Michiana Covenant Presbyterian Church

[Sung Psalm: 2] Francis Schaeffer warned that Christians should not become identified with a particular nation or political party. Christians can be co-belligerents with those who share our views on a particular issue. We can work together with anyone – in any party – who will do what it right before God. But our allegiance is not to a political party – or even to the United States of America. Our allegiance is given to King Jesus. If anyone tries to tell you that Christianity is not political, they are mistaken: Christianity is political, but the politics of the Kingdom of Christ cannot be easily squished into the political categories of modern American politics. After all, in politics (as much as any area of life) you must not be "conformed to this age", but you must be "transformed by the renewal of your mind." (Romans 12:2) And Romans 13 tells us what this looks like, because while we serve the King of kings and the Lord of lords, we are called to submit to earthly authority – just like he did...

[Sung Psalm: 94] Our ordinary Christian life is lived in union with Christ. Our everyday, normal existence is normed by life in the Spirit. And that means that you don't need to "make up" for failures in the ordinary through doing something extraordinary – but simply through repentance. And what is repentance? I like the Shorter Catechism's answer: "repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it, unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience." Repentance includes a clear recognition of how you have fallen short – as well as grasping hold of what God has done in Jesus to deliver us from sin! And when you clearly see your sin – and God's grace and mercy in Jesus – then you hate your sin for what it is – and turn away from sin, and turn towards God! Learning to live an ordinary life the way God calls you to live! And that ordinary life is a life of

In chapter 11, we heard how Solomon's life had ended poorly. The wages of sin is death – not only the death of Solomon himself, but also the dismemberment of the Kingdom. The golden age of Israel's history – the new Eden that Solomon built – ends the same way that the first one did. And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. When his heart was set on the LORD, he built a house for the name of the LORD. Now that his heart is set on foreign women, he builds houses for the names of their gods. God had warned him! But still he did precisely the thing that God had told him not to do! Sounds like Adam, doesn't it? God gives a very specific command – if you do this one thing, you will die–your kingdom will be taken from you. And so what is the one thing that Solomon makes sure that he does?! God had brought everything to fulfillment in the days of Solomon. All that God had promised to Abraham and Moses had come true. But the Second Adam–the one who restored paradise – did not persevere to the end. This

[Sung Psalm: 131] How often have you heard people object that "Christians are hypocrites"? How do you answer someone who says that? I think the best answer is to confess that too often it is, in fact, true. And not just in "churches out there" – but right here. How often have we thought about "what do I get out of it?" As we go through these verses, we need to confess that we have fallen short of what our Lord Jesus Christ has called us to do and to be! Paul had said in Romans 11 that we Gentiles should not get cocky, but we should remember that if God cut off the natural branches to graft us in, he can just as easily cut us off, if we rebel like they did...

In chapter 3, verse 1, we are told that Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh. But we are assured two verses later that Solomon loved the LORD. So at the beginning of his reign, Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter while remaining true to the LORD. But now – we are told that Solomon "loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh." In other words, if he had only loved one – that could have meant the salvation of Egypt! But Solomon turned aside from the path of faithfulness. He forgot the LORD and clung to foreign women instead. In Hebrew, the "heart" includes both the intellectual and the emotional. This is the part of you that makes decisions, and thinks things through. And five times in verses 2-4, we hear about the heart: "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." (v2) "His wives turned away his heart" (v3) "his wives tuned away his heart after other gods" (v4) "and his heart was not wholly true

[Sung Psalm: 51] In Romans 12 Paul launches a new section of Romans. He will now talk about the "practical" side of the Christian life. He has spent the last 11 chapters talking about the importance of Christian doctrine – the importance of the good news of what Jesus has done. We should remember that "doctrine" simply means "teaching." Doctrine is the foundation for practice. "Teaching" is the starting point for "doing." Doctrine results in practice. It always does. Whatever you really believe is what you will act upon! So if you want to know what you really believe – take a look at your life! How you live tells the world what you believe! How do you live? Does your whole life revolve around your family? Do you focus your energy simply on enjoying life now – whatever the cost? What do your priorities say about what you really believe?

1 Kings tells the story of Solomon as a story of wisdom. The whole Solomon narrative revolves around the gift of wisdom and Solomon's use of that gift, centered around the building of the temple – and indeed, with the worship service of chapter 8 at the very heart of the narrative. Our passage tonight returns us to the general theme of Solomon's wisdom, which we saw exhibited in chapters 3-5. In 4:29 it started with the nations and moved to Hiram. Here it moves backward, starting with Hiram and ending with the nations coming to Solomon...

[Sung Psalm: 80] The basic picture in Romans 11 is that of a cultivated olive tree. The olive tree refers to Israel – you might say that it has an Abrahamic root! Exile and judgment is described by the prophets as a "chopping down" of the tree. When God sends his people into exile, he sends his agents to cut down the tree – but trees are resilient – and you never know what will grow back. I grew up in a Coastal Redwood forest. There was an old stump by our front walk that had been cut down years before the house was built. But it kept putting out suckers – and so my dad had me and my brother cut it back every year. When my parents sold the house in 1985, the new owner decided to stop fighting. Less than 40 years later, there is a massive 100 foot tree eating up the front walk! So the fact that a tree is felled does not mean that the tree is gone forever! Isaiah spoke of a shoot that would come forth from the stump of Jesse. because all the promises to Israel have their focus on the house of David – and, as Pa

[Sung Psalm: 69] At the beginning of this series on Romans we looked at Paul's mission: "to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations." In other words, Paul's mission is to make disciples of the nations. And his letter to the Romans is all about that mission. Paul wants you to understand your place in the kingdom of God. He wants to you understand what God is doing in history – and how you fit into what God is doing. What is God doing? The Bible is not an instruction manual. If you approach it that way, you will find vast swathes of the Bible that would appear useless. What do you do with the hundreds of chapters of OT history and prophecy that has no obvious "application" to my life. Rather, the Bible tells a story. The Bible contains the narrative of what God is doing in history. You and I are not the main characters in this narrative. The story of the Bible is not all about me. The story of the Bible is all about Jesus. And because it is all about Jesus, it does spea

In the 2 Chronicles version of this story, you hear God's famous response, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (7:14) Why is that missing here? The book of Kings is focused on the question of why the Exile? Chronicles is very interested in what to do after the Exile. Kings is not. Kings is interested in "why has this disaster fallen on Jerusalem?" For Kings, the point is that only God can raise the dead! For Chronicles, the point is that now that you have been raised from the dead, walk in newness of life!! The point that Kings is making is that when Judgment Day comes, it will be too late! When God brings disaster on the earth, there is nothing that can stop his mighty hand! And that's why Kings highlights Solomon's prayer. The central feature of this chapter is Solomon's prayer. Solomon's prayer is a model intercessory prayer. He takes the themes of

[Sung Psalm: 19] We believe in our heart and we are justified (being) and then we do confess with our mouths and are saved. There must be both the inward faith and the outward confession. Salvation requires both the inward and the outward – being and doing. And, Paul says, this is true both for the Jew and for the Greek. Because the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. That is a remarkable thing. That God should bestow his riches on us! We have already seen in chapter 8 that we have been adopted into God's family. We have become fellow heirs with Jesus. God has called us into his family. Therefore, we are to respond by calling upon his name. But this provokes Paul to ask a series of questions. We started looking at this last time – but I'd like to focus here a bit more...

What we do in our worship at MCPC is modeled after this worship service in 1 Kings. Of course, all Christian worship is modeled after this worship service. Or, more precisely, Solomon's worship service is modeled after the heavenly pattern that Moses saw dimly (Exodus 24-25) – and John saw so much more clearly in Revelation. The heavenly pattern is quite simple: we enter worship based on a sacrifice (a sinner cannot approach God without the shedding of blood); we hear the Word of God; we respond with our prayers and praises; and we partake of the covenant meal. That's what Christian worship is – and always has been! Every worship service described in Scripture is consistent with that pattern. Obviously the dedication of the temple is more elaborate than most worship services! – but the basic pattern is exactly the same...

As we look at the building of the temple, we need to see this as a picture of what Jesus does in building us together as a holy dwelling place for God by his Spirit. In chapters 6-7 we hear of how Solomon's wisdom is manifested in building the temple – the House of the LORD - and in his own house. Chapter 6 deals with the construction of the temple. 7:1-12 then moves to the construction of Solomon's house. And 7:13-51 returns to the furnishing of the temple. Our text neatly fits together with the statement in 6:1 that Solomon "began to build the house of the LORD," and in 7:51 that "the house of the LORD was finished." This is the same word used in Genesis 2:1, where it says that God finished creating the heavens and the earth; it is also the word used in Exodus 40:33 to describe how Moses finished building the tabernacle We are also told that Solomon took 7 years to build the temple. His own house took longer – 13 years. Some have thought that this suggests that Solomon's priorities are backwards – since he

[Sung Psalm: 81] In Romans 9 Paul laid out the history of God's purposes with Israel. He showed that Israel failed to reach a law that would lead to righteousness. NOT because the law was deficient, but because they did not pursue the law by faith. If Israel had pursued the law by faith, then they would have reached the law that led to righteousness, because they would have reached Christ. And Christ is the end of the law (the goal of the law) for righteousness to everyone who believes. Why should you care about this? Paul will go there in chapter 11 when he says, if this is how God treated Israel, then this is how he will treat you (you, Gentiles), if you rebel. Paul's point, for you, as much as for Israel, is that you need to believe in Jesus. And Paul starts by contrasting two sorts of righteousness: the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith...

Why should we care about the detailed description of the temple given here? The simple reason is because in Christ you are the temple – the house of the LORD. All that is true of the temple is true of you. We heard in chapters 3-5 of the wisdom of Solomon in judging difficult cases (3:15-28) in the organization of his kingdom (4:1-19) in his expansive learning, covering the whole of creation (4:29-34) and in his dealing with the nations, especially Hiram of Tyre (5:1-12) Now in chapters 6-7 we hear of how Solomon's wisdom is manifested in building the temple - the House of the LORD - and in other building projects. We'll take two weeks to go through it – but the two chapters fit neatly together. Chapter 6 deals with the construction of the temple. Chapter 7:1-12 then moves to the construction of Solomon's house. And 7:13-51 returns to the furnishing of the temple. These chapters are bracketed by the statement in 6:1 that Solomon "began to build the house of the LORD," and in 7:51 that "the house of the LORD w

We saw in chapter three that Solomon recognized that in order to rule God's people, he needed wisdom – "Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?" The thing that Adam grasped wrongly – the knowledge of good and evil – is the thing that Solomon asks for. Clearly, the knowledge of good and evil is not inherently wrong. It is a good thing for the son of God to know! There will be lots of echoes of Genesis throughout the story of Solomon – as the pattern of redemption continues to unfold! In Genesis 1-3 you get a snapshot of the basic pattern: God creates man for worship and fellowship with himself – man rebels and turns to other gods – and God promises that he will redeem and restore his people. This template appears in the story of Kingdom and Temple (in the days of David and Solomon) – the establishment of the Kingdom and the house of God which ends with the rebellion of the house of Davi

[Sung Psalm: 74] Paul speaks boldly in Romans 8 of how nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. But while many Jews have believed, most have not. How can you say, Paul, that nothing can separate us from the love of God, when God has obviously rejected the majority of his own people! Romans 9 is Paul's answer to that question. In verses 6-13 Paul shows from the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that election is based on God's call – not our works. There is no guarantee based on physical descent. Paul understands that this will shock some people, and so he asks, "is God unjust?" Is it fair for God to choose one twin and reject the other? Paul shows from the Exodus that election is based in God's mercy – not our efforts. And Paul says clearly that God hardens some – and has mercy on others. Of course, Paul understands that this doesn't make it any easier! You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" You might think that Paul would try to help his poor

[Sung Psalm: 92] This is a hard passage. It is not especially difficult to understand what Paul is saying. He is pretty straightforward. The difficulty is not that Paul's message is so complicated. The difficulty is that we don't like to hear it. We like to think that we are in charge – that we get to define what is fair, just, and right. But Paul's answer to us is "who are you, O man, to answer back to God?" Sometimes, when we quote Paul, we can have an edge to our tone: "who do you think you are?! O man…" What is Paul's tone? When Paul is asking "who are you, O man, to answer back to God" – he is certainly reminding us that God is God – and we are not! Sort of like how God answered Job. But remember that when God answered Job, all that Job endured was designed to conform Job to the likeness of Christ! Job became a picture of the innocent suffering servant! And the LORD honored and rewarded Job at the end! And that is Paul's point here! He humbles us – by asking us "just who do you think you are?" But also

I mentioned last time that there are three stories in the book of Kings: - The story of the house of David and the building of Solomon's temple. - The story of the rebellion of the northern kingdom and the sin of Jeroboam (the shrines of the golden calf in Bethel and Dan). - And the story of the house of Omri and the building of Ahab's temple for Baal in Samaria. But the basic premise of the whole story is that David's sons must walk faithfully before God...

[Sung Psalm: 44] Romans 8 verses 18-30 explore this suffering that we are called to endure. Paul says that the creation itself is groaning, longing for the revelation of the sons of God. And therefore we also groan as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons. We have the Spirit of adoption – but we wait eagerly for our adoption – the redemption of our bodies at the resurrection. We have received the firstfruits of adoption as sons in Christ, by faith. But we have not yet been openly declared sons of God by the resurrection of our bodies. Think back to how Romans starts: Paul says Jesus was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead (1:4). He was already the Son of God – and yet the resurrection declared it openly and publicly to all. If that is true for Jesus, how much more will it be true for us! Verses 26-27 set forth the Spirit's work in interceding for us because we do not know how to pray as we ought. So verses 28-30 are concluding Paul'