The Final Say - 10/25/2020
Call to worship:
L: Worship the Lord with jubilant hearts -
P: Not to please one another, but to praise our God!
L: Worship the Lord with jubilant minds -
P: Not to gratify our neighbor, but to praise our God!
A: Worship the Lord with your heart, soul, and mind! Come, let us worship the Lord!
Opening Hymn: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee #89
1. Joyful, joyful, we adore thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
hearts unfold like flowers before thee,
opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
drive the dark of doubt away.
Giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day!
2. All thy works with joy surround thee,
earth and heaven reflect thy rays,
stars and angels sing around thee,
center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
flowery meadow, flashing sea,
chanting bird and flowing fountain,
call us to rejoice in thee.
3. Thou art giving and forgiving,
ever blessing, ever blest,
wellspring of the joy of living,
ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our brother,
all who live in love are thine;
teach us how to love each other,
lift us to the joy divine.
4. Mortals, join the mighty chorus
which the morning stars began;
love divine is reigning o'er us,
binding all within its span.
Ever singing, march we onward,
victors in the midst of strife;
joyful music leads us sunward,
in the triumph song of life.
Opening Prayer:
Epistle Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8
Hymn: A Mighty Fortress is Our God #110
1. A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.
2. Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth, his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.
3. And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.
4. That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours,
thru him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill;
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever.
Prayer of Dedication:
Gospel Reading: Matthew 22: 34-46
Sermon Title: The Final Say (video)
Amen!
Closing Hymn: My Hope is Built #368
1. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Refrain:
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
2. When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.
(Refrain)
3. His oath, his covenant, his blood
supports me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.
(Refrain)
4. When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found!
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne!
(Refrain)
L: Worship the Lord with jubilant hearts -
P: Not to please one another, but to praise our God!
L: Worship the Lord with jubilant minds -
P: Not to gratify our neighbor, but to praise our God!
A: Worship the Lord with your heart, soul, and mind! Come, let us worship the Lord!
Opening Hymn: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee #89
1. Joyful, joyful, we adore thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
hearts unfold like flowers before thee,
opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
drive the dark of doubt away.
Giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day!
2. All thy works with joy surround thee,
earth and heaven reflect thy rays,
stars and angels sing around thee,
center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
flowery meadow, flashing sea,
chanting bird and flowing fountain,
call us to rejoice in thee.
3. Thou art giving and forgiving,
ever blessing, ever blest,
wellspring of the joy of living,
ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our brother,
all who live in love are thine;
teach us how to love each other,
lift us to the joy divine.
4. Mortals, join the mighty chorus
which the morning stars began;
love divine is reigning o'er us,
binding all within its span.
Ever singing, march we onward,
victors in the midst of strife;
joyful music leads us sunward,
in the triumph song of life.
Opening Prayer:
O Spirit, the great commandment would have us love our God with all our being. How we try! But sometimes our hearts waver, our souls flutter, our minds wander. Hear our prayer, that we might be filled by you, and that we might fulfill – not the letter – but the Spirit of the law! Amen.
Epistle Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8
1 You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, 2 but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. 3 For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5 As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; 6 nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, 7 though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. 8 So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.
1. A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.
2. Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth, his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.
3. And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.
4. That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours,
thru him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill;
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever.
Prayer of Dedication:
Listen, God of the Universe. Listen. Hear the rhythms of creation dancing, rippling, spinning, resting, exploding among us. We are the people of creation. Listen to us.
We speak with tender voices, as a child tucked into bed for the night; and we roar out commands like the leader of an army. Father, we pray that you listen for the sincerity in our voices and the love that comes out of our hearts. Let us speak your language of love to all who will listen. Amen.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 22: 34-46
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” 41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42 “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? 45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Sermon Title: The Final Say (video)
Did you know that moms are the best debaters in the world? And my mom was one of the best out there. In fact, she could win an argument, any argument, with only four words, “Because I said so!”
In this third and final conflict scene, the religious leaders are again presented as doing “devilish testing” of Jesus, wanting to catch him in some verbal slip-up so they can get rid of him and his challenging knowledge of the scriptures.
When asked which commandment was the greatest or the most important, he quoted a passage from Deuteronomy 6: 5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” He said this to affirm that the heart is the center of a person’s will and choosing and determines what they do. He then added that the second commandment was like it in importance and quoted from Leviticus 19: 18 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Leviticus 19, the entire chapter, gives an extensive vision of a world marked by just human relations and practical care. And while he stated that the rest of the law hangs on these two commandments, quoting from the chapter that outlines and explains all of the commandments also had great meaning.
You see, Jesus had been demonstrating this same vision in his ministry and he was making a point of criticizing the religious leaders for not doing what they were supposed to be doing. Again, they were far more interested in looking holy to their friends, colleagues, and all of the “lower” people than they were in actually being holy in the sight of God.
Jesus then challenges the Pharisees with a question of his own. He asks them whose son they believe the Messiah to be. Knowing the lineage, they tell Jesus that the Messiah is the son of David; however, he corrects them by making them question why David calls the Messiah, Lord. “If David calls him Lord, how can he be his son?”
It was then that they finally understood that this man, whoever and whatever he was, knew the scriptures far better than they did and they were afraid to ask him any more questions. It was obvious to them that if they were going to get rid of him, it would not be by tricking him into misquoting scripture.
Jesus was actually challenging them to recognize himself as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. To be aware that He had been commissioned by God to manifest God’s saving grace; God’s presence and his empire and that this was all attested to by David in Psalm 110: 1 “The Lord says to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”
Jesus knew the scripture and he knew that he had the final say in what was going on here. And even though the results of the Pharisees plotting eventually led to Jesus’ crucifixion, Jesus was in control the whole time. Right up to the time when he stated, “It is finished.”
Which wasn’t really the end, but ultimately the beginning of living in His grace because of His sacrifice. And unlike my mom, Jesus didn’t have to get in anybody’s face or yell and scream. All he had to do was to tell the truth and then back it up with perfectly quoted scripture.
In our Christian lives, we know the power of God and we know the saving grace of Jesus the Christ and our mission in this life is to share that message with as many people as we possibly can. But if we go out beating people over the heads with Bibles, telling them that we have the final say, we will be ignored, rebutted, and rebuked. While doling out the good news to others, we need to remember that we can give a much better sermon with our life than we can with our lips.
The final say is God’s. We are to walk humbly and praise the Lord with everything we have.
Closing Hymn: My Hope is Built #368
1. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Refrain:
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
2. When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.
(Refrain)
3. His oath, his covenant, his blood
supports me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.
(Refrain)
4. When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found!
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne!
(Refrain)