MVOPC 1 January 2012
Call to Worship: Psalm 105:1-3
Opening Hymn: 1 “All People That on Earth Do Dwell”
Confession of Sin
O You whose chosen dwelling is the heart that longs for Your presence and humbly seeks Your love: We come to You to acknowledge and confess that we have sinned in thought and word and deed; We have not loved You with all our heart and soul, with all our mind and strength; We have not even loved our neighbor as ourselves. Deepen within us our sorrow for the wrong we have done, or for the good we have left undone. But You, O Lord, are full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy; there is forgiveness with You. Restore to us the joy of Your salvation; Bind up that which is broken, give light to our minds, strength to our wills and rest to our souls. Speak to each of us the word that we need, and let Your Word abide with us until it has wrought in us Your holy will. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: 2 Chronicles 7:14
Old Covenant Reading: Isaiah 54:1-17
New Covenant Reading: John 4:19-42
Hymn of Preparation: 598 “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah”
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 3:5-9
Sermon: God’s Fellow-Workers
Hymn of Response: 585 “Take My Life, and Let It Be”
Confession of Faith: Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 1
Doxology (Hymn 732)
Closing Hymn: 670 “If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee”
PM Worship: Hosea 11:12-12:6 – Feeding on the Wind
Adult Sunday School: Covenant Baptism Part III
Suggested Preparations
Monday (12/26) Read and discuss 1 Corinthians 3:5-9. Beginning with today’s passages there is somewhat of a shift in Paul’s line of argumentation. Previously the basis for correcting the Corinthians was through a clear proclamation of the consequences of the cross. Paul doesn’t leave the cross behind (How could he?), but he now draws attention to the fact that Church belongs to God. He brought it into being; He sustains it; and He will judge it. This section of the argument is structured using three metaphors: (1) The Church is God’s field (vv. 5-9); (2) The Church is God’s building (vv. 10-15); and (3) The Church is God’s Temple (vv. 16-17). Richard Hays helpfully writes:
Throughout this chapter, two fundamental points must be kept clearly in view. First, Paul thinks of the church not as an institution with a hierarchy and a certain formal structure but as a concrete community of people in a particular locality. … Thus, when he says, for example, ‘you are God’s temple,” he is referring not to a building but to the gathered people of God. Second, Paul’s metaphors all refer to the community viewed corporately: the building that is built by the apostles and tested by fire is not the spiritual life of the individual believer, but the church community as a whole. The later point may be especially hard for some Protestant congregations to keep in focus, because the tradition of individualistic reading is so entrenched. But if this point is not grasped firmly, Paul’s whole meaning will be missed.
Read or Sing Hymn: 1 “All People That on Earth Do Dwell” Prayer: Please pray for our bother Pastor Youcef in Iran. The presiding judge has ordered that he be kept in jail for another year and that all available means be used to bring about his conversion to Islam.
Tuesday (12/27) Read and discuss Matthew 2:1-12. People react to Jesus in many different ways. It is easy for us when we read today’s passage to think how crazy Herod’s response to the news of Jesus’ birth was. We easily imagine that if we could only have 15 minutes to explain to Herod about the nature of Jesus’ kingship that he might have behaved radically differently. Yet, if we think this way, we demonstrate that Herod had a better grasp on one aspect of our Lord’s birth than we do. Herod understood this: If Jesus is King, than Caesar isn’t in charge; If Jesus is King, than Herod isn’t in charge; If Jesus is King (and He is!), then you and I are not in charge either. This time of year a multitude of people exchange Christmas cards and Christmas greetings. Yet, many of those same people go about their lives as though Jesus had never come. If we stop to think about who the baby in the manger was, and what He would grow up to do, we would realize that this child was the most dangerous baby in history. A thousand years before His birth, the Psalm 2 had this to say about our response to Jesus:
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
We will either take refuge in Him, and discover that Jesus is a merciful Savior and wonderful Lord, or we will oppose Him to our own destruction. There is no middle path. Prayer: Offer up everything you have and everything you are to the One who is everything you need.
Wednesday (12/28) Read and discuss Isaiah 54:1-17. When we meditate upon the life of Sarah and Abraham we can deeply feel their anxiety as they grew old not having received the child of promise. They were people of faith, but they also struggled to believe what seemed absolutely impossible from a human standpoint: Could an old man and a woman far past childbearing years really still give birth? It is easier for us to confess that “nothing is impossible for God” in the abstract – when we are not having to trust his promises against everything we can see and touch. Why would the LORD make Abraham and Sarah wait so long? There are at least three answers to that question. First, the LORD was using these circumstances to grow Abraham and Sarah in their faith. Second, God wanted to make it abundantly clear that the blessing would come through His power and not through the efforts of human flesh. Third, God was creating an image of His gracious and faithful fulfillment that would serve as a sign for His people until the end of time. It is the third use that is being picked up in Isaiah 54. Israel may have made shipwreck of her vocation to serve as a light to the nations; but through Christ’s substitutionary death (see Isaiah 53) God was going to wipe away her guilt and restore the fortunes of His people. They may look barren, just as Sarah did in her old age, but God was going to multiply her children beyond the wildest imagination of anyone living in Isaiah’s day. But who are the children that Isaiah 54 is talking about? In Romans 9, the Apostle Paul develops the very same theme from the life of Abraham and Sarah that Isaiah 54 is dealing with. He writes: “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” It is important to remember this. God is making His promise to those He has chosen and who manifest this by their faith in Jesus Christ. If we miss this, we may wonder about those churches that are destroyed by God Himself. But the even greater wonder is the depth of God’s commitment to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Take a moment to meditate on verse 10 and know for certain that nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Read or Sing Hymn 598 “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” Prayer: Please pray for Courtney as she has surgery today.
Thursday (12/29) Read and discuss John 4:19-42. Bringing in the harvest is a time of great joy for farmers. It is a time of great joy for Christians too … if we will only get past the obstacles that the world, the flesh, and the devil put in our way. Sometimes we are put off by racial and social bigotry. The truth is that we tend to value the experiences of those who are most like us and to discount the struggles and joys of those who are most culturally different. The Jews in Jesus’ day certainly didn’t seem too concerned about how the mass of Samaritans would face the final judgment – but Jesus cared. He used this as an object lesson to His disciples about how they show engage in spreading the good news to disciple all the people groups. Perhaps the more common barrier to our engagement in our Lord’s harvest is that we are consumed with the business of life and then are lulled into inaction by the promise of tomorrow. But the promised “some-day” never seems to come. Chuck Swindoll offers this insightful observation:
I notice that people actively engaged in evangelism lack many of the attitudes that destroy churches. The joy of their call keeps them from arguing over the worth of people. The priority of their call inspires them to handle the details of life quickly and to move on to more pressing matters, such as the ingathering of souls. The urgency of their call prods them to overcome procrastination and to make the most of their opportunities. …
If you will allow me to switch metaphors, people actively engaged in evangelism are like people on the front lines of battle. One of my Marine Corps friends, who had seen more than his share of combat, once remarked, “The men on the front lines never complained about the food; it was the guys farthest from the battle who grumbled the most when standing in the chow line!” Life-and-death struggle has a way of keeping things in perspective.
Admittedly, evangelism isn’t war. Nevertheless, the principle remains the same. If we wait until prejudice, pettiness, or procrastination is no longer an issue, we will never enter the harvest. We are called to reap; therefore, we must obey. Once we have moved into the front lines, nagging hindrances quickly fade away.
Read or sing Hymn: 585 “Take My Life, and Let It Be” Prayer: Ask that the LORD would lead people to our congregation who would be blessed by becoming a part of our Church family.
Friday (12/30) Hosea 11:12-12:6. Beginning with verse 2 of chapter 12, Hosea looks at Israel through the lens of how their Patriarch first received the name Jacob. James Montgomery Boice writes:
Jacob was a twin, born to Isaac and Rebekah. His brother was Esau. Genesis tells us that the two babies were struggling with each other in Rebekah’s womb before the birth and that when they were born, although Jacob was born second and was therefore technically the younger brother, he emerged grasping Esau’s heel (Jacob’s name means “heel grasper”).
“To grasp the heel” also meant to go behind one’s back in order to deceive or trick him, and this became the dominant characteristic of the man. Jacob was always second – second in his birth, in strength, in the favor of his father. But he was always trying to use his wits to trick and thus get ahead of the one before him. Although Hosea does not mention it specifically, every Jewish reader would be aware of Jacob’s cheating his brother Esau of his birthright and of the all-important deathbed blessing of their father.
What Hosea does say is that Jacob “struggled with God”. He thought he could handle God the same way he was always trying to handle other people. He thought he could trick God or at least manipulate Him to do what he wanted.
This is the point at which the story comes him. For what better describes the religion of Israel and Judah (at at times unfortunately even ourselves) than the attempt to use God. Israel and Judah thought that if they went through the prescribed religious rituals – prayer, sacrifice, feast days – this would inevitably bind God to them and oblige Him to prosper and protect them, regardless of what their true spiritual or moral sate should be. People think like this today. They think that if they go through the forms of religion, God will be obliged to prosper them. Thus, although they do not really love or faithfully obey Him, they are always shocked when disciplines of any sort come back on them.
Recite the Nicene Creed. Prayer: Prayer: Please lift up those who are facing the new year without jobs that they would hope in the LORD and that he would provide them with opportunities for meaningful work.
Saturday (12/31) Read and discuss 1 Corinthians 3:5-9. It is amazing how easily the Church becomes like the world. In theory, everyone should be serving one another simply out of a desire to be a blessing and to glorify Christ who called us into His family. Nevertheless, it is very easy for us to start wanting to receive the credit for what we do or to become jealous over the appreciation that is given to one of our brothers or sisters because we aren’t receiving “our fair share.” Furthermore, the contemporary evangelical situation in North America is one where we have turned some of God’s servants into celebrities. We don’t say, “I am of Paul” or “I am of Apollos”; but there are many who virtually say: “I am of Piper” or “I am of Sproul”. Paul’s point isn’t that we shouldn’t e grateful for such gifted teaches but it is that we should remember that all of us are simply farm hands working in the LORD’s field. Furthermore, by saying “He who plants and he who waters are one” – Paul is making the organic unity of all God’s farm hands absolutely clear. We should also be careful to rightly understand Paul’s expression: “For we are God’s fellow workers.” As Richard Hays reminds us:
This does not mean here (in contrast to 2 Corinthians 6:1) that he and Apollos are coworkers with God; rather, as the whole burden of the passage would suggest, they are fellow workers together under the authority of God, belonging to God. And the church, to complete the metaphor, is God’s field. What matters is the fruitful cultivation of the harvest.
”Read or sing Hymn 670 “If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee” Prayer: Please lift up tomorrow’s morning and evening worship services.
