Outside the camp

Today we begin worship with:

Hebrews 13:12

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Sacrifice occurred at the temple.  Then offerings for sin were burned “in clean place” outside the city (Leviticus 4).

Our passage in Hebrews should fill us with joy that we are sanctified by this very blood, but the passage goes on to invite us to participate:

Hebrews 13:13-14

Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 

We must associate ourselves with Him.  Peter failed at this when questioned by a servant girl.

Then it asks us to go one step further.  We are to become what Romans calls a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12).

Hebrews 13:15

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Yes, the fruit of our lips, but also the fruit of our hands. God wants to receive both. It should be our joy, for it brings Him joy.

Witness

We begin worship this week with:

Acts 1:6-9 

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 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.” 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.

The Disciples had heard the promises read in the synagogue.   They knew a leader would come and shepherd them back into a strong nation (Micah 4:7).  They were desperate to know when.

Instead of being given times and dates, they were given . . . power.

Instead of being given times and dates, they were given . . . a task.

Today we "fact check".  In antiquity, they witnessed.  Two people had to deliver the same message for it to be believed.  

In His absence, may we be faithful in our witness.

Multilingual

This week we begin worship with:

Ephesians 4:7-8 

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

These verses start with the word "But" and they stand in contrast to the previous verses that speak of the unity and singularity of our faith.

Ephesians 4:4-6

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

While our faith is thus focused, these captives are each given unique gifts and all for one purpose.

Ephesians 4:15-16

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

A popular book in the 1990's described five love languages.  It instructed us to identify the love language of our spouse and to adjust our actions accordingly.  While it would be ideal to have a couple where each was gifted in the love language of the other, this is not the norm.  Some may struggle to operate outside their gift and often stutter and fail to utter a single sentence in the other's love language!

Fortunately in that struggle there is growth and change.  Strive to become multilingual.

More Perfect Tent

This week we begin worship with:

Isaiah 6:5-7 

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Nowhere else in scripture is heat or a coal used to cleanse from or atone from sin.  In fact, all of scripture points to Jesus Christ as our only source of salvation and our only means of atonement.  Question 152 of The Westminster Larger Catechism reads as follows:

What does every sin deserve at the hands of God? 

Every sin, even the least, being against the sovereignty, goodness, and holiness of God, and against his righteous law, deserves his wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come; and cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ.

And scripture itself says:

Hebrews 9:22

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Fortunately that chapter further explains:

Hebrews 9:11-12 

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

So that coal was not taken from just any campfire, it was from the Celestial Altar on which the blood of Christ was spilt. 

Worship today in the consistency and infallibility of scripture.

 

Courage

 This week we start worship with:

Joshua 1:9 

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

This is personal.  This is between God and Joshua.  In Hebrew all the words are in their singular form. Nothing is plural.

The command is supported three times by the phrase "Be strong and courageous" (vs 6, 7, and 9).  But that itself is not the command.  The command comes 7 verses earlier:

Joshua 1:2

“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.

Israel had wandered for 40 years, had now lost their leader Moses, and had come to the edge of the Jordan River (Joshua 3).  God's command was to cross it.

Their arrival at this place was not recent.  They had been at this place sufficiently for many to adopt the worship of Baal (Numbers 25:1-9).

And the command did not come "at the perfect time".  The river was at flood stage (Joshua 3:14-15).

Joshua's reaction?  Courage.

Joshua 1:10-11

And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’”

Fortunately this is not the command given to us.  But ours have similar rivers to cross.  Similar comfortable camps to leave.  Fertile ground to capture for him.

John 13:34-35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”