Proper Attire Required

In this morning’s sermon we considered the calling to be clothed with Christ and His graces in our relationships to one another within the Church. I noted that this calling to be clothed with Christ is rooted in the fact that we have been clothed with Christ by faith, which is symbolically depicted in baptism. I asked you to think about mercy, kindness, meekness, humility, longsuffering, and love as the garments with which God adorns the bride of His Son. The Bible speaks of wedding garments in a number of places, often in connection to a feast like the one spread before us now. In Matt. 22 Jesus tells a parable of a king who plans a wedding feast for his son. When the king enters the feast he sees a man who is not wearing a wedding garment and he commands the man to be thrown out of the feast into outer darkness. It’s like the signs you see sometimes at upscale restaurants: Coat and tie required. You can’t come to the feast without your wedding garment. It is almost certain that Jesus is referring to the Marriage Supper of Lamb described in Rev. 19:1-10. And once again those present at this feast are said to be “arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright.” These are the white robes described in Rev. 3, which are awarded to those who overcome the world by faith, keeping their garments undefiled by idolatry. Beloved, the Table spread before you is the foretaste of that great marriage supper of the Lamb to be celebrated at the end of history. And just as entrance to that feast requires a wedding garment, new clothing, even so you must come to this feast clothed with righteousness of Christ. This wedding garment comes as a gift of God’s free grace to all who believe and are baptized into Christ. Beloved, I summon you, as those so baptized into Christ and thus clothed with Him, come to the feast! The Table is spread for you!

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God, Our Help

The fifth of the Songs of Ascents, Psalm 124, contains a striking meditation on what it means to confess, “our help is in name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth” (v.8). This confession rightly has formed the basis for calls to worship from Old Testament times until the present. But what are you confessing about God when you call Him your “help”? Is it the expression of some naïve, “pie in the sky” view of the Christian life? “God is our help and therefore our lives are free from the cares and obstacles that others face.” Absolutely not! The psalm rehearses Israel’s deliverance from the mouth of the dragon, the waters of the flood, and the snare of the fowler. Just like Job, the fact that Israel was God’s chosen people and had God as their help, didn’t mean that difficulty and distress would never come their way. In fact it was their experience of difficulty and distress that gave meaning to their confession of God’s help. God’s help comes in the midst of difficulty and distress and can only be understood and confessed against that background. But God’s help, His promised way of escape, is a way through the difficulties and distress that you experience. Beloved it is your experience of the dragons of cancer and job loss, the floodwaters of financial pressure and marital stress, and the snare of anxiety, that fills out your confession of God’s help. And just like the Israelites we shouldn’t pretend that these difficulties don’t exist. Rather, we bring our dragons, floods, and snares to God in prayer and song in the confidence that the maker of heaven and earth, and our redeemer in Jesus Christ, will deliver us from all our fears. David actually pauses after the first line to call Israel to join him in rehearsing God’s deliverances. Even so I call upon you now to join me in the confession of our sins that we too might know his deliverance.

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The Table of the New Humanity

This morning we learned of the renewal that is taking place within and among as God’s new humanity. This ongoing process of renewal is rooted in our baptism wherein we were clothed with Christ. Having “put on,” or been incorporated into, the new humanity, Paul writes that we are now being “renewed in knowledge” according to the image of God. That which is new must be renewed in us. Furthermore, this ongoing process of renewal into God’s image nurtured at this Table. The central act of the renewal of God’s new humanity is His renewal of the covenant with us, which is culminates in this meal. Here we come to see Christ who is all and who comes to dwell in us all. This meal puts Christ at the center of His people. Here as we take up and feed upon the emblems of His death we are reminded that His cross divides humanity. In Galatians 6:14 Paul wrote that in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, “the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” This Table, therefore, marks a line in the sand for the Christian. This Table puts a visible distinction between the new humanity and the old humanity and obligates you to take up the calling to die to sin. For Paul wrote, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s Table and of the table of demons” (1 Cor. 10:21). God’s new humanity is not to be marked by the idolatry of the old. So find here the grace and strength to live as God’s new humanity. Put your faith in Christ alone and know that in him you have an abundant redemption. He is the captain of your salvation and died to free you from your sins. You belong to him. Feed upon him and be renewed to reflect the image and likeness of God in your life, your family, your work, and this world.

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Lord Have Mercy

Psalm 123, the forth of the Songs of Ascents, defines our position in relation to the God who calls us to worship: we are his servants. In heeding the call to worship we lift our eyes to God who dwells in the heavens as “the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters” and “as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress.” The call to worship puts us in a position of dependence upon God. We are those who “wait upon,” or “attend to,” God and His Word. And the psalmist states three times what wait for: mercy. The psalmist says they look to God “until He has mercy us,” and then cries, “Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us!” The church calls this the Kyrie eleison, which is the Latin form of the petition, “Lord have mercy.” And it has been a fixed part of the Church’s liturgy since the beginning. The Kyrie expresses the basis of our relationship to God: His mercy. When we come before God’s throne of grace, our greatest need is to obtain mercy. But isn’t it so often the case that we don’t want to acknowledge our need. We don’t come before God with the expectancy of the psalmist because we don’t share the psalmist’s assessment of our need. We try to patch our lives together, shake the dust of our Bibles, and make our ascent to God’s house. Well, that’s not going to cut it! In heeding the call to worship, you must confess your utter dependence upon God’s mercy. He doesn’t want to patch you up. He wants to cut you up by the sharp two-edged sword of his Word to remake you into a holy priesthood. So as his servants let us now acknowledge our dependence upon him in the confession of our sins. And let your confession be marked by that same air of expectation seen in the psalm, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us!”

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Lift up your hearts!

This morning we have considered how the life that is ours in Christ is presently hidden with Christ in God; our life, which is Christ Himself, is above. This teaching supplies the reason why we use the Sursum Corda and why it has traditionally been related to this Table that is spread before. The Sursum Corda, “Lift up your hearts,” and the response, “We lift them up to the Lord,” is intended to direct our minds and wills to the source of our life in heaven, namely, Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Supper, you see, is a heavenly feast. It’s not so much a feast wherein Christ comes down, as it is a feast wherein we go up. Since Christ, as we read this morning and as we confess in the Creed, is now sitting at the right hand of the Father, there is no sense in which he can come down to be present in the bread and wine. Christ, who is our life, is in heaven. And if you would commune with him, truly feeding upon his body and blood, then you must go to him. That is why the church has always used the Sursum Corda in relationship to the Lord’s Table; we must go to him. And we go to him by faith, confessing our sins and receiving his pardoning grace, which is we why we recite the Sursum following our confession and absolution. And we go to him being consecrated by the Spirit working through the Word to make us holy priests. Thus faith in Christ and the operation of the Spirit are the ways that we lift up our hearts to the Lord and go to him. It is by faith and the working of God’s Spirit that you are to feed upon Christ, who is your life. So put your faith in Him now and feed upon Him. And in feeding upon Him by faith know that His life is really and truly being communicated to you and will be made manifest in your life. Thus you see that this Table is the primary means by which you direct your mind and will to things above so as to manifest the life of the world to come.

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Are you glad to go to God's house?

The third of the Songs of Ascents (Ps. 122) provides us with the words that we recite as we begin our service each week. The psalm begins with David saying, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the LORD.” And follows with Israel’s confession, “Our feet our standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!” This psalm teaches us that the call to worship is to make us glad. Is that how you would describe the state of your heart right now? Are glad to go to the house of the Lord on Sunday? Or do you make your ascent to God’s house out of compulsion? Because it is what Christians are supposed to do? You children and young folks, do your parents have to drag you out bed and force you to come here? Beloved you all ought to be glad to go to God’s house! You ought to be able to say with the psalmist that a day in God’s courts is better than a thousand outside (Ps. 84:10). What would you prefer to being in God’s house? Would you rather be in bed? Would you rather be in the park, or spending time with friends or family? You must train yourself to prefer the presence of God to everything else in life. You do that by spending time with him throughout the week in morning and evening prayer, in times of song around the table, in reading his Word. You do it by confessing your sins to God and one another, endeavoring by the power of God’s Spirit to walk in new obedience. Nobody who is clinging to his sins is going to be glad to go to God’s house. For our God is a consuming fire. When we join the Israelites in confessing that “our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem,” we are confessing that our feet are standing on holy ground. Therefore let us confess our sins to God and make our ascent with joy and gladness, knowing that He will show us the path of life and in His presence is fullness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11).

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My Life for Yours

Following this morning’s service we will be enjoying monthly church feast. In the early church this Table was actually celebrated in the context of feast like that, called the Love Feast. In 1 Corinthians 11 we read of one of these feasts and how the Corinthians conduct in that feast called into question whether or not they had properly discerned the unity of the Body of Christ. It seems that some, likely the rich, were hording the food and the wine leaving the poor to go hungry. Paul’s point in bringing this up was to point out that the factions that existed among them rendered their observance of the Lord’s Supper a detriment to their Body, rather than a benefit. Eventually the early church actually had to suspend the practice of serving communion in the context of the Love Feast. But just because we no longer celebrate the Eucharist in the context of the feast doesn’t mean that we are free from the danger that Paul notes. It just means that our discernment of the unity of Christ’s Body is a few steps removed from the Table. The way that we treat one another in our feast, or in our homes can still render our eating and drinking “unworthy.” So consider and take to heart the implications of this Table for our life together. As we partake of the one loaf we are being formed as one body, united to Christ and one another by one Spirit. Allow this Table to define your relationships to one another. You are members of one another. Let the words that you speak to one another as you pass the bread shape your actions toward one another. What would it look like if, “My life for yours,” governed all of our thoughts, words, and deeds concerning one another? That is what God intends to do in us by the power of his Spirit as we feed upon His Son. Here he is transforming us into the likeness of His Son such that we follow in his steps and lay down our lives for our friends.

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Where does your help come from?

In the second of the Songs of Ascents, the psalmist directs his eyes to the hills and asks the question, “From where does my help come?” He answers his own question and confesses that his “help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” And this confession was of vital importance to Israel’s ascent to Jerusalem. In making their ascent the people of Israel were to direct all of their attention to the maker of heaven and earth for he alone was their keeper, or guardian. You see when Israel looked to the hills they saw a lot of other sources of help, for there were many counterfeits that promised them help in distress. Many idolatrous shrines were set up on the hilltops in Palestine. Thus their looking to the hills involved a renunciation of these counterfeits and a confession of their faith in the Maker of heaven and earth. And in heeding the call to worship this morning, in making your ascent to the Jerusalem above, you likewise must set your minds and hearts upon God, from Whom your help comes. There are many counterfeits out there, other gods who would summon you to come to them for help. Whether the idols of sex, money, and power, or drugs, alcohol, and self-help; they are all counterfeits. The Triune God who has made and is now remaking the heavens and earth, he alone is your keeper, your guardian. He has not promised that the path will be easy, free from conflict and distress. No, he’s told us that the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life (Mt. 7:14). It’s filled with potholes and fraught with danger; the times are evil. But each week we rehearse our basic response to all that assails us in this life as we fix our eyes upon Jesus. He alone is your guide, leading you in paths of righteousness and granting you refreshment of soul in the means of grace he has given.

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A Table of Maturity

In this morning’s sermon we considered Paul’s warning not to submit ourselves to Jewish regulations. His reason was that in union with the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have attained maturity. The Old Covenant period (from Adam to the cross) was the period of humanity’s childhood, but the New Covenant period ushered in by the death and resurrection of Jesus is the period of sonship, or adulthood. This movement to maturity is depicted in the meal spread before us. We see the movement to maturity in the sequence of bread followed by wine. Bread is for children, whereas wine is for adults. As one has put it, “Bread is alpha food, wine is omega food. You eat bread to strengthen you for the day’s work and you drink wine to rest and celebrate the completion of work.” In the OT priests were forbidden to drink wine during their service. This is because the priests were actively engaged in their work; they were standing to serve and their work was never finished, thus they never sat down. This is why Jesus refused to drink wine while finishing his priestly work on the cross. You see in the OT wine is always held out as the promised blessing that comes after obedient, faithful labor. Thus following his long years of faithful service in the building of the ark and proclamation of righteousness, Noah plants a vineyard and drinks of the fruit of the vine. And it is for this reason that we are now able to drink wine in God’s special presence, because Christ as the great high priest has completed his work and taken his seat. He instituted a feast of bread and wine in order that we might recline with him and celebrate his finished work. Therefore enjoy this feast in the company of God’s family! Rejoice in the work that Christ has accomplished for you! Receive the blessing of bread and wine and be glad of heart!

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Repentance and Ascension

Psalms 120-134 are known as the “Songs of Ascents.” They were sung by the Israelites as they made their pilgrimages up to Jerusalem for the three great feasts of their year. As those who are likewise making our ascent to feast in God’s house, these psalms teach us much about we are to make this ascent. The first of these psalms is a plea for deliverance from a lying and warmongering people. And the psalmist’s righteous dissatisfaction with the culture around him is a prerequisite for biblical worship. When God calls his people to worship him, he calls them to break with ungodly thoughts, words, and deeds of the culture around them. Thus the psalmist leaves behind the lies and hostility of his culture to seek out the truth of God’s Law and the peace of his presence. And we likewise dwell in a culture that is steeped in lies and full of hostility. But do you share the psalmist’s distress with our culture? Or have you become accommodated to the lies and numb to conflict around you? The lies told about God, mankind, and the world are so pervasive that it is hard to escape them. The violence and conflict that mark our relationships are so “normal,” that peace is increasingly hard to find. In the midst of a culture like this we must learn to confess with Isaiah, that we not only live among a people of unclean lips, but also that “I” am a man of unclean lips. For you have no doubt bought into some of the lies of the world, whether regarding success, or beauty, or relationships. And you have no doubt learned to respond to people and circumstances with hostility rather than peace. In heeding the call to worship you must turn from these lies and hostilities to be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Transformed into a people ready to think and speak and live out truth towards your neighbor. Transformed into a people who seek peace and pursue it with God and your neighbor. Come, let us ascend by confessing our sins.

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Songs of Ascents

For the next couple months I'll be using the Songs of Ascents to guide my Exhortations. These psalms (120-134) were sung by Israel as they made their ascent to Jerusalem for the three great feasts of their calendar. I trust they be helpful to us as we make our ascent to the heavenly Jerusalem each week in our service of covenant renewal!

After deciding to do this I picked up Eugene Peterson's, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, and realized that Peterson employs the Songs of Ascents as a guide for Christian discipleship. I think you would find Peterson's book a blessing and I'll no doubt be making use of his insights in my exhortations. The peace of the Lord be with you!

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Filled with Christ

This morning we considered Paul’s warning against being captivated by going back to the Old Covenant when you are already filled up in Christ Jesus. Just as the wilderness generation despised the manna and longed for life in Egypt, we are similarly tempted to despise the heavenly food given to us at this Table, as we long for something else. To the eyes of the flesh this Table can look pretty meager, a simple loaf of bread and a cup of wine. But to the eyes that God has opened by his Spirit, this is heavenly food by which Jesus gives us the life of God. This is one of the ways that we are filled up with all God’s fullness in him. Recall the progression of thought in verses 9 and 10. Paul says that all the fullness of the Godhead is embodied in Jesus and then out of that fullness we are filled. God fills Jesus and Jesus fills us. Well there is a similar progression of thought in John 6:57. There Jesus says that he lives because of the Father and in the same way the one who feeds upon him, will live because of him. The Father gives life to the Son and the Son gives life to us. And we receive this full, or abundant life, the very life of God, by feeding upon Jesus through faith. This simple Table of bread and wine affords us the opportunity to receive the life of God. Beloved, don’t despise this Table by thinking that true life can be found somewhere else. There are all sorts of programs and disciplines and spiritual gurus that will tell you to follow these 3 steps, or read this or that book and you will be fulfilled. But they aren’t the means of grace. There are all sorts of advertising that will tell you if you have this or that experience or possession, then you’ll be fulfilled. But they aren’t the means of grace. God has told you how he will fill you. He’ll fill you with his Word written and with His Word made flesh. Let us feed upon Him now by faith!

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Check your pride at the door

Last week I mentioned the vital importance of covenant community for growth to Christian maturity. One of the greatest hindrances to covenant community is pride, an overestimation of, and preoccupation with, the self. Knowledge puffs up and divides the church, but love edifies. So if we are to be knit together this morning by means of the Word, sacrament, and prayer, you must check your pride at the door. That’s actually the only way properly to heed the call to worship. The call to worship is a call to “bow down” and “kneel before the Lord our Maker” (Ps. 95:6). That is in fact the meaning of one of the NT words for worship, proskuneo. It means to prostrate yourself before God. And we do this every week in our confession of sin. But take heed because your heart and mind can remain puffed up with pride, even when you drop to your knees. The psalmist goes on to tell us why we are to bow and kneel in our worship, it’s because, “He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of his hand.” Pride is banished by the call to worship because God ALONE is God and you are not. You come before him as a people belonging to him; a people held in his hand. You are a dependent people; people dependent upon the grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ. The heart of pride, however, thinks: “I’ve got it pretty well together;” or, “I’m not like so and so, I don’t struggle that.” That sort of thinking is what goes before a fall. Which helps us to see that one way or another we will be on our knees. We can start there and be lifted up by God in his grace, or we can end up there, humbled by God in his discipline. So as you contemplate kneeling before God in confession of your sins, be sure that this posture is indicative of your heart. For, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Prov. 3:34).” And this grace is what we need to live together in peace.

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