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.