Worship

Prelude: Karen Holl, Organist

Gathering Song: HOW DEEP THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US

How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss the Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the Chosen One bring many sons to glory

 Behold the Man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom

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Call to Worship: (Psalm 34 excerpts)

One: I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

All: I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

One: Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.

All: I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

One: Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

All: Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

One: Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.

All: Let us worship God!

BLESSED ASSURANCE, JESUS IS MINE! (341)

Prayer of Confession & Assurance of Forgiveness:

All: O Lord, as long as I am apart from you, I am self-satisfied, because I have no standard by which to measure my low stature. But when I come near to you, there for the first time I see myself. In your light, I behold my darkness. In your purity, I behold my corruption. My very confession of sin is the fruit of holiness. Oh! Divine Man, let me gaze on you more and more until, in the vision of your brightness, I loathe the sight of my impurity; until, in the blaze of that glory which human eye has not seen, I fall prostrate, blinded, broken, to rise again a new man in you. Amen.

One: Let us praise God for his forgiveness with these words from Ephesians 1:

All: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.

(from “Day 9,” O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, ed. Jonathan Gibson; quoting George Matheson and Ephesians 1:3-7)

First Scripture Lesson: Matthew 5:13-16 (p.958)

Prayers of the People & THE LORD’S PRAYER (p.16)

JESUS, THY BOUNDLESS LOVE TO ME (366)

Sermon: “Holy People”              Scripture: 1 Peter 2:9-25 (p.1201)

Closing Hymn: HOLY SPIRIT, TRUTH DIVINE (321)          

Benediction

• How does living as a holy people make us like salt and light?
• How and why does God make us “a holy nation?”
• How does holiness make us like foreigners and exiles?
• How should others respond to our holiness? How, in your experience, do they respond to holiness?
• How does holiness play out in our relationship to both governing and employing authorities? How does Christ set us an example in these areas?

For meditation: “For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.”

From the Epistle of Diognetus writing around the year 130