WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.919 Well, good morning, church. Turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 107. 00:00:06.520 --> 00:00:12.540 So Psalm 107 today, two weeks ago, I shared with you some of my own journey over the past several 00:00:12.540 --> 00:00:17.699 months. I'll be leaving Trinity at the end of the summer to pastor the Talcottville Church in Vernon. 00:00:18.460 --> 00:00:22.900 I'm grateful for the opportunities that we've had to get together with several of you over the last 00:00:22.900 --> 00:00:27.339 couple weeks. If you'd like to meet together, I'll be here through this Thursday. Then we'll 00:00:27.339 --> 00:00:32.719 be back in August from the 11th to the 22nd. So we're very grateful for the time that the Lord has 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:40.780 put us together here in the New Haven area and grateful for the opportunity to finish that well. 00:00:41.700 --> 00:00:48.939 But I have two more opportunities to preach to you today and then my last Sunday in August. And so 00:00:48.939 --> 00:00:53.780 in these two sermons, I want to give you sort of some parting words from the Scriptures that will 00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:58.520 hopefully help you as you navigate this transition as well as other transitions that you may be facing 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:05.159 at this point in your personal life and in the life of the church. This summer is sort of often 00:01:05.159 --> 00:01:10.120 a season of transition in a variety of respects for many people, and the Scriptures speak to that. 00:01:10.180 --> 00:01:14.400 And there's two things that the Scriptures teach us to do when we're facing transitions, and one is to 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:20.819 look back on God's merciful provision in the past. And that's what I want to do today, 00:01:20.819 --> 00:01:26.479 to look back on God's kindness and faithfulness in our own lives and in the history of this church. 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.479 And then in August, for my last sermon, I'm going to focus on looking forward. 00:01:31.339 --> 00:01:34.579 And Scripture teaches us, as actually the Scripture Jeff read at the beginning of the service, 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:40.139 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. So whenever you're facing any 00:01:40.139 --> 00:01:45.679 significant transition, any loss or change, any new challenge or opportunity, these are healthy 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:50.940 practices that can help to anchor you spiritually through that, so that the transition doesn't 00:01:50.940 --> 00:01:55.960 throw you off course, but actually can be a way of leaning into what God has for you. 00:01:57.080 --> 00:02:01.880 So there are many places in the Bible that call us to do these things, but I want to look at Psalm 107. 00:02:02.260 --> 00:02:07.280 This is one of my favorite psalms that I have thought for many years expresses a lot of the work 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:12.219 that God has done in gathering us together as a church here. So let me read this psalm for us. 00:02:12.219 --> 00:02:16.159 It's a long psalm, but it's a beautiful one. Psalm 107. 00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:22.639 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. 00:02:23.579 --> 00:02:29.539 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the 00:02:29.539 --> 00:02:35.840 lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:41.960 wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. 00:02:42.699 --> 00:02:46.419 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:52.319 He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. Let them thank the Lord for 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:57.680 his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man, for he satisfies the longing soul 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:03.500 and the hungry soul he fills with good things. Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, 00:03:03.620 --> 00:03:08.060 prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God 00:03:08.060 --> 00:03:14.140 and spurned the counsel of the Most High. So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:20.180 They fell down with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them 00:03:20.180 --> 00:03:24.580 from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and burst their bonds 00:03:24.580 --> 00:03:30.060 apart. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man, 00:03:30.060 --> 00:03:38.080 for he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron. Some were fools through their 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.420 sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction. They loathed any kind of food, 00:03:42.420 --> 00:03:47.060 and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:52.620 and he delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them and delivered them 00:03:52.620 --> 00:03:57.780 from their destruction. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the 00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:03.400 children of man, and let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his deeds in songs of 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:09.400 joy. Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters. They saw the deeds 00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:16.019 of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted 00:04:16.019 --> 00:04:21.040 up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven. They went down to the depths. Their courage melted away 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:26.920 in their evil plight. They reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wit's end. 00:04:27.779 --> 00:04:31.539 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 00:04:32.599 --> 00:04:38.419 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters 00:04:38.419 --> 00:04:43.939 were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast 00:04:43.939 --> 00:04:48.139 love, for his wondrous works to the children of man. Let them extol him in the congregation of the 00:04:48.139 --> 00:04:55.659 people and praise him in the assembly of the elders. He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water 00:04:55.660 --> 00:05:02.520 into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste because of the evil of its inhabitants. He 00:05:02.520 --> 00:05:07.200 turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water, and there he lets the hungry 00:05:07.200 --> 00:05:12.960 dwell, and they establish a city to live in. They sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful 00:05:12.960 --> 00:05:17.680 yield. By his blessing, they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:25.120 When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow, he pours contempt on 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:32.000 princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes. But he raises up the needy out of affliction and 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:37.780 makes their families like flocks. The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth. 00:05:37.779 --> 00:05:49.059 Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things. Let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord. 00:05:50.239 --> 00:05:54.439 Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for how it's been faithfully preserved for us 00:05:54.439 --> 00:06:01.719 through the ages, and we thank you for the opportunity to read it freely and clearly in a 00:06:01.719 --> 00:06:05.799 language we can understand this morning. We pray that your spirit would seal it to our hearts, 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:10.639 open our hearts to receive what you have for us today, to respond, to give you thanks, 00:06:10.680 --> 00:06:17.220 and to consider your great love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So this morning, what I want us to do 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:23.379 is exactly what the first and last verses of this psalm call us to do. That is to consider 00:06:23.379 --> 00:06:30.160 and thank the Lord for his steadfast love. If you notice that word, steadfast love, it appears in the 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:35.680 first verse, in the last verse, and in that repeated refrain, let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love. 00:06:36.740 --> 00:06:43.980 And so we're to consider it, and that word means to think about it inwardly, to ponder the Lord's 00:06:43.980 --> 00:06:52.139 steadfast love, to pay attention to it, and to thank him for it. That means to praise him outwardly for it, 00:06:52.220 --> 00:06:59.300 to tell others about who this God is and what he has done for us. So consider the Lord's steadfast love 00:06:59.300 --> 00:07:07.439 inwardly and praise and thank him for it outwardly. And one other dimension, verse 43, hints at is that 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:12.560 we should consider God's steadfast love both on an individual level. It says, whoever is wise, let him 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:19.100 consider these things. But then it says, let them, let God's people as a community consider the way that 00:07:19.100 --> 00:07:24.920 God has been faithful to us, not only in our individual paths, but in our life together as a 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:29.879 church community. And so today as we look at this psalm, that's what I want to do. I want us to 00:07:29.879 --> 00:07:36.520 consider God's steadfast love in our own lives and journeys as we look back on them, but also I want 00:07:36.520 --> 00:07:41.280 to point to some of the ways that God's steadfast love has been demonstrated over the years, over the 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:49.059 decades in the history of this church as a community. Now Psalm 107 has two main parts, a long first part, 00:07:49.139 --> 00:07:57.099 verses 1 to 32, and then a shorter second part, verses 33 to 43. So we'll look at part one and then 00:07:57.099 --> 00:08:04.119 part two today. So first in this long first part, the main thing we see is consider God's steadfast 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:11.439 love in redeeming us. Now verses 2 and 3 give us a little clue about when this psalm was originally 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:18.360 written because it says that God had redeemed his people from trouble and gathered them in from the 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:24.379 lands. So some people think that's a reference to the return from the exile in Babylon, although 00:08:24.379 --> 00:08:29.340 really it could be any time that God's people had been scattered and troubled and God in his mercy 00:08:29.339 --> 00:08:35.240 had brought them back, brought them back home, gathered them together, and given them peace. 00:08:36.139 --> 00:08:40.759 But whenever it happened, this was certainly an answer to prayer. This psalm is connected actually 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:49.039 with the last two psalms, 105 and 106, because 105 says God gave them the lands, but then 106 in verse 27 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:55.179 says that they lost the land because of their unfaithfulness, and then 107 talks about God gathering 00:08:55.179 --> 00:09:00.259 them back, gathering them in from the lands where they had been scattered. And the last verse of 00:09:00.259 --> 00:09:07.879 Psalm 106 or verse 47 says, save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations. And so Psalm 107 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:15.339 is presented as God answering the prayers of his people in redeeming them. Now sometimes in church we 00:09:15.339 --> 00:09:20.059 throw around that word redeem or redemption, and let me just give you a picture of what that word 00:09:20.059 --> 00:09:26.319 actually means in the Old Testament context. To be redeemed meant that you had fallen into severe 00:09:26.319 --> 00:09:33.459 trouble or distress. So that could be overwhelming debt, or perhaps you sold yourself into slavery, 00:09:34.099 --> 00:09:38.659 perhaps because of debt, or that you were being treated unjustly, but whatever it was, it was a trouble 00:09:38.659 --> 00:09:46.819 that you could not rescue yourself from. But instead a relative stepped in on your behalf and said, 00:09:46.820 --> 00:09:56.820 I will be your redeemer. And what that meant is, I will join myself to you, and I will take on all 00:09:56.820 --> 00:10:02.940 your distress and all your trouble as my own, and I will walk with you and bring you out of it. 00:10:03.680 --> 00:10:11.260 And so redemption was not a distant transaction. It was actually a very personal act. In some cases, 00:10:11.259 --> 00:10:17.580 the redeemer literally married the person in need of redemption. It's actually what you see in the book 00:10:17.580 --> 00:10:27.439 of Ruth. When Boaz marries Ruth, he's what's called the kinsman redeemer. So as they were joined in 00:10:27.439 --> 00:10:32.039 marriage, everything that was hers became his, and everything that was his became hers. And that's also 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:37.080 the picture of redemption we see in the New Testament. The New Testament talks about Jesus as our redeemer 00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:42.800 who came to rescue us from a trouble, from sin and death, that we could not deliver ourselves out of. 00:10:43.520 --> 00:10:52.020 And he didn't do that in a distant or impersonal way. No, he did it by joining himself to us, by becoming 00:10:52.020 --> 00:10:58.960 flesh, and taking on every, taking everything that was ours on himself, and bearing our sin and unrighteousness 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:06.040 and death on the cross, and rising again, bringing us with him. And he has promised to walk with us and be our 00:11:06.039 --> 00:11:12.179 redeemer. Now there are four subsections in this part one of the psalm, and each one of them gives us a 00:11:12.179 --> 00:11:19.299 picture of God's redeeming grace. Now when you first read this psalm, you might think these are referring to 00:11:19.299 --> 00:11:25.879 four different groups of people, but they could also be different images of or different angles on God's 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:30.679 redeeming work in the lives of the same group of people, perhaps over time. If you think of the exiles, 00:11:30.679 --> 00:11:36.399 probably any of these four sections could describe their experience and how God intervened 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:42.979 mercifully on their behalf. But also, you know, just take a moment and look around this room. 00:11:44.099 --> 00:11:47.819 In our mission statement at Trinity, which I think we still put up at the beginning and end of our 00:11:47.819 --> 00:11:54.199 services, we say that we are gathered together by the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this psalm describes 00:11:54.199 --> 00:11:59.719 what God has done in this church over many years, gathering together many different kinds of people, 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:06.240 redeeming us from our trouble. And each one of us might have faced that trouble in a slightly 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:12.320 different flavor, but God has met us, brought us to the point of recognizing our need for him, 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:17.720 our dependence on him, and his mercy for us, and he's brought us out of trouble and gathered us into 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:24.860 his family, united by Jesus. Now if you look at these four subsections in part one of the psalm, 00:12:24.860 --> 00:12:30.379 there's a simple pattern. First, there's a description of the people's trouble. Second, 00:12:30.700 --> 00:12:36.060 there's a description of God's deliverance. And you heard that repeated refrain, they cried to the 00:12:36.060 --> 00:12:40.320 Lord in their distress, and he delivered them, or they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:46.039 delivered them from their distress. Followed by a more specific or particular description of how God 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:52.240 did that. The people's trouble, God's deliverance, and third, a call to thanksgiving. Again, 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:57.860 a repeated refrain, let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love and his wondrous works for the 00:12:57.860 --> 00:13:03.299 children of man. And then there's a concluding verse which either elaborates on the description 00:13:03.299 --> 00:13:10.360 of God's deliverance or the call to thanksgiving. If you're familiar, there's an old catechism called 00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:14.519 the Heidelberg Catechism from the 16th century, and it describes the Christian life in three words, 00:13:14.940 --> 00:13:21.899 guilt, grace, and gratitude. And this psalm follows that same pattern. It starts with the problem, 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:30.019 and shows God's gracious and merciful intervention, and then calls us to gratitude and thanksgiving. 00:13:30.100 --> 00:13:34.779 So let's look briefly at each of these four pictures of God's redeeming grace. Verses four 00:13:34.779 --> 00:13:40.899 to nine, we see God bringing his people from a wasteland to a city. So the image at the beginning is 00:13:40.899 --> 00:13:48.120 people are wandering in the desert. They're in a place of isolation, insecurity, hunger, thirst, 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:54.379 and lostness. They can't find their way out. And God in his mercy brings them to a city, 00:13:55.039 --> 00:14:01.340 which particularly in the ancient world would have been a symbol of refuge and belonging and 00:14:01.340 --> 00:14:08.419 satisfaction and fullness, where their needs could be amply provided for. You know, some of you can trace 00:14:08.419 --> 00:14:14.060 a similar pattern in your own life story. You can think of a time when you were spiritually or 00:14:14.059 --> 00:14:20.399 literally hungry and thirsty, desperate, alone, wandering, lost, and you cried out to God, 00:14:20.479 --> 00:14:25.439 and he answered. And he didn't just leave you all alone in the desert. He brought you 00:14:25.439 --> 00:14:31.779 into the church. He brought you into a community of believers, and he's given you a place to belong. 00:14:32.899 --> 00:14:37.159 Perhaps you found that here at Trinity. We've been going through the Gospel of John, 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:43.939 and in the Gospel of John, Jesus says that he's the way. He's the way out and the way into God's 00:14:43.939 --> 00:14:50.319 presence. He's the bread and the water of life, and he's the good shepherd who seeks us out and 00:14:50.319 --> 00:14:57.240 brings us home when we're lost in the desert. Or in Ephesians 2, the Apostle Paul uses a similar 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:02.600 metaphor. He says, at one time we were separated from Christ. We were alienated from the commonwealth 00:15:02.600 --> 00:15:07.720 of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:13.720 then he says, but in Christ, you who were once far off have been brought near by his blood. So then 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:20.060 you are no longer strangers, no longer aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and fellow 00:15:20.060 --> 00:15:25.680 members of the household of God. So that's picture one of God's redeeming grace from a wasteland 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:33.759 to a city. Picture two is God bringing his people from bondage into freedom. And the picture in verses 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:41.759 10 through 12 is a picture of guilt and darkness and toil being locked up behind doors and bars. And this 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:48.579 people's condition was their own fault. It says they were in this condition of bondage because they had 00:15:48.580 --> 00:15:56.620 rebelled against the word of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. Maybe you found yourself 00:15:56.620 --> 00:16:05.759 in a bondage, perhaps an addiction to drugs, alcohol, pornography, sex. Or maybe it's a habit of lying 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:13.620 and manipulating or self-pity, constantly comparing yourself to others. And that can all lead to a very 00:16:13.620 --> 00:16:20.120 dark place, a place of self-condemnation and despair, feeling that there is no one who can help. 00:16:22.460 --> 00:16:28.899 But sometimes God brings us to a low place so that we look up to him. And in Luke chapter 1, 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:36.019 it says that Jesus Christ came. In Jesus Christ, God has come to visit and redeem his people to shine 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:43.240 light on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death. Jesus said he came to bring 00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:49.879 release for the captives. And some of you have even stood up here and giving a testimony when you 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:56.740 became a member or got baptized about how God has led you out of a place of bondage and brought you 00:16:56.740 --> 00:17:03.060 to a place of freedom. And you know, sometimes that happens instantaneously, miraculously. 00:17:04.120 --> 00:17:10.740 And sometimes it happens one step at a time. Sometimes Jesus comes and meets us in the darkness 00:17:10.740 --> 00:17:18.299 and in bondage. And he walks with us even when the path seems to be slow and step by step. 00:17:18.500 --> 00:17:25.099 But he's leading us toward light and freedom. And that's the God we serve. 00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:35.620 Picture 3, verses 17 to 22, God bringing his people from sickness to health. And this is not just a minor 00:17:35.619 --> 00:17:40.559 sickness, not just a little cold or something. No, this is a serious sickness where people are 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:47.119 drawing are deathly ill. And again, this is also a self-inflicted problem. Verse 17 says, 00:17:47.179 --> 00:17:51.639 some were fools through their sinful ways and because of their iniquities, they suffered affliction. 00:17:53.059 --> 00:17:59.659 Notice in these two middle sections, picture 2 and picture 3, the people's troubles are their own fault 00:17:59.660 --> 00:18:07.800 caused by their own foolish decisions. In picture 1 and picture 4, which are desert wastelands and stormy 00:18:07.800 --> 00:18:15.080 seas, the people's troubles are simply the result of living in a fallen world and living as finite 00:18:15.080 --> 00:18:21.840 people under the sovereign rule of God. So here's the point. No matter what the cause of your trouble is, 00:18:22.460 --> 00:18:27.080 whether your trouble is completely your own fault or entirely not of your own making, 00:18:27.079 --> 00:18:35.359 the Lord hears when we cry out to him in the midst of our trouble. And he delivers his people from 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:43.419 their distress. Jesus is the redeemer of sinners, those who have wronged others. And Jesus is the 00:18:43.419 --> 00:18:49.319 redeemer of sufferers, those who have been wronged. It's not one or the other, it's both and. 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:57.359 In Mark chapter 2, four friends bring a paralyzed man to Jesus. It's the one where they cut through 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:01.419 the hole in the roof and lower him down. It's all dramatic and would be crazy to be there. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:05.859 But Jesus says two things to the man. First, he says, your sins are forgiven. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:12.319 Now, we don't know the man's history. We don't know if there was a specific sinful pattern that 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:19.919 led this man to an injury where he was paralyzed. We don't know that. But Jesus wanted him to know 00:19:19.919 --> 00:19:26.399 that through his encounter with Jesus, his sins had been dealt with and done away with. And then 00:19:26.399 --> 00:19:31.799 Jesus says, get up and walk. So there's physical healing and spiritual healing happening all at once 00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:39.799 through his encounter with Jesus. So that's the third picture of God's redemption. We've seen God 00:19:39.799 --> 00:19:46.220 bringing people from wandering in the desert to having a home in his city, from being in bondage 00:19:46.220 --> 00:19:52.639 and darkness to being in a place of freedom and light, from being in a place of deathly illness 00:19:52.639 --> 00:19:59.460 to a place of healing and life. And finally, fourth and final picture is verse 23 to 32. 00:20:00.220 --> 00:20:06.319 We see God bringing his people from stormy seas to a quiet haven. This section is the longest of them 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:10.279 all. It's quite a vivid description. Perhaps the psalmist had literally experienced this himself. 00:20:10.879 --> 00:20:17.339 But verse 27 says, the storm had brought the sailors to their wits end. Or literally, 00:20:18.059 --> 00:20:25.899 all their wisdom was swallowed up. And you know, sometimes, no matter how intelligent we are, 00:20:26.899 --> 00:20:32.679 sometimes God confronts us with our human limitations. And he brings us to a place where 00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:39.320 all our skills and all our cleverness and all our past experience is entirely inadequate. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:45.860 Of course, we see this in the New Testament with Jesus' disciples as well. Mark 4, 00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:52.080 Jesus' disciples find themselves at a storm on the lake. A great windstorm arose. The waves were 00:20:52.080 --> 00:20:56.900 breaking into the boat. The boat was filling with water. And what did they do? They cried out to Jesus 00:20:56.900 --> 00:21:04.980 in their distress. And he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:12.200 And they probably would have known this psalm. And then when they saw that Jesus was the one who 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:16.120 could speak to the winds and the waves and make the storm be still, they look at him and say, who is 00:21:16.120 --> 00:21:21.640 this? Because guess in this psalm, only God can do that. And they realized this man that we've been 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:31.040 walking with is none other than God himself. He's the one we can try, cry out to. Jesus is Lord, 00:21:31.120 --> 00:21:37.060 even of the stormy seas. He's with us in the boat all the way. And he can speak peace into even the 00:21:37.060 --> 00:21:46.160 most chaotic and volatile situation. Now, if you've experienced God's redeeming grace in any or all of 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:52.540 these ways, the psalm calls us to respond with thanksgiving. Let them offer sacrifices of 00:21:52.540 --> 00:21:58.019 thanksgiving and tell of his deeds with songs of joy. Extol him in the congregation of the people. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:05.860 One of the things that I am grateful for about Trinity is our practice of new members having 00:22:05.860 --> 00:22:12.820 the opportunity to share a testimony. Because we get to hear people tell the story of God's 00:22:12.819 --> 00:22:22.079 redeeming grace in their own words. And I know for some of you, it's hard, right? Sometimes it's hard 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:28.439 to write a brief, concise story about what God's done in your life. Sometimes you're terrified to 00:22:28.439 --> 00:22:33.299 stand up here and we remind you, you don't have to say anything. We can send it out by email. We can 00:22:33.299 --> 00:22:37.399 write it up, you know, you can just stand up here and say yes to those two questions and we'll pray for 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:45.620 you and that's all you got to do. But it is so beneficial for us to hear and publicly thank the 00:22:45.620 --> 00:22:51.240 Lord for his redeeming grace in each of our lives. And that's something we do when people come into 00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:56.300 membership, but that's something that we want to do on an ongoing basis in our life together as a church 00:22:56.300 --> 00:23:02.920 to tell one another and thank God together for the ways that he has met us and the ways that he's 00:23:02.920 --> 00:23:10.380 rescued us and the ways that he's been so kind and intervened on our behalf. So brothers and sisters, 00:23:10.519 --> 00:23:16.019 don't ever stop thanking the Lord and standing in awe of the marvelous works that he has done. 00:23:17.259 --> 00:23:21.160 I think especially these last couple of weeks, it's been great to hear everybody singing, 00:23:21.860 --> 00:23:27.200 singing your hearts out and rejoicing as we declare God's mighty deeds in song. Amen? 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:33.480 So consider God's steadfast love in redeeming us. That's part one of this psalm, but there's also a 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:41.240 part two. And part two, I would summarize with this phrase, consider God's steadfast love in refining 00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:51.000 us. Verses 33 to the end. See, the main theme of verses 33 to 42 is that God brings down the proud 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:58.200 and lifts up the proud. It's the same thread that runs through the song of Mary, which Esther read for 00:23:58.200 --> 00:24:04.519 us earlier in the service. So verses 33 and 34, we see a picture of God bringing down the proud, 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:12.480 sort of bringing them back out into that wasteland, desert wasteland again. But then verse 35 to 38, 00:24:12.539 --> 00:24:18.759 we see a picture of God lifting up the humble, providing for the hungry. And then the pattern is 00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:27.160 repeated in verses 39 to 42. Now the picture we get in verse 39 is that there are people in power 00:24:27.160 --> 00:24:35.440 who are evil and oppressive, and so God's people who in verses 37 and 38 are bearing fruit and multiplying 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:42.359 are instead, in verse 39, diminished and brought low. And this doesn't seem to be God humbling them 00:24:42.359 --> 00:24:49.719 because of their pride. It seems to be the effect of evil oppressors who are in power for a time. 00:24:51.719 --> 00:24:56.659 So for a time, it sort of seems like the bad guys are winning and God's people are losing, but God 00:24:56.659 --> 00:25:04.119 doesn't let that go on forever. Verse 40, it says, God pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in 00:25:04.119 --> 00:25:12.519 a trackless waste. Those who were in power but were misusing it, God sort of sends them out into the 00:25:12.519 --> 00:25:18.479 desert again. But then verse 41, he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like 00:25:18.479 --> 00:25:24.039 flocks. So even when evil oppressors seem to succeed in the world for a time, God doesn't let them have the 00:25:24.039 --> 00:25:30.599 last word. So again, throughout this section, we see this pattern of God bringing down the proud 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:37.539 and raising up the humble. Or as I might put it, refining his people through the ups and downs of 00:25:37.539 --> 00:25:44.419 life. Now I think that these verses are a very interesting and perhaps somewhat unexpected 00:25:44.419 --> 00:25:50.679 conclusion to this psalm. Because if you just read the first section, you might think that the 00:25:50.679 --> 00:25:59.119 Christian life is basically this. God rescues us and now we live happily ever after. And on the surface, 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:05.039 that sounds like an attractive story. But guess what? That's not the whole story. 00:26:07.459 --> 00:26:13.119 And so the end of this psalm reminds us that the story that God's redeemed people tell throughout the 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:19.539 Bible is something more like this. God has redeemed us and now he's committed to refining us. 00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:27.479 And so through the ups and downs of life, he's teaching us to depend on him and to delight in him. 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:37.259 Can you look back on your own life and see how God has refined you through both the ups and the downs 00:26:37.259 --> 00:26:44.299 of life and has called you into a deeper dependence on him and delight in him? 00:26:44.299 --> 00:26:53.500 I've been at Trinity now for 20 years. Ten years as a pastor, ten years before that, since I first came 00:26:53.500 --> 00:26:59.019 as a college student. And as I look back on my time in this church, one of the things that I see is that 00:26:59.019 --> 00:27:06.899 God in his steadfast love has refined this church through the ups and downs that we've experienced over 00:27:06.900 --> 00:27:14.920 the years. A couple of years ago, I talked to a man named Wayne Harvey. And he was part of the original 00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:22.100 group that founded Trinity, which happened 50 years ago this fall. I want to share with you some of what 00:27:22.100 --> 00:27:26.140 he has shared with me, partly because I think probably none of you know anything about this, 00:27:26.460 --> 00:27:32.460 but mostly to give God thanks that he deserves for gathering this church and for sustaining and 00:27:32.460 --> 00:27:37.620 refining it ever since then. Because if God hadn't done his work back then, we wouldn't be here today. 00:27:40.100 --> 00:27:48.380 Trinity began in 1971 with only three people. There was a pastor from the First Baptist Church of East 00:27:48.380 --> 00:27:56.019 Hartford who had a vision to see churches established throughout Connecticut. And he connected with two 00:27:56.019 --> 00:28:03.339 Yale Divinity School students. And together their goal was to begin a church that would reach students 00:28:03.339 --> 00:28:08.660 and families in New Haven and in the surrounding area with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:28:10.420 --> 00:28:15.940 Wayne was one of the Div School students. He said, we didn't really know what we were doing, 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:22.819 but we did what we could and we saw what the Lord could do. He said, we first named the church the 00:28:22.819 --> 00:28:29.279 New Haven Fellowship of Christ. Looking back, that name sounded like a cult. But we didn't know any 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:35.839 better at the time. We started meeting in a motel, but then they booted us if another group needed their 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:40.240 conference room. So we went to the YMCA, but that didn't work out either. So then we rented space at 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:47.119 the Hamden Hall School and later at a dance studio on Whitney Avenue. We tried various strategies to find 00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:52.779 new members. First, Paul, the other Div School student, and I sat down in his apartment, opened the phone 00:28:52.779 --> 00:28:59.119 book and started with the A's. They would alternate. One of them would make a call, then the other would 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:05.539 make a call. We went door to door and gave out New Testaments. Most people were reluctant to even talk 00:29:05.539 --> 00:29:13.460 with us. We also advertised on the radio. He said, looking back, we knew that we didn't know what we 00:29:13.460 --> 00:29:19.059 were doing, but we were just trusting the Lord and hoping our efforts would somehow bear fruit. 00:29:19.059 --> 00:29:26.059 And by God's grace, they did. He says it was often mysterious how people would come to the church. 00:29:27.019 --> 00:29:32.039 Sometimes we didn't even know how they had heard about us, but they came. A few people became 00:29:32.039 --> 00:29:38.359 Christians and were baptized. Some people who had previously been quasi-Christians became real 00:29:38.359 --> 00:29:44.859 disciples of Jesus. He says the church was a spiritual rock for the students, providing solid Bible 00:29:44.859 --> 00:29:51.859 teaching. It was a good place for families as well. By 1972, there were 30 to 40 people, half students, 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:57.839 and half people from outside the university. Recently, Wayne wrote, in 1971, I never dreamed 00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:04.219 that God would bless the church as he has done. Despite the mistakes we made in our church, God has 00:30:04.219 --> 00:30:09.819 proven faithful. I pray that God will continue to support and bless you and that you will see growth 00:30:09.819 --> 00:30:16.039 as more and more people come to Christ and become disciples. So that's how Trinity was first gathered, 00:30:16.700 --> 00:30:22.639 but that's not the end of the story. In the 90s, Trinity fell on some hard times, 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:30.200 and for the most part, those hard times were the church's own fault. At some point, the church had 00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:36.319 drifted from biblical doctrine, at least somewhat. One person even told me that when she came to Trinity 00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:41.039 around that time, the pastor did not believe and preach that Jesus Christ was fully God. 00:30:42.259 --> 00:30:47.039 Around the same time, there were growing tensions and conflicts that were never addressed or resolved 00:30:47.039 --> 00:30:53.339 in a biblical manner. The church had also made some unwise financial decisions. It had a balloon 00:30:53.339 --> 00:31:00.179 mortgage and no way to make the large, looming final payment. Then the pastor abruptly resigned, 00:31:00.700 --> 00:31:04.919 and many people left the church, and the church lost the building that they had owned in Hamden. 00:31:04.920 --> 00:31:12.019 For the next five years, Trinity had no pastor and only about 20 adult members. Some of the people 00:31:12.019 --> 00:31:17.160 who were there back then, there's a few of you here, call that period of time the wilderness years, 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:25.440 a humbling, refining, and sometimes exhausting season. And yet, even in those years, the Lord did not 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:33.019 abandon his people. And there was a core of faithful members who kept coming and kept praying that God 00:31:33.019 --> 00:31:41.900 would refine and renew his church. And eventually, God answered those prayers. In 1999, the church had a 00:31:41.900 --> 00:31:48.599 prayer meeting where people confessed their sins and sought reconciliation, and much healing took place. 00:31:49.639 --> 00:31:55.420 Later that month, the church was literally about to close its doors for good. And God brought a 00:31:55.420 --> 00:32:00.980 pastoral candidate, a faithful preacher of God's word, all the way from England. For the next decade, 00:32:01.100 --> 00:32:06.100 God used that pastor, Josh Moody, and a growing core group of faithful members to lead Trinity through 00:32:06.100 --> 00:32:13.560 a season of growth. Josh was my pastor for seven years. In 2008, Josh left Trinity to pastor a church 00:32:13.560 --> 00:32:20.220 in the Midwest. That was another challenging transition. The church had to discern its next steps. 00:32:20.220 --> 00:32:25.980 Nearly all of us had joined the church while Josh was a senior pastor. But over that season, 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:31.019 after he left, God taught us that his work at Trinity was not dependent on any one individual. 00:32:32.140 --> 00:32:37.480 And God raised up other people to teach and lead, to love and serve his people. 00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:47.019 Looking back, God has refined and sustained Trinity through many transitions. There are times when God's 00:32:47.019 --> 00:32:52.879 people at Trinity have perhaps been tempted to become comfortable, complacent, and self-satisfied, 00:32:53.639 --> 00:32:59.900 instead of humbly depending on him and boldly advancing the gospel. But God has not let us stay 00:32:59.900 --> 00:33:06.680 there. Over and over, God has called his people at Trinity into deeper dependence and delight in him. 00:33:08.460 --> 00:33:13.680 Compared to many other churches, I think Trinity has a high proportion of people who are unusually 00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:19.539 competent and successful, talented, and intelligent. And as long as Trinity meets in this building, 00:33:20.100 --> 00:33:24.140 two blocks from the Yale campus, and does a reasonably effective job at reaching our immediate 00:33:24.140 --> 00:33:28.840 neighbors, it's probably true that the average IQ of this church will be higher than most. 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:37.200 But here's an important thing to remember. When the all-knowing and all-wise God of the universe 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:44.279 looks at Trinity Baptist Church, he is not impressed by the relative intelligence or human skills or 00:33:44.279 --> 00:33:50.960 competence of its members. The Bible never promises God special blessing on churches that have many 00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:59.000 people with unusually high IQs. No, the prophet Isaiah said that the holy God of the universe chooses to 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:06.140 dwell with those whose hearts are broken and humble and contrite. And the apostle Paul says that God 00:34:06.140 --> 00:34:13.440 shows his power in and through those who recognize their own weakness and vulnerability. In order to 00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:21.500 flourish as a church, Trinity needs people who are like the ones that this psalm talks about. People who are 00:34:21.500 --> 00:34:29.960 in trouble. People who are wandering and hungry. People who are in bondage and darkness. People who are sick 00:34:29.960 --> 00:34:38.840 and afflicted. People who are at their wits end. If that describes you or your circumstances, you've come to the 00:34:38.840 --> 00:34:48.720 right place. Because the God we serve is a God of redeeming grace. Cry out to the Lord Jesus in your distress. He will 00:34:48.720 --> 00:34:56.199 hear and he will respond and you can join others in bearing testimony to his steadfast love and his redeeming grace. 00:34:56.199 --> 00:35:07.419 For those of you who have found a home here at Trinity, who have perhaps been preserved for severe addictions or 00:35:07.419 --> 00:35:17.379 certain kind or physical bondage, who are in good health, who are sailing under sunny skies, do not turn away from 00:35:17.380 --> 00:35:26.740 people who are even outwardly and obviously hungry and thirsty and lost, in bondage and darkness, sick and 00:35:26.740 --> 00:35:34.740 afflicted, or at their wits end. Do not see people in those circumstances merely as annoying burdens or 00:35:34.740 --> 00:35:42.539 problems to be endured. These people are gifts to God's church in whom the redeeming grace of God can be 00:35:42.539 --> 00:35:49.159 displayed to God's own glory. And God has put these people in your life to teach you, to teach you to 00:35:49.159 --> 00:35:57.699 depend on him, and to teach you to love. And there is no more valuable lesson to learn. Let me also speak 00:35:57.699 --> 00:36:03.880 for a moment to those of those of you who are outwardly competent and successful, talented, and 00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:12.700 intelligent. I know that outward success can be a burden as well as a blessing. Because when some 00:36:12.700 --> 00:36:19.059 people look at your life from the outside, they can see your success, they can see your degrees, but 00:36:19.059 --> 00:36:26.039 they don't see you. Andy Crouch, in one of his books, talks about how every good leader has unseen 00:36:26.039 --> 00:36:31.940 vulnerabilities. In other words, every good leader, every position, everyone in a position of power or 00:36:31.940 --> 00:36:38.240 authority must at times bear burdens and take risks that most people will never know or understand. 00:36:39.420 --> 00:36:47.599 But God meets us in that place of unseen vulnerability. God meets us when even though we may 00:36:47.599 --> 00:36:56.720 be outwardly intelligent and successful, that we become keenly aware of how finite and flawed and not 00:36:56.719 --> 00:37:03.559 ultimately in control we are. And that's a gift when God brings us to a place like that. 00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:12.000 Martin Luther once said, affliction is the best book in my library. And he had read a lot of books, 00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:19.199 and he had written a lot of books. But the best education is not necessarily found in a university 00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:26.599 or even in a seminary, it's found through turning to Christ and depending on his word and crying out to 00:37:26.599 --> 00:37:32.519 him in the midst of afflictions that we did not choose for ourselves. Because it's through those 00:37:32.519 --> 00:37:39.339 afflictions that God humbles us and refines us and makes us wise. And ultimately, it's through those 00:37:39.339 --> 00:37:45.059 afflictions that he brings us into a place of multiplying and flourishing and peace and joy. 00:37:45.059 --> 00:37:51.699 So one of my prayer for Trinity is that this season of transition and every transition that God leads 00:37:51.699 --> 00:37:56.079 you through, with all the pain and loss involved as well as the excitement and anticipation, 00:37:57.039 --> 00:38:03.159 that every transition would drive every one of us into a deeper dependence and delight on our 00:38:03.159 --> 00:38:10.420 Redeemer and Refiner. Consider the Lord's steadfast love in redeeming us and in refining us. 00:38:11.279 --> 00:38:14.599 Let's look back and let's give him thanks. Let's pray. 00:38:15.059 --> 00:38:27.759 Father God, we thank you for your steadfast love. We thank you that you deliver us when we humble 00:38:27.759 --> 00:38:39.519 ourselves and cry out to you. We thank you that your deliverance takes many forms in relation to the 00:38:39.519 --> 00:38:48.719 specific trouble that we experience. But you are the one and the same God and Redeemer. We thank you, 00:38:48.780 --> 00:38:55.019 Jesus, for delivering us from our greatest enemies, from sin and death and separation from you. 00:38:55.019 --> 00:39:00.239 We thank you for your Holy Spirit. We thank you for your Holy Spirit. We pray, Lord, that we would look back 00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:07.360 and consider and thank you for your steadfast love. And that would equip us to be wise in all the ways you 00:39:07.360 --> 00:39:10.960 call us to go forward. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.