Redwood Church Preaching

God has given us nine acrostic psalms, yet modern songwriting sensibilities do not include this form. Why would God make alphabetical lines a priority for poetic expression? Why limit himself to having his message dictated by the order of the Hebrew alphabet? What profound truth does the form and nature of this poetry communicate about God’s love for his covenant people? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Being discipled by chick flicks and pop songs, we tend to think of love as the initial flames set ablaze when we meet the person of our dreams. But the “flame of Yah”—true love as God designed it—is a cultivated fire from start to finish. To keep this marital fire burning brightly, Song of Songs depicts key elements of romance which we can cultivate in our own marriages. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

If Song of Songs is truly named, then it is the best and most important song ever written. Yet the modern reader finds its poetry awkward, unsatisfying, and confusing. What help does God offer through this song for cultivating romantic affection in our own marriages—and how can we train our modern ears to find it profitable? Three elements contribute to poetic excellence, and help us to discern the value in Solomon’s work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Psalm 47 is a psalm that grounds all of time, drawing history together into a meaningful whole. Always it has been true, always it is true, and always it will be true. It is the great foundation of the past; the great promise of the future; the linchpin of yesterday, today, and tomorrow: King is God over the nations; very ascended is he. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Despite the celebrations, Christmas is a time of many mundane hardships and difficulties — from annoying relatives to stretched finances. Since it is easy for us to feel set-upon and inconvenienced, it is helpful to reflect on how the first Christmas is a story of stress and anxiety, confusion and unknowns for Mary and Joseph, who had their expectations, hopes, and plans for their lives completely upended. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Yael, the lady of a house in league with the Canaanite king, defies her husband by deceiving and slaying Sisera, the principal of the Canaanite army. What should we make of Yael’s treatment of Sisera? Is she a liar and a murderer? Or is she indeed blessed among women? And if so, what is the implication for women in the church, and spiritual warfare? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Scripture tells us we are to participate in Christ by forgiving our enemies — sacrificing ourselves and our anger, knowing that ultimately God is the one sacrificing us for the sake of shaping us into his image. Yet the New Testament doesn’t give much practical instruction in how. This is because the Psalms already do. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Contrary to popular belief, we can and must forgive even those who wrong us unrepentantly. Repentance is not a necessary precondition for forgiveness — but, in fact, forgiveness is a necessary precondition for repentance. The doctrine of the cross helps us to understand how and why — and the scriptural distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Jesus distilled his wisdom about worry into seven simple arguments in his Sermon on the Mount. We can follow these arguments to reason our way out of anxiety, and into mental fortitude. His third argument is that God provides food for all creatures through various means — even birds who don’t have to work for it. Since we are of superior worth, we should trust that God will provide our food also, through the means he has ordained for man: work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

After 20 years, a new generation has been raised up by Deborah to war against evil—led by Baraq, the lightning-man, to fight the lightning-god Ba’al. While modern readers haughtily interpret Baraq as a man of defective faith, he has the trust in God (along with the confidence of 10,000 peasants) to engage a humanly suicidal strategy to defeat 90,000 Canaanite soldiers, consuming them as fire from heaven on the mountain of Tabor. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Because Israel has failed to represent God’s father-rule into the world, its own fathers are unable to rule. For as long as it takes to raise a child for battle, they are thus without a savior — and a married woman under authority must judge them. Yet through grace, this curse turns to a blessing, as Deborah the holy mother raises up a spiritual son as a warrior-savior. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Jesus distilled his wisdom about worry into seven simple arguments in his Sermon on the Mount. We can follow these arguments to reason our way out of anxiety, and into mental fortitude. His second argument is that rightly ordering our concerns in a proper hierarchy is foundational to cultivating peace about the future: placing the lesser things beneath the greater, and taking care to how they fit together in our lives. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Shamgar and Ehud are a study in contrasts: Ehud is Hebrew, Shamgar is Canaanite; Ehud smote a people of the land, Shamgar a people of the sea; Ehud struck one head, Shamgar 600 bodies; Ehud used a weapon for intimate and personal assassination, Shamgar a tool for impersonal killing at arm’s length. There is a clear picture here of the progression of the power and peace of the gospel from Israel to the nations, from Jesus to the Church, from reformer to evangelist, and from warrior to worker. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

What is the relationship between the story of Ehud and Eglon…and the story of the church? What enduring principles does this story exemplify, and how do they inform the way Christians should live today? Should we expect God to still raise up men like Ehud — men of daring and deceit? What would they look like, and how would they act? To answer this question, we must understand how the symbols of Israel’s history are visible words which have a “future tense” — which must now be translated into the “perfect” tense of the church age. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Worry is fundamental to the human experience, and our worldly cares and concerns often unsettle us. Jesus, the man with perfect mental health, knew what it took to deal with anxiety—and he distilled this wisdom in seven simple arguments against anxiety in his Sermon on the Mount. We can follow these arguments to reason our way out of anxiety, and into mental fortitude. The first is that anxiety oppresses those who are mastered by earthly concerns; therefore, we must submit ourselves to the inevitable loss of earthly things in the providence of God. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Whereas the story of Othniel frustrated us with its lack of detail, now the story of Ehud frustrates us with its details. What are we to make of the scatological humor, deceit, and assassination in this first “real” story of one of Israel’s saviors—a type of Christ? From the left-handed “son of the right hand” to the fattened Eglon (“calf”), every element of this narrative reveals through physical history the patterns of spiritual warfare we ourselves are engaged in. In fact, the text uses so many strange words to tell its story that you cannot help but notice: it is as much sacramental as martial. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Who are God’s sheep, and how does he feed them? And what is different about the pastures of God, compared to the world’s? While all those baptized into the Church are called to respond to the food of God’s word, not all are eternally elect. Some will harden their hearts — yet are still exhorted as sheep. This can only be understood through the doctrine of covenantal election. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

In the book of Judges, why is the first story of an actual judge so short on details? Because it is crafted to teach us how to read the more detailed and difficult stories that are to come. It establishes a clear paradigm for interpreting these—lest we imagine the judges as crazed vigalante superheroes. It also establishes what is at sake—the victory of Aram over Israel, the world over the church, Babel over Jerusalem, a wicked giant over Christ. Finally, it establishes the manner in which God ensures this will not happen—by raising up saviors anointed by his Spirit, and appointed by his people. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Psalm 137 expresses Israel’s grief in exile and longing for true worship. Though contextually bound to Babylon, the psalm applies to the church today as we seek worship that pleases God, mourn sin, trust in divine justice, and anticipate the perfect worship of heaven. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Worship should shape us—not be reshaped to our comfort. Psalm 137 calls believers to unashamedly embrace God’s justice, long for his kingdom, and trust his sovereignty in judgment. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com