Worth-ship: Sermon on Psalm 29

Psalm 29

Ascribe to the Lord, oh Mighty ones,

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name;

Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

The God of glory thunders.

The Lord thunders over the mighty waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightening.

The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the desert of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare.

And in his temple all cry “Glory!”

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;

The Lord is enthroned as King forever.

The Lord gives strength to his people;

The Lord blesses his people with peace.

Let us pray: Lord Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts bring your glory and honour. Amen.

Our reading this evening speaks of God as the God of the storm. It describes a storm coming in from the sea, over the land churning up the desert and the trees and the mountains.

To remind you back to your school geography days: A storm is what happens because evaporation changes water into vapour on a hot day, the water vapour being hotter than the air around it rises and cools. At a certain point in the atmosphere, the water vapour cools to a point where it reforms water droplets and high up in the sky we see the clouds beginning to form. Within the clouds the air keeps rising creating tall columns of cloud which result in the water droplets high up freezing into hailstones. As more water vapour rises the cloud grows until the air is saturated with water, and when the cloud cannot hold any more, the water droplets and hail fall to the ground. With the air moving in the cloud, static is created and the charge of the static discharges to the ground with a spark – creating lightening, the air particles vibrate with the power of the spark and we hear thunder.

 

When we look at a storm today we forget that in the days of the Psalmist, storms were huge scary entities that were not understood. There were no instruments or predictions, and the cause of rain was attributed to gods of nature.

But if we stop and consider it – a storm is so much more than the geographical description. If you remember two years back we had that series of horrific storms passing through Gauteng – remember where the hail did so much damage that in areas of Joburg it was difficult to source glass panels, and if you wanted PG Autoglass to come fix something there was a 6 week waiting list because so much had been destroyed. Theo’s car got pitted while he and I were on a pastoral visit, simply because it stood uncovered for 5 minutes too long. I had a meeting that November in Benoni, and I drove into one of these storms. It had to be one of the most terrifying experiences of my life – golf ball size hail pelted my car, I couldn’t see the road for the sheer amount of water that was pouring from the sky and I contacted the office here and asked for prayers. By the time I arrived at my destination I was in tears, my car damaged and my adrenaline pumped. At that moment, all the geography in the world meant nothing to me. A storm is so much more than a bunch of water droplets that have unbalanced and fallen.

Have you ever watched a lightening display from a hill top – or lay awake at night in amazement at the power and force of the rain coming down, or heard thunder so loud that it shook your house?

This is what a storm is.

In talking about storms Theo shared with me about John Muir, an explorer. And he sent me this quote from Eugene Peterson describing him: “He tramped up and down through our God-created wonders, from the California Sierras to the Alaskan glaciers, observing, reporting, praising, and experiencing–entering into whatever he found with childlike delight and mature reverence.”
In 1874, Muir was staying at a friend’s cabin in the Sierra Mountains. A storm set in one December day. It was a fierce storm– trees were bending over backwards. Instead of retreating to the safety and security of the cabin, Muir left the cabin and entered the storm. He found a mountain ridge and climbed to the top of a giant Douglas Fir. He held on for dear life “experiencing the kaleidoscope of colour and sound, scent and motion.” Muir rode out the storm “relishing weather: taking it all in–its rich sensuality, its primal energy.”

Our Psalmist describes God as the Storm God – as the God whose voice thunders…. Listen to how the Message Bible interprets verse  3-9:

God thunders across the waters,
Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming brightness—
God, across the flood waters.

⁴ God’s thunder tympanic,
God’s thunder symphonic.

⁵ God’s thunder smashes cedars,
God topples the northern cedars.

⁶ The mountain ranges skip like spring colts,
The high ridges jump like wild kid goats.

^7-8 God’s thunder spits fire.
God thunders, the wilderness quakes;
He makes the desert of Kadesh shake.

⁹ God’s thunder sets the oak trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.

A Storm is so much more than a bunch of air particles vibrating and water droplets forming.

God too, is so much more than the way we name or describe or analyse him.

Our theme for this week is Worship – looking at what it means to be a worshipping congregation. In our blurb given on the leaflet it reads that worshipping is:

 to respond to God's goodness and love with the whole of our beings and to become the kind of community where God's presence is recognized and celebrated. The church in Antioch was marked by the "evidence of the grace of God." People could see that God had touched their lives.

Where God’s presence is recognised and  celebrated.

I was interested in the word worship – and discovered that it comes from the word “Worth” – literally meaning worth-ship - or the condition of being worthy. Worship at its heart, at its center is about a God who is worthy.

It’s not about the music or the song choice. It’s not about church. It’s not about orders of service. In fact it’s not about us at all.

It’s about God. A God who is worthy. It’s about seeing who God is, and once we see Him – Worship is the only response that is possible.

And the trap I believe we so often fall into here – is that we talk about and understand who God is and what Jesus has done for us, we unpack Scripture and learn about His character and His promises. If we are especially interested we could even start studying the theology of His imminence, or His Trinitarian being or His incarnation. All of which is good and wonderful and right.

But the danger is that we get stuck in the geography and forget to go and stand in the storm.

That we know all about God, all about how present and powerful he is.

And we forget to encounter his presence and experience his power.

And so our worship becomes functional obedience rather than an awestruck response.

The Psalmist begins by saying: Ascribe to the Lord, oh Mighty ones,

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name;

Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.

This is speaking of an encounter – ascribe, give to the Lord the glory that he is worthy of, Worship him because you have seen him in the splendour of his holiness.

The power described here speaks of a God who is so beyond and above our studying and our descriptions anyway; a God who is so powerful that not only did he speak creation into being, but he orders and controls it. And while today we have the unbelievable privilege of relating to Him as our Father, as our friend, as our comforter – let us never lose sight of the truth that our God is GOD. Is Lord. Is Master. Is Majestic in holiness. The mistake we make is we think of God as like us. He is Not.

Listen to a few times in Scripture where people have encountered God.

In Exodus 33, Moses on Mount Sinai, asks to see God’s glory and God’s response is:

“I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

You cannot see me and live.

Isaiah chapter 6 reads:

I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Job on encountering God says:

“I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?
    I put my hand over my mouth.
⁵ I spoke once, but I have no answer—
    twice, but I will say no more.” My ears had heard of you

    but now my eyes have seen you.

6 Therefore I despise myself

    and repent in dust and ashes.”

And John in revelation 1 describes encountering Jesus:

¹² I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,^[d] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

I fell at his feet as though dead.

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name;

We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!”

There are times and sermons where I stand in holy terror realising who it is that I preach about. At times I feel like Job where I simply want to say – I put my hands over my mouth because I speak of that which is too great for me.

And yet the inconceivable has happened. As we encounter God today, we have Jesus who can place his hand on us and say – do not be afraid. I am alive. I hold all the power. And because of what I have done you can know my Father, you can encounter Him, you can worship Him.

The last part of the Psalm is the result of our Worship. Not the purpose – but the result.

                                                                     

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;

The Lord is enthroned as King forever.

The Lord gives strength to his people;

The Lord blesses his people with peace.

The God we worship is present with us over the floods, and as our King. When we recognise His greatness, we can know that he is powerful enough to reign over the storms in our lives, to reign over the confusion and doubt and fear in our lives, that He is greater than our problems or our limitations. That His Lordship gives Him authority to change us, to change our circumstances, to change our world. He is powerful enough to give us strength.

And He is close enough to give us peace.

I pray that as a congregation, as individuals, we will not only analyse the storm and actually step into the rain. That when we gather together that we realise that we are singing and speaking TO our God, the God of power and might and strength and not just about him. That worship becomes entirely about encountering Him, encountering Him here in our music and prayer and teaching – and responding with hearts wide open saying, “Forever you will be, the Lamb upon the throne – I gladly bow my knee and worship you alone.”

And I pray that as you go out into your week that you live a life of worship, a life that recognises who God is, and so trusting that He is able, that He is present and that He is willing to give you his strength and his peace through any storm. That He is Lord over the floods in our lives.

Revelation 5:11-14

¹¹ Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹² In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
    and honor and glory and praise!”

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
    be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

¹⁴ The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Let us do the same.

"Reasons to celebrate" Psalm 98 Sermon

Last week Theo spoke about Psalm 103 and looked at the “who what why where when and how of worship”... and if you missed it – ask Theo for a set of notes… I’m sure there are a few spare!!

Tonight we going to continue a little along the same vein and look at another Psalm and see what it teaches us about Worship… particularly the “why” and perhaps reasons why we struggle to truly worship.

So the Psalm we’re going to look at it Psalm 98 – it’s on page…. In your pew Bible. Psalm 98 forms part of what are known as the “enthronement Psalms” which – exactly as the name sounds, are Psalms that focus on Praising God, that the Lord is King and that he reigns. They include Psalms like the Psalm 95 that you heard in the Call to worship… or the well-known Psalm 97 which reads:

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
    let the distant shores rejoice.
² Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
    righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
³ Fire goes before him
    and consumes his foes on every side.
⁴ His lightning lights up the world;
    the earth sees and trembles.
⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
    before the Lord of all the earth.
⁶ The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
    and all peoples see his glory.

For Psalm 98 we are not given an author but simply the title “A psalm” so let’s read from verse 1:

¹Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things, his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

²The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

³He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

⁴Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;

⁵Make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing,

⁶with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

⁷Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

⁸Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;

⁹let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

May God bless to us the reading of His Holy Word, now and forever.

Let us pray – Father God, be with us as we speak about worship and about your greatness, May the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be pleasing and acceptable to you who are our rock and our redeemer. Amen

I love how this Psalm is all encompassing – we are to sing a new song, the earth shouts for joy, the sea resounds, rivers are applauding and the mountains form a choir. Everything is created and has its expression in worshipping its creator – it just sounds right and straight forward.

And yet I think if we honest for us – sometimes it’s not. Worship doesn’t seem to spring from our lips as quickly as it does from the these Israelites. We find that during services we get distracted by the tune or by thoughts flying around our heads. We find ourselves singing but singing words without necessarily recognising their meaning. We go through life not always recognising God or His work around us…

And yet here we are called to a place of simple rejoicing and revelling in the glory of God.

Why do we struggle?

I think there are a couple of things.

Firstly – when we think of God, we often think about him to ask him for stuff, or to measure Him according to whether we feel he is meeting our specific needs at that given time… and if he’s not – we tend to question Him. 

Israel simply Praised Him.

Praise is our amazement at God and God's greatness, our recognition of the power and tenderness of the creator. Praise enjoys and celebrates God's love, and it is our best attempt to feel, say, or sing something appropriate to God. Praise doesn't ask "What have you done for me lately?" but instead exclaims "How great Thou art!"

And so it’s important to have an entire mind-shift in terms of what we do in church, and how we relate to God in our day-to-day relationship with him. Praise isn’t something that works for us, or that we tick off in a box once it’s done so now we can get on with important business of asking him for something. Praise isn’t productive… it’s not even about me at all. Praise is about a God who has done marvellous things, who has worked salvation for us, who has remember his love and his faithfulness. Praise is about an expression of love that honours Him in his holiness.

Just for a moment focusing on Sunday Church… many people who come to worship think that church is a lot like the theatre. So they come to watch, to observe, to listen, perhaps, to be entertained. They see themselves and the other members of the congregation as the audience. And that all seems to make sense. After all, the ministers are the ones up front on an elevated platform not unlike a stage. The ministers can at times dress up in something like costumes. The ministers are the ones who seem to have the leading roles. And they are the ones who are ably assisted by a supporting cast which our musicians and our welcomers, and our elder on duty and whoever leads the prayers... It is only natural that most people who come to worship think of themselves as the audience.

But Soren Kierkegaard, the nineteenth century Danish philosopher, said we have it wrong. If the ministers have the leading roles, if the choir and organist are the supporting cast, if the congregation are the audience, then what role does God play when we worship? The problem with thinking of ourselves as the audience is that it leaves God out of the picture, and out of our worship. So Kierkeggard proposed a different model. He asked, “What would it be like if we understood worship like this: we parishioners the congregation – ‘you’ are the primary actors and actresses; and have the leading roles? The clergy, the musicians and all those involved--they form the supporting cast. And God, said Kierkeggard, God is the audience. All that we do in worship is directed toward God. The way we say the prayers, the way we sing the hymns, the attentiveness we give to Scripture and sermon, the money we offer: all of that contributes to our worship performance before God.

Then Kierkeggard raises the truly troubling question: What, do you suppose, does God think of our worship performance?

And worship, when done with sincere hearts, in spirit and in truth – is one of our best defences and weapons against the evil in the world.

Because let’s be honest for a moment, what this Psalm says – and what we see when we walk out these doors into the world are often in complete contrast to each other. The nations are not praising God. The ends of the earth are still closed to the Gospel. There are situations where it can be hard to see His love and His faithfulness and righteousness in the busyness and harshness and illness and brokenness we witness. Many times it would even seem that a large chunk of the world are getting along without God quite comfortably.

And Praise is also cheap, today. Everything is praised. Soap, beer, toothpaste, clothing, mouthwash, movie stars, all the latest gadgets which are supposed to make life more comfortable -- everything is constantly being "praised". Words like divine, awesome, wondrous are overused to the point of powerlessness. Praise can thus become empty . . . Are there any adjectives left for God? Is everything now as important, as glorious - as the creator is? Have we therefore lost sight of what awesome and majestic and powerful really mean? Have we forgotten what God has done, what he is doing and what he will do?

The power of this Psalm is that it defies that idea. It is utterly opposed to a world where the promises of God have no bearing on the rest of our lives. At the heart of our psalm where it says "make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth . . . make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord" (verses 4a, 6b) declares that God is creator of heaven and earth and thus is God of all life and all people, whether they acknowledge it or not, whether they are religiously inclined or not, whether they worship other gods or not. The truth that we proclaim and that the Psalmist lays bare is that there is only one God to whom alone belongs our worship and praise.

And so Praise is one of our best counters to evil in the world. If we are "lost in wonder, love, and praise," there is not much chance we will stumble towards sin, or find ourselves jaded and cynical.

The song that tells us – “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of the earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.” Is speaking about exactly this… we defy the evil and the brokenness and the loneliness because we choose to look upon the one who is the source of all goodness and wholeness and relationship.

And so worship is actually a faith response. Its about singing the praises of God louder than than those who will shout about the evils in the world.

In Greek mythology, Sailors were constantly shipwrecked when seduced by the songs of the sirens. They would hear the sounds of this evil singing and wouldn’t be able to help themselves from being drawn to it. One of the heroes - Odysseus managed to sail past their perilous rocks by stuffing wax in the ears of the rowers and strapping himself to the mast of the ship; but Orpheus simply pulled out his lyre and played a song more beautiful than that of the sirens, and the rowers listened to his song and sailed to safety.

This is what we do – we sing a song with our voices and our actions and our thoughts and our conversation and with our lives – that speaks more about the beauty and majesty of the creator.

And so we choose to celebrate. We also need to realise that the news we receive is skewed, its one sided and papers write about what sells. What sells are the stories of devastation and cruelty. The dirtier the secrets the uglier the picture – the more it sells. These are some of the songs of the sirens. And so we listen to the radio and we find ourselves talking about the horrors that we hear about. We find ourselves becoming negative and fearful. We forget that in the midst of all this – God is at work. God is on his throne. And God will return all things to how it should be.

This is where our Psalm ends in verse 9 we read:

 ⁹let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and he peoples with equity.

This is what we look forward to. A time of no more tears or mourning or crying or sickness or pain. Where the old order of things have been defeated. So with defiance we hope and we praise.

But here and now the kingdom is spring up among us. I see families which are thriving and striving to follow Jesus. I see schools where God has placed Godly teachers being turned around and kids being mentored and encouraged. I see the Bible being translated into more languages every day. I see beauty in sunsets and mountains and oceans. I see healing and reconciliation happening. I read about people being rescued from slavery. I watch the wonders of the medical world bring health and wholeness to patients. I know people who have discovered Jesus as their Lord and Saviour – I’m one of them! I baptised a little girl this morning declaring her to belong to God.

God is at work.

God has not left.

God is doing beautiful beautiful things.

And this is what next week is all about. Our Missions expo has four purposes attached to it

Awaken, Connect, Testify, and Support.

We are praying that what happens in the hearts of all that attend is that they come and they are awakened to the fact that God is at work, that they may connect to this work and testify about it – that they support his work in prayer or finances or involvement or in whatever way God has prompted them.

We celebrate that God is at work here at Emmanuel, that he is at work in Pretoria East and South Africa – and that he is at work throughout our world.

¹Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things, his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

²The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

³He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

⁴Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;

⁵Make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing,

⁶with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

⁷Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

⁸Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;

⁹let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

I pray that as you go from here that you will worship for an audience of one. I pray that you will defy the darkness by celebrating the light. I pray that you will sing a new song in your hearts, a song that will sing louder in your lives than any noise of the world. And I pray that you will see and celebrate the beauty of our Magnificent God who is at work all around us.

Let us pray.

The Goodness of God!

Psalm 145

A psalm of praise. Of David.

¹ I will exalt you, my God the King;
    I will praise your name for ever and ever.
² Every day I will praise you
    and extol your name for ever and ever.

³ Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    his greatness no one can fathom.
⁴ One generation will commend your works to another;
    they will tell of your mighty acts
⁵ They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,
    and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
⁶ They will tell of the power of your awesome works,
    and I will proclaim your great deeds.
⁷ They will celebrate your abundant goodness
    and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and rich in love.
⁹ The Lord is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made.
¹⁰ All you have made will praise you, O Lord;
    your saints will extol you.
¹¹ They will tell of the glory of your kingdom,
    and speak of your might,
¹² so that all men may know of your mighty acts
    and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures through all generations.

The Lord is faithful to all his promises,
    and loving toward all he has made.
¹⁴ The Lord upholds all those who fall
    and lifts up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you,
    and you give them their food at the proper time.
¹⁶ You open your hand
    and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and loving toward all he has made.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
    he hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰ The Lord watches over all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹ My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
    Let every creature praise his holy name
    for ever and ever.

Isn’t that a beautiful Psalm? It’s truly one of my favourites. It’s a Psalm of David, which was actually a song – one of the sadness’s of translating things like the Psalms is that one loses out on the rhyme and rhythm of the songs. This is also the last of the acrostic poems – an acrostic poem is when each line begins with the next letter of the alphabet. In this case the Hebrew alphabet of 22 letters.  Strangely though – and this can be your interesting fact for the day – In verse 13 you will notice there are four lines. The second two lines which reads

The Lord is faithful to all his promises,
    and loving toward all he has made.

Does not fit into this acrostic pattern. It stands alone in the midst of the psalm and no one knows why!

Goodness is a difficult term to define these days as it is one of those words which gets used to describe any number of things.  The chicken we ate for supper last night – that was some good chicken. The little boy who sits quietly through a church service is a good boy. A closely competitive rugby match is a good game. And let me tell you – I’m feeling good today!

All these things however good they may be – are in some way tainted. They are good for the moment – but far from what we mean when we talk of God’s incredible goodness.

When Jesus gets approached by a rich young man and addressed with the term “Good teacher” he replies by saying in Mark 10:18 (NLT): "’Why do you call me good,’ … ’Only God is Truly Good.’"

The Dictionary defines goodness as: moral excellence, kindness, generosity, benevolence. We’re going to look at Psalm 145 among other passages to come to understand the saying we so glibly say so often;

God is good, all the time and all the time, God is good.

Firstly – Moral Excellence. Another way of saying this would be verse ¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and loving toward all he has made.

Righteousness. The Lord is Goodness – thus everything we know as being good, we know because we can compare to him, and his standards, and his love. He is the plumb line – the constant, the unchanging. When we want to know what is right or good we turn to Scripture, we turn to Christ and how he lived while here among us. “What would Jesus do” is a well overused saying, but its truth remains – you want to live a good life? Follow Christ. This is why we refer to God as the Rock – the one solid aspect in our lives that will not change. Why Jesus said that those who obey his teachings are like a man who builds his house upon a rock – constant – dependable.

One of my favourite authors; Lloyd C. Douglas, who wrote The Robe and many other novels, lived in a boarding house during college. A retired music teacher lived on the first row, with whom he had a daily ritual. Douglas would ask, “What’s the good news today?” The old man would take his tuning fork and strike the side of his wheelchair and said, “That’s is Middle C. It was Middle C yesterday, and it will be Middle C a thousand years from now. The soprano upstairs sings off-key, and the piano across the hall is out of tune. But this - this is Middle C.”

Moral excellence. As the song says;

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS, O GOD, MY FATHER
THERE IS NO SHADOW OF TURNING WITH THEE
THY CHANGEST NOT, THY COMPASSIONS THEY FAIL NOT
AS THOU HAST BEEN THOU FOREVER WILL BE 

Secondly – Kindness.  Again this is a word that has truly lost its significance. 

There’s a lovely story from the Olympics comes from 1928, about Henry Pearce of Australia who was competing in the single scull rowing event. He was leading when a duck and her string of ducklings came into view up ahead. They were on a collision course and Pearce reckoned his boat would cut the string in two and sink a few ducklings in the process. So he pulled in his oars. When the ducks had passed Pearce again bent his back to the task. There’s a happy ending to the story in that he still went on to win the race.

The kindness of God is what Isaiah was talking about in chapter 42 when it reads,

“A bruised reed he will not break and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.”

This aspect of the goodness of God is what makes him ever patient with us and our failures, our falls, our disappointments. It’s what makes him sit with us in our grief, and weep alongside us. It is this kindness that draws us to him, rather than the harsh push of need. As a child runs to his father with a scraped knee so we can run to our Father with our bruised lives. 

We see it in Jesus reaching out to touch the man with leprosy, turning to speak to the woman who had touched his cloak, in noticing the short outcast who had climbed a tree to see him go by, in feeding 5000 families, in raising a widow’s son.

 In verse 14 of our passage it reads:

¹⁴ The Lord upholds all those who fall
    and lifts up all who are bowed down.

Mother Theresa is quoted as saying

“Be the Living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.”

Generosity is the next in the definition of goodness, and I wonder if we even need to walk down this road. Creation sings to the generosity of God, Family testifies to it, our church is evidence of it.

I’ve just spent 10 days in the Fish River Canyon and in the Kalahari desert. You have never seen stars until you’ve seen stars in the desert. We would lie at night staring at the sky in wonderment – there was not a single patch of sky that was not flecked with specks of light. The milky way was a clear bright stripe running through the sky. We saw shooting stars, and satellites, and constellations and really words are inadequate to try and describe them.

Science tells us that without a telescope you can only see about 3,000 stars from any point on Earth and let me tell you we saw at least that. They estimate the universe contains at least 70 sextillion stars (70-thousand-million-million-million). That's 7 followed by 22 zeroes, or ten-times the number of grains of sand on earth. Psalm 147:4 tells us God "counts the numbers of the stars; He gives names to all of them." 70 sextillion names. You what to know about generosity? Not only that, but God counts the numbers of every hair on every person in the world. Jesus said, "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Luke 12:7). 

Kent Crockett, a Christian author and speaker commented that “If God knows that much, He certainly knows what you are going through right now.”

God is a generous God – take a brief moment to think of the ways in which he has blessed you. Our thoughts immediately go to family, and friends, houses and jobs, children, grandchildren...

And then we see Christ. God’s ultimate act of generosity… For God so loved the world that he GAVE…

If God did not withhold giving us his most beloved and precious only son – will he not freely give us all things. If you who are evil know how to give gifts to your children, how much more would your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.

Our God is a good God.

Lastly the definition speaks of benevolence. Whereas the words goodness and kindness have been overused – This is a seldom used word. It speaks of the nature of a person, beyond their actions. It links to concepts of selflessness and altruism. 

In the OT, goodness is translated from the Hebrew words tov and tuv: but it refers to that quality in God that causes Him to deliver people, bless them and store up future gifts for them. It implies a sense of delight in the giver and the gift. This delight is the nature of God – a God who longs to deliver and bless and give.

This is how we can say God is good – all the time. It’s not just his actions, but his very being that is good. Sadly however this understanding brings up difficult questions. Just on Thursday our country was thrown into shock with 34 miners being shot by police in protests, just 100km from here. 34 families today are without fathers and sons and breadwinners. Wives are asking God why? Children are asking God why? 

And there is the on-going painful question that we all ask at some point in our lives. How can a good God, allow suffering? How can there be so much evil in the world, and since it’s a personal question it becomes how can there be so much pain and struggle in my life. 

Corrie Ten Boom said, “Often I have heard people say, ‘How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!’ Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. "No, Corrie," said Betsie, "He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: 'For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.'" Corrie concluded, "There is an ocean of God's love available--there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love--whatever the circumstances."

Terrible things happen. We don’t always know why. But what we can know is that whatever the circumstances. God’s goodness and his love does not change. He proved his love once for all on the cross, in the horrific death and resurrection of his son. He loves you that much. Just as a child cannot understand why his parents would take him for painful injections, or force him to eat his vegetables – so too we cannot understand all our Heavenly Father does. But we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that whatever those circumstances are – God does not change. His goodness, His love, His mercy is steadfast.

Our Psalm today reads in verses:

⁸ The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and rich in love.
⁹ The Lord is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made.

Tim and I, when we got married made a deal with each other. You see I know that Tim loves me and would never intentionally do anything to hurt me, and he knows this from my side too. So whenever anything is said, that sounds harsh, or can be taken in two ways – we made a deal with each other to always hear the way in was meant – in love. I have chosen to always believe the best about my husband because I know him and his love for me.

In the same way, the way we look at the world shows what we believe about God. God is good. All the time. If we look at the world with that understanding, we will run to him, rather than from him. We will know that nothing is outside of his mercy. We will approach the throne of grace with confidence in times of need. We will experience the nearness and love and kindness of God in hours of our deepest need.

There is a beautiful poem which reads

"He giveth more grace when burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction, He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance;
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done;
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources;
Our Father's full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit, His grace knows no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth and giveth and giveth again."

Our God is a good God.