Communion Preparatory Sermon

May we rejoice like the kings of the earth to hear God's word.

So let's turn and study God's word together.

Just now in the book of Psalms, Psalm 117.

In the church Bible, this is page 614.

Praise the Lord, all nations.

Extol him, all peoples.

For great is his steadfast love towards us.

The faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

Let's bow our heads in prayer just now for a moment.

Heavenly Father, may we tonight be filled with praise as we are called to in these verses.

We long, Lord, for that overflow of praise that will fill the earth,

where we will not need to say to our neighbors,

believe in the Lord or to trust him or call people to worship,

because all of the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.

And so just now we pray, Father, as missionaries,

as people who are sent and commissioned to go into the darkness of this world,

but to bring forth the light of the countenance of Christ Jesus and to show him to all peoples.

And for that praise to resonate from us as those who are redeemed and have the hope of the gospel beating in their hearts.

So, Father, guide our thoughts and our minds, our attention this evening.

Fill us with certainty in the things of the gospel.

And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

I wonder this evening, what are we giving thanks for?

There are, of course, many things that we can give thanks for.

Many reasons to be filled with thankfulness.

Sometimes they're small things.

Sometimes we can be giving thanks for almost mundane things in our lives and our experience.

If you follow Scotland as a football fan, I'm sure there was some thanksgiving going up for Scotland's performance recently.

And then you come to the draw of the groups and you think, are we still so thankful?

Perhaps.

Recently, we've just had Thanksgiving.

We had our own Thanksgiving as a congregation last week.

And we give thanks this time of year for the harvest and for the fullness of God's blessing.

There are many things, just even day by day in our lives and experience, that we can give thanks for.

And on some levels, they are just mundane things.

We can give thanks for the air we breathe, for the food that we have, the water we have to drink,

and for the good things that God gives us.

We can thank God for our families.

The list is endless, really.

Not just trivial things, but great things in our lives that we can give thanks for.

And that call to thanksgiving is what is being echoed in this psalm.

It is a psalm that the words are there for all nations of the world.

Praise the Lord all nations.

Extol him all peoples.

It is, in fact, a wonderful thing that the shortest psalm in the Bible, the shortest chapter in the Bible,

it is a chapter that is seen simply to preach and proclaim the gospel.

To make the good news of Christ known to the nations so that they can respond to this call and they can praise the Lord.

And the evidence of that, I hope, is what we see, as I've already said in prayer this evening,

the evidence of this is what we see tonight.

That we, I suspect, largely a Gentile congregation,

have come together tonight to worship the Lord.

And to make him known.

And to give thanks to him for his steadfast love towards us

and for his faithfulness, which endures forever.

And so as we come tonight to respond to this invitation,

and as we, I hope, would also be looking to examine our hearts as we come to the Lord's table tomorrow.

That's the main reason for our gathering like this.

It's to enter into that exercise of spiritual preparation that we ought to have as we come to the Lord's table.

Let us tonight consider this invitation.

It is an invitation to do something.

It is an invitation tonight to come to praise and extol.

To praise means simply to acclaim.

To make much of someone.

To extol means to exalt or to eulogize them.

To proclaim their goodness.

To proclaim good things about them.

To make these things known.

And the act of praising or extolling the Lord is an act that uses the whole person.

And so tonight, if you're wanting to engage in the act of worship,

if you want to engage in the act of praise,

then not only do you need to use your lips,

but you need to use some of the other organs and abilities that God has given you.

First of all, you need to use your mind.

The person who comes to praise the Lord engages their mind in thoughts concerning the Lord.

And so tonight, as we come to praise God,

as we come to worship Him,

and as we do that through, in particular tomorrow,

the remembering of the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

then we do so engaging our minds in the act of worship.

We think about the words that are coming out of our mouth, certainly.

But we think more about the person and the work of that person.

We think about Jesus.

And that's one of the things that Paul,

when he writes to the Corinthian church,

reminds them of.

That they should come correctly to the Lord's table.

And part of that is discerning the Lord's body and blood.

And that is to think about it.

To perceive truth about the body of Jesus

and His blood which have been broken and shed at the cross.

And so the way that we come to the Lord's table

is thinking about what Christ has done.

But it's not enough for us simply to know these truths.

It's not enough for us simply to have in our minds

some element of that truth.

It also has to move other parts of us.

So if we want to come truly worshiping,

if we want to fulfill the invitation of this psalm,

the way in which we have to come is using our hearts.

If I want to acclaim somebody,

if I want to tell you of the wonders of a particular person,

then I need to use my heart behind that.

The example that you might use would be to talk about human people,

people that we would know and we want to pass on something of their wonderfulness.

There are some politicians that we might want to do that with.

We might really love some politicians.

Perhaps it's Tony Blair.

And you think about how good he was as a prime minister

and how good his government was.

Or sometimes you might even recognize how effective he was,

but still not entirely agree with everything he did.

And actually even my mentioning his name tonight might,

for some people here,

have resulted in a pretty visceral reaction down in your stomach.

And you think,

well, hang on a minute.

That guy was,

you know,

Iraq war.

Are we really sure that's someone we'd want to acclaim?

Go a little bit further back and you can see the same about Margaret Thatcher.

You can go further back into recent European history

and you find some truly awful figures.

You might know an awful lot about them,

but you would never dream of praising them

because they are so despicable.

Your heart,

to issue praise,

your heart needs to be engaged.

You need to delight in them.

You need to find things that are worthy of praise

in them that move your own heart,

that move you to express affection.

And so with Jesus,

that's what we're invited to do in this psalm.

It is to find,

using our minds,

find things that actually speak to our hearts

about what Jesus has done.

And so to truly praise him,

to truly extol him,

what we need to do is reflect on the person and work of Jesus

and find things there

that move our hearts,

that result in devotion for us.

And hopefully that is the case.

We can think about the work of God in the gospel.

We can think of the promises of God.

We can think of what Christ has done at the cross

to deal with our sin.

Perhaps there are things at the cross even

that particularly speak to us.

The gentleness of Jesus,

even as he's in agonizing pain

and he addresses his followers

and his mother.

And he says to John,

Behold your mother.

And to his mother,

Behold your son.

That love and that affection

that filled the heart of Jesus

just pours out of him,

doesn't it,

at the cross?

As he speaks to the thief

on his side

and says to him,

Today you will be with me in paradise.

Words that are particularly precious to me.

Perhaps to some of you as well.

Our hearts are moved

by the things of Jesus

and the things that he has done for us.

And perhaps even as we reflect on that

in a deeper and more theological way

and we begin to think about

the propitiation of sin,

of the fact that sin is covered.

We'll be singing tomorrow morning

about the hyssop.

Well, some of us will be singing in Gaelic,

I think it'll be.

But we'll be singing about hyssop

being used to sprinkle blood.

A covering for sin

that hides us,

shelters us

from the wrath of God.

How we're spared from hell and damnation

because Christ has loved us

and given himself for us.

Our hearts

are moved

by what we hear

and what leads us to worship.

But also to

an invisible muscle,

almost I suppose you could say,

our faith

needs to be engaged.

We have to believe

if we're going to praise God,

and this is a simple fact,

very difficult for people

in our modern age to understand,

but if you're going to worship God,

you have to worship

an invisible God.

And no one can worship him

without believing that he is.

And so if we want to come

and praise God,

then one of the things

that needs to be engaged in us

is that muscle of faith

that needs to be active,

that element of trust

in the person of Jesus,

who though we do not see him,

yet we believe in him.

None of us have seen Christ Jesus

personally, I think.

but yet we can be moved

to praise him

and to speak of his goodness

and his love towards us

because we believe in him.

We have been given the grace

to exercise faith.

And faith is like a muscle.

It has to be exercised.

What else?

It begins to suffer

from cramp and decay.

And so this call

in this psalm,

praise the Lord,

all nations,

extol him,

all peoples,

it is a call

to exercise faith.

It's a call

to actually engage

not only our minds

and our hearts

and our affection

towards Christ,

but to actually believe in him

with an element of trust

and personal dependence

that says,

he is my Savior.

That not only is Christ

a Savior,

not even perhaps

is Christ the Savior,

but tonight to worship

and say,

he is my Savior.

And it is necessary for us,

therefore then,

to use our bodies.

To use our bodies

in obedience

to the call of Jesus.

And that does involve

our lips

and our tongues

and our lungs

and our vocal cords.

It involves somehow

expressing from our hearts

a belief

that needs to work

its way out of us,

that needs to be heard,

that needs to be given voice,

that we believe

in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we will testify

to this with our lips

and therefore,

having believed in our hearts

and testified with our lips,

we will be saved.

If that's you,

then perhaps there's another

piece of your body

that needs to be exercised tomorrow.

Perhaps that's your feet

and your legs.

Perhaps they need to be exercised

in physically coming

to the Lord's table,

professing the Lord's death

with your body,

obeying the command of Jesus

to use these very visceral,

literal symbols,

bread and wine,

to testify to the praise

of what he has done,

to acknowledge

the grace of God

revealed to sinners.

sinners.

In this psalm,

there is in fact

an invitation

to come to the Lord's table,

an invitation

to make the highest

proclamation

of your faith,

testifying to what

Jesus has done

for sinners

and to come

in obedience to him.

So it is an invitation

to do something.

It is also an invitation

to do something

concerning someone.

The person that we are to praise

is this one,

the Lord.

Praise the Lord,

all nations.

Extol him,

all peoples.

And you'll see,

you'll note in your Bibles

that the name,

the Lord,

there is that use

of the capital letters,

L-O-R-D.

In the Hebrew Bible,

the words that would be there,

the letters that would be there

are the consonants

of the name of God,

which even the Jews

wouldn't take on their lips.

And so it's almost

a bit tricky for us

to think,

how do we pronounce this?

Yahweh, probably.

It's tied into the name of God

that was given to Moses

at the burning bush

when Moses came

and he had to put off

his sandals

because the ground

on which he was standing

was holy ground.

And Moses' concern there

is not to say,

well, you're sending me,

Lord,

on this impossible mission

to tell Pharaoh,

let my people go.

The bigger concern

in Moses' heart

at that moment

was to say,

well, actually,

what about your own people?

What if they ask me

who sent you?

What will I say?

And you remember

the answer that was given

to Moses.

Tell them,

I am has sent them.

This one who is

the faithful God

of their patriarchs,

of Abraham

and Isaac

and Jacob.

The God of your forefathers,

the God of promises

is the one who has sent you.

We'll come to that

in just a moment

because that's spelled out

for us a bit more clearly

as we go on.

But just for us tonight

to think about this,

the invitation for us

is to praise the Lord.

And I find it very interesting.

I think as I go through

the book of Psalms,

I think actually

as I read the Psalms

more and more,

one of the things

I recognize is

that whatever you see

the name of Lord

in the book of Psalms,

you can actually put in

the name of Jesus

very easily

and it's not wrong.

It's not wrong

from a Trinitarian

theological perspective anyway.

What is true of one member

of the Trinity

is true of all members

of the Trinity.

And so if one member

of the Trinity

is worthy of our praise,

each member of the Trinity

is worthy of our praise.

So we can comfortably

and theologically

be right in putting

the name of Jesus in there.

But even to see it

at a higher level than that,

it's interesting to me

that even that expression

that we use,

whether it's the name Jehovah

or the name Yahweh,

it's a name that sounds

in some ways

difficult for us

because it's not the name

that we know our God by.

Tonight,

the name by which

we know our God

is Jesus.

And it's at His name

that every knee should bow

and every tongue

shall in fact confess

that Jesus is Lord.

And so tonight,

the invitation to us

to come to the Lord's table

is to come and remember

the work and the person

of Jesus

and to praise

and extol Jesus.

And so as you come

to the Lord's table,

do you come thinking

and moved in your heart

and exercising your faith,

not in some abstract idea

of God who is distant

from us perhaps,

but God who has come

close to us,

the God who has come

and lived among us,

the God who has borne

our sorrows

in His own person,

the God who has come

and lived among us

and in fact

emptied Himself

by taking on

the form of a servant

and coming in the person

of Christ?

Do we love Him, therefore?

This person

who is not distant from us.

And are we moved,

therefore, as well

to reflect on what we do

in relation to Him?

Do we come to Him

as our great high priest

with all of the sorrows

of our own hearts?

And do we praise Him

through our confession

of sin?

Because that's part of what

this worship and extolling Him

involves.

It involves an acknowledgement

of the relationship

that we have with Him.

And it is a relationship

where sin

is inescapable.

You cannot have

a relationship

with Christ

without wrestling

with

the reality

of our sin

and His

forgiveness of it.

And so,

as we come to praise Him,

as we come to worship Him,

as we come to

pour out our hearts

before Him

and acknowledge

His Lordship

over us,

do we come

acknowledging our sin

and confessing

what's necessary

for us,

this Jesus?

It's an invitation

as well,

not only to a certain

thing and concerning

a certain person,

but it's also an invitation

to all.

The nations

are mentioned.

Praise the Lord,

all nations.

The word in Hebrew

is the idea

of Gentile nations,

of foreign nations.

That's why

the New Testament

translation of it

that we've read

in Romans,

Paul says,

praise Him,

all you Gentiles.

It's an invitation

that goes out

to all of the

geopolitical groups

of the world.

It goes out

to the nations

that surrounded Israel,

whether it was

Edom or Moab

or Egypt

or Babylon

or whoever else.

All of these powers

are invited

to come and praise.

It's an invitation

that goes out today

to Hebrideans,

and to

Glaswegians,

to Tuchters

and Townies,

to Moas,

to every single

one of us.

It's an invitation

that comes

to all peoples,

all ethnic groups.

it's an invitation

for everyone.

And this again

is one of these things

that I think

in terms of communion

people struggle with.

Because sometimes

what you think

is one of the objections

that I know

people struggle with

who've sat away

from the Lord's table

for a long,

long time

is sometimes

they think,

well,

it's not for me

because it wasn't

for my dad

or it wasn't

for my mother.

And I know

my mom and my dad

and they were

very righteous people

and they never felt

able to go

to the Lord's table

and if I measure

myself against them

I am no better

so how can I

possibly go

to the Lord's table?

But I want you

tonight to remember

the invitation

to come

and the invitation

to praise

and extol the Lord

and the highest

expression of that

I think is an

obedience to Him.

It is for all peoples.

And so I want you

tonight,

if that's you,

I want you to

lay that concern

aside.

Because God

is not asking you

to praise Him

on behalf

of your mom and dad

or on behalf

of generations past.

He is asking

you to praise Him.

It is an invitation

for you

to obey Him

and come.

It is an invitation

for the individual.

And there is no

limits.

It is all nations,

all peoples.

So the invitation

of this psalm

comes to all of us

and we must

bow the knee

before Christ

and acknowledge

Him as Savior.

We must trust in Him

for our salvation

and we must

praise Him.

We must extol Him.

So what are we

praising Him

and extoling Him for?

I mean,

we've mentioned this

a little bit

in the passing already,

but verse 2 helps us.

For,

the great explanatory

word of the Bible,

For great is His

steadfast love

towards us.

Great is His

steadfast love.

Steadfast love

in Hebrew

is one word.

It's simply

the word chesed.

It's God's

love

for His

rebellious creatures.

Remember I said

before that sin,

our sin,

has to be

acknowledged

within how

we praise God.

It has to be seen.

It has to be

a component

of how we think

about why

we're praising God

at all.

Part of that is

because that is

what His chesed does.

The steadfast love

of the Lord

comes into

our experience

and it

obliterates

the traces

of sin

in our lives.

It just

covers them

entirely

so that they

cannot be seen.

If you want

to think

about the

greatest act

of God's

steadfast love,

it is found

at the cross

where God

in all of the

fullness of time

before that

had been busy

telling the Jews

this is how

we deal with sin.

We deal with it

through sacrifice.

Someone's blood

has to be

shed.

And there's

a wonderful moment

where God

has been demonstrating

this all the way

back to Abraham

where He sends

Abraham and He

says to Abraham

take your son,

your only son

whom you love

and take him

to the mountain

I will show you

and there

sacrifice him

to me.

And Abraham

takes his son,

his only son

whom he loves,

Isaac,

and leads him

up the mountain

and Isaac's

even asking,

where is the

lamb?

And as Abraham

takes his son

up to the altar,

he binds him

to the altar.

And he does

so in faith.

He does so

believing,

confident that

the promise

of God

is through

this son

so he believes

at that point

in a resurrection.

although Isaac

may be slain

and burned

as a sacrifice,

God will

raise him up.

So he does

it with full

confidence in God.

But he takes

him and he's

ready to plunge

the knife

into his son,

his only son

whom he loved.

And God

calls out to him,

the angel of the

Lord calls out

and says,

Abraham,

stop.

Do not do

this.

Now I know

that you love

me.

And God

who speaks

these words

knows that

at some point,

maybe 2,000 years

after that

or 1,000 years

after that,

perhaps even

on the same

hill

and the same

place,

another son

will be offered

as a sacrifice

for the sins

of the world.

And as we'll

think tomorrow,

there is no

voice that

calls out,

stop.

Great

is the

steadfast love

of the

Lord.

Not in some

abstract sense

where we can

look at someone

and say,

oh,

they're a

lovely person.

Haven't they

got such

wonderful

characteristics?

Aren't they

great?

But in

God's case

where we

talk about

his steadfast

love,

and in the

Bible it is

almost consistently

expressed this

way,

it is his

steadfast love

moving in a

direction.

It is towards

us.

It is

steadfast love

that is not

abstract and

over there.

It is

steadfast love

that comes

into the

experience and

the lives of

God's people

and does

something there

that brings

redemption into

their experience,

that sets them

free from the

coils and

entanglement of

sin, that sets

them free from

death itself,

and will one

day raise them

up with Christ

Jesus in the

fullness of the

resurrection.

resurrection.

This is the

steadfast love

of the Lord.

My question

for you

tonight is

quite simply

this, do

you know

this God?

Do we know

the steadfast

love of the

Lord?

Is that what

we're wanting

to worship?

Is that who

we want to

praise?

Is that what

of God we

want to

extol?

It ought to

be as we're

coming to the

Lord's table

because the

Lord's table

is the place

where we

remember the

pinnacle of

that love

being expressed.

in the broken

body and the

shed blood of

Christ Jesus.

It is

steadfast love

for us

sinners.

And it

leads us to

worship.

The covenant

love of the

Lord, that

steadfast love

of the Lord,

it's bound

up in his

covenant as

well.

And so

within the

heart of

covenant

theology is

the simple

fact of

God's

substitutionary

love.

God

establishes a

bond with

his people

to save

and redeem

them.

But the

bond that

he establishes

is one

made and

sealed through

the blood

of Jesus.

And

allied to

that is

this other

word, the

faithfulness of

God.

God

having

entered into

a covenant

to do

this, follows

through on

that promise.

And that

covenant is

bounded at

multiple

levels.

We might

think that it

was God's

promise to

Abraham, who

was the

father of

the faithful,

that God

promised Abraham

his name.

We might go

further back,

in fact, and

we might even

go back to

Adam, and

we could say

in Adam,

well, God

made a

promise to

Adam.

In fact, it

was a promise

passively made

to Adam.

It was a

statement, a

judgment made

to Satan, to

the evil

one, where

he said to

the serpent

in the garden,

one day the

seed of the

woman will

bruise the

head of the

serpent.

It's part

of the

curse.

But within

it, there is

that wonderful

truth, that

promise of

God, that a

faithful,

established

covenant has

been entered

into.

God is going

to redeem

these people.

He's going

to bring

redemption.

And

in the

fullness of

time that

comes in

the person

of Jesus.

But there

is another

layer to

this as

well, which

is the

covenant that

God made

with his

son, that

the father

and the

son entered

into in

eternity before

the foundation

of the

world.

Where creation

is established,

God says we

will make man

in our image.

But even

before that

process begins,

it's not as

if there's a

plan B

gets set up.

Where God

says, well,

by the way,

if things go

pear-shaped and

Adam sins,

you're going to

have to go and

redeem them.

The actual

plan from the

beginning was

that Christ

would come,

that God

the son would

enter into the

experience of

humanity.

It's almost as

if sin was

inevitable, not

foreordained under

God's control,

but just

inevitable in the

nature of his

creatures.

That sin was

inevitable.

God had

agreed within

the Trinity,

between the

Father and

the Son,

had agreed to

come.

And the

faithfulness of

God is seen

that in the

fullness of

time, the

Christ did

come.

This is

perhaps the

greatest wonder

of the cosmos,

that the God

and creator of

all things,

the one by

whose word and

power all

things are made

and sustained,

that he came

into the world,

that he took

on himself the

form of a

servant, and

that he subjected

himself to

the misery of

this world.

And that in his

faithfulness he

went to the

cross and he

died for his

people.

And tonight,

the question

before us is

simply this,

what are we

praising?

I mean, what

are we singing

of when we

sing this psalm?

What's on our

minds?

What's in our

hearts?

What's moving

us?

And surely it

is this, that

we know a

Savior, a

Redeemer in

Christ Jesus,

who loved us

and gave

himself for

us, and

who did

so through

the sorrow

of Gethsemane,

who in the

depths of

sorrow in

Gethsemane

said,

nevertheless

Father,

even though

if I could

ask that this

cup would

pass from

me,

nevertheless

Father, not

my will but

yours be

done,

who surrendered

himself willingly

to the will

of his

Father,

who carried

out the

fullness of

the covenant

commitments that

God had

entered into,

who carried

the cross.

This is our

Savior tonight.

Lord, this is

who we are

invited to

make much

of and to

extol with

our lips.

And so

will we not

come and

praise the

Lord?

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father we thank you for

tonight your fidelity

your faithfulness

the fact that you are

in Christ Jesus the hope of the Gentiles

and so Lord we need

desperately to have our hearts

engaged

and our minds committed

and our faith

exercised towards this great

truth that you

have done it all

and so

Father prepare us to come

in obedience

to your invitation

and we ask this for

Christ's own sake

Amen

We're going to sing in conclusion

in that psalm, Psalm 117

in Sing

Psalms page 155

The tune is Regent Square

We've sung it recently

actually in the congregation

Praise the Lord

O all you nations

all you peoples

sing his praise

for his love is great towards us

his commitment lasts always

he is faithful

now and ever

Hallelujah

Praise the Lord

I think we'll sing it through twice

and we'll stand to sing

and remain standing for the benediction

Praise the Lord

O all your nations

all you need

must sing his face

for his love is great towards us

praise the Lord

praise the Lord

He is faithful

now and ever

praise the Lord

praise the Lord

Alleluia, praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, O all you nations, all you peoples sing his praise.

For his love is straight towards us, his moment and last always.

His faithful, alleluia, praise the Lord.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Amen.

Amen.