Preparing for Worship - August 21, 2022

The Psalm is Psalm 50, written by Asaph, a Levite working with music and song before the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem. Asaph is inspired to speak of God the Lord summoning His people for judgment. There are “faithful ones.” But He will not accept the offerings of others, who think they are earning God’s favor by what they do for God. He does not need their animal sacrifices, as He is the owner of all things. Rather, He wishes that they “glorify Him” and offer “sacrifices of thanksgiving” in gratefulness for God’s “deliverance” of them in times of trouble, when they call upon Him” in faith.

The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 66:18-23. God predicts a time when “His glory will be declared among the nations,” and people will come in faith to Him from “all nations,” no matter their “languages.” This will be the greatest “offering” to Him, as they worship Him forever in “the new heavens and the new earth that He makes for them.” (See the fulfillment of prophecy like this in Revelation 21:1-8.)

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 13:22-30, someone asks Jesus, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Jesus simply says that the important thing is “to enter through the narrow door.” There are not many roads and doors that lead to heaven. In another place Jesus said, “I am the door of the sheep… I am the door. If anyone enters by me he will be saved” (John 10:7,9). Jesus also said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Many people will lose out because they do not trust in Jesus and they wait too long to come to faith, until the door is already shut. Sadly, Jesus predicts that many of His fellow Jews will resist and reject Jesus as the Savior. On the other hand, many people from every direction, from all over the world, will come to faith in Jesus.

The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 12:4-24 (25-29), written at a time when persecution of Christians was increasing and temptations to leave behind the faith were many. As a father needs to discipline his children at times, so the Lord needs to discipline us, “for our good,” and to help us, so that we can “lift our drooping hands and strengthen our weak knees” and follow in the way of “the grace of God” in Christ. We are not motivated by fearful sights and sounds and Words of Law, as at Mount Sinai long ago. Rather, we are motivated by the hope of “the heavenly Jerusalem” through the saving work of “Jesus, the Mediator of a New Covenant,” and “the sprinkled blood” of Jesus, shed at the cross, that speaks of God’s love and forgiveness. We may be “shaken” by trials in this life, but we keep listening to our Lord and “are grateful for receiving an (eternal) kingdom that cannot be shaken” and “keep worshiping our Lord Jesus with reverence and awe.”