Today we have our joint worship service at Olivet Presbyterian Church in West Elizabeth at 9:45am
Worship
Service for September 1, 2024
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: Every generous act of giving for the
purpose of helping others is a tribute to God’s love for us.
P: Lord, let us be people of generous and
abundant gifts for others.
L: Be ready to listen and slow to react in
anger.
P: Lord, prepare us to be peaceful people.
L: Keep your hearts and spirits ready to
serve the Lord.
P: Lord, open our hearts to hear and respond
to Your words of life in ministries of hope and peace. AMEN.
Opening Hymn – All People That
On Earth Do Dwell #220 Blue 4vs.
Prayer of Confession
God of mercy, You know us so
well. We like to think that we can hide
from You, but we are just kidding ourselves.
You have offered to us new life, characterized by honesty, compassion,
joy, and peace. You have invited us into
ministries of peace and justice; but we have far too often turned our backs on
opportunities for service and witness to Your transformational love. Forgive us for our stubbornness. Help us to turn around and listen to Your
words of hope. Remind us again that You
require compassion and mercy in all who serve You; that You will guide our
steps and our lives. Give us courage to
truly be Your witnesses in this world. (Silent
prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Even if you have done what you know to be
wrong, and continue to do that which is wrong, remember that God will heal and
forgive you. Sometimes it takes tiny steps,
sometimes we can take leaps in our progress.
P: Each day we are made new, reflecting the
love of God. We will be at peace and
accept God’s gracious gift of forgiveness.
Thanks be to God. AMEN!!
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Hymn – I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord #441/405 Blue/Brown
Scripture Reading:
First Scripture Reading – Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Second Scripture Reading – James
1:17-27
Sermon
Be Doers of the Word
(based on James 1:17-27)
We all know how important it is to follow the directions when we
need to take a medication. If we’re
sick, it doesn’t help for us to go to a doctor, get a prescription, listen to
how we are to take it, but then just put it on the shelf and forget about
it. That’s not going to help
anything. Now, before I hear anyone tell
us about their personal story regarding taking a particular medication and it
not working, let me just say; of course, each person is different and
medication affects all of us differently, so we need to try it and see if it’s
going to work. Sometimes, what was
prescribed by the doctor doesn’t work with our individual bodies and we need
something different. But, my point is
that not taking the medicine at all, just sitting it in the cabinet in the
bathroom isn’t doing anyone any good. If
we’re going to get better, we need to trust that the medicine will do what the
doctor promises, follow the directions and take our medication. Yes, I admit that sometimes that medication
needs to be tweaked for individuals.
But, in all honesty, the doctor and/or pharmacist know a whole lot more
about medicines than you or I do, even if we’re really good at doing Google
searches.
So, when it comes to medicine, it makes sense to both listen and
do. It’s the same for us as followers of Christ. One of my greatest disappointments as a
pastor is that it can be easy for us to turn up to worship, hear the message,
thank the pastor for the message at the door, but nothing really changes in
peoples’ lives after that. I have
actually had a couple of people tell me over the years of my ministry that they
don’t want to think too much or be challenged in their faith. All they want is to come to church and hear a
nice sermon. I’m not even sure I know
what that means – to preach a nice sermon.
That’s why James’ words about not just listening to God’s word
but doing what it says are so important for every one of us. We all carry an inner rebellion against God;
it’s simply who we are as a result of Adam and Eve’s original sin. We carry that sin with us. It’s part of our DNA. While it may not be popular to talk about sin
in our contemporary Western culture, the reality is we’re all suffering from
the effects of sin in our lives in one way or another. We all suffer from broken relationships, illness,
death, greed and all other kinds of sins that James lists in this passage. They come from carrying sin in us like an
infection that we can’t get rid of.
However, like a medication prescribed to give us health and
life, God’s word is the remedy. Every
story in the Bible, from the creation of the world in Genesis 1, to the death
and resurrection of Jesus, to the fulfilment of God’s salvation in Revelation,
points us to a God who brings light and life to the world and everything in it
through God’s amazing word. The center
of these stories, our relationship to God and our redemption in Christ, makes
new life possible, giving us the gift of freedom from those maladies and
salvation to eternal life. The good news
of Jesus’ death and resurrection is God’s way of giving us healing, wholeness
and life in a similar way that medication gives us healing, wholeness and life
when we face a specific illness. That’s
why James writes that God’s word has the power to save us. God’s word isn’t just information about God,
it isn’t an encyclopedia of information or a Wikipedia entry. The word of God itself, manifest in the power
of God to heal us from sin and give us life that is stronger than death.
If God’s medication for our condition is the good news of Jesus,
then his directions for taking that medication is faith. One of the mistakes we can make is to think
that God’s word is a long set of moral rules and ethical commands, and that
doing what the word says means keeping all these rules. Instead, the directions Jesus gives us is to
trust the good news of his sin-conquering, life-giving love. That’s it.
The rest of the Bible tells us what this faith looks like, and how it
can make a difference in our lives and the lives of the people around us.
There is a bit more to it than that, however. If we listen to James’ words about being both
hearers and doers of God’s word from this perspective, we can understand them
saying that it is vital that we not only hear the good news of Jesus’ death and
resurrection for us, but that we live them as well. That we live a life like the Scriptures, the
Good News in Christ, are actually true.
So, when we find God’s love in the gospel and we hear about it,
we also then have to do God’s love.
‘Doing the word’ means loving others, even when that might be very
difficult or we don’t think that they deserve it. When we encounter God’s grace and hear about
it, we also have to do God’s grace.
‘Doing the word’ means being grace-filled in our relationships with
others. When we experience God’s mercy,
forgiveness and peace in the gospel, and hear about it, we also have to do
God’s mercy, forgiveness, and peace.
‘Doing the word’ means being merciful towards everyone, forgiving those
who have done something bad to you, forgiving yourself for having let other’s
down, and being peacemakers towards everyone we meet. Following Jesus isn’t just about finding his
goodness for ourselves. Being ‘doers of his word’ means extending the goodness
of God we find in Jesus towards everyone in our lives through all we do and
say.
This week, I want to challenge you to be hearers as well as
doers of God’s word in your lives. If
you’re not a regular reader of the Bible, doing God’s word might start with
making time each day to listen to the good news God wants to speak into your
life. It really doesn’t matter how we’re
reading our Bibles. What’s important is
that we’re listening for God’s promises of grace, love, forgiveness and new
life in God’s word for ourselves. If
you really don’t know where to start, start with some of the basic intro videos
on RightNow Media. I’ve highlighted some
of them in our past newsletter and have included new ones this month. If you need help doing that or not even sure
where to start in just reading Scripture, let me know and I’ll be happy to
help.
Being a doer of God’s word might also mean praying
regularly. Prayer is an important part
of doing the word. We can also ‘do the
word’ by being ‘quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry’. Having grown with one parent who had no
filter, at all (and still doesn’t) and another who wouldn’t even tell you what
they thought if you threatened violence against them, I know this isn’t
easy. You might want to practice this
during the week by listening more than talking in your conversations with others. Try it and see what a difference it can
make. Or, if you’re looking for a more
serious challenge, listen to what Jesus says about telling the difference
between our human traditions in the church and God’s commands from Mark 7:6,
“Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, This people
honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they
worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.” Imagine how it might look if we prioritized
what God wants over what we want for our church.
In whatever ways we endeavor to be doers as well as listeners of
God’s word, what is essential is that they are acts of faith in God’s
life-giving love for us in Jesus, not attempts to try to achieve God’s
love. That love is already given to us.
The medication, God’s remedy for the maladies of sin in our
lives, is already ours as an act of grace from the God who loves us. We wouldn’t receive medicine from a doctor
and leave it on the shelf. We’d follow
the directions so that it can make us healthy and whole again. In the same way, we can’t just listen to the
word of God that gives life and then do nothing with it. That doesn’t help anyone. By being doers of the word, listening to
God’s promises and living like they are true, extending God’s grace and love to
others by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, we can find healing, wholeness and a
life that is stronger than death.
Thanks be to God. AMEN
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
Closing
Hymn – I Have Decided to Follow Jesus #602
Brown
Benediction –
Postlude
No comments:
Post a Comment