The church's story is the story of her Lord's faithfulness
Monday, January 20, 2025
A History of Faithfulness [2025.01.19 Evening Sermon in Numbers 33:1–49]
The church's story is the story of her Lord's faithfulness
Our Curse-Conqueror [2025.01.19 Morning Sermon in Matthew 14:13–21]
Jesus is the Lord over creation, Who conquers the curse and gives Himself to His covenant people
Sacraments as Corporate Worship [2025.01.19 Sabbath School Lesson in WCF 21.5—Hopewell 101]
We continued studying through the Scriptural doctrine that our congregation confesses. We continued Westminster Confession chapter 21, Article 5 this week with what Scripture says about the sacraments as covenantal signs and seals in the public worship (corporate worship) of Christ’s visible church.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)
From Scoffer to Saint by the Work of the Word [2024.01.15 Midweek Sermon in Proverbs 9]
The wisdom that created all things is the wisdom that redeems
Discerning Whom to Baptize [Children's Catechism 129—Theology Simply Explained]
Pastor walks his children through Children's Catechism question 129—especially explaining how the visible church must baptize whomever the Lord adds to her.
Q129. Who are to be baptized? Believers and their children.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)
Q129. Who are to be baptized? Believers and their children.
Wisdom's Pleasure and Treasure [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 10:1–5]
What should an image-bearer desire? Proverbs 10:1–5 looks forward to the sermon in this week’s midweek meeting. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that an image-bearer should desire whatever God desires. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)
2025.01.20 Hopewell @Home ▫ Proverbs 10:1–5
Read Proverbs 10:1–5
Questions from the Scripture text: How does Proverbs 10:1a introduce this part of the book? Whom is he especially addressing (verse 1b–c)? How does he incentivize him to wisdom? What profits, how much (Proverbs 10:2a)? What does righteousness do for you (verse 2b)? What won’t YHWH allow (Proverbs 10:3a)? What else (verse 3b)? How, instrumentally, does the Lord provide wealth (Proverbs 10:4)? How does Proverbs 10:5 tie Proverbs 10:4 to Proverbs 10:1?
What should an image-bearer desire? Proverbs 10:1–5 looks forward to the sermon in this week’s midweek meeting. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that an image-bearer should desire whatever God desires.
Proverbs 10:1 gives a new introduction, and indeed we are coming into a new phase of the book. These five verses are a unit, bookended by the blessing of a wise son contrasted with the curse of a foolish one.
What a wise son desires. There is such a thing as a parent that guilts his child, insinuating that his own feelings should be the child’s primary motivation. This is wicked, putting the parent in a place that belongs only to God. But, as Proverbs 10:1 teaches us, it is a true part of biblical wisdom for a child to wish to be a blessing to his parents. With God’s glory in its correct place as our chief motivation, we remember that it is He Who has given us a particular father and mother, and set them over us, and instructed us to honor (not merely obey) them. So, it is perfectly appropriate for a parent to teach this to a child. A wise son doesn’t just make his parents glad. By setting this before him, Proverbs 10:1 implies that that his parents’ gladness is also his desire.
What a wise son acquires. Wickedness doesn’t desire to make a father glad or to spare a mother of grief. It does treasure many things, but they do not ultimately do the wicked one any good (Proverbs 10:2a). Righteousness doesn’t just obtain the gladness of the parents, but eternal life itself (verse 2b). This is true of both righteous standing with God (which is only through faith in Jesus Christ) and genuine righteous character (which can only occur in those with righteous standing, and is worked into them by the Holy Spirit to fit them for glory). Truly, righteousness delivers from death!
Ultimately, YHWH will give the righteous one everything that He knows the righteous to need (Proverbs 10:3a). This must be true, since He is giving to Him eternal life, in the blessed knowledge and enjoyment of God Himself (cf. Romans 8:32). The wicked, on the other hand, will come to utter ruin in which he has not a single good or desirable thing (Proverbs 10:3b).
To what a wise son aspires. Thus, the wise son does not operate out of fear, anxiety, discontentment, or greed. He does not so much aim at improving his circumstances (which, ultimately, belong to God). Rather, he aims at doing as well as he possibly can (by grace) in every circumstance. His hand is not slack, but diligent (Proverbs 10:4); he has learned to always be looking to do as well as possible. If there are crops ready to harvest, he will do so, even if it is still summer (Proverbs 10:5a). Sadly, the foolish/wicked son, who does not view himself as God’s image-bearer in his work, doesn’t really care to harvest, even when it is the right time. Verse 5b finds him sleeping. And his parents, who were hoping to be fruitful and multiply image-bearers, have their own desires dashed, as they are put to shame (verse 5b).
Every one of us is the child of an image-bearer. If we are going to fulfill that great identity, we must have the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and be those who are conformed to His conduct and character, and will surely come into His inheritance.
What are you aiming at in life, on a daily basis? How might you need to grow, as a renewed image-bearer in Christ?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for giving Your own Son for us, Who did all things for the pleasure and honor of His Father in heaven. Grant that, whether with our parents, or our work, or anything else in life, our desire would always be to honor You in every part of our life. And, give us every good and perfect gift, especially the gift of Yourself in Christ, which we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH508 “Jesus, Priceless Treasure”
Sunday, January 19, 2025
2025.01.19 Lord's Day Livestreams (live at 10:10a, 11a, 3p)
Click below for the:
January 19 Lord's Day Worship Booklet
Matthew 14:13–21 sermon outline
3p song selections & Numbers 33:1–49 sermon
We urge you to assemble physically, if possible, with a true congregation of Christ's church. For those of our own congregation who may be providentially hindered, we are grateful to be able to provide this service.
IF you are unable to get the stream to work, or simply wish to save on data, you can listen in simply by calling 712.432.3410 and entering 70150 at the prompt.
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Knowing Jesus in His Grief [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 14:13–21]
How does Jesus grieve? Matthew 14:13–21 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these nine verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus grieves in fellowship with His Father, but also by compassionately overcoming the Fall for His people. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)
2025.01.18 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 14:13–21
Read Matthew 14:13–21
Questions
from the Scripture text: What did
Jesus hear (Mt 14:13, cf. Mt 14:11–12)? Where did He go? With
whom? But who followed Him? How? What did Jesus see (Mt 14:14)? How did His heart respond?
What did He do? For how long (Mt 14:15)? Who come to Him at this point? What do they
say to Him? What do they want Him to do? Why? What alternative does Jesus give
(Mt 14:16)? How do they respond to Him—what do they have (Mt 14:17)? What does He say to do
with the loaves and fish (Mt 14:18)? What did He tell the multitudes to do (Mt 14:19)? To where does He look when
He blesses the food? Then what does He do to the loves? To whom does He give
them? What do the disciples do with them? What do all of them do (Mt 14:20)? With what effect? What do
they take up afterward? How much? How many of whom had eaten (Mt 14:21)? Besides whom?
How does Jesus grieve? Matthew
14:13–21 prepares us
for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these
nine verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus
grieves in fellowship with His Father, but also by compassionately overcoming
the Fall for His people.
This passage gives us an opportunity to see how
Jesus Himself responds to grief. We saw the response of His and John’s
disciples: they “took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus” (Mt 14:12). Now we
get to observe what happened “when Jesus heard it” (Mt 14:13). “He
departed from there” (i.e. Nazareth, cf. Mt 13:58). What is He like in grief?
Jesus pious in grief. Mt
14:13 tells us that Jesus
“departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.” But we know that He is not entirely by
Himself. Just as He has taught us to carry out all of our religion before our
Father, Who sees in secret (cf. Mt 6:4,
6, 18), it is to that Father that
He now withdraws.
Jesus selfless in grief. Jesus has left Nazareth, where “He did not do many
mighty works” (cf. Mt 12:58). But the multitudes, who had seen Him do many
mighty works, hear that He has left Nazareth and seek Him out. In the midst of
His grief, Jesus goes out in the morning and sees the multitude. And,
marvelously, He does not withdraw.
For Jesus, the piety of His fellowship with the
Father is not in tension with the piety of His service to others. He has come
into the world because His Father loves sinners. And now, with that same love,
when He sees a multitude of those desperate to be delivered from the effects of
the fall. And He is “moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick” (Mt 14:14). And He
does this from “when He went out” (almost certainly the early morning, Mt 14:14) until
“evening” when “the hour is already late” (Mt 14:15).
Jesus is not just relieving some symptoms of the
Fall. He’s continuing to attest to Himself as the great Solution to the Fall.
He addresses earthly/temporal need, but especially spiritually/eternal need. This
perfect human reflection of divine love is expressed in the midst of Jesus’s
own grief and agony. It is a whisper of what will soon be shouted at the cross.
Jesus almighty over grief. Death and disease are not the only effects of the
Fall featured in this short passage. Hunger and weariness are also effects.
“Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days
of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you
shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread”
(cf. Gen 3:17–19). So, here the multitude is weary and hungry, and
the disciples’ solution is to send them into the villages to buy food (Mt 14:15).
The disciples don’t lack compassion; they lack the
ability to rule creation and reverse the Fall. Our Lord Jesus does not lack
this ability! Jesus actually emphasizes this to them by saying, “You give
them…” (Mt
14:16). When they present their
resources as proof of impossibility, He emphasizes the difference about Himself
by saying, “Bring them here to Me” (Mt 14:18).
Jesus indicates both His true humanity, and His
divine personhood, from whence His power comes, by “looking up to heaven,” when
He blesses the bread in Mt
14:19. He is not merely able to
address the needs of maybe twenty thousand people (five thousand is just the
men, Mt 14:21). He provides a super abundance with more leftover
than there had been at the beginning. And He brings this abundance as the
covenant Lord of His people, as implied by the number “12” and that they are
numbered by household.
We toil under the curse of the fall. Let us come to
this Jesus, and find our rest from it!
Of death, disease, hunger, and
weariness, from which effects of the Fall are you most suffering? How are you
resting upon the Lord Jesus for that? But for what do you most need the Lord to
reverse the effects of the Fall? How are you resting upon the Lord Jesus for
that?
Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH299 “Joy to the World!”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)