Flying to Britain tomorrow for a week of lectures at Cambridge led by Kallistos Ware and Andrew Louth (among others). John Roberson is accompanying me, and I am grateful for his friendship - lets see if I can teach John to drive on the other side of the road!
First stop is London, where we will meet up with Mark Dupere who is over from the Netherlands doing some performances in the UK. I'll give John the drive-by tour of the city and then we're off to see good friends John and Dawn Singleton in Ilford (which is in northeast London). John leads Lifeline Community Church and Ministries, and does just incredible work in third-world relief and missions. I'm preaching there Sunday morning, so do pray for them!
After lunch we're off to Cambridge and check-in at Sidney Sussex College, drinks, and hopefully a jet-lag free night of sleep before lectures begin Monday am. We'll be looking at the nature of God as Love, and the way in which this love is made manifest - and is also perverted - in human relationships. Obviously this is going to involve some heavy-lifting on the Trinity, but there will also be some lectures on CS Lewis' work with regard to love and eros, the Song of Songs, and some discussions of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, Love in the Syriac fathers, and Love in the writings of Augustine of Hippo and Maximus the Confessor. A final session on God as Love and Man as Love should provide an excellent capstone for the week, ending Friday at noon.
I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post from there, but I'll try to get something done so long as I can get the internet connections to work out.
With each day beginning and ending with vespers, combined with the opportunity to gain some quiet time for reflection on the banks of the Cam, it goes without saying that I am trusting and praying for a certain measure of personal renewal as well - 'times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.'
Thanks for your prayers!
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
One Bad Half, One Great Tournament
USA! USA! USA!
The chant was deafening with two fantastic first half goals, but Brazil stormed back with three in the second half to claim the Confederation Cup.
Seems to me that the first of Brazil's second half goal was the killer. If only the US team could have stretched the two goal lead into the later minutes of the second half, Brazil would not have had the opportunities for two more. The US also showed a lack of depth off the bench in comparison with the magnificent Brazilian side, with second half 'first touches' being especially poor. There simply wasn't enough poetry left to string together the close the US needed to secure the win.
Still, what a warm-up for the World Cup, less than a year away now. I can hardly wait. The US must get deeper, close the gaps in the defense (man, they left the speedy Brazilians a LOT of space to create), and prepare to play an entire tournament at top level. The US made like Lazarus in coming back from the dead after the initial round to get to the semis and on to the final. They won't be able to afford that luxury next time around.
Lets hope for a good draw, some improvements, and, maybe, just maybe, we can cheer the US team hoisting the World Cup next summer.
The chant was deafening with two fantastic first half goals, but Brazil stormed back with three in the second half to claim the Confederation Cup.
Seems to me that the first of Brazil's second half goal was the killer. If only the US team could have stretched the two goal lead into the later minutes of the second half, Brazil would not have had the opportunities for two more. The US also showed a lack of depth off the bench in comparison with the magnificent Brazilian side, with second half 'first touches' being especially poor. There simply wasn't enough poetry left to string together the close the US needed to secure the win.
Still, what a warm-up for the World Cup, less than a year away now. I can hardly wait. The US must get deeper, close the gaps in the defense (man, they left the speedy Brazilians a LOT of space to create), and prepare to play an entire tournament at top level. The US made like Lazarus in coming back from the dead after the initial round to get to the semis and on to the final. They won't be able to afford that luxury next time around.
Lets hope for a good draw, some improvements, and, maybe, just maybe, we can cheer the US team hoisting the World Cup next summer.
Match of the Day
The stunning turn-around by the US Soccer Team has propelled them into today;s final against Brazil. Left for dead after a disastrous start in the tournament, the US has rebounded with spectacular defense and timely goals. The win over Spain this week left the soccer-football world gasping in astonishment. We'll see if the Yanks have one more left in them when they tackle the Brazilians today in South Africa. Winning this World Cup tune up tournament would be a tremendous boost to their international standing, and an amazing accomplishment. 1:00 today - and Cuatros will be rockin!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
We'll Hook Em Next Year!
That was a disappointing conclusion to a valiant run by the Horns. Congrats to the LSU Tigers on a well-deserved championship.
Next year in Omaha!
Next year in Omaha!
Sermon Notes for Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Signed, Sealed, and Delivered – Part Two
Matthew 26:26-29; Matthew 28:18-20
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 28, 2009
We made an introductory exploration of the Bible’s teaching on what we refer to as ‘sacraments’, from the Latin sacramentum, a translation of the Greek word musterion (mystery). That aspect of mystery is foundational, for while we can grasp truly the necessity and efficacy of the sacraments, we cannot know fully the way in which God applies them to us.
We sought to make three key points last Sunday:
The sacraments are the means the Holy Spirit uses to give us Christ.
The sacraments are the normal means that the Holy Spirit employs to make disciples and nourish them in the Faith.
The sacraments are the means the Holy Spirit uses to create, identify, and sustain the Christian Church as a society distinct from the world.
All of these truths have at their core that the sacraments are the work of the Holy Spirit, clothing us with Christ in baptism and feeding us with the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. Ah, but right there in that statement is a clue to how we proceed. We confess that the sacraments are first of all a work of God, gifts of his grace, rather than something we do alone. This is seen most clearly in the crucial bond which stands behind and unites the two sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, the Biblical revelation of God’s covenant.
I. Covenant Basics – Genesis 15-17; Deuteronomy 6-7
A. Bond in Blood, with blessing and curse, stipulations and promises, established by a sovereign with a subject, and secured by signs and seals.
· Suntheke and diatheke
· Guess which one is used of God’s action to us!
· It is God who ‘cuts covenant’ with us, not us with him
B. The Essential Structure of the Biblical Revelation
· Not a side issue, but at the core – Genealogies, and why we don’t read them anymore
C. Never Made with One Person Alone, but FEDERALLY, REPRESENTATIVELY, with the subject and all who proceed from him.
- Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, David, New Covenant
- One not obliterating the other but transforming it, glorifying and fulfilling it in Christ.
· BUT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO THINK BIBLICALLY ABOUT COVENANT AND NOT INCLUDE ‘SEED’.
II. Covenant Continuity and Solidarity – Colossians 2:11ff
A. Christ Commands Baptism and the Eucharist because they are the Objective Signs and Seals of the Objective and Subjective Work of the Spirit.
B. Christ, the last to be circumcised, and now, through baptism we enter into his circumcision, a rite that reached its fullness when he was crucified and shed his blood for our sins.
1. At his death – blood and water poured out, the order being supremely important
2. Now, water replaces blood, as the ‘sign’ of cleansing and covenant
C. Christ – Last Adam, Saving Ark, Seed of Abraham, Lamb of God, Son of David, Mediator of the New, creating a new Israel.
· Are you under the New Covenant or not? If so, then you are a citizen of Zion/Israel – grafted into the people of God
D. That ‘People’ includes children: 1 Corinthians 10:1-4
· How many of the Israelites were baptized at the Red Sea?
· How many ate from Christ in the wilderness?
- Acts 2:38-39; 1 Corinthians 7:14
- FOR A SIGN AND SEAL OF THE COVENANT TO DENIED TO A CHILD WOULD HAVE TAKEN A NEW DIVINE REVELATION AND WOULD HAVE BEEN AS SHOCKING TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE AS THE CROSS ITSELF. Peter would have had to have stood up an said, “The promise is for you, but NOT for your children…”
- Whole households were baptized because the evangelism of the early church was Covenant Evangelism rather than individual evangelism alone. Indeed, that practice, maligned by moderns shaped by radical individualism, continued across the world, with whole peoples and tribes being baptized because their ‘covenant head’ was baptized.
· Aim for the head!
· WDPW on Baptism of Children - That the promise is made to believers and their seed; and that the seed and posterity of the faithful, born within the church, have, by their birth, interest in the covenant, and right to the seal of it, and to the outward privileges of the church, under the gospel, no less than the children of Abraham in the time of the Old Testament; the covenant of grace, for substance, being the same; and the grace of God, and the consolation of believers, more plentiful than before: That the Son of God admitted little children into his presence, embracing and blessing them, saying, For of such is the kingdom of God: That children, by baptism, are solemnly received into the bosom of the visible church, distinguished from the world, and them that are without, and united with believers…That they are Christians, and federally holy before baptism, and therefore are they baptized: That the inward grace and virtue of baptism is not tied to that very moment of time wherein it is administered; and that the fruit and power thereof reacheth to the whole course of our life;
III. Covenant Reality in the Sacraments
A. Eat and Live, Eat and Die.
B. Can’t Come to the Table until You Have Washed
C. What the Spirit is Doing as he Hovers over the Baptismal Waters (and the grace being exhibited and applied is not confined to the moment of the administration of the rite and the promises: they continue through the whole of life).
1. In a Word, the Spirit is Making a Disciple of Christ and a Member of the Church
2. Not Every Disciple Proves True (A Judas can arise in the finest of flocks under the best of Pastors!). The secret things belong to the Lord – Deuteronomy 29:29.
WDPW on Baptism (Including Credo and Paedo): "That it is instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ: That it is a seal of the covenant of grace, of our ingrafting into Christ, and of our union with him, of remission of sins, regeneration, adoption, and life eternal: That the water, in baptism, representeth and signifieth both the blood of Christ, which taketh away all guilt of sin, original and actual; and the sanctifying virtue of the Spirit of Christ against the dominion of sin, and the corruption of our sinful nature: That baptizing, or sprinkling and washings with water, signifieth the cleansing from sin by the blood and for the merit of Christ, together with the mortification of sin, and rising from sin to newness of life, by virtue of the death and resurrection of Christ…This being done, prayer is also to be joined with the word of institution, for sanctifying the water to this spiritual use; and the minister is to pray to this or the like effect: "That the Lord, who hath not left us as strangers without the covenant of promise, but called us to the privileges of his ordinances, would graciously vouchsafe to sanctify and bless his own ordinance of baptism at this time: That he would join the inward baptism of his Spirit with the outward baptism of water; make this baptism to the infant a seal of adoption, remission of sin, regeneration, and eternal life, and all other promises of the covenant of grace: That the child may be planted into the likeness of the death and resurrection of Christ; and that, the body of sin being destroyed in him, he may serve God in newness of life all his days."
Then the minister is to demand the name of the child; which being told him, he is to say, (calling the child by his name,) I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
As he pronounceth these words, he is to baptize the child with water: which, for the manner of doing of it, is not only lawful but sufficient, and most expedient to be, by pouring or sprinkling of the water on the face of the child, without adding any other ceremony. This done, he is to give thanks and pray, to this or the like purpose: "Acknowledging with all thankfulness, that the Lord is true and faithful in keeping covenant and mercy: That he is good and gracious, not only in that he numbereth us among his saints, but is pleased also to bestow upon our children this singular token and badge of his love in Christ: That, in his truth and special providence, he daily bringeth some into the bosom of his church, to be partakers of his inestimable benefits, purchased by the blood of his dear Son, for the continuance and increase of his church. "
And praying, That the Lord would still continue, and daily confirm more and more this his unspeakable favour: That he would receive the infant now baptized, and solemnly entered into the household of faith, into his fatherly tuition and defence, and remember him with the favour that he sheweth to his people; that, if he shall be taken out of this life in his infancy, the Lord, who is rich in mercy, would be pleased to receive him up into glory; and if he live, and attain the years of discretion, that the Lord would so teach him by his word and Spirit, and make his baptism effectual to him, and so uphold him by his divine power and grace, that by faith he may prevail against the devil, the world, and the flesh, till in the end he obtain a full and final victory and so be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Because of God’s grace and tender mercy, we are covenant people, and we are obligated to live in covenant, worship according to the covenant, and maintain the signs and seals of the covenant throughout all generations. In both Baptism and the Eucharist we hear Christ say, ‘This is my blood of the covenant’, for it is his sacrifice which has ratified the new covenant, cleansed our sins, and sealed us with the Spirit.
Together with the ministry of the word of God, this is how Disciples are made; this is how the Church is built.
Matthew 26:26-29; Matthew 28:18-20
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 28, 2009
We made an introductory exploration of the Bible’s teaching on what we refer to as ‘sacraments’, from the Latin sacramentum, a translation of the Greek word musterion (mystery). That aspect of mystery is foundational, for while we can grasp truly the necessity and efficacy of the sacraments, we cannot know fully the way in which God applies them to us.
We sought to make three key points last Sunday:
The sacraments are the means the Holy Spirit uses to give us Christ.
The sacraments are the normal means that the Holy Spirit employs to make disciples and nourish them in the Faith.
The sacraments are the means the Holy Spirit uses to create, identify, and sustain the Christian Church as a society distinct from the world.
All of these truths have at their core that the sacraments are the work of the Holy Spirit, clothing us with Christ in baptism and feeding us with the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. Ah, but right there in that statement is a clue to how we proceed. We confess that the sacraments are first of all a work of God, gifts of his grace, rather than something we do alone. This is seen most clearly in the crucial bond which stands behind and unites the two sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, the Biblical revelation of God’s covenant.
I. Covenant Basics – Genesis 15-17; Deuteronomy 6-7
A. Bond in Blood, with blessing and curse, stipulations and promises, established by a sovereign with a subject, and secured by signs and seals.
· Suntheke and diatheke
· Guess which one is used of God’s action to us!
· It is God who ‘cuts covenant’ with us, not us with him
B. The Essential Structure of the Biblical Revelation
· Not a side issue, but at the core – Genealogies, and why we don’t read them anymore
C. Never Made with One Person Alone, but FEDERALLY, REPRESENTATIVELY, with the subject and all who proceed from him.
- Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, David, New Covenant
- One not obliterating the other but transforming it, glorifying and fulfilling it in Christ.
· BUT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO THINK BIBLICALLY ABOUT COVENANT AND NOT INCLUDE ‘SEED’.
II. Covenant Continuity and Solidarity – Colossians 2:11ff
A. Christ Commands Baptism and the Eucharist because they are the Objective Signs and Seals of the Objective and Subjective Work of the Spirit.
B. Christ, the last to be circumcised, and now, through baptism we enter into his circumcision, a rite that reached its fullness when he was crucified and shed his blood for our sins.
1. At his death – blood and water poured out, the order being supremely important
2. Now, water replaces blood, as the ‘sign’ of cleansing and covenant
C. Christ – Last Adam, Saving Ark, Seed of Abraham, Lamb of God, Son of David, Mediator of the New, creating a new Israel.
· Are you under the New Covenant or not? If so, then you are a citizen of Zion/Israel – grafted into the people of God
D. That ‘People’ includes children: 1 Corinthians 10:1-4
· How many of the Israelites were baptized at the Red Sea?
· How many ate from Christ in the wilderness?
- Acts 2:38-39; 1 Corinthians 7:14
- FOR A SIGN AND SEAL OF THE COVENANT TO DENIED TO A CHILD WOULD HAVE TAKEN A NEW DIVINE REVELATION AND WOULD HAVE BEEN AS SHOCKING TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE AS THE CROSS ITSELF. Peter would have had to have stood up an said, “The promise is for you, but NOT for your children…”
- Whole households were baptized because the evangelism of the early church was Covenant Evangelism rather than individual evangelism alone. Indeed, that practice, maligned by moderns shaped by radical individualism, continued across the world, with whole peoples and tribes being baptized because their ‘covenant head’ was baptized.
· Aim for the head!
· WDPW on Baptism of Children - That the promise is made to believers and their seed; and that the seed and posterity of the faithful, born within the church, have, by their birth, interest in the covenant, and right to the seal of it, and to the outward privileges of the church, under the gospel, no less than the children of Abraham in the time of the Old Testament; the covenant of grace, for substance, being the same; and the grace of God, and the consolation of believers, more plentiful than before: That the Son of God admitted little children into his presence, embracing and blessing them, saying, For of such is the kingdom of God: That children, by baptism, are solemnly received into the bosom of the visible church, distinguished from the world, and them that are without, and united with believers…That they are Christians, and federally holy before baptism, and therefore are they baptized: That the inward grace and virtue of baptism is not tied to that very moment of time wherein it is administered; and that the fruit and power thereof reacheth to the whole course of our life;
III. Covenant Reality in the Sacraments
A. Eat and Live, Eat and Die.
B. Can’t Come to the Table until You Have Washed
C. What the Spirit is Doing as he Hovers over the Baptismal Waters (and the grace being exhibited and applied is not confined to the moment of the administration of the rite and the promises: they continue through the whole of life).
1. In a Word, the Spirit is Making a Disciple of Christ and a Member of the Church
2. Not Every Disciple Proves True (A Judas can arise in the finest of flocks under the best of Pastors!). The secret things belong to the Lord – Deuteronomy 29:29.
WDPW on Baptism (Including Credo and Paedo): "That it is instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ: That it is a seal of the covenant of grace, of our ingrafting into Christ, and of our union with him, of remission of sins, regeneration, adoption, and life eternal: That the water, in baptism, representeth and signifieth both the blood of Christ, which taketh away all guilt of sin, original and actual; and the sanctifying virtue of the Spirit of Christ against the dominion of sin, and the corruption of our sinful nature: That baptizing, or sprinkling and washings with water, signifieth the cleansing from sin by the blood and for the merit of Christ, together with the mortification of sin, and rising from sin to newness of life, by virtue of the death and resurrection of Christ…This being done, prayer is also to be joined with the word of institution, for sanctifying the water to this spiritual use; and the minister is to pray to this or the like effect: "That the Lord, who hath not left us as strangers without the covenant of promise, but called us to the privileges of his ordinances, would graciously vouchsafe to sanctify and bless his own ordinance of baptism at this time: That he would join the inward baptism of his Spirit with the outward baptism of water; make this baptism to the infant a seal of adoption, remission of sin, regeneration, and eternal life, and all other promises of the covenant of grace: That the child may be planted into the likeness of the death and resurrection of Christ; and that, the body of sin being destroyed in him, he may serve God in newness of life all his days."
Then the minister is to demand the name of the child; which being told him, he is to say, (calling the child by his name,) I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
As he pronounceth these words, he is to baptize the child with water: which, for the manner of doing of it, is not only lawful but sufficient, and most expedient to be, by pouring or sprinkling of the water on the face of the child, without adding any other ceremony. This done, he is to give thanks and pray, to this or the like purpose: "Acknowledging with all thankfulness, that the Lord is true and faithful in keeping covenant and mercy: That he is good and gracious, not only in that he numbereth us among his saints, but is pleased also to bestow upon our children this singular token and badge of his love in Christ: That, in his truth and special providence, he daily bringeth some into the bosom of his church, to be partakers of his inestimable benefits, purchased by the blood of his dear Son, for the continuance and increase of his church. "
And praying, That the Lord would still continue, and daily confirm more and more this his unspeakable favour: That he would receive the infant now baptized, and solemnly entered into the household of faith, into his fatherly tuition and defence, and remember him with the favour that he sheweth to his people; that, if he shall be taken out of this life in his infancy, the Lord, who is rich in mercy, would be pleased to receive him up into glory; and if he live, and attain the years of discretion, that the Lord would so teach him by his word and Spirit, and make his baptism effectual to him, and so uphold him by his divine power and grace, that by faith he may prevail against the devil, the world, and the flesh, till in the end he obtain a full and final victory and so be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Because of God’s grace and tender mercy, we are covenant people, and we are obligated to live in covenant, worship according to the covenant, and maintain the signs and seals of the covenant throughout all generations. In both Baptism and the Eucharist we hear Christ say, ‘This is my blood of the covenant’, for it is his sacrifice which has ratified the new covenant, cleansed our sins, and sealed us with the Spirit.
Together with the ministry of the word of God, this is how Disciples are made; this is how the Church is built.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
One for All
It all comes down to tonight's game after the Horn's win last night. Its going to take more than five runs, and those errors have to go away - giving LSU three extra at bats won't help the cause at all. So, tune in, wear orange, yell loud. Hook em! Lets hope that by late tonight the tower is lit and there's dancing outside the Dish.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Lessons from Calvin on Worship
Renewing Biblical Worship – Some Lessons from John Calvin
“It is not particularly original to observe that, in the dissolution of Christendom, Europe retained the body while America inherited the spirit; but one sometimes wonders whether for ‘spirit’ it would not be better to say ‘poltergeist’…many of its most dominant and reputable churches have evolved a Christianity so peculiar as to be without precedent.”
- David Bentley Hart
I frequently hear about evangelicals becoming Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox Christians. Given the choices many of them face, this hardly surprises me and I don’t blame them one bit. Many have witnessed their Protestant congregations abandon the Faith, embrace pop culture worship, and cease standing firm within the culture for even the most basic human decencies that arise from the knowledge that we are made in God’s image. If my alternatives are a rock concert with a creed, a celebrity preacher with a following, Dr. Phil-ish theology/therapy, or endless Bible lectures devoid of community and sacrament, I might well head that way too. At least in those contexts I’d sense some measure of communion with the saints, and rightly think that if Irenaeus or Athanasius came back from the dead to visit one Sunday they’d be part of worship service they at least recognized as truly Christian: Psalms being sung, Scriptures being read, prayers being prayed, sins being confessed, and the Supper being served. And please, don’t start with me on the ‘validity’ arguments over whether the RCC or the EO are really serving the supper, and so on. We are all very familiar with the differences between us on that and other issues, including church polity and ontology, scripture and tradition, and so on. I disagree with a whole host of issues there. The problem today, however, is not the Tradition of Rome or Constantinople, but the Traditions of Atlanta and Dallas, and the lack of any visible tradition at all in some Presbyterian circles; the problem today is not an icon of the Blessed Mother of God, but the iconography of giant screens in churches with Baal-worship displays of nationalistic arrogance, together with the idolatry of worshipping worship bands and preachers; the problem today is not the presence of the ancient but the absence of any semblance of the ancient at all. It is pure American religion – consumerist and idolatrous to the core, ‘the Church Designed with YOU in Mind’, a product to be bought and sold rather than a sacrifice to be offered with reverence and awe. It isn’t Biblical worship. What it is, in short, is idolatry.
Enter Calvin
Of course, we don’t have to settle for these as our only choices. We could learn a thing or three from John Calvin. In his excellent article on Calvin’s contribution to worship, DG Hart notes some particular lessons we should take to heart and put into practice.
Hart suggests first of all that we learn from the way Calvin made worship the priority of the Church’s work. “An axiom of Calvin’s theology was the importance and centrality of worship for vital and genuine Christian faith and practice.” Calvin wrote that the Christian faith reveals of supreme significance the ‘mode by which God is to be worshipped’, and ‘secondly, the source from which salvation is to be obtained.’ It is true that the desire to reverence God is the foundation for Calvin’s thought on the regulative principle (and our continued employment of the same). But more than this, Calvin saw the terrible consequences of the fall, the first of which is that man became an idolater. Idolatry is at the core of our being, and is a great danger most especially when it is the true God we seek to worship. Any decent exposition of the Commandments will tell you that the violation of the First and Second Words is not simply the true worship of false gods, but the false worship of the True God. Calling golden calves ‘Yahweh’ doesn’t make them so. Calvin knew this and sought to redress the idolatries of his own day, not by destroying the liturgy but by renewing and reforming it.
Here’s Calvin’s basic order in Geneva:
Invocation
Confession of Sins
Prayer for Pardon
Singing of Psalms
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Lessons
Sermon
Offerings
Prayers of Intercession
Creed (sung or said as Lord’s Supper was prepared)
Words of Institution
Exhortation – Promise, Warning, and Invitation
Communion (with Psalm sung as Supper is received)
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Benediction
Look familiar? With minor exceptions of order, it is as basic and ‘catholic’ a structure for congregational worship as there was in the Church in the West, and remains the basic order among us today.
This order is formal and ‘theocentric’ – centered in God the Holy Trinity. We don’t do ‘formal’ so well these days. In fact Austin is a place where one must learn to ‘embrace the flip flop’ as an essential article of clothing. But our informality in wider cultural activities and yard work isn’t necessarily the culture of heaven – which is where the liturgy takes place – and takes us! There we behold the glory of the Lord, adore his majesty, hear his voice, and receive his manifold graces. This means that worship is not to be thought of as evangelism, though God uses such services to reach those who do not yet know him. Non-Christians and ‘seekers’ are welcomed and encouraged to listen carefully; we hope the Holy Spirit will make Christ known to them in salvation. Yet our purpose in gathering is not the salvation of the lost but the edification of the found by the Word and Spirit of God. Then, strengthened by grace and filled with the Spirit, the Church goes to the world making Christ known in word and deed and sign that many may be saved.
At the center of the worship is the ministry of the Scriptures. God’s word not only forms our worship, but is itself at the heart of our worship. As Paul wrote to Timothy, we ‘give attention to the public reading of Scripture’. The pulpit stands above the Table and at the center of the Church. We read and proclaim the word of God, hear his voice, and respond to his truth with joyful repentance, authentic praise and thanks (this only begins with our saying ‘Thanks be to God’ after the declaration ‘This is the word of the Lord!’), and dedicated obedience. Just ponder the following questions and answers from the Westminster Larger Catechism on the preaching and hearing of God’s word:
Q. 159. How is the Word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto?
A. They that are called to labour in the ministry of the Word, are to preach sound doctrine, diligently, in season and out of season; plainly, not in the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power; faithfully, making known the whole counsel of God; wisely, applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers; zealously, with fervent love to God and the souls of his people; sincerely, aiming at his glory, and their conversion, edification, and salvation.
Q. 160. What is required of those that hear the Word preached?
A. It is required of those that hear the Word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine what they hear by the Scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the Word of God; meditate, and confer of it; hide it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.
This represents a very high view of preaching. The minister must ‘labor’ in this service and wisely make known the whole counsel of God without ‘mincing words’! The congregation must view such preaching not as a mere ‘sermon’, and certainly not as ‘entertainment’ or a nap time, but rather as ‘the word of God’ and ‘hide it in their hearts’.
The centrality of the pulpit points to the necessity of the sacraments. Joined to the word, and under the power of the Holy Spirit, the sacraments are God’s appointed means of saving his people and nourishing them in the Faith. They are not optional extras to be squeezed into the service but rather the place and the means by which God meets with his covenant people in powerful blessing and judgment. Approach with joy – and caution! Aslan is good, but certainly not tame.
In short Calvin did not destroy or discard the catholic inheritance but rather renewed it. In many ways he and the other great Reformers recovered liturgy from beneath the encrusted layers of medieval traditions of men that tended to obscure from clear vision the excellencies of Christ and his grace. Worship became intelligible (in the people’s tongue), simple, sacramental, and scriptural. The congregation was engaged in the worship through antiphonal response and singing was also restored to the congregation. All of this was in keeping with a high view of ministerial office (about which more next week) and the Priestly service – the leitourgeia – of all the people.
Clowns to Left of Me, Jokers to the Right
The danger today is not from the reverent and awe-filled services of my Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox friends, much as I may disagree with them on certain matters. No, the greatest danger in our own day is the eclipse of Christ in the Church through our addiction to pop culture and its primary tradition – the tradition that all tradition is wrong. There is nothing more traditional in American piety and ecclesiology than the conviction that every generation must re-invent the Faith. Far from covenant succession in which every generation is charged to guard the treasure entrusted to them and pass it on to the next generation of faithful men, we live in a culture that teaches its young to eat their mothers and consequently destroy the very life-source they need to sustain the Faith. This has gone on now for so long that our impoverishment – which is great (indeed, my own is very great indeed) – is scarcely noticed by us, coming to shock only if by chance we catch a glimpse of some Christian from a former age who, it turns out, was far better informed about the Bible and the Faith then we could scarcely imagine. We stupidly think that because we have micro-waves and air conditioning and they didn’t, that we are their mentors; that our superiority in technology makes us superior in theology. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Calvin knew this. Go to the index of the Institutes and check the references to the early fathers – they are prolifically quoted throughout his work. He sat at the feet of the ancients before he rose to speak to the congregation.
Let me give DG Hart the closing words. “Worship always reflects a people’s conception of God. True theology yields true and acceptable worship. Improper or erroneous theology yields false worship. Worship is not a matter of taste; it is a statement of theological conviction about who God is and who we are as his covenant people.”
Nonchalance in worship reflects a lack of being gripped by the holiness of God; ingratitude in worship reflects ignorance of the mercy of God; making worship a product to be packaged and consumed makes a mockery of God. It is blasphemous – and judgment as already begun. This is why we will remain committed to the ancient and Biblical norms Calvin (and others) recovered and gave to us. We will not settle for new world revivalism and pop culture idols, nor need we obtain a visa to the Vatican. We will stay committed to Biblical worship, to living as a holy priesthood, rooted in the reformation’s recovery of the truly catholic and orthodox inheritance. We await the coming of better days, prisoners of hope for, as David Bentley Hart as observed, “while it is possible that modernity may not have much of a future, antiquity may very well prove deathless.”
“It is not particularly original to observe that, in the dissolution of Christendom, Europe retained the body while America inherited the spirit; but one sometimes wonders whether for ‘spirit’ it would not be better to say ‘poltergeist’…many of its most dominant and reputable churches have evolved a Christianity so peculiar as to be without precedent.”
- David Bentley Hart
I frequently hear about evangelicals becoming Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox Christians. Given the choices many of them face, this hardly surprises me and I don’t blame them one bit. Many have witnessed their Protestant congregations abandon the Faith, embrace pop culture worship, and cease standing firm within the culture for even the most basic human decencies that arise from the knowledge that we are made in God’s image. If my alternatives are a rock concert with a creed, a celebrity preacher with a following, Dr. Phil-ish theology/therapy, or endless Bible lectures devoid of community and sacrament, I might well head that way too. At least in those contexts I’d sense some measure of communion with the saints, and rightly think that if Irenaeus or Athanasius came back from the dead to visit one Sunday they’d be part of worship service they at least recognized as truly Christian: Psalms being sung, Scriptures being read, prayers being prayed, sins being confessed, and the Supper being served. And please, don’t start with me on the ‘validity’ arguments over whether the RCC or the EO are really serving the supper, and so on. We are all very familiar with the differences between us on that and other issues, including church polity and ontology, scripture and tradition, and so on. I disagree with a whole host of issues there. The problem today, however, is not the Tradition of Rome or Constantinople, but the Traditions of Atlanta and Dallas, and the lack of any visible tradition at all in some Presbyterian circles; the problem today is not an icon of the Blessed Mother of God, but the iconography of giant screens in churches with Baal-worship displays of nationalistic arrogance, together with the idolatry of worshipping worship bands and preachers; the problem today is not the presence of the ancient but the absence of any semblance of the ancient at all. It is pure American religion – consumerist and idolatrous to the core, ‘the Church Designed with YOU in Mind’, a product to be bought and sold rather than a sacrifice to be offered with reverence and awe. It isn’t Biblical worship. What it is, in short, is idolatry.
Enter Calvin
Of course, we don’t have to settle for these as our only choices. We could learn a thing or three from John Calvin. In his excellent article on Calvin’s contribution to worship, DG Hart notes some particular lessons we should take to heart and put into practice.
Hart suggests first of all that we learn from the way Calvin made worship the priority of the Church’s work. “An axiom of Calvin’s theology was the importance and centrality of worship for vital and genuine Christian faith and practice.” Calvin wrote that the Christian faith reveals of supreme significance the ‘mode by which God is to be worshipped’, and ‘secondly, the source from which salvation is to be obtained.’ It is true that the desire to reverence God is the foundation for Calvin’s thought on the regulative principle (and our continued employment of the same). But more than this, Calvin saw the terrible consequences of the fall, the first of which is that man became an idolater. Idolatry is at the core of our being, and is a great danger most especially when it is the true God we seek to worship. Any decent exposition of the Commandments will tell you that the violation of the First and Second Words is not simply the true worship of false gods, but the false worship of the True God. Calling golden calves ‘Yahweh’ doesn’t make them so. Calvin knew this and sought to redress the idolatries of his own day, not by destroying the liturgy but by renewing and reforming it.
Here’s Calvin’s basic order in Geneva:
Invocation
Confession of Sins
Prayer for Pardon
Singing of Psalms
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Lessons
Sermon
Offerings
Prayers of Intercession
Creed (sung or said as Lord’s Supper was prepared)
Words of Institution
Exhortation – Promise, Warning, and Invitation
Communion (with Psalm sung as Supper is received)
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Benediction
Look familiar? With minor exceptions of order, it is as basic and ‘catholic’ a structure for congregational worship as there was in the Church in the West, and remains the basic order among us today.
This order is formal and ‘theocentric’ – centered in God the Holy Trinity. We don’t do ‘formal’ so well these days. In fact Austin is a place where one must learn to ‘embrace the flip flop’ as an essential article of clothing. But our informality in wider cultural activities and yard work isn’t necessarily the culture of heaven – which is where the liturgy takes place – and takes us! There we behold the glory of the Lord, adore his majesty, hear his voice, and receive his manifold graces. This means that worship is not to be thought of as evangelism, though God uses such services to reach those who do not yet know him. Non-Christians and ‘seekers’ are welcomed and encouraged to listen carefully; we hope the Holy Spirit will make Christ known to them in salvation. Yet our purpose in gathering is not the salvation of the lost but the edification of the found by the Word and Spirit of God. Then, strengthened by grace and filled with the Spirit, the Church goes to the world making Christ known in word and deed and sign that many may be saved.
At the center of the worship is the ministry of the Scriptures. God’s word not only forms our worship, but is itself at the heart of our worship. As Paul wrote to Timothy, we ‘give attention to the public reading of Scripture’. The pulpit stands above the Table and at the center of the Church. We read and proclaim the word of God, hear his voice, and respond to his truth with joyful repentance, authentic praise and thanks (this only begins with our saying ‘Thanks be to God’ after the declaration ‘This is the word of the Lord!’), and dedicated obedience. Just ponder the following questions and answers from the Westminster Larger Catechism on the preaching and hearing of God’s word:
Q. 159. How is the Word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto?
A. They that are called to labour in the ministry of the Word, are to preach sound doctrine, diligently, in season and out of season; plainly, not in the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power; faithfully, making known the whole counsel of God; wisely, applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers; zealously, with fervent love to God and the souls of his people; sincerely, aiming at his glory, and their conversion, edification, and salvation.
Q. 160. What is required of those that hear the Word preached?
A. It is required of those that hear the Word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine what they hear by the Scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the Word of God; meditate, and confer of it; hide it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.
This represents a very high view of preaching. The minister must ‘labor’ in this service and wisely make known the whole counsel of God without ‘mincing words’! The congregation must view such preaching not as a mere ‘sermon’, and certainly not as ‘entertainment’ or a nap time, but rather as ‘the word of God’ and ‘hide it in their hearts’.
The centrality of the pulpit points to the necessity of the sacraments. Joined to the word, and under the power of the Holy Spirit, the sacraments are God’s appointed means of saving his people and nourishing them in the Faith. They are not optional extras to be squeezed into the service but rather the place and the means by which God meets with his covenant people in powerful blessing and judgment. Approach with joy – and caution! Aslan is good, but certainly not tame.
In short Calvin did not destroy or discard the catholic inheritance but rather renewed it. In many ways he and the other great Reformers recovered liturgy from beneath the encrusted layers of medieval traditions of men that tended to obscure from clear vision the excellencies of Christ and his grace. Worship became intelligible (in the people’s tongue), simple, sacramental, and scriptural. The congregation was engaged in the worship through antiphonal response and singing was also restored to the congregation. All of this was in keeping with a high view of ministerial office (about which more next week) and the Priestly service – the leitourgeia – of all the people.
Clowns to Left of Me, Jokers to the Right
The danger today is not from the reverent and awe-filled services of my Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox friends, much as I may disagree with them on certain matters. No, the greatest danger in our own day is the eclipse of Christ in the Church through our addiction to pop culture and its primary tradition – the tradition that all tradition is wrong. There is nothing more traditional in American piety and ecclesiology than the conviction that every generation must re-invent the Faith. Far from covenant succession in which every generation is charged to guard the treasure entrusted to them and pass it on to the next generation of faithful men, we live in a culture that teaches its young to eat their mothers and consequently destroy the very life-source they need to sustain the Faith. This has gone on now for so long that our impoverishment – which is great (indeed, my own is very great indeed) – is scarcely noticed by us, coming to shock only if by chance we catch a glimpse of some Christian from a former age who, it turns out, was far better informed about the Bible and the Faith then we could scarcely imagine. We stupidly think that because we have micro-waves and air conditioning and they didn’t, that we are their mentors; that our superiority in technology makes us superior in theology. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Calvin knew this. Go to the index of the Institutes and check the references to the early fathers – they are prolifically quoted throughout his work. He sat at the feet of the ancients before he rose to speak to the congregation.
Let me give DG Hart the closing words. “Worship always reflects a people’s conception of God. True theology yields true and acceptable worship. Improper or erroneous theology yields false worship. Worship is not a matter of taste; it is a statement of theological conviction about who God is and who we are as his covenant people.”
Nonchalance in worship reflects a lack of being gripped by the holiness of God; ingratitude in worship reflects ignorance of the mercy of God; making worship a product to be packaged and consumed makes a mockery of God. It is blasphemous – and judgment as already begun. This is why we will remain committed to the ancient and Biblical norms Calvin (and others) recovered and gave to us. We will not settle for new world revivalism and pop culture idols, nor need we obtain a visa to the Vatican. We will stay committed to Biblical worship, to living as a holy priesthood, rooted in the reformation’s recovery of the truly catholic and orthodox inheritance. We await the coming of better days, prisoners of hope for, as David Bentley Hart as observed, “while it is possible that modernity may not have much of a future, antiquity may very well prove deathless.”
Friday, June 19, 2009
Yes! Hook 'Em!
On to the Finals. What a GREAT WIN! 4-3 with two homers in the ninth to win it. Shocking! Hook 'Em!
Sacramental Conversation
Over the next two Sundays we'll be looking at the Doctrine of Sacraments. We Reformed Christians tend to have this conversation as a dialogue about our commitments against those of Rome, and, from an historical perspective, this is understandable. Nevertheless, while mindful of the sharp and continuing differences that do exist between our position and that of Rome, it is hopelessly unwise to treat the issue in those terms alone. The greatest contemporary problem with regard to this issue is the wide gap between what is sometimes referred to as a High-Church Presbyterian view of the Sacraments and a Zwinglian view, the latter being ascendent in evangelicalism. Calvin's sacramental theology, which is certainly a potent cure to the current ailments, was rejected by Charles Hodge, and Hodge's views, shaped by Scottish common sense philosophy, have also tended to dominate the landscape of modern Presbyterian theology. Nevin challenged Hodge on this and no doubt won the debate. Matthison is correct to note though that Hodge won the long-term battle through the publication and dissemination of his Systematic Theology. Clearly I side with Calvin and Nevin, contra Hodge and Zwinglian influences, and my preaching will reflect that robust, anti-revivalist, patristic view of this matter. Frankly, this is the only conclusion I can reach if my goal is to be faithful to Scripture and to my vows concerning submission to our Confessional standards.
Sermon Notes for Third Sunday after Pentecost: Sacraments, Part One
Signed, Sealed, and Delivered
1 Corinthians 10:1-4, 14-22
Third Sunday after Pentecost
June 21, 2009
I. This is Impossible!
A. The Limits of Language
B. The Troubling History of the Mysteries
C. The Lack of Consensus in Reformed Circles
D. Modern Evangelical Theology that Separates Christ from his Graces
E. The Spirit of our Times
· Drive Through and Lecture Hall/Lab
· Hatred of Ritual and Tradition
II. This is Important!
A. This is how Christ is Given to Us – 1 Corinthians 10:2-4
1. We must rid ourselves of the notion that we have the gifts of Christ Jesus without the Giver of the Gifts
· “Means of Grace”: OK, so long as we don’t think of grace as a ‘thing’ we get as opposed to Christ himself. The sacraments are ‘means of the Spirit’ giving us Christ himself, and all of his benefits.
· We have Him through the agency of the Spirit
- WSC Q. 92. What is a sacrament?A. A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.
B. This is how the Church Makes Disciples, Identifies her Members, and Nourishes them in the Faith: Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
· WLC Q. 162. What is a sacrament? A. A sacrament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ in his church, to signify, seal, and exhibit unto those that are within the covenant of grace, the benefits of his mediation; to strengthen and increase their faith, and all other graces; to oblige them to obedience; to testify and cherish their love and communion one with another; and to distinguish them from those that are without.
· Muslims believe in the Sacraments more than many Christians!
· Always Connected to the Ministry of the Word
- Separation reduces the sacraments to ‘superstition’ or the word to pure rational proposition
- Their union provides the regular means by which God saves his people from their sins and for his purposes.
C. This is how We Strengthen our Faith: Signs and Seals
1. Internal and External
· WLC Q. 163. What are the parts of a sacrament? A. The parts of the sacrament are two; the one an outward and sensible sign, used according to Christ’s own appointment; the other an inward and spiritual grace thereby signified.
2. Never Naked Signs (some modern views of ‘symbols’)
· Musterion à Sacramentum
· There is, in every sacrament, a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified: whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other. - WCF 27.2
III. This is Instituted by Christ
A. Christ Commands Baptism and the Supper/Eucharist
B. The Apostles Insist on These and ‘Traditioned’ them to the Church – 1 Corinthians 11:2, 23
1. Rite of Initiation: into Christ and his Church
2. Rite of Commemoration and Communion: into the Heavens
· Anamnesis – making the past present in such a way that the historical reality is now our reality
IV. This is How He Comes to Us - The Holy Spirit
A. Real Absence
1. The Ascension is Real: Jesus has Bodily departed and will not be here bodily until he comes again at the end of history
· John 14:3; 16:5-15; Luke 24:50-52; Acts 1:9-11
2. The One who is truly God and truly Man – natures joined, but not confused
B. Real Presence
1. Pentecost is Real: Jesus has Poured out the Holy Spirit on the Church to make him present with us to the end of the age
· John 14:15-18; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:1-4, 30-36
2. The God-Man is Bodily at the Father’s right hand, and is with us through the Presence and Power of the Spirit.
- WLC Q. 161. How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation?
A. The sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not by any power in themselves, or any virtue derived from the piety or intention of him by whom they are administered, but only by the working of the Holy Ghost, and the blessing of Christ, by whom they are instituted.
C. So…
· If we are to receive him here, the Spirit must be the One who unites us to him in Baptism (and so we are born of water and the Spirit, the One who was ‘hovering over the waters’!), the same Holy Spirit who opens our hearts and minds to the Scriptures causing us to be born again to a living hope through the incorruptible seed of the word of God.
· If we are to eat his flesh and drink his blood (and remember his body is in heaven!) then the Spirit is the One by whom we must ascend into his presence and there receive by faith Christ and all his benefits offered to us in the Supper.
Lets finish with a quotation from Chapter 21 of the Scottish Confession of Faith, written under the valiant ministry of John Knox, taught of Calvin, pre-dating Westminster by some 80 years.
“And thus we utterly damn the vanity of those that affirm sacraments to be nothing else but naked and bare signs. No, we assuredly believe that by baptism we are engrafted in Christ Jesus, to be made partakers of his justice, by the which our sins are covered and remitted; and also, that in the supper, rightly used, Christ Jesus is so joined with us, that he becomes the very nourishment and food of our souls. Not that we imagine any transubstantiation of bread into Christ's natural body, and of wine in his natural blood… but this union and conjunction which we have with the body and blood of Christ Jesus, in the right use of the sacraments, is wrought by operation of the Holy Ghost, who by true faith carries us above all things that are visible, carnal, and earthly, and makes us to feed upon the body and blood of Christ Jesus, which was once broken and shed for us, which now is in heaven, and appears in the presence of his Father for us. And yet, notwithstanding the far distance of place which is betwixt his body now glorified in the heaven, and us now mortal in this earth, yet we most assuredly believe that the bread that we break is the communion of Christ's body, and the cup which we bless is the communion of his blood. So that we confess, and undoubtedly believe, that the faithful, in the right use of the Lord's table, do so eat the body and drink the blood of the Lord Jesus, that he remains in them and they in him: yea, that they are so made flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone…”
Brothers and Sisters, either we believe the Holy Spirit is working according to his will in the Sacraments or we do not. Those who did not tended to the negligence of their ministry or the negation of their gracious effects. We must say ‘No’ to this trend and embrace afresh the mystery of grace – the sacramentum of Christ - through the power of the Spirit and the Word.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4, 14-22
Third Sunday after Pentecost
June 21, 2009
I. This is Impossible!
A. The Limits of Language
B. The Troubling History of the Mysteries
C. The Lack of Consensus in Reformed Circles
D. Modern Evangelical Theology that Separates Christ from his Graces
E. The Spirit of our Times
· Drive Through and Lecture Hall/Lab
· Hatred of Ritual and Tradition
II. This is Important!
A. This is how Christ is Given to Us – 1 Corinthians 10:2-4
1. We must rid ourselves of the notion that we have the gifts of Christ Jesus without the Giver of the Gifts
· “Means of Grace”: OK, so long as we don’t think of grace as a ‘thing’ we get as opposed to Christ himself. The sacraments are ‘means of the Spirit’ giving us Christ himself, and all of his benefits.
· We have Him through the agency of the Spirit
- WSC Q. 92. What is a sacrament?A. A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.
B. This is how the Church Makes Disciples, Identifies her Members, and Nourishes them in the Faith: Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
· WLC Q. 162. What is a sacrament? A. A sacrament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ in his church, to signify, seal, and exhibit unto those that are within the covenant of grace, the benefits of his mediation; to strengthen and increase their faith, and all other graces; to oblige them to obedience; to testify and cherish their love and communion one with another; and to distinguish them from those that are without.
· Muslims believe in the Sacraments more than many Christians!
· Always Connected to the Ministry of the Word
- Separation reduces the sacraments to ‘superstition’ or the word to pure rational proposition
- Their union provides the regular means by which God saves his people from their sins and for his purposes.
C. This is how We Strengthen our Faith: Signs and Seals
1. Internal and External
· WLC Q. 163. What are the parts of a sacrament? A. The parts of the sacrament are two; the one an outward and sensible sign, used according to Christ’s own appointment; the other an inward and spiritual grace thereby signified.
2. Never Naked Signs (some modern views of ‘symbols’)
· Musterion à Sacramentum
· There is, in every sacrament, a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified: whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other. - WCF 27.2
III. This is Instituted by Christ
A. Christ Commands Baptism and the Supper/Eucharist
B. The Apostles Insist on These and ‘Traditioned’ them to the Church – 1 Corinthians 11:2, 23
1. Rite of Initiation: into Christ and his Church
2. Rite of Commemoration and Communion: into the Heavens
· Anamnesis – making the past present in such a way that the historical reality is now our reality
IV. This is How He Comes to Us - The Holy Spirit
A. Real Absence
1. The Ascension is Real: Jesus has Bodily departed and will not be here bodily until he comes again at the end of history
· John 14:3; 16:5-15; Luke 24:50-52; Acts 1:9-11
2. The One who is truly God and truly Man – natures joined, but not confused
B. Real Presence
1. Pentecost is Real: Jesus has Poured out the Holy Spirit on the Church to make him present with us to the end of the age
· John 14:15-18; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:1-4, 30-36
2. The God-Man is Bodily at the Father’s right hand, and is with us through the Presence and Power of the Spirit.
- WLC Q. 161. How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation?
A. The sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not by any power in themselves, or any virtue derived from the piety or intention of him by whom they are administered, but only by the working of the Holy Ghost, and the blessing of Christ, by whom they are instituted.
C. So…
· If we are to receive him here, the Spirit must be the One who unites us to him in Baptism (and so we are born of water and the Spirit, the One who was ‘hovering over the waters’!), the same Holy Spirit who opens our hearts and minds to the Scriptures causing us to be born again to a living hope through the incorruptible seed of the word of God.
· If we are to eat his flesh and drink his blood (and remember his body is in heaven!) then the Spirit is the One by whom we must ascend into his presence and there receive by faith Christ and all his benefits offered to us in the Supper.
Lets finish with a quotation from Chapter 21 of the Scottish Confession of Faith, written under the valiant ministry of John Knox, taught of Calvin, pre-dating Westminster by some 80 years.
“And thus we utterly damn the vanity of those that affirm sacraments to be nothing else but naked and bare signs. No, we assuredly believe that by baptism we are engrafted in Christ Jesus, to be made partakers of his justice, by the which our sins are covered and remitted; and also, that in the supper, rightly used, Christ Jesus is so joined with us, that he becomes the very nourishment and food of our souls. Not that we imagine any transubstantiation of bread into Christ's natural body, and of wine in his natural blood… but this union and conjunction which we have with the body and blood of Christ Jesus, in the right use of the sacraments, is wrought by operation of the Holy Ghost, who by true faith carries us above all things that are visible, carnal, and earthly, and makes us to feed upon the body and blood of Christ Jesus, which was once broken and shed for us, which now is in heaven, and appears in the presence of his Father for us. And yet, notwithstanding the far distance of place which is betwixt his body now glorified in the heaven, and us now mortal in this earth, yet we most assuredly believe that the bread that we break is the communion of Christ's body, and the cup which we bless is the communion of his blood. So that we confess, and undoubtedly believe, that the faithful, in the right use of the Lord's table, do so eat the body and drink the blood of the Lord Jesus, that he remains in them and they in him: yea, that they are so made flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone…”
Brothers and Sisters, either we believe the Holy Spirit is working according to his will in the Sacraments or we do not. Those who did not tended to the negligence of their ministry or the negation of their gracious effects. We must say ‘No’ to this trend and embrace afresh the mystery of grace – the sacramentum of Christ - through the power of the Spirit and the Word.
Deformed Worship
Deformed Worship – Part One
I wouldn’t give it much thought if a person from a Baptist Church or Pentecostal Church or the Hip-Deep-In-Glory Worship Center came to a service at Redeemer and thought it was ‘catholic’ or ‘weird’ (and I’ve heard both adjectives). What we do on Sunday certainly is very different from those approaches to Lord’s Day worship, and that’s easily understood. No problem! I love all my Baptist, Bible Church, and Pentecostal brothers and sisters and can sing ‘Shine Jesus Shine” with the best of them, just not here. What I do find most odd and troubling is when Presbyterians show up and think our liturgy is weird or Catholic…or Episcopalian, or Lutheran, or Orthodox. Moreover, I find it really, really distressing when members of our congregation move elsewhere and discover that they can’t find a Reformed and Presbyterian Church anywhere that has a formal liturgy with confession, absolution, the thundering of God’s word, and the glories of the Lord’s Supper surrounded and reinforced by hymnody that is beautiful and historical. Sometimes their children are debarred from the Table in the new church as well. What kind of catholicity is that? Then to cap it off someone goes and says something like our liturgical structure, added to the fact that I wear a robe and a collar, must mean that I’m about to swim the Tiber and probably lead you all to the Vatican with me. Well now, pax vobsicum.
In fact, the destination of the liturgical journey I’ve been on, and the locale our Lord’s Day worship embodies, is Geneva. On my way there, I’ve been told I was headed for Canterbury, Constantinople, or Rome. The confusion seems to stem from the fact that all of the aforementioned cities are somewhere east of Atlanta, and what they share in common gives the heebie jeebies to post-modern American evangelical schismatics and revivalists who want to keep re-inventing the Church in every generation. Let me put this bluntly: when it comes to worship, I’m a High-Church Presbyterian, a Genevan-Calvinist, and that means strong liturgy, meaty sermons, and sacramental communion with the Almighty in an atmosphere that reflects reverence and awe. And yes, I am even for candles – great big ones that remind us of the One who stands in the midst of the candlesticks – and incense too. You don’t have to swing it around, just burn it at the front so we’re reminded that in worship we left the world behind and ascended to the heavenly holy of holies where the biggest incense altar you’ll ever see is very prominent indeed (Revelation 1 and 8). People who think Calvinism is five points from Netherlands need to read an actual history or theology book written before 1975. They need to recall that what began and took root there was a liturgical renewal as well as a theological renewal, and keeping the former means embracing the latter. Tossing aside Calvin on worship, while claiming him on theology, is ecclesiastical schizophrenia.
Since this is the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birthday, I though I might just mention some of his views on the Church’s worship. The contrast with today’s practices in most Presbyterian settings is striking and demands an explanation. Presbyterians should start recovering their own tradition, while always being prepared to learn from those of others. Indeed, the Presbyterian ‘tradition’ that arose in Geneva is itself deeply rooted in the Patristic period of the Church, especially in the theology of Cyprian and Chrysostom, and the glorious Christology of the Council of Chalcedon. Those roots are our roots too!
The Priority of Worship
So, which truth do you suppose Calvin valued above the other: a) worship or b) justification? Go the head of the class all ye who answered (a). DG Hart wrote, “In addition to clarifying the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the great French Reformer believed that the Protestant reformation would not amount to much without the reform of worship. In fact, Calvin placed worship ahead of justification in his list of things that, as he put it, ‘encompassed the whole substance of Christianity’: ‘first, of the mode in which God is truly worshipped; and second, of the source from which salvation is to be obtained’” (Hart is quoting Calvin’s The Necessity of Reforming the Church, published in 1544). For what its worth, this at least means that Presbyterians can hardly claim indifference when it comes to the worship of the Church and the way in which we pursue the goal of glorifying God and enjoying him forever.
Why would Calvin take this view? It is eminently Biblical of course. But in addition to this we have to realize that the public worship of the visible church holds theology, piety, and culture together. In other words, life flows from the sanctuary. How we pray reflects and further shapes our view of God, which shapes our families and work, and so on. Theology, Ecclesiology and Liturgy are inseparable, just as the old familiar formula says, “Lex orandi, Lex Credendi” – ‘the law of our praying is the law of our believing.’
The Great Divide
The split in American Protestantism goes back to the first and second Great Awakenings, events that completely revolutionized the American Church scene and turned the Church in the New World into something very, very different from the Church of the Old World from whence it arose. Men like Nevin and Schaff opposed such novelties, but the revivalist influence of Edwards and, later with the heretic Charles Finney, spread like a fire across the country, transforming the Church from sanctuary for communion to theatre for entertainment. It made personal private convulsive experiences of the Spirit rather than baptism, catechism, preaching, and the table the means of conversion and spiritual growth in grace. This movement has been more than adequately documented in Hatch’s The Democratization of Christianity. In short, evangelism ceased being covenantal and churchly, and moved away from the church, into the arena. Church’s that wanted to ‘keep up’ downplayed sacraments, majored on preaching as event, put the musicians at the front, and got on with the show. Finney’s movement in particular was completely Pelagian, and his heirs, while probably rejecting his gross errors, seek to improve on his methods, making Sunday morning into a show designed to ‘reach the un-churched’. This confuses the worship of the Church in the heavenlies, nurturing her members, with the mission of the Church in the world, proclaiming the Gospel to the lost.
Down to this day, many Presbyterian congregation substitute Welch’s for Wine (a 19th century American innovation born out of Finney’s Gnostic legalism), and refuse to celebrate communion each Lord’s Day. Calvin of course wished for the Supper ‘frequently’, and sought to have it served at each service, accompanied by the preaching of the Word. We don’t believe that the bread and wine are mere symbols (as Zwingli did); on the contrary, we hold that the Holy Spirit makes the Lord’s Supper a true means of grace unto the elect, that what we have in the Supper is the ‘real presence’ of Christ. Sure, we make a distinction ‘between sign and thing signified’, but, just as with Calvin, this is a distinction not a divorce. In the sacraments we receive ‘Christ and all his benefits’. This means that our worship, rather than being a Rock Concert with a Creed, is a dialogical encounter with God: he meets with us, calls us to himself, speaks to us, and we respond in prayer, praise, and offering our gifts to him in covenant love, receiving from him the renewal of his covenant oath. This is also one reason why we have men reading God’s word – for the Father is speaking to us, and we all together form the betrothed in responsive love. For Calvin, this also meant the writing of prayers for Pastors to use in worship and for Church members to use every day. Written prayers are prepared in terms of truth that is revealed rather than mere emotion that is experienced, filled with words that do not reflect the majesty of the occasion or the Person being addressed.
Dead Church, Live Church; True Church, False Church
People complain that liturgy can deaden a congregation and the hearts of the members. It is sin, rather than liturgy, that does that. Jesus worshipped liturgically and his heart was just fine. The influence of certain strands of Puritanism and Pietism led many in years gone by to start looking for ‘signs of life’, inevitably subjective evaluations, in people and churches as a barometer of validity. Calvin and the other reformers would never have taken this approach. For them the issue was whether or not one saw a true church or a false church. The signs delineating that distinction were objective: the word was faithfully preached, the sacraments, were faithfully administered, and discipline was faithfully applied. There are no goose bumps in that formula. We’re not supposed to be looking for ‘revival’, we’re supposed to be looking for the Church! The worship of God’s people is not a pep rally where we shout, “We’ve got spirit, yes we do! We’ve got spirit, how ‘bout you!?”
This novel, deformed, approached to Church, even in the name of Presbyterianism, is muddle-headed and harmful. It flies in the face of the Standards (see Shorter catechism, question 88 on how the benefits of redemption become ours). Our children are holy, so we will baptize them; we are the covenant people, priestly people, built into a spiritual Temple, so our worship is going to look ‘Temple-ish’, which is awfully formal and very liturgical, rather than like an 8th grade sock-hop or late-night talk show.
Does that mean we are devoid of feeling? On the contrary! In the words of the Psalmist, we ‘rejoice with trembling’ (Psalm 2). We offer acceptable worship with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12). Our hearts are not removed from our lips, and we ‘make his praise glorious’ for God is great and greatly to be praised. I frequently worship in tears on Sunday, mourning my sin, rejoicing in mercy, sharing the sufferings of my brothers and sisters, moved to unspeakable glory at the sight of baptisms. Flippancy never, the fruit of the Spirit, always – and in abundance please!
Next week: Part Two, which is about more of the same.
I wouldn’t give it much thought if a person from a Baptist Church or Pentecostal Church or the Hip-Deep-In-Glory Worship Center came to a service at Redeemer and thought it was ‘catholic’ or ‘weird’ (and I’ve heard both adjectives). What we do on Sunday certainly is very different from those approaches to Lord’s Day worship, and that’s easily understood. No problem! I love all my Baptist, Bible Church, and Pentecostal brothers and sisters and can sing ‘Shine Jesus Shine” with the best of them, just not here. What I do find most odd and troubling is when Presbyterians show up and think our liturgy is weird or Catholic…or Episcopalian, or Lutheran, or Orthodox. Moreover, I find it really, really distressing when members of our congregation move elsewhere and discover that they can’t find a Reformed and Presbyterian Church anywhere that has a formal liturgy with confession, absolution, the thundering of God’s word, and the glories of the Lord’s Supper surrounded and reinforced by hymnody that is beautiful and historical. Sometimes their children are debarred from the Table in the new church as well. What kind of catholicity is that? Then to cap it off someone goes and says something like our liturgical structure, added to the fact that I wear a robe and a collar, must mean that I’m about to swim the Tiber and probably lead you all to the Vatican with me. Well now, pax vobsicum.
In fact, the destination of the liturgical journey I’ve been on, and the locale our Lord’s Day worship embodies, is Geneva. On my way there, I’ve been told I was headed for Canterbury, Constantinople, or Rome. The confusion seems to stem from the fact that all of the aforementioned cities are somewhere east of Atlanta, and what they share in common gives the heebie jeebies to post-modern American evangelical schismatics and revivalists who want to keep re-inventing the Church in every generation. Let me put this bluntly: when it comes to worship, I’m a High-Church Presbyterian, a Genevan-Calvinist, and that means strong liturgy, meaty sermons, and sacramental communion with the Almighty in an atmosphere that reflects reverence and awe. And yes, I am even for candles – great big ones that remind us of the One who stands in the midst of the candlesticks – and incense too. You don’t have to swing it around, just burn it at the front so we’re reminded that in worship we left the world behind and ascended to the heavenly holy of holies where the biggest incense altar you’ll ever see is very prominent indeed (Revelation 1 and 8). People who think Calvinism is five points from Netherlands need to read an actual history or theology book written before 1975. They need to recall that what began and took root there was a liturgical renewal as well as a theological renewal, and keeping the former means embracing the latter. Tossing aside Calvin on worship, while claiming him on theology, is ecclesiastical schizophrenia.
Since this is the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birthday, I though I might just mention some of his views on the Church’s worship. The contrast with today’s practices in most Presbyterian settings is striking and demands an explanation. Presbyterians should start recovering their own tradition, while always being prepared to learn from those of others. Indeed, the Presbyterian ‘tradition’ that arose in Geneva is itself deeply rooted in the Patristic period of the Church, especially in the theology of Cyprian and Chrysostom, and the glorious Christology of the Council of Chalcedon. Those roots are our roots too!
The Priority of Worship
So, which truth do you suppose Calvin valued above the other: a) worship or b) justification? Go the head of the class all ye who answered (a). DG Hart wrote, “In addition to clarifying the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the great French Reformer believed that the Protestant reformation would not amount to much without the reform of worship. In fact, Calvin placed worship ahead of justification in his list of things that, as he put it, ‘encompassed the whole substance of Christianity’: ‘first, of the mode in which God is truly worshipped; and second, of the source from which salvation is to be obtained’” (Hart is quoting Calvin’s The Necessity of Reforming the Church, published in 1544). For what its worth, this at least means that Presbyterians can hardly claim indifference when it comes to the worship of the Church and the way in which we pursue the goal of glorifying God and enjoying him forever.
Why would Calvin take this view? It is eminently Biblical of course. But in addition to this we have to realize that the public worship of the visible church holds theology, piety, and culture together. In other words, life flows from the sanctuary. How we pray reflects and further shapes our view of God, which shapes our families and work, and so on. Theology, Ecclesiology and Liturgy are inseparable, just as the old familiar formula says, “Lex orandi, Lex Credendi” – ‘the law of our praying is the law of our believing.’
The Great Divide
The split in American Protestantism goes back to the first and second Great Awakenings, events that completely revolutionized the American Church scene and turned the Church in the New World into something very, very different from the Church of the Old World from whence it arose. Men like Nevin and Schaff opposed such novelties, but the revivalist influence of Edwards and, later with the heretic Charles Finney, spread like a fire across the country, transforming the Church from sanctuary for communion to theatre for entertainment. It made personal private convulsive experiences of the Spirit rather than baptism, catechism, preaching, and the table the means of conversion and spiritual growth in grace. This movement has been more than adequately documented in Hatch’s The Democratization of Christianity. In short, evangelism ceased being covenantal and churchly, and moved away from the church, into the arena. Church’s that wanted to ‘keep up’ downplayed sacraments, majored on preaching as event, put the musicians at the front, and got on with the show. Finney’s movement in particular was completely Pelagian, and his heirs, while probably rejecting his gross errors, seek to improve on his methods, making Sunday morning into a show designed to ‘reach the un-churched’. This confuses the worship of the Church in the heavenlies, nurturing her members, with the mission of the Church in the world, proclaiming the Gospel to the lost.
Down to this day, many Presbyterian congregation substitute Welch’s for Wine (a 19th century American innovation born out of Finney’s Gnostic legalism), and refuse to celebrate communion each Lord’s Day. Calvin of course wished for the Supper ‘frequently’, and sought to have it served at each service, accompanied by the preaching of the Word. We don’t believe that the bread and wine are mere symbols (as Zwingli did); on the contrary, we hold that the Holy Spirit makes the Lord’s Supper a true means of grace unto the elect, that what we have in the Supper is the ‘real presence’ of Christ. Sure, we make a distinction ‘between sign and thing signified’, but, just as with Calvin, this is a distinction not a divorce. In the sacraments we receive ‘Christ and all his benefits’. This means that our worship, rather than being a Rock Concert with a Creed, is a dialogical encounter with God: he meets with us, calls us to himself, speaks to us, and we respond in prayer, praise, and offering our gifts to him in covenant love, receiving from him the renewal of his covenant oath. This is also one reason why we have men reading God’s word – for the Father is speaking to us, and we all together form the betrothed in responsive love. For Calvin, this also meant the writing of prayers for Pastors to use in worship and for Church members to use every day. Written prayers are prepared in terms of truth that is revealed rather than mere emotion that is experienced, filled with words that do not reflect the majesty of the occasion or the Person being addressed.
Dead Church, Live Church; True Church, False Church
People complain that liturgy can deaden a congregation and the hearts of the members. It is sin, rather than liturgy, that does that. Jesus worshipped liturgically and his heart was just fine. The influence of certain strands of Puritanism and Pietism led many in years gone by to start looking for ‘signs of life’, inevitably subjective evaluations, in people and churches as a barometer of validity. Calvin and the other reformers would never have taken this approach. For them the issue was whether or not one saw a true church or a false church. The signs delineating that distinction were objective: the word was faithfully preached, the sacraments, were faithfully administered, and discipline was faithfully applied. There are no goose bumps in that formula. We’re not supposed to be looking for ‘revival’, we’re supposed to be looking for the Church! The worship of God’s people is not a pep rally where we shout, “We’ve got spirit, yes we do! We’ve got spirit, how ‘bout you!?”
This novel, deformed, approached to Church, even in the name of Presbyterianism, is muddle-headed and harmful. It flies in the face of the Standards (see Shorter catechism, question 88 on how the benefits of redemption become ours). Our children are holy, so we will baptize them; we are the covenant people, priestly people, built into a spiritual Temple, so our worship is going to look ‘Temple-ish’, which is awfully formal and very liturgical, rather than like an 8th grade sock-hop or late-night talk show.
Does that mean we are devoid of feeling? On the contrary! In the words of the Psalmist, we ‘rejoice with trembling’ (Psalm 2). We offer acceptable worship with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12). Our hearts are not removed from our lips, and we ‘make his praise glorious’ for God is great and greatly to be praised. I frequently worship in tears on Sunday, mourning my sin, rejoicing in mercy, sharing the sufferings of my brothers and sisters, moved to unspeakable glory at the sight of baptisms. Flippancy never, the fruit of the Spirit, always – and in abundance please!
Next week: Part Two, which is about more of the same.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Sermon Notes for Second Sunday after Pentecost - Priestly People: The Church, Worship, and Heavenly Liturgy
The Church and Worship: Priestly People and Divine Service
1 Peter 2:1-10; Hebrews 12:28-29; Malachi 1; John 2:10ff
Second Sunday after Pentecost
June 14, 2009
All that we have now said about the Kingdom, the Ascension, Pentecost, and the Church comes together today as ponder the mystery of Christian worship. Let us recall that the Church exists only because of God’s grace. The Greek word for Church is ekkelsia – the called out. But who has called and how? God is the One who chooses and calls, not according to our works but according to his mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10). God does this through the Gospel proclaimed and the sacraments served. God is the Evangelist and Shepherd and Liturgist! Baptism is God’s work in and for us to which we are called to return in repentance every day; Preaching is not just instruction, but God’s living voice creating new life; the Supper is not only our reaffirmation that we are his and one another’s, but God’s renewal of his covenant oath to be our God now and forever. This means that our worship is not first of all our work, but His work. Redeemed by grace, constituted as a people by grace, preserved by grace, we ascend by grace to the throne of Grace and there ‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’ “Called Out”, we are also “Called Up!”
Peter writes that we are living stones being built into a spiritual house that is home to a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices to God through the mediating work of Jesus Christ. This is fully in harmony with Paul’s words that we have already noted concerning the Church as the Temple of the Holy Spirit. If we dismiss this Temple-Spiritual House-Priesthood-Sacrifice language we will impoverish our understanding of worship and all of life. While our whole existence is an offering of worship unto God (Romans 12:2; Philippians 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:6), making all we are and experience an offering unto God, we will consider today our common calling to enter heaven’s throne room itself as one man, with one voice, and there meet with our Covenant God.
I. The Spiritual House – 1 Peter 2:5
A. Founded on Christ himself – 1 Peter 2:6-8
1. Out of the Rubble a New House Rises (Isaiah 28)
· “Tear down this House and in three days I will rebuild it” – John 2
2. Foundation Laid by Sacrifice on the Cross
· Great Hallel – Psalm 118
· Cross-shaped worship – v.8; always life-giving, always offensive (Isaiah 8)
B. Joined by Grace through Faith – 1 Peter 2:6-7
II. The Spiritual Priesthood – 1 Peter 2:5
A. Israel’s Mission and Calling Renewed – Exodus 19
B. The New Covenant does not destroy the Old, but rather buries and resurrects it in glory: the Priesthood is expanded.
· Sprinkled with blood, water, and oil (in , we are now all of us priests, all of us participants together – no spectators! – in the worship of God.
· “Leitourgeia” (Liturgy) – the shared action of people (Games, Plays, etc.); in the Bible, the work of the Priests; used in the New Testament of our shared worship before God – Acts 13:2
· Congregational Covenant Renewal demands liturgy: “Return to the Lord your God, O Israel, for you have stumbled…take words with you and return to the Lord…” – Hosea 14:1-2
III. The Spiritual Sacrifices – 1 Peter 2:5
A. The Sacrifice Imperative: no worship in the Bible apart from sacrifice (Genesis 22 onwards)
B. The Sacrifice Pattern
1. Contribution
2. Consecration
3. Communion
· Thus there is gain not loss in Biblical sacrifice
· Abraham and Melchizedek
C. The Sacrificial Word: Latreia
1. Our Bodies
2. Our Tithes and Offerings
3. Our Thanks and Praise
· Through Christ (The sacrifice), in the Spirit (The Comforter)
· With Reverence and Awe (Hebrews 12)
· Public Worship is not for personal ecstasy but for congregational covenant renewal
D. But all of these come back to us as food, served to us by God himself. Food? Yes.
· Word: Calling, Absolution, Transformation through Truth, Benediction
· Sacrament: Bread and Wine, through the Spirit receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
So, since it is God with whom we meet, what kind of offerings should we bring?
And since it is God speaking, and God serving us at His Table, and Christ offering himself to us as the food of our soul, who is it really that is doing all the serving? Right: it is the Triune God. That is why this worship, this leitourgeia – this liturgy – is called Divine Service. We come to the Temple, not to give, but to offer only what we have been given, and by this to find our hungry hearts fed, our dark minds renewed, our souls healed and renewed for the mission ahead. Worship flows from grace, is filled with grace, and makes us celebrants of grace. It is God’s service to us, not simply ours to him. Here he meets with us; here he speaks with us; here he feeds us; here he transforms us; here, he becomes the delight of our soul.
1 Peter 2:1-10; Hebrews 12:28-29; Malachi 1; John 2:10ff
Second Sunday after Pentecost
June 14, 2009
All that we have now said about the Kingdom, the Ascension, Pentecost, and the Church comes together today as ponder the mystery of Christian worship. Let us recall that the Church exists only because of God’s grace. The Greek word for Church is ekkelsia – the called out. But who has called and how? God is the One who chooses and calls, not according to our works but according to his mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10). God does this through the Gospel proclaimed and the sacraments served. God is the Evangelist and Shepherd and Liturgist! Baptism is God’s work in and for us to which we are called to return in repentance every day; Preaching is not just instruction, but God’s living voice creating new life; the Supper is not only our reaffirmation that we are his and one another’s, but God’s renewal of his covenant oath to be our God now and forever. This means that our worship is not first of all our work, but His work. Redeemed by grace, constituted as a people by grace, preserved by grace, we ascend by grace to the throne of Grace and there ‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’ “Called Out”, we are also “Called Up!”
Peter writes that we are living stones being built into a spiritual house that is home to a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices to God through the mediating work of Jesus Christ. This is fully in harmony with Paul’s words that we have already noted concerning the Church as the Temple of the Holy Spirit. If we dismiss this Temple-Spiritual House-Priesthood-Sacrifice language we will impoverish our understanding of worship and all of life. While our whole existence is an offering of worship unto God (Romans 12:2; Philippians 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:6), making all we are and experience an offering unto God, we will consider today our common calling to enter heaven’s throne room itself as one man, with one voice, and there meet with our Covenant God.
I. The Spiritual House – 1 Peter 2:5
A. Founded on Christ himself – 1 Peter 2:6-8
1. Out of the Rubble a New House Rises (Isaiah 28)
· “Tear down this House and in three days I will rebuild it” – John 2
2. Foundation Laid by Sacrifice on the Cross
· Great Hallel – Psalm 118
· Cross-shaped worship – v.8; always life-giving, always offensive (Isaiah 8)
B. Joined by Grace through Faith – 1 Peter 2:6-7
II. The Spiritual Priesthood – 1 Peter 2:5
A. Israel’s Mission and Calling Renewed – Exodus 19
B. The New Covenant does not destroy the Old, but rather buries and resurrects it in glory: the Priesthood is expanded.
· Sprinkled with blood, water, and oil (in , we are now all of us priests, all of us participants together – no spectators! – in the worship of God.
· “Leitourgeia” (Liturgy) – the shared action of people (Games, Plays, etc.); in the Bible, the work of the Priests; used in the New Testament of our shared worship before God – Acts 13:2
· Congregational Covenant Renewal demands liturgy: “Return to the Lord your God, O Israel, for you have stumbled…take words with you and return to the Lord…” – Hosea 14:1-2
III. The Spiritual Sacrifices – 1 Peter 2:5
A. The Sacrifice Imperative: no worship in the Bible apart from sacrifice (Genesis 22 onwards)
B. The Sacrifice Pattern
1. Contribution
2. Consecration
3. Communion
· Thus there is gain not loss in Biblical sacrifice
· Abraham and Melchizedek
C. The Sacrificial Word: Latreia
1. Our Bodies
2. Our Tithes and Offerings
3. Our Thanks and Praise
· Through Christ (The sacrifice), in the Spirit (The Comforter)
· With Reverence and Awe (Hebrews 12)
· Public Worship is not for personal ecstasy but for congregational covenant renewal
D. But all of these come back to us as food, served to us by God himself. Food? Yes.
· Word: Calling, Absolution, Transformation through Truth, Benediction
· Sacrament: Bread and Wine, through the Spirit receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
So, since it is God with whom we meet, what kind of offerings should we bring?
And since it is God speaking, and God serving us at His Table, and Christ offering himself to us as the food of our soul, who is it really that is doing all the serving? Right: it is the Triune God. That is why this worship, this leitourgeia – this liturgy – is called Divine Service. We come to the Temple, not to give, but to offer only what we have been given, and by this to find our hungry hearts fed, our dark minds renewed, our souls healed and renewed for the mission ahead. Worship flows from grace, is filled with grace, and makes us celebrants of grace. It is God’s service to us, not simply ours to him. Here he meets with us; here he speaks with us; here he feeds us; here he transforms us; here, he becomes the delight of our soul.
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