God cannot . . .

This week we start worship 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.

This verse is introduced as a “trustworthy saying” (pistos logos).  In our current day, this is indeed a rare find.  Something we can actually trust. 

But when we read it, we find that we are the ones who cannot necessarily be trusted.  Will we endure?  Will we continue to identify ourselves with the crucified Christ?  Will we remain faithful?

Against this frailty, we are given the backstop, the buttress, and the foundation that God cannot deny (arneomai) Himself.  That is, He cannot act outside His character.

Job 10:11-12 

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.

Worship today that divine character.

Cursed

 Today we start worship with:

Galatians 3:13

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”

When we say that someone is cursed, we often think of fate being against them.

But a curse (katara) is really a “down prayer”.  God is being asked to do something against someone. 

We forget that a curse has a requester.  The request was recorded on Mount Ebal:

Deuteronomy 27:26

‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

We called down that curse.  We called down that curse upon ourselves.  Jesus has stepped into that place.  To receive not only what we deserved, but what we called for.

May our worship start with that thought.

Follow me!

 This morning we begin worship with:

Jeremiah 17:9–10a

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind..."

The heart (lēḇ) is the origin of thought and emotion.  Here it is declared deceitful (ʿāqōḇ).  

It will fool you.  It will trip you up.  Recall please how Jacob tricked Esau and bought his birthright for the cost of a bowl of soup and how Jacob was born holding Esau’s heel.  That Hebrew word for “deceit” is derived from that very action (ʿāqaḇ).

When placed into a situation where you have to deal with a deceitful person, who you cannot trust, what do you do?  Would you follow them?  No.  The counsel to “follow your heart” is from the pit of Hell.  A moment of anger or desire can trick you out of a life’s work or a life long relationship.

Instead, you keep them at arm’s length.  You watch them, understand their selfish motives, and you protect yourself from their actions.  We have a partner in this, this verse tells us the Lord tests our heart and knows all its tricks.  His advice:

John 21:22b

You follow me!”

Forever

Today we start worship with Psalm 73.

Like the Torah, Psalms has five internal books. This psalm is the first psalm of the middle book. This verse is, not it’s valley, but rather it’s pinnacle.

The psalmist describes personally almost giving in to the envy of the unrighteousness. He saw them succeeding in life and not receiving their just do.  In his envy he was driven to anger.

Psalm 73:21-22

21 

When my soul was embittered,

    when I was pricked in heart,

22 

I was brutish and ignorant;

    I was like a beast toward you.

But when the Psalmist entered the sanctuary of God he “discerned their end” (Psalm 73:17) and was released from that anger.

Climbing out of that pit, he reaches the pinnacle which is our verse for today:

Psalm 73:25

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you

He sees that one day his own body will fail, but that God will not.

Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart may fail

   but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

 

Sake

 Today we are called to worship with:

Isaiah 45:4

For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.

Here the Lord was speaking through Isaiah calling Cyrus as His chosen servant to free Israel from the Babylonian exile.  

God did this for the sake or purpose (maʿan) of His servants Jacob and Israel.  This was being done because of a prior promise that had no cause in Cyrus. 

Genesis 17:5 

No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Today we wake, worship, and go back to work this week under that same prior promise and for that same purpose.  Paul said it well:

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.

Every day

 This week we begin worship with:

Ezekiel 16:8b

I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine.

 

We worship at Christ Covenant Church. We are astutely aware of the covenant God made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, and the New Covenant in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 9:15

Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

But we often forget how desperately we actually need it.  Without it we have nothing to cover our shame. We are exposed and undefended (ʿervâ).  We need this every day. 

We are also more willing to use the phrase “my Savior” than “your servant”.  We are His every day.

Let’s keep these in mind as we worship Him this day. 

 

Our identity

 Today we start worship with :

1 John 4:16-17,21

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world... And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Starting with the fact of our very existence, Job deduced that God must exist, and that God must have a divine purpose that includes love toward us. On that foundation of God’s love John and Job both agree that we may have confidence for the day of judgement.  

Job 19:26-27

 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

    yet in my flesh I shall see God,

whom I shall see for myself,

    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

    My heart faints within me!

 

John then, having heard the command from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ, connects us back to that purpose. As He is, so we are to be.

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.”

 

Love is our identity. 

A slave

Today we begin worship with:

Romans 6:22-23

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We rejoice in being "set free", but often skip over the next clause.  

We become "slaves of God" (douloō).  This is not a "servant" (pais) whose employment is voluntary, but rather we have entered into a permanent relationship.

A servant receives a wage, but a slave does not.  Sin paid a wage, but God does not.  Instead God gives you a gift (charisma), which is free.

Oft untold was the responsibility of the master to the invalid or elderly slave.  The slave continues to be their responsibility and stays under their care.

One cannot forget that we are slaves, or that gift will become a conditional wage.

So That

 Today we begin worship with:

Galatians 4:28

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

The promise was not given to Isaac, but rather to his father Abraham.  It was:

Genesis 12:1-4

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

The promise had a purpose. The word “so that” (hāyâ) is the natural result of the promise. It was not the obligation required by the promise (what we must do in response), but rather what God wanted to occur because of the promise.

And that purpose is what Paul is bringing us to in Galatians as children, not of the slave woman, but of the free woman:

Galatians 5:13-14

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

As we walk today, let’s walk according to God’s purpose.  

Fellow Soldier

 Today we begin worship with:

Psalm 19:12-13

Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

In the Psalm, David declares the Law perfect:

Psalm 19:7

The law of the Lord is perfect,

    reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

    making wise the simple;

But as he contemplates its perfection realizes his own imperfections, even down to "hidden faults".  Who can "discern" (bîn) these hidden faults? The Psalmist can only hope and pray for forgiveness.

And for those sins that themselves are "presumptuous" (zēḏ), David personifies them as taskmasters having dominion over him.  From those he asks God to be freed.

We are not alone in the battle with sin.  God is not simply a judge, but also a fellow soldier in the battle.

Lamb

 Today we begin worship with:

Revelation 17:14
They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

A ewe (female sheep) with young can be aggressive and protect its young with nasty head butting.  The ram (male sheep) is so naturally aggressive that they must be grazed in odd numbers to prevent them from aggressively pairing up in a never ending battle.  

But a lamb has no such aggression.

What a picture of our savior!  That He would go to the cross without aggression.  Leave us with one command, that to aggressively love.  But who will ultimately conquer in judgement as King of Kings.