New Apostolic Church Divine Service Guide - naccanada.org

24 Pages·2016·0.29 MB·English

New Apostolic
Church
Divine Service
Guide
3 April
Your kingdom come 20/21 April
Ways to peace
6/7 April
A difficult way and 24 April
a narrow gate The praise and
glory of God
10 April
Physical and 27/28 April
spiritual bread The purity of
the congregation
13/14 April
The patience of God Youth service
The mighty Saviour is
17 April with you!
Forgive as
I forgive
A monthly for the ministers
April 2016
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April 2016 Foreword
The focus of the Sunday services in April is on the Lord’s Prayer.
The sermons will focus on a significant statement from this prayer
that Jesus Christ has taught us. Although we speak this prayer in
every divine service, we probably do not always reflect on its rich
content. This is why the wealth of the Lord’s Prayer is to be made
clear and comprehensible to the congregation.
The sermon on the first Sunday in April will explore the open-
ing lines of the prayer: the significance of the “kingdom of God”
will be addressed. The kingdom of God has both a present and
future dimension: it is present in Jesus Christ and in His church,
but at the same time is also of the future, and will only come to its
completion in the new creation.
On the second Sunday the basis of the sermon will be the peti-
tion: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Here the bread serves as
a symbol for the preservation of natural life by God, but is at the
same time also a reference to the fact that the will of God itself is
a kind of food that provides sustenance. Finally, the bread is also
an allusion to Holy Communion. Bread is an image of sustenance
for spirit, soul, and body through God.
The third Sunday in April is devoted to the plea for forgiveness
and the profession of our willingness to forgive. In order to have
a life with Him, it is necessary to ask God for forgiveness of our
sins, and to have the firm resolve to change our conduct and atti-
tude. Willingness to forgive is a direct implication resulting from
this plea for forgiveness. Only those who exhibit such a readiness
to forgive can reasonably ask God for forgiveness. The important
thing is for the congregation to understand that forgiveness of
sins does not occur automatically, but rather that their participa-
tion—that is to say, their willingness to forgive—is also required.
The last Sunday in April is dedicated to the conclusion of the
Lord’s Prayer, the doxology, which is the praise of divine glory.
This passage once again makes reference to the kingdom of
God, the presence of which we already experience today—and
the future of which is the subject of our longing. Also addressed
is the “power” that is God’s, which finds its direct expression in
His creatorship. The “glory” referenced here signifies holiness
and inviolability. We encounter this glory directly in Jesus Christ
and in the sacraments which He has instituted. The word “for-
ever”, with which the doxology closes, alludes to the fact that
God is also the creator and ruler of time.
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3 April 2016 Sunday
The Lord’s Prayer – The kingdom of God
Your kingdom the kingdom of God in its pres-
ent and future form.
come
The kingdom of God is thus
In this manner, therefore, pray: ■■ Jesus Christ Himself.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be
Your name. Your kingdom come. ■■ His church.
Matthew 6: 9, 10
The image of the kingdom of
God is also a clear reference to
Message the fact that Jesus Christ rules
His church (Fourth Article of
Let us manifest the nature of Faith).
Jesus and experience fellow-
ship with God today and into A decision for the kingdom
all eternity. of God
Elaboration By way of various parables,
Jesus introduced the kingdom
The Lord’s Prayer is of great of God with different points
significance in our divine ser- of emphasis (Matthew 13).
vices. Already through the In each of them He describes
address, “Our Father”, Jesus various features that comprise
Christ shares with us the spe- the nature of the kingdom of
cial relationship He has with God. For example, the par-
the almighty God. When we able of the treasure in the field
invoke God collectively as a expresses how important it is
congregation, it becomes clear to set priorities and make clear
that the triune God is in the decisions in order to attain the
midst of the congregation. This kingdom of God.
heartfelt collective prayer has a
unifying effect, which can lead The kingdom of God in us
to a good sense of together-
ness within the congregation. Our striving should be to
All petitions are brought to the allow the kingdom of God to
Lord collectively: thus we pray become a reality within us, in
both for ourselves and for our other words, to develop and
brother and sister. reveal the nature of Jesus in us
with the help of God. Ultimate-
The kingdom of God ly, the objective is to internalize
and embody the characteris-
The kingdom of God is pres- tics of the kingdom of God.
ent in Jesus Christ. He began
His public activity with the An example of this is our clear
announcement of the king- and continual decision for the
dom of God (Mark 1: 15). The Lord and His gospel, and the
focus of His preaching was on doctrine it imparts. For this
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The kingdom of God
we need His grace, as well as
our own willingness to grow in Summary
accordance with the example
of Jesus. ■■ The Lord’s Prayer is of central
significance in our divine services.
The kingdom of God in the As a collective prayer it has a
future unifying effect for the members
of the congregation.
The kingdom of God also
stands for our future expecta- ■■ The petition: “Your kingdom
tion. After the return of Christ, come,” clearly expresses the sig-
the kingdom of God will be nificance of the kingdom of God,
manifest in which is present in Jesus Christ.
■■ the marriage of the Lamb ■■ The kingdom of God is also to
(Revelation 19: 6–7), become a reality in us, in that
Jesus’ nature takes on form and
■■ the kingdom of peace, shape within us.
■■ the eternal rule of God in ■■ The kingdom of God also repre-
the new creation, and in sents our future expectation:
eternal fellowship with the triune
■■ eternal life. God.
Our collective plea, “Your
kingdom come” thus also in- Context
corporates our longing to
become like Jesus and to live The Lord’s Prayer is certain-
in eternal fellowship with Him. ly one of the most important
texts of the Sermon on the
Mount. It was there that Jesus
taught the disciples how they
were to pray, namely with few
words but rich content.
“Your kingdom come” is the
plea for the perfect manifes-
tation of the kingdom of God.
The message of the imminent
and approaching kingdom of
God is of central significance in
preaching.
Notes
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6/7 April 2016 Midweek
Bible study – A difficult way and a narrow gate
A difficult way At night, when the main gates
were closed, people could
and a narrow
only enter the city through the
gate small side gate, the so-called
eye of the needle—which
was easy to guard. It was so
small that they had to bend
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide down in order to pass through.
is the gate and broad is the way
that leads to destruction, and If a human being desires to
there are many who go in by it. gain access to the kingdom
Because narrow is the gate and of God, it will not be comfort-
difficult is the way which leads to able or easy for him. He must
life, and there are few who find it. bow down—which means he
Matthew 7: 13–14 must humble himself—before
the Almighty, omniscient, and
ever-present God. He must
Message be prepared to subordinate
himself to the divine will.
Without effort it is impossible
for human beings to make In Matthew 19: 24 Jesus
their way to God. warns that it is “easier for a
camel to go through the eye
Elaboration of a needle than for a rich
man to enter the kingdom
In the Sermon on the Mount of heaven”. The dangers of
(Matthew 5–7) Jesus con- wealth are complacency and
fronts His listeners with the arrogance. It is therefore
choice of a life with or without impossible for a complacent,
God. Human beings cannot arrogant person to enter into
help but make a decision either the kingdom of God. This is
for God or for evil. God will made clear by way of this
not accept any compromise image.
between the two (Revelation
3: 16). The broad versus the
narrow way
The wide versus the narrow
gate The comparison is familiar to
us from daily life. The narrower
The image of the narrow gate the way, the more care must
used by Jesus in the Sermon be taken not to bump into
on the Mount is borrowed anything, take a wrong step,
from the architecture of walled or deviate from it. The broad
cities at the time. In addition to way, by contrast, is character-
the large main gates through ized by carelessness, thought-
which people and goods lessness, and superficiality.
gained access to the city dur- Followers of Jesus are to walk
ing the day, there were also along the difficult way, in other
small and narrow side gates. words, they must pay heed to
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A difficult way and a narrow gate
the doctrine of Jesus, not be
thoughtless with regard to their Summary
neighbour, and gladly fulfil the
will and laws of God (Psalm Human beings have the choice of a life
40: 8). The narrow way is also with or without God. They must decide
the difficult way of following, for the narrow gate and the difficult
the way of hardship, of perse- way, meaning
cution for the sake of Christ.
■■ they must be able to humble
Jesus’ words concerning the themselves before the almighty,
two ways do not only refer to omniscient, and ever-present
the gates through which one God. They must be able to
may pass into either life or subordinate their will to His.
destruction, but also refer to
the pathways leading to each: ■■ they must pay heed to the teaching
they comprise an image for of Jesus, must not be thoughtless
different lifestyles. It is the nar- with regard to their neighbour, and
row, difficult way that leads to must gladly fulfil the law of God.
salvation—which means that
salvation cannot be attained
without afflictions and con- Context
straints.
Already through Moses in the
The way to the gate of old covenant, God presented
heaven each and every human being
with a choice: “See, I have set
It is clear that one cannot before you today life and good,
access the kingdom of God death and evil” (Deuteronomy
by way of the broad way and 30: 15). The prophet Jeremiah
the wide gate, but rather only likewise referred to these alter-
by way of the difficult narrow natives: “Behold, I set before
way and the narrow gate. It is you the way of life and the way
thus not outward rectitude and of death” (Jeremiah 21: 8).
righteousness that will gain
access to the kingdom of God, Notes
but rather the genuine renewal
of the spirit, as Jesus taught.
Jesus Himself only encoun-
tered very few in Israel who
believed in Him. Only a very
few followed Him. That is why
He stated, “… and there are
few who find it.”
Let us therefore dedicate
our lives to pursuing this way
persistently until we reach our
goal.
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10 April 2016 Sunday
The Lord’s Prayer – Daily bread
Physical and Bread for spiritual life
spiritual bread
This petition also applies to
our souls, however. When we
speak of our daily bread, we
Give us this day our daily bread. are also referring to the word
Matthew 6: 11 of God as food for our immor-
tal souls (Jeremiah 15: 16) and
our spiritual life (Matthew 4: 4).
Message
■■ The prayer for our salva-
We ask God to give us the tion is to be just as
things we need for both physi- intensive as the prayer
cal and spiritual life. for our physical needs.
Elaboration ■■ Preparation for the divine
service is up to the con-
Bread for physical life gregation as a whole. All
are called upon to pray for
Jesus spoke of prayer in the the ministers who are to
Sermon on the Mount and preach.
taught His listeners the Lord’s
Prayer. The petition: “Give Jesus’ food
us this day our daily bread,”
applies first of all to our life on Jesus’ food consisted of fulfill-
earth. ing the will of the Father (John
4: 34). We likewise take direc-
■■ We ask God to give us tion from this.
what we need in order to
live; thereby we express ■■ Only those who do the will
our trust that our heavenly of God will attain eternal life
Father knows our needs (Matthew 7: 21). Let us ask
(Matthew 6: 32) and He God to give us the strength
provides for us. to subordinate ourselves to
His will every day.
■■ We ask God for His help
in fulfilling the task He ■■ Doing the will of God is
has set for us, namely also a kind of food that
to cultivate and preserve provides strength. Those
the earth; thereby we who fulfil the will of God
express our awareness can be assured that they
that everything comes are on the right path and
from God and that we are that God will help them.
grateful to Him for it.
■■ For those who love Jesus
Christ, it is vital to have
fellowship with Him.

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Daily bread
The bread of life
Summary
The petition: “Give us this day
our daily bread,” also refers We ask God
to the bread of life: Holy Com-
munion. ■■ to give us what we need for
our lives every day,
Jesus once said, “I am the liv-
ing bread which came down ■■ to give us His word,
from heaven. If anyone eats of
this bread, he will live forever; ■■ to give us the strength to do His
and the bread that I shall give will, and
is My flesh, which I shall give
for the life of the world” (John ■■ to make it possible for us to par-
6: 51). take worthily of Holy Communion.
God will see to it that this
bread is always available to Context
us. It imparts to us the fellow-
ship of life with Christ and we In the Sermon on the Mount,
receive strength to overcome. Jesus spoke about the three
Let us partake worthily of Holy most important practices in
Communion so that we may Judaic devotion, namely giv-
live in Christ and grow into His ing alms, praying, and fast-
nature. ing (Matthew 6: 1–18). He
pointed out that those who
Thoughts from the Chief Apostle practised such things for the
purpose of gaining human ad-
miration did not understand
this devotion correctly (Mat-
thew 6: 3–6, 17–18).
Jesus rejected people who
were wordy in their prayers
and taught His disciples the
Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6: 7,
9). The Lord’s Prayer is a valu-
able legacy which Jesus gave
those who believe in Him. With
it the Son of God set an ex-
ample as to how we are to
pray to the Father in heaven
(Catechism 12.1.7 / Catech-
ism QA 630–642).
Notes
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13/14 April 2016 Midweek
The patience of God grants us His word
God
In His patience, God grants
us His word so that we may
be prepared for the return of
And consider that the longsuffer- Jesus. Jesus promises that He
ing of our Lord is salvation. will come again: “Behold, I am
2 Peter 3: 15 coming quickly!” (Revelation
3: 11).
Message ■■ When we heard these
words the first time we
The patience of God makes it rejoiced in the assurance
possible for us to prepare our- that we would be able
selves for the return of His Son. to escape the great trib-
ulation if we remained
Elaboration faithful.
The second epistle of Peter ■■ Later on we understood
interprets the seeming delay that Jesus is coming to
in the return of Christ as an take His bride unto Him-
expression of the patience of self and that we must
God. This Bible passage is not grow in our love for Him.
merely intended to comfort us,
but rather holds deep meaning ■■ Ultimately we recognized
for us. It points to the mercy that He will come in order
and compassion of God. to form the royal priest-
hood from among our
God’s longsuffering and ranks. From this we con-
consistency clude that we must learn
to serve God and love all
The patience of God comes human beings.
to expression in His longsuf-
fering: instead of dealing with God grants grace on the
human beings with the sever- basis of His patience
ity of His righteousness, He
opens up the possibility for God grants us His grace in
them to change for the better. every divine service in order to
The patience of God is also ■■ give us the opportunity to
demonstrated in His consist- make a new start, and
ency in accepting our needs.
Just as He provides the latter ■■ give us the opportunity to
rain, which is necessary for make better and better
a good harvest in Palestine, use of grace, and cleanse
so too He provides for us our entire being.
everything necessary for our
spiritual maturity and ripeness
(Joel 2: 23; James 5: 7).
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