missionaries and you guys can deal with it. Understand that we're going to
continue our sermon series in the summer of Psalms, Psalm 18. And this is a...it's
actually...it's very appropriate. The heading on my Bible says,
the Lord is my rock and my fortress. I think we've stood on that just even in
our time together thus far in the baptism, in our worship, but also in
understanding that the reason why Jason and the Cadence do that and do what they
do is because the Lord is their rock and their fortress. God is their refuge and
strength. And so we want to start with the first six verses of Psalm 18. And so
we're going to be in Psalm 18, first six verses. I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my rock in whom I
take refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon
the Lord who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of
death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me, the cords of
shale entangled me, and the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I
called upon the Lord. To my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my
voice and my cry to him reached his ears. As we are looking at the faithfulness of
God in our lives and how we respond as believers, I think a lot is said right
there. I think for all of us we need those six verses of Psalm 18 in our
lives. Why? Because it puts God where God needs to be in our life. Because so often
we, in times of trial, in times of hardship, we like to do it on our own.
We're self-made people, rags to riches, blah blah blah blah, that we think we
can step in, fill the gap, and figure it all out on our own. And then the feelings
of frustration or anxiety or defeat when all of a sudden not only has the
situation not gotten better, we've made it worse. And I know a lot of you own
that with me today and I know that I do that as well in my life. Why? We can't
just look at these verses and stand on that and go, God is the rock in your
messy marriage right now. God is the rock in this act of sin of whatever it is,
that he is standing there desiring you to stand with him above whatever it is
you're struggling with. Your finances, the anxiety, the unknowns of the world.
And then he invites us to call upon him. Verse 3, I call upon the Lord who is
worthy to be praised. He's linking two very important things, that we call on
the Lord. Why? Because he tells us to. Seek me and you will find me, right? When
you call out to me, I will hear you, I will be with you, but that he is the only
one worthy to be praised. So what is he calling out this morning? He's calling
out our own selfishness. He's calling out the idol worship in each and every one
of us, because we have it. That shouldn't be a shocker to you, but we are prone to
idol worship. We're prone to worship things other than the Lord. Now it's
totally a God thing that we are reading this on Preparation Sunday, because God
reminds us of that in the law, in the Ten Commandments. I am the Lord your God, you
shall have no other gods before me. One's capital G, one's little g. But we have all
these little g gods in our life. Ourselves, our success, our time, our money,
our abilities. We get defined by what we do or by the things we post or whatever
all the time. We have a society that is built on worshipping self. You talk about
fellowship of Christian athletes? Having coached just in the Munster system up to
seven-year-olds, the amount of ego in some of these kids that don't even know
how to swing a bat right is unbelievable. And then it's being fed by their parents.
Understand that in the town of Munster gets very competitive, right Jason? Super
competitive, right? I love the back of the shirts we get as coaches. It says
relax, it's just a game. But seeing these interactions just in the area of sports,
the ego of sports, you don't think that we've turned sports into an idol? You
don't believe when so-and-so signs a 600 million dollar deal that that's not an
idol? You don't think that we are upholding sports and the sports kind of
faculties of life as this be-all end-all? Oh I believe we are as a society.
Ungodly amount of money for a game because of sponsorships and all of this
stuff. And I'm not downing the whole system but I thank God that there are
people like Jason and the Cadence. That sounds like a punk band. You guys should
think about that, Jason and the Cadence. Vandermine, you could be the lead vocalist.
But understand that this, to bring Christ into athletics is like being in a lion's
den. And that's why they need our support. And it's not because it's Munster Church
but any church should be excited to get involved with bringing Christ, proclaiming
Christ, and celebrating Christ on the sports field. Because guess what? When
both Cadence grow up to do whatever they're gonna do, it won't be that they've
forgotten their path because it's being instilled in them. The power of platform
for a Christian athlete is huge. And I think a lot of those, they would echo
Psalm 18. That in the midst of success and money and all that that brings in
the sports world, God is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. The one that if
we're gonna look at it kind of in this way. Now obviously in FCA you probably
don't pray to win and crush your opponent, right? Caden, you don't do that?
I hope not. Okay, but understand that Lord give us a good game, free us from what?
I'm not telling you to steal third, I'm pointing to parts of the body. Injury, say
injury. Right, that's another one. Keep us from injury because we know that in the
blink of an eye, and some of you high school star athletes, you were taken
down by a hangnail or something, that all of a sudden the life of an athlete
can turn like this. So when our identity is rooted in the things we do, when our
identity is rooted in the money we make, the people that love us, whatever
it is, when our identity is found in that, it has now become an idol.
And we need to declare and acknowledge the love of the Lord first and foremost
in our lives. The height of our catechism, Lord's Day 9, question answer 26.
What do you believe when you say, I believe in God the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth? This is the section breaking down the Lord's prayer.
The answer to that is that the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out
of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and
rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because
of Jesus Christ, his Son. Right there, God's created it. Who are we to take
credit for it? So one way that we can respond to God's faithfulness in life is
when we have success, that much like an athlete praying to not tear an ACL, we
better give that glory back to God because the minute we start taking the
glory on ourselves, friends, you just elevated yourself over somebody you
should never elevate yourself. It's one of the things I love about my elders at
this church, that I have ten individuals that and one wife that does it very
well, that if my head ever got so big it couldn't fit in this sanctuary, I
guarantee you I'd be called out on it. Any of us, we could all get very prideful
about Munster Church, we could. Double digit quarterly growth year over year,
budgets and all of these things, new understandings, we could say, wow, look at
us, we're so awesome. The minute I hear that I'm calling it out because it has
nothing to do with us creating. God has already done it. God's the one creating,
God's providence is what we're walking in and we are doing our best to be
faithful. Whether it's getting involved in ministry, ideas for new ministry, taking
that step of faith to being on council or one of the committees or coming up on
stage and singing, whatever it is, the minute we are doing it for us, we're
doing it for the wrong reasons. The understanding and the power of testimony
that God is the one doing the delivering, God is the one doing the providing, God
is the one that's doing the excelling, God is the one that's doing the growing
and we just get to sit here and give thanks to God for it is a really cool
place to be. Because we don't know what tomorrow holds. Tomorrow everything could
fall down, everything could be taken out. So when we respond to God's faithfulness
in our life, we have to recognize God is doing the delivering. It's not you, it's
never been you. It never will be you and we should rest in that and be excited
that it's not up to us to deliver the world. It's not up to us to die on the
cross. It's not up to us to save the world. No, already been done. We just have
to point to the cross in our thoughts, our words and our deeds. I guarantee you,
80% of us, our butts just tightened. Because our job is to point to the cross.
Are you saying in everything or just on Sunday mornings or just during small
group or just when I need to pray for somebody? Everything. If God, creator of
all, and we are in that and we are his creation, everything you do reflects the
sun. Everything you do reflects the cross. That is the hardest, that is the most
convicting thing I could probably say from any sermon on any stage. If you
are a believer and you claim Jesus is Lord and Savior, everything, everything
you do should reflect the cross. Whether you're in public, and here it comes, or in
private. Everything you do should reflect the cross. But that's hard.
Everything, pastor, everything. I didn't write the rules. Yes, everything. And
believe me, there's a mirror right here. I am looking at that mirror first.
Everything we do, we should be reflecting the cross. Then how else do we respond?
If it's just that understanding, and here's the real sad part, for
some people they're gonna go in their mind, oh I don't think it's worth it.
Really? Giving your life over to something bigger, better, greater than you
isn't worth it. Securing that you will be in glory forever and ever isn't worth
it. Because what you're doing is so star-spangled awesome in life and you've
got everything figured out. Really? That's gonna be the mode that you're gonna live
life with? There's an entire book that says if you look, if you run that race
and you live that life, for the wages of sin is what? Death. And that's not all
that exciting, yet it should be super convicting. How else do we respond to
God's faithfulness? It's recognizing His sovereignty, His deliverance, but also
it's worship. That we are called to worship God. Verses 46 through 49, the
Lord lives and blessed be the Rock and the exalted will be the God of my
salvation. The God who gave me vengeance and subdued people under me, who rescued
me from my enemies, yes you exalted me above those who rose against me. You
delivered me from the man of violence. For this I will praise you, O Lord, among
the nations and sing your name. David knew how to respond and David messed up.
David was an adulterer, David was a murderer, David abused his power. By all
accounts, if David was a pastor he would have been defrocked, it would have been
on the news, and he would have been done. But God restored him only the way God
could, yet for some of us, and this is, I'm just getting this right now, this is
off the cuff. For some of us you're gonna say, see I can still do all of that stuff
and God can still use me. Listen to what you just thought about. Yeah, I can be
adulterous, I can murder or have someone else murdered, whether physically or just
verbally or online, I can abuse my power, I can talk bad about other people, he
restored David, so guess what? He's gonna restore me too.
Brent, that's called cheap grace. You want to learn about cheap grace, Google
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, just start typing it, it'll know because you'll probably get it
wrong like I do, but Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about cheap grace, and it's the
biggest, what he calls, it's the biggest slap in Jesus's face, because as he's
breaking down Paul's saying when he says, should we continue to sin so grace may
abound? I got the grace gravy train, let's just keep doing all of this sin stuff
because the grace is gonna be there. Friend, the God that created everything
and delivered everything knows your sinful heart, and he knows the game you're
trying to play. God's not a fool, yet there are times we treat him like one,
which is why we worship him, which is why we come together every Sunday and we
worship, because he is the one deserved of worship, understanding that he is the
one that is in control. Believe me, if, let me just pick somebody, if Keith Hahn
was in control, if he was the one that died on the cross, we'd all worship him.
How uncomfortable are you right now that I'm bringing this up? Pretty
uncomfortable. Welcome to the diaconate. And so understanding that, you know, thank
God it's not, because though Keith is great, he's not Jesus. I'll put me on
there, I'll own this with you Keith. What if it was all at WWJD? What would Jim do?
No one would buy it, because what I can do is nothing compared to what Jesus has
done. And here's the thing, in the Bible it says, what Christ is doing in you, that
the deliverer, sustainer of all things is going, hey, that was awful. I'm ready to,
let's go to work. We have a job to do. Let's get the job done. Here are five
people in your sphere of influence that don't know Jesus. Let's find a way for
you to talk to them about me. Now you can go up to them, take water and go here,
come to Munster Church. Please don't do that. That's awful. That's the same thing
as a megaphone. You're sinners, come to church. Okay Jonah, that didn't work for
you, it's not gonna really work here. But understand what you can do is something
like Fellowship of Christian Athletes is doing. Meeting someone on their turf,
literally befriending them, building that trust bond, and telling their story. The
power of testimony is how the church will be advanced. I didn't make it up, it's
right here.
That maybe we invite people to be about what Jesus is doing in the community and
then in the church. Friends, that's how it goes. That's evangelism. That's
evangelism 101, which you're gonna hear in the coming weeks and months. A class
on that coming out of our community engagement that's gonna teach us what it
means to talk to our neighbors, to talk to people different than you. And 12% of
people right now in a statistic I just made up just said to themselves, I don't
need that. I would say when's the last time you talk to your neighbor? Well I
don't. Well clearly you need it then. Because what Jesus is calling all of us
to do is take his authority, his love, and his grace and to go out into the world.
That's what we're called to do. In different ways you can do that. You can
do it as loving babies in the nursery. No, and that's not a shameful plug for
nursery volunteers. But what a great ministry to welcome potential new people
to the church in that we have a hopefully maybe one day a nursery on the same
level, but understand that they're comfortable enough to drop their kids
off with you. Now you get people that drop kids off in nursery many different
ways. You have people that literally don't break stride, just toss the kid in and go
because they're just sick of it. And that's okay too. They're excellent
catchers. But you also have the mom, the first time mom or dad, that drops the kid
off and then waits outside the door and just kind of looks in for 10-15 minutes
and everywhere in between. But a good nursery with people with smiles on their
face ready to rock and love on their kids. What a great ministry of the church.
Or you know for the... is he out now? Is he asleep? Yeah that's what a lot of people do
when I start talking Barrett. Is as Barrett gets older he goes into
Lighthouse just having rocking teachers that can help put Bible stories in
their understanding. Teaching them songs and all of these things. Getting them
ready for youth group. Getting them ready for junior high and high school.
Catechism. Learning the deep truths of God's Word. And maybe, oh just maybe,
things start to connect. The Holy Spirit regenerates in their heart and they're
standing on this stage proclaiming Christ.
Guys that's it. That's it in a nutshell. And then we go out. Yet in time what
happens? We grow older. We get cynical. We get sarcastic. We get kind of
funny about faith. And then all of a sudden it's like well where's God in my
life? Friend he's always been there. Where are you in God's life? Where is that
recognition of what God is doing? Because the final response we have is trust.
We've had on the sign, I've had a lot of people coming in from Lansing see the
sign. Trust and obey. There is no other way. Yeah we don't like that. When you
tell me to obey I feel like I'm a dog going and being trained. Well that's a
you problem. I don't know how to help you in that. That trust and obey is in here.
Why don't we trust in the God that's created everything and obey him when he
says hey this is the best way to live life. To me it's simple yet we always
make it very very hard. I close with this. This God his way is perfect. The word of
the Lord proves true. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. Or who
is God but the Lord? And who is the rock except for God? The God who equipped me
with strength and made my made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet
of a deer and sent me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war so
that my arms my arms can bend the bow the bow of bronze. He has given me the
shield of your salvation and the right hand supported me and your gentleness
made me great. You gave me a wide place for my steps under my feet and my feet
did not slit. Now some of you are hung up because of the war thing. He has trained
me for the spiritual warfare in life. That sometimes the best way you can love
on people is praying for them in Jesus name. Praying for them over whatever
they're going through in life. Whether it's the Stegengas or it's the Dykestras
or the brand-new baptized baby or whoever it is. Prayer is the greatest
way that we can start that dialogue. Because I don't know what better comfort
when I get a note in the in the mail or in my box or in an email. Pastor I prayed
for you today. That means the world to people that understand it. And praying
for those that don't understand doesn't mean we stop. It means we pray
continually. Prayer getting us involved praying for our church. Knowing that if
we're doing this for our glory then we're gonna stop. If we're doing this for
the glory of the elders and the deacons we're gonna stop. We'll close the doors
turn off the lights and sell this to somebody else. Because it's not about us.
It's about what the Creator God is doing and how we are responding to his
deliverance to worship and to trust. So the stand if you are able and let's close
together with our communal closing prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you for
your own let's all go do this together. Communal prayer. Heavenly Father we thank
you for your unwavering faithfulness in our lives. You are our rock fortress and
deliverer. Help us to recognize your deliverance in every aspect of our lives
and may our hearts overflow with praise and worship for you. Teach us to trust in
your perfect ways and unfailing promises. As we seek to serve you in our church
communities guide us in sharing our testimonies, participating in worship and
encouraging others to trust you in your faithfulness. Strengthen our faith and
unity as we grow together in your love. In Jesus name we pray amen.