In this meditation I would like to invite you to a fictitious church meeting, specially called together to express its love for God by offering sacrifices of praise to Him. In this worship meeting you will find components of which we spoke in Meditations 63 to 72.
Colin, one of the leaders of the church will lead this meeting. You are most welcome to take place in this gathering of God’s family as we prepare ourselves for worship:
Colin, the leader of this meeting: Dear heavenly Father, today we gather again before Your throne to bring our sacrifice of praise to You and to Your beloved Son, Jesus the Messiah.
This day we want to acknowledge You again as the God of creation and the God of history. We want to bless You especially as the God who birthed Your people and has guided it faithfully from its early beginnings until this very day.
Yet, we know that we are not worthy to come before You. Therefore, we want to begin this service with confessing our sins. Inspired by the words of Your servant Daniel, we want to say to You: O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps Your covenant of love with all who love You and obey Your commands, every day we sin and do wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled.
So often we have turned away from Your commands and laws. We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your Name to us. Lord, you are righteous, but today again we are covered with shame because of our unfaithfulness to You.
O Lord our God, who brought long ago Your people of old out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for Yourself a Name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong.
O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, turn away Your anger and Your wrath from Your church. Our sins have often made us an object of scorn to all those around us.
Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servants. For Your sake, O Lord, look with favour on us. Give ear, O God, and hear.
We do not seek Your face because we are righteous, but because of Your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, since we bear Your Name.
Mary: Holy Father, with great gratitude we remember the words of the apostle John. He comforts us by saying that if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
David: Dear Lord Jesus, Your servant John, also wrote that if we sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defence. That is You! You are that Righteous One! You are the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
We have no words to thank You for the wonderful gift of Your precious life and for the shedding of Your blood that purifies us from all sin.
Lesley with her flute and Nicholas with his guitar play a piece of music for the Lord.
Elizabeth: Dear Father, with Your servant Moses we want to acknowledge You as the Creator of the heavens and the earth. It was Your Spirit hovering over the waters and Your living Word that brought light and life. And as You explained to us by the apostle John, Your beloved Son Jesus is that living Word through whom all things are made.
Frank: Lord Jesus, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. We are here to extol You as we recount the words of Your servant Paul:
Yes indeed, You are your Father's true image. You are the first-born over all creation. You made all the things we can see and all the things we can’t see – kings and presidents, kingdoms, empires and democracies, all rulers and authorities.
Everything has been created through You and for You. You existed before everything else began, and You hold everything in all creation together.
Carl: Yes, Lord Jesus, You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant the apostle Paul when You revealed that You are the head of the Body, Your church;
You are the beginning and the first-born from among the dead, so that You might have supremacy in everything.
Today we stand before You to honour You for all You are, for all You have done, for all You do, and for all You will do.
The congregation sings: “Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son...” (Mission Praise 689)
Colin, the leader of the meeting: Dear God, we are here today not only to confess that You are the God of all creation, we also want to praise You for the fact that You have birthed Your people as offspring from our father Abraham.
Evelyn: Yes Lord, we remember Paul’s words when he rejoiced and said: It is through faith that Abraham is the father of us all. You promised that You would make him not only the father of your ancient people Israel, but also the father of many nations.
The apostle Paul acclaims that You are the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
Without weakening in his faith, our father Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
Yet Abraham did not waver through unbelief regarding Your promise, but he was strengthened in his faith and gave You glory. He was fully persuaded that You had the power to do what You had promised to him.
Nicholas: Dear heavenly Father, You promised that in Abraham's seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And by Your Spirit, the apostle Paul explains to us that this seed would be Your beloved Son, Jesus the Messiah.
We know that all who believe in You, Lord Jesus, are the true children of Abraham. How could we ever praise You enough for such a great privilege.
Joyce plays on her harp to make music to the Lord.
Anthony: Lord Jesus, we know how You have become the seed of Abraham through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Your Spirit has revealed that to us by Your servant Paul:
You are in very nature God. Yet, You did not consider equality with Your heavenly Father something to be grasped. You made Yourself nothing.
You took the very nature of a servant. You became a man. You became one of us, but without sin.
Indeed, You were the seed of Abraham. Yet, in order to become the blessing for all the nations of the world, You had to humble Yourself even more.
You have revealed that to us by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant Paul. You humbled Yourself and became obedient to the point of death--even through death on the cross!
But because of Your obedience to death, the Father exalted You to the highest place.
He gave You the Name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and so that every tongue should confess that You are God the Son and Lord over everyone and everything.
The congregation sings: “Hail, Thou once despisèd Jesus...”
(Mission Praise 203)
Colin, the leader of the meeting: Dear Lord, today we don't only want to thank you for birthing Your people through Your faithful friend Abraham. We also stand in awe for the way You have guided Your people right from the beginning.
We thank You for Joseph and Moses. We thank You for Joshua and David and for all Your faithful prophets in Old Testament times.
How could we ever thank You enough for Mary and Joseph, for Peter and James, for John and Paul and all Your other loyal servants in New Testament times too.
We thank You for the multitude of men and women over the centuries who have faithfully served You all over the world until the present day.
We thank You for the myriad of people - throughout the history of Your church until this very day - who have denied themselves totally as they love You, taking up their cross and following You, even until death....
At this moment in the meeting many in the congregation start to thank God for men and women who have served God faithfully all over the world throughout human history. (It would go far beyond this meditation to mention all their prayers of praise and thanksgiving).
The congregation sings: “For all the saints who from their labour rest, who Thee by faith before the world confessed, Thy name, O Jesus, be for ever blest. Alleluia!...” (Mission Praise 148)
Now follows a time of petitions and supplications for those in need. God is asked for wisdom and guidance in the daily life of the congregation.
This meeting expects God’s Spirit to speak. It waits for His direction in their church’s life and service.
Colin, the leader of this worship meeting closes with the words from Ephesians 3:20-21 : “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
* * *
Some final remarks:
-- This kind of worship meeting is not restricted to an hour or two. This fictitious congregation seeks the Lord’s presence through prayer and fasting and might forget any time limit.
-- From their sacrifice of praise it is clear that the members of this fictitious congregation know God’s Word [the Bible]. They use it as a source to bless God – Father and Son – under the guidance of His Spirit. In our next meditation we will reflect on the use of God’s Word as a source of worship.
-- This congregation has some knowledge of church- and mission history, so that they are able to bless God for His work in the church and in the world.
-- The children of this fictitious congregation are already introduced to the use of God’s Word for the sacrifice of praise.
To be able to bless God for His work throughout the history of church and mission, this congregation organises courses and seminars to motivate its members for taking part in the sacrifice of praise.
-- This specific worship meeting had as theme “God’s work in creation and in the history of His church”. The following worship meeting might have a different theme to bless God.
-- Although this congregation and this worship meeting are only existing in my dreams, this sacrifice of praise is inspired by a true experience in my life.
* * *
In Meditation 66 we started to reflect on the question: How could we describe that Spirit-given sacrificial love of my church for God the Father and for His Son Jesus Christ which fulfills the first commandment? (Matthew 22:37) The first indication we mentioned was:
To love God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ whole-
heartedly as a church, means to be unconditionally and persistently devoted to our triune God in prayer.
(See Meditations 66-73)
Another indication of my church’s wholehearted love for God has to do with the place of God’s Word in the life of my church. That will be the theme for our next meditations.
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