A Table for Children

In this morning’s sermon we saw that the obedience of children to their parents is founded upon God’s covenant with us. And this covenant likewise provides the ground for the presence of our children at the Table. God has told us that His kingdom belongs to such as these. He makes nursing babes and squirmy toddlers examples of the faith with which all of His people are to approach Him. And it is that same childlike faith that we express at this Table. God claims us as His children by baptism and grants us access to this Table where He nurses us unto everlasting life. It is here in the assembly of God’s people for the ministry of Word and Sacrament that you express your longing for the pure milk of the Word and taste and see that the Lord is good. This Table reminds us that we are all children of God, utterly dependent upon our Father to feed us, nourish and strengthen us. Here all of our eyes wait upon God to give us heavenly food, to open His hand and fill us with good things, to send forth His Spirit and renew us. And though He intends for all of us to mature in our faith, for our faith to deepen and strengthen, yet we never get beyond this Table. Indeed, the maintenance of this childlike, receptive, trusting faith is critical for our growth in grace. It is when we think we’re beyond a childlike trust in the gospel that we get off track in the Christian life. You never get beyond the need to be fed by God at His Table. In His grace, God has provided this weekly reminder that we are all children of God and all alike stand in need of His grace. Come, then, as babes longing for the pure milk of God’s grace and taste and see that He is good!

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He Cuts Their Cords!

Psalm 129 celebrates the righteousness of God as seen in the way that he enables his people to persevere in the faith by subduing our enemies. The psalm begins with the refrain, “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth. – Let Israel now say – “Many times have they afflicted me from my youth. Yet they have not prevailed against me.” Consider the efforts of the seed of the serpent to stamp out the seed of the woman. From the dawn of creation to the present day the serpent and his cohorts have attempted to prevent what we are gathered here to do this day. They have persecuted and afflicted the church in countless ways and yet year after year Israel made her ascent to Jerusalem and Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day we make ours. The psalmist likens their efforts to driving a plow over the backs of God’s people only to find that God has cut their cords and freed his people from their tyranny. No doubt there are many weeks that you gather here feeling the assaults of the world upon your backs. You have firsthand knowledge of how the world, flesh, and devil attempt to stamp out the work of the Spirit in your lives and your families. Whether by overt attacks upon your character, or by more subtle temptations to make peace with the world, you have endured the plow of the wicked upon your backs. And yet week after week the Lord cuts their cords and frees you to gather in His presence with psalms like these upon your lips. We join Israel in singing, “Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back.” And week after week God hears these cries and drives back the forces of darkness. Indeed week after week as we make our ascent to the throne of God with the psalms upon our lips, God sends another blow of the battering ram against the gates of hell. Week after week Christ is building His Church by Word and Sacrament and the gates of hell shall not prevail against us!

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The Bridegroom's Table

This morning we considered how the sacrificial love of Christ establishes the pattern for the husband’s love for his wife. And the meal spread before you this morning is the proclamation of this pattern. For here, under the forms of bread and wine we are confronted with the supreme demonstration of a husband’s love for his bride. The bride, of course, had been specially selected by the Father of the groom; created to be the glory of her husband. Yet, the Bride spurned His love, choosing instead to prostitute herself with other men. And though she warred against Him in the company of His enemies, the Bridegroom’s love for His Bride never wavered. Rather, He laid His life down for her that He might win her, making her His pure, spotless Bride. Beloved, such is Christ’s love for you, His Bride. He was not a husband who insisted upon His rights to your respect and affection. No, he emptied Himself by humbling coming to win you to Himself by His death on the cross for your sins. In time he called you to Himself and washed you by baptism in His name. And now He spreads this Table before that He might continue to transform you into His pure, spotless bride. I often mention the fact this Table is a foretaste of the great marriage feast that we will enjoy in the presence of God at the Last Day. Yet, this Table is more than that. It is also a means of preparation for that feast. For by eating and drinking at this Table we are making ourselves ready for the big day. It is as we come to this Table week after week, being washed/consecrated by the Word, that we come more fully to reflect the image and likeness of the Bridegroom and thus made ready to meet Him in the air. You are the Bride of Christ and this Table is spread for you. As you eat and drink you proclaim the sacrificial love of your Bridegroom until He comes for you.

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The Lord Builds the House

The next two Songs of Ascents speaks quite clearly to the material we’ve been considering in Colossians 3. Psalms 127 and 128 remind us that unless the LORD builds the house, all of our labors are in vain. What does that look like? How does God build the house and guard the city? First, He fills your wombs and homes with children like arrows in the hands of a warrior and like olive plants all around your table. Second, He blesses your homes husbands and fathers who fear the Lord and live fruitful and productive lives in the world. Third, He glorifies your homes with fruitful and productive wives who are the very heart of your homes. What is your response to these blessings? Worship. You bring your household to worship asking him to cleanse and forgive you of your sins so as to restore and renovate your homes. Each Lord’s Day your family is in need of an Extreme Makeover and God is the Master-Builder. Employing the tools of Word, Sacraments, and Prayer, He sets to work each week renovating your household. Even this morning, He intends to fashion each of you men to fear Him and walk in His paths in the callings He has given you. He intends to form you wives and mothers to rejoice in childbearing and view your children as a blessing and reward. He intends to form you children into arrows to go forth from here to occupy positions of influence in the world. And the result of all this is God’s blessing resting upon the New Jerusalem. In blessing and building your households, He intends to bless and build His Household, the Church. So having heeded the call to worship this morning, set your hearts and minds upon the Master Builder who alone is able to build your house for He is the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.

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Gender and Table

In this morning’s sermon we considered the distinction between man and woman and noted a certain order of the home that is rooted in the Trinity and the order of creation. In considering the distinction between man and woman, I was primarily making application to the sphere of the family. Yet, in its original setting the distinction between man and woman is situated in the Garden, or the sanctuary of God’s presence. This means mankind’s fundamental nature and the fundamental distinction within mankind between man and woman must be understood in terms of worship. Man is not fundamentally homo sapiens, man the knower, but rather homo adorans, man the worshipper. And thus there is a sense in which the distinction between man and woman concerns worship, Adam’s priestly duty to serve (till) and guard (keep) the Garden sanctuary. And Adam’s first duty, and failure, with regard to his wife concerns sacramental food (the tree). It seems that sacramental worship in Garden required the presence of both man and woman. That just as the covenantal presence and blessing of God under the NC is connected to two or three being gathered in the name of Christ, even so in the Garden there were two not one, man and woman. Perhaps it’s the case that man and woman reflect the second and third persons of the Trinity with man serving as covenant Head after the pattern of Christ and woman serving as the covenantal bond of love, knitting the two together. Thus God is worshipped in Spirit and Truth by man and woman together. What we can know for sure is that you all are fulfilling your most basic functions here this morning. You have been made to worship the Triune God as man and woman, as husbands and wives, as sons and daughters. Furthermore, God made you for sacramental worship. And this morning he bids you to come and eat from the tree life that you might live!

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The Weightier Matters of the Gospel

Psalm 126 describes, in striking terms, the type of people we become in response to our redemption. The psalmist describes the experience of the Israelites returning from exile. The Israelites “were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter. And our tongue with singing.” Their confession was simple: “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad.” And beloved, the Lord has likewise done great things for you. He has brought you into the true Israel of God from a bondage far worse than that of Egypt or Babylon. He has brought you out of the kingdom of Satan and into the kingdom of His Beloved Son. In doing so he has forgiven the guilt of your sins and adopted you as his children. And the proper response to this bounteous grace is joy and gladness, laughter and singing. Don’t get so bogged down in the details and duties of the Christian life that you neglect these weightier matters of the gospel. Yes, you have many duties and the responsibilities of rearing children, providing for your families, and serving those in need are great, but don’t neglect laughter and singing. Luther once quipped at his monkish assistant Melanchthon, “For heaven’s sake, why don’t you go out and sin a little? God deserves to have something to forgive you for!” Luther was saying, “Where is your joy? Loosen up a little and live!” Now of course to some extent joy, gladness, laughter, and singing can’t be, nor should they be conjured up. That’s the hollow way of our entertainment culture, which attempts to package and sell laughter and happiness. No, these weightier matters of the gospel come from sustained reflection upon and experience of God’s grace. And that is why we’re gathered here today. We come as poor and needy pilgrims, sowing in tears and heavy hearts that we might reap in joy. We come confessing that the joy of the Lord is our strength and our song!

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The Bible and Alcohol

What follows is a brief statement of the Bible's positive teachings regarding alcohol and its uses. Wine as a fruit of creation is regarded by God as good and as such should not be rejected. 1 Timothy 4:1-5 speaks of wicked men who forbid marriage and abstain from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. The section concludes by stating, "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer." The word of God has sanctified wine by its teaching concerning the purpose and proper use of it. Psalm 104:14-15 says that God waters the earth so that man can produce food and "wine which makes man's heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food which sustains man's heart." Since wine has been created to make man's heart glad it is particularly suited for use in celebration. Thus in Deut. 14:26 God tells His people that when He blesses them they are to go to the place of His choosing and there, "You can spend your money on whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat [and I assume drink] in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household." But wine is also useful for more ordinary occasions such as those described by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9:7. There we are commanded to "Go, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works." You see, God approves our works and we have been accepted by him on the basis of the finished work of Christ; a work intended to bring about a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). And wine is one of the preeminent signs of this new creation. Thus the prophets looked for the day when Messiah would bring about a new heavens and a new earth in which he would "prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain, a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine." (Is. 25:6) This is the imagery that lies behind Jesus sign of turning the water into wine at the wedding in Cana in John 2. He is the one who came to bring about this new creation one aspect of which is new wine, a sign of God's blessing and favor. This is also the reason why I don't believe that wine is simply something neutral. It is not immoral, or amoral, but rather I believe it is positively something good. Now the Bible explicitly regulates its use, that it is never to be used in excess so as to lead to drunkeness and dissipation (Eph. 5:18). But food can likewise be used for wicked purposes: for gluttony, or as part of pagan feasts. But we don't conclude from these abuses that food is evil and to be abstained from. Instead we seek to use it in a proper manner, for "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor. 10:31)

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Let the Word Dwell in You Richly

The command to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly is, as we have seen, a reference to the Word of God, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Yet the command also instructs us concerning the proper reception of the bread and the wine spread before us. The Reformers, particularly Calvin, were found of describing the sacraments as God’s “visible words.” For, whether in the waters of Baptism, or the bread and wine of the Lord’s Table, God’s saving promises are central to the actions performed. In eating the bread and drinking the cup you are receiving God’s promise of covenantal union and communion with Him. Let this promissory Word dwell, or take up residence in you! Conduct your life and maintain your heart in such a way that Christ will be at home in the tent of your body. And let His dwelling in and among you by Word and Sacrament be rich and full, abounding in joy! How will you know if Christ’s sacramental dwelling within and among you is full and rich? Just like we saw in verse 16, you will sing with grace in your hearts to God. A people of whose sacramental reception of Christ is rich will be a joyful people, and joyful people sing! This is not a funeral service. Though the bread and the wine are emblems of death, his body broken and blood shed; they are for us who believe in Jesus Christ, emblems of life and blessing. So as you feed upon the body and blood of Christ by faith, sing out with all your heart. You are feeding upon the means of your salvation. Death has been defeated and this Table is but the foretaste of great feast we will enjoy beyond the grave. And as you sing out you instruct and admonish one another with these truths. That reminds us that this is a corporate event. We are gathered here as God’s chosen people, holy and beloved. Come then, this Table is spread for you!

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The Lord Surrounds His People

In Psalm 125 the psalmist sets out the fundamental attitude of the one who has put their trust in the LORD and makes their ascent to God’s dwelling place: confidence! The psalmist likens the one who trusts in God to “Mt. Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” He writes, “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth and forever.” In the Scriptures mountains are a symbol of immovable strength. And that immovable, unshakeable, confidence in God and His purposes for you is to be a defining characteristic of your life. Life in the ancient near east could be quite chaotic with threats of invasion from every side. Yet, Yahweh wanted His people to know that their lives were in His hands and that His presence surrounded them. Just as the pillars of cloud and fire surrounded Israel in the Exodus, even so the LORD continues to surround and protect His people. And in light of God’s presence with you, you are to be unshakeable. We live in the midst of a fragile culture. To a people whose trust is in their riches, the recent upheaval of the stock and real estate markets has shaken our nation. But beloved, you are not such a people. You are the people of God and as those who have put your trust in Him you are like Mt. Zion in its strength. And like Mt. Zion your place in God’s purposes is fixed and unchanging; He will never leave you nor forsake you. In the midst of the myriad uncertainties of this life, be reminded of the place in which you are now standing. Every week as you make your ascent to Mt. Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, be reminded that your life is hid with Christ in God. The kingdom that you have received from Him and which you have entered by baptism and the working of God’s Spirit cannot be shaken but will endure world without end. Be, therefore, steadfast and immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord!

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