O Lord My Rock and My Redeemer - October 2019

On any given Sunday, when God’s people gather, we come from various places in our weeks. Some enter having celebrated joyous milestones like weddings and births. Some from the “status quo” in the regularity of life. And some come bearing the weight of work stresses, family tension, or real tragedies. In all of these situations, what do we need most? To gaze upon the glory of our God and Savior.

When the allures of this life draw us in, we’re reminded that “true delight is found in God alone.” When we casually approach the Lord for the 300th Sunday in a row, we’re reminded that His grace is “a well too deep to fathom.” And when we’re bogged down by life’s trials, we’re reminded that our Lord is our “Rock and Redeemer”, a strong shield and defender, who guarantees our refuge by His faithfulness. And ultimately, our hope lives in our risen Savior, Jesus Christ, who broke the bonds of our sin and shame, conquering the grave and death!

Modern hymn “O Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer” helps us posture ourselves in three ways before God.

Verse 1: We begin by orienting our praise first to God’s good character and our desperate need for Him.

Verse 2 continues this thought by giving us vocabulary to claim God’s power to persevere under trial.

Verse 3: And of course, the hymn crescendos to look at Christ’s atoning death and glorious resurrection.

In light of our “Representation” in Christ we’ve been learning in Romans 5. His death is our death to sin. And his resurrection is our resurrection to new life. Here and for eternity. Let us cry out to God together as we sing.

- Jonathan

O Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer

Written by Nathan Stiff

Lyrics:

VERSE 1

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (Ps 19:14)
Greatest treasure of my longing soul (Ps 42:1; Matt 13:44; Phil 3:8)
My God, like You there is no other (1 Sam 2:2; 2 Sam 7:22)
True delight is found in You alone (Ps 1:2, 37:4, 73:26; Mt 6:33)
Your grace, a well too deep to fathom (Ps 103:12; Rm 5:20; Eph 2:7)
Your love exceeds the heavens’ reach (Ps 19:1, 36:5, 103:11)
Your truth, a fount of perfect wisdom (Ps 19:7; Pr 9:10; Col 2:2-3; Ja 1:5)
My highest good and my unending need (Ps 40:17, 136:1; Rm 8:28)

VERSE 2
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (Ps 18:2)
Strong defender of my weary heart (Ps 50:15, 145:19)
My sword to fight the cruel deceiver (Ps 28:7-8; Heb 4:12)
And my shield against his hateful darts (Gen 15:1; Ps 91:3; Eph 6:16)
My song when enemies surround me (Deut 33:27; Ps 40:3)
My hope when tides of sorrow rise (Rm 5:1-2; Col 1:27; 1 Pt 1:3)
My joy when trials are abounding (Rm 5:3-5; Ja 1:2; 1 Pt 1:6)
Your faithfulness, my refuge in the night (Ps 46:1, 62:7; 91:4; 2 Th 3:3)

VERSE 3
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (Ps 62:2)
Gracious Savior of my ruined life (Ps 51:1-2; Lk 2:11, 19:10; Rm 8:1)
My guilt and cross laid on Your shoulders (Is 53:6; Rm 4:25;  1 Pt 2:24)
In my place You suffered bled and died (Rm 5:6; Col 2:14; 1 Pt 3:18)
You rose, the grave and death are conquered (Rm 1:4; 1 Co 15:55-57)
You broke my bonds of sin and shame (Rm 6:4-8, 8:2; Gal 5:1)
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (1 Pt 2:4)
May all my days bring glory to Your Name (Eph 1:4-6; 1 Co 10:31; 1 Pt 2:12)

Written by Nathan Stiff © 2017 Sovereign Grace Worship CCLI #193208

---

Before the Throne of God Above - September 2019

Hang around Christians for long enough and you’re bound to hear a John Newton quote. Not only for writing Amazing Grace, the most recognizable song of the last 200 years, but also for beautifully and succinctly expressing some of the most relatable truths of the Christian life. Some have said that Gospel growth and maturity leads to a greater awareness of our sin and yet a deepening confidence in Christ. Of such an experience, Newton wrote late in life: “Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” What simplicity.

And still, how often does the enemy seek to hold our sin in front of our face, accusing us of our inadequacy to stand before God? What makes this temptation often so effective is that the enemy’s lie is built on a half-truth. It’s true that we can’t stand before God in our own strength or effort, but the full truth is that for those united with Christ, we can stand before God in His righteousness! Look at Jude 1:24: “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.” What glory.

In our discipleship class on the book of Revelation, we saw in chapter 4 how the eternal worship of God is Christ-centered. The centrality of Christ upon our everyday lives of worship means that though we see how great our sin is before a holy God, we trust in our greater Savior who stood in our place so we might stand in His (2 Cor 5:21). We don’t get bogged down into a pit of self-pity, but rather we look up to see our value as Christ’s ransomed possession. The centrality of Christ upon our corporate worship together means that every single week, we must liturgically walk through the Gospel in everything we do, say, sing, pray, preach, and see. Because the only way to respond to a holy God, to stand before Him, is through Christ. We must never dare to approach God apart from Christ.

Modern hymn “Before the Throne of God Above” helps us to remember that we can boldly approach the throne of grace in the name of our Great High Priest who pleads the case we could not plead for ourselves. In Him we are righteous, holy, accepted, and loved with an everlasting love. Let’s sing it boldly and joyfully!

- Jonathan

Before the Throne of God Above

Written by Charitie Lees Bancroft, Vikki Cook

Lyrics:

Before the throne of God above (Rev 5:7-15)
I have a strong and perfect plea (1 Tim 2:5; Jude 1:24)
A great High Priest whose name is love (Heb 4:14)
Who ever lives and pleads for me (Heb 7:25)
My name is graven on His hands (Is 49:16; Jn 10:28)
My name is written on His heart (Eph 1:4-6; Heb 12:23; Rev 21:27)
I know that while in heaven He stands (Rev 11:15)
No tongue can bid me thence depart (1 Cor 1:8) 

When Satan tempts me to despair (2 Cor 11:3; James 1:14-15)
And tells me of the guilt within (1 Thess 3:5; Rev 12:10)
Upward I look and see Him there (Heb 4:14; Jam 1:12; Rev 12:11)
Who made an end of all my sin (John 1:29; Gal 2:20; 1 Thess 3:13)
Because the sinless Savior died (Rom 3:25; Phil 2:8)
My sinful soul is counted free (John 8:36; 1 Pet 1:3)
For God the Just is satisfied (Rom 3:26)
To look on Him and pardon me (Rom 3:24-25)

Behold Him there, the risen Lamb (Lk 24:6-7; Rev 5:6; 17:14)
My perfect, spotless Righteousness (Rom 3:22; 2 Cor 5:21)
The great unchangeable I Am (Is 9:6; Jn 1:1, 10:30, 14:9-11; Hb 13:8)
The King of glory and of grace (Ps 24:8; John 1:14; Rev 19:16)
One with Himself, I cannot die (Jn 8:51; Rom 6:5; 1 Cor 1:9)
My soul is purchased by His blood (Rom 5:9; 1 Cor 6:20; 1 Pet 1:19)
My life is hid with Christ on high (John 6:37; Col 3:3; 1 Pet 1:4)
With Christ my Savior and my God (Mt 28:20; Rom 6:23; Jude 1:25)

© 1997 Sovereign Grace Worship / CCLI #193208

---

This Life I Live - August 2019

“Who are you going to live for today?” I like to ask my son this question at the start of a day. While I have to confess some skepticism at how much a 3-year old can process something so deep, at the same time, this practical commitment can be somewhat simple. We’ve gone over the many possible answers that really boil down into these three: yourself, others, or Christ. What I find interesting is that in this order, it’s really hard to get past number one. Let me just say, I am really good at serving myself. My natural inclination is to be first in line for ice cream… So is Nathan’s, for the record. But not only does such a selfish lifestyle never deliver on bringing real satisfaction, God’s Word has a lot to say about it (Ps 119:36; Phil 2:3; 1 Cor 10:24; Jam 3:16).

So what about “others”? Surely the second greatest commandment (Mark 12:31) to love our neighbors as ourselves is a great posture to live by. Should we love other people? Yes. Should we live by the opinions of others and idolize making them happy? No. Paul says if we live by the approval of others, we are not servants of Christ (Gal 1:10), ouch! God put loving others second for a reason, after loving God first. We love others out of our love for Christ. And we can only love anyone because God first loved us (1 Jn 4:19).

The heart of this question I ask my son is not to minimize love for others and love of self (which viewed rightly are both Biblical), but instead to maximize love for Christ, which is ultimate! And love for Christ necessarily leads to love of others and a godly love of self. We live for Christ. Why? Because we belong to Him. He has purchased our very lives with His blood. This is why the Bible calls Him our Redeemer. He has bought us out of slavery to sin and graciously calls us to follow Him. We live for Him as a response to what He has done for us. Will we do this perfectly? Of course not, but His power is made perfect in our weakness and His grace is sufficient for our deficiencies. And by His Spirit, He enables us to walk in a way that honors Him.

Still, this daily response that needs daily reminder. Who will you live for today? Modern hymn “This Life I Live” helps to set our minds and hearts on the proper response to God’s love for us in Christ.

- Jonathan

This Life I Live

Written by Michael Morrow

Lyrics:

This life I live is not my own (1 Cor 6:19)
For my Redeemer paid the price (1 Cor 6:20)
He took it to be his alone (John 10:28)
To be his treasure and his prize (1 Pet 2:9)
The things of earth I leave behind (Phil 3:7-8)
To live in worship of my King (Rom 12:1-2)
His is the right to rule my life (Eph 1:15-21; Tit 2:11-14)
Mine is the joy to live for him (Ps 16:11; Rom 5:1-5; Phil 4:4)

I died to sin upon the cross (Rom 6:11)
I’m bound to Jesus in his death (Gal 2:20)
The old is gone and now I must (2 Cor 5:17)
Rely on him for every breath (Pr 3:5-6; Jn 15:4-5; Phil 4:13,19)
With every footstep that I tread (Ps 119:105)
What mysteries he has in store (1 Cor 2:9)
I cannot know what lies ahead (2 Cor 5:7)
But know that he has gone before (Heb 4:14-16)

There is a voice that pierced the grave (John 11:43)
A power that rolled the stone away (Rom 8:11, 10:9)
A sound of life, I know I’m saved (John 5:24; Eph 1:13-14)
The voice of God has called my name (John 10:27)
So I will rise, and in the air (John 5:25-29, 6:40; 1 Thess 4:16-17)
Behold the glory of the King (Mt 5:8; 1 Cor 13:12; 2 Cor 3:18; Rev 5:13)
I will not fear to meet him there (Job 19:26-27; 2 Cor 5:10; 1 Jn 3:1-2)
I know my life is hid with him (Col 3:3-4)

© 2009 Michael Morrow / CCLI #193208

---