Sunday Morning Worship Service July 5, 2020

Well, good morning see you on this lord's day. Hope you've had a good weekend celebrating our nation's independence. And rejoicing in our freedoms that we have as citizens of this land. I trust when you reflect on your freedoms as a citizen you also reflect on the true freedom that is found in christ.

Our sign outside has said for a couple of weeks that True freedom is found only in christ jesus. And the freedoms that we have in this world can come and go. They can ebb and flow. Sometimes they're granted.

Sometimes they're restricted and sometimes they're taken away and even though we have these certain unalienable rights It doesn't necessarily mean that every government and society recognizes that. But the freedom that we have in christ is a timeless freedom and it's an eternal freedom.

And we rejoice in that for sure on this particular holiday weekend. So a couple announcements on your sheet there. You can see those we're doing the daily devotionals every day and hope those are an encouragement and a blessing to you.

Midweek service at seven o 'clock on wednesday, and then next sunday is a resumption sunday a couple of things one is we'll be Resuming the having the nursery available next sunday and evening service will resume at six o 'clock.

So look forward to those those events now in all these things, um, we are still wanting to be careful about the uh, keeping the distances and all that kind of thing and I know that is a little bit of a aggravation when you come in and you see these full.

And full empty pews that's an oxymoron. Pews that are completely empty and they're blocked off and it's your pew. It's your favorite spot for no other reason all of the riots and protesting and everything else.

You didn't hear anything about anybody getting covid um getting infected virus but if All right, well the lord has called us together to worship today and we want to begin with psalm 149 a couple of verses.

The lord sing unto the lord a new song. And his praise in the congregation of saints. For the lord takes pleasure in his people salvation. This morning we're seeing one of the newer hymns in our supplement.

Nine jim's going to come and lead us in this call to worship jim number nine in your Blue books supplement books call to worship. Let's all stand together. Please sing all three verses number nine call to worship.

Let's stand together father in heaven. We thank you. Oh god for your goodness to us your greatness as you Exalted yourself above all others. Oh lord. We thank you for That in jesus christ, which we have we claim our hope in him.

We thank you father for this lord's day for this country even based upon The principles and the foundation of god's word father. We just ask now your blessing upon this time as you would receive our praise and our thanks for who you are.

And what we have in christ in jesus name. We pray. Amen. May be seated psalm reading today. We want to read psalm 78 first eight verses of this psalm. Psalm 78 verses one through eight. Follow along there on your handout your sheet.

Psalmist writes. Give ear. Oh my people to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us.

We will not hide them from their children showing them to the showing to the generation to come the praises of the lord. And his strength and his wonderful works that he hath made. For he established a testimony in jacob and appointed a law in israel.

Which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children. That the generation to come might know them even the children which should be born. Who should arise and declare them to their children?

That they might set their hope in god. And not forget the works of god. But keep his commandments and might not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation. A generation that set not their heart right and whose spirit was not steadfast with god.

May the lord add his blessing to the reading of this portion of his word today. Jim's going to come and lead us in our next hymn in our hymnal jim. Thank you pastor in number 75 in your hymnals 75 The god of the impossible.

We're just seeing first and third verses one and three of number 75. Number 75 verse 3 together I don't know as we pray together today. We want to pray for first of all a missionary of the week the hammer meisters serving in surrey, british columbia.

And pray continue to pray for them as they are still Unable to have services together and their church is in a very precarious situation an infant church if you will and um. Has not been able to meet and the only connection has been by email and you know, some of that kind of thing.

So pray for the stability of that work. And then we also want to pray for the rails. John and joyce serving in brazil got an email from him this week that uh the person who Was their housekeeper and cleaned house for them actually had contracted covet and Died of some complications related to that disease.

And there is quite an outbreak in quiaba and the area where they live. So we want to pray for their protection. Also want to continue to pray for bob klein and jerry bob began chemotherapy last week and we'll be doing that every other week for I forget how long how many sessions but anyway, it's uh drawn out process.

Pray for him to continue to handle that well and not suffer from some of the side effects. It's very common in chemotherapy. And then we want to pray for our nation. Of course the the unrest that is still going on in our country and pray for God to intervene dealing with uh, you know the hatred the incivility uh the strife.

Uh the just the flagrant rebellion and animosity toward any kind of authority. I saw a video someone posted of um, you know in des moines at the uh, iowa state police were involved in trying to Minimize the The disturbance of a protest at the state house, I guess it was.

And uh, just the just the language the behavior the attitude toward the state police and the police officers. It's just really very unfortunate. And not a good place for our country to be in. So let's pray for our nation.

Shall we? Our heavenly father we do thank you today that We do not depend upon uh, the the Civil leaders, we don't put our trust in presidents or congress or state house. We don't even put our trust in law enforcement officers.

That our trust is ultimately in you and it is because of that that we come before you today and we intercede in behalf of our nation and its leaders its elected officials and those who are sworn to protect The citizenry and uphold the constitution of our land.

And we ask that you father would intervene in this nation and that you would Work in the hearts of men and women young people to bring Peace and civility. Once again I pray that all involved would realize the futility of this kind of behavior that will only lead to uh greater greater unrest and greater division.

Which will lead to less stability and less happiness and no true joy. Father I pray that our nation would continue to grow and improve. There's always room in this fallen world with leaders that are themselves fallen.

There's always room to grow there's always room to improve. And I pray that the desire for positive change would not result in negative destruction. So lord, we pray for our nation. We also pray today for Those in our congregation who are in need.

We think of those who are not yet able to get out and feeling Confident in this time of a pandemic some who are restricted by medical conditions that They're not to be in crowds and we understand that.

Pray for them and pray that you would encourage them and pray that even if they are limited to Watching the worship service on live stream that you would encourage them through your word even in that That avenue that form of media.

Father we pray for those who are physically suffering. We think of Kathy and her continued recovery from knee surgery. Give continued healing there. And may it be may it be a swift process of getting strength back to that knee.

We pray for bob that you continue to Bless him with good with with health that responds well to the chemotherapies receiving Encourage jerry during this time as well. We pray for john and joyce rail father as they have Quite an outbreak of this virus in their region.

I pray that you would protect them from Getting that themselves People in their church. I pray that you would protect their church. And I pray you'd give comfort to these loved ones and the church family and the loss of this Individual that they knew so well.

We pray for darren and elizabeth hammer meisters in british columbia and ask father that the years of fruit of ministry would not Be hindered and ruined by this lockdown and the inability to meet. I pray that the people that have been a part of that church through the last few years would Have an eagerness to get back to the back together To fellowship together to worship together and may that time come soon for them we pray.

Now father we Pray as we reflect here in just a few minutes on the work of our savior on the cross that our hearts would be blessed when we think of the Richness of our lives in christ jesus and all that he has done for us.

And we thank you for our freedom in christ. We thank you for our freedom from the penalty of sin. Thank you for the freedom that we have to have access to your very throne to your very presence. We thank you father for the freedom from the power of sin.

And ultimately the freedom from the presence of sin. And lord, we thank you for all that you have done for us in the work of christ on the cross. And this we pray in jesus name and for his sake. So in just a few moments after we sing a couple stanzas of the next hymn, we will Commemorate the lord's table together.

And I trust if you're participating you will have picked up one of these little little cups. Pre-packaged cups and you might even ahead of time just begin to lift off that top tab. Make that easier to access the the wafer here in just a few minutes.

But we will be partaking of the lord's table together. So jim, please come and lead us in that next hymn and that is on your blue supplement books uh number page number 32 number 32. We're going to be singing all three verses.

But for right now the first and second verse and then as pastor mentioned after the lord's table we'll be singing the third verse. Let's all stand together if you would. Number 32 how deep the father's love on the first two verses together two ordinances the lord left his church is In addition to baptism the lord's table.

And he set that ordinance in motion on the night of his betrayal. And he gathered his disciples around the the eating area at that passover meal and he took a couple of elements and he Chose these two elements to serve as symbols of his own body And his blood.

We'll partake of those in just a few minutes. What I want to do is read a passage of scripture and we'll share the bread together and reflect upon christ's broken body. And then continue reading scripture partake of the cup.

And then reflect on his shed blood. So first of all, let me read from matthew chapter 27 Versus 26 and following Says then released t that is pilot barabbas unto them and when he had scourged jesus he delivered him to be crucified.

Then the soldiers of the governor took jesus into the common hall And gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers and they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head And a reed in his right hand.

And they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying hail king of the jews. And they spit upon him and took the reed and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him. They took the robe off from him And put his own raiment on him And led him away to crucify him.

So at that table the lord took a loaf of bread anticipating this event that was going to happen in less than 24 hours. He took a loaf of bread and he broke it and he Passed it around to his disciples.

And he said this is my body Which is broken for you. Take and eat continuing in matthew 27. We read verse 45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land under the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour jesus cried with a loud voice saying Eli eli lama sabachthani.

That is to say my god. My god. Why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there when they heard that Said this man calls for elias. And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink.

The rest said let be let us see whether elias will come to save him. Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice Yielded up the ghost. So after that bread was passed around and all had partaken of the bread.

The lord took the cup a single cup filled with the red wine. And he said This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Drinky all of it. So our father we are grateful for our savior's Body that he gave to be broken for us.

The thankful father for our savior giving his blood to be shed for us. What wondrous love? What amazing grace? And you would save such as us by such a marvelous wonderful plan. Thank you father for the lord.

Jesus Bless now these thoughts to our hearts and your love To our hearts as well. We pray in jesus name. Amen. All right, jim will come and lead us in that third stanza of how deep the father's love and again number 32 in your Song books in blue song books number 32 the last verse verse 3.

How deep the father's love? Well, i've mentioned before that i've been reading, uh, the biography of ulysses s grant. And you read about the family dynamics, so this is of course in the early chapters of the book, but you read about the Family dynamics in the grant household and it's really quite interesting.

When ulysses was growing up His father owned a tannery and that's uh. That's not a business for the faint of heart and it's not the kind of business you want to live next door to either. My understanding is at least at that time.

The tanning process was rather Odorous process left quite a stench. The grants lived across the street from the business and ulysses said when he was a child his uh in the hot summer. His the windows would be open and the the fragrance from across the street would waft into his Into his bedroom and he'd have to bury his face in his pillow to deal with the stench.

So that was not a a wonderful place Necessarily to work but when ulysses was a teenager His dad told him that he was going to have to go to work in the tannery. And he was going to work in the most deplorable most deplorable area in the plant.

Well Ulysses didn't exactly like the idea of that prospect and he let his dad know that. Said he didn't want to do it. But out of respect for his father. He went to work in the tannery. About a year later.

Maybe a little more without his son's knowledge the dad Fired off an application to west point got the the necessary recommendations from uh from the senator in their state and Ulysses had no knowledge of it whatsoever.

Then he said you're going to west point. You've been accepted and you're shipping out in however many weeks. Well again Ulysses was not too happy about this. He had no desire whatsoever to go to west point.

He had even less desire of being in the military of being in armed forces. He had no desire for that whatsoever but Out of respect for his father. He packed up all his earthly goods and left home and from cincinnati and went to west point.

And it is because of that that he ultimately came to eight became the 18th president of the united states. Can you imagine such a fine a family dynamic is that in our? Enlightened sophisticated vastly superior 21st century.

A dad would tell his son you're going to go work here. And the son says well, I don't really particularly want to but okay dad you're going to go here to college and the Son says I don't particularly want to but okay dad because I respect you I will go.

It happens but Not too commonly does it. I wonder I wonder if a lot of what we're seeing played out among Mostly young people in our television sets these days. With screaming and violent attitudes toward police officers horrible horrible language terrible disrespect For any kind of authority.

I wonder if that has something to do with family dynamics, I wonder if it has something to do with fathers and maybe the lack of fathers. I wonder. Well, one of the wonderful things about the gospel of jesus christ is its transformative power.

In the The gospel has a power to You personally first three chapters paul is really addressing the individual Believers that make up a local church and talks about what god in his grace has done for them individually and personally but then Beginning in chapter four he he applies all that god has done for the individual To that individual and tells him need to walk worthy, but in the walking of word walking worthy.

There there are there are implications for the transformation of other relationships within the church within the broader scope of society. But paul has been zeroing in in chapter five and now into chapter six With the transformative power of the gospel on the family.

He addressed husbands and wives at the end of chapter five. And now in chapter six verses one to four paul reveals that the truly christian home Is transformed as children and parents fulfill their respective responsibilities.

Notice this passage ephesians 6 verses 1 to 4. We'll focus on for our message today. Paul writes children obey your parents in the lord for this is right. Honor thy father and thy mother which is the first commandment with promise That it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth and ye fathers.

And let me read this verse four in the esv because of just the way some of the words are translated better understand. Verse four says fathers do not provoke your children to anger. But bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the lord a brief prayer.

Our father everyone in this room is either a parent or a child an offspring of parents and we therefore have Gospel impacted responsibilities in that relationship. Give us insight into those duties today.

We pray In jesus name. Amen. So paul opens up this chapter these first three verses sharing the responsibilities or the duties children have Toward their parents and it's a two-fold. Uh, two-fold duties that duty that he expresses the children are first of all to obey their parents.

And then they I want to point out that the word children here as he begins in verse one is a word that is general in its uh in its Meaning but it can be specific in its application. What I mean by that is kind of what I said in my prayer.

Everyone here is either a parent or a child in this broader sense an offspring of parents. And so whether you're 80 or 8 you are a child of your parents. Now the first verse when he says children obey your parents in the lord.

I think he's zeroing in on a uh A parenthesis of time for childhood. He's not talking about 65 year old Offspring of a 90 year old parent and telling that 65 year old whatever your father. Who you have to do?

The children of verse one you look at what he says in verse four when he says that the Children bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the lord. And therefore the children would be those who are still in the training state life.

It certainly wouldn't be applicable To a 65 year old but look at the obedience that is rendered here. We can see a parallel passage To uh, ephesians 6 1 and following in colossians chapter 3. In colossians 3 verse 20 Paul said children In all things.

This is well pleasing to the lord. So when you take these two verses together we find that The obedience that children render to parents is to be essentially total. Essentially total Parents in all things in all things.

And I know right away that says, you know children are about to come up with some things. Well, what about what about what about? I said essentially total it Supposes what is directed what the parent is telling the child to do.

Is not something that is immoral or illegal or unethical or unbiblical. It's understandable. That's that's the presupposition here. And insofar as what the parent is not demanding of the child is uh is legal.

It's ethical. It's the right thing to do. Then the child is to follow through. But I also want you to notice that for children their duty their obedience is to be a spiritual service. He says obey your parents.

The lord himself giving the command. As if the lord that Christ himself because the not that the husband is christ by any means. But that she recognizes that the husband is in a position of responsibility Delegated by christ and likewise here Children are to obey their parents recognizing that mom and dad are in a position of responsibility and authority delegated to them by jesus and so Would expect obedience of himself.

Parents have a right to expect obedience of their children as the representatives of the lord. This is a spiritual service. So so children should look at their obedience to parent as a an act of obedience to christ as a as an aspect or uh an area of their own spiritual growth and development.

Mother as well as father. And again, uh parents children can children are very good at uh around this right? Well, what about what about if dad tells me to do something and mom tells me to do something contradictory to that.

Or mom tells me to do something that would preclude what dad has told me to do. Who whom do I obey? Whom do I obey? And uh, the answer to that question is you you go to your Point out of the piggy bank and you flip it and it's heads.

It's dad tails. It's mom. No, not really. Um. Generally speaking you obey the Chief authority. So if if dad tells you to mow the lawn, for example. And mom says to you um You don't have to mow the lawn.

Now you don't you don't let the parents pit one against the other. You mow the lawn for example and there are so many other things in that regard we could talk about but but you get the point that that both Respected both parents are to be Obeyed your obedience is to be impartial.

So one of the duties That children have to their parents is that of obedience? The second. Is that of honor? Honor, he says in verse two honor thy father and mother. This idea of honoring implies um It implies a lot of things.

It implies more than it implies more than putting them up on a pedestal it implies love. They have a love for The ones who gave you life. It implies a high regard for you say well, you don't know my parent.

My parents aren't perfect. I know that. And so do they? They know it better than you do. I guarantee you I got a news flash for you. Neither are you it's like wouldn't you wouldn't you like to just kind of Grab some of these young people by the collar who are wanting to tear down monuments of great great leaders and heroes of the past.

Because they had flaws I mean it's like the only people on the planet That The ones wanting to tear down these monuments. They're the paragons of virtue the paragons of perfection and so it's yes, it's very easy to look at the moat in somebody else's eye.

And dishonor them or disrespect them because of that moat and fail to see the beam that is Plunged in your own eye. Oh Parents are to be Of their their weaknesses and their failures and their imperfections.

To give them consideration you're to give them deference. All of these ideas are wrapped up in this word honor your parents and this this Shouldn't say secondary second Actually Their obedience because we all understand That we can obey.

Without giving honor we can render what we're supposed to render. And have a pretty lousy rotten attitude in the process of rendering it. And be very disrespectful to those whom we are obeying. No, we not only need to obey children.

We need to Respect and honor the parents and this aspect or this command is one that expands beyond childhood. There certainly comes a point in our development when We are not to be subject to every whim and and directive that a parent but the idea of honoring and respecting our parents Is Is a lifelong responsibility.

We never lose responsibility to honor and this honoring is Again to both of our parents. Why why is it children growing up and as even adult children of parents? It's simply the right thing to do. It's the right That at the end of verse one children obey your parents.

This is proper. I mean you don't have to do a lot of Thinking to figure out I mean who gave you life. Who has provided for you through the years of your life? However long you've lived so far who has sacrificed incredibly for your welfare.

I would encourage people who have the Savvy to do a google search and that's pretty young these days. Don't do it right now do it later. Do a google search that asks the question. How much does it cost to raise a child from birth?

How much does it cost and then ask yourself this question? How many years would it take me? To pay that. To pay that off if it was a loan to me. Yikes, i'd be doing that the rest of my life. And yet this is what your parents do.

Sacrifice for you. So to honor them. It's only the right thing to do honor them because they are older and they are wiser. They really are. They have a great deal more experience to draw on than you do and you've heard the it's almost cliche thing but you know when I when I was a a sophomore I I I couldn't believe how little my parents knew.

You know sophomore in high school. I couldn't believe they were so dumb. So how could they be so so. Yeah, then I got to be 25 26 years old and I realized boy they have really gotten smart. Yeah. They were just as smart when you were a sophomore.

Why is it the right thing to do? Because Those parents love you and care for you. Like nobody else will. Until you are yourself married. It's the right thing to do. The passage questions three parallel verse where paul says children obey your parents.

He gives another reason he says for this is well pleasing to the lord obey them because it pleases the lord. Honor them because it pleases the lord for you to do so. And then verse three gives a third reason here in our text Ephesians 3 6 That it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth.

It's actually personally advantageous for you to Honor and obey your parents generally speaking. Generally speaking. This is a maxim. This is a proverb. Generally speaking the child that honors and obeys his parents will have a more fruitful greater quality life and even.

There are a lot of reasons for that and don't want to particular point but but God knows what he's talking about. You have a right relationship with your parents and that will stand you in good stead All the days of your life.

Children you have a responsibility to your parents now look in the husband and wife relationship the wife is to submit herself to the husband's leadership, but Paul said at the end of chapter five the husband is to make that submission easy by loving her well.

All right, so you got that dynamic that interplay between husbands and wives. Wives are to submit to the authority or the responsibility the leadership of the husband. But husbands are to so love their wives that that submission is a relatively easy thing to do.

We got a similar kind of dynamic here between the parent child relationship. Children are to obey and honor their parents but dad. Dad is to make that easier for them fulfilling duties by fulfilling his duties.

I think of this in relationship to the grant household again ulysses was Very respectful and obedient to his father. He did a great job fulfilling his duties as a child to his father. And he now watch he did so even though his dad didn't make it very easy for him to do it his dad was not a particularly kind and gracious man and He wasn't one to sit down with his son and talk things through with his son and ask him.

What are his Aspirations, what would he like to do with his life? He didn't do any of that. He just made the decisions for him. Yeah, dad didn't do a very good job on his part. But the christian dads you can you can help your children.

Make the their responsibility fulfilling their responsibility of obedience and honor easier. As you fulfill your duties as a dad. And what are those duties? Well, the first one is to avoid provocation here in ephesians verse 4 Paul says fathers provoke not your children to wrath.

Colossians 3 provides a parallel for us. And in colossians 3 he he doesn't add the words to wrath and he actually uses a different word in our king james translated provoke. So there are two different two different things that dads can provoke their children to do or to be like.

You can dads you can provoke your children to anger that's what's going on here in verse 4. And or you can exasperation. Exasperation and that's what colossians is talking about. And you're to do neither.

Don't provoke your children. Provoke your children to exasperation and there are many ways That you can do that. Let me just share some of these ways with us that gets it. Down to the nuts and bolts for us as dads.

One of the ways that we can provoke children separation. Passively severe discipline. By meeting out a form of discipline that beyond. We can provoke to anger or 12 year old boy to go out and mow the lawn when it's 95 degrees.

Do it now. Don't wait till the sun. Do it now. Reasonable demand and we can provoke. Abused justifying those. That hearts by playing from when we sense that wondering but a rebellious spirit. Sometimes we have to play that trump card, but it should be rare.

You know what the trump card i'm talking about is don't you? Because I said so because I said so the unfortunate thing is that many fathers because they don't want to deal with. Any questions to their authority or any questions to their directives or anything like that?

Because they just don't want to deal with it. They use that all the time. Because I said so. And they do so in a harsh and an angry way and the result of that. Over and over and over again is it provokes the child to anger provokes the child?

Aspiration. We can provoke to anger or exasperation by showing favoritism. That of course is a special danger in a family with more than one child showing favoritism. We can do it by discouraging the child.

Saying things in the category of you'll never amount to anything you do that or Impression that they don't measure up in their appearance. Remember the uh, you're familiar with the story of the phantom of the opera.

And uh, you know phantom was A man with a terribly disfigured face and it was disfigured at birth. And the reason that he wore a mask Was not because when he got older he was getting taunts and all the rest of that from other people and it just easier thing to deal with.

Or mask because his mother gave it to him when he was just a young infant. A child he did she did not want to look at him. What a discouraging thing for a child to grow up experiencing Discouragement.

Another way we can do it is by being overly protective and being a helicopter parent. One writer has said if the little bird remains in the safety of the nest, it will never learn to fly. And this is one of the dangers that parents have as their children.

Reach of age of maturity. They don't know how to let go. They don't know how to let them go out of the nest. And they don't even push them out of the nest like they should instead. They want to keep them in the nest and they the child will never learn to fly and by the way moms and dads let me.

There is an There's an incredibly difficult balance to maintain here. I understand and I get it because I've been there. But there is a danger for us as parents. As our children grow up Christianizing them.

And I mean by that we we're so we're so overly protective and so helicoptering of them that we micromanage everything Them so that nothing looks out of place. Like it doesn't belong for the ideal perfect christian and we monitor everything so that And make sure that everything about their life so it's like We're trying to make them be Window material.

You know like this is a christian. And the problem is they may not even be christians. They may be very compliant and they may go right along with it and they'll have all of the Appearance of being good little christians.

And underneath it all they can be seething. You will not until they have left the nest and then you discover all of your efforts at christianizing by your overprotection and your helicoptering Has been counterproductive instead of them living the christian life.

They've shunned the christian facade And let the real person out. Well another way that we can provoke to anger or exasperation Is by expecting adult maturity. Expecting adult maturity expecting our a child to Have the self-control the emotional control.

That an adult would have to take initiative like a responsible Adult would take to have the self-discipline That an adult should have when we expect a child. We can exasperate them we can provoke them to Anger or exasperation by failing to allow them to grow up.

To grow up that is to make decisions of their own to fail. We don't want them to fail. So we do everything we can to keep them from ever failing. And thereby learning from the mistakes that they make we don't let them take any risks whatsoever and enjoy either the success or lick the wounds of taking that risk.