I Will Enter His Gates

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! Psalm 100:4

I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart.
I will enter His courts with praise.
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad; He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad; He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.

This Is the Day

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice, we will rejoice, and be glad in it, and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made.

Blessed Be the Name

Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! Psalm 113:2

Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord!
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord!
Glory to the name, glory to the name, glory to the name of the Lord!
Glory to the name, glory to the name, glory to the name of the Lord!

Behold What Manner of Love

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God...1 John 3:1

Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us.
Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us.
That we should be called the sons of God.
That we should be called the sons of God.

Worship: Sacraments, Signs and Seals of the Covenant

We have been thinking about acts of worship that please God according to Scripture. So far, we’ve talked about the reading and preaching of the Word, about public prayer, and about public singing. We’ve seen how each of these elements is modeled in the New Testament and how each brings glory to God and blessing to His people. The final element that we’ll talk about is celebrating the sacraments.

The sacraments may seem mysterious and confusing. Even the word “sacrament” is one that you’ll probably never hear outside church. If you’ve visited other churches, you may have noticed that different churches have different practices when it comes to the sacraments, making them even more confusing. So what is a sacrament, and what does it mean to celebrate it?

The word “sacrament” comes from a Latin word that means “sacred” or “consecrated,” in other words something set apart for a holy purpose. St. Augustine said that a sacrament is “a visible word.” Sacraments show us visually what the Bible teaches using words. The Westminster Shorter Catechism 92 says, “A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.” Worshiping God Leader Guide (GCP) breaks down the WSC’s teaching on sacraments like this:

o   a holy ordinance: a practice that is commanded, ordered—ordained—by Christ

o   sensible: experienced by the senses:  seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching

o   signs: things that points to something beyond themselves

o   Christ and the benefits of the new covenant: the whole work of redemption, which is

• represented – pictured
• sealed – guaranteed as a genuine promise of God, like seals on legal documents
• applied – made real in our lives by the Holy Spirit as we exercise faith

Jesus gave His church two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The first, baptism, is commanded by Jesus in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We see many examples of the apostles obeying this command in the book of Acts when people heard the gospel, repented of their sin, and claimed faith in Jesus (2:38-41: 8:12-13; 8:36-38; 9:18; 10:48; 16:15, 33; 19:3-5; 22:16). Baptism is the immersion of a person in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  It is a sign of the believer's sharing in Jesus's death and resurrection, of being joined to Jesus, and of being spiritually cleansed because of Jesus dying for our sins.  As a seal, baptism “marks” God’s people to show that they belong to Him and are members of His church. Baptism also signifies a believer's commitment to God and to live for him.

The second sacrament that Jesus gave us is the Lord’s Supper. You can read about this in Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; and Luke 22:14-23. Right before Jesus went to the cross, He celebrated a Jewish holiday, the Passover, with His disciples. The Passover was commanded by God in the Old Testament to help the Jewish people remember how God had saved His people from slavery in Egypt and delivered them from the tenth plague, death of the firstborn (see Exodus 12). When Jesus shared the Passover meal with His disciples, He took two of the Passover symbols, bread and wine, and gave them a new meaning, making them symbols of what He was about to do—offer His body and shed His blood on the cross to save His people. Jesus commanded His disciples to “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper we remember Jesus’s sacrifice, and we experience His grace helping our faith in His promises to grow.

There is much, much more to be said about the sacraments, and you’ll continue to learn about them throughout your Christian life. When the church practices baptism and the Lord’s Supper, we are obeying Jesus’s command to observe these signs, but we don’t do it just out of obedience. We do it because it is a joyful expression of our love for God and our gratitude for what He has done for us. We do it to glorify Him. Truly, we don’t just practice or observe the sacraments, we celebrate them.

Hymn of Praise: “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder”

Today’s hymn isn’t specifically about the sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, but it does make much of what the sacraments point to—the blood Jesus shed to wash away our sin and guilt. The writer of this hymn is one we’ve met before, John Newton, the slave trader turned minister, who famously declared God’s grace to be amazing! This hymn carries that same attitude of amazement as Newton encourages us to love Jesus, sing to Him in spite of our trials, and to wonder at God’s love and mercy. Verse 4 tells us what is especially wondrous about Christ’s redemptive work: grace (the good we don’t deserve) and justice (the punishment we do deserve) are joined in our salvation. When through grace we trust in Jesus, “justice smiles and asks no more.” Wonder—a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration caused by something inexplicable—is precisely the correct response.

“Let us Love and Sing and Wonder”

1 Let us love and sing and wonder,

let us praise the Savior's name!

He has hushed the law's loud thunder,

he has quenched Mount Sinai's flame:

he has washed us with his blood,

he has brought us nigh to God.

2 Let us love the Lord who bought us,

pitied us when enemies,

called us by his grace and taught us,

gave us ears and gave us eyes:

he has washed us with his blood,

he presents our souls to God.

3 Let us sing, though fierce temptation

threaten hard to bear us down!

For the Lord, our strong salvation,

holds in view the conqu'ror's crown:

he who washed us with his blood

soon will bring us home to God.

4 Let us wonder; grace and justice

join and point to mercy's store;

when thro' grace in Christ our trust is,

justice smiles and asks no more:

he who washed us with his blood

has secured our way to God.

5 Let us praise, and join the chorus

of the saints enthroned on high;

here they trusted him before us,

now their praises fill the sky:

"You have washed us with your blood;

you are worthy, Lamb of God!"

.

When we sing this hymn, we express our awe at what God has done for us in Christ, and in response, we offer him the love and praise that He so richly deserves. We join with the thousands upon thousands in heaven who sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:12

Activity – Signs and Seals

We learned today that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are signs and seals. Let’s think a bit more about what that means, starting with signs. We see signs every day. If you ride in the car with your family, you will pass dozens of signs even on a short trip. Some signs point us to the things we are looking for like a place to eat or which way to turn at an intersection. Some signs represent something; for example, a cross on a building usually means that a church meets at that building. Some signs remind us of things, like the way a speed limit sign reminds drivers to obey traffic laws. What do each of these signs point to, represent, or remind you of?

Seals are not quite the same as signs. They promise or prove that something is official or trustworthy. Perhaps you have books in your home library that have the Caldecott or Newbery seal on them. Those seals mean that those books are official winners of a certain library prize, so you can usually trust that they are “good” books. Seals guarantee that whatever they’re placed on is the real thing. When we sign legal documents, our signature is our seal that we are who we claim to be and that whatever we sign is true.  Sometimes a seal proves ownership or origin. In the old days, people would put their wax seal on letters so that the person who received the letter could know for sure who sent the message and that the message hadn’t been tampered with. When something has a seal that we recognize, we can be sure that thing deserves our trust. What promises or guarantees do each of these seals make?

Talk with your family about how baptism and the Lord’s Supper are signs. What do they point to?

Talk about how they are seals. What do they guarantee?