Eating His Words
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
A psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd,
I lack nothing.
He takes me to lush pastures,
he leads me to refreshing water.
He restores my strength.
He leads me down the right paths
for the sake of his reputation.
Even when I must walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff reassure me.
You prepare a feast before me
in plain sight of my enemies.
You refresh my head with oil;
my cup is completely full.
Surely your goodness and faithfulness will pursue me all my days,
and I will live in the Lord’s house for the rest of my life.
There was once a young man named Robert Robinson. Robert was, to put it mildly, a troubled youth. After the death of his father, reports from the time say that Robert spent most of his free time drinking, gambling, and womanizing; frittering away the money he made from his career as a barber’s apprentice - I suspect it wasn’t very much.
Now, rebellious young people who waste their money in the pursuit of pleasure are not much to write home about - there are plenty such youth in our community, and many here today probably were those youth in their former lives. But Robert… well, Robert was not to be out done when it came to bad behavior. He had to find a way to cross the line, no matter where the line was drawn.
When Robert and his friends heard that George Whitfield - a famous traveling preacher - was coming to a nearby town, they decided their only reasonable course of action was to go to that town, attend that service, and do everything they could to distract, confuse, and otherwise heckle Whitfield.
So they went, bringing whatever it is you bring to heckle a preacher - I have some thoughts as to what, but I’d rather not share them and give you folks any ideas - and they joined the crowd.
Robert did not wind up being a heckler that day, though. Something Whitfield said inspired him, and before he knew it he was traveling in the company of a different group of ne’erdowells. The kind of people who put his former gang of hooligans to shame: Methodist street preachers.
In just a short time, Robert found himself no longer “Robert Robinson: Barber’s Apprentice,” but “The Reverend Robert Robinson: Pastor.” Upon the occasion of his conversion, Robert also wrote a song. It was a hymn of joy at God’s never-ending mercy, and celebration of the fact that no matter how long you run from God, God will continue to pursue you.
But Robert was 22 when he wrote that song, and his story wasn’t over quite yet. Much like David, the person believed to have written , Robert’s path was not one of consistent and unfailing dedication, but of wandering away from God’s will, and needing to be called back to it. It may have been his desire to “dwell in the house of the Lord forever” when he wrote the song, but the line about being “prone to wander” proved prophetic, and in his later years he drifted away from God once again.
One day, Robert was riding in a stage coach with a woman who he’d never met, who wanted to tell him all about the wonderful song that had been a source of great encouragement for her: “Come Thou Fount of Ev’ry Blessing.” Try as he might, Robert was unable to get this woman to either stop talking or change the subject. She just kept telling him about the very song he’d written, back when he was young and still in love with God and with ministry.
In exasperation, Robert cried out “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who composed that hymn, many years ago. And I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I then had!” He’d had more than enough of God, of ministry, and especially of that song, and was sure this outburst would end the conversation once and for all.
The young woman, however, was not done. Gently, she replied to Robert “Sir, the ‘streams of mercy’ are still flowing.” By his testimony, that response touched Robert deeply, and he repented of his anger. Not only that, but the statement that the streams of mercy were still flowing carried with it a silent reminder that those streams of mercy called on him to offer songs of loudest praise. Robert began to offer those songs again, and his fellowship with God was restored to him because of a woman who did nothing more than repeat his own words back to him.
Relationships - all relationships involving humans - do not move from strength into strength at all times. While tells us of God’s everlasting faithfulness, our own humanity guarantees that our relationship with God - just like our relationship with other people - is going to ebb and flow. Sometimes we will feel distant. Sometimes we will feel indifferent. We may even wander off entirely, because we are, like Robert, “prone to wander,” and “prone to leave the God [we] love.” But every time we wander off, the call of the shepherd beckons us home. The streams of mercy are never ceasing, and that means they’re still flowing today. May we drink from them whenever we have need.