Sermon Tone Analysis

What is it like to be a part of a choir or chorale?

What are some of the things that music directors have to do?

Parts: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass

Rehearsals

HEB

We were created for worship.

That is, we were created to adore God; to be devoted to him; to do everything in such a way that God is honored.

That’s what worship is in its fullest sense, not just what we do on Sunday, but what we do everyday.

The problem is that, although we were created for worship, because of sin we’re not naturally fit for worship.

So, we need a Choir Director, so to speak, a Worship Leader who is qualified to make us fit for the very thing that we were created to do, worship God.

Fit to Lead

How do you become a CF coach here at ReVamped?

Jesus is mentioned by name for the first time in this letter when he says in v. 9… Then he begins to reflect on what he just said in vv.

10ff.

Jesus by name for the first time in this letter when he says in v. 9… Then he begins to reflect on what he just said.

What kind of leading is Jesus said to be doing in v. 10?

What are his credentials according to v. 10?

His credentials, if you will, his qualification to lead the choir in worship is the cross.

Jesus earned his PhD in the school of suffering and so is close to their suffering.

What is so powerful is that the Pastor says that it was fitting for God to do this.

God is the one for whom and by whom all things exist.

It is for His sake that the entire world is in existence.

Everything is for Him.

Not only that, but everything is by him.

There is nothing in this world that does not owe its existence to God.

Because everything owes him worship, God was not going to have it be the case that no human beings worshipped him.

The Pastor explains that God determined that the most fitting way to bring these sons and daughters to his glory is to make their Savior perfect through suffering.

Wait a minute.

How can he say that Jesus was made perfect?

Wasn’t Jesus sinless?

Didn’t Jesus obey the law perfectly?

Is the Pastor making some mistake?

No.

This is key.

Jesus was “perfected” but not in the sense that he was imperfect, or that he’d sinned, or that he was flawed in some way.

That describes us, not him.

He was not perfected in some moral sense.

No. Through his death he was made the perfect mediator between God and man.

Because in his life he endured every temptation that we endure, yet did not sin even in the slightest he is the perfect sacrifice for us.

Because in his life he was 100% devoted to his Father in heaven, on the cross he became the perfect sacrifice for sinners like us.

Not only that, because he rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father, he became the perfect High Priest.

Preparing the Choir

What does a CF coach do at the beginning of class?

What does v. 11 imply that Christians are being prepared for?

The one who sanctifies is Jesus.

Those who are being sanctified are the people who trust in him.

The Pastor says literally in the Greek text, the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one.

What he means is that they share a common humanity.

If he focused on Jesus’ divinity in ch. 1, his emphasis in ch. 2 is on Jesus’ humanity.

They needed to know in the very depths of their being how close Jesus was to them.

They needed to know what he says in v. 17.

So he shares our humanity for the purpose of becoming a merciful and faithful high priest.

He takes the role of high priest to another level.

The words “he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified” are in the sense of a continuous and ongoing action.

He’s fit to lead us in a life of worship because he shares in our humanity and he went through the suffering of death on the cross to become a merciful and faithful high priest.

And his continuous work is to make us fit for worship by making us holy.

Every time the Lord convicts you of your sin he’s making you more fit for worship.

Every time, by God’s grace, you recognize an area of your life that is not submitted fully to Jesus Christ, and you turn and say, “Help me Lord!

I need you!” Jesus is making you more fit for worship.

Every time your heart is so broken over someone you know needs to know Jesus as Savior that you’re moved to prayer and to speak the truth of the gospel in love, Jesus is making you more fit for worship.

You see, no one is going to be singing off key in heaven.

Right now is the preparation for heaven.

Along the way what Jesus does is he chisels us.

He’s perfecting our worship.

He turns our focus more and more away from ourselves and onto his Father.

Intimately connected with knowing Jesus as Lord is knowing him as a sanctifier.

The Song of Praise

Verse 12 is quoting from .

This is not the first time that the Bible puts the words of on the lips of Jesus.

When Jesus hung on the cross the Bible says that from Noon to 3 PM, for three hours, there was darkness over all the land ().

Then around 3 o’clock, when the tortuous physical pain combined with the unimaginable spiritual pain of our punishment being laid upon him along with a never experienced separation from his Father, when that lethal combination came together, it was verse 1 of that came from Jesus’ mouth, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

If you look at , it tells the story of the Jesus’ suffering and his victory.

The psalm begins with the suffering of his abandonment, but there is a turning point in v. 22 that is quoted here in .

What does it say that Jesus is doing?

Jesus is calling his brothers and sisters to join with him in worshipping the Father.

Who is really leading worship in church when Christians sing?

Jesus says to the Father, “I will declare your name to my brothers.”

He’s not silent.

He is continually, by his Spirit, telling us of God’s goodness.

He is continually refocusing our attention off of the distractions and the false gods we put up on a pedestal, and onto the only God worthy of worship.

But he’s not just a speaking Savior.

He’s a singing Savior.

He says, “in the midst of the congregation,” in the middle of the church, Father, I will sing your praise.

Why is it that when we gather as a church we’re not just singing any old feel good song?

Why is it that you can come to church with the difficulties of life weighing on your mind, or you come distracted, just here because this is what you do on Sunday morning, and in the middle of a praise song or hymn God just grabs you?

Why is it that they authenticity of our worship is not dependent upon the perfection of the praise team?

It’s because the real worship leader in the church is Jesus Christ.

The one who is not ashamed to call us brother does not just leave us to our own devices in our worship of God.

He is a Singing Savior who takes up residence in the midst of the congregation and leads us in song.

He can lead us in song precisely because he partook of flesh and blood with us.

He was tempted in every respect just as we are, yet without sin.

Therefore, he knows precisely what song we ought to sing and precisely the moment we ought to sing it.

And the essence of the song of praise he leads us in singing is one of trusting in the Father.

The writer quotes from .

Jesus says, “I, even I, will put my trust in him.”

The song he leads us to sing declares that through the midst of it all we will put our trust in him because he is good!

The song of praise is one of rejoicing in the fact that we belong to God through Jesus Christ.

, “Behold I and the children God has given me.”