The 10 Saddest Songs EVER.

Everybody likes a good sad song right? Here's 10 of my favorite sad songs:

1. The Dance by Garth Brooks
2. Nothing Compares to You by Sinead O'Connor
3. He Stopped Loving Her Today by George Jones
4. Carrickfergus (old Irish folk song)
5. Everybody Hurts by REM
6. Neon Moon by Brooks and Dunn
7. I'm Just A Ghost in This House by Shenandoah (also a compelling version by Alison Krauss)
8. Crying by K.D. Lang (Roy Orbison first, but Lang's is more compelling)
9. Blue Bayou by Linda Rondstat
10. Blue by LeAnn Rimes

But here's one more really sad song. It's from Isaiah 5, and it's a lament by God about his broken relationship with Israel and Judah. He uses the symbol of a vineyard and sour grapes to convey his sorrow.

The Song of the Vineyard

¹ I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.

² He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.

³ "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴ What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?

⁵ Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.

⁶ I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it."

⁷ The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are the garden of his delight.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

A Couple quick thoughts:

1. God owns the vineyard, it's his to do with as he wishes. "The earth is the LORD's and everything therein." We also are his, to do with as he pleases.

2. God made the investment in the vineyard. He prepared it, planted it, protected it, and planned for a great harvest. He did everything necessary for good grapes. He's done the same for us. He's given us everything we need in order to bear good fruit for him.

3. God's expectations are pretty simple. He desires JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS. Don't overcomplicate things.

The Endless Pursuit of MORE Will One Day End

From Amos 8:

“The end [1] has come upon my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them.
3 The songs of the temple [2] shall become wailings [3] in that day,”
declares the Lord God.
“So many dead bodies!”
“They are thrown everywhere!”
“Silence!”

4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy
and bring the poor of the land to an end,
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over,
that we may sell grain?
And the Sabbath,
that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make the ephah small and the shekel [4] great
and deal deceitfully with false balances,
6 that we may buy the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

The end came for Israel in part because of their obsession with accumulating wealth. We were created by God to STEWARD his creation. This doesn't eliminate the possibility of ACCUMULATING his creation, but we should be warned that accumulation is NOT OUR PRIMARY DIRECTIVE. As with Israel, I think we have all experienced that the pursuit of wealth can alter our sensibilities and lead us to abuse what God has given to us as a blessing. Notice they abused:

1. Other people -- trampling others in order to gather their own wealth

2. Their faith -- religious gatherings had become a mildly inconvenient interruption to the their week of wealth creation.

3. Justice -- the desire for MORE drove them outside God's law AND man's law as they engaged in nefarious business practices.

Greed can be a nasty monster. The more often you feed it, the more likely it will eventually consume you.

The Merciful Wrath of God, Part Two

Psalm 30:5 --

For his anger is but for a moment

and his favor is for a lifetime

Weeping may tarry for the night

but joy comes with the morning

Suffering and the pain it causes are temporal, but those who find the favor of God will enjoy it forever.

Let me suggest that all suffering and all pain are our way of experiencing the wrath of God in a very tangible way. Don't judge this post too quickly. Anytime we find ourselves reaping the consequences of sin (illness, disaster, relational conflict, etc.) we are experiencing the wrath of God being poured out on sinful humanity. Stay with me.

David writes in Psalm 30:5 - "his ANGER is but for a moment". That God is angry about sin is a reality. That this anger is being directed toward the sinners is a reality. Read Lamentations 3:1-20. Notice how it feels to be under the wrath of God:

• he has made my flesh and my skin waste away
• he has made me dwell in darkness
• he has walled me about so that I cannot escape
• He is a bear lying in wait for me
• He drove into my kidneys the arrow of his quiver
• He has made my teeth grind on gravel
• my soul is bereft of peace
• I have forgotten what happiness is

ouch.

But, then, in Lamentations 3:21, things turn the corner. In spite of all this gloom and doom being experienced, the author writes, "But this I call to mind, and therefore, I have HOPE". How is it that someone can experience so much sorrow and woe, recognize that said sorrow and woe is from the hand of God, and still have hope?

Remember the verse we started with. Psalm 30:5:

For his anger is but for a moment

and his favor is for a lifetime

The manner in which we experience God's wrath while on this earth is NOT eternal. It will end. In fact, I would suggest that the wrath of God which we experience on earth (whether it be direct consequences of our sin or indirect consequences of being a sinful person living in a sinful world) is a CORRECTIVE wrath intended to:

1) Inform us of our own sin and how our sin separates us from God.
2) Warn us of the terrible situation we find ourselves in as people deserving the wrath of God.
3) Impress us that if this is a taste of God's wrath on sin, we DO NOT want to eternally suffer his wrath on our sin.

In this, I would suggest that God's wrath is indeed a very MERCIFUL offering to us. It is a warning sign that says, "This is the route you have chosen, and it only gets worse from here. CHANGE DIRECTION." (Jesus said something like, "repent and believe!") God's wrath which lasts only for a moment, or for the night gives way to his favor and joy if we are His! His wrath teaches us that the best we can hope for on our own is this meaningless life full of sorrow and suffering and culminating in an eternity under his FULL wrath.

Yet there is hope.

To whatever degree you/me/we have experienced the wrath of God, it could be much worse. Sin deserves death, eternal death, instantly. Anything less than that is God's mercy. Of course, one man did experience the full wrath of God. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 tells us that Jesus rescued us from the coming wrath. Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that Jesus accomplished this by becoming sin for us. 1 Peter 2:24 says that He bore our sins in His body. When God directed his all His righteous wrath toward the body of Jesus, we received a new hope. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 says that God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive SALVATION through Jesus!

Psalm 30:11-12:

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing

you have loosed my sackcloth

and clothed my with gladness

that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent

O LORD my god, I will give thanks to you forever.

Experiencing the wrath of God, visible all around us, is cause for mourning.
Recognizing the mercy of God, demonstrated in Christ, gives way to dancing.

Love One Another

Love should be the defining characteristic of every small group (John 13:34-35). As you think about what it means to love one another, and how your group can work on loving one another; here are two lists that flesh out a bit how Jesus expects us to love.

The New Testament "One Another" Commands. A List of Specific Actions that Grow Brotherly Love:

John 13:34 -- Love one another.
Romans 12:10 -- Be devoted to one another.
Romans 12:10 -- Honor one another.
Romans 12:16 -- Live in harmony with one another.
Romans 14:13 -- Stop judging one another.
Romans 15:7 -- Accept one another.
Romans 15:14 -- Instruct one another.
Romans 16:16 -- Greet one another.
1 Corinthians 1:10 -- Agree with one another.
Galatians 5:13 -- Serve one another.
Ephesians 4:2 -- Bear with one another.
Ephesians 4:32 -- Forgive one another.
Ephesians 5:21 -- Submit to one another.
Colossians 3:16 -- Admonish one another.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 -- Encourage one another.
James 4:11 -- Do not slander one another.
1 Peter 4:9 -- Offer hospitality to one another.

An Outline of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Paul's definition of Love.

Love is:

• PATIENT
• KIND

Love is not

• jealous
• boastful
• proud
• irritable

Love does not

• demand its own way
• keep a record of wrongs
• rejoice about injustice

Love does

• REJOICE WHENEVER TRUTH WINS OUT
• NEVER GIVE UP
• NEVER LOSE FAITH
• ALWAYS HOPE
• ENDURE THROUGH EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE

My Skills Are Not Nearly As Polished As You Think They Are

I was reading Psalm 146 this morning and was struck by the list of people for whom God is in the business of providing assistance:

• the oppressed
• the hungry
• the prisoners
• the blind
• those who are weighed down
• the foreigners
• the orphans
• the widows
• (also, he loves the godly)

This is a list in which I would prefer not to find myself. Apart from the fact that I am occasionally weighed down by my own inability to stay in shape, I don't really think the rest of this stuff applies to me... but...

does that mean God isn't in the business of helping me?

I think it kind of does mean that.

As Jesus pointed out several times, he did not come for the sake of the righteous. He said that those who are healthy (or at least think they are) don't need his help. Only the sick are in need of his assistance. Unfortunately, I'm often in the position of thinking I'm healthy. I don't think I belong on the Psalm 146 list because REALLY i often don't think I need God's help. I think I'm a pretty capable guy who can get things done on my own.

But I want God's help!

Because deep down inside (in the words of Colonel Nathan Jessup),"in places we don't like to talk about" I know that I desperately need God's help, because while on the outside I appear to be pretty solid; I am nothing more than a major league mess-up barely being held together by string and duct tape...

So, I need to find myself on this list. I need to admit that I am oppressed by my selfishness and foolishness. I need to acknowledge that I am far too often blind when it comes to loving God and loving others. I am a prisoner of my desires and of temptation. I am an orphan who needs to run to the arms of my adopted heavenly Father.

May we all learn to admit our shortcomings so we can bask in the help God willingly offers!

A Couple Thoughts on Psalm 8, and Our Responsibility to Creation

I'm reading Psalm 8 this morning and I just start fiddling around with an outline...

1. The Greatness of God.
His glory is in evidence in the vastness of the sky and space, but also in the smallness of a baby's first cry. Bono says, "My first cry was a joyful noise." When a baby cries it is evidence of God's amazing creative power in making life.

2. The Graciousness of God.
"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" What is the best thing you've ever created? I've made some neat pictures from time to time... Nothing I've every made compares to things like the moon and the stars. Yet God still cares for me and demonstrates grace toward me.

3. The Giftedness of Man.
Because of his grace, God has chosen to appoint man as his representatives on earth. He's given us charge over creation; over the animals, over the birds, and the fish, and everything in the sea. We are to take care of it as He would. Have you ever felt honored because someone you greatly admired thought enough of you to give you a significant job? How hard did you work?

The creator of the universe has given you a job to serve as his representative to all creation. How hard will you work at this?

When a great God
Gives a gracious gift
We must be faithful and wise
in our application.

Three "S" Words That Should Characterize Your Relationships

What does it mean to love others?

SUBMIT

Within the body of Christ we are commanded to submit to (or prefer) one another (Ephesians 5). This submission is rooted in the example of Christ, who submitted himself to the Father and in doing so, submitted himself to death (Philippians 2).

Submission is choosing to give my power away for the good of someone else.

SERVE

Jesus said we are to love others the way he loved us. Just before he said that, he demonstrated his love for his disciples by washing their feet, a not-so-pleasant act of service (John 13). We've each been given unique abilities and resources, which when pooled, enable us to function as the body of Christ. Each of us must learn to use what we've been given to serve the body with all our energy (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 13)

Serving is using my resources for the good of others.

SACRIFICE

Jesus said the greatest love of all is the one who is willing to give up his life for his friend. Within 24 hours, He was doing that very thing (John 15). Paul reminded us that we need to be we willing to give up our own desires and wishes if that will be beneficial to those around us (Romans 15).

Sacrifice is doing what is good for others even if it costs me dearly.

A Few Lists and Thoughts About Preparing to Preach

Uber-blogger Justin Taylor posted this morning (or perhaps last night) a chart he borrowed from the 9Marks fellows which is designed to help preachers think through the application of the text from which they are preaching. It's a nice tool that suggests the preacher think about the implications of the text in the following areas:

1. Unique salvation-historical.
   
2. Individual Non-Christian.
   
3. Public.
   
4. Christological.
   
5. Individual Christian.
   
6. Local church.
   

When I first read this, I immediately thought back to a chart I shared at Calvary a few years ago while preaching on the "Discipline of Scripture". The idea was that as we read and study Scripture, it should impact the way we look at things. I suggested people approach Scripture from time to time and determine how it impacts the way they look at:

• The World
• Their Government
• Their Local Community
• The People They Know and With Whom They Share Life
• Themselves

Secondarily, I thought this would be a good tool to add to my current structure of sermon preparation. I've discovered that the more directions I can approach the text from, the more questions I will have to answer and the greater my understanding will be. Beyond that, the more attention I pay to how the possible implications of the text for a wider range of people, the more capable I will be when I try to present it to a wide range of people. Currently, my study of the text includes approaching the text from the following angles:

• Textual -- What does it say?
  
• Narrative -- How does it fit in the big story?
• Theological -- What doctrinal concepts are addressed?
  
• Christological -- How does this passage point toward Christ?
• Gospel -- Where is the messsage of sin and salvation?
• Ecclesiological -- What is the lesson for the church?
• Ethical -- What behavioral guidelines are taught or implied?
• Personal -- What are the obvious applications for individuals?

Likely, this new chart will become a second phase of study for me, following the list above and preceding my work on the "presentation" of the sermon... which I'll save for another post sometime.

9 Sermons Worth Preaching from Matthew 1 (5 of which stem from the geneology)

• God's covenant with Abraham
• God's covenant with David
• God associates with the marginalized (women in the geneology)
• Good kings and Bad kings
• Zerubabbel: God restores broken relationships
• The virgin birth
• Love and Justice: A study of Joseph
• Jesus saves from sins
• God is with us