Joy Archives - Page 2 of 3

Joy and Melancholy

Joe Harby on September 30, 2012

Introduction

What are we to make of a disruption of joy that does not appear to proceed from unconfessed sin, and which also appears unrelated to external afflictions? What are we to make of that broad category of minor depression, major depression, other forms of mental illness, the blues, or simply other forms of unhappiness? They are obviously all related to “joy,” but in what way? And what about demonic oppression? How does that fit in? If King Saul had gone to a modern shrink, what would the diagnosis have been? Would it have been “you have ‘an evil spirit from the Lord.’ Take these pills. Come back and see me in three weeks.”?

The Text

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).

Summary of the Text

The apostle Paul is giving a string of practical exhortations at the end of 1 Thessalonians, and at the end of them he pronounces this benediction. Those exhortations include giving thanks for everything (v. 18), constant prayer (v. 17), testing everything (v. 21), and, to our point, to “rejoice evermore” (v. 16). The benediction then calls upon God to sanctify them entirely, and that they all be preserved, spirit, soul, and body, to the coming of the Lord Jesus.

In order to understand this benediction, we have to understand that the relationship we have with our bodies is not simply that of a guitar to its carrying case. It is not as though your soul is the guitar, and your body the case. In this sense, we don’t have bodies. We are bodies. But having said that, we also must recognize that Paul was once (likely) separated from his body (2 Cor. 12:2-3), and yet, the idea of such a separation creeped him out to some degree (2 Cor. 5:2-3).

All of this is to say that not only are we responsible for what we do with our bodies, we are also responsible for what our bodies do. There are varying degrees of responsibility, to be sure, but do not think that what your body is up to is somehow “over there.” Your body is part of what must be preserved in holiness. Your body is an aspect of you.

Agitated, But in a Resting Way

Some of you have no doubt picked up on a biblical tension as we have covered this sort of thing. On the one hand, we are to learn how to pray like the psalmist, pouring out our troubles before the Lord (Ps. 38:22). On the other, we are supposed to rest in Him, casting all our burdens on Him, because He cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7). How are we supposed to do both? The best way to summarize this is that we are to present all our concerns (whatever they are) to the Lord, but without the whiny voice. No grumbling, but a lot of discussion.

Better Living Through Chemistry?

Now your Christian discipleship includes everything, and this means it includes how and when you go to a doctor, when you get counseling and/or counsel, whether you go on medications or not, and what kind of medications you are willing to take. Be aware that the world—which is willing to tell you a lot

of things about what pills to take—does not know God. There is a strong tendency among unbelievers to medicalize simple unhappiness, as though a soma-induced bliss were a constitutional right. At the same time, it is not biblical worldview thinking to look at whatever non-Christians do, and then do the opposite. Non-Christian doctors do know how to set bones, and sometimes they know how to set brains. We need to think this through, submitting everything to Scripture as we do. This is part of what it means to love the Lord our God with all our minds. Think. Study. Learn. Discuss among yourselves.

Qualifications

Some Christians take a hard line, saying that they do not believe we should seek to shape and/or direct our moods through the ingestion of any chemical whatever. The problem is that the world is made out of chemicals. You can’t ingest anything else. Wine has chemicals in it, and it can make the heart of man glad (Ps. 104:15). Coffee has chemicals in it—some pretty neat ones.

Other Christians have all the discernment of a powerful vacuum cleaner. If worldly experts in a white lab coat say something is cool, then cool it is. This is how we have gotten to the place where so many Americans are on antidepressants in almost a routine way (about one in ten). And about 23% of women in their 40s and 50s take them. This, in a culture where human beings have never had it so good, at least when it comes to easy living. Something is clearly wrong with us. Some people are getting medicated up for the smallest little brain owie.

We need to make a basic distinction between masking drugs and restoration drugs. Some drugs simply dull the pain of what’s going on, while others are seeking to restore (say) a dopamine deficiency. That is no different (in principle) than getting braces for your teeth, or getting a broken bone set. But, having made this distinction, if you have a roaring headache and you take a couple of aspirin, you are not correcting an “aspirin deficiency.” You are treating a symptom, deadening pain. But why do you have a headache? And might the aspirin keep you from finding out what the real problem is?

A Broken Spirit

Returning to our text, the apostle tells us all these things in the context of community life, life together, koinonia fellowship. Mental health is a social affair, and all of us are involved in it. In v. 14 of this same chapter, Paul tells us to “support the weak” (v. 14). He tells us also to “comfort the feebleminded” (v. 14). The word that the AV translates as feeble-minded should be understood as something like fainthearted. The word literally is “little-souled” (oligopsychos). Comforting them is the task of the entire church community.

We should therefore be concerned about community joy, community singing, community gladness. This is not to ride roughshod over those who struggle, but rather to provide us with yet another example of how a rising tide lifts all the boats. We do not cultivate a merry heart so that that we might hoard it—we are called to share. “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken” (Prov. 15:13). “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones” (Prov. 17:22).

Joy and Affliction

Joe Harby on September 23, 2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

We have seen that one cause of disrupted joy is the fact of unrepented and unconfessed sin. The second cause, the one we will consider today, is the relationship of joy and affliction. And the third, covered next week, will be the relationship of joy and melancholy, joy when you have a case of the jim jams.

The Text

“Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6: 3-10).

Summary of the Text

This section of 2 Corinthians gives a list of some of the apostle Paul’s experiences. I want to concentrate on one phrase here—“sorrowful, yet always rejoicing”—but we also need to take a quick look at the context. For Paul, the mission was central. He did not want the ministry hampered because of offense that someone gave needlessly (v. 3). Ministers of God needed to show themselves approved across a range of difficult circumstances—showing patience, suffering afflictions, doing what is necessary, putting out fires (v. 4), getting flogged, thrown in prison, navigating riots, working hard, keeping vigil, fasting (v. 5). Moreover, this was all to be done with a particular attitude, and that attitude was not just one of hunkering down. A servant of God should be pure, knowledgeable, patient, kind, driven by the Spirit, and not a love-faker (v. 6). This can only be done by the power of God, dressed out in the armor of righteousness on the right side and left (v. 7). Servants of Christ must be a bundle of contradictions—honored and despised, slandered and praised, called liars, but truth-tellers (v. 8), as famous nobodies, as dead men walking around, as chastened death-defeaters (v. 9), as sorrowful men rejoicing all the time, as poor men scattering riches, and as those who carry the cosmos around in their empty bag (v. 10).

A Regular Nightmare

In short, the apostle Paul was a PR agent’s nightmare. The list above is not really raw material that lends itself to press releases. Imagine the apostle trying to get an interview today for any position involving significant Christian leadership. Such trials can bring about a godly reputation provided the turmoil was on the other side of the world, and was inflicted by heathens. But if it was “right here” (as the apostle’s adventures were), where civilized and respectable people look askance at the practice of putting floggings and prison terms on your resume, Problems arise when the sentencing judge belongs to the same country club you do, and he asks you questions about whether “the apostle” he recently dealt with has spoken at your church recently. Let the throat clearing begin.

The Solution

The first thing to note is that true biblical contentment, solid scriptural joy, is not a trivial bubblegum joy, pink and long-lasting. It is not happy, happy, joy, joy, all frothed up like a specialty latte. Joy is bedrock that goes down a thousand feet, and is grounded in a deep satisfaction with the will of God—His will as expressed in His Word, along with His will as expressed in what unfolds in the course of your story. With that kind of bedrock, a sturdy house can be built. The bedrock is joy, the house is joy, and it is built on the cliff facing the sea —where the storms come from. Count it all joy, James tells us, when the horizon is black at midafternoon (Jas. 1:2).

This tells us that joy in the midst of affliction is not stoicism. You don’t have to pretend it is not a storm; but you should stay in the house. You don’t have to lose all your nerve endings and act like a block of wood. Look at the passion expressed by Paul in our passage. At the same time, look at how he gets over his troubles by getting under the one who decreed them. This kind of joy in affliction is by the Spirit, this is by the power of God.

Distractions

To paraphrase Thomas Watson, we sometimes lose perspective when we focus on whoever it was that brought our trials to us, instead of the one who sent them. And to paraphrase Thomas Traherne, God is so benevolent and prone to give that He delights in us just for asking. Putting these together, learning the meaning of what has been brought is the way to learn why they were sent. Our problem is that we tend to ask for the diploma, and God answers by giving us the classes. But we didn’t want the classes, which seem too much like work.

Peace of God

Our hearts and minds do not protect the peace of God (Phil. 4:7). It is the other way around. We don’t shield the armor of righteousness with our bodies; it is the other way around (v. 7). God is our fortress, and God sends the tempest so that we will take refuge in Him. He teaches us to run to Him.

Avoiding the Theology of the Foolish Women

When Job’s wife urged him to curse God and die, she is acting the part of a tempting Eve to another Adam. But Job refuses the temptation, and stands fast in his integrity. “But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 2:10).

But we live in a time when not only have we adopted the theology of the foolish women, we have adopted the sensitivities of those who think such a comparison is a misogynistic attack on women. So let’s make it even-handed, shall we?—let us reject the theology of the foolish women of both sexes.

Joy and Sin

Joe Harby on September 16, 2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

This message is the first of three on the subject of joy. I want to consider, each in turn, three basic challenges to a believer’s joy. The first challenge will be sin—disobedience. The second challenge will be suffering or affliction. The third challenge we will address will be melancholy, the blues, or what our generation frequently calls depression. It is important for us to avoid the easy trap of a pious assertion that personal sin must be the reason for everything bad. At the same time, let us not kid ourselves either. Sin does bring in lots of troubles.

The Text

“Make me to hear joy and gladness; That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice . . . Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (Ps. 51: 10, 12).

Summary of the Text

The Bible teaches us that God chastises every son that He receives. If we do not receive discipline, then we are not true sons (Heb. 12:8). But what form does this divine spanking take? How does God deal with us when we have slipped or fallen into sin? Joy is a function of our unimpeded relationship with Him, and when our misbehavior disrupts that fellowship, the most evident thing about it is our loss of joy. We see that in David’s case here. This psalm is a great psalm of confession, where he is putting things right with God. What does he ask for in that restoration? He asks for joy and gladness (v. 10), that the spiritual bones which God has broken may be restored. He asks, not for his salvation to return, but for the joy of it to return (v. 12). Restore unto me the joy. Unrepented sin and joy cannot be companions. They don’t travel together at all.

The Solution

The solution to unrepentant sin is, not surprisingly, repentance. We should take care not to over-engineer this:

“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Ps. 32:5).

“He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Prov. 28:13).

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).

The central reason we don’t do this is pride. Pride has various shifts and evasions which we will get to in a moment, but the attitude that seeks out such shifts and evasions is the attitude that does not want, under any circumstances, to humble itself. It causes no end of trouble, and is the true enemy of all joy.

Traits of True Confession

In the verse from 1 John, the word for confess is homologeo, which means to acknowledge, to “speak the same thing.” If we confess, God forgives. If we confess, God is faithful and just in His forgiveness. If we confess, God cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If we confess, God restores us in our joy. So what are the traits of true confession?

First, true confession is honest, brutally honest. The wages of spin is death. Saying the same thing that God says about it is not the same thing as saying something different from what God says. Sometimes we say “different” in a way that is harder on ourselves than God is being, but this is rare. And when it happens, it is because we are being softer on ourselves with regard to the true sin that has us tied up. So confession asks God what it should say, and then says that.

Second, true confession is not something you get to apply to the sins of others. You can confess other people’s sins all day long and your joy will not be restored. Unwillingness to forgive, reluctance to let go of resentment and bitterness, and every other form of “contextualizing” your sin, is a good way to remain joyless.

And third, true confession occurs in the present. Today if you hear His voice . . . A man can know that his sin was sin, he can know that it was not the sin of another, and yet not confess it “yet.” He can say that the time for confession is “next Sunday,” or “soon,” or “after the circumstances are better.” In other words, there is a difference between standing on the high dive, knowing what you have to do, and actually doing it.

What Becomes Visible

We tend to believe that if we confess our sins, then others will know all about the sin and will think less of us. With the exception of hidden scandalous sins (like adultery or embezzlement, say), this is usually not the case. Usually, the people we are refusing to confess sin to are the people who know all about them already.

Confession would not bring them knowledge of your sin. It would bring them knowledge of your sorrow and repentance. Are you an angry person? Petty? Inconsistent? Vain? Dictatorial? Greedy? Lustful? What on earth makes you think that other people can’t see this? If you snap at your employees, or children, or spouse, and tell God how sorry you are about it in the middle of the night, how is it that you don’t see that it is your repentance that is invisible? The sin is right out there. Repentance humbles us, but not by making the sin visible. Repentance humbles us by making the humility visible.

What God Does

Scripture teaches us that God lifts up the humble, and He opposes the proud (Jas. 4:6). Those who refuse to confess their sins are proud, and this means that God is opposing them. He trips them up. He puts obstacles in the way. He makes things go wrong. He takes away their joy. Those who confess their sins are humble, and God exalts the humble. He lifts them up. He restores them. He blesses their endeavors. And measure these things by the video, not by the snapshot.

We think (in the carnality of our hearts) that confession takes us down a peg or two. We think that our sin put us in a hole, and confession would just dig the hole deeper. But this reveals our unbelief. God says the opposite.

What has happened to all your joy? Do you remember what it was like when you were first converted? Why would God want week-old Christians to experience that, but deny it to the older Christians? The answer is that He wouldn’t.

Joy to the World

Joe Harby on December 19, 2010

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

In this world, joy is a bedrock sort of thing—and not the froth at the top of a wave. Joy is deep satisfaction in the will of God, and this must be coupled with a recognition of the reality that God’s will is everywhere and in everything. There is no place where we may go and be allowed to murmur or despair in that place because God’s will is somehow “not there.” In the carol we sing about joy to the world, we are dealing with the reality of sins and sorrows that grow, of thorns that infest the ground, and nations that need to have the glories of His righteousness proved. That proof will be found in our faith.

The Text

“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet. 1:6-9).

Summary of the Text

The apostle Peter is exhorting believers who are facing significant trials. We still live in a world filled with trouble, and so what he says to them will apply to us also. When confronted with the weight of manifold temptations, our response should be that of “greatly” rejoicing (v. 6). When we are tried, our faith is tried (v. 7). Our faith is tried because God is a goldsmith. When the goldsmith plunges gold into the fire, it is not because he hates the gold, but because he loves the gold enough to want to purify it of its dross (v. 7). When the goldsmith beats the gold, it is not because he has contempt for the gold. He has a crown in mind. This analogy applies more to your faith than to gold (which ultimately perishes), and the goal is to have a faith that praises, honors, and glories at the coming of Jesus Christ (v. 7). You have not seen Him, Peter says, but you love Him (v. 8). You have not seen Him, but you nonetheless believe, and you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory (v. 8). You are striving to obtain the end of your faith (which is constantly being purified by troubles), and that final purpose is the salvation of your souls (v. 9).

The Problem

Christmas should not be treated by us as the “denial season.” One of the reasons why so many families have so many tangles and scenes during the “holidays” is that everybody expects sentimentalism to fix everything magically. But Christmas is not a “trouble-free” season. We want the scrooges and grinches in our lives to be transformed by gentle snowfall, silver bells, beautifully arranged evergreens, hot cider, and carols being sung in the middle distance. But what happens when you gather together with a bunch of other sinners, and all of them have artificially inflated expectations? What could go wrong? When confronted with the message of sentimentalism, we really do need somebody who will say, “Bah, humbug.”

Joy Unspeakable

Peter is not referring to someone living in the back of a cave, having mystic fits. That is not what is meant by “joy unspeakable.” It is not “cloud of unknowing,” or an orgy of pseudo-enlightenment in the back of your eyeballs. These words are written to believers in the midst of persecution and trial. Pain concentrates the mind. Pain tethers you to this world, and the rope is a stout one. But at the same time, the grace of God enables you to look along the pain, to look down the entire length of the trial, and to see the purpose and point of it all. For the unbelieving observer off to the side, watching you, there is no explanation that can make sense of it.

This is how God works. It is His way. “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7). The peace of God is an invisible shield, one which others cannot see. This is why it passes their understanding. They see that your hearts and minds are protected, but they cannot see how.

Note that your hearts and minds are not the shield, and they are not set up to protect the peace of God. The peace of God is no frail thing, needing your help to keep it from being smashed. The peace of God is an impenetrable helmet, and your contentment is your head. It protects you, not the other way around.

Faith like Refined Gold

Faith can do this, even though it may do it imperfectly. Gold is gold, even with dross in it. The first round purifies the faith, so that you can see and understand the process. That faith thus purified is prepared for the next round— even if the fire is more intense, or the difficulties more severe. The point is not to avoid the process.

Joy to the World

So the message of Christmas is not a delusional message. We are not pretending that we live in a world that is not struggling under a curse. The doctor who applies medicine to a wound is not pretending the wound is non-existent. The craftsman who repairs a smashed piece of expensive furniture is not denying the damage. His presence presupposes the damage. The refiner’s fire does not exclude the reality of dross—it is excluding the dross in another way. The Incarnation is God’s opening salvo in His war on our sins. The presence of sin should no more be astonishing than the presence of Nazis fighting back at Normandy.

View the world with the eye of a Christian realism. The turning of seasons makes no one better. The gentle fall of snow removes no sin. The hanging of decorations only makes a living room full of sin sadder. As Jesus once put it, “Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? (Matt. 23:17). Which is more important, the hat or the cattle? The foam or the beer? The gift or the altar? The gold paper stamp on the Christmas card or the gold coin of your faith?

If our hearts are decorated with the refined gold of a true faith, we may therefore decorate everything else. If they are not, then what’s the point? Joy is fundamentally realistic—which is why unbelief thinks of it as insane.

Gratitude and its Alternative

Joe Harby on November 28, 2010

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

This Lord’s Day is the first after our Thanksgiving holiday, and is also the first Sunday in Advent. Because we want to stand against what might be called morbid penitentialism, we want this season to be suffused with a glad anticipation. The only conviction we want to awaken would be a spirit of penitence for things we should be repentant for at any time of year. At the same time, if you hear His voice today, do not harden your hearts.

The Text

“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14).

Background to the Text

For many evangelicals the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, and wedding preparedness, is related to the doctrine of the Second Coming. But some of you may have noticed that in our Cantus, this seems to be an image that is often used in the context of Advent. For example, consider Behold the Bridegroom Cometh (p. 218), How Lovely Shines the Morning Star (pp. 220-223), and Wake, Awake for Night is Flying (pp. 228-229). Why do we do this? Why think about the Wedding Feast of the Lamb during our preparations for Christmas? The reason is that wisdom can be described as having the end in mind at the very beginning. When Mary was holding Jesus as a baby in her arms, she was told about the crucifixion (Luke 2:35). When she was pregnant and visiting Elizabeth, she exulted in the end of the matter, in the fact that the mighty would in fact be pulled out of their seats (Luke 1:52). She anticipated the end at the beginning. And this is what we want to do in the course of Advent. We know the whole story, and we should live and act as those who know the whole story.

Summary of the Text

The text is an invitation to the unbeliever, closed up in sleep of his sins, to wake up. When he wakes up it is from a condition of spiritual death, and the light of Christ will shine upon him. In the surrounding verses, we have a description of the nature of that death, as well as a series of exhortations to Christians on how to relate to it. Christians are told first that fornication and other forms of uncleanness should not even be named among them (v. 3). He then says that they should not be crude in their joking either (v. 4), but instead they should give thanks. That kind of unclean living is not a trifle; those who live that way will not inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God (vv. 5-6). Christians are then told not to be “partakers” with them (v. 7), just as they will be told not to have fellowship with those works (v. 11). That this partaking has to do with speech is clear (v. 12). Believers used to be that way (vv. 8–10), and should not long for the old ways. That is darkness, and they are now in the light. We are supposed to reprove such works (v. 11), and the reproof is supposed to consist of the light that we shine (v. 13). So this is how unbelievers have the light of Christ shine on them—through us (vv. 13-14). Because of the evil of the surrounding darkness, we should be careful to walk carefully, as those who are wise (v. 15). Time is limited, the days are evil, and so the time should be wisely used (v. 16). We should be wise enough to understand what the Lord’s will is (v. 17). We should not drink to excess, even at Christmas parties, but instead be filled by the Spirit’s work (v. 18). We can tell this has happened because of how we speak (v. 19), and the speaking of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs is the way that we give thanks for all things to God in the name of Jesus (v. 20).

This, Not That

It is really interesting to note how Paul reasons here. For another example of it, Paul says that a thief should quit stealing, and should work with his hands instead (Eph. 4:28). This tells us that Paul thinks that this is a basic alternative.

Hard work drives out dishonesty with property and dishonesty with property drives out hard work.

Here he says that our language should not be characterized by coarse jesting, but instead by thanksgiving (v. 4). Gravitation toward dirty jokes, foul movies, crude entertainment, and so forth is a principal indicator of an ungrateful and discontented soul. Further, a soul that is overflowing with thanksgiving in the way described in this passage (vv. 4, 20) will naturally recoil from filth. If your nose works, no one has to “make a rule” requiring you stop smelling putrid things. And if you consistently gravitate toward putrid things, this means that your sense of smell is shot. What must you do instead? You must give yourself to the giving of thanks. And if this is something you cannot do, then wake up, oh, sleeper, and Christ will shine on you. If thanksgiving arrives, then crudity is gone.

Evangelistic Confusion

More than a few Christians think that in order to be effective evangelistically, they have to minimize differences between themselves and the unbelievers. They have to fit in, they have to share entertainment standards, they have to go along to show that they don’t think “they are better than other folks.” But the end of this strategy is that you are telling an unbeliever to wake up because the room you are asleep in is just as dark as his.

Sing the Story

In Romans 1, Paul tells us that the unbelieving man hates two things above everything else. He does not want to honor God as God, and he does not want to give Him thanks. Our task, in this dark and sinful generation, should therefore be to honor God as God as much as we can, and to thank Him as much as we can.

And so here is the glorious thing. During the Christmas season, because of our Christian heritage (which the secularists are busy trying to eradicate and outlaw, see above), we still have an open invitation to honor God as God, and to give Him thanks. We can shine the light of the whole story. The sovereign God who arranged for the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem is obviously in control of everything—stars, wicked kings, pagan astrologers, shepherds, and all the rest of history. Tell the story. And He is also the one who did this for us men, and for our salvation. With thanksgiving, sing the story.