As I was trying to figure out what to preach on this morning, I was reminded of a post I shared on my music blog. It was a review of an album that came out in 1991 called, “Consider the Cost,” by Steve Camp. And in the review, I mentioned just how we needed that type of lyrical “kick in the pants” toward Godliness and Holiness in our lives. I mentioned how this album was so cohesive in its lyrics from one song to the next and how it had this theme running throughout it, that it could have been the soundtrack to a sermon series which I may do someday.
In fact, I originally intended to do this as one sermon today with three parts, but as I got going on preparing this, I found out that I spent so much time on the first part, that I decided that I’m going to have to turn this into a three-part series.
Going back to that album review, I concluded the blog post with these words: “While we are often distracted by the goings-on of our daily lives, and trying to not be triggered by the crazy news of the world, this album acts as a call to slow down and take a moment to enter our dusty prayer closet and recalibrate.”
And that’s what I felt led to talk to you about today and in this series: going back into that dusty prayer closet and recalibrating.
If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Psalm 19, and we’ll look at verses 7-13. It’s a very well-known chapter, in fact, it’s mostly known for its first six verses but we’re going to jump down past that today.
As you’re turning there, let me read to you the two definitions of the word, recalibrate. This is from dictionary.com.
It says:
- to correct or adjust the gradations or settings on (a measuring instrument, sensor, or other piece of precision equipment):
- to reexamine (one’s thinking, a plan, a system of values, etc.) and correct it in accord with a new understanding or purpose:
So you can see how we’re going to talk more about that second definition today. Let’s first read our scripture verses today.
Scripture: Psalm 19:7-13
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold, than pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.
11 By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
You can see here how the psalmist is teaching his listenerses about the goodness and rightness of the Word of God, his laws and his statutes. How it calibrates us, how it impacts our lives. They refresh the soul, give joy to the heart and light to the eyes.
How many of us need that? How many of us need to have our lives readjusted and recalibrated?
Bible.com says that the process of recalibration is threefold:
- Standard – Discover what the standard is
- Difference – Determine where and what the deviation from the standard is
- Conformity – Correct to conform back to the standard
So we’re going to look at that process from a Christian perspective. The series is going to be on each of those three things: today beginning with the word, Standard; then next week with determining the Difference or deviation; and then lastly, Conformity.
But today, I want to ask you, “What is our standard?”
It’s defined as: “Something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example: a rule of measurement.”
One of the reasons why I thought it would be simple to do this as one sermon in three points is because I thought I didn’t need to go too much into depth on each part–especially this one. We all know that God’s word is that standard. But the problem is that we have kind of mixed up all of those things in that definition of standard that I just read as the way in which the Bible was established.
In other words, our society has mixed up the: authority, custom and general consent when it comes to the Bible.
In other words, those three things have been how The United States and the rest of the Western World came to be morally founded–on the authority of the Bible, which was reflected through our customs and general consent.
We’ve grown up in a society where The Bible was seen culturally or customarily as “The Good Book,” and so it was through general consent that we lived by it. But it’s not seen that way anymore. As I’ve mentioned before how society has been drifting away from ‘The Good Book’ because it isn’t looked at as so ‘good’ anymore according to the movers and shakers of the world, we’ve become split.
A lot of people, therefore, can’t imagine God himself being the authority over scripture. Many consider mankind to have not only penned The Bible, but were the sole inspiration for its words. So now, there are pastors out there who see themselves, or you and I as the authority over scripture. “We read into it and believe what we want. We interpret it the way we want so as to fit our social norms today.” That’s what some say.
Social media is a great experiment into seeing what people think the Bible is and what it isn’t. I wouldn’t recommend going there because it will probably mess up your calibration even more, but if you happen to go there, you’ll see Christians who don’t really believe the Bible is the absolute standard or that it was truly inspired by God; or maybe don’t even really know what the Bible says.
And because of that–speaking of social media–I have another blog called, “A Closer Look” which examines The Bible and Biblical topics for the post-modern/post-Christian society we live in. On its Facebook page, I shared the other day this post from a former Elim professor who said,
A modern Archbishop goes to great lengths to “prove” Jesus was not raised from the dead, that he was only raised in the minds of the disillusioned disciples. Claiming a dead Christ to be Lord is foolishness to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews (I Cor. 1:23). I find it hard to believe anyone could promote a god that only exists in the minds of deluded disciples. Can’t they see that they are deceived leaders promoting a religion of deception, blind leaders leading the blind? “If Jesus is not raised, our preaching and our faith is vain (I Cor. 15:14).”
I also shared a quote from that same professor which said, “Deceived people do not know they are deceived.” I think he was inspired to write that because of the Archbishop because the two posts were one right after the other. The irony is that one of the people who clicked the ‘like’ button on my share of that post is one of those deceived people who don’t know they’re deceived.
We live in such a mixed-up, messed-up world that even an archbishop doesn’t even believe in the true foundation of Christianity. And there are countless others that I could quote if I had the time.
Of course, I don’t mean ‘we’ in this church; I mean ‘we’ in our society now; but we can say and acknowledge God’s word is the standard, but if we don’t know or even believe God’s word and call ourselves a Christian, then where does our set of standards come from and how can we have standards to compare ourselves to and calibrate to?
So it’s important that we know what the standard is:
Here’s something else that I posted on my blog’s social media page. This is from Melissa Dougherty who is a widely-respected Christian Youtuber. I’ll just read a portion of this for brevity.
She said:
Someone brought up to me recently that they thought “living your truth” gets a bad rap. They politely and respectfully claimed that it simply means that it’s just someone wanting their voice, their story, to be heard, and that it should always be respected. In this way, it’s *their* truth…
She gives an example of a courtroom where a defendant has the right to be heard, but the defendant’s argument and the prosecutor’s argument can’t both be absolutely equally right and true. The defendant might be guilty of a crime, but because he doesn’t see the crime as wrong isn’t a pass just because it’s “his truth.”
She goes on to say:
…[But] hearing someone’s voice and understanding their perspective is different than accepting it as true. If my girls are arguing, I need to dissect both perspectives to get to what’s actually true, not tell them that they both have valid truths. To equate sharing our voice with objective truth implies that all perspectives are equally true and valid. This is a catastrophic way to look at this. This hurts people.
In other words, *your* truth and *the* truth are not the same thing.
Why do I bring that up? Because one time I heard a pastor use that phrase, ‘your truth’ in a sermon. I don’t remember the context of why it was said, but it was said. I shook my head. How can a pastor talk about “your truth” as opposed to “The Truth?” Does that make The Bible subjective rather than objective? In other words is The Bible something based on personal feelings, tastes or opinions as opposed to a standard not influenced by our own personal feelings, tastes or opinions.
Some would say the writers of the Bible wrote based on their personal feelings or opinions. Maybe in places like the psalms–in fact the very Book where our very scripture verses come from this morning–does have some feelings attached to it. But when there are personal feelings expressed in The Bible, there is also an overall truth, and we must examine the difference and pluck out that universal truth. David might have wanted his enemies scorched with the power of God, but that’s not the truth of the scripture. The truth of the scripture is how God comes through for David in these moments of pain and grief and gives him calm assurance that everything will be alright.
But sometimes people get so fixated on David’s personal feelings that they throw out the baby with the bathwater.
This is from Shane Pruitt:
When People say, “I love Jesus, I just don’t like the Bible,” what they’re really saying is, “I love the fake Jesus who I created by my own opinions and preferences, but not the real Jesus described in the Bible.”
And if you’ve never heard of The Babylon Bee, it’s a news satire site put out by Christian conservatives. Here’s one post I shared yesterday. I’ll just read the headline.
It says: “I will gladly believe in God if you just show me evidence his opinions are identical to mine.”
So in order to recalibrate, we need to have a standard to recalibrate to. We can’t go to the TV, sit on the couch and say, “I’m recalibrating.” Sure, you might be recharging your batteries, but that’s not the same as recalibrating–not to the Christian. If you gain your standard of The Bible from Oprah or whatever worldly standards are out there on television, you’re really not recalibrating to the right standard.
Point 2:
In our scripture verses this morning, we see that God’s Word is the standard for:
Restoration, Wisdom, Rejoicing, Purity, Enlightenment/Understanding, Endurance/Longevity, Truth & Justice, Wealth, Protection, Benefits & Rewards
We read that the law and precepts of The Lord are:
Perfect, trustworthy, radiant, right, pure and firm. We need a standard that are these things. But notice that they aren’t rigidly so. They aren’t so “just because.”
The psalmist goes on to say that they are:
More precious than gold, sweeter than honey, and by them your servant is warned. Why does he say these things about God’s laws and precepts–God’s standards, the standards set in The Bible? Like I mentioned before about David’s feelings and God’s faithfulness, David knows these things because he’s experienced these things, and this is his testimony.
“Trust me,” he says. “I know what I’m talking about. Let me warn you, let me encourage you. Out of everything I’ve gone through and experienced, this is my testimony of God’s love and faithfulness through His word.”
Here’s another example from my music blog: last week I posted a review from an artist named Charlie Peacock. This is from a different album than the one I reviewed.
It’s from a song called, “Experience,” and in it he sings:
Truth, to be understood, must be lived, We can only possess what we experience.
If there be no sympathy [in the sense of harmony or accord] there can be no understanding, You must surrender to the truth, really understand it,
You see how he’s saying we must be in accord with God, The Holy Spirit, in order to truly understand His truth. If there is no sense of personal harmony or accord with God, then there can be no true understanding of His truth. In order for it to be understood, it must be lived. We have to surrender to the truth to really understand it.
God’s standard is not, as I’ve mentioned before, just a rigid set of religious rules that we can’t obey anyway. Calibrating to God’s standard is an experience we must have through The Holy Spirit. And in order to have that, we have to set aside time.
Point 3: So how do we recalibrate? How do we use the Bible as our standard? It’s more than just reading. Like I said earlier, we have to enter into that dusty prayer closet, invite The Holy Spirit to come into that closet with us, into our reading and into our prayer lives and meet us there.
Here’s another quote from a classic Christian song. This one is a Margaret Becker song that goes back to the 80s. In it, she talks about simplifying her life, and taking deliberate time to seek the Lord. And the chorus simply states, “Find me, I’ll wait for you.”
Here are some lyrics:
I’m gonna give away my stereo, Give away my T.V.
I’m going back to essentials, a chair and a lamp
And the Book that You wrote to me
You see, I’m looking for the You that used to speak so clear
I’m looking for the me that had a heart to hear
And I’m looking for the passion that help me here On the edge
You see, I’m looking for the me that I used to know
I’m looking for the love that was out of control
‘Cause I feel a little cold here in the afterglow
Find me, find me, I’ll, I’ll wait for You
Speaking of song lyrics,
Here’s another psalm: Psalm 139:23-24 says: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 26:2 similarly says: Examine me, O Lord, and prove me;Try my mind and my heart.
Here, the psalmist is doing much the same as Margaret Becker in her song, inviting God into their place, more specifically into their hearts. It’s a prayer of devotion. It’s a prayer of recalibration. Recalibrating requires us to invite God to search us, to have His Spirit come in to not only refresh us or even forgive us at times, but to go further and search us and to point out ways in which we need to be recalibrated.
The first Psalm that I just read starts with the words, “Search me,” and the second psalm says, “Examine me.” Paul told the Corinthian church to “Examine themselves as to whether or not they are truly of the faith. And what did he say would be the measure? If Jesus Christ, or The Holy Spirit is in you.
The word ‘examine’ here in the Greek–you may not like to hear this–means to, “Learn the nature or character of someone by submitting them to thorough and extensive testing.”
To be ‘examined’ or ‘searched’ by God requires us to take that uncomfortable step to allow him to tell us where we’re off and need to be recalibrated. This is an effort on our part in collaboration with His Holy Spirit and in agreement with the standard of His Word.
You see why I put so much emphasis on why a correct interpretation of The Bible needs to be the standard? It’s because if The Holy Spirit is to be involved with our scripture reading, He can’t contradict Himself when he uses The Word to speak to us. The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Bible, is therefore at one with The Bible.
Romans 12:1-2 say: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Here are a couplemore Greek definitions:
- Living sacrifice – “Present”; make a presentation, offer willingly, of your own volition, choice or decision.
- Conform – suschematizo – To form or mold one’s behavior in accordance with a particular pattern or set of standards [there’s the word, standard, again]. To fashion or shape like another.
This is from the Youversion Bible website. It simply states that:
“Corrective measures requires repentance.”
And what is repentance? One more Greek definition for you this morning.
It means: “To change one’s way of life as the result of a complete change of thought and attitude.”
You see how repentance and recalibrate go hand in hand? Cambridge Dictionary definition of the word, Recalibrate is: “to change the way you do or think about something.”
As I mentioned earlier, this crazy mixed-up/ messed-up world we live in will get to us. Whether it’s trying to catch up to whatever we need to do before going to bed that night; or whether it’s trying to not throw the shoe at the TV when watching the news.
Maybe it’s the influence of the world on our lives and we need to recalibrate our thoughts and attitudes and behavior. We’re prone to sin, we’re prone to be like everyone else, yet God calls us to stand out and be held to a different standard.
What is that standard?
To be separate from the World. To be cleansed, to be righteous, to be holy.
We all need to be reset. We all need to be recalibrated. We all need God’s special touch on our lives and in our hearts and minds. The way the world is going, we need it now more than ever. But it’s only going to come if we stop what we’re doing, and deliberately take time to go into that dusty prayer closet to search God and ask Him to search us
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen
Featured Image by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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