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​If you could improve one thing in your life right now to make your life so much better what would it be? I think for many this time of year, the answer to that question is health related. If we could just lose weight, moving and pain would be eased. Or maybe it is financially related. If only I could make/save more money live would be easier. But even if we do those things it only does that, makes life a little easier. It doesn't make it a life worth living. What makes life worth living? 

Have you ever resolved to become a better worshiper in the new year? I'm not talking about being busier at religious things, reading more chapters, attending more small groups, adding Sunday Night, per se. I am talking becoming better at worship. How does one do that? In order to answer that question, we have to remind ourselves what worship actually is, a question we will explore in a moment. 

I know I mentioned to many of you that my plan was to start preaching through the book of James in the New Year, and that is still the plan. I'm actually treating this as something of an introduction to James. James is a book that has a lot of practical things to say about how the ethical Christian life is lived: watch what you say, take care of orphans and widows, don't just be hearers of the word, don't show partiality. And before we get to all of those things, I want to cover the first things of how we become the doers that James wants us to be. We have to be worshipers first. It must begin here. If it doesn't start with worship, the Christian life will be one of constant burdensome activity that you never quite do right and in your most honest moments wonder if it is all really worth it. 

So let's take the next several weeks together (I have in mind 7 sermons including this one) where I want to look at each aspect of our worship on Sunday morning and show why it is that we do it, and as you will see in the coming weeks, it is God centered and Word based. 

So let's begin with our first point: God desires worship. 

You may have noticed I have titled this sermon "seeker-sensitive worship" as a bit of a in joke. For those unfamiliar, over the last fifty years or so, there has been a movement called the "seeker-sensitive" movement. It came about by pastors looking around at their churches and wondering why they were so small and empty. The conclusion that many came to was that the church didn't have sufficient draw for your average person. The solution was to reformat the church to make it a more attractive place, which over time ended up becoming a more entertaining place. 

While the motivation of trying to attract people to Jesus was well-meaning in some places, it was born out of a misunderstanding about who worship is for: God. There is only one seeker of worship, and we see Him in our text in John 4:23-24. 

God seeks His people to worship Him in spirit and in truth. We have seen that desire throughout the Scripture. As we see in Genesis, He creates humanity in a beautiful garden, but because of their sin, they are cast out. But humanity isn't cast out permanently. God provides ways for humanity to have fellowship with Him. When God's people was one mobile family, they built an altar. When God's people was one mobile nation, God had them build a Tabernacle. When they were permanently established, God had them build an established Temple. He desired His people to fellowship with Him, to worship Him.

Side note: Interestingly, as Ross points out, God's constructions of the Tabernacle and Temple echo creation language of "finished." When the Tabernacle was "finished" Moses reports that they did everything God said to do, and His indwelling of the Tabernacle indicates that it was good. The Temple was finished in the seventh year of construction, and king Solomon called it "finished." Then when the curtain is torn several centuries later, opening access of full worship to Jews and Gentiles Jesus says "it is finished." Finally, in Revelation, when there is no need for a temple anymore because God Himself is the temple face to face, He says, "It is done, I am the alpha and omega." God has been recreating ever since the Fall, and it has always been for the purposes of worship. 

We are in that third section of history. There is no specific place that we have to gather to worship God. It is no longer on this mountain or that mountain, but the requirement to be a worshiper is to worship in sprit and truth. In short, we have to worship having had our hearts changed by the Holy Spirit, worshiping according to the truth revealed to us in Christ. 

You don't even have to be a scholar like Ross to know that God cares about worship. You just need to be familiar with the 10 Commandments. When He gave the 10 Commandments, the first four commands are all about worship. No other gods are to be worshiped. No idols are to be used in worship, even ones supposedly meant to represent the true God. God's name is to be spoken reverently, and an entire day is to be set aside as holy to God for the purposes of worship. God really cares about worship.  

Now, I've been talking about worship for nearly half of this sermon and I have yet to define it. Worship is something that God is constantly providing for and often judging breaches of that, so we should know what it is. In short, the word "worship" that Jesus uses seven times in our chapter, means "bow." To bow to someone back then means pretty much the same thing as it would mean to bow down to someone today. It is an indication of submission, of deep respect. It something that has changed in form over the years. Back in the Renaissance, it was about diagonal angles, and grand gestures with your arm. Today, it is a head drop down if you don't know someone and a head pop up if you do. 

But worship is more than a gesture of the body. It isn't even just a respect of the heart. There is a sense of slightly fearful awe, yet grateful celebration. It's a complicated emotion. 

Imagine if I were to tell you that I can take everyone on a trip to see the surface of the sun. Assuming that the transport to the sun was all figured out (we can come and go all in the same day), what questions would you have? I imagine that there would be a lot of questions about your safety: "How will you keep us from going blind or burning up?" If I didn't have a plan for that, you would rightly turn down the opportunity to see the sun's surface. But imagine if I could correctly tell you that provisions have been made for you to stand on the sun. You won't burn; you won't go blind. You can stand on its surface and watch the explosions of gas and light radiate thousands of miles above your head. You will be able to hear the sun "sing" as all the movement and magnetic fields clash to create waves that can be converted to sound. Would that not be awe-inspiring? Oh you would cling to your safety suits. There would be a little bit of nervous energy because, you're standing on the surface of the sun! Humans weren't designed to bear that kind of heat and light, and yet here you are! Nervous celebration, eh? 

Now imagine that I invite you to meet with the Creator of the sun. In fact, better, the Creator of the sun has invited you to meet with Him. Of course, in your natural state of sin, you could not survive such an encounter. Our God is a more consuming fire than our sun ever could be. It is not safe to worship God. As we saw in our study of the feasts, they would tie a rope around the ankle of the High Priest when he went into the Holy of Holies. Because if you went into the Holy of Holies presumptuously, with sin unsacrificed for, you would die. 

You can't approach God on your own, and it is the height of arrogance to assume otherwise. That is why God's Son is so important. He is the One who has made a relationship with God possible. He takes away our sin. With our sin taken care of, we can approach God in worship. We have been made acceptable because of Christ. His righteousness covers us, so when God the Father sees us, He sees His Son and throws His arms open and says, "Welcome Home." We aren't consumed by His righteousness, because in Christ we are just as righteous. The Father is the object of our worship. The Son makes it possible. And The Holy Spirit is the one who changes your heart to desire to worship God rather than yourself in the first place. 

That is what is happening here on Sunday. You are entering a spiritual experience of encountering God the Father in a unique way made even possible by the atoning death of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit such that you want to worship and are further shaped by it. 

So our takeaway today is that God desires worship, and has always done so. That is Who this worship service is for. We saw that worship in a word is bowing, but in a deeper way is an awe-struck wonder at a God who would allow us entrance into His presence. 

So how are we supposed to channel that particular sense of awe? Can we offer up anything? That is what we will talk about next time. 

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Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at the various, individual offices of Jesus. We have seen Him as Prophet, Priest, and King. But there is a more common title that we use for Him that in some way wraps all of these titles together, Savior. Now, like all church terms we have some sense as to what they mean, but if we are actually stopped in the street and asked to give a definition, we might have to think about it for a minute. Once we have supplied that definition, we are then given the task of saying what precisely we mean. A great example of this is the word “Holy.” I think if you were to ask your average church goer what “holy” means, you’ll get something like “sin free” because we know that God is Holy, Holy, Holy, because that is how the song goes! It actually means, “separate.” God is “different” from us. Certainly that includes not sinning, but that is only part of it. 
The same thing I think applies to the word “Savior.” What that word means and how we are supposed to respond to it will be the focus of our time together here. 
Our main point is Jesus, Our Savior, delivers us from sin.
Jesus, Our Savior, Delivers Us from Sin. 

​Jesus is given this title, Savior of the World here in our passage in John 4 by the Samaritans. “Savior” is “one who saves.” But what is Jesus saving us from? If we were to look at Matthew’s gospel, we would plainly see that He is given the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. He didn’t come to save us from bad marriages, strained finances, or political problems. He came to save us from our sins, but how does He do that? 
Most would answer that question I think with reference to the office of King and somewhat the office of Priest. We have been judged guilty. That is a reality, and yet, the King has decided not to punish us because an atonement has taken place thanks to Jesus the Priest. All of that is very true and cannot be minimized whatsoever. But there is even more to Jesus’ saving work than that. 
How does Jesus save us from sin in His office of Prophet? He defines what sin is! In His sermon on the mount, He shows that the intention of the law was never meant to just stop at the action. For example, the commands not to murder or commit adultery wasn’t allowing someone to simply hate or lust in their heart. God saw the heart, too, and while the consequences are different, it really is the thought that counts. 
This is a real gift to us for a couple of reasons. The first and most obvious one is we don’t want to commit sin that offends God. If we are unaware that we are offending God, we would like to know to adjust that! 
But the second reason is that God’s laws are not arbitrary. God isn’t commanding us His preferences as if our behavior doesn’t really make a difference to our own lives. It turns out that sin, even if we don’t feel its effects immediately, is damaging to our own lives. Sin doesn’t promote human flourishing. For instance, we are finding that people who regularly attend church live longer! There is something about the fellowship and rest that is good for the body as well as the soul. 
Sin just isn’t good for you. And as much guidance as we can have in this area, we need to take it. Doesn’t mean life will be easy. A healthy life isn’t easy to maintain. But there is no argument that introducing sin makes life ever more complicated. 
Jesus saving us from our sins as King and Priest is clearer to us here in a country that sees things in terms of guilt and innocence. We were guilty, but an authority has said we don’t have to serve our sentence because we had a substitute. Perfect justice is satisfied. 
But there is more than just getting rid of the presence of sin in Jesus work there. Jesus also saves us from the shame of our sin. 
Now, this needs to be approached carefully. I don’t mean, of course, that we are now proud of the sin we have committed. The sins that we have committed were and always will be things that we will wish that we didn’t do, say, or think. 
When I say that Jesus takes away our shame, I mean that sin doesn’t have the final definition in our lives. Paul can, with a straight face, call all the people in his letters to the churches “saints,” the set apart ones! He calls them that even though most of the reason that he is writing a letter to them is that they are getting something wrong! The Corinthians were a mess, but he still called them saints because that is the title that Jesus has purchased them. 
The Church isn’t a collection of thieves, liars, and murderers. It is a collection of former thieves, liars, and murderers. They are given a new identity. 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 
Before God, you are no longer defined by what you do or did but by what Christ did. All that sin isn’t going to come up at the judgement to come. It is paid for. The account is clear! 
Now, having said all of that, this does not mean that sin has no earthly consequences. If you steal and are caught, praying to Jesus doesn’t get you out of jail free. There are consequences to face even in the church for past sins. If you have embezzled funds at work, don’t expect to be on the finance team at the church. A criminal record keeps you out of the nursery. Sin has consequences, and some of them follow you for a long time. 
Further, regret lasts longer than consequences. If you say something sinful, there is no taking it back. You can hurt people with your words, and not having it on your heavenly record doesn’t do much to soothe those you’ve hurt. Sin causes regret, and Jesus doesn’t take that away from us fully. That’s a mercy. 
Voddie Baucham compares regret of sin to burn marks from a fire. Can you imagine if every time you burned yourself, God made you forget why that happened? He says, “We’d all be wandering around a bunch of crispy people wondering why this keeps happening!” You’d never know not to touch the stove, the fire pit, or the exhaust pipe. That burn, that pain, that memory, helps us not to do it again. 
Regret of your sin is another way to train you away from it. If you see the pain on someone’s face after you’ve said something hurtful, you will hopefully be a little bit more measured with your words next time. 
But because Jesus has redefined you, taken away the shame, you are doing so from a position of safety. You aren’t a liar desperately trying to reform to make it into heaven. You are no longer defined that way, so you are now working to align your behavior with your new name. 
I like to compare it to a sweater your grandma makes you that is way too big. She says, “you’ll grow into it.” She’s knows that. In a similar way, Jesus gives you His clothes. You’re not worthy of them. You will never be in this life. They don’t fit. But you will grow. They will start to fit better. You will always be fully covered. 
And that is where I want to come full circle here. Jesus saves you from the penalty of sin, the shame of sin, and finally, He saves you from the power of sin. Jesus as King sits on the throne of your heart. And day by day takes greater control of your actions by changing you at the heart level. He does this through the often forgotten member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. As King, He directs you more and more away from sin and to Himself. Slowly, you will indulge in those sins less and less, and find greater joy in Him more and more. 
This means that you don’t have to sin. You are no longer compelled by your nature to sin in the way that a bird by its nature is compelled to fly. You have been made a new creature! Old things have passed away, behold ALL things are new! Does that mean we can achieve perfection here? No, but it does mean that we don’t have to choose sin every time! We can be genuinely prompted to avoid sin for the glory of God, a motive that cannot exist in an unregenerate heart. It isn’t inevitable that you will sin in absolutely every decision, totally. By the power of the Holy Spirit, you can do things that please God. 
Now, you may be hearing this right now and thinking, “Ah, I don’t know if that’s true in my life. It just seems like the more I get to know Jesus the MORE I sin, not less.” I have some comfort for you this morning. Seeing your sin more clearly is a paradox of the Christian life. The more progress you make in holiness, the more you will see sin for the ugly thing it is and see new areas you didn’t think were sin before. You think you see fine until you get glasses. The ability to see now heightens how blind you were before.
You’re a worse sinner than you can know, but you have a Savior Who is more gracious than you can possibly imagine. 
And even if you find that no, in fact, you are not getting any better. The solution is the same. Turn from your sin, and come to Jesus for mercy and transformation. This isn’t an overnight change. You actually aren’t just one more New Year’s Resolution away from finally getting your life perfect. In Christ, you are taking one more step closer to holiness. 
But Jesus isn’t waiting for you at the end of that road. He’s walking with you—for you— the whole way. We aren’t getting our life together enough to be worthy for Jesus to start working on us. We come just as we are, shrugging our shoulders wondering how on earth Jesus is going to fix this, and then start the process of walking with Him further and further from our sin and on to heaven. 
That is what it means to have a Savior. Jesus isn’t providing a license to sin but a life from sin. He isn’t promising the removal of regret, but He is providing the reality of reform. He is saving you from the ignorance of sin, the identification with sin, and even the inevitability of sin. 
And one day, we will be saved from the possibility of sin. In heaven, Jesus’ clothes will fit perfectly as we bow in gratitude! We will be finally, fully recast in the image of Christ, shining brighter than the sun by the reflected glory of seated Prophet, Priest, and King for all eternity! 
So! Celebrate Christmas with gusto, My Loves! Feast! Sing! Live the joyfully holy lives as befits a member of God’s Family! For the best presents are yet to be opened! 

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Have you ever wondered why Jesus came so long after Genesis 3? “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” has the line “late in time, behold him come.” We know that Jesus isn’t one of those folks who has a hard time getting out the door on time. So why wait? Could it be that Jesus coming down was Plan B? Let’s think about that possibility. I mean we do see this elaborate system of worship in the Old Testament. Worship was done in a particular place and in a particular way. Leviticus is an entire book dedicated to outlining Sabbath as well as daily worship. There were daily sacrifices, thanksgiving offerings, sin offerings, vows, things that took place, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, as well as a litany of health regulations and prescriptions for daily life. All of this was meant to guide and maintain a relationship with God. There was an entire tribe of people who’s sole job was to help the people maintain that relationship, helping them sacrifice, teaching them, maintaining their temple, and even helping them with some of their physical disease as well. 
Why have this entire system that, at the end of the day, according to verse 11 of our text, “can never take away sins?” Was this a system that if the people just did it a little bit more faithfully it would have worked but since they didn’t Jesus swoops down and just does it? Is Jesus like a parent trying to let their child do something on their own, realize it is never going to happen, and just does it for them? 
No. God knows everything. God plans everything from before the beginning of the world. Acts 2:23 tells us this: “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” It was always the plan that Jesus would die for the sins of the world. But in order for us to understand what that actually means we need the Old Testament to compare Jesus’ sacrifice to. It is like trying to point out the difference between a million and a billion. A million seconds is 11.5 days. That’s a while! But a billion seconds? Why that’s over 31 years! I’ve only been alive for a little bit longer than a billion seconds. 
In the same way, we look at Jesus’ ministry and ultimately dying on the cross and ask, “What am I really seeing here?” The Old Testament is the background to that answer, and for today, we will look at the office of Old Testament priests. That is what we are going to look at today when we see that Jesus is the ultimate priest. 
Jesus as priest makes us perfect. 
​
If you were to describe the job of the priest in the Old Testament in one word it would be “mediator.” They were the go-between in the relationship of God and man. Remember, God is perfectly holy and cannot stand the sight of sin. Man is full of sin, so you can see the problem here. The priests would represent the people to God and God to the people. They would stand between God and sinner by presenting a sacrifice. The animal would represent the sinner killed for their sin. The priest would offer that up to God as a covering for sin. Then the priest could turn to the worshiper and say that their sin was covered. It would be a great occasion to teach (which was also part of their job) what God expected of them and how to have a good relationship with them. 
That is the biggest job that typically comes to mind for the priest, but there were plenty of other things you had to do as well. Another big part of the job was praying for the people (Ex. 30:1-10; 37:25-29). When John the Baptist’s dad, Zacharius, was visited by the angel in Luke 1, that is what he was doing. There would be a holy place with a pulpit-like stand where incense would be offered as well as prayers. 
While teaching, prayer, and sacrifice were their main jobs, they also looked after the people to ensure that they didn’t become unclean through skin disease like leprosy or other conditions like that. When someone would present with something like that, the priests had a list of protocols to follow to declare the person clean after their condition cleared up, or if it didn’t to declare them unclean and direct them outside the gathering of the people of Israel. 
It’s a big job. Lots of hats. But you can see how the priest would have been an essential figure in the life of Israel. Since their whole lives were to be in relation to God, the priests would be the ones to direct them on how to do it. 
So how did you become a priest? Well, there were a couple of requirements. You had to be born into the role. You had to be of the tribe of Levi, because God set that tribe apart for that role. But just being born wasn’t enough. You also had to be free of physical defect. You couldn’t have a club foot, a hunch, or some other disease. Just like the lambs that they sacrificed, they had to be unblemished people to serve the Lord, physically and morally. 
If one managed to pass that test, on the day you were to start the job, you would be washed and then anointed with oil. That anointing “represented the impartation of the authority and power of God through the Holy Spirit” (Ross, 211). This was to show everyone that God had set him apart for service to Him. 
Now, that’s a lot of background information. And that is just some of the stuff that is put down on paper. It would be hard to describe what it would feel like to have a relationship with a good priest. He would be there to purify your wife after she completed childbirth. He would see all the lambs and rams that you brought for your sin. You would watch him lift animal after animal, getting a little slower as age set in. He would be there as you made vows to God in exchange for letting your child live. And he would be there when you brought your thanksgiving offering with your now-whole son. He would be there for all the highs and lows of life, and if he was doing his job well would point beyond himself to God. 
Now, you could always pray to God on your own even in the OT times. But there was always something between you and the full presence of God. There was a temple, and in that, a holy place, and beyond that a Most Holy Place that only the High Priest could go, and only once a year! 
What difference does Jesus make in this whole process? 
Why, He makes all the difference in the world. 
Even at the very beginning of his ministry, he was different. He was baptized by John the Baptist, and that was to identify with His people. He represented a people that needed to be cleansed and went through what they would need to go through, a cleansing baptism. In one way, it was an identification ritual, but in another way, it was an ordination ceremony. He comes up out of the water, not anointed with oil, but Who descends on Him? The Holy Spirit. What the priests of the OT just had a picture of, Christ has the reality in its fullest! 
The priests were always sacrificing every year because at the end of the day, sacrifices couldn’t deal with sin permanently. The priest could, as it were, pull the tops off of the weeds in the garden but couldn’t deal with the root. Yes, the weed was gone for the day, but it would grow back. 
That is why in all the pieces of furniture in the temple, as one preacher once pointed out to me, there is one piece that is missing, a chair. The priest wouldn’t sit down. There was always something to do. There was always a sacrifice to make, prepare for, or clean up after. When Christ comes, He offers a single sacrifice for sin, a sacrifice that would be worth more than one and a half thousand years of animal sacrifices! It has been asked, “How can one man suffer for a few hours and atone for the sins of the world?” Well, it depends on Who that Man is! When it is the Son of God acting as Priest, not offering some other sacrifice but offering Himself as a substitute, there is no limit to what can be atoned for! 
And now it is done, and now, for the first time ever, a priest can sit down. The work is done, or better, “It is finished.” 
Let me ask you this, “Who here would consider themselves perfect?” If you are in Christ, in a way, you all should be raising your hand. Because what does the text say in verse 14? “he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” With Jesus’ work, He paid for every sin past, present, and future! He has paid for that sin in the past and declares you clean! In God’s eyes, you are perfect even in the middle of your worst sin. But, that doesn’t mean we just sin with abandon. Those who have been made perfect and still being sanctified, still being made more holy, still being set apart. 
Set apart for what? Well, do you remember how someone became a priest? They had to be born into the line and be perfect. When you come to Christ, you are born again in a new family. And you are made a priest, too. Not to pay for sins—that’s already done—but to introduce people to God, praying for them, and serving God to that end. That is why in 1 Peter 2:9 we are called “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 
When you come to Christ, there is an ordination of sorts. You receive the Holy Spirit, too. Not like the OT priests with oil but like Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes down on you slightly before the moment of conversion and lives in you powerfully. No longer does God’s presence need to be accessed in the temple behind a curtain. That curtain is ripped! God now dwells with His people in their hearts, but one day, we will live with Him face to face. 
That is what Christ has done to make a relationship between God and man! 

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Jesus as King is probably the hardest part of Jesus’ identity for Americans to understand, much less submit to. The only king we ever had we threw off with a cup of Boston Harbor tea. Ever since, we’ve built our national identity on the concept of self-rule, by the people, for the people, able to swap leaders every four years, potentially handicap their authority every two, and, at least in theory, impeach at any time. Since the only permanent authority we must pay homage to is the electric company, it will be helpful to remind ourselves what a king even does. Or at least we will remind ourselves of what a king was supposed to do. No king but One ever fulfilled the royal law perfectly. 

Jesus as King Rules All of Life with Care

What is a king supposed to do? For starters, a king has to defend his area. He must defend what is precious. If other countries come in and take over the area, he isn’t much of a king, is he? Or if his own subjects are constantly in fear of each other, that isn’t a very good king either. He has to make laws that govern behavior such that everyone is able to live in some sort of peace. 

But in being able to make laws governing behavior, the king or queen has the ability to define what is normal. For example, did you ever wonder why bride’s dresses are white? It is because one woman in 1840 wore a white dress to her wedding. Her name was Queen Victoria. That is what you call influence! It doesn’t have to be just trendsetting, either. I found a law from the 1400s demanding men’s pointy shoes (popular in fashion at the time) not be too long. To be fair, things were getting out of hand—or foot—in this instance. In case you were wondering, the points couldn’t be over two inches. It was a 100 pound fine to break the law. 

We are not used to our rulers having the ability to carry out their wishes in that way, which is why in the West, a kings power was limited by the Magna Carta. It said that even a king is not above the law, keeping him from being able to do whatever he wanted to do. 

For the kings in the Old Testament, that principle had been established since Moses’s time. In Deuteronomy 17:14-20, a list of laws was laid down instructing what a future king of Israel should and should not do, establishing from the beginning that the ultimate authority was always God. Even the king had to submit. 

So what were the qualifications and regulations of an Israelite king? First, he had to be a son of Abraham (v. 15). They could not install a foreigner to be their king. Remember, the Messiah has to be from Abraham’s line through King David. Once installed as king, the man couldn’t acquire many horses, especially from Egypt (v. 16). This might seem oddly specific, but we must remember that this is Moses writing this. The people weren’t supposed to go back to Egypt. God had already delivered them. 

Another thing they couldn’t do was acquire a lot of money and women (v. 17). The job of kingship wasn’t the advancement of the man’s own ends. It was meant to be one that directed the people towards God, including the king! He had to keep his own heart from turning away. That is why he is also commanded to write his own copy of God’s laws and read them (v. 18-19). He had to fear God and keep his own heart from thinking he was above everyone (v. 19-20). If he did these things, his kingdom would last a long time (v. 20). We see the Bible actually refers to kings as shepherds in places like Psalm 78:70–72 “He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance. With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.” Yes, kings were to rule, but notice the expectation of gentle care and guidance that God has in mind for the role. 

Now, all of these rules were set before the Israelites even moved into the promised land. It would be a few centuries before any of these laws would be needed, because the people were ruled directly by God during this time. However, once people got into the land and a generation went by without passing on the faith to their children, people forgot about God. They would live any old way that they would want to. God would discipline them, they would repent, God would raise up a man to help lead them back from judgment, called a judge, he would die, and the process would start over. 

This was a different way of living than the surrounding countries did, and eventually, the Israelites wanted a king, too. I’m sure the thoughtful people at the time figured that things went well when a human judge was present, so maybe having a permanent king with an heir would help bring stability to their country. A single person would have the authority to defend and define life as they knew it. 

What could go wrong? 

Well, their very first choice of king was king Saul who wouldn’t obey God during a battle and lost the kingship to God’s choice of David. He promised that David would have a son who would sit on the throne forever. While David certainly wasn’t the ideal king, his son, Solomon, came the closest…until he acquired monies and honeys, and just as predicted, had his heart turned away. The kingship meant to keep the nation together, broke it apart after just 120 years combined. While there were definitely bright spots here and there, the majority of kings in Israel and Judea were disappointing. Even the good kings usually left at least some of God’s commands undone, particularly in the purity of worship that God commanded. 

This is why by the time we get to the prophets, we see a scathing review of the kings in Ezekiel 34:1–12. In this, they are compared to shepherds who were supposed to be feeding the sheep rather than eating them! This isn’t the vision of Psalm 78 at all! This is why God promises something amazing in Ezekiel 34:11–12 ““For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” At the end of that chapter, God promises to set up a Good Shepherd Ezekiel 34:23–24 “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.” Is that not the picture we find in Jesus as the Good Shepherd in John 10:14–16 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” 

Jesus fulfills the laws of the kings perfectly. He knew the law and followed it perfectly. He didn’t acquire horses, he had to borrow a donkey! He didn’t acquire silver and gold; he didn’t even have a place to lay his head. He didn’t acquire any women or ever have his heart turned away from anything that wasn’t God’s will. He heart wasn’t lifted above his brothers except onto a cross where he indeed gave up his life for the sheep. He rose again to reign in heaven forever. 

Now, you might look around and say, “Well, if this is the world that Jesus is supposedly in control of with all the wars, sickness, and evil, how good of a king could he be?” And this is a real question that we have to wrestle with. And while there are many approaches to answering it, we could look at it this way. If God were to simply destroy all that was evil, he would have to start with me. And you. After all the ways that we have sinned in our lives and how utterly offensive even the smallest of those sins are to God, it really is a wonder that we are still here. We are living in a time where the gospel, the news that our sins and evil can be forgiven, is still going out. We still have time to repent and believe. You still have time to repent and believe. Aren’t you glad Jesus waited at least until now? 

Because He won’t wait forever. In Revelation Jesus returns as the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, with His robes soaked in the blood of the wicked. He is a very patient King, but He has told us that He justice will not wait forever. 
​
So surrender now. Kiss the Son, Psalm 2 says. You have been called as a human being to steward, to rule, over the Earth, your home, and your body. And the Christian way to rule over those things is to submit to Another. 

Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash

As you're being seated, if you would, please turn with me in your copies of God's word to Acts chapter 3, Acts chapter three, we will be looking at verses 17 through 26, although we'll be tracing this theme a little bit through the Bible itself. We've already read the Old Testament mention of this, the first time it's shown up. And here we're seeing it here in the New Testament. 

If you're following along in the Pew Bible, the black volume that's in front of you that's on page 10083. 10083. To give you the brief context here, Peter is giving a sermon to a crowd that is gathered together because they have just healed a man who has paralyzed his whole life and has been sitting at this gate begging alms, and now all of a sudden he can walk around, jump around as praising God, and Peter is explaining how it is that this is possible. 

Of course, is the power of Christ that is evident in this man's life. The man that this crowd was at least joining in crucifying him. And that's where we pick up in verse 17, Acts chapter 3. 

Listen carefully, because this is God's word. And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that this Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled, repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you. 

Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him and whatever he tells you, and it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. 

And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaimed these days.You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your father, saying to Abraham and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God for His Word. 

Let's go to our God and ask His blessing on our text today. Oh, heavenly Father, you who have given to us your eternal Word, not only what we have just read, but in the person in whom this is about, we pray that we might look at this word with a greater clarity, and a greater love than we have before, but I pray that you had blessed the preaching of your word, pray that you had commended to the hearts of all of us, that we might love you more. 
Oh, we ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Who is Jesus? Who is he fully? There has been a recent survey that's gone out. It's called the State of Theology Survey, where they're asking people, both your average everyday Americans and even your regular churchgoing folk, a series of questions as to what is the Bible? Who is Jesus and this sort of thing. And one of the things that was amazing is when they asked the question, who is Jesus? 

Is he just a great teacher? And what we found was that at least, I think it was 20% of even church going folks, would say that yes, he's just a teacher. He's not God. But is meant to give us an example as to what we're to follow. Well, like most lies that are damaging, there is a bit of truth. Yes, Jesus has given us an example. 

Yes, he was a great teacher, but that's not all he was either. We can also make the mistake, especially when we come to our seasons of Advent, when we see little manger scenes everywhere that we see Jesus as the baby. The harmless little thing that we've all come to worship and adore. 
And we forget that there is a lot more to this baby as well. In theology, there is a term that's given that Christ occupies three offices, which is just a fancy way of saying that God has the Son of God Jesus, has three titles, three things about him, three jobs that he occupies to help us in our Christian life, to show us the way. And those three offices are prophet, priest, and king. 

And as those three jobs of Jesus, his full nature is what we are going to be examining this Christmas season, that he is the prophet. So what we're going to do is that we are going to look at our two points as we examine Christ's character today, if you will do the note-taking sort of person. The first is that Christ is the ultimate prophet. 

Christ is the ultimate prophet. But what we're going to see is that he is the message. He is the message or the word. 

So let's take a look. Christ is the ultimate prophet, and let's answer the question, what is a prophet? There's a lot of misunderstanding as to what a prophet does, because when we hear about prophets, it's usually stuff that they said a long time ago, that's only just now coming true. 

So we tend to look at prophets as future tellers, predictors. And while that's probably the most impressive thing that they do, that's not the only thing that they do. It's true whenever, usually, when we're reading from Isaiah, we're only reading about the predictions that he's made, that a virgin will conceive and bear a son, you shall call his name Emmanuel, and that's Isaiah chapter 7, "We don't see that verse fulfilled fully for another 700 ish years when we see Jesus, who is indeed born of a virgin and is given the name Emmanuel, meaning God with us. 

And while he does that in several places in the book of Isaiah, that's hardly the majority of what Isaiah is doing. The majority of what Isaiah is doing is not giving you new information, but is reminding you of information that God has already given. There is a law! 

You are to worship only God, not to make these idols of wood. Instead, ye to repent of that sort of false worship, and then turn to the god who is thrice holy. That's the main message of Isaiah. 
And yes, also prediction, in there as well. There is some fore telling, looking forward to the future, but the majority of what the prophets are doing is forth-telling, laying out God's laws. Now, who were these prophets? 

Well, the one that acts chapter 3, mentions, of course, is Moses. Now, Moses comes up again, in this particular concept comes up again in Acts chapter 7, just a few pages over. When we look at Acts chapter 7 and beginning, there in verse 20, we see this is coming up in the context of a sermon. 

Here in Acts chapter 7, we hear hearing from one of the first deacons of the church. His name is Stephen. And he's being brought in front of these religious leaders to give an account of what it is that we're teaching, what it is that we're preaching, and he is going through as we were to read the entire thing, which we do don't have time to do this morning. 

What he is doing is going through a history of the Old Testament and saying,Here is what your fathers have done to the prophets, and how well they have listened to said prophet. He introduces Moses's life, and if we were to read this whole passage, I would encourage you to do so at home later today versus 20 through 45 He lists out Moses, and all the things that he did, but how often he was ignored. Even at the very beginning of his life, and the very beginning of his ministry, so to speak, this first deliverance is delivering one of the Hebrew slaves from an excessive beating from one of the Egyptians. In the account and Exodus, which Moses himself is writing, says he looks this way, and that left and right, and kills one of the Egyptians and buries him in the sand. And then when he comes up and sees there's an argument the next day between two Hebrews, he comes up to them and says, hey, how can we sort this out? And it says they're in acts that he was thrust aside and saying, "Who have you have made you judge over us?" 

And we'll see that pop up here, and again and again in this chapter, Moses is thrust aside. And back in Deuteronomy, he is saying, there's going to be a prophet that's going to be raised up after me, and you shall listen to him. What we see in Acts chapter 7 in this fulfillment of it, that there hasn't been listening. Look at verse 42, but God turned away and gave them over to worship the hosts of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness? Oh house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship. 
I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. Here, they did not listen. They thrust Moses aside. 
They did not offer up true worship to the only God, which was the first and second commandments. The law was thrust aside. And indeed, as we are seeing here, and we get to the rest of this chapter, the one who was to be raised up a prophet like Moses, Jesus is thrust aside as well. 

And he is killed. This is how these prophets were treated. And we will see this throughout the rest of the Old Testament if we were to look at them, we were to see these sorts of prophets after Moses, there were many others that were raised up. 

There was another great prophet, and his name was Samuel, that he would be the one who was one of the kind of the first prophet and judges of pulling the people together and trying to bring more people into conformity to God's Word. But as we would see in the tragic life of his sons, Samuels even his own sons, don't follow him. Eventually, Samuel is rejected in favor of a king instead. 

Or Isaiah, probably one of the greatest prophets, at least in terms of Britain volume of what he is calling of his people to turn and repent, he's thrust aside, too. In fact, in Hebrews chapter 11 32 and 38, it says that some of the prophets were put inside of a log and sawn in two. The tradition is that's Isaiah. It doesn't get more thrust aside than that! God's prophets all the way through the Old Testament were ignored, because they continued to bring God's word and the people continued to not want to listen. 

But the prophets were limited. 

You might be able to say if we were going to try to if we were the ones in the sights of this complaint, we were ignoring the profits because it was like, well, these profits were flawed men too. Why should we listen to them? Who made them judge over me? I don't want to listen to this sort of a thing. I know their sins. I know Samuel's sons don't follow him. 

Well, here we get into the New Testament, we get the ultimate word as sent. Christ, He's the ultimate prophet. He's not only telling the future, we've seen places like Matthew 24., but he's also laying out God's law in Matthew 5 7 says, here is what the law looks like.  Here's what it always was meant to be, to call them to this great standard of holiness, but do you know what's fascinating when he talks versus when all the other prophets would talk? When the other prophets would talk, they would need to have a preface. They would need to say, thus saith the Lord, to give authority to what they're saying. 

They couldn't just get up there and saying, "Hey, guys, you know, this worship of Vail, it's just not practical." You see, it just doesn't work. They're not offering their own wisdom. 
They have to cite their source of thus saith the Lord. What is Jesus say? This is truly, truly, I say to you, what an audacious claim. To say, I am going to speak for God, because he is. That's one of the things that you will see throughout the New Testament when the people are reacting to Jesus, they'll say, no one teaches like this guy. All the other scribes in the Pharisees, they have to keep referring back to other authorities. 

He's speaking on his own authority. Well, how do you get to say that? How do we know? 
if you are there in the first century listening to Jesus, we've had lots of people come and claim to be prophets of God. And they were wrong. How do we know? 

In Deut. 18, a little further down, there is a test. Saying there's, if a prophet is going to say something, and that it doesn't turn out to be true, you can ignore him. You're going to test things against God's word.  That's exactly what he did. When he is saying, I'm I'm I'm going to be risen from the dead in three days' time, and what do you know? He's risen again, three days' time, just as he said. When he says, "You are healed, rise and walk, and the man is healed and rises and walks." Miracle after miracle after miracle, authenticating what it is that he's saying. He is a trustworthy prophet, the ultimate prophet, but he goes beyond this. 
He is able to do all of these things by his own power. The prophets couldn't do that. They couldn't force a conversion. 

There's a wonderful story in Ezekiel 37, another one of God's Old Testament prophets. Ezekiel is brought to this field of bones that are all dried out. And Jesus the Lord asks Ezekiel and says, "Can these bones live?" And Ezekiel goes, "Lord, you know," which is a great way of sidestepping the question. Because all he is saying is, Lord, you know the answer to that. And that's not what God said, is it?  He doesn't know. His answer might be. It's like, well, looking at the situation, the answer is no. These bones can't live again." But he says, "Lord, you know. Because with the Lord, all things are possible, and God tells Ezekiel to preach to the bones, and he preaches to the bones, which must have felt silly. I've had to preach to people who were asleep, but I've not had to preach to people who were dead. 

And then it says that there is a mighty wind that comes together, and animates these bones, brings them together, puts flesh on them, and ultimately, breathes new life into them so that they're raised again. Does that come from Ezekiel?  No. Nothing comes out of Ezekiel. He's just talking. But it's God that moves and raises these from the dead. Now, what happens when Jesus wants to raise somebody from the dead? There a mighty rushing wind? No. It's his word. It's his breath that calls Lazarus out of the tomb. It's his touch that heals, and its power that comes from him when the woman touches the hem of its garment, it's not power that's come from exterior. He says, I felt power come out with me. He is the source. 

And that's where we get into our second point, is that Jesus, Christ, is the Word. When he is coming and preaching, he is not like Isaiah. Isaiah is pointing elsewhere and is saying,Over here is the word of God. Follow it and obey." When Jesus is speaking, he says, "I am the Word. I am the bread, taste, and see. This is a very different prophet. This is not one that you are just listening to him. You are not listening just to the teaching that he's given. But shockingly, in John chapter 6, this is the prophet that you eat. That's weird. And it's intentionally so. 
Jesus is pointing out, I'm not like the rest of them. Yes, there is a prophet that is like Moses, but is much greater. Yes, Moses could bring the law of God down. Jesus comes down. He says, I am God's word to you. This is not written on a tablet of stone. It's spoken out of human mouth. And it's me, and it's not just following what I say. It's becoming who I am. 

This is what it means for Jesus to be a prophet. So when we hear the question, was Jesus just a teacher? The answer is a resounding no. Yes, he taught! Yes, he proclaimed God's word! But he was far more than that. He was the Word, and he calls you to it. The question, of course. is what are you going to do about it? That has always been the choice. That has always been what's on offer here, all through the Old Testament is God calling his people to himself. And Jesus is doing the same. He's offering out His Word to you, "We are sinners. We are rebellious. We deserve judgment. But just like all the other prophets of the Old Testament, there's an offer of grace, that there will be one by whose stripes you will be healed. 

Here in the New Testament, we get to see what this is. This calling, not to a way of life, but to a person, and to say, come, follow me, and I will give you rest. So what are you going to do this Christmas? How are you going to look at this prophet? Are you going to, like many, did in the past, thrust him aside, like Moses? 

There could be a lot of ways you can do that. 

It can be, I do not like God's demands on my life. I do not like what this is going to mean for me because things are going to have to change. We can thrust him aside that way. We can also thrust him aside by saying it's like, I really don't need that Jesus. My life is already pretty moral. I'm actually living a pretty good life. I don't need this grace. I prefer to do things myself. Well, Jesus has already proclaimed that we are sinners. 

It's not about living a moral life alone. This is about submitting to Christ, acknowledging that we are in fact, sinners, and we do in fact need this grace. So we can thrust him aside by saying, I don't want to be holy, or we can thrust him aside saying, I'm already holy, thank you." 
But doing that is to ignore the word that he's given. And this is the last word that we have. 

In the book of Hebrew, and we'll close with this, in the book of Hebrews in chapter 1, the writer is opening by saying that in many ways, in various times, God has spoken to us by the mouths of the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. This is as clear of a revelation as we could possibly ever have. 

When you look through the Old Testament, you'll find these prophets get increasingly theatrical. It's like there's this a deeper and deeper display of what God's word is. You'll hear Isaiah is talking and is preaching, but you get to Ezekiel, and he is like lying on his side for three years, chaining himself up with this ox goad. It looks kind of theatrical, but God's word is getting clearer and clearer and clearer. You weren't listening by words. I'll give you visual aid. 
You're not listening to the prophets, let me send my son to you. 

There is a message given by one of my favorite preachers, Neil Stewart, who talks about the life of Christ. And he says, "I can imagine in every single moment of Jesus' life, all the angels are going back and are looking down on him and are saying, "Ah, he's just like his father. 
He's the perfect revelation of God. Every word, every tone of voice, every facial expression, is all the perfect revelation of God, the Father, and his heart towards his people. We are not just coming to Jesus, fearing judgment or thinking, "Well, the Father's really angry at me, so I better shape up." Though the Father has the same beating heart as Christ. The one who dines with sinners and it compels them to come in. That's why he's the ultimate prophet. 

No, Isaiah couldn't dream of being like that. The beginning of his ministry, he says, "Woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips!" Jesus comes, he's the perfect example. 
No sin, no flaw. And then offers himself on a cross, and then by faith, in a spiritual sense, he offers lunch, Supper. And he calls us to his table. 

And they're saying, you've heard this word. You've seen it, if you happen to be there in the first century, revealed to you on earth. And now, today, we see His Word at the table, in bread and fruit of the vine. A picture of a body broken of blood spilled. So as we come to the table this morning, let's be reminded, God has spoken to us in as many ways as is possible. 

He is spoken by His prophets. He has sent his son, he's given us visual aid, He's given us written words. We have every possible way of seeing and hearing God's word. 
Will you listen? Will you hear? Will you taste and see that the Lord is good? 

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this great word that you've given to us, this clear, window into your own soul, into your heart, that we can see that you love your people, and that you desire fellowship with your people. The name that you chose coming to earth was Emmanuel, God with us, and you are with us. 
So, Lord, now, we desire fellowship with you. We ask that you would meet us here in this moment, in this solemn celebration of the Lord's Supper. Help our hearts to be prepared to receive such a gift. 

Lord, we ask all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash

The more modern the world gets, the more relevant passages like this are. I know it doesn’t seem that way at first reading, but if you follow along with me, I think you will see that this is a very interesting passage with a critical concept for us to grasp. That concept is regular times of celebration before the Lord. 
One of the challenges of modern life is a loss of the sense of time. I don’t mean we are all so busy now, I mean that we live as if we aren’t as bound to it anymore. Let me give an example. When our phones could get email, a little over 15 years ago, suddenly we could be working anywhere, anytime. The idea of “office hours” vanished and suddenly all of life could look the same. Any day could became Monday just in the time it takes for your phone to chime. This is just an extension of what has happened in the last 50 or so years when a lot of people’s work stopped being dependent on what time of the year it is. Farming is very dependent on the month of the year. Email works the same whether it is June or January, so many have lost the connection to the natural rhythms of the world. 
I came across a quote from Dr. Ross, my old Hebrew teacher, that sums up what I’m hoping to preach about today: “Only when worshippers begin to see how creation and redemption inform their use of time will they fully appreciate what it means to enter into the Lord’s rest and enjoy fellowship with the holy God, and with one another in Christ.” (Recalling the Hope of Glory, 240). I'm leaning on Ross a lot in what follows, so if it sounds good, it is probably him. 
In this section of Scripture, and in other places in the Old Testament, we see feasts or celebrations to God that correspond to certain seasons of the year, the creation. They were times that called for everyone to stop and remember the past, recognize the present, and rejoice for the future. Each one is filled with meaning not only when it comes to what is happening in the world, but even more so what is happening in redemption. 
Embrace the opportunity to celebrate, knowing that you always have reason to do so. 

Let’s do a little setup here, with a lot of thanks to Dr. Ross. The Jewish people had two kinds of calendars, one that was civil, and the other that was religious. The Civil New Year actually started in the Fall, while the religious one started in the spring. The religious calendar starts with Passover, whereas the Civil one starts on the Feast of Trumpets. It’ll make more sense as we go. 
The first one is the Passover. This is the one that we are the most familiar with, and it was actually three celebrations in one! The Passover was a single night in which the Jewish families would reenact the night that God delivered them from Egypt. They would eat the same meal their ancestors did, in the same way that they did, and would explain to the children as they went how God cared for them in the past. 
Right after that one was the feast of Unleavened Bread, which sounds fun until you realize how good yeast makes things taste. When you are used to full on bread, suddenly crackers for a week doesn’t sound all that appetizing. But after that was the feast of the first fruits, in other words a celebration of the first of the crops coming in, and as you can see here, a grain offering. You can imagine the joy that would be around as suddenly everyone can have bread again (see v 14) and the rejoicing that would have taken place having a successful harvest. 
Fifty days after that, everyone celebrates again with bread (made from the grain that just came in earlier) and with generosity to the poor. 
Having just rehearsed their exodus from Egypt and the fulfillment of God’s promise to bring them to a land on their own must have been so satisfying. This is where that reference that Ross made to creation and redemption fits so well here. They are not just having some recognition that the crops came in. It is that, but the meaning of the crops coming in is so much more in the moment. The only reason they have crops in this land in particular is because God brought them there. They aren’t just lucky people, they are a blessed people. God didn’t have to passover judgment on them. He judged the Egyptians but not them. 
There must have also been a sense of humbling here. Why should they be given such a gift? Why should they have this exclusive relationship with God in such a way? Notice also how along with this, there is an opportunity to be like God in providing for the poor. They didn’t harvest their wheat fields all the way to the edge or harvest what they may have dropped along the way, sucking up every last bit of profit. Instead, they left it there for the poor. From a legal sense, the poor aren’t owed that. Looking at things just from a creation standpoint, what you own is yours. But from a redemption standpoint, that field isn’t just a field. It is an opportunity to love your neighbor. 
Now that is the first third of the year. They would have had another harvest feast in the summer, but this passage mentions the back half of the year, think September/October timeframe. They followed a lunar calendar which gives flexibility to some dates. This began with a blast of the trumpet, signaling the start of a new year. And everyone would rest. 
Ten days after that would have been an extremely holy day. All of them were required to be days of rest, but this one is so serious about rest. God promises to destroy people who don’t rest there in verse 30. This was the day of atonement, a time where the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies, the most sacred part of the temple/tabernacle where the presence of God was uniquely occupied. He would only go in here on this day of the year and had to be properly prepared to go inside lest he die on the spot. They actually used to tie a rope around the priest’s ankle just in case he did it wrong and was struck down. There would have been no other way to retrieve the body. All of this was done to ensure that the sins of the nation were covered. Of course, this would be something that would have to be repeated every year. Until of course, an ultimate sacrifice was given. 
Five days after that was the feast of booths, or tents. This would have been a time where you would have lived in tents for a week outside your houses to reenact the history of your ancestors wandering in the dessert. It would have been a time of great feasting and celebration and no work at all. 
But do you notice something here? Why did the ancestors live in tents for forty years? Does it take that long to walk from Egypt to Israel? No. It was because they rebelled against God. They were sinners. And having just had the sacrifice offered for the nation for this year’s sins, there wasn’t a whole lot of fingerpointing back to the previous generations. They all had just recognized their own sinfulness. 
Yet they could rejoice because forgiveness was given to them. So while they were remembering the past, they could recognize the present. They could see the goodness of God to them. And even if it had been a hard year, they could rejoice in how they as a people had been brought to this point. 
Now imagine what level of celebration that these feasts took on when they would hear from the prophets of a coming age of Messiah. The firstfruits weren’t just a glimpse into the harvest that they would eat in a few weeks, but in the age of Messiah, the food and wine would flow freely; there would be abundance more than could be imagined! Ross points out how often the terms harvest would be used to describe the judgment of God where His people would be gathered up and placed in the barn safely, but the wicked would be burned with fire. What must that have been like as they anticipated the day their oppressors would be cast off from them. 
Then think with the New Testament writers as Paul compares Jesus to the passover lamb. The blood on the doorposts was pointing to the blood on the cross. Judgment passing over! And it would pass over forever! The day of Atonement would have to be done year after year, yet Christ provides the ultimate sacrifice! And when He rises again, what does Paul liken it to? The firstfruits of the resurrection! Fifty days after the Passover was the feast of weeks when they brought the bread the grain harvested before made, and fifty days after Christ’s resurrection, the Holy Spirit descends and brings the results of Christ’s rising, the birth of the Church! 
Do you think this is the time now to stop celebrating? Christians have so much to celebrate around our tables. We have everything in the Jewish history to celebrate and everything in the New Testament to celebrate! Even if 2025 hasn’t been your year, and I know for many of you it hasn’t, Christ is still on the throne. He’s still brought you this far. Look how much He has taken you through, look how much He has brought our people, a people of every nation, tribe, color, and tongue—His people—through. This is why we don’t just look to creation to find our cues to celebrate. We look through the lens of redemption and what He is doing in it. 
Ross opened his chapter by pointing out that God made time and intends for us to use it well. He put us in it, not to mention entering it Himself, to do His work. And He has set aside times to remind us that He rules all time. This is why in addition to these festivals, there were monthly times of rest (the New Moon Festivals), weekly times of rest (the Sabbaths), and twice daily times of worship (morning and evening sacrifices). 
How are you using your Thanksgiving time? I love a Turkey-infused nap in front of the Dallas Cowboys losing as much as anyone. But are you taking some time to reflect not just on what God has done for you, but for the world in the sacrifice of His Son? What God will do in the end when all things are made new? 
I know we are presbyterians, but we should be the rowdiest bunch of people at a feast. We have so much to celebrate. We have been chosen not for anything good that we have done and are on our way to a blissful eternity feasting before the Creator, Savior, and Sustainer of the world! 
And if you say, “Look, I understand where you are coming from here, but have you seen the News? Aren’t you worried about the [insert current discourse/issue here]? Is this really the time to celebrate?” I say, yes. And do you know why? Because those people trying to knock over God’s table are going to lose. If you would like a slightly more aggressive Christian attitude to feasting, our celebration tells the world to take its best shot. God is going to dominate so hard He will go ahead and prepare a table in the very presence of our enemies. Eat in front of them. 
And then invite them to sit down. People are worried about young folks, particularly young men, who are so discouraged with the system that they just want to burn it down because they got locked out of it. Feasting is a better alternative. They got locked out of an American dream that for those who managed to get in tell us doesn’t make them happy anyway. Tell them not to burn down that which never really existed. Don’t find people to blame. Instead, sit down. God has this. Our people have been here before, and where we are going will be glorious. 
Maybe that will make the turkey taste a little better. 

Photo by Maxime Amoudruz on Unsplash
Today, we look at the final passage in Genesis. It has been quite a journey. We’ve watched God create a world, see Adam ruin it, yet a promise of care in the very same chapter. We’ve watched the world flooded yet out of that a sign of the covenant written in the sky to this day. We’ve seen the rise and fall of Babel, divine blood oaths, and stairways to heaven. Yet we’ve also seen the humdrum waiting. Yet in each one of these chapters, we have been exposed to yet another demonstration of the sovereignty of God. 
It all wraps up here with yet another reminder of God’s sovereign control of the world. Though here, we have a unique application of that doctrine. It is one thing to flatly say, “God is in control.” That’s good and true, but has been said so often we begin to become overly familiar with it. This passage says, “Since God is in control, there is an obligation on your part: forgiveness.” We will see how this occurs in our passage and our main point: God’s sovereignty requires us not to seek revenge. 
God’s sovereignty requires us not to seek revenge. 

Verse 15 is a rational thought from Joseph’s brothers. After all Joseph kept asking about Jacob every time questioning came up, so he clearly cared about him. Obviously taking vengeance on the sons while dad was alive would have been a bad call (even Esau knew that), so they would be rightly worried that this would be the case here. While he did talk pleasantly with them after his identity was revealed, Joseph is quite good at the long game and can keep a charade going for some time! 
Verses 16-17. Here the brothers turn to the oldest family trick in the book, lying. Considering the close relationship that Jacob had with Joseph, this sort of thing would have undoubtably come up in their conversations, and this is something that if Jacob thought Joseph needed to hear, he would have said so. 
Notice how they say “your father” rather than “our.” Really pulling out everything to ensure their survival. This shows that when the chips are down, we show what kind of character we have. The sons obviously trusted in their ability to lie, which is neither necessary or particularly convincing. They don’t put the same trust in God that Joseph does, showing one final time in this book where trust should always be. 
Now, let’s notice Joseph’s response. It is radically God-centered. 
First, he states why he isn’t going to pursue retribution on them: it isn’t his place to do so. “Am I in the place of God?” The expected answer of course is “No, I’m not.” Therefore, it is not my place to be dealing out death and judgment. This seemingly anticipates the command in Deut. 32:35 where God says that vengeance is mine. He remains in his place. 
But he tells us why. Yes, vengeance is for God, and that would be enough, yet God has also done something with his suffering. 
Second, he doesn’t pursue vengeance because, ultimately, God has meant it for good. They meant it for evil. There is no sugar coating that. Yet despite their intentions, God’s intentions overrules theirs. And He did it for good. 
Now, we’ve watched that happen over and over and over again in the book of Genesis. There is no mistake that gets away from God. Even chapter 3, the Fall of man ultimately prepares the way for Jesus Christ. There is no mistake in Genesis, and there is no mistake today. God still works the same way, and it is brilliant. Sin is still sin. Evil intentions are still evil. Yet, God is able to take those actually evil things and intend them for good. That is a radical comfort for me because there is a surplus of evil in this world. It can be easy to look around and despair because there is so much pain around us and even pain within us. 
But do you notice that Joseph doesn’t speak about the good that it did for him? Yes, God’s plan included his rise to ruler of Egypt, his wife and kids, and eventually the reunion of him and his father. Yet Joseph’s focus is what the hardship did for other people. 
That is a next level perspective on personal suffering. It isn’t good just because it turned out well for me. My suffering was good because it resulted in the good of others. Joseph isn’t focused on the out come of what happened to him personally. He isn’t thinking that his suffering was worth it because he is ruler now. He is satisfied with God’s plan because of what it has meant of others. Others survived because he suffered. Now if that isn’t a picture of Jesus Christ, I don’t know what is. 
Can you have that perspective on your suffering? Can you be so caught up, so surrendered to God’s will that the suffering that you endure is worth it because someone else might benefit from it? That sounds bonkers. That sounds like one of those crazy people on the internet who seem to like suffering for its own sake. But Joseph isn’t the only one to have that mindset. One might get to ignore Joseph saying, “Well it is easy to have that perspective wrapped in royal robes with all the authority the ancient world can give!” Then lets look at Paul in 2 Timothy 2:8–10 “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” He is writing with this perspective as the chains rattle. He could have sat there feeling sorry for himself there in prison, instead he is discipling a pastor in his church plant. 
Now, because messages like this get misunderstood, let’s also say that Paul isn’t suffering for sufferings sake. He was trying to appeal to Ceaser so that he could get out of prison. He appealed to his Roman citizenship to escape flogging when he could. He prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed (2 Cor. 12:7-10). Paul isn’t looking for suffering but neither is he shying away from it in order that others may be brought to salvation. 
This isn’t a call to be a doormat. This isn’t a call to light yourself on fire to keep other people warm. Not taking care of yourself to make people pleased with you isn’t noble, it is just pride by a different name. That would be suffering we bring needlessly on ourselves. What Joseph is doing here is acknowledging his suffering that he couldn’t do anything about. Yet he doesn’t become bitter by it. He doesn’t calculate how he feels about his sufferings by looking only at the balance of his own life. He views it from another angle. 
What this passage teaches us is another way to view the hard things in life as meaningful, he asks, “How has this suffering been beneficial to others?” 
Now, Joseph has the advantage in that he can view the trial from the other end of it. This was much less clear when he was in prison. However, we have an even greater advantage because we have watched God do this over and over again. He is the same God who operates in the same way, so even when we cannot see the personal benefit of our suffering or the benefit of others from your suffering, you can rest knowing that God will work it for good. 
Now, the end draws near as Joseph, just like his father, gathers together his many children and tells them that he is about to die. He too has a word of hope and a command to bring his body out of Egypt. This final word is fulfilled in Ex. 13:19and ultimately burried in Josh. 24:32, remembering, of course, that Joshua is Ephraim’s descendant. 
The book of Genesis ends in the past, yet Moses is writing to the fulfillment of Genesis in the people in front of him. Imagine the sense of awe that comes to the people of Israel as such a history is read to them. They are living in the fulfillment of everything that Genesis promised. They became a great nation! They have Joseph’s embalmed body with them! They are on their way to the promised land. Even after Moses dies, Joshua gets to see this promised fulfilled as he buries Joseph’s body in the promised land. 
We ought to know what that feels like because we are living in that reality every day. We stand in nearly all the fulfillments of the Bible itself. We have more of God’s track record than any believer has had before. And it isn’t just the Bible that we have. We have seen God’s faithfulness to his people in Church history for the last 2,000 years. God is faithful to His promises and can do so even through sin. 
That is everything that you need to know in Genesis to set up the rest of the Bible, because that will be the theme over and over again through the rest of the Scriptures. 
Which means that the last lesson Genesis taught us applies. There will be those who will try to wrong you, and revenge isn’t permitted. That’s a hard concept to follow. Vengeance appeals to our sense of justice. We make people pay who cost us. That is as natural born as anything in our world. Toddlers know that. Yet it is not our place to dispense this. It is God’s. God is far wiser than us. He has far more power than we do, and likewise far more mercy. We cannot expect to do better than He will. Nor do we have to carry that burden to try. One writer said that “The noblest revenge is to forgive.” (Thomas Fuller). One commentator notices that this unity the brothers have here is in contrast to the first siblings. Cain killed Abel when given the chance, but here Joseph shows mercy (Matthews). 
The desire for revenge is hardwired into us all. It was the first temptation in the book of Genesis to be as God, but only here do we see a man resist that temptation. What about you? The desire for revenge doesn’t have to show up like it does in the movies for it to be revenge. It doesn’t have to be a murder plot. It can be as silly and mundane as the silent treatment. Not speaking is a denial of contact, pretending the person is dead. Revenge can be found in all kinds of petty behavior. “These people don’t appreciate my work, so I’m just going to let it all fall down.” All these things may make a point, but they miss the point: life isn’t about what we get out of it. It isn’t about making sure the scores are even. None of our revenge petty or otherwise is right or pleasing to the sight of God because it says that God isn’t in control, He isn’t concerned about justice, so I am going to have to get it my own way. 
Now, again this doesn’t mean being a door mat, but it does mean pursuing justice the right way not the revenge way. If you’re being abused, you go to proper authorities. The function of government is to dispense justice with God’s delegated authority (Romans 13). Appealing to proper authorities as spelled out by God is leaving vengeance in God’s hands. God gave the power of the sword to governing authorities to make evil doers scared. Seek justice properly, God’s way, not taking matters into your own hands. 
Now, I can hear the objections already. “There is no justice in the hands of the government!” And yes that is proof of a fallen world. Oftentimes justice cannot be obtained rightly, but that does not give you permission to commit injustice, either. Going around God’s authorities is not staying on the obedient path. When those miscarriages of justice happen, then that is when you leave it ultimately in the hands of God. No one gets away with anything for eternity. Additionally, no one does anything that thwarts the plan of God. And we can see that most plainly in the cross.
God is in control. God is good. That is the message of Genesis. 

What do you want the end of your life to be like? Or to put it in a slightly more morbid way, how do you hope you will behave at your death? I know those sound like odd questions, but really of all things that we can prepare for in life, this is the one certain thing. Only the Christian has the answer for how to prepare oneself for such an event. Only the Christian can view death for what it is, a hated friend. What do I mean by that? How can one be a hated friend? Death is hated because it is a result of sin. The reason why we die is because of sin. Yet death can be a friend in its capacity to deliver us to heaven, something only Jesus could accomplish. 
Today we are going to look at two points today The Christian faces death with hope yet Christians rightly grieve death. 
Christians Face Death with Hope

Let’s see how Jacob meets his end. He has just finished proclaiming blessings on his sons, which makes total sense. Jacob is finishing his task, and so now it is time for his sons to pick up the mantel and keep going. 
But what follows wouldn’t make a lot of sense to a world like ours that views death as the end of all hope. He has instructions for what to do with his body, very specific instructions at that. He does not want to be buried in Egypt, but rather where his fathers are buried in the land of Canaan. 
This doesn’t make much sense to our modern ears. Is not Joseph all but the pharaoh of Egypt at this point? Is not every member of Jacob’s family in Egypt? Did Joseph not save the entire known world from starvation? Surely that would mean that the family will be respected for all time! As we will see in a moment, all of Egypt it would seem mourns the loss of Jacob. According to one source that I read, they grieved for only two or three days less than they would the pharaoh of the land! This was no small, unimportant family. Why not assume that Egypt is the land of promise? Has not Canaan had a famine every time we turn around? Is it not currently full of other residents, some of whom are hostile? 
But Jacob insists with this act that the land of promise is Canaan. That defies all earthly reasoning and present circumstances. But Jacob has something more precious than all of that, the promise of God. If he isn’t going to be able to live in the land of promise, then he wants to be buried there, where his descendants will be. That is a man who understands that God’s promises are sure. 
As one writer put it, “Death does not put our relationship with God into the past tense.” - John Blanchard. Jacob isn’t saying, “It’s all over for me, just let me die.” No, he still has something he wants to ensure is done, his body will be resting in the land of promise. God still has something for Him. Death doesn’t stop the fulfillment of a promise. 
Even the fact that he has a place to be buried is evidence of God’s faithfulness. He promised that they would have a possession in the land, and so they have. Abraham, Isaac, Leah, and now Jacob will take their place God claimed for them. 
The text then simply says gathered up his feet, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. That word “gathered” is in the passive tense. Jacob didn’t “pass” or “go.” He was gathered by God. It is a fitting end. The wrestler, the struggler, wrestles and struggles no more. He simply gathers up and is gathered gently into that good night. He isn’t terrified or looking at it with dread. He speaks of it matter of a factly, yet clearly viewing it as anything but the end. 
Is this your view of death? I’m not saying that we are hastening it along or looking forward to the process, but do you think about your death this way? Christ has died to purchase your hope in that process. If you don’t have that hope, why? 
Yes, the process isn’t enjoyable, but is your soul at rest knowing that your place in eternity is secure? If it isn’t, this might be a good time to consider why. Perhaps you feel distant from God at the moment and wonder about your salvation. Don’t stuff those thoughts away. God is there to answer those fears. Maybe you remember something horrible from your past and assume that there is little or no hope that God could accept you. You’ve grown somewhat numb to that fear all these years, but as those years drag on that fear gets deeper. It’s time to come to the cross. It is time to take Jesus at His faithful word when He says come to me, you who are weary and I will give you rest. Listen to His promise in John 6:37 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” Come to Him, and keep coming to Him. Let each moment of doubt and fear be a reminder to you that there is a Savior Who is ready and willing to save scared sinners just like you. 
Now, maybe you’re on the other end of this spectrum and you aren’t bothered by death because, honestly, you don’t even think about it. If that is your camp, than it is probably because you are young and assume that death is really far away. One may come to the conclusion that thinking about your death at a young age is morbid and unhealthy. While I agree that we don’t need to think about it every minute, the Bible brings up numerous times that it is something that needs to be brought to mind regularly. Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Or, Psalm 39:4–5 ““O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah” And who could forget James 4:14 “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” And there are more! 
The point of this isn’t to be depressing but to be driving. It wakes us up to the reality that this world really isn’t our home. We won’t be here in this state forever. Your life was meant for more than just surviving to the next day. It was meant for more than getting a job, getting married, getting a house, getting kids, it was always about Jesus and what you can give for Him. That is what eternity is going to be. And those who learn to follow after Him find out that they are pursuing their own joy. It puts things into perspective. And not in a cheap, you-only-live-once so do what feels good kind of junk. No. It is a, your life is going so fast, so what are you doing that is going to last? This isn’t a call to panic. It’s a sobering call to being deliberate. To think rightly about your life, knowing that our time here on earth is limited, to gain the right perspective on how fleeting life is, letting that panic start to build in your chest and then look. Look to Jesus. Be reminded that He is building His kingdom, His church, and you can be a part of it. Then soberly, deliberately live out what He has called you to do, with the time that you have, in the place where you are right now. And if you live your life that way, you will be on your deathbed with hope. Not because you will have done everything you wanted, but because by then you will be close enough with Jesus to see that it was always Him anyway. And you just can’t wait to see what happens next. 
Christians Rightly Grieve Death
Now, after all that, it may seem odd for me to then say that Christians rightly grieve death. You might think that I have laid out all that I’ve said so far to speak positively of death. It is true that Death is my friend insofar as it leads me to the presence of Christ. But we must never think that death in itself is a good thing. We cannot forget where death comes from and that is sin. That is worth morning. 
But even within that is hope. Joseph and his brothers follow Jacob’s instructions precisely and they burry him in the tomb that Abraham bought. The possession in the land has come down to the descendants. 
For us, who live on the other side of the cross, we have an even greater hope because we know about the resurrection (Matthews). When we bury someone, it isn’t because they will never need their body again, but precisely because they will! 
But in the meantime, we occupy a sinful world. It causes grief in our hearts. Death is not a part of God’s original design, and it isn’t in the future designs of God either. So we lament at the gravesides, just as Jesus did. We are not glib at funerals. We all must recognize the horrible effects of sin. Yet at the same time, we are not without hope of sin and death’s final defeat. 
The emotional range of the Christian at a funeral is astonishing. We can grieve like no other because we know that the sin that we give ourselves to time after time is the same thing that brings about death. Sin is not your friend. Yet at the same time we can see that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead has defeated death! It won’t be like this forever. So therefore we are able to be joyful in our pain knowing that every day we are getting closer to a world with no more death. That is how we are able to say with Paul that death has no sting. 
Don’t live each day as if it were your last; that sort of living is not sustainable. Instead live each day obediently to God’s word, and you will live a life that you will not regret at the end. As someone once said, no one repents of being a Christian on their deathbed. So be a Christian. Be an obedient Christian. And there you will find out only a life worth living, but a life worth rejoicing in. Such is the gift of Christ. He is not just a comfort in death, but is also the reason for living. What else or who else are you going to live for? What else or who else is going to survive beyond your death? Is it not him? And is it not those that you lied to Christ as well? And those things that you do for him? There is simply no other way to live your life that will extend into eternity, but he gives you that opportunity. Will you take it? If not, what else is going to last longer? 

Photo by Jainath Ponnala on Unsplash
What follows is an automatically generated transcript with Apple Podcast's AI. To be sure of what I said, you'll need to listen to the audio. 

And as you are being seated, if you would please turn with me in your copies of God's Word to 1st Corinthians chapter 11. 1st Corinthians chapter 11, if you're following along in the Pew Bible, black volume that's in front of you, that's on page 1139.
1139, and we're taking a little detour from our march through the Book of Genesis as we get to remember and celebrate what the Lord has done through the servant Martin Luther on Reformation Sunday. Now we can tend to think that the Reformation, and indeed we'd be right to think so, that a big part of that was about recovery of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. It's a doctrine that did not disappear. It's a doctrine that was not invented by Martin Luther, but was one that became less and less emphasized, less and less remembered accurately as we find it in his word. And so to recover this idea that it is not by your works that you're saved, but the free grace of Jesus that brings you in to heaven.
Because that's such a foundational doctrine, it can be easy to miss some of the other comforts that have come out of the Reformation.
The recapturing of these other doctrines. And since this is cohere d so well with our celebration of the Lord's Supper this morning, I thought I would take a moment of Sunday to take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and see how this meal that we're about to partake in is such a blessing to us.
But one that we have to prepare for.
Indeed, that's what's going to be our main point this morning, is that communion is a blessing for our souls.
And it's a blessing that we must prepare for.
So, let's see how we do this out of 1 Corinthians 11, verses 20 through 29.
Since we're kind of jumping in right in the middle here, I want to take just a moment to set up our context. 1 Corinthians is the first letter that Paul sends to the church at Corinth. This was a motley crew. There was a lot going on at Corinth, because there was a lot going on in the city of Corinth. It was a very worldly place, full of a lot of assumptions of how things were to be done with money, sexuality, and such that things were awfully confused within the church, such that we don't have the opportunity to look back and say, well, I would like for the church to go back to the way it was in the New Testament times. Well, it looks a lot like it does in modern times, because people don't change, and Christians have struggled with a lot of the same things back then as they do today. Here in this particular issue in chapter 11, Paul, among his many corrections he offers the Corinthians, offers correction as to how they're approaching the Lord's Supper. Here in the church, this would have been a part of a larger feast, and what we had is people were very selfish and unmindful towards each other. The rich pushing their way up to the front of the line to clear through the Lord's Supper and not leaving enough for the poor, who are having to go away hungry, and the rich, who have plenty of food at home, are going away gluttonous. And it's here in this context that Paul is revisiting 1 Corinthians 11 and is taking a look at the Lord's Supper.
So with this in mind, let's start in verse 20.
Listen carefully, because this is God's word.
In light of the situation we have just said, verse 20, when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal.
One goes hungry, another gets drunk.
What?
Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?
Or do you despise the Church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?
What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this?
No, I will not. For I received from the Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.
And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God for his word.
Let's go to our God and ask his blessing on our text today.
Oh, Heavenly Father, we do thank you for this gift that you have given to us in your son and then this picture that you have given to us to remember and proclaim his death.
Lord, help us to understand this mystery.
Open our eyes to see your gospel, both in the things that we hear, even in the things that we see, even in the things that we taste this morning.
Help us to have a fresh grasp of the sacrifice that you have made for us today.
And it's in Jesus' name I ask these things.
Amen.
Well, as I began with, the doctrine of justification, important as that is, is not the only issue that was fought over. And in here, when we get to the Lord's Supper, we are encountering something of a mystery here. This is why there has been a lot of confusion as to exactly what this means.
What is it that we are doing?
One of the things that we want to take a look at as we'll go through here, is we'll take a look at a couple of common misunderstandings, how the supper was done and why it's important for us to see this way. The first thing that I want us to recognize and come away with, is that this is not a magic bread and juice that we are serving here this morning. In other words, there is not anything powerful in and of itself to make you grow as a Christian. If that were the case, if we could give faith to other people by giving special bread, well, then that's what we would do. We would line up and we would hand out communion bread that has been blessed by pastors and hope that this produces faith in people.
But that's not what this Lord's Supper is.
It's not magic bread.
It's not magic juice.
It feeds your faith, but it does not form it.
What I mean by that, it does not create faith.
Where, how, by what means, does God use to produce faith in us?
Faith comes by hearing. And hearing by what?
The Word of God. In every part of our worship, the Word of God is central.
This is why even in Protestant architecture, we have set up the worship space to be the way it is. What is quite literally front and center and elevated.
It's not supposed to be me.
I'm representing here the Word of God. Because that's where the power is. That's what builds our faith.
What this is, is a visual picture of that word.
This is the only authorized image that Jesus has given to us to say, here is the gospel visualized. But unless we explain what this means, if we were just to set up a table and I were to mime my way through the Lord's Supper and not say anything, no one would know what this means. They would just say, he's getting up, he's tearing apart some bread, he's pouring out some grape juice, and he's serving it out to people to eat it.
And if you have no context for what's happening, then you'll have no idea what this is talking about.
This is why God does not speak to us only in this image. He doesn't do so in vagary.
He gives us his word.
This is why even when Jesus is instituting it, he is explaining as he goes along, Jesus is not silent as he's tearing apart the bread. Remember, this would have been a part of the Passover Supper. So for him to begin speaking in this moment and say the things that he's saying was breaking protocol, was giving a new meaning to this meal. So the word is central to understand this. But it's not just intellectually understanding this. There are many people who have studied Reformation history, professors of theology, who can explain these things way better than I can. But do so from a position of saying that this is an ancient rite that gives comfort to some people but actually has no basis in reality. Does the supper benefit them?
They understand the word intellectually.
They know the meaning of what's happening here intellectually.
But they have no faith.
They have no connection point with God.
And without that, this again is an empty meal.
It's just bread and grape juice.
So there's nothing inherent in here to produce faith.
The word does that.
There's nothing in here that connects you with God on its own.
It's faith, and faith produced by the Holy Spirit.
These are necessary to do these things.
Now we can come away from this and say it's like, okay, all right, it's not magic bread.
So why do we practice this? What's the point?
While it's not magic, it's also not nothing.
It's not just a symbol. It's not just a prompt to remind ourselves about what Jesus is doing. Because we find that out earlier on in 1st Corinthians chapter 10. And 1st Corinthians chapter 10 in verse 16, it has a very interesting way of phrasing and talking about the Lord's Supper.
If you're there, it's just a page back, so go ahead and turn there, 1st Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 16.
It says, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
You see what he's doing here?
That this is a cup of blessing that he calls this.
And this word participation is a translation of the word koinonia, which we often translate as communion. We're having table fellowship with our Savior. And this is why later on in the chapter, he tells them, don't go to these other places of worship where you have meals with demons.
We don't participate with them.
We don't have communion with them. We have communion with our Savior. And it is a blessing to do so.
Not just, it's a blessing to prompt us to remind ourselves about the Gospel, but it in itself is an opportunity through faith, because of the Word, we're able to experience this blessing that we have with Christ.
Now, because this is such a mystery, there have been so many ways that people have tried to conceptualize that in Church history.
The Roman Catholic Church, what Martin Luther was dealing with, they thought that they were communing with Christ by very literally eating the literal body and blood of Christ. A process called transubstantiation, where the priest is calling Jesus out of heaven to be broken again and to be consumed by us physically. An over literal reading of this is my body. He also said that he is a vine and he is a door.
We don't take those quite so literally.
But what's the problem with that?
Well, one, this is asking us to take a contradiction here. This is bread, still tastes like bread, but we're supposed to say, but this is actually flesh. While we can argue on logical grounds, the real problem here is in what we're asking of Jesus. For his body to be broken again, for his blood to be poured out again, is to imply that the sacrifice he put on the cross was not enough. In Hebrews, we are told that this is a once-for-all sacrifice, and then Jesus sits down. We don't call him out of his chair every week to do more work.
The work is done. That's what's such the comfort about the Doctor of Justification. It's a one-time work.
With Jesus' sacrifice, it's over.
You put your faith in him, your sins are gone. But if we were to say, no, he has to be come back out of heaven again.
He has to be sacrificed again. We have to wonder, well, is it enough? Will it ever be enough for us to say, no, no, this is not calling God out of heaven to break him on our table again.
But this is a picture pointing back to the time in which Jesus was broken and his blood was poured out for the forgiveness of our sin.
And that's what we bless.
That's why this is a blessing for us.
But nor is it the other way. There were some trying to get as far away from that as possible. We'll say, no, no, no, no, this is just bread. This is just grape juice.
There is absolutely nothing going on here other than just what's in our head.
This is a reminder of this, and that's all that it is.
I don't think we can say that from 1 Corinthians 10.
It says that this is the cup of blessing, not the reminder of a blessing. And this is an opportunity, as it says, as participation with Christ, in some mysterious way, in a spiritual way.
We're communing with Him.
Now here at this point, the Lutherans want to make fun of us, and would say, it's like, well, He's physically present here. Something that they call real presence, which has some problems how Jesus is bodily able to be in multiple places at one time.
It's fraying His humanity.
But this betrays an understanding of saying, well, no, it's a spiritual presence here that makes it no less real.
Communing with Christ by faith is something really happening. No, we can't get out our scientific dials and watch the needles move around. A very materialistic way of looking at the world.
It's to say, no, Christ is spiritually present.
Not by Him coming down to us, but by Him bringing us up to Him, to have communion with Him.
Now, if that's what's really going on, and it is, how on earth do we get ready for something like that?
If we were going to have a face-to-face communion with some world leaders of our time, we would take a moment to kind of pull ourselves together. Try to figure out how to comport ourselves in the presence of greatness.
I went through this when I got to my first date, which happened to be with that young lady over there.
I had never been on a date before. I was 25, and all God's people said were not surprised.
I didn't have to laugh that hard.
But I had no idea how to comport myself. So I spent time preparing, and I still have the picture of an outline of a fictitious conversation that I was going to have with her, and how I was going to go from point one to point two so I wouldn't get lost and look unprepared. Unfortunately, I did not share the script with her, so by the time we got to point number one, we were always very off script.
So I was trying to prepare, and I give myself some effort for that. But a first date is one thing.
How do we prepare for a spiritual face-to-face with Christ? How do we get the most out of this that Jesus does for us?
Let me start by saying why do we prepare, and give you a couple of reasons as to why we are, how and why we're not doing this.
One, there are so many times, and this is something I've suffered with as a child, and don't want the same thing to be for you.
We talk about coming to the table unworthily. This does not mean that by our preparation, by having read our Bibles, by having prayed, by having avoided sin for this week, that we are worthy to come to the table. If that's what you're thinking, then you're suffering from another sin, and that's pride. That we could ever earn a spot at the king of the universe's table, that is only accomplished by grace through the finished work of Christ, which this celebrates. What a backwards way of thinking, that we come to a table meant to show for us that Christ has sacrificed himself for our sins, and we try to clean up ourselves on the way, forgetting this is a gospel. So never think as you're approaching this, saying, it's like, well, I've messed up this week, so I can't come here.
No.
We're made worthy by Christ.
We're made worthy by His work in our heart, that will, yes, show itself in good works.
But it's something that comes from Him and Him alone. This is why we don't prepare.
We've been made worthy by Christ.
But I also want to say why we do prepare.
In that preparing our hearts to come to this is not an automatic process.
This is not something where you just roll in and here we are.
But there is something that we can do.
There are some things to keep in mind.
And that's why I had us print up Question 171 from the Larger Catechism.
This would be something you can take home with you, take a look at, keep in mind for next month. Because it gives you an outline exactly how it is that we prepare.
All of these are being drawn from the scriptures themselves, and I can give you a list of what proof texts these things come from. But I wanted to go down kind of as an outline as we move into our application part of our message. Applying ourselves this command to examine ourselves, before we come to the table.
What does that look like?
Number one, when we examine ourselves, we are conscious of our sins. We're conscious of our sins. The point of doing this is not to just walk away from our time of reflection saying, well, I'm just the worst, the scum of the earth. That's not the point.
This isn't an exercise in self-flagellation, whipping ourselves so we feel appropriately bad enough.
The point of looking at our sins is to recognize why it is we need a table. Why it is that Christ had to come and die.
We can't get rid of these things on our own.
We need Jesus.
But by the same token, He doesn't just forgive, but He also cleanses and begins the lifelong process of having us hate our sin more and loving Jesus more. And once a month, as we come to Communion, it's a great opportunity to check in and see, how is this going?
When we're mindful of the things that we know we deal with, we have the opportunity to say, what steps am I taking to repent of this?
Or am I just hoping I'll just get better?
If you deal with anger and bitterness, are you memorizing Scripture that addresses those things? Do you have a structure of accountability to deal with that? If not, then that's a wonderful opportunity, a reminder to say, no, Jesus died to free you from this, not to give you a license to do it more. And he's given you his Holy Spirit so that you don't have to do these things over and over.
No one's ever going to be perfect.
No one is ever going to be every single month is one straight line straight up.
There's going to be setbacks. But having an opportunity to remind yourself, where am I weak?
Where does Jesus need to do more work? Gives you a wonderful opportunity once a month as we come to the table.
This is why we like to tell you a week in advance it's coming.
To check in, do some inventory of the soul, and see.
Here in 1 Corinthians 11, clearly we have some selfishness going on.
Would they would have examined themselves and say it's like where is this selfishness coming from?
How do I deal with this?
But it's not just a reminder or thinking about our sins. There's a second thing that we can think about to prepare.
Is where is your knowledge, faith, and repentance? This isn't just an opportunity to see how we're advancing morally. How are you advancing in what you know? Are you diving into the scriptures to learn more about your Savior? Do you know even just a little bit more about your Savior this month than you did last month? We're not able to find the comfort that God would give to us if we don't know what's there. We won't get to rejoice in the promises that Jesus offers to us if we don't know what they are. And we have an opportunity once a month to do an inventory.
What do I know?
How am I growing in my trust of Jesus?
How am I growing in my repentance from my sin?
And I love the next thing that they mention, instead of just the measure of the knowledge, faith, and repentance.
But the next thing is, is how is your love of God and neighbor?
This is a great reminder to those of us that would like to intellectualize our faith. That equate spiritual maturity with the amount of systematic theology textbooks you've read.
Because those are not the same.
You can know an awful lot and be very immature in Jesus. What is this knowledge of Jesus doing in your heart? Is it making a difference in your love for God and then your love for neighbor? If you don't love your neighbor, then you don't love your God.
How is this knowledge shaping you?
If it's just growing a lot more of what's in your head, Paul warns us that knowledge is just puffing up if that's all it's doing.
But your growth in love shows that it's having a real effect, that that is its purpose, a love for God and a love for neighbor.
And finally, Westminster pastors really touch on something here at the end.
It says, love to God and brethren, charity to all men, forgiving those that have done them wrong. That's really hard. It's so easy to love neighbor that does well for you. It's easy to love those who are like you and who like you. But the real test of whether or not you love your neighbor is, can you forgive your neighbor when they have done you wrong? Not just when you feel offended, but when they have done actual sin against you, when they have offended God and how they have treated you.
Are you able to forgive?
Are you growing in that ability?
Remember, these are not things that you are building up in yourself.
These are not things that if you just white-knuckle it hard enough, eventually you'll be able to forgive people.
This comes from spending time with Jesus.
This comes by appropriating the means of grace that he has given to you in word, in prayer, meditation.
Lord's Supper.
These are the opportunities for us to see how is my soul doing under Jesus' renovation?
Am I fighting him with this process?
Am I tying him up with this permitting process as I can?
Oh, no, you can't touch that.
I haven't given you permission to look at that area of my life. You cooperating with this renovation that he's doing, and communion gives you this wonderful opportunity to be reminded.
And then if we see that we're lacking, not to hang our heads and walk away and saying like, well, I guess there's just no hope for me.
But it says here, by renewing the exercise of these graces, if you find yourself lacking, well, it's only been a month since you last checked in, get back on it. Take advantage of the gifts that God is giving to you, including this supper that we are about to receive.
Because it's a blessing for you.
It's a nourishment for your soul. That's how we prepare to take.
But we're only going to take in the next five minutes.
So let me spend just one moment telling you, how do you receive this now?
There is a mixture of recognition of the sacrifice that Jesus has done.
And the victory that we have been set free.
So how is one to emotionally process the Lord's Supper as we're taking it?
Imagine that you have been given a diagnosis.
You are in acute kidney failure.
Both of your kidneys are gone.
And your only hope of survival is that a donor kidney is made available to you. And before you can even wrap your head around what the doctor has just told you, he comforts you by saying, but fear not, a donor has come forward and is offering you their kidney. It's a perfect match.
We're going to go into the operating room right now.
You are not given any time to answer questions, to ask anything. You're suddenly wheeled into the operating room. And the next thing you know, you're awake to the surgeon saying, the operation was a success.
You have a new kidney, you're going to live.
You can see your children grow up.
You can live the life that you truly wanted to live.
It won't be cut short.
And you can imagine the gratitude that floods your soul in this moment and the joy that you are not going to die today of this failed kidney.
And then the doctor looks at you.
And he says, would you like to meet your donor?
They're in the next room.
You walk out the door, you come into the next room, they pull the curtain back, and there, pale and trembling, is your mother.
Now you still feel the joy that your life has been restored.
And you know, looking at her, that it has been her joy to save your life.
But you know what she's going through.
That though it was a joyful process, it was not pain free. And that she has made an enduring sacrifice for you to make this thing possible. And there, in that moment, we can't draw a neat line as to exactly what we're feeling here. There is this mixture of incredible humility, almost a tinge of sadness that this is what it's required, that my body has caused suffering for another.
But also this joy that I am loved and cared for and redeemed, given new life.
I think that's what we're looking at here in the Lord's Supper. The Lord went to the cross with joy, but not without pain, not without sacrifice.
So when we come and we eat and have table fellowship with our Savior, there is a mix of humility, sadness, and yet of great joy as we take of this.
So because of the profound nature of what we have before us, it is well worth the preparation.
And all it is is rehearsing.
Since this is a picture of the Gospel, you have an opportunity to ask, what has the Gospel done for me?
How is this practically working itself out in my life? Jesus died for my sins and rose again to promise me eternal life.
Have I taken it?
Is it making a difference for me? And if not, then this is the opportunity to get serious. This is the opportunity to come back.
This is the opportunity to do business with God.
And to enjoy the freedom that this very meal pictures. So if you're in Christ today, but you know you've been letting some things slide, here's an opportunity to come back, to renew your commitment to Christ.
If you find, you know what? I've always just like known the stuff of the gospel, but it's never really made a real difference in my life.
Well, here's the opportunity.
Put your faith in Him.
Turn away from your sin.
Put your full weight on Him.
All of your eternal expectations put in His hands.
And say, Lord, you are my King. Guide me.
Take me. Transform me.
And I promise you will never be the same again. And that you will be able to take this Supper in full gratitude and love for Christ.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to come before you, to have communion spiritually face to face. So I ask if there are anyone here who are unsure where they stand with Christ, that today would be the day of salvation, that they would know you and the power of your resurrection. Lord, I pray for those who have been discouraged, that they would be encouraged by what we see here today. For those that are encouraged, that their joy would be strengthened by what we have here today.
Oh, I ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Photo by Caley Dimmock on Unsplash
Don’t you wish you could know the future? I think all of us if given the chance would love even a glimpse or a hint of what is to come in our lives. But as many popular stories tell us, how that future gets to us is often very confusing. 
Israel is about to die, but before he does, he is going to place his blessing on all of his sons. The last verse of our passage is going to reiterate that each blessing is “suitable” for each one, and we are going to see how that plays out for many of them here this morning. We will see that some of them, like Reuben, are getting “blessings” that are a result of what they have done. Some are getting blessings seemingly despite what they’ve done, like Judah. Others get blessings, but seemingly not the right ones, like Joseph. What are we to make of these things, how did they play out in history, and what does this mean for us today? We will tackle those questions as we look at our main point today: God’s blessings are suitable yet still need to be trusted. 
God’s blessings are suitable yet still need to be trusted.
 
Looking at the order, there is something odd in how they are listed. They are mostly in birth order (except for Zebulun and Issachar), in starting with the sons of Leah, then moving to the sons of the concubines, starting with Rachels, then finishing with Rachel’s sons. No one is left out among the sons. It is true that Dinah isn’t included here, but that is because only sons could inherit. Anyone that has come from Israel’s seed is given a blessing here instead of just one son. 
Now, that being said, not everyone is getting the same blessing. It appears that some are not getting the blessings that you would want because of their actions, specifically Reuben through Levi. That doesn’t mean things are unfair here. I’m reminded of a quote from RC Sproul who said something to the effect that, in our dealings with God everyone gets either mercy or justice. No one gets injustice. Even in the categories of justice amongst these sons, no one is getting tossed out of the family. Everyone is going to have a place in the land. Just not everyone is going to get the same amount of blessing while there. 
That is true for us as well. Not every Christian is blessed in the same way. We don’t all have the same marriages, the same health status, the same amount of money, or really anything that is exactly the same. Some of those circumstance are purely by grace. Others of those circumstances are the results of decisions made, good or bad. Following after Christ does not eliminate consequences of decisions in the past or in the future. Being a Christian doesn’t put life in easy mode or give a license to disobey God’s commands. At the same time, being obedient to Jesus doesn’t obligate Him to give you the life you want. Look at the life of Job. He lived, according to God’s perspective, a righteous life! Yet, he was subject to horrible circumstances for reasons known only to God. Part of that suffering was to relieve the suffering of millions who have read the account of Job. And here in this passage, we are given a warning that our actions can have consequences that can impact generations. 
Let’s look at Reuben as an example of this. Reuben’s sin in sleeping with his father’s concubine (a play for power in the family) is not forgotten when we get to this point. He was supposed to be the first born, the one who gets a double portion! But here, it is hinted that he has lost that portion, a hint confirmed by 1 Chronicles 5:1 “The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son;” 
Simeon and Levi are another example. They are said to be scattered because of their actions. Simeon’s tribe will be small, and live in the desert, however the tribe of Levi is going to become the assistants in the temple because of their later obedience, even if they don’t get a specific portion of land in the nation of Israel (Belcher).
On the other end of the spectrum is Judah. Now, we remember Judah. Here lately he has been a star. He is the one who convinces Jacob to let Benjamin go down to Egypt so they wouldn’t starve. He is the one who is willing to sacrifice his life for his brothers in Egypt. He is the one who leads the way in restoring Jacob and Joseph together! But has everyone forgotten who’s idea it was to sell Joseph in the first place? Was it not Reuben who tried to rescue Joseph at the beginning? Was it not Judah who left the family, had three sons with a Canaanite, and accidentally slept with his daughter in law? Where’s all this, “Your descendants are going to rule over everyone else” coming from? 
Grace. That’s where it is coming from. Judah is being shown grace here. Why? Not stated. While Reuben’s actions are cited as to why he isn’t being blessed, Judah’s actions are no where to be found. The text doesn’t say, “Because you have acted kingly, your descendants will be kings.” We assume that this is the reason, but God doesn’t tell us why. Judah cannot claim the throne on his own. 
Zebulon and Issachar aren’t given a lot of fanfare. One gets access to the coast, and the other ends up under slavery in a pleasant land, and that’s exactly what we see later (Belcher). 
One scholar had something interesting to say about Dan. He is said to judge the people and be compared to a snake, an animal known for being solo, not traveling in a pack. Ultimately, Samson comes from this line, the judge who acts alone and judges his people (Belcher)! 
The next three are given much shorter blessings. Gad will get raided but will fight back, as they later do. Asher does in fact end up in a very fruitful area of the land, and Naphtali will get lots of space to roam around in like a deer (Blecher). 
And now we get to Joseph, and it would seem at first that he should be getting the blessing of ruling! If there was anyone who could claim the throne it would be Joseph! He wasn’t just acting kingly, for all intents and purposes, he was! He has wisely administrated every single thing he was ever put in charge of. He would report on his brothers, he would run Potifer’s house like never before, goodness! he even ran the prison well, while being a prisoner! Do I even have to mention what he has done for the entire nation of Egypt and by extension the rest of the world? Yet all of that was grace as well, and Joseph told us as much when he stood before Pharaoh all those years ago. 
Yet, it is not as if Joseph is getting nothing, He gets a lot here, and through his two sons, he is getting a double portion. We saw last week how both Manasseh and Ephraim will be great people, and Ephraim most of all. He will become practically synonymous with Israel, to the point that when God will speak of Israel, He can use that name.  Hosea 5:3–4 “I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is defiled. Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord.” Yet, the Lord has compassion, for later in that same book Hosea 11:8–9 “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.” 
Joseph will have his portion, but it is all of grace.
But I mentioned there some hints of judgment to come. How does that square with these blessings? All of these promises that God makes look like they are going to fail at some point (sometimes multiple points) in redemptive history. Almost every time you think you know what God is doing and where He’s going with this, you’re wrong. 
Let’s just take Judah’s promise. Here he is told that his descendants are going to rule. You know what happens for 400 years after that? Slavery. I wonder how that tribe felt about bringing up those promises during the slave years? Ok, Moses is coming! He is going to lead the people out! What a leader! There’s a son of Judah if I ever saw one! What? He’s from the tribe of Levi (Exodus 2:1)! What about Joshua? Ephraim (Numbers 13:8). Line of Joseph. We got Achen coming from the line of Judah, but his claim to fame was when he disobeyed God after Jericho, brought trouble on the whole nation, and execution site set up as a warning for future generations (Joshua 7)! Ok, let’s skip to when the nation is finally organized. Who is the first king? Saul. Tribe? Benjamin. Benjamin?! That’s not how it is supposed to work! Yes, things finally improve under David, also from the line of Judah, and his son Solomon in which the wealth and prosperity of united Israel lasts for all of eighty years total before the nation is split after Solomon, leading Jereboam (from the tribe of Ephraim) to lead ten of the tribes under him! Judah is the smaller one! Yes, Israel finally gets conquered by the Assyrians for their apostasy, but Judah itself is conquered by the Babylonians for the same sins! Even when we get to the time of Christ, the tribes are united but ruled by the Romans, ultimately, and ruled locally in Jerusalem by a descendant…of Esau! 
Except for a few bright spots along the way, if you were to flip through the Old Testament and put your finger down, it looks like the promises of God aren’t doing so well. We can either say that Joseph is a better administrator than God, or we can relook at those promises. Ultimately, this promise of an eternal Kingship is pointing to Jesus. Even then, for most of His life, He was a carpenter! Yes, He starts healing people and multiplying food, but He ends up being executed on a cross! The most shameful way to die reserved for prisoners and enemies of state! But then He rises from the dead! Does He establish His kingdom then? Nope! He ascends into heaven and commissions fishermen to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and we could go on and on. 
God’s ways are unexpected even when He tells you what He is doing. We never look to our present circumstances to determine God’s faithfulness to us. If you do, you will most likely be either delighted or despairing. Instead, look not to the present but the Person for your confidence. We trust in who is helping not what is happening on any given day. We trust in the character and nature of God, who we can see is faithful to His people down through the ages. He is worthy of trust.