Convicted

This week we begin worship with:

Matthew 27:1-2

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took

counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away

and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

This was the final vote, the trial and testimony was the night before, which concludes:

Matthew 26:65-66

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.”

The act of blasphemy was a brief response to a simple question.

Matthew 26:63-65

But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so.”

Jesus’ response went beyond simply responding affirmatively to agreeing with the exact words said to Him, so that His conviction would be assured.

May our answer be as quick, when we are asked if we are a Christian.

Refuge

We begin worship this morning with:

Psalm 2:11-12

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Twisted together in this single verse are fear, joy, affection, anger, blessing, vulnerability and protection.

The Psalm starts with the heart of man, which desires personal autonomy:

Psalm 2:2-3

The kings of the earth set themselves,

    and the rulers take counsel together,

    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,

“Let us burst their bonds apart

    and cast away their cords from us.” 

But God is sovereign and sets over them a King:

Psalm 2:5-6

Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

    and terrify them in his fury, saying,

“As for me, I have set my King

    on Zion, my holy hill.”

But not simply a King, he is the Messiah, in whom refuge is found:

Psalm 2:7

I will tell of the decree:

The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;

    today I have begotten you.

LORD, twist together in us today fear and joy for you love us.

Sing

This week we begin worship with:

Psalm 98:1-4

Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The LORD has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

When is it time to write a new song?  

"It is well with my soul" was written when Horatio Spafford after losing much of his fortune in the Great Chicago Fire, sent his wife and daughters ahead to England where he was to help in Moody's upcoming evangelism campaign.  He, himself, was delayed dealing with the aftermath of the fire.  Their ship sank after a collision and all four of his daughters were lost.  He wrote the song on his passage to England, when he passed near the site of the sinking.

"O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus" was written by Samuel Trevor Francis to commemorate the night as a teenager when he decided between suicide and faith while crossing the Thames River on the Hungerford Bridge.

Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus was written by Louisa M. R. Stead after groceries were left at her doorstep following the tragic death of her husband, who was attempting to save a drowning boy.

This Psalm looks back on the exodus, the perils of the 40 years in the wilderness, and the occupying the Promised Land.  It looks forward to both the Exile and return from Babylon.  It looks back to Adam's fall in the Garden and forward to the work of Christ on the cross.  

It is always time to write a new song.

Linen

This week we begin worship with:

Matthew 25:37-40

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

To understand this verse, we must compare it to what is said to the condemned:

Matthew 25:44-45

Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

The differences are slight but important.  

First, when addressing those that are saved, He calls them "my brothers".  While the parable concerns ones action or inaction, salvation still depends upon God and His redemption and adoption of us.  This is why we are called "brothers".  This is also why the righteous are invited to "inherit" in a prior verse (v34).  Only the siblings inherit.

Second, when addressing those who are condemned, they were condemned because they missed one, rather than those that are being blessed for every time they ministered to others.  When attempting your own salvation all it only takes one mistake.  When trusting the work of Christ, each success regardless of the quantity of failures, is credited to us.  

Our righteous acts, every one of them, will adorn us, for we are the Bride of Christ:

Revelation 19:6-8

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God

    the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult

    and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

    and his Bride has made herself ready;

it was granted her to clothe herself

    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

 

Now

This week we begin worship with:

Deuteronomy 10:12

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

When is "now"?

Moses had gone up the mountain for 40 days to receive the commandments of the covenant.  Then, only to find the people having gone the way of idolatry in his absence.  

Deuteronomy 9:11-12a

And at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly.

After smashing the tablets in anger he returned to the mountain to protect the people from God's wrath.

Deuteronomy 9:25
“So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. 

At the end of which, Moses received a second set of tablets, the assurance that God would not act on His anger, and the command to restart the journey.

Deuteronomy 10:11
And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, so that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

This is "now".  After stumbling, after messing up, after being protected from God's wrath, we are to restart our journey.  Let's go.

Kiln

This week we begin worship with:

Exodus 19:18-19

Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.

This was a terrifying sight.  The "smoke of a kiln" is not like that of a placid camp fire, it roars out of the chimney.

Regardless, at the sound of the trumpet God had instructed Moses to have the people come to the base of the mountain.  

Exodus 19:13

. . . When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”

This was not a man's trumpet summoning God, but rather God's angel summoning His people.  We are truly called into a terrifying relationship.  

Exodus 19:20
The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

When Moses responded to the call, God spoke.  We should as well.

1 Samuel 3:10

And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

 

 

Finger

This week we begin worship with:

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you

rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and

lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is

easy, and my burden is light.

Contrast this with the burdens placed on them by the Pharisees:

Matthew 23:4

They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

Yes, this is where we get the complaint “He would not lift a finger to help!”, but that speaks moving something small and trivial.  Jesus was speaking of something huge that a priest could lift with one finger.  This was the finger of accusation in what scripture calls “binding”, when atonement is required.  An example occurs in the next few verses:

Matthew 12:1-2

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”

We should heed Jesus words to the Pharisees and be merciful as we ourselves enjoy His mercy to us:

Matthew 12:7

And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 

 

Endures

This week we begin worship with:

Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

This verse is not unlike:

Psalm 19:9

the fear of the Lord is clean,

    enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

    and righteous altogether.

As we move through life the agencies to whom we give our allegiance change and often fail us.  The team we have rooted that changed its coach, the church that has changed its denomination, the organization that has changed its politics, they all disappoint.  

Or we change.   The ears that once could hear a pin drop, the knee that bent as we proposed, the stomach that once could handle most anything one would swallow, they begin to fail us.

But our choice to fear the Lord will never disappoint.  He will never be discredited.  Nor will we be discredited for having chosen to follow Him.

Reign

This week we begin worship with:

2 Timothy 2:10

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Before the game, at half-time, and during the last-minute time-outs just before the whistle is blown, the coach rallies the team.  This verse comes from one of those last-minute timeouts as Paul challenges Timothy with the images of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer (2 Timothy 2:1-13), all the time knowing this may be his last season.  He concludes with:

2 Timothy 2:11-13

The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he also will deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself.

What Paul endured, what he is asking Timothy to endure, will not lead to a loss!  Go team.

Life

This week we begin worship with:

John 6:67-69
Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

This happened after Jesus said this:

John 6:53
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 

To which many of his disciples responded:

John 6:60
“This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

Most if not all did not understand or accept that Jesus would become a sacrifice.  Had they, they would understand that they would have to eat his flesh.

Leviticus 7:16
But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten.

But, not so the blood.  That is forbidden.

Leviticus 17:14

For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.

But this is, as Simon Peter said, are "the words of life".  The blood of Christ is life.  It is our eternal life.  Drink ye all of it.

Honored

As we approach the Lord's table this morning we read:

Philippians 1:18-21

Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

When this was written, Paul was not having a good day.  He was in prison because of the Gospel.  But it, like all other days, was sovereignly ordained and through its circumstances the Gospel would advance:

Philippians 1:12-13
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

Paul's confidence was not because of his own skill or oratory, but because the Spirit of Christ dwelt in him, as He does in us.

Why does this make Paul certain that he "will not be at all ashamed"?  Because Jesus Christ is due glory and "now as always Christ will be honored"(megalynō)!