24 April 2022
Call to Worship: Psalm 98:1-3
Opening Hymn: 234 “The God of Abraham Praise”
Confession of Sin
Most holy and merciful Father; We acknowledge and confess before You; Our sinful nature prone to evil and slothful in good; And all our shortcomings and offenses. You alone know how often we have sinned; In wandering from Your ways; In wasting Your gifts; In forgetting Your love. But You, O Lord, have pity upon us; Who are ashamed and sorry for all wherein we have displeased You. Teach us to hate our errors; Cleanse us from our secret faults; And forgive our sins for the sake of Your dear Son. And O most holy and loving Father; Help us we beseech You; To live in Your light and walk in Your ways; According to the commandments of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: John 3:16-17
Psalm of Preparation: Psalm 72B “Hail to the LORD’s Anointed”
Old Covenant Reading: Proverbs 30:5-9
New Covenant Reading: James 1:9-12
Sermon: Poverty, Riches, and the Crown of Life
Hymn of Response: 512 “Jesus Lives, and So Shall I”
Confession of Faith: Q/A 1 Heidelberg Catechism (p. 872)
Doxology (Hymn 568)
Closing Hymn: 376 “The Head That Once Was Crowned with Thorns”
Evening Service
Hymns: 239, 284, 283
OT: Numbers 16:1-5
NT: 2 Timothy 2:14-19
Sermon: Rightly Handling the Word of Truth
Suggested Preparation
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Monday (4/18) read and discuss James 1:9-12
James 1:9–12 (ESV)
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. 12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Craig Blomberg and Mariam Kamell write:
James clearly labels the poor person in v. 9 as a “brother” or fellow “believer.” But what about the “rich” person in vv. 10–11? In favor of seeing at least a few in James’s community as the rich depicted here is the overall parallelism between the two parts of the paragraph and especially the fact that “let him or her boast” (καυχάσθω) has to carry over from v. 9 to v. 10. It would be natural, then, to supply “brother” (ἀδελφός) as well. This is the view that has dominated throughout most of church history. James 4:13–17 indicates that the community does have some at least moderately well-to-do people within it who can travel and boast of their hopes to make more money (on their Christian identity, see below, 206–7). On this view, the humility in which the rich person should boast is not eschatological judgment but their present spiritual state as believers. One should not take pride in possessions but in Christ alone.
On this interpretation, James is enjoining both the rich and the poor to evaluate themselves by spiritual rather than material standards.
MEMORY WORK
Q. 100. What doth the preface of the Lord’s prayer teach us?
A. The preface of the Lord’s prayer, which is, Our Father which art in heaven, teacheth us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father able and ready to help us; and that we should pray with and for others.
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Tuesday (4/19) read and discuss Mark 16:1-8
Mark 16:1–8 (ESV)
1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Commenting on verse 6, R. C. Sproul writes:
The angel told the women not to be afraid. Then came the most unexpected yet most fantastic announcement in the history of the world: “He is risen!” The angel was very clear that he was speaking of Jesus, for he identified Him as “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.” He was equally clear that the women were in the place where Jesus’ body was placed, for he encouraged them to look at the very shelf where His body had lain.
I do have one quibble with the way many of our Bibles translate the angel’s announcement, but I think it is an important quibble. In the original language, the text does not say, “He is risen!” In the Greek, the verb is in the passive form, and the text actually says, “He has been raised!” Saying “He is risen” suggested that Jesus came back to life on His own, but the biblical testimony is not that Jesus was able supernaturally to defeat the jaws of death and come out of the tomb; rather, it was that God raised Him from the dead. Just as God rolled away the stone, He raised Jesus from death. The resurrection is God’s work through and through.
MEMORY WORK
Q. 101. What do we pray for in the first petition?
A. In the first petition, which is, Hallowed be thy name, we pray that God would enable us and others to glorify him in all that whereby he maketh himself known; and that he would dispose all things to his own glory.
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Wednesday (4/20) read and discuss Proverbs 30:5-9
Proverbs 30:5–9 (ESV)
5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. 7 Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: 8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, 9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
“Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me.” These words point us to the Lord’s prayer were Christ taught us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). This does not necessarily mean that no Christian will ever suffer poverty. Nor does it necessarily mean that no Christian will ever experience prosperity and riches. But it does show us the heart with which we are to approach God. We are to depend on him for all things. Whether we are in a time of poverty or a time or riches, all things come from him.
MEMORY WORK
Q. 102. What do we pray for in the second petition?
A. In the second petition, which is, Thy kingdom come, we pray that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.
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Thursday (4/21) read and discuss Numbers 16:1-5
Numbers 16:1–5 (ESV)
1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 2 And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. 3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” 4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, 5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him.
John Calvin writes:
And he spake unto Korah. Moses did not inconsiderately choose this mode of divination, but by the dictation of the Spirit maintained the priesthood of his brother by this token and testimony; for we know how, in matters of doubt and obscurity, he was accustomed to inquire what God’s pleasure was. He did not, therefore, at this time make this proposal hastily and at random, but by the inspiration of the Spirit had recourse to the sure judgment of God. The effect of his prayer was that God suggested an easy and expeditious mode of conquest.
He bids them take their censers, that by their incense-offering it might be manifested whether their oblation was acceptable to God. By deferring it to the morrow he consulted their own safety, if any of them might still be not incurable; for he saw that they were carried away headlong by blind fury, and that they could not be recalled to their senses in a moment. He, therefore, grants them some space of time for repentance, that they might be led to consideration during the night; or perhaps his object was that, the tumult being appeased, he might render them all attentive to the decision of God.
MEMORY WORK
Q. 103. What do we pray for in the third petition?
A. In the third petition, which is, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven, we pray that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey and submit to his will in all things, as the angels do in heaven.
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Friday (4/22) read and discuss 2 Timothy 2:14-19
2 Timothy 2:14–19 (ESV)
14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
Donal Guthrie writes:
It is one thing solemnly to charge others and quite another to takes oneself in hand. The danger of self-neglect was certainly not confined to Timothy, for its symptoms are universal. Yet the value of self-discipline cannot be too highly estimated, for the most effective refutation of error is for the teacher to be the living embodiment of the truth, with God’s approval upon him. But this is not easy. The word lying behind do your best to present yourselves… contains the notion of persistent ‘zeal’. The AV ‘study’ misses this sense of persistence. The aim is to present yourself to God as one approved… as contrasting with the canvassing of men’s approval so evident among false teachers. It is better to leave all wordy strifes alone and to seek the approval of God, whose estimate is always infallible.
MEMORY WORK
Q. 104. What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
A. In the fourth petition, which is, Give us this day our daily bread, we pray that of God’s free gift we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy his blessing with them.
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Saturday (4/23) read and discuss James 1:9-12
James 1:9–12 (ESV)
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. 12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
John Calvin writes:
Let the brother of low degree. As Paul, exhorting servants submissively to bear their lot, sets before them this consolation, that they were the free-men of God, having been set free by his grace from the most miserable bondage of Satan, and reminds them, though free, yet to remember that they were the servants of God; so here James in the same manner bids the lowly to glory in this,—that they had been adopted by the Lord as his children; and the rich, because they had been brought down into the same condition, the world’s vanity having been made evident to them. Thus the first he would have to be content with their humble and low state; and he forbids the rich to be proud.
Since it is incomparably the greatest dignity to be introduced into the company of angels, nay, to be made the associates of Christ, he who estimates this favour of God aright, will regard all other things as worthless. Then neither poverty, nor contempt, nor nakedness, nor famine, nor thirst, will make his mind so anxious, but that he will sustain himself with this consolation, “Since the Lord has conferred on me the principal thing, it behoves me patiently to bear the loss of other things, which are inferior.”
Behold, how a lowly brother ought to glory in his elevation or exaltation; for if he be accepted of God, he has sufficient consolation in his adoption alone, so as not to grieve unduly for a less prosperous state of life.
MEMORY WORK
Q. 105. What do we pray for in the fifth petition?
A. In the fifth petition, which is, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, we pray that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.