The Feast of the Holy Trinity I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! Today’s Introit, which we prayed right after our confession of sins, is from Psalm 16. Like all of God’s Psalms, Psalm 16 has the power to cheer and gladden the heaviest of hearts. This Psalm has the power to embolden and invigorate the most fainthearted or timid among us. Psalm 16 is God’s Power, and God’s powerful Psalm 16 will even lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed (Hebrews 12:12-13). God the Holy Trinity has given Psalm 16 to you, for you to pray. Without fear; in defiance of your weariness and your worries; throwing aside all your anger and resentment, you and all the baptized of Christ may confidently pray in this Psalm, I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Dear Christian friends, All of God’s Psalms—from beginning to end—all of God’s Psalms speak about our dear Lord Jesus. After His death and resurrection for eternal life, Jesus Himself declared to His disciples, “Everything written about Me in… the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). “Everything written about Me in… the Psalms.” These Words mean that, when you read and pray God’s Psalms, you are reading and praying “the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35). For example, • When you pray in Psalm 23, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1), “the LORD” in that verse is your Lord Jesus in particular, “the Good Shepherd [who] lays down His life for [you, His] sheep” (John 10:11). • You could also read David’s Words in Psalm 41, “My close friend… who ate my bread, has lived heel against me” (Psalm 41:9). Because you know these Words are about Jesus—even though they were written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus—you can see in Psalm 41 a prophecy of how your dear Lord Jesus would be betrayed by Judas Iscariot, Jesus’ “close friend… who ate [His] bread” (compare John 13:18). • Today’s Introit from Psalm 16 is also about Jesus. As God’s apostle Peter declared in Acts chapter 2, Psalm 16 is speaking about Jesus’ death and resurrection when it states, “You will not abandon my soul in Sheol [the place of death], or let your holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:10, Acts 2:25-28). Two amazing things happen when you read God’s Psalms, knowing that all the Psalms are all about Jesus: 1. THE FIRST AMAZING THING is this: the Psalms end up reporting surprising, even startling things about Jesus. Today’s Introit from Psalm 16 is a good example. If the Psalms truly are about Jesus (which they are) and if Jesus is the one speaking in verse 10—“You will not abandon my soul in Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption”—(which He is, Acts 2:25-28), then these Words from verse 8 also belong in Jesus’ mouth and upon Jesus’ lips: I [Jesus] have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand, I [Jesus] shall not be shaken. It is somewhat surprising that Jesus would say such a thing! Every Sunday, in one creed or another (Apostles’, Nicene, and even Athanasian), we Christians confess that Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father. • When we say that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, we are speaking the Christian faith faithfully, repeating only what God first spoke to us in His Scriptures (Ephesians 1:20-23). • When we say that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, we are not imagining that Jesus is far away from us, locked in heaven and stuck on a chair. Rather, Jesus at the right hand of the Father simply means that Jesus now has all the Father’s power and authority; Jesus is the Father’s right hand man, so to speak; Jesus is the one to whom the Father looks for everything. But look at that verse from Psalm 16! While we are confessing that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, Jesus Himself is saying the opposite thing—not that He is at the Father’s right hand, but that the Father is at Jesus’ right hand: I [Jesus] have set the LORD always before me; Because He [the Father] is at my right hand, I [Jesus] shall not be shaken. Here you have a little taste of the Holy Trinity, which feast we celebrate today. Just as Jesus is the one to whom the Father looks for everything, so also is the Father the one to whom Jesus looks for everything. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father; the Father is at the right hand of Jesus: what an amazing, unimaginable mystery! Two Persons, fully divine and all-powerful, and yet mutually dependent upon one another, together with the Holy Spirit! What God the Father says about Jesus, Jesus also says about the Father. Their love toward one another unsurpassed. Their devotion to one another is unabated and unceasing. Their fellowship with one another is seamless and perfect and complete. Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, exerting all of the Father’s power and authority, and yet the mystery of the Trinity also allows and compels Jesus to say, I [Jesus] have set the LORD always before me; Because He [the Father] is at my right hand, I [Jesus] shall not be shaken. That leads to the second amazing thing that happens when you read God’s Psalms, knowing that all the Psalms are about Jesus. 2. THE SECOND AMAZING THING is this: whatever Jesus prays in the Psalms, you personally are also allowed to pray! Whatever the Psalms say about Jesus, those same things may also be said with equal honesty about you! Whatever claims Jesus makes in the Psalms, you also may make, including this one: I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. If the Psalms truly are about Jesus (which they are) and if Jesus is the Head to which you are the Body and the Vine in which you are the Branches (which He is and you are, John 15:5, Romans 12:4-5; Colossians 1:17, 2:19) then these Words from Psalm 16 verse 8 also belong in your mouth and upon your lips: I [YOUR NAME HERE] have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand, I [YOUR NAME HERE] shall not be shaken. In these two short lines, God speaks and gives to you a power for your life that NOTHING can overwhelm or overcome or destroy. In these two short lines, your God would have you know that all His power and authority and strength is now at your disposal, for your blessing and care and protection and strength. Because you are the baptized of Christ, because you are adopted into the family of God, because the rich and forgiving blood of Jesus now courses through your body, God the Holy Trinity has now made Himself your right hand man (John 14:20). Just as the Father looks to Jesus for everything—and Jesus will not fail; Just as Jesus looks to the Father for everything—and the Father will not fail; You now have the Trinity at your right hand—looking to the Trinity for everything and the Trinity will not fail! What greater gift can there be for you? What greater joy can be found in the entire creation? There is no devotion greater than the Father’s devotion to the Son and the Son’s devotion to the Father—and this devotion, this love, this mercy, this forbearance has all spilled over to you in the water of your Baptism! God the Holy Trinity has given Psalm 16 to you, for you to pray: I [YOUR NAME HERE] have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand, I [YOUR NAME HERE] shall not be shaken. With these Words, you can laugh at every frightening thing. With these Words, you can defy whatever threatens to overwhelm you. With these Words, you can curse your feelings of guilt and you can damn the ill-will you hold toward others. The LORD is at your right hand, constantly giving you forgiveness and life. You shall not be moved. You shall not be shaken. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
