than God.
That we want to take the wheel of our life and we want to be the driver.
We want to be the decider.
We want to have everything figured out.
But friends, that's not a life of faith.
It can't be a life of faith.
Because ultimately if you're going to be the one steering the wheel of your life, you have
to have faith in yourself not to screw it up.
To swerve when you need to swerve.
To break when you need to break.
To gun it when you need to gun it.
God already has that laid out for you.
God already has that laid out for me.
And though we may only see this much ahead, we have to trust and take it on faith.
So what does that look like as far as Munster Church goes?
Well, that comes with honesty and leadership.
That comes with an understanding of vision and mission to move forward.
But that shows that part of our job then is to take all of us deeper than where we are
today.
That we need to grow in our understanding of God's Word.
We need to grow in our understanding of worship.
We need to grow in our understanding of what it means to be at 214 Ridge Road.
And it takes all of us.
It's not just put on the six guys that were installed today and the other guys that are
still in.
It takes all of us to do that.
It takes volunteering.
It takes being the hands and feet.
Whether it's working with our food pantry, volunteering in our ministries like Cadets
and Gems, it's taking that step of faith.
Saying, I don't know how to do this well, but I trust that God's going to help me.
I'm going to trust that the team is going to equip me.
I'm going to trust that the elders and the deacons and the pastors will be there if I
have questions.
What does that look like internally?
The first thing that comes to mind is not going into a ministry with an agenda.
That's the worst.
Especially for people that may have been in a ministry for years and years and years,
took the season off and then come back in with the understanding is we're going to make
this exactly how it was 30 years ago.
It doesn't make any sense.
I love the passion.
I love the long standing understanding about a ministry or a certain program, but it's
coming in and learning.
All six of you that were up here understand what I just said.
It comes in, you come in and you learn.
Because we know those people that come in and just try to take over.
The people that know everything, right?
The people that come in and fake it until they make it, they're exhausting and they
really hurt ministry teams.
But it's understanding that we're going to work together for the common good.
Why?
Because Jesus calls us to do that.
That makes for healthy ministries.
Doing the work for those new gems and cadet counselors that will come out of the word
work over the next couple of weeks, it's learning about gems and cadets.
Learning from those that have done it, putting in practice the best practices for the ministry.
But working together and not doing it alone.
Because here's the thing, if the Lord's not going to take a chance on any of you that
are going to step into the ministry, how dare you take a chance in trying to figure it all
out on your own?
Learn from those that have done it.
Sit in and be a sponge and soak it in.
On your own time, do your own study.
Grow deeper.
Grow not only in the Scriptures, but grow in your relationship with God.
Because then God at the right time will appoint you to maybe bring a kid into that.
Maybe you'll have a cadet or a gem or a junior high or senior high youth and go, how do I
grow deeper in Bible study?
How do I grow?
How can I hear the voice of God better?
And if you don't know how to do that, or you've never wrestled with that yourself, what are
you going to tell them?
Be honest, what are you going to tell them?
Go ask the pastor.
I don't want that extra job, right?
God has called you to that season.
Don't get me wrong, I'll help you in that.
But remember, you can't give what you don't have.
So many times we enter these ministries and we enter into the life of the church trying
to do it all ourselves, trying to pour out with a glass that has been empty for a long,
long time.
Because the same God that has called us to be honest and open, that has put His protection
on us, will deliver us in the end.
Verses 13 through 15, arise, O Lord, confront Him, subdue Him, deliver my soul from the
wicked by your sword, from men by your hand, O Lord, from men of the world whose portion
is in this life.
You fill their womb with treasure, they are satisfied with children, and they leave their
abundance to their infants.
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness when I awake.
I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
Here David is contrasting the fate of the world.
He's calling it out.
They're going to get what's coming to them.
They're putting all of their hopes and needs in themself.
But God looks to the Lord.
He looks forward to a deeper, eternal satisfaction in God's presence.
This is a wonderful hope of Jesus found in the Old Testament.
That as we look forward, as David was looking forward to the Messiah, he knew that these
kind of things would be offered to the world.
This hope, this satisfaction in the abundance of life put in them by the creator of all.
David's hope is not just in the temporal, worldly deliverance, but in the eternal vision
of God's face.
As I close this morning, are we seeking God's face?
I guarantee you in the process for lots, we were seeking God's face.
That's how that process works.
But in our life, in the life of the church, but in our lives individually, when's the
last time you sought God's face?
When is the last time you've asked for that meeting with the holy, just you and him, to
talk through the things of life?
To confess the things that you need to confess, to hear the encouragement and the life that
God gives all of us?
Belgian Confession, Article 37.
Finally, we believe, according to God's word, that at the time appointed by the Lord has
come, which is unknown to all creatures, and the number of the elect is complete, our Lord
Jesus Christ will come from heaven, corporately and visibly, as he ascends, with great glory
and majesty, to declare himself judge of the quick and the dead.
Can you put that back up, April?
This is why, in my opinion, the Belgian Confession, this is my favorite confession that we have,
is because of this article right here.
Because there is a phrase in this, and we've talked about it already, a lot of you know
it's coming, that tells me our work is still to be done.
Our work is not done.
Yes, the seven of you that are now off of Elder and Deacon, I want you to rest, but
our work, your work, is not done.
Right there, right in the middle, and the number of the elect is complete.
Jesus has not come back yet.
That majesty and that glory has not, we have not been caught up in that, we have not met
him in the air, we are not in heaven yet.
Because there's still work to be done.
So how do we do this?
How do we look towards that daily, when the struggles of life want to knock us down?
We need to keep an eternal perspective.
In moments of struggle, remind yourself of the eternal joy and fulfillment that awaits
in God's presence.
Write down your challenges in your prayers and reflect on how they fit into God's larger
plan for your life.
Part of it is participating in the life of the church.
And it's practicing gratitude.
This is a big one for me.
Maintaining, maybe a gratitude journal, but noting the daily blessings and the ways God
has delivered you.
This practice helps shift the focus from ourselves and our present difficulties to God's ongoing
faithfulness and his future promises.
It gives you an eternal perspective.
And friends, that is my prayer for me and all of you every day.
Is that at Munster Church, we can have eternal perspective.
We can help give that perspective to each other.
It makes these giant issues not so giant, but it also allows us to look forward to what
God is doing.
So often in our life, we want to look back and either beat ourselves up for the hundredth
time, test that the Lord's even forgiven us, as far as the east is from the west, he remembers
your sin no more, but he keeps us moving forward in life.
Knowing that this current struggle you may find yourself in, this current time of famine
or testing isn't it.
That's not all that there is for you.
This too shall pass in keeping that eternal fixation on Christ, the author and the perfecter
of our faith.
So as we grow, church, let us grow well.
Let us grow in the right areas of God.
The loving God and the loving people part, let that be the first and foremost.
Let us struggle with those that struggle.
Let us have joy with those who have joy.
Let us give perspective to all things in life until the elect is complete.
Please stand if you are able.
As we are doing with this sermon series, let us conclude together in unison with our closing
prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your unwavering faithfulness.
Help us to trust in your listening ear, protective care, and powerful deliverance.
Guide us to actively participate in the life of Munster Church through prayer, service,
and fellowship.
May we support one another and grow in our faith together.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
And remember, after the benediction, those new leans to the church, we pray.