Category: Worship

Waco Reformed Church — What About Feeding the Sheep?

In our previous post on what makes Waco Reformed Church different, I stated that the worship is not about feeding the sheep. Many people make the mistake of thinking this is the point of worship. The question even came up on x.com last week when Meg Basham posted the following:

As you can see, this is a common error that most people make when it comes to the purpose of the worship of the church. The purpose of worship is to focus upon and glorify God in the liturgy of the church. The focus is our Father, not the congregation. We are not looking to the congregation to dictate what we do in worship to glorify God. We are looking to His word.

Feeding the sheep is actually the stated purpose of the pastor. He is to feed the sheep “in worship.” Feeding definitely takes place “in worship.” But feeding the sheep is not the purpose of the church in worship.

We get the foundations of feeding the sheep from John 21:15-17. In that passage, we see Jesus reinstating Peter to the ministry by asking him three times, “Do you love Me?” With every affirmative answer that Peter gives, Jesus stated that Peter’s focus was to tend and feed His sheep.

He wasn’t speaking of literal food, although we do literally eat the bread in communion, as well as drink the wine of the table.  Jesus could well have been speaking of communion. The pastor is to serve communion every LORD’s day, and in this, as we partake by faith, the literal bread and wine feed us both physically and spiritually.

Milk and Solid Food

But primarily, when Jesus told Peter to “feed My sheep” HE was speaking of the word of God as the means for feeding them. The word of God is often referred to as milk or solid food (1 Corinthians 3:1-3, Hebrews 5:12-13, 1 Peter 2:1-3). It is, in the spiritual sense, the most important food there is, as we will see below. When the word of God is faithfully preached to the congregation, the congregation is being fed on a spiritual level.

Living Upon Every Word

We also know the word of God to be spiritual food from the Temptation of Christ in the wilderness. Satan tempts Jesus by challenging Jesus on being the Son of God. “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

This was after Jesus had fasted for 40 days. Jesus was being tempted on His identity and for His basic physical needs. Yet, He did not give into the temptation, but responded by saying: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'”

The word of God is what sustains us spiritually speaking, for in His word, life is found. This is why the word as the food is the most important food we shall every dine upon. God’s words feeds us spiritually.

But please note also what Jesus said to Satan. Jesus says that we shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This means we live from the entirety of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments.

Far too many evangelicals want to “unhitch” themselves from the Old Testament, as if it were somehow holding us back from true spirituality. But please note: when Jesus preached the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, He preached from the Old Testament. The same was true for Paul, and Peter, and Stephen, and all the rest of the men God ordained to preach in the first century.

We point this out because worship has to be informed by the entirety of God’s word, not just the New Testament as so many wish to believe. The Apostle Paul endeavored to preach the full counsel of God’s word to the Ephesian elders, and we should to the same (Acts 20:27).

Conclusion

The point of this post is to help you see that we are indeed fed spiritually by God’s word when we come to worship. But this feeding is not the purpose of worship. The purpose of worship it to actually worship the Father in Spirit and Truth. When this is done, God graciously feeds us the food we so desperately need. We can trust Him to serve us the meal we need. We will be nourished, cleansed, and sent out every LORD’s day for the purpose of His glory. But let us not make the mistake that many make: when we gather, we don’t do so for what we get out of it. We do so because He has called us to worship and He is glorified when we do.

Links:

Waco Reformed Church: What Makes us Different?

Waco Reformed Church: Substack

Waco Reformed Church: YouTube Channel

Waco Reformed Church: Facebook Page.

Waco Reformed Church: Website.

The First Day of the Week — Easter Sermon

Summary of the Sermon
The sermon, rooted in John 20:1, explores the significance of Jesus’ resurrection on the first day of the week as the inauguration of the new heavens and earth, marking the end of the Old Covenant and the establishment of the New Covenant. It emphasizes that the gospel is not merely about individual salvation but the recreation of the world, the defeat of death, and the spread of God’s Kingdom through Christ’s resurrection. The sermon traces the Passion Week, aligning each day with the Creation Week to illustrate the transition from the old order to the new.
  • Palm Sunday (Day 1): Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem fulfills prophecy (Zechariah 9:9) but is met with fruitless palm branches, symbolizing Israel’s spiritual barrenness. Jesus, as the Light of the World, enters a darkened nation, highlighting the rejection by its leaders.
  • Cleansing the Temple (Day 2): Paralleling the division of waters in Genesis, Jesus cleanses the temple, separating what belongs to heaven from what is earthly, with the religious leaders rejecting Him, further showing their darkness.
  • The Barren Fig Tree (Day 3): Jesus curses a fruitless fig tree, symbolizing Israel’s failure to bear spiritual fruit despite being entrusted with God’s oracles. This reflects the third day of creation, where God brought forth fruit-bearing plants.
  • Conflict with Leadership (Day 4): Likened to the creation of luminaries, Jesus’ confrontation with the authorities foretells the darkening of their false light (Matthew 24:29). His death and resurrection will replace them with His ambassadors, the children of light.
  • The Lord’s Supper (Day 5): Corresponding to the abundance of life in Genesis, the institution of the Lord’s Supper signifies spiritual multiplication, feeding believers to bear fruit and fill the earth with God’s Kingdom.
  • Good Friday (Day 6): Paralleling the creation of man, Jesus, the Last Adam, dies on the cross, becoming the Tree of Life. His death restores access to eternal life, making believers a new creation and the Church His bride.
  • Holy Saturday (Day 7): Jesus rests in the tomb, mirroring God’s Sabbath rest. His silence in death disrupts the grave, preparing for the new creation.
  • Easter Sunday (Day 1 of New Creation): The resurrection on the first day signifies the start of the new heavens and earth, breaking the curse of death and rendering the Old Covenant obsolete. Worship on the first day (Sunday) reflects this new creation, distinguishing it from the Sabbath, which points to the old creation.
The sermon concludes with 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, emphasizing that believers, as new creations in Christ, are ambassadors of reconciliation, proclaiming the risen Christ and the new order He established. Worshipping on Sunday affirms the resurrection and the transformative power of the gospel.

Click on the link below for full sermon.

The Ascension Offering

For several months, I’ve been trying to get my mind around what is often called the burnt offering in the Old Covenant. The reason for this is that Jeff Myers mentioned in an article on Theopolis that he mistranslated the Hebrew word ʿōlâ, in his excellent book on worship Lord’s Day Service. Instead of translating ʿōlâ burnt offering, it should be translated as ascension offering. This small change helps us understand what is taking place in worship.

It’s not that burnt offering isn’t similar, but the word ʿōlâ, means “to ascend.”

It is James Jordan, who Myers credits in the article I cannot find, that helps us understand this simple change.

Jordan writes:

“Though the Ascension offering is indeed all burned up, the word in Hebrew (ʿōlâ) means ‘go up’ or ‘ascend.’ We need to link this offering with all the many times people go up on a mountain to meet God, up into an upper room, or up to a rooftop, or ‘up on the altar.’ Similarly, though the Tribute offering in Leviticus 2 consists of grain, the Hebrew word (minchah) means ‘gift or tribute,’ and ‘tribute’ is the better word to use when presenting a require gift to a king. Moreover, in Numbers the Tribute offering has wine added to it, so ‘Grain/Meal/Cereal offering’ is not a good term to use for this offering. The sequence of the two offerings mean that we ascend to God’s throne and present our gifts to Him, which He accepts. This fundamental meaning of the offerings is completely obscured by the common mistranslations of the two key terms.”

 

Here is an example of burnt offering in Scripture that should be translated ascension offering. Noah is ascending into the presence of God.

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar (Genesis 8:20).

The point is that we are truly ascending in worship into the presence of God. Not that we go up to meet Him, as so many try in other religions, but He carries us up by the power of the Spirit, up Mt. Zion (Hebrews 12), into His presence, to meet with Him, be cleansed by Him, be fed by Him, and then sent back out again, by Him.

You Have Heard It Said — Gospel of Matthew Sermon 27

Old Covenant Reading (read first):  Genesis 4:1-12

New Covenant Reading: Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon – You Have Heard It Said

Jesus says:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’”

He finally begins to preach upon the Moral Law itself. This is the section of the Law that most people are vaguely familiar with (Yes, contradictory terms).

As Jesus teaches on the Moral Law, please notice what He doesn’t do. He doesn’t turn this into a morality lecture. He is indeed speaking on the Moral Law, but not in such a way that we come away with the reductionistic trope of “be good, do be angry.”

There are far more complexities to honoring this law than we like to think about. What Jesus says here, requires much more that a simple statement of moralism. He is requiring us to use wisdom in our lives, in order to keep the commandments.

Peter Leithart writes about this portion of Christ’s sermon:

“These instructions are not just membership qualifications. They are redemptive commandments, and Jesus is laying out the specifics of the redemptive righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.”

 

The Law and the Prophets — The Gospel of Matthew Sermon 26

When Jesus begins to preach the Sermon on the Mount, He starts with the nature of those who make up the Kingdom. Then, He turns to the Law and Prophets, showing that He is the fulfillment of both. He is not removing the Law and Prophets, but making it more effective for us.

One way to understand this fulfillment is to consummate the Law. We think of the consummation of a marriage when we hear the word consummate. This is actually helpful.

When the consummation of a marriage takes place, it doesn’t make the marriage go away, or the requirements of the marriage disappear. In fact, it brings the requirements of faithfulness, which should have been present before the marriage, to an even more important level in the marriage. Faithfulness in marriage, begins before marriage, and when the fulness of the marriage comes about, it heightens the need for faithfulness.

The same is true for God’s Law. The fulfillment of the LAW didn’t make LAW go away, but made it more important because Christ fulfills the Law.

This is what it means for Christ of fulfill the Law and Prophets.

Three Sermons on Head Coverings and More…

Women wearing head coverings in worship has become controversial here in the past few years. There are those who are steadfastly against it, declaring that it was merely cultural in Paul’s day, and now no longer necessary for women today.

For example, since I started putting this post together, Doug Wilson has come out with 21 Theses on Head Coverings For Women. You can read his position for yourself. But I would like to draw you attention to one of his points. Wilson asks:

Thesis #6: At Corinth, the men were covering themselves and the women were not. This leads us to wonder why.

Sixth, the men in Corinth were for some reason covering themselves in worship, because Paul tells them not to, and the women were uncovering themselves, because Paul makes a point of saying that if they pray during the meeting, or if they bring a prophecy, they must do so covered. What might those reasons be?

Apart from Doug’s added question, this is exactly what we believe the text to be saying. Men are not to pray covered. Women are not to pray uncovered. Wilson grants this point in this statement, and also shows that the issue is not cultural, because it is dealing with worship.

Those who oppose head coverings love to offer all kinds of cultural and Old Covenant references to show how coverings were viewed, and used, but miss the main point: Paul is telling the church in Corinth, and all the churches, what the cultural setting should be in the church, and he is rooting that cultural setting in creation.

Paul bases his arguments on creation, the hierarchy of Christ, the husband, and the woman, and for the purpose of the angels. In other words, it doesn’t matter what the Jews use to do, or what the Jews were doing. It doesn’t matter what the Romans used to do, or what they were doing. In fact, it doesn’t matter what the church has been doing today, but what we should be doing. Paul sets the culture for us, by rooting his arguments in the created order, and we are to submit to his instructions, as do all the churches (1 Corinthians 11:16).

We also believe, as Bnonn Tennant so beautifully shows, that only God’s glory is to be seen in worship, therefore, women are to cover their hair. Bnonn writes:

The way in which we worship matters. To have another glory on display—a glory that simply by merit of being present is competing with (H)is, suggesting itself as worthy of appearing alongside (H)im—is embodied blasphemy. And glory that is present alongside (Him) suggests also that we may worship the creature, rather than the creator, who is blessed forever! Amen—and is thus implied idolatry.

You can read the full article here. You can also listen to Bnonn and Smokey (Bnonn’s wife) answer questions to objections here. Most of the objections they address, will deal with the statements in Wilson’s article, and others as well.

Just by looking at what the text actually says, like I do in my sermons below, and what Bnonn and Smokey do, we answer most of the objections people have.

I am sharing the three sermons I have preached on the subject of head coverings from 1 Corinthians 11. I did this back in April and May of 2023 at Waco Reformed Church. Most of our congregation has since adopted the practice. However, even those who do not accept the practice, are welcome to worship with us.

You can also read other articles here and here.

 

First sermon: Head Coverings and Hierarchy

This first sermon not only deals with the hierarchy of those in the body of Christ, but also the culture in which Paul was working. It does answer the question: are head coverings a result of culture?

 

Second Sermon: Head Coverings and Prophecy

 

Third Sermon: Head Coverings and Glory

At Waco Reformed Church, we believe that it is right and proper for women to wear head coverings in worship. However, we accept that there are many men and women who are not convinced from Scripture to do so. Therefore we allow for those who are not convinced to act upon their conscience, as long as they don’t teach otherwise in our congregation.

Work vs. Worship

There are times when I will be talking to believers about worship, and they will say something along the lines of, “well, I worship every day. All of life is worship. I’m worshipping now as I do my job.”

I know that they want to believe this, because it sanctifies their job. There is nothing wrong with the desire to see our callings as ordained by God. The work we do is a calling from God. When we take up a job, we are to do it for the glory of the LORD, taking dominion of the task before us, so that when it is done in faith, He is glorified. In doing our jobs, we are being obedient to the LORD. All Christians should have this view towards their jobs.

The problem is that even though we are told to do all things for the glory of the LORD, we are not to assume that we are worshipping God in our daily callings. Work and worship are quite different. In fact, when we worship God, we are to cease from work. The two do not overlap. In both the Old and New Testament, we see the different words used for “work” and “worship,” showing that the two words are not the same. One can work, or worship, one cannot do both since the spheres are different callings from God.

We get this in our instructions of when we are to worship found in the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

12 ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

This is one of the foundational principles for worship, showing us that we are to cease from work on the Sabbath, or as we do under the New Covenant, the LORD’s Day. But more importantly, we see the worship and work are not the same. One might say: “well, the commandment doesn’t say to worship.” The rest of Deuteronomy details worship. But here in the commandment, we are given the principle of 1 day in 7. We work on 6 days, and 1 day we worship. Work is to cease on the LORD’s Day.

But to be more clear, we need to look at the Hebrew word for work. It is: mᵊlā’ḵâ. It means to labor. It points to our occupation, and we are commanded to work for six days. Strong’s put it this way:

מְלָאכָה mᵉlâʼkâh, mel-aw-kaw’; from the same as H4397; properly, deputyship, i.e. ministry; generally, employment (never servile) or work (abstractly or concretely); also property (as the result of labor):—business, cattle, industrious, occupation, ( -pied), officer, thing (made), use, (manner of) work((-man), -manship).

What about worship? What are we to do for worship? Fundamentally, when we worship, we are to make sacrifices to the LORD. Work is about producing. Worship is about sacrifice. We see this when Abraham took Isaac up on the mountain to sacrifice him, as YHWH had instructed Abraham to do.

Genesis 22:5

And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

The worship that Abraham is to do, is sacrifice. He thinks he will sacrifice his son, knowing that if he does, the LORD will raise him up again. But he ends up sacrificing a ram that the LORD provided. This is a key to our worship. It is about sacrifice. We go to worship for sacrifice. But the LORD provides the sacrifice. We just offer ourselves, and He cuts us up with His word, then works in us, and then feeds us, all through the ultimate sacrifice that Christ made on the cross.

Back to the word for worship in Hebrew. It is: šāḥâ. It has the idea of bowing down, prostrating oneself, humbling oneself before a superior. Strong’s puts it this way:

שָׁחָה shâchâh, shaw-khaw’; a primitive root; to depress, i.e. prostrate (especially reflexive, in homage to royalty or God):—bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship.

Hopefully you can see the two concepts are different. We work unto the glory of the LORD during the week, but it is not worship. We gather with the people of God on the LORD’s day, but it is not work. The two have different goals and function.

What about the New Testament?

The best passage for this is one of God’s stated purposes in sending Christ.

John 4:24

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

A lot of evangelicals miss the mark on this verse, because they don’t give it the value that it should have. They are so often focused on John 3:16 (thereby missing the fulness of the John 3), that they come to the conclusion that we are to focus merely on missions. But the Father’s purpose in missions is worship. Worship takes priority. The Father sends the Son, so that there will be true worship. (For more on this, you can listen to the sermon on this subject here).

Hopefully here we can lay this to rest, because the Greek word used for worship is: proskyneō. It means to prostrate oneself before another. As Strong’s puts it:

προσκυνέω proskynéō, pros-koo-neh’-o; from G4314 and a probable derivative of G2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, i.e. (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore):—worship.

This is not the picture of work at all. In fact, let’s look at “work” in Greek as well. The Greek word for work is: ergon. Strong’s explains it this way:

ἔργον érgon, er’-gon; from a primary (but obsolete) ἔργω érgō (to work); toil (as an effort or occupation); by implication, an act:—deed, doing, labour, work.

We are to ergon during the week, and proskyneo on the LORD’s day. To say we worship during the week is to confuse the meaning of the two words.

Conclusion

To work is labor. It is a calling, and we should treat it as such. But work is not worship. These are two different functions for the Christian. We work during the week, and worship on the First Day of the week. Yes, we should see our work as a calling from God. But let us not mix up the two.

If you would like to learn more about Covenantal Worship, then go here for a series of sermons on the topic.

He Went Up a Mountain — The Gospel of Matthew Sermon 23

Just a quick note: this is one of those sermons when I was able to focus in upon the importance of mountains in Scripture. Everything has meaning, and we need to see the symbolism in Scripture. In this sermon, I explain why mountains are so vital. For a hint of it, read the Call to Worship and it will help you see what I mean.

Preparation for Worship: Matthew 21:21-22

Call to worship: Hebrews 12:18-24

18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard itbegged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Reading of the Law: Proverbs 10:27-29 (Note: Simple dichotomy)

AOPG: Isaiah 1:18-19

Old Covenant Reading (read first):  Isaiah 14:12-15

New Covenant Reading: Matthew 5:1-2

(This is the inspired and holy word of God.)

Sermon – He Went Up on a Mountain

Introduction –

I don’t know if you have notice this or not, but my sermon titles about Jesus have been about Christ’s movements.  Some of the titles are as follows: He Departed to Galilee,Jesus was led up by the Spirit, Walking by the Sea, and last week, Jesus went about… Today’s sermon is: He Went Up on a Mountain.

I’ve done this for two reasons. The first is that when I title a sermon, I want to use something from Scripture so that I can avoid the temptation to come up with some cheesy catch phrase. Cheesy titles are a bane to the pulpit because the one preaching is always having to come up with something clever, at least in his own mind. In one sense, that cheapens the word of God, and exalts the pastor for how witty he is.

I don’t want to do this.

But more importantly, by using a phrase directly from the text, I can bring Scripture to bear on the sermon, before I’ve uttered a word. Just by titling the sermon, He went up on a mountain, your minds are already thinking of the movements of Jesus. He is not stagnant in His ministry, but is moving about from place to place, preaching and teaching as many people as He can.

But secondly, the movement of Christ reminds us… that He was indeed, led by the Spirit, departed Galilee, walked by the sea, and went about…

All of these movements were purposely recorded by Matthew so that we would realize how much He moved around. These details help us see the truthfulness of Christ’s ministry.

And none does that more than what we are looking at this morning. Our text reads:

And seeing the multitude, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him, then He opened His mouth and taught them…

 

 

 

 

Walking By the Sea — The Gospel of Matthew Sermon 21

Preparation for Worship: 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

Call to worship: Psalm 135:1-7

Reading of the Law: Proverbs 10:23-25

AOPG: Psalm 34:17-22

Old Covenant Reading (read first):  Jeremiah 16:14-21

New Covenant Reading: Matthew 4:11-17

(This is the inspired and holy word of God.)

Sermon – Walking By the Sea

Introduction –

Shortly after Jesus begins His public ministry, preaching “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” He is walking about and comes across a couple of fishermen.

The two men, were not the wise of the world. The world would consider them foolish, and weak, and base. Why? Because they were fishermen. They were not powerful. They didn’t have a lot of knowledge. You would not find these four men in the halls of Herod, making great speeches for this cause or that.

They got up every day, went down to the sea, and fished for a living. On the Sabbath day, they went to the synagogue for worship. They were married, had families, … they were quite normal.

Yet, as Jesus is walking, He approaches them and gives them the irresistible call to follow Him.

And in calling these men, Jesus then begins to fulfill the prophecy made by John the Baptist before Jesus was baptized. What did he say about Jesus?

“His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Notice how John informs His audience. He makes it clear that Jesus is the One who will be doing the work of the Kingdom. He will have a winnowing fan in His hand. For us, that may not mean much. But the winnowing fan was used to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Here, John is using it as an illustration showing that Jesus will separate His righteous ones from the wicked of the world. Jesus will divide His followers out from the chaff. Jesus will bring those who belong to Him, into His barn. Jesus will take the chaff and burn it up in the unquenchable fire.

 

 

He Departed Galilee — The Gospel of Matthew Sermon 20

Waco Reformed Church

Sermon Text: Matthew 4:11-17

Old Covenant Text: Isaiah 9:1-7

This sermon focuses on Jesus leaving His home and going to Galilee fulfilling the prophecy spoken of in Isaiah 9.

Preached February 2, 2025.

 

You Shall Worship — The Gospel of Matthew Sermon 19

LORD’S DAY WORSHIP – JANUARY 26, 2025

Preparation for Worship: John 4:23

Call to worship: Psalm 92:1-4

Reading of the Law: Proverbs 10:12-18 (Solomon’s tidbits…).

AOPG: 1 John 1:8-2:2

Old Covenant Reading (read first): Exodus 32:1-9

New Covenant Reading: Matthew 4:1-11

(This is the inspired and holy word of God.)

Sermon – You Shall Worship 

Introduction – 

Back some 10 or 15 years ago, when I used to listen to talk radio, there were two shows that I really loved. One was the Herd, with Colin Cowherd. He covered sport and regularly would offer insight that other sportscasters missed.

Sometime though, he would offer real gems about life. He would often point out that people will project what the feel toward you without saying it, especially when it came to relationships. He made the case that when a woman leaves a man in marriage, that usually the only one surprised is the man. She had been giving the signs all along. All the friends and family saw it coming, but the man remained in the dark. He didn’t want to know.

The other show that I would listen to was the Rush Limbaugh show. He made a similar statement about liberals and Democrats. His statement was that if you watched them long enough, they would tell you exactly who they were, and what they wanted to do. They couldn’t hide who they were.

I bring this up, because in this last temptation of Christ , we will see that the devil is telling us who he is, and what he wants.

In telling Jesus: “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

We see who the devil is: he is a counterfeit god. He wants to usurp God in every way imaginable, and his most cunning trick of all is to get men to worship him. This is why he saves this temptation for last, and why he uses it against Christ. He wants Jesus to worship him.

He wants us to worship him.

He wants every man, woman and child on the planet to worship him.

 

You Shall Not Tempt — The Gospel of Matthew Sermon 18

LORD’S DAY WORSHIP – JANUARY 19, 2025

Preparation for Worship: Hebrews 3:12-13

Call to worship: Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Reading of the Law: Proverbs 10:8-11 (Solomon’s tidbits…).

AOPG: Psalm 85:1-3

Old Covenant Reading (read first): Deuteronomy 6:10-20

New Covenant Reading: Matthew 4:1-7

(This is the inspired and holy word of God.)

Sermon – You Shall Not Tempt 

Introduction – 

Last week we began working our way through the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. In that temptation, Jesus recapitulated Adam in the Garden of Eden.

(Recapitulation is to repeat something in concise form. For the purposes of Christ, He is repeating what Adam went through, without falling into sin. He is doing what Adam failed to do, but under far more severe circumstances).

For Adam had everything he needed to live in the Garden. There was only one thing withheld from Adam in the Garden. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam did not need the fruit of that tree to live. The tree was meant to be a blessing, once Adam proved his obedience.

Instead of living in obedience to YHWH, Adam stretched out his hand, and ate of the one thing God did not give him. He took what was forbidden to him.

At that moment of sin, Adam obtained for the first time in his short life, the knowledge of evil. His heart had become evil. He didn’t believe the LORD, and believed the serpent instead. In that moment, he fell from God’s grace.

Hopefully you see the contrast with Jesus, who is the Last Adam. He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, where He fasted for 40 days. Then at the end of that fast, the devil came and tempted Him in two areas: the first on his Hunger, the second on His Deity.

This wilderness setting also shows us that this is a recapitulation of Israel’s time in the wilderness, when they were without water, and they tested God, instead of trusting Him.

Jesus is not only walking the steps of Adam, but the steps of Israel. The reason for this is because Israel was considered to be God’s son. By this, we mean the entire nation was to be a son to God, and He was to be their Father. Therefore, the true Israel does what is necessary to please the Father. He goes to wilderness, goes through a fast which included water, and please the Father.

A Response from My Fellow Elder

I shared my last post, To Exclude Our Children from the Table, with the officers in the church, and Seth Crow, my fellow elder, sent the following reply. I think in really helps complete the larger picture of paedocommunion, and communion in general.

Here is what Seth wrote:

Yeah, I think that is a good point about hungry people wanting to eat. Like David with the show bread. Although, I think it is also important to maintain that this is our table and those outside have “no right to eat.” The washing is what prepares one for the feast.

Also, I know the “I got this” type person when it comes to self-examination. If the Lord’s Supper is a mutual eating – us of God and God of us – then the question would be whether we have any unconfessed sins that are weighing on our conscience. If we have confessed them, then we need to believe the proclamation of the gospel. If we are intentionally disregarding the Holy Spirit, then God is not pleased. It didn’t say that the people who died were the ones bringing dissension.

When the sin of Achan is committed, you don’t know who in the body will fall under discipline. I think the sin we most often try to gloss over is antipathy with those in the body. That really does need to be taken care of – not just between the person and God – but the two people before eating. Leave your gift at the altar, seek reconciliation, and then come back for the meal of peace and thanksgiving. Otherwise it isn’t the meal of peace and thanksgiving.

HOWEVER, God is not up there waiting to pounce. It would be easy for a conscience to always be worried about this sort of thing, so I like your general encouragement – just eat in faith. Especially in the Reformed world it is a necessary corrective. I just think the other needs to be brought up on regular intervals. We are also presenting our bodies to God. Is it a pleasing aroma? Only in Christ. But not if we are hiding sin and harboring dissension.

I thought your end point about excommunication was well said. If we are presenting the one man, the bride, to Christ in worship then it is wonderfully encouraging to remember that God loves kids, even the ones that have short attention spans and argue too much and are growing up. When it comes time for the meal they are hungry. We can be so much more fastidious than God. Not that He doesn’t care about discipline, He does, and our faithfulness to our children in bringing them up in the encouragement and admonition of the Lord is one of the things judged on Sunday. But, like you said, the message preached is “Let the little children come to me.”

Wise Men from the East: Gospel of Matthew Sermon 8

King Herod had a really big problem. Allow me to say that again. King Herod had a really big problem. If you will recall from last week’s sermon, I started with similar words: King Ahaz had a real problem.

The problem for King Ahaz was that he was surrounded by two other kings, who were seeking to destroy him and remove him from power.

King Herod’s problem is very similar, but much…, much… more serious.

What was King Herod’s problem? Foreigners. Stinking foreigners from the east. They had the audacity to come into town asking a simple question: “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?”

Baptism for the Dead

Here are some of the things discussed in this sermon:

Just to Be Clear

Since baptism is such a controversial topic…some thoughts on baptism.

First, Doug Wilson writes:

Of course this baptism does not automatically save the one baptized; there is no magical cleansing power in the water. We reject the Roman Catholic notion that saving grace goes in when the water goes on. We deny any ex opere operato efficacy to the waters of baptism. We also deny the modern Protestant reductionism that says that when the water goes on, somebody gets wet.

Let me put it this way: our baptism has meaning. It is used by God in our lives. It is not just an empty ritual that we do because Christ told us to do it. It has a real effect in our lives.

  • The sacraments do not depend on the godliness of the minister. This refutes the false notion of sacerdotalism, in which it was believed the priest had special powers. The effectual nature of baptism comes from the word of God and the Holy Spirit.
  • The sacraments confirm the Word, though they are ineffective without the Word, but the word cannot have its full effect without the sacraments. The refutes the notion that the sacraments are sacerdotal as well.
  • The sacraments are covenantal and relational.
  • The sacraments are performative acts. They do something. Just like a man saying “I do” in a wedding ceremony. It means something.
  • Baptism admits a person to the covenant community, regardless of faith. Just as a man who says “I do” is still a husband in a marriage, and may be a faithless husband, so too can one be baptized and be a faithless Christian.
  • Sacraments bring both blessings and curses, just as they did in the old covenant. Blessing come to those who come to the sacraments in true faith, and curses to those who don’t believe.
  • The non-elect do not receive what the sacraments signify for blessings.
  • We deny that the sacraments automatically save. We deny ex opera operato.
  • We deny Protestant reductionism… that it simply means someone gets wet. Far more than that.
  • Baptism accomplishes something. “I do.”

The first part of the sermon deals with what was probably meant by being baptized for the dead.