Greetings Redeemer family,

This past Thursday we celebrated Earth Day. I commemorated the day by watching a little of the BBC mini-series Planet Earth. It’s an amazing nature documentary, with breathtaking scenes of exotic animals in the remotest parts of the world. Every time I’ve watched these episodes, I’m can’t help but ask, “How did they get that shot?” Many of these crews were implanted for weeks and months to get one sequence with a rare species. I also think, had it not been for this documentary, I’d have no idea that these astounding scenes were happening every day on the other side of the globe.

Our call to worship this week has a similar cinematic effect. Psalm 8 is a meditation on the majesty of God and the love He shows towards man. The psalm begins the heights of the glory of the eternal God. Then, like a movie camera, the focus goes down and zooms in – past stars and planets, moons and clouds, down to one small person. The contrast is striking, and the Psalmist’s question is particularly apt: “what is man that you (God) are mindful of him?” But then the camera zooms out again, and we see how God has chosen to love and esteem this lowly creation, by giving man dominion over all other creatures. Again the reader is given sweeping images, this time of herds of animals, flocks of birds, and schools of fish. The passage ends like it began, with the immense glory of God on full display.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise
because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

We respond to this reading from Scripture by singing of the love God has shown to His people. He has chosen us before the foundation of the world. He has called us out of sin and darkness to dwell in His glorious kindom of light and life.

Father, long before creation
Thou hadst chosen us in love;
And that love so deep, so moving,
Draws us close to Christ above.
Still it keeps us, still it keeps us
Firmly fixed on Christ above.

God’s compassion is my story,
Is my boasting all the day;
Mercy free and never failing
Moves my will, directs my way.
God so loved us, God so loved us,
That his only son he gave.

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and power.

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.

These truths that we confess in these songs leave us with an unescapable question. If God loves and calls people to Himself, and desires to forgive sinners – how do we come? How do we respond? How can we be saved? We find help in this reading from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which we will confess together during the service.

Q. 85. What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.

Q. 86. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace,whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.

Q. 87. What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.

We will practice repentance together, using the following corporate prayer of confession.

Merciful Lord, we confess that with us there is an abundance of sin, but in you there is the fullness of righteousness and abundance of mercy. We are spiritually poor, but you are rich and in Jesus Christ came to be merciful to the poor. Strengthen our faith and trust in you. We are empty vessels that need to be filled; fill us. We are weak in faith; strengthen us. We are cold in love; warm us, and make our hearts fervent for you that our love may go out to one another and to our neighbors. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lord is merciful, and is abundant in righteousness and grace. Because of Jesus, He is faithful to forgive us when we confess our sins. In all the religions of the world and promises of glossy billboard commercials, there is nothing that compares with this Good News. Consider these words from Micah 7:18-19:

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

We respond together to the amazing mercy of God by singing of His majesty and glory.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Mike will be teaching this week from John 13:18-20, as Jesus makes an ominious statement about a coming betrayal. “He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.” Jesus says this in the presence of His disciples, men that have given up their livlihood to follow Him. They have traveled together for three years, and rarely been apart. If followers that were this devoted could still fall away, how can any of us have an assurance of our salvation? Jesus gives this simple word of guidance: “I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

Our service this week ends with a song of celebration, committing ourselves to live as God’s redeemed people in the world. This means that everything we do is worship – a grateful response to the mercy that God has shown. It is a life lived in awe of the majesty of the Lord. It is a commitment to love God and love others with every action of every day. To be clear, this is not our assurance of salvation – it is our response to it. Our assurnace is found in the work of Christ alone. He who washed us with His blood has secured our way to God, so we can freely love, sing, and wonder in the mercy God has lavished on us.

Let us love and sing and wonder
Let us praise the Savior’s name
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame
He has washed us with His blood
He has brought us nigh to God

Let us wonder grace and justice
Join and point to mercy’s store
When through grace in Christ our trust is
Justice smiles and asks no more
He Who washed us with His blood
Has secured our way to God

Rejoicing in the mercy of God,
Tim Sharpe
Worship Director