1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! 2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! 3 Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. ~ Psalm 149:1-4
God delights in you.
Let that sink in for a moment. Meditate on that thought.
I have heard it argued that if you want to magnify the cross and the holiness of God, you have to realize how desperately wicked you are. I have heard pastors berate their flocks, feeling it their job to let their sheep know just how much they stink. I have had my own moments, ripping verses from their context to remind ourselves of our filthiness. All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags, you know…
And there is truth wrapped within all of this. Before a holy God, we are nothing (…on our own). Before a righteous God, our sins cling to us like dirty rags (…on our own). Before a just and true God, our hearts indeed are wicked and desperately sick (…on our own).
But, none of that is who we are in Christ.
No, we can’t earn it; we can’t merit it; we can’t wash away our own filth. But God made Jesus, who was without sin, to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:21
The message for followers of Jesus, those who have said: I know I can’t live in this sin, I know I deserve hell, and I know I can’t escape this on my own. King Jesus, save me!—the message for followers of Jesus is not about how pathetic we are, but how great Christ is and the holy and righteous people he has made us and is shaping us to be.
Yes, as Isaiah 64 says: we have sinned, we’re unclean, we’re polluted; but God is the forgiving Father who “meets him who joyfully works righteousness.” This is why the gospel is good news and not just news. Jesus is our works of righteousness, so that we become the people in whom God takes pleasure. And our response is to be one of joy and gladness marked with singing and dancing—words and actions of praise and celebration
This is not to say that there is never a time to grieve sin in our own lives and the lives of other believers. In fact, this reality should bring our grief into a new perspective: grief because we’re not living the way God has made us, but rather we are letting ourselves be allured from the mansion of son(daughter)ship back into the helpless mire of enmity and rebellion. We forget for that moment who we really are in Christ.
This is why I think our message to each other (and the Bible’s message to us) needs to be more bound in the realities of this is how great our God is, this is what Jesus our King has given us through grace and love, and this is who he has now made us to be.
After all, it will wear a child down and break his spirit if you tell him often enough, “You’re a loser. You’re good for nothing. You’re going to amount to nothing.” But when you come along side him, help him to learn and grow out of his mistakes and failures, and encourage him in his potential then he will tend to start to live up to that potential.
So we should accentuate the positive and look at the negative only when necessary. Let your identity be shaped by who you are in Christ, and help others experience the same.
Mike… Nice post! It reminded me of what Christ has given to us through John as well….”No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you”.
What an amazing thought. My new friend, that has given me faith, is making all things known to me….not like a slave, where a Master may keep him only slightly informed for selfish purposes. But, like a friend where all is available at any point, and any time! What a wonderful relationship!
The greatest people I have known in the body of Christ have been those with a extremely heightened awareness of their sinfulness. Rejoicing in our salvation is even more exquisite in light of what we are when left on our own.
“…look at the negative only when necessary”?
It’s always necessary.
Clark Dunlap,
Great words, my friend. It’s always necessary.
Clark, I think when we look at what the bible says about us as God’s people we certainty see the moments of introspection over the depth of our sin such as Paul’s exclamation about being the chief sinner; but we see a lot more of Ephesians 1 and Romans 8–holy, beloved, righteous, all by grace children of God.
Along the way in my young life I’ve heard a lot directed at God’s people about our hearts being sick and wicked idol traps, and our best deeds being filthy… Yet what about our new hearts and “well done good and faithful servant”?
Yes we need to guard against the sin inclinations of the dying flesh straining for a final breath. But, we also need to revel in the holiness of our new Christ-given lives.
People, including me, struggle with joy and really experiencing God as Father… Maybe part of the reason is even in Christ we get more down on ourselves than the Bible does…
“But, we also need to revel in the holiness of our new Christ-given lives.” That’s beautiful Mike.
We have an entire populace who lives for the “step-on-my-feet” portion of the sermon. As if a confirmation from the pulpit–“I’m just an ole sinner saved by grace” will afford a salved conscience until next Sunday, apart from a daily prayer life that doesn’t include confession and scripture.
“He adorns the humble”, (v.4) not the deceived.
A Christian can no longer be a sinner (noun).
On the road to Christ-likeness, the Christian will always contend with sin and thus be a sinful(verb)person.
The noun goes to my new identity in Christ
and the verb to my behavior.
This sermon is not nearly as popular to the masses who want a religion of works.
PS. Anyone commenting on (vv 6-9) ?
There have been some not so subtle movements over the last 40 years or so, that try to focus on how sinful the human nature really is… in an “attempt” to heighten a sense of dependence on Christ. In other words, if I can only realize how sinful sin really is, then I will have a better relationship with Christ. Yet, it is obedience that is the key to the freedom and the relationship that Christ has brought us into, not recollection of sin (Satan is good at reminding and accusing us of those things)…its certainly not hard to realize how utterly sinful we are, should we want to dwell on it….., but, it is much more challenging to obey, which leads to joy. Obedience is the encouragement, not sin. We lean toward Christ, not because of sin, but because of life…His life!
Recalling sin, does not bring joy. Although some folks in theological circles today play the psychological games and have been popular to try to make us focus on sin (as if we can really have an idea of how utterly sinful we are), the fact seems to always come back to what Christ gave us through the Apostle Paul….. “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” NASB
To obey is better! Think about Christ’s encouragement, His fellowship, His affection, His compassion….making His joy complete in us!
It makes Paul’s final statement much more impactful…..
“So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” NASB
Mike has surfaced for us a really important subject!
Clark,
“it’s always necessary”
Agreed.
I read Mike as saying that as well – but I think he’s just cautioning against, as is possible with any doctrine, focusing on that reality to the exclusion of other the realities that salvation brings.
Is it always necessary?
Yes But…
We should always look at ourselves both ways:
1] as a sinner, and
2] as saved and delivered from sin.
The first keeps us humble and the second lifts us high.
Tim Keller says something to the effect of: “You are more wicked and sinful than ever imagined…But in Christ you are more accepted than you could have hoped.”
I love that Keller quote – in fact I use that quote often.
We should hold a proper balance between the two as you have outlined. More often, however, I see people make the error of denying that they sin rather than denying their sin. They may do this by claiming that it’s not a sin, justifying it as the lesser evil, or reasoning against Scripture that God will forgive them so it’s okay – anything but truly trusting Christ for both justification and sanctification.
To your point, however, there indeed are people who are morbidly focused on their sin and failure. I would say that I fall into that camp more often than not. The problem isn’t so much that people guilty of this error don’t look to Christ, but that there is a tension between justification and sanctification that is difficult to rectify practically. People are great about pointing out each other’s flaws, so flaws are abundantly evident to these people. They internalize criticisms and their internal conversation to themselves is like that of Job’s friends, so they learn to accuse themselves.
In this light, teaching the theology of trusting in Christ as a direct criticism of someone who already thinks poorly of himself isn’t the most productive way to get the message across. They already think they are failures and you only confirm that by saying that they need to do better.
Therefore, discipleship of such a person requires plenty of positive affirmation and constructive criticism only in that context. A reformation of sensibilities like this in a discipleship context helps a person develop a thicker skin towards the inevitable negative criticisms of others. This is one practical method that can be taught to a body of Christians for helping them help each other.
Well said, Jim!