created

 This week we begin worship with:

Colossians 1:15-16

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all

things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether

thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through

him and for him.

Both invisible and visible, both creator and creation, both God and man, is our Lord Jesus Christ.

And what was created by him is not limited to what can be touched.  Each "new" area of math exists before the mathematician discovers it.  Each "new" law of physics is not written by the physicist, they too are simply discovered.  

And what is created by Him, is not limited to the past, for He is not limited by time.

• In 1961, R. E. Simon sold his share of Carnegie Hall and bought ten and a half square miles of land (6,750 acres) in then rural Virginia.  He then designed and developed a fully planned community, and used his own initials to name it Reston.
• In 1959, Walt Disney set his sights on Florida, and accumulated 27,433 acres of land and developed not only a theme park, but also the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT).  All to be named "Walt Disney World".

Our verse today tells us that neither of these visionaries created anything.  No area of thought or action is outside the creative act of our Lord and sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ.

attain

 This week we celebrate Assension Sunday and begin worship with:

Ephesians 4:11–13

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

We often confuse "faith" (pistis) and "knowledge" (epignōsis).  Knowledge is what we know about something.  Faith is what we trust about something.  

It has been said that faith starts where knowledge ends, but that divides the two. Instead, I would offer that faith is knowledge acted upon.  One may be taught that ropes used by rock climbers can lift a car, it is another thing to rappel down a sheer cliff!

So then, faith and knowledge represent two parts of the job of any leader.  They should teach their witnessed and tested knowledge to those that have yet to experience it.  But then they must also encourage them to act upon it.

For to achieve "mature manhood" (teleios anēr) one must leave the bench at the altar-call (Harry Krien encouraged me), take one's place in the family of God (George Coonrod encouraged me) and begin a family of your own (Norm Ducharme encouraged me).

I have taught rappelling, and have seen many a boy start with timid steps and grimaced faces as they go over the edge, but finish their decent bounding down the cliff with broad smiles.  I would have failed as a teacher had I not encouraged them over the edge.

Paul wrote the entire book of Romans to get us over the edge.  That is to sacrifice ourselves.  Take an opportunity to read three of the last chapters of the book (Romans 12-15) and go find a cliff.

our

What leads up to our verse is a very candid section that explains there is nothing special about us that we should be chosen:

1 Corinthians 1:26-27

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong . . . so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

With that in mind, our verse this week reads:

1 Corinthians 1:30

And because of him [God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from

God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

The phrase "became to us" in Greek is two words "made" (ginomai) "our" (hēmin).  Yes, that second word is the possessive pronoun "our".

What God did was satisfy all the reasons that would have disqualified us, by giving us in the person of Jesus Christ all the things necessary.  The NIV makes this very clear.

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NIV)

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

authority

 This week we begin worship with:

John 10:18

No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have

authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.

This was a dividing word.  The very next verse reads:

John 10:19
There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.

Yes, there was already division over the resurrection.  The Pharisees and the Sadducees took every opportunity to argue over it.  But that was not the really tough word.  

The tough word was "authority" (exousia).  A rabbi taught.  A priest had jurisdiction to assign the required atonement.  The king had the authority to administer the death penalty.  But in this verse, Jesus declared his authority over life itself.

This appeared madness to some that listened.  But others saw the evidence of the miracles.

John 10:21
Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

So, in the very next chapter, Jesus proved it by using His quickening word to raise Lazarus (John 11).

Praise be to God that we too will hear that voice!

eyewitness

Coincidentally we begin our worship this week with:

2 Peter 1:16

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the

power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his

majesty.

I say "coincidentally" because it was also the passage that we providently studied at this week's Friday morning mens group (See Week 12 - 2 Peter 1:16-21 - The Confirmed Word).

Not only was Peter one of the first disciples called (Matthew 4:18-20), Peter was a witness of the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9) and heard the voice of God.

Matthew 17:5

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

But he knew this eyewitness would soon be gone.  So he did something.  He wrote this letter.

2 Peter 1:15

And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

 Let's read this with the importance that Peter placed on it.

upon

On this Easter morning, we begin our worship with:

Isaiah 60:1-3

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon

you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;

but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And

nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Our time in darkness is over!  The glory of the LORD has come.  

And the commands to us are:

• "arise" (qûm) - We are no longer to be in the ashes of mourning, in the slumber of sleep, in the filth of sin . . . 
• "shine" ('ôr) - We are not simply to reflect God's glory, we are to be so intimate with it, that we too are told to participate and shine.

These commands imply that we could choose to do the opposite.

1 Thessalonians 5:19 
Do not quench the Spirit.

It is too easy, when the moment is inconvenient, to blow out the flame of the prompting Holy Spirit, to not reach out the hand, to not say the word, to not shine.

Holy Spirit come upon me.

stones

 As we prepare for Holy Week on this Palm Sunday, we begin worship with:

Luke 19:33-40

And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying

the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to

Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode

along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on

the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began

to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they

had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace

in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd

said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these

were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Heading west, as you crest the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem comes into view only 3/4 of a mile away across the Kidron Valley.

As they make the descent, his disciples giving testimony of the works of Christ in loud voice and being of sufficient number to be called a multitude, they would have been easily visible and within the hearing of those at the temple, particularly those on Solomon's Portico that faces east, high above them.

When rebuked, Jesus responds from the prophet Habakkuk:

Habakkuk 2:9,11,14
“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
    to set his nest on high,
    to be safe from the reach of harm!  

For the stone will cry out from the wall,

    and the beam from the woodwork respond. 

For the earth will be filled

    with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

What was being done could not be stopped.  It could not be held back!  It would be  like trying to hold back a great river that wants to join the sea.

So, let us not hold back either.  As we come to worship today, let us recall all the mighty works that we have seen.

practice

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!

Most avoid fear and strive toward courage.  This verse asks us to go in the opposite direction.  

This is not an emotion, rather it is something we do.  We are to "practice" it (ʿāśâ).  The ESV is nearly alone in this translation.  Most others add "his commandments" or "his precepts" or "his will" to give an object to the verb.

If we follow a rule, we vault ourselves as having accomplished the task.  If we practice fear, we are never vaulted in front of our Lord.

Practice the fear the Lord and the rest falls into proper perspective.

Adorned

 This week we begin worship with:

Isaiah 61:10

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;

    my soul shall exult in my God,

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;

    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,

    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Our rejoicing (śûś) is external.  Our exultation is internal (gîl).  The word picture is of a young child receiving a gift and when they do, all they can do is hug it and spin about exclaiming how happy they are.

The gift that we have received is righteousness.  We are not being made clean, we are declared clean.  

Imagine further that child receiving the gift of clothes that cover their filth.  Adorned (ʿāḏâ) they now go from shame to pride, a pride sufficient for them to be considered worthy to be the bride or bridegroom.

At first

This week we begin worship with:

Revelation 2:1-7

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write…‘I know your works, your toil

and your patient endurance…I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up

for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you,

that you have abandoned the love you had at first.’…He who has an ear, let him

hear."

Much ink has been spilt attempting to identify the object of their first love.  It is not present in the verse and attempts to identify it brush up against the admonition of Revelation 22:18 that prohibits adding to scripture.

So, staying then within the verse, we see they are still toiling, still being patient, still bearing up, and even still not tiring.  What you hear in these words is effort not love (agapē).  This is perfectly described in the "Love Chapter".

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Their efforts had come to "nothing", not driven by the grace-giving love, but rather by stature earning orthodox effort.  At first, when we discover that God loves us, the sinful us, it is easy to love fellow sinners.  As our efforts build God-debt (He owes us?  May it never be.), it gets harder to see why we should love a sinner.  We begin to want them to change, before we love.

The admonition, then, is to regularly return to the moment of our salvation to reconnect to our source of love.

understanding

 This week we begin worship with:

Matthew 13:12–14

For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but

from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I

speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do

not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is

fulfilled that says: “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will

indeed see but never perceive.”

Privately with His disciples, Jesus would explain a parable.  They needed the help and so do we.  Here, following the public teaching of the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9), Jesus first gives this, the meat of the parable, which is still very tough to chew on.  He then breaks it down into the baby food that they all needed (and so do we!).

Our call to worship describes two groups:

Matthew 13:19

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

Matthew 13:23

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Notice please what divides the two groups.  It is not their faith, nor their works.  It is their "understanding" (syniēmi).  It is the sovereign preparation of the ground that determines the outcome.  

As we sing today "All ye who hear, now to his temple draw near", please do indeed do so with "glad adoration"!