A Sharp Edge

 This week we begin worship with:

John 6:63

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

When spoken, these words were not readily received.  In fact, the whole passage was meant to be divisive, because Jesus was separating and sifting his disciples.

John 6:66

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Today we celebrate the Reformation, which likewise divided the church.

Luther's conversion came late one night reading:

Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

That night, he came to understand what Christ had so divisively said "the flesh is no help at all".  It was the "righteousness of God" that was revealed in the Gospel and never our own.  Our righteous acts are never enough and it is by faith we put on the righteousness of Christ.

It is against this sharp edge of the Word of God that the church has been divided.

Deepest Thought

 This week we begin our worship with this foundation:

Hebrews 3:4

 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)

It is a parenthetical statement that forms the foundation of the surrounding argument, where the writer of Hebrews is making the case that Jesus is greater than Moses.  

When building a house or an argument, there is nothing deeper than its foundation.  Let's find it . . .

Some attempt to use science to eliminate the builder.  While man cannot breed a new species, many place their hope on the process of reproduction and chance as the origin of all species.  But go deeper and you will see the need for a perfectly designed reproductive process used by all species that replicates their design.

Genesis 1:24

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

But to truly eliminate the builder, they must go deeper.  Their hope is built on the ultimate chaotic event, popularly called the "Big Bang", an explosive event so massive that its energy produced all matter in the universe following Einstein's famous formula E=mc2.

But go deeper and you will see the need for that small letter "c" in the formula.  It is the speed of light.

Genesis 1:3

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

There must be a builder.

It is our deepest thought.  It is the foundation.

Outside the gate

 Today we start worship with:

Hebrews 13:12

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

There were five types of offerings and sacrifices in the Levitical system (Leviticus 1-7).  Three were designed for worship, one for restitution, and one for atonement.  Our verse this morning speaks of the later.

Unlike the others, in this sacrifice the body of the animal was not eaten or offered to God.  It was burned outside the camp.  Our Lord Jesus Christ was that sacrifice. 

The writer of Hebrews goes on to invite us to replace the other four sacrifices.

First vertically:

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.

Then horizontally:

Hebrews 13:16 

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Let us do likewise this morning and all through the week. 

Wash, rinse, and repeat . . . daily.

 This morning we begin worship with:

Revelation 7:13-14

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation un-scrolls a celestial view of events.  It speaks of our historic events from a perspective not governed by our history.  Translators struggle, as do I, to speak of them together.  It suffices to say that John witnessed that celestial view and it is out of that great tribulation we will come.

Before the throne we will then be dressed for the occasion in white robes.  But notice please they were not always white.  They have to be made white.

Notice too, who must make them white and how.  Yes, we must wash them in the blood of the Lamb to make them white.

We often take too passive a role in our salvation.  For it is easy and yes proper to rest in the accomplished work of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  But this verse reminds us that it is a daily activity to apply His forgiveness.

Matthew 6:9-13

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from evil.

Weeping may tarry for the night

This morning we start worship with:

Psalm 30:4

Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.

This was first sung, as the title of the psalm tells us, at the dedication of the temple.  But unlike a “victor’s history”, where only the victories and accomplishments are recorded, this Psalm is about David’s personal fall

Psalm 30:6

As for me, I said in my prosperity,

    “I shall never be moved.”

In his arrogance, the Psalmist fell into the pit of self.  Solely dependent on self, God responded by withdrawing from David as unnecessary.

Psalm 30:7

you hid your face;

    I was dismayed. 

But, David repented and cried out for help.

Psalm 30:10-12

Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!

    O Lord, be my helper!”

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

    you have loosed my sackcloth

    and clothed me with gladness,

that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

    O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever! 

It is for that combination of both wise discipline and brief anger, for which the Psalmist is calling out praise.  Let us join him this morning, in that same praise:

Psalm 30:5

For his anger is but for a moment,

    and his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may tarry for the night,

    but joy comes with the morning. 

A mask?

 As we begin worship, our meditation is over:

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,[a] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

This is a long sentence where the subject and the verb are far apart. So let's bring them together:

"we . . . are being transformed"

This is about us.

Next, who was it that veiled their face?  Us or God?  Neither.  It was Moses.

2 Corinthians 3:12-13

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.

Moses wore a veil to hide the fact that his glory was fading.

OK, so what transformation are we undergoing?  And who is doing it?  And why?

2 Corinthians 3:5-6

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

God's accomplished work has made each of us sufficient to be one of his ministers (diakonos).  We are not talking the now unnecessary role of priest.  We are talking deacons.  Ministers of God's love and grace.

Figuratively unmasked (keep your COVID mask on), we are to boldly associate ourselves with Christ and minister in his Name.  We are sufficient.  The fear is gone.

No shadow

 This morning we are pointed to the words of Ambrose of Milan, who was the Bishop of Milan in the fourth century:

Dawn's glory gilds the earth and skies, let him, our perfect Morn, arise, The Word in God the Father one, the Father imaged in the Son.

It distills, these and probably more:

Genesis 1:26

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

 John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Revelation 22:16

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

To this I will add one more.

 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.

As you worship this morning, understand that God being the source will never have a shadow. No darkness anywhere will overcome His light. That said, we live in a very dark world that desperately needs to see the dawn. 

Recount!

 We begin our worship today with:

Isaiah 63:7

I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord,

    the praises of the Lord,

according to all that the Lord has granted us,

    and the great goodness to the house of Israel

that he has granted them according to his compassion,

    according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

This passage contains the beautiful word “steadfast love” (checed).  This love is a committed choice. It is not fickle.  It cannot be shaken even by our rebellion. 

It also has the word “compassion” (racham).  This is the deep emotional source of that steadfast love.  It is as intimate as the care a baby receives in its mother’s womb.

But far too often we take this love for granted. We presume upon God’s favor and forgiveness. We don’t stop and remember.  Worse than that in the haste of the day we don’t even realize His loving hand is on us.

Instead, let’s do as the prophet Isaiah and take a moment to not only remember the depth of His forgiveness but also the breadth of His provision and the length of His patience. 

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.