Hope that does not disappoint

Isaiah 49:23, "Those who hope in me will not be disappointed."
Isaiah 29:23, "When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.  Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction."

Hope sees the future beyond helpless, confusing, chaotic swirls of present reality.

Hope sees the future of God in control, working out his sovereign will for the good of those who love him. 

Hope sees the future of God at work with his invisible hands transforming his promises into present reality.

Hope sees God.

There is a time for everything. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

From talking with some of you, I feel your anxiety, frustration, pains, grief, doubts, tiredness, conflicting emotions that have been wearing you down.  When you hear about the vision for CMC, what we are to become, to become the lighthouse that shines the light of the gospel far and broad, you get excited.  But at the same time you feel this heavy weight descending upon you and suffocating you.  You hear the vision about how God wants to use us beyond what we are accustomed to, you get excited, but again you feel heavy and uncertain. It's not because you don't believe in God's vision to expand his kingdom through our church.  You believe that we must become a church that spread the gospel far and broad.  And, you know and believe that we as a church must undergo radical changes. Yet, there are these feelings that are really hard to shake off. 

In the midst of excitement over envisioning what we can become, you feel discouraged by the protracted confusion about where God is leading our church.  You feel discouraged by many voices as to what we must do as church that make it difficult for you to discern.  Some of you are frustrated because you are not sure what's going on. Some of you have been disappointed by me and by church and you are struggling to trust again. For some of you, you see the strain and fracture in our church and this discourages you.  Many of you feel burnt-out and worn-out and have doubts about how we as a church will be able to thrive not alone survive out there; you feel so spent and tired that you cannot imagine ministering to others. Many of you are feeling relational strains with your parents as they have real hard time believing that there will be anything good out of our us becoming the fully independent church, if it will be worth the cost! Some of you are discouraged because you feel alone in our church.  

As your pastor, as God revives me and renews his calling for me to lead you, I've been casting what I believe is God's vision for us.  Yet, in my enthusiasm, I feel like I am running way ahead of you.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.

I feel like I am out there calling you to let’s go, but so many of you are burdened with heavy feelings and unable to decisively move.  So, I think it is time for me to slow down and help you deal with your burdens. Now, this doesn't mean I am not going to stop casting God's vision for us.  It doesn't mean I am not going to stop sharing with you how you must change, how I must change, how we must change in order to realize God's purpose for us. 

But, I realize that if you have a hurting leg because of fatigue or perhaps some infections, motivation, cheering, casting vision will not help you run out there to win the game.  So, I would like to come along side of you and minister to you as your pastor, as your friend, as your brother in Christ. 

• Take time to invest in relationship.

In about a week, we are going to find out what God sees for our church.  I believe that majority of you already have the clarity about what God wants for our church.  And, you will have choice and will need to decide which way you personally want to go.  You will have to choose for yourself whether you want to be a part of CMC as an independent church or be a part of EM of KCUMC.  Or, perhaps, some of you are thinking about finding a third church option.  
Regardless of what you choose, it will be costly decision for you, for all of us.  It will be my honor if you would allow me to come along side of you and let me be your sounding board; I would like you to try out your thoughts and your feelings with me that I may help you sort things out.  I realize that my strongest gifting is in the area of counseling.  And, I am confident that God can use me in your life.  I also realize that I am far better at communicating my thoughts and feelings privately than in my preaching.  Some of you need to hear more from me about where and how I want to lead our church.  I also need the opportunity to hear from you.    
So, I am going to make some phone calls this week to talk either on the phone or to meet up in person.  So, think about what your concerns and questions and share them with me. I want you to share with me what ways I can help you.  
Also, if there is anything about me that bothers you, if there is anyway I've sinned against you, I would like you to talk to me.  Just like it damages you when people talk behind your back, please extend the same courtesy to me.  Besides, it is the Lord who commanded in Matthew 5:23-24 to go and be reconciled to your brother.

I cannot promise you that I will never disappoint you as your pastor; I can promise you that I will do my best to fulfill my calling to shepherd you.  But, for whatever reasons, you become disappointed with me, your temptation will be to go and find someone else to talk about your disappointment over me.  But, if you don't come and talk to me, you will be depriving me of the chance to ask for forgiveness for my sins against you; you will also be depriving me of the chance to become a better pastor, you will also be depriving me of the chance to clarify my name.  Not only that you will be in danger of sinning by gossiping.  For Proverbs says, "A gossip betrays a confidence" (Proverbs 11:13).
Satan would love nothing more than to destroy our church.  And one of the surest ways to destroy our church is to put a wedge between you and me and between us.  And, the gossip is the Satan's rumor weeds that can destroy God's garden, God's church.  So, keep things current with me.  
I believe that when our church decides what we must become, we will need to spend time to regroup; we will need time to heal, we will need time to nurture each other.  Our relationship needs to be strengthened and affirmed.  You will need to allow me to minister to you where you are hurting.  We will need to commit to build our connection stronger.  We will need to battle distrust by speaking truthfully to each other.  We will need to exercise forgiveness and risk boldly by giving trust and earning trust.  We must not be satisfied with merely maintaining vague sense of familiarity and confuse it with the genuine relationship in Christ.  We need to relearn how to love one another from the zero ground.  We will need time to be restored and be united again.  
It is a time to heal (Ecc. 3:3)

• Take time to identify the sinful attitudes.

We will also need to honestly reevaluate and access ourselves and identify the sinful attitudes that will hold us back from realizing God's vision.  
Before we can call other English speaking Korean Americans to join us, before we can bring the gospel to our friends, colleagues, neighbors, and strangers beyond ethnic and racial differences, before we can invite them to church, before they can become followers of Jesus Christ, we will need to confront the sinful attitudes and beliefs that hold us back from responding God's vision.  
We must battle against apathy and indifference, we must stop blaming others, but be responsible, we must not be ashamed of the gospel, but become bold, we must let the gospel penetrate our own hearts and let it transform our inner person, our families, our brotherhood and sisterhood, we must confront our selfishness that goes against the very fabric of the gospel.  We must know what sinful attitudes and what practices must go and be replaced by godly attitudes and practices in order to become all things to all people to save some.
In order to build, we must first tear down (Ecc. 3:3). 

• Take time to be responsible.

As your pastor, your friend, and your brother, I want to also encourage you to be responsible.  You've heard me speak enough about what I believe is for our church, to become fully independent church with the renewed vision for the future.  I know that many of you share my conviction.  Yet, I also know that the some of you feel so strongly that you shouldn't leave your families at KCUMC.
Here is the reality.  I cannot make the decision for you.  No one can make the decision for you.  It is time that we all become responsible adults and make our choices. 

You've been praying for long time about this, you've been thinking about this long time, you've been talking to others about this for awhile.  You have common senses.  You know the word of God.  Now, it is time to choose.  As I have said in the past, it is wrong to frame the decision to join EM of KCUMC or to become fully independent CMC as all or nothing.  Some of you have strong conviction that you don't want to leave KCUMC.  Then, you should stay and do what you can to serve the vision of KCUMC.  But, some of you like me have different conviction to pursue different vision for CMC.  Then, stand on that conviction and move to build up CMC.  In either way, in the totality, God gets the glory; his kingdom will be expanded among the 1st generation Korean Americans through the ministry of KCUMC and his kingdom will be also expanded through CMC as the English speaking Korean Americans reaches out with the gospel as Paul did beyond ethnic boundaries.  Paul never forgot his people for he didn't stop reaching out to the Jews; it just that he didn't limit himself only to the Jews with the gospel.  The mandate of the gospel upon him was bigger than just the Jews.  We as CMC will not be able to forget English speaking Korean American generations, so we will continue to reach out to them.  But, the mandate of the gospel demands that we embrace the Pauline attitude, to become all things to all people to save some. 

Remember even after Paul and Barnabas had their sharp disagreement and they went their separate ways, the end result was that instead of having one missionary team of Paul and Barnabas, now there were two missionary teams, Paul with Silas and Barnabas with Mark (Acts 15:39-40)

Remember Peter stayed behind to build the Jewish church; he gave his life to build up the 1st generation Jewish church.  But, also remember Paul went to build the Gentile churches, primarily non-Hebrew speaking, but Greek and Latin speaking Gentiles. 

So, it is time to be responsible.  You must be responsible with your choice.  There is no need to demonize either choice.  There is no need to blame anyone else; there is no need to make decision because of someone else. Don't fool yourself for one second believing the lie that you don't have the choice.  Don't let others make the decision for you, even me or your parents.  You always have the choice.  So, be responsible and make your stand. 

• Take time to grieve.

The wisdom says that there is a time to plant and a time to uproot (3:2).  And, there is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance (3:4), a time to embrace and a time to refrain (3:5) a time to search and a time to give up (3:6), a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak (3:7), a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace (3:8). 

I believe that we are at a time to uproot, a time to weep, a time to mourn, even for a time of war.  I saw many of your tears; I've heard how deep the pain goes for you to be part of the independent church away from your family church.  It is a time when many of you will face the anger, bewilderment and misunderstandings from your families, even from people who know you very little.  And, I know that for some of you, it is a time when your family relationship feels like it is being torn apart.  And, it all hurts like crazy!  If your choice is to build up CMC and be carried away in the zeal of the apostle Paul, it is now time to grieve.  As a pastor, I release you to grieve.  So, give yourself permission to grieve.  I too grieve with you.  I don't know how long it will take to grieve, but we must grieve until there is no more tears.  I don't know when the pain will stop for you and me. 

• Time to hope

But, as the wisdom says, as there is a time to grieve, there will be a time to celebrate.  Having uprooted, it will be time to plant, having cried the tears of pain, there will be time to laugh and dance, having restrained, there will be a time to embrace, having given up, there will be a time to search again, having faced a war, hate, and tear, there will be a time to mend, a time to love and time for peace.

Hope against all hope (Romans 4:17-21)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Romans 4:17-21, “As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead- since he was about a hundred years old- and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

To ‘hope against hope’ is to have hope even when the situation appears to be hopeless…

Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength. (G.K. Chesterton, Signs of the Times, April 1993, p. 6)

What causes hopeless?

· Powerless to dream… Hopeless sets in when you are just getting by and trying to be content with status-quo. But, you are aching because you know deep down inside of you that you are created for something more; you are created to dream beyond what seems possible because you know God. Yet, you have lost the ability to dream. You no longer think in what’s possible. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God “has set eternity in the hearts of men.” You are made for eternity, but you have lost your way and you don’t dream any more. Busyness, trying to survive and get through, even the entertainments bore you now... You no longer dream and you are hopeless.

· Powerless to know where you are going… when you feel lost, when you don’t know where you are going, when you cannot see the big picture, when you are not driven by God given purpose in life you lose meaning.

· Powerless to change… It’s been too long since you saw real changes. Nothing is changing and you’ve been slowly sinking into the deep hole of hopelessness because you feel powerless to see any meaningful change.

· Powerless against setbacks… When you are defeated, when you mess up, when life turns for worse, it also cause hopeless.

What causes you to feel hopeless about your life? What makes you feel hopeless about the state of your family? What makes you feel hopeless about our church, about our nation?

When God stepped into Abraham’s life, God spoke in the language of promise of what he was going to do. He was going to raise Abraham to be the father of nations, to bless all people, all nations through him. When God spoke in this language of promise, sure certainty, it was as though God set his eternity into Abraham’s heart. How could he an old man 100 years old, how could Sarah his wife beyond human possibility to get pregnant at 90, how could he, how could she dream the possibility to have a child, to dream the birth of many nations? … The present reality, the human impossibility, was so far off from what God said he was going to do through Abraham. One without faith would brush God off as making a cruelest and insane joke.

But, it was far worse in those and agonizing dark days when Jesus’ dead body was put away in the tomb. There is nothing in the world that can compete against the lethal power of death to destroy hope. Death is like great flood that wipes away anything and everything in its path. Death is like great fire that burn down homes with memories into rubbles and smokes. Death is like catastrophic engine failures and structural failures that impair an flying airplane to nose-dive to destruction. Death leaves casualties of hopelessness.

Yet, on this Easter Day, God has set eternity into the hearts of men and women like he has never done before. When death seemed to have the final say, when death seemed to have pronounce all is lost and gone, when death seemed to have destroyed any hope, God broke into the darkness moment of history. But, it was like the sun rising from the east and the darkness couldn’t hold it back.

Just like that God broke into the powerlessness to dream, powerlessness to make sense out of meaninglessness, powerlessness to change, powerless against setbacks. Just like that God broke into the dark present reality with his eternity. And, the history has never been the same since then.

I believe that just like the way God evoked Abraham and Sarah to dream that which was humanly impossible, just like the way God brushed Abraham and Sarah with eternity, he is doing that with you and me. God wants you to know today that he has power to do what had promised to do with your life, in your family, in our church, in our nation, in our world. You will not thwart God’s sovereign purpose. Your choice is either to yield to his purpose and welcome it in faith or you reject his purpose and descend into hopeless death. Romans 8:28–30 says,

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

God’s goal is that you share in his glory as Jesus shares in the Father’s glory. It is the purpose beyond time boundary. Before you were born, while you were little like the babies today, while you were children like my older girls, while you were teenagers, now as grownup adults, God’s purpose is that you be conformed into the likeness of Christ and lived for God’s glory, get on with the Father’s business!

Church, brothers and sisters in Christ, today God has set his eternity in your heart. So, set your heart on something far greater and far glorious beyond your present situations.  Don't be defined by powerlessness to dream, inability to see where you are going, powerlessness to change and powerlessness to fight against setbacks. It is time to rise and to march with Christ. Don’t let the present reality defines you. Let the Great I AM of eternity defines your today. Set your eyes on God’s purpose to conform you to the image of Jesus, to embark on his mission to bring glory to God.

So, as apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:14,

Church, I charge you today, “Wake up, O Sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

When things turn bad to worse… (Genesis 37-50)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Last Saturday morning, I received a call from a man. He needed to talk to someone from church about his life. He said he was waiting for Loan modification for his home. As the economy has tanked last couples years, he too was hit hard financially and needed a favorable and affordable loan term to pay back his mortgage. Things were looking bad, but he got a call from the loan office that he was going to get the loan modification he applied. He was ecstatic that it came through knowing that many were praying for him in regard to this.

But, then just few days ago, he received the devastating news that turned things bad to absolute worse. He was told that the loan modification fell through; not only that, he was told that he had a month to clear out and vacate his home. All that happiness evaporated, gone! He asked me, “Why is God doing this to me?” “I was so happy to hear that the loan modification was going to be approved, but not only did it fall through, now I am going to lose my home. Why is God allowing this? This is death to me.”

We’ve all been there when things go bad to worse. Perhaps, you are there now and you are asking the big “Why” questions. You are trying to make sense of your life but you can’t. You try to get traction in your life, but you are slipping further into deeper hole. And, you can’t make sense of what God is doing now in your life. You feel either God is against you, or he has abandoned you. God seems distant, indifferent, and capricious to you seemingly inflicting pain in you for no purpose. And, you don’t what to think and what to feel about God.

Or perhaps, you know friends or families who are bitter in life because things are going bad to worse and they are not able to make sense of life. They are angry, perplex, and confused. And, they are looking to you for advice and direction. But, all you can say is, “Gee, I don’t know what to tell you.”

I want you know to know that the Bible is not silent about this concern. God has laid out in his word the way to make sense when things go bad to worse. Consider with me the life of Joseph.

• Joseph’s rise preceded by 12-13 years of sustained fall.

If you know the Bible even little bit, you’ve heard about the story of Joseph. A musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is based on the story of Joseph from Genesis. An animation, Joseph- King of Dreams is based on the story as well. The story of Joseph is a powerful story that can help us make sense when things go bad to worse.

The story goes something like this. Joseph grew up in a completely dysfunctional blended family; he was among twelve brothers and one sister. When you read the account from Genesis 29 and 30, it sounds absolutely ridiculous. It is worse than even the worst of soap operas. Two sisters, Leah and Rachel both married to Jacob, were at each other; Jacob favored and loved Rachel more than Leah. In those days, women who were able to have lot of children were highly esteemed. It happened that un-favored and unloved Leah was the first one to give birth to the four sons. Highly jealous, Rachel who couldn’t have any children took matters into her own hands; she enlisted her maidservant Bilhah and produced two children. Leah who couldn’t have children after her first four sons counteracted Rachel by enlisting her very own maidservant Zilpah and producing two more sons. Then, the race resumed when Leah started having more children of her own adding three more. The race ended with Rachael having Joseph and later dying after giving birth to the youngest son Benjamin.

Seriously dysfunctional, won’t you say? The children grew up in a toxic environment poisoned with jealousy and hatred. No wonder the half brothers turned against Joseph.

Jacob favoring Rachel over Leah, he also heavily favored Rachel’s children, Joseph and Benjamin. And, of all, Joseph was Jacob’s favorite. And, talking about poor parenting, he made sure everyone knew about who was his favorite. It says in Genesis 37:3, “Now Israel [that is Jacob] loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age, and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.”

What’s was the result? It says, in Genesis 37:4, “When his brother saw their father loved him [Joseph] more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.”

To make things worse, Joseph was a dreamer; literally a dreamer who told the dreams that horrified and enraged his brothers. The theme of his vivid dreams was basically that all his brothers and even his father and mother would bow and submit to Joseph. It says in Genesis 37:11, Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and that in verse 18 they were plotting to kill him.

Well, all wasn’t lost since Reuben came to his sense how ridiculous was the plan to get rid of their own half brother. In spite of his effort to free Joseph, the rest prevailed in getting rid of Joseph. They sold Joseph to the Midianite merchants (Genesis 37:28) and later Joseph was sold in Egypt to Potiphar (37:36).

The story is picked up in chapter 39 with the new scene now in Egypt. Joseph found himself as a slave under the Egyptian master, Potiphar, the officer and captain of the guard. Joseph made the best of the bad circumstance by being responsible, reliable, trustworthy and a hardworking servant; he rose up the rank and earned his master’s complete trust. Yet, when things were looking better, things turned for the worse. Joseph was entrapped and falsely accused by Potiphar’s wayward wife; Joseph lost the hard earned trust of his master Potiphar and ended up in the jail.

And, now in chapter 40, the story is picked up in the jail scene. Just like Joseph earned the favor of Potiphar, here Joseph earned favor and trust from the warden. To Joseph were assigned two new prisoners, high officials of Pharaoh the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt. Both of these two men had dreams that terrified them. Joseph the dreamer interpreted the dreams and it came to pass; Pharaoh restored the cupbearer back to his former position while condemning the baker to death.

And, in chapter 41, the plot moves from the jail scene to the court of Pharaoh. Here too, Pharaoh had two troubling dreams. It is this time when the cupbearer who completely forgot about Joseph remembered him and introduced Joseph to Pharaoh. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream with God’s help; finally Joseph climbs out of the worse and rises to the rank of second-in-command in Egypt.

Now, those of you who are familiar with the story of Joseph, do you know how much time had passed for Joseph from being betrayed by his brother, ended up in Egypt as a slave, then later ended up in a jail? Do you know how long it passed from the time the cupbearer was restored back to Pharaoh and to the time when he actually remembered Joseph?

Genesis 37:2 says that Joseph was “a young man of seventeen.” That’s when he was betrayed and sold away by his brother. And, Genesis 41:46 says, “Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” So, that’s about 13 years or so from the time being sold as a slave to assuming the second-in-command position. And, Genesis 41 tells us that two full years had passed since the cupbearer forgot about Joseph to the time he remembered Joseph before Pharaoh.

That’s thirteen years as a slave and a prisoner. That’s a long time for things to go bad to worse, won’t you say?

• Gain perspective when things go bad to worse

What does the story of Joseph tell us about when things go bad to worse?

1. Discern the origin of hardships.

• God made the world with the built it system where making rebellious, sinful, unwise choices will make things bad to worse in our lives. Obviously, this wasn’t the case for Joseph since he was the victim of being wronged.
• In the case of things going bad to worse because of our rebellious sins, the solution is to repent and turn to God.
• God designed the world in such way he allows things to go bad to worse in order to wake us up from persisting in rebellion.
• In the case of suffering consequences of sins and rebellion is to ask God to restore us to the right living, healthy living, righteous living.
• But, then, as was the case for Joseph, there are time injustice are done to us, and there are times we simply cannot explain why things go bad to worse. Joseph didn’t do anything bad, but things got worse for him for long thirteen years before things got better.
• This means we don’t falsely believe that just being Christians would guarantee happiness and trouble free life.
• The most important questions are not, “Why is this happening?” rather ask, “What is God trying to accomplish in me through the hardships that I am facing?” “And, in response to what God is doing and trying to accomplish in the midst of hardships, how should I live?”

2. What is God trying to accomplish in you through the hardships you experience?

• God wants you to believe that he is purposeful and good, not capricious or malicious. He is not allowing hardships in your life just because he wants to mess with you. No, he wants to accomplish greater goal through your life.
• God’s purpose for Joseph… Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the savings of many lives.”
• Remember God is God who sent his Son to subject himself to suffering, persecution and death in order to save you and me from evil and death.
• He wants you to believe he cares for you not indifferent or aloof.
• He wants you to believe that God is able to help you because he is in control and he is sovereign.
• He wants you to believe that he knows better than you do. Don’t waste your energy trying to outsmart God. In his timing he will help you make sense of the hardships you face. Don’t waste all your energy to asking “Why” questions.
• Job told God in Job 42:3, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”
• He wants you to experience his power to restore you, heal you, to make you stronger in him, to purify you through the hot furnace of life’s troubles. So, that at the end you emerge as a man and woman fit for the life in the kingdom of God.

3. How should you live your life in the midst of hardships?

• Knowing God has greater purpose for you, knowing God cares for you, knowing God is in control, knowing God knows what he is doing, knowing God wants you to experience his power, what you need to do is
• Live faithfully trusting in God.
• Live patiently waiting on God.
• Live hopefully for God’s right timing.
• Live victoriously for God’s redemption.

Secured by the resurrection hope! (Psalm 16)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Morning Sermon (4.12.2009)

Easter is about our God displaying his mighty power over death and sin through raising his Son Jesus Christ from death. It is about God flexing his muscle over Satan. It is about God’s kingdom of his Son breaking into the kingdom of darkness with unstoppable force. It is about God securing his people on the solid ground of salvation in times of insecurity. As such, if you want security from your unpredictable, uncertain future, if you want security from your fear of premature harms or death, if you want security from your anxiety caused by having to make big life decisions, if you want security from your fear of failing yourself, failing others, or failing God, if you want security from your past failures and sins, if you want security at all for whatever reasons, God made a huge statement on Easter Sunday in the history that it is he who can secure us in his Son Jesus.

Today, I would like to take you back to three millenniums before our time or one millennium before the time of Jesus. I would like to take you back to the time of David, the king of Israel. David lived in insecure time; he was a man familiar with trials and difficulties. He faced life threatening circumstances because of the fractured human relationships; he was pursued by Saul who was rejected by God as a king; Saul was relentless in his attempt to kill David. David was also betrayed by his own son who tried to overthrow his kingdom. He lived in insecure time that should have paralyzed him with fear, anger, bitterness, hatred, inferiority complex, misery or depression. Instead what we see is David turning to God and praying earnestly for God’s security in his hopeless and insecure time.

1. David faced two dangers in Psalm 16

In verse Psalm 16:1, we see David asking God to keep him safe. We don’t know the exact circumstance David was in. But whatever it was, it involved a life threatening insecurity. Besides this danger of death, he also had to deal with the danger of compromising and loosing his faith. According to verse 4, around David were people who ran after the idols, offered to them, and pledged their trust in them. David had to fight against this temptation to forsake the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

2. Secured by relationship with God.

For David to ask God to keep him safe and to take refuge in God presupposes David’s relationship with God. It is relationship built on trust. In Psalm 17:8, David expressed his trust in God this way, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”

David understood that ultimately it was God’s responsibility or his prerogative to look after his people as their King, their rightful ruler. David called out to God for help because God was not some distant deity, but one who came into his life to rule him; David knew that he belonged to God his King. And, this belonging to God is possible because according to 1 John 4:19, “he [God] first loved us.”

God first broke into our dark world while we were ignorant, while we were sinful, while we were his enemies, to bring us into the kingdom of his Son, to secure us on the Rock, the Cornerstone, to secure us in his Son. We can hope and ask God to secure us because he has pursued us to rule over us justly, lovingly, and competently.

Consider the depth of David’s relationship with God in Psalm 16:2. David told God, “Apart from you I have no good thing.” Or put it positively, “All the good things, all that I consider good in life come from you.” James 1:17 echoes this attitude, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” David was saying to God, “God to have you is good enough.” He also told God in Psalm 16:5, “Lord, you have assigned me my portion, and my cup, you have made my lot secure” as translated in NIV. David was recounting the way God had supplied to meet his needs. ESV translation of verse 5, “The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup” captures the understanding of how God supplied to meet David’s need, but more than that, that God gave himself to David. It echoes what God told Aaron in Numbers 18:20, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them, I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.” God who gives abundantly to meet all our needs gives himself to us. So, here is the question, “Is God enough?” Chris Tomlin’s song we sang today, “Enough” captures this truth very well.

You are my supply, my breath of life

and still more awesome than I know.

You are my reward worth living for

and still more awesome than I know.

All of you is more than enough for all of me.

For every thirst and every need you satisfy me

with your love and all I have in You is more than enough.

3. Secured by relationship with God’s people (Psalm 16:3).

Another observation that I see from Psalm 16:3 about seeking God’s security in life is the importance of having strong and intimate relationship with God’s people. David called God’s people as the saints who are in the land and that they are the glorious ones in whom is all his delight. Do you consider me as your delight? Do I consider you my delight? Without this Christ giving connection of delighting in each other, any sense of security will seem hollow and shallow. If we want real security that comes from God, we got to learn to delight in each other.

4. Secured by the Lord’s truth.

Christian security in Christ is built on God’s truth. Psalm 16:4, we see David rejecting the temptation to compromise the faith in God by refusing to even mention the names of the idols that his contemporaries worshiped. This rejection of idolatry stems from David’s firm belief that God alone is enough.

Along with this rejection of false worship and his satisfaction in God alone, we see him being directed by God’s truth in Psalm 16:7-8. You cannot imagine being secured in God without delighting in God and his truth. David praised God because of God’s counsel and God’s instruction to his heart. Day and night, David experienced God’s abiding truth guiding him and guarding him with power. God was at David’s right hand; God was his strength. No wonder David said, “I have set the LORD always before me.” His single-hearted commitment to the Lord grew out of his experience of God and his truth. The result was the sound security in the insecure time. Or, as David expressed “I will not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8) in times of difficulties and trials.

5. Secured by the hope of resurrection.

In the original context of this Psalm, David wasn’t necessarily thinking about resurrection. What he had in his mind was deliverance from the fear of death. He was asking God to literally protect him from dying prematurely. What’s captured in verse 10 in the context of David’s life is his trust in God not to abandon him to the grave, to death, to decay in the grave. And, this hope of deliverance from the fear of death allowed his heart to be filled with gladness. Words of fear, uncertainty, doubts were replaced with words of rejoice. His body that was tense, tired, and shaking now experienced rest in security.

Peter quoted this psalm when he preached for the first time ever for any Christian in Acts 2:25-28. Peter argued that David although spoke about his life situation, but by God’s wisdom, what he spoke about himself became a prophetic description about Jesus Christ a millennium later. For David it was a matter of deliverance from death, but for Jesus it was a matter of resurrection from the dead. Peter again quotes from Psalm 16:10 in Acts 13:35 to reiterate the hope of resurrection, not just merely prevention or delay of inevitable death.

Between the hope of deliverance from death and the hope of resurrection from death, which is stronger hope? David was secured by the hope of deliverance from death. What we have is being secured by the hope of resurrection from death.

Conclusion

What makes your life insecure these days? What do you do to make your life secure in insecure time? Psalm 16 teaches us that God who is “good” (v. 2) shows you the path of life, fills you with joy, and gives you pleasures when you dwell in the hope of the Lord’s resurrection. May God help you find security in the resurrection of Jesus Christ!