September 16, 2007
Ministry:
I’d like to read a verse or two, beloved. First, read Psalm 22:22: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel… . My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him” (vv. 22, 23, & 25). Also read Psalms 146:1 & 2, 147:1, 148:1 & 2, 149: 1–2, and 150:1–6. Finally, read Hebrews 13:15: “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” I have a simple thought, beloved. Who initiates this praise? Who breaks forth into praise for God? It is the Lord Jesus Himself, praising His Father. “Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders” (Psalm 107:32). But it is not limited to the assembly; it goes on to Israel, and then the Gentiles. These last five psalms start with the individual praising and end with, “Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.” Worship and praise are linked. Worship is when we express our love for God to Him; that is a holy priesthood. Praise is a public expression of that love; it is a royal priesthood. Putting them together, we go on offering sacrifices of praise. Aaron would worship God, then go and praise Him before the people. We shouldn’t confine our praise to ourselves, for soon the whole earth will be covered with the glory of the Lord, even as the water covers the sea.
EG Hymn 362 – Two little eyes to look to God,
Prayer
On the whiteboard, I’ve drawn a tree. Imagine that some people came along, cut the top off, and carved an idol out of the tree. What is an idol? It is something someone has made to worship instead of God. Read Psalm 115:3; that is our God. But read v. 4 – their idols. There is quite a difference between our God and their idols. What does it tell us about their idols? Read vv. 5–7. This idol cannot do anything, even though it has a whole body. Would you like to worship it? No; who do we worship? We worship God, the living and true God; read I Thessalonians 1:9. Does He have eyes? Yes, He always watches over us. Ears? He can hear what we say. Can He smell? He could smell the sweet-smelling savour the Israelites offered; do our lives give the same sweetness? Can He speak? His Word, the Bible is how He speaks to us. Does He have hands? His hand is always on us for good. Even though God does not have a real body, He can do all these things. We can know this living and true God. But I want to look at v. 8. They are just like the idols they make? How can that be? When He was in the temple, Jesus met a man with a withered hand; it was useless. Do we have withered hands, or are we using them for the Lord. God gave us each all these wonderful features—why? He wants us to use them for Him. He doesn’t want to look down and say, “Why did I give him those hands?” He wants us to serve Him. Read John 17:3. We can know the only true God and we can know His Son as our Saviour; one day He is coming again to take us to be with Him. How precious to be able to trust Him, to listen to Him, to look to Him for help, and to work for Him until He comes. We can learn a lesson from these idols. We should be living and true, just like our God.
I Peter 2:4–8
We have been enjoying the fact that there should be a desire to have the Word; we also looked at our Living Stone. In verse 5, we find that Christians, too, are (as Darby says) living stones. We form the spiritual house in which we can function as priests and offer sacrifices acceptable to God. Peter started with stones back in the gospel. Read John 1:40–42. We see two things here: when God renames someone, it means he is taking possession of that person. Also, Cephas means a stone. Read Matthew 16:13–18. We know that the house we are part of began at Pentecost; Christ got a body and God got a house. Paul brings out the thought of the body more than Peter, but he does mention the house. The house is the dwelling place of God, made with stones. In Timothy, Paul talks about “the pillar and ground of the truth” (I Timothy 3:15). As we said, we are to function as priests in this house. The Israelites offered natural sacrifices, animals, but they did not understand what these meant. We offer spiritual sacrifices to God.
Going back to v. 2, Peter is writing to adults here, but they were babes as Christians. When you go to school, you don’t start at grade 12; you start at grade 1 and work your way up. If we gave a baby meat, it would not be able to handle it; that was the way the Corinthians were (I Corinthians 3:2). But even once you pass grade one, you cannot give up on the milk; you have to add to it until you have a good diet. Isaiah says, “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). Mr. J. Pascoe was saved at the age of 15; soon thereafter, he started to go to readings, prayer meetings, and so on. He found that he did not understand what the brothers were talking about at all. Finally, after 5 years, a brother said something that he thought he understood. It’s part of becoming a Christian. The same things can happen when you are reading what people like Mr. Darby have written; you might not understand it when you read it, but later you will read a verse that explains it to you. When Mr. Pascoe began to read what those brothers had written, he faulted them, saying what they said was wrong. As he grew in the Lord, he realized that maybe they were right. Then he came to the realization that they were indeed right. As a young Christian in “grade 1”, don’t think you know it all.
But now with the house: there were 3 dwelling places of God: the tabernacle, the temple, and the habitation of God. They are all God’s home among men. The tabernacle was a drab building; it was a temporary place. Then the temple was a beautiful place, covered in gold; it was a permanent dwelling place. The habitation of God is the temple not made with hands. It is God’s present house. All these places were where a priests would or do minister. In the Old Testament, they were offering sacrifices all the time; the volume of animals was incredible. But does God get the same volume of sweet savour today? Do we function as priests and offer our spiritual sacrifices?
God is building His house, but we are building as well. We need to be careful in what we add to the building. Christendom today adds all the wrong things: new practices, new beliefs—God does not accept this. He wants no complicated rituals; that is part of the great house. We should be occupied with the house of God, not the great house.
V. 6 tells us that, “it is contained in the scripture.” It’s all in the Bible. IF anyone tells you anything, ask them, “Where do you find that in the Bible?” Often it’s not there; but the Bible is all we should believe. The end of the verse says that we “shall not be confounded.” When we believe the scriptures, we can’t go wrong.
EG Hymn 91 – On Christ salvation rests secure,
Prayer