READER: Dorothy Askin The New Testament Letter is from the book of Romans, chapter 6, verses 12 to 23.

Romans, chapter 6, beginning at verse 12: [PAUSE] 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Page 1 of 1 READER: Melissa Somerville The reading is from the book of , chapter 2, verses 1 to 12.

Psalms, chapter 2, beginning at verse 1: [PAUSE] 1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. 3 "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters.” 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will rule them with an iron sceptre; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” 10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Page 1 of 1 READER: Melissa Somerville The Old Testament reading is from the book of Psalms, chapter 103, verses 1 to 22.

Psalms, chapter 103, beginning at verse 1: [PAUSE] 1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: 8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children— 18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. 19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. 21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.

Page 1 of 2 22 Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

Page 2 of 2 Lament Psalms #2 – Reading Psalms Canonically -

In the previous sermon we saw that the Psalms are words from God; appropriate words for us to appropriate. They are the words that God himself has provided for us to use, in the midst of all our struggles in this life, that help us to reshape the way that we process the difficulties and the struggles that trigger our “dark emotions”. The “trajectory” within a lament psalm – the movement from lament to praise – takes the reader on the same journey, moving us from lament to praise.

There is a second kind of trajectory in the LAMENT PRAISE Psalms, which stretches across the entire book– the same movement from Lament to Praise. In this diagram, I have colour-coded the psalms: red as lament and blue as praise. As you can see, lament dominates the first half, but this shades over to praise as we move further through the book.

The Book of Psalms has been arranged to help the people of God after the exile to understand what God is doing, to help them make that journey from lament to praise.

The Book of Psalms evidently reached its final form after the end of the exile. That is clear, for example, from Ps 137 verse 1 that says: By the we sat – there we wept when we remembered Zion. The psalmist is no longer located in Babylon – they are looking back at what happened “there”. After the exile, the book of Psalms has been arranged to help Israel make sense of life. Where is God in our history? Has the Lord given up on his people?

The book has been purposely and artfully arranged into 5 books. Each book concludes with a doxology.

For example, Psalm 72 concludes with a doxology in verses 18 and 19, and then the collection rounds off in verse 20: “This concludes the prayers of Son of Jesse”. And then Book III begins with Psalm 73.

There are similar doxologies at the end of each book. This table shows the location of each of these doxologies, and the demarcation of each of the collections that this results in.

The “Shape” of the

Book I Psalms 1-41 Concluding doxology: Ps 41:13 Book II Psalms 42-72 Concluding doxology: Ps 72:18-19 Book III Psalms 73-89 Concluding doxology: Ps 89:52 Book IV Psalms 90-106 Concluding doxology: Ps 106:48 Book V Psalms 107-150 Concluding doxology for entire Psalter: Ps 150

The Book of Psalms starts with two ‘gateway’ psalms The Perspective of The Perspective of – Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 How to be wise/blessed How to be wise/blessed which are a composite introduction to the book as Meditate on God’s instruction Take refuge in the Son a whole.1 These two psalms describe the way to ↓ ↓ be blessed. According to Psalm 1, the way to be blessed is by walking in Avoid the way that perishes Avoid the way that perishes the instruction – the torah

– of the Lord.

According to Psalm 2, the way to be blessed is to follow the Son, to take refuge in the Lord’s anointed. The anointed One is God’s Son, the King whom God has enthroned in Zion. The wise person recognises that this king will defeat God’s enemies, and therefore sides with that King. Conversely, those who conspire and plot in vain against the Lord and his anointed, they will perish.

Psalms 1 and 2 say that that is how life is supposed to work. But does it? Does the Lord’s anointed triumph over God’s enemies? Books I and II explore this question from the perspective of one of the Lord’s anointed - King David. Apart from Psalms 42-29, which are psalms by the Sons of Korah, almost all of the psalms in Books I and II are Psalms “Of David”.2 As Books I and II unfold, two portraits of David emerge.

The first portrait is the one that we meet at the start, where David might indeed be the King of Psalm 2. That is, he is the Lord’s anointed (the one whom God has chosen to be king and enthroned on Zion) he is the one who is rescued and vindicated by God. That was true of David’s early life – David as the righteous one; Saul and others are the enemies; and we see God overthrows the enemies and David becomes king.

However, the second portrait of David that emerges gradually exposes David’s flaws – it shows us that David falls short of being this ideal king of Psalm 2. Whereas in Psalms 1-14, the presenting problem is “foes” - external threats and enemies, in Psalms 25 to 34 this problem is compounded by a deeper problem – David’s personal sin. David can no longer say “I am blameless; I am righteous; God, test me and you will find nothing wrong”. And indeed, as we keep going further, there is a third problem. The problem is not just the enemies who are out there, nor the problem of David’s sin within, but also the problem of weakness and frailty. David is not the all-conquering king; even his own body is letting him down. As we move further and further through Book II, it is clear that David is not going to be the ideal king of Psalm 2. Indeed- far from it: In Psalm 51 we see David the adulterer; David the murderer.

1 These psalms are linked by common words and ideas. The first verse of Ps 1 and the last verse of Ps 2 are a wrapper – of the righteous, with those (דֶרֶך) ”an inclusio - around the whole – “Blessed are those”. Psalm 1:6 contrasts the “way who walk in the way of the wicked and will “perish”. Psalm 2:12 likewise speaks of those who “perish in the way”. 2 Exceptions: Psalms 10 (perhaps originally joined to Ps 9), Ps 33, Ps 50 (A song of Asaph out of its collection to be in dialogue with Ps 51), Ps 66-67, Ps 71 (superscription in LXX), Ps 72 is “Of Solomon”, but probably by David about Solomon (see 72:20)

In Psalm 71, the second last psalm in this block, we see David as an old man whose strength is failing and is nearing his last breath. David is not going to live forever. Clearly, he cannot be the Psalm 2 King. The last psalm in Book 2 - Psalm 72 - is a psalm that is looking over the horizon. The superscription to the Psalm says “Of Solomon” but in this case it doesn’t means that the psalm was written by Solomon. It is a Psalm “of Solomon” in the sense that it’s about Solomon. The very last words of the psalm tell us that this is in fact a psalm written by David - “here ends the words of David, son of Jesse” but David writing about his son. This is David acknowledging that he is not the Psalm 2 king, but expressing the hope that the royal son who will come after him –Solomon – will be the one, who – verse 7 - will rule in peace and righteousness, who – verse 8 - will “reign from sea to sea and from the river to the earths of the earth”.

Book III - Post-exilic Israel – Meditating on the Lord’s Anointed However, that isn’t what happened. In Book III, we see Israel reflecting on its own history, trying to make sense of what did happen. The history of Israel under Solomon is depressing reading. After Solomon the nation divides, the people turn to idols, they turn away from the Lord, and it ends with the northern kingdom being conquered and the southern kingdom exiled to Babylon. And just like the history is depressing reading, so too, Book III is depressing reading.

The first psalm in the collection - Psalm 73 (that’s the one we looked at last week) calls into question the fundamental premise of Psalm 1. Psalm 1 says the wise person who lives according to God’s law will be blessed. Psalm 73 says ‘that doesn’t work! Instead, the wicked prosper, and those who follow the Lord suffer. Book III opens with a psalm that undercuts the promise of Psalm 1.

The last Psalm in Book III – Psalm 89 – calls into question the truth of Psalm 2. At the time Psalm 89 was written, God’s people don’t have a King on Zion’s throne. Psalm 89 recalls God’s covenant promises to David – the promise that a son of David will rule on the throne in Zion forever. But ever since the exile, there has been no king, and so the hanging question is – where is God’s covenant commitment? Has God given up on his people?

Book IV - God’s historic covenant faithfulness

Book IV is the “pivot” moment in the Book of Psalms. It’s helping God’s people to answer the hanging question left open at the end of Book III– where is God’s covenant commitment?

Book IV answers this question by going back – to a time even before David - back to the time before Israel was a nation. Back to God’s covenant with Abraham. Book IV underscores how God was faithful to his covenant promises to Abraham and he did that by bringing the Israelites out of Egypt across the Red Sea. Psalms 105 and 106 recount Israel’s history, in order to remind the people that the Lord truly is the God of faithfulness. The key word that reoccurs over and over again in this section – is the Hebrew word HESED. In our English bibles this is typically translated as “steadfast love” but this doesn’t quite capture the meaning. HESED is God’s covenant commitment; God’s faithfulness to his promises to his covenant people.

The overarching message of Book IV is that God can be trusted - Israel’s history proves it. God made promises to Abraham and then through Moses, he fulfilled those promises, even when his people kept on sinning. So, Israel after the exile, can take heart – since God was faithful to his

promises to Abraham (even though it took hundreds of years for his people to see the fulfilment, so too they can trust him to keep his covenant promises to David.

Throughout Book IV and into Book V, there are three repeated refrains that teach Israel – and us – three foundational truths to cling to in the midst of perplexity and hardship. These refrains are written into a song for Israel to learn.

The first refrain is “The Lord Reigns”. There are blocks of psalms near the start of Book IV - Psalms 93-100 - which are known as the “YHWH Malak” psalms which is Hebrew for “The Lord Reigns”. The same idea is repeated in different ways – “the LORD reigns” (93:1, 96:10, 97:1, 99:1), “the LORD – he is God (100:3), “The Lord is the Great King above all Gods (95:3)”. And because the Lord reigns, “He will judge the world in righteousness” (98:9), “The LORD is a God who avenges.” (94:1). These psalms teach us that the Lord is powerful and he will do what is right in the end.

The second refrain is that “the Lord is gracious and compassionate”. Psalm 103 echoes God’s self-disclosure to Moses in Exodus 34 when the LORD said - “The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (103:8). The Lord does not give us what our sins deserve. This refrain is repeated in Psalms 111:4, 112:4, 116:5 and 145:8. Another way of making the same point is also in Psalm 103– The Lord “forgives all your sins” (103:3). The Psalms remind us, as sinful and broken people who come before a holy and righteous God, is that the Lord is gracious and compassionate, full of mercy and abounding in steadfast love.

The third refrain is “His steadfast love endures forever”. The Lord’s covenant commitment – his HESED - is to eternity. This has been demonstrated by Israel’s history - what the Lord promised by covenant to Abraham, he has done. And what he has done in the past, he will continue to do in the future. This theme underscores Book V. It begins with Psalm 107, which reiterates God’s covenant commitment to his people. Five times in the psalm, the people are told to “give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love” (vv. 1, 8, 15, 21, 31), his HESED and to make sure that the theme is not missed, we have – 26 times in 26 verses, the refrain is “His steadfast love endures forever”.

Psalm 103 weaves these three themes into a song of reassurance for Israel.

Psalm 103 verses 8-12 tell us this: 8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

The second refrain begins in verse 17: 17 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s steadfast love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— 18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

And then the psalm climaxes with the reminder that the LORD reigns in verse 19: The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

These three foundational truths are what ancient Israel had to take to heart and to learn by heart, to cling to when the times got tough, and to teach them to their children and their grandchildren.

And the same is true for us. God has entered into covenant with us – a new covenant. A new covenant founded on and mediated through the life, death and resurrection of his Son. But we have not yet received our full inheritance as God’s sons and daughters, and while we wait, life can be tough.

And so we need to take to heart and to learn by heart these three truths

That the Lord Jesus Reigns – that Jesus is right now on the throne in heaven. He is sovereign over all things – even when life seems out of control and things are not right, we need to know that it is not out of his control and that one day Jesus will put all things right.

Secondly, we need to know that the Lord is gracious and compassionate. Because of his death on the cross, the Lord Jesus not treat us as our sins deserve. Rather, he forgives us, restores us, and redeems us.

And so thirdly, we need to remember and take to heart the fact that his steadfast love, his covenant commitment endures forever. Jesus has claimed us for his own, and for all eternity, no-one can snatch us from his hands. (John 10:28) So let us learn to sing the song of Psalm 103 and the other psalms and to make this our song so that we will know that the LORD reigns, that the LORD is gracious and compassionate, and that his steadfast love endures forever.