Only God can Bring us back Home (Psalm 23:3)

In the last few years at West Loop UBF, our sermons were from:

• Matthew's Gospel [referencing Stanley Hauerwas].
• Parables of Christ [explained by Kenneth Bailey, who's book "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes" won Christianity's book of the year].
• 1 Corinthians [commentaries by Richard Hays, Gordon Fee]; 2 Corinthians.
• Exodus currently [by Jewish professors Robert Altar and Leon Kass].

A few brief things we learned:

• "He brings me back" or "My life, He brings back" (Ps 23:3). The King James Bible popularized the phrase "he restores my soul." It has inspired and encouraged multitudes of Christians over the centuries. The NIV says, "he refreshes my soul." But it is a paraphrase from the Hebrew which literally says, "He brings me back" or "My life, He brings back." Just as the good shepherd [representing God/Christ] finds and brings the lost sheep back (Lk 15:1-7), and the woman combs through her house to find her lost coin (Lk 15:8-10), and the father who longs to bring back both of his lost sons (Lk 15:11-32), the psalmist King David confesses that God brought him back to Himself. We are encouraged to learn that only God can restore a lost sinner.

• Freedom from judgment. Consciously or not, we judge others and then insist that our judgment is unquestionably correct. But Paul says, "I care very little if I'm judged by you or by any human court...it is the Lord who judges me" (1 Cor 4:3,4). We learn that one is truly free when they live before the just judgment of God rather than the biased judgments of men.

• "New creation" (2 Cor 5:17). We incline toward doing things--even good things--habitually. But in Christ every single day, every single morning, every single moment is a brand new day, a brand new morning and a brand new moment, not the same old, same old boring habitual predictable routine.

• Liberation from...liberation for. As we now begin studying Exodus, we learn that God gives us freedom not to do whatever we want, but that we can now freely choose who to serve: Pharaoh [boss, leader, supervisor, a human being] or God alone.

My Story in Scriptures

"Up," the Pixar hit movie, began with an 8 minute montage of a shy young boy who married his rambunctious childhood sweetheart. But she became ill and died young without having any children. The movie then begins with him as a lonely, grumpy, unfriendly old man who had lost the love of his life. The montage was my favorite part of the entire movie, for it moved me more than the rest of the movie. I would have been quite satisfied if I had just watched the montage, which was itself well worth the price of admission.

My story as told by the Scriptures. As 2021 comes to a close, this is my story not in a montage of pictures, but in the Scriptures that have shaped and formed my life for the last 40+ years. Each verse has an entire story of how God worked behind the verses, so this is just a skeleton outline of a synopsis.

1. Emptiness (Gen 1:2): "The earth was formless and empty..." diagnosed and exposed my true condition in 1980.
2. God (Gen 2:17): "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil..." opened my ears to hear a "voice" from heaven, saying, "God is God." It opened my eyes to "see" who God is and I became a Christian, as it revealed my sin of self[-sufficiency], which is living without God.
3. Depravity (Gen 6:5; Jer 17:9; Isa 64:6). "The LORD saw ... that every inclination of the thoughts of [man's] heart was only evil all the time." "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure." "...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." These verses keep me in check and to not blame others.
4. Priority (Mt 6:33): "But seek first his kingdom..." addressed what should be of utmost importance to me.
5. Death (1 Cor 15:36): "What you sow does not come to life unless it dies." This is my very strange and awkward marriage key verse in 1981. It's rather funny that I had to die in order to marry Christy, the love of my life.
6. Self-denial (Lk 9:23; Mk 8:34; Mt 16:24): "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves..." ["If anyone would come after me he must deny himself"]. This helped me daily to do what I should rather than live based on how I feel.
7. Discipleship (Mt 28:19): "As you go, make disciples..." It was initially a church driven agenda, but I pray that it would be my daily motivation.
8. Peace (Jn 14:27; Phil 4:7): "My peace I give you." "The peace of God that passes human understanding..." I was surprised to experience for the first time, peace, serenity and tranquility--the 3 words that formerly tormented me because I lacked it and knew not what peace felt like.
9. Love (Jer 31:3): "I have loved you with an everlasting love" truly showed me that God's love for me was a constant and not at all dependent on how [good or bad] I was. This was at the lowest point of my life after I had just lost a million $ in 2004.
10. Sovereignty (Rom 8:28): "And we know that in all things God works for the good..." No matter what bad things people say and do, God is always good.
11. Harm (Gen 50:20): "You intended to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done..." Sticks and stones [and words] do not have to break my bones, for God is still in control.
12. Fear (Prov 29:25): "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." To my surprise, God showed me that I did not have to be afraid of any person, because my future was NOT up to them.
13. Sanctification (Phil 2:12-13). "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you..."
14. Control (Gen 3:5; Rom 1:21): "You will be like God." "They neither glorified him as God..." This led me to come up with what the root of sin is: The root of sin is the need to be in control.
15. Coinhering (Gal 2:20): "I am crucified with Christ and no longer live but Christ lives in me..." [To inhere is to exist together.]
16. Restoration (Ps 23:3): "He brings me back" or "My life he brings back" [literally from Hebrew] means that I am not able to restore myself. ["he restores/refreshes my soul."]
17. Being judged (1 Cor 4:3): "I care very little if I'm judged by you or by any human court..." There is no freedom if I am adversely affected and controlled by the harsh negative critical judgement of others.
18. Cross/Gospel (1 Cor 1:23; 2:2): "We preach Christ crucified." "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." A theology of the cross cf. a theology of glory.
19. Discipline (1 Cor 9:27): "I discipline my body and keep it under control" (ESV). "I beat my body and make it my slave..." My nightly "rosary" to fall asleep as I inhale and exhale is, "You are my Lord. Have mercy on me. Not my will, but your will be done. Not for my pleasure, but for your pleasure. Lead us not into temptation, but seek first his kingdom."
20. New (2 Cor 5:17,21): "New creation." "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us." Every day and every morning must be a brand new day and a brand new morning, not same old, same old boring habitual routine.
21. Thorn (2 Cor 12:7):  "...in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me." I must be "okay" with being pricked or even tormented by any unbearable thorn.
22. Thanksgiving (1 Thess 5:18): "Give thanks in all circumstances," not just happy circumstances.
23. Joy (1 Thess 5:16): "Be joyful always," regardless of external circumstances.
24. Life (Ac 20:24,27): "I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the good news [gospel] of God's grace." I pray that this is the singular purpose for the rest of my days...to declare "the whole counsel [ will / plan / purpose] of God."