A Rhetorical Question

We start worship this morning with:

Psalm 121:1-2

A SONG OF ASCENTS.

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

Psalms of Ascent were sung by pilgrims to Jerusalem as they would approach the city from one of the three valleys that surround and divide Mount Zion and Mount Moriah.

Mount Zion, the upper city, and Mount Moriah, the location of the temple, must have been impressive.  But the Psalm does not admire their strength or the beauty of their pools.

Instead it asks a rhetorical question.  “Where does my help come?”.

The answer is neither.  Our help comes from the LORD!

For outside the city lay another hill — Golgotha.

That Day

 To begin our worship today, we have been given:

Isaiah 12:2

“Behold, God is my salvation;

I will trust, and will not be afraid;

for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,

and he has become my salvation.”

This year I am studying the book of Job.  Job lived before the revelation of the Gospel.  His struggle is best heard in:

Job 9:33 (NIV)

If only there were someone to mediate between us,

    someone to bring us together,

But our verse today is not about the advent of the Gospel.  Nor is it about the time when we came to personal faith in that Gospel. Rather it is about a specific day, called “that day”:

Isaiah 12:1

The LORD Is My Strength and My Song

You will say in that day:

“I will give thanks to you, O LORD,

for though you were angry with me,

your anger turned away,

that you might comfort me.

It is about the day of wrath, on which the wicked are destroyed and the remnant is preserved (Read Isaiah 11 to enjoy the experience).

But to start our worship today, understand this — that we too are wicked, deserving of that same wrath. But on that day the wrath will be turned away.

No Hand

 In preparation for worship, this week we are once again asked to meditate on:

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Last time we concentrated on how sharp the tool was and its ability to separate what is inseparable (See “The Right Tool”).  But in calling it a tool, an unfortunate emphasis was given to us as the one wielding the sword.

We did not emphasize sufficiently that it is living (zaō) and it is doing the piercing (diikneomai).  This tool does not require a hand.  It requires only an ear and those willing to scatter the seed of a well spoken word.

A long time ago, I had the privilege of meeting and speaking with Joe Coughlin the founder of Christian Service Brigade.  That afternoon we read together:

Ezekiel 33:6-7

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

“So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

Speak the word with clarity and love.  Then let the Word do its work. 

Blessed

This week we are asked to meditate on a pivotal passage: 

Matthew 25:31-34

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

We have all been through these moments. Will I be chosen?  Did I do well enough?  Am I prepared?  Year end reviews.  Layoffs.  The Varsity team. College acceptance. Marriage proposal. Final exams.

But wait.  There is something different about this selection. Look again, what makes the sheep different from the goat?

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father”

It is not about what I have earned or contributed. It is about God’s blessing. When did this occur?

“prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

This choice was made in eternity past. 

“inherit the kingdom”

The choice was made in eternity past that our Lord Jesus Christ would die for me!

In fact, all the Beatitudes are written in this past tense.

Matthew 5:7

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Does this mean I don’t have to do anything?  No!  It just means that what you do, is because of what God did.

Worship takes work

In preparation for worship this morning, we are asked to meditate on:

Matthew 7:7-8
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

First, lets step into the time frame.  Keys were not commonplace.  Doors were attended.  When you knocked, someone would let you in.

Now, what are we looking for?  The verse is sandwiched between two other passages:

Matthew 7:6

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

and

Matthew 7:9-11

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

So what one is requesting, seeking, or entering into is "holy".  But please notice that being holy is not a requirement placed on those who ask or receive.  We are, in fact, called "evil".

Instead, the requirement is action.  

"I am not getting much out of our church/the sermon/my Bible" is said by someone who is passive.  

James famously said "Faith without works is dead".  He heard it here first.