Confidence Man

2009-02-22 (am) Confidence Man

Loud music. Gyrating bodies. Hands holding lighters or cell phones thrust into the air. Screaming girls. Wild clapping. A gigantic crowd, thousands and thousands of people united by a common desire: pouring out their praise and adulation for a talented group of people.

When it is all done, after the 5th encore, as the crowd departs, you hear, “That was amazing. That was the best concert ever! That band rocks! I love them! There is nothing greater in the world!”

Then, for weeks afterward, these obnoxious fans will be in people’s faces, wearing their concert shirts, telling anyone who will listen all about their favourite band, loudly encouraging everyone to be fans like them. They deplore anyone silly enough to resist becoming a fellow worshipper.

People respond the same way with sports stars, science stars, authors, bloggers, even preachers, though I’ve yet to hear of any congregation asking for an encore at the end of a sermon.

Have a conversation with anyone and it won’t take long to discover their favourite band, team, or star. And many people treat these favourites with religious fervour. There’s the guy who wears the same underwear for every game day. There’re people who will only ever buy one brand of vehicle.

This proves that humans are created to worship. We have a natural inclination to praise. The fall into sin did not diminish this desire to praise one bit. But the fall into sin, did change our natural object of praise. Instead of worshipping God alone, as we heard in the first commandment, people worship themselves or other people.

Into this world full of praising and worshipping people, from the oldest to the youngest, from the atheist to the devout, the psalmist boldly declares: “Praise the Lord.”

This is a command! It’s stronger than merely saying, “Go Oilers, go!” This is much more like saying, “The Oilers are the best!”

While I completely disagree with that last statement, the command rings true for many people. In , psalmist commands everyone who reads or hears his psalm to declare: “Yahweh is the best.”

The psalmist commands his people, the psalmist commands us, and the psalmist commands the world to praise the Lord. Not just half-heartedly raising one hand half way up in the air like a Killdeer pretending to be injured, no, this is a command to full out, boldly, both hands in the air, boast in the Lord. Brag about Yahweh. There is no one, not one thing in the entire universe greater or more praise worthy than Yahweh, so why hold back?

Indeed, he’s so sure of Yahweh, that he boldly vows, “I’ll worship the Lord all my life! I will never turn away. I’ll be a fan forever, until the end of this life, and throughout the life to come.”

Like any fan, the writer of gives two reasons, he first shows the futility of worshipping anything, anyone other than God, and then he offers a very convincing list of reasons why everyone ought to worship the one true God.

Let’s observe why it is futile to worship anyone or anything other than God.

Again, it is very clear, everyone worships something, either themselves, or other people. And that’s where he starts.

The psalmist lived in an environment where people were not merely infatuated with the royal family. In those days, many cultures deified their kings. People worshipped and venerated their rulers.

Matthew Henry, like John Calvin, thought King David wrote this psalm. If that were the case, isn’t it remarkable that a prince, a king would bluntly declare, “do not put your trust in princes”?

Why would a king say that? Why would anyone say that? This is radically counter cultural. People still put all kinds of trust in rulers, leaders, even captains and former captains of sports teams, like Mats Sundin.

Even churches today put an inordinate faith in governments and leaders, trusting them to support them; to protect their freedoms.

But is the psalmist right? Is trusting in princes or other people a wasted effort? History has proven the truth of this statement, hasn’t it? Princes make mistakes. King David made several. Princes and governments change their minds. Few follow through on their promises.

Look at our own royal family. Hardly the greatest role models are they.

Look at A-rod, guilty of using steroids, like that’s a surprise. Look at Ben Johnson, Britney Spears, look at any famous person, and eventually, they’ll let you down.

And yes, we’d even be foolish to place an over abundance of confidence in our Cadets who managed to win all three trophies at the snow derby yesterday!

But suppose we were to find someone who was actually almost good. says there’s no one good, not even one. But suppose we could find someone, you know who’s good at something, yet humble. Who’s famous but gracious. Someone who hasn’t let fame or fortune get to their heads. Even if they lived a good life, what happens?

What’s the fate of all people? Their breath will go out of them, and one day it won’t return. They’ll breathe in, then breathe out, and one day stop breathing in again. This has been happening ever since the fall, and yet we still get surprised!

Last year, newspapers reported the deaths of Paul Newman, Bernie Mac, Charlton Heston, Sir Edmund Hillary, Michael Crichton, Bobby Fischer and Heath Ledger. In nearly all cases, especially with the younger people like Ledger, Mac and Crichton, there was a sense of surprise. Even Paul Newman’s death seemed to have an aura of, “Wow, I can’t believe he died.”

I confess, I was shocked when I found out Michael Crichton died. I enjoy reading his books. But death, like taxes, is one of the certainties of life. It shouldn’t take us by surprise.

It is precisely because people can die at any time, sometimes at the most inopportune times, that the psalmist tells us not to put our confidence in people.

For all their work, for all their efforts at immortality, acquiring colossal amounts of wealth, they still get nothing more than grave space in the end. And with them, all their plans and promises die.

Those who put their trust in people, end up unhappy. People fail, people die.

If our lives revolve around people, famous or otherwise, the psalmist is giving us a blunt warning; our lives will be empty and unhappy. Those who trust in people discover in the end, that they’ve been had. All people who seek our trust are revealed as confidence men, con artists, tricksters and shysters who are revealed as nothing more than dust and ashes.

In contrast, the psalmist lays out his reasons why all people ought to boast in the Lord. He begins by telling us that we’ll get immediate personal benefit.

Happy are those whose helper is the God of Jacob.

I love this line for two reasons. First, when we accept help from God, the result is happiness. Not the plastic, happy, happy, joy, joy, fleeting happiness, but the deep rooted, deep down, contentment, the peace that passes all understanding, the true, unassailable joy that wells up from within, is the happiness we get when we put our confidence in God.

The second reason why I love this line is because the psalmist has very carefully chosen his words here. Instead of using the name Yahweh, he uses the phrase, the God of Jacob. Why? Because it underscores, in such a simple way, the great contrast to the temporary existence of humanity. Jacob is long gone, but his helper, his God, is still here.

The true God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He’s the eternal one. He’s the one who existed before creation. He’s the one who created the universe. He’s the one who will always be there for you. He does not die. His plans never fail. He is forever faithful.

Time and time again, God’s people wandered away from Him. And yet, no matter what, he kept faith. The people of Israel cried out during their suffering in Egypt, and God faithfully sustained them. Then he set them free. He guided them by day and was their light by night. He healed the humble that looked to him when bitten by snakes. He favoured the faithful in the wilderness, Joshua and Caleb. He gave food of manna and quail. He protected the alien, Rahab and Ruth, he provided for the orphan Mephibosheth and the widow of Zarephath.

Are not all these descriptors, these faithful, characteristics of God also seen in Jesus? Didn’t he quote similar words when he read from the scroll of Isaiah the prophet saying, “Today this prophesy is fulfilled in your hearing”?

He healed, he restored sight to the blind, even gave sight to a man who was born blind, something that had never happened before in all history. Jesus fed 5000 + people, and declared that he is the true manna from heaven. He set people free from illness like leprosy, he released people from bondage to sin and demon possession. He restored a woman who had been bent over, crippled and bowed down for 18 years.

Jesus brought a widow’s son back to life.

Jesus promised that he would not leave us as orphans. He himself will come back and take us to the place he has prepared for us.

If you still have your Bibles open, look at how often, the name of God appears! Nine times in this psalm, 11 times if you count the shortened form of Yah, in the Hallelujah’s.

Who is the faithful one? On whom can we depend? Who brings us happiness? Whom shall we boast about?

Yahweh! Yahweh is the faithful, trustworthy, eternal, incredible, indescribable God, whom we can trust with our whole lives, not only in this life, but also in the life to come.

Are you convinced yet?

Do you know that the Lord we worship is the very same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Do you worship Him as the alpha and the omega? Have you placed all your confidence in Him? Do you boast about the God you worship?

If you talk about the best person on American Idol, if you compare notes about hockey players, if you “sing” the praises of certain people you look up to, doesn’t it make even more sense to Praise the Lord?

Have you ever considered bragging about God?

Jesus is the Lord of our lives. Isn’t that what we confess when we baptise our children and profess our faith?

Jesus is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus said, “before Abraham was born, I am” ().

Jesus is the maker of heaven and earth. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, without Him nothing was made that was made that has been made” ()

Jesus is faithful forever. Jesus said, “And truly I am with you always, to the very end of the age” ().

Jesus advocates for the oppressed. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” ().

Jesus provides food. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (). “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” ()

Jesus sets prisoners free. Jesus said, “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners” ().

Jesus makes the blind see. “So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” ()

Jesus loves the righteous. “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ()

Jesus watches over the alien, the fatherless and the widow. “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” ().

Jesus frustrates the ways of the wicked. “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” ().

Jesus reigns forever. “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end” (.

Call to Praise

We can be confident in the prince of peace, in Jesus Christ. Jesus is no con man, he’s not a confidence man. He’s the one in whom we can have confidence, man! He is the one where all hope lies.

Do we really need more reasons? Praise the Lord!

Beloved in Jesus Christ, Praise the Lord! Amen.