My Keeper

My Keeper

Third Sunday after Epiphany

Collect of the day: Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Psalter: 121

1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills; from whence cometh my help?  

2 My help cometh even from the LORD, who hath made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.

4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

4 The LORD himself is thy keeper; the LORD is thy defence upon thy right hand;

5 So that the sun shall not burn thee by day, neither the moon by night.

6 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil; yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.

7 The LORD shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, from this time forth for evermore.

You may have heard the old anti-Darwinist joke. A monkey in the zoo asks himself: “Am I my keeper’s brother?”

The verb “keep” and noun “keeper” occur four times in the Prayer Book version, but the Hebrew word is found seven times in the original. It is the theme of the Psalm.

When my wife gets frustrated with my losing things, she is prone to say, “You need a keeper.” I don’t like the idea of a keeper, because it sounds like she wants someone to put me in a cage.

But, if something I were facing a great danger, I would welcome a keeper. That’s why the Psalmist loves to use the word.

1. Question

Psalm 121 is the second of 15 Songs of Ascent. They were recited or sung by pilgrims making their way from Galilee and Judah up to Jerusalem to one of the annual Feasts. It is easy to see how this particular Psalm was included in this series of Psalms.

1.1. A pilgrim is traveling, and he sees ahead the hills. There are two possibilities of what hills he sees.

• It may be that the sees the hills that lie between him and his destination - the hills he is about to go over on his way to Jerusalem.

• Or it may be that he is looking at the hills of Jerusalem and the Temple in the distance - the hills that are his goal though he has miles to travel before he gets there.

1.2. As he lifts his eyes to the hills - whichever hills he has in mind - he asks the question, “From whence cometh my help?”

• If he is thinking about the hills he is about to ascend, his concern is the dangers that lurk ahead in the hills, possibly bands of robbers.

• Or, if he is closer to Jerusalem and thinking about the hills of the city and the Temple, then he is thinking about the things that could yet happen to him before he gets there. And he asks, Where is my help coming from - my help to keep me safe and let me arrive in Jerusalem unharmed?

1.3. You know how it is when you let your mind go to all the things that could go wrong. The Psalmist thinks of all the evils that could occur. “Evil” has two meanings in the Bible. One is “moral evil” - sin, wickedness. The other meaning is calamity, catastrophe, tragedy. The Psalmist is thinking about evil in this second sense. A number of things could happen:

• He could lose his footing on a slippery spot or trip on a rock or vegetation.
• He could get burned by the son and suffer heatstroke.
• Something could happen at night when the moon is out - maybe he is thinking about dangers that lurk in the night or he could have in mind the popular but questioned belief that weird things happen when the moon is full.
• There are all sorts of dangerous and calamitous possibilities on such a journey.

Our whole lives are journeys. We can look back, and see the truth of John Newton’s hymn - “through many dangers, toils, and snares.” On the journey ahead there are dangerous hills and dark valleys. As we think about all that could happen between now and our journey’s end, we find many reasons to ask with the pilgrim, “From whence shall my help come?”

2. Answer

2.1. He answers himself in verse 2: “My help cometh even from the LORD, who hath made heaven and earth.” Sometimes, when you ask anxious questions, you know the answer already. You know, and you need to say it to yourself. So the Psalmist says, “From where does my hope come?” It comes from the LORD.

• The LORD is the self-existent, always faithful, self-revealing God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He is the God who entered into a covenant with Abraham, and said, “I will be your God and the God of your descendants. I am with you.”  

• The LORD is the God who created the heavens and the earth. He not only is the God of the hills, as were some of the pagan gods of the day. He is not a geographical god or a god who rules over some limited aspects of life. He is the Creator of heaven and earth, of all things that exist. He has power over all these things.

• This is how the pilgrim steadies himself. “I see dangers. I am anxious. Who will help me? The Creator of all things, and Israel’s Redeemer is with me and will help me.”

2.2. Then, it seems in verses verse three someone else begins to speak, perhaps a priest or another pilgrim.

He that keepeth thee will not sleep. Behold he

that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD Himself is your keeper.

• The Lord is not only your Helper. He is your Keeper - the God who cares about you, who watches over, who protects you, who provides for you. He is your personal Keeper. He is the Keeper of his covenant people of which you are a member.

• Your Keeper does not sleep. We may have had people sit with us in hard times. But people are limited - they have to sleep. Remember how Jesus took three of his disciples deep into the Garden of Gethsemane. He told them his heart was deeply troubled even to the point of death. He asked them to watch and pray with him. But three times they fell asleep. He finally. said about them, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” But your God does not sleep. At Mt. Carmel Elijah the prophet had a great contest with the prophets of Baal. The prophets of Baal were supposed to call on their god to send down fire from heaven to consume an offering on an altar. But nothing happened. Elijah ridiculed them. “Maybe your god is on vacation. Maybe he is using the bathroom. Maybe he’s taking a nap.” Not so with the LORD. He is awake, alert, paying attention; he is with us as our Keeper.

3. The Promises

Based on God’s being our Helper and Keeper, there are reassurances and promises.

3.1. Based on those truths, the pilgrim finds encouragement for his journey. On this trip the Lord be at his right hand to defend him. He will keep his foot from slipping. He will protect him from the dangers of the sun and daytime. He will protect you from the moon and the dangers of the night. The Psalm says to the pilgrim, “These specific things you are concerned about are all under the LORD’s watch and control. You are safe.”

3.2. Then the assurances broaden.

The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil;

yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.

As the Psalm moves from the dangers of the trip to Jerusalem to concern about the whole and rest of the pilgrim’s life, the assurance gets bigger. Think of all the evils - all the dangers, natural disasters, the spiritual traps, the tragedies, the calamities. The Lord will be your Helper, Keeper, Defender, Provider in all those circumstances, too. Because of this truth Paul could say that “all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” and that nothing could separate us from the love of God in Christ.

3.3. The scope of the promise gets even bigger:

The LORD shall preserve thy going out, and thy

coming in, from this time forth for evermore.

The Lord will be with us and take care of us in the totality of our lives. When we go out the Lord is there watching over us. When we come in, he will be there to help. Forevermore. That is endless. When you go out of this world; the Lord will be there to watch over. And as you leave this world, he will be there to care for and welcome you into this heavenly kingdom. And there you will enjoy his presence, his love, his helping and keeping forever and ever.

And now we come to the Table where Christ assures us he is with us throughout this life.  And here he gives us a foretaste of the glorious blessings to come when our journey through this life is done.     

When the World Collapses

When the World Collapses

Christ Church, New Zealand, Cliff Falling into Sea

Second after Epiphany

Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth; Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Psalter 46 (BCP)

1 God is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Though the waters thereof rage and swell, and though the mountains shake at the tempest of the same.

4 There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God; the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most Highest.

5 God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be removed; God shall help her, and that right early.

6 The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are moved; but God hath showed his voice, and the earth shall melt away.

7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

8 O come hither, and behold the works of the LORD, what destruction he hath brought upon the earth.

9 He maketh wars to cease in all the world; he breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder, and burneth the chariots in the fire.

10 Be still then, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.

11 The LORD o hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

When Martin Luther was condemned as a heretic and sentenced to death for his Protestant teaching, a sympathetic prince arranged to “kidnap” Luther and take him to the prince’s castle. In that mountaintop fortress for a year Luther was safe to write and to translate the New Testament into German.

Several years later back in Wittenberg the plague was approaching. Luther felt his duty was to stay and minister to the people. As he reflected on Psalm 46, and perhaps thought about his time in the castle fortress, he wrote: “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.”

Psalm 46 was written for a time when the world seems to be collapsing.

1. Crisis

The Psalmist describes two kinds of crises, natural and political.

1.1. Natural

In verses 2 and 3 he describes a natural disaster:

...though the earth be moved, and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof rage and swell, and though the mountains shake at the tempest of the same.

Unless we live along a geologic fault line, we take the stability of the earth for granted. Planting your feet firmly on the ground is a symbol of stability. When we look at mountains we think of permanence, even eternity. But the Psalmist had experienced something that changed that for him. It was an earthquake. He felt the earth beneath his feet moving. He watched a mountain collapse into the sea. He saw the churning  ocean swirling around the collapsing mountain. These symbols of permanence and stability moved.

The earthquake became for him a metaphor of crisis and chaos. There are times in our lives that feel earthquakes that shake the foundations of our lives. You may remember 9/11 as a day like that as you watched those towers collapse, and the President took to the air Air Force One. Or you might think of family or personal circumstances when you got fired, your marriage collapsed, you got a diagnosis from the doctor, death took a parent or child or spouse - anything that pulls the rug out from under your feet.

1.2. Political

In verse 6 the Psalmist speaks of a political crisis:

The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are

moved...

Or as another translation puts it:

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter…

You may have heard stories of Edward R. Murrow, the American newsman, who reported from London in the early days of World War II. Sometimes he broadcast from building tops during air raids, and his listeners could hear the bombs exploding from the city.

The Psalmist has a similar perspective. He is in Jerusalem, the city God had chosen as Israel’s capital. It was the center of Israel’s political and religious life, the home of both palace and temple, the city in which God chose to live. And the city was under attack from enemies, very likely surrounded by an army. What would happen?

Some Europeans saw the beginning of World I like that. British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey said to a friend as they looked out on London at dusk on August 3, 1914: “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.” The war devastated Europe, robbed her of a generation of young men, and set her up for another war in 20 years.

We have been through a tumultuous election in the United States, and many are unsettled as we approach the inauguration next Friday. What kind of President will we have? Will there be constant conflict in Congress? Will the country be even more disunited?

What about the church, the Jerusalem of today? The persecution of Christians is growing. Not just radical Islam but also ethnic nationalism threaten the church. About 215 millions Christians experience high, very high, or extreme persecution. What about the “Christian” the West? In England in 2015 4.7% of population attended church. In the United States the church is threatened by the health and wealth Gospel, by a therapeutic Gospel, by denial of essential truths, by promotion of immoral lifestyles, and many other ills.

There is more than enough crisis to make us feel threatened.

2. Safety

It times of crisis and chaos, where can a believer turn for safety?

When I was a youngster my sense of safety was directly related to the presence of my father. I never felt afraid when we had hurricanes, because he was there, and I knew he would take care of us.

2.1. The theme that our security and safety are in God runs throughout the Psalm.

God is our refuge (“hope” is wrong) and strength.

Martin Luther found refuge in the Prince’s fortress castle. As long as he was inside, he was defended against attempts to capture him. So believers find their protection in God. He is our fortress who protects us against the things that threaten. God also is our strength. God not only defends us, he also empowers us so that we have the courage to face the dangers. This is true even when when it seems we have been overwhelmed. “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” was sung by displaced Protestants as they lost their homes and went into exile and or lost their lives as martyrs for the faith. In the last verse of Luther’s hymn we sing, “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also,” because God is our refuge and strength. The Psalmist wrote, since God is our refuge and strength, we will not fear. So Luther teaches us to sing, “And, though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear.” The Bible constantly encourages us, “Fear not; do not be afraid.” Yes, we often feel fear, but with faith in God’s protection, we can can overcome it.

2.2. Not only is God our fortress, but God himself is with us.

There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of

      God; the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most Highest.

      God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be

     removed; God shall help her, and that right early.

The Psalmist is thinking about Jerusalem, the city God had chosen as the place where he would live among his people, in Tabernacle first and later in the Temple. The people took confidence from the reality of God’s presence with them. They pictured the presence of God as the gently flowing streams flowing from a river. In the Bible frequently the sea is symbol of chaos and danger. The sea could rage and destroy. Streams were different. They represented peace and refreshment. So it is with God’s presence. And, because God is present in Jerusalem, the city is secure. God will provide timely help when there is danger. Jesus promised his church, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

So twice the Psalmist assures us, first in verse 7, then the last verse:

The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our

      refuge.

3.1. Triumph

God will defend us and live among us. But there is more. God will triumph and because he will, we will, too.

O come hither, and behold the works of the LORD, what destruction he hath brought upon the earth. He maketh wars to cease in all the world; he breaketh the bow, and knappeth (snaps) the spear in sunder, and burneth the chariots in the fire.

The nations are stirred up, armed, and ready for war. They attack God’s kingdom. But the Psalm foresees a time when there will be tranquility and peace. “He maketh wars to cease in all the world.” But peace will come not because the nations voluntarily lay down their arms but because God subdues and disarms them. “Come behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth...He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. Judgment on rebellion against God will precede peace.

So God speaks to the nations, and to his people. To the nations God says: “Be quiet and listen. I am God. My will is to be exalted among the nations. Because i am King over all the earth, my will will not be thwarted I will be exalted.” He says to his people: “Settle down. Don’t let your heart to be troubled. I am God, and I will triumph over the nations. I will bring all thing into submission. I will be be exalted over the whole world. I will triumph, and you will share in my triumph.

We come to the Table of the Lord, and we remember that we will not always meet him here, for we do this only till he comes. When he comes he will judge his enemies and place them all under his feet. He will vindicate his people and they will live in peace forever. Here we have communion with the One who is not only our Savior but also our King and look forward to the day when we will sit down with him at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

You on the Altar

You on the Altar

First Sunday after Epiphany

Collect: O Lord, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of thy people who call upon thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Epistle: Romans 12:1- 5

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For 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. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Homily Text: Romans 12:1

From the Prayer of Oblation: And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee.

Imagine you’re Isaac. Your father Abraham says that you and he are going on a trip to make a sacrifice to the Lord. When you arrive at a place called Mt. Moriah, and the two of you begin to ascend, you say to your father, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” You father replies enigmatically, “God will provide for himself the lamb.” When  you reach the top of the mountain, your father builds the altar, lays on wood, and then...he ties you up and puts you on the altar. You’re the sacrifice.

The Apostle Paul calls on all Christians to make ourselves voluntary Isaacs by offering ourselves to God as sacrifices.

1. Paul’s Approach

There are different ways you can approach someone you want to do something. If you’re an Army sergeant, you might say, “Private, shine those shoes now!” If you’re a husband, you’re more likely to say, “Honey, you know how I love your chicken and dumplings. I wonder if you might make them tonight.”

St. Paul shows great pastoral wisdom in the way he approaches the Roman Christian to ask them to do something that is very hard and must be done not once but for a lifetime.

1.1. He calls them “brethren.” Paul was an Apostle. Apostles were appointed directly by Christ to represent him and to speak and act with unique authority. Ultimately the writings of the Apostles were included among the Holy Scriptures as the “rule” of what Christians must believe and how they must live. While Paul sometimes reminded churches that he was an Apostle appointed by Christ, here he does not do that. He puts his arm around these Christians and calls them brothers and sisters.

1.2. He does not command them but beseeches or urges them. Paul did use his Apostolic authority to issue commands to churches. But more often he encouraged people. St. Peter told those of us who are Presbyters to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight...not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:2,3). Paul does not issue orders to his inferiors, but entreats them as one brother to another.

1.3. He appeals to them on the basis of “the mercies of God.” Notice he does not use the singular “mercy” but the plural “mercies” because God has many and all kinds of mercies. On Christmas Susan and I went to the grand buffet at the Hotel Roanoke. They did not offer an appetizer, meat, vegetable, or dessert, for they had many and many kinds of  appetizers, meats, vegetables, and desserts. The abundance was overwhelming, and that’s the way it is with God’s mercies.

• For 11 chapters Paul demonstrates and describes God’s mercies. He begins by showing us how much we need God’s mercy, because no matter who we are, however good or bad we may be, we are sinners who deserve God’s condemnation and wrath. Paul tells how God without obligation acted to deliver us by sending Christ to be the sacrifice for our sins so that we can be forgiven and accepted by God as righteous. We forgiven and accepted as righteous not by any good we do we do but by faith alone- resting on Christ entirely.
• The work of Christ saves us not only from condemnation but from sin’s controlling power. Because of Christ’s death we can die to sin, and because of his resurrection we can rise to lead new lives.
• God also gives us his Holy Spirit who lives in us to guide us, to testify to us that we are God’s adopted children of God, to assure us that God will make all things work for our good and that nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Before Paul asks anything of us he reminds us what God

has done for us. We are all like the prodigal son. We

have lost and forfeited everything. But the Father has

shown us mercy after mercy - a robe, a ring, sandals, a

feast with a fatted calf, but most of all the love, welcome,

acceptance, restoration, and embrace of the Father.

St. Paul beseeches us as brothers and sisters based on the multitude of God’s mercies.

2. Paul’s Appeal

What is Paul’s purpose in approaching us in this way? He wants to persuade us to offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices.

2.1 Paul urges us to go to God and say, “Here I offer my body to you as a sacrifice.” Why our bodies?

• What would you have seen had you gone to an altar at the tabernacle or temple? The body of a sacrificed animal. What do you see when you look at the cross? The body of Christ offered as a sacrifice for sin. It is too common among Christians to think think of their bodies as shells in which their real selves live, bodies which they will shed at death so that their spirits are free. But humans are a union of body and soul. At death our souls and bodies are temporarily separated. But from conception to death we are are a union of body and soul and at the resurrection our sinless souls and immortal bodies will be reunited forever. When we offer our bodies to God as sacrifices, we offer our whole selves. You can’t put your body on an altar without putting your soul there, too; and you can’t place your soul on an altar unless you put your body there.
• When we offer ourselves as sacrifices that surely includes our bodily lives. Paul brought this up already in the 6th chapter:

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.  Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness...For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification (Rom. 6:12,13,19).

We offer our whole bodies and every individual member or part to God as sacrifices.

2.2. Three things should characterize the sacrifice of our bodies.

• Our bodies are living sacrifices. In the Old Testament, sacrifices were bloody and gruesome. The animal was put on the altar; the priest killed it with a knife; and then the body was consumed by fire. Isaac turned out to be a living sacrifice. He was offered to God, but his life was spared because God provided a ram to be killed in his place. Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us, offering himself on the cross to atone for our sins. But now we are called on to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. We do not die, unless we are called to be martyrs. We go on living, but we are called to offer ourselves daily, continually to God. And this is one of the problems. As someone (D.L. Moody) commented, living sacrifices have a tendency to crawl off the altar. The challenge is to remember that God does not call us to make one big sacrifice, and then we’re done with it, but calls us to offer the rest of our lives as a living sacrifice.
• Sacrifices must be holy.The animal must be a perfect unblemished animal. Only the best could be offered. For us this means we offer God not some of ourselves, or the leftovers of our lives, but our all and our best.

The hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated”

gives us some ways this can be fleshed out. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee. Take my moments and my days, my hands and feet, my voice and lips, my silver and gold, my intellect, my will, my heart, my love, myself.

• Sacrifices must be offered in the right way, so that they were acceptable - or pleasing to God. The picture was that as the smoke from the sacrifice went up, God smelled it and found it pleasing. For us to make pleasing sacrifices our ourselves means we offer ourselves willingly and joyfully. St. Paul told us about giving that it should be done willingly, not under compulsion, for God loves the cheerful giver. What is true of our money is true of all that we offer to the Lord.

2.3. St. Paul completes his urging by telling us that offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices is our “reasonable service.” Sometimes people take the attitude about serving the Lord in the church and in the world that we need to be “reasonable” - not to go to excess, not to get carried away. But St. Paul says, in light of the incredible mercies of God, in light of the immeasurable sacrifice Christ made of himself on the cross to pay for your sins, what is your reasonable response - your reasonable worship of God, your reasonable service to him? It just makes sense that you would offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice.

I hope these things will be on your heart when we offer the Prayer of Oblation this morning: “And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee.”