Happy Father's Day to you. We're looking at Ezra chapters 9 and 10 today. That's page 368 in the
Pew Bible. So we've come to the end of the book of Ezra this morning, but remember the books of
Ezra and Nehemiah actually form one story, the story of how after their failure and exile, God
brought his people back to the land of Judea and how they rebuilt the ruins. The first part of Ezra
is about the rebuilding of the ruins of the temple, but the second part of Ezra that we're in
is about rebuilding the people themselves. In other words, it's not enough to have the worship
of God in a temple. We must also have the worship of God in our hearts and in our lives as well.
And only then can the story continue on into Nehemiah as the people rebuild the city itself.
So it kind of moves out from there. But let me warn you, these last chapters of Ezra have some
surprises and even some fairly controversial bits. The work of rebuilding a building or a city is not
comfortable work. I spent a lot of my vacation over the last few weeks standing on a ladder doing work
on my house. It was good. I got a lot done. Thanks for your prayers. I didn't fall off the ladder. So
there you go. The work of rebuilding a city is not comfortable work, but the work of rebuilding a people
can be even more uncomfortable still. But as much as these chapters here in Ezra contain a challenge to
us, they also contain good news, good news of hope, even in the midst of failure.
So I'm going to pray for us, and then I'll read Ezra 9 to get us started. Let's pray.
Our Father, as we come before you now
to attend to your word, we confess that we need your spirit to be able to hear your word with
open ears and open minds and most importantly, open hearts. God, there are so many competing concerns,
so many competing desires within us. We are so often a mystery to ourselves.
Lord, help us in these few moments to hear a word from you, our Creator God.
Give us clarity. Give us conviction. Give us a fresh vision of your Son, our Lord Jesus, our Savior,
that we might know you and love you and be more like you as a people. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Ezra chapter 9. After these things had been done, the officials approached me, me as Ezra here,
the officials approached me and said, the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not
separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites,
the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons,
so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness,
the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost. As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment
and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the
words of the God of Israel because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles gathered
around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice, I rose from
my fasting with my garment and my cloak torn and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord,
my God saying, Oh my God, I am ashamed and blushed to lift my face to you, my God. For our iniquities
have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our
fathers to this day, we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities, we, our kings and our priests
have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering,
and to utter shame as it is today. But now for a brief moment, favor has been shown by the Lord,
our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place that our God
may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. For we are slaves, yet our God has
not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia
to grant us some reviving, to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us
protection in Judea and Jerusalem. And now, oh our God, what shall we say after this? For we have
forsaken your commandments, which you commanded by your servants, the prophets, saying, The land that
you are entering to take possession of it is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands,
with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. Therefore, do not
give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their
peace or prosperity that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance
to your children forever. And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt,
seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved, and have given us such a
remnant as this, shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice
these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no
remnant nor any to escape? Oh Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has
escaped as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.
A number of years ago, Beth and I were in Mexico City on a group trip, and one day of our trip,
we had a free afternoon. So, we decided to visit the house of Frida Kahlo, the great Mexican artist.
Unfortunately, neither Beth nor I spoke much Spanish, so we were a little uncertain how traveling across
the city would go for us. But to our relief, the metro system in Mexico City is brilliantly designed.
Every stop on the subway has its own distinctive logo or icon. The wayfinding in this massive system
is utterly brilliant, and those distinctive symbols for each stop make navigating the subway incredibly
easy, even if, like us, your Spanish is more than a little spotty. And so, we were able to have a pretty
good day. Has it ever struck you how important it is for things to be distinct at times?
For me and Beth, it helped us find our way to the Frida Kahlo Museum. Admittedly, not too much was at stake there.
But what about those distinct markings on a hiking trail? Do you know those? Those red or white or yellow blazes,
as they're called, that mark the paths? Well, those could be the difference between finding your way or getting
seriously lost, right? Or what about the distinctive lights on an airport runway at night? Well, there's a
whole lot at stake there, isn't there? The theme that's running underneath Ezra chapters 9 and 10
is actually this theme of distinctiveness. God's people are a people who are called to be distinct.
God says again and again in the Old Testament, because I'm holy, I want you to be holy. And holy
there means set apart for a noble purpose. Or as Jesus will say in the New Testament, as his followers
were meant to be salt and light. That is distinctive and life-giving. And as the story kind of unfolds here
at the end of Ezra, we see that it's a story of distinctiveness. In chapter 9, it's a story of the
people's distinctiveness being threatened. And then we see it's a story in chapter 10 of this
distinctiveness being repaired or restored. So first, let's consider how it's threatened.
In verse 1, some officials come to Ezra with some news. Now remember, Ezra is a Jewish priest and
teacher of God's law who's been sent by none other than the Persian king, Artaxerxes, from Babylonia
back to Jerusalem in order to teach the people how to live in accordance with God's word.
Looking ahead to chapter 10, verse 9, we know that about four months have passed since Ezra first
arrived in Jerusalem on his mission of teaching and rebuilding the people. Chapter 7, verse 9 says
that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem on the fifth month of the year. And chapter 10, verse 9 says that it's now
the ninth month. So what does that mean? It means that only four months into Ezra's work, the officials
come with some bad news. And what is it? Well, some of the returned exiles and some of the leaders,
especially priests and Levites, have married some of their non-Jewish neighbors.
And when Ezra hears this news, he tears his clothes, pulls out some of his hair, and sits down
in appalled silence. He mourns, in other words, as if someone has died. But why is this such a big deal?
Well, the very critical thing to realize here is that the problem is not that these wives are of a
different race, but rather the problem is that they are of a different religion.
Note the word abominations in verse 1. We see it again in verse 14. The problem is that they've
intermarried with people who practice these abominations, Ezra prays in his prayer. Now, the word
abominations is practically a technical word in the Old Testament for idolatry. And all the practice,
all the practices surrounding the worship of false gods. So the real issue for Ezra isn't that these
wives come from a different ethnic group. It's not that they come from a different ethnic group. That's not
the problem. The problem is that they worshiped false gods. Remember back in Ezra chapter 6, verse 21,
when the temple was completed, about a generation before Ezra arrived in Jerusalem, what happened?
In that great celebration where they celebrate the Passover again, some of the people of the land
actually leave their false gods and join the returned exiles in worshiping the Lord. In other words,
people of every ethnicity were always welcome in the people of God, so long as they leave their false
gods and worship the Lord alone. And what that means is that marrying across ethnic lines was fine
if they shared your allegiance to God. Think about it. Moses married a non-Jewish wife. So did Joseph.
Ruth was a Moabite and she became the great-grandmother of King David. But marrying someone who didn't share
your allegiance to the Lord, that was a spiritual crisis. Why?
Why? Because it would inevitably lead to enmeshing Israel
in the false worship of their neighbors. They would be led away from worshiping the one true God.
And in fact, when you look back at Israel's history, that's part of exactly what happened to them.
And that meant that Israel would eventually, all over again, become to look just like all the
peoples around them. In other words, their distinctiveness would be lost.
But why was that such a big deal? Why was their distinctiveness so important?
Well, our passage actually contains a clue to why it's so important. But it's easy to misread it at
first. It's easy to miss it. Look again at verse 2. The officials come to Ezra and they lament
that the holy race that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands.
Now, at first, that kind of rubs our ears the wrong way. It sort of sounds a little standoffish.
It maybe even sounds sort of racist, right? But we have to understand that the phrase holy race there
actually is literally holy seed or holy offspring. And in the Old Testament, that phrase of seed or
offspring is loaded with rich theological meaning. It goes back to the prophet Isaiah, when Isaiah said
that a holy seed, in other words, a remnant of the people would actually survive the exile and then be
a part of God's renewed plan for Israel and for the world. But it goes back even farther than that,
all the way back to Abraham, when God, beginning His mission of rescue for the whole world,
tells Abraham that in him and in his seed and his offspring, the whole world would be blessed.
So, you see, the distinctiveness of God's people, the holy seed, was so that the whole world
would see and know the true God and come to truly know God as well.
Their distinctiveness was meant to be a sign, like the lights on the runway, like the marker in the
forest, a sign that the God who had created us has revealed Himself to us, and that same God was
acting to bring us back to Himself for good. Here was the way home.
That's what the distinctive life of Israel was meant to display to everybody who could see them.
And you know, that mission doesn't stop in the Old Testament. What does Jesus tell His disciples
in the Sermon on the Mount? Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. And the Apostle Peter picks up that same thread and
applies all of this to the church, saying, you're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you
out of darkness into His marvelous light. You're the salt of the earth, Jesus says.
But Jesus goes on to say, if the salt has lost its taste, it's no longer good for anything.
If the runway lights go out, it's just another patch of concrete in the dark.
It's just another site of inevitable wreckage.
And so, when Ezra hears that the returned exiles are marrying wives who don't worship the Lord,
he acts as if someone or something important has died. He mourns because the very mission of the
people of God is being threatened with extinction.
So, how might this apply to us today?
First, let's take the presenting issue of marriage.
For the New Testament believer, for the Christian, just like the Old Testament believer in the Old Testament,
marriage ought only to be to a fellow believer, a fellow Christian.
In 2 Corinthians 6.14, Paul writes, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
And in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 39, Paul explains that Christians are to marry only in the Lord.
In other words, a Christian must marry only another believer.
They can be from a different race, they can be from a different social class,
they can be from a different nationality,
but they must be a believer in Jesus.
Now, that's not a very popular view, of course,
but it is incredibly wise and good.
You see, as a Christian, the love of Jesus is meant to be the defining feature of your life,
the burning center of all that you do.
Now, imagine uniting your life with someone
who actually cannot look at the thing you hold most precious,
the thing that defines your whole life,
and also affirm it.
That's what happens when a believer marries an unbeliever.
There's always going to be a disconnect at that most fundamental level of who you are.
There's always going to be a barrier to real oneness.
And more often than not, the believing spouse will either grow closer to Jesus
and further from the unbelieving spouse,
or closer to the unbelieving spouse and further from Jesus.
By God's grace, there have been exceptions.
But more often than not, friends, this is what happens.
So if you're considering marriage as a Christian,
this is non-negotiable.
You must marry in the Lord.
But there are all sorts of other ways our distinctiveness is threatened.
Dating and marriage is a big one, but not the only one.
Romans 12, in Romans 12, Paul says that the world constantly wants to squeeze us into its mold.
Conformity.
How about how we act in the workplace?
How about the sorts of conversations we have with our roommates?
How about the things we watch and listen to?
This doesn't mean that we should exclude or separate ourselves completely from every cultural institution.
That would be impossible, foolish even.
And it would also betray our calling to be salt and light.
It's hard to actually season something or illuminate something if you don't actually interact with it,
if you don't live in the midst of it.
But the danger is always there.
If the salt has lost its saltiness, Jesus says.
I wonder, friends, would you be able to pinpoint in your own life this morning
where you may be prone to losing your distinctiveness?
Actually, it's quite hard to spot it in our own lives at times.
Often we need the loving input of brothers and sisters in Christ to point it out,
much like the officials do here in verses 1 and 2 with their fellow leaders.
Are you open to someone pointing out that in your own life?
Do you welcome that kind of loving, gentle correction?
We also need to be immersed in God's word.
You know, this issue in Ezra 9 comes to the surface after four months of Ezra presumably teaching God's word to the people.
And it's then in the light of God's word that they start to begin to realize that they've gone astray
and that something has to be done about it.
So the more we expose ourselves to the living word of God,
the more God does his work of sometimes uncomfortable but much-needed transformation.
So what do they do then?
This is how their distinctiveness is being threatened.
Now, with the second part of the passage, how is it repaired?
How is it restored?
First, Ezra prays.
We read his prayer already at the end of chapter 9.
It's one of the great prayers of the Old Testament, a mighty prayer of confession.
Notice how Ezra identifies with the people even though he himself hadn't sinned in this particular way.
Oh, that our hearts would break for sin in the church like Ezra's did.
Ezra's prayer then falls into two halves.
In verses 6 through 9, he acknowledges God's favor in leaving them a remnant,
of bringing them into the land despite their great guilt years ago that led up to the exile.
But then in verses 10 through 15, he basically quotes Deuteronomy 7 with some other passages brought in
and says, how can we break God's commands again?
After experiencing his favor, how can we go back and do the same thing we did last time?
Would God not be right in his justice to consume us?
We are guilty before God, Ezra says.
None of us can stand before him.
And brothers and sisters, restoring our distinctiveness begins right here.
We are making confession without excuse, without minimizing it, without skewing or warping God's character,
but acknowledging him as totally just and totally merciful.
Isn't it a strange thing?
This is one of the reasons we pray a prayer of confession each week, by the way.
Isn't it a strange thing that, you know, 200 people come together every Sunday?
One of us stands up here and leads us in a prayer that says, God, we have blown it.
That's very countercultural.
And yet how necessary that is.
We pray these corporate prayers of confession each week, not so we can grovel in our guilt or beat ourselves up,
but so that we can deal with our guilt and so that we can be changed.
But, you know, our personal times of prayer should also contain confessions of sin.
We should go to God and admit where we're wrong, where we've been unfaithful,
as this passage says in numerous times describing what's happened.
Unfaithful.
That's a powerful word, isn't it, if you think about it?
What is that telling us?
It's telling us that sin isn't just breaking some arbitrary rules or some random codes of practice.
If sin is unfaithfulness, then that means sin is primarily relational.
We reject God as king and want to be our own king.
We reject God's loving rule of our lives and choose idols instead that really can't satisfy.
It's unfaithfulness.
I wonder this week if you might consider taking up Ezra's prayer in your quiet time or your own prayer time
and maybe praying through it on your own.
It might be pretty stiff medicine, what you're normally used to praying,
but it would do much good for our souls to enter into this kind of deep confession of sin.
So first, Ezra prays.
But it doesn't stop there.
There's also deliberate action.
It would seem from the end of Ezra's prayer that there's not much that can be done.
Behold, we are before you in our guilt, and none can stand before you because of this.
But then in chapter 10, a way forward appears.
Let me read.
Picking up in chapter 10, verse 1.
While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God,
a very great assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him out of Israel,
for the people wept bitterly.
And Shekaniah, the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra,
we have broken faith with our God, and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land.
But even now, there is hope for Israel in spite of this.
Therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children
according to the counsel of my Lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God,
and let it be done according to the law.
Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you.
Be strong and do it.
Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites,
and all Israel take an oath that they would do, as has been said.
So they took the oath.
Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehonahan,
the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night,
neither eating bread nor drinking water,
for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles.
And a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles
that they should assemble at Jerusalem,
and that if anyone did not come within three days by order of the officials and the elders,
all his property should be forfeited,
and he himself banned from the congregation of the exiles.
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within three days.
It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month,
and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God,
trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain.
And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them,
You have broken faith and married foreign women,
and so increased the guilt of Israel.
Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers,
and do his will.
Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.
Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice,
It is so.
We must do as you have said.
But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain.
We cannot stand in the open,
nor is this a task for one day or for two,
for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.
Let our officials stand for the whole assembly.
Let all in our cities who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times,
and with them the elders and judges of every city,
until the fierce wrath of our God over this matter is turned away from us.
Only Jonathan, the son of Azahel, and Josiah, the son of Tikvah, opposed this,
and Meshulam and Shabbathai, the Levites, supported them.
Then the returned exiles did so.
Ezra the priest selected men, heads of fathers' houses,
according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name.
On the first day of the tenth month, they sat down to examine the matter,
but by the first day of the first month,
they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.
And then in verses 18 through 44,
there's a list of all the men who had married foreign wives,
grouped according to sort of their location in Israelite society.
First the priests, then the Levites, then the rest of the people.
Now, what are we to make of Shekaniah's proposal here?
At first, it seems not quite right, doesn't it?
Divorce all the foreign wives?
Send them away back to their families?
I thought God hated divorce.
What is going on here?
And you know, many commentators struggle over this passage,
and it's easy to see why,
and not just because the plan of action seems harsh to our modern ears.
You know, first, there's actually no command,
explicit command in the Old Testament,
that demands Israelites to divorce unbelieving spouses and send them away.
Deuteronomy 24 permits divorce for particular forms of indecency,
but doesn't command it.
Second, we need to remember that just because the biblical narrative describes something,
that doesn't mean that the Bible prescribes something.
In other words, just because an event happens in a story,
doesn't mean we're meant to copy it.
Some events are in the Bible just because the Bible's giving a true record of history,
not because the Bible's commending that action for us to imitate.
But then again,
we have to remember how critical this situation was
for the life of the returned community.
The leaders of the people had enmeshed themselves in families,
and practices that ran directly counter to the worship of the one true God.
And keep in mind,
marriage in the ancient world was performed for all sorts of reasons.
Financial alliances, political alliances, social assimilation.
Marriage often served those purposes more than genuine love and affection.
It's not as if we have a sort of Romeo and Juliet story here,
where there are Montagues and Capulets.
And you know,
when we look at the writings of a contemporary of Ezra,
the prophet Malachi,
it would seem that some of these leaders
had actually divorced their Jewish wives
in order to marry these foreign non-believing wives,
presumably for political or social reasons.
So perhaps we can sympathize with the excruciating decision
before Ezra that he had to make in order to rebuild the people.
As I thought about this passage this week,
I think what we have here
is actually a unique event in redemptive history.
In other words,
God isn't telling this to us as a pattern,
as an exact pattern for us to follow for all time,
but he's showing us what happened
at a unique time in redemptive history
when the very mission of his people was at stake.
In this very fragile moment
of the people returning from exile,
decisive, unique action had to be taken.
And the people do just that.
They take very decisive action to repent of their sins.
Now, for believers today, however,
the New Testament actually commands the opposite counsel.
Believing spouses are commanded to stay
with their non-Christian spouses in 1 Corinthians 7.
In other words,
if you are married to a non-Christian spouse,
you are commanded to stay in the marriage.
In 1 Peter chapter 3,
Peter counsels wives not to leave,
but to win over their unbelieving spouses
by their godly conduct.
Now, that doesn't mean
that the Bible contradicts itself.
You have to understand,
the Bible is an unfolding story,
not just a static book of rules.
What's appropriate or required
at one point in the story
is no longer appropriate or required
at a later point in the story
because of what Jesus has done
to move that story forward.
But even if we must approach
this particular issue
of marriage to unbelieving spouses
differently now
as New Testament believers,
there are still two big lessons
I think we must take away
from Ezra chapter 10.
First,
our call to distinctiveness,
to be salt and light,
will often require courageous
and costly,
hard decisions.
Maybe it's a dating relationship
you need to call off.
Maybe it's a business venture
you need to back away from.
Maybe it means standing alone
and not going along with the gossip
or the crude joking
amidst your friends
or your colleagues.
This all takes courage
and it can be costly.
And yet,
as believers in Christ,
Jesus has given us
the Holy Spirit
for this very reason,
to so unite us to Himself
that we are empowered
to do the costly
and courageous thing.
This doesn't mean
it needs to be hasty.
Did you notice
in Ezra chapter 10,
Ezra accepts
the plan of the people
not to settle the matter
in one day
in the middle of a rainstorm.
Rather,
what do they do?
They choose trusted men
and they investigate
the matter patiently
and thoroughly
over the course of months.
Some people present
kind of disagree
with that plan of action
in verse 15.
And it's unclear
whether those men
in verse 15
think that the plan
is too strict
or too lenient.
Maybe they wanted
the unbelieving wives
to stay
and thought the whole business
was out of hand.
Maybe they wanted
the expulsion
to happen even faster.
It's not clear.
But for all of this,
we actually see
something quite amazing
and encouraging
in Ezra chapter 10.
The people
actually obey.
In verse 16,
we read,
the returned exiles
did so.
Now,
if you've read
much of the Old Testament,
you realize
that there aren't
many moments
when the people
actually follow through
with doing
the courageous
and costly thing.
More often,
they are building
golden calves,
rebelling in the wilderness,
demanding their own king,
seeking foreign
political alliances
to rescue them,
just like us.
But here,
something different happens.
They repent
and they obey.
And that brings us
to the second
and last thing
we should take away
from Ezra chapter 10,
and it's found
in the words
of Shekeniah
in verse 2.
But even now,
there is hope
for Israel
in spite of this.
In spite of
blowing it
big time,
even now,
there is hope
for God's people.
And church,
how much more
can we say
those words today
living on this side
of the death
and resurrection
of Jesus,
knowing so much more
of God's steadfast love
and redeeming grace,
even now,
there is hope.
perhaps you look
at your life
and you see
the string
of moral failures.
You see your conformity
to the unhealthy
patterns
and people around you.
And you know
in the quiet moments,
perhaps you think
that God probably
doesn't have much
of a desire
or purpose for you.
And to be sure,
as Ezra prayed
in chapter 9,
our guilt
does rise
higher
than our heads.
We're sinking
in it,
the Bible says.
And God owes us
nothing in return.
But even
now,
there is hope.
When our sins
deserved
God's wrath,
God,
in the person
of Jesus,
lived a life
of utter
distinctiveness
for us.
He was different
in every way,
always loving,
always courageous,
always His own person,
always obedient
to His Father's will.
But then,
Jesus identified
with us
in every way,
taking all
of our sin
and all of our guilt
upon Himself
at the cross.
And He rose
to life
on the third day
to secure
our right standing
with God the Father
forever.
You see,
no matter how high
our sins have risen
above our heads,
Jesus has risen
even higher.
He's ascended
to the right hand
of God the Father
in heaven
and offers
His righteousness
on our behalf.
So friends,
even now,
there is hope.
Hope for those
of us who've blown it.
Hope for those
who need courage.
hope for those
who are afraid
to do the hard
but right thing.
Hope because one
who is better
than Ezra has come.
Not just confessing
our sins for us,
but actually
bearing our sins
for us
and giving us
His Holy Spirit
to live new lives.
And friends,
the more we take
hold of Jesus
by faith
in the Spirit,
more and more
our distinctiveness
will shine.
the more
our lights
on the runway
will blaze out.
The more
we'll fulfill
the purpose
for which God
made us,
the more
we'll be assigned
showing others
the way home.
Let's pray together.
Father,
we pray
and we thank You
for the hope
that we have
in Jesus.
Would You come
by Your Spirit
and turn our hearts
again to You?
God,
in our own strength,
in our own steam,
we so easily
conform.
Oh God,
by Your Spirit
and by Your grace,
make us distinct,
make us salt and light,
we pray.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Well,
this morning
we're going to celebrate
the Lord's Supper
as a response
to what we've just heard.
And you know,
the Lord's Supper
is one of those things
that Jesus taught us to do
that actually marks out
our distinctiveness
in the world.
This table,
this bread that we're going to share,
this cup that we're going to share,
this is for people
who've acknowledged
their sinfulness,
acknowledged that they can't
rescue themselves
on their own,
they can't make themselves
right with God,
and they've turned to Jesus
and received
what He has done
for their forgiveness,
for their new life,
for their hope.
And so we take this bread
and we take this cup
as a sign
that what He has done
is true of us
and we're participating in it
through faith.
That Jesus has made a space for us
in the table of the kingdom.
And we are His brothers and sisters.
We are God's sons and daughters
and we belong in that family.
So,
I wonder if those who are helping to serve
would come up.
I think