The Father's Delight and Shelter

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sermon. God bless. Lord, thank you for your word

again. Thank you for the Psalms Think of it this

series of songs here that some some people think

are related to the festivals Israel celebrated

the required festivals Going together and singing

your praises as they went to Calling out as this

one does for all the people's praise should die

Yeah, great that as we as we listen to you as

we learn from you today That the blessing that

you give to us would be extended into your world

But the earth itself might bless that you rock

Here the spirit or can speak to us and amen So

I did not know my Grandfathers very well. I didn't

know one of them at all. Actually one of them

died three years to the day before I was born.

He got tuberculosis in World War II. It was really

sick. It was so life -threatening. My grandmother

met him at a hospital in Seattle where he was

one and a half with World War II, where they

met. And my mom kind of really wonderfully always

told me that it's my birth three years after

his passing today. It was a way, kind of like

hovering over the sorrow. I mean, sorrow of patch

club year. parents passed and so we made, you

know, but it believed in me anyway. It's like

God's gift to her that she had a child on the

day we passed. But anyway, my paternal grandfather

died when I was in fifth grade. I think it was

actually the first sleepover that I ever had

at a friend's house. And I remember actually

exactly where I was in this room when my friend's

mom came over and told me that my grandpa died.

And I did not feel just so good during that.

But it was a very good memory for me. My grandpa

was a very gentle man. He was a very kind man.

And my memories of being with him are all very

sweet and a little rowdy. He was really the fishing.

One of my fond memories of him was that he let

my older brother and I ride in the back of his

pickup truck through the city of Tacoma. And

I remember this very clearly again, he had one

of these like this is he had like a 1990, 91,

maybe 89 two -tone Ford with which a canopy.

So you probably wouldn't let us do this without

the canopy, but we were sitting up against the

back of the cab, right? And Jeremy and I were

looking at a Lego catalog and Jeremy turned to

me and punched me in the face and I bled all

over the Lego catalog. And now that's it. That's

how I remember Because I'm not sure that I didn't

instigate it because I certainly punched him

in the face quite a few times when we were growing

up But he's still one of the dear people in my

life. Okay But anyway, that's one of my memories

of my grandfather He let us ride around this

pickup truck right down Pacific Avenue punching

each other in the back The grandfather was a

volunteer firefighter When my dad, my dad was

a big kind of baby. His closest siblings, 15

years or 14 years old. And so my grandfather

was really active in the volunteer firefighters

in South of Denver. And, and my dad said that

about once a week, my grandpa would go to the

firehouse and then most Saturdays he would spend

at least the morning and a lot of the day volunteering

at the firehouse. And my dad would tag along.

My dad said it's just like one of his favorite

memories going along and being invited to. joined

his dad at the firehouse and he said a lot of

times Saturday mornings they'd make pancakes

and he loved that but what he really loved about

the firehouse was the table and from about as

soon as he could kind of you know peek over the

pool table by this side, he started learning

how to play pool and so he played pool with all

these volunteer firefighters and I'm telling

you I've never beat my dad at the pool. and I

will never bet against him. He's like a full

shark, okay? So if he's ever visiting here and

he's like, hey, let's go grab a beer down at

Mount Madness. I don't like that name as much,

but if he ever, he's like, hey, let's put a dollar

on this, don't do it. It's pretty good. And he

loved tagging along with his dad and hanging

out. I'm gonna make a little shift here and tell

you about somebody else, actually his song, okay?

One of my favorite current singer songwriters

is Zach Bryan. Anybody that's Zach Bryan? Okay,

I got a few, y 'all. Okay. Okay, there's a few

of you. The rest of you should give him a listen.

He is actually playing the MetLife Stadium where

the Giants and the Jets play on July 18th, 9th

and 20th. Cheapest tickets are like 160, so if

anybody of you want to take me, I would go with

you. Okay? I don't think I have any plans those

nights. But he has this great song called Nine

Ball. And maybe some of you know that it's a

cool scene with the father and the son. But actually,

it's not a very lovely cool scene, because the

son is being used by the father when it's best,

okay? And I want to read some of it to you. And

you guys know how hard this mean I think that's

a lot. I'm really try to just read it that really

wants thinking but I Don't want to bet that my

father of check that I bet this blank I'm editing

could never cash He's betting on the eight ball

landing inside wall full blooded killer if you

ask But every night he needs me to land himself

a red three -cornered pocket at 12 a .m. Only

12 years old But I got a fold of a pool stick.

I was gifted from him My father's a betting man,

but I got myself steady hands He's sitting in

the corner with a six -pack of Corona betting

that his son will win again You'll get another

six -pack then I'll make a comeback. I know that

this table's got a lien Won't you take me fishing?

I want to try out seventh grade football But

I would be nothing but this town's old run there

and die on the same school But right now he's

got a bargain that he's taken too far on his

boys game of nine ball I Think any of us in this

ring right now would question which pool experience,

which pool game experience if it bothered you,

is going to lead to a harmful experience or sort

of a joyful experience. In some ways it's the

same thing, father and a son playing pool, but

one leads one direction and one leads another.

I don't think any of us would doubt which child

was being seen and loved and delighted and given

space and safety. I don't think any of us in

this room questioned which experience kind of

leads to a life that contributes to the well

-being of the world, or which experience may

likely, not guaranteed, raise the Lord, lead

to an action of harm to the world. Because, I

mean that's true. There is a spreading that goes

out from a father's love and care. Or sometimes

there is actually a spreading that goes out from

a father's distance of harm. It's just the way

the world works. Goes out. You know the statistics,

one in four children in the U .S. live without

a biological step or adoptive father. One in

four. One in four percent don't have a biological

stepfather or an adoptive father. And yet, 63

% of youth suicides come from fatherless homes.

85 % of behavioral disorders come from fatherless

homes. 85%. There's a four times greater risk

of poverty. There's a seven times greater risk

of teen pregnancy. You are twice as more likely

to suffer obesity or drop out of school. And

you probably know that the list gets on. I really,

I said this is about as much time as I have to

share these stats with you. There is something

sure about this. That a dynamic and the love

and care of a father extends out and oftentimes

to harm or the absence So if you've heard this

I've said this before in sermon script Tom Thompson

says when each one of us comes into the world

we answer it looking for someone Looking for

us desire to be seen and delighted and cared

for, sheltered, given attention. So, listen,

okay, this song, in many ways, I hope you heard

this, it's sort of making these great echoes

of the Abrahamic covenant, the blessing that

God was going to give to Abraham, and from that

blessing, the going out into the world, right?

The extending into the world of the blessing

of God. And so I want you to see that first.

I want us to walk through how actually there's

this movement that starts this way and then just

works out. Okay. So the first thing I want you

to see is that this song actually begins with

the blessing of God's people. Okay. So verse

one, may God be gracious to us and bless us.

Okay. It's let me say it's a good thing to desire

God's blessing on yourself. It's something like

that. This feels like a selfish thing, but it's

okay to pray. God, please bless me Shine your

favor upon me. Look upon me with your joy Care

for me in my knee and those are those are good

pricks. Those are good things to desire. They're

more blessed Here you'd be this thing. I think

I just want like seeking the blessing of God

Is a good good prayer But it's also true that

a lot of times Christians I'm gonna say because

this is the only sort of world that I've significantly

exist within Reform Presbyterian Christians.

My guess is that all Christians are kind of like

this but I know that the world be well a lot

of times we tend to think We tend to engage as

though the blessing and the grace of God's just

rests and We kind of want to afford it We kind

of want to think about just how special we are

God gave his face to shine upon us Wow me and

not you And that is not an issue Right. Look

what it what it Lord say to Abraham, but this

I would bless you make your name great so that

You'll be blessed I remember really Fairly actually

and this is still the book that I confer with

But reading Christopher Wright's book condition

of God In seminary seminary in st. Louis and

reading him say The election is not for privilege

Elections for responsibility and just having

my point. Whoa I have engaged for so often as

though I was privileged Instead of seeing that

god calls us and says i'm gonna bless me so that

he can go out You have less So taking that privilege

and looking down on others So what you see is

in sometimes you have two errors, right? We we've

won you want to say I can't ask God for his blessings.

No And then we say oh well God blesses me and

not you Don't engage with it like that Do errors

maybe ditches that weren't fine to fall into

But the first thing that I want you to see is

that this song begins with where you are Where

we are as the people of God and actually desire

your first God's blessing upon us But it moves

out from there and actually so is this there's

a little Kind of like a heading in verse 2 that

you're waiting, you know on the earth You're

standing on powers among the nations and then

it shifts to this idea of the nations. Okay So

the second movement is a moving out From blessing

the people of god's blessing the nation subversive

screened by I Let people's praise you. Oh god

Let all the people's praise Let the nations be

glad to sing for joy for you judge the people's

with equity guide the nation's plunder so Let

people's praise you. Oh god Let all the people's

praise you. You probably heard that little conclusion

praise beginning with praise again let the people's

grace be exalted let all the people's grace and

in some ways if there's an emphasis on this song

that that seems to be it against the most attention

against the most words devoted to it the second

movement all the peoples of the earth all the

nations are going out for the blessing of god

but um i've said this plenty this is not a unique

thing to this song it's not a unique thing to

the new testament the mission of god is always

for the sake of the world that god has made god's

blessing was never for the few but for the many

god god's desire his constant desire was for

all of the people to know him to be blessed by

him he desires the nation's gladness and joy

the desire for nations are judged and guided

by him because he desires this gladness and joy

so So what I'm saying again, it's this song is

moving out. Okay, make you stop with moving starts

people got it God bless us it moves missions

like all people's creation and then It keeps

going in a way. Maybe you're like Where else

can it go here? Glad you asked The third the

third sort of circle that I watched you see and

I think it's gonna take a little bit of an argument

I don't know that Don't know if you're gonna

go there with me, okay? But I want you to see

that actually the third movement of the third

circle is actually the earth itself And by earth,

I don't necessarily mean people I mean like soil

trees that consent, okay? So let me read verse

6 and 7 The earth is healed of this increase

God our God shall bless us God shall bless us

let all the ends of the earth spirit I want to

suggest to you, and this is where I think some

of you probably are gonna go, that sounds weird.

That's okay. Weird's all right. I want to suggest

to you that at the very least, I think that the

Bible presents us with a form of panpsychism.

Meaning that there is a level of consciousness

to the creation itself. Y 'all know the Bible

tells us that if we're side of the rocks the

trees will cry out, right? I'm not saying couldn't

be as though saying that the fish itself actually

desires the goodness of God and then the thorns

and whatnot are actually affected by the sin

of Man if our being are following God as his

sons and his daughters actually affects the entirety

of creation I Know that might sound a little

strange verse 7 tells us that the ends of the

earth We decided to answer the earth, but fear

him. And that word earth there, the Hebrew word

is erets, most often means soil or ground, okay?

Which would make sense that actually thorns and

whatnot are connected to the fall and sin. Now

you might, I don't know too many astute Hebrew

scholars here. but the objections that would

rightly be raised, doesn't erratically mean people

groups, but it does, okay. That's true. It does

kind of mean that at times. It's sort of a word

just like the word nations. But we've already

had a different word for nations here in this

song. It's already been talked about. That group

has already been discussed and was used, a different

Hebrew word was used for that one. And yet here

in verse six and in verse seven, then also that

heading that I suggested, verse two, it uses

the secret word erets. It's different. It's distinguishing

from just the blessing going out for nations.

It seemed like it's going beyond the earth itself.

But all the evidence or verse six tells us the

erets has yielded its increase. That's talking

about the plants growing. That's probably why

actually a lot of people think this song was

sung during the hardest festivals of Israel.

It's the hardest festival song. So the earth

has yielded to the priest. Let's praise the Lord.

And that same word for earth there in verse seven,

verse six is used in verse seven, that all the

ends of the harretts hear the Lord. It's as though

the earth itself is saying, oh, the sons and

daughters of God. truly understand his great

care for them, because we will be blessed if

they do. Some of you are familiar with the book

of Romans and the New Testament. It's one of

the great passages of the idea that creation

itself has this desire for God and for things

to be right. Let me read it for you. This is

verse 19 to 23 of chapter eight of the Romans.

When the creation waits, With eager longing for

revealing of the sons of God The creation was

subjected to futility not willingly the creation

was not willingly it did not will that it also

has a But because of him who said we subjected

in hope that the creation itself will be set

free from its bondage to corruption Maintain

the freedom of the glory of the children of God

For we know the whole creation has been groaning

together Fish itself has a level of consciousness

that grown your sword trees birds fish Groaning

together in the pains of childbirth until now

and not only the creation, but we ourselves We

have first words the spirit grown inwardly as

we eager as we wait eagerly for the adoption

of sons the redemption of our bodies did you

hear that really kind well Beginning verse 19

it says through the revealing of the sons of

God then in verse 21 And obtain the freedom of

the glory of the children of God And then at

the end of verse 23 drums drum inwardly as we

wait eagerly for our for the adoption of sons

Creation itself is desiring The father's blessing

upon his children to come to full fruition And

it's then the groaning for which it longs will

be met. Abundance and joy. So what I'm trying

to argue here, and I hope you're kind of definitely

buying it, is that there's this movement, God

bless us, God bless the nations, the other people.

We actually might be inclined to go, bless all,

all. They bless the earth itself. It's moving

out and out and out. Blessing. And here's something

I want you to hear. Love expands. I'm actually

talking to a good friend of mine who has a PhD

in medieval sacramental theology on my way down

to the General Assembly this last week. And he

was telling me that one of the medieval arguments

for the Trinity as being you know the sort of

explanation of God is love and the fact that

the Trinity exists there in Genesis one and gracious

spirit hovering over the face of the waters and

the sun speaking and God ordering he says uh

one of the reach one of the arguments medieval

elotians gave was that love does not just give

and receive that's that is part of what it does

but love is not complete unless it actually expands

it shares The things that when you love you share

the world and that's actually why that they argued

that Children are actually proper Outworking

of true blood the sharing into the world of what

you have and that's why the Trinity almost can't

help but create That was an interesting idea.

So what's happening here is once you receive

the blessing of God the love of God there is

not a View it within the bible that says you

can work yourself It just doesn't like not a

category it has to move out from into the world

If we are people who have received god's blessing

then we will be people who share god's blessing

that's how it goes if we believe that god is

here among us and Working in us and changing

us and shaping us and caring for us. Then we

will desire other people We brought something.

We cared. We changed. We changed. An expansive

thing that's necessarily an expansive thing.

You're intended to go out. A father who does

his job lets his children go. Go out. Move beyond.

Change the world anew in a fresh way. And what's

at the heart of this blessing, you know, I I

sped over it actually because I intended to speed

over to that one get back to it That part but

the heart is blessing it's the second part of

verse one that I have yet to reach And it's this

It's the verse one read together, but I want

you to hear verse two may God be gracious to

us and bless us and make his face to shine upon.

The blessing of God is the attentiveness. God

actually looking right at you. He's not the father

that just says, hey, let me drink my beer in

the corner, and can you please make me some money

so I can keep drinking? Which actually I think

a lot of people engage with religions like this

in a way. I'm going to earn my dad's approval

of me by playing this game. I'm going to show

up and do the right things and say the right

things and then maybe the father might engage

with me in a way that at least I can get by in

life. That's not Christianity. That's not Christianity.

But I mean the first thing that God does when

he creates humankind male and female is he blesses

them. Which sake you looks on them in love. He

makes his face shine You see somebody you haven't

seen in a while I thought sometimes this week

you chat me that One of my dear friends from

high school. I hadn't seen her in 14 years Do

you think guys like? Yes, we got to be her five

kids. I've met one of them, you know. We were

embracing. It was a delight. My face was shining,

you know. It hurt that her husband also got elected

to our Permanent Committee for Phenomenal Examination,

which he's a brilliant dude. Hold a testament

in BFG from Denver and be able to do great in

that role and maybe even shine for him. For my

friend. So I was in high school. But you know

what this is, right? If you're actually delighted

It's decent This is at the heart of the christian

message This is at the heart of creation That

god first looked upon the world with this just

the life You know the good good good good good

very good. Let me bless it. Give me a father

to it As it most needs and as I most desire You

probably know that that yeah That first verse,

may God be gracious and bless us and make the

space shine upon us, is an echo of the great

Aaronic blessing words, Cynthia Redforce remembers,

right? To God's people, God's priests, his pastors,

the Old Testament, actually, it's the most common

blessing that God's people hear still today.

You know, it's the Lord bless you and keep you

and make the space shine upon you. And be gracious

to you, Lord, let the light shine upon you, give

you peace. It's echoing. It's saying that that

is at the center of the great movement of redemption.

God's blessing people, God's care for his people.

If you think back at me again of those two images

that you had maybe made in your mind of my own

dad with this, my grandpa at the firehouse, and

then the Samhain, the boy in the Samhain. Do

you get, you know, real fishing? and then try

out from the seventh grade for the whole team.

He says his dad's gonna die on that smoke -stained

stool. It's probably not far to then take that

and move to at least maybe what some of you know

a little bit about attachment science, attachment

theory. Keep those people in your mind, right?

Attachment science explores the deep -seated

bonds that take place. in relationships and really

finer relationships primarily with with your

main caregivers when you're younger but not not

supposed to be that but actually how those bonds

then influence how you go out to the world you

know i hope each one of you investigate that

some okay um but at the basic thing there's kind

of two foundations and i'll say that uh a helpful

book Do foundations for secure attachments are

the idea of delight and the idea of shelter?

Meaning are we delighted with this with your

parent or I could be a significant other to this

delight There is their face shining a little

bit in your mouth, you know that nothing the

shelter. Are you being cared for? Being watched

over do you think they're you say within their

presence? And what the blessing? The blessing

that Aaron the priest were to speak over God

was speaking to this very night That the thought

of Pentecost really makes all that's this for

you that you might then go out to the world The

strength with dignity With a level of ability

that uniquely you and yet going out to do this

bidding in the world That's the great blessing

of God to his people would bless you keep you

Make the space shine on you be gracious to you

the light Blessing and care God turning to God

soon unaware of your unique needs your reading

concerns and your unique loves. What made you

you? His grace, his gentleness, his attentiveness.

This is the blessing of God. Friends, this is

what we have in Jesus. I did already mention

how unique Christiana is. Christiana does not

say, you get all your stuff together and then

maybe the Father will look upon you with some

kind of Okay. It's like Christianity. But this

is more uniquely Christian, too, because Christianity

of all the religions, of all of them, says that

God actually infleshes himself if he might truly

look upon us in the flesh. And you have to harken

back to the garden of being, right? Not coming

out searching for them, wanting to walk with

them, at some level wanting to be present in

the flesh, with them, but his blessing might,

his face might shine right there with them in

the present. This is the good news. This is the

good news that each one of us need, this is the

good news that the nations need. And there I

say, it's actually the good news that the earth

itself desires. To you and them, we're a son

from God, God only. Lord, thank you for the songs.

Thank you most of all for your love. Your love

which we learn most of all and most clearly in

Jesus, but that we have throughout the entirety

of scripture, this wonder of wonders. That your

love moves out. It's a shared love and what we

share. Your face lights up. Should grace shine

upon us Yeah, I do pray that we would be people

first to cry out for your blessing upon us individuals

on our church second city church That we here

in this space right now in our church would be

people That own our adoption as sons and daughters

of God And Because we own that, it would necessarily

ripple out from us. God, would you continue to

make us missionary people that extend out, invite

people into this blessing? Would you cause us

to be a creation -bearing people that are deeply

enraged when your world is marred by deeper pockets?

technological progress, all the rest. There may

be those that care deeply for a creation that

is groaning. God, beyond these things, what we

long for is your face. Because without your face

shining upon us, without your light in your shelter,

everything else is for naught. God bless us.

Thank you for listening to Second City Sermons

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Thanks again for listening. God bless.