Tyndale Chapel Podcast

Friends, we are so pleased this morning to welcome pastor Gary Campbell. Gary is the pastor of Adult Ministries and the finance director at King Street Community Church in Oshawa, and he's on the teaching team there, where he leads small group ministries and adult electives. He's worked at King Street for eight years. He's also an educator, and has taught at various post secondary institutions, most recently at sir Stanford, Fleming College in Peterborough. He and his wife Maria have a vibrant household with five young children between the ages of two and nine. Maria and two of their little ones are here with us this morning, and as if that's not enough, Gary also serves on the board at Pickering Christian School, where three of his children attend. Gary is also a member of our Tyndale community. He is a current MTS student and a former staff member serving in our admissions office. For those of us who had the pleasure of working with Gary, we remember him for his warmth, his hard work, his dedication and his infectious joy that often came in the form of boisterous laughter down the halls. And it is absolutely crazy Gary, that your first born David, or whom we know as Davey baby is now nine. You are a dear friend to us, and we are so delighted to welcome you here friends, this message today is called What now, psalms of lament and petition. Let me pray for you as you come. Lord Jesus, we delight in you this morning, and we thank you for your presence, your grace, your love, and for the way you sustain us, Lord, every day we thank you this morning for the privilege of gathering together as a community to be shaped by you and to hear the message you've put on Gary's heart. Lord, we bless him this morning as he comes, may you speak through him, and may our hearts be open to what it is you have for us today. Thank you, Father, in your precious Name. Amen Gary, please come

Good morning Tyndale community, Sharon, thank you so much for that very warm introduction, I really appreciate that, Sharon's a good dear friend of mine, and it's so nice that you were able to introduce me today, George, thank you so much for having me, President. Kerr, thank you as well. It's nice to be back at Tyndale. I love I love this place. I have. My heart is here, and so I'm honored to be with you this morning, friends, if you're if you're like me, you know there's challenges in life. Things are not always easy. There's certain things that happen upon you, seemingly out of nowhere, and you're kind of thrust into this position of, what do you do now? Recently, Davey baby, as you, as you refer to Shar. He doesn't like being called that now, at nine years old, but, but recently, you know, out of nowhere, our son got very suddenly sick, and he was hospitalized for a number of days, and it was a very trying time, because it came at a time that I didn't expect, that we you don't usually expect these things, but those things happen on short notice. And like everyone here, you know, we've suffered loss and and challenge, but we turn to the Scriptures, and I'm thinking of particular family as we approach family day on Monday, I thought of this one particular family who they went through something quite dramatic, and in Psalm 44 it's it's a Psalm of Korah, or the Sons of Korah. Let me just make sure I'm playing it right here. Not sure if you guys can see, maybe I see, maybe Jeremy, there you go. I think it's working now, and I'll see. Make sure I have the right clicker here. But in Psalm 44 it's a Psalm of Korah and psalm of the sons of Korah and Korah, if you remember, and give me a little signal, turn it up the side button. There we go. Okay, Ah of course. Look at that. Thank you, Geoff, thank you, Jeremy, so Psalm 44 is a is a Psalm of the sons of Korah. And this family went through something quite dramatic, if you remember the story. Korah was this gentleman. He was, he was the cousin of Moses and Aaron. And Korah one day he had an issue. With Moses and Aaron, and he decided to challenge them, as you guys know, you know, the Levites were set aside to do the priestly work of God's people. And Korah himself, he was a Levite, but he was not in charge of touching the holy things, as we sang, how the Lord is holy this morning. And there was a little bit of maybe jealousy there, but he had an issue. He talked about how, you know, isn't the entire community holy? And there's some truth in that, of course, right? The priesthood of all believers, we know that. But Korah, he took his issue to a different level. It says in Numbers three that he got 250 people of good reputation. Said there are men of good reputation, and he came to challenge Moses and Aaron.

So Moses and Aaron are suddenly confronted with this challenge to them with 250 people who of good repute. And Moses does something that I've never done when I have been challenged. But he says, Listen, we're going to find out who is right, who's in the right or who's in the wrong here. So Moses said, Listen, if tomorrow, when we meet, if you guys happen to die a natural death, then you'll know that the Lord is with us, right? But he says, If, or he says, if you die a natural death, he says, you know the Lord is with you, actually. He says, But if, for instance, something happens like the ground opens up and it swallows you and all your co conspirators whole, then you'll know that the Lord is with Moses and Aaron. And what do you think happened? Well, they went to meet Moses and Aaron, Korah and his 250 co conspirators, and the ground opened up. It swallowed them whole, and it covered up them and all their possessions as if they weren't there. That's a dramatic day at church, isn't it? That's a dramatic day. And that happened, and it did show, as Moses has said, that the Lord was with Moses and Aaron. But there's a there's a picture of God's grace in there, because later in numbers, it says that the Sons of Korah, they didn't perish that day, they survived. And Korah's lineage went on. And the sons of Korah, they write this psalm, Psalm 44 which is a Psalm of national lament and a prayer for help. So the Sons of Korah, and they address themselves as such. They say, hey, remember that day? How could you forget that day? That was our father, our forefather, who did that? And in Psalm 44 they write this. They write, we have heard it with our ears O God, our ancestors have told us what you did in their days and days long ago. With your hand, you drove out the nations and planted our ancestors. You crushed the peoples and made our ancestors flourish. It was not by their sword that they won the land, he says, nor did their arm bring them victory. It was your right hand, your arm and the light of your face, for you love them. He recognizes God's work in it, verse six, it says, I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory, but you give us victory over our enemies. You put our adversaries to shame. And he says in God, we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever. This is a good testimony to the Lord's provision. They say it's the Lord's presence that had seen their ancestors through times of challenge, a nation under war. But in verse nine, it takes a shift. Talks about what's going on now, he says, but now you have rejected and humbled us. You no longer go out with our armies. You made us retreat before the enemy and our adversaries have plundered us. You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and you have scattered us among the nations, he says. He says, if we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would you not have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart. Yet for your sake, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. And then he ends this way. Says, Awake Lord. Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself and do not reject us forever in the last few verses, Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? We are brought down to the dust. Our bodies cling to the ground, rise up and help us. Rescue us, because of your unfailing love. And we're reminded in this that God's people have gone through challenging times. Korah's sons who identify themselves, they write this psalm to say we've heard of the stories of your provision and your hesed, your loving kindness, that you showed to our people, but we're now in a difficult time. It's we're under attack and we're feeling abandoned by you, God. I think they asked some very powerful questions here. I hope you can be real with God and ask some of these same questions. If you feel this way, why do you hide your face from us? Right? Why do you sleep? So many of the psalms are filled with these lamenting questions of when, how long, and why, and the sons of Korah acknowledge this. Now, what we see here is they believe it wasn't because of their lack of faith. And in this psalm of lament, I think there's a difference lament and complaint. I think they're very similar, but I think there's a subtle nuance. I think lament is often about, I think, well, let's say, let's say complaint. I think complaints often about a certain dissatisfaction we feel, and we cry out wanting God or someone who's in charge, or someone who has power to be able to change something right now for us. And I think lament is often what the sons of Korah are talking about here, where we are experiencing deep sorrow and deep grief, and we express that to God in a way that we want him to hear, or we want someone else to hear who cares for us and that they can help us. Right? You'll see. He says, you know, why do you sleep? Awake. He says, Rrse up and help us. They say. So I think lament is often about asking God or someone who does care to lift the burdens for us or to carry it along with us, and as we go through this, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention what's going on in the world right now. We see recently, hostages released from Gaza. I think that they have felt some of those same feelings that are in Psalm 44, my church is doing a lot of advocacy work for the Jewish community in the GTA. We're supporting them wholeheartedly because of the anti semitism that we're facing that's running rampant in our neighborhoods in the GTA, and we've been working with many synagogues and different persons from the Jewish faith to say that that's unacceptable what they face, regardless of how you feel about everything going on, the Jewish community in Toronto and and the surrounding areas don't deserve to be going through what they're going through. And I feel like many of them have felt this, especially the hostages. So what now when you're in that scenario? I think the prophet Jeremiah does give us a little bit of insight when he talks about the the exiles. And we come to find out that when things are going on really poorly around us, when we can see here that every nation experiences God's grace and every nation experiences God's judgment when things are going on really in a difficult circumstance. I think the prophet Jeremiah gives us some good context of what we're called to do in Jeremiah 29 the Prophet says, This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried from Jerusalem to Babylon just a few verses before, it said that Nebuchadnezzar carried God's people into exile. And now, by verse four, there's a sudden shift that God carried them into exile. And in verse five, he says the words of God through the prophet Jeremiah says, build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there do not decrease. He says, also seek the peace and prosperity of the sea to which you've I've carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. So it turns out that even in even in exile, even in challenging circumstances, God's people remain God's people, and they're still on mission. I think that's comforting today, again, with all the talk, there's just so much to complain about, to lament about, with all the talk of looming tariffs and tariffs that have happened already on aluminum and steel and looming attack and economic and political turmoil. We're having a political we're having a provincial election, I think later this month, maybe a federal one. There's just so much for us to lament and complain and to worry about. To elevate these things above God, and to make them bigger than that they are. But the prophet Jeremiah said, even when circumstances are really tough, you and I have work to do. You're called to be on mission, to put down roots in Babylon, plant gardens and produce. You're called to be a blessing even when times are difficult. Christopher Wright said that when the exiles read this, when they read this, it came it made them going from victims to visionaries. It gave them a total different shift in perspective on how they're supposed to respond to these difficult times, and we're called to be agents of blessing throughout these moments. Let's look at this. Let's look at another Psalm of lament. Well, a psalm that is more praiseworthy. So he mentioned the Sons of Korah, who had lived through and you think about what that must have been like for them to be known in the community that their dad, their forefather, was, was the one who led this revolt, this mutiny against Moses and Aaron. And it must have been difficult for the. As Maria and I know sometimes we can. I can wonder, boy, I can do some things that I hope want to have a negative impact on my kids. I haven't attacked Moses or Aaron. Thanks be to God, but I make my own mistakes, and it's just a beautiful picture to see that even despite mistakes from parents and failings and shortcomings and even in sin, God's grace is still with these people, because the sons of Korah, they go on to write so many beautiful psalms, psalms of lament and psalms of praise, and they go on to serve the Lord in a beautiful capacity. They write Psalm 46 and Psalm 46 says God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble. Psalm 44 and it's the it's the right number order, and it's the right chronologically. It happened in the 46 happened after 44 and in 44 they had kind of just ended with help us, Lord. And Psalm 46 it doesn't seem like their circumstances have changed. It just seems that the presence of God is there. So God's our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble. He says, Therefore we will not fear the earth give way, kind of like what they saw on that day with their forefather and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. He says, here a picture of the heavenly sea. There's a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the most high dwells. God is within her. She will not fall. God's presence brings security. God will help her. At break of day, he says, nations are in uproar. Kingdoms fall. He lifts his voice, the earth melts. And he says, The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the Lord has done the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire. It's this picture of God's Shalom being more fully realized that the weapons of destruction are no more. Nations stop to fight. In Isaiah, God takes the weapons of destruction, the sword and the spear, and he turns them into weapons of construction, the sword into a plow and the spear into shearers for farming. And it's this picture of God's Shalom being more fully realized. And they conclude Psalm 46 this way he says, Be still and know that I am God, right? That that word be still, literally translated, just let go. We're holding on to things so tightly, intense times. Just let go and know that I'm God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Turns out, even under turmoil, the name of God will still be made known when there's judgment or when there is God's grace, that's abundantly clear, the name of God will be made known in all those circumstances by the nations of the world. So this is the Sons of Korah, and this is some of their Psalms. But many years later, the Apostle Paul. All he references the Sons of Korah and and again. When I read Psalm 44 if you're like me, I wish it would say, And the Lord heard our prayer, and he changed our circumstances, and everything was better, amen, right? I wanted it to say that I really did, but it just ends. They're just crying out for help. And I flip the page, and there's nothing else. There's no There's no continuation. And then they write in Psalm 46 and it doesn't seem like circumstances get better, but they have a different perspective. But the Apostle Paul, he quotes from Psalm 44 that that difficult Psalm. And he says, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? And he quotes directly from Psalm 44 here, as it is written for your sake, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. He quotes this, and he follows up with but no in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. When Christopher Wright said the exiles went from victims to visionaries, Paul's calling say, even in hard times, you can be a conqueror. He says, For I'm convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ, Jesus, our Lord. And you know that verse and Paul just gives us this reminder that both hardships in life and God's unfailing love, his hesed, are both true and they can be present at the same time, and that even through hardship, we're called to be agents of blessing. The Sons of Korah and Paul remind us that we still have work to do. Paul says we're conquerors through him who loved us, and no hardship can separate us from God's love found in Jesus Christ and Paul and the sons of Korah really show us that both lament and praise can exist simultaneously. I think of Jesus in the in the garden. Of course, he's, he's the man who lamented, right? And he, he lamented so much so in the garden that his capillaries and his sweat glands, they burst, and blood ran down his face. And he cried out to the Father to take this cup from me. So that's good. We can do that. And he said, nevertheless, not my will, but your will, father, be done. I'm comforted by that, because when I get nervous, I'm reminded that I can express how I feel, and I can still trust the Lord, and I can be recommissioned for service. So friends, I think as we leave today, you just want to be reminded that we can pray to the God who hears us. We can ask God to change our circumstances, and we can trust that God will be our strength No matter the challenge that will come. Thank you, George.

Thank you, Pastor Gary, for your words of comfort to us and inspiration. Friends, let's pray together as we conclude today's service. God, we're now well into this term, still a few days removed from the break and the mid winter blues are setting in. The celebration of Christmas is a faint memory, and the warmth of spring, according to some continental rodents, is still a few weeks away, and God, with the machination of politicos and grasping tech leaders and war still waging this morning, we feel disjointed and distracted and longing for something fresh. So God, thank You that You have met us by your Spirit this morning. We claim for our community the promise that no bounds, obstacles nor measures can keep you from us, from your love. We know, but may we know that nothing is too wide or long or deep or high that can isolate us from that love we seek you, and we know that you are already here and that you have found us even now. We have gathered together today in this sacred place, in locations that daughter country and the world. So in the spirit of love, forgiveness, truth and mercy, knowing that your will will be done, we gather today, knowing that some in our community weep and worry and are worn down because of the indignities of language, the hatred or complicity of actions taken or not taken, the defacing and demeaning burdens of attitudes that tear down instead of build up in their tears and sorrow, God, we cry to teach us soften us by your Spirit, to cry, not only with wet on our cheeks, but with shouts of justice and truth From our mouths and work of restoration by hands clasped together, instill in us the chance to be people who listen to longings reflectively, who speak words of repair generously, who stitch actions of reconciliation liberally, and who embody attitudes of love widely, and may that love be one that unfolds. We have gathered together knowing that seminar community find themselves to be on the outside. They hurt with fear. They ache to belong. They mourn with loss. They stumble in the darkness. God. They are even on the operating table as we speak. God enlighten our paths and unleash a torrent of waves so that we will be swept up in as the prophet declared, The mighty flood of justice in an endless river of righteousness. Please God relentlessly peel the scales from our eyes so that we may see what you see in steeper hearts, so that we may love the way you love and God today, we pray fervently and together, knowing that our world continues in tumult caused by our hands and not by our hands. For wars in Sudan and Ukraine, unrest in Gaza and the West Bank, uncertainty in Ottawa and Mexico City for the Earth's shaking consequences of natural disaster and their grief stricken aftermath and horror, horror in places as remote as Los Angeles and Santorini, oh God, may your peace and comfort rest on those who grieve and wait and rebuild, and may you guide us in our response. We are yours. God, our community is yours. Our vocations are yours. We pray together today by your Spirit, who is already here, that we will release our arrogant control and vacate our pride filled, self ordained destinies in that you instead will replace in us a spirit of truth and of love and of grace, so that all may flourish. May Your will be done at Tyndale in Toronto on earth as it is in heaven. Now, friends, hear these good words as we depart, may God the Father prepare your journey and Jesus the Son, guide your footsteps in the spirit of life, strengthen your body the three in one, watch over you on every road that you may follow. We pray in Jesus name amen, Go in peace.