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Truat the Shepherd’s Goodness – Psalm 23

As noted previously, this is probably the most well-known psalm – we may associate it with death and funerals, where it is used frequently. But psalm 23 is for the living.

The psalm walks us through a whole variety of ways God’s goodness is applied to us – guidance, comfort, protection, presence and more. And these are applied to us corporately, but also to each of us individually.

The shepherd is an excellent metaphor for guidance, protection, and there is no better metaphor for need than a sheep. Sheep are dumb and helpless. But as the psalm state up front, the sheep lacks for nothing when cared for by a good shepherd.

The shepherd knows where the green pastures are in all seasons, where the brooks and ponds are. These still waters are not just a source of refreshment but a place of restoration, where rest can be had, wounds can be cleaned and solved) stillness can be found in the midst of chaos.

In verse three, we can see guidance. God leads us, and never takes a dubious shortcut with our life. He doesn’t take us anywhere on a hunch, and never gets tired, distracted or misled. He will never sacrifice our good for His glory. In fact, the glory of His name’s sake is directly tied to how He leads His sheep. Your welfare is directly connected to the glory of God.

It does not always feel that way. But David acknowledges this – we still see the Shepherd’s goodness in dangerous places. In this next section, starting with verse 4, it changes from third to second person as David speaks directly to the Lord: “you are with me.”

Verses 1-3 speak broadly of the Shepherd’s care. Verse 4 addresses what it means when he leads us down a path that is treacherous, through the Valley of Death. What David has in mind here is not a broad green basket between two hills or mountains, but rather a wadi, a common feature in the middle east, a deep ravine created by seasonal rains. The sides are steep, the terrain is treacherous and the crags provide lairs for predators. But this is not a story of a sheep wandering off into dangerous places. Rather, it is the Shepherd who leads the sheep there – sometimes, the “right paths” include the valley of the shadow of death.

David does not say “I will fear no evil because I understand where you are going” but rather because “you are with me.”

This section also introduces the tools of the shepherd, the rod and staff used for both protection and guidance. We can trust in the protection of the shepherd.

At this point, the imagery changes from sheep to people – guests at a banquet, with tables loaded with food and cups overflowing with wine. The imagery of dangers also changes, now addressing enemies directly. To David, these would have been both outside enemies and those within his own court. To us, those who oppose the gospel, those who threaten us personally. David leaves this open, but Paul points us to our ultimate enemies, the “powers and principalities” of the spiritual realm. Regardless, we can stand in their presence because we are within the House of God.

In fact, it is not the enemies that pursue us, but rather the mercies of God, which pursues us like an army, bringing us into the sheepfold, the final home, the place we were made for. We will dwell there, with Him forever. Life is short, but our time in His house is not.

Are we trusting this best of shepherds? Are we being led astray by other voices? In the midst of everything we are going through, let us trust the Shepherd.

– Sermon Notes, Sean Harrelson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, September 26, 2021

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Do We Know Christ? – 1 John 2:1-6

We’ve been reading John’s epistle where he has shared his eyewitness knowledge of how God wants a relationship with us and made a way to make that happen through Christ.

Now John is writing about how that plays out. Christ is both our advocate, our parakletos – the term means a helper or a legal representative – and our propitiation, our hilasmos, the sacrifice made to make us right with God. It’s like our lawyer or even the police officer giving us a ticket taking on the penalty we owe.

The third word that deserves closer attention is “abide” or “meno” – this is what Christ enables for us, staying, remaining within the grace of God, making our home within His presence.

This all helps us understand one of the key things John is trying to convey, namely how we are to deal with our own sin. He has just told us that all we have to do with our sins is to confess and repent, which naturally leads to the idea that we can avoid changing our behavior and just repent at intervals. But this is like a child who doesn’t worry about dirty diapers, since they are going to get changed anyway. But like that child we are to grow and develop. We are to be focused on living a life that pleases God, like an athlete trains (1 Cor 9). John’s goal and ours is that we do not sin.

But! If we do sin, Christ Himself is advocate and sacrifice for us and for those of the whole world.

That’s the backdrop against which John goes deeper into the discussion of sin. If we say we know Christ in this way, but make no effort to keep His commandments? Then we don’t actually know him and in fact are lying, possibly to ourselves as well. What are these commandments? Christ sums it up as “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” If we do not love like this, or put ourselves towards that love, then we likely have not really engaged Him as our advocate and propitiation.

Compare this love to romantic love, that draws you to spend more and more time with the object of your affection, that draws you to bend your own desires even personality more and more towards them. How much more should a love for God Himself bend us towards Him and His commandments.

This is difficult. Serving is difficult. Giving money is difficult. Loving our neighbor is difficult. Loving our enemies is even more difficult, let alone those who persecute us! Not just love, but even forgive. And part of those commands is to pass on the knowledge of Christ and His commands (the Great Commission). John tells us we can know if we are Christian if we follow these commands but he never says it’s going to be easy.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, September 19, 2021

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Assurance and Fellowship – 1 John 1:1-4

The apostle John wrote this letter in part to help the people of the church have assurance of their salvation, and to help test the faith of others as well. It is also a letter oriented directly towards God, with 184 references to the Godhead – a higher concentration than any other book in the bible. Likewise, the word “love” as both a noun and a verb is used 46 times. The word “know” is used many times as well – again, focused on enabling believers to know, to have confidence in their salvation. This is closely related to the word “abide” used many times – also used in John’s gospel frequently – as is “fellowship”.

John writes to “little children” – seeking as a father to assure his children of the promises they have in the true Father. But it is also there to help perceive the truth of the faith of others. Some people get offended at the notion of questioning someone’s faith, but there are times where it is important to know who is influencing you, and where that influence ultimately comes from.

John speaks specifically to the concept of influence from “anti-Christ” sources. In particular, the early strains of gnostic thought were becoming influential and John is writing in part to combat that.

John begins his letter in a way that echoes the beginning of his gospel – in the beginning. In the gospel, “in the beginning was the Word.” Here, he speaks to what he saw, heard, touched – the Word made flesh, the “word of life.” The word “touched” here can mean both to physically touch and also to seek after – it is used by Jesus in Luke after his resurrection to push his disciples to explicitly understand his physical resurrection. This is a clear broadside against the gnostic beliefs about the evil of matter and the notion that Jesus was some kind of spirit or phantom.

In verse 2, John continues with the themes from his gospel – Jesus as the light of life made manifest by God the father. We are all seeking that true life, “life abundantly” as John tells us Jesus calls it in John 10.

In verse three, John walks through what that life looks like and why he is sharing all this – fellowship between believers and between believers and the Father and the Son. This must be greater than what the world offers, because it comes with the power of the God of the universe behind it.

He wraps this section fleshing out that reason for writing – to make his joy complete. To bring other Christians to a fuller knowledge of God’s love is what brings his joy to overflowing. To whom and how are we proclaiming this fuller knowledge?

We can also pray for that fellowship within our church to be unhindered, and to share our testimony as John shares his own here.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, September 5, 2021

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Unity – Psalm 133

This is a short but good psalm describing the blessings of unity. It’s ultimately two verses sandwiching two metaphors.

The overall message is that it is good for people to live in unity, and God will bless that unity even into eternity.

The first metaphor is that of Aaron and the Aaronic priests being consecrated with oil, a symbol of the relationship that God has created with His people.

The second metaphor is that of the dew on Mount Hermon, the source of the waters that give life to the whole realm of Israel – the same dew falls on God’s holy mountain in Jerusalem, where the temple is representing the true life given from God, ultimately by Christ.

Christ Himself also calls for unity, praying for it for his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, in John 17: “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”

Paul writes to the Ephesians about unity as well, giving instructions on how to promote unity – humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love.

What is this unity? It’s not the unity of affinity, around hobbies or interests. It’s not even the unity of theology, where some items are interesting but unimportant, some things are important but not essential. There are unifying doctrines that we do all need to agree on, and those are points of unity – the trinity, the sacrifice of Christ and the truth of the Gospel.

When we disagree with each other, we should take the commands Paul gives in Ephesians around gentleness and love. We can also look to what he writes in Romans 14 specifically about opinions. Do not quarrel, and recognize that those who are doing things differently than you would prefer are doing so because they see that as the best way to please God. We aren’t to stand in judgement on them, but rather to trust God to correct.

If we don’t do this, we can easily slide into the mistrust of our brothers’ and sisters’ motives and even relationship with God. Instead, we need to interact with each other in love – as Paul writes in Romans 12, we are to love each other and “outdo over another in showing honor.”

Our policy in matters of opinion in the church must be rooted in love. We need help with this because we are often incapable of seeing our own perspectives in the proper light. There’s a simple test – does it build up the church, or does it tear it down?

-Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, August 9, 2021

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The Good Shepherd – Psalm 23

This is probably the most beloved of all Psalms, bringing comfort to so many in times of fear and difficulty. Henry Beecher wrote of it,

The twenty-third Psalm is the nightingale of the Psalms. It has charmed more griefs to rest than all the philosophy of the world. It has remanded to their dungeon more felon thoughts, more black doubts, more thieving sorrows, than there are sands on the sea-shore.

Henry Beecher

The first line opens the metaphor of God as shepherd and the writer, David, as a sheep. As king, David could have seen himself as a lion or an eagle, but instead he lands on the simplicity and vulnerability of a sheep, and compares the King of Creation to a blue-collar shepherd.

This metaphor sees its fulfillment in Christ, who calls himself the Good Shepherd. The catacombs where the early church met in secret are littered with images of Jesus as the good shepherd.

The picture painted here is of God as provider, echoing the promises of God to Israel as they wandered in the desert, keeping them safe often without them knowing. How often do we receive these material blessings without even realizing it? The illnesses we do not get, the car accidents we do not have.

But more than that, even in the midst of illness, injury and difficulties, God Himself is our portion, he is our sufficiency.

Aristotle provides the broad ancient view of sheep: “The sheep is said to be naturally dull and stupid. Of all quadrupeds it is the most foolish: it will saunter away to lonely places with no object in view; oftentimes in stormy weather it will stray from shelter; if it be overtaken by a snowstorm, it will stand still unless the shepherd sets it in motion; it will stay behind and perish unless the shepherd brings up the rams; it will then follow home.”

All that to say, the sheep need the shepherd. Isaiah 53:6 says “We all like sheep have gone astray.” We need to be brought to the still waters and the pasture. We see a picture of this in how David treats Mephibosheth, a son of Jonathan who had beg crippled. David, if he had been like other kings, would have had him killed. But instead, he brings him out of the town of Lo-Debar, which means “no pasture,” to eat at the table of the king.

Then verse 3 echoes what we saw in psalm 85:13 – “Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way.” It’s not the God carries us, per the Footprints poem, but he makes our way forward in righteousness plain.”

Then in verse 4 the psalm shifts – from speaking about God to speaking to Him directly. It does so at the same time as another shift, from green pastures and blue waters to darkness and danger – where else do we turn when in fear?

It refers to the staff and rod used by shepherds. The staff, broadly, is a support, something to lean on. The rod can mean the same thing, but it can also mean branch or tribe. There may be a connection here between the branch and tribe six Israel with whom God made His covenant.

Then the metaphor shifts from us being sheep to us being people at his table – as Jesus says, “I have called you friends.” Our ultimate destiny is not as sheep, but as guests of the king of the universe, and we will dwell in His house forever. Spurgeon writes, “While I am here, I will be a child at home with my God. The whole world shall be his house to me; and, when I ascend into the upper chamber, I shall not change my company, nor even change the house. I shall only be in the upper story forever.”

Is Christ your shepherd? Do you hear His voice? He loves you and is calling you to join his flock and to be His friend in His house forever.

-Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, August 1, 2021

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A Prayer for Revival – Psalm 85

This Psalm is a heart cry for revival, possibly written as the remnant of Israel return from captivity. It may come earlier, but either way it is a call for revival among God’s people.

Revival has come to mean for many a planned and scheduled event focused on conversion or rededication. But in reality, it is a movement of God in the hearts of His people.

In the psalm, the word “restore” or, maybe more accurately, “turn” in verse 4, point us to the notion of revival, as does “revive” in verse 6.

It opens with a prayer for the conviction of sin, a development of awareness of our thoughts and words and actions that are in opposition to the desires of God.

Next, the Psalmist pleads for God’s salvation, ultimately for God Himself to turn us from that sin. And he does so with a fear of the Lord, a turning from all the other things that spark fear in our hearts and rather letting all that anxiety be swallowed up by the awe of God and his power, an awe that is also deeply embedded in His steadfast love.

That intersection of God’s attributes is seen clearly in verse 10, where love and faithfulness, peace and holiness meet. This intersection is exactly what drove Christ to the cross, the ultimate fulfillment of the truth the psalmist saw centuries before.

And the result of that intersection is revival, as faithfulness springs up and righteousness looks down. It is God’s goodness that brings this about, with all the blessings that our entails.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, July 25, 2021

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The Righteous vs. The Wicked – Psalm 37

This is an imprecatory Psalm, seeking retribution on the wicked. This presents a quandary, because Christ calls us to love our enemies. But there are two things to consider – first, the New Testament has plenty of imprecatory pieces as well, but perhaps more importantly, there is a difference between seeking justice on the wicked and seeking our own personal retribution. We, like God, should desire all people to be saved – but we can also seek and desire evil to be punished and justice to be done.

The psalm is a contrast between the righteous and the wicked, in particular when it seems like the wicked are prospering and the righteous are not. How do we know which side is this we are on? As Christians, we know that our righteousness ultimately comes from Christ – we have been given the righteousness of Christ Himself. We seek to live out lives of righteousness to claim the name we have already been given.

This Psalm provides many imperatives to show us what that life of righteousness looks like. “Fret not,” “be not envious,” “trust in God,” “befriend faithfulness,” “delight yourself in the Lord.”

Much of this is about your thought life – where does your mind sit? Does it sit on worry and envy? Or does it dwell on the Lord and the trust that we can have in Him? Do we delight in God like a child delights in the things that bring them joy?

Rather than being overwhelmed by evil around you, or rushing out to just do something about it under your own strength, we’re called here to rest and wait. To do good, certainly (verse 3), but without anger and wrath (verse 8).

Verses 10-26 dig deeper into the contrast between what God has for the righteous versus the wicked. There’s an emphasis on what is coming, not always on what is right now. The section starts with an emphasis on the wicked but shifts to the righteous, noting that even when the righteous fall, God holds their hand like a parent holds up a child.

The next sections start again with imperatives: first, turn from evil and do good. Then, wait for the Lord and keep His way. God’s timing is not our time, but His justice is just. Finally, “mark the blameless and behold the upright.” They are the ones who have the future, even if their present seems filled with persecution.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, July 18, 2021

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The Psalm of Psalms – Psalm 51

Anglican liturgist J. M. Neale calls Psalm 51 “the psalm of all psalms” ranking it as among the most vital texts in the Old Testament for understanding sin, atonement and grace.

It’s a psalm with a specific origin, coming in the wake of David’s great sin, the rape of Bathsheba and murder of her husband. Specifically, it comes after God’s first act of mercy towards David, the sending of Nathan to confront him publicly.

The psalm uses three different words or sin: hatta, pesa and avown. Hatta is the classic “missing the mark” concept. Pesa is a specific crime or offense. Avown is the perverse spirit within us, what Paul calls “the flesh.” Sin, however it is referred to, is the breaking of God’s covenant with His people. What David is banking on is that the love and mercy of God will outweigh his sin and repair that break.

That is how he opens the psalm, begging for mercy. We have all been hurt and had mercy withheld from us. We have all withheld mercy from others. But God does offer His mercy to all of us through the death and resurrection of Christ. The steadfast love and abundant mercy David called on was put into direct practice on the cross. Adam and Eve ran from a merciful God, but David relied upon Him.

David does owe a debt to others – while his and our sin is ultimately against God, there are others who need restitution. But he also sees that his sin runs even deeper than his actions, that they spring from a broken inward being that needs restoration.

He seeks a “purging with hyssop” and herb used in rituals from the original Passover to the cleansing of disease and uncleanness. He has confidence that the purifying work of God can ultimately make him pure, even whiter than the whitest thing he can imagine. Even though it comes in the wake of crushing consequences, he looks forward to the work of restoration.

Quick notes from the rest, pieces of which I missed:

  • Verse 10 is one we should memorize and repeat in our own prayers.
  • There was no real concept of the trinity in the Old Testament, so the appearance of the Holy Spirit here, fairly clearly, is remarkable.
  • Remember that God is merciful but He is not stupid.
  • The full mercy of God leads to the most abundant life.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, June 13, 2021

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God Our Refuge – Psalm 16

This Psalm is a Miktam – another one of those musical phrases we don’t really know the meaning of. It could mean “engraving” in that it was written down or carved somewhere. It could mean “golden, ” meaning valuable or popular. Most likely it is some kind of notation for the musician or the singer. Like many of the first set of psalms, it is a psalm of David.

It opens with a request for deliverance, using a soft imperative tense that means a begging or beseeching. There is no specific dilemma cited like there is in many other psalms, but there are certainly many possibilities throughout David’s life – or it could be a general prayer.

He sees God as a hiding place, as a protective source of refuge from the danger around him, but then builds on that. He speaks to his own soul, calling himself to acknowledge God as Lord, and to acknowledge himself as sinful, either meaning he has no goodness without God, or that whatever good he may have is insufficient when coming before the Lord.

He then looks outward at those around him, aligning himself with those who align with God, but looking at those who do not, not with scorn but pity, because he knows their end will be tragic.

He goes on, back to God, who is his chosen portion and cup, not only sustenance but also the prime choice and something to rejoice over. The next verse basks in the goodness of what God gives him, despite the difficulty around him. The territory, the inheritance God has promised him is pleasant and beautiful.

God gives him counsel and instruction, God is always set before him, always at hand. This is what makes him glad, rejoice and dwell securely, even in the midst of persecution and danger.

Then David gets a glimpse of God’s ultimate promise of salvation even in death – this verse is cited in the New Testament as a picture, as a calling forward of the resurrection of Christ. And David closes the prayer with another glimpse, of the eternal joys awaiting us in the presence of God. No wonder there is no fear! No wonder God is his refuge in which his flesh dwells secure.

In Acts, we have the story of Pentecost and Peter’s impromptu sermon after the coming of the Holy Spirit. He speaks to his Jewish audience about David, who died, pointing forward, in this Psalm, to his descendent Jesus Christ who fulfilled all the promises that David gave glimpses of.

We, who have this fullness come to us that David only foresaw, can pray this prayer along with him when we feel oppressed and in need of refuge. May it bring us out of our inward, downward facing orientation and point us to the God who loves us.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, June 6, 2021

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Blessed Is the Man – Psalm 1

There is a choice for all of mankind – who are you going to give yourself to? A choice between blessings and curses, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self and darkness. Psalm 1, echoed in the Beatitudes, walks through who God blesses.

It begins with a negative – what we are not to do. It paints a picture of a man sliding into temptation, from walking along, to stopping to listen, to sitting and engaging in wickedness directly. Paul uses these same terms in Ephesians to paint the opposite, the deepness of the relationship with Christ that we are offered.

The first positive attribute of this blessed man is “delight in the law of the Lord.” The instructions of God are not simply rules and regulations but God’s outstretched hand to His people, to be grasped in joy. How much moreso for us now, with the Law fulfilled in the person and work of Christ?

The blessed man is compared to a fruit tree, firmly planted (and planted by Someone else, not by itself) by an irrigation stream, specifically and strategically placed in order to bear much fruit.

In contrast, the wicked are like the leftover husks of wheat, blowing away as the farmers separate the grain from the garbage. It is a picture of God’s judgement that we see throughout the scripture.

This fruit vs. chaff dichotomy is one of several in this brief Psalm as the psalmist walks us towards the ultimate end of both the righteous and the wicked. The one knowing and known by God – the other, perishing. The psalm is a call to right living, right thinking, right speaking as we seek that relationship with God.

The term “meditate” here means to mutter or even growl. It’s like the grunt of effort as you pull up brambles, it’s like the gargling as we fill our mouths with the word of God. It’s like the savoring of the flavors of good wine or good coffee, engaging in the depth and nuance of the word. As Spurgeon says, “Not by hasty reading, but by deep meditation, we profit by the Word of God.”

The task set in front of us is not easy – the mockers, sinners and wicked are all around us – and even within us, in the form of the Old Man. All our natural inclinations are towards what is easy and selfish. It takes time and difficult effort to train ourselves away from this. The Psalmist here is begging us to engage in that training, drinking deep of the training manual we have been given.

Jesus tells us about the importance of being known by God: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Ultimately this is the most important thing there is – and through Christ’s fulfillment of the law we are given His righteousness, bringing us the blessings promised here.

But we still seek to live out what we have been given, seeking to delight and meditate on the words of God and the Word incarnate. We seek to be, in the words of Isaiah, “oaks of righteousness,” drinking deep from the well of truth and love that we have set before us.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, May 30, 2021