Category: Devotional Grist

Charlotte Christian Reformed Church Christmas Liturgy 2010
*–Congregation Stands

Prelude – Miss Rachel Bacon

*Call to Worship Psalm 98
1Oh sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2The LORD has made known his salvation;
he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
3He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
5Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody!
6With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who dwell in it!
8Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together
9before the LORD, for he comes
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.

Invocation

Benevolent Father we gather to offer up praise for sending forth, out of your great compassion for your name, the Redeemer and Savior of humanity, who, as your only begotten Word, was conceived by thy Spirit and born of a virgin. We exalt you O Sovereign God for providing Jesus as your reconciliation. We confess that we did not deserve your tender mercies and so we humbly exalt you that in the sending forth of Christ you are forever just and justifier unto those who have faith in Jesus – who you named “Jehovah is Salvation.” We thank you now that you have gathered with us to honor the incarnation of the Second person of the Trinity. Remind us, that even now, we are in your presence. Grant us thy Spirit to honor your name in our worship. — In Christ’s name we pray … Amen.

Special Music — Christian Timmis & Gary Douma – Cantique Noel

Creedal Affirmation – Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day XIV (pg. 28 Psalter)

Christmas Worship

Brothers and Sisters our Psalter’s Church Order informs us that “Worship services shall be held in observance of Christmas” as well as other high days on the Church calendar. The conducting and attendance of such worship provide one objective marker for us as well as those outside of the faith that we are a Christian people. By the conducting and attendance of such services we testify to all who have eyes to see that our understanding and celebrating of Christmas is distinct from the modern pagan who is reduced, at best, to singing Christ-less Winter Carols and to celebrating seasonal rituals that have no eternal meaning because they are not anchored to anything eternal. Mirth, Merriment, Large gathering of family accompanied with food, fun and festivity on 25 December makes little sense apart from the birth of God’s reconciliation with man.

By the marking of such days as Christmas for worship the ebb and flow of our whole lives, year in and year out, are Christ formed and Christ shaped by a calendar itself formed by Christ. Finally, our gathering gives us one more opportunity to publicly placard Christ as the only hope for the weary, the heavy laden, the alienated and the Christian.
On this Christmas Eve then, we gather together once more as Christians have done for centuries, and as the ever swelling numbers of newly converted will continue to do until our Lord Christ shall return. We do so to mark the birth of our Lord Christ and to together offer up praise that he made Himself of no reputation in order to glorify the Father, save His people from their sins, and to lead them from triumph unto triumph until the Kingdoms of this world increasingly become the Kingdoms our Lord. In keeping with the purpose of our gathering let us confess our undoubted Catholic Christian faith

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Prayer

Benevolent and Sovereign Father, we thank thee for thy eternal covenant that predestined the coming of your Messiah for the redemption of the world. We thank thee that thou promised the Messiah upon mankind’s rebellion to reverse the effects of our treason. We exalt thee that thou deigned to gain your victory by crushing the serpent’s head and by overturning his Kingdom. We are humbled Father by how you ordered redemptive history so that coming of Christ was articulated by the patriarchs and prophets who spoke of the coming of your Messiah. We thank thee for all in Holy Scripture that limned the coming of Christ and we thank you that after ordering history for the coming of thy eternal Son in the fullness of time our Lord Christ came as one born under the law.

Father, we come humbly before to thank you for your faithful Church – that ark of Christ – which was guided by your Holy Spirit to embrace the full divinity and humanity of Christ while affirming his singular person. We thank you for your faithful Church that continues to speak Christ to us today and we ask of you Father that you would continue to build up your faithful Church so that future generations will have the nativity of Christ set before them in all its saving splendor that thy name may be honored among men. In the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, who taught us to pray, saying,

Our Father, who art in heaven: Hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

*Hark The Herald Angels Sing Brown Hymnal 184

Old Testament Reading – Isaiah 52:7-10

Special Music — Of The Father’s Love Begotten – Christian Timmis

New Testament Reading – John 1:1-18

*Come Thou Long Expected Jesus Brown Hymnal 168

Epistle Reading – Hebrews 1:1-6

Greensleeves – Brown 180

Offering General Fund

Offertory — Bacon Strings – Linda, Rachel & Sarah Bacon

Offertory Thanksgiving Adapted from the Book of Common Worship, 1906

O most merciful and gracious God, from whose open hand we all have received much: We ask you to accept this offering of your people. Remember in your love those who have brought it. Remember also those persons and purposes for which it is given. So follow this sacrifice with your blessing that it may promote peace and good will, and advance the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen!

Special Music – Anna McAtee, Rachel Bacon – Joy To The World

Homily

*Silent Night (Candle Light) 195 Brown Hymnal 316

*Benediction 2 Corinthians 13:14

Text — Matthew 1:18-25
Subject — Messiah’s coming
Theme — The purpose of Messiah’s coming
Proposition — The purpose of Messiah’s Coming is seen in the name of the Messiah

Introduction

“Give me the songs of a nation and it matters not who writes its laws.” ~ Plato

Music is reflective of what a people believe and at the same time formative unto what they will believe.

One way of understanding a people group is by examining their anthems and those songs. A people sing who they are.

This is true of our Christian hymns and the Christmas Carols we sing during the advent season. They (hopefully) reflect what we believe. Music takes the complex theology and puts it on the bottom shelf where people can reach it. (Unfortunately the bottom shelf keeps getting lower and lower.)

This morning we want to look at the purpose of the Messiah’s coming and see how the Christmas Carols have underscored and reinforced that purpose.

I.) The Virgin Birth and Salvation

II.) The Name of the Child and Salvation

III.) Saved From What

A.) Sins (Matthew 1:21)& Guilt

If we are to be saved from our sins then it is incumbent upon us to understand what sin is.

WSC — “Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

Notice the Vertical nature of this definition of sin.

God has a standard. Our lack of conforming to that standard or the breaking of that standard is sin. Sin is primarily vertical — an offense and rebellion against God — before it is horizontal and it is only as we see Sin as being primarily against God that will allow us to see the true gravity of our sins against others.

The purpose of Jesus coming was to save us from our sins. The idea communicated there is that our sins stood between us and the ability to have an intimate family relationship with our Creator. The idea communicated in Jesus saving us from our sins is that nothing else in our creaturely lives can be set aright until we are aright with God and only the Christian faith gives us a Messiah who can set us right with God.

This simple idea needs to be recaptured again today by the contemporary Church in the West for the Church in the West has reduced sin to personal unhappiness or a lack of personal fulfillment and thus Jesus is sold as the means by which personal happiness and personal fulfillment can be gained. In the words of mega popular Joel Osteen Jesus came to give us our Best Life Now. But on a surface level, we can have personal happiness and personal fulfillment and still not be right with God.

This idea of being saved from our sins is implicit in quite a bit of our traditional Christmas Carol but in Charles Wesley’s “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” we find that idea being explicitly laid out.

Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

———————————
And again in “Lo how a rose e’er blooming”

This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere;
True man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us,
And lightens every load

B.) Self (Old Man)

When we say that Jesus saves us from our selves we are seeking to get at that Jesus delivers us from who we are in Adam. That old self (or Old Man as the Scripture frequently puts it) needs to be saved from its propensity to make self God. To be saved from self then is to be saved from the notion that I am God and that all the world orbits around me.

The fact that we’ve been saved from self is captured in Romans 6

6We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For one who has died has been set free from sin.

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How jesus the saviour had come for to die
For poor orn’ry creatures like you and like i
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.

C.) The Disposition of God Against Sin

Question 10. Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?

Answer: By no means; but is terribly angry with our original as well as actual sins; and will punish them in his just judgment temporally and eternally, as he has declared, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

Being saved from the wrath to come is a truth that has fallen on hard times in the contemporary Church. The last way we want to speak of God is as if He has any contrariety towards men at all. No longer are men sinners in the hands of an angry God but rather it is God who is in the hands of angry sinners.

This whole idea of needing to be saved by God from God teaches the idea that fallen man is alienated from God and needs to be reconciled. Apart from being reconciled to God, fallen man remains alienated from God and so only knows God’s condemnation.

But Jesus in saving men from their sin, thus reconciles man to God and saves man from the wrath to come.

Hark the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled”
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
“Christ is born in Bethlehem”
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”

D.) The Devil’s Tyranny

So seriously did the early Church take this idea that we had been saved from the Devil’s Tyranny that it devolved an understanding of the Atonement that found the ransom in the Atonement being paid to Satan.

Essentially, this theory claimed that Adam and Eve sold humanity over to the Devil at the time of the Fall; hence, justice required that grace pay the Devil a ransom to free us from the Devil’s clutches. God, however, tricked the Devil into accepting Christ’s death as a ransom, for the Devil did not realize that Christ could not be held in the bonds of death. Once the Devil accepted Christ’s death as a ransom, this theory concluded, justice was satisfied and God was able to free us from Satan’s grip

13He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o’er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

———————-

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

“Fear not then,” said the Angel,
“Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure Virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan’s power and might.”
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

E.) Death

51Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

56The sting of death is sin, and(BT) the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Death came into the world through Adam but in Jesus Christ we are saved from that living and eternal death by being united to Christ and His resurrection life. No longer

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o’er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

————–

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris’n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”

“Give me the songs of a nation and it matters not who writes its laws.” ~ Plato

I wanted to take this advent season and look at themes of the Gospel that are captured in what we sing while also examining a bit how that theme has gotten into other aspects of the Christian faith. We sometimes are not particularly epistemologically self conscious about what we sing and I wanted to do a little work on making us more so.

Plato understood the importance of the minstrel. People can be moved through song whereas they are typically bored by theology or philosophy proper. Song has the advantage of taking the lofty and making it manageable and so in making truth manageable it has the advantage over tomes of Law. Plato was communicating that a people animated by their songs would be dictating to their lawgivers what kinds of laws to write.

All that to say that music is important. What we sing is character revealing and character shaping.

One Carol we sing during this Christmas season is, “Joy to the World.”

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

——————
This Christmas carol was written by English author Isaac Watts (1674-1748), with music possibly adapted from Handel’s “Messiah”

“Joy to the World!” is taken from Psalm 98, a song of rejoicing at the wonderful ways in which God has protected and guided His chosen people. The Psalm anticipates the time when “Jehovah will be the God of the whole earth and Israel’s law will be accepted by all of the nations.” In the NT the theme of victory echoed in Psalm 98, and captured by “Joy To The World” is captured in pieces by Mary, the Mother of Jesus, Zechariah, and John the Baptist in Luke’s Gospel.

Mary especially seems to have this Psalm in mind when her words are recorded in Luke 1.

Ps. 98 — “O Sing unto the Lord a new song.”
Luke — “My soul doth magnify the Lord”

Ps. 98 — “He hath done marvelous things”
Luke — “He that is mighty has done great things”

Ps. 98 — “W/ His own right hand and holy arm he gotten himself the victory
Luke — “He hath showed strength w/ His arm, and scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.”

Ps. 98 — “The Lord hath made known His salvation; His righteousness hath he openly showed,”
Luke — “His mercy is on them that fear him, from generation to generation.”

Psalm 98:3 — “He has remembered His mercy and his faithfulness to the house of Israel”
Luke 1:54 — (Mary)”He has holpen His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy.”

Adam Clarke offers here,

“This is a further argument that the whole Psalm, whether it record the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, or the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, is yet ultimately understood of the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, and the proclamation of his Gospel through all the nations of the earth…

When we hear this language of “God remembering,” in Ps. 98:3 and in Luke 1 we must keep in mind that its connotation more than God having a bare memory but with the idea of God’s remembrance is included the favorable action of God on the behalf of those who He remembers. And of course the favorable action of God on the behalf of those who He remembers was providing an relief from His just opposition to sinners. God remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to His people by providing Jesus Christ as an atonement that would once for all provide a realized peace with God to a people whose peace with God was only promissory and proleptic. God remembered the Israel of God by providing one who would take away sin (expiation) turn the wrath of God away from sinners (propitiation) and relieve the Israel of God from guilt.

In light of God’s remembrance it is not a wonder that we don’t sing “Joy to the World” everyday.

Psalm 98:2 — “The Lord has made known His Salvation”
Luke 1:77 — (Zechariah) — “To give knowledge of Salvation to His people.”

Psalm 98:2 — “The Lord has made known His Salvation;
His Righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the Gentiles.”
Luke 2:31 — (Simeon)”For my eyes have seen Your Salvation,
which you have prepared before the face of all the peoples
A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles

This idea of “The Lord has made known His Salvation connected with the arrival of Christ makes it clear that Christ is that Salvation. The motif of Victory we find in Psalm 98 is only what it is because God has objectively provided Salvation in the death, and resurrection of Christ. The Victory has been accomplished. The World has been saved. The unfolding of Redemption in Revelation that constantly spoke of the coming Kingdom has come and that Redemption, that Kingdom, that Victory is Jesus Christ. This is why we never tire of proclaiming Jesus Christ as God’s salvation. This is why we insist that all men everywhere either must repent or being steamrolled by this victory that God has provided. The Kingdom is “now,” and so “now is the appointed time of Salvation.” The Victory is complete and that is why there is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved.” Either men will Kiss the Victorious Son, or they will perish in the way.

Psalm 98:3 — “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”
Luke 3:6 — (John the Baptist) “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

“When combined with the previous couplet we see that this Salvation that is spoken of and the Salvation that we sing in “Joy to the World,” is a salvation that is globalistic. Jesus comes to provide salvation to every tribe, tongue, and nation, and in providing that globalistic salvation He inaugurates a Kingdom that will lead to a New World Order. A New World Order that finds the nations being brought into the Kingdom retaining their unique national character but finding a common spiritual bond in Christ. Together the diverse Nations will confess “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.” This is the New World Order — The Kingdom — The Victory — that we have been placed into and it is a New World Order that remains in antithesis to the order of this world characterized by the Prince of this present wicked age. The reality of this expectation that “all the ends of the earth would see the salvation of God” was seen on the day of Pentecost and in the book of Acts as the Gospel comes upon people of diverse tongues and then covers the known world via the Missionary effort. So, victorious was this Salvation that it could be said of the work of those who were heralding it to the Gentiles, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” They turned the world upside down and angered the Old World Order because it hates the marvelous things that God has done.

So we see that this Psalm of victory versified in “Joy To The World” was a Psalm of victory that was closely connected to the Birth of the Messiah who would bring victory by bring salvation to all the peoples.

In “Joy to the World,” Watts gave the Psalm its New Testament setting with its praise for the salvation that began when God came to earth as the incarnate Jesus, destined to remove curse from Adam’s fall. Interestingly enough, Watts first titled the Song “The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom.”

————————

This sense of Victory that we find in Psalm 98 and in Watt’s Hymn was common place enough throughout Church History. Athanasius, who lived through some of the worst persecution that the early Church knew, and who knew the trials of being a wilderness voice for orthodoxy on the trinity for nigh unto 40 years — A man who was exiled 5 times and was often in danger of losing his life could still speak of this victory. Athanasius could be Athanasius contra mundum (Athanasius against the World) because the man believed that with Christ’s coming the Kingdom has come and the “age to come,” that Christ brought as that Kingdom was overcoming this present wicked age. Athanasius wrote to that end,

“Since the Savior came to dwell among us, not only does idolatry no longer increase, but it is getting less and gradually ceasing to be. Similarly, not only does the wisdom of the Greeks no longer make any progress, but that which used to be is disappearing. And demons, so far from continuing to impose on people by their deceits and oracle-givings and sorceries, are routed by the sign of the cross if they so much as try. On the other hand, while idolatry and everything else that opposes the faith of Christ is daily dwindling and weakening and falling, see, the Savior’s teaching is increasing everywhere! Worship, then, the Savior “Who is above all” and mighty, even God the Word, and condemn those who are being defeated and made to disappear by Him. When the sun has come, darkness prevails no longer; any of it that may be left anywhere is driven away. So also, now that the Divine epiphany of the Word of God has taken place, the darkness of idols prevails no more, and all parts of the world in every direction are enlightened by His teaching. Similarly, if a king be reigning somewhere, but stays in his own house and does not let himself be seen, it often happens that some insubordinate fellows, taking advantage of his retirement, will have themselves proclaimed in his stead; and each of them, being invested with the semblance of kingship, misleads the simple who, because they cannot enter the palace and see the real king, are led astray by just hearing a king named. When the real king emerges, however, and appears to view, things stand differently. The insubordinate impostors areshown up by his presence, and men, seeing the real king, forsake those who previously misled them. In the same way the demons used formerly to impose on men, investing themselves with the honor due to God. But since the Word of God has been manifested in a body, and has made known to us His own Father, the fraud of the demons is stopped and made to disappear; and men, turning their eyes to the true God, Word of the Father, forsake the idols and come to know the true God.”

———————

This sense of victory we find in Psalm 98, and captured in “Joy to the World” — this sense of victory that was taken up by the saints in the book of Luke and taken up Athanasius — has been taken up throughout Church History. This sense of a victorious Gospel going with triumph to all the nations has, until recently, shaped and created the Western mind and so Western Civilization.

This sense of victory is seen in the great Cathedrals of Europe which now set largely empty because Europe has turned aside from the victorious Gospel. Previous generations of Christians, believing the victory of the Gospel would last millennium, built majestic and beautiful structures that were intended to communicate the sublime Glory of God and the beauty of the victorious Gospel. With their spirals pointing Man’s vision heavenward to God and with their interior Architecture that proclaimed Christ, these Cathedrals communicated the generational victory of the Gospel to the nations.

This sense of victory that is proclaimed in Psalm 98 and captured in “Joy to the World,” is seen as the motivating factor of much of the exploration and discovery of the New World

Over and over again, Columbus, as just one Example, states the purpose of his voyages to be that of bringing Christianity to the pagan isles. Note the following stated purpose of his first voyage:

“And your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes, devoted to the holy Christian faith and the propagation thereof — and enemies of the sect of Mohammet and of all idolatries and heresies, resolved to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the said regions of India, to see the said Princes and peoples and lands and the disposition of them and of all and the manner which may be undertaken their conversion to our holy faith.” (The Journal of Christopher Columbus, translated by Cecil Jane, Bonanza Books, p. 4).

The second voyage had a similar end in view. The instructions from Ferdinand and Isabella declare the prime object of the voyage to be the conversion of the natives. The directives from the sovereigns for the third voyage in 1497 specify that Columbus engage priests to go with him to administer the sacraments and to “convert the Indians native of the said Indies to our Holy Catholic Faith.”

This expressed desire for the spiritual well-being of the natives never left Columbus. His Journal entry for Thursday, November 27, 1492, records this request:

“And I say that Your Highnesses must not allow any stranger, except Catholic Christians, to trade here or set foot here, for this was the alpha and omega of the enterprise, that it should be for the increase and glory of the Christian religion and that no one should come to these parts who was not a good Christian.” (Journal, p. 78)

The Apostle to the Indians, John Eliot began his ministrations to the Indians in their own language in 1646. His great work, the translation of the Bible into the tongue of the Massachusetts Indians, was finished in 1658 and published 1661–63. Praying Indians and reorganized Indian villages were part of the impact of Eliot’s work in the New World has the Indian nations proved the glories of God’s righteousness.

Much much more could be said but even from this much we understand why Watts could go all victorious when writing “Joy to the World.”

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love

A theme that is likewise picked up in “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear.”

“For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
It’s ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.”
———————-
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
—————–
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

———————-
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Refrain

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

—————–
But it has not been only Christmas Carols that have captured Psalm 98

Christ shall have dominion, over land and sea,
Earth’s remotest regions shall His empire be;
They that wilds inhabit shall their worship bring,
Kings shall render tribute, nations serve our King.

Ever and forever shall His Name endure;
Long as suns continue it shall stand secure;
And in Him forever all men shall be blest,
And all nations hail Him King of kings confessed.
—————–

Jesus shall reign where e’er the sun
doth his successive journeys run;
his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.

————————

Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
ye soldiers of the cross;
lift high his royal banner,
it must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory
his army shall he lead,
till every foe is vanquished,
and Christ is Lord indeed.

——————-

The Christian world has come to largely worship the Jesus of the crucifixion abstracted from the Jesus of victory — the Jesus of the Resurrection and the Ascension and the Session — The Jesus who even now sits at the right hand of the Father who has all things under His feet and has been given to be head over all things to the Church. The Protestant world has forgotten the Jesus who rules, sitting at God’s right hand, while His enemies are being made His footstool. The Protestant world has forgotten the God who commands the elites, the powerful, and moneyed to “Kiss the Son” lest they perish in the Way. Every year when we sing “Joy To The World” we are reminded of a time when the Church believed in King Jesus — the Jesus of the Bible.

————————————-

Conclusion

So, it is my prayer that we take the Scriptural theme seriously that “Joy to the World” captures. Christ has come to make His blessings flow, Far as the curse is found.

The curse is found everywhere and so we should expect his blessings to flow everywhere.

Christ is victorious and triumphent

Scripture — I Peter 5:5f
Subject — Our Christian walk
Theme — The nature of our Christian walk

Proposition — The nature of our Christian walk reveals the rest of faith and the war of faith.

Purpose — Having looked at the nature of our Christian walk let us rejoice that God is faithful that He will complete in us the good work He has begun.

Introduction,

Unity of Scripture

I Peter has a characteristic impress of Old Testament modes of thought and expression.

Not only does I Peter, comparatively speaking, contain more quotations from and references to the Old Testament than any other New Testament writing, cf. 1: 16, 24, 25; 2: 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 22-24; 3:10-12, 13, 14; 4:8, 17, 18; 5:5, 7; but the entire complexion of the letter shows that the author lived and moved in Old Testament conceptions to such an extent, that he preferably expresses his thoughts in Old Testament language.

Therefore Humble yourselves, (3rd time called for in the space of a few words)

Being humble stands in opposition to being prideful. This call to be humble is

1.) In the context of the call to be submissive to those whom we have been placed under
2.) consistent with what we find elsewhere in Scripture.

Consistent with,

7Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed(G) how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8″When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place,(H) so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11For(I) everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lk. 14)

1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; (Eph. 4)

Augustine quickly gained a great reputation, but feeling called to the monastic life, he carefully avoided being pressured into becoming a bishop by avoiding all churches lacking such a leader. In 391, he visited Hippo Regius in hopes of assisting a friend to conversion, and attended church services there. The church did have a bishop by the name of Valerius, but unbeknownst to Augustine, the bishop was looking for a presbyter. Coerced by the congregation, Augustine reluctantly but obediently became priest of Hippo, beginning his duties in 391

Gregory was born to a wealthy patrician family and at the age of 30 he was made prefect of Rome, Rome’s highest civil office. He felt the call to monasticism, however, and converted (c.575) his home and others of his houses into Benedictine convents. Later (c.586), he reluctantly became abbot. In 578 he was made a deacon of Rome. From 579 to c.586 he was ambassador at Constantinople, then he served as chief adviser of Pelagius II. When commencing a missionary voyage to England, he was recalled to Rome and despite desiring only to be a Monk, Gregory was elected pope by acclamation, accepting against his will and despite chronic illness.

Note the character of the humbleness that Peter calls for

1.) It is confident in God’s ability

We have a tendency to think we must be the ones who advance ourselves, through plotting and planning and ingratiating actions. All of this is done with the end in view of exalting ourselves. Our actions and behaviors thus become calculated to see ourselves lifted up. Peter communicates though the way to position is by humbling ourselves.

The text here communicates that our confidence unto being “exalted” must rest in God’s timing. If we are genuinely confident in God advancing us then our actions will have a view towards doing what is right before God, thus showing the humbleness called for, and letting God be concerned about our position.

“All who seek to elevate themselves, shall have God as their enemy, who will lay them low. But, on the contrary, Peter says of the humble, that God will be propitious and favorable to them. We are to imagine that; God has two hands; the one, which like a hammer beats down and breaks in pieces those who raise up themselves; and the other, which raises up the humble who willingly let down themselves, and is like a firm prop to sustain them.” John Calvin

Casting All Your Care Upon Him, For He Careth For you, (Rest of Faith)

A lack of confidence in God’s providence towards us and faithful covenant keeping towards us makes the call to humility far more difficult. If we do not believe that God cares for us, we will believe we must care for ourselves and the humility characterized by submitting is hardly the characteristic of one who cares for themselves. In order then to have confidence and reason unto humility Peter reminds his readers of God’s providence and covenant keeping nature so that they may roll over their cares upon Him.

Keep in mind also though that these were a people who were familiar with suffering. The reminder that God cared for them would be incentive for them to cast all their care upon their covenant keeping God.

This call to remember God’s care for His people is always a good word. We live in times that hold out many threats to us. There are many matters that were we to contemplate to long we could easily become terrorized by the enormity of it all. Yet, above it all, Sits the sovereign God who cares for us. In these matters the tangibility of our faith shows through. How do we keep our equilibrium when all around us are frightened … part of the answer to that is that we are a people who are confident that the sovereign of all the universe cares for us.

This call is to provide a rest of faith and not to be used as a license unto sloth.

Gospel Interlude,

Now, here, in the midst of these imperatives, we must briefly have the Gospel. Peter can tell his readers that God cares for them for only one reason. God does not care for them because of their suffering. If they were outside Christ Peter could not tell them that God cares for them. They would be in no known relationship with God except that as criminals before a judge. Peter can only tell them that God cares for them because of the finished work of Jesus Christ for the Church. It is only because Jesus turned away the just wrath of the Father upon the Church that Peter can now reference God’s providential and covenantal care for the Church. It is only because of Christ’s work on the Cross that reconciled these believers that Peter can tell them that “God cares for them.” God cares for them because, by being related to and united with Christ, they have a legal claim to God’s relational care.

If you are outside of Christ you can have no confidence that God careth for you. All of the language here bespeaks a unique relationship existing between Peter’s readers and God that does not exist universally.

Be Sober, Be vigilant (War of Faith)

The words can also be translated “self-controlled,” and “watchful.”

We’ve seen them before from Peter

13″Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

4:7 — “The end of all things is at hand; therefore(P) be self-controlled and sober-minded(Q) for the sake of your prayers.”

Peter follows an injunction to encourage the rest of faith (God cares for you) with an injunction unto the war of faith (Be sober, be vigilant).

With these words Peter reminds us of the antithesis. If we belong to Christ we will have war with the devil. This is a prevailing problem of Christians in the West right now. We have forgotten that we are at war or that such a thing as the antithesis exists. We have forgotten that we have an adversary who is committed to crushing us. We have forgotten that we are part of the Church militant.

Note here several realities

1.) There is a Devil
2.) We are at war

People who are at war are people who are self controlled and watchful. They look for the enemies designs at every turn.

Our opponent is our adversary which was a terms used for an opponent in a lawsuit. Devil is translated from Satan and means slanderer or accuser. The metaphor used (Roaring Lion) reminds us of why we need to be self-controlled and watchful.

All of this is interesting because it reminds us again of the “now, not yet” nature of the Christian faith. It is true that Christ has already delivered us from Satan’s grasp and defeated the enemy of our souls, and yet it remains for us to resist the devil. The Christian life is battle.

the means of our resistance is by remaining steadfast in the faith. It is our faith that the Devil would overturn and the means of resisting him is that same faith. This imperative reminds us at the same time of the need to grow in our faith.

As Peter closes out His letter he returns to what might be termed the main theme of the letter. The theme of suffering.

Peter reminds his readers once again that their suffering is not unique to them. That their suffering is being shared universally by the brotherhood. It is a comfort when one is in battle to know that one does not battle alone.

The passage also reminds us of the unity of the saints. It is true that there are different Churches with different tribes belonging to those different Churches but because of Christ there is a spiritual brotherhood that obtains between us so that even though we may belong to different families of men, we still retain the spiritual bond of Christ in all our afflictions and in all our triumphs.

Peter closes with a beautiful benediction that reminds us that while the battle rages we are secure because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished. Satan may attack us, seek to devour us, and accuse and slander us but in the end our faithful covenant keeping God will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us.

Text — I Peter 5:1-11
Subject — Congregational Care
Theme — The characteristics of congregational care
Proposition — The characteristics of congregational care should create within us certain expectations for Elders and Churches

Introduction

General requirement for Christians to shepherd one another

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6)

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. (Rom. 12)

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (I John 3)

8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. (I Pt.)

6 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

Of course all of this implies a certain involvement in one another’s lives that extends beyond a couple hours on Sunday. This would have been perhaps more common in First century churches since those Churches were completely local and people schedules during the week weren’t enhanced by automobiles. These passages came home to these people because these people were neighbors.

However, beyond the general care that was to be the privilege and responsibility of every Christian there was laid upon certain men the charge of a particular care for the household of God. (Titus 1:5, Acts 14:23)

These men were called Elders, Pastors, Presbyters or Bishops. Some of them were given the general charge of care while to others of them were added the responsibility of teaching. The unique responsibility of these men was to be to the small congregations what a Shepherd was to a flock of sheep. As a shepherd was to look over the well being of his sheep — protecting them, leading them to feed and water, tending to their cares and hurts, — so the Shepherds of the congregation were to protect God’s people, be instrumental in their spiritual feeding and watering, and be among them to tend to their cares and hurts. As a Shepherd loved his flock, so the Elders were to love the congregation.

Here Peter deals with the issue of Elders and as he deals with the issue of Elders we would do well to understand that when we consider Congregational life, both now and in our future — Peter teaches us what we should expect from the Elders of a congregation.

As Peter inks this exhortation he reminds them of his position.

a.) Fellow Elder — Interesting that Peter merely names himself as one such as they
b.) Witness of Sufferings of Christ — Mark of Apostleship
c.) Partaker of glory — Note Present tense

Peter clearly teaches here that the Elders have a leadership position. As Shepherds, they are to be overseers.

This metaphor of Shepard is not unique to Peter though Jesus did say to Peter directly that Peter was to … “Feed Christ’s Sheep.” Throughout Scripture we find this metaphor of Shepherd used to describe God’s leaders.

God Himself is addressed as a Shepherd in Psalm 80

1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
shine forth
———

In Ezekial the leaders are upbraided for being lousy Shepherds

1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?

Similar language is used in Jeremiah 23

And the theme of Shepherd is picked up in the Psalms, Ezra, Zechariah and other books.

When you turn to the NT Jesus is the good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep and Peter notes here is the Great Shepherd.

So, when Peter turns to this metaphor he is turning to one that has a long and storied history in the Hebrew mind. Shepherds are to be God’s overseer’s who are answerable to God.

We should say at the outset that this call to Shepherding implies immediately the tenderest of relationships between the shepherd and his flock. It is true that the Shepherds are the overseers but they are overseeing they whom they love as their own and when you get right down to it they are but Sheep themselves who have need of being shepherded.

Peter gets to the nitty gritty of this Shepherding matter when he turns to give some qualifiers of what he is expecting in Shepherds. What I find so fascinating about this list is how resilient it remains some 2000 years later.

I.)Shepherd Characteristic #1 — Shepherding is done willingly (not by compulsion)

This is a implicit warning against laziness in the ministry

The ministry requires great effort on those who take it up effectively. You must become an expert in theology, people skills, you must become proficient in the languages, you must know your Bible, history, economics, sociology, law, etc.

Then on top of this you must be involved in the lives of your people as much as possible.

It is not the physical labor of the factory worker, or the meticulous skills of the airline agent, but it is work none the less… and hard work at that.

II.)Shepherd Characteristic # 2 — Shepherding is done eagerly (not for dishonest gain)

This is a implicit warning against greed in the ministry

I probably don’t need to go into all the stories about greed in the ministry.

Greed is a great hindrance to the ministry, not only for what it will cause men to do in order to get gain, but also for what it will cause men not to do or say in order to get gain.

Often, men who are in the ministry for gain will not say those things that need to be said for fear of losing profits by speaking against the wickedness of our times, or by speaking against some sin in a congregation.

III.) Shepherd Characteristic # 2 — Shepherding is done by example

This is a implicit warning against power tripping in the ministry

Calvin offers that one way power tripping is seen is by Pastors exempting themselves from the expectations that are laid upon the flock.

There is a danger among Christian Churches today to do a kind of Hollywood model of ministry where some Rock Star becomes the Pastor and the congregation becomes a bunch of groupies and woe be unto anybody who questions the Rock Star to closely. Often in these kinds of Churches there is a kind of ecclesiastical tyranny that goes on in the leadership as the great leader’s whims becomes diktat.

Instead what Peter offers in place of that is rule by example. The Shepherds do not pronounce edicts that everyone must follow upon pain of ex-communication or shunning but rather they set the example to be followed or not followed.

Shepherding, by its very definition is not done by driving people. Besides, quality people can’t be driven and when you try to drive them you’ll just get (and deservedly so) revolt.

The model here is example …

Jesus washing the feet of the Disciples (Jn. 13).
Jesus casting aside his privilege in order to serve (Phil. 2:5-11)
Jesus warning against the Political model of Leadership (Mark 10:42-45)

As an Elder you have to be willing, in most cases, to state your concerns to people without demanding of people that it is your way or else.

The phrase … “Those entrusted to you” is interesting because it reminds Shepherds that they are responsible for a particular flock.

Of course we know that the end of all this Shepherding was Jesus Christ. The Shepherd’s chief responsibility was feeding and watering their people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ which proclaims forgiveness of sins, and standing with God, and the rest and peace that comes from that. The Chief role of the Shepherd was to herald the good news of Jesus Christ for sinners. The chief role of the Shepherd was to speak up both the objectivity of the Gospel which is Christ for us and the subjective consequence of the Gospel which is Christ renewing us by His Spirit and His Law-Word.

The under-shepherd is to remind people who God declares us to be and what we can’t help but become in light of God’s Declaration.

The fullness of the Reward is delayed — vs. 4