Off with the Robe of Shame

You are ashamed, and perhaps you have turned your back on God for you assumed He has turned His back on you.  In rebellion you may have now committed additional shameful sins, only making your problem worse.  You have accepted your shame as your unchangeable identity and you live as an outcast, shut down emotionally, isolating yourself so you never have to be hurt again.  You numb your pain with drugs, sex, power, success, abuse of others, whatever enables you to stop feeling the shame.  But it keeps coming back like a recurring nightmare.

Jesus went to the cross and, bearing your sin and shame, He cried out “It is finished!”  The infinite expanse of God’s mercy and grace is bigger than you are, bigger than anything and anyone that might come against Him.  He can take all of your guilt and justify you.  He can take all of your shame and grant you the riches of His glory (Eph 1:18).  And now, like Jesus, run the race, despise the shame for the joy set before you.  Count it as nothing.  Put on His glory.

We Live in a Dangerous World

Guns don’t kill people, sex doesn’t make people immoral, and wine doesn’t make drunkards.  We live in a dangerous world, a world filled with dangerous things that we are to receive with thankfulness from God and with which we are to steward this world to the glory of His name.  Yes, alcohol is dangerous.  So is food.  So is music.  So is sex.  So are electricity and knives and nuclear power.  So is social media.  So are cars and trains and spaceships.  So is prosperity.  So is the office of teaching.  So is parenting.  So what?  In all of these gifts, we have to grow up to maturity; we have to learn how to use them and how to not let them become idols that control us.  Therefore, the charge to the drunkard and the rule-nazi is this:  grow up!

Dangerous Table Wine

How dangerous is the bread and wine at this Table?  Another way to ask this is to say, “how potent is the bread and wine?”  Well, it is potent enough that if it is taken in hypocrisy, particularly the hypocrisy of separating yourself from other believers, it has been known to make some sick and even die.

And so two things.  First, if it has been your habit or conviction to partake of the cup with grape juice – that is still here in the tray and no one is looking over your particular shoulder.  You may have been convinced and today you should partake of wine.  You may have been challenged to think or rethink this and so you should do so and consider changing later.

Secondly, consider the danger of the rite in this way.  As we partake of the bread we are proclaiming that we are all of one loaf, one body.  Though we are broken, we are joined together in Christ who was broken for us that we might be one body.  Then, when we partake of the wine, we are declaring that we, like Christ, are willing to die, to have our blood shed, for that body – which is to say that you are declaring to the person you are passing the tray to – “Just as Jesus gave His life for me, so I am willing to give my life for you.”

Billy Graham RIP

With the passing of the one who was called America’s pastor, Billy Graham, let us remember the best of his ministry.

Graham preached the Gospel – and Graham called for a decision.  He didn’t beat around the bush at all when it came to naming sin, sin – and he made clear that the only way of salvation was through faith in God’s Son, Jesus.

There are many issues we might take with Billy Graham’s theology and with the methods he employed.  Fine.  But that man knew how to bring people, millions of people, face to face with eternity and the need to cry out to the Lord for salvation.

Here is the gospel:  Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  We are all sinners, lost and under God’s judgment.  Jesus died to pay for the sins of those lost in sin.  What must you do?  Believe and confess – and today is the day of salvation.  Today is the day of decision.

May God grant us a reformation where we return to the Bible and the Bible alone for our theology and philosophy of ministry.  But may God grant us a fervent love for the lost and an uncompromising boldness to speak the truth, to preach the truth, in love – love for Jesus – and love for people.

Because We Are Not Guilty

And this is why God looks at you in Christ and sees perfection.  Every day.  Outside of Christ, “If God were to mark iniquities, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3).  But in Christ, there is no condemnation.  This means that we must learn to confess our sins as forgiven sinners.  We don’t confess our sins to get justified; we confess our sins because we are justified.  We follow and obey Jesus not because we are guilty but because we are free.  We learn to refuse to walk in sin because we learn that we have died to sin and are alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom 6).  We can do this all because we call Jesus, “the Lord our Righteousness.”

Baptizing Them

We are a reformed church – and a reforming church.  When this congregation began we were self-consciously a reformed Baptist church.  That is, we only performed baptisms on those who had made a credible profession of faith.  But from the beginning as well, we have stressed to parents to raise their children believing the promises of God for their children – that is for their salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit – according to the preaching of Peter at Pentecost in Acts 2.

Because of this teaching, many of us began to re-examine our doctrine of baptism and came to the conviction that the Scriptures teach that children of believing parents should receive this rite of baptism and as soon as they are able to partake at the Lord’s Table, they should come to the Table as well.  We began to see that they were covenant children, part of God’s family, and that they should be identified as such, instructed as such, and fed as such.

Well, what to do?  Some of us came to this conviction, but some of us did not.  Some came and joined our congregation with this conviction – and many have come and joined us believing that Baptism was for those who had made a profession of faith first.  One thing that we determined to do in all of this – is NOT to split the church over this issue.  And so, we have developed a way of ministering to families based on their conviction on baptism while continuing to emphasize the promises of God for parents with regard to their children.  This is what we call our baptismal cooperation agreement.

Sounds crazy?  Yep – many think so.  But we don’t.  We believe it is a glorious manifestation of the church in the state of being matured, not having figured out everything, not being overly scrupulous with convictions, and working hard to grow together up into the unity of faith.

So – this morning we have a wonderful example for you all to enjoy and rejoice with us – but I want to explain it to you and its context now – because it could raise some questions for you otherwise in just a few minutes.  Larry and Julia Badillo have been attending our church for some months and are going to become members soon.  They have four wonderful children, Emma, Mateo, Jude, and Siena.  The Badillos were Baptists and none of their children have yet been baptized.  But as they came to understand the promises of God for their children, they became convinced that all of their children should be baptized.

Some other families have done this at other times in the life of our church – and when they have, we have still asked the children old enough to make a profession of faith too – and so with the oldest three Badillo children we will do the same.  But in most cases, we have then sprinkled all of the children as the mode of baptism – based on the pictures of baptism we have and the outpouring or sprinkling of the Holy Spirit upon the nations and upon individuals.  This pictures the washing and anointing of the Spirit.

However, with the Badillos, out of respect for their past convictions as well as in honor of Julia’s parents who are here to celebrate with us, we are going to immerse Emma, Mateo, and Jude for their baptisms  - this pictures the planting and the death and resurrection pictures of baptism mentioned in Romans 6 for instance.

In Ephesians 4 we are instructed that there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism.  We agree, and as far as these baptisms, the different administrations and the different modes, we declare that we are still declaring that there is one baptism and one alone.  This baptism is the declaration by God through His church that He has purchased these ones with the blood of His Son and they are His.  This is the mark of their identity, their new identity, in Jesus Christ.  As you witness these baptisms, you are charged to remember your own baptism, to be grabbed by that baptism again and to hear God speak to you in that baptism – “you are mine and I am yours – you come and follow me.”

Partaking of Freedom

As you come to this Table as a baptized member of the body of Christ, you come to the Table to partake of freedom.  This Table declares freedom – freedom from sin, freedom from guilt, freedom to love like Christ, freedom to forgive like Jesus, freedom to give yourself away for others like Christ – only to find Your life more fully in Christ.

You have died with Christ to be raised with Christ to now live in Christ as you continue to feed on Christ and enjoy Him more and more today and forever.  Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

Forgiveness Like God Does

Christ - grants forgiveness immediately, and so we should do the same.  Jesus came to seek the sick, not the healthy.  He came to forgive sinners for their inexcusable sins.  He was looking to extend forgiveness, not looking to see if He could find it in His heart to forgive.  “even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” 

Christ forgives our sins fully and completely, no matter how wicked the sin was.  Trespasses against us are always much smaller in ratio than our trespasses against the infinite, perfect, holy God of heaven.  “even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Christ does not put us in a state of probation or purgatory.  Christ does not put us in a period of testing to see if we really mean it.  He restores us each time we confess our sins to full fellowship with Him.  “even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Christ does not stop forgiving us, even when we sin again and again.  How many times have you been forgiven for the same sin?  “even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Baptism Exhortation Feb 4, 2018

Psalm 128 says, “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants all around your table.  Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.” (vv3-4).

The children of Christian, covenant-keeping homes, are likened to olive plants.  Olive plants were the holiest of all the vegetation in the old covenant symbolic system – the oil flowing from them was a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  And so this teaches us much.

God considers your covenant children as holy and this rite of baptism is that declaration – a declaration made by God through the church.  Because we view our covenant children as olive plants, we are not waiting for their conversion experience; rather, committed to training them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, we disciple them from the get go as disciples, followers of Christ.  We look for fruit, not for evidence of conversion, but as ongoing confirmation that what God is working in them is working itself out. 

The Holy Spirit is at work already in the lives of your children – God has promised this.  You are to stand on those promises and parent Natalie and her sisters according to those promises, calling upon the One Who also was born, but was born to take away their sin by His death on the Cross.

A Table of Mercy

To come to this Table, which all who are baptized are summoned to do “as often as you do this,” is to come to the Table of Mercy and Delight.  This is a memorial for God, where He delights in the mercy He has given us through His Son and He delights over those to whom He has given this mercy.

It displays the great cost of that mercy, for that mercy was purchased, fully and completely, through the death of God’s Son on the Cross.  His body was broken, His blood was shed.  And God remembers that here at the Table with us.

It also displays the great efficaciousness of that mercy.  We have become that one loaf, that one body, knit together – and so we partake together of that one loaf.  And the blood of the new covenant has become a cup of delight – of fellowship and rejoicing – in the wine of mercy refined -  intoxicating mercy.  And God remembers that here at the Table as well.

And so come in the name of Jesus, to the Table of Jesus and partake of Jesus by faith – in the company of the Father and in the mercy of the Holy Spirit.

Dirty Lips

You are about to enter into the courts of the Lord.  You are at the entrance even this moment.  Are you clean?  You are about to use your lips and tongue to praise the living and most holy God.  What have they been saying up to this point?

James warns us that you can’t spew hatred, vile words, complaining and whining at God, blasphemies, lewd porn-language, or any other vain thing – you can’t spew those things out of your mouth in one moment and then praise and thanksgiving to God in another – and think He will not notice.  Not only will He notice, not only will He not receive it, He will hate it and bring His discipline down upon it.

This is true for us as individuals, it is true for us in our homes, and it is true for our nation.  Our national leaders cannot speak blasphemies about or to God, or speak of the world in such a way as to deny His existence or sovereign lordship on the one hand, and then turn and say such things as “God bless America” on the other hand.  God’s hand of discipline is hard upon our land and growing harder.  He will not have such idolatry.  He will not have such hypocrisy.

And so what to do?  This is why we come to worship this God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who transforms us from the inside out so that there is no longer vileness, nastiness, malice, envy, pride, self-pity, whining or complaining.  Having saved us from our bondage to such things, we may notice them in us still striving to rule, but we have the authority in Christ to put them off now – and we have the strength to do so in Christ by His Spirit – and to put on Christ – and to now dwell on and speak of things true, good and beautiful – of things strong and powerful for the kingdom, of things that tear down the strongholds of fear, abuse, and scorn.  The Gospel has saved you from such things and from the author of those things, even the devil himself.  Amen. 

Distractions

Many people think they have lost their joy for reasons that are simply not in accord with Scripture.  They think they have lost their joy because of trials and temptations.  But the Scripture tells us to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (James 1:2).  Some say that they cannot walk in joy because of how others have treated them.  But Jesus tells us to “rejoice and be exceedingly glad” when we are reviled or persecuted (Matt 5:10-12).  Some say that circumstance, such as the loss of a loved one, has stolen their joy.  But the Scripture says, “Do not sorrow as others who have no hope” (1 Thess 4:13).  And so these are all distractions from the real reason that one has lost his joy.

Eat Your Bread with Joy

Ecclesiastes 9:7–9

7 Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works. 8 Let your garments always be white, And let your head lack no oil. 9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.

This time at the Table comes after our confession of sin and after the consecration of our lives.  This is the time of sitting in fellowship with God as friends with Him – and – because we are clean – with one another.

The bread strengthens us in those friendships, binding us to Christ and one another, and the wine gladdens our hearts as we rejoice in the joy of the Lord together.  This is all yours in Jesus Christ.  Come and welcome.

Buildings are Deacons

Psalm 122 describes the ascent of the people of God up through the gates and into the city of Jerusalem.  That ascent is what we are doing now to the real temple of God, whose stones we are.  Peter writes of us this way –

1 Peter 2:5 (NKJV)

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Now to say that we are the temple of God is not to say that we do not need to have a place, a residence, a real stone and mortar building, here upon the earth as we seek to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And that is why we continue to pray that God would provide for us the wisdom, the means, and the opportunity to have our own building in the Woodinville area when and how He would desire it for us.

We have said before that we should view a building as a deacon – something that serves the needs of a congregation for the work of ministry.  It is a structure, a tool for ministry.  It is not holy or special in and of itself.  But as a physical structure, it is used for ministry by the saints to obey what God has called them to do before Him and to one another.  It is also used as a tool, both as a beacon and a beachhead for ministry to a particular locality.

And so, with great thanksgiving for this space we have to use this day, we come to worship our God and ask Him to direct our paths in the years and many generations ahead. 

Why Pray?

“For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matt 6:8) – At first glance, this appears to throw cold water on any motivation to pray.  But it makes perfect sense to Christ as he instructs us.  Prayer is God’s appointed means, not to get information from us, but to bring blessing to us, honor and glory to Himself, and to cause us to constantly acknowledge our complete dependence upon Him for everything.  Jesus is our example.  He knew and He knew the Father knew, and yet He prayed.  How much more should we?  Prayer is one of God’s appointed means to administer His generosity to His children.  God has ordained the ends and the means to His ends.  Lives full of prayer and growing more and more in prayer reveal that we believe in God’s exhaustive sovereignty and inexhaustible goodness.

Prayer is a Gift – The Father loves to give.  He delights in mercy (Mic 7:18).  He is not stingy (Psalm 81:10, Rom 8:31).  Prayer is one of God’s appointed means to administer His generosity to His children.  Prayer, in the end, is not for the purpose of receiving things from God, but of communing and communicating with God Himself, just as Jesus did with His Father.

Triune Delight

This meal that we partake of, this simple ritual, is a part of what it means to commune with all three Persons of the Trinity – to join in with them in eternal delight and peace.  The Father has summoned you, the Son is offered to you, and the Spirit gives faith to partake with our spirit as our bodies partake of the bread and wine.

This is not a time for feeling bad about yourself, your stumbles, your shortfalling, you sins.  This is a time to remember the death, burial AND resurrection of Jesus Christ your Savior and King, who by His work has brought you, brought us together, into the delight and peace of the Triune God.

Come sincerely, come by faith, come because you have been baptized – and you will receive blessing here.  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit welcome you.

Life or Death Culture

We gather together as Christians, those who were dead in our sins and transgressions, removed from God and any hope of life, and glad by our nature to be separated from Him.  But God is life and the source of all life, and we come celebrating God and the life that He gives.  In so doing, we are bound to determine what is life by His good Word and to declare the Gospel is to declare the Gospel of Life.  From conception to the time the last breath is drawn and the last beat of the heart has occurred, God is sovereign and the authority over the life of every man, woman and child.  He is the author of life.

When a culture rejects Jesus Christ, it rejects life.  And culture is nothing more than the outworking of one’s theology and worldview.  When we reject Christ, we have abandoned any reason for life but we also end up embracing death – and so our culture of death continues in this land - and it is morphing and twisting in many ways.  And so we have fruitless unions and we offer the fruit of our wombs to the god of our culture, the god called convenience, the god called choice.

The church must stand as a city on a hill in these dark days.  We must testify to life and to the One Who gives life.  We must be the place where those lost in darkness and shame, even those who have partaken of the darkness and shame of murdering their children, can find the gift of repentance, faith, forgiveness and healing.  We must be the place where people find Jesus.

Come and worship then, the One who determined you would live before the foundations of the world, who determined you would be saved through the blood of His Son, and who determined that you would be a voice in the wilderness with the church, standing against darkness and death and proclaiming the Way of life, of light, of goodness and meaning and purpose and glory for every human created in the image of God.  Come and worship the Lord Jesus Christ.