You may turn in your Bibles to Colossians, chapter 1, for a meditation before the Lord's Supper. Colossians, chapter 1. This morning, Pastor Porter read a portion of a sermon from C. H.
Spurgeon, and it was on the Lord's Supper. And the way that the great preacher in the 1800s ended was by highlighting salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It's not by eating a piece of bread or drinking a bit of wine that one comes to know the Lord and Savior. We come by God's grace to believe on the Lord Jesus.
And He saves us. He grants pardon for our sin. And He gives us that perfect righteousness which avails with God. The Lord's Supper is not a converting ordinance.
We don't invite sinners to come and take the bread and drink the wine so that they may be saved. It is for the saved of God. It is for the believer in Christ. It is for those who, by God's grace alone, have believed in Christ alone for their salvation.
That is who the Supper is designed for. So, the conversion or the coming to Christ is not through those tangible means, but rather it is through hearing the Word, listening and responding in faith to the preaching of God's holy gospel. Well, I'll just pick up reading in Colossians chapter 1 at verse 9. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him.
And he is before all things, and in him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard. which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints To them, God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end, I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. Amen.
Opening Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, thank you for the written word and thank you for the Holy Spirit. And we pray that he would guide us now as we study Scripture. We pray that you would encourage our hearts and that you would cause us to reflect upon the doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus.
Cause us to reflect upon his resurrection, his glorious ascension, and his current session at the right hand of God Most High. In short, Father, we pray that you would cause us to be consumed with the Redeemer, that we would truly give our hearts, our minds, our affection, our attention to Him and to Him alone. And we pray in Jesus' holy name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, we're going to focus this evening primarily on verses 21 and 22. I know it's a large portion of Scripture that I read. I do want to kind of set the context for you so that we can appreciate what the Apostle Paul is doing here, specifically in verses 21 and 22. He's giving us a bit of historical reflection.
On Wednesday night, we studied or we began the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 1, verses 1 to 18, and we saw there a recounting of history. God's dealings in and among his people. And I quoted from Dale Ralph Davis. He says that we stand in the present but dwell on the past in order that we may be steadfast for the future.
We stand in the present, but we dwell on the past in order that we may be steadfast for the future. It's a beautiful depiction of what we do in the Lord's Supper. We stand in the present, but we dwell on the past so that we might be steadfast for the future. thinking in terms of what Christ has done on our behalf, and that is precisely how verses 21 and 22 function in the context. But just to broaden for just a moment, the structure of the passage is marvelous.
Paul begins with prayer for the Colossians in chapter 1, verses 9 to 12a. He then transitions to theological instruction, verses 12b to 20. He sets forth that glorious picture of Christ. as Creator, Christ as Governor or Sovereign in Providence, and Christ as the Redeemer and Head of the Church. And now he calls them to historical reflection, verses 21 to 23, and then he highlights his purpose in ministry in verses 24 to 29.
That then sets the stage for what follows in chapter 2. Paul is going to call the Colossians to beware, to be on guard, to be alert for some heresy that is plaguing the churches. And so having given them that solid foundation, he's able then to attack the heretical position and seek to inoculate the people of God so that they may stand fast in the midst of the attacks of the enemy. Well, as we consider primarily these two short verses, I want to look at it into three considerations.
First, we'll notice their previous state, verse 21. Secondly, their present status in verse 21 and 22, and then their future blessedness. And if we were to continue, verse 23 would be their present duty. In other words, Paul sets forth this history of what God has done in their lives to call them to steadfastness in verse 23, to call them to perseverance based on the reality that He has saved them, that He has brought them from the state of alienation unto reconciliation.
But, because of time, we won't get to verse 23 tonight. So, their previous state, their present status, and their future blessedness.
Their Previous State
Notice, first of all, their previous state. He says three things here.
Alienated from God
First, they were alienated from God. They were alienated from God. He uses a convention that he uses also in the book of Ephesians. We've already seen that.
He says what they once were and what they now have become. And it's very important for us to realize it's not that we once were this and we've become this by our own efforts. He's highlighting the gospel of grace. He is highlighting the redemptive work of Christ.
He is shining the light upon the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is not applauding them. He is not saying, wow, you've done a great job in calling yourselves out of darkness into marvelous light. No, this is what you once were.
Now you have been brought into the state of reconciliation, and it is God the Lord who gets the credit. It is God the Lord who gets the glory. When we participate in the Lord's supper, it isn't a pat on our backs. It is the acknowledgement of God's gracious provision in the work or the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
We eat the bread and we drink the wine, not so in terms of a reward for our behavior or our due diligence, but because of what God in Christ has accomplished on behalf of his people. So he says they were alienated from God. You who once were alienated. The word used here means to estrange or alienate, and it's a passive form of the verb.
So the idea isn't that you alienated God, though the Bible teaches us that. But here and in Romans chapter 5 and elsewhere in Ephesians, the idea is that God alienated you. Because of your sin, because of your vileness, because of your defection, because of your apostasy, because of your rebellion, God has treated you as enemies of the cross of Christ. That's the thrust.
That's the idea. That's what's going on here. You once were alienated from God, the Lord. So as we participate in the supper, we ought to praise the Lord that we've moved from alienation to reconciliation, that we're no longer a far off, but we've been brought night through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lord.
Alienation is not a good thing. Alienation is never a blessing. Being separate from God, treating Him as our enemy, is the worst possible thing a man or woman can ever engage in. Romans chapter 5, I already alluded to this, Romans chapter 5, the Apostle highlights the same reality.
He says in verse six, for when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly for scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You see the flow of thought that.
You see what he's saying that. He said the glory of the gospel includes or involves. Seriously, would a man die, or perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die? The glory of the gospel is not that Jesus died for good men.
The glory of the gospel is that while we were yet dead, while we were alienated, while we were enemies, while we were far off, Christ died for us. Verse nine, much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. We were helpless.
We were sinners. We were enemies of the triune God, and Christ died for us. In Ephesians 2, we read a vivid description of what this alienation looks like in verses 1 to 3. While we are alienated from God, this is what we look like.
This is the before picture. You ever see those diet ads? You see the person before and then after. Before, they don't look so good.
After, they're all ripped and toned and tanned. It's an amazing thing. When you lose weight, you get tanned. There's a before and an after, right?
That's what Paul does in Ephesians 2, 1-3. This is the before. The after comes in verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, He raised us up.
But notice the before picture in verses 1-3. And you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. You need to understand that. We weren't a little affected by sin.
We weren't a little maimed by sin. We weren't a little lame because of our sin. We were dead in our trespasses and sin. If you are here tonight and you are not a Christian, your problem is a thousand times more severe than you ever began to estimate.
You are dead. You are absolutely dependent upon the life-giving power of God Most High. This is why Jesus says you must be born again, because you're dead in your trespasses and sins. He goes on in verse 2, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
And we're by nature children of wrath, just as the others." So here he says, we were lifeless, we were helpless, and we were hopeless. The idea is contained in Colossians 121, and you who once were alienated. It's a horrible, horrible place to be. And if by God's grace we have been brought nigh through the blood of Jesus Christ, feast on the bread.
Feast on the wine, delight in the Lord who has saved you from your sins.
Enemies in Their Minds
Notice, secondly, with reference to their previous state, he says they were enemies in their minds. And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind. This phrase describes the seat of the enmity that exists toward God, our minds. I realize oftentimes Christians make this huge distinction between the heart and the head.
The Bible doesn't make that huge distinction. The Bible oftentimes uses heart and mind synonymously, and it locates this as the seat of our enmity toward the living and true God. We are alienated. We are enemies in our mind.
Paul says that the thought process of the unbeliever is wrong. It is defective. It is marred. It is destructive.
It is contrary to God and holds God Himself in contempt. It's a rough place to be. The book of Ecclesiastes says this is an evil that is done under the sun. That one thing happens to all.
Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. Madness is in their hearts while they live. The Greek translation uses the same word that Paul uses here. Mind again and heart used synonymously in the scripture.
Remember when Jesus healed that demoniac. Remember that wretched picture that we've seen. I believe Pastor Porter preached on Mark 5 one time. The gospel in the graveyard.
Remember that wretched picture of a man. No one could bind him. No one could hold him. He would snap the shackles that were put on him.
He dwelt among the tombs. That's the last place anybody in Israel wanted to think that somebody lived. He dwelt among the tombs. He would cry out all night long.
He would take stones and he would gash himself and he would bleed. He would hurt himself. Self-destruction. He was a cutter.
He was a horrible specimen of a human being. And what happens? The Lord Jesus comes to this man. This man comes and bows before Christ.
Christ exercises saving power in this man's life. And it's very intriguing what Luke especially says concerning his conversion. It says, Then they went out to see what had happened, the men of the surrounding area. And they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.
You see, he was out of his mind. That's what sin does. You ever seen something in the news or you see something that is reported or you see conduct that you engage in or somebody that is near and dear to you? People are out of their minds.
It's legit. It is a reality. It is because of sin and folly and madness that is bound up in the heart. But Jesus heals this man.
He's sitting clothed now and he is in his right mind. And then it says, and they were afraid. In other words, if this Christ has the power over this man, what manner of man is he?
Manifest in Wicked Works
And then thirdly, Paul says they engaged in wicked works. See, it's not just the enmity that we have in our minds, but it flushes itself out in our particular bent. And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind, buy wicked works. You see, the mind is at enmity with God.
It is opposed, it is bent, it is deranged, it is twisted, it is against the Lord. And as a result, all the conduct, all the things that we engage in are termed here as wicked work. The commentator John Eady says, the apostle charges them, not merely with spiritual and latent hostility to God, but with the manifestation of that hostility in open acts of unnatural rebellion. You see the progression.
You're alienated from God. Your mind holds God as its enemy. And as a result, the works that you engage in are characterized as being wicked. Edie says, it is not a neutral alienation, but one characterized by positive enmity.
Turn back for just a moment to Romans chapter 1, where you see some of the particular devices that flow out of a mind at enmity with God. We've already seen that characterization in chapter 2 of Ephesians, verses 1 to 3. Well, here's some specific sins that flow from a mind that is at enmity with God Most High. Romans chapter 1, beginning in verse 21.
Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. You see, Paul begins with the mind. He begins with that opposition. He begins what we are internally.
Now he traces out God's judgment and our response to that. Verse 24, Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the last of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves who exchange the truth of God for the lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions.
For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another. Men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, remember, the mind is at enmity with God.
God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. Undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.
It's a terrible picture, isn't it? Isn't it? It's horrible. That's man apart from God.
I mean, that looks like CNN right there, doesn't it? Looks like the headlines. That looks like what we witness. And before you say, well, I'm not homosexual.
I'm not doing that which is against nature. Are you a dishonor of parents? Notice how the apostle puts these vices together. Sometimes as Christians, we pride ourselves that we're not like other men.
We sound awfully much like that Pharisee. I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like other men. You know, we have what Jerry Bridges calls our respectable sin. We don't engage in murder, we don't engage in adultery, we don't engage in homosexuality.
But look at what the apostle says that flows from a mind that's at enmity with God. Strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, whisperers, back-biters. Haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. It's a bleak picture.
You see what Paul's doing? He's calling us to reflect upon what we once were. and what God has done. You see, when the champion goes and rescues the people, the opposition, the aggression that the champion faces just highlights his glory in performing his deed of valor. And that's what Paul is saying.
You who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, that's their previous state.
Their Present Status
Now, notice their present status. He says, yet now he has reconciled. The he here, I think, is God the Father. He's the subject of the verb reconcile in this particular place.
Jesus is the agent of reconciliation to be sure, but I think the focus is upon the Father's will, the Father's decree, the Father as the fountain from which this gracious plan of salvation flows. God has not only decreed the reconciliation of the cosmos, according to chapter 1, verse 20, but He comes for sinners. real sinners in history, as Watts says, no more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found far as the curse is found. He has reconciled you.
Notice the divine initiative in this. It is not you. You didn't reconcile yourself. You didn't make a good decision.
You didn't walk the altar or walk up to the altar. You didn't sign a card. You didn't log in. You know, email this number and you'll be saved.
That's not it. Put your name and data here. We'll baptize you. That's not it.
God has reconciled you. You have to see the priority in the text. You couldn't reconcile yourself. Your mind had enmity toward God.
Your words were wicked. You were alienated. You were out there. You were gone.
You were deranged. You were like that man living among the tombs, cutting himself and crying out day and night, seeking to break the fetters that were around you. It's Christ who comes. It is God who reconciles.
It is the Lord who saves to the uttermost. We were helpless sinners and enemies of God, but He has reconciled us. Hopefully you want to do a holy jig at this point. Hopefully as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you rejoice.
You delight. You praise the Savior. You exult in Him. The supper, unfortunately, is treated as a reward for good behavior on the part of God's people.
Sometimes God's people look back over the month and they say, well, I read my Bible and I prayed, I should go ahead and take that. I didn't go do any dastardly deeds. I've sought to be faithful. As a result of that, I'll eat and drink because I'm getting this reward.
That's not what the supper's about. The supper is not about our accomplishment. The supper is not about our Bible reading. The supper is not about our faithfulness in the prayer closet.
The supper is about Jesus faithfulness. It's about Jesus life. It's about Jesus death. It's about Jesus resurrection.
That's why we come to the supper to refresh our minds about Christ. You know, we talk about worship service. And we oftentimes associate that with our service to God. But do you realize that a worship service is God serving us?
God provides the bath to wash us from our sin. God provides the supper to feed our souls. God provides the meat of his word to satisfy his hungry people. When we come to the Lord's house for worship, yes, we are meeting Him and He is meeting us.
He is visiting us with encouragement and with blessing and with great things. You see, when we look at it like that, brethren, the table is set by God Himself. provide for you a time of reflection, a time of historical reflection in terms of the cross of Calvary and that empty tomb that Jesus departed from. The divine initiative is seen in reconciliation.
The Means: Body, Flesh, Death
And then notice, with reference to their present status, the means of accomplishment. Verse 21 says, Yet now he has reconciled. Verse 22 tells us how. In the body of his flesh through death.
That's how we've been reconciled. You see, it's not our performance. It's not our doing. It's not our obeying.
It's not our abiding. Now, lest you think that I don't think there's a place for that. Verse 23 tells us there's a place for that. Paul is rehearsing gospel truth, though.
The commands to be faithful are always grounded in the indicative of what God has done in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Every other religion out there commands you to perform in order to get. God says you've been given freely based on gospel truth. This then is how you ought to live.
But in verse 22, he says in the body of his flesh through death. The specific mention of Christ's physical body underscores the truth of the incarnation. As well, I think it differentiates it from what we might call the mystical body referred to in verse 18, where it says, and he is the head of the body, the church. Some have called that the mystical body, the people of God in all ages who make up the body of Christ.
Well, in verse 22, that's not what's in view in the body of his flesh refers to the Jesus of the Gospels, the Jesus of time, space, and history, to the Jesus who took on the likeness of sinful flesh, to the Jesus who said, the foxes have their holes and the birds have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head, the Jesus who hungered, the Jesus who thirsted, the Jesus who suffered in Golgotha. He was sorrowful, even unto death. The Jesus who ultimately carried His cross to Calvary. The Jesus who was nailed to that cross.
That's what Paul is underscoring. He, God, has reconciled you in the body of His Son. It is through the Gospel, and specifically in the body of His flesh, through death. The blood of the cross was mentioned in verse 20 as the means by which the cosmos, the entire created order, is reconciled.
That same bloodshed in His death was effectual for the Christians in Colossae. You see, He's going from that cosmic reconciliation of verse 20 to John in Colossae, to Martha in Colossae, to Peter in Colossae. To Henry in Colossae. To individual redeemed sinners in Colossae.
The movement's glorious. The movement is beautiful. John Eady again says, man does not win his way back to the divine favor by either costly offering or profound penitence. God reunites him to himself.
He is not only provided for such an alliance, but actually forms and cements it through the body of his death. Praise God for our Lord Jesus, the agent of reconciliation.
Their Future Blessedness
Now, notice thirdly and finally, the future blessedness. Why did God do this? in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. Again, verse 23 continues with imperative, continues with the place of good works in the Christian life, continues with those who, by God's grace, have believed the gospel. But notice in verse 22, this is God's plan through Christ.
It is to present you. While some would heretically teach that we are reconciled based on our holiness, blamelessness, and our being above reproach, Paul says just the opposite. He reconciled you who were alienated. You who were at enmity in your mind.
You who engaged in wicked works.
Presented Holy and Blameless
He reconciled you in order to present you. You see the flow. Big difference. You can't ever say, he reconciled me because I was holy.
He reconciled me because I was blameless. He reconciled me because I was above reproach. No, you were just the opposite. Alienated, enmity in your mind, wicked words.
He reconciled you in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach. You see, in the gospel, God gets the glory. In the gospel, Christ is the champion. In the gospel, Jesus is the victor.
In the gospel, salvation is of the Lord. That's what we celebrate when we eat this bread and we drink this cup. This is what we celebrate and call to mind when we approach these holy elements. It is not our performance, it is not our doing, it is not our dying, it is not our victories that we engage in on a daily basis if we do.
No, what we are by nature is set forth for us very plainly and very clearly in verse 21. God reaches down, God reconciles us. in the body of His flesh through death in order to present us holy in His sight, in order to present us blameless and above reproach. This is the grand purpose that God has in view.
Election and Sovereign Grace
Same thing in Ephesians chapter 1. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless. Not just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, because we were holy and blameless. Some people heretically teach that God looks down the tunnel of time and whoever throws themselves into his favor, it's those whom he chooses.
That is not what the Bible teaches. That is folly. That is an escape from predestination, an attempt to run from the doctrine of election. that God looked down the tunnel of time and foresaw the particular response of men. And based on that particular response, God then chose them.
Please. Please, that is not what the scripture says, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, people turn to Romans chapter eight. Well, whom he foreknew. Yeah.
Whom he foreknew. Not what he foresaw. The whom he foreknew there refers to his loving affection set upon them in eternity past. Not to their faith and their repentance that they would exercise.
Therefore, God predestinated that. Don't play games. Embrace the glorious truth of God's sovereignty. Apart from God's sovereignty, we're all hellbound.
Apart from God's predestinating grace, apart from election, we are all dead in our trespasses and sins. Well, brethren, in these two short verses, you see the movement from alienation to reconciliation, and it is based on God, the sovereign Lord of the universe. It is affected by the crosswork of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let's just look back for just a moment at verse 19.
It says it pleased the father that in him all the fullness should dwell. And by him, this is by Jesus to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. What an interesting way to speak of peacemaking. You see, in the first century, the last thing you thought in terms of crucifixion was peace.
You like saying peace through the electric chair, peace through the gas chamber, peace through lethal injection, peace through the gallows, peace through the firing squad. Last thing you're thinking in that place is peace. This is precisely what Paul is illustrating here. It is through the blood of his cross that Christ makes And remember the movement up to this point, beginning in verse 15.
Christ made everything, didn't he? Christ sustains everything. Verse 17 says, In him all things consist. That means he is sovereign.
Our Christ is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. So he is the creator. He is the governor.
He is the Redeemer. This caused Gordon Clark to write this in his commentary, and I believe he's right on. He says now when we pause to consider this is staggering. The preceding verses have described Christ in transcendent terms.
That means he's wholly removed from us. He was the creator in whom all the fullness dwells, the heir of the universe for whom it was created. Now, when the creator of heaven and earth, the creator himself, voluntarily suffered on the cross for our sins, we can only stand in awe and worship.
Application
What's your application? I'm not going to tell you right now. Go out and be holy. Go out and do good things.
Stand in awe and worship. Feast at the table presented by God the Lord through the redemptive work of his son and stand in awe and worship.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your holy gospel. Thank you for the table that you've set before us.
And I pray that as we eat this bread and we drink this cup, that we collectively, as the church corporately, would proclaim his death until he comes. We thank you for his work on our behalf How we thank you for sovereign grace, how we thank you for predestination and election and all these things that highlight the Godhood of God. Thank you for particular redemption and the fact that Christ was not frustrated in his work, but that he indeed secured the salvation of all those whom the Father had given him. And Lord, help us to just be encouraged and strengthened and help us to stand in awe and to worship.
And we pray through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.