This is the time to celebrate a new year - for Jews,
that is. For us, the actual date was October 3rd, 2005, for them it was Tishri
1, 5766. They call it Rosh Hashanah, which means "Head of the Year" -
the celebration is so important that it lasts two days. This 48 hour New Year's
Day begins a ten day countdown to the most sacred day of all, Yom Kippur, the
Day of Atonement.
The Jewish New Year is a celebration and
acknowledgement of several things. It is viewed as the anniversary of the
creation of Adam and Eve, so it’s a day of remembrance as Jews review the
history of their people and pray for Israel; and it’s a day of judgment as they
examine their past deeds and seek forgiveness for their sins
Perhaps the most outstanding feature of Rosh
Hashanah is the sounding of the Shofar, the ram's horn, which is the only
specific commandment for Rosh Hashanah. (Leviticus 25:9 - "Then you shall
transmit a blast on the horn; in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the
month, the day of
Yom Kippur, you shall have the horn sounded
throughout the land... And proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all
the inhabitants thereof.")
In Biblical times the Shofar was blown to announce
important events: preparation for war, the coming of peace, or the coronation
of the king. The "Great Shofar" is said to have been sounded during
the greatest event in all Jewish history, the giving of the Ten Commandments to
Moses at Mount Sinai.
Another significance of the Shofar is its connection
with the story of God providing a ram (as in "ram's horn") as a
substitute offering when Abraham was prepared to offer his only son Isaac, an
event which is also believed to have taken place on this same day of the year.
The sounding of the ram’s horn is also a call to repentance.
Because it is believed that during the first days of
Rosh Hashanah, the destiny of all mankind is recorded by God in the Book of
Life, during the festivities, a commonly heard greeting is, "May you be
inscribed in the Book of Life." The Jews believe that on Yom Kippur the
Book is closed and sealed, and those who have repented for their sins are
granted a good and happy new year.
During the days of Rosh Hashanah, celebrants eat a
piece of apple dipped in honey to symbolize their desire for a sweet year, and
a special prayer is said near a body of water containing live fish - in this
way they hope to symbolically "cast away" their sins, as noted in
Micah 7:19: “He will turn again he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue
our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
The reason the body of water must be one containing fish is that the fish's
dependence on water symbolizes the Jew's dependence on God, and as a fish's
eyes never close, so God is always watchful of His people.
All of this was brought to mind this week while I
was driving to the camp to drain the water pipes for another winter - I
happened to hear a broadcast of a special program of music and readings related
to this Jewish holiday. The music was in Hebrew, but the readings were in
English, and I was interested to learn that one of them was from the familiar
51st Psalm in which King David prays his remarkable prayer of repentance.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within
me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore
to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Psalm 51:10-13
Looking at just this limited section of David’s
prayer of repentance following his adulterous affair with Bathsheba, we notice
a structure which consists of two negative requests bracketed before and after
by two positive requests, and followed by the natural consequence of the prayer
being answered.
First, consider the two negative petitions. The
first one is, "Do not cast me from your presence."
Perhaps one of our greatest fears
is the fear of rejection. Our built-in, deep seated need for love and
acceptance is so strong, most of us dread to enter any situation where we are
unsure of being accepted. Perhaps this is why young folks take drugs and old
folks compromise business ethics - we don't want to be rejected by the people
we feel are important to us. The problem is, when we do this, we are betraying
the fact that there is a greater fear of man than of God. David dreaded the
thought that he may end up being cast out from God's presence. It's a sober
thought, but those who are so rejected will be, as Jesus said, be cast "into
outer darkness." (Matthew 8:12)
Incidentally, the word David used for
"presence" is literally, "face" - it's as though his prayer
is, "Please, God, don't ever let me hear You say these awful words,
'David, get out of my face!'”
"Do not . . .
take your Holy Spirit from me."
Evidently he understood the
incomparable value of the inner work of the Spirit, to bring both conviction
and comfort. The Spirit's conviction would keep him from going down that path
of sin, and end up doing what he knows is displeasing to God. The Spirit's
comfort would be there when he did succumb to temptation because he would be
assured that forgiveness and restoration was available to him.
Notice that this is the "Holy" Spirit, or
the "spirit of holiness." (Romans 1:4) Because God is holy, we
understand that "without holiness no one will see God." (Hebrews
12:14) David knew that it is the Spirit that inspires and enables holiness, it
is not something that is achievable apart from the Spirit.
"Create in me a
pure heart."
The first thing that jumps out at
us is that this is a very personal request; David prays, "Do it in
me." It is vital that we look at our own need for cleansing, rather than
what we think other people need. The tendency to look at other people's faults
is as old as the Adam and Eve we celebrate during Rosh Hashanah!
Then, what did it mean for David to pray for a pure
heart? Evidently, he knew, and was willing to admit, that his thoughts had been
impure - he had not only looked on a woman
with lust, but he acted on that impure desire, and
had conspired to have her husband killed to cover his own sin.
With this prayer, David is telling God that he
didn't want that to happen again, and he instinctively knew it would, if his
heart didn't change. Impure thoughts always eventually result in hurtful,
sinful, behavior. Jesus said, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts,
murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander."
(Matthew 15:19)
David also understood that it was the heart, the
innermost, hidden part of his being that needed cleansing. For the Hebrews, the
heart was at the center, the very source of emotions (feelings), volition
(will) and even the intellect. This heart had been made black by sin, and there
needed to be an inner work of cleansing, not merely an external clean-up job.
You may remember that during one
of our political campaigns, our Vice President used a saying he learned as a
boy growing up in Wisconsin; he said "You can put lipstick on a pig, but
it’s still a pig."
Recently, someone from our church
demonstrated their own skill at making a very dead pig look good by putting a
lollipop in its mouth just before it was carved into delicious pork.
We also want to point out that the word
"create" is the same word as “in the beginning God created.” However,
thinking about that first creation when God created everything out of nothing,
something very bad must have happened. What we know about God is that whatever
He creates is good, yet right after we learn in Genesis 1:1 that "God
created the heavens and the earth," it says in the very next verse that
"the earth was without form and void." We do not believe that’s what
God would do - He would not create something that is meaningless, empty and
dark. So actually, what we now know to be our world is really a re-creation,
for after God's first creation was ruined (perhaps by Lucifer when he was cast
out of heaven), "the Spirit of God moved" and after the seven days of
creation, the earth became what we know it to be today.
And that’s what happens with us - God created man
good, and sinless, but man sinned, became impure, and God had to send a Savior
to recreate a pure heart.
"Renew a
steadfast spirit within me."
In this prayer, David is praying
that he would not be tossed about as by the wind, that he
not be subject to temptation. The
"Lord's Prayer" comes to mind here when it says "lead us not
into temptation." David had wandered from what he knew was right, he had
not been faithful - to have a steadfast spirit is to remain faithful to the
Lord in all circumstances, and in the face of every temptation
You see, we not only want to become pure, we want to
stay pure.
"Restore to me
the joy of your salvation."
Notice that this "return of
joy" follows true repentance, new purity, and the impartation of the
Spirit.
Jesus once talked about people who received the word
of God with great joy - how wonderful is the joy of discovery, when one learns
that he or she is loved, and their sins are forgiven. But Jesus described those
people to be like good seed falling on stony ground, with no roots getting down
into good soil - soon the sprout would die, the joy will be gone. Jesus
concluded, ". . . trouble or persecution comes because of the word, [and]
he quickly falls away." (Matthew 13:21)
I hesitate to say it, but it seems to me that
American Christianity has produced a lot of stony ground Christians - where's
the joy?
"Grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."
This is a very interesting
request, for a "willing spirit" is one that is "free." This
is the word used in the KJV, but that translation also inserts some words not
in the original text - "with thy". In this prayer, David was really
asking that he might be given a free spirit. He desires to be free from the
bondage of sin. This is similar to what Paul writes, "For you did not
receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the
Spirit of sonship." (Romans 8:15) What Paul was talking about was freedom
from "the sinful nature, to live according to it." (Romans 8:12)
Finally, the results of this prayer being answered
are far reaching. The benefits are more than can be contained in the person who
has prayed the prayer; other people will be moved toward God. David asserts,
"Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to
you."
We long to see the day when our Christianity will be
vital, and our witness in the world will bring many people into the kingdom.
The other day I received a call from a Bible College
classmate of mine. Actually, not only was he a classmate, but we traveled
together in choirs and music groups. He was, and is, a very gifted and talented
man, and has been very fruitful during his many years of ministry.
One of the things he shared in our phone
conversation was that he had put together a winning package. Using modern
technology and his creativity, he had printed a beautiful color brochure about
the church, sent it to households all around the city, and then followed it up
with a telemarketing format, inviting these people to church. And wow, was it
ever successful!
Now please understand, I am not about to speak
against using modern means for the purpose of spreading the Gospel. However,
it's of interest to me that the most technologically advanced country in the
world seems to have the least vital form of Christianity - it's appalling to
know that only 3% of us are actively sharing our faith. Perhaps we're too
dependent on the technology, and have forgotten that the most powerful witness
is a godly life lived out under the probing inspection of the rest of the
world. Yes, at some point, the message must be verbalized, but the words spoken
will "fall to the ground" unless backed up by the demonstration of a
holy life.
Do you know why it is that so many have checked out
of Christianity? Why is it that so many people, who once believed, prayed
regularly and attended church, no longer do, and now are seemingly hardened to
the Gospel? Could it be that they only heard the preaching but never saw the
living?
A number of years ago I made a visit to an apartment
of a man who had just attended church the preceding Sunday. There was very
little furniture, the floors were bare, the rooms were very untidy, and the
kitchen was a messy health hazard. The man I visited, in his mid twenties, had
some friends over who regularly played together in a rock band. We had a short
time reading Scripture and talking together, and during our brief discussion,
my host made a startling comment. Perhaps impressed that I would take the time
to come to his place, accept him as he was, and show a little care, he said,
"Before you, I have never met a real Christian." Please understand, I
didn't accept that as a compliment, it greatly saddened me to think that surely
this man had met many who had claimed to be Christians, but failed to
demonstrate the reality of the Christ within.
A little over a week ago I received a letter from a
woman by the name of Susan who lives in Wisconsin.
"Please
pray for our family, as we are looking for another church. There is a man in
our church who been a drunk for years; he smacks his step children around and
talks lewd. People have confronted him time and time again, but he still
continues; now his step daughter who is 11 says she has seen him nude and he
spanks her with her pants down. This man lies when he says he's quit drinking.
"I say its time to
shun him or remove him from the church. Please write me back and let me know
what you think the Bible says should take place because he leads a Bible study
and sings at church. I must say in my short Christian life I met more believers
practicing their sin than those on the straight and narrow - it makes me very
upset and angry."
Susan, you should be angry, and no wonder the people
of this world have decided against Christianity if that's the only
representation they know. No doubt the entire church that goes by the name of
Jesus needs to pray the Psalm 51 prayer of repentance. But while we can't speak
for the rest of them, we can pray this for ourselves, and I call on all of us
here to day to join David in making this our own prayer -
Do not cast me from your presence.
Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
Create in me a pure heart.
Renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
Grant me a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and
sinners will turn back to you.
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