August 30, 2020
Upcoming Events and Notices
Please note the time change for livestream worship service. Please join us for livestream worship at 10 AM, August 30, 2020 here.
You can find the order of worship and songs here.
The August 23, 2020 sermon, Proverbs 3:5–10. "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" is available on our church website. You can also catch up on older sermons from our Sermon page and subscribe to sermon podcast here.
August 30 (Lord's Day 11:15 AM ): Please join us for online fellowship after the worship live-stream via Google Meet. You can also join by phone. Please contact pastor Ken for call-in information.
September 16 (Wednesday 7 PM): We will begin new online study series. More information will be available soon.
Thank you for your coninued support of Grace Fallbrook (PCA). Your loving support makes the proclamation of the gospel and the building up of the saints possible. Please continue to mail in your gifts and offerings to our church treasurer, Bruce Summers. In addition, our church website now features online giving. Please visit the church website and click on "Give" which you will find in the upper left corner of our church's website. When you click on "Give Online Now" button on that page, you will be directed to the PCA Foundation where you give towards Grace Fallbrook (PCA).
Before We Worship
The Songs of Ascents, which began with Psalm 120, now end with Psalm 134. The pilgrims have reached Jerusalem at last. Although it was already late in the day, they could not wait until the next morning to come to the Temple. Who could? And why would you? Thus they make their way to the Temple and find the night shift priests on duty. With great joy and excitement they cry, "Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!"
The word "bless" appears in each of the 3 verses of this psalm. This repeated refrain is of course a reflection of the inner thoughts of psalmist's mind. But it is not as we typically think of blessing. How often and frequently do we say, "Bless me, bless me!" We are incessantly asking God to do something good for us. Such requests, so far as they are concerned, are fine, especially if they rise out of the sense of our utter dependence on God. They are troubling, however, if we make such requests of God because we are not really interested in the Giver, but only in the gifts he gives.
Not so with the psalmist. He counts it his blessing to bless the Lord. Thus first in verse 1, and then again in verse 2, the psalmist cries, "Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!" To bless the LORD means to acknowledge his goodness. The goodness the palmist has chiefly in mind is the LORD's goodness of dwelling with his people, of making Jerusalem his footstool, of meeting his people on his Mercy Seat. It is the goodness he lavishes on the pilgrims who seek him, for he will draw near those who draw near him. And how good he is to keep the pilgrims safe on the road! They trusted him to do so in Psalm 121. Now they are able to testify that the Lord has indeed done so.
In verse 3 the psalmist sings his benediction to the servants of the LORD: "May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!" After all, the Temple wasn't special as a building per se. The ministries of the Temple made the building special. For there the priests offered sacrifices, led God's people in worship, prayed for God's people and instructed them. The psalmist is understandably grateful for the ministries of the Temple, and blesses all the "servants of the LORD."
We are also pilgrims. Our journey does not lead us to the earthly Jerusalem, but to heavenly Jerusalem. And we will count every step as blessing. Every step that leads us home, however hard the road may be, is a step that brings us closer to glory and joy. And while we make our journey, we will certainly pray for, and receive, help. But we will also bless the LORD. We will bless the servants of the LORD.
One day our pilgrimage will be over. And on that day we will join the saints that have gone before us and bless the LORD. For that will be a blessing indeed!