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True Worship

Sunday, March 13, 2022
Pastor Jojo Ma

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The lyrics for today’s worship can be downloaded here.

Exodus 23:1-19

I.          True Justice [vv1-3, vv6-8]
II.        True Love [vv4-5, v9]
III.       True Worship [vv10-19]

I.         True Justice [vv1-3, vv6-8]
1 You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit…6 You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. 7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

Be slow to speak, slow to comment, slow to say anything unless it’s true and unless it will build up, not tear down.

Deut 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.

Jam 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

II.        True Love [vv4-5, v9]
4 If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him…9 You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Matt 5:44-48 Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Rom 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

If the new covenant in Jesus’ blood is so much better than the old covenant, what does that mean for how we love not only our own but those who would be our enemies? How can we do both earthly and spiritual good to them?

III.      True Worship [vv10-19]
10 For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. 12 Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed. 13 Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips. 14 Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. 16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. 17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD. 18 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning. 19 The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.

The Book of the Covenant lists the 3 major festivals of the Hebrew year: The Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Harvest, and The Feast of Ingathering.

19 The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.

Rom 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Could I challenge you to consider how your spiritual worship is? Does it reflect a true love for God, His church, and the lost? Does it reflect the best of the firstfruits of your life?