Looking at Psalm 140 this past Sunday we saw, again, that there are no perfect people – none are all-righteous. To say it like the Bible does in Romans, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks after God.” (This same theme is also found in Psalms 14, 53, 5, 10, and 36).

Now when we looked at Psalm 140 however, this may not have seemed to be the case. Psalm 140 is a cry of David to be delivered from evil men – not a cry that he is an evil man. So, when we get to verse 13, “surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence,” we might exclaim with David, “Thank you God that I am not like the people I see on the 10:00 news!” (Is news still on at 10:00? With my iPhone and iPad I get so much news that I don’t watch it on TV anymore). And do you know what, that’s the problem: “i”. It’s so much easier for me (i) to notice other people’s faults and wrongdoings than it is to examine my own (i). But more than that, it’s so much more self-justifying (i)! I can make myself (i) feel a lot better about my (i) problems, my (i) anxieties, my (i) sin, and my (i) life by finding fault, or placing blame on others and not myself (i).

This is why finding the Gospel in every scripture we preach is so important. While the Gospel is Good News it’s surely preceded by Bad News. The Bad news, as we’ve already discovered, is that no one is righteous – not even one. It’s not enough to say, “Eh, yeah well, no one is perfect.” We all know that, and we use it as part of our self-justification. We must face the fact that, first of all, we have been created. Secondly, that our rebellion isn’t just against each other – it’s chiefly against God. Thirdly, we will be held accountable for this rebellion. This is exactly how the Bad News is spelled out in Romans 1-3. It’s important to notice how Paul refers to God here – as creator. Point: You are not your own and you have rebelled from the one who, in love and in His image, made you. The answer then to verse 13 of Psalm 140 – who are the righteous that shall give thanks to your name, who are the upright who shall dwell in your presence? – one is righteous, yes, only one.

There is only one person who could sing this Sacred Song without being convicted. Jesus. In a sense Psalm 140 isn’t so much a Psalm of David as it is a Psalm of Jesus. Can you hear Jesus singing this Song to the Father. “Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; preserve me from violent men…” If we see Jesus rightly, as God in the flesh, then there is no more evil event in history than the Death, Burial, and Resurrection – and surely coupled with that, the betrayal, beating, and mocking of Jesus. Can you hear Jesus, then, singing this song maybe in the garden the night he was handed over, maybe while He was being tried, maybe while He stood nearby Pilate as the people shouted, “Crucify.”

Jesus the Messiah – Savior and King – is the only One who could sing this song, truly, because Jesus is the only perfectly righteous person who has fulfilled all righteousness.

The Good News is that while Jesus is the only One who is upright and able to dwell in the presence of God the Father, through His death on the cross Jesus offers Himself as a substitutionary sacrifice. In our place He dies paying the full penalty of our unrighteousness – in His place we stand being credited with all the righteousness He has earned. Jesus, through His death, secures salvation for the Church. It is only in Christ, then, that we can proclaim with David “You are my God!” And it is only in Christ, too, that we will dwell in the presence of God.

One thing, very practical, that we should take away from this is a lesson in how to live in community.  We live in a world where everything you can think of has been “relativized.” This isn’t as bad as that; blah blah blah. This is how we get the idea in our heads that “I’m not that bad.” I say something pretty frequently when I preach, “If you’re not that bad than your god can’t be that good.” But relativism puts something before this primary truth. Relativism says, “If that person is pretty bad than I must be pretty good.” Relativism is fundamentally broken because it removes the supreme thing (in this case a perfect, flawless, transcendent, Holy God). Relativism is broken because it removes the standard – the “what” that everything else ought to be examined against.

Forget relativism – we need reality. The reality is, God is the standard. If He created us we’re not our own, we’re His. If we’re His we must live and behave according to His standard. (By the way, His standard is not overbearing or burdensome – Love God, Love People). Practically, when God is the standard, we realize that all of us have issues. Instead of expecting perfection from each other which, when that perfection isn’t met, we may think thoughts that lower our value of others, may say careless words that damage others, or may do lousy things that ruin relationships. (Or, sometimes we don’t say or do, but keep the thinking bottled up inside us). This doesn’t give us license to be sluggards and cause trouble, nor does it serve as some kind of handicap and make us to have no expectations for people. Surely, also, where sin is involved it needs to be met with repentance and return, not dismissal. This all helps to make us to live in community (inside and outside the church) seeing Jesus and the Gospel as the only all-sufficient answer to our ever-insufficient lives. The heart of the Gospel is that God has been gracious to us – and, thus, we ought to be gracious to each other. When we remember that God is the standard, that we have all failed to meet that standard, and that Jesus alone has met that standard on our behalf we will all be much more humble people who are eager to let the small disappointments we have against other dissolve from our minds and the big disappointments, after conversations of clarity, repentance, and forgiveness, dissolve in the blood of Jesus.

One of my favorite passages of Scripture over the last years has been 2 Corinthians 2.12-3.6. It is a passage that gives me great courage and great relief, especially when I suck at what I do.

I need to be honest, and I think I can be without causing too much grief because I believe in sin, heck, I believe in total depravity! Too I believe that, to borrow from the title of a book that I’ve been recently reading, that I need to “Lead with a Limp.”

I need to confess, that much like Paul in 2 Corinthians 2.12-13 I have been torn between being in this city, in which God has opened a door to plant and preach the Gospel and trying to “mirco-shepherd” our small flock at TcD by trying to “patch” holes and “plug” leaks. Basically I’ve been trying to be “sufficient for all of these things” and not relying on the sufficiency of Christ for and in everything.

More than that, I’ve been lazy the last few weeks and I have really slacked off of reaching my goals of meeting new people in the city.

Yet I know, with great confidence, that I can make known recent failings and through the Gospel be motivated, encouraged, and moved to repent, rely on Christ, work hard and continue to watch our church plant grow in it’s influence in the lives of our people and our city.

God is truly blessing The church in DeKalb despite my own recent failings and we continue to see new people getting involved in our Community Group, and new people asking to be discipled. Too, our leaders are being stretched and are growing and together we are realizing just how much we need to work harder at the spiritual disciplines in our own lives and realizing too how much we must depend on Christ for everything.

One of the greatest accomplishments over the last few weeks, especially since Cherron, the kids, and I moved to DeKalb, is that our people are beginning to move past community for communities sake and are starting to see that they, even as individuals, have a vital role in the Church. Their language is beginning to change from “I go to church” to “I’m a part of a church.” It’s not just that we get to spend a lot of time together and know each others names, but we’re starting to see how we are all, collectively, a part of a unique family. Our identity is changing, to say it in a corny sort of way, from “me” to “we.”

Yet there is much to do, and much that lies ahead of us. Here are some ways which you can partner with The church in DeKalb as we move forward.

Prayer:

Pray for me. Pray that I repent well and, too, that the depth of my own idolatry and sin is continually matched by the goodness and righteousness of Christ and the grace of God so that in realizing the depths of God’s mercies I’m motivated and moved to work hard for Jesus in our city.

Pray that God continues to use His Word in the lives of His people here that He is drawing into TcD. And pray that His Word transforms them both in new life (people coming to Christ), and sanctification (being made holy and set apart for godly work).

Pray that God would open many doors this summer with the “townies” here in DeKalb. “Townies” are the residents who actually live in DeKalb, (compared to the students). We need to build our church around the Townies as our desire is to be a church for the whole city, not just another college ministry. Pray that God would draw a good number of “Townies” into TcD this summer and help us build a solid foundation of people.

Pray for spiritual growth in the people who are already involved in TcD. That God would mature them spiritually over the next weeks and months, that He would give them a deep desire to know Him and an unquenchable hunger for His Word. Pray too that as these believers grow in grace and knowledge that we would be actively adding new believers that will go through the same process of discipleship.

Give:

As I mentioned last week, we’ve already reached our goal of $5000 this month but that was only because of two very generous churches, and because of that we wanted to raise an additional $2000 this month.

So far we’ve seen $674.50 come in towards that goal. In the next 11 days we would love to see this new goal meet by raising just over $1300.00 more.

If you can give we’re praying and hoping that you will. Even if every member of our Facebook group gave about $6 each we would make our goal this month. Only $6!

Giving can be done through the website at www.reachingdekalb.net or by mailing checks to Redeemer Fellowship (our sending church) at 1125 Oak Street St. Charles, IL 60174

Thank you for continuing to support us through prayer and through giving. More than that, thank you for your partnership in the Gospel.

Grace and Peace,
Jamie