Badenoch Free Church

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Sunday 26th Aug Morning Service:
“2 Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,”
The great thrust of this verse is the command to “praise God” which is based upon the revelation of who God is.
This call to praise God was applicable to the Corinthian church who were made up of all sorts of people. Jewish converts, pagan converts, rich people, poor people, slaves etc.
We know from 1st Corinthians that they had fallen into all kinds of sin and had thus taken their eyes off God and the praise of God that would naturally follow.
Here in 2nd Corinthians the problem again is that the people have taken their eye off God and are looking to “great teachers” - people who they considered better than Paul. Much of this letter is a defence of Paul as an Apostle because he is under attack - 2cor10v10 “For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing."”
Thus, the directive to praise God and focus upon Him was absolutely essential for their survival as a fellowship and for their survival as individual worshiping believers.
Today the principle is still the same for us.
Our survival as a fellowship and as individual believers depends upon our praising God!
So to the text:
The verse gives us an amazingly beautiful picture of what God is like.
He is the God and Father of Jesus. He is the Father of Compassion and He is the God of Comfort. - Therefore we praise Him!
So we are called to praise God and we are given three reasons for praise.
1) God is the Father of Compassion
We worship God because of who he is in his own nature.
“oivktirmw/n ” compassion, pity, mercy - Father of Compassion.
What is God like? In his very essence he is full of Compassion.
Scripture abounds with references to this great fact:
“Psalm 86:5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Daniel 9:9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;
Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry for ever but delight to show mercy.”
When you praise God this is what you have to recognise: He is full of compassion.
What is God like? Compassionate, living, merciful, He takes pity on us!
This is the first thing about God that should elicit our praise!
Not his judgement / purity / creative power / authority etc, but his Compassion!
We can’t praise God freely if we do not come to him as the great Compassionate God.
Furthermore:
2) God is the God of all Comfort.
God is compassionate by nature, in practice he shows his compassion in his Comfort.
Thus we worship him for what he gives to us.
He gives us comfort: “paraklh,sewj(” encouragement, help, comfort (Holy Spirit)
How does he give us comfort?
Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
John14v16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever--”& 16v7”But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, the Helper, the one who encourages us!
We cannot even give the praise that we are called to give, without the help of the Holy Spirit!
Thus in our praise we must be Holy Spirit dependant!
Do you pray for the Holy Spirit to bless our worship services?
Do you recognise your need for the Holy Spirit to enable you to worship?
 
3) God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We praise God for who he is in relation to our Lord. This is mysterious.
In his flesh Jesus calls God, God! “John 20:17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them,` I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"”
We worship Jesus because He is our Lord, our Saviour, our Messiah.
We worship God because He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And through Jesus He is our God and Father too.
We are reminded here that our worship as Christians is Trinitarian.
We worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
This highlights the fact that our praise, is praise of the Holy, Mysterious, Other.
We know that God is One. Yet Three! One Nature, Three Persons.
God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
The doctrine of the Trinity is mysterious and awesome
- the effects of which should be to make our praise humble and reverent.
We cannot fully understand or comprehend God,
Yet this should enliven our worship and lead us on to praise Him more.
The text specifically calls us to praise God the Father.
For some this is difficult because of strained human relationships with fathers.
However, our understanding of God the Father is to be moulded by Scripture.
Thus we are always to remember God is Compassionate, God is the God of all comfort!
 
 
 
Evening Service
Text : 1Sam 15v22
This morning we looked at the Praise that we are called to give to God.
Our praise is based upon the revelation God gives of himself in scripture.
He is the Father of Compassion and the God of all Comfort.
Thus we praise him, we worship. But what is it that we actually do?
What constitutes praise?
Our text tonight should give us some helpful directions!
The context in which we find this text is very interesting.
Saul has not long been king of Israel and he has been sent on this mission.
Already in 1sam13v13-14 we have seen that Saul’s kingship is not shaping up well. The problem back then was that Saul did not keep the command of the LORD.
Now in chapter 15v3 he is given another command: wipe out the Amalekites.
God is executing his judgment on earth through the nation of Israel. These accounts are the only holy wars that we can be sure are divinely ordained holy wars.
V9 show that Saul and his army did not do as God commanded.
V24 Saul’s excuse. He feared the people.
In response to Saul’s disobedience we get this word from Samuel: our text.
1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
The text is for anyone who is serious about wanting to please God.
What does the text mean?
Listening followed by obedience is what pleases God.
Listening followed by disobedience and covered up by religion displeases God.
This principle is as true today as it was for Saul thousands of yeas ago.
Today if you want to please God you must listen to him and do as he says.
The best commentary on these verse is the story Jesus tells at the end of the sermon on the mount. Mat 7v24-27.
Now to our text:
1) A question ?
“"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? ”
What is more pleasing to God - outward religious ceremony or Obedience?
As people who come to church week after week this is an interesting question to ask ourselves.
Is God pleased that we come to church? Yes at certain level he is.
Remember the sacrificial system was set up by God in the first place.
And we are called to meet together and not give up meeting - Heb 10v25.
Yet in and of itself it is not all that pleasing to God.
In fact a times God is discussed with religion!
“Amos 5:21-23 21 "I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.”
Why? Because their religion was not based upon practical obedience to Gods Word.
Obedience is where the rubber hit’s the road when it comes to this most important of all things - pleasing God!
Jeremiah 7:22 For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, 23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.”
So do you think you are pleasing God by your religion?
Only if there is Obedience!
Thus we have this great proclamation:
2) A proclamation:
“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”
The writer to Proverbs agrees with this statement:
“Proverbs 21:3 To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.”
And in Ecclesiastes:
“ Ecclesiastes 5:1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.”
Listening and obedience is what pleases God!
More important than anything else!
Wise and foolish builders.
Why is listening and obedience so important? Because they lead to life.
Salvation starts by listening to the Word of God.
The Word tells us who we are. Where we have come from. Where we are going. How we are lost. How we have sinned. How we can’t earn our salvation. What God has done for the world. How we get right with God. How we then keep right with God etc.
Listen to that word. And obey that Word.
But listening and obeying does not end when you first listen!
You need to go on listening and obeying.
The simplicity and beauty of Christian spirituality comes via these two roads.
God does not require great shows of religion. No great feats of monastic self sacrifice.
No attempts to earn Gods favour. Nothing extra-ordinary.
Just listening and obeying - within the reach of all of us!
“trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”
3) A warning v23 “Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."”
Ultimately the consequence of not listening and obeying is eternal death!
If you reject the word of God he will reject you!
Your religious duties and church attendance will gain you nothing if you have ignored the voice of God and followed your own desires.