Psalm 50: Christmas and the Myth of Neutrality
Introduction
We’re beginning a brief series today that will carry us over the next three weeks right up to Christmas. This is our 2020 Advent series, even though we don’t always advertise it as such lest we harm our already somewhat bruised and beleaguered Presbyterian bona fides. Even though it is starting a week late for reasons that are obvious to everyone this year, I am thankful that in God’s providence we have a few weeks to reflect on The Offense of Christmas. That’s our title for the series, and each week we’ll be looking at passages which highlight the way in which the coming of Christ has exposed the false gods of this world, incurring their wrath and signalling their doom. Next week, our Lord willing, we will talk about Christmas and the Failure of Naturalism. The week of Christmas we will look at Christmas and the Fall of this World’s Kings. But today we will get everything started by considering Christmas and the Myth of Neutrality.
There is a misguided notion that has been popularly embraced even among conservative Christians that America was founded as a religiously neutral, deliberately secular nation. Even if this were true--and there is considerable evidence to the contrary which ought to be weighed and debated--believers ought to recognize that such a program would be doomed to failure. It may be that the founders intended our nation to be a secular state, free of explicitly religious values, but if that were their design, you and I ought to realize such a goal never has, can, or will succeed. There is no neutrality, because this is God’s world. Pretending otherwise is pointless. You can put up barricades, spray paint streets, and declare yourself to be living in an autonomous zone. That will work so long as those in actual authority are willing to play along. Whenever they stop pretending, you quickly discover there is a big difference between pansies and panzers. That brings us to our text today, a psalm in which God surveys everything in the world: religious and irreligious, righteous and unrighteous, human and animal--he looks at it all and declares: “It is all mine!”
God Has Come and Will Not Be Silent (Ps. 50:1-6)
The Mighty One, God Yahweh, has spoken and called to the earth from beginning to end. That is the picture Psalm 50 opens with, the Mighty God who speaks with a voice of authority to all creation, the God who “shall come, and shall not keep silent,” the God who is Judge of the whole earth. The first six verses portray God as present, powerful, and personally involved in the affairs of this world. He is not absent. He is not silent. He is not disinterested. He is a God unlike any the nations ever imagined or invented, a God whose power and purpose govern everything that goes on in the present age. He shines forth from Zion. A fire devours before him, and he rules over the world as Judge. But he knows and pities those who are his children. He gathers those who have made covenant with him, those who are at peace with the Mighty God by means of sacrifice.
Christmas is a yearly reminder that the Lord has come and is not silent. He came to redeem and rule over his creation. He came to do for us what none of us could do for ourselves. He came to us because we could not go to him. He came in lowliness because that is our condition. He came on our level in order to raise us to his heavenly glory.
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” (Luke 1:30-37)
That announcement by the angel Gabriel to the virgin Mary is the most incredible news ever published in the history of the world. God is coming to earth. He is coming as a Man. He is coming to rule as King. And his kingdom will never end. If this sounds impossible, that’s because it is. Impossible for men, certainly. But with God nothing will be impossible. Only God could do it. And that is the message of Christmas: God has actually done it. He pulled it off. He accomplished what the angel said he would. He has come, and he has not kept silent. That is Psalm 50:1-6.
The World Belongs to God and Everything in It (Ps. 50:7-15)
What does God say when he comes? He speaks to two groups: his people (vv.7-15) and the wicked (vv.16-23). Do you see what this implies? Those are the only two groups. There is no third category. There are no “unconverted innocents,” no “good, moral, but irreligious people.” There are God’s people, and everyone else, and everyone else is a rebel. They are rebels because everyone who worships God is counted as his child, and everyone who refuses to worship has made himself an enemy. Your position in life is determined by your posture in relation to the King. This monarchy is global and absolute, because his reign includes the entire world and everything in it. There are no citizens of other lands who are outside his rule. No one has diplomatic immunity from his laws and judgment. Everyone is subject to the crown. That is why there are only these two categories: God’s people, and the wicked.
God did not come to establish a voluntary religious organization. He did not come only to build a Church. He came to make the world a Temple, and every creature a worshipper in it. You may think you did not sign up for his kingdom, but you were born under his rule and in his world. I didn’t decide to be an American; I suppose if I were unhappy, I could leave and move to another nation. But you were born into God’s universe. You breathe his air, walk on his earth, and exist for his purposes. If you are unwilling to be his subject, where will you go? He owns everything that is.
The Lord speaks to his people and reminds them of who he is. He does not need them or their worship. He does not need anything, because he owns and upholds everything there is! This is one of the basic contrasts between true and false religion. False religion--which includes all of ancient paganism--was viewed as a means of servicing the gods: feeding them, appeasing them, and pleasing them to the worshipper’s survival and advantage. But true religion, the religion of Yahweh, is a religion of thanksgiving, because Yahweh does not need anything. He is not fed by human hands or animal sacrifices. He is not appeased by human prayers or offerings a worshipper makes. He is not pleased by what his people do. Instead, he is satisfied with the work of his Son.
When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:16-17)
We are not doing anything for God by worshipping him in this way. Our obedience to his Law does not provide him any advantage or anything he would not already possess. He does not need our love, attention, or service. He doesn’t need anything. He is the self-existent God, utterly complete in himself, and creation is entirely gratuitous. Any doctrine which says God needed love or relationship from human beings is fundamentally pagan. The Triune God dwells in perfect, eternal love. What can we ever supply that the Lord would otherwise be without? He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He only wants us to call upon him in the day of trouble, and give thanks to him in the day of deliverance. Yahweh gives all the presents. He needs and receives none.
Christmas exposes the foolish notion that man stands on equal footing with God: that each of us has a part to play, that each of us makes a contribution. Bunkum and balderdash. You can’t consistently believe in Christmas and remain an Arminian. Christ came to do it all, and its a good thing, because if it had depended on Joseph or Zechariah or the original disciples or the later Church, we all would be headed for Hell. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.” It’s a good thing the Lord took matters into his own hand. There is no neutrality. There is no equality. We are not partners in this enterprise. We are subjects of the King.
Justice Delayed Will Not Be Justice Denied (Ps. 50:16-23)
When God speaks to the wicked, he essentially says: “You have no right to anything in my world.” They had set themselves up as religious, ethical, and legal authorities, but the Lord is the great King and Judge of the universe. They were hypocrites to the core and had the gall to exercise authority as if it were rightfully theirs. Because the Lord did not immediately contradict or destroy them, they assumed they would get away with it. If they thought he existed at all, they assumed he must be just like them. But vv.16-23 make clear that justice delayed will not be justice denied.
Psalm 50 is a very comforting psalm in a world gone mad. You know the kind of world I am speaking about. It’s a world where human rights abusers like China, Cuba, and the Russian Federation have seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council. It’s a world where it is illegal to disturb, tamper with, or collect sea turtle eggs, but it is legal to terminate your unborn child by chemical poisoning, vacuuming the baby out of the womb, or cutting the baby’s body into pieces and then suctioning it out of the womb. It’s a world where we are assured sexual orientation is an hereditary and immutable category of personhood and gender is a fluid state, a social construct, subject to redefinition and change according to the individual’s preferences, but not subject to input or legal decisions by the parent of an underage child. That, brothers and sisters, is a world gone mad. But don’t be overly alarmed or troubled. The inmates may have taken over the asylum, but they won’t be able to retain it. “These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought I was altogether like you, but I will rebuke you, and set them in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver” (vv.21-22).
If you believe in the ideal of a neutral, secular world, well then the last decade really ought to be very depressing to you; the last year might be enough to throw you completely over the edge! But I have good news for you: God doesn’t believe in that ideal. A neutral, secular world does not exist, and if you try to build it, you’ll find that you are building castles out of steam on a foundation of sand. God may remain silent for a time, but only in the sense that he won’t immediately execute the wrath his Law demands. He is not silent at all, not if you are listening. If you pay attention, you can hear him right now. The wicked could hear him too; that’s why they are frantically trying to control the conversation. They must not allow a lull. Noise is their only hope. If they can drown out the Word of God, then perhaps he will lose interest and leave. But it is futile. He won’t leave. He came into this world two thousand years ago, and he didn’t surrender the field. He simply withdrew to high ground. He rules from on high and surveys the battleground. He sees his enemies spread before him. He has not conceded. On the contrary, when he came to Bethlehem, he came to save the world, and he means to do so. He will come again, and when he does, he means to stay.
This third section of Psalm 50 is fascinating to read at this time of year. It’s the season when politicians who spend all year promoting abortion, sodomy, and pluralism suddenly remember they are nominally Catholic (or Methodist or Presbyterian or some other form of Christianity stripped of all fat, protein, and flavor). “Merry Christmas!” they say, and the Lord replies, “What right have you to take My covenant in your mouth?” It would be better for them to curse on public television than to pretend to celebrate the advent of Christ the Lord. Would the Third Reich celebrate D-Day? Would Stalin have rejoiced in the fall of Communism? The Lord’s coming sounds the death knell for all his adversaries. That’s why you need to sing real Christmas hymns. I don’t mean Away in a Manger and Silent Night, songs that have been stripped of everything worth celebrating at Christmastime. I mean lines like this:
Forth today the Conqu’ror goeth, who the foe, sin and woe, death and hell, o’erthroweth.
God is man, man to deliver; his dear Son now is one with our blood forever.
(All My Heart This Night Rejoices)
Or this:
He cast the mighty from their thrones, and lifted those of low estate.
The hungry he hath filled with good; the rich he empty sent away. (Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55)
Or this:
The fear of God will fill his heart and mind with great delight.
He judges not by ear or sight but justly does the right.
With righteousness he rules the poor; the wicked he will slay.
The belt of truth and righteousness are ‘round his waist displayed.
(A Shoot Will Spring from Jesse’s Stump, Isa. 11:1-9)
Or this:
Rejoice, ye heav'ns; thou earth reply; with praise, ye sinners, fill the sky,
for this his incarnation. Incarnate God, put forth thy pow'r, ride on, ride on, great conqueror
till all know thy salvation. Amen, Amen! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Praise be given evermore by earth and heaven. (How Lovely Shines the Morning Star!)
Or this:
Born Thy people to deliver, Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever, Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit, Raise us to Thy glorious throne. (Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus)
The message of Christmas is that the King has come and asserted his claim on the universe. There is no neutral ground. There are no secular spaces where he is not welcome, no place for hypocrites who pretend loyalty while defying the will of the King. All will be held accountable. The Law of the King will be upheld. The children of the covenant will be rescued. The breakers of the covenant will be brought to judgment and destroyed. The Sovereign Lord who needs nothing and no one comes both to pardon and to punish, to deliver and to destroy. He came as a Man to rule over men. He came as a Child that we, who were enemies, might become the children of God.
Christmas and the Myth of Neutrality
Christmas has been controversial for quite some time now, and I don’t mean only since we began the awkward debate over whether cashiers who say, “Merry Christmas!” are violating civil liberties. Christmas has been controversial since King Herod decided the best way to stop it was to kill all the male babies in Bethlehem, hoping that the Christ child would be one of them. Christmas is controversial because it suggests a particular take on human history, namely that God came to the world in human form, died and rose again to redeem it, and now claims all of it as the Undisputed Sovereign. No one feels threatened by Hannukah because if they know anything about its history and theology, they know it makes no all-encompassing claims about world domination. No one feels threatened by Kwanzaa because no one is sure what it means, and if they ever took time to learn, they would discover it demands nothing of them. But not so with Christmas. Everyone who says, “Merry Christmas!” is confessing that the Child born to be King of the Universe has come.
There is no neutrality. If you say, “Merry Christmas!” you are confessing the Christ Child is King, whether you are a Christian or not. If you say, “Happy Holidays!” you may not be denying the Christmas story, but you are playing pretend with the spoiled children who are asserting their bedroom is now an autonomous zone, the same bedroom heated and cooled by your utility bills, furnished with your housing allowance, covered by your homeowner’s insurance, guarded by your vigilance. It’s fun to play pretend with a four year old when he is David and you are Goliath. It’s frightening to be asked to play pretend with a forty year old who claims to be Stalin and says you are a Russian peasant. One of these games is delightful; the other is devilish. One of these games of pretend is preparing a child to live in the real world. One of these is proof that someone is not a child but a maniac who does not inhabit the real world but rather hates and longs to destroy it. If you play pretend with the child, you are an ally of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. If you play pretend with the maniac, you defy the created universe; you are part of the problem.
Either the Christmas story is true or it is not. And everyone knows, whether they admit it or not, that the story is true. We know it is true, which is why we still celebrate the birth of a peasant child in an obscure Jerusalem suburb almost two thousand years ago. The story is true, which is why even non-Christians say, “Merry Christmas!” and set-up trees and give gifts and sing carols at this time every year. The story is true, and that is why secularists become enraged when the world sings and celebrates Christmas. They know that Christmas is true and that there is no neutrality. The secularists know you cannot say, “Merry Christmas!” and then deny that Jesus is Lord of all. They think by refusing to say, “Merry Christmas!” they can prevent him from being their King. If they refuse to participate in the celebration and object to it wherever it may be found, then they can establish an autonomous zone, and perhaps the Child King will leave them alone. But he will not agree to play pretend with lunatics whose delusions threaten the world.
Christmas exposes the myth of neutrality. There is no such thing as neutrality, because we are either living in Christ’s world or we are not. If the child born in Bethlehem to Joseph and Mary was, indeed, the Son of God, then Jesus is Lord of all. If he wasn’t God’s Son, his story would already have been forgotten, and there would be no debate or outrage over holiday greetings in the public square. There is no neutral space, only created space, and it all belongs to Christ. Christmas is not just a holiday; it is a holy-day, and whether you sanctify it as such or not, the Child laid in the manger was born to die and rise and reign, and he did, and he does.
Every person who seeks to neuter Christmas of its eschatological and political implications is like the forty year old who declares his parents’ basement an autonomous zone. He is living in Christ’s world, breathing Christ’s air, eating Christ’s cattle, while pretending it is his own. His is not a harmless game of make-believe; it is a pathetic and perverse delusion. The result will be worse than coal in his stocking. The King will come and tear his enemies into pieces, and there will be none to deliver the one who refused the rule of the Righteous Son.
Conclusion
As we close let’s review the three points of the psalm. First, the Mighty God has come, has spoken, and will judge the world over which he reigns. Second, to his people, the Lord gives a reminder that he does not need anything from us. We owe everything to him. True religion is one of thanksgiving. We do not feed him, complete him, or sustain him. All that we are, all that we have, and all that we can offer is entirely of grace. Third, to the wicked, the Lord announces his absolute, unalterable authority and determination to judge them for their hypocrisy and sin. The delay of their judgment does not mean it will be permanently avoided or denied. Righteousness will carry the day. God’s authority as King will be seen, his people will be saved, and his enemies will be annihilated.
What does this have to do with Christmas? Nothing. Psalm 50 is not about Christmas. The question is, what does Christmas have to do with Psalm 50? The answer is: everything. Christmas is all about Psalm 50, and a thousand other similar passages scattered throughout the Bible. Christ’s First Advent was the historical enactment of this psalm, the day when the mighty God invaded creation, spoke, asserted his authority, and established his rule that one day will save the world and overcome all adversaries. Don’t be fooled by all the sweetness in a feminized celebration as if Christmas were a secular holiday. Christmas was D-Day, eschatologically speaking, and even if we are somewhere still in the Ardennes Forest facing an impressive number of enemy tank divisions, we know the King has guaranteed the victory at his prior landing sometime ago. That is what we celebrate. Christ has come, and there is no neutrality. Merry Christmas. Amen.
