News

Have you ever taken note of how the writers of the new Testament often refer to themselves as “bondservants” of Christ? Paul does so in Romans and Titus, and references it in the book of Galatians. Peter, Jude, and, James do the same. Though these are all leaders and pillars in the church, they refer to themselves as slaves (Greek: doulous) of Christ.

We often reference the freedom we have in Christ, and this is right and good. But the paradox is that we have this freedom because we are slaves to Christ, the one who brings true freedom. In John 8:31–34 we read how Jesus told the Jews they could be made free by the truth. Remember how indignant they were? In their minds, they were already free. Jesus of course, dispels that myth for them: “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.”

And Paul tells us in Romans 6 that we have “been set free from sin, and become slaves of God.”

This is the paradox of our faith. In service to Christ is found freedom. Isn’t that an odd thing to our modern ears? But this is how our Lord deals with us and with this sinful world. We think we’re free in sin but we’re really in bondage. Therefore Christ purchases our freedom so that we are free to serve Him for the purposes he created us for. As our Lord says:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Have you ever wondered, week after week as you sit and eat at the Lord’s Table, how you are now drinking the blood of Christ, but Israeli saints were forbidden to drink blood? Have you ever wondered why the change? And perhaps every once in a while you remember the Apostolic charge to the churches in Acts 15 to “abstain from what has been strangled, and from blood,” and think somewhat squeamishly you might be disobeying that?

The prohibition of eating blood in the old testament comes in the statement “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” Israel was forbidden from eating blood because they were not to get life from the flesh. God didn’t want them relying on the “flesh,” their own power or prowess or strength, which was under the power of sin. No, he wanted them relying on Him.

What changed? Well, the blood of Jesus is not the blood of flesh; it is the blood of the spiritual person, the blood of the person who has risen from the flesh to Spirit. Remember what Paul said in 1 Cor 15? “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” First the flesh, then the Spiritual man. In communion, you are not drinking the “life of the flesh” but the lifeblood of the Spirit. Drinking Jesus’ blood thus means precisely the opposite of drinking animal blood!

What is effected at the Supper is communion with God in Christ by the Spirit.

So drink from the chalice, all of you!

Christ is come! Advent gives way to Christmas. As you give gifts to each other tomorrow, remember the gift of Christ the King, who’s birth and life we celebrate this season.

While some may (rightly) decry a consumerism that has taken over Christmas, the giving of gifts, when done to bless others and to graciously receive blessing from others, is a right and fitting way to celebrate. God the father did not withhold his only Son from us, and we do not withhold our gifts from our loved ones.

Perhaps many of you have been burdened with the preparation of the season, the baking, the cookies, the hustle and the bustle. All good things. But now, as Christmas is upon us, I hope you’ll stop and take stock of the many blessings you have, and what Jesus has given you. We celebrate Eternity stepping into time to become fully God and fully man. The time of preparation is past and now is the time to bask in the glory of the Savior. Read the Christmas story to your family, proclaim with joy, “Thanks be to God!”

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

— Isaiah 9:6–7

It’s Advent season, where we focus on the comings of God in history, feasting on their remembrances as we look forward to the final coming of Jesus when he overcomes death and Satan, throwing them both into the eternal lake of fire.

But we still live in a sinful world, and it often appears that evil and wickedness have the have the upper hand. The wicked seem to prosper greatly, and when we reflect on it, their prosperity almost makes us stumble. They are fat, pride is their necklace, they are foolish, they scoff at the righteous, and they threaten oppression to the righteous each time their lips move.

What are we to do? How do we overcome them? How do we function in light of their strutting tongues? The answer is simple: Come to Worship! Come to the Fellowship of the Saints with the Trinity on Sunday morning! Come to where you are fitted with the glasses that help you see how the world is really ordered!

The Sanctuary of the Temple of God, of the gathered saints, clarifies everything. Just like Psalm 11, so Psalm 73 sets you aright:

“But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, UNTIL I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end”
 — Psalm 73:6-17

So rejoice, Christian; Jesus is coming! The wicked will get their due: they are set in slippery places, swept away by terrors, falling to ruin. But God’s people are saved, because Jesus is Lord!

John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

— Mark 1:1–8, today’s lectionary gospel reading

We are currently in the beginning of the church year, in the season of Advent — that time of great anticipation as we look forward to the festivities of Christmas. This is the time the church around the world, and even the world along with us, by and large, celebrates the incarnation of the Savior, Christ the King. You can look all your neighbors square in the eye this time of year and say, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come” and they won’t bat an eye.

And so we do indeed approach Christmas with great anticipation. Christ’s first coming into the world signifies His intent to free us from our sins, which separate us from our creator God. And that is why, during this season of preparation, we can look at John the Baptizer calling us to repentance, and we can follow that call. We can repent because we have a Savior who has paid for our sins. The babe that lay in a manger, which we prepare to celebrate, lived a sinless life and died for our sins. That gives us the confidence and boldness to repent as John calls us to do. That is one way we can prepare during this watchful season. Take inventory of your heart, of the things you say and do, and repent — lay your sins at the feet of Christ your Savior. He will relieve those burdens from you so that you can celebrate with all the more joy this Christmas season. Because as you repent of your sins, you will find renewed vigor in your celebrations. Your gift giving will be that much more sweet as you receive the gifts given freely to you and all of us. So sing with joy, “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus!”

Many years ago, fellow Christians would ask, as they wrangled through ethical or obedience questions, What Would Jesus Do? WWJD?

Well, that’s not the right question, because that question leaves the answer in Jesus’ court, and leaves it theoretical. “Well, I think Jesus would do such and such. I’m not sure; one can never answer these things. And who knows; he’s God!”

No, the right question is, “What would Jesus have you do?” What has Jesus revealed in his Word about your actions in this type of situation? What would please Jesus, whose name you bear, having been baptized and claimed by him, having been bought with a price, with his blood upon the cross?

The right answer is the revealed answer. For example: Honor your father and mother. That’s the fifth commandment. The next question might be: How could you honor them in this situation? The answer: obey their commands; be kind; be respectful, be patient. All good answers from Ephesians 6.1-3 and Galatians 5, where one finds the fruits of the Spirit.

What would Jesus have you do? He would have you do unto others what you would want them to do for you. He would want you to serve others, to take the lead and minister to others in a way that you would like done to yourself. He would want you to die to yourself, and imitate him. And he would want you to do it without being asked!

Do you see how helpful the Bible is? How clear God’s word is? How direct it is? How reassuring in the midst of confusing and uncertain situations?

Thanksgiving is usually considered a time of great blessing, as it should be. But why is it a time of great blessing? And what does it mean to give thanks?

To give thanks is to “express grateful feelings or thoughts to someone else; to show gratitude to another.” It is acknowledging that someone outside of yourself has contributed something of goodness or help to you.

That’s the tough part for most people; they don’t like to acknowledge they are indebted to someone else; that someone else helped them in a situation; that someone gave them something they needed. People don’t like to admit they were dependent on someone else! Thanksgiving is just that: an admittance that someone else gave you something you needed. It’s humbling!

Which shouldn’t be a problem for Christians! As the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4.7, “What do you have that you did not receive?” Of all people, we know that all we have is a gift of God, through and through, first to last, top to bottom. That’s the kind of gracious God we know and worship. “God so loved the world that he GAVE His only begotten son…” “In the beginning God created…” and then gave it all to man!

So this Thanksgiving, take time to give thanks. To express gratitude to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, your spouse, your children, your relatives, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, your servants at the restaurant or store or wherever. And give thanks for everything (1 Timothy 4.4).

That should keep you busy all day this Thursday, at least, whether doing so in person, or in prayer!

People often downplay the importance of worship in our day, as if going into God’s presence is not all that important. Admittedly, while sitting with the saints around you, the visual impression of “heaven” on Sunday morning is not all that different during the service than just before the announcements. Everybody looks the same! There’s no “aura” of angels or rushing waters or thunder or lightning flashing around the sanctuary, or the all-purpose worship center that you are meeting in. So is what we are doing, sitting in our pews, all that important? Or life changing? Or world changing? Yes, it is.

And being in heaven not only gives us a right perspective on the world, but it so happens that being there means we are in the right position to change the world.

How do you know that? Because Psalm 11 tells you so!

The opening verses make it clear that David is in doubt about God’s salvation and love, and that he’s on the run from the wicked. It’s so bad he thinks the “foundations are destroyed” (vs 3). What can the righteous do, he asks.

Well, they can come into the sanctuary of God, his holy temple, and get their eyesight corrected. In the sanctuary David sees God on his throne, and he understands God’s eyes see the children of men, and that he tests them, and that He hates the wicked and the ones who love violence (vs 4-5). In fact, David is so emboldened by his heavenly vision, he asks the Lord to “rain coals on the wicked,” and give them fire and sulfur and scorching wind in their cup! He also learns that the upright shall behold His face.

Entering into the heavenly throne room on Sunday morning never sounded so good!

The Revelation of Jesus Christ. So says verse one of the book of Revelation. So what do we learn of Jesus, our husband, just in that first chapter? Many revealing things!

For instance, Jesus reveals to us in verses 4–5 that he is one person of the three-person Godhead. Jesus is the faithful witness of the one who is, who was, and who is to come, as well as the firstborn of the dead by the power of the Spirit, and raised to be ruler of the kings of the land by the call of God and the Spirit’s indwelling. So he knows a thing or two about relationships and community; things he wants us to learn and practice here on earth in his Great Commission body.

After John’s doxology in verse 6, which is certainly a model for us, we find that Jesus is revealed also as the coming one. He is Yahweh in the flesh in the clouds, and all of Israel (tribes of the land) will judge correctly at his second coming in 70 AD that he is the Messiah whom they pierced upon the cross. They will understand they rejected God’s Messiah when he comes in final judgment of the Old Covenant, the sacrificial system of the temple, and the old oikumene world of Daniel 2. They will mourn their rejection of him who crushed those kingdoms by his stone that grows into a mountain kingdom that covers the world (cf. Isaiah 2).

Let us live with one another in the body as Jesus lives as part of the community of the Godhead, and let us praise him our Lord for his dominion he possesses over us his bride and over the world as King of kings!

The Exodus text of Pastor Thacker’s sermon last week mentioned the Passover lamb, “and you shall not break any of its bones,” (cf Numbers 9:12). This is noteworthy because other sacrificial animals, such as the ascension and peace offerings, did have their bones either broken or cut up as part of the ritual. But not the Passover lamb or goat.

So when the Apostle mentions in John 19:36 that “…the scripture might be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’” John is letting the reader know Jesus is the Passover Lamb, quoting from Psalm 34:20 about the afflictions of the righteous. John identified Jesus as the Passover Lamb from Psalm 34, as we know from the Last Supper in the previous chapters: Jesus gives himself as food and drink.

The slam dunk, double witness is Paul’s testimony in 1 Cor 5 where Paul proclaims “…For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”

So why tell us no bones broken? For our comfort and assurance! First, we rejoice knowing that Jesus is the Lamb of God whose blood delivers his people from sin and Satan, just as the Passover lamb’s blood covered the people in their homes, and delivered them from slavery and Pharaoh. Each time you read about the Exodus, it’s about you, too, being delivered! It’s your down payment that got paid on the cross! But secondly, John notes that Jesus’ legs weren’t broken to put him to death, like for the other two (see John 19:31, 33, 36). Jesus certainly was murdered on the cross, for sure, but his life wasn’t taken. No, he gave up his life for us, as our Savior, as our Bridegroom (19:30). Jesus was the willing Passover Lamb of God that takes away the sin of his people. So rejoice when you eat the Supper, for Jesus loves you! He purposely gave himself for you, his bride!

How many Christians today can delineate the ways in which New Covenant worship differs from the old, and why? Of course, most would say that we no longer offer bloody sacrifices, and quite right it is to say so. But there’s much here to uncover. We’ve learned this summer from Pastor Thacker’s Sunday School class the patterns of worship in the scripture, and particularly in Leviticus that inform all of worship. And now in chapter 2 of The Theopolitan Vision in Pastor Shade’s class, we’re spending some time on Biblical Worship. New Covenant worship is (or should be), patterned on the worship of scripture, but there are distinct differences. There is no longer a veil to separate us from the Lord. As we’ve heard over and over again, we are saints, and this means we have sanctuary access. The sanctuary is where we find the source of life in Christ.

You may note that in the Old Covenant, there were priests to mediate the relationship between God and the people, who had no sanctuary access. The priests represented the people before God. But in the New Covenant, our Lord Jesus has become the great high priest, and we have direct access. That’s one reason why we tend to use the nomenclature of minister or pastor. That role is related to that of priest, but not the same. These ministers of word and sacrament no longer go between us and God, but they instead minister in the name of God, leading us in the liturgy as we are lifted up into heaven itself to receive life through the means of grace. We then are equipped to bring this source of life to the world. That then, is our calling and mission: to heavenize the earth! Go therefore, all the more boldly, and give God thanks!

The Revelation of Jesus Christ. So says verse one of the book of Revelation. So what do we learn of Jesus, our husband, just in that first chapter? Many revealing things!

First, we see that our husband speaks to us, his bride, with symbols, which reach much further into our souls than just prose: “…which God gave Him to ‘signify’ to his servants the things which must soon take place.” Symbols convey meaning and depth on top of, or below, the facts.

Second, we see that Jesus ensured the symbols get promulgated by sending them through a trusted servant, John. He wanted the churches to hear what he said, because it would be a blessing to them.

Third, we are greatly comforted, even emboldened in our lives as ambassadors for Jesus, to find out that Jesus is a “faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the land.” Jesus is the model of faithfulness in trusting God our Father; he rose from the dead, ensuring us that death can no longer hold us captive by its power; and, not only is Jesus faithful and alive, but he has been enthroned by his Father as King of the rulers of the land. In other words, Jesus can do what he promises will happen in the symbols to come!

Fourth, Jesus ransomed us from our sins by shedding his blood on our behalf, becoming a sacrifice for us, and through that action has made us a kingdom of priests to his God and Father. Jesus is a king that has a people; us, the church, his bride, washed white as snow and enabled to die for others as priests and kings as he died for us.

That’s quite a revelation of who our Lord is in this first chapter, and there are still fourteen verses to look at!