Friendship and Communion

Everyone learns about friendship here at the Table of Our Lord.  What does it mean that Jesus is our Friend?  What does it mean to be a friend?  Here is friendship – a body broken, blood spilled – for the sake of the other.  In the midst of Perfect Sacrifice, showing forth true love and friendship, Jesus also gives strong words which build up our countenance and turn us to His Father.

He exhorts, He encourages, He prays for, He walks with, He gives – and He receives.  We are invited to this Table to partake of Him, but we find that we are being partaken of as well – there is mutual indwelling – union and communion – and the fruit of our individual connections to God through Jesus is the deeper connections – communion – we have with one another as we discern that our friendship with Jesus means our friendship with His body, His people, our brothers and sisters.

Not only is this proclaimed at this Table – this is experienced, blessed, re-ordered, restructured, refreshed and renewed – and then celebrated – here – by means of partaking with faith – and so all who have been baptized in Jesus are invited to come and partake to the glory of this relationship we enjoy.

Mother's Day Exhortation 2012

This morning in our sermon we will consider the subject of friendship in the marriage relationship – and in honor of Mother’s Day, I wish to honor my mother who, like so many mothers, had proverbial quips of wisdom which she would say to her children from time to time and over and over.  One of those words of wisdom was:  Make sure you marry Your best friend.  To this day, I thank God for my mother and I thank God I listened to her.  My best friend is the mother of my six children.

And so Happy Mother’s Day – first of all Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers here this morning.  While this service of worship is not about you, it is about the God Who created you and called you to this glorious vocation.  It is impossible to go far enough in realizing the powerful influence mothers have on their children and hence on the world itself.  This position, often filled with unending behind the scenes, noticed by no one but God Himself, duties, is the kind of position which shapes everything else for the next generation.  Every ruler, every president, every CEO, every father, every husband, every neighbor, every criminal, every tyrant – had a mother whose life was dramatically shaped by the words, actions, faith, and presence (or lack of those things) of his mother.

And so, secondly, Happy Mother’s Day to everyone who has a mother – and everyone does.  Paul writes that “For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman.”  You were brought into this world, touched by the curse of God, in pain and sorrow – and your mother bore that pain and sorrow, not only in bearing you, but in her nurture and care of you – most likely for years and decades.  Most of us need to look back at our lives, our upbringing, and see how kind God was to give to us through our mothers – a multitude of physical, emotional, social, and spiritual blessings.  Honor your mother.  Honor your mother to the glory of God.

And mothers – at whatever stage in being a mother God has you today – honor Your God by realizing what a breath-taking vocation He has given to you.  By faith, see your role in changing the world, one diaper at a time, one peanut-butter sandwich at a time, one kind word or gentle admonishment, one proverbial piece of wisdom spoken day after day, year after year – to the glory of God.

After the Fall: How Do I Know What to Do?

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV)
¹⁶ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

After the Fall, the answer is the same, and even more so.  Paul instructs Timothy, pastor to pastor, to make sure that all Scripture is used to teach God's people what to believe and what to do in life - "equipped for every good work."

This establishes the sufficiency of Scripture to address every problem man has to face.  It is always where we start and whatever else we do must be rooted in, built upon, inferred from, and come out of a thorough understanding of God's Word to us.

God made the world, placed us in the world, and tells us as we live in this world what it is we are supposed to do.

How Do I Know What I am Supposed to Do?

Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV)
¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

God created Adam and placed him in the world He created for Adam.  Even before the Fall, Adam receives instructions from God on how he is to live.  This is covenantal language, for sure.  But notice that it is also practical teaching.  Do this and don't do that.  How does Adam learn this.  From God's Word.

This is paradigmatic for all men and women made in the image of God.  The Word of God is given to us for our instruction and it is given to us for all of life, for all aspects of life, for all subjects in life.

Hospitality From the Inside, Out

Hospitality From the Inside, Out

 (My wife doesn't have a blog, but was asked to write this article for a soon to be published church cookbook.  I told her it was so good it needed to be shared - so here it is) -

If you are a Christian, the Lord desires that, like Him, you are hospitable, or loving to the stranger/outsider.  It has often been said that, “you cannot export what you do not have”, and this certainly applies to hospitality.  One of the common hurdles about hospitality can be the feeling that it is a rather large, extra-ordinary event….something unfamiliar, “out of my comfort zone”.  A demeanor of hospitality toward your children and husband is the best ways to overcome that hurdle and prepare yourself to extend hospitality generally.  Hospitality is “loving your neighbor” with   home and hearth.  I have found over the years, that the more I put thought and energy into  extending hospitality to my family, the easier and more natural it is for me to do so “abroad”. 

 What a blessing it is to arrive at someone’s home, and know immediately that they are pleased to have you…they are looking forward to your company.  This is something that is hard to “manufacture”, and when it is less than genuine, it is nothing short of hypocrisy.  We have so very many opportunities at home to practice the grace of making people feel welcome…our own people.  Does your husband feel that he is welcome to the home when he comes in…that you are looking forward to seeing him?(for more than just an extra set of hands) J  Are your children invited to join you at table, assured that you want their company, regardless of their foibles and various shortcomings, and assured that you are HAPPY to serve them again?  Welcoming the stranger in assumes that you have worked hard on their behalf, and joy and grace will be extended.  Graciousness is not something that you can pull out of your hat on Saturday evening when the guests are coming.  Gracious hospitality is the abundant overflow of the daily grace-cycle: we are blessed abundantly by our Lord, and that grace spills over to those closest to us and beyond.  We cannot give grace FROM our home, if there is no grace AT home.

  When it comes to meal planning with our families, efficiency, rather than consideration is often the ruling factor.  We are all striving to meet that grocery budget, and certainly we are all spinning multiple plates throughout the day that make dinner preparations challenging, to say the least.  But those things don’t change when we decide to have someone over; in fact we have just further complicated the issue. So, well… we just don’t have anyone over, and “at least the family has been fed”…sigh.  The Lord never commands what He does not give.  Take Him up on that…He would desire you to consider the needs AND desires of your family in meal planning…kindness extended in the trifles of preference, presentation, breaking the monotony, etc.   When we think about having someone else over, we often feel stymied to come up with a meal that would be a blessing.  But if we are well practiced at preparing meals that please our family, it is easier to extend the principle to others.  And our families are secure in the knowledge that we love and care for them….they see that kind consideration is not something that mom saves just for the guests.  They swim in a pool of kindness all week long, and the guests are soaked with the by-product.

The same of course would apply to table décor, etc.  Certainly, everyday is not a formal affair….but aren’t you blessed when you sit at a table that is comfy, cheery, clean, etc?  Surely those that we sit with at table regularly are as well.  Preparing a table for guests is less daunting if you have had more “daily” practice adding color, lighting some candles, etc. Even take home pizza or boxed mac-n-cheese looks better next to a vase of flowers or some candle light…or, just a de-cluttered table.  The wonderfully freeing news with all of these things is that this will look VERY different from family to family. J

The point is not to stress us out in terms of heaping burdens on our already burden-prone shoulders.…..the point is to ease into genuine, Christ-like  hospitality “out there”  by way of a natural spill-over of what we are already receiving and giving of home and hearth  “right here”.

Faithfully extending hospitality to those less familiar will not feel so daunting and extra-ordinary, if we are more ordinarily extending hospitality to those familiar, regular guests that we have. In fact, we probably would create an atmosphere that more often than not, would be a blessing to just about ANYONE at any old ordinary meal.

Husbands, Go Ahead

Plenty of great stuff in Piper's This Momentary Marriage - just one quote here I sent on to a friend...

“So, husbands, your headship means:  Go ahead.  Take the lead.  It does not matter if it is her fault.  That didn’t stop Christ.  Who will break the icy silence first?  Who will choke out the words, “I’m sorry, I want it to be better”?  Or “Can we talk?  I’d like things to be better.”  She might beat you to it.  Sometimes that’s okay.  But woe to you if you think that since it’s her fault, she’s obliged to say the first reconciling word.  Headship is not easy.  It is the hardest, most humbling work in the world.  Protect your family.  Strive, as much as it lies within you, to make peace before the sun goes down.” – Piper, This Momentary Marriage, p91

A Cross on the Right and a Cross on the Left

Good Friday 2012 - A Cross on the Right and a Cross on the Left

On the day that Jesus Christ died, the world for the most part, went about its business in its usual way.  The vast majority of the world, and even the majority of the people in Jerusalem, were not distracted from their normal lives by the events of the crucifixion that we read and meditate on each Good Friday.  For most of the world, this was a non-event – or so it seemed.

For some, even being at the cross didn’t change things.  We hear of one soldier who wondered or even confessed that “certainly this was a righteous Man,” but others just shook their heads and went on their way.  For the most part, it was just another day’s work for the soldiers and for everyone else.  It was a day like any other.  Throughout the world that day, men were born and lived, and throughout the world that day, men’s lives came to an end and there was death.

We do know of the death of two men other than Jesus that Good Friday.  Two criminals crucified with Jesus, one on his right and one on his left.  Crucified alongside Christ.  Crucified with Christ.  Both men were criminals, both men knew they were going to die a slow, painful, tortuous death.  That day must have been filled with hatred and fear, with anger and doubt and despair.  There may have been moments of self-righteous resolution; surely there were hours of unimaginable pain, horror, disgrace and dread.

The Gospel of Luke records for us that at one moment, one of the criminals blasphemed Jesus, cursing Him, sneering at Him, “If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”  This wasn’t a cry for help and salvation – this was a mocking of a useless savior, a so-called messiah.  In other words, he might as well have said, “How dare you claim to be God and find yourself in this impotent, worthless place.  How dare you claim to be a Savior, a Good-Shepherd and leave me in this circumstance.  What kind of God would do that – what kind of Savior would that be.”

Now, you don’t have to be hanging on a cross, literally, slowly tortured to death, to find yourself saying those kinds of words to Jesus, do you?  “If you are God, if you have come to save this world, if you love me, why have you allowed my life’s circumstances to come to this place in which I find myself?  If you are not going to save me from this situation, if you are going to leave my life in such misery, then You are useless to me.  You are a loser.  You are not God.  You are not a Savior.”

Isn’t that what many say, think, feel towards God?  Either their life is going on right now and they are oblivious to the fact that a Savior is being crucified for the sins of the world, or, through God’s hard providences, they are brought face to face with this Savior in the midst of their difficulties, their sins, the consequences of their own sins, the results of others’ sins upon them, the results of a fallen world groaning under the weight of judgment – and they hate Him, they sneer at the thought that He could be a Savior – a help to them even now in their hour of need.

But look at the other criminal.  He is in the same circumstances – he is under the same condemnation, the same slow, tortuous death.  He also looks and sees a so-called Messiah hanging on a cross of shame and humiliation –but what does he see? – Luke records these words, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”

Think carefully for a moment about what this man says.  He is saying, “I am hanging on a cross, about to die – and this is what I deserve.  Jesus is hanging on a cross, and He has done nothing wrong.”  Now I want you to consider this very carefully – what about you?  What about your life?  Do you deserve to be hanging on a cross?  We shudder and step back from such an insinuating comment – “how dare you even consider for a moment that I deserve to be crucified.  I am no criminal.  I am an upstanding, tax-paying citizen of this country, a model neighbor for our culture, a decent husband, wife, student.  How dare you even consider such a thing.”

Well, just a moment, consider with me – if you haven’t sinned “like that criminal,” if you haven’t done anything, said anything, thought anything, omitted anything worthy of crucifixion and beyond, eternal separation from the presence and blessing of God – then what you are saying is there is no need, as far as your life is concerned, for Jesus to be crucified, undergo the wrath of God and the separation from His presence and blessing.

But wait, some of you say that you are Christians, that you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ.  Well, what does that mean?  It means that the second criminal was right, we should justly receive the due reward of our deeds –and our rebellious nature – from God.  And then, with the criminal, we see Jesus, as Savior, hanging on the cross – and we see the Way, the Truth, the Life – there – and we cry out to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”  We see our situation, our just condemnation, our fair indictment and penalty declared – and we cry out for one thing and one thing only – mercy.

And then we hear the Master, the Shepherd, the Messiah and Savior Jesus say, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Crucified alongside Christ.  Crucified with Christ.  Paul said those words.  He said, “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  Paul didn’t write those words because his life this side of the grave had become perfect – not with his own soul-struggles, not with his circumstances which of which he had little control.  He wrote them because he knew what death and resurrection were about – what they brought in this life – and what they promised forever.

Crucified with Christ.  Jesus Himself said to those who wished to follow Him, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.”

So much of this sorry world still ignores the memorial and meaning of Good Friday – their lives have gone on today just as any other day.  So much of the world has scorned the cross and the claims of Jesus the anointed Son of God – declared him impotent, unimportant, irrelevant – useless, when it comes to their own lives – they’ll take care of themselves thank you very much.  God be merciful to them, God open their eyes.

God, in His kindness, has made sure that it is not so for you – He has brought you to the cross – again.  There is no sin He cannot recompense.  There is no life He cannot redeem.  There is no situation in life, no wrong done to you, that He cannot or will not make right in the resurrection.  There is no strength, no grace, no need for help He cannot or will not give to those who cry out to Him even now.

One criminal was crucified alongside Christ and went on to His eternal judgment.  One criminal was crucified alongside Christ and found that by faith he was crucified with Christ and went on to be with Him in Paradise.  One criminal was crucified alongside Christ shaking his fists at God.  One criminal was crucified with Christ and found mercy hanging beside him.  Our sins are going to be dealt with one way or another, on the right or on the left of Christ crucified.  The unbelieving world looks from one side and sees impotence.  Look from the other side and see the power of God to save.  Amen.