Sermon for October 25

The readings

2 Samuel 5:1-6, 6: 1-5

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh. For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.” So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

Psalm 143

Hear my prayer, O Lord;   give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness;

answer me in your righteousness.

Do not enter into judgment with your servant,  for no one living is righteous before you.

 For the enemy has pursued me, crushing my life to the ground,  making me sit in darkness like those long dead.

Therefore my spirit faints within me;  my heart within me is appalled.

I remember the days of old,  I think about all your deeds, I meditate on the works of your hands.

I stretch out my hands to you;  my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.Selah

Answer me quickly, O Lord;  my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me, or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.

Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

Save me, O Lord, from my enemies. I have fled to you for refuge.

Teach me to do your will,  for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path.

For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life.  In your righteousness bring me out of trouble.

In your steadfast love cut off my enemies, and destroy all my adversaries, for I am your servant.

The message

Today we continue our journey together through the narrative lectionary.  Last week, we heard about Ruth and the time of the Judges.  This week, we transition into the next part of the Old Testament, the time of kings. This morning, we heard about the start of King David’s reign.  During David’s time as king, he was loyal to God (there are some times of unfaithfulness though). The people win major victories, defeat strong enemies and become a kingdom.  David is promised that the Messiah or savior would come from his family line (the beginning of Luke and Matthew’s Gospels both start with confirming that Jesus is from David’s line). David also has a good number of the Psalms, the worship songs of ancient Israel, attributed to him. 

Today is also Reformation Day, Where we remember Martin Luther posting the 95 Theses at the end of October 1517. This was a call to debate, a list of complaints and challenges that Luther had about the theology and practice of the Roman Catholic Church. His issues centered on the church’s authority, pastoral care for God’s people (church law was creating anxiety and stress, not announcing grace), and the sale of indulgences (papers, with no justification in scripture, that could be purchased to take away or alleviate the consequences of sin).  These issues were not resolved though academic debate, Luther is removed from the church and new Christian traditions (including ours) started.

To combine these two things, the story of King David and Reformation Day, I am going to share some of Luther’s commentary on Psalm 143. The Psalms were a significant part of Luther’s faith life, words that he turned to in times of struggle and shared with others to offer help. Luther’s most well known hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God”, is a paraphrase of Psalm 46.   In Luther’s commentary on Psalm 143, we see Luther looking at the scripture though this idea of Law and Gospel . The Law is that hearing and studying God’s word reveals our sin, laughs at our ridiculous attempts to earn our salvation, and leaves us no other option except God’s grace. The Gospel is the clear announcing that God’s saving grace is for you. 

Luther begins his commentary on Psalm 143 with this introduction:

Every Psalm, all Scripture , calls to grace, extols grace, searches for Christ, and praises only God’s work, while rejecting all the works of man. Therefore this psalm can be readily understood in the light of the foregoing, for it speaks the same language. Here one should keep in mind that this psalm has been and is spoken in the name of the whole people of Christ and of each person individually.

After this, Luther goes through the psalm verse by verse. I will share some of his comments here: 

When Psalm 143 says “Hear my prayer, O Lord”; Luther writes : The life of a Saint is more a taking from God than a giving: more a desiring than a having: more a becoming pious than a being pious. Thus St Augustine says that faith obtains what the law demands.  Hence, imploring, desiring, searching is the true essence of the inner man, as in psalm 34:10 “those who seek the Lord lack no good things”  and in psalm 105:4 “seek his presence continually”

When Psalm 143 says: answer me in your righteousness.  Luther writes “Not on account of my righteousness, for that is sin and unrighteousness. He would say: give me faith and make me righteous by grace. For I see some who claim to be right and want to stand because of their own works and righteousness. Preserve me from this, for they want to be something, whereas they are nothing, vain fools and sinners. Here it should be noted that the little words “your faith” and “your righteousness” do not refer to the faith and the righteousness with which God believes and is righteous as some have thought, but to the grace whereby God works faith in us and makes us righteous. 

When Psalm 143 says: Do not enter into judgment with your servant, Luther writes: If the servant of God, who is without doubt in the state of Grace cannot stand before the judgment throne but takes refuge in mercy, where will the enemies and sinners stay.  

When Psalm 143 says: For no one living is righteous before you, For the enemy has pursued me Luther writes  It is as if he was saying “in my eyes and in the eyes of people, I can be accounted righteous, but before God, no living person is justified. One who is dead, however is justified,  as we read in Romans 6:7 who has died is freed from sin and death. This death begins with the life of penitence and lasts until the grave, as psalm 44:23 says “for your sake, we are slain all the day long.  The proud in heart will not stand for it that their work and righteousness is regarded as nothing. Therefore they persecute the truly pious, who live only in the faith and righteousness of God

When Psalm 143 says: I think about all your deeds, I meditate on the works of your hands. Luther writes That is I have taken no notice of mans works and words, no matter how brilliant and dear they are to the world: for I know that they can save no one and are no use other except to contribute toward vain and false glory. All comfort, hope and blessedness are due to God alone

When Psalm 143 says: Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, Luther writes:  That is as stated in Psalm 51:8 “let me hear joy and gladness which says to my heart “your sins are forgiven, Thus God speaks peace to the hearts of His people and he does this early, that is, speedily. Delay not he says, for I am tired and can wait no longer.

When Psalm 143 says: Let your good spirit lead me on a level path, Luther writes: do not permit my enemies or any man to lead me, for they lead me on a crooked path. And your spirit, the evil one, leads them. Here, it must be noted that both Spirits are God’s, the good and the evil. The evil one God gives to the proud in heart. The Good Spirit is the Holy Spirit. He creates gentle, kind and good hearts

Psalm 143 ends with saying, for I am your servant and luther concludes: I live in grace, therefore my whole life serves you. Those who live in their own righteousness cannot do this, they serve themselves. Now someone might say to me, cant you ever do anything but speak only about the righteousness, wisdom and strength of God rather than of man, always exponding scripture from the standpoint of God’s righteousness and grace, always harping on the same string and singing the same old song. To this I answer: let each one look to himself as for me, I confess whenever I found less in the scriptures than Christ, I was never satisfied: but whenever I found more than Christ, I never became poorer.  Christ is God’s grace, mercy, righteousness, truth, wisdom, comfort and salvation, given to us by God without any merit on our part. Christ, I say, not as some express it in blind words “casually” that he grants righteousness and remains absent himself, for that would be dead. Yes, it is not given at all, unless Christ is present, just and the radiance of the sun and the heat of the fire are not present if there is no sun and no fire.