SERMON: MY SEDIMENTS EXACTLY
1. Case Study: What caused the Johnstown flood?
2. What makes maintenance hard?
a. Purging involves loss (hyssop)
b. Washing involves vulnerability
c. Acknowledgement means losing control
3. How do we do it?
a. The Word (Eph 5:26)
b. Prayer (What is this Psalm anyway?)
c. The Levees of Life
EXODUS 12:22
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
EPHESIANS 5:26
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,
Title: My Sediments Exactly
Text: Psalm 51: 7 - 12
MP: We must let God’s cleansing maintenance take away even the things we might miss, in order to retain the joy of our salvation
Outline:
It was a spectacular failure, but like so many things, it had such an ordinary cause.
Up not too far from Pittsburgh back in the 1800s there used to be a lake – Lake Connemaugh. The rich and wealthy of the day – everybody from Andrew Mellon to Andrew Carnegie – used to escape the hustle and bustle of Pittsburgh by going to their private club – the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club. It was a nice enough lake – about 2 miles long and a mile across, 60 feet deep. At the far end of the River, there was an earthen dam that was more than 70 years old.
And then, on May 28th, 1889, it started raining. Within three days, the lake started overflowing that earthen dam, and within seconds, 20 million tons of water was barreling down the valley at 40 miles per hour. Along its way, it consumed rocks and trees and horses and debris … and then buildings and people and in less than a few minutes, over four square miles of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Over 2200 people were gone in the blink of an eye. The damage was so great that rescue crews couldn’t even get in for several days. As far as dam failures go, it was spectacular.
But even great failures – blowouts – usually have such ordinary causes. When the South Fork dam was constructed back in the 1830s by the Army Corps of Engineers, it was engineered very well. It was an earthen dam to be sure – but the engineers had taken precautions to ensure its integrity. As long as water was kept from overflowing the dam, it would hold.
Cast iron pipes had been fitted to ensure drainage – although in the course of time it would turn out that an unknowing owner had simply sold them away for scrap. A spillway had been carefully graded to the right of the dam where water would go rather than overtop the earth – but in the late 1880s, nobody was keeping it up. Indeed, when the studies were complete, final blame didn’t go to some terrorist or an evil man – it was just the fault of a grounds man who hadn’t kept up with the cleaning.
In my life, I like to avoid the massive failures – the blowouts. And to do that, I need regular cleaning. But let’s face it – I’m a guy. I don’t like words like “maintenance” and “care.” I want some immediate inoculation that keeps me good – a one-time shot of God to keep me through my whole life. But that’s not how blowouts work, and it’s not even how God works. If we would avoid the blowouts, we need to be washed.
Perhaps one of the most spectacular failures in the Bible is that of King David. You know the young boy David, picking up five little stones in his sling and killing Goliath. And you know that he was a poet, composing more of the psalms than anyone else. But even he had his spectacular blowouts and even for him they had such an ordinary cause. It started off so simply – he was tired and chose one season not to accompany his men out to fight. And then, he chose to let his eye linger just a bit too long when he noticed and ordinary woman taking an ordinary bath. But he lingered. And then he thought. And before you knew it, he was sending orders to have one of best soldiers killed, just to cover up a momentary indiscretion. Indeed, it took a prophet of the Lord to reveal the extent of his wickedness. But to David’s credit, he loved God – he desired the joy of his salvation even more than his sin. And so he sat down to write these words that we read this morning in Psalm 51.
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Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, he prays – and uphold a right spirit within me.
This morning, I want to ask two questions that I hope will help us avoid the blowouts. I don’t like the failures because they are painful. I want to keep the joy of my salvation – how do I keep it from slipping away? The simple answer is as simple as regular maintenance – washing. But before I ask “How do I keep my joy?” I need to consider why it is first that Maintenance seems so hard.
Washing isn’t a complex endeavour – but it is hard. Why else would entire companies and businesses exist just to do it? I want to suggest three things from our text that help us explain why we avoid the washing before talk about how to do it. Look with me first, if you would, at three words in our text: Purge, Wash, and Hide.
Purge
When David writes, “Purge me with hyssop,” you see already that he wants something gone. He wants his guilt taken away – but he knows that good guilt goes hand in hand with sin. In order to be clean, you must be willing to be purged of your sin.
If you know any young women battling with anorexia, you’ve probably heard of purging. She attempts to lose weight by refusing to keep down the food she’s eaten – she tosses out the good with the “bad,” hoping to remove her shame by getting rid of her food. It’s a shame.
Now, sin is no great loss – but remember what we said last week. Sin usually involves something good that has been twisted. Sleep is good – but when it interferes with getting closer to God, it’s twisted. Maybe even something as beautiful as sleep needs to be taken away in order to have the higher joy of God.
Now, if you think I’m reading too much into the word purge, let me tell you something about what David suggests he be purged with. He doesn’t just say, “Purge Me” he says, “Purge me with hyssop.” For the Israelites, that would have meant something. They used to offer up sacrifices in order to be made clean. The priest would take the heifer or the goat, then touch the person with hyssop and then the animal. Then they’d kill the animal – and symbolically the person’s sin. [Lev 14:4, Num 19:6, 18] When somebody died, they’d cleanse the body with this hyssop branch. And when, back in Egypt, the Angel of Death came and killed all the firstborn, you know how the angel knew to skip the Israelites? There was blood on the lentils – but that blood had been applied with hyssop.
Purging involves loss. Maybe we should grieve for our sins more. But know this – what you get in exchange is so much better.
Washing
Washing as a whole is like that – it involves loss. My son hates getting a bath, because I think he like being dirty. Sometimes, we love our mud pies.
If you’ve been in a boy’s locker room, you know how vulnerable you feel while you getting all cleaned up. You’re concentrating on the shower and you know that someone’s going to expose you if you’re not careful.
Washing involves vulnerability. And that isn’t pleasant. If you think a cold shower is bad, this is worse. Standing in front of God and admitting your imperfections. When you come to him, it is if you are standing there with all your imperfections, the eyes not of your fellows looking and staring at you – but God himself. But guess what – he loves you. He doesn’t see any imperfections. He made you that way on purpose! He loves every inch of you. Don’t you think a master craftsman knows why he makes each piece of art unique?
But still, standing there - that’s hard work. But you know what – the payoff is worth it. We know instinctively that a perfect God should by nature hide his face and withdraw his presence from our sin – but he loves us so much that he wants us to get past that, to get over ourselves. He wants to clean us.
Acknowledging
But in order to be cleansed we have to give up one last thing – control. I’m going to tell you a sad fact of life. There is none of us who is righteous – no not one. We cannot save ourselves. We must rely on God. And that means, if we would be clean, we must acknowledge that only God can clean us.
That’s a scandal. That’s offensive. That is downright un-American. I like to think that I can do anything I set my mind to. After all, I’m the captain of my own ship, right? I’m the master of my fate. I will ascend to the heavens, I will be like the most high! And yes, those last few lines were last prayed in Isaiah 14, by what many people think is the devil himself.
Wrong. David had to acknowledge that only God could create a clean heart, only God could renew a right spirit within me. That’s hard, but it’s necessary.
We might read things that God wants us to do things like, “Love your enemies.” Sounds nice in principle, but do we really want to be praying for Osama bin Laden? Still, but if you’re going to acknowledge that God is charge, he might start asking you to do things like that.
God will not overpower you. You must submit – but you cannot do that until you acknowledge that he is in control. And that’s why maintenance is hard – because it involves the admission that you can’t do it. Only Jesus Christ can cleanse you like you need to be cleansed.
So, if you want your joy bad enough to acknowledge him, how do go about doing it? Well, again, let me suggest three simple things, and then I’m done.
HOW DO I IT?
The Word
In Ephesians 4:25, Paul is telling husbands to love their wives, and to do it in the same as Christ loved the church. If you turn there, you’ll see that Christ has an interesting way of showing his love for the church – the text says, he washes her with the water of the word.
In other words, he is attending to her daily maintenance. And he’s doing it with the word! Look around here in this church. This church has so many opportunities for being washed in the water of the word. You have Sunday School classes. I know there are bible studies going on in this church. You live so close to so many opportunities to be in the word that you could spend your entire life bathing.
So I guess I need to ask you the question – how do you approach your bath time? Do you come in for a quick little sprinkle or do ask for full up immersion. And remember, we’re Baptists, so you’re supposed to know which one is best!
Now, as much as I love the Word, I have to remember that the Word is nothing more than a means to an end. The Scriptures point us to God. The Word is an opportunity to engage our Father in a clear, unmistakeable fashion. This book is described as a being sharper than a two-edged sword. I don’t love the blade – I love the one who holds it. In the end, this book is only ink and paper, not flesh and blood. I love a person, not a set of propositions.
Prayer
No, if I would go beyond the Word, I must respond to the one who wrote it – and I do that by boldly approaching the Throne in prayer.
We must be in prayer if we would stay clean. We must be in prayer if we would have joy.
Paul urges us to pray without ceasing. This psalm that we read – ask yourself – what is it? It’s a prayer. It is open, intimate admission of who I am and who he is. It’s raw, It’s not primarily for public consumption. It is as simple and intimate as the relationship between a daughter and her dad, a son and his mom, a man and his wife.
If we are willing to confess our sins, John promises us that he is faithful to forgive us. It’s like taking a shovel and throwing the dirt in the ocean. Your sins are as far removed from you as the east is from the west, if only you’ll pray.
But confession is so negative – and our God is positively joy.
The Levees of Life
You see, prayer is more than just words – it’s a way of life. And sometimes that life means confronting obstacles – even being willing to live within the confines of the barriers that God puts there for our protection – the church, the word.
You know, back in the 1800s, the real heart and soul of this country wasn’t on the coasts – the heart and soul of this country was the Mississippi River. You’d think that a river with so much water would be clean – but you and I both know they called it “The Big Muddy.” And I’ll tell something more – the same mud that river carried nearly caused an environmental catastrophe so great – even Hurricane Katrina would have looked small in comparison.
You see, as early as the 1850s, the Army Corp of Engineers figured out that the mud and the water of the Mississippi was eating away at its own banks so ferociously that it was about ready to change course. The Atchafalya River comes really close and is a much more direct route to Gulf of Mexico. If something wasn’t done – and soon – that river was going to break through, change course, and leave the City of New Orleans isolated on a backwater bayou more than 500 miles from the main channel of the river. You can see why people got a bit worried.
Congress tried all things that Congress does – they hired people to dig and dredge, but the river kept just silting up, eating away, and getting ready to leave New Orleans.
Finally, in 1873, a respected engineer by the name of Col. James Buchanan Eads came to Congress with a radical proposal. He wanted to do something completely different – something so completely unorthodox that people laughed – even at him. Col. Eads had the idea that instead of trying to deal with the silt, we should deal with the River itself. Eads suggested that the natural flow of the river be intentionally disrupted in order to keep in clean. His idea was simple – introduce intentional obstacles that would force the River to clean itself.
Congress was so skeptical that Eads finally had to make them a deal. He wanted to try his plan so much that he told Congress that he would pay for the jetties and levees out of his own pocket. That was several million dollars – back when a million dollars meant something. He offered that if the channels weren’t 28 feet deep after five years, Congress didn’t owe him a penny. But if he was right, Congress would give 10 million dollars.
The fateful test came on July 8th, 1879 – ten years before silt would destroy Johnstown – that same power of washing water proved enough to keep the Mississippi clear to depth not of 28 feet – but 35. Channeled, that cleansing, churned up water saved a city. Ignored, it simply built up and destroyed another.
When we intentionally disrupt our days we do well. When are allow ourselves to be stirred up by reading the word, talking to God, coming to church – hearing things that should scandalize and offend us – all in order that God can clean us up. He can use your life and your struggles to keep your joy flowing.
Or, you can try digging it your own way. On your own – you’ll be a lot be a lot more comfortable. Things may pile up – but you won’t need to be concerned about them. After all – what could possibly go wrong by just ignoring some daily maintenance?
Would you pray with me?
PSALM 51: 7 – 12
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
RESPONSIVE LESSON
My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him;
For the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.
Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you to stand firm in your faith.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation – and uphold me with a willing spirit. Renew a right spirit within me.
When we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—disputes without and fears within.
But God, who consoles the downcast, consoled us.
Titus told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.
And even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it.
(though I did regret it, for I see that I grieved you with that letter, though only briefly).
Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance;
You felt a godly grief, you were not harmed in any way by us.
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.
For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment!
At every point you have proved yourselves guiltless in the matter.
So although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong, nor on account of the one who was wronged, but in order that your zeal for us might be made known to you before God.
In this we find comfort. Our heart goes out all the more to you, as he remembers the obedience of all of you, and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling. I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.
Heb 12:5-6;2 Cor 1:24;Psalm 51:12; 2 Cor 7:5-13, 16
