Simple Disquisitions on Penitence

As I begin to settle my mind in for a season of writing essays on why we worship the way we worship at Good Shepherd, it is at once moving and troubling. The former is because one cannot read and meditate on the theology of worship, in its biblical and historical-theological manifestation without being touched. Worship is my favorite thing in the world to do. The latter is due to the ever-present reality of the worship wars that have raged over the last several years, and especially that past ten years within Reformed circles.

Thursday Thoughts is not the place to sift through the carnage of this ongoing war. Thursday Thoughts is intended to be a weekly devotional thought or two, to help us stay on the same page in some of the things we ponder as a community of the faith at Good Shepherd. Again, after a few years of thinking and praying and mistaking and celebrating and hurting over the idea of Christian worship – Reformed, covenantal, liturgical Christian worship, I am ready, by God’s grace, to begin tapping out some thoughts on the subject in a new group of papers, which will be made available on our website in a couple of weeks. With that said, I want to begin a series of focused Thursday Thoughts, that, while directly related to worship, intend moreover to speak to our private lives, which then come together in corporate expression as a congregation.

Yesterday, I had an appointment close enough to Green Hills to justify my dropping by the mall to check out the new Mac Book Pro at the Apple Store (I think I am about to be assimilated – stay tuned in the weeks ahead to see if I actually become a fanboy). Anyway, as I entered the mall, a young twenty-something girl, shopping bags in hand was leaving through the same door. Upon her forehead was a small smear of ash. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Season of Lent in the liturgical year for many Christians the world over. Likely, this young lady was a Romanist or an Episcopalian.

Now, here is not the place to jump into the fray of Reformed debate over the propriety of observing “holy days,” which admittedly carry vestiges of Romanist error. Some churches, as you know, resist any observance of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, etc. Again, now is not the time to unpack this debate or even express my thoughts on these matters and the use of the regulative principle of worship. I will do that in my series of articles on our approach to worship in the weeks and months ahead.

However, I do want to consider what is best about Lent – not the superstitious Romanist baggage that attends it, but what should be on the heart and mind of every Christian, all year-round, namely repentance. As I type these words, I look out of my study window and see that spring is trying to spring. Oh, I am sure there will be another chilly blast or two, before Old Man Winter packs it in for the year, but things are showing signs of wanting to come back to life. So, why would I want to focus on something as seemingly bleak and dreary, as repentance? Why would I want to call our attention to our hands caught in the proverbial cookie jar? Well, because repentance is life-giving, life-celebrating, and life-liberating in God’s economy. Along with this is the fact that, while Easter is drawing nigh, and it is a time of wearing our Sunday-best to celebrate God doing his Sunday-best by raising Christ from the grave, there is more to consider along this path. Yes, Easter is a time of hope, new life, justification, victory, and the crushing of Satan’s head, but let us not forget to consider what drove our Savior to the cross in the first place – our sin.

Now, to be sure, the whole year for the true believer is to be devoted to repentance. Every Sunday must have, as part of real Christian worship, a time for private and public confession and repentance. Remember, I always say that part of what makes worship worship is that we bring, not only our best before God – the cream of our energies and affections, but that we bring our worst to him – our sin, shame, and sorrow over this before him in confession and pardon. This is why we have observed this aspect of worship every Sunday, since our first service all those years ago. Far be it from any brand of Reformed spirituality to observe only one period of the year for repentance. Indeed, allow the force of these statements on repentance by John Calvin (1509-64) impact you right now:

“[Repentance is] a true conversion of our life to God, proceeding from a sincere and serious fear of God, and consisting in the mortification or our flesh and of the old man, and in the vivification of the Spirit” – Institutes, III:III.5.

“The two branches of true penitence – the mortification of the flesh, and the vivification of the spirit” – Institutes, III.III.8.

“Repentance is nothing else but a reformation of the whole life according to the Law of God” – Hosea Commentary, 432.

“True repentance is firm and constant, and makes us war with the evil that is in us, not for a day or a week, but without end and without intermission” – Short Treatise on the Supper of Our Lord in Tracts, II.178.

“Repentance does not consist in one or two works, but in perseverance” – Daniel Commentary, I:236.

“The faithful ought throughout their whole life to repent… for we must ever contend with the flesh” – Jonah-Nahum Commentary, 104.

“The exercise of repentance ought to be uninterrupted throughout our whole life” – Synoptic Gospels Commentary, II:341.

The point here is that we should live lifestyles of repentance. The sermon I preached this past Sunday, which, by God’s grace, seemed to touch many of us at deep places, brought out.

Still, I can’t help but see that these weeks leading up to the time in which we think about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus make for a great time to examine ourselves. Of course, every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. This is why the earliest disciples met on Sundays (Acts 20:7; 1Co 16:2; cf., Jn 29:19, 26). This is why one of the ways we begin our services on Sunday mornings is with a hearty, “The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen, indeed!” And, every Sunday, as we remember Christ at the Table of Grace, we think upon his death, as he commanded (Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:17-20; 1Co 10:16-21; 11:17-34; cf., Westminster Confession of Faith, 29.1). We are also free, and, I think wise, to focus upon his death and how we caused it, as we prepare to celebrate Easter on April 16th, this year.

Now, if you have stayed with me thus far, let me say what I want to write about in the weeks ahead. Many of you love the psalms. We sing them every Sunday, and this is one of the highlights of worship for me. Some of you feel the same way. Maybe, you even have a favorite psalm. As you have studied the psalms, you have likely noticed that there are different types of psalms. Typically, Old Testament scholars categorize them under these headings: Hymns of Praise, Laments, Thanksgiving Psalms, Songs of Confidence, Kingship Psalms. I take this list from p. 737 of The Reformation Study Bible: ESV. This is a rather general categorization, as can be seen in the fact that, while all of the psalms are messianic in that they point to Christ in some shape, form, or fashion, under Kingship Psalms we find specific “Messianic Psalms,” such as 2; 22; 110; 118. Likewise, under Laments, we find “penitential psalms,” wherein that which is being lamented is the psalmist’s sin. There are seven of these in the Psalter: 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143.

In the weeks ahead, I invite you to join me on a penitential walk through these psalms. Naturally, we will not be able to say the last word on the things each psalm contains. These will not be written sermons, as Thursday Thoughts are not meant to be lengthy expositions. Think of them as two or three page simple mini-disquisitions. Webster’s defines “disquisition,” as a “learned or elaborate treatise, discourse or essay.” These will not be elaborate or long enough to be an essay. I just want to suggest some thoughts, a little exposition of the text, perhaps, some hymn lines or quotation or two, and some ways we can make the penitence of the text our own.

Let’s get started. Take your Bible and read Ps 6. I’ll wait right here.

What do you think? Since I have invested so much space in setting up the next few weeks, let’s observe just a few quick things this week. Obviously, there are historical-contextual considerations. David is suffering in his body. We don’t know exactly what this is. Somehow, it involves abuse by his enemies, pain, sorrow, and even insomnia (v. 6-7). Even though this psalm is included among the “penitential psalms,” relative to the others, there is not as much expression of repentance and sorrow over sin, especially in light of 32; 38; and 51. Yet, it begins with David’s acknowledgement that what he is suffering is somehow linked to the Lord’s ability to rebuke him (v. 1). If you heard last Sunday’s sermon, we brought this out of the text of Lk 13:1-9 and the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree.

Here, David admits that the Lord rebukes in his anger, he disciplines in his wrath. Look at your own life. Do you feel you are under the correcting hand of God, lately? Do you know what it means to be rebuked by the Lord for your sin? Perhaps, some emotional or physical struggle has come upon you. These things are not always a response to some sin in our life, but rather are a season in God’s sovereign wisdom for your growth and conformity to Christ. Sometimes, however, they can be his “rod,” meant to bring you from the path of straying (cf., Ps 23:4; Heb 12:1-13). Examine yourself. Is the Lord trying to tell you something? Don’t despair! Don’t think the Lord is going to leave you here. Do what David did – cry out, “Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled” (6:2 ESV).

Again, we don’t know if this was some sickness or the result of enemy attack. Whatever the case, it certainly involved stress and turmoil of soul. David knew his covenant Lord would be gracious. He had every confidence to cry out for grace. He knew this, even though he didn’t know how long this trouble would last (v. 3). Maybe, you feel like saying, “How long, O LORD,” even now, as you read this.

In v. 4, we find David clinging to the hope that his covenant Lord would never cease clinging to him. He knows the Yahweh will save him, for he cannot deny his hesed or steadfast love. This is the same steadfast love that pursues us (Ps 23:6). Are you ready to stop your wandering and be captured afresh by steadfast love?

As I said, there is not as much of the language of repentance, as we will see in the other penitential psalms, not so much of the language of sorrow over sins committed and intentionality in mortification of sin. Yet, I am always intrigued by the words of v. 6, “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping” (ESV). Again, this has something to do with enemy oppression, but as v. 1 indicates, also his own sin. Let me ask you, what makes you cry? What does it take for you to shed tears? And, no, I am not asking if you wept over the Titans’ last season! Do you feel remorse for your sin? Or, have you grown numb to it? C.S. Lewis once said, “We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin.” Is that you?

If I could go back in time and see any part of our Lord’s earthly ministry, I would need to see two things, I think. First, I would want to see the transfiguration (Lk 92-36). Then, after seeing his flesh pulled back, as it were, and his glory shining through, I would be better able to appreciate the second scence – Lk 22:39-46, where one greater than David, one so lovely, so glorious, so beautiful, so sinless, so humble… heaved, gasped, anguished, and drenched the ground with his tears… with sweat like great drops of blood – all in preparation of receiving the wrath I deserved. If I could catch a glimpse of that! Oh, my precious Savior. Then, I would weep. Then, I would seek my healing from my covenant Lord, who was wounded for my transgressions; crushed for my iniquities, upon whom was the chastisement for my peace, and by whose stripes I am healed (Isa 53:5). How does it continue? “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned ever one to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon him the iniquity of us all” (53:6 –ESV).

Are you wounded? Sin-laden? Sorrowful? In need of healing? I know a path for straying sheep, like us – the path of penitential psalms. Jesus will guide us all along the way. I’ll leave you with the words of a fellow-traveler, gone on before us. He knew well the path of which we speak:

How sweet the name of Jesus

In a believer’s ear:

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,

And drives away his fears.

~ John Newton (1725-1807)