Guide for the Preparation for Worship on 6 January 2013 Sunday, Dec 30 2012

MVOPC 6 January 2013

Call to Worship: Psalm 66:1-4

Opening Hymn: 55 “To God Be the Glory”

Confession of Sin

Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred and strayed from Your ways like lost sheep.  We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.  We have offended against Your holy laws.  We have left undone those things which we ought to have done.  And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us.  But You, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.  Spare those, O God, who confess their faults.  Restore those who are penitent; According to Your promises declared to mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord.  And grant, O most merciful Father; For His sake; That we may hereby live a godly, righteous, and sober life;  To the glory of Your holy name.  Amen

Assurance of Pardon: Psalm 78:38-39

Old Covenant Reading:  2 Chronicles 36:1-16

New Covenant Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Hymn of Preparation: 84 “Under the Care of My God, the Almighty”

Sermon Text: Daniel 1:1-21

Sermon: Steadfast in the Storm

Hymn of Response: 558 “That Man is Blest Who, Fearing God”

Confession of Faith: Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 1

Doxology (Hymn 732)

Closing Hymn: 562 “All to Jesus I Surrender”

PM Worship: Acts 16:1-10 – The Beat Goes On

Adult Sunday School: 7 Toxic Ideas: Technopoly

Suggested Preparations 

Monday (12/31) Read and discuss Daniel 1:1-21. One of the purposes of the book of Daniel is to show us how to live by faith when times are tough. Daniel and his friends had been taken captive by the Babylonians and were being put through a type of re-education camp.  The purpose of this training was to shift the way these Jewish boys thought about the world and to have them embrace the Babylonian culture. While Christians in North America have not undergone this sort of persecution, as Iain Duguid points out, we still need to wrestle with the very same issues:

As citizens of heaven, Christians live as aliens and strangers in a land that is not their own, and there are times when the world’s enmity to the people of God becomes evident. The hostility of the world is often shown in the efforts it makes to squeeze us into its mold. It wants to make us conform to its values and standards and not to stick out from the crowd. The pressure is on us, in school and at work, to be like everyone else in the way that we dress and the language that we use. We are expected to laugh at certain kinds of jokes and gossip about certain kinds of people. If we want to get on and be promoted in the world of business, we are pressured to leave our values and religious beliefs at the front entrance and to live a lifestyle entirely assimilated to the business community. We are expected to value the things the surrounding culture values, to pursue passionately its glittering prizes, and generally to live in obedience to its idols. We have to choose daily whether to be part of this world in which we live, or to take the difficult path of standing against it.

How do you cope in the midst of the brokenness and alienation that is life here on earth? What truths can you cling to when the jagged edges of existence are twisting against you and cutting into your flesh? What do you need to know to live a life of faith in an alien world, a world that is frequently a place of sickness and pain, of broken relationships and bitter tears, of sorrow and death? These are the questions to which the Book of Daniel will give us the answers. It is a book written to God’s Old Testament people, Israel, when they were experiencing the brokenness and pain of life in exile, far away from home. It was designed to encourage them in their walk with God, who was with them in the midst of their pain.

Read or sing 55 “To God Be the Glory” Prayer: Please pray for our brothers and sisters who live in predominantly Islamic countries. Ask that the LORD would protect them from harm, but also that He would strengthen them to face even the severest persecution by trusting in Him. Pray that Christ would open doors for the building of His Church in those areas that seem most mired in the darkness of Islam.

Tuesday (1/1) Read and discuss Mark 9:33-37. The Disciples were like men who try to excel at golf by achieving higher and higher scores. Every human being who has ever lived wants to make a meaningful contribution to a truly significant undertaking. That is the way God created us. The question is, “what does genuine significance look like?” Jesus invites a child to stand in the middle of them and says, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” It would be easy to conflate this saying with Christ’s previous admonition for the Disciples to make themselves “last of all” – but that is not quite the point that Jesus is making.  He is not here calling His disciples to become like children He is encouraging us to receive children in His name. To get His point we have to understand that children had absolutely no status in the first century.  Largely they were to be seen and not heard (Remember how Christ’s disciples tried to keep the children from disturbing their busy Master.  That reflected the established pattern of relating to children in first century Palestine and Rome). In fact, children were normally considered to be beneath the servants and slaves in the social pecking order. As Paul put it “I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave (Galatians 4:1).” But who would want to go through any effort to receive a person with no more status than that of a slave? Jesus would. Jesus did.  In calling us to receive a child in His name our Jesus is calling us to become like our Lord. What could be more exalted than that? Prayer: Ask that the LORD will lead you to greater faithfulness and joy in the coming year.

Wednesday (1/2) Read and discuss 2 Chronicles 36:1-16. Today’s passage helps us understand the background of the book of Daniel which, Lord willing, we will be looking at for the next several months on Sunday mornings. On the geopolitical level, the southern kingdom of Judah in the sixth century was a small time player being dragged back and forth between the superpowers of its day. The dreaded nation of Assyria had been conquered by the Babylonians but that didn’t mean that Judah would enjoy peace. They occupied the strip of land between the Egyptian and Babylonian empires, and both of these nations felt free to push around this tiny group of Jews as they saw fit. In verse four, we see that Egypt had become so intrusive into Jewish affairs that it was deciding who would sit on the throne in Jerusalem. Verses nine through thirteen show us how quickly events had turned. Babylon was now the empire that was plundering Judah’s wealth and demanding loyalty from the Jewish king. As dramatic as these events were, the Chronicler is more interested in how God’s hand was behind these events. King after king is described with the words “he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD (vv. 5, 9, and 12).” This section ends with a description of how the people were spurning their God:

The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Therefore, as we begin to look at God’s people who were exiled to Babylon, we should remember that this was not some unfortunate event when bad things happened to good people. The Babylonian exile was God’s judgment upon a people who had forsaken Him. How can we live as a faithful remnant as part of a people who are under God’s judgment? The book of Daniel will teach as that as well. Read or sing Hymn 84 “Under the Care of My God, the Almighty” Prayer: Ask that the LORD would grant you a gentle spirit and the ability to be content in all circumstances because you have Him as your Father.

Thursday (1/3) Read and discuss 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. The early church fathers frequently used a striking image for the Church by comparing it to Noah’s Ark. There is much to be said in favor of this image. One wit has suggested that, like the Ark, if it wasn’t for the storm raging outside none of us could stand the smell on the inside. Thankfully, that is not the universal experience of Christians. The reason why the Ark imagery can be so helpfully is because when the LORD saves people He grafts them into His family. In spite of contemporary Western attitudes the time honored saying is clearly Biblical: “Ordinarily there is no salvation outside of the Church.” Nevertheless, all images are subject to abuse. The comparison of the Church to Noah’s Ark is helpful for directing people toward joining the Church but is perverted if we come to imagine that this means everyone within the Church is in fact saved.  Instead of such a scheme teaching salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, it teaches that salvation is by formal church membership.  This view has returned time and again to plague Christ’s Church. In the Middle Ages this view spawned the idea of implicit faith. Where the priests and well educated might be expected to have a personal faith in Jesus the laity could be saved without personally having faith in God or an understanding of what He had done in sending His Son simply be being church members and thereby sharing in the faith of the whole Church.  Obviously such a view is not taught in the Bible. Amazingly, a variant of this view has broken out in North America in the 21^st century amongst some who are on the fringes of Reformed Christianity. This variant wants to insist on the objectivity of membership within the covenant community. Some of these men are simply recovering a high view of the Church while others seem to be downplaying the need for individual regeneration and explicit personal faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul’s answer to this view is uncompromising. In effect he asks: “Have you never read your Bibles?” Virtually every adult who the LORD delivered from Egypt died in the wilderness due to their unbelief. Furthermore, most of Israel’s history from the time of Joshua to the time of the Babylonian exile was marked out by immorality and idolatry.  Privilege meant responsibility it did not guarantee salvation. “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” Let us heed this example and cling to Christ out of genuine confidence in Him. Read or sing Hymn 558 “That Man is Blest Who, Fearing God” Prayer: Ask that the LORD would grant you, along with your brothers and sisters at MVOPC, the courage to walk in the light and to stand for the light.

Friday (1/4) Read and discuss Acts 16:1-10.  The LORD rarely makes clear all of the steps that lie before us. Some of us find it strangely comforting to realize that even the Apostle Paul, as he carried out God’s plan to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, wrestled with this issue. N.T. Wright comments:

So off they set, Paul, Silas and Timothy. But where were they to go next? A natural route would have been to continue westwards, eventually coming down the Lycus valley past Laodicea and the other towns there and emerging at the coast at Ephesus. But the Holy Spirit had told them they were not to preach the word in Asia, the Roman province with occupied the whole western end of modern Turkey. So they headed north up through Galatia (Derbe, Lystra, and the other towns on the first journey are in the south of Galatia), and then west into the region of Phrycia. It’s quite some way; we are talking about a couple of hundred miles, depending on which route they took. Two hundred miles on foot takes two or three weeks at the very least; what did the little company think they were doing, and where did they suppose they were going? This must have been something of a testing time for all of them, with Paul and Silas establishing a partnership, and Timothy, as the younger colleague, getting to know them but wondering what on earth he had let himself in for. It’s one thing to trust God’s guidance when it’s actually quite obvious what to do next. It’s something else entirely when you seem to be going on and on up a blind alley.

It got worse. They came to north-west Turkey, and concluded that maybe God wanted them to go into Bithynia, the Roman province that ran along the north edge of Turkey, on the south shore of the Black Sea. Wrong again: ‘The Spirit of Jesus’, says Luke, ‘didn’t let them.’ (How did they know? Was this a specific word of prophecy which one of them received? Or was it a deep, growing, internal conviction?) Well, there was a only one way left: down to the coast at Troas. What are we doing here? Troas is in the province of Asia, and we’ve been told not to preach here. It seems that at this stage they had all been thinking of developing a work from within Turkey, which was after all where two of them, Paul and Timothy, came form in the first place.

And then it happened. A vision at night. Paul sees a man from – Macedon! Northern Greece! Across the sea and into a totally new area! ‘Come over and help us!’ pleads the man. The weeks of walking a and waiting, of wondering and praying, had led to this. They weren’t going to do more primary evangelism in Turkey at all. They were off to Greece, crossing one of the great frontiers in the ancient, as in the modern world. This really would be breaking new ground.

Prayer: Pray that the LORD replace the false and cowardly shepherds in His Church with men after His own heart.

Saturday (1/5) Read and discuss Daniel 1:1-21. Why did Nebuchadnezzar provide such rich foods for the young men that he had taken into captivity? The answer is simple: He wanted to win these men over. He wanted them to become dependent upon his generosity and to see how good life could be in Babylon if they were willing to go along with the system. This contains an important lesson for us. Iain Duguid observes:

Isn’t this how Satan still operates today? He may violently persecute believers in some parts of the world, yet often he works more effectively by seducing and deceiving us into forgetting God and thinking that our blessings come from somewhere else.

Daniel and his friends do not rebel against the Babylonian government, but they do take steps to remind themselves that they are dependent upon God and not upon Nebuchadnezzar. Every time they would have eaten their meal of vegetables and water they would have had the opportunity to remember not only who they were but Whose they were. We need those sorts or reminders in our life as well. It may be something as simple as giving thanks before every meal. It includes reading God’s word, regular times of prayer, and the gathering together with the LORD’s people for corporate worship. The world will keep trying to squeeze us into its mold. If we do nothing about it, the world will succeed. Read or sing Hymn: 562 “All to Jesus I Surrender” Prayer: Please lift up tomorrow’s morning and evening worship services.

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Guide for the Preparation for Worship on 30 December 2012 Sunday, Dec 23 2012

MVOPC 30 December 2012 – Mr. Tom Powell Preaching

Call to Worship: Psalm 105:1-3

Opening Hymn: 22 “O That I Had a Thousand Voices”

Confession of Sin

Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred and strayed from Your ways like lost sheep.  We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.  We have offended against Your holy laws.  We have left undone those things which we ought to have done.  And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us.  But You, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.  Spare those, O God, who confess their faults.  Restore those who are penitent; According to Your promises declared to mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord.  And grant, O most merciful Father; For His sake; That we may hereby live a godly, righteous, and sober life;  To the glory of Your holy name.  Amen

Assurance of Pardon: Hebrews 10:15-18

Old Covenant Reading:  Genesis 14:17-24

New Covenant Reading: Revelation 21:1-8

Hymn of Preparation: 230 “Thou Who Wast Rich beyond All Splendor”

Sermon Text: Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon: Our Great High Priest

Hymn of Response: 507 “Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat”

Confession of Faith: Ten Commandments

Doxology (Hymn 732)

Closing Hymn: 243 “Praise the Savior Now and Ever”

PM Worship: Elder Peter Bacon Teaching

Adult Sunday School: TBA

Suggested Preparations 

Monday (12/24) Read and discuss Hebrews 4:14-5:10. One of the more difficult sayings in the book of Hebrews is that Jesus “learned obedience by what he suffered.” F.F. Bruce helps us get a handle on this truth when he writes:

In what sense, then, did the Son of God learn obedience “by what he suffered”? We know the sense in which the words are true of us; we learn to be obedient because of the unpleasant consequences which follow disobedience. It was not so with him. As we are told later (10:7), he announced his dedication to the doing of God’s will at his coming into the world. He set out from the start on the path of obedience to God, and learned by the sufferings which cam e his way in consequence just what obedience to God involved in practice in the conditions of human life on earth. Perhaps the obedient Servant of the Lord in Isaiah 50:4-9 was in our author’s mind. The Servant’s eagerness to pay heed to the voice of God exposes him to ridicule and ill-treatment, but he accepts this as something inseparable from his obedience: “The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting” (Isaiah 50:5ff). So the sufferings which Jesus endured were the necessary price of his obedience – more than that, they were part and parcel of his obedience, the very means by which he fulfilled the will of God.

Read or sing 22 “O That I Had a Thousand Voices” Prayer: Please lift up those devastated by the shooting in Newtown as they face Christmas bearing unspeakable loss. Pray that the LORD would send them comfort in the knowledge that He came into this world “to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.”

Tuesday (12/25) Read and discuss Matthew 2:1-12. One of the astonishing aspects of this story is the sheer apathy of the Jewish scribes and high priests. When asked where the Messiah was to be born, the answer just rolled off of their lips: “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet …” Yet, although Bethlehem was just six miles away, not one of them made the trip with the magi to see whether or not the Messiah had come. What were they thinking? I suspect they were thinking the same thing that many American churchgoers think today: Religion makes me feel good. A Messiah who demands that I take up my cross and follow Him, is more than a little bit inconvenient. I’ll stick with religion. That is why the Magi are such a strikingly good example for us. As Dan Doriani observes:

If we know the truth, we must act on it. People with knowledge and education are always tempted to rest content in that knowledge. But it is never enough to know the truth. If we truly know, we act. If we know who Jesus is, we worship him.

This is where the magi show the way. They knew one thing: the king of the Jews had been born. The scribes had more and better information than the magi did, but the magi acted on what they knew. They traveled to see the baby king. They left work, home, and family to follow a star for many months. They embarked on a perilous journey, traveling most likely on lumpy, foul-smelling camels, past brigands, through alien lands. They brought the most expensive gifts they could find. When they arrived, they worshiped, and then gave gifts. They know little, but acted on what little they knew.

Prayer: Give thanks that God humbled Himself and chose to become Immanuel – God with Us.

Wednesday (12/26) Read and discuss Genesis 14:17-24. Today’s passage reveals Abraham as his brother’s (lit. his nephew’s) keeper. Earlier Abraham had graciously given Lot the choice of the best lands. Now, Abraham comes to Lot’s rescue. The unfolding events also reveal something interesting: Abraham has become a great king in his own right. As various kings unite to wage war, Abraham is the one who comes out on top. For a brief moment he becomes king of the hill. What do you do when you are in a situation like that? Walter Brueggeman’s comments on this passage are insightful:

The encounter of Abraham with the King of Salem concerns taking booty from war and giving credit for victory. Abraham is victorious and apparently has captured an abundance of goods as well as people. The following exchange between the two parties is instructive.  Abraham refuses the invitation of the king to act in an acquisitive way. Instead, he makes a faith affirmation. He will not rely on the king nor give the appearance of relying on him. He will rely only on God whose name he knows and to whom he has sworn an oath. The well-being and prosperity which Abraham already has and which he is yet to receive is not to be credited either to military or political machinations, but only to the free gift of God.

Read or sing Hymn 230 “Thou Who Wast Rich beyond All Splendor” Prayer: Please lift up the troubled nation of Syria as it continues to be torn apart through civil war. Ask that the LORD would bring about a just peace and that the good news of the victory of Jesus Christ would spread throughout this land.

Thursday (12/27) Read and discuss Revelation 21:1-8. The Bible begins in a garden and ends in a city. That may come as a bit of a surprise to those of us who think that paradise restored might be something like a beach in Hawaii. So is Tim Keller right when he says, “If you don’t like cities you are not going to like the new heavens and the new earth”? Well, not exactly. What cities provide is an opportunity for large numbers of people to easily interact with one another for good or for ill. On the positive side, the degree of interaction and specialization that cities provide promotes economic growth through trade, exceptional educational opportunities, and generally the highest forms of a civilization’s culture. On the downside, social deviants who are shamed into behaving better in small towns are able to find peer groups in large cities that will affirm their perversions as though they were good. So, large modern cities like New York and London produce the extremes of human culture. On the one hand there is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, financial and business centers, and world class universities. On the other hand there are gangs, slums, homeless people, and every manner of perversion imaginable. But what if all the negative things were to be taken away and we were left with only the upside of cities? That is what God is promising to do in this passage:

And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. … He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. … To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

Yet, the most important thing about this city will not be its beauty or even that all its citizens will be entirely free from sin. The most important thing about the New Jerusalem is that God Himself will dwell there with His people:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. … The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Read or sing Hymn 507 “Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat” Prayer: Please pray for our brothers and sisters at Island Pond Baptist Church that the LORD would make them effective in bringing the gospel to the communities where they live and worship.

Friday (12/28) Read and discuss 2 Kings 5:1-19a. Today’s passage begins with an insignificant slave-girl and a great man, Naaman, who served as the commander of the army of the king of Syria. Right away we notice something interesting about Naaman. He was highly regarded by his king “because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria.” Before this gentile knows anything about Yahweh, let alone has come into a personal saving relationship with Him, Yahweh is using Naaman for God’s purposes and also preparing him by granting him high esteem in the eyes of his pagan king.  What we shouldn’t miss is that the LORD had been preparing the apparently insignificant Jewish slave-girl for this moment as well.  This young anonymous slave knew both Yahweh and his prophet Elisha – and this knowledge allowed her to transcend her circumstances.  How did she become a slave-girl to a pagan commander? We are told that this little girl had been taken captive when the Syrians mounted a successful raid against Israel. Imagine if that was you. How would you react if you were torn from your homeland and family to serve as a slave in the house of a pagan military commander? How would you have responded when you discovered your master had developed leprosy? A person who gave in to his or her fallen human nature would naturally say: “Ha! It serves him right for attacking the people of God. I hope this pagan dies a miserable death!” But that is not what this faithful Jewish girl does. She desires good for her master and she desires it in a way that would bring glory to the Living God. She said, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” There are at least three lessons that we can learn from this action:

1. Our primary calling is to be a blessing by pointing people toward the LORD and His means of grace. This includes being a blessing to those who curse us.
2. It is easy to feel insignificant and to think that our circumstances are keeping us from being used by the LORD – yet God is not hindered in the slightest by our circumstances. None of us is as powerless humanly speaking as this little slave-girl was, yet, at her word; one of the most important men in Syria goes to a foreign country to encounter God through His prophet. The LORD used this young woman to bring not only healing but salvation to this pagan general. Let’s stop complaining about our circumstances and simply be faithful right where we are.
3. There is an interesting contrast between this little girl and Gehazi who had the privilege of being the servant to one of the greatest men of God who has ever lived. Gehazi saw numerous miracles. He heard God’s word from Elisha’s lips. Yet, he brought judgment upon himself through unbelieving covetousness. Whereas the young slave-girl wanted to bless Naaman, Gehazi wanted to exploit him. The difference between this slave girl and Gehazi fundamentally comes down to this: While she knew and trusted God Gehazi didn’t. We sometimes make life far too complicated when at the heart of it all are the words from Habakkuk 2:4: “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Prayer: Ask that the LORD would teach you, and all your brothers and sisters at MVPC, the wisdom of forsaking the passing pleasures of sin in order to seek a city whose builder and maker is God.

Saturday (12/29) Read and discuss Hebrews 4:14-5:10. A consistently theme in the book of Hebrews is to note how much better Jesus is than anything we can find on earth. Today’s passage focuses on how exceedingly Christ’s Priesthood surpasses even that Levitical priesthood which had also been established by God. Donald Guthrie puts it like this:

The first feature of his high-priesthood is that it is not according to the order of Aaron. The writer goes to some pains to show the inadequacy of that order in Hebrews 5:1-4 and then immediately announces that Jesus is of a different order, that of Melchizedek, which he then develops in Hebrews 6:20-7:28. His exposition is based on Psalm 110, which itself goes back to the Genesis account (Genesis 14:18 ff.). … The following features are significant for an understanding of Christ’s priestly work:

1. The order of Melchizedek is continuous. It does not need a line of succession. It is, moreover, eternal. In this feature, it is clearly immeasurably superior to Aaron’s line. …
2. The qualifications of Jesus to be the true successor of Melchizedek are not based on tribal alignment as Aaron’s successors were. In any case, Jesus belonged to Judah, not Levi, and would not have qualified as an Aaronic priest. Bu the qualification for the order of Melchizedek is different – it is ‘the power of an indestructible life’ (Heb. 7:16), a qualification possessed by Christ alone.
3. Another feature that distinguishes Melchizedek’s order from Aaron’s is that it is a royal priesthood. The royal aspect of Christ’s priesthood is particularly seen in the several references to his enthronement (cf. Heb. 1:3; 8:1; 10:12). This factor adds considerable dignity to the high-priestly office of Christ.

Read or sing Hymn: 243 “Praise the Savior Now and Ever” Prayer: Please lift up tomorrow’s morning and evening worship services.

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Guide for the Preparation for Worship on 23 December 2012 Sunday, Dec 16 2012

MVOPC 23 December 2012

Call to Worship: Psalm 98:1-3

Opening Hymn: 203 “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

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: Romans 5:1-2

Old Covenant Reading: Isaiah 52:1-10

New Covenant Reading: Luke 2:1-20

Hymn of Preparation: 208 “O Come, All Ye Faithful”

Sermon Text: Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon: Kings Great and Small

Hymn of Response: 230 “Thou Who Wast Rich beyond All Splendor”

Confession of Faith: Nicene Creed, p. 846

Doxology (Hymn 732)

Closing Hymn: 195 “Joy to the World”

PM Worship: Matthew 2:13-23- The True Israel

Adult Sunday School: No Sunday School Today

Suggested Preparations 

Monday (12/17) Read and discuss Matthew 2:1-12. This passage introduces four major themes in the Gospel according to Matthew: (1) First, Jesus will be a Royal Messiah; (2) Second, God is controlling all the events through His providential hand; (3) Third, the Gentiles are going to be included among the Messiah’s people; and (4) Fourth, Jesus is the fulfillment of much Old Testament prophesy. Today we will look at the contrast between the Magi and the rulers of Israel. It is striking that the LORD led the Magi to travel over long distances on very incomplete information to pay homage to the new born King. This points forward to the fact that the whole world will one day worship Him (cf. Rev. 21:24, 26). Magi, in the ancient world, were a priestly cast of magicians and astrologers who were supposed to be the “wise men” of the country. They were therefore consulted by civil rulers and often used for diplomatic missions. They may have been familiar with some of the Hebrew Bible, but they didn’t know about Micah 5:2 for they follow the natural surmise that a king would be born in a capital and head off to Jerusalem. It doesn’t surprise us that the paranoid Herod would be deeply disturbed by the news of a newborn King; but we shouldn’t miss that all Jerusalem was troubled with him. So Herod gathers together the chief priests and the teachers of the law and inquires where the Messiah was to be born. They don’t miss a beat: “In Bethlehem of Judea” they reply, “for this is how it has been written by the prophet.” They all know the correct answer, but here is the amazing part: Although Bethlehem is only 6 miles from Jerusalem – not one of the chief priests or scribes bothers to go with the Magi to see where the Christ was to be born. The contrast is striking: Some traveled great distances and offered up gold and precious spices to worship Jesus while others wouldn’t even make the two hour walk to see Him. This antithesis carries through the gospel: the redemptive influence of Jesus will extend far beyond the confines of Jerusalem to the far corners of the earth, yet those closest to Jesus will reject him (Grant Osborne).” Read or sing 203 “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” Prayer: Please lift up the families in Newtown, Connecticut who have been devastated by last week’s mass murder.

Tuesday (12/18) Read and discuss Matthew 1:18-25. In order to understand the solution you have to understand the problem. What was it like to conceive of yourself as being part of the LORD’s chosen people when He hadn’t returned to Zion for more than four centuries? What was it like for a Jewish carpenter to live under the thumb of brutal Roman overlords (both Herod and his son Archelaus were unusually brutal compared to most Roman rulers)? What was it like to live in Judah when the majority of your fellow Jews had grown cold in the faith? C.S. Lewis beautifully captures this struggle when he describes Narnia without Asland (Jesus) as “always winter but never Christmas”. Yet, first century Judah wasn’t without some joys. There was still a remnant and Joseph was about to be married to a woman who by all accounts appeared to be a particularly godly woman. Then Joseph’s entire world came crashing down: She’s pregnant! How could that possibly be? All of his hopes and dreams had gone up in ashes. Nevertheless, Joseph seeks to be a man of God who does “justice, loves mercy, and walks humbly with his God (Micah 6:8).” It would not be easy. Nearly everyone in his town would think that Joseph had been guilty of fornication. But Joseph chose to suffer the abuse of his fellow men in order to seek the praise of God. Because of the astonishing news that he would be the step-father to Immanuel – Joseph (and all of the rest of us) have reason to sing joy to a world in a world that often seems like it is always winter and never Christmas. This week, as you take time to celebrate the coming of our LORD, remember to rejoice with a grateful heart. And remember to look forward in hope to the day when it will never be winter but it will always be Christmas. For you will dwell in the immediate presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. And you will be like Him, for you will see Him as He is. Prayer: Give thanks that Jesus came to take away our sins and to take us to Himself.

Wednesday (12/19) Read and discuss Isaiah 52:1-10. On the Fourth of July Americans celebrate Independence Day to commemorate when our nation first declared itself to be a sovereign power. Yet, even a cursory familiarity with history makes it difficult to paint the British Empire as tyrannical oppressors. Israel could only have wished that they had been “oppressed” in this way. Isaiah had lived through the assaults of the Assyrians, who were among the most brutal people who had ever lived. Then he prophesied of Judah being taken into the Babylonian captivity. While the Babylonians were more civilized than the Assyrians, they did force the majority of the Jewish people to move more than five hundred miles away to a strange land where they would have to do whatever the king of Babylon told them to do. Yet, Isaiah 52 is promising a freedom from this bondage. More than mere freedom, Israel would be lifted up and exalted. Isaiah was promising a second Exodus where the people would be delivered not only to freedom and security but to being the LORD’s true people:

Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.”

When would this glorious event take place? If we stopped reading here we could easily imagine that this might take place in the fifth century B.C. when the LORD would bring Israel back into their land. But if we keep reading through Isaiah 52 and 53 we see that this freedom, security, and joy is intimately tied up with the substitutionary death of the Suffering Servant. It is only with Christ’s victory over Satan, sin, and death that the Second Exodus is truly accomplished. Living on this side of redemption accomplished, let us lift our voices to sing of Christ’s victory and let us rejoice in the Good News that He brings. Read or sing Hymn 208 “O Come, All Ye Faithful” Prayer: Lift up someone who does not yet know the LORD and pray that Christ call him or her to become one of His people.

Thursday (12/20) Read and discuss Luke 2:1-20. In his sermon on this passage Calvin said:

We must regard ourselves as poor, helpless souls until we are comforted and made glad by the gospel. We should not look for peace anywhere else. Woe to us if we do! For if complacency were to lull us into a false sense of security, the devil would at once overwhelm us, entangling us in his snares and nets. We would be his prisoners, enslaved to him. Here, then, is a word worth remembering: We can never really rejoice until we are sure God loves us and is favourable to us, undeserving though we are. On that foundation we must build. Otherwise all our joys will turn to tears and to the gnashing of teeth.

The angel, however, announces not merely news of joy, but of great joy which will be for all the people. We should weigh these last words carefully. For if they were not there, we might think that what Luke records was only for the shepherds’ benefit. Instead, joy is something which will be poured out on all the people. The angel means of course the Jews, the chosen people. Now, however, as Paul says, the partition has been broken down, and Christ through the preaching of the gospel proclaims peace to those who were once far off, and peace to those who were near. the Jews were linked by covenant to God, who adopted them in the person of Abraham and who confirmed their adoption by giving them the Law. But now God has drawn near to us who were once far from him, and has determined to make the message of reconciliation universal.

Since the angle invites us to rejoice at the coming of Christ, not in any ordinary way but with unbounded delight, let us make the most of the message. What can we say about this joy? If we involve ourselves in worldly pleasures and are wholly absorbed by our own wants, we will never rejoice in the grace of Christ. Let the shepherds instead be our example. Their earthly lot did not change, despite the fact that they had heard the angel’s word and had witnessed the birth of God’s Son. They went back to their flocks exactly as before; they continued to live as poor men, guarding their herds. In terms of the flesh and of this passing world they gained nothing form the privilege which we read about here. For all that, they were full of joy. Theirs is a lead we should follow. For although the gospel might earn us neither wealth nor fame, and although it might not bring us gratification or amusement, nevertheless we should be glad that we are the objects of God’s favour. That is where true blessing and happiness lie, and where real rest is found.

Read or sing Hymn 230 “Thou Who Wast Rich beyond All Splendor” Prayer: Pray that the LORD would grant you the contentment that flows from finding your joy in Him.

Friday (12/21) Read and discuss Matthew 2:13-23.  Today’s passage is structured around three Old Testament passages and how they relate to Jesus. Because we know who Jesus is, we tend to not be surprised by these passages – but they are written in such a way that the attention is cast upon the baby (e.g. “take the child and his mother”). The most surprising of the Old Testament passages which Matthew uses is the first one taken from Hosea 11:1:

                        When Israel was a child, I loved him,

                                    and out of Egypt I called my son.

At first it may seem puzzling why the LORD would apply this passage to the baby Jesus. Yet, in this puzzle we discover a profound bit of theology. The remnant of Israel would ultimately come down to just one righteous person – Jesus so that He could be and do precisely what the nation had failed to be or accomplish. Israel was to be the servant of the LORD and a light to the gentiles – but they failed. Now the true Servant of the LORD (cf: Isaiah 53) would bring about true redemption and be the light of the world. God chose to reveal this truth by having Jesus recapitulate a portion of Israel’s history. Prayer: Please pray for those who are struggling financially as a result of the difficult economy we have wrestled with over the last for years. Pray that they would not mourn over what they do not have, but as we celebrate Christ’s birth realize that in Jesus we have the greatest gift of all.

Saturday (12/22) Read and discuss Matthew 2:1-12. On Monday we looked at the contrast between Israel’s earthly rulers and the Magi. Today we will look at the contrast between God/Jesus and Herod the Great. Herod was a paranoid and power hungry leader. Caesar Augustus once quipped that he would rather be Herod’s pig than his son. For, although Herod wouldn’t eat pork, he had put both his wife and his two sons to death out of fear that they were plotting against him. Herod’s entire approach to life was to cling to everything he could while destroying anything he imagined could be a threat. His approach to the Magi was neither to bless them nor to dismiss them but to use them. Herod treated other people as though they were things. By contrast, Jesus chose to leave the courts of heaven to be born in a humble family. Herod was focused on what he could get. Jesus was focused on what He could give. Nevertheless, the passage leaves us with absolutely no doubt about who is in charge. God had planned this moment from before the foundations of the world. He had predicted it through His prophet Micah. He was supernaturally guiding these gentile Magi to His Son through a special star, and He would warn them in a dream to not return to Herod. The paranoid Herod may have thought that he was in charge, but the unfolding events demonstrated that all the details of history are securely in the hands of the King of Kings. The passage also has clear echoes of Ezekiel 34:11-16. The false shepherds have scattered God’s people. But the Messiah has come at last to shepherd the nation back to God and to bring the gentiles into God’s one flock. Or to shift to the imagery from Daniel, in Christ, God had set up the stone that would grow into a great mountain that would ultimately fill all the earth. Read or sing Hymn: 195 “Joy to the World” Prayer: Please lift up tomorrow’s morning and evening worship services.

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Guide for the Preparation for Worship on 16 December 2012 Sunday, Dec 9 2012

MVOPC 16 December 2012

Call to Worship: Psalm 100:1-5

Opening Hymn: 14 “New Songs of Celebration Render”

Confession of Sin

Almighty God, Who are rich in mercy to all those who call upon You;  Hear us as we humbly come to You confessing our sins;  And imploring Your mercy and forgiveness.  We have broken Your holy laws by our deeds and by our words;  And by the sinful affections of our hearts.  We confess before You our disobedience and ingratitude, our pride and willfulness;  And all our failures and  shortcomings toward You and toward fellow men.  Have mercy upon us, Most merciful Father;  And of Your great goodness grant that we may hereafter serve and please You in newness of life;  Through the merit and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Titus 2:11-14

Old Covenant Reading: Isaiah 7:1-14

New Covenant Reading: Luke 1:26-38

Hymn of Preparation: 194 “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

Sermon Text: Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon: You Shall Call His Name Jesus

Hymn of Response: 196 “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”

Confession of Faith: Apostles’ Creed p. 845

Doxology (Hymn 732)

Diaconal Offering

Closing Hymn: 211 “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”

PM Worship: Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7 – On His Shoulders

Adult Sunday School: Fellowship Lunch – No Sunday School

Suggested Preparations

Monday (12/10) Read and discuss Matthew 1:18-25. One of the most moving contemporary songs about Christmas is called “Joseph’s Song” by Michael Card. This song looks at the extraordinary reality of Jesus growing up as a little boy through the eyes of his adoptive father. At one point the song has Joseph sing:

Father show me where I fit
into this plan of yours
How can a man be father

to the Son of God
Lord for all my life I’ve
been a simple carpenter
How can I raise a king, How
can I raise a king

As overwhelming as this may have seemed to Joseph, it pales in comparison to the decision he had to make when he received the astonishing news: Mary was pregnant! Legally, Joseph and Mary were already married. Normally marriages were arranged so that the man would be between 18 and 20 and the woman in her early teens. Joseph was in the process of trying to establish himself financially for his soon to be family. He would almost certainly have been in the process of physically building the home (perhaps a room on his parents’ house) for where he could take Mary and start their life together. As he fitted the stones together and erected the beams he must have constantly been dreaming about what their new life as a couple would be like. Now it was over before it ever really began. Mary was pregnant and not by him. This crisis dramatically reveals what sort of man Joseph was in three key decisions:

1. First, Joseph, because he was a righteous man sought to divorce Mary quietly. Whatever plans and dreams Joseph had needed to put aside in order for him to live consistently with the law of God. Please notice that Scripture does not pit being righteous against being compassionate. Joseph did not seek to torment Mary for her supposed sin by making her a public disgrace. He chose to do the right thing in a compassionate way.
2. Second, God chose to override Joseph’s decision. The Angel of the LORD appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that, in spite of Mary’s pregnancy, Joseph was to marry her anyway. We will look at what the Angel of the LORD told Joseph on Saturday.
3. Third, Joseph chose to obey God’s word. There is a beautiful touch in how Joseph does this. In verse 25 we are told that “he called his name Jesus.” In naming Jesus, Joseph claimed him as his own son. We are prone to pass over this fact too easily but we shouldn’t forget that the Angel of the LORD appeared only to Joseph in a dream. He did not appear to the whole town. Taking Mary to be his wife would open Joseph up to the scorn of all his neighbors. Undoubtedly, most of them would think that Jesus was Joseph’s son born under illicit circumstances. But Joseph chose to suffer the contempt of man for a time because he was committed to seeking His praise not from man but from God. Joseph was a righteous man. “Mary’s obedience in Luke 1 is the same, so we see what kind of pious, God-fearing parents Jesus had, who are models for us all (Grant Osborne).”

Read or sing 14 “New Songs of Celebration Render” Prayer: Please pray for the troubled nation of Syria that continues to be torn apart by civil war.

Tuesday (12/11) Read and discuss Proverbs 30:24-28. Proverbs are pithy memorable sayings that, when heeded, help us live wiser and more productive lives. Here are four helpful guidelines to remember when reading the Proverbs:

1.  Biblical wisdom is not a purely intellectual affair. It is meant to be lived out in our lives. Therefore, it is a mistake to simply read the Proverbs and say: “That was interesting.” After you read a Proverb you need to turn it around in your mind and think about what it means practically in your life and then try to find as many ways as possible where you can apply this truth for wise living.
2. Proverbs are often not true if taken woodenly even though they are teaching important truths for our lives. We can illustrate this reality with a modern proverb: “Every gun is loaded.” Taken in a woodenly literal way this proverb is obviously false. There are lots of unloaded guns. But that isn’t the point of the proverb. It is intended to teach us that for safety’s sake we ought to treat every gun as though it were loaded. Well why didn’t we just say that? Because “Every gun is loaded” is much more memorable (and therefore more likely to be remembered and applied) than saying “gun safety is important.” Remembering that “every gun is loaded” may keep you for blowing out a window in a house or shooting your foot off.
3. God gave us the wisdom of Proverbs because He cares about all the details of our lives. He cares about how we make friends and treat our parents as we grow up. He cares that we manage our finances wisely and learn how to be a good employee. God cares that we learn how to listen and the dangers of talking too much. The King wants His children to live wisely and therefore has given us instruction on how to do so.
4. When Proverbs are wrenched out of their Biblical context they can become disastrous snares. For example, today’s passage includes a lesson from the ant about delayed gratification and storing up for the future. The Biblical context includes the reality that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”, a call to generosity, and the reality that this life is by no means all that there is. Wrenched out of the broader redemptive story-line of Scripture, a person could imagine that he or she is putting this proverb into practice while, in fact, living like a complete fool. Jesus drives home this point by telling a parable:

“The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Prayer: Ask the LORD to give you wisdom to live today in light of eternity.

Wednesday (12/12) Read and discuss Isaiah 7:1-14. One time C.S. Lewis was talking with a colleague in his study at Oxford when a group of students began singing Christmas carols outside his window. His colleague condescendingly said something like, “These are Oxford University students. Don’t they realize that virgins don’t give birth?” To which Lewis dryly replied, “Don’t you think they already know that?” Odd, isn’t it, that, having heard the Christmas story so often, people sometimes forget what a spectacular miracle the virgin conception was? Indeed, it was nothing less than a new creation of the Second Adam. Over the past two centuries many have attempted to strip the miraculous from Scripture. One place where such “scholars” seem to have gained traction is with respect to Isaiah 7:14. At first this may seem odd. Since Matthew and Luke clearly and repeatedly declare that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived in her womb, what is the point of arguing that Isaiah 7:14 merely speaks of a young woman giving birth and not a virgin? The answer is that it is extremely embarrassing to liberals that God would promise the virgin concept seven centuries before it happened. Oddly, many conservatives have tended to take the liberals at their word and have become very tentative at suggesting that Isaiah 7:14 speaks of the virgin conception of Christ. Nevertheless, there are really strong (even compelling) reasons for holding to the traditional understanding:

1. Although liberals have repeatedly asserted that the Hebrew word ‘alma simply means “young woman” no one has ever produced a single example in either biblical or extra-biblical Hebrew where the person referred to was not a virgin. As the Old Testament scholar J. Alec Motyer observes: “Wherever the context allows a judgment, ‘alma is is not a general term meaning ‘young woman’ but a specific one meaning ‘virgin’.”
2. The Septuagint translation of the Old Testament into Greek (done in the two centuries prior to Christ) translates ‘alma with the Greek term parthenon which everyone recognizes means virgin. This is the same term used by Matthew and Luke in the New Testament to record Christ’s virgin conception.
3. Matthew 1:23 quotes Isaiah 7:14 as being about the birth of Jesus.
4. Consider how dramatic a sign the LORD promises to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” As Homer Hailey put it, what is in view is “a sign so momentous that only Jehovah could give it.” Then ask yourself this question: “How dramatic a sign is it that a young woman would bear a son?” The fact is, not only would a young woman bearing a son not be a particularly dramatic sign – it wouldn’t be a sign at all.  Young woman have children the natural way all the time.
5. If we keep reading from Isaiah 7 through chapter 9 we can trace some interesting details about the child that will be born to this woman: (1) He will be called Immanuel – meaning “God with us” (7:14); (2) In 8:8 he is called Immanuel again and the Land is described as His Land. (3) It is impossible to separate this child from the description in Isaiah 9:6-7 where the child is also described Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. There simply is no way that an ordinary child in Isaiah’s time could have fulfilled all of this – even as a type of the Christ who was to come.

“Following these pointers, we have a sign that lives up to its promise. Heaven and earth will be truly moved. Isaiah foresaw the birth of the divine son of David and also laid the foundation for understanding the unique nature of his birth (Motyer).” Read or sing Hymn 194 “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” Prayer: Give thanks that God chose to be born as a human baby to live with us, to live for us, and to redeem us.

Thursday (12/13) Read and discuss Luke 1:26-38. This story is about Jesus. The Bible does give us a great deal of information about many people, but they are in the biblical narrative primary to help us see: (1) Who God is; and (2) How we should respond to and live in light of who God is. Today’s passage is no different. The Lutheran scholar Arthur Just, Jr. points out that “the brevity of the sketch of Mary as a person is arresting; the only significant piece of information is her status as a ‘virgin,’ which is referred to twice in 1:27. The weight of the text falls not on Mary herself, but upon her miraculous conception.” Just goes on to show that he literary structure of this passage forms a chiasm with the virgin conception at the center framed by the designations of the Messiah whom she would conceive:

A1. Mary is going to conceive.

B1. Designations of the Messiah

Jesus

The child will be great

Son of the Most High

King over the house of Jacob forever

C.  The virgin will conceive.

Mary’s question: “How will this be, since

I do not know a man?”

Gabriel’s answer: “The Holy Spirit will come

upon you, and the power of the Most

High will overshadow you.”

B2.  Designations of the Messiah

The child to be born will be holy.

He will be called the Son of God

A2. Elizabeth has conceived in her old age.

As this structure makes clear, even in the section on the virgin birth, the emphasis is on the involvement of the Holy Spirit in conceiving the Messiah and not upon Mary herself. Matthew is keeping Christ where He belongs – at the center. Read or sing Hymn 196 “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” Prayer: Ask that the LORD would use the good news of Jesus which is found in so much Christmas music and Christmas cards to bring unbelieving family members and friends into His family.

Friday (12/14) Read and discuss Isaiah 9:1-7.  King Uzziah was an exceptional ruler. This is something that should not be taken for granted either in ancient Israel or in the modern world. To be led by a wise and godly ruler is a great blessing.  Furthermore, Uzziah reigned for 40 years.  Most of the people living in Israel at the time of his death had never lived under another king. Now Uzziah was dead. Would Israel revert to wicked rulers or even to chaos? Would her next king try to fleece the sheep rather than protect them? Isaiah tells us that “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” When the earthly king was dead and gone, Isaiah saw the King of Kings who lives and reigns forever.  So what? What good does it do us if there is a perfect ruler way off in a distance while we have to live with wicked rulers down here on earth?  First of all the Biblical portrait of God is of a Sovereign who is actively involved in even the apparently smallest aspects of creation – so that He cares even for the sparrows and the hairs on your head (Luke 12:6).  Secondly, our passage declares the glorious news that the LORD Himself is coming down to be with us as Immanuel – which means “God with us”. Rather than history moving from bad to worse, or even in cycles, God is guiding history forward.  With the coming of Christ He has established a new visible reign on earth.  According to verse 7, will this righteous government be defeated by the kingdoms of this world? According to the end of verse 7, how committed is the LORD to bringing about His own righteous reign on earth? Looking around, we do not yet see everything under Christ’s righteous rule.  While the Kingdom of God has come there are still many who love the darkness more than the light. Let us give thanks that this is not the end of the story.  Prayer: Lift up the children of our congregation and pray that each of them would become committed followers of Jesus Christ.

Saturday (12/15) Read and discuss Matthew 1:18-25. The story of Christ’s miraculous conception is beautiful and moving, but does it really make any difference in the way that we think? A surprising number of New Testament scholars treat the virgin conception as a nice story that we could very well get on without. But they are wrong. At the heart of today’s passage is the truth of Jesus’ title Immanuel – God with us. Consider the rich theology found in the Angel’s message to Joseph on why he should still take Mary to be his wife. We should remember that all his life Joseph had been called Joseph bar Jacob (which means Joseph the son of Jacob). Yet the Angel immediately introduces messianic overtones by calling him Joseph son of David. Then he says:

            Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,

for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit,

and she will give birth to a son,

and you are to call his name Jesus

for he will save his people from their sins.

Furthermore, this was going to fulfill the word of God which was given through the prophet Isaiah:

Look, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son.

And they will call his name ‘Immanuel,’

which means ‘God with us.’

This passage makes it clear that Jesus’ origins (the Greek word is “genesis”) come uniquely from God and that in Christ we will experience God’s saving presence. It is not without meaning that Matthew begins his account of the Gospel with the origins of the one called Immanuel. The very last words of Matthew come from our Lord when He tells His disciples: “Look, I am with you always, even until the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20).” Read or sing Hymn: 211 “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” Prayer: Please lift up tomorrow’s morning and evening worship services.

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Guide for the Preparation for Worship on 9 December 2012 Sunday, Dec 2 2012

MVOPC 9 December 2012

Call to Worship: Psalm 96:1-3

Opening Hymn: 55 “To God Be the Glory”

Confession of Sin

Most holy and merciful Father; We acknowledge and confess before You;  Our sinful nature prone to evil and slothful in good;  And all our shortcomings and offenses.  You alone know how often we have sinned; In wandering from Your ways;  In wasting Your gifts;  In forgetting Your love.  But You, O Lord, have pity upon us; Who are ashamed and sorry for all wherein we have displeased You.  Teach us to hate our errors; Cleanse us from our secret faults; And forgive our sins for the sake of Your dear Son.  And O most holy and loving Father; Help us we beseech You; To live in Your light and walk in Your ways; According to the commandments of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.  Assurance of Pardon: Hebrews 2:17-18

Old Covenant Reading: Psalm 90:1-17

New Covenant Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Hymn of Preparation:  571 “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus”

Sermon Text: Proverbs 30:24-28

Sermon: No More Excuses!

Hymn of Response:  689 “Be Still, My Soul”

Confession of Faith:  Apostles’ Creed p. 845

Doxology (Hymn 732)

Closing Hymn: 691 “It Is Well with My Soul”

PM Worship: Acts 15:36-41 – Parting of the Ways

Adult Sunday School: Presentation by Missions Committee

Suggested Preparations

Monday (12/3) Read and discuss Proverbs 30:24-28. Today’s passage begins by observing that “Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise.” This introduction lets us know what the author is driving at. He wants us to learn something about wise living from these small creatures. As the individual examples make clear, the wisdom the Proverb has in mind is not that of academic philosophy but rather the wisdom of effective living. Furthermore, the smallness of these creatures takes center stage. Consider how insignificant ants appear to us. We may accidently crush several of them in a single step. If any creature could wander around making excuses for not accomplishing anything the ant would probably be one that we would give a free pass to. But, unlike some people, ants prepare for the future when times are good. In a similar manner, badgers make sure they have secure dwellings, locusts travel and do their work together, and lizards enjoy living in the finest homes. So what about us? If such apparently insignificant animals can display practical wisdom, how much more should we who have been created in the image of God. Let’s stop making excuses and get to work. Read or sing 55 “To God Be the Glory” Prayer: Ask the LORD to increase your effectiveness in the various callings that He has given to you.

Tuesday (12/4) Read and discuss Psalm 3:1-8. This psalm arises from the time David was driven from the throne by his son Absalom. It is also about faith triumphing over fear. It can be helpful to distinguish productive fear from destructive fear. If you are standing in the middle of the road with an onrushing car, fear will cause you to focus your energies on getting out of the way. That is productive fear. It is focused on a specific incident and helps protect something which is good. Productive fear ends quickly after the threat has passed. Yet, sometimes, a scary incident penetrates into our sense of self so that our whole life seems to be fragile. The resulting anxiety is diffused rather than specific, ongoing rather than temporary, and ultimately destructive to both our physical and mental health. David was experiencing both types of fear when he fled Jerusalem for his life, so he dealt with his fears by turning to the LORD in prayer. Verse three is critical. In verses one and two David pours out his heart about the current state of his life. Then we come to verse three and find it begins with that beautiful word – “But …” which leads David to do three things which we should also do when wracked with anxiety:

1. David remembers where his security lies. Obviously meditating on Genesis 15, David calls out to the LORD as his comprehensive shield. This doesn’t mean that God would keep David from trouble. After all, the only people who need a shield are people who are going into battle. What it does mean is that nothing could happen to David (or to you!) apart from the permission of our Loving Father who is working all things for our good and His glory.
2. David reorients his identity. He calls God “my glory.” Glory in the Old Testament carries the idea of significance or weight. We tend to find our significance in things like our vocations, our family and friends, our social position, and our wealth. David had all those forms of significance temporarily washed away while being run out of town by a coup which was led by his own son. By calling the LORD “my glory” David was laying hold to the fact that ultimately his identity wasn’t to be found in the things, relationships, or responsibilities that God gave to him but in God Himself.
3. David remembers that God is for him. When we are proud of our accomplishments we hold our heads up high. But when a young child feels ashamed or that he has failed at something – he will naturally let his head drop. What does a loving parent do? His father or mother will reach out a hand and gently lift the boys head. It is a way of saying, “I still love you and am proud of you.” It is a way of offering tender comfort. David is saying that is what God is doing for him.

We can summarize the three things that David does in verse three by calling them faith. Simply put faith triumphs over fear. But faith only triumphs over fear if you have it, if you build it, and if you use it. Let’s put faith into practice today for the glory of the one who is completely trustworthy. Prayer: Please lift up the Session of our church as it meets this evening.

Wednesday (12/5) Read and discuss Psalm 90:1-17. At first blush, this might not appear to be the most encouraging Psalm in the Bible. Moses speaks of how fleeting our life is, how the LORD sees all our sins, and that He will cause us to return to the dust. These are not the sentiments we normally hear at a High School graduation ceremony – but maybe they should be. For rather than being a cause for despair, grasping the transient nature of this life is a cornerstone of having a truly meaningful life. At different points in our journey, we all recognize that all our dreams will not come true simply because we have them. The classic American mid-life crisis is simply the realization that we are not going to become astronauts, renowned scientists, or many of the other things we dreamed of in our youth. Most of us don’t have to wait until mid-life for this reality to set in. So we fight against it by placing our hopes in things that promise to make life meaningful or through “entertaining ourselves to death” in an effort to escape reality. Today’s psalm offers us a far more fruitful approach. Moses begins by claiming that the Eternal God is the dwelling place for His people and ends by calling out to the LORD to establish the work of our hands. We were created by and for God and our only hope for lasting significance lies in Him. As the poem by missionary C.T. Studd puts it: “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” Read or sing Hymn 571 “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” Prayer: Lift up the children of our congregation and pray that they will make their days matter rather than frittering them away after the world’s amusements.

Thursday (12/6) Read and discuss 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. The Corinthians loved power religion. They wanted their religious leaders to be sophisticated, polished, and even powerful and they wanted religion to make them that way as well. Americans also love power religion. This is why so many people flock to “churches” that proclaim that God wants all of His followers to be healthy and wealthy. It is also why, in even more Biblically orthodox congregations, the ratio of guest speakers who are famous athletes or celebrities of some sort or other to retail clerks and janitors is extremely high. Does that really reflect God’s value system? Such power religion runs into problems as soon as people get sick or injured and are not quickly cured. Most Christians have wrestled with the challenge of Christian suffering. Some have been greatly discouraged as they wondered if God would heal them if they only had more faith. Today’s passage reveals how misguided such theology is with a simple truth: God cares less about your short-term happiness and more about your long-term holiness and usefulness. We don’t know what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was – but anything described as a “thorn-in-the-flesh” must be pretty miserable. Paul, knowing that Jesus loved Him, pleaded three times that this painful reality be taken away from him – and three times he was told “No!” The reason is that the thorn was serving two good purposes in Paul’s life. (1) First, the very thing which Paul found so annoying was a gift from God intended to keep him humble. Think about that the next time the LORD denies your request to remove some pain or annoyance from your life. Perhaps your struggle with that weakness is keeping you from becoming puffed-up and therefore good for nothing. (2) Second, Paul’s thorn-in-the-flesh was counter intuitively making him even more fruitful for the Kingdom of God. This is counter intuitive because we all naturally imagine that if we had better health, greater resources, or better opportunities we could accomplish far more for God. But that is not the way things actually work. Imagine trying to show off a beautiful diamond. Would you place it over the top of an exquisite piece of crystal? Of course not! You place a diamond over a black cloth so that the facets of the diamond will stand out all the more. The same is true with our lives. If the LORD allowed us to be super-stars in the eyes of the world the world would be inclined to give us the credit. It is in our weakness that the surpassing power of God is most clearly on display. That is why Paul had learned to say:

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Read or sing Hymn 689 “Be Still, My Soul” Prayer: Ask the LORD to teach you the contentment that flows from seeking His honor rather than your own.

Friday (12/7) Read and discuss Acts 15:36-41.  One of the great temptations of commentators is the enticement to read between the lines with our imaginations. Today’s passage fosters a simple debate: Who was in the right Barnabas or Paul? Yet, one of the keys to being a good reader of Scripture is learning to question our questions. There are absolutely no hints in the text that either or both parties were sinning in the midst of this heated debate. That doesn’t mean they weren’t sinning. We simply are not told. It is worthwhile for us to consider the reality that Christians can have passionate disagreements with each other about some things without doing anything wrong. In fact, the placement of this division immediately after the Jerusalem Council had achieved doctrinal unity over the question of Gentile inclusion in the Church suggests one possibility: The Holy Spirit may be highlighting acceptable diversity within necessary unity. Just because you are called to love all of your brothers and sisters in Christ does not mean that you should be willing to start a business with any of them. In a similar way, just because the LORD might be leading me to do personal evangelism by knocking on doors or handing out tracks doesn’t mean that He is calling you to do it with me. Lord willing, we will look at the principles behind Barnabas’ and Paul’s respective positions on Sunday evening. Both of these positions can be quite persuasive. Instead of assuming that one of these brothers must have been desperately wrong, it may be better for us to see that through each pursuing the path they thought was best the LORD multiplied their ministry with both John Mark and Silas becoming key servants in evangelizing and discipling the Gentiles. This reality should prevent us from thinking we must imitate some other person’s ministry. It should also encourage us to pray for those who are trying to build the Kingdom in ways that differ from our own. Prayer: Please pray for our brothers and sisters at Island Pond Baptist Church that they would grow in their understanding of God’s word and be effective at proclaiming Christ in their communities.

Saturday (12/8) Read and discuss Proverbs 30:24-28. Today’s passage may seem like a quaint call for us to return to the work ethic of an earlier time. We would be wise to remember that this practical wisdom is a gift from God to us. Only a fool would ignore God’s insights on how to live. Anthony Selvaggio comments:

Where did that work ethic come from? Did it simply spring out of the American character, as men and women eager for freedom and a new start poured into the New World from every corner of the globe? Actually, it began a little earlier than that.

The concept of a work ethic goes all the way back to the book of beginnings – Genesis. We see in Genesis that God is a God who works. He created the world in six days and rested from his work on the seventh day. When God created man he made us in his own image and likeness; that is, we share some of his attributes. One way in which we resemble God is that, like him, we are to engage in work. The biblical work ethic was established when God commanded Adam to subdue the earth and to “work” the garden. The Bible shows us that work is not a curse, nor is it a product of sin, but rather it was given to man as a blessing – even before Adam and Eve sinned. Yes, the curse has made our work harder. There are now thorns and thistles and we work the ground by the sweat of our brow. But work itself is not part of the curse, rather it is a calling and blessing from God. Therefore, we should pursue our work with faithfulness and vigor in order to bring glory to the One who gave us this calling. This is the heart of the Biblical work ethic.

Read or sing Hymn: 691 “It Is Well with My Soul” Prayer: Please lift up tomorrow’s morning and evening worship services.

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