Amen. Father, I ask that you would gently but deeply pour out the Holy Spirit upon us
as we reflect upon your word. Help us, Father, to hear not so much that it's a word for other
people, but that it's a word from your heart and your lips to each of us at the very depths of our
heart. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.
Amen. It's a long time ago, oh, I better start my timer. It's a long time ago, right close to the
start of my ministry, that I was preaching. In fact, I think the rector of the church was on holidays,
and I got to preach that Sunday. And in the course of my sermon, I made a reference to,
you know, sort of like losing your heart. And I, you know, I just went and did it. Afterwards,
an older woman came up to me where I was changing out of my robes. In that church, I wore robes.
And she just lay a strip into me because she said, didn't you know that that couple that was sitting
right there, that their daughter is waiting for a heart transplant, and if she doesn't get it,
she's going to die. And she just ripped a strip off me, and I just sat there gobsmacked,
stood there gobsmacked. And I was, you know, so thankful that there was a very old minister who'd
been assisting me that morning, and he gave me some words of comfort. Amongst other things,
is I didn't know that. How would I know that? The psalm that we're going to talk about today
does something which is very, very, very countercultural. And it might be upsetting to
some of you here. Maybe you've gotten some type of a terrible diagnosis that I don't know of, and I'm
not here to trigger anything or anything like that. But the psalm here today is going to talk about
something which is profoundly countercultural in Canada. The psalm wants you and me to think about
death. And not just death in general, but your death. The text wants me to think about my death.
Death. And as we all know, that's very, very countercultural. Maybe, it's interesting, I was in a
coffee shop this morning, and the guy ahead of me in the lineup was covered in tattoos. And all of the
tattoos had death, like skulls, and obviously dead hands. So maybe he thinks about death all the time. I
don't know. But from what I understand, generally, in most places, if you were to go up to somebody in
a party and say, what do you think you're going to die? And what's it going to be like when you die?
Like, do you think about dying very much? That wouldn't be the way that you get into a good
conversation with people, probably not in most situations in Canada. But that's what the psalm
wants us to do. So let's look at it. It begins sort of in a, in a, actually it begins in a way which is
very interesting. Look how it begins. First chapter, Psalm 49, the superscript or the subscript is to the
choir master. In other words, originally this was something that you could sing, a psalm of the
sons of Korah. And it begins sort of in a very cheery way. It says, hear this all peoples, give
ear all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak wisdom,
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my
riddle to the music of the lyre. And so basically it's saying, the psalmist is saying, I think there's
something that everybody needs to think about. It doesn't matter what country you're in. It doesn't
matter how educated you are, uneducated you are. It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. It doesn't
matter if you have lots of power, very little power. It doesn't matter if you're young and old.
I think there's something that we all need to think about. And that's how the psalm begins. I
think there's something we all need to think about. And he's really saying as well that if you want to
be wise, this is something that you need to, and if you want to be wise and understanding, this is
something you need to consider. And here, of course, he's talking about something which Canadians can relate
to because, as we all know, that if you're to tell somebody that they're not wise, they're foolish,
or that they don't understand something, that's a way to insult Canadians. Canadians don't like to
think of them being, we don't like to think that we're not wise. We don't like to think that we lack
understanding. So on one level, this is a, you know, fair enough. Maybe it's true. Maybe it's not.
There's something the psalmist thinks everybody should think about. And if they want to be wise and
understanding, they need to think about it. And it's interesting. It's also very Canadian because he
says, and I'm not going to use cold logic, and I'm not going to use sociology or psychology or political
science or statistics. I'm not going to use anything like that. I'm going to use music, riddles,
and proverbs. And proverbs in particular are, well, they're sort of little insights into how life is and
what life is like. And that's how we're going to examine this question. So what is the question?
Well, at first, in fact, I have to confess that I, when I first saw the question, I puzzled over it
most of the week. Because it didn't really seem, I'll be very honest, I didn't see it at first as
something that applied to me per se, at least right now. Maybe sometimes it's applied to me, but
like not right now. And then I realized that it actually does apply to me. But here's how it is.
It's a bit misleading at first, I think, to a lot of our ears, at least in Canada. Verse five,
why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of those who cheat me or deceive me,
surround me, those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?
Now, we in Ottawa are very blessed. We don't meet today. No Christians in Pakistan, if they're
meeting, they have to worry about whether there's a mob that will come and attack them. If you're
meeting in northern Nigeria, you worry about whether there's a mob that will attack you. If you're
Christians potentially meeting in places, some places in China, you'd worry about whether the
police are going to break in and arrest you. And then there's other places of the world that are
involved in wars or have just violent gangs. It's not so much persecution as just the war might engulf
you. So for many Christians in the world, this is going to be a text which they'll instantly see
applying to themselves. But for us, maybe not so much until I thought of this.
So I'm not on social media. I don't watch, I don't really, I'm not, I mean, technically I'm,
I have a Facebook account and Instagram. And if you've sent me a friend request and I haven't
responded, don't take it personally. I had a ministry intern that told me I should get an Instagram
account and he wanted to run it for a little while. And he actually, like in no time at all,
got me up to a thousand, almost a thousand followers, but then he moved on and I don't
post anything. And I had to be on a committee that wanted everybody to be on Facebook until some people
said no, but I registered for it. So I don't take any friend requests. I'm virtually never on them.
But I do glance at Instagram sometimes, especially probably when I'm procrastinating and I should be
doing something more practical, but I do look at it and I'm aware of lots of others who do.
I probably wouldn't want to post my holidays on Instagram because from an Instagram world,
my holidays were lame. What did I do during most of my holidays? Sat around in my at-home shorts,
in my at-home t-shirt, which are ugly, right? They're comfortable and old and ugly. And I read books.
That's not going to really make it very much on Instagram. Now, you know, I also saw lots of
grandkids and let me tell you, you know, if in Instagram people show you their designer house,
let me tell you, after you've had my three grandsons, three, five, and seven, who, they're sort of like,
I really love them to bits. They're sort of like squirrels that have just consumed a lot of chocolate
and Red Bull. And they're able to demolish a tidy house in a matter of seconds. And then you add some
other grandchildren in. That's not very Instagram worthy. Okay. And, you know, maybe when I was young,
you know, maybe there was a time when I was very buff and I want to, you know, show my beach body or
something like that. That's not something I would want to do today. And so, you know what I mean? So,
why is it that on one hand, a lot of us would want to be afraid to post certain things on Instagram
and Facebook, you know, because in fact, you know, some of you might say, George, you could post that
on Instagram. I'm like, you actually read a book. All I did was sit around in my pajamas, scratching my
stomach, binging on Netflix. Or, you know, at least you have grandkids. Like, you know, you could take a
few pictures of them. I don't even have grandkids. Like, you know what I mean? Like, George, you're sort of,
for some of us, you're sort of boasting saying about those types of things. But we all get it,
right? And this is actually, so why is it, and this is especially true when we're feeling a bit down.
And if that, what happens with the social media is we'll feel even more down. So you go and look
on Facebook and, oh, they just climbed a mountain. Oh, they're in Bangkok. Oh, they're lining up for a
play in Manhattan. Oh, they're showing off their beach body. Oh, and we like those things. And we
think about our own body or our own finances or our own things, and we feel anxious. That's a type
of fear, anxiety. We feel anxious. We feel intimidated by them. And we feel that we couldn't post anything
about our own lame life. And so on one hand, things like Instagram and Facebook often make us feel more
fearful and anxious, and they definitely would make us feel more fearful and anxious if we wanted to
try to start posting on it. Now, I'm sure you folks are all way more successful and hip and
beach body ready than I am, but so maybe that's just something only I can relate to and you can't,
you know. But, you know, here's the thing. It's very interesting. If you go back and look at verse
six of the, you know, verse, so here, why, and the question is, why am I anxious? Why am I fearful
when I'm in trouble? Like, and then the word iniquity here, and then the word deceiving in the next part,
it's, well, here's the thing. You know, most of us know two things when we watch Instagram.
We know that probably the people are exaggerating and lying a bit. Not any of you folks, by the way.
But we know we're not getting the whole story. Like, nobody after they've posted their pictures then
post their bank balances and credit rating or their debts and how long it takes them to get
themselves out of debt after they've had their glorious holiday or shows you that immediately
after their picture with their friends, they got into a big fight and now you're not even seeing
your friends. Like, people, we know that there's some deception going on there, a type of cheating,
because the word can be translated as cheating or deception. There's not that everything which,
is shown in there is sinful and, like, it's not like they show you, you know, here I am going to,
you know, here I am going to, you know, kill people or something like that. But a lot of it is actually
sins of omission. It's, you know, by showing our conspicuous consumption,
like we're feeding our vanity, we're feeding our pride, we're intentionally trying to make people
other, intentionally or unintentionally trying to make other people feel jealous of us.
We're, you know, we can afford this particular holiday because we actually didn't give any
money to support the work of the church or help the poor. And that's why we have the money to do this.
But, but you see, here's the other thing about the text. You know, when I was talking about all
this thing, the beach body, et cetera, the word wealth in verse six, and the word riches,
word riches mean riches, by the way. It means the fact that you have a big bank balance and,
and a great stock portfolio and all of that type of stuff. But the word wealth is very general.
It means anything which is socially advantageous. So it literally means it would cover the word wealth
would, would cover the fact that some people are just very, very attractive, or very, very fit,
or have very, very high IQs, or are, you have a very, very good career, or have a very high position
in business or government or entertainment, or are very, very popular, or anything like that. So it's not
just talking about wealth. It's talking about any other type of advantageous thing that we have, that
we trust in, that we, we trust in our looks, we trust in our wit, we trust in our, our, our high IQ,
we trust in those things. And what this psalm is saying is he's asking himself a rhetorical question.
When I'm, you know, having a bad time, why am I anxious? Why is it that when I think about
the people who surround me, and even though I sort of know that they're deceiving me, and, and they,
but they, they trust in their wealth, and, and all of their abilities, and all of their accomplishments,
and all of their abundance, and, and, and when I, why, why is it that I'm anxious?
Why is it that I'm anxious and fearful at times like this? That's the question.
That's the question that he, the psalmist, says everybody should think about. Why are we anxious?
Why are we fearful? Now, his answer is going to take us in the direction of his profoundly
un-Canadian. His answer is, we need to start thinking about our death. Look what he says in verse 7.
And he says something more, more telling. Verse 7. Truly no man or woman can ransom another
or give to God the price of his or her life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never
suffice that he or she should live on forever and never see the pit. So, actually, it's not just,
because, you see, you could go to a party and say, you know, I don't, have you ever think about death? And
we get in a bit of a discussion. Well, I don't know about death. You know, it's like this, or I think
it's like that. And, and then somebody can talk about the stages of grieving, and you can talk about
some psychology and, and all of that type of stuff. But, but the, the point is the, the psalmist isn't
just saying that you need to think about death in some type of generic way. The psalmist is saying,
George, you need to think about your death. George, think about your death. In a sense, it's saying,
any one of us, if we want to try to start to feel through this anxiety and have some type of a wisdom
in face of the anxiety, while we, others and, and their accomplishments and their, and, and their,
just their accomplishments and their success and how it makes us feel. So, part of what you need to do,
George, in a sense, is go and look at the mirror and say, George,
you're going to die. Now, that's not something that normally Canadians would give us advice to do.
And he's going to help us to think about three things about death, more than three, but three
things at first. The first thing is this, that nobody, no matter how rich they are, can pay off
God so they won't die. I don't know how many billions of dollars Bill Gates is worth right now. I don't even
know if he's the richest guy. I think he's way north of 50 billion, but who knows, maybe 50 billion
doesn't even make you in the top 10 anymore for the richest people in the world. But if we were to,
if, if, if, if Bill Gates was to announce on social media that he, in fact, had arranged a deal with
God, and he's giving 50 billion of his dollars away, and he's not going to die. Well, like nobody,
we'd think it was a hoax, we'd think it was a joke. If he really was insistent upon it, we'd think he'd
been, he was deluded, maybe early stages of Alzheimer's, and some con man or con woman had
ripped him out of 50 billion dollars, and we'd all just know that Bill Gates is still going to die.
And so, in a sense, if you remember that you're going to die, I need to remember I'm going to die,
and the first thing I need to remember about my own death is no matter how rich I am, no matter how
wealthy I am, I can't pay God so that I won't die. And, and then the second thing is, is a, another type
of thing that we tend to value. Look at verse 10, for he sees, that's a person who's thinking about it,
if you think about it, that even the wise die. The fool and the stupid alike must perish. The literal
word is brutish, uh, and I, they've used stupid, uh, because I guess a lot of people know, down days
wouldn't know what brutish meant. And, and that's just saying this as well, that, you know, George,
doesn't matter how wise you are, it doesn't matter, not that people with PhDs are necessarily wise.
In fact, I increasingly think I'd probably rather be ruled in this country by, you know, the next,
just a random selection of 300 working class people than the people who are being ruled by now.
I'd probably be ruled better if you just picked the bakers and the mechanics of the world to,
to run the country. But anyway, but you know what I mean? Like, if I look in the mirror,
I, I can become as wise and as understanding, as educated I possibly can, and the fact is,
I'm still going to die. And, and then he goes to a third thing, a very popular thing of rich and,
and, and successful people. Uh, it look at verse 11, their graves are their homes forever,
their dwelling place to all generations, though they called lands by their own names.
So it doesn't matter if, if, uh, you know, I'm, I'm so completely and utterly brilliant that they
name a school of theology after me, or if, if one of you is such a brilliant social scientist that they
name their school of sociology or political science after you. It doesn't matter if one of you is so
particularly rich that you can donate a big whack of cash to the university of Ottawa. So they name
a building after you and put a statue in front of you, you're still going to die. And in fact,
we in Canadians right now, we definitely know that it doesn't matter if you're the founding prime
minister of Canada, they're going to get rid of your statue and they're going to rename the streets
that were named after you and get rid of you that you don't even last. Even in memory,
you're all going to die. You're going to die. And then he sums it all up very powerfully in verse 12,
man or woman in his pomp will not remain. He is like the beasts that perish.
It's very, very powerful. Um, when I look at this room, every one of you is going to die. When you look
at me, I know as a Christian, we can say maybe Jesus will come back before we die, but just take
that out of the equation for a second. That's going to come up in a sense in a moment, but I'm going to
die. And, and all of the things that intimidate me about not wanting to post on Instagram, all of those
things in the face of death are irrelevant. And then it says, verse 13, uh, the path of those who
pursue all of these things and, and the path of those who don't want to even think about death
is, is this verse 13. This is the path of those who have foolish confidence yet after them, people
approve of their boasts. So what, what's this saying? It's actually really, it's, it's almost as if,
um, you know, if you were to talk to the average Canadian about, uh, say we, you know, have you
thought about your own death? And, uh, the average Canadian, if they didn't just sort of smack you down,
would just say, listen, don't think about your death. That's going to get you nowhere. Listen,
what you need to do is you need to seize life by the lapels. You need to get on life and you need
to ride life as hard as you can. You need to suck everything you can out of life for as long as you
can. That's what you should be thinking about, how you can be powerful, how you can be successful,
how you can just really grab hold of life and let life grab hold of you. And you got to ride that
baby as long as you can and don't think about dying. And in a sense, I got this out of order.
Verse 13 anticipates that. It anticipates that. It's, it's really saying people who think this way,
it's a foolish type of confidence, even though that's in fact what people trust in. That's what
boasts means, what you trust in, because you're still going to die.
And then the psalmist, verses 14 and 15, it sort of goes A, B, A, B. It gives you two different
types of paths or destinies, but it gives you one, then another, then one, then the first one,
then the second one, sort of in a more intensified way. Look, look what it says, like sheep. And the
first one is sort of like would something that would come from, who's that guy that he does a lot of
horror type things or very dark type things, Del Toro, Guillemero Del Toro. It's sort of like what a Tim
Burton might do if he was really unleashed. It's something like what Stephen King would write.
He gives this very macabre image. Verse 14, like sheep, they are appointed for Sheol.
Death shall be their shepherd. So in other words, for you and I who say, listen, don't think about your
death. Don't think about anything like that. Just think about life. Just think about grabbing life,
sucking as much life as you can, as long as you can. It's all you think about. Just, you know,
grab life, ride life. Don't think about your death. But, you know, and the psalmist is saying,
the fact of the matter is, they're going to die, you're going to die, and death will be your shepherd.
Death will lead you around. And then it says, and the upright shall rule over them in the
morning of triumph. And that's the ABAB part. And I'll talk about that in a moment. But look at the
next thing it says about those who died. It's the last part of verse 14. Their form shall be consumed
in Sheol with no place to dwell. So here's the Tim Burton, Guillemero Del Toro, Stephen King image.
It says, George, when you go to the place of the dead, death will be your shepherd.
And you know how right now on earth, if you go and see sheep, the shepherd taking the sheep and the
sheep breeding the grass, and as the sheep eat the grass, they get more plump. Well, in death,
death is your shepherd. And the shepherd death takes you out like a sheep to the pasture. As you are in
the grass, the grass eats you. The grass eats you. And you wither. You become less and less and less
as the grass consumes you. Like I said, a very type of macabre image.
Now, here's where we would expect, you know, like that bit just before this about the upright
triumphant thing, and this is now where you'd think in the world of religion and our normal
religious imagination, that the psalmist would say, you know, but it's different for us because,
why? Well, it's because we go to church, because we are good people. Why? Because, you know, we're
sexually faithful. Why? Well, because we are generous and we tithe. Why? Because, well, we, you know, in
another culture, it's different for us. Why? Well, because we do yoga. Why? Well, because, you know, we
learn how to chant. Why? Well, because we've made our trek to Mecca. Why? Well, because, you know, we say the
rosary, and we'd come up with a religious type of answer, but the psalmist surprises us, and one of
the commentators that I read said, this is one of the Everest moments in the entire Old Testament
in terms of hope. Look what it says in verse 15. But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
for He will receive me. What is my hope in the face of my death?
It's not that I'm a good person, not that I'm a nice person, not that I ever had a beach body,
not that I ever had lots of money, not that I've been married, not that I've had kids, not that I've
had any type of worldly accomplishment, not because maybe if I was to die suddenly, tragically, right now,
maybe you'd have to have the Met for my funeral. I don't know. Like, not for any of those. My only hope,
my only hope is that God will ransom me,
that God will deliver me, that God will atone, do the atoning work for me, that He will rescue me.
That's my only hope. I have no other hope. I have no other hope.
You see,
in a sense, the religious imagination
is the same thing as that, just another form of the wealth imagination,
that somehow it's because I do the rosary so many times,
it's because I go to church so many times, that's my type of wealth,
and so therefore I have this hope,
but the psalm has undercut that as a whole possibility for me.
And
it's removed
all type of pride and presumption
from me
of my religious accomplishments
or spiritual accomplishments, as opposed
to material accomplishments, because all
of that accomplishments are types of wealth
and none of them work.
That's what the psalmist is saying,
is that your only hope, George,
in the face of death, is that God will ransom you.
It's your only hope.
Otherwise, death will be your shepherd,
and when he takes you out to graze,
when death, he or she, death, takes you out to graze,
that environment will only consume you and make you less.
You see, Spurgeon once famously said that
the Christian life is not about pride and presumption.
It is one beggar telling another beggar where to find free bread.
And that's my message for you
and anybody who's watching,
is your only hope in life and death
is if God ransoms you.
Now we're going to circle back.
Let's just sort of finish the psalm.
The rest of the psalm sort of emphasizes this truth
and goes back to the original question.
Verse 16,
Be not afraid when a man becomes rich
or a woman becomes rich
when the glory of their house increases.
That goes back to the question of verse 5,
like why am I in fact so anxious
at the success of others relative to my own success?
And it says,
Be not afraid when people become rich
when the glory of their house increases,
for when they die,
they will carry nothing away.
Their glory will not go down after them,
for though while he lives,
he counts himself blessed,
and though you get praise
when you do well for yourself,
his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
and he will never again see the light.
And then it ends,
Man and his pomp,
yet without understanding,
that's this understanding,
that you need God to ransom you.
It's like the beasts that perish.
So here's a couple of things.
You know,
one of the reasons I think,
well here,
if you go put up the first point,
Claire,
that would be very helpful.
There's this wonderful line
in The Lord of the Rings,
and I don't want to spoil it for you
if you're going to read it one day,
but there's a character
who you're not sure
whether they die or not,
but this character wakes up in a bed
a little bit later.
He's been asleep for a while
because he's been very sick,
and before this had happened to the character,
he believed that one of his very,
very, very, very best friends had died,
and he wakes up in this room
and is filled with light,
and he's in wonderful sheets,
not at all where he was
when he thought he was about to die,
and to his huge delight,
he sees his best friend there smiling at him,
and he asks his best friend if he's dead,
and his best friend says,
no, you're alive,
and they have this very powerful scene
where they just breaks out,
they just both break out in laughter and joy,
and the character says,
I feel,
as he hears about all the things
that have happened,
I feel as if everything sad
has become untrue,
and in a sense,
what this text is telling us about
is that in Christ,
everything sad,
that's in Christ,
everything sad
will become untrue.
There's a hymn that says,
a contemporary worship song that says,
earth has no sorrow
that heaven can't heal,
and that's a very good line.
In Christ,
everything sad
will become untrue.
Out of Christ,
or outside of Christ,
everything glad
will become untrue.
You see,
I think for many people
in our culture,
it's like this.
Why do you not want
to think about death?
I don't want to think
about death, George,
because there is no light
at the end of the tunnel.
When I look down the line,
there's only darkness,
and if you were to get,
I think a lot of people
in our culture
to talk very honestly
about themselves,
maybe the type of honesty
you only get
when alcohol is loose
in their tongue,
and it's late at night,
and they'll say,
you know, George,
the problem with life
is that there is no light
at the end of the tunnel.
There's only darkness,
when I look down,
if you were to ask me
to think of my death,
all I see is darkness,
and I want to be very honest
with you, George.
Not only is there only darkness
at the end of the tunnel,
but while I'm in the tunnel,
I just have this tiny little flashlight
that doesn't illumine very much,
and all around me
in the tunnel,
the end is dark,
everything around me
is dark,
and the darkness
has a type of weight,
and a substance,
and a creepiness to it,
so all I want to do
is just grab hold
of my little flashlight
and hope it lasts
as long as it can
before the darkness
swallows me.
I'm just going to hold
that flashlight.
I'll sacrifice everything
to hold onto that flashlight,
and we all know
that,
you know,
if it's only darkness
at the end
and all the gladness
that I've had in this life,
it really becomes
not really that glad,
because it just ends
in darkness,
and the psalm
wants me to understand
that there's this possibility
that God will redeem you,
that he will ransom you,
and I didn't talk about it,
but in that line
in verse 15
where it says,
but God will ransom my soul
from the power of Sheol
for he will receive me,
that he will receive me
is very powerful,
it means that
God doesn't sort of
save you or ransom you
as a result of some
impersonal algorithm,
but he will receive me
is that this ransoming
is something profoundly personal,
it is a face-to-face encounter,
and that it's a face-to-face encounter
for him to ransom you,
and it implies
that when he ransoms you,
he receives you,
he receives me,
and so it is
that even there are times
in my life
when I will feel very sad,
and I might feel
very, very depressed,
and life might feel
very, very happy,
I mean very, very heavy,
and I'm not conscious
of the fact
that Jesus is beside me,
is that when the end comes
and I die,
when I close my eyes
in death,
that is the moment
that my eyes, in fact,
become open
for the first time,
and what I see
is not just the light,
I see him
looking at me
with a smile
and welcome,
and in that bigger
and greater world
of the new heaven
and the new earth,
I will also begin
to learn how he has been
with me at every moment
in my life,
even those times
in my life
when I have been
most sad,
most frightened,
most depressed,
feeling most alone,
most abandoned,
because when he ransoms me,
he receives me
and he will not
let me go.
So in Christ,
everything sad
will become untrue,
out of Christ,
everything glad
will become true.
Why is this the case?
Because you see,
the end of the story
changes the story.
This is another way
of saying,
there's a great,
if you could wrap
the second point,
this is just a quote
from Jim Elliot,
it's a great quote,
it's not the Bible,
but it's a great quote,
he is no fool
who gives what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose.
See, that's what comes
when you give your life
to Christ.
Why should you give
your life to Christ?
Well, you're not going
to keep your life anyway.
Are you?
Like, you can't keep it.
Like, if you don't give
your life to Christ,
if you keep it for yourself,
death will be your shepherd
and the grass
will consume you.
But if you give your life
to Christ,
well, he gives you
this new life
that you cannot
ever possibly lose.
He is no fool
who gives
what he cannot keep
to gain in Christ
what he cannot lose.
And just in the final point,
here's sort of
a takeaway prayer.
And I,
I,
now if I could go back
and rewrite it,
I'd say not just,
I wouldn't say give me,
I'd say grow in me.
Father, please grow
in me
a humble,
walking,
trusting,
knowing
that I have been
ransomed by Christ,
that I am never alone,
and that my death
is an entrance
into full life
with you
and your people
and your world.
that's,
that's what the text
is reminding us.
It's,
in a sense,
it's saying,
you know,
the troubles,
you're going to have
troubles in your life.
You're going to have
times which are
very,
very hard.
You're going to have
those.
The psalm isn't saying
just trust in God
and you will never
have hard times,
that you will never
have a heavy heart,
that you will never
feel afraid.
The psalm isn't saying
that.
The psalm is saying,
listen,
you're going to have
heavy hearts.
You're going to have
troubles.
You're going to have
hard times.
And one of the things
that you desperately
need is to understand how the things that everybody else is putting their confidence in,
they're all just going to fail them. And there's only one thing that will not fail you, and that
is that if you allow him, God will ransom you. He will redeem you. He will atone you. He will do it
personally. He will receive you. He will never let you go. And the end of your story will be to wake
up finally at that moment of your greatest defeat and the loss of all things, which is death,
and you will discover that in your case, because you have allowed him to ransom you, it is not
the loss of all things, that the sadness is becoming untrue. And you see his face, and you're in the
light, and you're in his world, and it's a really big world, and you can go farther up and higher up
and farther in for all eternity. Father, please grow in me a humble, walking, trusting, knowing that I
have been ransomed by Christ, that I am never alone, that my death is an entrance into full life with
you and your people in your world. And knowing the end of the story, and knowing who walks with me,
let us face our troubles. And let us face our anxieties. And let us interrogate our anxieties.
And ask the Father to grow such a hope within us. I invite you to stand.
Father, your word isn't pop psychology. It challenges us with truth. It challenges us where we really are.
It challenges us with the things that we don't want to think about. And Father, we confess before you
that your word is true, that your word is truer than the best wisdom that Canada has to offer,
that your word is true. And Father, we ask that you grow within us.
Grow within us a humble, trusting, walking, knowing that each of us has been ransomed by Christ,
and that he is always with us, so we are never alone.
And at the very end of the end of the end of the end is really the true beginning,
because our death is but a waking up to see you face to face,
and entering into your new heaven and your new earth with you and your people
forever.
So Father, make us more heavenly minded
as we face the challenges of each day.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.
Amen.
Peace.