Okay, my name is Denny, the pastor here at Mansfield First Presbyterian, and it really is a joy to be able to invite you to join us into worship this day, especially because this particular Sunday we get to celebrate the Lord’s table together.
Just as a forewarning, something that’s nice about having the virtual service is that you can actually pause the recording while you go and get your elements if you need to in order to set things up. But I just want to mention a couple of things before we begin our time of worship: a few announcements.
Number one, as I mentioned in the previous two Sunday services that were recorded, our denomination has approved us to be able to do this virtual service, and I will coach you on how to do that when we come to that time of the service. So, have the elements ready, and we did ask that people would prayerfully prepare by using First Corinthians chapter 11, verses 23 through 32. I hope you had the opportunity to do that, but even if you did not, we will still take some time to prepare. There is an order of worship that is online as well that you can bring up for this.
Secondly, we still are helping with People Helping People. If you have any canned food items or fresh fruit or vegetables you’d like to drop off at the church, you can do that Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. As they accumulate, I take those items on down either Monday, Tuesday, or throughout the week, but you’re welcome to drop them off on any of those three days. Any fresh foods we put in the refrigerator downstairs in the church kitchen.
Then, just one last thing, in the order of worship, if you would like to share this link with someone else, we’ve put the link for the recorded sermons as well as the audio sermons at the end of the bulletin under the very last announcement, so you should be able to find it there. You can see that it’s at the end of the bulletin after the sermon outline, which I’ll mention may be helpful for you to use when it’s time for me to preach.
One of the things that we do in order to prepare for our time of worship is I like to have the people who are worshiping with us know what our mission statement is so that we confess that we come in order to go back out. I’m going to ask for you to join with me in confessing as an act of faith our mission statement at this time. Let me read it to you: ‘We serve to build relationships. We build relationships to share the gospel.’ That is what we believe God has put on our heart for our church’s mission.
So, as we prepare to give ourselves to Jesus with our call to worship, I’m going to ask if you would just pause with me right now and let’s pray. With whatever words you choose to use, tell Jesus that you have come here to worship Him this day and offer yourself to Him.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, I thank you for this privilege, not just to be a worship leader but to be the lead worshiper in this time. I thank you, Lord Jesus, that you help us worship you, but you also give us this privilege to worship you. Holy Spirit, right now we do ask for your help, that we would be able to surrender ourselves to Jesus in the ways that would honor Him in this time.
So I bless each of you who are watching us in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. At this time, I’m going to lead us in the call to worship. As you will notice, the different parts, it’s a responsive reading that will appear on the recorded feed. I’m going to begin as the leader, but I will also read your part just to help guide us along.
This is taken from Psalm 103, verses 13 through 18:
As a father shows compassion for his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him; for He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field, for the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
Now all of us together: But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember to do His commandments. Amen.
Now, at this time, our prayer of confession will also be appearing on the screen, and I’m going to ask you to confess this with me. Then we will pause in order to offer up personal prayers of confession and then to also receive an assurance apart. Please join with me:
God of love, whose love enfolds us, we praise your Holy Name. Forgive our moments of ingratitude and the spiritual blindness that prevents us from seeking your truth. Forgive us for allowing the unimportant to distract us. Teach us to bask in your word as we bask in the beauty of your creation. Thank you, Lord, for your love and forgiveness for which we did nothing to deserve. In Christ’s Holy Name we pray. Amen.
Let’s pause for a moment. If any of that spurred you on let’s ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything that we need to offer up to Jesus and ask forgiveness for.
Lord, at times like this reminds us of both the incredible grace that you offer us and the patience that you have for us as we are still learning what it means to walk in obedience to you. Yet your desire is not to condemn but to encourage us to move beyond those things that hold us back from the love and from the purposes that you have created for each one of us.
Lord Jesus, in this time, again we offer ourselves to you. We confess those things that provide an opportunity for us to change but also are a barrier to our relationship with you and a barrier to our service to you.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that through your forgiveness you set us free from these things that beset us.
Now, I declare to each of you, as you have confessed, being set free in Jesus Christ, and I declare your freedom in the name and the power and the authority of Lord Jesus Christ. It’s in Jesus’ name I declare that you are forgiven. Amen.
As an opportunity to respond to the greatness of who God is, our opening hymn of praise this morning is ‘How Great Thou Art.’ Again, for those who might be unfamiliar with the songs, or you just simply want to listen to it, you’re more than welcome to do it. I find it helpful at times simply to speak the words as a way to enter into worship as well too. [Music]
My son, my son, my Savior, God!
[Music] [Applause]
And [Music] [Applause].
My son, my Savior, God!
[Music] [Applause]
Then sings my song, my Savior!
[Music] [Applause]
Amen!
[Music]
At this point in our worship service, we usually give our members the opportunity to be able to worship with their tithe. But in this setting, that’s not possible. I do want to thank those who have been mailing in their checks and who’ve been paying online and donating through the QR code that we have there.
There is also a link, I believe, that can help you find the location for that at the church website. But whatever you choose to do, whether it’s to contribute to this church because the ministry for the kingdom of God continues, or whether you have another ministry or charity that you would like to donate to, it is an act of worship. So we invite you to be able to participate in that and have that opportunity whichever way you choose.
I just want to remind you about that but also to give thanks for those who have been continuing to send in their tithe.
At this time, I would like to be able to share with you the scripture passage for this particular sermon series that we are getting ready to start that has to do with inward versus outward in our relationship with God. In particular, we’re going to be starting today with Matthew 6, verses 1 through 4, and over the next few weeks, we’ll be working our way through Matthew chapter 6.
Before I share this passage with you, I’m going to ask if you would please pray with me.
Lord Jesus, you promised to send the Holy Spirit to be our Counselor, to be the one who teaches us in all things, the one who will come alongside and represent you in walking with us. So, Holy Spirit, even now in this time, prepare our hearts. Come alongside each one of us as we prepare to hear what it is you desire to speak into our lives from the Word of God.
May the Lord bless you in this time.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Our scripture passage, as I mentioned, is Matthew 6, verses 1 through 4. Let me read it to you:
‘Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’
This is the word of the Lord. Praise be to God.
Now, in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus introduces us to the concept that practice makes perfect. But in verse 1 of Matthew 6, Jesus also cautions us to be careful about what we practice by saying this: ‘Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.’
Jesus gives us this warning because if we do something enough times, the more it becomes a part of our character, both the good and the bad. The more the bad becomes a part of us, the harder it will be to change. For instance, there’s a short story I read about the danger of bad habits. An elderly teacher, with a pupil by his side, took a walk through a forest. He suddenly stopped and pointed to four plants close at hand. The first was just beginning to peep above the ground. The second had rooted itself pretty well into the earth. The third was a small shrub, while the fourth was a full-sized tree.
The tutor said to his young companion, ‘Pull up the first plant.’ The boy did so eagerly, using only his fingers. ‘Now pull up the second.’ The youth obeyed but found the task more difficult. ‘Do the same with the third,’ he urged. The boy had used all his strength and uprooted it. ‘Now,’ said the instructor, ‘try your hand with the fourth.’ The pupil put his arms around the trunk of the tall tree, and he couldn’t even shake its leaves.
The instructor said, ‘This, my son, is just what happens with our bad habits. When they are young, we can remove them readily. But when they are old, it’s hard to uproot them, though we prayed and struggled ever so sincerely.’ This is the type of warning that Jesus is giving. Many who were leaders of the faith had developed some pretty bad habits when it came to showing the compassion of God.
What they thought was righteous, or right with God, Jesus said was really wrong with God or unrighteous. The habits we choose for God are things that we practice until they are rooted deep within our character, but we must also make sure they are the habits of faith that God gives us. So, Jesus gives a short lesson in Matthew 6, verses 1 through 4 on practicing compassion in the right way.
But Jesus begins by revealing the wrong way to show compassion. It’s a compassion that is performance-driven. Jesus reveals this wrong way to show God’s compassion in verse 2 of chapter 6: ‘Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.’
The phrase ‘when you give to the needy’ comes from one Greek word that also meant to show sympathy, compassion, and acts of mercy. Many do not realize that this is what God expected His people to do: that was over and above the tithe. The tithe supported the work of the temple, but giving to those in need made everyone ministers for God.
But something had gone terribly wrong in this privilege God had given His people to share in the demonstration of God’s love, mercy, grace, and compassion. That is why Jesus used the phrase, ‘sound no trumpet before you.’ Jesus wasn’t saying that they were literally walking around with trumpets. Most likely, Jesus tied their wrong practices of compassion to the phrase ‘as the hypocrites do in the synagogues.’
This word ‘hypocrite’ is interesting; it was the Greek word for ‘stage actor.’ Stage actors in those days only had a trumpet-shaped device to amplify their acting. They had to amplify the sound of their voice and the acting so that people could clearly hear the role of the person that they were pretending to be.
But Jesus was not talking about people now who acted on the Greek or Roman stages for the benefit of theater audiences. Jesus was talking about religious people who acted for the benefit of their fellow synagogue church members. They were pretending to be someone they were not. They were amplifying a compassionate character that was not truly theirs.
Jesus’ point seems to be that they are pretending to show God’s compassion because they are only practicing it for the benefit of people’s opinion. They are playing a role that they do not really mean because it is not their true character.
But so that we are not left hanging, Jesus then goes on to tell us the right way to show compassion. It’s basically Jesus talking about our audience of one. We hear Jesus talking about this in Matthew 6, verses 3 through 4: ‘But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’
Now, it may seem strange that Jesus says, ‘do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.’ It almost feels impossible, and I have to admit that that was rather a puzzling statement to me. However, one commentary I read gave me some help. They suggested that it was a dramatic way of expressing the kind of freedom from people’s praise that Jesus wants us to have when practicing acts of compassion in secret.
It is an attitude of compassion that looks to someone else—an audience of one. And then Jesus tells us who that audience of one is in the very last part of verse 4: ‘and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’ Our audience of one is our Father who is in heaven.
But why should our Father who is in heaven be our only audience when practicing acts of compassion? I believe it is tied into the two great commandments: to love the Lord our God with all that we are and to love our neighbor in the same ways that God shows His love for us. When we make God our audience of one in the practice of compassion, we let Jesus know that our love for Him is so important that we must show compassion to others like Jesus did.
In the midst of this world, the predicted world pandemic that we are currently living in, people need to see God’s compassion. And let me give you two good reasons why.
Starting with John chapter 13, verses 34 through 35: this is in the midst of the Last Supper where Jesus says this to His followers: ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.’
Showing Jesus’ love to others is one powerful way that we prove Jesus exists. That proves the truth of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ.
Secondly, there is also what the Holy Spirit says in Colossians 3, verses 12 through 13: ‘Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, you also must forgive.’
By the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul tells us that God wants us to clothe ourselves with the character of Christ, and the character we wear demonstrates whose we are.
How we practice compassion either proves the true compassion of God or discredits the compassion of God. The choice is ours. Plus, think of the amazing impact we can have upon a hurting world. Right now, there are a lot of people who are afraid during this time of the pandemic. Christ’s Church, God’s people, we need to do more than just endure so that we can get through this time. We need to arise and become the witnesses to God’s love, compassion, and salvation that we were created to be.
We are born again to be these witnesses. So, if you are interested in showing the compassion and love of God in the ways that Jesus taught, then I would like to end by offering you two ways that we could show compassion through acts of kindness.
First, we can show God’s compassion through consistent acts of kindness. Now, one reason to do this is grounded in our church mission statement that we confess every Sunday morning right at the beginning of our worship service. We confess this: ‘We serve to build relationships. We build relationships to share the gospel.’
We cannot build relationships with people unless we consistently serve the same people and then actually interact with them in such a way that we prove that we actually want to have a relationship with them. Doing kind deeds is important, but if those kind deeds are not consistent with the same people, then we will never really be able to build a relationship with anyone. If we cannot build a relationship with anyone, then how will we ever be able to share Jesus with them?
Jesus modeled relationship building as a part of serving people. Jesus did not do drive-by surveys. Think of the same people that Jesus made into disciples because of His commitment to be with them.
It is in this context of consistency that we will get to know people, build trust with them, and then prove God’s love for them. As the Holy Spirit gives opportunity, we can simply share Jesus with them.
To emphasize what I mean, I’d like to share a quote from Heidi Baker, who’s the director of Iris Ministries. Heidi and her husband and many that they have trained have a powerful ministry to the poorest of the poor in Mozambique. This is one of her quotes on prayer: ‘You are called to love the broken until they understand God’s love, a love that never dies through you.’
So as a personal challenge, make a commitment to be useful to God. Ask Jesus to show you where He wants you to show His love, then commit to do it.
Secondly, we can show God’s compassion through random acts of kindness. The Holy Spirit says this through the Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 3, verse 6: ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’ In other words, we have absolutely no idea how Jesus might want to use us in any given circumstance. It could be to plant seeds of the gospel in someone’s life, or we might be called to water what Jesus has led someone else to plant. Random acts of kindness are also important and remind me of one of the prayers that the Reverend Richard Halverson, who was the chaplain of the US Senate from 1981 through 1994, prayed consistently as a benediction to his congregation in Washington, D.C.
Halverson prayed this at the end of the service before their people would go out: ‘We have been the church gathering; we are now the church dispersed. Remember, wherever you go, Christ goes. Whatever you do, Christ does. If someone asks you what your church is like, tell them I am what my church is like. If someone asks what your church does, tell them my church does what I do. Remember, you may well be the only authentic contact someone has with Jesus Christ, because they will not come to church, but you can bring the church to them.’
Halverson basically prayed a prayer of a personal challenge to show Jesus Christ wherever we go. So, when these pandemic restrictions are lifted, make a commitment to show Jesus Christ wherever you go. That would mean the next time you and I go to a store, a gas station, a place of entertainment, whatever it might be, we need to keep our eyes open to see if Jesus might want to show someone, as we read earlier in Colossians 3, verses 12 through 13, His compassionate heart, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, or forgiveness through us.
To close and summarize, here are three things to remember about giving to those in need:
1. What we practice becomes a part of our character, the good or the bad. 2. There is a right way and a wrong way to practice Jesus’ compassion. 3. Jesus wants us to practice His compassion with others.
Let me pray for you, for us, please.
Lord Jesus, we praise you. Thank you for the amazing ways you demonstrated kindness, mercy, grace, and the love of God and the salvation of God through your ministry. You’re not just simply asking us to mimic you; you’re saying that you want us to give you a chance to do through our lives what you did back then.
Lord Jesus, we offer our lives to you, and you are the one who desires to do it through us. It’s your power, it’s your Holy Spirit that desires even today to show people the love, the compassion, and the grace of God in you.
So my brothers and sisters, be encouraged, be anointed with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to do the things that Jesus did. As Jesus said, even greater things than these may you be blessed.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
As a way to respond to what I just shared with you, one of the things we need to realize is not only does God desire to show Amazing Grace to us, He also desires to show Amazing Grace through us. So the song I’d like us to use to respond right now is a variation of ‘Amazing Grace’ by Chris Tomlin called ‘Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone).’ Please join.
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
At this time, I’m going to move on over to my station here at the communion table. I’m going to invite you to join with me at this time to prepare for this part of our service, this privilege we give because this part of the service is also a demonstration and a confession of our faith in Jesus Christ.
What we celebrate in this time through these elements, through the bread that we receive—I have a small loaf here—and through the cup that we share together is we let people know that we believe and we remember what Jesus did: His sacrificial love for us, so that we might go out and do that for others.
Now I’m going to ask you to join with me. We have a copy of the Apostles’ Creed that should be coming up on your screen. At this time, if you would join with me as we begin our time together to celebrate our unity brought about by Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Please join with me:
‘I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day, He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From this, He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.’
For those of you who are watching this at this time, I’d like to extend to you this invitation to come and share in this table with our congregation. Now, even though we’re a Presbyterian Church and our Reformed tradition guides how we present this, you do not have to be Presbyterian to celebrate this. This is a sacrament that is meant for the large C Church, the church universal, to come together and confess in faith what Jesus Christ has done for us, to remember and to give thanks.
What we’re going to do right now is, as the Apostle Paul instructs in 1st Corinthians 11, verses 23 through 32, he told us to pause and examine ourselves before we celebrate this, to make sure we’re doing this with the right heart and the right attitude.
So I’m going to ask you to pause right now and simply prepare your heart. Tell Jesus you desire to confess that His body has been broken for you, that His blood has been shed for you, and you receive His salvation. Then give thanks.
Let’s pause right now and simply pray with your family or whoever you’re with right now to Jesus.
Lord Jesus, we praise you and thank you that you have given us a symbol that we can look at and remember that demonstrates the seeds of salvation that were sown in the Old Testament with the Passover and have now been fulfilled perfectly in you in the New Testament, in the New Covenant, by your body and by your blood.
So, Lord Jesus, for those who have confessed again, I declare it. Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Be set free. Be healed in your body, your heart, your soul, and your strength.
Receive now this time together as we come together in the church universal, as a community of faith, to celebrate Jesus the Christ.
I now declare that, as Jesus said, this is my body broken for you; this is my blood shed for you. With these elements, I now set them apart and bless them for the holy use for which they had been given. It’s in Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen.
As the Scriptures tell us, on the night in which Jesus was betrayed, He took bread. After He had given thanks for it, as I’ve already done in Jesus’ name, He broke it and He said, ‘This is my body broken for you.’ Jesus also declared that He is the bread of life. In the Old Testament, the lamb had to be consumed in order to participate in that sacrifice. So, whether it’s Jesus as the bread of life or Jesus as the Lamb of God, when we take this bread, we declare that we are joining ourselves with the sacrifice of Jesus and taking His sacrifice into ourselves.
I now say to you with whatever you are using for this part of the service right now, whether it’s a cracker, a wafer, or bread—take it, and I offer to you right now, as Jesus said, ‘This is my body broken for you.’ Let us take and eat.
Thank you, Lord Jesus.
That same evening, Jesus also took one of the cups that celebrated the Passover. Many believe it was the cup of redemption, and Jesus said, ‘This is the cup of the Covenant in my blood. Then, as often as you do this, do this also in remembrance of me.’
So I ask that you would please raise what you have with each family member now. Let us now celebrate this together. Take and drink.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, we join with all those who have also celebrated the sacrament in the past, who remember what you have done for us. We join with all those people who have gone on before us into heavenly glory and are now even with you before the throne, worshiping you as the Lamb who is slain, the Lamb of God who was dead and is alive again.
Lord Jesus, we not only look forward to the day where we can come back together as a congregation because the restrictions are lifted, but also to that glorious day when we will join with all those who have gone on before us, who are right now celebrating with you, worshiping you as the Lamb of God who was slain.
Blessed be your name. As the Scriptures say, to you belong power and wealth, wisdom and strength, glory and honor and praise. And unto the Lamb who sits on the throne be glory and honor and power forever and ever.
As we prepare to conclude our service, hoping that the song of praise—even if it’s new for you—may speak your heart. Because we talked about, through the passage, through the Lord’s table, about being people that God wants to change, to transform, to do something even more than we can ask or imagine.
So at this time, I’m going to ask if you would join me as we conclude our worship with this praise chorus called ‘Change My Heart, O God.’
[Applause]
Change my heart, O God.
[Music]
This is what I pray.
[Music]
Change my mind.
[Music]
Change my heart.
[Music]
Amen!
As we prepare to end this worship time, even though I can’t virtually send you out because you’re probably at home or in your apartment, wherever it may be, concluding this time of worship, it doesn’t mean that we have to be ineffective as far as being a witness for Jesus Christ through our prayers for other people or even in those opportunities when we do go out, like I said, to the grocery store or gas station.
Keep your eyes open because wherever we go, God has put us there on purpose, and we could have a great opportunity to show someone God’s love.
So be blessed in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and go forth in Jesus’ name to make disciples of all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that Jesus commanded.
And remember, here’s the powerful part: Jesus said, ‘And behold, I am with you always.’ Amen.