I’m calling this message “Foundations for the Future of Cities Church.” There are more than two foundational pillars of this church. But I’m going to focus on two because Psalm 19 focuses on two. The first foundation is the glory of God. The second foundation is the word of God. These two foundations answer the questions “What is ultimate reality?” (the glory of God) and “What is ultimate truth?” (the word of God). And what we will see is that the glory of God and the word of God find a perfect, personal union in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, our rock and our redeemer: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

If you’re a child listening to me right now, you might be thinking, “Wow, that’s a lot of big words. I’m not sure this sermon is going to be for me.” Listen carefully as I point something out. Most children I’m aware of who have been taught along the way that there is a great God who made everything eventually ask, “Daddy, who made God? Where did God come from?” That is the same as asking, “What is ultimate reality?” This sermon is about the questions of children. The great questions are children’s questions. When a child is taught very early, “You must always tell the truth. You should never lie. Don’t ever say something is true when it’s not true,” sooner or later a child is going to ask, “Daddy, who decides what’s true?” And that’s the same as asking, “What is ultimate truth?” So, there are two foundations for the future of Cities Church: ultimate reality (the glory of God) and ultimate truth (the word of God).

Ultimate Reality, Ultimate Truth

By reality, I mean what is. And by ultimate reality, I mean what has always been and what defines all of reality — namely, the glory of God. God never had a beginning. He has always been there. And he has always been glorious. Ultimate reality is glorious because God is glorious — infinitely great, infinitely beautiful, infinitely valuable. Everything else, including the entire universe and eight billion human beings, is secondary, dependent, and derivative. Ultimate reality is the glory of God.

By truth, I mean reliable communication of what is and what ought to be. And what ought to be is defined by what ultimately is, which is why God said, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Holy is what I ought to be. Why? Because ultimate reality is holy. And what ought to be is determined by what ultimately is. “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

I was led to choose Psalm 19 as the focus of this message largely because I am so burdened by the prevalence today of a kind of Christian who does not like to think in terms of ultimate reality and ultimate truth. They are allergic to those categories. They are kept at a distance, and in their place are malleable, fuzzy ideas of tolerance, acceptance, love, justice, compassion, respect, and openness. But as soon as you bring ultimate truth or ultimate reality to bear on any of those ideas so as to give them some measure of definition and clarity, there is resistance. Truth and reality are felt to be a kind of straitjacket — a limitation, constriction, or restraint — even though Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. . . . So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:32, 36).

The burden that I bring this morning is to say, “Cities Church, if the ultimate reality of the glory of God and the ultimate truth of the word of God cease to be the cherished pillars of this church, you will cease to be a true church. And if the kind of Christians who are allergic to ultimate truth, ultimate reality, and the clarity, definition, and doctrine that flows from them gravitate into the eldership of this church, that will be the beginning of the end.”

I believe you have a body of elders now that get this just right. Follow them as they follow Christ. Exult joyfully in the ultimate reality of the glory of God. Exult joyfully in the ultimate truth of the word of God. And exult personally and gladly in the perfect union of the glory of God and the word of God in the Son of God — our rock and our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. You will see in just a moment why I stress the words joyfully and gladly.

Glory of God

Now turn with me to Psalm 19. And if you think that was a long introduction, in fact it was exposition of this chapter. Everything I have just said flowed from my meditations on this chapter and, I believe, is explicit or implicit in Psalm 19. We have not been spinning our wheels.

Verses 1–6 are about ultimate reality, the glory of God. Verses 7–11 are about ultimate truth, the word of God. And verses 12–14 are David’s response expressing his need for a Redeemer.

The heavens declare the glory of God,     and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.Day to day pours out speech,     and night to night reveals knowledge.There is no speech, nor are there words,     whose voice is not heard.Their voice goes out through all the earth,     and their words to the end of the world.In them he has set a tent for the sun,     which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,     and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.Its rising is from the end of the heavens,     and its circuit to the end of them,     and there is nothing hidden from its heat. (verses 1–6)

What’s the point of those six verses? There is not a single word there about you or me or any human being. Those verses are entirely about God and how his glory is revealed. What is David doing? He is answering the question “What is ultimate reality?” What is behind the universe? What’s the point of the stars and the moon and the sun and everything we see when we look up? And his answer is this: the point of the universe is to declare that God is glorious — to proclaim that a glorious God built this with his hands.

Sometimes, you will hear a skeptic say, “If Christianity is true, why are there billions of light-years of space and, as far as we know, trillions of uninhabitable stars, many of which are millions of times bigger than the sun, while earth and its history is a tiny blue dot in the midst of this wild, vast universe of unimaginable power?” The answer is this: The message of the universe is not first about us. It’s about God. In fact, since David said he built this with his hands, and Psalm 8 says he did it with his fingers, we may conclude it was easy, and the universe is very much like a peanut that he carries in his pocket. The point of the universe is that God is glorious.

Verses 1–2 speak of the heavens declaring, proclaiming, and pouring out speech — all of which sounds as if we are supposed to hear something. But verse 3 clarifies: “There is no speech, nor are there words.” This is a wordless declaration, a speechless proclamation. Then I think that last phrase in verse 3 (“whose voice is not heard”) means something like this: The heavens have a voice, but it is not a heard voice. It’s a seen voice. It’s a seen message from God. Because he goes right on to say in verse 4, “Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” It’s a voice without speech, words without words. And there is no limit to this voice that we hear with our eyes — this declaration, this proclamation that we hear by seeing the work of God’s hands. You remember the way Paul picked this up in Romans 1:20. He said, “[God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived . . . in the things that have been made.”

Then, perhaps most amazing of all, from the end of verse 4 through verse 5 David zeroes in on the sun. And what he says about the way the sun proclaims the glory of God is mind-boggling:

In them he has set a tent for the sun,     which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,     and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

When you look at the declaration of the glory of God in the rising of the sun to its setting, what you are to see is a glory — a divine glory — that is like a bridegroom coming out of his tent and walking toward his wedding. What you are to see is a glory — a divine glory — that is like a strong runner who loves to run and therefore runs with joy. Picture Eric Liddell from Chariots of Fire, head back, arms flailing, smile on his face, feeling a joyful pleasure of God on his life.

“The point of the universe is to declare that God is glorious.”

What’s the point? Stop and think. This is amazing. This is mind-boggling. What else can the message be but that when you rightly see the glory of God, it is an ecstatically happy glory? It is a happiness in God who thought this up, who made the universe this way. And it is happiness in us if we rightly see and savor the revelation of God’s glory. I remember the night of December 20, 1968, lying alone on my bed in the motel room in Barnesville, Georgia, the night before I was to marry Noël, and thinking, Tomorrow morning is the day I have wanted for two and a half years. I was so happy, and I still am.

If you see the glory of God as it really is, this will be your experience — the enjoyment of the glorious overflow of the greatness of God. And David is not ignorant, nor was Jesus, of the horrible suffering of this world. Jesus said that God makes the sun rise on the evil and the good (Matthew 5:45). David wrote this psalm before antibiotics, before anesthesia, before any knowledge of infection, before motors or electricity or refrigeration or indoor plumbing or central heating or air conditioning or 911. It was a hard and brutal world. And in spite of everything, when he looked up at the rising of the sun, he saw a bridegroom on his way to his wedding and a man running with joy. That’s why I said, “Cities Church, exult joyfully in the ultimate reality of the glory of God.”

Word of God

Now we turn to verses 7–11, which focus on the ultimate truth of God’s word. How are verses 7–11, with their focus on the ultimate truth of God’s word, connected to verses 1–6, with their focus on the ultimate reality of the glory of God? There is more than one right answer to that question. One answer is that verses 7–11 are written to answer the question “What if I look at the heavens and I don’t experience the glory of God and the gladness of a bridegroom or a happy runner? Is there something wrong with my eyes? Is there something inadequate about the heavens?” I think David’s answer to those two questions is yes. God’s revelation of himself in nature is inadequate for all that God wants us to know and experience of his glory. And yes, there is something wrong with our eyes, and looking at nature cannot fix it, but the written word of God can. So, he turns from God’s revelation in nature to God’s revelation in Scripture.

As I read these verses, look for six ways the written word of God is named, nine ways the word of God is described, and seven ways the word of God affects the reader:

The law (instruction) of the Lord is perfect,     reviving the soul;the testimony of the Lord is sure,     making wise the simple;the precepts of the Lord are right,     rejoicing the heart;the commandment of the Lord is pure,     enlightening the eyes;the fear of the Lord [viewed as the focus and aim of the word] is clean,     enduring forever;the rules of the Lord are true,     and righteous altogether.More to be desired are they than gold,     even much fine gold;sweeter also than honey     and drippings of the honeycomb.Moreover, by them is your servant warned;     in keeping them there is great reward.

He names God’s word as law (instruction), testimony (God’s witness), precepts, commandments, fear, and rules. He takes the one diamond, the word of God, Scripture, and turns it so six of its facets show in these six names.

Then he describes it. God’s word is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, righteous, more precious than gold, and sweeter than honey. In other words, it is complete — it contains all you need as a reader or a listener in order to know God as he ought to be known. It is flawless and will never mislead you. It is precious beyond estimation because of its completeness and flawlessness — more valuable than the most valuable thing on earth and sweeter than the sweetest thing on earth.

And then he gives the amazing effects of this word on us. It revives. It gives life. You, O Lord, have the words of life (John 6:68). It makes the simple wise. It keeps you from being a fool. It creates joy in the heart — for example, when it goes beyond sunshine and shows the final meaning of the bridegroom and the runner. So, the ultimate reality of God’s glory and the ultimate truth of God’s word are both joyful. They both are designed by God to make us glad forever. It enlightens the eyes — which many of us need when we look at God’s glory in nature because we don’t see the bridegroom exulting or the runner rejoicing. It endures forever and will never let you down. It keeps back from sin and leads to final great reward.

In other words, God’s communication in his written word is fuller and more effective than God’s communication in nature. Both are good and do what they were appointed to do. But the written word is better.

I called the glory of God in verses 1–6 ultimate reality because the point of those verses was that the glory of God is why the universe exists. The glorious God was there before anything else. Everything else exists because of God to show the glory of God, and therefore the glory of God is ultimate. There is nothing before or under or over the glory of God. It is ultimate reality.

And the reason I call the word of God ultimate truth in verses 7–11 is because of the sixfold repetition: law of the Lord, testimony of the Lord, precepts of the Lord, commandment of the Lord, fear of the Lord, rules of the Lord. Nothing is repeated more often than this. The word, the Scriptures, are from God and about God and for God. And God is ultimate. He speaks the truth — “The rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether” (verse 9) — and since it is God who speaks the truth, the truth he speaks is ultimate truth.

Son of God

Cities Church, these are two absolutely essential foundations for your future: the glory of God as ultimate reality and the word of God as ultimate truth. Without these, you will not be a true church.

But there is a paradox here. When a church embraces the glory of God and the word of God as a treasure better than gold and the sweetness sweeter than honey, two things happen: joy overflows like a bridegroom coming out of his tent, and humble brokenheartedness abounds. The more clearly you see the beauty and value of God’s holiness, his glory, and the more deeply you are pierced by the living word of God, the happier you will be because of him and the sadder you will be because of yourself. The more sweetly you embrace the glory of God, the more keenly you are aware of impurities in yourself. In other words, at the end of verses 1–11, we need a Redeemer. That’s where David ends.

Let’s read Psalm 19:12–14:

Who can discern his errors?     Declare me innocent from hidden faults.Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;     let them not have dominion over me!Then I shall be blameless,     and innocent of great transgression.Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart     be acceptable in your sight,     O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

The last word of the psalm, in Hebrew and English, is redeemer. Justification by faith was a reality in the Old Testament. The apostle Paul based his teaching on Abraham. That reality is what David means when he says in verse 12, “Declare me innocent from hidden faults.” People who are not innocent in the presence of God’s glory need to be declared innocent. You do. I do.

But for God to be just and yet declare guilty people to be innocent, there needs to be a Redeemer — a very special kind of Redeemer. So, God’s word teaches us in Romans 3 that God put Jesus Christ forward as a Redeemer — a justice-satisfying Redeemer — because God had passed over former sins like David’s (declaring the guilty innocent) and so that he could pass over our sins and declare us innocent and keep us back from the sin that leads to death.

The Old Testament sacrifices, the Old Testament priests, and the Old Testament kinsman-redeemer could not do it. We need more than the glory of God in nature and the word of God in Scripture. We need a Redeemer who is a perfect personal union of the glory of God and the word of God. And that’s who Jesus Christ is. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”

So, there is the third foundational pillar for Cities Church. The first is that ultimate reality is the glory of God. The second is that ultimate truth is the word of God. And the third is that ultimate reality and ultimate truth united in the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

Therefore, Cities Church, on your tenth anniversary, declare this openly and joyfully: “We are built on and we rejoice in the foundations of the glory of God, the word of God, and the Son of God as a treasure — more to be desired are they than gold, and sweeter also than honey.”

Jesus, our chief Shepherd, is remarkably tough and remarkably tender — and often at times and in ways we don’t expect.

We see this surprising mixture over and over in the Gospels: he pursues the Samaritan woman (tender) and confronts her promiscuity (tough); he calls the Canaanite woman a “puppy” (tough) and heals her daughter (tender); he names Peter “Rock” (tender) and then calls him Satan (tough); he accepts the prostitute’s tears (tender) and casts a woe on the Pharisees’ tithe (tough). Now, if pastors should look like Jesus, if undershepherds should imitate the great Shepherd, what are we to do with that?

We might simply note that pastors need to be flexible, able to play different roles at different times. But I don’t think this gets to the heart of the matter. This isn’t really a pragmatic question of how we should act in specific situations. Jesus was much more than an expert in working out how to relate to people in every situation. He did what he did and said what he said because he was who he was. His example pushes us pastors to reflect on the kind of men we are. More than that, it confronts us with a basic question: Do we pursue Christlikeness in ministry more than we pursue competence?

Character of Christ

In ministry and life in general, it’s always easier to focus on competence rather than character. (As someone who works in theological education, I know that temptation all too well.) But competence without character is very dangerous. In fact, competence without character almost inevitably leads to the kind of high-profile leadership disasters that have peppered the evangelical landscape across the English-speaking world in recent years (and that have been quietly mirrored by lesser-known examples in local churches across the world). This is why it is so desperately important for pastors to pursue the character of Christ.

“Christlikeness should top the list of every search committee and every job description in ministry.”

All our discipling, theological training, mentoring, and coaching should ultimately aim at conforming us to the image of Christ. Christlikeness should top the list of every search committee and every job description in ministry. Christlikeness should dominate our prayers for our pastors. Above all else, we should long for it, expect it, and encourage it in those who lead us. Without this in place, we are not paying attention to the priorities of Scripture; we’re inviting disaster.

The multifaceted picture of Jesus that we find in the Gospels gives us more than enough material to identify the key ways in which pastors can walk as he did. Consider just five.

1. Christ wanted to please the Father.

The accounts of Jesus’s life and ministry are punctuated by statements of his overwhelming desire to be about his Father’s business or simply to please his Father (Luke 2:49; John 4:34). At the end of the day, the greatest responsibility and privilege of every pastor is to bring pleasure and glory to God. Only this ambition can keep our sinful desires for success, power, and acclamation in check.

2. Christ prayed for strength.

In the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly takes time to pray for the strength that he needs to do what his Father has called him to do. This priority is first mentioned in the wilderness and continues to punctuate the narrative of his ministry all the way to the garden of Gethsemane and the cross. Christlike pastors, then, serve in weakness even as they seek God’s own strength by asking him to do his promised work in us through the Spirit. (It is no accident that the apostles are freed up in Acts 6:4 for the ministry of the word and prayer.)

3. Christ cared deeply for people.

We have a Lord and Master who cared deeply for people — whether those he spent the most time with (like his inner circle of twelve or his wider group of disciples), vulnerable individuals he briefly encountered (like the Samaritan woman, Zacchaeus, or the rich young ruler), or simply “the crowds” of individual cities (like Capernaum or Jerusalem). He cared deeply for whomever he saw, and so too do Christlike pastors.

4. Christ got to know people.

This mark of Christ’s ministry is almost redundant given the previous point, but it’s important enough to highlight explicitly. Caring is great, but in Jesus’s case, it was always matched by a deep insight into the characteristics and circumstances of individual people. That’s clear in Matthew 9:4, where Jesus addresses the Pharisees in the presence of the paralyzed man and his friends; it’s also on display in Luke 9:47, as Jesus sees through the ambition of his closest followers (see also John 2:24–25, as well as his encounters with Nicodemus in John 3 and the Samaritan woman in John 4).

While some of this knowledge may have been supernatural, much of it seems to have been the product of a deep insight, which led to investing in people and seeking their good.

5. Christ spoke for his hearers’ good and his Father’s glory.

When Jesus speaks to people, he is consistently motivated by two things: a profound concern for their deepest good and — what is perfectly in step with that — a concern to please his Father. This is why he is fearless in exposing people’s motives, whether it’s his friends (Luke 9:47) or his enemies (Matthew 9:4) or those he has just met (like the rich ruler of Luke 18:18). To put it bluntly, it’s not about him; it’s about them and his Father.

Impossible Call

When we see these qualities of Jesus, it becomes clear that his ability to be both tough and tender flowed from something much more profound than mere practical wisdom. He did what he did and said what he said because he was who he was. It also makes clear the daunting nature of the ministry to which every pastor is called. Pastoring is not simply a matter of discernment or learned sensitivity; pastors are called to Christlikeness.

This simple insight makes us stop and think. It also silences many of our excuses — especially those we offer silently to quiet our own inner angst and guilt. Our particular personality and our unique strengths and weaknesses do not provide an escape clause or an alternative way of doing ministry. We are all called to be like Christ and follow in his steps. Realizing this will help inoculate us against the virus of “professionalism” in ministry, which encourages us to fixate on competencies and the practicalities of good leadership (important though these are). Pastors who read the Gospels can never be satisfied with pragmatics, for they know that they are called to character — Christlikeness — above all.

The call to Christlikeness drives us to our knees and reminds us that we can never master our calling. The great news is that our God has promised that he is more than enough to help us in our weakness.