No matter what goes on in the world this year, our Lord is sovereign. We should serve him with fear and trembling!

Our passage today: Psalm 2, preacher Ian Bayne, Sunday 7th January.

Last week we started the year with regrets and aspirations. This year there seems to be a lot more going on in the world that hasn’t previously been going on such as wars and rumours of wars.

Our fallen world

We are in moral decline in the west with Christian values being torn away. We’re disappointed also in ourselves when we participate in it.

The world is ruled more obviously by different tyrants who have got into power and lead by fear and persecution.

Neither socialism or capitalism can contain the true heart of man, which sees what we can get at the expense of others.

We see democracy dying as it carries the seeds of its destruction.

Our sovereign Lord

Growing up in the post Second World War: the Cold War. The button for nuclear war was ready to be pressed.

My dad took me aside and said: I believe God is sovereign over all the world and everything that happens is by his permission. I found this comforting.

The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them.

Psalm 2:4 CSB

Some will say it’s the devil at work, but he’s also restricted by God.

Psalm 2 reminds us of God’s Son: Jesus. Jesus lived, died, rose again and was raised again. He commanded his disciples to go out:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Matthew 28:18-19 ESV

Jesus has all authority, which includes both giving life and judging others.

Worship him with fear and trembling

Our response should be to bow down and worship the Lord with reverence.

Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. [11] Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. [12] Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 2:10-12 ESV

We’re to worship him with joy and with fear and trembling.

When I was in my teens I leased a large block of land and became a farmer. Canterbury in 1975 had a great storm, and almost every tree was broken or blown down. In those days farming didn’t make much money so to supplement my income I chopped wood.

There was a tree I was cutting down which was at a precarious angle and I needed to get underneath to cut it. I thought I could cut and get out of the way of it started moving. I was underneath and cutting it – I went all the way through and nothing happened. I stepped out and kicked the tree and out instantly fell – I felt the air around it – there was no way I’d have been able to run from under it. It was a narrow escape from death. I rejoiced with joy and trembling.

There’s wars and rumours of wars but we should take comfort that nothing happens without God’s express permission.