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Elements City Church
Summer in the Psalms - Psalm 51
This summer we’re going to spend some time in one of the most treasured books in the Bible – the Book of Psalms. They are ancient worship songs and poems that help us see God more clearly and help us engage with Him relationally. We’re challenging ALL OF US to READ through the Psalms together in the month of June and again in July. You can find that ‘youversion’ reading plan on our app – click on BIBLE tab on home page of the app or pick up a bookmark with the reading plan at Elements Next Steps table. Lean in with us this summer and see how God will meet us and stir our hearts with the Psalms.
Locations & Times
Elements City Church
1825 N Alvernon Way, Tucson, AZ 85712, USA
Sunday 5:00 PM
Thanks for joining us...
We pray that tonight would be encouraging for you. If you're a guest here with us, we want to INVITE you to our 10 Minute Party immediately following service. We'd love to meet you and we have a free gift just for you. Click the link below to see THE WEEKLY - our digital announcements/info for all things happening in and around Elements...or find everything ya need in our app.
http://elem.cc/weeklyThere are several Penitential psalms; early church recognized these 7 confessional psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143). David’s (Psalm 51) confession is written after he’s confronted by Nathan the prophet (see 2 Samuel 12) regarding his adultery with Bathsheba, set up murder of Uriah and the cover-up that followed…
We live in a world that pushes us to cover-up ...but it's confession that brings true freedom.
Psalm 51 develops the Old Testament’s most complete statement of the theology of sin. 3 Hebrew words for SIN in this passage:
Chata = to miss the mark (sin) (archery term, missing the target) speaks to our sinful actions.Pesha = rebellion, trespass/step over the line. speaks to our sinful attitudes.Avon = to be bent, twisted (house of mirrors like picture) warped image bearer. *we still reflect Imago Dei, but we're warped by sin. speaks to our sinful nature (broken humanity).
Chata = to miss the mark (sin) (archery term, missing the target) speaks to our sinful actions.Pesha = rebellion, trespass/step over the line. speaks to our sinful attitudes.Avon = to be bent, twisted (house of mirrors like picture) warped image bearer. *we still reflect Imago Dei, but we're warped by sin. speaks to our sinful nature (broken humanity).
When we come to God for forgiveness we are to come as did David, calling upon the fullness of God’s grace. We NOW live under that fullness through faith in Jesus --- it is through Christ’s merit that we now stand before the Father.
Half-way through this psalm – David gives us a great example of a simple prayer from one seeking God to do a work of forgiveness/renewal.
Create in me a pure heart (51:10). Moving beyond the cry for cleansing, David now prays for a re-creation reflecting the original creation itself, as evidenced in the word “create.” The same Hebrew verb, bārā˓, is used both here and in Genesis 1:1. We are born into sin, but we are reborn (through faith in Jesus) with a pure heart. – one that Jesus is continually reshaping within us.
There will always be a tension that exists between choosing to cover-up (the way our world promotes) and choosing to live out confession. God desires us to live out confession. Here's 3 takeaways for today...
1) Confession cleans the soul, whereas, ‘cover up’ clouds our soul and clogs up our relationship with God and others.
Real spiritual maturity does not mean repenting less; in fact, one repents more, and more quickly. LEARN TO KEEP SHORT ACCOUNTS WITH GOD and others. Sin isn’t just breaking some arbitrary rule; it’s violating & fracturing a relationship. We end up damaging our relationship with God and with others when we sin. So practicing confession is about relational restoration and reconciliation. Confession sets our hearts and minds in the right posture to commune with God.
Real spiritual maturity does not mean repenting less; in fact, one repents more, and more quickly. LEARN TO KEEP SHORT ACCOUNTS WITH GOD and others. Sin isn’t just breaking some arbitrary rule; it’s violating & fracturing a relationship. We end up damaging our relationship with God and with others when we sin. So practicing confession is about relational restoration and reconciliation. Confession sets our hearts and minds in the right posture to commune with God.
2) Takeaway:
Confession must be specific to be authentic. Generic repentance is a blanket request that has little meaning to the one that was specifically hurt. Generic repentance never works in any human relationship, thus it’s about agreeing with God that ‘what’ we did was out of alignment to His best and we confess that to Him and ask Him to cleanse us from that - to realign us to His best. Confession is about AGREEING with God as He convicts us in order to restore us! Confession now as a follower of Jesus is about relational reconciliation – it’s about keeping short accounts with God AND others - so our relationships are unhindered, authentic and flowing / functioning well.
Confession must be specific to be authentic. Generic repentance is a blanket request that has little meaning to the one that was specifically hurt. Generic repentance never works in any human relationship, thus it’s about agreeing with God that ‘what’ we did was out of alignment to His best and we confess that to Him and ask Him to cleanse us from that - to realign us to His best. Confession is about AGREEING with God as He convicts us in order to restore us! Confession now as a follower of Jesus is about relational reconciliation – it’s about keeping short accounts with God AND others - so our relationships are unhindered, authentic and flowing / functioning well.
3) Takeaway:
An immature Christian has a Graduate Degree in others’ sins and a Kindergarten Diploma in their own. We never outgrow the need for confession.We must become better at our own soul searching than finger pointing. If I’m growing in grace – it means I’m becoming more bothered by my own offenses than I am by yours. It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict. That's above my pay grade. I'm called to love. (that doesn’t mean there’s never acknowledgement of others wrong-doing – but within a healthy biblical faith walk with Jesus – *there is much more inner soul-searching –vs- finger pointing!)
An immature Christian has a Graduate Degree in others’ sins and a Kindergarten Diploma in their own. We never outgrow the need for confession.We must become better at our own soul searching than finger pointing. If I’m growing in grace – it means I’m becoming more bothered by my own offenses than I am by yours. It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict. That's above my pay grade. I'm called to love. (that doesn’t mean there’s never acknowledgement of others wrong-doing – but within a healthy biblical faith walk with Jesus – *there is much more inner soul-searching –vs- finger pointing!)
Quote:
"The biblical teaching on sin shows us the complete pervasiveness of sin and the ultimate impossibility of dividing the world neatly into sinful people and good people. It eliminates our attitude of superiority toward others and our practices of shunning or excluding those with whom we differ."
–Timothy Keller
"The biblical teaching on sin shows us the complete pervasiveness of sin and the ultimate impossibility of dividing the world neatly into sinful people and good people. It eliminates our attitude of superiority toward others and our practices of shunning or excluding those with whom we differ."
–Timothy Keller
Confession does for the soul what preparing the land does for the field. Before the farmer sows the seed, he works the acreage, removing the rocks and pulling the stumps. He knows that seed grows better if the land is prepared. Confession is the act of inviting God to walk the acreage of our hearts. -- God's seed grows better if the soil of the heart is cleared.
-Max Lucado
-Max Lucado
We want to be a people who learn to KEEP SHORT ACCOUNTS WITH GOD. We want to be a people who practice confession and turn away from the tendency to want to cover-up.
NEED PRAYER?
....we've got some of our prayer team and pastors available following service to pray with you. You can also submit your prayer request via our app. We look forward to partnering with you in prayer.
....we've got some of our prayer team and pastors available following service to pray with you. You can also submit your prayer request via our app. We look forward to partnering with you in prayer.
Thanks for partnering with us...
Thanks for partnering with us. Every gift you give enables us to move the mission of Elements and the Hope and Light of Jesus forward in our city and beyond. Thank you for financially & faithfully partnering with us! You can give here, online or easily within our free app on your phone or tablet.
http://elem.cc/give**IF YOU'RE NEW:
we throw a 10-minute party immediately following the service in the back corner of the room, if you're new, we'd love to meet you and welcome you! We invite you back next weekend as we continue this series.
we throw a 10-minute party immediately following the service in the back corner of the room, if you're new, we'd love to meet you and welcome you! We invite you back next weekend as we continue this series.