02APen13.OUT "God's call for Ethical Worship"
Isa 56:1, 6-8; Rom 11:13-15, 29-32; Mat 15:21-28
I INTRODUCTION
A. The Covenant God holds before Israel, God holds before all people
That is where Isaiah's call to 'foreigners' [56:6], Paul's apostleship to the 'Gentiles' [Rom 11:13], and Jesus' saving response to the 'Canaanite woman' [Mat 15:21ff] all interface.
B. What we note is that the provisions of the Covenant God offers are consistent across the board.
1. The Covenant of Grace is like unto the God who establishes it.
It is true & consistent across time. It does not change from one place to another,
nor from one people to another.
What is held before the Israelites is exactly what is
held before the Gentiles.
2. This Covenant of Grace is the Covenant of Salvation.
It is a Covenant of Worship. It is a Covenant of relationship. It is a call to faith. What God once cut in stone, once had his prophets and apostles write on parchment, he finally seals with in the very flesh and blood, suffering and death of his Son. In this Covenant God grants his renewing & restoring forgiveness, and then he calls for people to respond to that life changing forgiveness in the devoted manner which he stipulates... by faith.
3. By the provision of that Covenant man is restored in relationship with God, so God can bless man, and man in turn can praise God in what he says and does, where other men are drawn into the same blessed relationship with God.
4. God's Covenant of Grace works... it saves, prospers, and protects all who live with its provisions in this life
and it conveys to them life in relationship with God in the age to come.
II. PROBLEM
Acting according to Original Sin, 'doing what is right in our sight', doesn't correspond to the response God requires of those, who would live and remain... in, with, and under, his Covenant of Grace.
Original Sin has brought guilt & condemnation to all people; has left everyone without true fear and love of God, that is spiritually blind, dead, and enemies of God; and causes everyone to commit all kinds of actual sins. [Small Catechism pg. 96, q. 82]
A. Original Sin implants within us a faulty attitude toward God's Covenant of Grace.
1. Under the influence of Original Sin we may not consider God's Covenant of Grace a big deal, because we conclude that it only addresses future concerns. While God's Covenant certainly completely addresses the future concerns of eternal judgment, it also addresses the present tense damage sin effects in our lives and the lives of those we love. (the sickness, the broken relationships)
2. Because of Original Sin, we may conclude that God's Covenant of grace is easy to establish, easy to maintain, and easy to retain. We can draw such faulty conclusions about God's Covenant because through the influence of Sin,
we often define the requirements of God's Covenant-on the basis of what we want & can do.
B. Original Sin implants within us a faulty response toward God's Covenant of Salvation.
1. A faulty response toward God's Covenant of Salvation follows a faulty attitude toward God's Covenant of Salvation. What we believe... we do
2. We do what is pleasing in our eyes... and then define it as 'right'. We focus on the externals of the relationship with God, and not on the attitude of our heart. We get buried in structure, form, and style. We get distracted by what we enjoy, we prefer, and what we are comfortable with...
3. Yet what does the Lord call for ? This is what the LORD says: "Maintain justice & do what is right, [Isa 56:1]
And what is 'just and right' ? God defines 'just and right' like this, And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant--
4. The First Table of the Law is stressed here. Why ? Because being in relationship with God under the provisions of his Covenant demands that God holds first place before all things. If the relationship with God holds priority over and above the wall of separation in the temple between the Israelites and Gentiles, then the relationship with God certainly holds priority over the liturgy, hymnody, style, form controversy today.
Yet, what do we give attention to ? What is first, second, third, fourth, etc. ?
III SOLUTION
A. The reality of the Covenant
1. The Covenant of Grace is really a big deal, since
it is established & maintained, not by us but by
Almighty God himself. Paul says that "God's gifts and his call (to his Covenant) are irrevocable"
[Rom 11:29] Certainly that is significant. God's gifts and his call find their origin &
existence in God... and thus are like God - true,
faithful, and unchanging. Thus God's gifts and his call are also final,
definitive, and completely authoritative.
2. God's gifts and his call to his Covenant have their origin & existence in Jesus Christ.
3. The 'salvation which is close at hand' and the 'righteousness (that) will soon be revealed' which Isaiah speaks so emphatically of... is only available in God's Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus (is) the author and perfecter of faith.. [Heb 12:2]
St. Paul says, This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. [Rom 3:22] He says, Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--...is, our righteousness, holiness & redemption.[1 Cor 1:30]
St. Paul says, God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. [1 Thess 5:9]
4. God offers the Covenant of Grace in Christ to all. Paul writes in our Epistle, "God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all." [Rm 11:32] That is the same thing Paul means when he says, for all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. [Rm 3:23-24]
B. How can God's Covenant of grace in Jesus Christ be received ? believed ? responded to ? lived by ?
1. The wholehearted reception & response which is required by God's Covenant of Grace, is as much a creation of God, as is the Covenant of Grace itself.
2. Jesus explains to the Samaritan woman at the well,
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit & truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
God is spirit, & his worshipers must worship in spirit & in truth." [Jn 4:23-24] They are called to worship God in sincerity and
honesty of heart, not as mechanical robots.
3. The writer of Hebrews says, without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. [Heb 11:6] That wholehearted reception & response which is required by God's Covenant of Grace, is created in us through the Word of God's Son. As Paul writes to Timothy, the holy Scriptures... are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [2 Tim 3:15] and then to the Romans, "I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" [1:16]
4. Bottom line, our receipt & response to God's Covenant of Grace, has little to do, with what we want to do, or how we feel... But it has everything to do with who God is what he wills, commands, & effects through his Word.
In reality, its our obsession with what we want to do and how we feel, that puts what we want and feel over God in direct violation of the First Table of the Law.
5. Only when we finally realize that is the truth, are we able to repent of it & then having it moved out of first place able to serve, love, and worship God first.
IV CONCLUSION
A. God's call & promise
1. God's call is a call to ethical living... a call to live with God daily on the basis of his Word. This is what the LORD says: "Maintain justice & do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand & my righteousness will soon be revealed.
What is a just and right response to God's grace according to his Word ? This... [Those] who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it & who hold fast to my covenant-- [1,6]
2. And what is God's promise to those who respond in the sincere heartfelt manner God desires ? This - those I will bring to my holy mountain & give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings & sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."
B. Responding to God's 'irrevocable' call and promise
1. This morning Jesus comes to the region of Tyre & Sidon specifically to include a Canannite woman in his Covenant of Grace. There are many obstacles before this woman; her daughter's illness, her nationality, the disciples first reaction, but she is focused on none of them... she is focused on Jesus.
He holds first place. So great is her faith that she confesses that Jesus is Lord three times. So great is her faith that she confesses Jesus even when Jesus remains silent.
Like Jacob at the river Jabock, this woman wrestles with Jesus in faith, and according to Jesus' gracious will grows ever stronger where Jesus rewards her faith with victory.
2. This morning Jesus comes to the 'region of Wharton' specifically to include us in his Covenant of Grace. Will the obstacles before us divert us from that Covenant... Our financial problems, our health concerns, our relational difficulties, the view of society toward confessional Christianity, the Liturgy and Hymnody, style and form controversies ? Or will we focus on Jesus and the clear teaching of his Word that calls us to place him first before all things ?
Some of you are in battle right now. Some of you wonder about the silence you are experiencing. Make no mistake, our Lord only desires to strengthen you in faith so he can give you the kingdom. Bind yourself to him, serve him, love him, worship him... His purpose is clear... "those I will bring to my holy mountain, and give joy in my house of prayer." Amen.