DEDICATION OF PILGRIM'S REST
Psalm 30: 1-12
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A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe |
Today is indeed a great day in the life of our church. After ten years and a summer, we have finally moved into our own place. Has it been that long? Yes it has! I have driven enough miles to circle the globe six times and in the process worn down several vehicles! If you can bear with me, let me give you a brief history of our work together to raise up the Gospel of Grace over the last decade. In January of 1988 I was on six weeks medical leave with four body systems nearing a crash. I even had a heart monitor for a week or two. I was stressed out with my secular job, yet found the challenge and rewards of this calling to be a necessary therapy to focus my heart on those things that matter most. After six weeks of introductory Bible Study, the group of eight to ten agreed to continue on to explore the possibility of beginning a new congregation
After five months of Bible Study and some weeks of preparation and planning we held our first regular Sunday worship service. It was Pentecost Sunday of 1988. We called ourselves the Whitehall Reformed Fellowship and we had to keep quiet about our plans and activities because another dying congregation didn't want to share the city with us. There have been only a couple of weather cancellations since then and either I, one of the elders or a handful of guest ministers have preached continuously the doctrines of grace.
Almost everyone who has come and stayed, found their way here with a certain knowledge that this was the place that the Holy Spirit meant for them to grow spiritually as well as to learn and appreciate the precious gifts of the Gospel of Grace.
We have earnestly desired to grow larger in number as well as in heart and mind. However, whatever methods of church growth we have copied and applied, the Lord has refused to bless. Endeavoring instead to make us realize how much we must learn to depend upon His plan and providence alone. There have been obstacles, concerns and frustrations sometimes within the body.
Yet through it all we have been allowed a greater measure of the blessing of unity and a certain knowledge that the Holy Spirit has been in our presence. I still remember the Communion Sunday that a gnawing neck pain of many months, which you were tired of hearing about, went away entirely for three days. When it returned it was much less intense and in time it disappeared completely. Many of you have other experiences of the near presence of the Spirit who at the very least allowed you to see the clear meaning of Scripture, to learn to love the lawful doctrines and experienced the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We have met in homes, two store fronts, a bar, a nursery school and a public school. Through it all your financial generosity allowed us a full ministry of programs, mission giving and savings for this great season of 1998. So here we are, having begun a new chapter in the life of the congregation. Like the Judeans of several thousand years ago, we have stockpiled our resources for this moment of imitating however humbly - Zion's Holy Hill.
And so as we prepare to dedicate this old house and the grounds to the service of our God and King. As we do so, we would do well to consider the thoughts of David the King who wrote the psalm before us for a building dedication in his own time and place. This psalm we discover in the title was either written by David in anticipation of the dedication of the temple or as an older translations may allow, for the dedication of his own house.
Spurgeon believes that this psalm was composed in the later years of David's life. The scene he has in mind is the time after David takes a census and sees God's hand lay heavily on him and his people in punishment. The structure of the psalm is simple, the opening and ending sections of praise only briefly interrupted by the confession of over-confidence and its dire results. God would have us know well that it is He and He alone that upbuilds His own Church.
Verses one to three resound with praise for what God has done in the life of David, King in Israel. These are also words that we may use to praise our God and King for what He has done for us. Like David, we too have been lifted out of the depths of sin. Like David, when we called upon God for help, he healed us from the uncurable curse of sin. Like David, we have been brought up from the grave, we have been spared the eternal pit of hell. Instead of that fearsome eternity we have been saved. Three times David asserts that the Lord has accomplished good for his servant. "You healed, you brought, you spared".
He calls upon us, God's elect saints to "praise his holy name". And why are we asked to give God praise? The reason is simple: even when God's people sin, the Lord's anger is only temporary, but His grace is forever. David very definitely experienced God's anger when He numbered the people of Israel. The story is told carefully in 2 Samuel, Chapter 24 . In verses six and seven we find the sinful attitude of David the King.
"When I felt secure, I said, 'I will never be shaken.' O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed."
David felt secure in knowing he had 1,300,000 fighting men to protect the Kingdom. With numbers like that, even Saddam Hussein once felt confident. And yet, David quickly knows the sorrow of sin which came from his pride in being secure. See his words of confidence "I will never be shaken." Oh, how tempting it is to fall into the sin of materialism and count the numbers, the wealth and strength of our organizations - both political and spiritual. This is a temptation we must carefully guard against as we enjoy our Pilgrim's Rest and the delights that come with it.
Quickly David realized that the firmness of his mountain was dependent upon the Lord's favor. Quickly David knew the dismay of God's apparent absence. Do we know as well what David is experiencing here? Do we realize that depression and events that happen in our lives may be the hand of the Lord upon us to bring us like David to our knees? David assures us that God's anger against the sin of His saints is only temporary. Thank goodness that unlike the wicked, the pagan, and all of those who know not our God, His displeasure against our sins is only temporary. Yet, for all of those not within His grace, there is the specter of eternal damnation in the fires of Hell after Christ returns at the end of the age.
David in the depths of his sin turned again to God for mercy. "To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:" David faced with the realities of his sin in numbering the hosts of Israel falls on his knees in prayer. This is where we all belong. Whenever we know that God has hidden His face from us we need to pray. Here David's prayer is for mercy. His prayer is that his knowledge of the Lord's love might be restored. In the midst of his repentance he asks God what purpose would there be in his personal eternal destruction. He implies in the second half of verse nine that there would be one less to praise God's holy name.
To our ears this is bold prayer indeed. And yet having temporarily lost the assurance of knowing God, David asks if that all that has gone before in his relationship to God must have been a hoax. Only a person who has really, really known God can pray like this. This is not a public an's prayer, this is a man after God's own heart who has known the saving mercy of our God and King. Only after a very long relationship would we dare to follow David's example here. David is simply pleading for a return of the close comforting relationship which he has by sin temporarily forfeited.
Of course, there are many people in our time who have turned to the Lord early in life and then come back again after many years. As the Lord gives mercy and comforts them once again He proves that the early call was not in vain!
As we settle into this little place given to us by the kindness of our God and King let us be very careful to maintain our complete and total dependence upon the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ the only proper affection of our faith.
While David temporarily lost his assurance, the scriptural record goes on to prove that whatever is started by the Holy Spirit will indeed be completed. "Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help.", David earnestly writes. And the Lord graciously answers His prayer. Notice the rewards of God's mercy and grace in the last two verses for those who belong to Him.
"You turned my wailing into dancing, you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent."
Let us well remember that the Bride of Christ is a spiritual union and not a mere building however much we may appreciate what the Lord has done and intends to do in our midst. Have you all seen that pile of dirt at the east end of the property? That originally did not come with the property, this has been added for our benefit. Maybe not this year, but in God's time, it may become a parking lot beyond our current needs. I think it will be exciting to see what plans the Lord does indeed have for us as long as we remember to keep the focus that David learned from bitter experience. See the lesson there in the last phrase: "O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever". Amen and Amen.
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Resources Used: |
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Kidner, Derek. |
Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Psalms. | |
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Spurgeon, C.H. |
The Treasury of David. |
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The Holy Bible, New International Version. International Bible Society (1973, 1978, 1984) | ||
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Psm 030b |
02 Sept 90 & 11 Oct 98 | |