2022 FIRE Midwest Regional Fellowship The Beauty of Christ (Session 1)

Fellowship Welcome and Ministry Reports

Every time we get together we do. That's what I love about our FIRE fellowship is just the great fellowship that we have. So I want to welcome you as we start out tonight. I also want to point out that you would know it's the nursery, but that room, the nursery, it's the room right behind us here is where a number of different ministries are set up.

You want to talk to those folks and their particular ministries. They're all going to be giving reports on their ministries here tomorrow, but there's resources there and I'd encourage you to go back and talk to the folks that are there.

Now, some of you have noticed that it's hard to get into LaRue if you're coming from the east, from Marion. I don't know, have you noticed that? You haven't? Thank you, Glenna. All these people are good, solid Reformed people.

They don't want to show any emotion or answer any questions. So you're saying it's not Reformed theology, it's technology. Well, hey, if you're the old-fashioned type, there are directions right back there on the table.

All right? Yeah, this is, this is, it'll work. It may be, yeah, it'll be around the detour. Yeah, thanks, let me see. Oh, well, maybe that is a detour. Pick it up or use your phone. All right? Okay. I mean, if you have to, you can stay here tonight.

All right? No problem. All right, we want to start out with praising the Lord and singing and one of our elders, Dan Jeffers, is going to come and lead us and let's sing together to the Lord, shall we?

Good evening. Take your hymnals, if you will, and turn to 365. One of the ministries that, one of the ministries that are in the back there, or no, they've got a sheet in your folder, particular Baptist Heritage books, have given us some books to give away.

So some of you are going to get a free book. All right? So we want to know tonight who traveled the furthest. All right? Wisconsin is here. Yeah. Wisconsin. Anybody further than that? How far is Rogers City?

Ron, I'm sure your pastor appreciates that. All right? Anybody further than Wisconsin? With the detour. That's right. That's right. All right, Brother Richard. Kansas City. Oh yeah. Steve. Steve, I'm sorry.

I met Steve as a high school student, came wandering in here one Sunday. So there you go, Steve. All right. Well, our topic for tonight is the beauty of Christ in worship and Pastor Dana Kidder is going to be bringing the word to us tonight.

Dana is a pastor of Redeemer Bible Church in Belfountain. Used to be Logansville Community Church, but now they've moved to Belfountain and I've known Dana. I met Dana several years ago. Where are you, Dana?

You're here somewhere, right? There he is. When did we meet that first time? What year was that? 2007? Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. And so we kind of crossed paths then. Then Dana came to Logansville Community Church and he's been ministering there for a while.

Some of you remember at our last conference, Dana gave us the history of his church. They weren't part of fire back then, but now they're one of the fire churches here. And so, Dana, how long have you been at?

Yeah. 10 and a half years. Okay. So the Lord saw fit to bring a church to life in that time. And Dana is a dear friend and I appreciate the ministry he's going to have. So Dana, come and minister the word of God.

The Beauty of Christ in Worship

Thanks, Tim. Every time,.

Even at church, when I say our new name, I almost always say the wrong name. Our old name was Logansville Community Church. We are now called Redemption Bible Church. Redeemer was already taken, but I almost always say Reformation Bible Church.

And then my elders look at me, what is it again? Well, ultimately, we're going to make our way this evening to Psalm 96. We're going to take a little bit of time to get there because if I'm honest with you, it took quite a while to wrap my mind around what we mean by the beauty of Christ in worship.

So I'll do my best to keep you with me tonight, but I need you to work hard at following me as well. So that's my disclaimer at the beginning here. If you get confused, I told you to keep up. The beauty of Christ in worship.

I'm going to be honest again. I don't think that way. I don't think of the beauty of Christ. When I think, if you were to ask me about Jesus, his beauty is not something that would come to mind. It's not a word I would use to describe our Savior, but I think this says more about me than it does him.

See, when I think of beauty, I often just, I just think in worldly terms, usually. I think of something that looks beautiful. Maybe if I'm pressed, I might say, well, personality too. I think of it mostly as a feminine trait.

Unless you're talking about a beautiful landscape or sunset, beautiful wood grain in a piece of furniture. Men are not beautiful. They're handsome, I would say. And besides, as the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

And of course you remember the prophecy of Isaiah, the prophecy of the Messiah, as Isaiah says in chapter 53, who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. But of course, and you've already picked up on this, I'm speaking purely as a man, a man-centered point of view.

And that's what the prophecy of Isaiah is talking about. It's talking about the incarnate Christ, God in the flesh, laid aside his glory, his majesty, and his beauty to take on the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of men.

And as a man, Jesus took on the commonness and the limitations of our humanity. There was nothing, humanly speaking, extraordinary about him. In fact, in scripture, scripture tells us that at his crucifixion, sinful men so disfigured him, his physical appearance, that he wasn't even recognizable.

His appearance while he was on the cross was grotesque. And yet it is here that we glimpse his beauty. In the late 1600s, an English Seventh-day Baptist named Joseph Stennett, he first published a collection of hymns for the church with a typically puritanical title, Hymns in Commemoration of the Sufferings of our Blessed Savior Jesus Christ, composed for the celebration of his Holy Supper.

Hymns to be sung at communion. One such hymn was entitled, Thy Loveliness I View. And the first verse goes like this. Oh, Prince of Peace, bless thou this board with those sweet smiles which angels cheer.

Oh, give us peace and tell us, Lord, we're pardoned and accepted here. Commenting on that hymn, the theologian Michael Hagen, he says this. He says, this experience of God's loving forgiveness at the table because of Christ's atoning death should also overwhelm the believer with wonder and lead to ardent rededication to Christ.

This communion hymn continues. Listen for the beauty of Christ at the table. Thou art all love, my dearest Lord, and thou art all lovely too. Thy love, I at thy table taste. Thy loveliness, I view. Thy divine beauty, veiled with flesh, thy enemies despise.

Thy mangled body, they did disdain and turn from thee their eyes. But thou more lovely art to me for all that thou hast borne. Each cloud sets off thy luster more, thee all thy scars adorn. Thy garments, tinctured with thy blood, the best and noblest dye outshines the robes that princes wear.

Thy thorns, their gems outvie. That I may be all love to thee and all lovely like thee too. Oh, cleanse me with thy precious blood and me thy beauty show. My former vows I now renew. Oh, Lord, as thou art mine, I freely give my heart to thee.

Forever I'll be thine. When we come to the table to proclaim the Lord's death, when we come to proclaim the atonement for sins, we come to proclaim that Christ died for our sins. We come to taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. We come to behold the beauty of Christ in worship. But it's not just limited to the table. In fact, all of our worship is a beholding of the beauty, the loveliness, the splendor of Jesus Christ.

Listen to what David writes in the 27th Psalm about coming into the house of the Lord. Psalm 27 says this, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life.

Of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. The war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

One thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble.

He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon a rock, and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy.

I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry. Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, Seek my face. My heart says to you, Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me.

Turn not your servant away in anger. O you who have been my help, cast me not off. Forsake me not, O God of my salvation, for my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. The 27th Psalm basically contains all of the elements that we have when we call our people together to worship as the assembly of the saints, as the church of Jesus Christ.

It contains praise and prayer, confession and assurance of pardon, offerings and reminders of the promises of God. And when we call our people to worship each Lord's day, as they come into the house of the Lord, as they come to worship our God, to inquire in his temple, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, we are pointing them at Christ.

And I know that our prayer for all of us in here, I'm assuming, all of our prayer is that we would dwell in the house of the Lord all of the days of our lives. I don't know about for each individual church represented here today, but often as we call our church to worship on the Lord's day, we go straight to the Psalms.

Now, of course, there are other passages that direct our eyes and our hearts heavenward. I sometimes like to find those those verses in the New Testament, especially that do this. But the Psalms, as God's hymnal, are filled with calls to worship.

And so more often than not at our church, Redemption Bible Church, at our church, we'll begin our services with a reading that sounds something like this. In fact, this is how we started yesterday. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song.

Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord. Bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day. That's from Psalm 96. A little bit deeper into this particular Psalm. It is said of the Lord who made the heavens, splendor and majesty are before him.

Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Do you remember what David said in the 27th Psalm? One thing I have asked for that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

And so what I thought we would do for the rest of our time together tonight is to take a deeper look at the call to worship the Lord by gazing upon his beauty in the sanctuary from Psalm 96. Because this Psalm highlights for us the call to worship, our motives for worshiping, and compels us to proclaim his beauty that it is not fleeting or in vain.

So let's read Psalm 96 and then we're going to flip back to First Chronicles chapters 15 and 16 just for a little bit of background. But we're going to start in Psalm 96. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song.

Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord. Bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations. His marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.

He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols. But the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, oh families of the peoples.

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory. Do his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. Tremble before him all the earth.

Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad. Let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar and all that fills it.

Let the field exalt and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord. For he comes. For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Let's just stop and pray. Lord, as we consider the beauty of our Savior, I pray that you would impress on our hearts the glory of God. Help us to see and understand, Lord, that you would give us ears to hear, eyes to see from your word exactly who this Savior is that we worship.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, as I mentioned, 1 Chronicles chapters 15 and 16 give us a little bit of the background of this psalm and tell us of what could be considered the crowning moment of King David's career when he brought the the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem.

This was an important moment for David and the people of Israel because the Ark stood as a representative of really of God's own throne or more specifically as his footstool. And if you remember, the Ark of the Covenant contained the tablets of the law as well as Samanah and Aaron's staff.

The Israelites carried the Ark everywhere they went, even into battle. It was of utmost importance to the people because God had said, as he was telling them exactly how to build it, he said in Exodus 25, verse 22, there I will meet with you.

And from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the Ark of the Testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. The Ark of the Covenant was where God would meet with his people, where he would speak to them.

And so it should come as no surprise that when when King David finally brought the Ark to Jerusalem, after he had taken the city from the Jebusites and established it essentially as the capital, it should come as no surprise that there was much rejoicing.

The First Chronicles, really at the end of chapter 15, describes it like this. Just flip over there for a second. First Chronicles chapter 15, right at the very end, near the very end, verse 25. So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of thousands went to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom with rejoicing because God helped the Levites who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.

They sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. David was clothed with a robe of fine linen and also were all of the Levites who were carrying the Ark and the singers in Chania, the leader of the music of the singers.

And David wore a linen ephod. So all Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord with shouting to the sound of the horn, trumpets and cymbals and made loud music on harps and lyres. And then just a few verses later in chapter 16, verse one, it says,.

And they brought in the Ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat and a cake of raisins.

And then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the Ark of the Lord to invoke, to thank and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. Asaph was the chief and second to him were Zechariah, Jael, Shemariah, Moth, Jehiel, Mattathiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Oded, Edom and Jael, who were to play harps and lyres.

Asaph was to sound the cymbals and Benaiah and Jehaziel, the priests, were to blow trumpets regularly before the Ark of the Covenant of God. Then on that day, David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brothers.

And what follows there, if you just kind of let your eyes run down through much of the rest of chapter 16, is a psalm essentially of praise and worship. And what we have there in 1 Chronicles 16 is actually longer than Psalm 96, but it contains almost all of it.

Almost all of Psalm 96 can be found there in 1 Chronicles 16. And so let's assume, just for the sake of argument tonight, because I think it's likely that Psalm 96 was written by King David when the most explicit and specific symbol of God's presence and the exact place from which God speaks to his people was brought to Mount Zion.

But hold up a minute. Is the Ark of the Covenant really the best symbol of God's presence and the place from which God speaks to his people? Is it the best way to view his beauty? By looking at a gold-laden box with some cherubim on top that apparently is in a warehouse somewhere in the army's possession?

Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 to 3 tells us that there is someone better. Long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

So I would submit to you that Psalm 96 is a messianic psalm. It points us at Christ. Martin Luther said of Psalm 96, he said, this is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ and the spreading of the gospel over the whole world and before every creature, which gospel will be a word of joy and thanksgiving, of peace, of rejoicing, and of continued sacrifice of praise.

So we could say this with Matthew Henry, another old dead guy. Though this was sung at the translation of the ark, it looks further to the kingdom of Christ and is designed to celebrate the glories of that kingdom, especially the ascension of the Gentiles to it.

So how can this be? How can the ark of the covenants, a rival in Jerusalem, be connected with Christ? Well, according to the Old Testament, once the law was placed inside the box, the lid, which is called the mercy seat, closed the box.

So to put it simply and to skip a whole testament, God knew that Israel would break his law, but also that he would be merciful and cover their law-breaking to guard those who loved him from his wrath.

Ultimately, of course, this was achieved through the death of a substitute and the sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat on the day of atonement. And so we can say that the blood of the sacrifices stood between God and the broken law of God.

And now fast forward and bring your minds back to the table where we started. Because of Christ's shed blood, we can now meet with the Lord in worship just as the high priest used to meet with God before the ark.

And you know that there's a lot more there that I've skipped over, but we're still trying to get to Psalm 96 tonight. Well, because of Christ's final atonement for sin in his own shed blood, when we are called to worship in his presence, we do so with awe and with wonder, because when the saints assemble, we are entering into our king's heavenly throne room.

And so we, as God's under shepherds, as Christ's under shepherds, we summon God's people to praise the Lord in light of his present and his future reign because of who he is. And we join with the heavenly choir proclaiming, worthy is the lamb that was slain.

And our prayers for the people of God under our care is that we may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple, because splendor and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

And this begins with the call to worship, to sing and declare. Okay, Psalm 96. Call to worship. Just look at the first two verses again. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth.

Sing to the Lord, bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day. One of the joys of the church is that in this room, we represent a variety of liturgies, variety of orders of service. Yeah, we all believe, for the most part, I would assume, we all believe the same things about preaching and prayer, about the public reading of scripture, and even the sacraments, ordinances.

Yet in our agreement on these things, it's likely that our liturgies are all slightly different. But I'm guessing that we all call our people to sing, do we not? Sing to the Lord, all of you, young and old, in tune and off key, you with dirt under your fingernails, and the mom who looks to be like 11 months pregnant.

Sing. Sing a new song. This idea of a new song, we see this in both the Old and the New Testaments. It isn't an argument for fresh tunes, necessarily, because the emphasis is on the one whose mercies are new every morning.

Sing of God's fresh advances in redemption. Think of it as Moses led God's people through the Red Sea, saving them. The first thing they did is found in Exodus chapter 15, verses one to three. Listen to this.

And Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider, he is thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise him. My Father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Our songs, when we gather together, they can be called new, because they've been adapted to a new purpose, from having been intended to celebrate the new mercy of the ark finally coming up to Jerusalem, to lead us to Christ coming and establishing his kingdom.

Think of that first Palm Sunday, when the people proclaimed as Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. This means something deeper and richer to us, even than it did to those saying those words then, doesn't it?

Sing all the earth, sing everyone, tell of his salvation. I love in the New Testament how in Paul's letters, specifically in Ephesians and Colossians, he ties the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of God's holy word together on this point.

I'm going to mash these together. He says this, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There in both Ephesians and in Colossians, he's talking about our corporate worship. Sing, sing truth with thankfulness toward God in the name of your Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Worship with melody, praise him for his person and work for who he is and what he has done.

And then furthermore, we are called to worship our King with sermons. Look at verse 3, Psalm 96, 3, declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. William Plummer, he calls this psalm a missionary hymn for all ages of the church.

Pastors, we are called to declare, to proclaim, to herald God's glory. We are called to follow in the footsteps of those who went before us, even, even in the face of persecution and opposition. Acts chapter 8, verses 1 to 4 says this, and actually it begins with, and Saul approved of his execution.

And then the next paragraph says, and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now, those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

His salvation is his glory. The gospel glorifies Jesus Christ and we are commanded, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word.

Why? Because faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. I'll jump ahead a little bit here in Psalm 96. We'll come back to the others in a minute. Sometimes when we consider these things, declaring his glory among the nations, so when we consider missions and evangelism, we forget that we're actually called to do these things in the assembly.

Look at verses 7 to 9. He says, ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name, bring an offering, come into his courts, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness, tremble before him all the earth.

Back at the beginning of this psalm, in the first couple of verses, the worshippers are called to sing, sing, sing, three times. Now here, we are called to ascribe, ascribe, ascribe, which just doesn't have the same ring to it, but it's just as important.

It means give credit where credit is due. David is calling us here to glorify the Lord, gather your family, bring an offering, come into his courts, and worship the Lord, glorify his holy name. And we're going to come back to this in just a minute, but the call to worship is a call to come together.

It's the assembly of the saints, which is a beautiful thing. Rich Mullins wrote in his song, Here in America, he says, and if I were a painter, I do not know which I paint, the calling of the ancient stars or assembling of the saints.

There's just so much beauty around us for just two eyes to see. But everywhere I go, I'm looking. It's a call to give him his due and to do so in the splendor or the beauty of holiness. And for us, this is this is nothing but a reflection of his beauty.

And if that wasn't enough, this brings us to our motives for worship, our motives for worship. Now, implied in the call to worship or or maybe it's more than implied is the reason for worship, his salvation, his glory, his marvelous works.

We could preach and probably some of the pastors in here have done this. We could preach whole sermon series just on each of those things. Right. But let's look closer at the motives that the psalmist gives us here in verses four, five and six, beginning with the fact that he is the God of gods.

Look at just four and five to begin with. Verse four, for great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods, for all the gods of the people are worthless idols. But the Lord made the heavens.

The gods of this age are completely powerless. Yet we continue to submit to them. But Yahweh. He is truly great. He is the creator of all things. He called the ancient stars and assembled the saints. Spurgeon said he's not some petty deity presiding as the heathen imagined their gods to do over some one nation or one department of nature.

He's far greater than that. He is greatly to be praised. We cannot praise him too much. We cannot praise him too often. We cannot praise him too zealously, too carefully, too joyfully. And he is to be feared above all gods.

Not in a not in a superstitious way. The way that the pagans live in live in fear of failing to appease their gods who who might punish them by at any moment by sending some sickness or some disaster.

No, for for Yahweh's people, for the Lord's people, for Christ's people, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Again, Spurgeon said, holy fear is the beginning of the graces of God. Fear of God is the blush upon the face of holiness, enhancing its beauty.

There's that word beauty again. The beauty of holiness, the splendor of holiness, our holiness, the holy lives that we live is really but a dim reflection of of his beauty. We worship, we come together with hearts sprinkled clean, we come in the splendor of holiness because of Christ's strength and beauty.

So when we consider the beauty of Christ in worship, I'm convinced that a big part of that is his holiness, his purity. So overwhelming is the splendor and majesty of God on his throne that Isaiah chapter six tells us that angels cover their faces.

Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary, both above and below in his very presence. Isaiah, again, he was so distraught at his holiness as he saw and he heard, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.