Christ Redeemer Church >> Sunday Sermons

REFLECTION QUOTES

“…in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.”

~David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), celebrated American writer

“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman…who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”

~A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), American pastor and author

“Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord.”

“There is nothing more irreligious than self-absorbed religion.”

~J.I. Packer, British-born theologian

“Remove from the Christian Religion, as Christendom has done, it’s ability to shock, and Christianity…is altogether destroyed. It then becomes a tiny superficial thing, capable neither of inflicting deep wounds nor of healing them, …it forgets the qualitative distinction between man and God.”

~Soren Kierkegaard, 19th c. Danish Philosopher

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

“The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.”

~ Proverbs 1:7 & Proverbs 14:27 (NASB)

“…Salvation was bought not by Jesus’ fist, but by His nail-pierced hands; not by muscle but by love; not by vengeance but by forgiveness; not by force but by sacrifice. Jesus Christ our Lord surrendered in order that He might win; He destroyed His enemies by dying for them and conquered death by allowing death to conquer Him.”

~A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), American pastor and author

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 111 (NASB)

1Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart,
In the company of the upright and in the assembly.
2 Great are the works of the Lord;
They are studied by all who delight in them.
3 Splendid and majestic is His work,
And His righteousness endures forever.
4 He has made His wonders to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and compassionate.
5 He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will remember His covenant forever.
6 He has made known to His people the power of His works,
In giving them the heritage of the nations.

7 The works of His hands are truth and justice;
All His precepts are sure.
8 They are upheld forever and ever;
They are performed in truth and uprightness.
9 He has sent redemption to His people;
He has ordained His covenant forever;
Holy and awesome is His name.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;
His praise endures forever.

Psalm 112 (NASB)

1 Praise the Lord!
How blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who greatly delights in His commandments.
2 His descendants will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
And his righteousness endures forever.
4 Light arises in the darkness for the upright;
He is gracious and compassionate and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who is gracious and lends;
He will maintain his cause in judgment.
6 For he will never be shaken;
The righteous will be remembered forever.

7 He will not fear evil tidings;
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
8 His heart is upheld, he will not fear,
Until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries.
9 He has given freely to the poor,
His righteousness endures forever;
His horn will be exalted in honor.

10 The wicked will see it and be vexed,
He will gnash his teeth and melt away;
The desire of the wicked will perish.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him)….”

~George Orwell (1903-1950), Down and Out in Paris and London

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us…. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God.”

“What we think about when we are free to think about what we will – that is what we are or will soon become.”

~A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), American pastor and author

“Man is one of your creatures, Lord, and his instinct is to praise you…. The thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you….”

“But my sin was this, that I looked for pleasure, beauty, and truth not in him but in myself and his other creatures, and the search led me instead to pain, confusion, and error.”

~St. Augustine (354-430) in Confessions

“There’s a difference between knowing God and knowing about God.”

~J. I. Packer (1926-present), British-born theologian

“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman…who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”

~A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), American pastor and author

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 111 (NASB)

1Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart,
In the company of the upright and in the assembly.
2 Great are the works of the Lord;
They are studied by all who delight in them.
3 Splendid and majestic is His work,
And His righteousness endures forever.
4 He has made His wonders to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and compassionate.
5 He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will remember His covenant forever.
6 He has made known to His people the power of His works,
In giving them the heritage of the nations.

7 The works of His hands are truth and justice;
All His precepts are sure.
8 They are upheld forever and ever;
They are performed in truth and uprightness.
9 He has sent redemption to His people;
He has ordained His covenant forever;
Holy and awesome is His name.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;
His praise endures forever.

Psalm 112 (NASB)

1 Praise the Lord!
How blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who greatly delights in His commandments.
2 His descendants will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
And his righteousness endures forever.
4 Light arises in the darkness for the upright;
He is gracious and compassionate and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who is gracious and lends;
He will maintain his cause in judgment.
6 For he will never be shaken;
The righteous will be remembered forever.

7 He will not fear evil tidings;
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
8 His heart is upheld, he will not fear,
Until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries.
9 He has given freely to the poor,
His righteousness endures forever;
His horn will be exalted in honor.

10 The wicked will see it and be vexed,
He will gnash his teeth and melt away;
The desire of the wicked will perish.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“I have been accustomed to call this book…‘An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul’; for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror.”

~John Calvin (1509-1564) on the Psalms

“My sin was all the more incurable because I thought I was not a sinner; and…I would rather have you, God Almighty, vanquished in me to my destruction, than myself vanquished by you for my salvation.”

~St. Augustine (354-430) in his book Confessions

“Great! Now I have guilt!”

~ Rex in “Toy Story” (1995)

“Negative emotions like loneliness, envy, and guilt have an important role to play in a happy life; they’re big, flashing signs that something needs to change.”

~Gretchen Rubin, American author and blogger

“Guilt is cancer. Guilt will confine you, torture you, destroy you as an artist. It’s a black wall. It’s a thief.”

~Dave Grohl, former drummer of Nirvana and founder of Foo Fighters

“Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death.”

~Coco Chanel (1883-1971), French fashion designer

“No work or love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.”

~Alan Watts (1915-1973), British-born philosopher

“The real problem with the miserable Christian is that he has never truly been made miserable because of the conviction of sin. He has bypassed the essential preliminary to joy.”

~Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), London pastor

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 38

1 O Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath,
And chasten me not in Your burning anger.

2 For Your arrows have sunk deep into me,
And Your hand has pressed down on me.

3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation;
There is no health in my bones because of my sin.

4 For my iniquities are gone over my head;
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.

5 My wounds grow foul and fester
Because of my folly.

6 I am bent over and greatly bowed down;
I go mourning all day long.

7 For my loins are filled with burning,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.

8 I am benumbed and badly crushed;
I groan because of the agitation of my heart.



9 Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.

10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
And the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me.

11 My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague;
And my kinsmen stand afar off.

12 Those who seek my life lay snares for me;
And those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction,
And they devise treachery all day long.

13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

14 Yes, I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth are no arguments.

15 For I hope in You, O Lord;
You will answer, O Lord my God.

16 For I said, “May they not rejoice over me,
Who, when my foot slips, would magnify themselves against me.”

17 For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually before me.

18 For I confess my iniquity;
I am full of anxiety because of my sin.

19 But my enemies are vigorous and strong,
And many are those who hate me wrongfully.

20 And those who repay evil for good,
They oppose me, because I follow what is good.

21 Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, do not be far from me!

22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian.”

- G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer and Christian apologist

“I have read that during the process of canonization the Catholic Church demands proof of joy in the candidate, and although I have not been able to track down chapter and verse I like the suggestion that dourness is not a sacred attribute.”

-Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978), American author and poet

“It would be simply awful to find that as we grew in Christ we became dull, that as we developed in discipleship we became like Anthony Trollope’s Miss Thorne, whose ‘virtues were too numerous to describe, and not sufficiently interesting to deserve description.”

-Eugene Peterson (1932- ), pastor and translator of The Message

“From the halls of power to the fortress tower,
not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears
ev’ry tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more,
for the food they can never earn;
There are tables spread, ev’ry mouth be fed,
for the world is about to turn.”

- The Canticle of the Turning

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 132 (ESV)

1 Remember, O Lord, in David’s favor,
all the hardships he endured,
2 how he swore to the Lord
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter my house
or get into my bed,
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 “Let us go to his dwelling place;
let us worship at his footstool!”

8 Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let your saints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

11 The Lord swore to David a sure oath
from which he will not turn back:
“One of the sons of your body
I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my testimonies that I shall teach them,
their sons also forever
shall sit on your throne.”

13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place:
14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16 Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
and her saints will shout for joy.
17 There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
18 His enemies I will clothe with shame,
but on him his crown will shine.”

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Home is where the heart is.”

– Pliny the Elder

“When there is a tendency to compartmentalize the spiritual and make it resident in a certain type of life only, the spiritual is apt to be gradually lost.”

– Flannery O’Connor, Mystery and Manners

”By the mysterious operation of the Spirit in the new birth, that which is called by Peter ‘the divine nature’ enters the deep-in core of the believer’s heart and establishes residence there…Such a one is a true Christian, and only such. Baptism, confirmation, the receiving of the sacraments, church membership – these mean nothing unless the supreme act of God in regeneration also takes place. Religious externals may have a meaning for the God-inhabited soul; for any others they are not only useless but may actually become snares, deceiving them into a false and perilous sense of security.”

–­ A.W. Tozer, Man: The Dwelling Place of God

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 132 (ESV)

1Remember, O Lord, in David’s favor,
all the hardships he endured,
2 how he swore to the Lord
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter my house
or get into my bed,
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 “Let us go to his dwelling place;
let us worship at his footstool!”

8 Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let your saints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

11 The Lord swore to David a sure oath
from which he will not turn back:
“One of the sons of your body
I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my testimonies that I shall teach them,
their sons also forever
shall sit on your throne.”

13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place:
14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16 Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
and her saints will shout for joy.
17 There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
18 His enemies I will clothe with shame,
but on him his crown will shine.”

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Religion teaches people to be extremely self-centered and conceited. It assures them that god cares for them individually, and it claims that the cosmos was created with them specifically in mind. This explains the supercilious expression on the faces of those who practice religion ostentatiously: pray excuse my modesty and humility but I happen to be busy on an errand for god.”

~Christopher Hitchens, British-American writer, (self-dubbed) anti-theist

“Religion is a system of wishful illusions together with a disavowal of reality, such as we find nowhere else but in a state of blissful hallucinatory confusion.”

~Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist

“It now seemed to me that all my other guesses had been only self-pleasing dreams spun out of my wishes, but now I was awake.”

~C.S. Lewis, writer, literature professor at Cambridge University

“God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper; and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any, or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.”

~ Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), New England author, theologian and pastor

“Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

~Acts 2:29-36 (NASB)

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 16

1 Preserve me, O God,
for I take refuge in You.
2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”
3 As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.
5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.
6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.
7 I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
8 I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
11 You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“…the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: ‘I’m the Messiah.’ I’m saying: ‘I am God incarnate.’ And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take…. But don’t mention the ‘M’ word! Because, you know, we’re gonna have to crucify you.



“So what you’re left with is: either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nutcase. I mean, we’re talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson…. I’m not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that’s farfetched …”

~Bono, from the music group U2

“Remove form the Christian Religion, as Christendom has done, its ability to shock, and Christianity…is altogether destroyed. It then becomes a tiny superficial thing, capable neither of inflicting deep wounds nor of healing them, by discovering an unreal and merely human compassion, it forgets the qualitative distinction between man and God.”

~Soren Kierkegaard, 19th century Danish Philosopher

“We are so indoctrinated by our culture that we can’t trust our standards of evaluation. We can only gain wisdom that transcends time by exiting our time and entering upon an ancient path—and accepting it on its own terms. We can only learn by submitting to something bigger than we are. The faith I was building out of my prejudices and preconceptions could never be bigger than I was. I was constructing a safe, tidy, unsurprising God who could never transform me, but would only confirm my residence in that familiar bog I called home. I had to have more than that.”

~Frederica Mathewes-Greene, contemporary author and speaker

SERMON PASSAGE

Deuteronomy 6:1-15, 20-25

1 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, 2 so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, 12 then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. 14 You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, 15 for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Moreover, the Lord showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; 23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ 24 So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today. 25 It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“It did what all ads are supposed to do: create an anxiety relievable by purchase.”

~David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”

~Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Danish philosopher and theologian

“There’s a lot of status anxiety…these days. People live suspended between…being deluged in communication and the agony of receiving none. They have always wanted to be liked, but now they must also be ‘liked.’ They exist under the digital pressure of reciprocal judgment, a state that knows no repose.”

~Roger Cohen in “The New York Times,” 5-26-2015

“To hear the phrase ‘our only hope’ always makes one anxious, because it means that if the only hope doesn’t work, there is nothing left.”

~Lemony Snicket, The Blank Book

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength—carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

~Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983), Nazi death camp survivor

“Anxiety’s like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far.”

~Jodi Picoult, Sing You Home

“Man sleeps; a sentinel may slumber on his post…; a pilot may slumber at the helm; even a mother may fall asleep by the side of the sick child; but God is never exhausted, is never weary, is never inattentive. He never closes his eyes on the condition of his people, on the wants of the world.”

~Albert Barnes (1798-1870), pastor of 1st Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia

“The…protector of the church in general, is engaged for the preservation of every particular believer; the same wisdom, the same power, the same promises. ‘He that keepeth Israel’, ‘is thy keeper’. The Shepherd of the flock is the Shepherd of every sheep, and will take care that not one, even of the little ones, shall perish.”

~Matthew Henry (1662-1714) on Psalm 121

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 121 (NASB)

1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.

8 The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Religion survives because it answers three questions that every reflective person must ask. Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live?”

~Jonathan Sacks, Jewish rabbi and scholar

“What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could…invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God…. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

“When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in Mere Christianity

“It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.”

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), German theologian and pastor, executed for his opposition to Hitler

“It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men.”

~C.S. Lewis in Reflections on the Psalms (1958)

“Happiness is a matter of one’s most ordinary and everyday mode of consciousness being busy and lively and unconcerned with self.”

~Iris Murdoch (1919-1999), Irish-born author and philosopher

SERMON PASSAGE

Matthew 6:7-15 (NASB)
7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

9 “Pray, then, in this way:

‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’

14 For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Then, little by little, I realized where I was and wished to tell my wishes to those who might satisfy them, but I could not! For my wants were inside me, and they were outside, and they could not by any power come into my soul. And so I would fling my arms and legs about and cry, making the few and feeble gestures that I could, though indeed the signs were not much like what I inwardly desired and when I was not satisfied– either from not being understood or because what I got was not good for me– I grew indignant that my elders were not subject to me and that those on whom I actually had no claim did not wait on me as slaves– and I avenged myself on them by crying.”

~Augustine of Hippo (354-430), The Confessions of St. Augustine

“To see what the doctrine [of praising God] really means, we must suppose ourselves to be in perfect love with God– drunk with, drowned in, dissolved by, that delight which, far from remaining pent up within ourselves as incommunicable, hence hardly tolerable, bliss, flows out from us incessantly again in effortless and perfect expression, our joy no more separable from the praise in which it liberates and utters itself than the brightness a mirror receives is separable from the brightness it sheds. The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), in Reflections on the Psalms

“The measure of a narrative’s ‘truth’ or ‘falsity’ is in its consequences: Does it provide people with a sense of personal identity, a sense of a community life, a basis for moral conduct, explanations of that which cannot be known? … Without a narrative, life has no meaning. Without meaning, learning has no purpose. Without a purpose, schools are houses of detention, not attention.”

~Neil Postman (1931-2003), in The End of Education

“I have been accustomed to calling the Book of Psalms an Anatomy of All the Parts of the Soul. For there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. Rather the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities with which the minds of men are want to be agitated.”

~John Calvin (1509-1564)

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 25 (ESV)

1 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.

6 Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

8 Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11 For your name’s sake, O Lord,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
12 Who is the man who fears the Lord?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
13 His soul shall abide in well-being,
and his offspring shall inherit the land.
14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.
15 My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.

19 Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.

22 Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all his troubles.