Guide for the Preparation for Worship 9 January 2022

January 2, 2022
Silas Schreyack
Worship Guide

9 January

Call to Worship: Psalm 100:1-5

Opening Hymn: Psalm 22C “Amid the Thronging Worshipers”

Confession of Sin

Almighty God, Who are rich in mercy to all those who call upon You; Hear us as we humbly come to You confessing our sins; And imploring Your mercy and forgiveness. We have broken Your holy laws by our deeds and by our words; And by the sinful affections of our hearts. We confess before You our disobedience and ingratitude, our pride and willfulness; And all our failures and shortcomings toward You and toward fellow men. Have mercy upon us, Most merciful Father; And of Your great goodness grant that we may hereafter serve and please You in newness of life; Through the merit and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Romans 5:1-2

Hymn of Preparation: Psalm 4 “Give Ear, God of My Righteousness”

Old Covenant Reading: Nehemiah 3:1-32

New Covenant Reading: Romans 12:3-8

Sermon: Building Faithfully

Hymn of Response: 181 “Now Thank We All Our God”

Confession of Faith: Apostles Creed (p. 851)

Doxology (Hymn 568)

Closing Hymn: 405 “I Love Thy Kingdom Lord”

Evening Service

Hymns: 236, Psalm 127A, Psalm 128A

OT: Haggai 1:1-11

NT: Matthew 6:25-34

Getting our Priorities Right

Suggested Preparation:

Monday (1/3) read and discuss Nehemiah 3:1-32

Nehemiah 3 (ESV)

¹ Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel. ² And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built. ³ The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. ⁴ And next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired. And next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel repaired. And next to them Zadok the son of Baana repaired. ⁵ And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord. ⁶ Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the Gate of Yeshanah. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. ⁷ And next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, the seat of the governor of the province Beyond the River. ⁸ Next to them Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, repaired, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. ⁹ Next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired. ¹⁰ Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph repaired opposite his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah repaired. ¹¹ Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens. ¹² Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters. ¹³ Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate. ¹⁴ Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. ¹⁵ And Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it and covered it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And he built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the king’s garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David. ¹⁶ After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the house of the mighty men. ¹⁷ After him the Levites repaired: Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired for his district. ¹⁸ After him their brothers repaired: Bavvai the son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of Keilah. ¹⁹ Next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the buttress. ²⁰ After him Baruch the son of Zabbai repaired another section from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. ²¹ After him Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib. ²² After him the priests, the men of the surrounding area, repaired. ²³ After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired opposite their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah repaired beside his own house. ²⁴ After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the buttress and to the corner.²⁵ Palal the son of Uzai repaired opposite the buttress and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh ²⁶ and the temple servants living on Ophel repaired to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower. ²⁷ After him the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel. ²⁸ Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house. ²⁹ After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired. ³⁰ After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah repaired opposite his chamber. ³¹ After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate, and to the upper chamber of the corner. ³² And between the upper chamber of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired.

Derek Thomas writes:

Let’s be hones: this chapter, with its list of builders, looks like something that belongs in an appendix at the back of a book! But this is the Bible, where things are done differently. We therefore need to pause before examining this chapter to ask: What possible interest, except to civil engineers with fixation for detail, does this chapter hold for us?

One answer to this question is that under the skilled motivation and organization of Nehemiah, ordinary folks with no special skills along with others with noted skills worked together in a way that still takes our breath away, achieving in a relatively short space of time what they had not been able to do for a decade. Over forty different groups are identified here, and together we find them working, relying on God’s promises, practicing neighbor-love, and exercising loyal faith in a project they knew to be at the heart of God’s design for the kingdom—and his church—at a particular moment in the history of redemption.

MEMORY WORK

Q. 10. How did God create man?
A. God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.

Tuesday (1/4) read and discuss Psalm 34

Psalm 34 (ESV)

Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away. ¹ I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. ² My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. ³ Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! ⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. ⁵ Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. ⁶ This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. ⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. ⁸ Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! ⁹ Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! ¹⁰ The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. ¹¹ Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. ¹² What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? ¹³ Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. ¹⁴ Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. ¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. ¹⁶ The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. ¹⁷ When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. ¹⁸ The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. ¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. ²⁰ He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. ²¹ Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. ²² The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

John Calvin writes:

David gives thanks to God for a signal deliverance, and takes occasion from it to celebrate his perpetual grace towards all the saints, and to exhort them both to trust in him, and to the study of godliness; affirming, that the only way to pass through life happily, is to walk holily and harmlessly in the world, in the service and fear of God. It is obvious from the title what particular instance of God’s favour he here celebrates. When he was driven to King Achish, as recorded in 1 Sam. 27:2, whom, with the exception of Saul, he accounted the deadliest of all his enemies, it was not probable that he would ever be able to make his escape from him. The only means, therefore, he had of saving his life was to feign himself mad by frothing at the mouth, looking fiercely, and disfiguring his countenance. Nor is this to be wondered at; for Achish, being disappointed of the confident hope of victory which he had, and attributing to David alone both the loss which he had sustained and the dishonour which he had received, burned with implacable hatred against him. In allowing him to escape, therefore, contrary to his own expectation, and the expectation of all other men, David acknowledges that there had been exhibited a memorable instance of God’s favour towards him, which may be serviceable for the general instruction of the whole Church. Instead of Achish, Abimelech is here employed; and it is probable that the latter name had been the common designation of the monarchs of the Philistines, as Pharaoh was the common name of the monarchs of Egypt, and Cæsar that of the Roman Emperors, which was borrowed from the name of Julius Cæsar, who had first seized the imperial power among the Romans. We know that many ages before David was born, the kings who reigned in Gerar in the time of Abraham were called Abimelech. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that this name should be handed down from age to age among their posterity, and become the common name of all the kings of Palestine.

MEMORY WORK

Q. 11. What are God’s works of providence?
A. God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

Wednesday (1/5) read and discuss Romans 12:3-8

Romans 12:3–8 (ESV)

³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ⁶ Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷ if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

R. C. Sproul writes:

If we want to keep things in perspective there are two things that we always have to remember. We have to remember first of all who God is, and second, we have to remember who we are. If we really know who God is, it should not be too difficult to figure out who we are. When we know who God is, then we know that we cannot make a move in this world of any significance, without the grace of God. Knowing that we are utterly dependant on grace for any achievement that we enjoy in this world, how can we be anything but humble. This verse prohibits pride and arrogance, a boastful exalted opinion of ourselves.

But the implication of the text goes deeper than that. What is also prohibited is too low an opinion of ourselves. If we only read the first part of the verse, we might think that we are worthless and insignificant. But our significance comes from God and whatever God assigns to us is valuable. You may not be as significant as you would like to be, but you are significant. A sober judgment means to make a sober evaluation of our gifts, our strengths, our weaknesses. To think of ourselves in terms of sober judgment is very difficult to do because we have a tendency to see ourselves through rose-coloured glasses for five minutes, then put down the rose-coloured glasses and put on jaundiced eyes!

MEMORY WORK

Q. 12. What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?
A. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.

Thursday (1/6) read and discuss Haggai 1:1-11

Haggai 1:1–11 (ESV)

¹ In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: ² “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” ³ Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, ⁴ “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? ⁵ Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. ⁶ You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. ⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. ⁸ Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. ⁹ You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹ And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”

John Calvin writes:

He declares what they said, This people say, The time is not yet come to build the house of Jehovah. He repeats here what the Jews were wont to allege in order to disguise their sloth, after having delayed a long time, and when they could not, except through consummate effrontery, adduce anything in their own defence. We however see, that they hesitated not to promise pardon to themselves. Thus also do men indulge themselves in their sins, as though they could make an agreement with God and pacify him with some frivolous things. We see that this was the case then. But we may also see here, as in a mirror, how great is the ingratitude of men. The kindness of God had been especially worthy of being remembered, the glory of which ought to have been borne in mind to the end of time: they had been restored from exile in a manner beyond what they had ever expected. What ought they to have done, but to have devoted themselves entirely to the service of their deliverer? But they built, no, not even a tent for God, and sacrificed in the open air; and thus they wilfully trifled with God. But at the same time they dwelt at ease in houses elegantly fitted up.

MEMORY WORK

Q. 13. Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?
A. Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.

Friday (1/7) read and discuss Matthew 6:25-34

Matthew 6:25–34 (ESV)

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

MEMORY WORK

Q. 14. What is sin?
A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

J. C. Ryle writes:

These verses are a striking example of the combined wisdom and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching. He knows the heart of a man. He knows that we are all ready to turn off warnings against worldliness, by the argument that we cannot help being anxious about the things of this life. “Have we not our families to provide for? Must not our bodily wants be supplied? How can we possibly get through life, if we think first of our souls?” The Lord Jesus foresaw such thoughts, and furnished an answer.

He forbids us to keep up an anxious spirit about the things of this world. Four times over He says, “take no thought.” About life,—about food,—about clothing,—about the morrow, “take no thought.” Be not over-careful. Be not over-anxious. Prudent provision for the future is right. Wearing, corroding, self-tormenting anxiety is wrong.

He reminds us of the providential care that God continually takes of everything that He has created. Has He given us “life?” Then He will surely not let us want anything necessary for its maintenance. Has He given us a “body?” Then He will surely not let us die for want of clothing. He that calls us into being, will doubtless find meat to feed us.

Saturday (1/8) read and discuss Nehemiah 3:1-32

Nehemiah 3 (ESV)

Derek Thomas writes:

Skilled folk require a skilled leader. What makes someone a good leader? In part, the answer lies in the possession of a certain amount of giftedness. But good leaders also know when and how to demonstrate humility, and it is a striking feature of this account that the first person mentioned in what was, after all, a building project was none other than the high priest himself, Eliashib (Neh. 3:1). He and his fellow priests rolled up their sleeves, grabbed building tools (shovels, trowels, etc.) and started work on the Sheep Gate…. This section serves to highlight the servant leadership exemplified under the direction of Nehemiah. The priests—especially the high priest—did not normally engage in this kind of menial work. Their giftedness and special calling lay elsewhere. But this was time to demonstrate unity and leadership by example. There is no hint that they were cajoled or bullied unto this task by Nehemiah. They engaged in the work voluntarily and cheerfully for the sake of the kingdom and for the glory of God.

MEMORY WORK

Q. 15. What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?
A. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created was their eating the forbidden fruit.