Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Greetings Redeemer Family!

I want to start by saying thank you to this community. From warm greetings to kind encouragements, you have gone out of your way to make me feel welcome and at home here in Lynchburg. I am very thankful and hugely excited to be laboring here alongside such wonderful brothers and sisters.

This week we are framing our worship around Psalm 116, a psalm of praise as God has answered the writer’s cry for help. “I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;” the psalmist writes, “he heard my cry for mercy.”

As I’ve reflected on this passage this week, I was surprised how difficult the idea of asking for help can be for so many of us. Many families operate with the unspoken rule that you only ask for help if you really need it. The result is that you live with the belief that it’s ultimately up to you to make sure your needs are met. This is contrary to the message of scripture. Scripture tells us that we are needy and insufficient, and that is precisely the way that God intended for us to be. We were never intended to be autonomous. We were created to glorify and enjoy God by being in relationship with Him and with His church.

We begin our worship this week, celebrating that Christ came to redeem and restore us to that purpose. This is what it means to find our hope in Christ.

I greet thee, who my sure Redeemer art,
My only trust and Saviour of my heart,
Who pain didst undergo for my poor sake;
I pray thee from our hearts all cares to take.

Our hope is in no other save in thee;
Our faith is built upon thy promise free;
O grant to us such stronger hope and sure
That we can boldly conquer and endure.

I love Psalm 40, which is this week’s Call to Worship, for similar reasons. Here, David writes:

1 I waited patiently for the LORD;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

3 He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear

and put their trust in the LORD.

This new song of praise and thanks to God came after he’d cried out to God in need. David was in a place of great need, a slimy pit of mud and mire, and God Himself lifted David out, placing him on solid ground. David says that “many will see and fear” because they have heard the testimony of the Lord’s great power shown in David’s life. For this reason, we begin our service celebrating the sovereign power of our God and the majesty of our King Jesus.

Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne.

Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own.

Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee,

And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity.

He saw me plunged in deep distress, He fled to my relief.
For me He bore the shameful cross and carried all my grief.
His hand a thousand blessings pours upon my guilty head.
His presence gilds my darkest hours and guards my sleeping bed.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!

How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!

How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;

How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

As we come before Him, there is a proper sense of trembling and uncertainty that comes with approaching the throne of God. What do you say to the God of the Universe? This was the question the disciples brought to Jesus in Luke 11, asking, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus answered them, giving us what we now call the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, who art in Heaven

Hallowed be Your name

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done

On Earth as it is in Heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

For Yours is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory forever

Amen

One of the most striking verses of Psalm 116 in my reflection is verse 10. “I believed; therefore I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted.’” Sometimes we get the impression that if we really believed God and His promises, we wouldn’t need to cry out. We’d simply be passive and at peace with everything around us, leaving God to do whatever He pleases. This too is contrary to the Truth of God’s Word. It is because we believe in the power of God and His heart towards His people that we have boldness to come confessing our needs. This is not a lack of faith, rather it is precisely the posture Scripture encourages us to take.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

We are able to have this audacious confidence, not because of any merit in us, but because Christ has graciously bid us come.

Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands, my name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands no tongue can bid me thence depart.

This week we are also celebrating the official installation of Tre Smith as our new Associate Minister. Tre, April, and the Smith family have been worshipping and serving with us since the beginning of the month, and has already begun helping us think through vision for small groups, women’s ministry, and the Forest service. This portion of the service consists of vows made by Tre and by the congregation. The questions to the congregation will be provided in the bulletin for your involvement and reflection.

Our service closes this week with the celebration of God’s redeeming love. His past faithfulness to us is our sure confidence that He will fulfill His promises. Like the psalmist, because we believe in His goodness, we continue to call out to Him in our various times of need.

I will glory in my Redeemer

Who carries me on eagles’ wings

He crowns my life with lovingkindness

His triumph song I’ll ever sing

I will glory in my Redeemer

who waits for me at gates of gold

and when He calls me, it will be paradise

His face forever to behold

His face forever to behold.

Grace and Peace of Christ be with you always!

Tim Sharpe