Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Greetings Redeemer family,

Each week as we gather for worship, something amazing happens. It’s much
more significant than good music, a well-delivered sermon, or even
reconnecting with friends in your community. The very presence of God dwells
among His people.

God made His presence known first as He walked with Adam in the cool of the
day in the Garden. After the Fall, the people were estranged from God – yet
He came to Israel in a fire by night and pillar by day that led the people
through the wilderness. Later, His presence was located in the Holy of
Holies in the temple, and only a specially purified priest could enter that
place once a year. Each of these was a shadow of what was to come – the true
dwelling of God among His people in the divine person of Jesus Christ.

*Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.*

Our Call to Worship this week comes from Psalm 24. This is a messianic
psalm, meaning it speaks prophetically of Jesus the Christ. For so long, I’d
read passages like this and thought it was my responsibility to try really
hard to have “clean hands and a pure heart”, so that I could be worthy to
“ascend the hill of the Lord.” I am so thankful that Christ is the great
King of glory, who cleanses us from every stain and grants us His perfect
righteousness so that we can delight in the presence of God.

*Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? *

*He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to
an idol or swear by what is false. *

*He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his
Savior. *

*Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the
King of glory may come in. *

*Who is this King of glory? *

*The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory. *

Our first hymn this week comes straight from this psalm, and makes more
explicit its connection with Christ’s work on our behalf. Here are just two
of the verses:

*A Helper just He comes to thee,
His chariot is humility,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His scepter, pity in distress.*

*Redeemer, come, with us abide;
Our hearts to Thee we open wide;
Let us Thy inner presence feel;
Thy grace and love in us reveal.*

Because this song will be unfamiliar to many of you, I looked around for a
recording that I could point you towards. What I found is this youtube video
of a Methodist church service. Hopefully it will help you to get the tune in
your mind so that you can join and sing enthusiastically with us on Sunday
morning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBP1_b127rs

Another song in the service this week is “Across the Lands.” This wonderful
text focuses on the glory of Christ by retelling the Gospel narrative. The
first verse focuses on His eternal glory as the creator of all things:

*You’re the Word of God the Father
From before the world began.
Ev’ry star and ev’ry planet
Has been fashioned by Your hand.
All creation holds together
By the power of Your voice.
Let the skies declare Your glory;
Let the land and seas rejoice!*

The second verse focuses on Christ’s work on Earth. The writers of the
Westminster Standards aptly called this the “humiliation” of Christ, as the
divine Son of God became a man. The incarnation is all about the God of the
Universe coming to dwell with us, amid our brokenness and suffering. Jesus
was called a man of sorrows. He was born in a cave, raised by obscure
teenagers. He knew hunger, homelessness, rejection, and betrayal. In all of
these things, he affirmed the harsh reality of life in a fallen world.

*Yet You left the gaze of angels,
Came to seek and save the lost,
And exchanged the joy of heaven
For the anguish of a cross.
With a prayer You fed the hungry;
With a word You calmed the sea;
Yet how silently You suffered
That the guilty may go free!*

Our first reading from the Westminster Shorter Catechism focuses on the
sufferings of Christ for our sake.

*Q. 27. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?
A. Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low
condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the
wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and
continuing under the power of death for a time.*

I love those words: “for a time.” Death was not the end for Christ. Pain
and suffering did not have the last word. Resurrection is reality.
Humiliation gave way to exaltation.

*Q. 28. Wherein consists Christ’s exaltation?
A. Christ’s exaltation consists in his rising again from the dead on the
third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God
the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.*

*With a shout You rose victorious,
Wresting vict’ry from the grave,
And ascended into heaven,
Leading captives in Your way.
Now You stand before the Father,
Interceding for Your own;
From each tribe and tongue and nation,
You are leading sinners home!*

Following the sermon, we will take a time for prayer, bringing our sins and
sorrows before the God who came near to us through Jesus Christ. Below is
the corporate prayer that we will say together. The words remind us that
Jesus is the King who came to rescue His people, and rightfully demands that
we serve Him as Lord of all.

*Almighty God, all of history looked with anticipation to the coming of
King Jesus. We confess that we have not bowed before him and acknowledged
his rule in our lives. We have conformed to the ways of the world and have
failed to give Christ the King the glory due his name. Forgive us, we pray!
By your Spirit, empower us to live as your faithful people, obeying the
commands of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who
rules over all things, and who will come again to make all things new. It is
in his name that we pray. Amen.*

After hearing an assurance of God’s pardoning grace, we close our service
with a song of joyful expectation. Jesus who died and rose again promised
that He would return in glory to finally establish His kingdom in its
fullness. It is my prayer that this song of celebration would ring in your
heart this week, and encourage you to find comfort and abiding joy in the
truth that Jesus entered our world as Emmanuel, God with us. We are not
forgotten. He died that we might die to self and sin. He lives that we might
live in eternal communion with our creator God. This is good news of great
joy for all people.

*There’s a shield in our hand*

*And a sword at our side*

*There’s a fire in our spirits*

*That cannot be denied*

*’Cause the Father has told us*

*For these You have died*

*For the nations who gather before You*

*And the ears of all men*

*Need to hear of the Lamb*

*Who was crucified*

*Who descended to hell*

*Yet was raised up to reign*

*At His Father’s side*

*And the angels will cry “hail the Lamb*

*Who was slain for the world rule in pow’r”*

*And the earth will reply “You shall reign*

*As the King of all kings*

*And the Lord of all lords”*

Replying to the song of the Angels,

Tim Sharpe