Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! God of God, Light of Light, Father of all, we worship You now in the beauty of holiness. We clothe ourselves in the perfect name of Jesus Christ our Lord, and so it is that we can approach You. In Him, we …
Worship As Service
What have we gathered here to do? We are here to await God’s pleasure. This is what the word worship means—it means to wait upon God in order to offer the service He requires of us. In both Hebrew and Greek, the word is captured by Isaiah’s great response to his vision in the heavenlies, …
The Ultimate Toast
This Table is what it is, and it does what it does. That is to say, it is the Table of the covenant, and it winnows out covenant keepers from covenant breakers. Covenant keepers extend no hand to receive the elements but the hand of faith, and open no mouth to receive the bread and …
But For the Grace of God
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! God of ultimate wisdom, God of infinite, cascading wisdom, we worship You through the incarnation of that wisdom, our Lord Jesus. We give glory to You, for the earth is full of Your glory. We render thanks to You, because the earth …
Old Wineskins
As long as we live in this fallen world, we will be buffeted with at least two conflicting standards. The first is obviously the standard by which we are named—the wisdom of Christ, the aroma of the gospel, the scandal of the cross. But in the history of the Church, the competing standard that has …
Two Kinds of Losers
One of Christ’s most famous parables is that of the prodigal son. It could also be called the parable of the self-righteous brother, or the parable of the longing father. What it teaches us about God the Father is quite remarkable, and to a certain kind of religious mind and heart, also quite scandalous. Once …
Rejoicing in It All
Our Father and God, we rejoice in Your holy day, and we thank You for it. We rejoice in the food that is set before us, and we thank You for it. We rejoice in the fellowship that You have given to us in one another, and we thank You for it. We rejoice in …
Foundations of Marriage XI
Introduction: So what are the duties of husbands? We have discussed what their orientation and demeanor toward their wives should be (masculinity), but this is all still theoretical unless we make a point of applying ourselves in close imitation of the Incarnation. What are the duties of husbands? We may divide them into two broad …
God of Battles
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Great God of heaven, You are the Lord of battles. You rise up and Your enemies scatter. You speak the word, and Your foes are confounded. You are the ultimate Warrior, and You have given us the privilege of following You into …
Throwing Paper From the Walls
As you all know, this last week saw a renewed attack on us, this time from zoning scribes and Pharisees, professing Christians whose hypocrisy is so evident that even they appear to be dimly aware of it. But this exhortation is not directed at them—rather it is given to encourage you. And here is the …