St. Patrick's Breastplate

Today we worship on St. Patrick’s Day, the patron saint of Ireland, where he ministered in the 5^th Century. The song we sing, St. Patrick’s Breastplate, has been attributed to him or to a writer shortly after the time of St. Patrick, who is traditionally thought to have died on March 17, 460. The message in our sermon today is Peace, seeking peace amidst the wars of life around us. Patrick understood this, I think, and was calling upon God to protect him and give him peace. Listen to his prayer. This song is a great prayer for each of us to use.

We will sing this song before the sermon but I want you to listen to the words spoken as a prayer.

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever.
By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the cherubim;
The sweet 'well done' in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

So, as we confess our sins today, let us bind unto ourselves today the strong name of the Trinity.

Thanksgiving and Contentment

Contentment is at the heart of joy and thanksgiving is at the heart of contentment. So, it makes perfect sense that the beginning of our joy is found right here at the Lord’s Table, the Eucharist, the meal of Thanksgiving.

Here at this place, we look to the Lord Jesus, who looked beyond the suffering of the cross for the joy that was set before Him. What joy was that? It was the joy of Resurrection, vindication over His enemies. It was the joy of being the first fruit of life for all that trust in His name, you and me, who are forgiven through His blood, healed because of His wounds, our sins nailed to His cross, dead and buried with Jesus but raised to eternal life as He is raised. We are seated with Jesus at the right hand of the Father and will reign with Him, world without end. Those words are true and we have not attained any of it by our own doing. It is all grace, all gift. For such gifts, we cannot pay. We must only receive them with thankful hearts. This kind of thankfulness changes us. It makes us content to rest in Jesus and this produces a deep and abiding joy, true rest in our eternal Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.

Courage in Christ

Life is not always easy. In fact, it rarely is. Most of adult life is fraught with difficulty. From the mundane (getting a job), to the extreme (dealing with severe and life threatening illnesses), trouble comes at us from every angle.

         Perhaps when we were young, the future looked all bright and rosy. We were going to get a driver’s license, what could be better than that? Go off to college and do what we want every day. No rules! Isn’t that the greatest? One day get married to the person of our dreams and then smooth sailing for 30 years until the grandkids come along. And the fact of difficulties and troubles never really entered our minds much. With the exception of a speeding ticket, studying for exams, and the trouble of finding a willing mate, childhood and early adulthood, at least for many of us, was pretty carefree.

         But adulthood created new reality. Bills, work, bosses, deadlines, relationship building, sickness, the joy and heartache of children and lots of suffering, along with great joys. Really, why did we think it would be any different than what it is? Maybe it is merely a grace that we did not think it about it too much when we were young. So, what do we do now, now that the reality of the difficulties of life have surrounded us, like so many enemies with the intent to harm us?

Pastor Strawbridge reminded us last week. We do not fear but rather, we put our confidence in God, are content with His providence in our lives, receive comfort in our troubles, and respond with courage instead of fear. I want to develop this more in the sermon today, but the gist of that sort of response is joy in the midst of sorrow. That is our call, facing God’s Providence in the power of His Spirit with courage. To the extent that we have not done so, let us confess our weakness and even our sins in this area, asking God to forgive us and to lift us up.

Wait on the Lord

I have been preaching on the fruit of the Spirit, the first being love and that we are to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. We see also that the first fruit of love is patience. This requires that we wait on the Lord but that we also wait on one another. This is easy to say and very hard to do.

         In fact, it is so hard that only one practiced in love is patient and the truly patient are practiced in love. Patience is a mark of maturity and impatience a mark of childishness. We are to be childlike in our faith but grown up in our perseverance. But one of the marks of a childlike faith is the perseverance that a child has through manifold trials. They survive, somehow, and look to God to deliver them in the time of need. While children can be impatient in the immediate, they also have a persevering tendency that reveals an eternally springing hope. This renewable hope is a Spirit given endurance, apparent in children and wearing thin in adults.

         We adults must also learn this kind of perseverance. Sometimes, it seems, we grow old too quickly, and stop fighting and stop hoping and our perseverance grows weak. But a weak perseverance is not all bad, either, because our strength comes from the Lord. So, let us confess our tendency to grow weary in the race, perhaps so weary we stop running, and take up our faith in Jesus and so be renewed in hope, to the end that we persevere in hope, waiting on the Lord.

Family Ties

As we grow older, we become acutely aware of the meaning and importance of family ties. When we were young, we took them for granted, perhaps, sometimes not really appreciating them at all. We desired to be on our own, doing our own thing in our own name. But slowly, the realization sets in that you are from somewhere and that you are associated with your roots and that makes an indelible mark on who you really are.

         I want us to think about Communion in these terms. This is why we look around. We are learning the faces of our family. No doubt, some of us take some of them for granted. We look around but do not really see them. We may forget who is here from week to week. We may think we do not really need them, that we are self-contained. But as we grow older and grow up, we realize that these really are our people and the need to identify with them becomes an integral aspect of who we really are. Your natural family roots are real and ought to be cultivated and appreciated. But you have been adopted into God’s family and these are your brothers and sisters in Christ, the friend who is even closer than a brother. You will spend eternity with them and so we are growing up into the maturity of our need for one another.

Growing in Love

As we grow in the Spirit, we will grow in love towards God and towards our neighbor. At this table, we see both aspects of love amply displayed before us. God so loved us that He sent His only Son to die for us. Thus, we respond to Him in love, a love that expresses our thankful hearts and a desire to do His will.

         We also have the blessing of seeing all those that the Lord has forgiven gathered together to praise His name. Each one of us is filled with praise and thanksgiving and as a body we raise our hearts and voices to the Lord as the redeemed people of God.

As we look around, we see people at every stage of life; some older in the faith, some merely babies. Just as we desire the mature believers to be patient with us as we grow up in Christ, we look at the babies with love and patience as we wait for them to grow into the full love and glory of Jesus. And we are humbled to know that these babies always get to teach us what a beautiful and simple faith looks like. Thus, our love for God and one another is revealed and grows right here at this wonderful Table of Thanksgiving.

Love is Patient

The Lord calls us to love Him and love our neighbor as ourselves. If we just leave it at that, it seems like something we can do. Well, we feel loving towards God and most of our neighbors. But as soon as we try to do love, we find we have a problem. The passage from 1Corinthians 13 today heightens our problem with love immediately for it starts out with a high demand.

Love is patient. If love is patient, then how is your love? Are you patient with your wife? Do you listen to her tell you about her day at the end of your long day? Are you patient with your husband? Even when he does not get the honey-do list done on your time schedule? Are you patient with your five year old when he acts like a five year old? Children, are you patient with your younger brothers and sisters? Or, do you make demands of them to act grown up like you? Are you patient with your parents when they are teaching you? Admonishing you? Disciplining you?

If you love, you must be patient. And to the extent that you are not patient with people, you are not loving them, nor walking in the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So, let us confess our impatience together and ask God to fill us with His long-suffering Spirit.

A Son for Glory

Just finished Toby Sumpter's commentary on Job entitled Job, A Son for Glory. I hope to have more to say about it anon. For now, let me say that if you have suffered, which means most of you, you need to read this book. If you are a pastor, you definitely need to spend some time in Job and some time in Sumpter.

Holy Spirit Filled Obedience

           God is the initiator of the relationship of love. We can only respond to Him in love because He first fixed upon us as an object of His desire. He loved us and sent His Son to die for our sins so that we would respond to Him in love.

1John 4:7   Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.  9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

           We must keep the commands of Jesus but we do not do this without His Spirit. He commands us to do His Word and in order to do His Word, He sends us His Spirit. Listen to what Jesus says in John 14.

            John 14:15   If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18   I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 

          Ask the Father, in the name of His Son to grant you His Spirit that you might have life and walk in His light. 

Love and Obey

As we make our way through the fruit of the Spirit, our first virtue is love. This should not surprise us.

Deut. 6:4   Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:  5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

1Cor. 13:13 But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

1John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

We are told in these famous verses that the most important thing is to love God with our whole heart. We are told that of faith, hope and love, love is the greatest and we are also told that God is love.

            We tend to think that we immediately know what love is. We often talk about love. We tell our spouses that we love them. We say that we are loved by God and that we love God. We express love to our children. We even talk about loving certain things, food, works of art, a great film. We use the word often and we have such an inherent sense of what the word means that we mostly use it properly. But when we are asked to say what love is, our mouths go dry and it is really difficult to answer the question.

            Is love a feeling? I have strong emotions towards an object of desire. I love my wife means that I adore her, she brings about warm feelings in me, that I want her near me, that I desire to be close to her. Most of us would agree that this is all accurate and true.

            I love my children has a similar meaning but altered somewhat. I have warm feelings towards them but those feelings are expressed in an entirely different way. Instead of desiring to personally possess the object of my emotion (that is desire), instead, I protect, keep, train, admonish, and even serve them. I sacrifice for my children. That is love, too. But it is at least one step removed from the sort of love, the sort of feeling that one has for his spouse. But we do not doubt that it is love and that we know exactly what we mean when we say it.     

            Furthermore, when we love things, food, films, friends, in all of these we can express a sense of emotion and feeling that leads to a certain kind of behavior. For foods, a desire to eat them again and again. No doubt, one can do this in a sinful manner, gluttony or drunkenness, but partaking in an object of desire is a right usage of the word love and we do not have a big problem in sorting out the differences. We sometimes scold and say, "we love people, we use things" but we really do love ice cream, don’t we? Yes, we do and our waistlines prove it!

            So, what is love, then? An emotion? A desire? A commitment or promise?

I will offer a definition.

Biblical Love is a strong desire towards an object that leads to the proper response.

Let us test this out. If you love a woman in a biblical fashion, then you will desire to be with her, in every sense of the word. In order to be with her, you have to fulfill your desire in the right way. This means purity, yes, but it also means following all the other spiritual virtues, kindness, patience, gentleness, etc., until they lead to a marriage covenant where the object of desire can be lawfully enjoyed. Because you love her, you will act towards her in a way that is consistent with that love.

To the extent that you are not acting properly, you do not love her. Biblical Love always manifests itself in proper behavior. It is not right to say, for instance, that a man commits a crime of passion out of love. If a man truly loves the object of his desire, then he will not sin in order to obtain that object. And, he will not sin if he is unable to obtain his object.

Love always acts according to the best interests of the object of desire, the beloved. If your actions are not in the best interest of the beloved, then it is not love. I grant that we are finite creatures and sometimes do not know what is in the best interest of the beloved. We thought we were doing the right thing by the beloved but it turns out that we were not. That does not mean that you did not love them, at all, but it does mean that in that particular action, you were not manifesting love.

This gets to the second part of our definition of love. I would grant that what we often call love is mostly a feeling, an emotion. But if it is biblical love, it does not stand alone. You cannot be acting out love by feeling a certain way. Love always acts properly. This is to say that love acts. Love causes certain kinds of behaviors. It cannot stand alone as an emotion or feeling.

Even as we quoted the big three above, faith, hope and love, we know that these do not stand alone. Faith Works. Hope Walks. Love Acts.

 We see this clearly in Deuteronomy 30

Deut. 30:  5 And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.  6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.  7 And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.  8 And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.

Look at the Lord’s definition of love. When you return to the Lord and circumcise your heart, that is, be forgiven and purified, made righteous from the inside, then you shall love the Lord your God with all thy heart and all thy soul (v. 6). And the result of this love is that you shall do all His commandments. (v.8)

Also in 1John 5:1

1John 5:1   Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.  2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.  3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Again, can you see the emphasis? He says that if you love God, you will keep His commandments.

Mark 12:28   And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?  29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Jesus is picking up the passage from Deuteronomy 6, The Ten Commandment passage, and telling us that this applies in His day. We are to love God and our neighbor and we are to do so in the way that God has always proclaimed that we love Him, by obeying His commands.

Covenantal Marriage Vows

Exodus 20:1-11- Marriage Vows

The first table of the Law of the Ten Commandments, the section we refer to as the Love God commands, are essentially marriage vows. God has vowed to take on His bride and He asks her to commit to Him by taking these vows.

 

Marriage Vows

Ex. 20:1   And God spake all these words, saying,  2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 

Me only. No others. Our relationship is now exclusive. Do you understand what I am saying to you? No other lovers. Got it? Do you take only me?

I do.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:  5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;  6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 

Do not make any images of me. I am that I am and that should be enough for you. Do not construct an image of me in your mind or one that is fashioned after wood, gold or brass. If you do this, then you are not loving me but some image that will always be less than me. And do not worship me through some image. Then you will also always be limiting me to some image in your mind.

I am a jealous husband. I will not allow you to go around with other husbands and I will not allow you to imagine that I am something other than what I really am. Do you understand this?

I do.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 

This day you are taking my name on you. You are becoming my one and only wife. I am giving you my name. This changes who you are. You used to be an unfaithful woman. Those days are now over. I am a faithful husband and I expect a faithful wife. Therefore, you may not take my name and then act as if you are not married to me. You know me. You know that I am a faithful and perfect husband. You know that I am holy and righteous. So, you must do all that I say and obey all my commands. If you do not do this, then you are taking my name on you without the intent on following up with the expectations of your new family. Do you understand what I am saying to you?

I do.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Okay, great now that you have become my wife, I want to issue my first command. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

On Sabbath, we worship in Spirit and Truth. I will speak to you and you will hear my voice and obey. If you have sinned, you will confess it and I will forgive you. You will gather with my people and I will give you rest.  Do you understand what I am saying to you? Will you follow my commands and remember the Sabbath?
           I will.
 

Comfort in Jesus

In today’s sermon, we will be reminded to Love God and do what He says. We agree with the first part, the love of God in Christ has been bestowed upon us. But we find in ourselves sin lurking at the door. We desire to do right but find that we do wrong. What are we to make of this? Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” And the Apostle John says, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not."

         If we are honest, these words cut us deep, especially as we think about our weak practical devotion to God, our Father, as we think about our fickle fidelity to our wives in thought and word and sight, as we think about the honor and respect that you ladies owe your husbands, and you children owe your parents. Our sins, our lack of love to God, cry out against us.

         But the rest of the verse from the Apostle says, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” He is our paraklete, our comforter. This is the same word that describes the Holy Spirit, who is our paraklete, our Comforter. So, we do sin, and therefore we apply to Jesus, our Advocate, to forgive us our sins and to comfort us by the renewing work of His Holy Spirit.

Abba, Father Love

We have seen that the Lord calls us to love Him with our whole hearts and that this love is to manifest itself in obedience to His revealed will. No doubt, we have felt the weight of that command as we realize that we miss the mark and fall short, that is, we sin. But we are not without hope because we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We apply to Him for grace and we see that because Jesus was faithful to go to the cross, our sins are nailed to the cross and forgiven in the courtroom of God’s justice. We cry, Abba, Father and we trust Him to grant us His Spirit so that the love that He has poured into us through Jesus will also flow out of us back to Him and out to His people. This is what He promises us as we remember the efficacious death of Jesus to save us from our sins and to transform us into the image of God.

Sweet Smelling Savor

It is our desire to grow up into Christ. We desire to be strong so that we can love God and resist sin. In order for this to happen we have to be In Christ. His Spirit must dwell in us so that we are enabled to do that which pleases the Lord. From this perspective, when we please the Lord, we are upright and blameless. If we have become the perfect sacrifice, along with Christ, we know that God, the Father, receives us as a sweet smelling savor.

         This meal points to that great truth. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice and He was broken and presented to the Father and ascended up into Heaven. We have ascended with Him. This meal is Christ giving Himself for and to us. We are in Him and He is in us.  And thus, we become that perfect sacrifice that also pleasingly ascends to the Father. This all happens by God’s grace through faith. We trust in God’s promises and He fulfills them in our lives. Thus, we become the blessed children of God and He grants us His Spirit to carry out His acts in the world. So, let us eat and drink, giving thanks to God for making us one with Him and with one another in Jesus.

Truly Spiritual

The bible tells us that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Sometimes, though, we make spirituality to be some vague other worldliness, somehow maybe even becoming less human-like and more angelic. But being spiritual is not really all that complicated and it definitely is not developing a mind-set that makes you impervious to the every day mess of living. Being spiritual is about loving God and men, having patience, not giving in to outbursts of anger, being kind, and such things. These are all very earthy sorts of manifestations of the Spirit in our lives.

         God is patient with us. We do not grow into maturity all at once. We learn and grow slowly and we often learn by our own failures and sins. We struggle against sin, longing to be more spiritual but still find ourselves irritated, lustful, prone to envy, discontent and needing self-control. 

        What is the answer to these things? Walking in the Holy Spirit. And the only way to get there is to confess our failures and sins, receive Christ’s forgiveness and then get up and walk forward in renewal with new found faith and hope.

Boldly into the Fog

We do not know what the future holds. We look into it with some inclination of the direction that we are traveling but the future is foggy and difficult to see. We can look back at the past with much greater clarity. We look back not so that we can see forward clearly but so that we can walk forward into the fog without fear. God has directed our paths and we have come safely through the fog of future that we now call past. If we were fearful then, it was only because we could not see forward and know that God would be at every foggy place leading us through the shadows of death. But He was and we know that now.

         So, how do we go forward into more fog? Well, we still do not know the future but I hope we have come to believe that God is there and that He is beckoning us to come forward in peace, hope and joy. And to prove this to us, He calls us to sit down at His table to eat and drink and grow strong and develop keen eyes of faith so that we can go forward in hope without fear. 

        This meal is His promise to never leave or forsake us and to guide us in the way of peace. So, eat and take courage.

Perspective is Heavenly

Perspective is defined as a way of regarding situations and facts and judging their relative importance. Many of our problems, especially our reactions, come from having bad perspective. Something happens and we are unable to accurately judge the relative importance of the event. Since it is happening to us and it happening now, we make it out to be relatively important. I ask, relative to what? And the answer often is, relative to anything and everything. The thing of the moment is the thing. And when we think this way, we often act way out of proportion to the true relative importance. 

         This is true of the man cutting in front of you in line, the person taking too long to cross the intersection, the clown with his head down, texting at the green light who had the relatively important distinction of delaying your day by three whole seconds!

         Saints, get some perspective! Step back and see the situation, maybe even as God sees it. The clown texting might be oblivious but at least he is not a saint given to rash emotions and overreactions. How is God looking at that situation?

         This proper perspective in the little things will help you learn a principled perspective in the big things. Such a true perspective will create a place for you of peace and hope in Jesus Christ.

         So, let us confess our inability to see things properly and ask God to give us a more heavenly-minded perspective.

Appetite for Jesus

The Lord’s Service is discipline. That may surprise you if you think of discipline as punishment. But working out is discipline. Wrestling practice is discipline. Eating well is discipline. These disciplines train us for the fight. This service disciplines the mind and body to conform us to the image of God. The Lord, in His graciousness, runs us through this training towards godliness. Just as working out creates a healthy appetite, so the Lord’s Service ought to create a healthy appetite in us for the things of the Lord.

         We become like Jesus and so we desire to do what He does, say what He says, eat what He eats; every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Having tasted of Christ, we know that He is good and we desire more and more of Him.

         So, we can see that the Lord’s Table is another place of discipline. We eat and drink of the Lord Jesus and we grow bigger and stronger in Jesus and we need more and more of Christ to sustain us. We do not need more bread and more wine. A little is enough because in them we see that we really already have all of Christ As we grow in Christ, His grace and power are all that we need to sustain us for growth and for the fight of life.

Fatherly Discipline

The Bible teaches us that discipline is something that a loving father does. As parents, we recognize this. When we discipline our children, whether with corrective teaching or the sin squashing swats of the spanking spoon, we know that we are showing them love and teaching them a path that will lead them to peace and joy.

         As adults, we often fail to see this. When loving friends confront us, we resist and justify. If we persist in this resistance, our hearts grow hard to correction and a hard stubborn heart is not a receptive place for God’s Spirit.

Thus, the Lord, Himself, will bring direct correction into our lives. Sometimes, it is just enough to get our attention so that we straighten up. If we continue to resist Him then we run the risk of having Him let us run headlong into our sin. The rebellious heart loves this, thinking it is freedom but the righteous man fears the withdrawing of God’s Spirit of conviction and correction, knowing that this leads to slavery to sin.

         So, we need to come to the Lord humbly, heeding His voice in friends, the elders, the pastor, and His Spirit, so that we are easily corrected and do not justify ourselves in our sins.

Going to Heaven

Christian, what is your plan in this life? What is your daily aim? Are you seeking to grow in grace, advancing in the fruit of the Spirit? How are you doing? How is your Love growing? How about your Joy? Peace? Patience? Kindness? Gentleness? Faithfulness? Meekness? How are you doing with Self-control?

            To grow in these areas is to be like God, to bear His image here on Earth, to be like Jesus and reveal the work of the Holy Spirit in your lives. It is being heavenly. So, how is it that you become heavenly minded? And where are you going to spend eternity? In heaven? Yes, in heaven. And to be fit to spend eternity in heaven, you practice heavenly mindedness here on Earth.

           In Ephesians 2:4-6, we are told, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:   This Scripture reveals something glorious to us. God has brought us to heaven in Jesus. When we gather as God’s people, we are getting a glimpse of this glory full blown. We see the gathered people of God, forgiven in Jesus, engaged in worship, sitting at the feet of Jesus, rising up in song, eating at His Table. We are in heaven!

          This worship service is nothing less than a heavenly feast. When you come to worship, you are coming into heaven. Now, who would does not want to go to heaven? Seriously, who in their right mind, would refuse heaven?

            Would you refuse heaven because you had a late night on Saturday? Would you refuse heaven because your child had a sporting event? Would you miss heaven because your family was visiting from out of town? Would you miss heaven for nearly any old excuse? 

           Dear Saints, I am not kidding about this or being glib. I mean it with all my heart. If you do not understand that we are going to heaven together when we gather as God’s people, you really do run the risk of missing heaven altogether. If you cannot see the glory in the gathered people of God, then you are missing the glory of God. It really is that simple. So, come to heaven every week so that you are consistently drawn to God and will spend eternity with Him and His people in Heaven.

Covenant Renewal Communion

The high point of our liturgy moves to the Lord’s Table. In our service, as in our lives, we are aiming at close communion with God. At His Table, we see this all come together. The Father has called us, Jesus has cleansed us, the Spirit has filled us and we have become friends of God.

         Because there is still sin and death in the world, we need the promises and the closeness of this Table. It is very important that you embrace the entire service and that you especially get what is going on here. 

         You are a sinner but God has forgiven you through the death and resurrection of Jesus. He identifies you with His own beloved Son. Because of that truth, He and the Son invite you to eat with them. They send you the Holy Spirit that the love of God fully dwells in you as you sit down with Him and His people to eat. This is the place of peace and assurance.

Covenant Renewal Exhortation

In our Covenant Renewal Worship Service, we have an Exhortation early in the service, right after the Call To Worship. This part of the service is to remind us not only that we are sinners, fallen from grace in Adam, but that we continue to sin in thought, word and deed. Thus, we need to continually return to that fountain of grace, for where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound. It is vital that we continue to confess and repent of our sins so that we continually receive this abundant fountain of grace.

         We are reminded of our sins, confess them and receive the Lord’s forgiveness early in our service, so that the rest of the service draws us near to God as we stand before Him fully forgiven with a holy boldness given to us by Jesus, Himself.

         So, we take a moment, recalling the ways we have sinned and especially confessing the sins of our nation and the sins of God’s people, including ourselves in those sins, so that we can rightly seek God’s grace for our nation and for our people.

Age of Gold

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

It is finally Christmas and along with the angels, we rejoice at the birth of Jesus. Our Savior has come into the world and we have been saved from our sins and our enemies. We seem to get the first part, salvation from sin, assuming we understand that we are sinners. But we have a harder time believing that God is going to chase down every enemy. We have a hard time believing this even in the direct and clear revelation of Scripture. Jesus will reign until all of His enemies are subdued. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

         This great passage from Isaiah was immortalized and forever stamped in our minds by that illustrious composer Frederick Handel. It is difficult to even say these words without hearing the tune run through our minds.

         But like so much of Scripture, if we are not careful, the words run through our mind but not the meaning. We hear the words but we do not really believe them or heed them. 

         Many of our Christmas songs create this same contradiction.  We sing the words but we do not understand or perhaps do not believe what we sing.

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, original verse 5

For lo!, the days are hastening on,

By prophet bards foretold,

When with the ever-circling years

Comes round the age of gold

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world give back the song

Which now the angels sing.

This reference to the age of gold harkens back to Virgil’s fourth eclogue, written around 40 B.C. It is likely that Virgil was anticipating the age of gold arising in those emperors to follow the rule of Julius Caesar. Although we are not certain of Virgil’s intent in this passage (some have claimed he actually prophesied the birth of Jesus) the hymn writer quotes it as a deliberate poke at the aspirations of a usurped authority to rule the world. No one but Jesus Christ can truly bring this ‘age of gold’ but the reality is that Jesus truly does bring the age of gold.

Think about these great lyrics.

Joy to the World, Isaac Watts, 1719

Verse 3

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

Verse 3 says that Jesus comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found. The curse brought sorrow, sin and thorns. But the blessing of Christ will reverse that curse and restore the world to and Edenic state.

Verse 4

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

         Verse 4 says that Jesus rules the world. Many Christians do not believe that but it is true and the

         All of this is said as a prelude to how we view the historic, current and future Kingdom of God.  By far and away the historic view of Christ’s Kingdom clashes with the modern American view.  We see this even in Christmas hymns, until the mid to late 19^th Century.  Prior to that time, the prevailing view of Christ’s Kingdom is that it would continue to grow and fill all the Earth.

In the modern era, a particular pessimism has set into the church, largely as a result of dispensational thinking. Instead of the kingdom of God growing and filling the Earth, the kingdom of Satan grows, many think, filling the Earth, and threatens the saints until Jesus comes back to save them at the last possible moment.

We need to remember what Jesus has already done. We need to remember our Christmas songs. Satan has no kingdom. At best, he is a banished usurper, wandering the dry places of the Earth, hoping for a sympathetic ear.  He is a pathetic outcast.  How different that view than those who make Satan the archrival of the Lord Christ. Nothing of it! 

Jesus has already come to save us from our sins and to free us from our and His enemies. He made a show of them on the cross triumphing over them in it. We are not waiting for this to happen in the future, it happened over 2000 years ago!

Gladly, that dispensational view, along with its gospel hopelessness seems to be running out of steam. You can only predict the end of the world and the tribulation for so many decades and generations before people start to grow skeptical, although it is amazing what a tenaciously long life this view has had.

So, we arrive to this great anthem of the Christian faith.  Can you say these words without singing the song?

Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

We sing these songs every year and there was a time when we actually believed them. It is true that the advent of Christ makes a tremendous impact in our personal lives. He saves each one of us from our sins. This gives us peace and assurance, knowing that our God is for us and not against us. But that is not main message of the Glad Tidings. The main message of the glad tidings is the universal rule of Jesus Christ over all things.

         I hope we can get excited about this. This is something we get to declare. It is the gospel message proclaimed. Although we do try to persuade others to see this great truth and submit themselves to Jesus, our declaration remains true whether they accept it or not. Jesus is ruling the world and will continue to rule the world until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is indeed the Messiah.  

Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this!

Peace on Earth

Peace starts here at the Lord's Table among God's people but it does not end here. We are the first fruits of the Resurrection of the Lord but the knowledge of the Lord Jesus will be as the waters that cover the sea, and the peace that passes our understanding will be the peace that fills the whole Earth.

         It is very important that we hear these truths declared and then see, feel, smell and taste that the Lord is good. God’s peace is granted to you and from here expands to fill the whole Earth. 

         This is not a peace without cost. Peace never is. It required death, even the death of the only perfect man that ever entered the world. And it requires our death as well. We are crucified with Christ: nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ living in us: and the life which we now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us.

         And this life, that is Christ, is the life that will fill the whole Earth, for all that call upon the Lord in faith, believing what God has done in Jesus Christ.

Christmas Rest

It is finally Christmas and we get to revel in the celebration for a little longer before we hustle back into our New Year. For some, this is a time of great joy. For others, it is a time of recovery from the frenzy of food, piles of presents, ostentatious decorations, extra church services, entertaining family, shopping and re-shopping.

Recovery is okay. It is hard to celebrate all the time and the truth of the matter is that we could never really celebrate enough to fit the occasion. We could never give enough, eat enough, shop enough or worship enough to fill up the glory that is Christmas. We are still human, after all, and we will not have the kind of endurance needed to adequately celebrate the glory of Christ until we get our resurrected bodies.

         In all the bustle and celebration, I hope we have not lost the simple yet enormous truth of the Incarnation. God has come to Earth to increase His government and peace ad infinitum. Really? Yes, truly and really.

         Since this is true, we must rest in Him so that His government and peace is increasing in our lives, families, church and city. That is the truth of the gospel message and the saints of God get to declare this glorious truth every time they gather in His name. To the extent that His government and peace are not increasing in your life, you have the need to stop resisting and start resting.