Worship Preparation Guide for Sunday, December 20

Worship Preparation Guide for Sunday, December 20

As you prepare for worship this week, consider the One that we come to worship; the One who’s coming we celebrate.  In his book Isaiah By The Day, Alex Motyer writes, “So great was the baby, so mighty in prospect, so completely sufficient for every need, that what he would accomplish could be spoken of as already achieved there and then by his birth.  He is, in himself, all that his people need: the ‘wonderful counselor’, supernatural in wisdom; God himself come in victorious power, ever fatherly in care; the Prince-administrator of total wellbeing which the Bible call peace.  This is Jesus, who “from God’ is ‘for us wisdom……righteousness, sanctification and redemption’ (I Cor 1:30)….” 

This Sunday we will light the forth candle in our Advent wreath.  It is called the Angels' candle.  It reminds us of the hope fulfilled in the first coming of our Savior and of our continuing hope as we anticipate His coming again.  In the Bible angels are God’s heavenly messengers, often striking fear into the hearts of those who see and hear them.  They are heavenly beings created by God and are constantly before Him worshipping and serving as he desires.  They come to earth at God’s command, carrying God’s message. Sometimes that message is one of judgment.  Other times it is a message of deliverance.  It is this message of salvation that they brought first Zechariah and Elizabeth, then to Joseph and Mary, and then to the shepherds in their fields. 

The message of the angels is God’s good news to us as well: Rejoice!  God has sent you a Savior who is Christ the Lord!  And in his coming He has opened heaven’s door.  In his coming he has shown us the way.  In his coming he has made a way.  Jesus is the way! He was born to save. 

Emmanuel – God with us!  All that the Old Testament looked forward to is found in Christ.  All that was pictured in the tabernacle, God’s presence with his people -  is realized in this baby who was born in Bethlehem.   He left the splendor of heaven to be born in the most humble of places.  His coming was announced to most humble of people – lowly shepherds.  His coming was celebrated by the most educated of his day  - wise men for distant lands.  And we too are invited to celebrate his coming – to marvel at the mystery of Emmanuel – God with us; to come into his presence and be in awe; to come into his presence and be transformed; to come into his presence and be loved.  We are invited to come into his presence to worship. 

This Sunday we will again sing Isaac Watt’s Joy To The World.  The hymn is based on Psalm 98.  While the message of the hymn reminds us of Jesus’ first advent, it was written to celebrate the second coming of our Lord. 

Joy to the world! The Lord is come; 

Let earth receive her king;

Let every heart prepare him room, 

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven and nature sing, 

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

He rules the world with truth and grace, 

And makes the nations prove

The glories of his righteousness, 

And wonders of his love,

And wonders of his love, 

And wonders, wonders, of his love.

“We can learn from Joy to the World and Psalm 98 not to sentimentalize Christmas by merely seeing Christ as a helpless baby apart from His mission.  Christ our Savior must also be our Victorious Warrior and Judge.  He fulfills the psalmist’s prayer for God to “deliver me in Your righteousness” (Psalm 31:1). He “makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love” (st. 4).  He has won the bloody battle. He has put enmity between the serpent and the woman (Genesis 3:15).  “His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory” (Psalm 98:1). “God’s salvation accomplishes all that His holy righteousness requires” (J. A. Motyer).”

“Our daily and weekly worship is a foretaste of the eternal worship of the Lord before His throne, where we will for all eternity “repeat the sounding joy.” May your singing of this carol comfort and encourage you as your remember that your joy is in your Savior and Lord, who has given you the delightful duty to “repeat the sounding joy” of the “wonders of His love” now and forevermore.” http://www.ligonier.org/blog/christmas-carols-joy-world/

I look forward to seeing you in church this Sunday as we worship the Lord Who Has Come!