Enter into Joy

Today we start worship with: 

Matthew 25:23

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

At work, the result of good performance may be a pay raise or more vacation, but more often it is more responsibility.

As you "move up the ladder" something changes.  You change from being concerned about the task to how the work is done.  Your joy comes from not what your hands do to how the department is functioning.  

Here Paul asks the Phillipians to make "his joy complete":

Philippians 2:1-11

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Sees me!

 Today we start worship with:

Genesis 16:13

So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”

The focus of this verse is not Sarah's incredible opportunity to see God.  But rather it is the fact that the God of the universe saw her.

At work, you meet with your boss periodically.  You may meet with their boss once in a while.  Their boss probably does not know your name, but may have seen it on a report.

Imagine the God of the universe not only knowing your name, but being concerned about your condition!  This was so incredible, Sarah named the spring they were encamped beside:

Genesis 16:14

Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

Beer-lahai-roi means the well of the Living One who sees me.

The Prerequisite

 Today we begin our time of worship with:

John 3:3

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Imagine hearing this for the first time.  Imagine being Nicodemus, the first person to whom it was said.  Confused, his mind immediately went to the act of being born.

John 3:4

Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

So Jesus had to redirect him to a more obvious and required thought.  

John 3:5

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

God is a spirit.  To be part of His kingdom, we must also be spirit.  The thought we naturally want to avoid is that we must die.  It is the ultimate prerequisite.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Be of good courage. 

God So Loved

 Today as we begin worship we read:

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

The little word "so" (hoytō) describes the verb "to love".  It does not speak of intensity, as in "I love you so much".  It speaks of method, as in "Let me count the ways".

It is the prior verses that describe the method.

John 3:14-15

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

A campfire story is told of a bridge operator whose son came with him to work one day.  As the passenger train approached, it was his job to lower the bridge into position.  But his inquisitive son had slipped away from him and had fallen into the giant mechanism.  With tears in his eyes, the operator knew the only method to save those on the train.

I know!

 This week we begin worship with:

Job 19:25

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

This was Job's rebuttal to his "friends" whose "advice", which was "if Job, then God".   Three friends visited him and repeatedly challenged him to make himself right before God as a means to recover from the terrible series of calamities that befell him.  If only Job would do this or that, then God would restore him.

Based only on the evidence that Job could see, that is creation and his own life, regardless of his present difficulties, Job concluded that God loved him.

Job 10:11-13

“You clothed me with skin and flesh,

    and knit me together with bones and sinews.

You have granted me life and steadfast love,

    and your care has preserved my spirit.

Yet these things you hid in your heart;

    I know that this was your purpose.”

Job knew it was instead, "because God, then Job".  It was on this foundation, Job knew that this steadfast love would result in his redemption.  Job knew.

Ululate!

This week we start worship with:

Psalm 34:2

My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

The word for "boast" is hālal, which is what in English is called ululation (Yes, that is a real word!).  It is a most joyous sound.  It is the African sound of celebration.  

I dare you to boast in the Lord with that joy and with that abandon.

Fighting!

 This morning we start worship with:

1 Timothy 6:12

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Koreans have a wonderful phrase "paiting", which people use to encourage others in a difficult task before them.  It is borrowed from the English word "fighting", but is used in the most endearing way.  It applies here.

The fight we fight, however, is not with each other or with those around us.  This fight is internal.  We must battle our own pride to prevent our efforts from becoming the foundation of self-made redemption, which is doomed to failure.  

Job said it, using the absurd image of trying to save himself, as a lioness would save a cub by grabbing it by the fold of skin at the back of its neck.

Job 13:14

Why should I take my flesh in my teeth

    and put my life in my hand?

Fight the urge to grab your own boot straps.  Grab (epilambanomai) by faith instead the eternal life freely offered.

Fighting!

Dust

 This week we read  Psalm 103:1,13-14,20-22 as we begin worship, which reads in part:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and all that is within me,

    bless his holy name!

As a father shows compassion to his children,

    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame;

    he remembers that we are dust.

A gentleman remembers that a woman is often not as strong and offers assistance.  A parent remembers that a child is often fearful and needs confidence.  This morning we praise the Lord, because we are dust.

God is not the problem.  We are. We forget we are made of dust.

This morning let's fold our hands, also made of dust, and worship our God.

It is not about the numbers

 This morning we begin worship with:

Deuteronomy 7:9

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

To know why this is said we need to go back a couple verses:

Deuteronomy 7:8a 

but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers,

Deuteronomy 7:1a

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, . . . 

We can trust God because He accomplishes what He promises.

But the degree of that accomplishment has an amplifier, or rather, a multiplier.

Deuteronomy 7:7

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,  

Not only did He do what He said, He did so when they were small.

That reminds me . . . 

Romans 5:8

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

No matter how small our strength, nor how big our enemy, God does what He says -- no matter how small our ability to repay, no matter how big our debt.

It is about His Name

Today as we start worship we read:

2 Corinthians 12:10

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul is expressing his joy when he endures something for the sake (hyper) of Christ.  This involves His name.  He is contributing to its importance.

When we endure the same things, but do not identify with Him, we are not contributing to the weight of the name of Jesus Christ, but rather we are contributing to our own importance.  

When you express the love of Christ, without expressing His name, you take credit for something He gave you (Yes, dear reader I am preaching to myself).

He is risen!

This week, we cannot help but worship, when we read:

Matthew 28:1-6

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

What a sight!  Imagine it.  Waking early, the woman prepared to do the loving but grim task of embalming the lifeless body of Jesus.  But as they arrived, the event that changed history occurred.

Sufficiently frightening to stun the soldiers, the calming words of the angel invited them to see where they thought he lay.  They did not have to believe the angel's word.  The angel invited them to remove any doubt.

He is risen!