:: Download the 8.9.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 8.9.2015 Bulletin
:: Download the 8.9.2015 Sermon Audio
image :: Fear and Desire, Roger Weik (2005, American)
Preparation for Worship :: The Tenth Commandment: Do Not Covet
“There is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets things with a deep and fierce passion…The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God’s gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.” (A.W. Tozer)
“I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness….I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war…Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:7-8, 22-25)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday August 9 include ::
:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Before the Throne of God Above (Charitie Lees Bancroft, 1863) CHART [bandcamp track=3844385493 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Abide With Me (Henry Francis Lyte, 1847) CHART [bandcamp track=1465399194 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Whate’er My God Ordains is Right (Samuel Rodigast, 1675) CHART [bandcamp track=3568458930 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Sing to the King (Billy James Foote, 2003) CHART
>>> AUDIO
:: Lord I Need You (Matt Maher, 2013) CHART
>>> AUDIO
Call to Worship :: Isaiah 55:1-3
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to Me;
hear, that your soul may live”
New Testament Reading :: James 4:1-10
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Declaration of Faith :: The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 113-115
What is the aim of the tenth commandment? That not even the slightest desire or thought contrary to any one of God’s commandments should ever arise in our hearts. Rather, with all our hearts we should always hate sin and take pleasure in whatever is right.
But can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly? No. In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God’s commandments.
Since no one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly, why does God want them preached so pointedly? First, so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. Second, so that we may never stop striving, and never stop praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to be renewed more and more after God’s image, until after this life we reach our goal: perfection.
Prayer of Confession :: The Book of Common Prayer
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us.
Words of Encouragement :: Psalm 32:5
I acknowledged my sin to You,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Sermon :: Exodus 20:1-2,17
And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…”
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
