ORDER OF WORSHIP | 28 JUNE

Hearing God’s Word

Prayer for Illumination

We ask God to make the Scripture fresh, encouraging, and convicting to us as we sit under its ministry.

From Psalm 24

King of Glory, as you formed the world, by your Spirit, you sorted out the formless, watery chaos, and established the Earth, making us a place to live and to serve you. In these moments, by your same Spirit, take the raw material of our hearts and lives, and hover over us, bringing order to our chaos. Give us grace as we hear your Word, so that our hearts might become the place where your glory dwells, and that the fullness of our lives might become fully yours. Through Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.

Examination

We reflect on the Psalm of the Day and use it to examine our hearts and minds, leading us to confession of our sin. Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 24 as we reflect on it together.

Psalm 24 pairs very well with the 10th Commandment. The 10th Commandment calls upon us to never covet what belongs to our neighbor. The 24th Psalm calls us (7) to fling the gates and the doors wide open so that the true King of Glory can come in. Why should we not covet? Because it trains us to renounce our false claims on the things and the status of others. When we stop coveting what doesn’t belong to us, we are finally free to give all proper glory and honor to King Jesus, who alone owns all things (1), and who alone has the status that makes him worthy of all praise. The generation that seeks the face (6) of Jesus alone—and not the generation that strives for money, sex, and power at others’ expense—is the generation that is ultimately blessed with all the status and inheritance of God’s Son.

Let us confess our sin.

Silent Confession

Take a moment to reflect and to confess your sins silently before the Lord.

Prayer of Confession of Sin

Great God, the fullness of the earth is yours. As our Creator, you have every claim on our lives. You’ve called us to keep our hands clean from evil. But our hands are filthy with wicked deeds. You’ve summoned us to keep our hearts pure. But we have lifted our hearts to false gods. We deserve no blessing or vindication from you at all. We are not worthy to ascend to your presence. But, for the sake of Jesus, your Son, forgive us. Though we have not sought your face as we ought to have, we seek it now, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

*Assurance of God’s Pardon

Children of the Living God: where you have dirtied your hands, Jesus has kept his clean. Where your heart has been divided between love for God and selfish loves, the heart of Jesus has remained steadfastly devoted to his Father. Jesus has ascended Calvary to pay for your sins. Jesus has ascended to God’s throne in glory to bring you with him. And Jesus has vindicated and blessed us, by pure grace. Throw off from your hearts every attachment to your neighbor’s things and status! Fling wide the gates of your hearts, and let King Jesus rule on its throne, now and forever. Amen!

*Gloria Patri

Ruth Pfister, organ

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be:
World without end! Amen! Amen!

New Testament Lesson

During our current series, our New Testament lessons are selected to complement the study of the Ten Commandments.

Matthew 6:19-21, 25-34

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.