And in trusting the Lord we become “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruits in its season, and its leaf does not wither” (Ps. 1:3), but we are not a lone tree but one of a healthy forest, a fellowship with others who also trust in the Lord, growing together in the Lord’s provision. We come together weekly on the Lord’s Day to worship our Triune God through his means of grace. We assemble not yet as the church triumphant but the church militant, confessing our sins to one another and praying for one another (Jas. 5:16), but also rejoicing in the forgiveness and fellowship with enjoy, with songs of deliverance. The Lord is indeed faithful and just to forgive us, and cleanse us, and protect us, and hide us, and preserve us, and surround us with other forgiven sinners that we may be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, and sing for joy to the Lord.
Author Archives: John Clayton
The Grace of Discipline
David was a man after God’s own heart and yet was guilty of adultery and murder. The Lord chose David to be king, anointed him to serve, established his kingdom, promised a perpetual throne, and yet allowed the rebellion of David’s son, Absalom, to threaten it all. The rise and fall and rise again story of David is a familiar one, partly because of the historical record but also the poetic. We know what happened, but we also know how it felt. The story is recorded in 2 Samuel, and the third psalm accompanies it, as David wrote it during Absalom’s attempted coup. The third is a short psalm that describes the Lord’s salvation of David from his foes amidst the turmoil of a civil war. What the specific account in 2 Samuel and the third psalm do not reveal is that the rebellion was in fulfillment of what God promised.
Blessed to Worship
The eighty-fourth psalm is similar to the Songs of Ascents as its focus is worship, directs us toward Zion, and emphasizes the temple. Within the psalm we find characteristics of a hymn, a prayer, and a lament. It is also a psalm of longing, and yet the most oft-repeated word in the psalm is “blessed”: “Blessed are those who dwell in [the LORD’s] house.” “Blessed are those whose strength is in [the LORD].” And, “blessed is the one who trusts in [the LORD]!” And blessed are we, as we read, sing, and meditate upon this psalm.
Characteristics of Christian Community
In an age of individualism, Christians would do well to open our bibles and look at the testimony of Scripture: There are no solitary Christians. Persecuted? Yes. Imprisoned? Certainly. Banished? Undoubtedly. Solitary? Never. In fact, walking through the New Testament epistles, I am reminded of how little is addressed to the individual. The bulk of our New Testament canon is directed to the church, and even when an epistle is written to one, for example Timothy, it is for the sake of the church, and in the context of the local church, specifically. Even the Greek word ekklesia that we translate as “church” literally means “assembly.” No one assembles alone.
The Blessings of Fearing the Lord
As a family, we look not to the transient whims of culture but the eternal Word of God to direct us. And like the psalmist, we lift our prayers to the Lord. To say that we are a blessed people is not to imply perfection but a perfect Savior, which is why, as his redeemed people, we can truly say,
Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,
who walks in his ways!
A Gentle and Quiet Spirit
When Samuel died, David was still on the run. Though anointed Israel’s future king, he was classified an outlaw by his in-law, Saul, the current king. Samuel’s death then was surely a blow to David’s morale; his authoritative representative and defender was dead. And so, for a time, the would-be-king lived like a fugitive, moving from place to place.
Perseverance and Perfect Justice
And so, in Christ we persevere, remembering that we have received the righteousness of God by his grace alone, and this same grace sustains us through this life. And we pray for those who persecute us, knowing the righteous Judge has justified us as righteous in Christ alone, and his gospel is freely offered to all who will believe.
The Blessing of Corporate Worship
While we are still assessing the worldwide issues that came out of the pandemic, for Christians, surely, we can agree that one of the key lessons learned was the value of corporate worship on the Lord’s Day. Perhaps we got a taste of what our brothers and sisters face in countries where they are not free to assemble in worship or even persecuted for it. How easy it is to take in-person, assembled worship for granted. You may remember, like me, the anticipation and excitement of returning to corporate worship with grateful hearts to praise the Lord together. Now, I want you to think back to that moment, and capture that in your memory, if you can. Because, that experience captures the essence of this psalm. Or, borrowing from this psalm, we could say that we were blessed to bless the Lord.
A Blessed Life
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 19:14). The analogy runs as an undercurrent through this psalm. We come not to the Lord as workers of anxious toil who have merited God’s favor but as children who bring nothing but need. He who is always working, worked on our behalf, becoming our eternal provision and protection through his life, death, and resurrection. And because of the work of Christ, we become children of God by grace through faith, gifts from our Father not our works (Ep. 2:8-9). And it is by God’s grace that we live out our faith in the blessed life he gives, working as unto the Lord, raising our children for his glory, and trusting always in his provision.
God’s Perfect Gift
We often think of the sudden, supernatural appearance of the heavenly host in relation to Jesus’ birth, and rightly so. But in a sense, their explosion of praise is but a commencement of our continued celebration. For, we are not waiting like the Old Testament saints or even the angels, but “in these last days [God] has spoken to us by his Son” (Hb. 1:2) and has revealed his redemptive purposes in his church. So, let the angelic chorus continue, “Glory to God in the highest!”
Planter, Pastor, Preacher 