A Taste of God

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 3/8/15




Read Psalm 19


As a kid growing up I went through two big phases of things that piqued my interests. First came my love for dinosaurs, but next came my love for space.  This probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to most of you, it’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Star Wars, but my love for space went much further than just the movies. In my room at home I taped planets to the top of my wall and had little glow in the dark stars to admire as I went to sleep. I had the order of the planets in our solar system memorized and loved when we would get to make models of it in class. My mom often took me to the Science Museum of Virginia, and there my love for space grew even more. There were experiments dealing with gravity, with air pressure, and even a model moon landing capsule that you could climb into. If you were really lucky, the IMAX theater would be showing a movie about space.

            As I grew older my passion for space may have waned a little, but I am still at times find myself amazed by it. Nothing beats a meteor shower that lights up the night sky. Nothing can put your rough day in perspective like coming home at night to a sky lit up, and where the constellations are so bright you have no trouble finding them. Even in college when space was the last thing on my mind, I remember being sad the day scientists decided that Pluto wasn’t really a planet.

            There is such a beauty, an awe and wonder that space presents. It is the final frontier. It is so vast and large and it is almost impossible to comprehend. In that awe and wonder, I feel as though something about God is being revealed. It was after all a star that led the way for the Magi to find Jesus. The psalmist for our scripture this morning certainly seemed to agree that space spoke to the wonders and glory of God. The psalm starts out, “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech,
    and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words;  their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth  and their words to the end of the world.” The psalmist recognizes that space, that nature itself proclaims the wonders of God. Space is so incomprehensible and yet it is something that God not only comprehends, but created. Without words the heavens proclaim God’s handiwork to the end of the world, the psalmist says. As we admire space, as we admire nature, we sometimes can catch a small piece of that song, we can get a small taste of God revealed to us, but it often leaves us wanting more. We want more answers, we want to understand this awesome and amazing God who can create such amazing things. In the vastness of space we feel so small, and even so distant from God, and we want something to draw us closer.

(Image Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

            As we stand in awe of God in the splendor of God’s creation, it may be surprising to us that what can draw us closer, what can give us a greater taste of God revelation is the Law; that is God’s commandments and precepts. When we think of beauty and awe and wonder we do not normally think of law. Law seems crude, crass, a means to and ends. The psalm describes the Law as perfect, reviving the soul, righteous, and causes rejoicing in the heart. This is probably not how we often think about the Law of God. The Law is not just a list of requirements to keep us and check and make us be “good.” That is where we in today’s society often get it so wrong. For the Israelites, the Law provided a way for the people to be in covenant with God. The laws were not arbitrary, and the laws were not just legalistic or moralistic, the Law was designed to bring you closer to God. Even in the Bible we see that over time this understanding was often lost. The Pharisees became staunch defenders of the Law and the letter of the Law. For them following the Law was the ends in and of itself. But Jesus reminds us of its true nature. The Pharisees get angry at Jesus because he breaks the command of not working on the Sabbath. But what was he doing, healing someone. The Pharisees had lost the intention of the Law.  It makes sense then when Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is he replies, “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Loving God and loving People, isn’t that Thomas Road’s motto. It is not that Jesus says this replaces the Law, but that all of the Laws of God hang on this, loving God and loving people.”

            When I was in college I joined a fraternity, Kappa Sigma. Before I became a full-fledged brother there was a ten week period called pledging that I had to go through. During this pledging period, me and the other pledge brothers had many rules we had to follow. We had information about the history of our Fraternity and its principals that we had to memorize and would be tested on almost weekly. We had mandatory meetings with the brothers sometimes to discuss business, sometimes to do outreach, and sometimes just to hang out. We were assigned mentors that we called Big brothers to help us not just through the pledging period, but also throughout our time in the fraternity. We had mandatory study hall to make sure that as we were studying our materials for the Fraternity that we stayed on top of our school work as well. Finally we had this little book, the book with all of the information in it that we needed to know. This book was to be treasured and cherished, you did not lose this book, you did not let away from your side, and you didn’t come to a meeting without it.

            Now as I was going through all of this pledging it seemed kind of ridiculous. It was intense trying to memorize all of that information and to be at all of those mandatory meetings. The rules seemed overbearing and made life a lot harder at the time. As I went through the process however and when I was finally initiated it all began to make sense. All that we did, all of those rules, all of that studying made me learn more about the organization I was joining and love it even more. That mandatory time spent with brothers, and the times we sought out each other’s help on our own, helped us to bond with each other and grow together. That time we had together, though tough, was priceless and I came to love it.

            The Law of the Lord is in a way similar to this experience. As Jesus showed us, the laws were not arbitrary, they were designed in order to help us love God and love people. As we follow the Law, we don’t do it like a checklist that gets us to heaven; that misses the point entirely. And we certainly don’t follow the Law as a way to judge and call out others. The Law draws us closer to God, and draws us closer to each other. If this is the case, then like me and my experience in my fraternity, following the Law and the instructions leads to a greater love and appreciation for the One you are following. The Law makes us in fact fall more in love with God. It makes sense then why the psalmist would celebrate the Law, rejoicing in the heart and calling it perfect. It makes sense now that it is described as being more desired than gold and sweeter than honey. If nature and the wonders of space can give us just a taste of  God’s wonder, the Law can give us that sweet taste of honey. The Law can draw us closer in a relationship with God and with each other.

            As Christians following the Law of God can be quite confusing. Some may say, “Didn’t Jesus live and die so that we don’t have to follow the law anymore?  Others will point to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians where he says, “⁵ He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances.” Jesus Christ’s ministry to the world can make it seem as though the Law has become obsolete, but if we really read what Jesus and Paul and the other early writers were saying we find that this is not that case. . Through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, God established with us a new covenant by Water and the Spirit. By establishing this new covenant, Jesus did abolish the laws in the fact that the Laws do not save us, but Jesus’s ministry was not a rejection of the Laws, but rather a fulfilment of them. It goes back again to how and why we are reading them. If we are following the laws as a means to be saved, then we have missed the point of Jesus’s atonement for sins If on the other hand we are using the laws to better know God and to grow in a right relationship with God and with others then the Law is still sweeter than honey to our lips.

            In this season of Lent it is this sweetness that we desire to taste. This season is a time in which we remember that new covenant that we have entered into through our baptism, and we strive to honor and life out that commitment. It is the Law, or maybe it is easier for us to say the Scripture, that helps to convict us of our sins and lead us to the changes necessary for growing closer to God.  This is why for many Lent is such a bittersweet time. No one really wants to be convicted of their sin. No one really wants to admit their faults, and not many truly want to repent, especially if that means they have to change the lives they know and have grown comfortable with. For this reason Lent can be a difficult time, as we wrestle with our own faults. As we wrestle and as we are convicted however we begin to grow closer and closer to God. That which once hindrance to our relationship, is no longer a stumbling block. As we grow in closer relationship with God we realize that we were convicted not because we are worthless, but because we are precious in God’s sight and God wants more for us than the life we are living today. The Law, Scripture, the Word of God, whatever you want to call it in today’s context can help convict us, can help lead us through the Spirit’s discerning, and can be that sweet honey upon our lips.

            As we approach Scripture, and in particularly the Law, we should approach it with a certain preparation in our hearts. We should prepare ourselves for the power that it holds, and pray for God’s guidance that we may rightly speak and live out that which we read. It is why the psalmist ends with a line that you may have heard before. It is a line often used by pastors as a prayer before their sermon, but it should also be our prayer each and every day as we seek to be led and serve God. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord my rock and my redeemer.”

            This should be our earnest prayer each and every day. We should pray that what we utter day to day is acceptable in God’s sight. We should pray that our hearts are stirred by the majesty of God, both through the wonders of nature but also through the wonders of his Word. The psalmist gets this. Thomas McGrath points out the uniqueness of this psalm that, “star gazers and tree huggers will welcome verses 1-6 while the Ten Commandments crowd will salute verses 7-13” But doesn’t the uniqueness of this psalm in a way sum up the majesty and wonder of God. That through different means, both nature and Scripture, God is revealed to us and draws a wide array of people into this wonderful new covenant.  And in this covenant, may it be our hearts desire to live out the commitments that we made before God and each other.  May we truly love God and love one another. May we pay attention to  nature’s declaration of God glory. May follow the Law of Lord in a way that draws us closer to Christ, making the precepts of the Lord more precious than gold, and sweeter than honey. But most of all as we strive to live as a covenant people, may the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts, by acceptable in in thy sight, O Lord,  our Rock, and our redeemer.