Worship
for the Lord’s Day
October
11, 2020
Both congregations,
Olivet Presbyterian Church (9:45am) and Bethesda United Presbyterian Church
(11:15am) are now open for in person corporate worship beginning this
Sunday. For those of you who will continue
to worship from home, our service has changed a bit for the in-person corporate
worship service, but we’ll continue to provide you a similar experience here,
on-line.
Let’s begin:
Prelude L. Bottazzo C Major
Call to Worship
Lord of All, we call
upon You this day to open our hearts to Your love, our ears to Your words, our
eyes to see the needs of those both near and far, and our spirits to do Your
will. Be with us and give us courage and
inspiration for the future of Your world, O Lord. AMEN.
Hymn Spirit of the Living God
Prayer of Confession
God of mercy, in our impatience for answers, we
sometimes turn to idols of our own making and forget our covenant with You. Passionate for what is right, we wrong those
with whom we differ. Pleased at the
invitation to Your banquet, we fail to arrive with humility and thanksgiving. Forgive us when our faith is weak and our
zeal too strong. In Jesus' name we pray. (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Words of Assurance
Do not worry; the Lord
is near. God hears our prayers with
compassion and with abundant, steadfast love.
Rejoice, for in the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! AMEN.
Affirmation of Faith –
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God the
Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son
our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended
into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall
come to judge the quick and the dead. I
believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life
everlasting. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer:
(Continued prayers for
all those affected by the Coronavirus, for our schools, for our national
leaders. We also pray for those affected
by the recent hurricanes and the wildfires that have damaged so much.)
O God, our strength and
our shield, we worship You in the grandeur of the created world and our place
in it. You have created us to till and
keep Your garden and we thank you for the privilege of being stewards of all
that You created. As we sing and worship, make us mindful of the
perfection in which the world was created.
As it is in our power, make us agents of reconciliation. Make us people who not only speak words of
peace; make us peaceful people. Make us
people who not only speak words of hope; make us hope-filled people. Make us people who not only speak words of
love; make us loving people.
As we hear the words of
life in Scripture, song, and sermon, may the seed of the gospel take root in
our lives and may we be the people You created us to be.
Heavenly Lord, we seek
answers to life’s most difficult questions in praise and honor of Your holy name. Know that our questions come with great
wonder and awe at who You are and whose we are.
In our journeys to find the right path for each of us, we have stumbled
and fallen, risen and been renewed. In
those journeys we have found treacherous paths to Today we name loved ones and
cherished friends that are currently in need of unobstructed paths, smoother
waters and calmer seas.
We pray for…
In this time of silence
hear also the words and meditations of our hearts.
We ask these things in
the name of Jesus Christ our Savior
who taught us to pray saying; Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be
Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give
us this day our daily bread. Forgive us
our debts as we forgive our debtors. And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn Precious Lord, Take My Hand
Scripture Readings
Old Testament: Exodus 32:1-14
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the
mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods
for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up
out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2Aaron
said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your
sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3So all
the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to
Aaron. 4He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an
image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you
up out of the land of Egypt!” 5When
Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and
said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” 6They
rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of
well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.
7The Lord said to Moses, “Go down
at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted
perversely; 8they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded
them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it
and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you
up out of the land of Egypt!< 9The Lord said to
Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10Now let
me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them;
and of you I will make a great nation.” 11But Moses
implored the Lord his
God, and said, “O Lord,
why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the
land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why
should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to
kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’?
Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your
people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you
swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your
descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I
will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’“ 14And
the Lord changed
his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
New Testament: Philippians 4:1-9
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for,
my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. 2I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in
the Lord. 3Yes, and I ask
you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside
me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my
co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. 4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is
commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of
praise, think about these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Sermon – Just like the hymns, you can click on the
sermon title to hear/watch a video of today’s sermon via YouTube.
Rejoice!
(based on Philippians 4:1-9)
Philippians is one of my favorite
books in the Bible. It is very poetic in
its wording and concise in its meaning.
One of the main concepts this section of Philippians teaches us is that:
Joy is more than an emotion. The
apostle Paul tells us, "Rejoice in the Lord!" and just in case we
didn't get it the first time, he repeats it; “Again, I say, rejoice!” He
doesn't tell us that it would be nice if we rejoiced, or that it would be a
really good idea, or that he would suggest that we rejoice, or that we should
take a seminar in learning how to rejoice. He says, "just do it!" Being full of joy is an obligation. We must do it, we must have joy in our lives,
to see the world through joyful eyes.
Rejoicing should be the normal course of our everyday lives. We should view rejoicing in the same way as
we view the biblical instructions to love one another, to tell the truth, to
refrain from gossip and to respect life.
Joy is a
mindset rather than a particular set of circumstances.
The attitude of rejoicing is something that we can control. We can choose to live life joyfully! Another
word that is often paired with joy is happiness, but there is a difference
between these two words. Happiness is
tied to our circumstances. We are happy when things go well, when we get
a promotion, when we know success. But
happiness can disappear when life gets difficult: when illness comes, when
burdens seem to shape our everyday existence, when someone we love dies, when
we face an unpleasant task, when we have to confront conflict. We don’t really like those times and we’ll
often say, "I'm not happy about this".
Joy, however, is different from
happiness. Joy isn’t an emotional feeling, it’s an attitude. It’s an approach to life rather than a
reaction to life. It’s the lens through
which we see everything else. Joy is a
way of looking at life that’s not affected by any particular circumstances,
because circumstances change all the time.
Paul urges us to live a life of joy regardless of our
circumstances. Paul rejoiced while he
was in prison, he rejoiced as he faced possible execution, he rejoiced
even as he wrote to the church about the conflict that was taking place in the
Philippian church. Joy is independent of
our circumstances.
So, what is the secret that Paul can
face such difficulties and still rejoice?
Many people might try to create joy by learning positive thinking
techniques; by meditating; by developing a positive attitude. And
certainly these techniques are valuable, because that’s exactly what Paul tells
us to do in verses 8 and 9. Whatever is
true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, meditate on these
things. But joy is not really something
that comes primarily from a technique, it comes from something else.
Joy comes into our lives because of
our relationship with Christ. Joy comes from,
- knowing
that you are loved by God.
- knowing
that you are forgiven not because of your penance, not because you’ve
asked for it, not because you’ve suffered and paid the consequences of
your sins, but because God gave it to you as a gift.
- knowing
that no matter what happens, no matter what circumstances you might find
yourself in, that you’re going to be alright. Simply You – a soap and candle shop
right here in Elizabeth has a great mug; it says, “Not to Spoil the
ending, but everything is going to be OK.” And I think that is something
that we definitely need to keep in mind – especially this year. Some things that happen to you may not
make you happy. They may even make
you mad. But knowing that, in spite
of what terrible things might be going on right now, you are going to be
OK.
- knowing
that no matter what the world takes from you, (and sometimes the world
takes a lot), it cannot take the one that is of most value. The world can not take God away from you
and the joy that we get from God.
Joy comes from our perspective rather
than our performance. Our joy is based in our confidence in God's love for us,
God's ability to make all things well, and God's wisdom to know that we are in
God’s hands – at all times. We rejoice because we belong to God. This one fact can change the way we view
everything else.
However, having said all those
things about joy, we must confront reality.
Why is joy so elusive? We sing
the words to the Children’s Song “we have the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in our
heart" but sometimes those are only words.
We talk about rejoicing in every circumstance but sometimes joy seems
more like an infrequent visitor than a constant companion. We want to
rejoice. We envy the attitude of Paul in
his circumstances, but for some reason it’s not often our experience. We don't talk about it very often because, I
think, to do so would be to admit we have a deficiency in our Christian
living.
There’s a saying that goes something
like, “Fake it, till you make it.” But,
our goal is not pretend joy but real joy.
We can all pretend and most of us have probably gotten pretty good at
it. But that isn’t real joy. At least, not the joy that Jesus wanted us to
have and not the joy that Paul talks about having in all circumstances.
Joy cannot be produced by our own
effort. An abiding joy must come from
God's Spirit within us. And we can only
tap into that when we stop trusting ourselves and start trusting God in all
things.
So, if you find joy elusive start by
looking at where God is in your life at that moment. Have you started relying solely on your own
efforts to manage your life, or have you put your trust in God first and then
started working on your circumstances. A
really good litmus test is to ask yourself this question;
Am I following God or am I hoping that God
will follow me?
The second reason why we find joy so
elusive is because we confuse the meaning of those two words: joy and
happiness. We live in a society that
equates joy with pleasant experiences.
Do you really think that Paul enjoyed being in prison? Do you think it made him happy to have people
using his imprisonment to advance their own cause in the churches that he had
established? Do you think he was glad
about the conflict in the church at Phillipi, between the two women that he
exhorted in the first part of the passage we read? Actually, you may have missed it. It’s very short and shrouded in some mystery
for us, but to the Philippians, it was a major issue, whatever it was, between
these two matriarchs of the church, Euodia, and Syntyche, but they were in a
horrible conflict with one another. And
Paul was saddened by all these things.
I'm sure they led him at times to tears.
But, regardless of how he felt about it and the situation, he still
rejoiced.
There will be times when you are discouraged,
disappointed, hurt, emotionally exhausted and confused. That’s just part of our human condition. You will mourn when people you love die. You will ache when people you care about
suffer. These things are a part of
life. But joy allows us to put all these
things into perspective. In the midst of
painful times we still find joy in knowing that God loves us and cares for us
wrapping God’s arms around us, particularly in those moments.
I think most people miss joy because
they try to create it themselves. When we look to our activities,
other people, and even for some alcohol or drugs to bring us joy we’re not
really tapping into the source of joy.
It’s like drinking milk or having a soda or having coffee when what your
body is craving is really water. When we
rely on external things to bring us joy, we are distracted from the internal
work of God's Spirit in our lives and joy becomes more and more elusive. The harder we work to find joy the further we
drift from the joy that we’re looking for.
It's like a person who is
drowning. They need to trust the
lifeguard who comes to save them. But the more they struggle to
"save themselves" against the lifeguard, the more difficult it is for
them to be saved. Or maybe it’s like the patient in the hospital. They wake up from surgery and find tubes in
them. The more they fight the tubes and
pull at them, the longer it will be before they get better. Instinct
kicks in and says to fight against these foreign things inside us, but in this
case instinct would be wrong.
So it is with joy. Our instinct is to try to DO things to
produce joy. But we can't produce joy by
our music, methods, campfires, meditation or anything else. The harder we try
to create joy the more elusive it becomes.
Joy comes from resting not running.
It comes from trusting not working.
Paul had an eternal perspective on
life. He saw the big picture. We often focus on the now and don't see where
the now is leading. Here are just a few
examples:
- we
see trials as pain rather than as opportunities to trust God more fully
- we
see closed doors as failure rather than as God's positive guidance
pointing us toward a particular direction.
- we
see God's "no" as the meanness of a cruel parent rather than the
wisdom of a loving parent
- we
see tragedy as God's indifference rather than focusing on God's strength
that promises to get us through those difficult times.
When we have tunnel vision like that
we lose perspective. And when we lose
perspective we lose joy. We need to
learn how to view life in light of the bigger picture. Times of pain, although
no less real in the moment they are occurring, are but seconds in the light of
that bigger picture.
Do you endure the pain of a shot
from the Doctor? Of course you do
because you know that the shot will help you.
Do you endure the horrible sound of a drilling Dentist? Yes, if you must. You don't enjoy it at the time but you know
that the pain of the present is necessary for your comfort in the future. And that is the perspective we need to take
on life. The trials and tribulations of
this life are temporary and somehow necessary for the joy that is to
come.
AMEN.
Hymn In Christ There is No East or West
Benediction
Do what you have learned
and received and seen and heard in Christ, and the peace of God will be with
you. And may that peace, which passes
all understanding, guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.
Postlude – GJ Vogler
