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Theme Introduction

Shine

Nations will come

Wealth of Nations

City of the Lord

"The City of the Lord"
Introduction     Scripture, Readings, Prayers, Discussion Questions, Songs

Christians have, at times, been accused of living with a “pie in the sky” attitude, justifying their apathy and inaction by talking about a perfect paradise that awaits them. While this is surely an exaggeration, it is true that as Christians we recognize that we don’t have the power, in ourselves, to create heaven on this sin-corrupted Earth. Yet scripture clearly calls us to “do justice.” Why? Because, in so doing, we proclaim the good news of God. By what power? By the strength that the Spirit gives us. As Mouw puts it, “In humble submission to the Lord’s commandments we can be empowered for those good deeds that will show forth the light of God’s peace and justice in a world of oppression and suffering” (pg. 131). This means that when Christians show kindness and do justice, we do so as a reflection of the ethics of the New Jerusalem (the city where our true citizenship lies) and the heart of King Jesus (the one to whom our greatest allegiance belongs).

Sample Service

Responsive Scripture:
No longer will violence be heard in your land,
nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
Your sun will never set again,
and your moon will wane no more;
the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your days of sorrow will end.

Hymn: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Psalm: Psalm 106:1-5
Scripture: Hebrews 13:13-16
Prayer: Prayer from the Iona Abbey Worship Book listed below
Hymn: Bring Forth the Kingdom
Blessing: Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Revelation 22:12-13

Additional Scripture
Psalm 29
1 Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"
10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
11 The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace.

Psalm 106:1-5
1Praise the LORD.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD
or fully declare his praise?
3Blessed are they who maintain justice,
who constantly do what is right.
4Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people,
come to my aid when you save them,
5that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may share in the joy of your nation
and join your inheritance in giving praise.

Isaiah 1:15-20
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;
16 wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.
18 "Come now, let us reason together,"
says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword."
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 58:9b-12
If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 5:1-11 1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.

10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Romans 13:8-14
8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Hebrews 13:11-17
11The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. 17Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

James 3:17-18 17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

See also:
Psalm 51
Proverbs 22:9,16
Isaiah 51:3-5
Jeremiah 22:3-5
Hosea 12:6
1 John 2:8

Readings


               To us being human seems to be a very natural and automatic arrangement. ‘I am a man so I am human.’ That’s it. Just as an orange is an orange, and an apple is an apple. It is, however, not that simple. ‘I am a man and I am inhuman’ is a genuine possibility and reality. What a terrible truth! Only a human can be inhuman. A chimpanzee can never become inhuman….
‘To live in human relationship with other men’, is the substance of ‘to be human’. Oppression, exploitation, persecution, discrimination—all these are not human relationships but the experience of sub-human and inhuman relationships. Human relationship then, means the relationship of ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’
“For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.” Galatians 5:14
-from 50 Meditations by Kosuke Koyama ©1975 (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1979), pgs. 40-41.

The Tree of Life was eclipsed by sin and evil and death; it will reappear at last in the paradise regained (Rev. 2:7). Yet, now, along the way, in the unfolding drama of sin and grace, the remembrance of that tree past and the anticipation of its full and final restoration stand as a sign of hope to people whose hopes have been so incessantly crushed. God does not create junk, and he does not junk what he created. The original good creation is a standing promise that things can and will be good again. Since evil is not built into creation, creation is redeemable. Liberation is possible – indeed, imperative. And given the joyous reality of Christmas and Easter, the outcome of history is no longer in doubt. The return of shalom is assured.

That is the sure hope of oppressed peoples, even as the awesome potentials of history still await their final consummation. The Tree of Life is neither a lost memory nor a mirage. It is firmly rooted in God’s plan for all his people, who will one day sit down together, shading themselves beneath its outstretched branches.
-from Let My People Live by Gordon
Spykman, Guillermo Cook, Michael
Dodson, Lance Grahn, Sidney Rooy,
and John Stam © 1988. Used by permission of Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co (pg. 21-22).

I know a missionary who with his family lives in one of the most remote places on the face of the earth. No air conditioning, no plumbing, no running water, no western doctors, this is no place anyone would choose to live unless they had a vision of an eternal city so wonderful that all earthly riches and conveniences paled in the light of that hope. His primary concern is not that the people he lives among will enjoy more western conveniences, but that they will share in the glorious future that God has in store for his children. His message is not a message of earthly success, but eternal joy in Christ Jesus. He is pointing them to a city whose architect and builder is God.
-from “Shifting Visions of the Christian Life,” 2003 Calvin Seminary convocation address by Dr.
Calvin P. VanReken. Used by permission.

The final scenes of The Last Battle depict the stunning realization by Peter, Lucy, Jill, Lord Digory and all those who have loved Narnia that they have not actually (as they thought) just witnessed the destruction of the real Narnia. Rather, it is only now that they are finally reaching it. That which came before was merely “a shadow or copy” of what they are now encountering so that Farsight the Eagle can rightly proclaim, “Narnia is not dead. This is Narnia.” As the light dawns on Lord Digory, too, he comforts Lucy, saying, “You need not mourn over Narnia, Lucy. All of the old Narnia that mattered, all the dear creatures, have been drawn into the real Narnia through the Door.” Finally, the Unicorn expresses the feelings of all when he says, “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that is sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in!”
-from The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis © C.S. Lewis Pte Ltd 1956

Sometimes that cup of cold water,
turns out to be a cup of hot coffee,
and what we’re asked to do is
to pour it … and to listen.
Sometimes we Christians
in our enthusiasm
think we were asked
to save the world,
when what we were asked to do
is to go into it
and tell God’s story
to people in need of
some good news.

Anxious activists forget
that just listening is an act
of faithfulness.
Guilty givers forget
that just listening is an act
of stewardship.
Since we church people
have a tendency to be
driven and anxious and guilt-ridden,
perhaps we should
read the directions again
and pour a cup of hot coffee
and listen
in His name.
-“Cold Water, Hot Coffee” from Searching for Shalom by Ann Weems. ©1991 Ann Barr Weems. Used by permission of Westminster John Knox Press.

We go forth on the path eternal, and as condemned, with downcast faces, present ourselves before the only God eternal. Where then is comeliness? Where then is wealth? Where then is the glory of this world? There shall none of these aid us, but only to say oft the psalm: Alleluia.
If thou hast shown mercy unto man, O man, that same mercy shall be shown thee there; and if on an orphan thou hast shown compassion, the same shall deliver thee from want. If in this life thou hast clothed, the same shall give thee shelter there, and sing the psalm: Alleluia.
With ecstasy are we inflamed if we but hear that there is light eternal yonder; that there is Paradise, wherein every soul of Righteous Ones rejoiceth. Let us all, also, enter into Christ, that all may cry aloud thus unto God, Alleluia.
-Funeral Ikos from “The Order of the Burial for Dead Priests”

If we are serious about equipping ourselves and our students to become effective agents of renewal and shalom in contemporary society, we owe it to ourselves as well as to our global neighbors, here and elsewhere, to improve our abilities to build community, understanding, and justice across racial, ethnic, and cultural lines–in dorms, classrooms, the workplace, the church, and the public arena.
-from From Every Nation (p. 32)

Reformed Confessional Statements

Q: We have been delivered from our misery by God’s grace alone through Christ and not because we have earned it: why then must we still do good?
A: To be sure, Christ has redeemed us by his blood.
But we do good because
Christ by his Spirit is also renewing us to be like himself,
so that in all our living
we may show that we are thankful to God
for all he has done for us,
and so that he may be praised through us.
-Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 86

On the sanctification of sinners:
So then, it is impossible for this holy faith to be unfruitful in a human being, seeing that we do not speak of an empty faith but of what Scripture calls “faith working through love,” which leads a man to do by himself the works that God has commanded in his Word…. So then, we do good works, but not for merit – for what would we merit? Rather, we are indebted to God for the good works we do, and not he to us, since it is he who “works in us both to will and do according to his good pleasure.”
-Belgic Confession, Article 24

On the glory and reward to come:
In contrast, the faithful and elect will be crowned with glory and honor. The Son of God will “confess their names” before God his Father and the holy and elect angels; all tears will be “wiped from their eyes”; and their cause – at present condemned as heretical and evil by many judges and civil officers – will be acknowledged as the “cause of the Son of God.”
And as a gracious reward the Lord will make them possess a glory such as the heart of man could never imagine. So we look forward to that great day with longing in order to enjoy fully the promises of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
-Belgic Confession, Article 37, the last three paragraphs of the Confession.

Prayers

You asked for my hands
that you might use them for your purpose.
I gave them for a moment then withdrew them
for the work was hard.
You asked for my mouth
to speak out against injustice.
I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused.
You asked for my eyes
to see the pain of poverty.
I closed them for I did not want to see.
You asked for my life
that you might work through me.
I gave a small part that I might not get too involved.
Lord, forgive my calculated effort to serve you,
only when it is convenient for me to do so,
only in those places where it is safe to do so,
and only with those who make it easy to do so.
Father, forgive me,
renew me, send me out
as a usable instrument
that I might take seriously
the meaning of your cross. (#187)
-Joe Seremane, South Africa; Prayers Encircling the World quoted from © 1996 International Bible Reading Association, Living Prayers for Today, compiled by Maureen Edwards.

God of history,
you share our joys and crushing sorrows,
you hear the cries of the afflicted,
you fill the hungry,
and you set free the oppressed.
We pray for the end to all injustice.
Inspire us with the all-embracing love, of God,
challenge us with the sacrificial love of Jesus,
empower us with the transforming love of the Spirit,
that we and all God’s children may live and be free!
Amen.
-from the Iona Abbey Worship Book, p.85

2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, "Violence!"
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
2 LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.
-Habakkuk 1:2-4, 3:2

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
-Revelation 22:20

Discussion Questions


1. Isaiah 1:10-20 reminds us that external acts of piety do not always guarantee a pure heart and that hollow good deeds are wearisome to God. What does the passage tell us we should do when we struggle with wrong motivations? What hope does it have to offer us?
2. Do Christians have a particular obligation to seek justice in this world? In what way is the pursuit of justice pleasing to God? What is the root cause of injustice and what does God say about this root cause?
3. How does our eschatology inform our present pursuit of justice? How can we engage in the fight for righteousness joyfully and not just with righteous anger?
4 What is our responsibility, according to Hebrews 13, and what does it mean to be “looking for the city?” What is the first thing the author of Hebrews mentions after telling us to look for the city? What is the connection?
5. How is seeking the New Jerusalem both a corporate and personal activity?
6. What happened to Christians like the Puritans in New England or South African colonists who saw themselves as seeking to establish the kingdom? Why?
7. Spykman and his colleagues write that “creation is redeemable.” What do they mean? Can we redeem creation? What is God’s role in the redemption of creation?
8. How can we make the command of Micah 6:8 a way of life instead of things we do?
9. Many non-Christian activists describe utopia as a place where all people seek justice and live moral lives. The suggestion is that if people just got along the world would be a perfect place. What do you think of this?
10. Richard Mouw says, “We are called to await the coming transformation. But we should wait actively, not passively. We must seek the City which is to come.” How do we balance our waiting for God’s transformative work and our working for transformation now?
11 What does being just and merciful look like? What are specific things that you have done, are doing, or can do?
12. What is our motivation for seeking to transform our world?

Songs
Bring Forth the Kingdom: Sing 123
Lord, Make Us Servants: Sing 204
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling: PH 568
Sent By The Lord
We Are Called