Matthew 4vv1-11 A handout / outline

You may wish to look away now if you are going to hear me preach tomorrow.

It might go something like this:

Matthew 4:1-11 Handout

GOOD NEWS IN THE FACE OF TEMPTATION

27 Top Tips On How To Resist Temptation?



Three points of Good News About Jesus



(1) Jesus Our Victorious Champion



(a) A new and better Adam



(b) A new and better Israel



Bread in the wilderness – 40 days / years



“We did it! We won!” ?!



(2) Jesus Our Sympathetic Brother



Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:14-16



(3) Jesus Our Faithful Example



The Bible



Cross and Resurrection



So, in the face of temptation:

(1) Depend on Jesus Our Victorious Champion!

(2) Pray to Jesus Our Sympathetic Brother!

(3) Follow Jesus Our Faithful Example!

All age audio sermon: https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=339

Dying Well and Living Well

On Ash Wednesday, I preached on mortality.

If I were to re-use that material, I might also include this:

A physician to Charles Wesley who had watched a number of the Methodists die triumphantly said: "Most people die for fear of dying; but, I never met with people such as yours. They are none of them afraid of death, but are calm, and patient, and resigned to the last." This led John Wesley to say: "Our people die well."

http://www.fwponline.cc/v27n1/reviewtwo_horton.html

What would it mean to die well?

How might be we die well?

And how might we live so as to die well? If we are ready to die well, will it lead us to live well?

A sermon on temptation from Luke 4

Back in 2014, one of the Oak Hill mission team, Peter Snow, preached this excellent sermon at Warbleton while still at Vicar-Factory.

It would do good to your soul and has things the Rector could well recycle for Sunday.

Some jottings:

Can you resist the irresistible?

The Chocolate Cake Poem

How to resist temptation

And why Jesus came

(1) The devil is a vicious tempter


Clever and vicious

Using a simple ordinary situation

The temptation to power

Using lies

Using Scripture



If the devil went to work on you, would you stand a chance?


To those sceptical about the existence of the devil:

Of course it is one of the devil’s greatest tricks that he doesn’t exist

The Bible and Jesus take the devil seriously

There seems to be real evil in the world…

(2) The Son of God is our temptation beater


Jesus is the true Adam

Cf. Eden

The issues of food and power and testing God are the same in Eden and in the wilderness

V13 – The devil gave up for a while

Jesus does what Adam and Eve couldn’t do



Jesus is the true Israel

Cf. the desert wanderings of Israel

40 days / 40 years

The issue of food - bread in the desert

Quotations from Deuteronomy



Jesus’ resources and ours:

The Holy Spirit vv1 & v14

The Bible

https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=59

Ash Wednesday 2020: A draft homily on mortality

Look away now if you are coming to Warbleton church for the Ash Wednesday service.

Audio sermon here: https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=340

Genesis 2:4-7, 15-17; 3:17-end (pages 4-6)

Hebrews 2:10-end (page 1202)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.



I’m afraid this probably won’t be the most jolly sermon you’ve ever heard!

I’m sorry about that, but there it is.

If there is a time for a certain amount of doom and gloom, I suppose it’s Ash Wednesday evening.

Come back on Easter Sunday for lots of rejoicing!  

This evening I want to mention to you something which is almost unmentionable in our day and age, and that’s death.



I’ve been provoked to this social faux pas by the words traditionally used in the imposition of ashes:

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”



What a happy uplifting thought!

But, I think, an important one.

One which might help to put us in our place:

A good dose of humility might be an excellent way to begin Lent.

Yes, you and I are basically, from a biblical point of view, walking dust:

We are mud, yes, animated by the Spirit or breath of God himself, but mud never the less:

We are created stuff – matter.

And that matters.

We are not God.

We are not the Uncreated Creator.

None of us is self-made.

We are dust.

Yes, wonderfully, dust loved and given life by Almighty God:

Dusty glorious children of God and heirs of immortality in Christ, but still dust.

And to dust we shall return.

We are all going to die!



In Victorian times, one did not speak of the facts of life.

But today sex is everywhere and we do not speak of the fact of death.

Death is much more medicalised and sanitized and hidden away than it once was.

How many of us have even seen a dead body?

Understandably we don’t like to think about death, but it will come to us all.

The Ash Wednesday Liturgy and the Bible think that we ought to remember that we are dust and that to dust we shall return.



Along with taxes, death is the only real certainty in life.

Death is the ultimate statistic.

One in one people die.

The death rate is 100%.

That’s why the sinister undertaker could sign all his letters, “Yours eventually!”



In Medieval times, they realised that it was important to us to remember that we are all going to die.

Paintings sometimes included a memento mori – a reminder of death.

There is the great person pictured in all their splendour and pomp.

Normally it’s a rather flattering likeness: their best self, looking full of life.

They’re paying for the painting, after all.

But there on their desk there might be a skull.

Remember your mortality, it says.

This’ll be you, O Great One, in a few short years.



At your funeral, the Vicar may well read Psalm 103 at your graveside:

“As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵ The life of mortals is like grass,
    they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.
¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting
    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children—
¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant
    and remember to obey his precepts.”



Of course, we will all admit that theoretically in the abstract we know that people die.

But am I willing to take a long hard look at the fact that I myself and going to die?

And that even as your youthful and energetic Rector, I may have more years behind me than before me.



What difference would it make if we were to live each day in the light of our deaths?

I invite you to dare to meditate on mortality – and on your own mortality in particular.  

In the light of our coming deaths, maybe there are some things that would matter rather less.

And some things that would matter rather more.

After all, life is short and eternity is long.



It is appointed to all human beings to die once and after that to face the judgement.

We will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ.



So what would the Bible say about death?



From a biblical point of view, death is an enemy, an intruder.

Death is not God’s original intention for humanity.

It is the penalty of sin.

God warned our first parents, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

Satan’s great lie was that there would be no judgement, no death.

Did God really say that? (Genesis 3:1)

“You will not surely die!” (Genesis 3:4)

“Perhaps God’s word wasn’t true!”

“Maybe there’s some way you can cheat death”

And people have been dreaming of immortality and eternal youth ever since.

But no matter what face cream you use, or what diet you adopt, or how faithful you are at the gym, it is only a matter of time.



As the Burial Service in The Book of Common Prayer has it:

“Man, that is born of a woman, hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery.

He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay.
In the midst of life we are in death”



In the instant of that first rebellion, Adam and Eve died spiritually.

Before, all had been love and joy.

But now all was guilt and shame.

They had once loved to walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day, but now they ran and hid and they blamed one another.

Their relationships with God, and with one another, and with the whole created order were broken.

Their work would become toil and sweat, and the ground would produce thorns and thistles.



And eventually they would die physically.

Death is the parting of body and soul.

The breath of life, the Spirit, returns to God who gave it.

And our bodies sleep in the earth.

As children of Adam we are born to die.



Before our time comes, we would do well to have made our peace with God.

There is nothing that matters more than that.  

It is a preacher’s cliché that you could go out of here today and be knocked over by a bus.

I know it’s unlikely in a rural area because of the reduction of bus services, but never the less, the point still stands.

Human life is wonderful and glorious.

But it’s so very fragile.

Even the young and fit aren’t guaranteed even the next breath.

The Psalmist would have us pray: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Each breathe, each heart beat is a gift of God’s grace, but we would be foolish to presume on tomorrow.

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.

We are not promised length of days.



Adam and Eve’s sin led to their deaths.

But it was also followed by the death of an animal.

God killed an animal to provide animal skins for them to cover their nakedness and take away their shame.

He didn’t have to do that!

There was judgement but judgement was accompanied by mercy.

And similarly, God has covered our sins by the death of Jesus:

All who trust in Jesus are clothed with his perfect righteousness.

The Rock of Ages will indeed hide all our sin and protect us from the storm of God’s wrath.  



Jesus took on our mortality that he might take our immorality upon himself.

On the sinless one, every sin of his people was laid.

The Ever-Living Son of God took on frail flesh and blood that he might die in our place that we might live.

Jesus has defeated the last enemy, death, so that for us, death is nothing to fear.

For the Christian, death is the sleep of the body – and who’s afraid of a nap?

The ogre Death is tamed.

He has become a servant who merely ushers us into the nearer presence of Jesus.

Through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, Death has lost his sting.

His ancient power is broken.

The Christian can laugh at the supposed tyranny of death.

The first Easter was the death of death in the death of Christ.  

Death has been swallowed up in victory.

Yes, we must all die, but we know that after Good Friday comes Easter Sunday.

This story ends not with a tomb but with the bursting forth of the Lord of Life!

Of course death could not hold Him!

Yes, one day, death; but in the morning, Resurrection!  



This Lent, God calls us to die to sin and live for righteousness.

Jesus bids us die to self and live for him.

He is no fool who gives up the supposed life he cannot keep to gain the eternal life he cannot lose.



Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Turn away from sin, and be faithful to Christ.

In the death of Christ, may you know life to the full which will last for ever.

Because of Christ, this dust will be transformed and glorified.



“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are….

² Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears^[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.


 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

(1 John 3:1ff)

And so to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory and power, now and to all eternity. Amen.

The Cross and Works

The cross is, of course, in a sense the ultimate good work. Christ's sacrifice is of infinite merit.

But from another point of view, the cross is something inflicted on Christ which he passively accepts. It is violence done to him. It is not possible to crucify oneself. Sinners crucify Jesus and the Father pours out his wrath on his beloved Son in our place.

On the cross, Christ is utterly immobile. He cannot do anything. The cross is a wicked thing done to God the Son. It is a no to human works.

In the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father raises the Son from the tomb. This is the work of God intervening and over turning human works.

Senkbeil, The Care of Souls - a review

Harold L. Senkbeil, The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart (Lexham Press, 2019)

ISBN: 9781683593010

US $21.99

290pp, hb



I very much enjoyed this book as a reminder of the noble craft and art of the pastor. Senkbeil believes we need the Holy Spirit to cultivate a pastoral temperament or character in us. He urges us to recall that we are the authorised representatives and servants of Jesus who are to be about his business and act in his stead. We act as his agents as stewards or proxies administering gifts which are not our own. We are the emissaries, the errand boys of Jesus, the sheep dogs of the Good Shepherd, and as such we ought to be loyal to him and spend time in his presence. We should seek to cultivate Christ’s love for the sheep in our own hearts.



Senkbeil makes what he calls the classical model of pastoral care and the cure of souls seem attractive. The Word of God is the source and norm. Attentive diagnosis, with careful listening which takes time to avoid leaping to conclusions, is to move towards intentional treatment. The minister is not a psychologist or therapist (and these may be helpful to our people). The pastor’s vocation is to minister the Word and Sacraments, which give what they promise. He must carefully distinguish guilt and shame in those whom he treats. Almost always we are both sinning and sinned against, but it is harmful to confuse these and to produce a false guilt or fail to deal with a sense of shame, however unjustified that might be. Holiness is Christ’s gift and the goal of pastoral care. The pastor and the Christian are engaged in spiritual warfare and require the armour of Christ their hero. The cure of souls also goes hand in hand with mission. Of course, those who come to believe will require soul care. There is helpful teaching here on how to pray for people in response to the Scriptures and how to teach others to pray. We might particularly remember that we pray “Our Father” not only in solidarity with other believers but in Christ. Senkbeil encourages steadiness in the face of inevitable opposition from the world, and joy in the pastor.



With his high view of the pastoral office, Senkbeil is convinced that the pastor needs a pastor and that it is normally best if this person is not also the pastor’s ministerial supervisor.



Senkbeil is a Lutheran and some contemporary evangelicals might balk at the emphasis on baptism and “the sacrament of the altar”, Holy Communion, and on the ministry of absolution and blessing. But Michael Horton of Westminster Seminary as written the foreword, so this must be approved reading for the Reformed!



A life time of pastoral experience has gone into this book, which includes anecdotes and examples / case studies. Senkbeil also draws winsomely on his upbringing in rural western Minnesota to provide analogies pertinent to the minister of the Word.



I think any pastor could benefit from this counsel.



Senkbeil is the executive director of Doxology: The Lutheran Centre for Spiritual Care - www.doxology.us

Acts 10 & 11 - some further jottings

At Joppa, Jonah had disobeyed God concerning taking God’s message to the Gentiles (Jonah 1:3), whereas in Joppa Peter (eventually / after some reluctance) obeys God and God’s message goes to the Gentiles. Jonah fled from the word of God to Joppa; Peter came from Joppa in response to and with the Word of God.
* * * 

At Joppa, Jonah had disobeyed God concerning taking God’s message to the Gentiles (Jonah 1:3), whereas in Joppa Peter (eventually / after some reluctance) obeys God and God’s message goes to the Gentiles. Jonah fled from the word of God to Joppa; Peter came from Joppa in response to and with the Word of God.

* * *

Certainly Cornelius and his family needed to be converted, but so, in a manner of speaking, did Peter and the church. Cornelius is eager to hear the Word of God; Peter needs a bit of convincing to put it into practice.

* * *


We could call this passage a case of double vision, because both Cornelius and Peter see visions.



Cornelius’ vision (10v3-6)

Cornelius’ obedience to the vision (10v7-8)

Peter’s vision (10vv9-16)

Peter’s obedience to the vision (10v17-

* * *


Stott: Four hammer blows of divine revelation were required to persuade Peter:

The divine vision (11:4-10)

The divine command (11:11-12)

The divine preparation (11:13-14)

The divine action (11:15-17)

Free Audio Suggestions

I asked Facebook for free audio suggestions.

Here are a few of the responses:

Oerdrive or Libby for local authority library members

99% Invisible

Planet Money

Reply All

Cooper and Cary Have Words

Revisionist History

Futility Closet - amazing stories

The Anthropocene Reviewed

Mere Fidelity

Quantum - The Wee Flea Podcast

Unbelievable with Justin Brierley

The Church Society Podcast

Free audio books at Librivox - anything read by "Mark F Smith" - https://librivox.org/reader/204?primary_key=204 - Treasure Island, Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, Swiss Family Robinson, The Lost World, Huckleberry Finn

One free book a month from ChristianAudio.com

The first two seasons of the Revolutions podcast cover the English Civil War and the War of Independence.

BBC Sounds - In Our Time, More or Less and many more

The Spectator Podcasts

Tom Wright on Acts 10

I've found Tom Wright especially helpful on these passages:

Tom Wright: “People today sometimes refer to this present story [of the conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10] as a sign that, within the New Testament, there is a recognition that ‘all religions lead to God’, or even that all religions are basically the same. This is certainly not what Luke intends, and both Cornelius himself and Peter himself would have been shocked at such a suggestion. The reason Cornelius was a devout worshiper of Israel’s God was precisely that he was fed up with the normal Roman gods and eager to follow what seemed to him the real one. It is not the case, then, that God simply ‘accepts us as we are’. He invites us as we are; but responding to that invitation always involves the complete transformation which is acted out in repentance, forgiveness, baptism, and receiving the spirit.” (Acts for Everyone part 1, p164)


Peter’s message in vv34ff is a message all about God and what he has done

NT Wright’s points:

God sent the message of peace (v36)

God anointed Jesus (v38)

God was with him (v38)

God raised him from the dead (v40)

God chose us as witnesses (v41)

God told us to preach (v42)

God ordained Jesus as judge (v42)

“… the opening line of Peter’s speech, ‘God has no favourites.’ [Acts 10:34]… doesn’t mean that God runs the world as a democracy, or that he simply validated and accepts everyone’s opinion about everything, or everyone’s chosen lifestyle. It means that there no ethnic, geographical, cultural or moral barriers any longer in the way of anyone and everyone being offered forgiveness and new life. That is a message far more powerful than the easy-going laissez-faire tolerance which contemporary Western society so easily embraces. Cornelius didn’t want God (or Peter) to tolerate him. He wanted to be welcomed, forgiven, healed, transformed. And he was.” (p170)


Acts 11:14 – “Luke clearly does not suppose that Cornelius was ‘saved’ already and needed merely to be informed of the message about Jesus as an interesting addendum to the ‘salvation’ he already possessed.” (p174)

Parish Magazine Item for March

(A development of the previous post!)


From The Rectory



It’s striking, if we stop to think about it, how much, for good or for ill, we are formed by our habits. I guess we don’t always realise their power. During the recent power cut, I still found myself walking into the loo and trying to turn on the light, although, of course, if I’d paused, I would have known that nothing was going to happen. It seems we are hard-wired to be creatures of habit, and so it’s worth asking to what extent our ways of doing things are healthy or harmful. Maybe these things sometimes seem neutral, but it could be a valuable exercise, for example, to reflect on our morning or bedtime routines, or our way of going about meals, or interacting with others, or our use of technology, or whatever. I potter round doing various things first thing in the morning, opening curtains and unlocking the door and so on, but pretty soon I normally head to my computer with a large coffee. It might be good for me to insert a brief prayer and a Bible text even before the first email of the day.  



This season of Lent (which runs from Ash Wednesday on 26^th February through the weeks approaching Easter) might be a good time for such self-examination and re-evaluation. Habits are not easy to break, but studies show that within a month a new habit can be pretty well established. It seems likely that you could make a change by Easter Sunday on 12^th April.  



I’ve been helped in thinking about this by a paperback by Justin Whitmel Earley, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2019). Its very practical and readable. The Common part of the title comes from the conviction that these practices are best adopted communally, with others, but also that these things can be lived out in ordinary life, not just by super-spiritual monastics. Earley, an American mergers and acquisitions lawyer, realised he had to make some changes when he found himself overdoing it at work, anxious, experiencing insomnia, with his family life suffering.

He suggests eight possible habits, four daily and four weekly, of resistance and embrace. The daily habits are: (1) Kneeling prayer at morning, midday and bedtime; (2) One meal with others; (3) One hour with phone off; (4) Scripture before phone. And the weekly ones are: (1) One hour of conversation with a friend; (2) Curate media to four hours; (3) Fast from something for twenty-four hours; (4) Sabbath.



Of course, most of these things are issues of practical wisdom rather than biblical law. These ideas may not fit your particular circumstances and needs. And you wouldn’t have to buy into the whole package all at once. I haven’t! You could just give one or two of these things a go for a while. For example, if, like me, you aspire to pray but you find it harder to actually pray, Earley has the helpful suggestion of setting an alarm (e.g. on your phone) for some time each day when you are likely to be able to take a few moments to pray. 



Earley suggests that just a couple of these small changes could make an enormous difference: he calls them key-stone habits. Your approach to the day might be radically altered by two or three minutes of quiet and prayer framing and punctuating your other activities. And the Bible is meant to be daily food for our souls. That doesn’t necessarily mean hours of Bible study at the crack of dawn (though I’m all for that!). A few moments each day, say with a verse from the Psalms, could be transforming. Lots of resources such as Bible reading notes or little devotional books are available to help us engage with the Scriptures. Videos and other resources for using the habits / to accompany the book can be found at the website: https://www.thecommonrule.org/. Why not give one of these things a go? And perhaps invite a friend or family member to try it with you.



However you plan to observe it or not, a happy and holy Lent and Easter to you!

The Revd Marc Lloyd

Optimal AM Habit: Coffee and Computer?

I have just finished reading Justin Whitmel Earley's, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2019), which I'm due to discuss with a couple of local pastors in a couple of weeks time.

Earley, an American mergers and acquisitions lawyer, has written an immensely readable and practical book.

He suggests eight possible habits, four daily and four weekly, of resistance and embrace:

Daily:

Kneeling prayer at morning, midday and bedtime
One meal with others
One hour with phone off
Scripture before phone

Weekly:

One hour of conversation with a friend
Curate media to four hours
Fast from something for twenty-four hours
Sabbath

There is lots that's helpful here, although of course much more could be said about each of these topics. The book is somewhat autobiographical and anecdotal rather than massively theological and exegetical but Earley suggests further reading at the end of each chapter where one could dig deeper into these things.

I'm sure Earley is right about the power of habit. Make a coffee and head for the computer pretty early on in the morning is pretty ingrained in me. It would be excellent, I think, perhaps to insert a brief kneeling prayer and a short passage of Scripture in there between bed and screen. Whether it comes before or with the coffee is another question! But it's not easy to change our habits.

Earley says: "Studies show that it takes at least two to three weeks to turn new practices into habits." (p21). He suggests trying one or more of these habits for a month, ideally with others.

It's all very well reading a book and mentally ticking it off as sound and helpful. It is another thing to try change!

If, like me, you aspire to pray but you find it harder to actually pray, Earley has the helpful suggestion of setting an alarm (on your phone) for some time each day when you are likely to be able to take a few moments to pray. 

If starting today seems a little hasty, Lent, which begins this year on Wednesday 26th February might be an excellent time to give one or more of these things a go.

Videos and other resources for using the habits / to accompany the book can be found at: https://www.thecommonrule.org/

Speaking notes / jottings on Psalm 24

Accompanied by death by PowerPoint for our all age service:

(Audio version: https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=335 - I actually found having fuller notes than I sometime do for an all age service rather distracting so you might notice some long pauses!)

 Vv1-2: “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,

The world, and all who live in it;

For he has founded it upon the seas

And established it on the waters.”



God is the creator, owner, ruler and sustainer of all places and people



Everything, everyone, everywhere belongs to God who made them

The earth, fruitful, peopled, solid and established is the Lord’s

There is not a centremeter of the universe over which God doesn’t rightly say “mine!”



Seas / waters (v2) suggest threat / chaos

God rules over them

His rule is certain and secure



Vv3-4 zoom in from all people and all places to a particular place and some particular people



V3: “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?

Who may stand in his holy place?”



Ascend = go up



The hill of the LORD? -  mount Zion

God’s holy place ? the temple?



God’s holy presence



Holiness



We sometimes imagine that God would happily welcome everyone, like a kind of friendly grandfather giving out Werther’s Originals



But the temple in Jerusalem spoke of both welcome and no entry



God was present to bless his people

He wanted to meet with them

And he called them to come to him



But the temple also had a series of no entry signs

For the Gentile nations

For non-priests

For everyone except the high priest once a year carrying the blood of sacrifice



It is very hard for a sinful people to come into the presence of a Holy God



Terms and Conditions apply!

See v4



God’s guest list (v4):

The Entry requirements:



Clean hands? – actions

Pure heart

Pure worship – he “who does not lift up his soul to an idol”

Pure lips – “or swear by what is false”



We might say it covers:

Right living

Right thinking

Right relationship with God

Right relationship with others



None of us perfectly meet those requirements



But God promises blessing and vindication (justice / righteousness / justification) to those who sincerely seek him in his appointed way (vv5-6)

In the Old Testament, faithful covenant keeping sinners could come into God’s presence on the basis of sacrifice

The innocent animal died in their place so that they could be forgiven

And they trusted God for vindication



Only Jesus perfectly meets the requirements of v4

He is the ultimate sacrifice for sin, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

When we trust in him, we receive the gift of his righteousness, which is by God’s grace to all those who have faith in Jesus



Vv7-10 zoom in again to focus on the LORD Almighty the King of Glory

Imagine a city greeting the LORD as the victorious king, a warrior mighty in battle (v7-)



Do we think of God as a warrior?

The LORD of hosts, the LORD of armies



A triumphal procession



Cf. Palm Sunday – Jerusalem greets Jesus as the king



Cf. Jesus’ triumph by his cross and resurrection

Welcome Jesus the victorious King of Glory who defeated sin and death for us!



Praise God trusting in Jesus, the victorious King of Glory, the perfect sacrifice for sin.

Clothed in Jesus’ righteousness, we are welcomed in and we rejoice to stand forgiven and clean in God’s holy presence.



* * *



Kidner:



King of Glory

A tiny hymn about the power of God the creator

An entrance liturgy about the holiness of God the Lord

A procession liturgy about the victories of God the King

Vv1-2: The All-Creating

Vv3-6: The All-Holy

Vv7-10: The All-Victorious



* * *



Motyer:



Fling Wide The Gates



Approaching (vv1-2)

Welcoming (vv3-6)

            Personal integrity (v4)

            Spiritual integrity (v4b)

            Social integrity (4b-6)

Entering (vv7-10)

            Request (v7)

            Interrogation (v8a)

            Reply (v8b)

            Request (v9)

            Interrogation (v10a)

            Reply (v10b)