Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Psalm 100:1-5, Philippians 4:4-9, John 6:25-35.
A). PRESENT PROVISION AND PAST DELIVERANCE.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11.
1. The One Whom We Worship.
It was the LORD their God who was going to bring Israel into the land of their inheritance (Deuteronomy 26:1). It was the LORD their God, not the Canaanites’ Baal, who would give them bountiful harvests (Deuteronomy 26:2). It was the LORD their God who gave them a tabernacle, so that His Name might abide there (Deuteronomy 26:2).
Similarly, the church has received an inheritance in Christ Jesus, guaranteed to us by the gift of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:11-14). It all began with a sovereign and merciful act of the true and living God (Ephesians 2:8). The LORD has chosen to “tabernacle” amongst us in the Person of His dearly beloved Son (John 1:14), and He is present with us wherever and whenever we meet in His Name (Matthew 18:20).
2. Present Provision.
When the Israelite farmer began to gather his harvest, he was to take the first of the first-fruits in a basket to the officiating priest in the central sanctuary (Deuteronomy 26:2). There the worshipper would make a solemn declaration of the goodness of the LORD: identifying himself with Abraham, to whom the promise was first made; and with his forefathers who first entered the land in the days of Joshua (Deuteronomy 26:3). The priest would lay the offering in front of the altar of the LORD (Deuteronomy 26:4).
The beginning of harvest would thus present an opportunity to reflect upon the goodness of the LORD in the whole cycle of life. It is He, not Baal, who makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). The presentation of the first-fruits of our blessings is an acknowledgement of the graciousness of God in our daily provision (Deuteronomy 26:10).
3. Past Deliverance.
A second liturgical response, in the form of the recitation of a collective remembrance, serves to reinforce the worshipper’s identity with the rest of the community. Jacob, the forefather of the nation, is identified as “a wandering Syrian, about to perish” (Deuteronomy 26:5). Then he took his family down into Egypt, “few in number” - and grew into a “great nation, mighty and populous” (Deuteronomy 26:5).
Their persecution by the Egyptians (Deuteronomy 26:6), and the consequent despairing cry of the Israelites (Deuteronomy 26:7) was remembered. The compassion of the LORD was acknowledged (Deuteronomy 26:7), and His mighty deliverance “with signs and wonders” (Deuteronomy 26:8). The wilderness and Sinai are passed over without comment, and the worshipper identifies himself with those who came into a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 26:9).
4. Who We Are In The Lord.
Past events define who we are in Christ Jesus to this very day. Like the “wandering Syrian” we were “about to perish” (Deuteronomy 26:5). We were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-3). Then God stepped in (Ephesians 2:4-7).
We who were “not a people” are now made the people of God (1 Peter 2:9-10). We were delivered from the bondage of sin and of death, and relocated in the abundance of His life and blessings. We are partakers of His resurrection (Ephesians 2:6), and have received the pledge of greater things to come (Ephesians 1:13-14).
5. Our Response.
The devout worshipper again acknowledged the goodness of the LORD in the giving of the land, and in providing the abundance that flows from it (Deuteronomy 26:9-10). There followed an opportunity for responsive worship (Deuteronomy 26:10), thanksgiving, and the sharing of His bounty with others (Deuteronomy 26:11). We must not forget the gracious benefits which are ours in Christ Jesus, but part of our worship must include the giving of support to His ministers (represented here by the Levites), and to the poor and needy in our midst.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His (gracious) benefits” (Psalm 103:1-2).
B). MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE.
Psalm 100.
PSALM 100:1a. This “Psalm of praise” is known in some liturgical circles as ‘Jubilate’, after the first word of the Latin version. The English translation of the original Hebrew is “Make a joyful noise.”
(Similarly, Psalm 95:1-2 twice calls upon us to “make a joyful noise”: ‘to the Rock of our salvation’ [God/Jesus], and ‘unto Him with psalms.’)
PSALM 100:1b. This is an imperative, calling us to exuberant worship of the LORD. It is addressed to “all the earth.”
(Psalm 98:4 addresses the same call, to ‘Make a joyful noise unto the LORD’ to “all the earth”: ‘make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.’)
(Psalm 92:1 encourages us that, ‘It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD’, and to sing praises to His name.)
(By Psalm 150:3-6, the whole orchestra is engaged in this service. There is nothing dull about the worship of God!)
PSALM 100:2. The type of service enjoined here clearly includes what we call ‘worship’. As we “come before His presence”, it includes singing. All of our service should be “with gladness”, but perhaps especially our ‘worship.’
PSALM 100:3. Worship is based in knowledge. Hence the word “Know” at the beginning of this verse. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, ‘You (all) worship what you (all) do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews’ (John 4:22).
So why do we worship? It is because “the LORD, He is God.” “He made us” - both in Creation, but also in Covenant: “we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”
(Psalm 95:7 states that ‘He is our God; and we the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.’)
PSALM 100:4. “Enter into His gates” suggests a processional: perhaps pilgrims going up to the Jerusalem Temple. But it also a metaphor of our whole approach to God.
We “enter His gates” with “thanksgiving,” acknowledging God’s goodness. We “enter His courts” (another way of saying the same thing) with “praise” (e.g. with Psalms upon our lips). We are “thankful unto Him,” and “bless (speak well of) His name.”
When we bless or praise God, we add nothing to Him: but there is healing power when we take stock of our blessings and honour Him. It does wonders for us and, like the Old Testament priest, we magnify Him before the people. True worship, after all, is God-centred.
PSALM 100:5. Again we are given reasons for this exuberance:
1. “For the LORD is good.” It is the LORD who puts gladness in our hearts (cf. Psalm 4:7).
2. “His mercy (covenant love) is everlasting” (endures forever, never fails).
3. “His truth” (faithfulness) will continue “to all generations.”
‘God commends His love towards us, in that, while we yet sinners, Christ died for us’ (Romans 5:8). ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). There is nothing, but nothing that will ever separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus (cf. Romans 8:38-39).
Read Romans 11:33-36.
C). JOY AND PEACE.
Philippians 4:4-9.
In Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice” is in the plural, meaning: ‘Rejoice, you all!’ There is fellowship in rejoicing together (cf. Romans 12:15).
‘Joy’ is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23): it is ours from the very first day that we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. What the world calls ‘happiness’ depends upon happenstances.
So, Paul insists, “Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS” - whatever the circumstances - “and again I say, Rejoice!”
It is because “the Lord is at hand” that Paul goes on to exhort the Philippians - and ourselves - to let our “patient self-control” be manifested to all men (Philippians 4:5). The outward look towards all men is part of letting the mind of Christ Jesus be in us (Philippians 2:5).
The Lord is at hand in two senses. First, Jesus has promised that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is right there with them (Matthew 18:20). Secondly, He is on the sidelines, waiting for the Day that the Father has set for His return to the earth (Mark 13:32).
In saying, “Be careful about nothing” (Philippians 4:6), the Apostle echoes Jesus’ teaching about anxiety (Matthew 6:25-33). Prayerfulness is the cure to carefulness. Our supplications should be seasoned with “thanksgiving” - knowing that our heavenly Father hears and answers prayer.
Elsewhere, Paul encourages us to ‘renew our minds’ (Romans 12:2). The exhortation in Philippians 4:8 offers guidance as to how this might be accomplished: “Whatever (things) are true, whatever honest, whatever pure, whatever lovely, whatever of good report; if any virtue and if any praise, these things consider.”
The last instruction of this section is that the Philippians should remember, and emulate, Paul’s own example (Philippians 4:9). Which is, incidentally, the example of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:1).
Finally, there is one particularly important promise: “the peace of God, which is beyond mortal comprehension, will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). “The God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:9).
D). THE TRUE BREAD.
John 6:25-35.
JOHN 6:25. When they had found Jesus on the other side of the sea, the people began the conversation with a question, “Rabbi, when camest thou hither?”
JOHN 6:26. Our Lord understood these hardy Galilean folk. They were working day by day trying to scratch a living out of the land, and they were interested not so much in His miracles (which John calls ‘signs’), nor even in Him to whom the signs pointed, but in His ability to produce free meals.
JOHN 6:27. “Labour not for” the perishing things of this earth, Jesus teaches, but for the things which will “endure unto everlasting life.” God is offering not only food sufficient for today, but everlasting life with effect from today. This is the gift offered to them by “the Son of man” whom “God the Father hath sealed.”
JOHN 6:28. They asked, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” It is typical of religious people to want to multiply the one “labour” (same word as Jesus used in the previous verse) into many “works.” But we are not saved by such a plurality of “works.”
JOHN 6:29. The one “work of God” is this, answered Jesus: “That ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” The miracle of Christianity is that it is founded upon such sayings as ‘only believe’ (Mark 5:36) or ‘by faith alone.’
JOHN 6:30. “What sign shewest Thou then, that we may see, and believe Thee?” asked the people. “What dost Thou work?”
It is astonishing that those who had seen the miracles, and eaten the bread, could ask such a thing. Why this clamour for another “sign?” Yet that is typical of the hardness of the human heart.
JOHN 6:31-33. The Galileans acknowledged God’s provision of manna in the wilderness, but Jesus now presented Himself as the true bread which comes down from heaven, who gives life to the world.
JOHN 6:34. Like the woman at the well when she asked for the living water (John 4:15), they were still thinking in earthy and earthly terms when they said, “Lord, evermore give us this bread.”
JOHN 6:35. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh unto me shall never hunger; and he that believes in me shall never thirst.”
“I AM” is, of course, the name of God (Exodus 3:14). Jesus identifies Himself with God, and proclaims Himself to be the all-sufficient Saviour bringing life to mankind. Bread is for all, and as bread Jesus satisfies the fundamental needs of our hearts.
