The Leaven of the Worshiping Church

As we gather together on this Lord’s Day, another first day of the week, another new creation day, I am very aware of the threats to the faithful church, to faithful Christians who are publicly taking a stand for righteousness and truth, and to pockets of our society, some in very high places, that are caving in quickly to a Romans 1 downward spiral.  Public morality is out and Christians who think this is wrong are being silenced, shamed, sued and slandered.

Is it over for Christianity?  Is it over for America?  The Scriptures and the witness of the Spirit would declare that this spiritual battle is far from won or lost in our day.  But we do need to wake up; we need a good dose of smelling salts to bring us back to our senses, or we are going to be knocked down and out.

But even so, we gather on the New Creation day, the Lord’s Day, because Jesus came to save the world.  He did not come to save us out of the world; He came to save us and make us His vice-regents over the new world.  The kingdom of heaven is like leaven and it has been folded into this lump of a dead-cold world – in order to bring it to life.  That is what leaven does.  That is what leaven is.

Leaven is the fellowship of the regeneration and that regeneration is working its way through the lump.  It should not surprise us to find pockets of unregeneration in this world made new.  And remember, the Bible declares, “behold, all things are new.”  The yeast works through the loaf as a work of life, secretly, quietly, behind the scenes.  The Spirit blows where He wishes, when He wishes, and how He wishes.

In the middle of this work there are creatures who hate the new creation around them.  Some of those creatures are even in the covenant people of God.  No matter.  Let God be true and every man a liar.  Jesus did not come to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.  We come to worship that King of kings and as we do, He uses our worship to take another blow at the gates of Hades.  In a long battle, sometimes it is hard to tell which way it is going, momentum shifts.  But what do you believe?  What have you been called to believe?  Come and worship the King of heaven and earth.