Pure Love and Our Worship

In Leviticus 18 and 20, the Lord outlawed specific kinds of sexual relations.

Sexual relations...rather a hot topic in our current cultural climate, isn't it? But these texts do nothing to stimulate prurient interest in wickedness. To the pornographic mind, these texts are more like a club over the head than anything else.

At the same time, however, to read these chapters as primarily about prohibiting certain forms of sexual relations is to completely miss what they are driving at. At their heart, these texts are about holy love for the Lord and for our neighbor. Flowing from that holy love is a deep abhorrence for anything which would destroy the life of our neighbor in relationship with the Lord.

At the heart of holiness is love. Loving life means hating that which destroys life. Join us this Lord's Day to learn how to show pure love.

Songs
O Father, Thou Whose Love Profound (#29)
Doxology
Jesus Loves Me (#719)
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (#137)
Let Us Love (#483)

Scripture Reading
Old Testament: Leviticus 22:1-16; Psalm 50
New Testament: Luke 13:1-9

Sermon
Worship, Wisdom, and Work Series: Pure Love and Our Worship - Leviticus 18, 20 

Good Reading

Earlier today I pointed you toward a book giveaway, and now I'd like to draw your attention to a couple book recommendations I've posted on the Religious Affections Ministry website. You can find them here.

As always, check RAM's content regularly. In Scott, Kevin, Ryan, and David, you will find some the most thoughtful, gracious, and articulate proponents of conservative worship on the web today.

Book Giveaway

My sister-in-law Amanda is an up-and-coming writer, and right now Money Saving Mom is hosting a 48-hour giveaway of her first book, The Pursuit of Elizabeth Millhouse. Head on over there and enter to win! If you don't win a free copy, you can always purchase one at Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, etc. It is available in a Kindle edition, too.

Eating Blood

That surely sounds like a scandalous topic for a sermon. But if Moses and Jesus preached about it, I think we ought to as well. In fact, to a curious soul, it is an irresistible invitation to investigate the meaning. Why did God strictly forbid eating blood? But then, why did Jesus tell people to eat his blood? And of all things, what would this have to do with dwelling in the presence of the holy Lord? The world is stranger than we thought, but it is also more full of wonder.

Join us this Lord's Day to sup with God.

Songs
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (#243)
Doxology
Nothing But the Blood (#240)
To Calvary, Lord, in Spirit Now (#235)
Amazing Grace (#247)

Scripture Reading
Old Testament: Leviticus 21:1-24; Psalm 3
New Testament: Luke 12:49-59

Sermon
Worship, Wisdom, and Work Series: Eating Blood and Our Worship - Leviticus 17

A Reminder

In our current sermon series we have mined a shaft pretty deep into the old covenant laws. When you get that deep in the mountain, there is gold to be found, but it is also easy to forget what the point of all this mining is. So today I'd like to summarize a bit from an early sermon in this series to help us keep it all in perspective.

Jesus' Work and Our Worship


The centerpiece of God’s presence in the world today is found in the church, and our gathered worship is the pinnacle of his presence. The preaching of the Word is more potent than Congress, for God is present and speaking when his word is proclaimed. The songs you sing are more primary than the vote you cast for president. The proper worship of God is much more significant to our health and social well-being than gun control laws or fiscal cliff deals. In short, worship drives culture. Worship directs our work. We need the wisdom to work out our worship into all of life, so that we consistently proclaim Jesus as Lord. We want to make the true God inescapable in our own lives and the lives of those around us. We want men to know that he is the Lord. That is our goal for this series of studies from the Scripture. We want to gather new insights from the Word of God about how to worship God aright, drive that deep into our hearts, and then work it out of our feet and our fingertips. 

Our plan in this series of sermons is to learn from old covenant worship about how we ought to worship in the new covenant. Of course, in order to do this, we need to pay careful attention to the work that Jesus has done. As always, the good news of Jesus is central to our worship and our work. So, we are going to start with the epistle to the Hebrews in the NT, then we are going to go back to the book of Leviticus to give a fully biblical structure to our worship. Once that is done, I believe we will be better prepared to wisely live according to our new covenant relationship with God in our present day. We will study some of this on a very practical level from the book of Proverbs. 

We are like pioneers, clearing ‘new’ ground in order to become productive for the Lord. We want to build a culture of faithfulness, making the church the city of God that it is designed to be, calling the city of man to repent and trust in Jesus as Lord. 

We are going to walk briskly through the central section of Hebrews, and we will see that Jesus’ work transforms our lives into lives of true worship because   

Jesus is a superior priest (4:14-7:28).

Jesus is a superior priest of a superior covenant (8:1-9:28).

Jesus is a superior priest of a superior covenant who offers a superior sacrifice (9:1-10:18).

 

And so what we see as we round out the book Hebrews is that through Jesus we enjoy living in the presence of God (10:19-25; 12:18-29; 13:7-16). Jesus’ work sets the entire context for our worship, and his work is the reason we work on our worship.Without Jesus’ work, our worship is worthless. We may strive to get the details ever so right, but it cannot bring us to God. But at the same time, precisely because Jesus has worked, we can and must worship God acceptably. We must press into knowing him and making him known, responding to him gloriously as he reveals himself powerfully in our midst. Because he is our great high priest, mediating the new covenant, having offered the perfect sacrifice for sins, we are enabled to participate with him in the life of God.

You might be thinking, “Does it really matter all that much how we worship? Why do we keep working on it?” If we see it only as ‘getting it right,’ then working on how we worship isn’t all that much benefit to us nor is it a blessing to God. That is, if we see it in legalistic terms, then we might as well just forget about it and go with the flow of the culture. But if we see it rightly as pressing into full participation with Christ by his Spirit, then it will be a fountainhead of glory to God. It will lead to cultural and personal renewal, for Jesus will be exalted as the saving Lord as we worship him in spirit and truth. Jesus’ work transforms our lives into lives of true worship. 

Virtue, Character, Purity, and Worship

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

Jesus (Matthew 15:18)

It may be that no other words of Jesus are as crucial to our worship at this time in history as these words.

If we want to offer to God acceptable worship, we must offer what is both holy and clean, not what is common, and never what is unclean. Now that Jesus has come and achieved his glorious cross-work, these distinctions no longer have to do with kinds of animals or our bodily reproductive cycles. All of those old creation distinctions were merely shadows of the substance that has now come.

In the new age brought by Jesus, the distinctions still apply, but now in a way not possible before they are taken up into our very being. We become living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit works out into everything we do. In other words, if we are to give to God acceptable worship, our character must be shaped to image Jesus Christ. Yet in a kind of feedback loop, our worship shapes our character. The shape of our heart is the issue, and thus everything we do matters.We will either work out of our hearts the worship of the holy triune Lord, or we will work out systems of defiling idolatry.

Do we have the virtue to act in ways which are fitting to the holiness of our God? Do we love what is good and have the skill to discern it? Join us this Lord's Day as we continue to be shaped by the Holy Spirit's discussion of the cleanness laws in Leviticus.

Songs
Holy, Holy, Holy (#3)
Doxology
Take My Life, and Let It Be (#560)
Am I a Soldier of the Cross? (#585)
How Glorious Zion's Courts Appear (#631)

Scripture Reading
Old Testament: Leviticus 20:10-27; Psalm 93
New Testament: Luke 12:35-48

Sermon
Worship, Wisdom, and Work Series: Holy vs. Unclean Worship Today - Matthew 15:18

Beauty or Beast?

The cleanness laws were for the purpose of training Israel in the virtues of distinguishing between the holy and the common and between the clean and the unclean. But now Jesus has declared all foods clean. Therefore, we no longer have to have our senses trained to distinguish between holy and common, clean and unclean.

Right?

Not only is that conclusion wrong, it is dangerously wrong. Our God is a consuming fire who will show himself holy. People die when they make his holy things vulgar. That in itself is enough motivation to pursue proper distinctions.

But that is hardly the whole story. Proper distinctions and harmonious order make the beauty of our Lord apparent to us. We were created to have our souls overwhelmed with the joy of Awe-full Beauty. We have been called to become like our holy Lord. And since we become like what we worship, as we observe the distinctions between holy/clean and common/unclean in our worship, we will enjoy more and more of the beauty of Christ. Life becomes more and more meaningful as it is more and more a participation in the eternal life of God by the Spirit.

But if we blur those distinctions, we actively work to erase all that makes us glorious in Christ. We take a wrecking ball to our reason and plant maggots in our minds. We warp our wills and hollow out our hearts. Our affections become mere appetites. We become a parody of what it means to be human. We become bestial.

High Country Baptist Church is committed to worshiping in the beauty of holiness. We would rather not be the local herd of steers, grunting and bellowing our approval when the feed truck shows up on Sunday morning to fill our bellies. We live in a society hell-bent on ignorant bestiality,  but like Bunyan's Christian we run after Christ crying, "Life! Life! Eternal life!"

Come with us, and make proper distinctions.

Songs
Psalm 117b
Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken (#220)
Come We that Love the Lord (#223)
Lord, How Delightful (#726)

Scripture Reading
Old Testament: Leviticus 20:1-9; Psalm 106
New Testament: Luke 12:22-34

Sermon
Worship, Wisdom, and Work Series: Clean and Unclean in Our Worship (Part 3) - Leviticus 11-15

P.S. Here's new song by Josh Bauder that I have enjoyed meditating on this week. Perhaps it will stir up your soul to find delightful rest in God.



(HT: Chuck Bumgardner)

Your Kingdom Come

The cleanness laws of Leviticus shaped the community of Israel to match the character of her holy Lord as he revealed it in his creation. Israel would learn to love what he loved and to hate what he hated. She would learn to be like him and enjoy his life-giving presence. But creation itself was just the starting point for seeing and savoring God's harmonious order. The end-point was God's kingdom, and the road from starting point to ending point was laid out by God's covenant. By keeping covenant with God through these cleanness laws, Israel was saying, in effect, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

We now live under the new covenant, which has huge ramifications for how we participate in what is clean and avoid what is unclean. But the basic thrust remains the same, "Your kingdom come." Join us this Lord's Day as we joyfully and humbly strive to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Songs
I Sing the Mighty Power of God (#19)
Doxology
How Firm a Foundation (#610)
My Soul, Be on Thy Guard (#595)
How Good Is the God We Adore (#738)

Scripture Reading
Old Testament: Leviticus 19:19-37; Psalm 19
New Testament: Luke 12:1-21

Sermon
Worship, Wisdom, and Work Series - Clean and Unclean in Our Worship (Part 2) - Leviticus 11-15 

Community

"Community" is a big word in church circles right now, and for good reason. Of course, whenever a word becomes a big word, there is a powerful tendency for it to carry small meaning. Professor Kevin Bauder has been writing a bit about building community, and I would encourage you to read about it here.

He writes,

In order for a church to function as a community, its members must develop relationships that touch all of life. The development of these relationships requires Christians to share interests outside of the purely devotional and ecclesiastical. The question arises, however: will not the sharing of secular interests result in secularized Christians who have less interest in spiritual things? Specifically, do not secular interests constitute a distraction from God’s work?

Read the whole thing.

Meaning, Meaning Everywhere

If you have any interest in music at all, and I hope all Christians have an interest in music (Eph 5:19), I highly recommend that you watch all four of the 2013 Epiphany Lectures by Ken Myers.

Just to whet your appetite, I will embed the first lecture here.






Myer's "motifs" for his talks are

1. Music is a wonderful gift from God that presents unequaled opportunities for delight, for sharpening our perception of reality, for enabling unique communication between people, and for conveying to us something of the beauty of God and his creation.
2. Modern culture's typical treatment of music eclipses its greatest possibilities.
3. The church's counter-cultural identity should render it into a people with a distinctive musical life.

Distinguo

When we read the laws about cleanness and uncleanness in Leviticus, we tend to take away only one point - we no longer have to abide by those old rules. But we cannot read the words of the New Testament without quickly realizing that there must be more to it than that.

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

It is just as important for us as it was for Aaron and his sons to "distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean" (Lev 10:10).

Distinguish. Make proper distinctions. Understand right order.

We have said often that worship drives culture. This is why.

Join us this Lord's Day to dive into the significance of those old cleanness laws in Leviticus.

Songs
God Himself Is Present
Doxology
Called unto Holiness (#226)
Psalm 15a
Holy Savior, We Adore Thee (#73)

Scripture Reading
Old Testament: Leviticus 19:1-18; Psalm 36
New Testament: Luke 11:33-54

Sermon
Worship, Wisdom, and Work Series: Clean and Unclean in Our Worship - Leviticus 11-15

Strange Fire

Do you like stories that keep you on the edge of your seat through unexpected twists in the plot? If so, then our text this Lord's Day should definitely keep your attention.

Everything seemed to be glorious. The Lord had come to dwell among his people Israel, the sacrificial system had been instituted, the priests had been consecrated, and now God and man could live together in peace, love, and abundant life. What could go wrong?

But something did go wrong, and in a deadly way. Join us tomorrow to learn some serious lessons about our worship.

Songs
God Himself Is Present
Doxology
Psalm 42
Holy, Holy, Holy (#3)

Scripture Reading
Old Testament: Leviticus 18:19-30; Psalm 15
New Testament: Luke 11:14-32

Sermon
Worship, Wisdom, and Work Series - Strange Fire and Our Worship - Leviticus 10 

Swearing

But-may some think-what though now and then I swear an oath? Words are but wind.

But they are such a wind as will blow thee into hell, without repentance.

Thomas Watson, from a sermon "The Evil Tongue"

"If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless." James 1:26

Delighting in the Trinity

Without a doubt, the most enjoyable book I have read this year is Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves. I think I enjoyed it so much because it dovetails with something the Lord has been teaching me over the past few years, namely, that the triunity of God is urgently relevant to everything about Christianity and the Christian life. Preaching through the Gospel of John brought it alive to me, and reading Augustine's works let me see in the life of one man.

Now comes the most recent issue of Credo Magazine, dedicated to the topic "The Trinity and the Christian Life." I encourage you to read it.

Our Day of Joy

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and he was buried. But that is not the end of the story, and tomorrow we will celebrate his resurrection. We will have both a sunrise service and our regular service, so let me post the songs for both of them.

Sunrise Service - 6:15 a.m.

Songs
Like the Golden Sun Ascending
Christ the Lord is Risen Today (Lianfair)
Now Let the Vault of Heaven Resound
I Know that My Redeemer Lives
The Strife Is O'er, the Battle Done

Main Service - 10:30 a.m.

Songs
Christ, the Lord is Risen Today (#156)
Christ Arose (#159)
Arise, My Soul, Arise (#174)
Thine Be the Glory (#162)

Scripture Reading
Old Testament: Psalm 118:19-29
New Testament: 1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Sermon
The Incredible and the Impossible? - Acts 2:24; 26:8

P.S. Remember that there will be no fellowship meal or afternoon meetings.

Soldiers and Their Wages

Soldiers who heard John the Baptist's ripping preaching asked what they should do to show repentance. The Baptist replied, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."

Be content with your wages.

There are a thousand differences between being a Roman soldier in early first century Judea and being an American soldier in twenty-first century Colorado Springs, but this is not one of them. Discontentment is the perennial temptation of every soldier. If you have ever been around a soldiers' gripe session, you know what I mean. But a mark of those who trust in Christ is contentment.

"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" (Heb 13:5)

Being filled with all the fulness of Christ leaves little room for discontent.