A People for His Name

"Inditing a Good Matter"

September 20, 2011

The author of Psalm 45 begins by stating that his “heart is inditing a good matter” (45:1a). He thus expresses his viewpoint that he considers the thoughts that are filling his heart and pouring forth from it as good.

He then makes known the subject of those thoughts by saying, “I speak of the things which I have made touching the king” (45:1b). The good matter, therefore, that his heart was overflowing with concerned the King of whom he writes. He also expresses his skillfulness in setting forth his thoughts on his subject by declaring, “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer” (45:1c).

In the rest of the Psalm, he extols the King, beginning first by declaring His all-excelling fairness and superlative God-given eloquence (45:2a-b). He adds that because of His unequalled excellence in appearance, character, and speech, God has unendingly blessed Him (45:2c).

The Psalmist urges the King to gird Himself gloriously for warfare and to ride forth majestically to triumph over His enemies (45:3-5). Strikingly, he portrays the King’s decimating His enemies: “Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee” (45:5).

New Testament use of the next two verses (45:6-7) clearly identifies that this King is Jesus (cf. Heb. 1:2-6), the Messiah: “But unto the Son He saith, ‘Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows” (1:8-9). Plainly, both the Psalmist and the writer of Hebrews are emphasizing that this King, who is God Himself, is yet One who has been exalted by the One who is His God (the Father).

From the first seven verses of Psalm 45, an important truth that many likely overlook becomes clear. The Psalmist regards writing about the God-exalted Messiah’s fierce destruction of His enemies as “a good matter.” In contrast to the perspectives of even many believers today, his overflowing thoughts about the messianic King that he considered good include His work as the God-blessed Judge!

This inspired hymn, therefore, teaches us that our worship music should include songs that extol Jesus Christ as the God-exalted Judge and state that His righteous judgment of the enemies of God is a good thing. May God help our music to reflect aright His perspectives about the glory that He has given to His Son as the Judge.

In Interpretation, Music

"Finlandia" – simple arrangement for guitar

September 19, 2011

Here is a simple guitar arrangement of Finlandia that I produced recently. I would love to get feedback on it from other musicians, especially other guitar players.

In Guitar Music

Seventy-Five Percent Finished!

September 18, 2011

Today marks a real milestone in my yearlong project of reading through the entire Bible in Greek. I finished reading 800 chapters in the Septuagint, which is more than 75% of the Bible in Greek—praise God!


Section	Greek	English
OT	800/920	409*/920
NT	20/269	269/269
Bible	820/1189	678/1189

*Includes listening to 105 chapters of the OT from the Bible on MP3

With 104 days left in 2011, I hope to finish the LXX by the end of October. I would then have 61 days to finish the Greek NT.

Praise God!

In Bible reading

Michael Green on Evangelism by the Early Christians

September 17, 2011

The enthusiasm to evangelize which marked the early Christians is one of the most remarkable things in the history of religions. Here were men and women of every rank and station in life, of every country in the known world, so convinced that they had discovered the riddle of the universe, so sure of the one true God whom they had come to know, that nothing must stand in the way of their passing on this good news to others. As we have seen, they did it by preaching and personal conversation, by formal discourse and informal testimony, by arguing in the synagogue and by chattering in the laundry. They might be slighted, laughed at, disenfranchised, robbed of their possessions, their homes, even their families, but this would not stop them. They might be reported to the authorities as dangerous atheists, and required to sacrifice to the imperial gods; but they refused to comply. In Christianity they had found something utterly new, authentic and satisfying. They were not prepared to deny Christ even in order to preserve their own lives; and in the manner of their dying they make converts to their faith.

—Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church, 236; quoted in Perspectives of Evangelism: Encouraging Effective Evangelism, 45-46

In Evangelism, Quotes

Free Guitar Music!

September 16, 2011

Here is an updated listing of the free guitar music on my site! God willing, I plan to add many more pieces in the future.

These pieces are intended for your private individual use only and in the original format. Please contact me if you would like to use them for any other purpose.

Sheet Music

Chord Prep Study

It is Well With My Soul – chord melody solo

Medley

Pachelbel’s Canon in C

Guitar Chords, Melody Notes (in my number format), and First Stanza

Jesus, I Am Resting

Like a River Glorious

Nearer, Still Nearer

Nothing But the Blood

O How He Loves Us! – New words to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me”; my song stresses the love of God for us through words that communicate many key doctrinal truths (See explanation of format).

Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart

What a Wonderful Savior

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Other Music

God Is So Good – easy ensemble piece in four parts

In Guitar Music

Pachelbel's Canon in C

September 15, 2011

Pachelbel’s Canon is one of my favorite pieces to play. For many years now, I have been using a simplified version of this piece in the key of C with nearly all of my guitar students.

Here is an updated version that features sheet music for playing the piece with two basic picking patterns (measures 1-16) and two basic strumming patterns (measures 17-33).

In Guitar Music

The Teaching of "Nature" (1 Cor. 11:14-15)

September 14, 2011

Among believers today, First Corinthians 11:2-16 is a heavily disputed passage. Because this passage comprises fifteen verses in a key NT epistle, it deserves careful and thorough handling.

Determining the meaning of verses 14-15 and making appropriate application is one of the many challenging aspects of the passage: “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.”

Aligning the parallel parts of these verses helps bring out the meaning:

Doth not even nature itself teach you,

that	if a	man	have long hair,	it is a	shame	unto	him?
But	if a	woman	have long hair,	it is a	glory	to	her:

for her hair is given her for a covering.

Based on the structure of the passage (note the exact parallelism of the relevant parts of the middle statements), these verses are setting forth what nature itself is teaching us. The word for nature (φύσις) does not refer to culture, environment, or human tradition. It refers to what is intrinsically within man.

By using a precisely formulated rhetorical question, Paul asserts that we are to answer the question that he poses affirmatively. It is important to note also that the tight structure of the passage, especially the exact parallelism, shows that nature itself is teaching us something about both the man and the woman; the passage is not teaching just about what is true for a woman.

Examining the Greek text of these verses brings out even more forcefully the relevance of the structure of the passage. Whatever application one comes to based on this teaching must do justice to what the original text actually says.

In Biblical Greek, Biblical Languages, Interpretation

Paul in the Book of Acts

September 13, 2011

The book of Acts emphasizes that Paul was a man with a mindset toward the ministry of the message. My chart, Paul the Prisoner, explains this emphasis under two major headings:

Who was he?
What did he do?

In Interpretation

Does God Think That You Are a Christlike Young Person?

September 12, 2011

A number of years ago, I taught a series of Sunday school classes for teens that focused on Luke 2:39-52. Based on what we learned about Jesus from that passage, I challenged each teen to evaluate himself with the following questions to assess the degree to which he was a Christlike young person.

Does God think that you are a young person who . . .

1. has a very strong interest in learning more about the things of God?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2. really likes to be around spiritually minded people who know more about

the Bible than you do?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3. listens attentively and eagerly when talking with those people?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4. asks those people questions that show that you want to know more about

God and the Bible?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

5. knows his Bible well for a young person?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6. has to be about the things of your Heavenly Father?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7. has to be in your Heavenly Father’s house?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8. openly values your relationship with your Heavenly Father?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

9. is continually in subjection to your parents?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10. subjects yourself to your parents even when you are right, they don’t

understand, and they are wrong?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11. treats your mother with respect, even when she confronts you publicly?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

12. keeps His sayings in your heart?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

13. is openly increasing in wisdom?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

14. is openly increasing in favor with God and man?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

15. really wants to be like Jesus was when He was young?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

In Discipleship

“I Will Praise Thee” – Glorify God in Your Body!

September 11, 2011

I hope that this brief presentation will motivate you to glorify God in your body by praising Him for how wondrously He has created it:

In Discipleship, Health

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