Making Much of Jesus Together [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 18:6–11]

What does treating Jesus as great look like in the church? Matthew 18:6–11 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that treating Jesus as great means refusing to encourage others’ sin and declaring war on our own. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.04.26 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 18:6–11

Read Matthew 18:6–11

Questions from the Scripture text: What might someone do to one of Jesus’s little ones (Matthew 18:6)? Little ones who do what? What would be better for the one who does this? Upon what does Matthew 18:7 pronounce woe? Because of what? What must come? Upon whom else does verse 7 pronounce woe? What does v8 imagine causing you to stumble? What should you do to that hand or foot? Why? What does Matthew 18:9 imagine causing you to stumble? What should you do to that eye? Why? To the consideration of whom does Matthew 18:10 return? What must they see to it that they do not do to them? Whom do they have where? And what do those angels always see? Who has come to save little ones (Matthew 18:11)? What sort, specifically?

What does treating Jesus as great look like in the church? Matthew 18:6–11 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that treating Jesus as great means refusing to encourage others’ sin and declaring war on our own.  

Help other little ones treat Jesus as great, Matthew 18:6-7. Rather than focus upon being greater than others, we ought to be focused upon helping one another treat Jesus as great. Prideful jockeying for status in the church is exactly the opposite, and is  way of causing one another to stumble. Jesus denounces this in shocking terms in Matthew 18:6 and pronounces a solemn woe upon it in Matthew 18:7. The world, by which verse 7 means that which is hostile to Christ, would like nothing more than to cause believers to stumble. Jesus pronounces  woe upon it. But, if we cause one another to stumble, then we become just like the world in that regard, and Jesus pronounces a woe upon us when that is the case.

Cut out anything that keeps you from treating Jesus as great, Matthew 18:8-9. Whatever diminishes Christ to us threatens our very soul. We know that it is not the hand or foot or eye that actually causes us to stumble. But there are certainly activities that we do with our hands, and places that we go with our feet, and things that we look upon with our eyes, that should be ruthlessly expunged from out lives. Choosing sin over Christ, and not caring to correct it, is a reliable indicator that we are not in Him at all.

Treat His salvation as great by greatly regarding those whom He is saving, Matthew 18:10-11. Just who do we think that we are, looking down upon Christ’s little ones. Angels do not look down on them! Indeed, each little one has mighty ministering spirits, sent out to serve them (Matthew 18:10, cf. Hebrews 1:14). They know true greatness; they are familiar with God’s own glory in the highest heaven; and, they still don’t despise these little ones. What’s more, infinitely more, is that the Son of Man has regarded them. This Glorious One has so regarded them that, when they were lost, He Himself came to save them. He humbled Himself to come save them! Just who do we think that we are to look down upon them? Let us regard them out of regard for Him, and in imitation of Him!

What are situations in which you are in danger of encouraging others’ sin? What are some circumstances, occasions, or people who influence you to treat sin as ok? How can you keep in mind that, in such situations, you are allied either with hell or with heaven?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for exposing the hatefulness of sin by the greatness of Christ. Grant that we would truly hate it, and truly love Him, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP24 “The Earth and the Riches” or TPH280 “Wondrous King, All Glorious”

Either Heaven or Hell [Children's Catechism 142–Theology Simply Explained]

Pastor walks his children through Children's Catechism question 142—especially explaining how there are only two things that can happen to you at the judgment: heaven or hell.

Q142. What will become of the wicked in the day of judgment? They shall be cast into hell.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

The Christian Church [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 28:16–20]

For what does the Lord institute baptism? Matthew 28:16–20 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord institutes baptism as a sign of Christ’s authority and power in His gathering church. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.04.25 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 28:16–20

Read Matthew 28:16–20

Questions from the Scripture text: Who go to Galilee (Matthew 28:16)? Which mountain do they go to? Whom do they see (Matthew 28:17)? What do they all do to Him? What do some of them do? Who came and spoke to them (Matthew 28:18)? How much authority has been given to Him? Which authority has been given to Him? What are they to make, therefore (Matthew 28:19)? By what two actions are disciples made (verse 19b, Matthew 28:20)? Into what single name are they baptized? What are they taught to do with Jesus’s commands? How many of them? Who is with them always, as they make disciples? Even until when?

For what does the Lord institute baptism? Matthew 28:16–20 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord institutes baptism as a sign of Christ’s authority and power in His gathering church.  

When Jesus’s disciples are brokenhearted at the Passover, the Lord Jesus instituted the Supper to direct their hearts and minds unto Him, to feed spiritually upon Him repeatedly for the rest of the age. 

And now, when some of them are still doubting after having seen Him multiple times (as we learn from John 21), the Lord Jesus institutes baptism to affirm to them His authority and glory (Matthew 28:18), obligate them to His service (Matthew 28:19), and assure them of His presence and power  unto the end of the age. These are exactly the things to which every single one whom Jesus adds to His church needs to commit. 

In the first century, baptisms were already used as initiations/identifications by set-apart groups. The same had been true of circumcision. Now, Jesus initiates baptism as the mark of the church of His disciples. And what does this mark teach us?

That all authority has been given to Him in heaven and earth. He is God from all eternity. But He became a Man, lived a perfectly obedient life, died an atoning death, and rose again from the dead. His saving work as the Christ is done. His time of humiliation is over. Even in His human nature, He is now exalted. Not only over the earth. But even over heaven! He is, in His divinity, “He who sits upon the throne.” But He is also, in His humanity, the risen and ascended and exalted “Lamb who sits upon the throne.” We must trust in Him and worship Him. Faith.

Christian baptism also teaches us that we are obligated to be disciples who make disciples. If our risen Lord is in authority generally, how much more over His disciples specifically! And what does He want them (and us) to do? Well, there is a great and primary duty: make disciples. But, there is also something else that He wants disciples to do “observe all thing that Jesus has commanded.” If the church does not teach the whole counsel of God, it is guilty of the lives of its members (Acts 20:26–27). Not all may be teachers, but all must learn. We have a duty to study in order to believe all of Jesus’s doctrine and obey all of Jesus’s commands. Obedience.

And the last big thing that Christian baptism teaches is that this faith and obedience can come only through the grace of ongoing, continual delight in and dependence upon Jesus’s fellowship. “and lo, I am with you always.”

The Lord Jesus had said that He Himself would build His church and that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it (cf. Matthew 16:18). But now the Lord Jesus is leaving, and this group before Him is not very promising. 

There are only eleven of them because one who was numbered among the disciples turned out to be the betrayer. That might dampen your confidence about the new disciples in Matthew 28:19—especially when you consider that even from among the eleven that remain, there are still some who are doubting.

But it is exactly into our consideration of these disciples, and the disciples that they are to be making, that Jesus announces that it is about His authority and power, not ours, and His faithfulness, not ours.

Jesus announces that He has authority in heaven and on earth, and a church that is in heaven and on earth. The resurrected Man before them has authority even in Heaven to pour out the Holy Spirit, for He is a divine Person. They have known since Matthew 3:11 that He would baptize with the Holy Spirit. 

Baptisms were already used as initiations into groups, and now Jesus notifies them that as He is the Second Person of the Trinity, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the church of the Triune God. He commands that the one Name (singular—one God) into which they be baptized be Triune (three Persons, whose one name is “Father and Son and Holy Spirit”). And so, our baptisms remind us that Jesus has this authority both with reference to His eternal godhood, and with reference to His finished and perfect work as the Redeemer.

When He marks of His holy assembly with this particular sign in this particular Name, we can see that He is saying: “it depends upon My power.” And when He follows by saying, “and lo, I am with you always,” we can hear that it depends upon His faithfulness. That is wonderful news for those whose weakness and unfaithfulness would lead to ultimate failure!

Jesus answers our weakness by His strength in His gospel signs and words.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that we need not do anything. It rather means the exact opposite: that we must do everything. He has marked us as His own, and as those to whom He has committed His power. We ought to obey all His commands merely because we are His creatures, and then again because He has bought us by His blood, and now again because He has marked us off as holy and set apart to Him! Therefore, disciples must be taught to “observe all things I have commanded you.”

Thus, we realize that baptism is not a statement by the new disciple, but by the Lord of the disciples, through those whom He has commanded to mark and teach them. It is a mark that is displayed anew to the holy assembly, whenever it is being applied to a new addition to that assembly. In it, our Lord presents Himself and His Spirit for the worship of His people!

Who is “saying something” in baptism? What is He saying? How are you responding?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving us baptism as a sign of Your authority and power to make us into disciples, and to make those whom we teach and baptize into disciples. Forgive us for whenever we are self-reliant in evangelistic work, or when we are neglectful of evangelistic work. Grant that we would keep teaching, keep baptizing, and keep trusting that You will be with us to use these for making disciples of Christ, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP111A “O Praise the Lord” or TPH424 “All Authority and Power”

Sign of the Covenant [Family Worship lesson in Genesis 17:9–14]

What is circumcision? Genesis 17:9–14 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that circumcision is a sign that points us away from ourselves and unto the grace of God.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.04.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 17:9-14

Read Genesis 17:9-14

Questions from the Scripture text: Who speaks to whom in Genesis 17:9? What does God tell Abraham to keep? Whom else does God say must keep His covenant? What obligation does God call “My covenant” in Genesis 17:10? Who must be circumcised? Who else gets included in the command in Genesis 17:11? When must a child be circumcised (Genesis 17:12)? What two groups are specified in verse 12, then reaffirmed in Genesis 17:13, as being required to have the sign applied to them? How long does the covenant with Abraham last? What if someone does not receive the sign—what shall happen to him (Genesis 17:14)? Why?

What is circumcision? Genesis 17:9–14 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that circumcision is a sign that points us away from ourselves and unto the grace of God.

God has already covenanted Himself to be and do many wonderful things for Abraham. So, when God says “this is My covenant” and gives Abraham a responsibility, we must not think that the emphasis is upon what Abraham does.

In fact, Genesis 17:11 further explains Genesis 17:10 by saying, “it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.” Of course the sign is an obligation—so important that God threatens to cut off whomever rejects it (cf. Genesis 17:14)! But it is an obligation to be reminded that this covenant is from the grace of God and depends upon the grace of God.

Dependence upon God’s grace is inherent to the sign itself—coming as it does only upon males, and specifically in their flesh in a way that reminds them of how their children also come from their flesh. A man’s children are already federally guilty and genuinely fallen in him. They already have a father on earth. They need a Father in Heaven through Christ! They need a new representative to deal with the guilt of sin and a new nature to deal with the power of sin. Notice that God keeps saying MY covenant, MY covenant, MY covenant. The sign demonstrates this in at least three ways:

First, there is the substance represented by the sign. The sign is of a promise that belongs to Him. The sign is of a power that comes from Him. 

Second, there is the type of action assigned in the sign. The sign itself is presented as passive—something that is done to the males in Genesis 17:10, Genesis 17:11, Genesis 17:12, Genesis 17:13, Genesis 17:14… not something that they themselves do. It is an obligation, but it is one that is ultimately kept on their behalf by those already in the covenant. 

Third, there is the ordinary timing of the sign. Yes, there are some who come into the covenant less naturally—purchased with money, joining the household of God from the outside. But for those whom the Lord brings into the covenant from the start, the sign is applied to them before they could do or decide anything for themselves.

The sign is GOD’s sign. But the fact that it points us away from ourselves and unto Him is exactly why it’s also so vital. To reject the sign would be to reject the thing signified—essentially to miss that God is declaring to us that salvation depends upon (and is most certainly secured by) the Lord!

It might slip our notice, as we look at the rest of this passage, that Abraham spends the entire passage on his face. We would do well to come with the same posture of heart toward God, as He says MY covenant, MY covenant, MY covenant.

God is the One who initiates this covenant. Abraham does not have a choice in the matter. He did not make a decision or a commitment to bring himself into this binding relationship. Of course, he must decide and commit, but these were not optional for him.

God is the One who makes all of the promises. Promise to forgive. Promise to make holy. Promise to defeat death. Promise to give land. Promise of everlasting relationship. Yes, there are demands of Abraham, explicit and implicit. Faith. Obedience. Service. Worship. Even the application of the sign itself—which implies his obligation to yield to all of these things. But this is God’s covenant, and it has at its core God’s promises.

God is the One who will sustain both sides of the covenant. We saw this with the smoking pot and flaming torch in chapter 15. We heard it earlier in this chapter with the glorious statement that God Almighty would exercise that power in sustaining Abraham’s walk. In between, in chapter 16, all we had was Abraham’s failure.

Ultimately, this is a picture of Christ Himself. It is in Christ that God keeps all of these promises in your life and mine! The sign has changed but the substance is the same.

What aspects of circumcision are the same in baptism, as this covenant continues? When were you baptized? How often do you reflect upon it and look to Christ?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for giving us a covenant sign that points us to Your power and promise and is applied to us by others, rather than something that we ourselves do. Forgive us for treating the sign as something that we do, and for treating our Christianity as something that depends upon us. Grant that, by Your sure grace, we would walk zealously in Christ Jesus, in Whose Name we ask it, AMEN!

 Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH234 “The God of Abraham Praise”

An Almighty Covenant to Sanctify [Family Worship lesson in Genesis 17:1–8]

What do believers who have been stumbling along in their own strength need? Genesis 17:1–8 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that believers need to be turned away from themselves to the Lord Who covenants them to Himself—and Himself to them.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.04.23 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 17:1-8

Read Genesis 17:1-8

Questions from the Scripture text: How old was Abram in Genesis 17:1? How much time has passed since chapter 16? Who appears to Abram? What does He call Himself? What does He command Abram to do? What will YHWH make between Himself and Abram (Genesis 17:2)? What will He do? How does Abram respond in Genesis 17:3? How does God respond to that? What does God proceed to say about Himself in Genesis 17:4? What outcome will this have for Abram? What else is God changing for Abram in Genesis 17:5? What are some of the details in Genesis 17:6 about what God will do for Abram? With whom is this covenant established (Genesis 17:7)? How is this covenant relationship described? What else does God give them in this covenant (Genesis 17:8)?

What do believers who have been stumbling along in their own strength need? Genesis 17:1–8 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that believers need to be turned away from themselves to the Lord Who covenants them to Himself—and Himself to them.

It has now been another 14 years that the Lord has not spoken to Abram—14 years of Abram living with the consequences of his sin. Yahweh shows up and announces, “I am God Almighty!”

Abram has every reason to expect to be destroyed, but instead this announcement of God’s power is the prelude to sustaining him. Not “be banished from before Me and suffer” but “walk before Me and be blameless.”

What follows is statement after statement of God’s commitment of Himself to Abram—and God also committing Abram to Himself. 

This mutual commitment is called a “covenant,” and establishes that wonderful relationship: He will be “God to you and your descendants after you.”

This is so powerful that it even changes Abram’s identity—changes his name: Abraham.

And the Holy Spirit comes to us in the New Testament and tells us that when we trust in Christ as Abraham did, then we too are objects of this almighty power, objects of this unswerving commitment, this identity-changing relationship with the Lord.

What do believers who have been stumbling along in their own strength need? This is the question we see presented in Abram, who has been dealing with the consequences of the Hagar choice for thirteen years, as this passage opens.

Such believers need the power of God Almighty at work in them. We might think that “I am God Almighty” is the prelude to destroying a sinner, since that is what Abram is. But it is instead the prelude to sustaining a saint, since that is also what Abram is: “I am God Almighty, [so] walk before Me and be blameless”!

Such believers need the presence of God Almighty pressed into them. The knowledge that we are before His face is a help against all fear of men, and even against service of self.

Such believers need the purity of God’s standard applied to them. Be blameless. Not the run-of-the-mill blamelessness in the eyes of men, either. Blameless in the eyes of God! Only one who has been shown God’s grace in Christ can have this as a standard, because only Christ’s sacrifice and righteousness can be the sure fulfillment of such a standard on our behalf, and only Christ’s life in us can be a sure hope that we will one day be conformed to such a standard.

Such believers need the promise of God Almighty covenanted to them. We who are so deserving of wrath need God’s glorious swearing of Himself to us as an encouragement to our faith (cf. Hebrews 6:13-20). It was not for His sake that God entered into such a commitment, but for ours.

Such believers need the propriety (ownership) of God pronounced upon them. One way that God reaffirms that He has special ownership of Abram is by changing his name. “You are Mine, so you will be called what I call you.” And so He calls us saint, brother, believer, sons of God, etc. in the Scripture.

Such believers need the prosperity (fruitfulness) of God’s commitment held out unto them. What sad consequences we endure daily from our fall in Adam. But God’s salvation in Christ is even more effective. Genesis 17:6, Genesis 17:8 present the opposite of Abraham’s current experience. And as God tells us throughout Scripture of the effects of His gospel, we expect this opposite-fruit to continue.

Such believers need the persistence of God’s covenant affirmed to them. Persistence across generations: just as the fall comes upon our children simply because they are ours, all of these covenant benefits are held out to them by God, also because they are ours. And persistence across time. This is still the same covenant that we are in when we believe in Jesus. It is an everlasting covenant that belongs to all who have the same faith in Christ as Abraham (cf. Romans 4:11-18, Galatians 3:7, Galatians 3:29).

What are some things God has committed Himself to do by His power for you? What are some things that He has brought you into a commitment to do toward Him?

Sample prayer:  Lord, thank You for covenanting us to Yourself and Yourself to us. Forgive us for trying to walk, or to be blameless, through our own strength. Be God to us, and to our children, forever, we ask through Christ, AMEN!

 Suggested Songs: ARP87 “The Lord’s Foundation” or TPH461 “Blessed Are the Sons of God”

A Song to Fill Us with Last-Day Joy—Today! [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 98]

Who is to praise YHWH, in what manner, in the last day? Psalm 98 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these nine verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that in Day of Judgment, believers from all nations will sing and shout joyfully over the Lord, together with a liberated creation. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)