Feast and Follow with Knollwood

Prayer as Worship

Thus far in our series, there has been a lot of talk about Who worship is for (God), and how that is directed (God's Word). We've seen the Word visualized in the sacraments, and declared in the sermon. In other words, we've covered in depth the things that are declared to you. We have to have these as our starting points. We have to know what has been said to us before we can respond. And that is what we are going to talk about today, how do we as a congregation, as worshipers, properly respond to God's Word and work. We will be looking at this in three parts by covering the last three elements of our worship: praying, singing, and giving. 

Now, as before, each of these elements themselves are ordered by the Word of God and find their content in the word of God. So how does that work for praying? Does that mean that we are only allowed to follow scripted, word for word prayers from the Bible? While that in itself would be a lot to pray through, that isn't what we are told to do, nor is what we see in the Bible itself. Scriptural figures didn't only pray Psalms, but they lifted up their requests to God. As we see in our text, we are to pray about everything. Yet the Scriptures can guide what those prayers can look like, and in those times where we just don't know what to pray, we have a deep well to draw from in the Bible. 

Church History 101: Introduction

Welcome back to our Sunday Night Lecture series! This semester we will be looking at Church History! In this episode we look at how God used three different cultures to build the world of the New Testament! 

Preaching As Worship

Is there ever a time on Sunday where it feels like the worship stops? Many would assume that occurs right about now. This was an assumption that was hammered out of us at seminary. Someone from a church would talk about how we would "have a time of worship AND THEN we will hear the sermon." Did you catch what is being assumed there? Worship is all about the singing, because that is when we are *feeling* it. People's hands don't go up during the sermon. If they did, I would think you are asking a question. It looks instead like maybe this is the *pastor's* turn to worship, and the people will join back in at the closing song, but that isn't what the sermon is meant to be. It isn't *just* me worshiping up here. You are worshiping here, in this moment, as well. 

Physical Worship: Water and Wine

In our worship services, you may notice that there isn't much to look at. There are no elaborate stain-glass pictures of Jesus. There isn't much choreography to my movements. There aren't a lot of mysterious symbols and rites. But should there be? After all, is that not what many people are looking for these days? A return to older, embodied, dare I say, *enchanted* ways of doing things? 

God knows this, for He knows our frame, which is why He has given us those things in two pictures of the Word that are right in front of you: The Lord's Supper and Baptism. Wonderfully, these aren't symbols that you just sit there and watch. You didn't not come here to watch *me* worship with my body while you spectate. These are acts of worship that you *equally* participate in with your senses. These acts of worship are loaded with meaning that fully informed by the gospel. Yet these  elements contain mystery to them, too. Not because they are unexplained. But because it takes a lifetime to fully comprehend what these elements do in your life. 

The mystery that is there is that these elements aren't just show pieces to point you back to the Bible. These also, through the Word preached and by faith believed, are a means of grace for your soul. Your soul is grown by baptism and the Lord's Supper when they are taken alongside the preached word faithfully believed. 

First Things: What is Right Worship?

Before I was a pastor, I was a photographer. I remember one of my first weddings I did, I was assisting a friend. The wedding was to take place on this beautiful outdoor venue looking out over a mountainside. Lovely location in the middle of a state park. There was one issue, however. The GPS didn't know where it was. We had no clue what it looked like. The wedding was starting in 45 minutes. And we were lost. Thanks to my friends confident driving (and his beautiful Chevy Camaro's roaring engine), we finally came across it (in time!). But we would have much rather had a guide. 

While missing a wedding would have had consequences for us, there are far higher stakes when it comes to worship. Displeasing a bride on her wedding day is a sad thing, but it is a sadder thing, and actually much scarier thing to displease God. 

As you know we are in the midst of a series on worship. We saw that worship simply defined is bowing down in awe and joy before God. Having felt that awe and joy, what should we do with it when we are all gathered together? That was the question we left off with last time. 

Seeker-Sensitive Worship

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. 

The One Constant

The decade thus far hasn't been known for its predictability. With everything changing around us every day is there something that stays the same? 

On this episode of Feast and Follow, we explore exactly what this one constant is out of Lamentations 3. 

Jesus: The Savior

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: The Priest

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.

Jesus: The King

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.

 

Our main point is Jesus as King Rules All of Life with Care