Pursuing Joy

“Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.”
Psalms 147:1 ESV

During this past Lord’s Day morning worship, we sang “O Great God” by Bob Kauflin, Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries.  The past few days, verse two has rung out in my ears.  What amazing grace God has poured out on His children.  So amazing that we would still be lost without it, groping in the darkness for any glimmer of hope or peace in the things of this world and shunning heaven’s joys.  O Great God indeed!!  He has given us life in Jesus through the Spirit!

I was blinded by my sin
Had no ears to hear Your voice
Did not know Your love within
Had no taste for heaven’s joys
Then Your Spirit gave me life
Opened up Your Word to me
Through the gospel of Your Son
Gave me endless hope and peace

You can find the song, which was recorded on The Valley of Vision album, here.

“‘Come unto me,’ he says, ‘and I will give you.’  You say, ‘Lord, I cannot give you anything.’  He does not want anything.  Come to Jesus, and he says, ‘I will give you.’  Not what you give to God, but what he gives to you, will be your salvation.  ‘I will give you‘ — that is the gospel in four words.

Will you come and have it?  It lies open before you.”

~ C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the New Testament, I:175.  Italics original

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Bono, the frontman of U2, wrote an introduction to a book containing a selection of Psalms.  It isn’t extraordinarily eye-opening, nor extraordinarily helpful either.  However, there is one section that brought me to worship.  In speaking of a song U2 wrote called “40″, he says:

“Psalm 40 is interesting in that it suggests a time when… love will replace the very strict law of Moses (i.e. fulfill them). I love that thought. David, who committed some of the most selfish as well as selfless acts, was depending on it. That the Scriptures are brim full of hustlers, murderers, cowards, adulterers and mercenaries used to shock me; now it is a great source of comfort.”

Now, this isn’t the time to begin debating whether Bono is saved or not.  Only God, and maybe Bono, know that.  We need to hear that last line.  We need to see what gets a person to that point.  From shock to awestruck wonder. From incredulity to joy.  From elder brother to the younger.  It comes from a true experience of grace.  You know how he can go from shock to comfort if you have come to taste and see God’s grace.  I don’t know about you, but I am praising God this morning for Jesus Christ.  He fulfilled so that huslters, murderers, cowards, adulterers and mercenaries just like me can be adopted as God’s children rather than bear just and holy wrath as His enemies.  I get forgiveness because Christ bore the penalty for my sin in his body.  He paid it all, once for all, and I get grace and mercy and love.  He is not known to me only as God, the Most High, He is also God, my Father, because of Jesus.  Easter 2010 has passed, but the joy and comfort that God has justified sinners in Christ alone, not based on anything they have done or ever will do, is simply amazing.  The fact that the Bible is full of filthy sinners is not a shock.  That God killed his only Son for their sin instead of them is.

Today is the one year anniversary of Pastor Dan Cummings’ death.  Death is a reality of life because of sin (Romans 6:23) and it is appointed for man to die once (Hebrews 9:27). But the good news of the gospel is that though sin entered the world and death through sin, there is an abundance of grace and a free gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ.  It is through Jesus Christ’s perfect life and death on the cross that sinners find justification by His blood and reconciliation with God.  And it is this truth that leads Paul to say in Romans 5:21, “so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  For the person who puts their faith alone by grace alone in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins, death is not eternal.  As John Owen wrote, “the Father and his Son intended by the death of Christ to redeem, purge, sanctify, purify, deliver from death”… in Jesus, the death of death has come.  [The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (Book II, Chapter III)]

This reminds me of a song from the album Come Weary Saints (which is on sale this month at Sovereign Grace).  The lyrics are below:

It Is Not Death To Die

It is not death to die
To leave this weary road
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who’ve found their home with God
It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears
And wake in joy before Your throne
Delivered from our fears

CHORUS:
O Jesus, conquering the grave
Your precious blood has power to save
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die

It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just
It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise You evermore

“And I am afraid there are Calvinists, who, while they account it a proof of their humility that they are willing in words to debase the creature, and to all the glory of salvation to the Lord, yet know not what manner of spirit they are of . . . Self righteousness can feed upon doctrines, as well as upon works; and a man may have the heart of a Pharisee, while his head is stored with orthodox notions of the unworthiness of the creature and the riches of free grace.”

Who do you think said that?  Sounds like many contemporary pastors and authors, but you may be surprised! It was John Newton writing a letter in the late 1700s… some things never change and some letters are always relevant.

My wife loves Christmas music.  As soon as those certain radio stations switch over on November 1st to non-stop seasonal music, the station is dialed in.  And it is not that I do not enjoy music about the birth of our Savior or the Advent season, but if I am going to listen to the same 20 songs for two months straight, I need a little variety.  Here are my five favorite albums that might help spice up your playlist…

Behold The Lamb Of God, Andrew Peterson

This is probably my new favorite of Advent 2009. This is why (in his own words):

What makes this bunch of songs unique is that I wanted to remind (or teach) the audience that the story of Christmas doesn’t begin with the birth of Jesus. Many people tend to forget or have never even learned that the entire Bible is about Jesus, not just the New Testament. So the musical begins with Moses and the symbolic story of the Passover (Passover Us) and works its way through the kings and the prophets with their many prophecies about the coming Messiah (So Long, Moses) to the awful four hundred years of silence before God told Mary she’d be having a baby (Deliver Us). After the song called Matthew’s Begats, which lists the genealogy of Jesus, the story picks up in more familiar territory with Mary and Joseph and the actual birth (It Came To Pass, Labor of Love). The final song is called Behold, the Lamb of God, which ties together the Passover and the beauty and scope of the story.

You can preview the whole album and its lyrics here for free (HT: Justin Taylor)

Glory In The Highest, Shane & Shane

My two favorite Christmas songs launch my favorite Christmas album, O Holy Night and O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  Their original song, Born To Die is a great addition to our Christmas playlist.  There are a couple songs on here that are just plain old fun Christmas tunes and aren’t my most favorite additions to a Christmas album, but the first two songs set my affections ablaze and help me look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith… most of the time with tears welling.

Advent Songs, Sojourn

The emphasis here is on the already/not-yet tension of advent. Advent comes to us in the darkest season of the year — a season when the nights are long, the days are cold, and we look with anticipation for the return of warmth in the spring. The songs have both a dark sense of anticipation and glimpses of light dawning in the face of the Christ child. As we celebrate this season, we celebrate that our Messiah has come, and we look with longing to the day when he comes again. As St. John says, “Amen! Come Lord Jesus.”

On The Incarnation, Daniel Renstrom

This is an excellent mix of old songs and new ones.  One new song, “Rise & Fall”, is my favorite on this album and talks about how Jesus is a “dangerous King”.  He not only brought joy and salvation, but also opposition to other kings and kingdoms.  One reviewer writes, “ The truly great thing about On The Incarnation is that it doesn’t repel you when you are not in a Christmas season mood. It’s a gift from Renstrom that we can hear it outside the season and still enjoy it. I played the album for the kids in the car on the way to Louisville two weeks ago. Four songs in they said, “Are you sure these are Christmas songs?” The answer is yes, in the best sense.”

Silent Night, Mars Hill Church (Seattle)

This is one is for the rockers!  The songs are all classic carols with a little Seattle grunge… I love it! It is a little jolting going from The Nutcracker to Mars Hill, but like I said… I need a little variety in these two months!  If you click the link, you can download ‘What Child Is This?’ for free before buying the album for $5.99.

Enjoy and worship The King!

In our pursuit of joy we are constantly being bombarded by the culture for our attention; the distraction to find our joy in anything other than God.  There are not many of us that find our pleasures in mortgage payments or credit card bills.  Our joy is in something else,  our joy is in God.  Romans 8 reminds us  “ those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the Spirit.”  We are promised in John 14:26  “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”  What a beautiful reminder as we consider our daily walk and call to reach the world around us.  Our joy begins with God,  there is no other place to start our pursuit than with the Gospel.

Mark Dever gives an excellent overview of the Gospel in his recent book  The Deliberate Church.  Dever’s recounting of the Gospel  is very similar to the material of Two Ways To Live.

“The most important aspect of evangelism is the evangel-the Gospel, the Good News.  If we are not getting the evangel right according to the Word, then whatever we are doing, it cannot be called evangelism.   So what are the essentials of evangelism?  We can sum it up in four words: God, man, Christ and response.  God is our holy Creator and righteous Judge.  He created us to glorify Him and enjoy him forever (Gen.2:7, 16-17; 18:25; Matt 25:31-33).  But mankind has rebelled against God by sinning against his holy character and law (Gen. 3:1-7).  We’ve all participated in this sinful rebellion, both in Adam as our representative head and our individual actions (1 Kings 8:46; Rom. 3:23; 5:12,19; Eph. 2:1-3).  As a result, we have alienated ourselves from God and have exposed ourselves to His righteous wrath, which will banish us eternally to hell if we are not forgiven (Eph. 2:12; John 3:36; Rom. 1:18, Matt 13:50).  But God sent Jesus Christ, fully god and fully man, to die the death that we deserved for our sins-the righteous for the unrighteous-so that God might both punish our sin in Christ and forgive it in us (John 1:14; Rom. 3:21-26; 5:6-8; Eph. 2:4-6).  The only saving response to this Good News is repentance and belief (Matt 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:15; Luke 3:7-9; John 20:31).  We must repent of our sins (turn from them and turn to God) and believe in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of our sins and reconciliation to God.  God, man, Christ, response.”

My concern for us as a body of believers at Five Points is that our Pursuit of Joy first be anchored and grounded securely in the Gospel.  Without this foundation all other pursuits of joy are a false joy.