Fifth Sunday in EasterLord’s Day Service, May 3, 2015

Christ Presbyterian ChurchPreparation for Worship: Psalm 29:10-11

The LORD sat as King at the flood; Yes, the LORD sits as King forever.The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.

Prayer of Preparation: O LORD, You and You alone are the KING over all things and Your judgments rule over all; grant strength to us, Your people, and bless us with Your peace this day; through our Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrected and ascended Lord and King. Amen.

The LORD CALLS His People to WorshipCall To WorshipP: Let us worship God, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

And also with you.

Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty, Psalm 29:1-2Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in holy array.

He is risen!He is risen indeed! Allelujah!

P: Let us pray the Collect of Purity C: Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from

whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You, and worthily magnify Your glorious Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!

The Singing of His Praise:O give to Jehovah, you sons of the Mighty

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The LORD CLEANSES His PeopleThe LORD Calls us to Repentance: Psalm 32:1-5The Confession of Sins

C: Almighty and eternal, God our Father, we confess and acknowledge that we were conceived and born in sin, and are therefore inclined to all evil and slow to all good; that we transgress Your holy commandments without ceasing, and ever more corrupt ourselves. We are sorry for the same, and beseech Your grace and help.

Wherefore have mercy upon us, most gracious and merciful God and Father, through Your Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant to us and increase in us Your Holy Spirit, that we may recognize our sin and unrighteousness from the depths of our hearts, attain true repentance and sorrow for them, die to them wholly, and please You entirely by a new and godly life. Amen

The LORD’s Declaration of His forgivenessP. Lift up your hearts! C. We lift them up to the Lord!P. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God! C. It is proper and right to do so.

The Acclamation of Praise unto the LORD

Hymn of PraisePsalm 32 C

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The LORD CONSECRATES His PeopleThe First Reading: Jeremiah 29:1-14

Reader: This is the Word of the Lord C: Thanks be to God

The Second Reading: Romans 4:1-12

Reader: This is the Word of the Lord C: Thanks be to God

Responsive Reading: Psalm 37Of David.

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!

2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.3 Trust in the LORD, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.

6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

11 But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.12 The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him,

13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.14 The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright;

15 their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.16 Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.

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17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.

18 The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever;

19 they are not put to shame in evil times; in the days of famine they have abundance.

20 But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures;

they vanish – like smoke they vanish away.

The Gospel Reading: Matthew 3

Reader: The Gospel of the Lord. C: Praise be to Thee, O Christ.

Singing the Psalm: Psalm 37

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The LORD Calls His People to Pray

Collect of the day: O God, You make the minds of Your faithful to be of one will. Grant that we may love what You have commanded and desire what You promise, that among the many changes of this world our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Prayer of the ChurchOur Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And 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, for ever. Amen.The LORD Instructs His People through His Word:

The LORD’s People Respond by Giving

Hymn of offering: Lord, ‘tis not that I did choose TheePraise the God of all creation; Praise the Father’s boundless love.Praise the Lamb, our Expiation, Priest and King enthroned above.

Praise the Spirit of salvation, Him by whom our spirits live.Undivided adoration to the great Jehovah give.

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A Prayer of consecration for our tithes and giftsThe LORD’s People Respond with Praise:

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The Confession of the Faith: Nicene Creed

We here perform what is called the redditio symboli – the giving back of the creed. It is the expression of the faith that has been given to us and now we give it back as our own faith. It is more than knowledge about Christ; it has become the knowledge of Christ into which we have been brought through baptism unto the saving of our souls. It has become the faith and life of all those who have believed into Christ Jesus as Lord. Here is the faith that has been given to each of us in Christ, and each one is responsible for the whole faith. Everything in this common and unchanging faith is to be appropriated personally, to become the power for transforming one’s life.

I believe in one God,

The Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets.And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

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The LORD COMMUNES with His PeopleThe Lord’s Supper is one of chief means by which our gracious God and Father is pleased to commune to us the life of His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We are brought to His Table to eat with Him and of Him. As such, it is the meal for His people. Therefore all those who have been baptized in His Triune name into His Church and are in good standing in the Church of Jesus Christ, we welcome you at this table.

Hymn of Communion

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Though I be by sin o’ertaken, Though I lie in helplessness,Though I be by friends forsaken And must suffer sore distress,

Though I be despised, contemned, And by all the world condemned,Though the dark grave yawn before me, yet the light of hope shines o’er me.

Thou hast died for my transgression, All my sins on Thee were laid;Thou hast won for me salvation, On the cross my debt was paid.

From the grave I shall arise And shall meet Thee in the skies.Death itself is transitory; I shall lift my head in glory.

Grant me grace, O blessed Savior, And Thy Holy Spirit sendThat my walk an my behavior May be pleasing to the end;That I may not fall again Into Death’s grim pit and pain,

Whence by grace Thou hast retrieved me And from which Thou hast relieved me.

For the joy Thine advent gave me, For Thy holy, precious Word;For Thy Baptism, which doth save me, For Thy blest Communion board;

For Thy death, the bitter scorn, For Thy resurrection morn,Lord, I thank Thee and extol Thee, And in heaven I shall behold Thee.

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The LORD COMMISSIONS His People

The LORD’s Blessing Pronounced upon His People

The Lord’s People Respond: Three-fold Amen

Christ is King and there is no other!In one of the ancient liturgies leading up to baptism, the baptismal candidate was asked

Doest thou believe in Him [Christ]? To which he was to respond, I believe in him as King and as God. Note, the catechumen confesses his faith in Christ as King and God. The two titles are not to be seen as synonymous or repetitious; neither were they used in some perfunctory manner. To believe in Christ as God was not seen to be sufficient, for as James writes, even the demons believe in Him [James 2:19]. To accept and thereby confess Him as Lord and King means precisely the desire and the decision to follow Him, to make one’s whole life a service to him, to live according to His commandments, to bring all things into subservience to Him.

The earliest Christian confession of Christ was the confession and proclamation of Jesus as Kyrios, the Lord [Romans 10:9], a term, which in the religious and political language of the time, carried the weight of an actual and total power demanding unconditional obedience. It was this simple, yet profound, confession that was the cause of the early Christians’ persecution and their being put to death. It wasn’t merely that they confessed Jesus as Lord; rather, in doing so they refused to address the title of “Lord” to the Roman Emperor. They fully understood the ramification of the term Kyrios as being there can be only one.

In one of the ancient Christian hymns, the Great Doxology, we hear the words “Thou alone art Lord.” We have similar language in many of the hymns and choruses used in our own day. Yet, are they being sung with the understanding that they are in fact challenging all other earthly powers and “lords”? Or, have they been reduced to some ‘spiritual only’ realm?

To confess Christ as King means that the Kingdom He revealed and inaugurated is not only a Kingdom of some distant future, of the “beyond”, and thus never conflicting with or contradicting all other earthly kingdoms and loyalties. Rather, we belong to King Jesus and the Kingdom of God/Heaven now, and we belong to it and serve it before all other powers and authorities. Our belonging, our loyalty to anything in this world, be it State, nation, race, culture, family, or any other “value”, is valid only inasmuch as it does not contradict or mutilate our primary loyalty to the One King and His Kingdom.

Our loyalty and allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom is absolute with none other claiming our unconditional obedience as “lords” of our lives. To remember this is especially important in our day when not only the “world” but even Christians themselves so often absolutize their earthly values – national, ethnic, political, cultural – making them the criterion of their Christian faith, rather than subordinating them to the only absolute oath Jesus is Lord/King.

Christ Presbyterian Church, Pastor Galen L. SoreyA member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches

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