Bent Oak Church

Happy Easter! The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. There was no amount of power or money that could cover up his resurrection. Jesus was alive.It was all as he had predicted. And in predicting his vindication, Jesus turned to Psalm 118. It is a psalm of worship which captured the remarkable reversal of God's blessing on those men had rejected. It may have been this very psalm that was on Jesus' mind as he headed to the cross and that first morning of his resurrection.

Psalm 23 is one of the most well-known passages in the Bible. But that familiarity comes with a challenge. Its images and ideas can pick up a sentimental nostalgia that keeps us from feeling the real impact of its message.Psalm 23 offers us the remarkable realization that the valley of death's shadow can be the very place the shepherd leads us to find green grass and calm water.

The Bible is never sentimental about our suffering. It never peddles easy solutions or gimmicks. It is honest about the ways suffering leaves us feeling isolated and in darkness. But there is a kind of mercy in that this psalm even exists—that the Bible is willing to be this honest. That mercy trains us for our own days of suffering.Psalm 88 is known as an imprecatory psalm. It is one of the most extreme laments in the psalter. Yet it too has been a part of believer's worship for centuries. 

David had accumulated everything a person could, wealth, power, position, but the rebellion of his own son Absalom left him devastated and fleeing for his life. It exposed how little control David actually had, how little control any of us have.Psalm 62 is David's reflection on this devastating time and how he urged himself to still trust in God's power and steadfast love.

The Psalms are characterized by frankness and honesty. And they don't imagine that believers escape the experience of human emotions. Instead, the Psalms catalog the human experience and instruct us on how to pray through our emotions. David's fearful prayer of Psalm 56 is a perfect example.

Having established how believers had received justification and reconciliation, Paul turned his attention to the power of sin.If god's grace is free and more abundant where sin abounds than should Christians even worry about sin? Should we go on sinning so more grace will abound?Paul describes how believers have shared in the death and resurrection of Jesus. How can those who have died to sin now live in sin?

Having addressed how Jesus' death and resurrection had made a way for humanity to become righteous by faith, Paul next turned his attention to the problem of sin. If we were now reconciled to God and if God was making us righteous through Jesus, why do we still experience sin and particularly sin's consequence of death?

Having explained how God is welcoming humanity into his covenant through faith, Paul next turns to explain the implications of what this reconciliation means. We now have peace with God, access to his presence, and the ability to rejoice in the revelation of his glory. Even in suffering, we are compelled to hope. 

Paul often anticipates the objections of his audience and in chapter four, he not only anticipates their interest in Abraham but uses this Old Testament character to deepen his point about faith. Abraham's faith grew stronger as he gave glory to God, hope against hope.

By the end of chapter three, Paul had finally reached the culminating point of his explanation, Jesus. Though humanity was lost in sin and no one was searching for God, God had now intervened.