Psalm 4/Ephesians 5:1-9
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The Psalms are not for everyone. We have called them the prayerbook of the Bible. That is to say, they are the prayers of the Church and therefore of each individual Christian. The unbeliever cannot pray the Psalter to his false god. The heathen cannot take upon his lips and in his mouth the Word of the Lord to us that is also our word back to the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit. For the proper understanding of suffering and lamentation come only in the triune God’s self-revelation to His people in His Word, who often suffer on account of this very Word.
For “no single human being can pray the psalms of lamentation out of his or her own experience,” wrote Bonhoeffer. “Spread out before us is the anguish of the entire Christian community throughout all time, [even] as Jesus Christ alone has wholly experienced it. Because [all sorrow and affliction] happens with God’s will, indeed because He alone knows it completely and better than we ourselves, therefore only God can help. But then,” Bonhoeffer concludes, “all our questions must also again and again storm directly against God Himself” (Psalms, 169).
And this is precisely how David prays in Psalm 4. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! For the one anointed by the Lord is embroiled in battle against the Saulites. He is hopelessly out-maned; with only a small battalion of loyal men. Confused and dejected. In danger and great need, the king arms himself with prayer, confident in the fact that the Lord has been his helper, as the previous psalm declared: You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head (Ps 3:3).
And as Psalm 3 begins the day, crying, Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! Psalm 4 ends the day, in trust confessing: In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. “The man of faith begins and ends his day on the battlefield; [moral and spiritual] warfare attends him everywhere” (Reardon, 7). The first verse of the first psalm makes this conflict plain.
This is why immediately following his words in the letter to the Ephesians read this evening, St Paul exhorts his hearers, that is, us, saying: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph 6:10-11). For you do not fight and wrestle, dear Christians, against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
And the Psalm makes plain the reason for this battle: The Lord has set apart the godly for Himself. From before the foundation of the world, He has chosen you in Christ Jesus, to be heirs of His heavenly glory. And the godly man, the one who delights himself in the Word of the Lord, is an alien and foreigner in this land. He is in the world, but not of it. The godly man, the one elect in Christ and given the gift of saving faith, walks around in the love of Christ manifesting itself in his own body. The godly man, you dear Christians, walk as children of light, producing by faith the fruit of light and of life found in all that is good and right and true.
And the sons of men sniff out this alien righteousness upon you; this foreign joy of the resurrection that clashes with the course of this world and all the sons of men which is death. Death is the way of this world. But in you, children of light, resides a life that even death cannot kill. And this life is contrary to the sons of men and against the world. And so they seek to put it to death, even as the anointed king, David, was sought out by the supporters of Saul.
Even as the sons of men sought to put to death David’s Son and David’s Lord, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. For David prays, Lift up the light of Your face upon us, O Lord! And what does St John confess of the Christ, the Word made flesh? In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in world, and the world was made through Him yet the world did not known Him. And this is the judgment: the Light has come into the world, and the men loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil (Jn 1:4-5,9-10; 3:19)
But upon you, dear ones, a glorious light has dawned. The eastern light of the Son of righteousness, bringing healing in His wings. He is the godly One, the Holy One, whom the Lord set apart, not for Himself, but for you. In love He gave Himself as the right Sacrifice to His God and Father, as King David prays and St Paul preaches.
In holy and righteous anger He did not sin; and no deceit was found in His mouth. Yet His honor was turned to shame as He received at the hands of evil men the penalty due us. His bed was made with the wicked and His grave was among robbers. Indeed, He took your place!
For this was the Father’s will; to punish His beloved Son and make all you sons of men into children of light. “His ways are indeed difficult to grasp. But even in the deepest hopelessness, God alone remains the one addressed;” (Bonhoeffer, 170) both by David and David’s Son. For crying out in the greatest anguish and the deepest despair, it is Christ who prays the Psalms for you, saying, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? (Ps 22:1).
And the Lord gave Him relief when He was in distress. He was gracious to Him and heard His prayer. And in raising Christ from the dead, He brought life and immortality light. This is the light and life that has shone upon you! This is the joy He puts into your heart through the preaching of His Word, the proclamation of the full and free forgiveness of all your sins in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
This, dear friends, is your peace and rest. Christ, your holiness and righteousness, your light and life. You are holy as your Father in heaven has declared you holy by faith in His Son. You have been set apart by Him to be imitators of God, as beloved children. You have been called out of darkness and given fellowship in light. “Thus, there are certain things the godly man does not do; there are certain places he must not be found” as St Paul exhorts. “Holiness means separation from what is sinful” (Reardon, 7). For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? (2 Cor 6:14-15).
But you, beloved, have fellowship with Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. You are in accord with the blessed Holy Trinity. And the portion bestowed upon you is a heart more joyous than the abundance of grain and wine.
For the Father who bestows upon you everything needful for this body and life, has not withheld from you all that is necessary for your soul and the life to come. He uses the gifts of grain and wine, joins them to the Word made flesh, and gives unto you not mere Bread and Wine, but the Body and Blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, life, and salvation.
Receiving these, in peace you lie down and sleep the sleep, even that final sleep of death, without fear or anxiety, for the Lord alone makes you to dwell in safety.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The Psalms are not for everyone. We have called them the prayerbook of the Bible. That is to say, they are the prayers of the Church and therefore of each individual Christian. The unbeliever cannot pray the Psalter to his false god. The heathen cannot take upon his lips and in his mouth the Word of the Lord to us that is also our word back to the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit. For the proper understanding of suffering and lamentation come only in the triune God’s self-revelation to His people in His Word, who often suffer on account of this very Word.
For “no single human being can pray the psalms of lamentation out of his or her own experience,” wrote Bonhoeffer. “Spread out before us is the anguish of the entire Christian community throughout all time, [even] as Jesus Christ alone has wholly experienced it. Because [all sorrow and affliction] happens with God’s will, indeed because He alone knows it completely and better than we ourselves, therefore only God can help. But then,” Bonhoeffer concludes, “all our questions must also again and again storm directly against God Himself” (Psalms, 169).
And this is precisely how David prays in Psalm 4. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! For the one anointed by the Lord is embroiled in battle against the Saulites. He is hopelessly out-maned; with only a small battalion of loyal men. Confused and dejected. In danger and great need, the king arms himself with prayer, confident in the fact that the Lord has been his helper, as the previous psalm declared: You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head (Ps 3:3).
And as Psalm 3 begins the day, crying, Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! Psalm 4 ends the day, in trust confessing: In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. “The man of faith begins and ends his day on the battlefield; [moral and spiritual] warfare attends him everywhere” (Reardon, 7). The first verse of the first psalm makes this conflict plain.
This is why immediately following his words in the letter to the Ephesians read this evening, St Paul exhorts his hearers, that is, us, saying: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph 6:10-11). For you do not fight and wrestle, dear Christians, against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
And the Psalm makes plain the reason for this battle: The Lord has set apart the godly for Himself. From before the foundation of the world, He has chosen you in Christ Jesus, to be heirs of His heavenly glory. And the godly man, the one who delights himself in the Word of the Lord, is an alien and foreigner in this land. He is in the world, but not of it. The godly man, the one elect in Christ and given the gift of saving faith, walks around in the love of Christ manifesting itself in his own body. The godly man, you dear Christians, walk as children of light, producing by faith the fruit of light and of life found in all that is good and right and true.
And the sons of men sniff out this alien righteousness upon you; this foreign joy of the resurrection that clashes with the course of this world and all the sons of men which is death. Death is the way of this world. But in you, children of light, resides a life that even death cannot kill. And this life is contrary to the sons of men and against the world. And so they seek to put it to death, even as the anointed king, David, was sought out by the supporters of Saul.
Even as the sons of men sought to put to death David’s Son and David’s Lord, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. For David prays, Lift up the light of Your face upon us, O Lord! And what does St John confess of the Christ, the Word made flesh? In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in world, and the world was made through Him yet the world did not known Him. And this is the judgment: the Light has come into the world, and the men loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil (Jn 1:4-5,9-10; 3:19)
But upon you, dear ones, a glorious light has dawned. The eastern light of the Son of righteousness, bringing healing in His wings. He is the godly One, the Holy One, whom the Lord set apart, not for Himself, but for you. In love He gave Himself as the right Sacrifice to His God and Father, as King David prays and St Paul preaches.
In holy and righteous anger He did not sin; and no deceit was found in His mouth. Yet His honor was turned to shame as He received at the hands of evil men the penalty due us. His bed was made with the wicked and His grave was among robbers. Indeed, He took your place!
For this was the Father’s will; to punish His beloved Son and make all you sons of men into children of light. “His ways are indeed difficult to grasp. But even in the deepest hopelessness, God alone remains the one addressed;” (Bonhoeffer, 170) both by David and David’s Son. For crying out in the greatest anguish and the deepest despair, it is Christ who prays the Psalms for you, saying, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? (Ps 22:1).
And the Lord gave Him relief when He was in distress. He was gracious to Him and heard His prayer. And in raising Christ from the dead, He brought life and immortality light. This is the light and life that has shone upon you! This is the joy He puts into your heart through the preaching of His Word, the proclamation of the full and free forgiveness of all your sins in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
This, dear friends, is your peace and rest. Christ, your holiness and righteousness, your light and life. You are holy as your Father in heaven has declared you holy by faith in His Son. You have been set apart by Him to be imitators of God, as beloved children. You have been called out of darkness and given fellowship in light. “Thus, there are certain things the godly man does not do; there are certain places he must not be found” as St Paul exhorts. “Holiness means separation from what is sinful” (Reardon, 7). For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? (2 Cor 6:14-15).
But you, beloved, have fellowship with Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. You are in accord with the blessed Holy Trinity. And the portion bestowed upon you is a heart more joyous than the abundance of grain and wine.
For the Father who bestows upon you everything needful for this body and life, has not withheld from you all that is necessary for your soul and the life to come. He uses the gifts of grain and wine, joins them to the Word made flesh, and gives unto you not mere Bread and Wine, but the Body and Blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, life, and salvation.
Receiving these, in peace you lie down and sleep the sleep, even that final sleep of death, without fear or anxiety, for the Lord alone makes you to dwell in safety.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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