A special, extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Song of Songs 1:1-2:13 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection or discussion!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

DIVE IN QUESTIONS

1. How is your love life with God?

2. What has been your understanding of the Song of Songs? Is it the most out of place book in the Bible? Or the pinnacle of theology? Why?

3.Do you find anything in Pastor Anthony's description of our current world being one where our humanity and sensory/sensual experience of the world is diminished and flattened? If so, where does that idea connect with your own experience?

4. What connection is there be between the Lord's Supper and the love poetry of the Song of Songs? How might they each serve to enliven our experience of God's grace and presence?

5. Would there be anything like intimacy that you'd describe in your love life with God? Try to describe it if so. Is that kind of intimacy with God something you desire? Where does that desire rank among the other desires of your heart?

6. The imagery of the Garden of Eden that flows through the Song of Songs gives us a glimpse to quicken our hearts and imagination for the restoration of intimacy with God and the setting right of all our relationships. What hope might that picture, confirmed by our participation in the Lord's Supper, offer to guide you through the week ahead?

As God's co-workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, 'In the time of my favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you'. I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).

Today, I invite you back to 2 Corinthians and follow on the heals of what Pastor Anthony brought to us yesterday. He spoke about reconciliation, which happens through repentance and forgiveness. First, we are reconciled with God when we repent and ask him to forgive us. He always does. But then we are to go out to tell this story and to live it. And to invite others into it.

In the verses of our text, Paul puts a bit of fire under the boots of his listeners. Get going, he says, don't receive God's grace in vain. What does he mean by that?

Well, to validate this urgency, he quotes from Isaiah 49:8, which is part of a larger theme in the Bible. This theme is rooted in the story of Israel coming out of Egypt. What is the repeated refrain of that story? The people didn't trust God. They didn't believe he could fulfill his promise to give them the promised land. In the end, they refused to go in.

As a result, God would not bring them in. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and died. They forfeited his salvation.

Throughout the rest of the Bible this becomes a parable for what happens when God's people refuse to trust him. Psalm 95 is one of the stronger passages in this narrative, saying rather bluntly: "Don't be like that."

The writer to the Hebrews picks it up when he writes: "Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness" (Hebrews 3:13). In the New Testament, the 'day of salvation' or 'Today', is now. Jesus death and resurrection were God's great acts of salvation to reconcile us to himself. We must respond now, today.

The response is always two-fold. On the one hand, we must receive reconciliation from God. We receive his grace. On the other hand, we must reach out with grace and reconciliation to those who have wronged us. These two cannot be separated. That is why Jesus followed the Lord's prayer with, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:14-15).

We cannot receive grace without passing it on. If you are not sure how to begin becoming an ambassador of reconciliation, then begin at home. Begin with those that you need to forgive. Stop holding grudges. Stop making people pay for their wrongs. Break down the walls.

Is this easy? Not at all. But remember, the God who calls us to this has also reconciled us to himself and gives us the grace to reconcile with others.

Paul's urges his listeners, in Corinth and in Hamilton, to get to it.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)

As Pastor Michael noted yesterday, God's saving work in Christ gives us a new identity, a way to walk, and the equipping of the Spirit to walk in that way. And as we learn to walk in this way of Christ, we discover that one of the fundamental cadences that begins to mark our steps is confession and forgiveness. The way of reconciliation.

That's not strange, it was God who first reconciled us to Himself through Christ. While we were still sinners, Christ forgave us through his taking of our place on the cross. The initiative was God's, and still to this day, that forgiving initiative of God is what invites us out of our hiding places to honestly confess and receive that which is ours in Christ: forgiveness and restoration to full relationship with God. His forgiveness leads and disarms us, our confession follows, and we are reconciled.

This is the power of the Kingdom of God, and it is the power that God authorizes all of us as the ambassadors of his kingdom to utilize fully as we walk in his ways among our family, neighbours, and friends. Digitally and in person.

Each of us walk with this diplomatic communique of the Kingdom in our hand. It is God's invitation to the world to receive his forgiveness so that they can be reconciled to God.

It's more than that though: in a very real way, we ourselves are that communique of the Kingdom. We are called to live it too: to forgive as we have been forgiven. To confess openly and honestly when we're in the wrong or have wronged someone else, because we've been forgiven. Not only is that a diplomatically attractive way to display the walk of our citizenship in the Kingdom, it also carries power with it: to draw poison from wounds, to heal, and to restore.

Many today are angry with government leaders, health leaders, neighbours from the other side of the political aisle, or even fellow Christians who navigate this pandemic differently. Some of that anger has boiled over in harsh statements on social media, in slanderous, dishonest gossip, and even in violence like the attack on the US Capitol last week.

But harsh words and harsh actions are not the power of the Kingdom. Forgiveness is. And forgiveness has the power not only to heal our hurts and our anger, but perhaps also our relationships, our political divides, and our world.

How might you respond to God's radical diplomacy of forgiveness today?

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old had gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-19).

It used to be, and might still be, that the first skill a soldier learns in the Army is how to walk! That's right! Before ever learning to fire a weapon, dig a fox hole, or survive in combat, a soldier must first learn to walk. After all, marching is nothing more than walking in a certain way. A soldier learns to walk to the rhythm being set by the leader. Thereby, learning to walk in the same direction in which the leader is heading and to walk according to the leader's cadence.

Our Christian life is much the same. When we become soldiers for the Lord, the first thing we do is learn to walk according to His cadence. Disciples listen intently to the voice of the master and walk in the dignity and uprightness of the Lord we serve.

But notice something important here. It is the first thing after; after we come to know our Lord and Saviour Jesus. We must never forget that process of coming to know Him. And as we learn to walk in his rhythms we must always return there. Our text says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God… God works first. He reconciles us to Himself and gives us a new identity. We are His sons and daughters.

As his daughters and sons, we are gifted with the Holy Spirit who is our comforter, encourager and teacher and the source of our spiritual energy. Only because we have been made new in Christ and only because we are empowered by the Spirit can we learn how to walk.

I think we make two mistakes here. On the one hand, we think we must learn how-to walk-in step with Jesus before God will claim us as his own. God always claims us first, then we learn how to walk. And here is the second mistake, we do not start walking in a new direction nor to a new cadence. Because we are now in Christ, reconciled to God, we need to start walking differently.

Our new identity in Christ and our new rhythm for life go together. We cannot have one without the other.

Many of us come to the Christian life with a lot of negative baggage, and some us of pick-up stuff along the way. When we hear this teaching of being a new creation, we think that Jesus should just get rid of it all, giving us a clean slate. But that rarely happens. As Ann LaMott once wrote, "Give up hope of having a better past." We cannot fix the past. But in Jesus we can have a better future which is free from the hurts of the past. In Jesus we have a new identity. The old is gone, the new has come. Let's walk!

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. (Psalm 23:1-3)

This Psalm holds forth promises that many a Christian has held onto in life and in death. We picture it as our art does: the good shepherd gazing on as we, his sheep lie in lush, abundant rolling hills of green with a cool brook babbling by in the foreground.

But that image, while lovely, is found no where in the land that King David walked. The land of Bethlehem and the hill country of Judea that David roamed is rocky and harsh. Only a step removed from the desert wasteland of the open wilderness. And yet, good shepherds graze their flocks there to this day.

The thing is: our lives are not lived out in rolling fields of green with abundant waters and straight paths. The soil of this world is hard, as it is in the middle east. And we feel it. School, work, shopping, and friendship all transacted online in this world locked down. More and more of our community of friends and loved ones are coming into contact with this virus, and many more are facing really hard journeys with their health. I'm thinking particularly of James, Kelly, and Al, but there are others too.

For many of us, it does not feel right now that the pastures are green or that the waters are quiet or that the paths are right.

But this Psalm is not about the pastures, the waters, or the paths: it's about the shepherd. The shepherd who knows how to guide his sheep to just enough stubs of grass for each day, to help them find just enough pools of water in the sheer-cliff valleys, and to help them walk just the meandering paths to get there.

The pastures are green, the waters quiet, and the paths right not because of the situation of our wilderness living, but because of the God who shepherds us through the wilderness. He is the one who refreshes our souls. Today I pray: come, Lord Jesus, to do just that. Refresh our souls.

"Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God? Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever (Psalm 52:1,5,8).

David is hiding from King Saul and his murderous paranoia. When the priest Ahimelech gives David refuge, Doeg tattles on him. Having volunteered to kill the priest, Doeg kills Ahimelech and 83 of his clan. When he's done, he feels pretty macho: a warrior to be reckoned with. This prompts David's sarcastic line, "Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?" (Psalm 52:1).

The Bible traces this "Big Lie" from the Garden of Eden in Genesis to the Lake of Fire in Revelation.

The "Big Lie" can be understood in various ways. It is the lie that we have created ourselves; that we are gods; that we command our own destiny; that we are self sufficient and autonomous; that the meaning of life is pleasure, self fulfilment, or independence.

When we live out the "Big Lie" we deceive and manipulate people for our own ends. We make ourselves the centre of our universe. We live out one question: "What's in it for me?" Cut off from God's goodness, we become evil in our intentions, feeding on our own selfishness.

God comes to shatter the "Big Lie" that started in the Garden. When Adam and Eve fell, they did not become like gods, as Satan promised. Instead, they simply found themselves naked and jumped into the bushes. There, God confronted them, showed them their sin, executed His judgment, throwing them out of the Garden to wander across the earth.

We are still tempted, however, to live without God, but He doesn't leave us alone. He comes with warning and then judgment to show us our choices. We have only two: live with Him in the truth or live without Him in the "Big Lie." This Psalm addresses these choices.

The psalm exposes the stupidity of the "mighty person" who trusts in herself or in his money, choosing evil rather than God's goodness. Such a person loves lying and has a "deceitful tongue" to cover up their evil.

God will bring such people to ruin. The righteous will be in awe and laugh at such stupidity. The psalmist will be among them in God's house, worshipping and waiting on the Lord. Rather than finding life's meaning in himself, he finds it in the mercy of God and the goodness of His name.

But doesn't a little of Doeg live in all of us? Jesus has the cure for doegishness: "Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5).

A special, extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Matthew 26:14-31 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection or discussion!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

DIVE IN QUESTIONS

1. Reflect on how the Passover changed to become the Lord's Supper.
2. Who did Jesus see when he looked around the table? Who does he see today?
3. How does the cup point towards the cross?
4. What else the cup point towards? Does this give you hope?

First off, a thank you to all of you who have sent a note to Pastor Michael or myself this past week with your suggestions for how we can best encourage one another through these devotions! You might just start seeing those themes in these next days and weeks. And please, do keep reaching out as we wander this wilderness together! Now, on to Proverbs.

Trust in the Lord with all your heartand lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways submit to him,and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

This is a text that someone suggested to us, but Proverbs has also been a book that I've been reading through again in my own devotions recently. Maybe because I've felt one thing in short supply in our world right now is wisdom. But, maybe even more so because I'm not feeling very equipped to live wisely in these days either.

Maybe you feel similarly.

The book of Proverbs reminds us frequently that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." If we're to start down this path of seeking or gaining wisdom, lovingly seeking to follow the Lord is the first step.

The familiar text we're looking at today takes another step. Trust in the Lord, rather than your own understanding. Submit to him. He's the one who makes the crooked straight.

Well, there's a whole lot of crooked things going on in our world right now. Pandemic, politics, lockdown, and a lot of hard stuff in the lives of those we love. And our minds are exhausted attempting to understand it all, let alone respond to it. And when our responses do come out, well, they don't always prove to be the most helpful for straightening things out.

Hence the invitation of Proverbs: start with God, rather than your own ability to sort through the mess of our world. Submit that world and your ways each day to him. Trust him to make a way, trust him to straighten out your paths.

Pastor Michael gave a concrete example of how to do just that in his devotion yesterday. Left to our own understanding, we might want to argue with, complain about, or altogether disregard the health restrictions imposed on us, believing we know better. But God continues to invite us to respect the authorities placed over us, not for their own sake, but as a submission of our ways to him, trusting that he will be good to his word, making our paths straight.

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established…Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law (Romans 13:1, 8).

Last March, when the Ontario Government announced the first lockdown, our church's executive met to work out our response. Today's text provided two of the guiding principles that were used to navigate our congregation through COVID times.

We committed ourselves to being subject to the governing authorities and to loving one another and our neighbour. Despite the warnings that this could take a long time, many of us assumed that this would soon all be over, a month or two, September at the latest.

Well, September came and went. Now its January and we find ourselves back in lock down. We need to return to these two guiding principles. When I think about them, I'm still quite willing to find ways to love my neighbour. But I find myself waffling on the issue of following the governments instructions.

On the one hand, I am just tired of it all. COVID fatigue. Yep, I can check that box. But on the other hand, I find it difficult to understand what the government is trying to do. Will this lockdown really halt the spread of the virus? What about all the issues that will be created by this lockdown? How will we deal with them? Will these restrictions (whatever they might bemean) really solve more problems than they create? I'm not convinced.

And so, I find myself resisting the principle to submit to the governing authorities. Do we need to follow a government we disagree with? Or a government enacting laws that appear to defy logic?

Then I remember that Paul lived in the Roman empire which persecuted Christians. Paul took his cue from Jeremiah who lived under the Babylonian empire which had taken Israel into exile.

When I think about that, I realize that there is no way that our current situation would justify defiance of the authorities.

I may not like these new restrictions and they may defy logic, but my primary allegiance is to my Lord and Saviour. He calls me to submit to the governing authorities and so I will make every effort to do so.

And it strikes me that one of the ways we can love our neighbour is to live and speak in ways that do not promote descent. There is too much political division already. And Christians have caused some of it. Christians need to bring people together, not drive them further apart. Will you join me in this?

Today's text is a reworking of Psalm 44, spoken into our lives last March in a sermon during the first lockdown. But as we sit in the second lockdown with more restrictions announced, it still seems pretty relevant in naming our lament. So, Psalm 44, in our own words...

We have heard it with our own ears, O God. Our ancestors and elder saints have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago. With your hand you brought many of them from the crisis of a war-torn Europe to this new land of Canada. Through the trials of immigration, you planted them here and caused them to flourish.

And though we sometimes forget, it was not by their language skills, determination, or business sense that they survived in this land. No, it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face that accomplished it, for you loved them.

And even now, You are our King and Our God who decrees victory in Christ for your church. Through you we received an identity and an inheritance as Your people. Through You we have received provision and hope in the face of scarcity and death.

Through You these things even became tangible. A church building was erected and a congregation of your people was established in this place. Through you, we've offered our prayers, our songs, our promises, our lives. Through you our families and communities have grown and flourished as you've blessed baptisms and marriages, fed us at your table, and as you've received dearly loved saints into your arms at life's end.

And so in you, O God, we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever. For you have been faithful.

But right now, it feels like you have rejected and humbled us: you have made us retreat from our church building, from each other, and from our places of work and school and security before this enemy. You have given us up, and so many others too across our city, country, and world, all to be devoured like sheep by this virus.

You have sold us into uncertainty for a pittance, gaining nothing from the sale. You have made us a reproach to our neighbors as we avoid one another in fear on the streets. You have scattered us all into isolation, away from community. We suddenly live in fear, disgrace, and loneliness all day long because of this disease, this enemy that we cannot see.

And all this came upon us, even us your church, though we had not forgotten you; we had not been false to your covenant. We are not perfect, but our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. But you crushed us all the same. You covered us up with deep darkness, fear, and loneliness.

If we had forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to idols—you've would've known it! You know everything! And yet with your name upon us, marked as Christians, we face death all day long; we along with the whole rest of the world right now are as good as sheep marked for slaughter.

But this is not the way it's supposed to be! Not in your Kingdom. So Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love. It's all we have to cling to.

That's Psalm 44, spoken into our lives last March, and spoken into our lives again today. If you were to put your lament to words like a Psalm, how would it go? Try praying it out to God today.