January 2, 2016
Worship: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence from St. James Liturgy
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Words: Liturgy of St. James, translated to English by Gerard Moultrie
Music: "Picardy" French carol melody
Hab 2:20
Topics: Christmas
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.
At His feet the six winged seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia
(from Biblesoft Hymnal, PC Study Bible electronic database Copyright © 2003-2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Video: https://youtu.be/8wl4u8lnDQs
Witness:
My mind never seems to turn off. Every waking hour, my mind is running, thinking, meditating, observing. I cannot shut it off. This can be a source of great blessing when sublime thoughts come to mind suddenly and unexpectedly. It can also be a source of sorrow and depression when accusing thoughts , bad memories, or an acute awareness of silence and loneliness jump into my conscience thoughts. I find it easier to remember these bad thoughts better than I do the good ones.
Is that your experience? I don’t have any real answers as to why this is so. It seems the Lord has to keep reminding me of things He wants to teach me, while the devil’s dribble needs no reminders. So when the blessed thoughts come I revel in them and praise the Lord. I even burst out into song sometimes. When the bad thoughts come I must use them as an opportunity to remind me of God’s goodness and mercy, and faithfulness. They are times of opportunity to worship instead of whining. Times to lean on the promises of God instead of stumbling over the lies of the enemy.
Finally, I must keep what the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians believers ever in my thoughts daily.
1 Cor 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
NIV
WORD:
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Ps 24:1-6
24 The earth is the LORD 's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters
.
3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.
5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob.b
SELAH
NIV
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Ps 24:1-6
The King of Glory
A Psalm of David.
24 The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Selah
ESV
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The promise is twofold (?): “blessing” and “vindication”. The ESV has “righteousness”. There seems to be an interpretive issue here, which I will, Lord willing, address tomorrow. There are flood of questions here. How does this verse relate to the previous verse? Is he speaking of two blessings or one (i.e blessing and vindication or the blessing of vindication). Let us look for today at the word “receive”.
The Hebrew word used here is used about 650 time in the Old Testament with a variety of meaning. Here is the entry in BDB Hebrew Lexicon concerning this word.
nasa'
to lift, to bear up, to carry, to take
1) to lift, to lift up
2) to bear, to carry, to support, to sustain, to endure
3) to take, to take away, to carry off, to forgive
(from The Online Bible Thayer's Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.)
The root meaning is “to lift”. It is the same word used in verses 4, 7 & 9 and is translated “lift up” in these passages. So how does one “lift up” a blessing from the Lord? Perhaps Barnes note here might help.
[He shall receive the blessing from the LORD] literally, "He shall bear away a blessing from Yahweh." The blessing here referred to means His favor and friendship. He shall be recognized and treated as His. In other words, God bestows His favor on those who possess the character here referred to.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
A blessing is a gift from the Lord, but a gift not received or opened is useless. One must pick up the gift or receive the gift into their hands and open it. May I suggest several reasons why we fail to see or experience the blessings of God.
First, we may not be looking for it. A package delivered to our steps will remain there till we open the front door and pick it up.
Second, we may receive the gift, but feel we are unworthy to open it. In ourselves, we are never worthy to receive any blessing from the Lord. That’s what’s so amazing about the grace of God!
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ ` died for us. Rom 5:8 NIV
If we can receive so great a salvation, even though we don’t deserve it, will not God continue to bless His children who walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh (Romans 8!)?
Another reason we never receive His blessing is because of impatience. In this world of fast food and lightning fast communication, our ability to wait for something has shrunk drastically. How many of us would wait 14 years, as Jacob did, for their Rachel? Is it wrong to ask “how long” to the Lord? It depends on your attitude. Is your attitude like that of the psalmist in Psalm 13?
Note how he approaches the Lord:
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Ps 13:1-2 NIV
He calls on the Lord to answer:
Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
Ps 13:3-4 NIV
But notice his attitude as he concludes his prayer:
But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
for he has been good to me.
Ps 13:5-6 NIV
Contrast this with the unbelieving of Jesus day:
The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
John 10:24-26 NIV
They never received the blessing because inherent in their impatience was unbelief.
Finally, (though you probably can think of more), could it be the exact opposite attitude that may be keeping us from God’s blessing. Could it be pride, a lack of humility, a sense of entitlement? After all, I have come to Him with clean hands.
Yes on the outside you look clean…
But what about your heart?
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Matt 23:27-28 NIV
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