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Nov 26, 2017

Defining Stillness

Defining Stillness

Passage: Psalms 46:1-11

Speaker: Ben Seneker

Series: Psalms

The psalm that we will consider this week is both a confession of faith as well as a call to “come and see” the works of God. The psalm reminds us that God is our refuge, our source of strength, and a “very present help” during times of trouble. The psalm concludes with a command to be still and know that he is God. But, what does it mean to be still? What does it not mean to be still?

Order of Worship

Call To Worship: Psalm 100
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 2:2-4
New Testament Reading: Philippians 2:9-11
Corporate Confession of Sin: from the Book of Common Prayer
Assurance of Pardon: Romans 5:1-2
Central Text: Psalm 46
Sermon Title: Defining Stillness
Benediction: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

11.26.17 Lyrics

11.26.17 Slides

Readings & Scripture:

Call To Worship: Psalm 100
LEADER: 1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

ALL: 3 Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

LEADER: 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

ALL: 5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Reading(s):
Old Testament: Isaiah 2.2-4
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

New Testament: Philippians 2.9-11
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Corporate Confession of Sin: from the Book of Common Prayer
Let us join together in confessing our sins:
Merciful Father, we have strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the schemes and desires of our own hearts, and have broken your holy laws. We have left undone what we ought to have done, and we have done what we ought not to have done. Yet, O Lord, have mercy on us; restore those who repent, according to the promises declared to us through your Son, Jesus Christ. Grant, merciful Father, for his sake, that from now on we may live godly and obedient lives, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Romans 5:1-2
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Central Text: Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Sermon Title: Defining Stillness

Benediction: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
LEADER: 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

ALL: Amen.

Post-Service Text: Ps 46.10
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”

Related Scriptures:

Deuteronomy 10:14
Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.

Mark 4:37-41
37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Hebrews 4:14-16
“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

John 16:33
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. What do you usually think of when you hear the word “stillness”?  What is its opposite?
  2. Why is stillness in its deepest sense so attractive, and yet so elusive to us?  What is the source of the lack of stillness that we struggle against?
  3. Where do we look to regain stillness?  How does Psalm 46 help us see the correlation between God as our refuge and our subsequent ability to be still?
  4. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross made it possible for us to receive spiritual stillness, even though around us “the nations rage, the kingdoms totter.”  What might spiritual stillness look like in your life?  Does it involve action, or inaction?

Quotes:

“We sing this psalm [Ps 46] to the praise of God, because He is with us and powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends His church and His word against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of hell, against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the assaults of the world, the flesh, and sin.”  ~Martin Luther

“The kings of the earth are continually disturbing the world with their schemes of ambition.  They expect to carry everything before them, and have seldom any higher end in view, than the gratification of their own passions.  But in all they do they are but servants of this great King and Lord, and fulfill his purposes, as the instruments he employs to inflict prescribed punishment upon transgressors against him, or to open a way for the spread of his Gospel. … They had one thing in view, he had another.”  ~John Newton

“Music and silence — how I detest them both! … no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise — Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile …We will make the whole universe a noise in the end.” - Screwtape Letters

Sermons/resources:

Sermon by Jonathan Edwards, June 1735

Media & Songs

Be Still - The Fray