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What Worship Accomplishes

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Introduction

We ascend into the heavenlies in our worship and meet with our God there (Heb. 12:22). But this heavenly worship is not something that has fearfully run away from the enemy on earth. Rather, as the book of Revelation shows in great detail, the worship of the saints in heaven accomplishes God’s judgments on earth. The twenty-four elders worship God in heaven (Rev. 4:10), and the seven seals are opened in heaven (Rev. 5:5). But this does not leave the earth untouched or unaffected.

If you want to fight the culture war, you have to fight from the high ground. The only high ground we can successfully fight from is the high ground of Heaven, where our Lord Jesus is seated at God’s right hand.

The Text

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3–5).

Summary of the Text

Paul here tells the Corinthians that we still live our lives in the flesh but we do not conduct our warfare according to the flesh (v. 3). Our lives are material without being worldly. The fact that our weapons are not carnal weapons does not make them ethereal, impotent weapons. Just the reverse. They are mighty (through God) in the toppling of the devil’s castles (v. 4). Unbelieving man erects two things against the knowledge of God, and those two things are “imaginations” and “every high thing.” These exalt themselves, but the weapons of our warfare cast them down, and take them captive (v. 5). And the warfare is described as total—we take every thought captive.

Relate This to Our Worship

First note that in our text we are expressly told that we do not accomplish this mission by means of physical weapons. One of the things that has disturbed our local secularists is that they have heard us saying things like “all of Christ for all of life for all of Moscow.” This seems to them as though we want to get a row of howitzers up on Paradise Ridge, and to start dictating terms like we were the Taliban of the Palouse. They have also quoted us saying that Moscow is a “decisive point,” to use our military phrase. But we are talking about spiritual warfare. However, spiritual warfare has real time consequences. Spiritual warfare is not ethereal warfare, or some form of make-believe warfare.

Secondly, we know that Jesus Christ has ascended into the heavenly places, into the court of the Ancient of Days, where He was given universal dominion (Dan. 7:13-14). He bought all the nationsof men with His own blood, and He intends to have them (Ps. 2:7-8). He told His followers that He had been given all authority in Heaven and on earth, and that was why they were to fan out and disciple all the nations on earth (Matt. 28:18-20).

And third, our worship services are a weekly celebration of that great coronation. And coronation celebrations always spell trouble for all pretenders to the throne. This is what Adonijah discovered to his dismay. His coronation party was quite overshadowed.

“And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them. And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating . . . And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they are come up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard. And also Solomon sitteth on the throne of the kingdom . . .  And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way” (1 Kings 1:39–49).

Warfare Through New Eyes

God established the antithesis at the very beginning of human history (Gen. 3:15). There is therefore a constant state of war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The Lord Jesus crushed the serpent’s head in His crucifixion and resurrection, but by His grace He permits us to participate in that struggle (Rom. 16:20). He crushes the adversary badly, bruising him under His heel. But remember, as His body, we are His heel.

“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church” (Eph. 1:22).

But there is more. Jesus promised us that in this conflict, the gates of Hades would never prevail against us (Matt. 16:18). But please note that the gates of Hades are not an offensive weapon. We are not besieged by the gates of Hades. We are the besiegers. We are not manning our tiny little Alamo, fighting until we finally go under. It is the other way around.

This does not mean that our warfare is easy. Far from it. The first men up the scaling ladders can find the fighting hot at the top of the wall. But it is the top of their wall.

Proclaim the Lord’s Death Till He Comes

Every faithful sermon that declares Christ as Savior and Lord is a proclamation, but not just to the gathered believers. The message is also for unbelievers, as well as all the principalities and powers. Every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, which we do every seven days, we proclaim the vicarious death that conquers the whole world (1 Cor. 11:26). And every time we open our mouths and our psalters to sing, we want to do so in a way so that Adonijah can hear it.

What is it that overcomes the world? Is it not our faith (1 John 5:4)?

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Part 1: A Theology of Christmas Presents

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Introduction

During this Advent season, I want to spend some time in this series of messages working through a theology of Christmas presents. Quite a number of you are going to be spending quite a bit of time on this aspect of your Christmas celebrations, and so—as Christians who seek to bring every aspect of our lives into submission to the Word—how should we think about Christmas presents? We will need to consider in turns the ground of our giving, the nature of giving, the nature of receiving, and the good of the material world.

The Text

“Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:10–15).

Summary of the Text

Now in this part of his letter, the apostle Paul is speaking a benediction for the Corinthians. He asks that the God who provides seed for the farmers would bless the ministrations of the Corinthians (v. 10). He asks that God would provide them with food, and multiply the effects of their generosity (v. 10). He wants this to result in abundance for them so that they might be equipped to give more, with the result of even more thanksgiving (v. 11). The reason is that this kind of giving has two benefits—it meets the need and it results in thanksgiving to God (v. 12). As the recipients approve of and rejoice in what they (and others) receive, they are glad for this tangible evidence of the submission of the Corinthians to the gospel of Christ (v. 13). In return for the gift, the recipients pray for and long for the donors as they see the surpassing grace of God resting upon them (v. 14). And then Paul anchors his benediction by referring to the ground of all generosity, which is the generosity of God toward us, in the gift of His Son—the unspeakable gift (v. 15). All our gifts, of whatever kind, are to be grounded here.

Different Kinds of Donations

By the grace of God, you own or possess what you have. Now the Scriptures describe for us different sorts of circumstances under which we give some of it away. And this giving would include anything of monetary value going out from you and with nothing coming back immediately in return. In other words, we are talking about an expenditure that is not “buying” something.

For our purposes, we can divide this up into three categories—tithes, offerings, and celebrations. Christmas presents would obviously fall into the third category.

Tithes

The tithe is a gift that is not discretionary. In other words, it is God’s tribute, assigned to us by Him. Contrary to the assumption of many believers, the tithe is not a “Mosaic thing.” Abraham tithed to Melchizedek before there was a Mosaic code (Gen. 14:20). Moses certainly included it in his law, the same way other ancient practices were included, practices like circumcision or animal sacrifice (Dt. 14:28). And then, in the New Testament, Paul tells us that those in Christian ministry should be supported in the same way that the Levitical priests were supported, which is to say, by means of the tithe (1 Cor. 9:13-14). Paul describes how the priests were supported in the OT, and then says even so, in the same way, Christian ministry should be supported.

So if you look carefully at the Scriptures, you will see that lawful recipients of the tithe are ministers of the Word (1 Cor. 9:14), the poor (Dt. 14:29), and the merchants who provide you with the goods for your celebrations before the Lord (Dt. 14 22-29).

Offerings

Scriptures frequently describe the giving of the tithe in terms of seed going into the ground, and seed that goes into the ground is the ordained means of obtaining a harvest or a crop (Mal. 3:10). To say that the tithe is a mandatory gift is simply to say that God requires us to put a certain amount of seed corn into the ground. He cares for us. Otherwise, we would tend to eat our seed corn.

But once we learn that money is seed corn, the wise among us want to figure out how to give more. But we do not give to get, period. We give to get in order to be enabled to give some more. “The liberal soul shall be made fat: And he that watereth shall be watered also himself” (Prov. 11:25).

And Paul encourages the Corinthians to apply the logic of the tithe to their thinking about their free will offerings.

“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:6–7).

Celebrations

And so we come to the custom of celebrating through gifts. We already saw some indication of this in the Dt. 14 passage, where God requires what might be called a party tithe. But it appears that God has embedded deep within mankind an impulse to give gifts when celebrating. This is even the case with wicked men (Rev. 11:10). But impulse is also found among the righteous. What happened when the Jews were delivered from a great threat in the book of Esther?

“As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor” (Esther 9:22).

The Unspeakable Gift

And so now we find the basis for all our Christmas shopping. Like all Christian generosity, it seeks to mimic the generosity of God, grounding our giving in the fact that God has given so generously to us. “freely ye have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8). It shares this feature with our tithes and with our offerings. And, at the same time, all our Christmas gifts are also a celebration of that great gift that was given to us. We celebrate the Incarnation—the prerequisite gift that enabled God to give us the even greater gift of the crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus was born to die, and all of this—birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension—was given for us men and for our salvation.

Provided we remember why we are doing it, it is entirely fitting that we give Christmas gifts to one another.

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The Gideon Plan

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Introduction

Any time we gather with our families, there can be temptations to squabble or complain or fear or stress. Christ did not come to give us serene, placid lives. He came in order to fill our hearts, so that His light would shine through our troubles, causing Thanksgiving to abound.

The Text

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us…” (2 Cor. 4:5-7)

Summary of the Text

Paul is in the middle of defending His apostolic ministry to the Corinthians. His first letter was a bit tart, and since it had been a while since they had heard from Paul, there were apparently rumors starting to go around that Paul was fed up with Corinth. But the truth was that Paul had been tied up, and his previous plans just hadn’t worked out (2 Cor. 1:8-9, 13-16). But Paul was determined not to come to Corinth for fireworks if at all possible (2 Cor. 2:1). While one man had repented, some still wondered if Paul only came around for offerings, and besides, Paul wasn’t on any of the lists of apostles (2 Cor. 3:1-3). However, Paul insists that His ministry is authenticated by the work of the Spirit in the Corinthians themselves (2 Cor. 3).

Our text picks up with Paul explaining how the Spirit has been manifest in his ministry, specifically the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as a treasure in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:5-7). Paul admits that his ministry (and that of the other apostles) is a bit raucous: pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed – all a manifestation of the death of Jesus in their bodies (2 Cor. 4:8-12). Paul quotes from Psalm 116, a song of praise for deliverance, insisting that this is God’s pattern of death and resurrection (2 Cor. 4:13-14). If we understand that God is working all things together to spread thanksgiving among the saints, we will not lose heart, and we will see with eyes of faith what is in an eternal, lasting weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:15-18).

A Thanksgiving Text

This passage fits well with preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving on several levels. The first level is the sociological circumstances. Paul is preparing to see old friends he hasn’t seen in a while, and there has been some tension between them. If you are in a family, then you know what Paul is dealing with. There are no families on the planet without challenges or tensions of one sort or another. And Thanksgiving is a moment where many families gather together for the first time in a while. If there aren’t troubles yet, there’s generally plenty of flammable material laying around. None of us are Apostles, but we can all relate. And the message here for us is that trouble is part of the plan. To follow Jesus is to take up a cross. And crosses are painful, humiliating, difficult, and full of trouble. Jesus was not a slick, used car salesman. There was full disclosure on the front end: “For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household… he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:35-39). Paul added his own encouraging assurance: “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). The point is not to go looking for trouble; the point is that if Christ is in you, trouble has already found you (2 Cor. 4:10-11). To follow Jesus is to follow Him in the trouble of the cross – the trouble of confessing sins, the trouble of forgiving those who sin against you, the trouble of telling the truth in love, the trouble of enduring hardship/suffering with joy, the trouble of being unashamed of Jesus, and more. The trick is to have the wisdom to see the difference between needless fleshly trouble (petty bickering, bitterness, bad attitudes), and the glorious trouble of following Jesus. While the Apostles were put on special display with this plan, these are the only two options for faithful Christians.

“I Believed & Therefore I Spoke”

This quotation is from Psalm 116, which is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving for deliverance, but it’s striking that Paul quotes this particular partial verse because it cuts in at least two different ways. The rest of the verse says, “I am greatly afflicted,” and the next verse says, “I said in my haste, ‘All men are liars.’” In other words, this appears to be the thematic center of the Psalm, and at this center we find faith crying out to God in trouble, but also temptation to despair. This quotation cuts against those who are tempted to despair in the face of trouble (“all men are liars”), but it also cuts against those who are tempted to turn on the faithful who have seemingly “caused” the trouble (“I believed therefore I spoke.”) Paul had spoken/written hard words to the Corinthians, and some of the Corinthians were tempted to be bitter against Paul. Which one are you? Are you generally tempted to just throw your hands up in despair or are you desperately trying to hold everything together and tempted to blow up at anyone who steps out of line? Both kinds of temptations need to hear this: Christ is risen (2 Cor. 4:14). And what trouble, difficulty, sin, brokenness can stand against that power?

The Gideon Plan

From the beginning, God has determined to run all of His plays from positions of physical, human weakness. Even where the odds seemed better – like say when David was king – God allowed numerous weaknesses to hamper David. Why? In order to cause “thanksgiving to abound” (2 Cor. 4:15). That’s the plan. The plan is to maximize thanksgiving. But God wants our thanksgiving to go all the way down to our bones. He wants to give us something that only thanksgiving can give (an eternal weight of glory), but in order to do that, He has to give us the kind of trouble that breaks it out of our selfish hearts.

So call it the “Gideon Plan,” which is another great example of fighting from a position of weakness, starting with an army of 32,000, reduced down to 300 (Jdg. 7). Then Gideon divided the three hundred into three even smaller parties. And their main weapons were torches inside of earthenware pitchers in the dark. The plan was to blow trumpets and break the earthen vessels open. And so, this is still the battle plan. We have the light of Christ in our hearts, and we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that as we are struck by trouble, the light of Christ might shine. This is what it means to be pressed but not crushed, etc. So that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us, in order to cause thanksgiving to abound among many.

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Apostles Creed 5: And in Jesus Christ

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What we now know as the Apostles Creed descended from an earlier form of the creed, known as the Old Roman Symbol. The beginning of the creed dates from as early as the second century. We do not have any direct evidence that it was penned by any of the apostles, but it is an admirable summary of the apostolic teaching.

Introduction:
Although we haven’t mentioned Jesus until this point in the Creed, in another sense, every word in the Creed revolves around Jesus Christ. The reason for that is something for us to explore now.

The Text:
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin, Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hades. On the third day He rose again from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Summary of the Text:
“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:16–17).

We began the Creed by confessing that we believe. Now in Scripture, believing and knowing are intertwined. “But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him” (John 10:38). We believe in Jesus Christ, and this is how we come to know Him. When we come to know Him, we come to know the Father, and the only way this is possible is through the Spirit of Jesus, poured out into our hearts.

But we know Jesus in two senses, both of which are reflected in the Creed. The first is the Jesus of history—or as the Creed puts it, born of the Virgin, Mary, and who died under the term of a Roman provincial prefect named Pontius Pilate. If it had not been for Jesus, he would be as historical obscure as his predecessor Gratus, or his successor Marcellus. This is the Jesus who is the historical figure, as much a man of history as Napoleon, or Attila, or Confucius. But according to Paul in this passage, this same Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, has taken the throne of the cosmos. He is the cosmic Christ. We cannot understand any man without understanding Him.

Jesus:
If Jesus had a last name, the way we have last names, it would have been Jesus Davidson—Jesus ben David. He was born in the house of David, and this was his true human lineage (Rom. 1:3). He had a home town; He had a mother; He went to Nazareth High; He weighed a certain amount; some other men were taller. He was tempted in every point as we are (Heb. 2: 17-18), although keep in mind that this excludes temptations that require a history of sinning behind them.

Remember that Jesus was fully human—not part human and part divine. God did not put on a man suit the way one of us might put on a gorilla suit. He was not “man on the outside, God on the inside.” No, He was fully God and fully man—one person, Jesus of Nazareth, who had two natures, two complete natures. Jesus had a nature that was entirely human, which is our point here, as well as a nature that was fully and completely divine.

Christ:
I said above that Christ is not the Lord’s last name. The word Christ means anointed, and it is the parallel to the Hebrew word Messiah. The word Christ is a title, like King or Prince. Throughout Scripture, anointing is the rite used to set someone apart to a particular office, and that person assumes the office empowered by the anointing to discharge the responsibilities of that office. The anointing was not so that we would look at Him as the Messiah. The anointing was so that He would do what the Messiah was destined to do, and so that we would recognize Him in His glory.

There were three great offices among men as seen in the polity of Israel—prophet, priest, and king—and men were anointed to all three. “And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room” (1 Kings 19:16). “And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments” (Lev. 16:32).

So when Jesus was anointed as the Christ, He was being established in all three of these offices. That is what it means to be called to be the Christ. He is our great Prophet (Dt. 18:15), our Priest (Heb. 3:1), and our King (John 19:19; Acts 17:7). As priest, He died and rose to put an end to the old world, our old way of being human. As king, He rules the new world, the new heavens and new earth. And as our prophet, He teaches us about both worlds. He is the cosmic Christ—not in some New Agey sense, but in the sense that His name and authority overarch absolutely everything. We will come back to this.

Come to Jesus:
So call upon Jesus. Turn to Jesus Christ. Bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. Partake of Jesus. He offers Himself. The Spirit and the Bride say come, and they say the same thing . . . come to Jesus.

Now when I say this to you, when I issue this invitation—which I am authorized to do, by the way—I am doing so because I am not looking at you “after the flesh.” Look carefully again at this passage. Paul here says that a direct result of having a right vision of the cosmic Christ is that we no longer look at anyone in a mundane way. How could we? Christ is risen. Christ is enthroned. More than this—He is here, and summons you to come.

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