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The (Super) Nature of the Resurrection – 1 Corinthians 15:29-58

Last week, looking at the first part of 1 Corinthians 15, we covered the idea that humans were created to live in bodies. God Himself came in the form of a human body. But many early Christians struggled with this notion, because the physical world was seen as impure and lesser than the spiritual. The notion of the resurrection of the dead was hard to swallow.

Paul addresses that in chapter 15, beginning from the one thing they all agreed on – Jesus rose from the dead. But if resurrection is impossible then, Paul argues, Christ couldn’t have risen, the gospel is meaningless, faith is meaningless, the martyrs died for nothing, we’re all still under the curse, all believers are still in heel and being a Christian is the dumbest idea possible.

It is, in some ways, a call back to Ecclesiastes – life without Christ is meaningless. But because of the resurrection of Christ and of the dead, Paul has hope.

Then he moves on to a (loose) description of how the resurrection works. He uses the metaphor of the seed, which is an entirely different kinds of thing from the plant that it becomes. Transformations like this are a real thing in the world that we already understand, and if there is a world and dimension beyond this one, it is perfectly logical to imagine that there are transformations that we do not know about or understand.

Some of this brings up questions. Much of this talks about resurrection as a future event at the end times, which seems to contradict other things Paul wrote about regarding being “absent from the body, present with the Lord” and so forth.

There are a number of interpretations of this – maybe resurrection happens immediately but spiritually, or maybe we go to heaven with temporary bodies before the resurrection gets us our permanent ones. This is also where ideas like “soul sleep” and purgatory come in. Or, it may be that we do resurrect immediately, with our new body, because we move outside of time at that point, making questions of present versus future moot.

Regardless, we are told that the final resurrection will be one cosmic event, swallowing up sin and death with finality and transforming that flesh and blood into something new.

Paul here quotes two Old Testament prophecies that come in the context of God’s people Israel constantly rebelling and finally being rejected despite God’s great love for them, and served as a final promise that in the end, God would fully rescue them from the grave.

The fulfillment of this prophecy started with the death and resurrection of Christ, and will be completed with the resurrection of the dead.

This means that life does have meaning. It is the hope of a glorious future that gives us the strength and motivation to live for Christ today. We can push through the struggles because know that the future is glorious. Living the Christian life on earth is difficult if we are doing it right. But if we have just a small understanding of the rewards that will be coming to us in eternity, we can have a blessed hope that pulls us through.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

1 Corinthians 15:29-58

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Over My Dead Body – 1 Corinthians 15:12-28

In the 19th century, there was a trend of fear of being buried alive, mistaken for being dead. An entire industry of “safety coffins” with bells and other mechanisms to avoid burying someone alive sprang up. This story is a window into our relationship with death.

What does it mean to be alive? What does it mean to be dead? Plato believed that it was a return to the pre-incarnate collective mind. Others believed in soul-sleep, annihilation or reincarnation. The two things all these views have in common is that your personhood is lost once your body dies, and that your body and soul are separate things.

Orthodox Christianity, though, teaches that God created humans to live forever in bodies. Unfortunately, much of these other concepts have crept into Christianity. We think more about “going to heaven” than we do about the resurrection of the dead. We think about a spiritual heaven, but usually with the implication of bodily things (taste, touch, emotions, etc.).

These sorts of confusions crept in early and helped lead to a number of early heresies about the nature of Christ’s relationship with God, including Adoptionism and Docetism. The latter in particular rejects the idea that Christ died and rose again. In this passage, Paul makes clear that Christ was in fact a man made of flesh and bone and DNA, a counterpart of Adam, who lived and died just like Adam, but who rose again to break Adam’s curse.

The Word became flesh, it did not just put on a layer of flesh. Christ then died, and did not just put on a dumb-show of death, and then truly raised.

The logical Corinthians believed this, but struggled with the notion that people themselves would physically resurrect. They were tempted by a philosophy that said their spirit would raise, not their bodies. But if a physical resurrection is illogical, then so is Christ’s physical resurrection. And if that didn’t happen, then we see all in trouble. All the apostles who saw Him were lying. If Christ didn’t rise, we have no proof that Christ’s sacrifice was accepted, and we are all still in our sins.

But that’s not what’s happening, Paul says. Christ’s resurrection, in fact, is the beginning of story, the “first fruits” of a much greater harvest, the remaking of creation into a new heaven and new earth, where we will live in resurrected bodies. Death and Satan will be destroyed, and everyone will acknowledge Christ as Lord.

The vision God has for our future is not that we can be free from our bodies and free from this corrupted earth, but that we will live forever in better bodies and a better earth.

What does this mean for us? It means we should treat our bodies well, because we are our bodies. They are not simply shells, but they are us. The female body (and male, for that matter) is not shameful. How we treat our bodies matters, and we can sin against our bodies. Who we are starts right now, both physically and spiritually. How we treat other people’s bodies also matters, so the work done to heal, rebuild, maintain and preserve bodies and health is a vital thing. The church, too often, has taken a gnostic view of the body, prioritizing the spiritual only and neglecting physical needs.

All this brings up lots of other questions, many of which we and Paul will address next week.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

1 Corinthians 15:12-28

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Prophecy is for Everybody – 1 Corinthians 14:1-33

Starting in chapter 11, Paul has been working through prescriptions for ordered worship. It starts with discussions of the Lord’s Supper, then moves into spiritual gifts, and then veers briefly into an examination of love – which should underpin all of this – before moving on to this chapter where he discusses prophecy.

Tongues are also mentioned, but primarily as a negative comparison. (Short version: if there is no interpreter, don’t do it.) The main point is how prophecy should be used in the service.

What is prophecy? It’s a spiritual gift of revelation given to all believers. It’s something that Paul cites as something we should pursue, and with vigor. Everyone in the church can and should prophesy.

Prophecy is below scripture in its authority. This is not the same as Old Testament prophecy that was specifically called out as the word of God, spoken with his authority, and canonized as scripture. In the New Testament, this particular role was filled by the apostles, while all of us are still called to prophecy, which must fit below the authority of scripture.It thus must be tested by scripture.

The purpose of prophecy in the church service is to build up the church, clearly stated by Paul in verse 26. This means that the classic foretelling of the future-type prophecy does not fall into this context and would not be appropriate within the context of the church service. (To say nothing of the vague imagery and numerology that are sometimes used in churches as essentially Christian fortune-telling.)

Order is a value here, and that order and organization springs from love. It is not loving to interrupt, to dominate the conversation or otherwise disrupt. There is a reason this part Congress right after the discussion of love in chapter 13.

The specifics of how this plays out may differ in different contexts. At Seed, we work hard to practice this by opening the floor for conversation, questions and discussion, and Paul’s instruction here is a big reason why we do that. It is not a particularly strange or spooky experience – just believers sharing what the Lord has put on our hearts and building each other up.

One objection to this practice is that people are going to say crazy things in church. But consider this – Paul was telling this to, easily, the most messed-up church described in the New Testament. If this instruction had been given to the Ephesians or Philippians or some other relatively healthy churches, this might be an argument. But it is clear that the Corinthians were going to say crazy things, and yet Paul still called them to prophesy.

A second objection is that it will be too weird for outsiders. But consider how weird the teaching of the church already is: an incarnated God-man who washes is in His blood? Paul calls it a “stumbling block” to those who don’t believe. Prophecy is a minor thing compared to this, and in fact can be used to draw people closer to God’s truth.

A third objection is basically tradition and what people are used to. We have inherited traditions that diverged from Paul’s teaching and the early church practice a long time ago. Many churches have worked to get back to it, but many haven’t. However, the spirit within each believer is crying out to share in this way, even if a particular congregation is not used to that particular structure.

A fourth argument is that a church is too big for this. But if your church is too big to follow scriptural instructions about prophecy, maybe it’s too big? Or perhaps you just need to be creative about making it work.

All of us are called to prophesy. Paul puts no restrictions on prophecy the way he does on other things. Experienced or new, old or young, male or female, everyone is specifically encouraged to seek this gift.

If you have been in a church where this is practiced, you will have seen first-hand the reason for this – regularly, you will hear a pastor say, after a sharing moment after a sermon, “you just said in 30 seconds what I spent the last 45 minutes saying, and did it worse than you did.”

As Paul says elsewhere, we are part of Christ’s body and each of us will be used by the Spirit in different ways to minister to and edify the church.

– Sermon Notes, Sean McGillivray, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

1 Corinthians 14:1-33

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The Resurrection – 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

In America, we don’t deal with death particularly well. We’ll check the funeral box and then move on, bottling up our emotions and distracting ourselves with gadgets and material goods. All this, despite the fact that the one thing that most clearly and distinctly binds us together is our common fate. Death is coming for all of us, and with very few exceptions, there will be no sign that we ever existed.

But there is something beyond death, which Paul addresses here. Paul wrote this part of his epistle to correct misconceptions about the resurrection of Christ held by the Corinthians, influenced by various strains of both Jewish and Greek thought. Specifically, there were likely many in the church who doubted the bodily resurrection of Christ. Paul attacks this misconception ferociously.

Paul may in fact be quoting from an early creed in verses 3 & 4, one that may date from shortly after the ascension. He then goes on to tally up the hundreds of people who saw the resurrected Christ, ending with his own encounter with the risen savior on the road to Damascus. Everyone who saw Him was left changed. Once you see, you can’t unsee. As Philip Yancey writes:

“If I take Easter as the starting point, the one incontrovertible fact about how God treats those he loves, then human history becomes the contradiction and Easter a preview of ultimate reality. Hope then flows like lava beneath the crust of daily life.

“This, perhaps, describes the change in the disciples’ perspective as they sat in locked rooms discussing the incomprehensible events of Easter Sunday. In one sense nothing had changed: Rome still occupied Palestine, religious authorities still had a bounty on their heads, death and evil still reigned outside. Gradually, however, the shock of recognition gave way to a long slow undertow of joy. If God could do that…”

The resurrection is the focal point of the redemption of both creation and of our own broken souls. It reverses the sin curse of Genesis 3.

But it did not wipe out sin and death immediately. It is a light shining in the darkness and a promise of the ultimate victory of that light. If we try to shine our own light, we are only perpetuating that darkness. The resurrection is the light that can pierce the shadows of this life.

The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. We cannot let it sit on the shelf as a dusty doctrine. The resurrection is our active, living connection to the love of God. It is the defeat of death, the key to God’s kingdom and the pathway to an abundant life in the here and now. It is there for the taking if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.

– Sermon Notes, Dave Lester, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, October 15, 2017

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

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Spiritual Gifts, pt 2: Using Your Gifts – 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

This passage is not about people trying to find their gifts, but rather about a church riven by jealousy and competition in the realm of gifts. Corinthian paganism was marked by ecstatic experiences, and there were some gifts that seemed to mirror this, but not all.

These differences were seized upon by the various factions in the church to add to the dissension. This obviously misses the point of spiritual gifts, but there is a place for trying to understand our own gifts. We all are connected to God’s spiritual network and all contribute in different ways. What is natural to you? What energizes you or stresses you out? Where have you been effective in the past? It isn’t necessarily the same as what you enjoy or even where your method is impeccable, but about the results the Holy Spirit brings about through your service.

Note that spiritual gifts are different than spiritual disciplines. The latter, we are all expected to do, though there are gifts that overlap with disciplines, such as prayer and encouragement.

So back to what Paul really is talking about. He addresses two temptations he wants the Corinthians to stop falling for: rugged individualism and gift envy. Some people look at the church and, being insecure, decide that it does not need their gifts.

Others do not work in the church at all so that they do not see it or otherwise neglect their gifts. Sometimes, churches do not give people sufficient opportunity to exercise their gifts, whether it doesn’t fit into pre-existing boxes or only fits into certain roles that are already filled. Others look at the church and, being prideful, decide that they don’t need the church’s gifts. This means that their gifts aren’t represented in the church, which means other people have to step into gifts that are not theirs, leading to burn out and collapse.

Paul’s point is that the gifts that are seen as less important are actually vital, and no individual, no matter how impressive their gifts seem to be, is complete without the rest of the body. This means that “gift envy” can be just as damaging as individualism.

Paul lists a number of gifts, not in order of importance, but rather chronologically, starting with the opening of the church by the apostles and moving through the other gifts that became necessary as the church progressed. The church would not function if all of these gifts were not in play.

So, when people in the church are seeking after specific, more highly honored gifts rather than living in their own gifts, again, we get gifts lacking in the church and dysfunction, not to mention the problem that envy itself brings along with it.

Then we get to verse 31, and it seems a bit unclear. Paul has just been saying that all the gifts are a result of grace, not our desire, and that all the gifts are vital. Then, suddenly, he tells us to desire greater gifts? Most likely, this is sarcasm from Paul, again, rebuking the Corinthians, again. “You eagerly desire the ‘greater gifts’ – but I’m going to show you something better.”

There is nothing wrong with trying to get better at something or even desiring particular roles. But we are not to see some gifts as better than others, or to feel pride for our own gifts or envy for others.

–Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

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Spiritual Gifts, pt 1: “Jesus is Lord” – 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Humans, generally speaking, have an innate need purpose, whether consciously or unconsciously, whether in grand scale or small things. Knowing God gives us a leg up in this struggle for purpose, because we know the purpose of both our beginning and our ultimate end.

However, we also have our own individual purposes and spiritual gifts – this is made clear throughout the New Testament. This is not just saying that everyone has different abilities, tastes and talents. There is something else going on here – but there are some frustrations.

First, we don’t have a consistent list of gifts. Second, we don’t have descriptions of what most of these gifts mean – yet, somehow, we have books, inventories and tests that tell us in great detail about each of them. Third, it’s unclear what the difference​ is between spiritual gifts and natural talents. We may say that a teacher has the spiritual gift of teaching, but what about a mailman or a cook?

Another issue is that some of the gifts seem much more supernatural than others. The gift of prophecy, for example, seems a lot cooler than the gift of hospitality.

Then there is the question of gifts throughout history. Some people believe that all gifts ceased after the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Others believe that the church abandoned miraculous gifts until the mid-19th century and the development of the Pentecostal movement. Others believe that the miraculous gifts ended, but the others carry on.

So let’s go back to what Paul is saying, and to whom. He was speaking to people in a hierarchical society with limited options, where the notion of being unique and special was entirely new. He opens the conversation about “spirituals” – the word “gifts” has been added by translators clarity, but it could mean spiritual gifts or it could mean spiritual people – and it probably means both.

Paul then gives a framework for the conversation, first by comparing Christian versus pagan spirituality. False religion and spirituality mimic real religion and spirituality, but the key difference is the “mute idols” versus the Holy Spirit. Paganism is a narcissistic cycle where we create our own values and have them reflected back to us by our rituals and spiritual experiences. He goes on to center the contrast to that on the confession that “Jesus is Lord.”

This also gives us a center point to the discussion of spiritual gifts. The goal of these gifts, versus natural talents or abilities, is that they are designed to enable people to discover, know or remember that Jesus is Lord. There are different kinds of gifts (grace), service and workings (energizing).

The first gift given to Christians is the person of the Holy Spirit, as promised by Christ. That then leads to these other gifts, distributed by the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of community and unity among the people of God, again by returning our focus to the eternal truth, “Jesus is Lord.”

So are they separate from our own natural abilities? Probably not entirely. Remember that God directs our very creation and has a cosmic plan, so there is no reason not to believe that our genetics have some relationship to our ultimate spiritual gifts. At the same time, in many situations, that might not be the case. Many people have secular talents that do not translate to the spiritual realm, whereas many others have gifts that work in a spiritual way that could not possibly work in a purely secular realm.

Your spiritual gifts are those positive effects you have on others’ spiritual wholeness. Obedience is more important than gifting – if someone’s house is on fire, you don’t take a gifts assessment to see if you have the gift of rescuing. However, you should have some idea of your gifts. Just because you should rescue people when it becomes urgent, it doesn’t mean you should get in the way of trained firefighters.

Understanding your gifts will help you better recognize your purpose, organize your priorities, and serve God and others more effectively.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

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What Does it Mean to be a Disciple? – John 4:1-10

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? This story tackles this question, with Samaritan woman as a model of discipleship.

At this time, Jesus is heading north out of Jerusalem after having knocked over tables and whipped people at the temple. It says that he “had to” go through Samaria. This could mean that he was specially directed to do this specific thing. More likely, though, this was a providential event – he has to go through because it was the quickest way and he was in a hurry. God used this mundane event to change an entire town.

So we find Jesus at a well asking for help. This is strange in a number of ways. He’s a single Jewish man at a Samaritan well, without any way to get water, asking a Samaritan woman to help out. Jesus quickly uses the water situation to create a metaphor.

Well water was stale, unmoving, while “living water” is water that moves, down from the mountains and hills. The idea that there is a secret source of pure, moving, living water was of great interest to her. Jesus uses her physical need in order to highlight her spiritual one.

Traditionally, this woman has been understood as a “loose woman” but given the penalties for adultery and her apparently positive reputation in the town, that may not be the case. More likely, she is stuck in an abusive system, divorced and discarded multiple times by men, and she is currently betrothed yet again.

Notably, when the discussion here moves from the physical to the spiritual, the woman does not lose interest. She recognizes her need in this area, and expresses her limited understanding of what God’s plan is, specifically bringing up a key point of contention between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jesus tells her that something new is coming that will deprecate both understandings. She also has some understanding of this, and knows from Old Testament prophecy that this is the sort of thing the Messiah will do – and then Jesus reveals that he himself is that messiah.

About this time, the disciples return, typically clueless and unclear on what Jesus is doing. The woman then runs off to tell about this remarkable man, even leaving her water jar, possibly her most valuable possession. Her paradigm has fully shifted from the physical to the spiritual. The disciples still don’t know what is happening and try to get him to eat.

Jesus, however, is still focused on the spiritual side. As he sees the people of the town streaming towards him, likely still dressed in their white work tunics, he shows the disciples what they should be focusing on: “look, the fields are white for harvest.” The goal is making disciples, bringing lost people to forgiveness and acceptance of Jesus.

Jesus invited the woman to meet the real God. He offered her freedom, showing her where in her life she was a slave. He helped her discover a greater purpose than carrying water. She then went on to make a difference, not through her own powers of persuasion, but rather as a conduit for what the Holy Spirit was already doing.

These are the same things we try to do as a church. We offer an opportunity to encounter the living God. We try to be a mechanism for bringing freedom from sin into people’s lives through sanctification. We help each other discover our purpose and develop meaning in our lives. Understanding this purpose is key to seeking freedom, providing a direction for our sanctification. Finally, we live out that purpose, and go out and make a direct impact on the lives of others.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA

John 4:1-10

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The Trouble with Kings – 1 Samuel 8:1-2

The Israelites had moved into the Promised Land, but had not fully taken possession of it, rather punching a hole into the heart of it. This meant they were surrounded by enemies, which caused problems throughout the book of Judges.

The last judge was Samuel, a prophet who communicated directly with God. But Samuel was getting old, and could no longer travel as a “circuit judge” as he had in the past. He passed his responsibilities to his sons, but they turned out to be dishonest and oppressive.

It was a time of instability, with the Philistines taking tribute and the looming death of Samuel threatening to upend the current rickety peace.

Instead of turning to God in this time of instability, the Israelites demanded a king. This offended Samuel, but why? The concept of a king had been predicted as far back as Abraham, with the specific indication that a king would be set up when Israel came into the land.

But it wasn’t the “what” they asked for, but the “why.” They looked at Samuel as a secular leader rather than as the conduit for the will of God. Humans have a tendency to elevate people too highly when they succeed, and chop them off at the knees when things aren’t going well. We do this are the expense of following God. Israel could have asked Samuel what God’s plan was for leadership, but instead they came up with their own panicky plan.

They asked for a king “as the other nations have.” They wanted to fit in rather than stand out as God’s chosen people. It was not too different from the constant temptation of the idols of the surrounding peoples. They wanted the easy life of sight rather than the difficult life of faith.

So Samuel takes the request to the Lord, who tells him not to reject the request outright, but instead to outline the trouble with Kings. Humans are self serving by default, and combining that with the power of a king, then you get a nation focused on the whims of a narcissist.

Short term, they will be able to point to a monarch who represents the nation rather than an invisible deity. Long term, though, it will mean only trouble.

The king described by Samuel is very different than the one described in Deuteronomy 17, where it is made clear that the kingship is not about wealth and pleasure, but about serving God and the people.

But after all these predictions, the people still demanded a king. They wanted earthly stability over heavenly faith. And so God does the most terrifying thing we can imagine: He gave the people what they wanted.

The book of Samuel was compiled in its final form around the time of the exile. There was a clear view of the tragedy of kingship from that time. Saul was a failure, David a (very) qualified success, Solomon somewhere in between, and after that it was largely chaos and tragedy the rest of the way.

God gave the people what they wanted in part in order to contrast earthly kingship more starkly with the ultimate plan and ultimate kingship in the person of Christ. And yet, when He came, the people again chose stability over faith.

Jesus was popular when he was giving things to the people (bread, fish, healing), to the extent that at one point they tried to make him king by force. But when he explained that he himself was the bread of life, that he came to rule a spiritual kingdom rather than an earthly one, the people turned on him just as they did in 1 Samuel.

We are surrounded by leaders who fail us constantly. No human can fill that innate need that we have, no more than it could for the Israelites. Do we spend more time fretting about earthly leadership, or seeking the will of our heavenly king? Our desire for stability drives us to seek the answers in the world around us, but in the end, faith in Christ is the only stable rock upon which we can ground our life.

-Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, September 10, 2017

1 Samuel 8:1-22

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If God Wills It – James 4:13-17

James, the brother of Jesus, was the pastor of the Jerusalem church. He was a strong proponent of the rights of the poor and outspoken opponent of oppression by the rich. He wrote primarily to a Jewish audience, so understanding the rabbinical teachings of the time helps us understand the context.

Here he writes about making plans. At first look, his warning in verse 13 against plans seems to cut against biblical teachings elsewhere about being wise, counting the cost, etc.

However, verse 14 clarifies that this, like so much of Christianity, is about motivation, not necessarily action. God is concerned with the heart, and here we see James warning against​, not planning, but assuming control – of timing, of location, of outcome.

Switchfoot echoes James’ warning of our own mortality:

Gone
Like yesterday is gone
Like history is gone
Just try and prove me wrong
And pretend like you’re immortal

Understanding our mortality is core to shaping our behavior, as is our understanding our dependence on God. “If God wills it” is not simply a disclaimer we are supposed to tack on to our claims and plans, but it a core understanding that wends its way through all our thoughts and plans.

There are two kinds of arrogance we should avoid. One is to see ourselves as entirely separate from God and capable of succeeding in our plans on our own. We see in the rabbinical teaching many stories about those who have tried to live as if God has no impact or ultimate control, and the bad ends they came to.

The second arrogance is assuming that we are in the center of God’s will and that our desires are His desires.

So James warns us against building our plans on our own desires, on our pride, on our selfish ambition, or on materialism.

So what is the good we are supposed to do? Elsewhere, Paul tells us clearly: we are living sacrifices, to seek after whatever is good, perfect & pleasing to God. Our model of this is Christ, which has given us everything we need to act in the will of God.

You’ll note that this does not necessarily help us in certain questions like what house to buy or who to marry or what to be when we grow up. These questions are not, ultimately, what God cares about.

What He does care about is humility and dependence on Christ. He wants us to ask “where do I need to obey right now?” What do I need to do in order to follow the revealed will of God in this moment.

We can still make plans, but there is a massive difference between making plans and living in the present, and making plans and living in the future.

The idea that we should seek the will of God in the specifics of everything is, in fact, a pagan notion. Diviners would throw bones or spread bird guts around and in order to get mystic instructions from friendly deities. We are called to a more mature relationship with God than this. God is not a magic 8-ball.

It can be tempting to ignore the broadly revealed will of God, which is plenty to handle, in order to focus on a problem, disengaging until that problem is resolved. Confucius is said to have said “To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order; we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.”

The flood in Houston is a reminder that we are one storm, one cancer cell, one car accident away from losing everything material we have worked for. We should be looking to put those material blessings to work now in order to live out the gospel in our present.

Christ is again our model. In His case, He did know the future – that He would have a scant three years of ministry that would end in torture, humiliation and death. And yet He focused on God’s will in each moment. Likewise, the early church, especially those James was writing up in Jerusalem, lived in stark knowledge that an end was coming, which was realized in AD 70 with the destruction of the temple and the sack of the city.

For our part, we can see that much of American Christianity has become worldly and apathetic, and while we cannot know what God’s plan is, we can know that God will not let His children go too long in this apathy without discipline.

Whenever and whatever form it comes in, our role will be the same: live as Christ did, and do the good we know we ought to do.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, September 3, 2017

James 4:13-17

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A Psalm of Disorientation – Psalm 143

The psalms can be divided into three types (first done by Walter Bruggemann). First, songs of orientation that in a basic way orient ourselves towards God, casting the world in a simplified form and ourselves as faithful followers. Then, songs of disorientation, when the simple worldview of the initial psalms are upended by confusion, pain and disconnection. Finally, songs of new orientation, the emergence from those times of struggle into a new, more mature relationship with God. Psalm 143 falls best into the disorientation category.

In the psalms, we see various descriptions of human nature: the soul, the real self and appetites; the spirit or breath, our emotions; and our heart, best understood as our mind, the part that is supposed to know right from wrong. Our hearts are broken, and so are ruled by our emotions and appetites, not by that understanding of right and wrong.

Psalm 143 opens and closes with reflection on the righteousness of God. It then moves directly into a request that God not judge the singer based on their deeds. This is directly reversed from psalms of orientation like psalm 7, when he specifically asks to be judged based on his righteous deeds.

He then moves into the meat of the prayer: his enemy is closing in and it is causing emotional turmoil within. It is on one hand a foxhole prayer, written while David is hiding from Saul or the Philistines. On the other hand, the specific enemies are not named, because this is a song written to be sung by many people, all of whom have enemies, whether physical or spiritual.

He comes to God, then (and us with him) thirsty like a parched land. We can easily have our need God dulled by the pleasures of the world, and it is only when that world has fallen apart on us that we truly feel the desperate that within us.

Attached to all this, he hopes that this feeling of abandonment does not mean God has turned His face from him, that this temporal darkness does not have eternal significance.

He then moves into five specific requests, paired with the reason for these requests – notably, not because of his own righteousness. Answer me quickly, do not hide your face, bring me word quickly, show me your will, rescue me from my enemies. The reasons given are not based on David’s abilities (or ours), but rather on the nature of God Himself and the trust that David places in Him.

So David brings faith rather than righteousness. He brings no currency to the transaction, only faith that God will rescue him based on three things: His name’s sake, His righteousness and his unfailing love.

The term “unfailing love” literally means “cut a covenant” with the implication of blood. God specifically made covenants with David, that he would be king, live a long life, that his son would build the temple, and the Messiah would come from his line. For God to keep these promises, God must rescue David from his troubles. From that perspective, it is fairly cold and impersonal. It gets to the unfailing part, but not the love.

The second component to the righteousness of God are the parts of His character that lead him to make these promises to begin with. God is the one who created the relationship with David (and us!) not the other way around. God has rigged the entire situation so that our faith is substituted for righteousness. His righteousness is unfailing in its commitment, and love in its motivation. When David appeals to God’s righteousness, he is appealing to the love and mercy of God, not to His perfection.

What do we learn ourselves from Psalm 143? Primarily, that we can call on God based not on our righteousness, but His. We do not have the individual covenant that David did, but instead we have Christ as our representative. Like David, we have no currency of righteousness. If we, through faith, are linked to Christ, then all the promises of God to Christ fall to us. Through faith, we become the anointed ones, and Christ’s story becomes our story, His unending currency righteousness becomes ours.

This means that the first step in calling on God is to connect ourselves to Christ. We need Him as our mediator. If we have done this but still pray from a place of self-righteousness, entitlement and pride. Are we angry at God for not responding in the way we desire or expect? Are we putting ourselves up as judges of God? Or are we on the other end of the spectrum, disheartened by our own sin, we pray (or fail to pray) out of our own sense of unrighteousness. We are called to boldness, not based on our abilities but on the imputed righteousness of Christ.

As Martin Luther is said to have written:

For feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God, Nought else is worth believing.
Though all my heart should feel condemned, For want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart, Whose Word cannot be broken.
I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word, ‘till soul and body sever;
For though all things shall pass away, His Word shall stand forever.

– Sermon Notes, Brent Rood, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, August 27, 2017

Psalm 143

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