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

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

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

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

Faith Triumphant – Habakkuk 3:1-15

This is a book about faith. It starts with Habakkuk’s faith being tested, crying out to God asking why His people are so corrupt. His replies by promising judgement through the Chaldeans. This continues to test Habakkuk’s faith, and he asks why – but he seeks to listen. God replies with a teaching of faith – the righteous will live by faith, and we can have faith that He will bring all things fulfillment.

In chapter 3, we see the outcome of faith triumphant, in Habakkuk’s song of response. The song is a “Shiggaion” like Psalm 7 – but we don’t know what that means, exactly. It could mean a wild, mournful song, or it could mean a song of meditation and humility, which is certainly the spirit of the song. The other musical term used is “Selah” which we also do not know the meaning of – or could be a pause, or an intensifier, or a line repeat.

The song starts with an acknowledgment that Habakkuk is fearful. While we know that “God has not given us a spirit of fear” we still experience fear. Habakkuk also sees that the only rescue from his fear is the revival of God’s work, even though that work is part of what is making Habakkuk afraid. From Paul in the New Testament, we can have confidence in the promise that “He who began a good work in [us] will be faithful to complete it.”

The core of Habakkuk’s request is this: “In wrath, remember mercy.”

Then he gets to the poetry of the song, painting a broad picture of the seeds and power of God. First, he recounts God meeting Israel in the wilderness (the wilderness of Teman here is used as a more general term) and Mount Sinai (called here and Deuteronomy Mount Paran). He points to the flashes of glory shown to Moses and in the pillars of cloud and fire, and to the plagues sent on both Egypt and, later, the wandering Israelites.

He calls out God’s power over those things that seem permanent, whether mountains or kingdoms or rivers. All of them fall before God’s “chariot of salvation” – his “merkabah yeshua”. Even the sun and moon are under His command, calling back to how God gave the land to Israel in the first place.

Then he pivots from what God had done to what He will do. He again brings in the term salvation, “yeshua,” twice – He will work the salvation of His anointed people through His anointed. Habakkuk and others of his time may have seen this pointing back to David or even ahead to Cyrus, but we see how this is ultimately fulfilled by Yeshua himself. The head of the wicked will be crushed, as His promised at the beginning would be the end of the deceiving serpent.

That gives an additional perspective on next lines, which serve as multiple hopes: hope that the rule of the Chaldeans would not be permanent, that the oppressors of the poor would not last, but also that the rule of sin within our lives and our world is not permanent, either.

We can sing our songs of hope like Habakkuk, because we know that Yeshua the God-man is the ultimate fulfillment of all the promises of the prophets of Israel. Have we sought the salvation that He offers.”

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, May 16, 2021

The Righteous Will Live by Faith – Habakkuk 2:2-5

In chapter 2, Habakkuk shifts from being a complainer to being a learner, with the key line coming in verse 4 – “the righteous will live by faith.”

God’s answer to Habakkuk’s second complaint begins with an instruction to make the message public, and a note that understanding the His answer will require patience. He is about to share a vision of the future, a vision that starts with the coming invasion of the Chaldeans and stretches through the unfolding of His plan to the coming of Christ and Christ’s return.

To recap, Habakkuk started with a complaint about violence within his own society – God’s answer is that the Chaldeans would come to bring His judgement on Judah. Habakkuk then objects to the use of this evil people, but closes his second complaint with a promise to seek and wait for God’s answer.

And so God answers, contrasting the arrogant with the righteous and the upright – those who do what is right in their own eyes versus those who seek to follow the way of God. “Righteous” here is innocent or justified in a legal sense. Faith is the firm, faithful response to the word of God. Martin Luther says, “Faith is a living, unshakable confidence in God’s grace.”

The object of our faith, though, is of vital importance. We cannot let faith simply be wishful thinking – if we put faith in things that do not deserve it, we will be let down. Blind faith is like dropping a coin into a wishing well – Biblical faith is like tracking a package. Faith requires understanding God’s promises and submitting to His sovereign will and plan. Faith in things that God does not promise will be disappointed – but so also will be a faith that does not expect anything of God, which inevitably turns into faith in ourselves, in our own ability to make the change that is needed.

The full importance of this verse is only for revealed in the gospel of Christ. New Testament writers quote this verse three separate times: Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38.

In Romans, Paul cites this in the context of introducing the gospel, within which “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.” In Galatians, Paul uses this verse to show that even in the Old Testament, the Law itself was insufficient to achieve righteousness: “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law” – because the righteous live by faith.

This verse is one of the many breadcrumbs God scatters throughout the Old Testament – some of which Habakkuk may have been aware of. Ezekiel, who was likely a contemporary, also prophesied about the coming exile, and about God’s ultimate response:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Ezekiel 36:25-27

We see similar promises across the prophets – that God will ultimately upend the natural order of things, that righteousness will no longer be something we do in order to gain God’s favor, but will become something that God imputes to us if we rely on Him in faith – which itself returns itself back to God as an act of worship and sacrifice.

Are you righteous today? What do you base your righteousness on? Do you want to be made righteous, founded upon the saving work of Christ, through faith in His death and resurrection? That righteousness through faith is only true righteousness we can achieve, and it is offered to us freely.

And if we have taken that step of faith, how are we living that out? Are we living with the faith of the centurion, knowing that Jesus has things well in hand even if we cannot see it? Are we seeking the promises of God that we can rest on in faith? Are we living every day in that “living, unshakable confidence in God’s grace?”

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, May 2, 2021

Habakkuk Reacts – Habakkuk 1:12-2:1

The opening of Habakkuk is about what righteous people do in the midst of difficult times. Habakkuk cries out to the Lord about the evil he sees around him and is answered – eventually. It may not have been immediate – Habakkuk may have been praying for answers for a long time before receiving one. And then, when it came, it was kind of a terrible answer! He is going to bring in the Chaldeans to discipline His people. It may have been startling to finally get an answer, especially one so dissatisfying.

So he replies, opening by acknowledging how much higher his God is than he is. God is from everlasting, from before, outside of time. The word he uses is qedem, before time.

Then he interjects the statement, “we shall not die.” Habakkuk knows about the covenants with Abraham, with Moses, with David, but clearly he understands that there is an everlasting thread to this. He will protect his people – but we get a whisper here of the everlasting life that comes in the New Covenant.

So Habakkuk acknowledges God’s higher perspective and His promises to His people. But then he pushes his questions again – why is God using the Chaldeans, who are so much worse than the Israelites?

He calls out God on His own terms – if God cannot even look at evil, how can he countenance these invaders? It is easy to compare ourselves to others, to focus on other people’s sin rather than our own, to focus on other group’s sin rather than our own.

Habakkuk continues to press his case, now against the invaders instead of his own people. He speaks in terms of fishing implements, hooks and nets, both because of the importance of fishing to the Mesopotamians but also because the Neo-Babylonians would even use those tools in their conquests.

Habakkuk closes with a promise to wait for God’s reply. This time, he will not be caught off guard. This time, he is ready for correction – he is ready for the reproof of God, just as God has prepared the Chaldeans for the reproof of Israel. There may be some softening here, now that he has had a chance to say his piece.

We should similarly be situated on our own watchtowers, ready for reproof from God. All of us need that correction. God is changing the focus for Habakkuk from the world around him into focus onto his own need for reproof.

But God indeed is also working in the world around us, even when we don’t see it. But for God, who lives outside of time, there is no delay between sin and His judgement, but in His mercy he leaves opportunity for repentance.

And more than that, He came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ who lived, died and rose again in order to make that repentance possible.

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

The Morning Everything Changed – Luke 24:1-12

Each gospel brings out a different view and perspective of the resurrection. Luke’s emphasis is on more everything is different now that Christ is risen, about how the world changed overnight, and how the news of that change went out from the disciples.

The moment was like the first time a deaf person is able to hear after a cochlear implant, or a colorblind person sees color for the first time. Or even something traumatic, like a car accident, or sprinting down a hall in the dark and hitting a new checkin desk at a full sprint. Everything changes in an instant, and it takes a moment to understand that the world will never be the same.

The group of women who made the first discovery were heading out after Sabbath in order to prepare the body in ways that there was not time for after the crucifixion. What they found confused them.

Sometimes the search for Jesus is confusing and elusive. But that’s because he is a person, not a doctrine. Meeting Jesus is more like a conversation, a relationship, then it is a set of rules, beliefs and rituals. We are seeking a living, breathing, resurrected Savior.

These women knew the living, breathing Jesus, but even after all that time they did not know the fullness of Who he really was and what He came to offer. Jesus can be confusing, and in response we all tend to create imagined Jesuses in our own image. To the extent that confusion can lead us away from those mistaken perspectives, that confusion can be a good thing. Here, it certainly was – they thought Jesus was dead, but confusion eventually led them to the truth of His resurrection.

And then, suddenly they were met with two men in dazzling robes. They ask a question we can ask ourselves still – “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” We can do this easily – looking for the living Christ among the dead things of the world, in dead religion, in dead ritual, in dead culture.

But they also provide the way to address the women’s confusion – pointing back to the words of Christ Himself. That is always the answer.

The disciples respond with doubt and disbelief – Thomas gets the bad wrap, but he was certainly not alone. Peter, though, responds differently – leaping up and running to the tomb. This Peter, who had just denied that he even knew Jesus, must have seen some small opportunity to make right what he had broken. Like says that Peter “marveled” or “was amazed.” We can see an echo of this in both the hymn “Amazing Grace” and the life of its writer, John Newton.

The reality of this story continues to confuse and amaze, and we continue to have the opportunity to meet the risen Christ and watch the whole world change.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, April 4, 2021

The Preparation of the Lamb – Exodus 12:1-14

On this Palm Sunday, we are looking back to the Passover that brought the crowds to Jerusalem in the first place. We can also think back to our Advent series, looking at the three prophecies about the coming of Christ, a key fulfillment of which we celebrate today.

We think specifically back to Ezekiel’s vision of God’s presence leaving the temple, a vision of God on a throne in glory – because now he returns, incarnate upon a donkey. Love returns.

We’re going to look at the Jewish perspective on the events of Palm Sunday and the Triumphal Entry, and the rest of Holy Week in the context of the events in the time leading up to Passover.

The Passover Lamb is a picture of Christ. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” Even before His death, John the Baptist called him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus also entered at the time when the Jewish people would have been seeking the Passover Lamb.

This calls to mind a story even older than Passover, the story of Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac, but miraculously given a sacrifice in his place. This happened on Mount Moriah – the same location, per 2 Chronicles 3:1, as the Temple, where Christ approaches on Palm Sunday.

In addition, the time described in Exodus – twilight, or “between two evenings” – is the same time of day we know Jesus himself was killed.

In terms of the specific day, Jesus was killed on the Day of Preparation – in fact, his execution was rushed because the Jewish leaders wanted it all done before the time of Passover began.

The Passover lamb needed to be “without blemish” – as Christ was. It could not be either younger or older than a year, in the prime of its life, just as Christ was. The lamb was to be killed by the Jewish people themselves, and done publicly. Like the lamb, Jesus was killed publicly by God’s people.

In Exodus 12:7, we also see that the blood of the sacrifice was not to be spilled out but captured and applied for deliverance from God’s wrath. Romans 5:9 says, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” We see the wrath of God’s also in the fire where the lamb was to be “thoroughly” roasted – fire in scripture is a picture of God’s holiness and wrath, and Jesus took the full brunt of that.

The bones of the lamb were not to be broken, which we know was the case with Christ, despite all expectations.

All these connections were not just coincidence, but there to show that Christ is our Passover lamb. Christ was slain publicly, in the time and place, publicly, so that the wrath of God will pass over us.

Just as the Jews would take all of the leaven out of the house, representing sin, Christ’s sacrifice removes our sin. And as during Passover, we must apply the blood to our lives.

Have you “applied the blood,” accepting and requesting the salvation that Jesus offers through His death and resurrection?

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, March 28, 2021

Closing and Review – Ephesians 6:21-24

As Paul wraps up his letter, he begins his closing with a shout out to Tychicus as a “beloved brother and faithful minister.” Tychicus is mentioned five times in the New Testament, usually in the context of him bringing a letter from Paul to a church or even an individual.

Consider the weight of the responsibility of bringing those messages, messages we are still reading today. Behind every Paul is a legion of Tychicuses, faithful church members taking the message out and doing the work of the ministry.

Keep in mind the difficulty of travel in the First Century – Tychicus’ task was not easy. The roads were long, the seas were rough, but he was diligent and got the message out.

We need to do the same in our own lives. We should want the words at our funeral to be about the seeds of the gospel we have sowed in people’s lives – sometimes big seeds, sometimes small ones. God can use all of them.

In the next part of the closing, Paul wishes peace, love, faith and grace to the Ephesians. This echoes the opening of the epistle when Paul wishes “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is a moment to consider the role of these concepts in our own relationships. Grace, the unmerited favor of God that we have received – are we extending that same grace to others?

Peace, then, is not simply the absence of violence, but the wholeness and stillness that comes when things are working in the way intended by the creator, especially between people.

Faith, next – the gift of God that connects us to His grace. But more than a single moment, we are meant to grow in faith as we mature.

Then love, a word used 14 times in the book of Ephesians. We see the love here from Christ and for Christ. A question arises around the term translated as “love incorruptible.” Is our love incorruptible? Not generally, but we know that Christ’s love and grace are both eternal. The New Living Translation may have it more correct here – “May God’s grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And that closes the book. To review, Chapter 1 walks us through this concept of predestination. Some of us may be uncomfortable with that concept, but we should consider that this is a discussion of God’s nature, rather than our response to Him.

Chapter 2 we walk through both the darkness of our struggle with sin and separation and the path into the light – by faith, which we are given as a gift, preparing us for good works.

Chapter 3 focuses on reconciliation, both of us to God and between people and peoples, through the mystery of the gospel – all with the purpose of the glory of God, the church here in order to make known the manifold wisdom of God.

In chapter 4, we get clear instructions on how to behave towards each other as we seek unity: “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We must be “truthing in love,” tender hearted, bearing with one another with that same grace we have received.

In chapter 5, that gets even more real – we must imitate Christ, discarding immorality and filthy talk. Look for the fruit and, oppose deception. Then it shifts into a call to submit to Christ and each other, in our direct relationships, husbands and wives to start, then children and parents, then masters and slaves as we move into chapter 6 – mutual submission being the theme across each of them, with special attention to those hiding earthly power.

And then from earthly power to the “power and principalities” we are called to stand against. This brings up the “armor of God,” the tools we use in order to stand against the powers of darkness. These battles are battles that require righteousness, faith, truth, peace and the word of God. And Paul moves into the close we discussed today with a call to prayer and to recognize its power.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, March 21, 2021