QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“We are glorious ruins…glorious because we were created by God for the noble purpose of being His image bearers; yet ruins because sin has marred the divine image we were designed to display, at times beyond recognition.”

~Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984), author and founder of L’Abri in Switzerland

Though now long estranged,
Man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed,
Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned,
And keeps the rags of lordship once he owned.

~J.R.R. Tolkein, Mythopoeia, a poem written for C.S. Lewis

“Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you. What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.”

~Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964), novelist and essayist

“Let it be understood that those who are not found living as Christ taught are not Christians, even though they profess with the lips the teachings of Christ.”

~Justin Martyr (c.100-c.165), Christian philosopher and apologist

“Christians have, through their hope in God’s story of redemption…, a deep consolation that enables them to work with all their being and never be ultimately discouraged by the frustrating present reality of this world…. We accept…that in this world our work will always fall short, just as we sinners always ‘fall short of the glory of God’ because we know that our work in this life is not the final word.”

~Tim Keller & Katherine Leary Alsdorf, in Every Good Endeavor

“Here then is the paradox of our humanness; our dignity and our depravity. We are capable both of the loftiest nobility and of the basest cruelty. One moment we can behave like God, in whose image we are made, and the next like the beasts, from whom we are meant to be completely distinct. We are inventors of hospitals to care for the sick, universities for the acquisition of wisdom, parliaments for the rule of the people and churches for the worship of God. But we are also the inventors of torture chambers and concentrations camps. Strange, bewildering paradox – noble and ignoble, rational and irrational, moral and immoral, Godlike and bestial.”

~John Stott (1921-2011), theologian and noted worldwide Christian leader

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 72 (ESV)

1 Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the royal son!
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!
5 May they fear you while the sun endures,
and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!
6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth!
7 In his days may the righteous flourish,
and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth!
9 May desert tribes bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust!
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
render him tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts!
11 May all kings fall down before him,
all nations serve him!
12 For he delivers the needy when he calls,
the poor and him who has no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and precious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live;
may gold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all the day!
16 May there be abundance of grain in the land;
on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
like the grass of the field!
17 May his name endure forever,
his fame continue as long as the sun!
May people be blessed in him,
all nations call him blessed!
18 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous things.
19 Blessed be his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory!
Amen and Amen!
20 The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.