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Psalm 8

 

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (ESV)

 

The Beauty of Holiness

Friday After Holy Trinity

31 May 2013

Is preaching dead? The whole entertainment complex purports to compose its epitaph. Preachers help write its obituary by adopting the methods of the entertainment complex. "If we could just present cool commercials in our services people would get the message loud and clear." However, Marshall McLuhan's relationship between the medium and the message has been ignored by those who have wholesale adopted the methods of the entertainment culture. Couldn't the message be impaired by the way it is delivered? People have argued that style and substance can be separated as though style makes no difference to the substance that is delivered. If you think this, then consider the case of rewriting Dickens in the style of Hemingway. What would you have then? No, substance and style are not so easily divorced.

 

Style and substance belong together. Why would we consider the style of our preaching, if style were irrelevant to the expression of the preached word? We ignore style to the peril of our ability to communicate to God's people. We act as though style weren't important only because we are ignorant of style's pivotal relationship to the content of what is communicated. Indeed, those who adopted the style of the entertainment culture have already accepted the fact that style is important to preaching. If we look at preaching from its most basic level; preaching that is unattractive or unpleasant will never be able to communicate the beautiful truths of the divine Word. Indeed those who hear it will flee from its ugliness and miss the beautiful message, just as a beautiful image in an ugly frame will not attract as much admiration as the same image in a beautiful frame.

 

We should not confuse our desire for simplicity and ease of understanding for a lack of preparation and labor, which gives birth to beautiful expression. Our lack of preparation is never a guarantee of simplicity. Indeed, speech that is poorly prepared can be turgid and convoluted. By contrast, the Bible itself is full of beautiful expressions of the simplest sort. Beauty and intricacy are not the same things, although beauty can be intricate. The greatest beauty of all is the beauty of holiness. The prophet Isaiah calls heaven and the temple both beautiful and holy (Is 63:15; 64:11). They are epexegetical, that is, beauty and holiness explain each other. The temple was not beautiful for its own sake, but for the sake of the One who delivered His holiness there to His people. The beautiful simplicity of the Lord's holiness granted to us in Christ, who is the living temple in the midst of His people, then should be delivered to God's people in preaching when they gather where there is the sacrifice of prayer and praise. Here the beauty of holiness will be delivered to God's people. We need both beauty and holiness, because they are delivered together.

 

Martin Luther

 

"David says here: 'Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes' (Ps 8:2). 'You have established a kingdom,' he says, 'which is full of might and strength against sin, death, and devil. Such a kingdom You established, not out of the world's wisdom, cleverness, cunning, power, or might; but out of the mouths of simple, plain, weak people, who are regarded as the least, as given over to death' (1Co 4:10-13). But is it not a wondrous thing that the mouths of such people should ordain such great and outstanding strength? On Pentecost Peter stands up in Jerusalem, fears neither Annas nor Caiaphas nor the entire Sanhedrin, opens his mouth, strikes at the devil's kingdom, and with one sermon converts three thousand souls from the devil's kingdom to Christ. The other Apostles likewise turn on such power with their mouth and word that by it the synagogue and the Jewish kingdom are run into the ground. Then they come to Rome, attack the highest power on earth, rebuke its paganism and idolatry, and with their mouths erect a power that no one can resist. They disperse further into the world. With the Word they storm the devil's kingdom. They plant and build Christ's church. Thus there comes the power which neither emperor nor king, neither princes nor potentates can resist. They oppose and fearfully abuse the Apostles and Christians, but to no avail. The power from the mouths of babes and infants slashes through and obtains the victory. Emperors, kings, and the potentates of the earth must hang their heads and confess that they cannot defend themselves against it.

 

"Poorly matched are these armies that meet here and clash-the most powerful lords on earth together with the fiercest devils in hell; and the poor, weak disciples, whom the world regards as sheep led to the slaughter. Therefore it is the wonder of wonders that the Ruler ordains strength this way. If He took the powerful princes of heaven for this, they could accomplish it; Michael could strike down emperors, kings, and potentates on earth. But He does not want to use the angelic nature to ordain this strength. Instead He uses human nature, which the devil has devoured and over which he is lord, which he holds captive because of sin. This nature He pits against the devil, to capture, bind, and overcome the enemy, and to do this through the mouth, through the Word and the preaching of the Gospel. 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation,' He says to His disciples (Mk 16:15). Thus He sets up the strength and the kingdom.

 

"So our Lord God passes by the greatest and highest might of the angels in heaven. He takes the very simplest, plainest, most unlearned, and weakest on the earth. He sets them against the highest wisdom and power of the devil and the world. These are the works of God, for He is a God 'who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist' (Rm 4:17). Such are His nature and His attributes. He proves it with the grain in the field; unless it 'falls into the earth and dies,' Christ Himself says, 'it remains alone' (Jn 12:24). But if it dies, rots, and loses its husk and flour in the earth, it grows roots, blade, and ear (Mk 4:28) and 'bears much fruit.' In summary, it is God's nature to show His majesty and power through ineffectiveness and weakness. He Himself says to Paul: 'My power is made perfect in weakness.' (2Co12:9)." 

 

Martin Luther, 
Commentary on Psalm 8, 8.2
 
Prayer

O almighty God, by Your Son, our Savior, You have always given to Your Church on earth faithful shepherds to guide and feed Your flock. Therefore we pray, make all pastors diligent to preach faithfully Your holy Word and to administer Your means of grace, and grant Your people wisdom to follow in the way that leads to life eternal; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

For Jeff Proctor, that the Lord Jesus would grant him strength and healing

 

For Louise Rosser, who is undergoing therapy for pancreatic cancer, that the Lord Jesus would give her healing and confidence in His compassionate care for those who suffer

 

For Carlos Broughton, who will be undergoing heart surgery, that his heavenly Father would guide those who will perform the surgery and through them bring him the restoration he needs
Art: D�rer, Albrecht  The Adoration of the Trinity (1515) 

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