Psalm 18 | Summer of Psalms

missionaries and you guys can deal with it. Understand that we're going to

continue our sermon series in the summer of Psalms, Psalm 18. And this is a...it's

actually...it's very appropriate. The heading on my Bible says,

the Lord is my rock and my fortress. I think we've stood on that just even in

our time together thus far in the baptism, in our worship, but also in

understanding that the reason why Jason and the Cadence do that and do what they

do is because the Lord is their rock and their fortress. God is their refuge and

strength. And so we want to start with the first six verses of Psalm 18. And so

we're going to be in Psalm 18, first six verses. I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my rock in whom I

take refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon

the Lord who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of

death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me, the cords of

shale entangled me, and the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I

called upon the Lord. To my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my

voice and my cry to him reached his ears. As we are looking at the faithfulness of

God in our lives and how we respond as believers, I think a lot is said right

there. I think for all of us we need those six verses of Psalm 18 in our

lives. Why? Because it puts God where God needs to be in our life. Because so often

we, in times of trial, in times of hardship, we like to do it on our own.

We're self-made people, rags to riches, blah blah blah blah, that we think we

can step in, fill the gap, and figure it all out on our own. And then the feelings

of frustration or anxiety or defeat when all of a sudden not only has the

situation not gotten better, we've made it worse. And I know a lot of you own

that with me today and I know that I do that as well in my life. Why? We can't

just look at these verses and stand on that and go, God is the rock in your

messy marriage right now. God is the rock in this act of sin of whatever it is,

that he is standing there desiring you to stand with him above whatever it is

you're struggling with. Your finances, the anxiety, the unknowns of the world.

And then he invites us to call upon him. Verse 3, I call upon the Lord who is

worthy to be praised. He's linking two very important things, that we call on

the Lord. Why? Because he tells us to. Seek me and you will find me, right? When

you call out to me, I will hear you, I will be with you, but that he is the only

one worthy to be praised. So what is he calling out this morning? He's calling

out our own selfishness. He's calling out the idol worship in each and every one

of us, because we have it. That shouldn't be a shocker to you, but we are prone to

idol worship. We're prone to worship things other than the Lord. Now it's

totally a God thing that we are reading this on Preparation Sunday, because God

reminds us of that in the law, in the Ten Commandments. I am the Lord your God, you

shall have no other gods before me. One's capital G, one's little g. But we have all

these little g gods in our life. Ourselves, our success, our time, our money,

our abilities. We get defined by what we do or by the things we post or whatever

all the time. We have a society that is built on worshipping self. You talk about

fellowship of Christian athletes? Having coached just in the Munster system up to

seven-year-olds, the amount of ego in some of these kids that don't even know

how to swing a bat right is unbelievable. And then it's being fed by their parents.

Understand that in the town of Munster gets very competitive, right Jason? Super

competitive, right? I love the back of the shirts we get as coaches. It says

relax, it's just a game. But seeing these interactions just in the area of sports,

the ego of sports, you don't think that we've turned sports into an idol? You

don't believe when so-and-so signs a 600 million dollar deal that that's not an

idol? You don't think that we are upholding sports and the sports kind of

faculties of life as this be-all end-all? Oh I believe we are as a society.

Ungodly amount of money for a game because of sponsorships and all of this

stuff. And I'm not downing the whole system but I thank God that there are

people like Jason and the Cadence. That sounds like a punk band. You guys should

think about that, Jason and the Cadence. Vandermine, you could be the lead vocalist.

But understand that this, to bring Christ into athletics is like being in a lion's

den. And that's why they need our support. And it's not because it's Munster Church

but any church should be excited to get involved with bringing Christ, proclaiming

Christ, and celebrating Christ on the sports field. Because guess what? When

both Cadence grow up to do whatever they're gonna do, it won't be that they've

forgotten their path because it's being instilled in them. The power of platform

for a Christian athlete is huge. And I think a lot of those, they would echo

Psalm 18. That in the midst of success and money and all that that brings in

the sports world, God is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. The one that if

we're gonna look at it kind of in this way. Now obviously in FCA you probably

don't pray to win and crush your opponent, right? Caden, you don't do that?

I hope not. Okay, but understand that Lord give us a good game, free us from what?

I'm not telling you to steal third, I'm pointing to parts of the body. Injury, say

injury. Right, that's another one. Keep us from injury because we know that in the

blink of an eye, and some of you high school star athletes, you were taken

down by a hangnail or something, that all of a sudden the life of an athlete

can turn like this. So when our identity is rooted in the things we do, when our

identity is rooted in the money we make, the people that love us, whatever

it is, when our identity is found in that, it has now become an idol.

And we need to declare and acknowledge the love of the Lord first and foremost

in our lives. The height of our catechism, Lord's Day 9, question answer 26.

What do you believe when you say, I believe in God the Father Almighty,

creator of heaven and earth? This is the section breaking down the Lord's prayer.

The answer to that is that the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out

of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and

rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because

of Jesus Christ, his Son. Right there, God's created it. Who are we to take

credit for it? So one way that we can respond to God's faithfulness in life is

when we have success, that much like an athlete praying to not tear an ACL, we

better give that glory back to God because the minute we start taking the

glory on ourselves, friends, you just elevated yourself over somebody you

should never elevate yourself. It's one of the things I love about my elders at

this church, that I have ten individuals that and one wife that does it very

well, that if my head ever got so big it couldn't fit in this sanctuary, I

guarantee you I'd be called out on it. Any of us, we could all get very prideful

about Munster Church, we could. Double digit quarterly growth year over year,

budgets and all of these things, new understandings, we could say, wow, look at

us, we're so awesome. The minute I hear that I'm calling it out because it has

nothing to do with us creating. God has already done it. God's the one creating,

God's providence is what we're walking in and we are doing our best to be

faithful. Whether it's getting involved in ministry, ideas for new ministry, taking

that step of faith to being on council or one of the committees or coming up on

stage and singing, whatever it is, the minute we are doing it for us, we're

doing it for the wrong reasons. The understanding and the power of testimony

that God is the one doing the delivering, God is the one doing the providing, God

is the one that's doing the excelling, God is the one that's doing the growing

and we just get to sit here and give thanks to God for it is a really cool

place to be. Because we don't know what tomorrow holds. Tomorrow everything could

fall down, everything could be taken out. So when we respond to God's faithfulness

in our life, we have to recognize God is doing the delivering. It's not you, it's

never been you. It never will be you and we should rest in that and be excited

that it's not up to us to deliver the world. It's not up to us to die on the

cross. It's not up to us to save the world. No, already been done. We just have

to point to the cross in our thoughts, our words and our deeds. I guarantee you,

80% of us, our butts just tightened. Because our job is to point to the cross.

Are you saying in everything or just on Sunday mornings or just during small

group or just when I need to pray for somebody? Everything. If God, creator of

all, and we are in that and we are his creation, everything you do reflects the

sun. Everything you do reflects the cross. That is the hardest, that is the most

convicting thing I could probably say from any sermon on any stage. If you

are a believer and you claim Jesus is Lord and Savior, everything, everything

you do should reflect the cross. Whether you're in public, and here it comes, or in

private. Everything you do should reflect the cross. But that's hard.

Everything, pastor, everything. I didn't write the rules. Yes, everything. And

believe me, there's a mirror right here. I am looking at that mirror first.

Everything we do, we should be reflecting the cross. Then how else do we respond?

If it's just that understanding, and here's the real sad part, for

some people they're gonna go in their mind, oh I don't think it's worth it.

Really? Giving your life over to something bigger, better, greater than you

isn't worth it. Securing that you will be in glory forever and ever isn't worth

it. Because what you're doing is so star-spangled awesome in life and you've

got everything figured out. Really? That's gonna be the mode that you're gonna live

life with? There's an entire book that says if you look, if you run that race

and you live that life, for the wages of sin is what? Death. And that's not all

that exciting, yet it should be super convicting. How else do we respond to

God's faithfulness? It's recognizing His sovereignty, His deliverance, but also

it's worship. That we are called to worship God. Verses 46 through 49, the

Lord lives and blessed be the Rock and the exalted will be the God of my

salvation. The God who gave me vengeance and subdued people under me, who rescued

me from my enemies, yes you exalted me above those who rose against me. You

delivered me from the man of violence. For this I will praise you, O Lord, among

the nations and sing your name. David knew how to respond and David messed up.

David was an adulterer, David was a murderer, David abused his power. By all

accounts, if David was a pastor he would have been defrocked, it would have been

on the news, and he would have been done. But God restored him only the way God

could, yet for some of us, and this is, I'm just getting this right now, this is

off the cuff. For some of us you're gonna say, see I can still do all of that stuff

and God can still use me. Listen to what you just thought about. Yeah, I can be

adulterous, I can murder or have someone else murdered, whether physically or just

verbally or online, I can abuse my power, I can talk bad about other people, he

restored David, so guess what? He's gonna restore me too.

Brent, that's called cheap grace. You want to learn about cheap grace, Google

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, just start typing it, it'll know because you'll probably get it

wrong like I do, but Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about cheap grace, and it's the

biggest, what he calls, it's the biggest slap in Jesus's face, because as he's

breaking down Paul's saying when he says, should we continue to sin so grace may

abound? I got the grace gravy train, let's just keep doing all of this sin stuff

because the grace is gonna be there. Friend, the God that created everything

and delivered everything knows your sinful heart, and he knows the game you're

trying to play. God's not a fool, yet there are times we treat him like one,

which is why we worship him, which is why we come together every Sunday and we

worship, because he is the one deserved of worship, understanding that he is the

one that is in control. Believe me, if, let me just pick somebody, if Keith Hahn

was in control, if he was the one that died on the cross, we'd all worship him.

How uncomfortable are you right now that I'm bringing this up? Pretty

uncomfortable. Welcome to the diaconate. And so understanding that, you know, thank

God it's not, because though Keith is great, he's not Jesus. I'll put me on

there, I'll own this with you Keith. What if it was all at WWJD? What would Jim do?

No one would buy it, because what I can do is nothing compared to what Jesus has

done. And here's the thing, in the Bible it says, what Christ is doing in you, that

the deliverer, sustainer of all things is going, hey, that was awful. I'm ready to,

let's go to work. We have a job to do. Let's get the job done. Here are five

people in your sphere of influence that don't know Jesus. Let's find a way for

you to talk to them about me. Now you can go up to them, take water and go here,

come to Munster Church. Please don't do that. That's awful. That's the same thing

as a megaphone. You're sinners, come to church. Okay Jonah, that didn't work for

you, it's not gonna really work here. But understand what you can do is something

like Fellowship of Christian Athletes is doing. Meeting someone on their turf,

literally befriending them, building that trust bond, and telling their story. The

power of testimony is how the church will be advanced. I didn't make it up, it's

right here.

That maybe we invite people to be about what Jesus is doing in the community and

then in the church. Friends, that's how it goes. That's evangelism. That's

evangelism 101, which you're gonna hear in the coming weeks and months. A class

on that coming out of our community engagement that's gonna teach us what it

means to talk to our neighbors, to talk to people different than you. And 12% of

people right now in a statistic I just made up just said to themselves, I don't

need that. I would say when's the last time you talk to your neighbor? Well I

don't. Well clearly you need it then. Because what Jesus is calling all of us

to do is take his authority, his love, and his grace and to go out into the world.

That's what we're called to do. In different ways you can do that. You can

do it as loving babies in the nursery. No, and that's not a shameful plug for

nursery volunteers. But what a great ministry to welcome potential new people

to the church in that we have a hopefully maybe one day a nursery on the same

level, but understand that they're comfortable enough to drop their kids

off with you. Now you get people that drop kids off in nursery many different

ways. You have people that literally don't break stride, just toss the kid in and go

because they're just sick of it. And that's okay too. They're excellent

catchers. But you also have the mom, the first time mom or dad, that drops the kid

off and then waits outside the door and just kind of looks in for 10-15 minutes

and everywhere in between. But a good nursery with people with smiles on their

face ready to rock and love on their kids. What a great ministry of the church.

Or you know for the... is he out now? Is he asleep? Yeah that's what a lot of people do

when I start talking Barrett. Is as Barrett gets older he goes into

Lighthouse just having rocking teachers that can help put Bible stories in

their understanding. Teaching them songs and all of these things. Getting them

ready for youth group. Getting them ready for junior high and high school.

Catechism. Learning the deep truths of God's Word. And maybe, oh just maybe,

things start to connect. The Holy Spirit regenerates in their heart and they're

standing on this stage proclaiming Christ.

Guys that's it. That's it in a nutshell. And then we go out. Yet in time what

happens? We grow older. We get cynical. We get sarcastic. We get kind of

funny about faith. And then all of a sudden it's like well where's God in my

life? Friend he's always been there. Where are you in God's life? Where is that

recognition of what God is doing? Because the final response we have is trust.

We've had on the sign, I've had a lot of people coming in from Lansing see the

sign. Trust and obey. There is no other way. Yeah we don't like that. When you

tell me to obey I feel like I'm a dog going and being trained. Well that's a

you problem. I don't know how to help you in that. That trust and obey is in here.

Why don't we trust in the God that's created everything and obey him when he

says hey this is the best way to live life. To me it's simple yet we always

make it very very hard. I close with this. This God his way is perfect. The word of

the Lord proves true. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. Or who

is God but the Lord? And who is the rock except for God? The God who equipped me

with strength and made my made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet

of a deer and sent me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war so

that my arms my arms can bend the bow the bow of bronze. He has given me the

shield of your salvation and the right hand supported me and your gentleness

made me great. You gave me a wide place for my steps under my feet and my feet

did not slit. Now some of you are hung up because of the war thing. He has trained

me for the spiritual warfare in life. That sometimes the best way you can love

on people is praying for them in Jesus name. Praying for them over whatever

they're going through in life. Whether it's the Stegengas or it's the Dykestras

or the brand-new baptized baby or whoever it is. Prayer is the greatest

way that we can start that dialogue. Because I don't know what better comfort

when I get a note in the in the mail or in my box or in an email. Pastor I prayed

for you today. That means the world to people that understand it. And praying

for those that don't understand doesn't mean we stop. It means we pray

continually. Prayer getting us involved praying for our church. Knowing that if

we're doing this for our glory then we're gonna stop. If we're doing this for

the glory of the elders and the deacons we're gonna stop. We'll close the doors

turn off the lights and sell this to somebody else. Because it's not about us.

It's about what the Creator God is doing and how we are responding to his

deliverance to worship and to trust. So the stand if you are able and let's close

together with our communal closing prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you for

your own let's all go do this together. Communal prayer. Heavenly Father we thank

you for your unwavering faithfulness in our lives. You are our rock fortress and

deliverer. Help us to recognize your deliverance in every aspect of our lives

and may our hearts overflow with praise and worship for you. Teach us to trust in

your perfect ways and unfailing promises. As we seek to serve you in our church

communities guide us in sharing our testimonies, participating in worship and

encouraging others to trust you in your faithfulness. Strengthen our faith and

unity as we grow together in your love. In Jesus name we pray amen.