"Why Do We Do That?" Psalm Singing

 In this series of essays pastor Keith will seek to explain aspects of our ministry at Trinity Chapel. May the Lord use these to give you greater clarity about our work and encourage you to participate further in this gospel ministry!

Why Do We Sing Psalms?

Anyone who has ever visited Trinity Chapel, watched one of our livestreams, or even heard us talk about worship will quickly learn something: we love the Bible! We recognize the Bible as God's precious word to His people, warning sinners toward repentance, and assuring us of all His promises in Christ. At Trinity Chapel we love the Bible so much that we are not content to simply read a verse or two before the preacher launches into a 15-20 minute spiritually-ambiguous TED talk. NO! We DEMAND the Bible, from start to finish. 

That means we don't just preach and read the Bible, we also pray and even sing the Bible! Every Lord's day, in morning and evening worship, two books are made available to all worshipers at Trinity Chapel: the Trinity Hymnal and the Trinity Psalter. While the Hymnal consists of many wonderful God-honoring hymns and spiritual songs, the Psalter alone contains the very words of God, translated straight out of Scripture and set to a singable pattern. 

One blessing of singing these songs is that they are incapable of being untrue. Because they are the very words of God, taken straight from the source of Scripture, they are inspired, God-breathed, and inerrant (incapable of being in error). Many times, even with old hymns, we might rightly ask, "Are these words true? Is this song reflecting something true about God?" With psalms, we never have to ask that question. We know these are Spirit-inspired songs, and therefore always relevant to all of life, no matter how far removed from the original context we might be. 

The psalms also give voice to the full range of human emotion and experience. Many modern praise songs only focus on the same pre-conceived selection of "appropriate" feelings and experiences. How many contemporary Christian worship songs focus on the destruction of enemies, the experience of being betrayed, or feeling abandoned by God? The psalms have highs and lows, peaks and valleys, and, if we sing them all, we find we have an applicable song to sing no matter how we are feeling in the moment. 

We sing psalms because Jesus sings psalms! As a Jew, from His earliest days, our Savior would have learned to sing the psalms in His family home, in the synagogue worship, and at the temple in Jerusalem. Psalm-singing was ingrained into Him from day one, as with all people of the Book. Jesus almost definitely prayed and sang the Hallel Psalms (Psalms 113-118) when He instituted the Lord's supper (Matthew 26:26-30). When we sing the psalms, we don't just sing about Jesus, but with Jesus. We join Him as our elder brother and High Priest, singing praise with Him to God the Father. 

Above all, we sing psalms because the Bible commands us to sing psalms! "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." (Ephesians 5:19, also Colossians 3:16) "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms." (James 5:13) The Lord is always infinitely more pleased with our simple obedience than our most outlandish, extravagant displays of external worship. (1 Samuel 15:22)

So, with renewed zeal and trust in the Lord, let us take up our psalters and sing praise to God! Many of our neighbors, even our Christian brothers and sisters, have never known the blessing of singing God's word in the Psalms. May we grow to love the Psalms more in 2023 and share this wonderful treasure with the world around us. To God be the glory!

"Why do we _____?" The Call to Worship

In this series of essays pastor Keith will seek to explain aspects of our ministry at Trinity Chapel. May the Lord use these to give you greater clarity about our work and encourage you to participate further in this gospel ministry!

What is the call to worship?

In many of life's events, something designates the starting point. The starting gun signals the runners to start running. A man getting down on one knee in front of his girlfriend indicates that a certain question is (probably!) coming. Corporate Christian worship also has a designated starting point, which comes in the call to worship.

Before the announcements on Sunday, I get up and welcome you to church; that isn't the beginning of the worship service. After the announcements a musician plays a brief piece of music; that isn't the beginning of worship. One of the men then rings a bell three times; this ALSO isn't the beginning of worship! These are all preliminary actions to worship. Worship begins when God speaks through His word and summons us to come into His presence with praise.

Why does the call to worship need to come first? Because God is the instigator of worship. He created us for worship and sought us in Christ to be worshipers. "True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." (John 4:23) The call to worship is the reminder to us that we are coming to God in response to Him. Worship isn't our idea, nor does it come out of our hearts until God plants the seed of His word in us. He invites us out on the dance floor; we take His hand in response.

This is also why the call to worship is always taken from the Bible. With confessions of sin, confessions of faith, certain prayers, and even songs, we may use words that are Bible-based, but not explicitly taken from Scripture. In the call to worship we hear the very voice of God, speaking through His ordained minister, summoning His redeemed people to praise. This should only be done through the words God gives us in the Bible. 

The call to worship also sets the tone for worship as a dialogue. Although it is the pastor's voice you hear, it is God who speaks to the worshiper. Throughout the service, God and His people speak, promise, praise, and bless one another. Worship is not a performance of the people, nor is it all an act of God. It is a relational interaction between the two: God initiates, His people respond. He calls; we reply. 

The call to worship also reminds us of our calling as we go into the world again. Just as God calls us to worship at the beginning of the service, He also sends us out into the world at the end of the service to call all those around us to come worship Him. Just as we have been called, so He sends us out to call others. "Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples." (Psalm 96:2-3) 

As we look forward to this coming Lord's day, let's settle in our souls now that, when we come to God's house together, we will come attentive, ready to hear the voice of our Savior as He calls us. 

Soul-Searching in the Face of Sickness

Trinity Chapel is currently going through a season of sickness. Many of our households over the last 1+ month have been hit by illness, of varying degrees and type. It has kept over half of us home sick at any given time, and away from the Lord's day assembly of God's people. I know I have been thankful for the livestream option in the last weeks, but I imagine that those of you who have been using it would agree: we want to be back together! 

In times like these, we are reminded of our own weakness. We are reminded of our drastic limitations, which we are often able to ignore with the use of many modern technologies. But the reality is, we get sick, and no matter how hard we close our eyes, repeat the mantras, or take medications, healing still takes time. 

A mistake we often make with sicknesses is to approach them like naturalists. Christians profess to be supernaturalists, meaning we believe in the power of God to work in the world, but we often live like God didn't do it. We do this with natural disasters, droughts, world conflicts (all of which are under the power and control of God), and we especially do it with sickness. The biblical reality is that no plague, disease, or sickness, ever comes apart from the allowance of God. While God doesn't always allow these things as a direct consequence of sins (e.g. John 9:1-3), Scripture does teach that He might. Consider some of David's words from Psalm 39:

 "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of the foolish. I was mute, I did not open my mouth, because it was You who did it. Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; surely every man is vapor. Selah. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were. Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength, before I go away and am no more." (Psalm 39:7-13)

As a result of his personal sins David knows that the Lord has rebuked, or corrected, him with sickness ("Your plague"). David cries out to the Lord to forgive his sins and remove the chastening plague from him before it takes away his life. Many times in Scripture, God is said to send sickness and disease as a punishment and/or a wake up call to repentance (e.g. Rev 9:20; Amos 4:10; Psalm 106:29-30). 

I'm not going to sit here and write that the Lord has explicitly told me that our church's current struggles with sickness are the direct result of any one particular sin on our part, but I do think it is easily in the wheelhouse to say we ought to treat this time as a call to repentance, to prayer, to personal examination of our hearts, and confession and forsaking of sin. 

May we have spirits like Phinehas, who intervened with holy violence and removed the transgression of God's people, that God's plague might be stopped. Let us search our hearts with the spirit of Psalm 139, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." May we cry out like David, on behalf of ourselves and our brethren in Christ: "Deliver us from all our transgressions. Remove Your plague from us. Hear our prayer, O LORD, and give ear to our cry." 

As we renew ourselves to seek the Lord and His righteousness, may we find Him a refuge in our time of need, and experience the blessings of Psalm 91:9-11,

"Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

The Peace Table

 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1)

How many times have we heard something like, "All I'm looking for is some peace of mind?" Or how joyful is a war-torn nation when the announcement of "Peace!" is finally made. Peace is a reality that often seems to elude us. We seek it. We think if we had a different set of circumstances, we would have more peace. But there is a greater peace that every single human soul needs: peace with God. In our sins, we are out of fellowship with our Creator. We are antagonists, acting against Him, rebels and traitors warring against His righteous rule of all things. What hope for peace could cantankerous usurpers like us possibly have with God?

That's part of what makes Romans 5:1 such an amazing verse. We not only have the hope of peace, it isn't just a possibility; it's a reality! We aren't waiting to see if it comes, we have it! We have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. God is no longer angry with you, Christian. If you have been justified by faith; declared innocent through the blood of Christ and clothed in His perfect righteousness: God is not mad at you. He has no more wrath against you. He has no condemnation awaiting you for all your sins, for Christ was already condemned for them. In the absence of conflict, which Christ has taken away, and in the presence of love, which Christ has provided; you are left with nothing but peace. 

Peace with God through Jesus Christ. If you have Him, you have everything required for peace with God. And not just the peace of a ceasefire! Not just an armistice. The perfect peace of God that surpasses understanding is yours in Christ Jesus. The peace that pervades a loving household. The peace of love. The peace of satisfaction. The peace of enjoyment of the other. Christ has given you that sort of peace with God, Christian.

It is that peace that we celebrate and picture as we come to the Lord's table. The meal we eat as we are served by the Lord Jesus is the feast of a loving family. God has not only received us in Christ, but He assures us of our reception through a meal shared with Him. We eat with Him at His table as brothers and sisters, received and beloved by God. 

As we taste the bread and drink the cup, may that be the word that most fills our souls: peace! Peace with God and peace with one another, through Christ our Lord.

In Preparation for Communion

Have you ever had someone show up and randomly start telling you how to do your job? It’s frustrating! Especially if you are forced to put up with that person because of their status. In my case, I was the college-educated boss’s kid on the construction job, working with guys that had been doing this work for years. I knew that my best bet was to keep my lips sealed, my head down, and work hard at whatever task was put in front of me.

There’s an interesting story about Jesus, only recorded in Luke 5, where Jesus shows up and starts telling some blue-collar guys how to do their job. Luke writes: Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” (Luke 5:3-5)

Jesus, who is not a fisherman, tells Simon the fisherman how to fish. And the day has already been unproductive. Simon tells Jesus, “Master, we’ve already been at it all night and haven’t caught a thing!” But Simon also has respect for Jesus as a spiritual teacher, so he indulges his Master a little. You can almost hear Simon and the other fishermen muttering beneath their breath! “We’re going to get these boats ready and out there again and Jesus will see it’s exactly like we said: there’s no fish! Stick to the preaching, Jesus. Leave the fishing to us.”

But what happens? “And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.” (Luke 5:6-7) Not only do these experienced fishermen haul in an astounding catch, they take in so much that it becomes dangerous! What happened?

What happened is summed up in Peter’s words, which he probably wasn’t even thinking about, “At Your word I will let down the net.” It is not the skill of these fishermen that makes the difference; it isn’t the wisdom of men who’ve probably spent their whole lives on these waters, hauling in fish. It is the word, the commandment, of Jesus that makes the difference and turns this fishing venture from a bad catch to an overwhelming abundance.

There’s another place in Scripture where Jesus commanded something that sounds strange to us: when He instituted the Lord’s supper at His last supper with His disciples. There He broke the Passover bread and He told them: “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28)

If we were doing things with man’s wisdom, we could probably come up with a much more impressive sacrament than the Lord’s supper. In fact, the communion table is astoundingly unimpressive to the flesh: a little bread, a small taste from the cup. And yet, because Christ Himself instituted this meal with His own words, His own commandment, the table becomes for us the very place where we taste by faith the body and blood of our Savior. Through the Spirit’s power and blessing that little bread and little cup become for us spiritual nourishment and encouragement for our souls. And as we eat the meal together we have the curtain peeled back and get a brief glimpse of eternal life, where we will eat the everlasting meal at the Lamb’s wedding table. As we come to the Lord’s table this week, let us come in obedience to the very words of Jesus, believing that His word transforms scarcity into abundance, death into life, and the cross into eternal victory. God bless you all until we gather at the table once again.

  

Christmas: Man-Made Idolatry? Or Faithful Celebration?

Around this time of year there are certain predictable posts among Reformed Presbyterians: posts that lament the idolatry of the church, especially in celebrating man-made "holy days" like Advent and Christmas. Some of you, unfamiliar with Reformed history or practice, may wonder what the big deal would be. What faithful Christian wouldn't want to celebrate Christmas!? Isn't that just for the Grinch? Well, the reality is that a lot of faithful Reformed forefathers and mothers didn't celebrate Christmas, not because they were Grinches, but because they took very seriously the Bible's command to not worship God any other way than He Himself had ordained. The Westminster Confession, for example, says in chapter 21 Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day:

But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited to his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture.

God warned His people against thinking they knew better than He about how to properly worship Him. One very clear example of this would be Deuteronomy 12:32, "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it." In worshiping God, we are only to do those things God has ordained, not add to them with our own ideas, nor take away from them through laziness. For many of our Reformed forebears, this forbade them from anything like annual Christmas celebrations. After all, nowhere in His word does God command the annual celebration of Christ's birth. 

It was timely that our men's Bible study at Trinity Chapel wrapped up this week by finishing the book of Esther. The book of Esther closes with the institution of a yearly holiday for the Jews. Because God has delivered them from Haman and their enemies in the Persian empire, Mordecai writes a letter to all the Jews in the empire that they should remember this occasion every year: "as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another, and gifts to the poor. So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them." (Esther 9:22-23) 

This is the Jewish feast of Purim, the yearly celebration of God's deliverance from their enemies. It is, in a sense, a "man-made holyday." Nowhere do we read that God commanded Mordecai to institute it. Rather, following the example where God ordained holy days for His people to remember their past deliverances (e.g. Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles), Mordecai institutes this holiday to remember the Jews' most recent deliverance. 

We are not told whether God approves of Purim. Based on other Scriptures, like Deuteronomy 12:32, plenty of Reformed teachers say that this cannot be approved by God, as it is a man-made holyday, not instituted by God. It's frustrating, as God doesn't make any explicit appearances in Esther: He only shows up behind the scenes, never even named, but working through His providence to direct all things and deliver His people. So we aren't told if He disapproves of Purim or not. The way we read the story, it seems like we are meant to approve of it. Esther, in some sense, is a story recorded to explain the holyday of Purim. You can imagine young Jewish boys and girls asking their parents, "Why do we celebrate these days each year?" And, like the Passover, those Jewish parents open the book of Esther and tell them the story of God's saving grace and power. 

Christmas, in my estimation, is similar to Purim. Are we ever explicitly commanded to make a yearly remembrance and celebration of Christ's birth? No, we aren't. There is no verse in all the Bible that says, "Be sure to celebrate Christ's birth every year in late December. Chop down a tree and move it into your living room. Then exchange gifts among one another and with the poor." For some people, that means it is forbidden. I would not agree with that assessment, but why?

As I understand it, a definition of the regulative principle that says, "Anything not explicitly commanded is forbidden," leaves us with a lot of additional problems. Where is the explicit command to gather for worship on Sunday, and not Saturday? (That, by the way, is the chief argument of the "seventh-day" movements: nowhere in Scripture does God explicitly change the Sabbath day from the seventh day to the first. So, they say, we don't have a right to change it.) The reality is that we know the Sabbath day has changed, not because of an explicit command, but by deduction and example. We see that early Christians gathered on the first day, not the seventh. We know that the 4th commandment teaches a perpetual Sabbath of one-in-seven days to be holy to the Lord. Therefore, we deduce that the 4th commandment Sabbath is changed under the New Testament from Saturday to Sunday, in recognition of the world-changing power of Christ's resurrection, which was on the first, not the seventh day. 

By deduction and example, I think we can make a case for at least an annual remembrance of Christ's first coming in Christmas. Just as the angel in Revelation came to John on the Lord's day, thus signifying the true significance of Sunday over Saturday, so also angels appeared to celebrate the incarnation of God's Son. "'For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: you will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!' So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.'" (Luke 2:11-15)

One reason I think many of our Reformed forebears reacted so strongly against things like Christmas was their connection to medieval Romanism and all the ungodly idolatry of that system. For centuries the papal antichrist had invented all sorts of superstitious celebrations for saints, angels, and the virgin Mary. The calendar had become full of so-called "holy days of obligation" that crept in and replaced the weekly Sabbath celebration on the Lord's day. They had made these days equal to the Lord's day, in that all the faithful were obligated to attend mass on these days, and rest from work and recreation (which was the whole point of the Sabbath in the first place). 

Let me be clear: Christmas is not such a day as this. In no way is our annual celebration of Christmas a replacement for or even equal to the weekly obligation of the Lord's day Sabbath. My wife and I used to travel home every year for Christmas. Often, we would drive all day on Christmas day back to Chicago. We spent money on gas and eating at Waffle House (the only place on the road open on Christmas). Nor did we attend a worship service. My wife can testify that none of those would be the case for us on the Lord's day. The Sabbath alone is the day to not spend money, to buy or sell, to refrain from usual recreations and work, and instead to spend the whole day in worship and rest. 

If you are reading this as a "Chreaster" (someone who only goes to church on Christmas + Easter) you are living in rebellion against God. God has commanded the weekly gathering of saints to worship Him in the Spirit and to rest from our usual worldly employment and recreation. If Sunday is football day for you, or the day for travel sports with kids, or the day to stay in your pajamas and binge watch Netflix, God is not pleased with you. He doesn't care how many candles you light, or how much caroling you do, or that you put up a tree in your living room. 

But for those of you who are striving to keep the Lord's day, to spend the Sabbath day worshiping the Lord and resting from worldly things. To those of you who are seeking to be faithful, and also feel inclined to celebrate Christmas, I wouldn't fret as much. Keep it in its proper place: well below the weekly Lord's day Sabbath. But enjoy it. Make these "days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor." Remember that these days are not ultimately about family gatherings, not enjoyable light shows, not even the presents, but that God became man, lost and fallen man to save. Unashamedly proclaim the true Reason for the season:

Hail, the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
ris'n with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"

The Benefit of Singing Infallible Songs

Your statutes have been my songs 
in the house of my pilgrimage. (Psalm 119:54)

"I just feel like a lot of contemporary Christian music isn't good. It's either mindlessly repetitive, focuses too much on me and my feelings, or makes unbiblical statements." Thus said a young Christian man I spoke with in my favorite coffee recently. Perhaps you've heard a similar sentiment in your own life. Many evangelicals, especially young people (as I have found), are seeking something more profound, rich, and meaningful than the latest 12-song cycle on K-Love. In our discussion on Christian music, I asked this young man, who had grown up in the church his whole life, if he had ever once sung a Psalm in worship. Unsurprisingly, his answer was, "No." (Funny aside, when I first asked him, he assumed I meant a hymn, which he had sung a few of. When I explained that I actually meant a Psalm from the Bible put to music, it was almost like he'd never even thought of that!) 

In an effort to escape the commercialism and sometimes unbiblical nature of the Contemporary Christian Music industry (CCM), young Christians, like this young man I was speaking with, go the exact opposite direction. They embrace avant garde worship, imagining that authentic Christian worship is just taking the hipster approach to music and baptizing it. While this may be less commercial than the typical CCM approach, it still often suffers from the same issue: how do I know if this music is good? How do I know that this music is reflecting actual truths and not just how I'm feeling?

This is one of the unseen benefits of singing psalms in worship. Unlike K-Love, CCM, or even avant garde music just dripping with 'authenticity', singing psalms actually represents a radical departure from the norm. When we sing psalms, one thing we are doing is dying to ourselves. We put our own desires to death and subject ourselves to the words of God. Much of CCM consists of us telling God how we feel. When we sing psalms, we let God tell us how we should feel. 

Additionally, you never need to wonder if the Psalm you are singing is true, good, or godly. Because you are singing God's very words, you are always singing truth! You know that these words were not first approved by an executive, packaged for radio, and blasted out through the corporate machine. They were approved by God, not man! They were packaged by the Son of God! And the Holy Spirit blasts them out as God's own word, which shatters the idols of culture and time.

I am not advocating here for the position known as "exclusive psalmody," as if it were wrong to sing anything but the 150 Psalms of Scripture. But what a joy it is to pick up your Psalter in worship on the Lord's day, and know that you are singing songs which the Spirit Himself sent down! To know that you are singing God's word back to Him in faith, singing the same songs that Jesus Himself sang and still sings in heaven. What a joy to have the infallible book; what a joy to sing infallible songs!