God’s Visible Word

Sermon Follow Up

Summary

Last week we saw that Christian worship is a corporate ascent into God’s presence. This week we asked what happens when God’s people gather on His holy mountain. The answer: God speaks.

God speaks through the preached Word, but He also speaks through the visible, enacted words He has given to His Church in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly joins His promises to visible, tangible actions. He is not allergic to matter; He delights to use ordinary, created means to accomplish His extraordinary purposes. Rather than viewing Baptism and the Lord’s Supper either as empty rituals or magical ceremonies, we should receive them as God’s appointed means of proclaiming and delivering His covenant promises to His people.

Discussion & Reflection

-Throughout Scripture, God often joins His promises to visible, tangible actions. What examples can you think of? Why do you think God chooses to communicate that way?

-Why do you think God chooses to work through ordinary, physical means instead of bypassing creation altogether? What does that teach us about Him?

-Israel grew tired of manna even though it was bread from heaven. In what ways are we tempted to overlook or undervalue the ordinary ways God has promised to meet with His people?

-Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-33.  List every statement Paul makes about the Lord’s Supper. Which statements describe what the meal is? Which describe what the meal does? Is any of Paul’s language stronger than you expected?

-Read Acts 2:37-41. Why does Peter connect repentance and baptism? What reasons does he give for being baptized? What does the text say is the result of baptism? How would you summarize Peter’s own explanation of baptism using only the language of the passage?

-The sermon suggested that the larger question is not simply, “What do Baptism and the Lord’s Supper do?” but “How does God ordinarily work?” How does answering the second question shape the way we think about the first?

-If God delights to work through ordinary means—preaching, water, bread, wine, prayer, and His people—how might that change your expectations when you gather for worship each Lord’s Day?

Family-Friendly Short

Big Idea: God speaks to us through words that we can see.

Discussion Question: What do Baptism and the Lord’s Supper say to us?