Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Sep 22 2019 - Psalm 116 – I love the Lord

One of the distinctives of the Christian is that we love the Lord. We love God because he first loved us and sent his Son into the world to be our Saviour. We love the Lord Jesus because he "loved me and gave himself for me", as the Apostle Paul says (Galatians 2:20). Or to quote another statement from the apostle, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). So we warm to the opening phrase of this psalm, "I love the Lord". This also is the testimony of a man who has known the love and saving goodness of God even though he lived long before the coming of the Lord Jesus.

We do not know what problems the psalmist had been facing. He clearly felt that his life was in danger (v. 3), though whether through the threats of enemies, through sickness, or even the trauma of mental illness and despair we don't know. But in his distress he called upon the Lord to help him and to save him (v. 4). He discovered that the Lord was gracious and full of compassion (v. 5), for the Lord did save him. He describes God's salvation in verses 8-9:

For you, LORD, have delivered me from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the LORD
    in the land of the living.

The Lord rescued him from death. He may have been physically rescued from death by being saved from those who were out to take his life or perhaps he was healed from a serious illness. Or he may have been rescued from the pathway that leads to death by the Lord placing his feet back on the path of life and keeping him from stumbling. Two things, however, are clear: firstly, the psalmist's sadness and despair had been turned to joy – the Lord has dried his tears. Secondly, having been rescued by the Lord he is now determined to, "walk before the LORD In the land of the living" – to devote whatever days God now grants him to walking with God and seeking to please him.

Paul writes something similar of us as Christians. He says that we have been, "created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10). We have been saved through Christ that we might walk with him and live for him.

The psalmist encourages himself saying, "Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you" (v. 7). He knows that he can rest in the knowledge of God's goodness and love. Do you need to encourage yourself, or another Christian, to bask in the warmth of God's love in Christ – to enjoy God's salvation?

He also considers how he should respond to God's goodness (v. 12), and answers, "I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord" (v. 13). Commentators try to identify what is meant here by "the cup of salvation", but it is perhaps best to see it as a metaphor: the psalmist is filled with gratitude that he has been spared the cup of God's wrath and has been granted to drink deeply of God's saving mercy. So he takes this cup with both hands and lifts up his voice in praise of God. We rightly read this in the light of Jesus' words at the Last Supper, "take this cup…", and in terms of our regular celebration of our salvation as we break bread and drink wine together. We too celebrate what God has done for us as we remember Christ's death and resurrection until he comes. Because of his resurrection we know that our lives of service are not in vain and that our death, when it comes, will be precious to God and will bring us into the presence of our Saviour.

Gracious Lord, we praise you that you have rescued us from death and disaster and have set our feet upon the path of life marked out by Christ. We love you because you have first loved us and we rejoice in your salvation; you have turned our tears of sadness and despair into cries of joy. Help us to tell others of what you have done for us, assuring them that you can do the same for them.

Sep 22 2020 - Matthew 22:1-33 – Render unto Caesar

The Pharisees sought to trick Jesus by asking him whether they should pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus' reply is well known; "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s" (Matthew 22:21).

Jesus is not saying that God and Caesar occupy separate domains and that we must try to work out which part of our lives is to be lived out under Caesar’s rule and which part under the rule of God. All of creation belongs to God and there is no part of its life which he does not claim as his own. Through his resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven, Jesus has been declared King of kings and Lord of lords. Human government is God's idea; it is part of the dominion which he has entrusted to men and women who are made in his image. God is pleased when human society is well-ordered; when wrongdoing is punished and those who do good are rewarded – when it is governed in a way that reflects his own gracious rule.

Christians, therefore, are to be good citizens – the very best of citizens. Our giving to "Caesar" what is Caesar's is part of our giving to God what is God's. This has implications regarding the paying of our taxes, compliance with speed limits and every other aspect of civil obedience. Moreover, we are to pray for those in positions of civil government and to support them in their God-given task. And if we pray that there might be more Christians in such positions of influence and service, might we not also consider whether God is calling us to be an answer to our own prayers.

In a fallen world, however, human government may set itself up against God. There are times when giving God what is his due will involve resistance to civil authority, passive resistance or active resistance. The apostles were ready to be beaten and imprisoned rather than deny the gospel. Many today suffer at the hands of oppressive governments for the sake of the gospel – and many others simply suffer oppression.

We should not be concerned only about the oppression suffered by Christians. We are called to speak out against the evils of our day and to act to defend those who are treated unjustly whoever and wherever they may be, for they also are made in the image of God. And as God gives us strength, we are also to be agents of change in a broken world, working to ensure that government – wherever it may be and whatever its political colour – lives up to its God-given calling to protect, nurture, value and respect those whom it governs. 

Jesus' response to the trick question of the Pharisees is easy to remember. Applying his teaching in the complex world in which we live is not always easy. On the one hand, we need to avoid the error of insisting that civil government give a privileged place to Christian belief – campaigning for the return of Christendom. On the other hand, we need equally to avoid the error of thinking that the Christian faith has nothing to do with politics and civil government – that it is about other-worldly spirituality. And above all, Christians need to model the kind of society that will commend itself to those who do not share our faith; even to those who are antagonistic to it.

Heavenly Father, I pray for all those in positions of authority in national and local government. I pray that they may be more concerned for the welfare of those they govern than for their own position and power. May they be characterised by a servant spirit. But I pray also for those in positions of leadership in your church that they may follow the example of the Great Shepherd of the sheep. May your people, filled with your Spirit and living under reign of the Jesus Christ, act as the supreme example of the happy kingdom. Help us to be the envy of the world.

Peter Misselbrook