true

 This week we begin worship with:

Hebrews 10:19-22

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Recall please that the consequence for the high priest of improper preparation or performance in the Holy of Holies was death (Leviticus 16:2,13; Exodus 28:35).  It is with that terrifying background that the author of Hebrews tells us that we should have confidence when we approach!

Our confidence is not in what we are or have done, but instead in what our Lord Jesus Christ is and has done. He is the “great high priest over the house of God”.

But note, we are approaching with a “true” (alēthinos) heart, not a “pure” (katharos) heart.  We can approach confidently with our “evil conscience” because He has successfully and perfectly cleansed it (past tense!).

Recently I told the Grandchildren in jest to be careful and only brush the teeth they want to keep.  This verse tells us to be careful and only confess to God what we want forgiven. Let’s be true with Him. 

heart

This week we begin worship with:

1 Samuel 16:7

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

The depth of God’s gaze is illustrated by David’s charge to Solomon:

1 Chronicles 28:9

“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

The heart is deeper than simply a “willing mind”.  With God it is not “the thought that counts”!

Paul experienced this:

Romans 7:22-25

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

But in Christ we are made new and He takes control. 

2 Corinthians 5:14,17
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; . . . Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

 

 

mercy

 This week we begin worship with:

Proverbs 28:13-14

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and

forsakes them will obtain mercy. Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always,

but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

What did Adam and Eve do when they sinned?  They hid.

Genesis 3:8

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 

Hiding it attempts to say to others that the sin is not there.  But when we say that to God, He knows we are wrong.  God really did not have to say:

Genesis 3:9

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

God already knows we need help.  At the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus knew that for 38 years (v. 5) a man had tried to heal himself (v. 7),  But that day Jesus asked:

John 5:6

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

Today, we need to look up from our mat, see Christ's mercy-filled face (rāḥam), and respond, for our verse today tells us that God is always asking 'Do you want to be healed?'. 

portion

This week worship begins with:

Lamentations 3:20–24

My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call

to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never

ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is

your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will

hope in him.”

"bowed down" (šûaḥ) is an unfortunate translation because it often describes worship.  Other translations use "depressed", "bent over", "humbled", or "languishes" because the soul is in torment because of its own memories.

The prior verse contains those memories and a prayer to God that God too would join with him in these memories.

Lamentations 3:19

Remember my affliction and my wanderings,

    the wormwood and the gall! 

But then out of the memories, many of which would crush the soul, one arises.  

Lamentations 3:21-22

But this I call to mind,

    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

    his mercies never come to an end;

This does not erase the memories or the current circumstance.  It gives hope.  The ultimate hope is that "The LORD is my portion".  That "portion" (ḥēleq) is an inheritance.  It is what will come.

way

This week we begin worship with:

Psalm 85:10-13

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from

the sky. Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way.

Steadfast love and Faithfulness never ceased, but they were no longer working together.  Righteousness and Peace had not seen each other since the Garden of Eden.  

For when sin entered the world, Righteousness retreated to heaven and Peace splintered into the isolation caused by hiding from God.  So, Steadfast Love and Faithfulness were separated by the gulf that was caused.

But here, we are witnessing their grand reunion, and a grand blessing for our good that the Psalmist knows will become the Way (dereḵ).

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

unchangeable

This week we begin worship with:

Hebrews 6:17-18

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 

His oath was "Surely I will bless you and multiply you." (Hebrews 6:14).

It was quoted from:

Genesis 22:16-17
“By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.”

While a promise was sufficient, God sealed it with a vow.  Why?  For us, our encouragement.  Nothing more.

We rest in the "unchangeable".

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Teacher

This Easter morning we begin worship with:

John 20:11-16
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

John was very specific: two angels positioned one at the head one at the feet.  We will see two angels again at the Ascension.

Acts 1:9-11

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” 

And we have seen them before, or at least a carved image of them on the mercy seat.

Exodus 25:21-22

And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. 

What John wanted to make sure was understood, this is not simply another resurrected man like Lazarus (John 11:38-44), but rather the Eternal Teacher, who commanded Moses from the Mercy seat, and who commanded us from the mountain:

Acts 1:7-8

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Rabboni!

head

 This morning we begin worship with:

Psalm 24:8-10

Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty

in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that

the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts,

he is the King of glory!

This describes a portcullis, where the gate is lifted vertically with much effort by a rope and pulley system, the bottom edge of which was made to both look threatening and to be lethal if suddenly dropped.  When normally opened, the gatekeepers would only open it sufficient for the height of those entering and leave exposed that lethal bottom edge, which could be dropped in a moment by a sudden slash of the rope.

For the King, our King of Glory, however the gate needs to lifted so high that the top of the gate (its head) is visible above the wall, so the bottom edge would be hidden and the gate could be secured in place.  It is opened in this way so that the returning King may enter without fear of a coup by rouge gatekeepers.

The King, our King of Glory, does not enter alone, for too we enter with Him as part of this triumph.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

blessed

 This week we begin worship with:

Genesis 1:27–28

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to

them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have

dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over

every living thing that moves on the earth.”

When you hire an employee, you give them something to do.  It is their job, for which they are responsible.  

In this blessing (bāraḵ), we are given a job,  And that job has a purpose, to bring our part of the world under our care.  And that job has a primary method, to build a family and a heritage..  During the conquest of land of Israel, Moses said:

Deuteronomy 7:22

The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you.

So, for whatever your scope (father, aunt, corporate executive officer, kindergarten teacher), bring your part of this world under that divine ordered care and expand your scope as you are able, for that is God's blessing to us.

authority

 This week we begin worship with:

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It is often said, when you see the word "therefore" you should look and see what it is there for!

Verse 19 starts with the phrase "Go therefore".  The reason we are to "go" is in verse 18 that "All authority" was given to Jesus.  So, let's briefly look at "authority":

• While the KJV translates it in our verse as "power" is it not dynamis, which is oft heard in sermon illustrations from which we get dynamite, where the source of authority is the individual's power.
• While it is true, this is not kratos, which is often used in doxologies as "dominion" (1 Timothy 6:16; 1 Peter 4:11; 1 Peter 5:11; Jude 1:25; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:13), where the source of authority is the hierarchy of business or government (The pyramid they sit upon gives them their authority).
• While again true, this is not ischys, where the source of authority is one's skill and ability, like the captain of a team.

This word is exousia, which has its roots in law.

Previously the Sanhedrin was the arbitrator of law (Matthew 12:10, 12:12, 12:2, 12:4, 14:4, 19:3, 20:15, 22:17).  

Now, Jesus is the judge!  He will sit on the throne of judgement.

Revelation 20:11-12

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

This is the reason we "Go".

acceptable

This week we begin worship with:

Hebrews 12:28

Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let

us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.

Because of this verse (and others) we follow the regulative principle of worship, understanding that how God is to be worshiped is laid out in scripture, as opposed to the normative principle of worship where any sort of worship that is not prohibited by scripture may be used.  

In Genesis 4:3-8, even prior to any such proscription, we see that Cain's worship was rejected as unacceptable while Abel got it right.  Cain had given the produce.  Abel sacrificed the producer.

We each receive an unshakable "kingdom".  We each receive 7 days a week.  And in gratitude for that gift, we are told in Exodus 20:8-11 to sacrifice one day, during which we could have been the producer.  We worship by sacrificing that day.  And during which we sing, pray, read scripture, receive instruction, and receive the sacraments.  

So strictly speaking, it is in duty, rather than worship, that we bring the tithes and offerings.  For our produce is never acceptable worship.