Last summer, I had the privilege of preaching at our church again in St. Paul. The sermon I delivered was poignant and personal. In light of recently posting about our family’s trials, I thought sharing the sermon here for my readers would be appropriate and offer a window into our world.
The text is Lamentations 3:21-26, but the theme is the biblical genre of lament in general. Going through a dark time really brings home the power and promise of the Bible’s lament songs. Pouring out your soul and your distress to the Lord is part of what biblical faith looks like. All of this is designed to help us wait with hope.
I’m sharing the sermon here, and you can find all my recent sermons from The Heights Church, St. Paul, here.
If you don’t have time to listen to the entire sermon (50 minutes), please do look over my notes.
I’m currently reading through a new book from one of my favorite authors: O. Palmer Robertson. I’ve reviewed his The Christ of the Covenants and The Israel of God, which both were influential in forming my theology. My love for biblical theology certainly was kindled in part by Robertson’s works.
His new book is The Flow of the Psalms: Discovering Their Structure and Theology (P & R Publishing, 2015). It promises to be an important book that may transform and sharpen my understanding and appreciation for the book of Psalms. After just the first two chapters, I know this is going to be a rewarding read.
I wanted to share an excerpt from this book. Robertson explains how the first two Psalms form a doorway into the Psalter as a whole, and help to shape how we should interact with this important book.
The Two “Poetic Pillars”
Of primary importance in Psalter structure are the two “poetic pillars”that escort the reader into the temple of the book of Psalms, Psalms 1 and 2. Taken together, these two very brief psalms anticipate major themes that permeate all five books. First among these themes is the contrast between the righteous and the wicked as they are judged on the basis of their response to God’s revealed Torah, the law, the teaching, the instruction of the Lord….
The second major theme found in these two poetic pillars that runs throughout the book of Psalms is the person of God’s Messiah, his perpetual dynasty and his permanent dwellingplace….
So these two opening psalms present in condensed poetic fashion the overarching message of the Psalter. God’s law, the contrary responses of two groups of people to that law, and the outworking of the consequence of their responses are interrelated themes that permeate the Psalter. At the same time, two kings and two kingdoms merge into each other through the repeating message of the Psalms. David and his descendants will be established in a perpetual kingship at a particular locale. Yahweh rules over heaven and earth from eternity and throughout all time. Eventually, Messiah’s kingship must merge with Yahweh’s kingship so that the kingdoms of earth and heaven, of time and eternity, are one. This merger of the two kings and the two kingdoms permeates the theology of the Psalter. This perspective alone can explain how the concept of kingship in Israel continues long after kings no longer exist in the nation. It also explains how the kingship of Jesus as Messiah could merge so perfectly with God’s kingship over the world. (from pp. 13-15)
Pick up a copy of this book from any of the following retailers:
This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach on one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 45. It was a joy to delve into the depths of this very rich Messianic psalm.
If you don’t have time to listen to the entire sermon (44 minutes), please do look over my notes. May God bless this sermon to all who hear it, for His glory and by His grace.
A story of conversion to Christ is always refreshing and encouraging, but the story of Rosaria Champagne Butterfield is more than that, it is faith-restoring. Her story reminds evangelical Christians that the saving power of the gospel really is bigger than the contemporary “threat” of homosexuality. The book addresses the homosexual question from the inside out, and illustrates what an incarnated gospel ministry and a church full of people who have the compassion of Christ can accomplish through Christ.
Rosaria Champagne was a tenured English professor and chair of feminist studies, at Syracuse University. She was also an outspoken lesbian. She was up and coming and making a name for herself. But then, she was abruptly stopped in her tracks through an encounter with a kind Reformed pastor who took the time to interact with her on a column she had written in the paper. She didn’t know how to classify his letter, it didn’t fit in the fan mail category, nor was it hate mail. Eventually she was drawn into a friendly exchange with him and slowly he began to shatter her perceptions about Christianity. Over time, she was drawn to faith in Jesus Christ, and slowly came to reject her identity as a lesbian and found new life in Christ.
Her story is told with honesty and charm in an autobiographical account titled The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey into Christian Faith. In her book, Rosaria Butterfield recounts her conversion and her growth in understanding the Scriptures. She recounts the struggle it was to be accepted as a redeemed lesbian in conservative Reformed circles. She shares her struggles and misteps in forming healthy relationships, and shares some of her steps on the way to marriage. She recounts her husband’s ministry and her involvement as a ministry partner and home-schooling mother. She also opines about problems she sees in Evangelicalism, including our modern obsession with our rights to sex. She also defends exclusive psalmody in worship.
This “unlikely convert” speaks with a disarming grace, that educates, inspires and aims to help us all change. She attacks the hidden part of us which may loathe the homosexual, and illustrates how genuine ministry will be messy and will prize making a difference above staying safe. Her story is a call to the church to come out of her cocoon and take the saving gospel of Jesus to the world around us.
I listened to the ChristianAudio production of this book. The recording was extra special in that Rosaria read her own book. The emotion and flavor of the audio recording was certainly enhanced with the author as narrator. The book is quite short, but profound. I highly recommend it. It will challenge and inspire, encourage and perhaps unsettle. Above all, it will magnify Christ.
Disclaimer: This book was provided by ChristianAudio.com for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.
About Book Briefs: Book Briefs are book notes, or short-form book reviews. They are my informed evaluation of a book, but stop short of being a full-length book review.
Very few commentaries can function as a single comprehensive resource for the Biblical passage at hand. The wise expositor makes use of theological introductions, critical comments on the Greek or Hebrew, a good exegetical commentary and then a few devotional commentaries – of course he also makes his own personal study of the passage.
What Allen P. Ross does for us in his new book A Commentary on the Psalms: volume 1 (Kregel, 2012), is distill the insights of decades of research and study on the book of Psalms into a single tool that can truly be a one-stop-shop for the busy pastor.
Ross provides 180 pages of introduction to the book of Psalms, focusing on structure and theology. He then gives us more than 700 pages of commentary on just the first 41 psalms. Each psalm is covered separately, the text is provided with an eye for meaningful textual variants (which are discussed at some length). The psalm’s composition and context is then briefly sketched and an exegetical analysis is provided. Then comes a detailed commentary focusing on exposition, and all this is wrapped up with a brief recounting of the message and application of the psalm.
Ross aims to help modern preachers and teachers to truly exposit all of the psalms in their entirety (not just a line here and there). He blends contemporary insights with gems of yesterday as he analyzes the Psalms and provides a very useful tool for the modern preacher. Ross with help from the team at Kregel, has crafted his tool to be most user-friendly. The font is large, there are helpful charts and diagrams, and clear section headings which break up the massive book. He uses footnotes throughout for more technical discussions, but chooses not to provide Hebrew transliterations as a rule, preferring just English translations and the Hebrew words themselves.
When we have his entire three volume commentary (at least from reading the introductory material it appears this will be three volumes), we will truly have a single and comprehensive resource for what may be the most important book in all of Scripture. His approach is to stick to the text but not to shy away from reading the text in light of the context of the NT revelation as well (at a later stage in the interpretation). Even if in some respects one differs with Ross, he will still find Ross’s book immensely helpful.
Ross shows how vital the Psalms were both for Hebrew worship and that of the early church. Even in the Reformer’s era, intimate knowledge of the psalter was a prerequisite for anyone aiming to take up a pastorate. How far we have fallen from an age where psalms made up the bulk of corporate worship. May Ross’s work help revive a study and interest in the Psalms today.
Disclaimer: This book was provided by Kregel Publications. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.
About Book Briefs: Book Briefs are book notes, or short-form book reviews. They are my informed evaluation of a book, but stop short of being a full-length book review.
Last summer, I had the privilege of preaching at our church again in St. Paul. The sermon I delivered was poignant and personal. In light of recently posting about our family’s trials, I thought sharing the sermon here for my readers would be appropriate and offer a window into our world.
