day no. 17,506: repetition's bad reputation (exhortation outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

Call to Confession

September 27, 2026

"Repetition’s Bad Reputation"

THE TEXT

Our text this morning is Matthew 6:7, these are the words of God.

“When you pray, do not use vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their many words.”

INTRODUCTION

Last month, you may recall, I began a discussion about our liturgy and repetition in worship. Liturgy is by definition repetitious, but repetition is not by definition in vain. It certainly can be and Jesus clearly warns against it, but the mere act of repeating something doesn’t make it vain. Repetition can wear an elbow out, but it also can bulk a bicep up. It can lead to carpal tunnel, but it also can lead to looking jacked. How did you hurt your wrist? I did the same thing over and over. How did you get so buff? I did the same thing over and over. 

Liturgy is inescapable. It may be song, announcements, song, song, sermon, song, song like most big Eva services or it can be the 5 C’s of covenant renewal like we do here: call, confession, consecration, communion, and commission. But either way, you are going to have a way that you “do” worship. And regardless of what liturgy you use, there is always going to be a temptation to let it do the lifting for you. But the liturgy is more like a spotter at the gym. It is there to watch over you and help you, but it isn’t there to do all of the work for you. 

Some modern types, seeing the potential landmines associated with liturgy have tried to avoid them by instead opting for novelty. So, instead of doing the same things over and over, they try to do new things all of the time. In other words, novelty is their liturgy. And no, they do not see the irony. Chesterton said it this way, “The special mark of the modern world is not that it is sceptical, but that it is dogmatic without knowing it. It says, in mockery of the old devotees, that they believed without knowing why they believed. But the moderns believe without knowing what they believe – and without even knowing that they do believe it… In short, they always have an unconscious dogma; and an unconscious dogma is the definition of a prejudice. They are the dullest and deadest of ritualists.” In other words, novelty cannot protect you from the trappings of liturgy because it is itself one of the trappings of liturgy: new is not always improved anymore than old is always more reliable.

Consider Acts 17:21 “Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.” Why did they do that? They believed that new was always improved, but they failed to realize that all the old heresies were once brand new ideas. So, you can either repeat the proven things or you can reinvent the disproven ones, but you cannot avoid repeating something. While you can repeat the old creeds without knowing what you’re saying, you can just as easily “invent” a new one without knowing that it’s already been said under the sun. The Athenians didn’t want to fall into that first ditch, so they overcorrected by falling into the other one. Rather than using their minds to mull over time-tested words, they used them to create new ones. Contrast this with the Bereans with whom Paul had conversed previously in :11-12 

“Now the Bereans were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.” The Bereans did not take Paul at his word, they cross-checked his words with the Word of God. If the Bible said it, they wanted to do it, but they didn’t want to do it just because Paul said the Bible said that. They wanted to see it for themselves. This, we are told, was noble of them. Paul was not offended, he was encouraged. He preferred that to the response he got in Thessalonica, which is where he was before Berea, documented in :1-9 of Acts 17. There, some had heard and believed, but others were not having any of it. They were content to rock their souls to sleep repeating the same old doctrines without thinking much about them. And they didn’t want to wake up. The Bereans, however, listened intently to the familiar words of God, they thought about them, they studied them; and as a result, many of them believed them in a fresh way.

And what, on the other hand, was the result of the Athenians’ and their lust for novelty? :32-34 go on to tell us, “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’ So Paul went out from their midst.” Those who only go in for new ideas, fail to see how bad of an idea that is. They put no stock in history and so, they repeat it. Because they do not want to repeat the creeds of their faithful fathers, they end up repeating the sins of their rebellious fathers.

So, we see three responses to repetition in Acts 17: we see Thessalonians holding the form of religion without contemplating its power, we see Athenians abandoning the form of religion by denying its power, and we see Bereans reforming their minds by the power of God according to His Word. Follow the example of the Bereans. Their response to the Word of God was the same as our Protestant forefathers: reformata semper reformanda, or “reformed and always reforming.” Repetition is only as good as what it is repeating and reform is only as good as the form it is attempting to get back to. You cannot avoid vain repetition by refusing to repeat anything. That is merely repeating the sin of the Athenians. And you cannot avoid vain repetition by refusing to consider afresh what you think you already know. That is merely repeating the sin of the Thessalonians.

So, the charge this morning is to be a Berean. Pay attention to what you are saying and then go back to the Word and confirm it. Do not just nod along with your brain off because you’ve heard it all before. And do not just nod off because there’s nothing new under the Sunday service. Think about what you are doing. Consider what you are saying and reflect on what you are repeating. The old doctrines breathe fresh life into old hearts when they are embraced by faith. So, receive them anew today, not as novelties, but as familiar friends you’re happy to see again and spend some time with.

CALL TO CONFESSION

Well, since we are so often too lazy to think about what we are saying or too bored to pay attention to the same ol’ liturgies, we are reminded of our need to regularly confess our sins, whether they be related to these or others. So, if you are able, please kneel with me and confess your sins, first privately and then corporately using the prayer found in your bulletin.

CORPORATE CONFESSION

Most holy and merciful Father, we acknowledge before You our sinful nature and our many offenses. We are prone to do evil and slow to do good. You alone know how often we have sinned in wandering from Your way, in wasting Your gifts, in forgetting Your love. Lord, we are ashamed and sorry for all the ways that we have displeased You. Father, teach us to hate our rebellious acts, cleanse us from our secret faults, and forgive our sins for the sake of Your Son. Help us to love You with all our heart and mind and strength. And give us the power of Your Holy Spirit so that we may walk in Your ways and serve You all of our days.

DECLARATION OF PARDON

Arise and hear the Good News! The assurance of pardon today comes from Galatians 2:16, “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

We are not made right with God by repeating the right words. We are made right with God by believing in the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. He was crucified, dead, and buried in our place and for our sins and He rose again on the third day for our justification. We are not saved by our works, we are saved by His. His mercies are fresh and new every morning because He died once for all time. We are therefore called to remember that and to renew our belief in it as often as we are gathered. So, receive the words of your pardon afresh this morning: by the authority of God the Father and the seal of God the Spirit, it is my privilege to declare to you that in the finished work of God the Son, your sins are forgiven… 

THANKS BE TO GOD!

Now let us ascend into the presence of God in all worship and praise.

day no. 17,505: trumpeting

Exodus 19:16-21

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.

The other day in my Bible read through (To The Word), I realized while reading this portion of Exodus how similar it is in some ways to the familiar accounts of Christ coming on the clouds and trumpets blasts of the New Testament.

Hebrews 12:18-29 

For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.

Matthew 24:27-31

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

1 Corinthians 15:52

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Revelation 1:7

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Revelation 11:15 

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

day no. 17,504: heads you lose, tails he wins

"They thought they had God by the tail, but they had the wolf (yea the devil) by the ears." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Those who presume to have God at their disposal are merely at the mercy of the devil. Those who believe that they can harness Heaven are being driven by Hell. God cannot be corralled or contained and those who think they have Him under their thumb are in the grip of sin.

You cannot employ wicked means to obtain righteous ends. You cannot use socialism to fight socialism. A young woman cannot convince a young man of the merits of chastity by discussing it from the back seat of his car. You cannot win someone to conviction through compromise. What you use to win someone you will need to do to keep them. You cannot fudge the truth in order to win someone to the truth. 

You cannot wield the sword unrighteously and end up with a righteous society. You cannot use the ring of power without ending up with a corrupted result. To use the ring is to lose, even if you use it to win.

day no. 17,503: the promises of princes

"Honest men should always and at all times deal plainly and honestly. And therefor the most honest means before things be done, is to be wise and circumspect: and to foresee the end, what mischief may follow, before they suddenly, rashly, and unadvisedly consent to anything. To use such honest wisdom and foresight, is permitted both by God's word and nature. Yea God's word and nature command honest men to use it. For those things that can but once be done, and whereon so great weigh the angels, ought to be well done. Therefor men ought not to give credit to fair words, large promises, and great oaths (for these are the instruments to deceive the honest and well meaning) but the fairer the oaths, the more to suspect. For godly and honest things may be well enough done without painted and smooth words, fair promises, and oaths. There ought to be such equality in doing of things, that such deceits need not. Only subtlety and craft devised long writings, great promises, and many solemn ceremonies. When the great marriage was treated in the Privy Council and so great promises made, the old Duke of Norfolk said that they were golden words, but how shall they be performed, he asked? Afterward when it was propounded to the lords in Parliament to be ratified, the Lord Windsor in like manner asked who should be surety for the performance thereof, and who should sue the forfeit? No other of them lacked wisdom and foresight, to see that under painted paper, much mischief was hidden." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Nothing is easier to make than a promise and few things are harder to keep. It gets you everything you want now without any obligation to endure anything you don't want later. And the grander the words and more extravagant the words used to enforce the promise, the more dangerous they are. Things well said do not produce things well done. Any to Ponet's point, sometimes the better said the words the more skeptical one should be about how they will be applied.

"And because public matters of a realm, that concern all and every man's life, wife, children, lands, goods, and what so ever can not be trod upon by all men, but all must put their trust in a few: men ought to be wise and circumspect whom they trust." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Campaign promises are only as good as the person's record to deliver on past promises. If they are new to the office, you have to judge whether or not you believe the person, but if they are running for re-election, you need look no further than their previous campaign and their recent stint in office. Compare and contrast what they said they would do with what they did.

“It is obvious that a politician often passes the first half of his life in explaining that he can do something, and the second half of it in explaining that he cannot.” — G.K. Chesterton

If they have not done what they said they would do, there is no reason to think they will do tomorrow what they say they are planning to do right now. They have already proven themselves to be liars and vow breakers.

"He that gives money, and makes great feasts, thinks some other fetch, than the service of his neighbors. He that refuses or releases his ordinary wages, looks for some greater extraordinary reward. He that is always or often at prince's platters, or in practicer's palaces, an not long continue the peoples true proctor. And therefor in Venice (as they write) none of the Senate and officers upon pain of his head, are talks privily with another, not takes rewards or fees of any foreign prince. For they are so jealous of the whole state, because they have been so often deceived by practicers in their own companies. Which lesson all wise men and honest men should learn, and by all means suspect prince's promises and withstand practicer's doings, and not believe one word that they say, be it never so gentle: nor yet their deeds, what so ever shine or pretense of love they declare." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

We should not believe liars, even if they are wearing suits and running for political office. Unrepentant liars are not fit to speak on behalf of anyone, let alone everyone.

"But you that are a true Englishman, seeing the fetches and falsehoods of these named and such other as they be, look in time to yourself and to the state of you natural country, and trust not unto them, though they use never so much flattery, though they swear never so fast, tough they speak never so fair, and though they give you their handwriting... Say not too late: If only I had. You have sufficient warning, God give you grace to consider it and use it." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

We do not have to live in skeptical inactivity, but should not go forward in naivete. We must not wait until it's too late to say, "Yeah, I should have known better." Know better now and insist upon better men to represent us. We have been warned and if we do not take heed, we will deserve whatever we get.

day no. 17,502: nurseries, nations, and nuance

“The punishments of the State must be sweeping generalisations. It is only the punishments of the home that can possibly be adapted to the individual case; because it is only there that the judge can know anything of the individual. If Tommy takes a silver thimble out of a work-basket, his mother may act very differently according as she knows that he did it for fun or for spite or to sell to somebody, or to get somebody into trouble. But if Tomkins takes a silver thimble out of a shop, the law not only can but must punish him according to the rule made for all shoplifters or stealers of silver. It is only the domestic discipline that can show any sympathy or especially any humour. I do not say that the family always does do this; but I say that the State never ought to attempt it.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Drift from Domesticity

The civil government has been given the sword and assigned the task of being God's deacon of wrath. The metric by which it is to determine when to wield it is given in the law of God. Justice is a function of aggressively guarding the general equity of the law. Sweeping generalizations, like "anyone convicted of rape, kidnapping, or murder should be executed by the State," must be maintained. The State has no business making excuses for the rapist, kidnapper, or murderer. In other words, it doesn't matter why they raped, kidnapped, or murdered the other person, it only matters that they did it. That kind of investigation may be appropriate on the home front where individual temperament and extenuating circumstances can be fairly assessed and applied, but that kind of approach at a corporate level is a disaster. It leads to victims being robbed of justice, criminals being robbed of consequences, and society as a whole being robbed of a sense of stability. The State is best equipped to work with sweeping generalizations, whereas the home is best equipped to consider particular circumstances.

“My complaint of the anti-domestic drift is that it is unintelligent. People do not know what they are doing; because they do not know what they are undoing.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Drift from Domesticity

Trying to make the State like the home is a surefire way to ensure that no homes will survive. Homes have their own sphere of sovereignty, but if the State will not stay in its lane or attempt to govern its sphere according to the jurisdictional prerogatives of a different sphere, the results will be disastrous. The home has not taken over the state, the state has co-opted the home's privileges and by so doing has brought the home to the brink of collapse. The nursery may require nuance, but the nation needs resolve.

day no. 17,501: entropy and novelty

"We have remarked that one reason offered for being a progressive is that things naturally tend to grow better. But the only real reason for being a progressive is that things naturally tend to grow worse. The corruption in things is not only the best argument for being progressive; it is also the only argument against being conservative. The conservative theory would really be quite sweeping and unanswerable if it were not for this one fact. But all conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again; that is, you must be always having a revolution. Briefly, if you want the old white post you must have a new white post." — G. K. Chesterton. Orthodoxy

Entropy and atrophy are the best arguments for being progressive. In other words, we have to advance and change or we will be worse off. If we don't apply a new coat of paint to the white fence, we will have a gray fence, which is bad news for those who loved the old white fence. So, in order to keep the old white fence, we must have a new one; otherwise we will be left with a dull, gray one.

Entropy and atrophy are also the best arguments against being conservative. In other words, we cannot merely seek to keep what we once had because it won't stay the thing we had if we do not do something. You cannot keep the manna overnight. It becomes worms. A living dog is better than a dead lion because a living dog is constantly regenerating itself by breathing, eating, barking, chasing, digging, napping, etc... but a dead dog is merely becoming a pile of maggots.

Christians must be progressive and conservative. We must retain the work of the Spirit and we must by the Spirit go forward. We must preserve the Bible, but not by keeping it quarantined. We keep it by reading it and keeping to it. If we treat its doctrines like dead things perfectly organized like a bunch of dead butterflies, it will look nice, but it won't do anything. On the other hand, if we seek to go ahead Spirit led never knowing what comes next or what we'll do about it, we will end up reinventing some of the oldest heresies without even realizing it. There is nothing new under the Sunday service and blasphemies are especially easy to invent when you haven't read the manual. Novelty can kill just as easily as entropy.

So, all of that to say, we must preserve the good works and movements of the Spirit in our history and we have strive ahead in the Spirit to achieve the good works prepared beforehand for us tomorrow. We must look back on our justification and look forward to our sanctification. This requires a Christ-centered conservatism and progressiveness. 

day no. 17,500: theft is theft

"God ordained that man should get his living by the sweat of the brow: and that he should be the more forced to labor, the distinction of things and property (mine, and yours) was (contrary to Plato's opinion) ordained, being apparent by these two laws: Thou shall not steal: Thou shall not covet your neighbors wife, not his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Stuff and my stuff is a great distinction. Some stuff is my stuff. Some stuff is your stuff. The rest of the stuff is someone else's stuff. Knowing where your stuff ends and where someone else's begins is one of the basic foundations of life. Property rights are human rights provided by God Himself. Life, liberty, and property come from God and cannot be taken away by men or magistrates. They may infringe upon those rights, but they cannot annul them. 

Therefore, be content with what you have and work hard for what you want. Do not envy your neighbor or attempt to take what is his. Do what you can with what you have and be grateful for that which you gain through your own your diligence and initiative.

Property rights make charity possible. If nothing is mine, I can't give it. If I'm forced to give it, it isn't charity. If it is stolen from me to give to you, it isn't voluntary. If nothing is yours, I can't acquire it for you. Charity presupposes property rights. Just as we see in the Scriptures.

"There was such charity among people, that of their own free will, they gave and sold all they had, to relieve the misery of their poor brethren: who for impotency, or for multitude of children, were not with their labor able to get sufficient to relieve their necessity. Nor of this so given might every man take as much as lusted for, but to everyone (according to his necessity) sufficient was distributed. So that it stood in the liberality of the giver, and not in the liberty of the taker." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Charity must be a product of the generosity of the giver, not the lust of the beggar. True charity cannot be extracted by force, be it physical, emotional, or legislative. If it has to be taken by force, it is not charity. Fraternity by force is tyranny. Charity by force is larceny.

"If they do it, while they pretend (but mean it not) to bring others to Heaven, they may be sure to bring themselves to Hell." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

If a tyrant says, "the poor in spirit are closer to Christ," and so takes it conveniently upon himself to usher his people into a closer walk with God by stealing all of their property, God may comfort His people with increased intimacy as they mourn their loss, but He will visit the tyrant with increased hostility when He ushers him to Hell. Only free people can be charitable people.

"Thou shall not steal, thou shall not covet anything that is your neighbors: and so it stabilizes and confirms, that everyone may justly keep that is his own, and none may take it from him by any means against his will, be he king or kaiser."  — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Theft is theft regardless of who the thief is. Whether it be your neighbor or your governor, it is still stealing. Plunder is plunder, even if they pass a law saying they can be pirates.