The officers in Christ’s Church are alone given the right to steward the mysteries of God. Children, unordained men or women, are not to be serving the Lord’s people the elements of the Table. The Scriptures are clear that order is to be observed in the worship of God’s House.

Last week we looked at Baptism and one of the things we noted about it is that it is to be understood as a public initiation of sorts into the Kingdom of God. As 1 Cor. 7 shows us the infant (or adult for that matter) is covenantally holy internally by the work of the Holy Spirit before the actual applying of the water onto the head of  the recipient. However, there is still a need for the Church to testify to this existing reality. There are benefits both to the world and to the people of God to see and be reminded of the Lord’s promises to His children. The same could be said about the next sacrament we are going to look at: The Lord’s Supper. However, unlike Baptism, this Holy gift is for professed believers alone. It is not, despite what John Wesley taught, an ordinance open to everyone regardless of ecclesiastical status. Only those approved by the Church through the oversight of the Elders may partake.
This is true primarily because the bread and the cup is an exercise of grace and praise, in which those who have been found in the fruit of the Spirit are gathered together to be nourished at the breast of peace. It confirms our present faith in Jesus Christ and our resting in His bloody sacrifice for sin. Unbelievers cannot do that and it is folly (or worse) to tell them they can. In fact the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 11 explicitly warns against it for a physical as well as a spiritual penalty comes towards those who eat and drink unworthily.
That which the ancients declaimed as cannibalism we profess as a blessed feasting on the Savior of souls. We do what we do in the congregation of the faithful so that we might not only grow in strength by our spiritual union with the Lord in the act, but so that all may know that we as a people have no other hope in this life but the assurance offered in Christ Jesus our High Priest, slain for our benefit.
It’s such a beautiful and wonderful work which we take seriously for what it represents and what it does for us by the Triune God.
Here are the Catechism questions for this week:
Q. 96. What is the Lord’s supper?
A. The Lord’s supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giv­ing and receiving bread and wine according to Christ’s ap­pointment, his death is shewed forth; and the worthy re­ceivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his bene­fits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.
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When it comes to the sacraments there are a few things necessary, including faith, to bring the full measure to bear on your soul. First of all you need to have a lawfully called minister of the gospel applying the visible signs of God’s covenant blessings. This year at Synod the ARP Church made it clear in a change made to our Directory of Public Worship that you can’t do Zoom/online communion. The same could be said for worship itself. It’s not something you can do by yourself no matter how many people are online with you.

As has been the case from when we was back in the single digits of the catechism our Westminster Divines have taken one part of the previous question and have begun to expand on it as we get into the next-to-last section which will cover the sacraments of the Church. Thankfully we don’t have to worry about defining “sacrament” since Q. 92 below does it for us. The key thing to take at this point is that there are ways that God has made to help us grow in grace and we need to be careful not to be wiser than the Lord. As is noted there are only two. Not seven as Rome might think, and not thousands like evangelicalism would conjure up in their never-ending desire to find something new.
In the catechism lesson today we are going to talk about what makes a sacrament a sacrament and why this matters. Here are the Q/A’s for this week:
Q. 91. How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation?
A. The sacraments become effectual means of salva­tion, not from any virtue in them, or in him that doth ad­minister them; but only by the blessing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit in them that by faith receive them.
 Q. 92. What is a sacrament?
 A. A sacrament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ; where­in, by sensible signs, Christ, and the bene­fits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and ap­plied to believers.
Q. 93. Which are the sacraments of the New Testa­ment?
A. The sacraments of the New Testament are: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
The first thing that we read above is that as with all things what really matters is Jesus. It’s not the water, the cup, or the bread or even the minister (though all are necessary in their own way). If Christ is not in it then it’s worth about as much as a freezer in the Arctic. However, if the Church takes from that idea that it doesn’t really matter how we go about accomplishing the sacrament as long as we ask the Lord to be a part of it then we’ve lost the plot at some point in time.
Isaiah the prophet speaks at length about the reasons why God has refused to accept the sacrifices of Israel. He makes it clear that it stinketh the nostrils of Jehovah because they are neither offered in faith nor in the manner described in the law. If Israel wants Him to take notice and give the promise contained therein then they best get to:
…[seeking] Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching God.”
Remember last week when we talked about our need to be diligent with the means of grace found in the Scriptures?
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We desire power. Authority. The right to determine that which is good and holy. Problem is that this belongs to One, the One. Try as we may to rest it from Him it’s like a short man trying to punch a tall man. As long as the reach factor exists the vertically challenged individual will never get close enough to strike.

A common theme which has run through Jehovah’s warnings to Israel in our Sunday morning sermon series through the closing word from Moses in Deuteronomy is that there is no other living Deity than the one true and living God. In a sense these curses are based off the great Shema found back in Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear O Israel, the LORD your God is One. The challenge He makes to His covenant people is that are they going to live and move and have their being based on their relationship to the Creator of Heaven and Earth or are they going to create gods for themselves based off of their fleshly desires and wants? To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, there is no alternative. You will either serve Mammon or God.
As we’ve heard each of the promises of death and destruction we’ve noticed that they perfectly parallel each of the beatitudes that came at the beginning of the sermon. We all want peace. How we get there is going to be God’s way, or no way. In other words if we think that we can discern a path towards that goal which looks different than what is laid out for us in the Scriptures than we are fooling ourselves, and the Lord will give us over to the natural consequences of our desires. That is one of the reasons why the picture of the false gods given for example in Isaiah 46 is of man-made objects of stone and wood. The power and authority of Dagon in 1 Samuel 5 is based off the willingness of his priests to put him back together. The strength of Ahab exists as long as Jezebel endorses him and supports his rule.
The prophets of Israel were known to mock and deride the obvious ridiculousness of placing one’s faith in false idols, Elijah’s words at Mount Carmel probably the most well-known. Yet probably the most effecting example is Isaiah’s in Chapter 44 of his book. There we have a guy who is a lumberjack of some sorts who happens to be done with work one day. He has been raising up this pine from seed and it being ready for the harvest he cuts it down. Dispensing with part of it for one reason or another he then makes a fire, readies some food, and while waiting for it all to be prepared picks up a portion of the leftover wood and begins to carve an idol. What he does next is astonishing to the man with ears to hear.
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When God makes a vow we have no reason to ever doubt His word. It is sure and without fail. That’s really what perseverance is all about. The deep knowledge that when the Lord has elected us before the foundation of the world to be His covenant people, He has fashioned a vessel of mercy to carry about in it the righteousness of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. It’s such a gift that is beyond compare.

Over the past five months we’ve been walking through T.U.L.I.P. on Sunday nights at Bethany. Now, for those of you who may not know what that means it is an acrostic which spells out some of the basics of the Reformed faith. Those things that we believe about our redemption purchased by Christ. How we came to be in need of it, and the way that God has provided an answer for it. As an aside we’d love for you to join our merry little band on the Lord’s Day evening for this time of growing in faith together through the fellowship of the saints. One of the benefits of that second service is that it allows us to close the Sabbath with a word of reminder of God’s grace and love for His people, a booster if you will to get us ready for the week that is to come. But we’re not going to talk specifically about evening praise in this morning’s prayer and worship help. I want to go back to that whole T.U.L.I.P. thing for a second.
The “P” is what we are on now, and it represents the Perseverance of the Saints. First of all I am thankful for the little red squiggly line that appears in Microsoft Word, because for reasons unknown to me the word Perseverance is in the list of words, like pharaoh or irregular that I misspell all the time. I guess I just need to persevere until I get it right. But seriously, for the Christian outside of God’s sovereign election, Jesus’s atoning death for dead sinners, and the Lord’s gracious grant of faith the reality is nothing is more important for the believer than to be reminded that when we are told that our Redeemer has provided eternal life for His people we are to understand that the word eternal means what it says.
When Jehovah makes a promise we have the assurance that He will do it. Part of the witness of the Book of Hosea is to illustrate this truth. In the third chapter of that portion of Holy Scripture we see the prophet say, “And I said to her, ‘You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.’” There is a clear exposition of what we mean when we talk about the doctrine of perseverance. Remember the situation in Hosea. He has taken Gomer, a loose woman, a prostitute, to be his lawfully wedded wife. She is depraved, a sinner, ungodly, but he has taken her on as his own flesh and blood, in accordance with Genesis 2 and Matthew 19.
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Whenever the catechism speaks of a saving grace it means that the subject under consideration is a fully orbed gift from above. The Lord in His love for you has not only given the means for sanctification, our being renewed in the image of Jesus, but He has granted to you the ammunition to keep killing sin like Rambo in a southeastern Asian triple-canopy jungle. 

This week in our catechism time we only have one question to look at, and this will be true for our next lesson as well. In this part of the SC we are in the midst of talking about what it means to believe in Jesus, and how we are to follow Him as His disciples. Not only that, but specifically how that hope goes about affecting every area of our lives. The writing out of the Ten Commandments and all the implications they touch on is meant to encourage us to consider the way we are living and walking in light on the glorious work of our Trinitarian salvation won unto us by the decree of the Father, the work of the Son, and the application of it all by the Holy Spirit. Jesus speaks more about the fruit born of redemption than just about any other topic.
Believers ought to have no problem understanding that when we confess Christ as our Lord and Savior that this is not a one-time event. At least, they shouldn’t. However, many cultural Christians have this idea that as long as they get baptized, sign a card, say the magic words “I believe in Jesus” that whatever they do after that is immaterial. They said it publicly, or at least intimated it by attendance at a church building for a while. Maybe even their name is still on the register as a member somewhere, that ought to be enough to get into Heaven. Right? Well, no. Our Redeemer is pretty clear that if there is no fruit which follows faith than there is no there, there. As the old saying goes you are no more a Christian by taking up space in a pew than you are a car by sitting in a garage. If there is anything that drives unbelievers away from considering the truth claims of the Christian religion its false confessors who deny its power. Why should they want to be a Believer if it apparently makes no change in the lives of the people they meet?
We need to understand that if you have truly placed your trust in the Son of the Living God than you’ve entered into a citizenship in a new kingdom which has with it new responsibilities, well not so much new as in never before seen, but in the sense of a fresh relationship to the person and work of God, especially in His commandments. No longer do they have the ability to kill you dead, and no longer do you desire to be saved by them. To expand on that a little we see this language of new meaning new to you in the Psalms for example when the Psalmist in Psalm 96 uses the term new song.
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We unnecessarily cause anguish and further strengthen the hold of the devil on our hearts by heeding his wish that we forget the promises our holy and righteous God has made to us, His special people in the Covenant of Grace. He has made a claim on your mind and soul. Rest and trust in His attributes and the assurance of His word. For in it is power to handle even the hardest of trials. The gospel is always the answer for our troubles.

The Puritans are blamed for everything from burning witches to being the original no fun police, but the reality is far from that caricature. Largely they were men engaged in the hard work of reconciling the Church of England of the 17th century with the teachings of Holy Scripture, who saw in the Lord Jesus Christ the sweet savor of life itself. Nothing in their mind compared with what was revealed unto them by the Holy Spirit about what the Redeemer had done, and was doing, in their hearts and souls through grace. They were in many ways mesmerized by the bounty of salvation. It was to them like the richest chocolate cake, melt-in-your-mouth barbeque pork, or a Tony’s shake (without the lid). One of my favorite Puritan writers is Jeremiah Burroughs. He was a member of the Westminster Assembly, and an assistant to another of my personal heroes, Edmund Calamy. He in many ways writes the clearest on dealing with suffering and the way to find hope in the midst of trial. For today’s prayer and worship help I want to start us off with a quote of his in order to help us think about how best to handle those dark providences in the power of the Lord’s grace and mercy. Here is the word:
Ordinarily when we are burdened with outward afflictions, we only think of natural helps and comforts. Whereas the way for us to sanctify God’s name, to do what is acceptable to God when any outward affliction comes, is to exercise our faith in the great promise of God in Jesus Christ, upon the great Covenant of Grace that God has made with us in him.
Burroughs’ point here is pretty straight-forward. The unfortunate reality is when we are drawn low our first recourse is often to what he calls “natural helps”, those things which are material, whether they be destructive like the bottle, or innocuous like binge-watching the Office or whatever. We get back from a difficult day at work, run to a different part of the house after a hard discussion with a spouse, or just try and find a quiet place to be alone, and what is our first move? To doom scroll the phone searching for a meme or a distraction. In any of these cases why is it a problem in the eyes of someone like Burroughs? What’s wrong with just spacing out and forgetting for a moment? Or more importantly what does the Bible have to say that might echo the concern of this godly pastor?
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If we are speaking about another brother or sister in Christ remember that Jesus died for them, as much as you. Honor them in light of that mercy. There is nothing that destroys the Church more than the childish garbage of holding grudges and feelings of anger and jealousy towards others in your local congregation.

We’re almost done with the Ten Commandments. Only two left! In some ways out of all the laws of God summarized in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 the call to not bear false witness has some of the most sticky wickets of all Biblical ethics, it also has some of the most pointed toe-stepping of all the statutes of the LORD. For example, the most common question posed here is was it acceptable for the Dutch man to hide Jews in his attic and lie to the Nazi’s about their presence. It’s a hard one, because bearing false witness is a sin. However, deeper in the midst of the answer is does that SS officer deserve the truth? We’ll get to that here in a minute. Before we go further here are the catechism Q/A’s for this week:
Q. 76. Which is the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Q. 77. What is required in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment requires the maintain­ing and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbor’s good name, espe­cially in witness bearing.
Q. 78. What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment forbids whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or in­jurious to our own or our neighbor’s good name.
The Ninth is in some sense a corollary to the 3rd commandment, the only difference is this deals with not using your own or your neighbor’s name in vain. While we mainly think of “bearing false witness” as to having to do with court rooms, it really is much more about how we treat one another in truth. People made in the image of God are of value and are worth honor and respect. That dignity is not based on how much you like that person or grounded in the way they have acted toward you. In fact as a Christian if John or Mary does nothing but create disorder and cause trouble it is ever more the reason to not return evil for evil. We are to turn the other cheek, especially against our “enemies”. Christ’s Golden Rule applies to the worst individual you know. To pass blame for your sin to someone else is demonic. That’s what Adam does to Eve in Genesis 3. Doing well to those who mean wrong toward you is part of your witness of the gospel in real life. We expect the world to act like the world. Believers must be above that nonsense.
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A heart of thanksgiving is always looking for ways to help others, as well as understanding in humility the temporality of the world. Selfishness is the opposite of Christian character. Arrogantly assuming the earth was made for your pleasure and that you have a right to all regardless of who or what gets in the way is sign number one that you are breaking the 8th Commandment.

I don’t mean to take away from your time doing other things (an 8th Commandment joke), but this week we are going talk about the sin of theft. While financial resources are no question the main focus of the law there is a lot more going on here than just that. Let’s look at the Catechism questions for further clarification:
Q. 73. Which is the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.
Q. 74. What is required in the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment requires the lawful pro­curing and furthering the wealth and outward estate of our­selves and others.
Q. 75. What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment forbids whatsoever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbor’s wealth or outward estate.
As noted wealth is of course an important thing when it comes to being obedient on this point. However, that which constitutes wealth encompasses matters like land, material goods, and even family heritage. As an example, taking care that the Gospel which we have received from our forefathers is properly preached and taught is a matter of the 8th Commandment. We have no right to steal from future generations the words of life, in fact in the Old Testament the prophets will call out false teachers in this particular way, of taking from the people under their care what Jehovah had provided in His word. Central to this statute is remembering our relationship to reality as it is, and who it is that has made all things for His glory. As stewards of God’s creation we are neither to make new nor go on our own way.
The call of the Israelites to procure the country then owned by the Canaanites is placed in terms of gaining property which belongs to the LORD. In other words they are reclaiming something God had set aside for His covenant people through the promises made to Abraham. In Leviticus 25 as the year of Jubilee is laid out one of the consequences of the law was to see any land which had been sold should be returned to the family it was originally owned by. The reasoning behind this kind of idea is made clear in v.23-24, “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.” When we read that the whole concept is quite foreign to us. Especially since several folks in our church live on grants given to their forefathers by the last king of America, George III. However, unlike the English sovereign whose ownership was temporary, the proprietorship of the land of God never changes.
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If you go and read Paul’s letters to Thessalonica (and other places) there is more spoken about the way their mutual love for him had encouraged him than any other thing they had done. For the Apostle there was always a desire to be physically present with the men and women of the local church. He is constantly hoping to go to places and see believers he had never met before. A kind of spiritual wanderlust motivated much of Paul’s missionary labors. It is worth asking the question about where this came from. Why did he think it so important, and needed, for his own well-being?

Of all people Christians should be the most concerned about personal piety. That word can be defined in many ways, but it simply means our interest in Jesus, and how we go about cultivating that faith. Lots of folks are involved in spiritual programs designed to make them better people. Yet, the follower of Christ’s way should look different both in the why we seek to be holy, and how we go about it. Our desire is not for an ever-changing scheme, but being grounded in the simplicity of the Christian faith. We should always be hopeful in answering any questions about what we believe, especially about why we do what we do. How we put that belief into practice in real life, not in our false conceptions of reality, but as things really are should be a straight-forward thing. However, that isn’t always the case for many. A false conception of their place in the Kingdom is belied by their lack of focus on a proper answer. That comes from a lack of interest in developing a right relationship with the Redeemer. Being a “God-fearer” is not sufficient, as James notes even the Devil is aware the Lord exists, that Jesus came to save sinners, and in that he still trembles. For a lively faith there needs to be some fruitful proof to our spiritual pudding. Nominal belief is a damnable offense against Jehovah God.
The Puritan Jonathan Dickinson says this:
Christianity consists not merely in speculation, but in practice. We must not only give our assent to the truth of the gospel, but give up our hearts to Christ. The faith which He requires is not a slight superficial belief that He is the Redeemer of mankind, but such a faith as will form us into subjection and obedience to Himself. 
In our worship and prayer help today we are going to think more deeply about our walk with Christ and how we can improve our desire to seek holiness. The reason this matters in the eyes of the Lord is that the goal of sanctification which begins in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit is a non-negotiable in the Christian life. We are to be consistently and regularly dying to self and living to Jesus. A soul who regards the process of being made more like our Redeemer with a nonchalance gives rise to a concern that there is something seriously wrong, eternally so.
In our sermon this past Lord’s Day we heard this from Moses, “This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.” There I highlighted that word “careful”. We’re watchful over the things that matter to us. If you are moved by this question then I have good news for you. God has granted a way to help in the fight.
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Regardless of which category we fall into the first issue at hand is what do we do with the place the Lord has granted to us in His purpose. If we are a Superior are we encouraging biblical fidelity among those in our purview? If not we are sinning against them. John Flavel in his commentary explicitly warns ministers of the gospel that they are to be feeding their sheep with the wholesome food of Christ, to be “full of bowels of tender affection to them”, and to walk with them in holiness and truth. Those principles can be expanded both to parents and to even the civil magistrate.

We’re going to go directly to the Q/A’s this week as we continue to look at the first statute of the second table of the law. While it may seem arbitrary to divide the first four from the last six it is a Biblical idea. (Deut. 4:13). To think more clearly about what this is meant to teach us the Puritan Thomas Watson shows us how to approach these rules with a spiritual mindset:
The first table respects God and is the top of the ladder that reaches to heaven; the second respects superiors and inferiors, and is the foot of the ladder that rests on the earth. By the first table, we walk religiously towards God; by the second, we walk religiously towards man. He cannot be good in the first table that is bad in the second.
We are not to act as if one portion of the law is more important than another. Each part is meant to build upon the one before and assist the following of all of the commandments. We are called by Christ to love all of His commandments.
As with the First, Second, and Third commandments the Fifth is divided into four parts. This morning we are on the “back half” describing what is not allowed and what may need some more explanation. Here are the catechism questions:
Q. 65. What is forbidden in the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment forbids the neglecting of, or doing anything against, the honors and duty which belongs to every one in their several places and relations.
 Q. 66. What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?
A. The reason annexed to the fifth commandment, is a promise of long life and prosperity (as far as it shall serve for God’s glory and their own good) to all such as keep this com­mandment.
James Fisher was one of our forefathers in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. A blessing that he has bequeathed to us is a very helpful commentary on the Shorter Catechism. In his exposition of the fifth commandment there is a series of Q/A’s that I want to bring forward to help us better understand what we are talking about when it comes to Superiors, Inferiors, and Equals. As noted last week we live in an egalitarian age. People are wired by society to scoff at any idea of a stratified society, for some good reasons to be sure. The way class-consciousness has been used in the past by secular forces has led to chattel slavery, hard castes, and other sinful activities.
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