Christ Church

Jesus in Corinth (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #32) (KC)

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INTRODUCTION

Here is the record of the challenges Paul faced planting the Corinthian church to which Paul wrote at least two letters which now make up the New Testament. This also appears to be one of the longer stints Paul spent in his mission, and given what we read here and in First and Second Corinthians, it appears that it was particularly difficult. Yet, at the center of this text is the Lord Jesus assuring Paul that He is with him, protecting him, and taking dominion. That same Risen Jesus is still with us today. 

The Text: “After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla…” (Acts 18:1-17).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul’s next stop was in Corinth, about 50 miles west of Athens, a two day journey on foot or depending on sailing winds, half a day by sea (Acts 18:1). There, he met Aquila and Priscilla, fellow tent-making Jews, recently expelled from Rome by Caesar Claudius, giving us a timestamp of around 52 A.D. (Acts 18:2-3). 

As usual, Paul begins teaching in the synagogue on the sabbaths, teaching both Jews and Greeks, until the Jews become obstinate and Paul leaves (Acts 18:4-6). He begins preaching and teaching in the house of Justus next door to the synagogue, and before long, the ruler of the synagogue is converted along with many others (Acts 18:7-9). 

Around that time, Paul received encouragement from the Lord to keep preaching, and he remained for at least a year and a half, until the Jews brought charges against Paul before Gallio (Acts 18:10-13). However, Gallio rejected the charges, and apparently a bunch of the Greeks took matters into their own hands, while Gallio played the politician (Acts 18:14-17).  

WORD FROM ROME

We don’t know when the gospel first reached Rome or when Paul first got word of the Christians there, but by this point Paul was apprised by Aquilla and Priscilla, who appear to be early missionaries to Rome/Italy. We have two extra biblical sources (Seutonius and Tacitus) that record this expulsion of the Jews from Rome (~51-52 A.D.) over the tumult caused by a Jewish man named “Chrestus,” almost certainly a misspelling of “Christ.” The trouble that Paul faced in many of the cities he preached was the same in other places.

CONSTRAINED SPIRIT

When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia (Thessalonica), Paul “constrained his spirit” or was “constrained by the Spirit” to preach the gospel. Some translations have “word” instead of “spirit,” but the overall point is that at this point he fully occupied himself with the ministry and less tentmaking. This may imply that Silas and Timothy worked or brought provisions allowing Paul to devote himself to that ministry continuously. This was important because the opposition was fierce, and as usual, there came a breaking point with many of the Jews, and Paul took his ministry to the house of Justus. As he does so, Paul cites God’s instructions to Ezekiel, saying, “your blood be upon your own heads” (Acts 18:6). God set Ezekiel as a “watchman” to warn Israel in captivity of their evil ways; if Ezekiel warned them, then their blood was on their own heads, but if he failed to warn them, God promised to require their blood of Ezekiel (Ez. 3:18-21, 33:1-9).  

JESUS RULING IN CORINTH

Even in the midst of this division and controversy, the ruler of the synagogue and others became Christians (Acts 18:8). But that was likely to fuel even more trouble, and we are sometimes tempted to be satisfied with small victories. So the Lord encouraged Paul to keep preaching (Acts 18:9-10), assuring him not to fear and not to quiet down, promising to be with him, protect him, and insisting that there were still many in Corinth that belong to Him (Acts 18:10). Part of this promise is fulfilled by how Gallio dismissed the charges brough against Paul by the Jews, potentially giving Christians a significant legal precedent (Acts 18:14-16), even though it becomes clear that Gallio is likely just being a politician (Acts 18:17). 

APPLICATIONS

When Jesus ascended into Heaven, He promised to be with us always, even to the end of the world (Mt. 28:20). But He is not just with us vaguely or generally, He promises to be with His people in particular places. And this promise cannot be disconnected from His authority. He is able to be with us because all authority in Heaven and on Earth was given to Him. But how did He get that authority? By His death and resurrection. He purchased the Church with His blood (Acts 20:28, cf. 1 Cor. 6), and by His resurrection inherited all the nations of the world (Ps. 2:7-12).

Therefore, the Lord Jesus encouraged Paul both with the promise that He would be with him to protect him and the insistence that many people in Corinth were His. And the one promise was for the sake of the other. Christ was with Paul so that His people in Corinth might repent and believe. And this is still true today. For all who know Christ, He promises to be with you in every circumstance, protecting you, and all for the sake of the mission.  

Our job is to be content with obedience. “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath saith, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5). Ministers and teachers must be faithful to the Word no matter what, faithful watchmen warning our cities, content with whatever comes, and all Christians must trust Christ and obey Him, resting in His sovereign care.   

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The Personality of the Holy Spirit (Troy)

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SERMON TEXT

Titus 3:4-7

INTRODUCTION

When I was young, listening to music was a big part of our family dynamic. I have very vivid memories of seeing my parents’ CD collection neatly lined up on the shelf. Mom and Dad liked to listen to a lot of things, but smooth jazz was a staple genre in the house. So Dad would push the button on the Sony, the tray would extend, and the five-cd-carousel would spin as it jutted out, revealing which discs were currently in rotation. He would take a disc out, replace it with something, push the button again to retract the tray, push play, and the dulcet tones of Geoge Benson would fill the family room over the hi-fi speakers. If they wanted to discover music they would listen to 94.7 The Wave, and I would sit there on the couch and listen to Kenny G, Lee Ritenour, Candy Dulfer, Earl Klugh, and Larry Carlton. And so my love for music began at a very young age. When I was in college I played bass for the gospel choir, and I fell in love with the genre. So now that’s in rotation at our home. One of my favorite albums is called The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin, a live gospel album recorded in the year 2000.

OUR TRIUNE GOD

There are three pillars to trinitarian theology. First, there is monotheism. We worship one God. We do not worship three Gods; we worship one God. Two, God is three persons. God exists in three persons. And lastly, each person is fully God. How do we skate the accusation that we are not monotheists and that we actually worship three gods? To properly represent the trinity, we must understand the distinction between being and person.

A human retains both being and personhood. This time, a bidirectional confirmation of existence occurs when you shake a person’s hand. A very unique experience transpires when you look another human in the eye, so much so that it is bound up in the fabric of our socialization. Too much eye contact is creepy, too little eye contact communicates a lack of care or concern. Our senses serve to confirm the existence of the other person and we can interact with one another. A human, therefore, is one being and one person.

THE PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Bible also describes for us various appearances of the Holy Spirit. When the Lord was baptized by John, the Spirit of God descended like a dove coming to rest on him. When the great flood covered the earth and the wrath of God submerged the great mountains and every man, woman, and child suffered a watery grave, the ark floated atop the surface and weathered the storm. The tides beat against the bow of the ark, the current pulled the lumbering ship whichever direction it willed, the rains buffeted the upper decks, and yet those who were in the ark were protected from God’s anger. And so the symbol of Christ emerges, pictured through a wooden barge. As people of faith, we see ourselves in the family of Noah, hunkered down inside the hull, while the ark of Christ takes the full brunt of the waves and is battered by the wind and the tempest. When the wrath of God subsides and Noah peers out the window, feeling the sun on his face for the first time in 40 days he sees nothing but water. 150 days later the gopher wood beast comes to rest on the mountain of Ararat and Noah releases a black raven out of the window. An unclean bird that feeds on carrion. Similar to the vulture, the scavenger doesn’t have to search long before it finds a food source floating on the surface. And so the black bird, a symbol of death, does not return to Noah because it had all the sustenance it could ever want. Noah releases a 2nd bird, this time a white dove, who has a diet of seeds and grains. And the bird returns. He tries it again and this time the bird returns with a promising result, an olive leaf sticking out of its beak. He tries a third time. and this time the bird does not return. The waters had receded and the bird no longer had to rely on Noah for sustenance. And so the dove symbolizes a new beginning. God, out of his regret for ever having made humans wiped the face of the earth from its wicked inhabitants. The flood waters, which dominated the planet for over a year, finally relented. Like a bear coming out of hibernation, Noah and his family step out of the ark onto dry ground.

THE HOLY SPIRIT’S ROLE IN REDEMPTION

In 597 BC, the son of Buzi who was born in Judah was transported to Babylon along with the rest of the Jews. A judgment of exile had come upon the Israelites. The prophet Ezekiel, whose name means “God will strengthen” was God’s messenger to the Jews while they were in captivity. The prophecy communicates a message of hope for the jews that were in captivity 2500 years ago. In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a decree is made and the Babylonian exile is finally over. The Israelites can return home. And the Holy Spirit worked in the heart of the jews to return to God, to forsake their idols, and to walk in His statutes. And so we learn that the Holy Spirit is a catalyst for change, the type of change that can only be described as a miracle.

THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

At one time, God’s presence filled the tabernacle through the form of a cloud. But in these latter days, our body being the temple of the Lord, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts. What beautiful furnishings and renovations have been undertaken to make the abode of the Holy Spirit fitting and proper. He cannot dwell in filth. He sweeps our hearts, shines light in the dark corners and clears the cobwebs so that He can set His mind to work. Speaking first, He is the comforter. Jesus says, “But when the comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”

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Knowing God (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #31) (KC)

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INTRODUCTION

All religion tends to fall into one of two ditches: imagining an immanent god(s) embedded in the universe and nature or else an utterly transcendent god who is impersonal and ultimately unknowable. Greek philosophy and religion had lurched from the old immanent gods to transcendent principles. But the Bible declares the true God who is outside of creation, and who has freely revealed Himself in His Word and through Creation and in His Son. The true God is utterly distinct from all of creation, and yet He has made Himself known so that we might truly know Him and walk with Him. This is what Jesus is talking about when He says that He is the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:11-16). 

The Text: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands…” (Acts 17:24-34).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul declares that the “unknown God” is the God who made the world is therefore Lord of heaven and earth (Acts 17:24). This means that He cannot be contained or summoned by the hands of men, since He is the source of all life, but He appoints their times and places so that groping about, they might find Him who is not far from every one of us (Acts 17:25-27). Paul quotes Cleanthes, the Stoic successor of Zeno, saying that we live and move and have our being in God, as well as the Greek poet Aratus and his poem Phaenomena saying that we are God’s offspring/family (Acts 17:28). And that being the case, we ought not think that deity can be adequately represented in images made by man (Acts 17:29). God overlooked all of this ignorance in the past, but now He is commanding everyone to repent since He has appointed a day and a Judge whom He raised from the dead (Acts 17:30-31). At the mention of the resurrection some mocked, some were intrigued, and some believed (Acts 17:32-34). 

IGNORANT VS. TRUE WORSHIP

Paul identifies three misconceptions that characterize “ignorant worship”: that God dwells in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24), that God needs to be served by human hands (Acts 17:25), or thinking that God is like something we can make (Acts 17:29). Instead, God is the Maker and Lord of heaven and earth, He does not need anything but gives all things life, and He has crafted His personal and living image in us from the one blood of Adam. 

One of the laws of universe is that you become like what you worship (Ps. 115:8). This is implied by the “blind-groping” of the pagans that Paul refers to: those who worship blind idols become like them (cf. Ps. 135:16). But the God who made heaven and earth also made from one man’s blood all the nations of the earth to be His family, and we know we are His family because we bear His image: eyes that see, ears that hear, hands that handle (Gen. 1:27-28). Those who worship idols become like them, but those who worship the living God outside of creation receive more life, and movement, and being from Him and in Him. This Creator-creature distinction is why the true God can only be worshiped by faith. This is what we mean when we say that we lift up our hearts to the Lord. He wants us to taste and see that He is far better than all of His gifts. 

A GRAB BAG OF APPLICATIONS

1. There is always the temptation to idolatry. The transcendent God reaches down and meets us in His way, and we ought to receive His gifts in faith. But we do not hold God in those gifts (whether creation, temple, sacraments, church buildings, or rituals). In a culture of rootlessness, many are attracted to ancient liturgies and icons for a “religious experience.” But God is not like gold or silver. True worship constantly looks to the Giver. 

2. This is God’s world, and everything true and good and beautiful proclaims Him, even if sometimes unwittingly. Cleanthes was talking about Zeus, but Paul applied it to the true God. God appoints all of our times and places so that we might find Him. His invisible attributes are clearly seen in all of creation, and those who blasphemously claim they would believe in God if He would only show Himself only reveal their willful blindness. 

3. God is sovereign over every detail for good. God has appointed the times and places so that we might find Him. Our sin blinds us, but God so loved the world that He sent His only Son. God’s overarching plan is to save the world. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The sovereignty of God teaches us to fear God in reverence, but it also teaches us to love God for His goodness. By the eyes of faith, God does all things well. 

4. The Judge is our Savior. The Bible teaches both of these truths, and Paul preaches them both here: everyone must stand before the judgment of God in which every excuse will flee away and every secret revealed and yet the faithfulness of God has been revealed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death is coming for us all, and then the judgment. For those who know Christ, this is not a terrible thing at all because we know the Judge and He has already signed our pardon with His blood. 

5. The center of the gospel message is where Paul lands. Many, even many Christians, might think Paul was doing well until he got to this point. Maybe Paul should have stuck with bridge building and affirming common ground and waited for the right moment to bring up the resurrection of the dead – a hard doctrine, offensive to Stoics and Epicureans. But the central task of the Church is to testify that Jesus is risen from the dead. Some mock, some are curious, and some believe and cling to the message. It has always been this way, and we worship the Wisdom that has determined to save the world in this way. 

CONCLUSION

The Athenians brought Paul to be examined at their great judgment seat, but little did they know that the God of Heaven had sent Paul to examine them by His sovereign Word. And the same is true today. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. The Good Shepherd has come for His sheep. He knows His sheep, and His sheep hear His voice and they know Him.

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Moses’ Promised Prophet (The Inescapable Story of Jesus #10a) (CCD)

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INTRODUCTION

The truth makes soft hearts. Lies make hard hearts. We too often cushion and nuance the truth. Whereas Jesus confronts us with hard words of truth, which if we will receive them like children, will make hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.

THE TEXT

And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again. And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. […]

Mark 10:1ff

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The potent teaching ministry of Jesus continues, this time closer to Jerusalem, in the area John the Baptist ministered (v1). The Pharisees come with another challenge, intended to put Jesus in Herod’s crosshairs: Is divorce lawful? Jesus asks them to explain what Moses taught, and they reply with a not so accurate summary of Moses’ teaching (vv2-4). Jesus then explains that divorce is only permissible as a provision due to the Fall, and then also appeals to Moses (Gen. 1:27, 2:24) by drawing the Pharisees’ attention to the creational glory of male & female. Jesus teaches that this male and female in the image of God infers weighty duties of leaving & cleaving in a covenantal one-flesh union (vv5-8). It is God Himself who joins a man and woman in marriage, severing this union is an assault on God’s handiwork (v9). Later on in private, the disciples have some follow up questions, and Jesus explains that divorce without lawful cause is a violation of the Seventh Commandment. (vv10-12; Mk. 6:17)

Mark weaves together some threads from the previous chapter here. Jesus had instructed the disciples to receive children, and in so doing receive Him and the Father (Mk. 9:37). However, when an opportunity comes for them to put Jesus’ teaching into action, they fumble. As the crowds bring children to Jesus for blessing, the disciples play middle linebacker. This greatly annoys Jesus and He gives an even more clear statement: not only children not be forbidden from the Kingdom of God, but also if you desire to receive the kingdom, you must receive it like a child. Meaning, children can receive this Kingdom. Jesus then gathers the children into His arms, puts his hands upon them, and blesses them (vv13-16).

Mark moves on to the next episode, and if tradition is correct, this section is where Mark himself makes an appearance, commonly known as the rich young ruler. Jesus is going forth “in the way”, and the young man comes running up with a request for the way to inherit eternal life. Jesus pries into why this young man calls Jesus good, as God alone is good; He then lays before him the 7th, 6th, 8th, 9th, and 5th commandment (vv17-19). The man claims that from his youth he’s dutifully observed these laws (v20). Jesus looks upon him with love and then calls him to a hard thing: give up everything, give it to the poor, take up the cross and follow Jesus (v21, Cf. Mk. 8:34). Jesus exposed and then touched the nerve: the young man’s covetous/idolatrous heart couldn’t imagine doing without wealth (v22).

The Lord takes this opportunity to teach the disciples about the deceitfulness of riches. Those with great wealth face a certain set of temptations which keep them from entering God’s Kingdom (v23). This stuns the disciples. Jesus doesn’t soften the blow but adds even more force to His words. Calling them Children (for the first time), He teaches them that rich men will have a harder time entering the Kingdom than a camel going through a needle’s eye (vv24-25). Their astonishment deepens and they ask, “Who then can be saved?” Which brings us to the heart of the Gospel of grace: what’s impossible for man is not impossible for God (vv26-27). Something in all this clicks for Peter, and he reminds Jesus that they’ve left everything in order to follow Jesus.  Jesus says, “Amen” to Peter. Then elaborates on how this life of surrender and sacrificial service is gain and not loss both in this life and the life to come (vv28-30). This is the right side up Kingdom (v31).

MORE ABOUT MOSES

We really can’t fully understand Jesus’ teaching in this section without understanding what Moses first taught. Moses made an appearance at the Transfiguration, standing as witness that Jesus was the Prophet he had foretold would come, and whom Israel must heed (Deu. 18:17-19). Jesus now responds to the trap which the teachers of Israel by demanding they exposit Moses up on the blackboard. They say Moses permitted divorce. But they overlook Moses’ reasoning for this permission: sexual uncleanness in the world due to sin. Moses also taught, in his creation narrative, that God’s good purpose was to unite male and female into a new entity. This entity, of course, was capable of recreating itself in the bearing and raising of children. In Deuteronomy, fathers are to teach their children that the Lord is One Lord (Deu. 6:1-9). They must not offer their children to Moloch’s fires (Deu. 18:10). God would circumcise not only their hearts, but the heart of their seed (children) (Deu. 30:6).

This whole passage is Jesus as the Greater Moses. Divorce is a sorrowful rending of God’s good purpose in marriage. Jesus says that divorce is a “thing” because hearts are hard. And a hard heart won’t think twice about sacrificing children in the fire of Gehenna in order to appease the idols. Broadly speaking, marriages crumble due to three sorts of idolatry: unlawful sexual gratification, self-absorbed vanity, and hoarded wealth. Mark sandwiches Jesus’ teaching about divorce between these two teachings on receiving children. Our culture has cut the brakes on divorce, and it shouldn’t surprise us that it also resents children. This resentment ranges from general disdain to the horrific: abortion and genital mutilation.

Jesus insists that children are to be received. Childlike trust is the model for how we ought to trust our Heavenly Father’s promise of salvation through Jesus Christ. They must not be sacrificed in Gehenna. Jesus calls us to bring them to Him for His blessing. And while these covenant children receive this blessing, they must beware, as they grow, to learn the lesson of the rich young ruler.

WEALTH AND ETERNAL LIFE

And what is that lesson? Moses also warned Israel that when they came into Canaan and dwelt in houses they didn’t build, eating of the vines they didn’t plant, they needed to “beware lest thou forget the LORD […] and go after other gods (Deu. 6:12-15).” As I’ve shown before, Jesus came to overthrow Israel’s idolatry. The young man is one instance of how firm a grip idolatry had in Israel. He believed that there was an age to come, one where the faithful would dwell eternally upon this earth, with Yahweh ruling in their midst personally. The question of 1st century Israel was how to ensure you secured your seat in that kingdom reality. The assumption was that deuteronomic wealth, every man under his fig tree (Mic. 4:4), was evidence that God’s favor was upon you.

But the young man’s great wealth wasn’t proof of living under deuteronomic blessing. Instead, Jesus’s hard words revealed the blessings were taken for granted. The man’s heart had gone after other gods, for he couldn’t part with his wealth; and wouldn’t take up a cross to follow Christ in His path of sacrifice, humility, and generosity. His love of wealth made him blind to the treasure to be found not only in the life to come, but even in this life. Following Christ is its own reward, for in Him is the fullness of joy.

GIVE IT ALL UP

So then, Christ has come to make that which is impossible possible. Is it possible for a rich man to be freed from the love money? An angsty husband from his selfishness? A bitter wife from her coldness? A marriage full of thistles to become a green pastures? A child to grow up in the arms of Jesus without falling away? The hard heart says all this is impossible. But since Jesus brought the Kingdom of God into the middle of history, He says it can be done (Cf. Ez. 36:25-32).

What do you have a death grip upon? Your dreams? Your pride? Your sin? Your insistence that try as you might you can’t overcome your idolatry? Jesus says come to Him. Come as a child. Remember the Spirit of Elijah turns the hearts of fathers to their children. This impossible thing is possible because God the Father beams with glad joy upon His righteous Son. If you would find God’s pleasure upon you, come, take up the cross, and follow Jesus.

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Why We Worship the Way We Do (KC)

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INTRODUCTION

The apostle Paul wanted to sing in the Spirit, but wanted to sing with the mind also (1 Cor. 14:15). In a similar way, we come here week after week to worship God in the Spirit of God. But it is important for us to understand what we are doing, and why we are doing it. Otherwise we will drift into a mindless routine—which is quite different from a Spirit-led routine. We are now worshiping, and we should understand what we do because it is the most important thing that any of us can do. Your assigned purpose in being created was to be a worshiper of God. Nothing is more important than this, and it is because of this that all the less important aspects of your life can be integrated and can come to have any significant importance at all. It is either homo adorans or homo demens. Christ or chaos.

THE TEXT

“And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving (Col. 2:4-7).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

In verse 4, Paul warns against the seductive power of a certain kind of religious approach, the kind that always fails to approach Christ. Watch out for the smooth talkers and sophists. Guard against those who prefer being credentialed to being wise. Even though Paul was not present with the Colossians (v. 5), he was with them in the spirit. He rejoiced as he beheld their order (taxis), and the rock-solid nature of their faith in Jesus Christ. The word taxis is a military term, and should be understood as a kind of regimentation. But note that this order was both disciplined and alive. It was not the order of a row of gravestones, but rather the order of a military troop, arms at the ready. It was more than such order that pleased Paul, but it was certainly not less. The fact that we have a disciplined liturgy, printed in a bulletin, is not an instance of us quenching the Spirit. Rather, it is an example of the Spirit quenching us. Everything must be according to the Word.

Paul then urged the Colossians to walk in Christ Jesus in just the same way they had received Him (v. 6), which was of course by grace through faith. As they did so, they would be rooted and built up in the Christian faith, in just the way they had been taught. The overflow of this, whenever it is happening, is an abundance of gratitude. As with all things of this nature, we measure whether or not it is happening by the fruit. So with all that said, why do we do what we do?

THE STRUCTURE OF WORSHIP

Consider first the broad outline of our worship service here. We find five basic elements:

Call to Worship—we invoke the name of God, and we enter His gates with adoration and worship;

​Confession of Sin—we wipe our feet at the door;

​Consecration—we offer ourselves up to God as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable;

​Communion—we sit down for table fellowship with our Lord;

​Commissioning—we are sent by Him out into the world.

​The first and last elements “bookend” the service. The first invites us in from the world to assemble before the Lord to worship Him. The last sends us out into the world in order to function as ambassadors of right worship. Call and commission.

The central three elements follow a basic biblical pattern of sacrifice, as it is found in the Old Testament. In the worship of the Older Covenant, God commonly required three kinds of sacrifices together. When they were offered together, they came in this order. First was the guilt offering (confession of sin: Lev. 17), then the ascension or burnt offering (consecration: Lev. 16:24-25), and then the peace offering (communion: Dt. 12:17-19). We see this overall pattern in Lev. 9 and 2 Chron. 29:20-36.

​Worship that follows this basic pattern intentionally is called by us covenant renewal worship.​

FILLING IT ALL IN

We find in various places of Scripture that certain particular practices are called for in New Covenant worship. One of the things we therefore do is to look at the nature of that practice and decide where it would best fit within this structure. For example, the Bible requires the public reading of Scripture in worship (1 Tim. 4:13). So where do we put it? That seems best to fit under Consecration. The Bible commands us to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19). Where do we place the different kinds of songs? That would depend—is it a song of penitence or praise? We are commanded to have preaching (1 Tim. 4:2). Where does that go? In doing this, we are seeking to be obedient while arranging our worship intelligently. The Bible gives us the shelves, and it also gives us the elements that are to go on the shelves, which we arrange in the light of Christian prudence.

POSTURE AND DEMEANOR

A very common temptation among the Reformed is to over-engineer the intellectual aspects of our faith. Reason and systematics have their place, but not every place. Reformed people need to be reminded that they have bodies, and that these too are involved in our worship. The body is more than a carrying case for the brain. This is why we lift up holy hands in the Gloria Patri (1 Tim. 2:8), and why we kneel in confession (Ps. 95:6). We stand for the reading of Scripture in order to show deep respect for God’s Word (Neh. 8:5). Our overall demeanor is to be solemnity mixed with gladness. “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord” (Ps. 122:1).

CONVERSATION BETWEEN GOD AND HIS PEOPLE

Worship is a time of meeting. During this time, God speaks to the people through His ordained representatives (as in the Scripture reading, in the assurance of pardon, or through the sermon). During this time, the people also speak to God, either through their appointed representatives (as in the prayers of petition), or all together with one voice (as with a hymn or psalm, or the creed). We should therefore learn how to think of the worship service as a large conversation, with a direction and theme, and not as a disparate collection of random spiritual artifacts, crammed into a shoebox.

​In the Call to Worship: God says, “Come, meet with Me.” We respond, “First, let us praise Your majesty.” Having done so, God warns us through the Exhortation not to approach Him with unclean hearts. We respond by Confession. God responds by declaring that we have His Assurance of Pardon. Having received forgiveness, in the time of Consecration, you offer up all that you have, and just as the animal was consumed on the altar, your offering of yourself ascends up to Heaven in a column of smoke. God then seals His receipt of your offering by inviting you to sit down with the Lord at His Table, in a time of Communion. When the conversation is complete, you then receive His Commission to go out into the world.

This worship service is a conversation in which all of you are called to actively participate. I would particularly say something to you children. You are welcome here, and you are supposed to be learning how to do what all the rest of us are learning how to do. You have more important things to do than squirming. As you all participate, you are following the most important conversation in the world, which is between God and His people. This conversation, and conversations like it all around the world, are the places where the future of our planet is being determined.

WORSHIP IS WARFARE

Just one more thing. We again return to the passage in Colossians. The order we are cultivating here is not the order of porcelain figurines in a China hutch, neatly arranged on a shelf. The order we are pursuing is alive and disciplined, the order of a well-trained military unit. And why? Because every Lord’s Day we go into battle. But as God’s people we fight on earth from the high ground of heaven.

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. We do not retreat to Heaven. Rather, as the book of Revelation shows in great detail, the worship of the saints in heaven accomplishes God’s judgments on earth. We fight from that high ground. 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—quite the opposite. In fact, the only way to touch the earth is if we reach toward it from Heaven.

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