Imitating the Redeemer of this Age

"...redeeming the time, because the days are evil." - Eph 5:16

The world was full of sin, rebellion, darkness, and foolish ignorance.  What did God do towards this stiff-necked rebellion?  “…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).  Jesus Christ seized the day.  Paul says, in the wisdom of Christ which is yours, go and do likewise.

  

Every moment of every day has a redemption possibility in it.  Seize it.

Lord, My Heart is Not Haughty

You have come before the Lord and King of all, to the Risen Christ and before the throne of His Father, Your God.  You have come at His summons to present yourselves at the beginning of this new week, this Lord’s Day celebration.  Because You have come to this holy convocation, to this holy place, it is important that you remember to confess your sins, to be reminded that it is all of grace by which you can stand in His presence.  His grace – His grace to us.

We are about to sing a psalm 131 and I think it speaks so well of the kind of attitudes we must have as we come before the LORD – and it speaks to us of how we can be settled and at rest while still in the presence of such a holy God.  “Lord my heart is not haughty – nor my eyes lofty – neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.”

What are we saying?  We are singing about our real situation before God.  There is nothing for us to boast in, there is nothing to commend us to God, there is nothing to brag about.  We really are not that smart, we really do not understand the really deep things of God and His creation.  We really are flummoxed when it comes to understanding why we are here or why He has given us the specific tasks, trials, temptations and activities set before us for this coming week.  And so, we will simply come and find rest and trust in Him – He will reveal, He will provide, He will explain in due time.  He is to be trusted in all matters.

And so we sing – Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother – Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and forever.  The charge as we come to worship and as we come confessing any sin and all of our unworthiness is this – find yourself to be at rest in the LORD and in His sovereign care.  Find yourself at peace in Him.  Find yourself well cared for by Him – for He cares for you.

Feeling Overwhelmed

For many, especially those of us with school aged children, September often feels more like the New Year than January does.  And often in homes and businesses, the fall brings with it the launch of new plans, new responsibilities, new challenges.  We are a couple weeks into those new challenges and I have a question for you – Feeling overwhelmed already?  Feeling a touch like you bit off a bit more than you can chew?  Are you swimming in it?

Actually, this isn’t a bad place to be in – if, as Christians, we understand what the Lord is doing through such experiences and feelings.  Here is the truth:  all of us, all the time, are in over our heads.  And the times we are the most faithful is when we realize this and turn to the Lord, trusting Him for what seems impossible.  King David was at his best when he knew he was in a situation where only God could deliver him or his people.  He fell short and often into sin when he acted as though his own political know-how, or his own strength or status would take care of the situation.

When the new problem comes, when the new challenge comes, when the feelings of “over my head” start to appear, where do you turn?  Christian, where should you turn?  And why in the world would you expect your situation to be any different?  Do you really think that you could be in a situation where you have it all in control?  Your life is a vapor – you have no control, no ultimate control over anything, not your tomorrow, not even your next breath.  And the best place for you to be is to remember that over and over.

And then He calls us – He summons you – to come here with the saints again – and to hear Him – I am your God, You are my people.  I have your future, your destiny, your successes, your failures, your challenges, your answers, here, in the palm of my hand.  But they are not in yours.  Come and trust me.  Come and ask me.  Come and worship me.  Come and humble yourself before me.  Come and find rest.  Come and find hope.  Come and renew your faith – no – rather – come and have your faith renewed. 

Christian Kissing and Customs

 Greet one another with a kiss of love. - 1 Peter 5:14

The cultural custom of greeting was a kiss of love, or a ‘holy kiss’.  Jesus considered it bad manners not to have received one (Luke 7:45), and there is something important to learn here.  The cultural application does not have to be exactly replicated, but the principle of physical affection must, for we are physical creatures.  We consider this unimportant, because we think it is OK to come to church and never touch, never greet, never express affection to anyone else.  We must think again.

Twenty Years of Grace (Sept 2013)

This Lord’s Day, following our service of worship, we invite you all to celebrate with us 20 years of God’s faithfulness to this particular local body – to Trinity Church.  A small microcosm of what God is doing all over the world and all through this gospel age of hope, we have been blessed in countless ways.  We celebrate 20 years of grace.

In all of it, there is nothing that we can commend ourselves for.  It is all grace, from grace to grace that we have been given life, a community, our children, the Word, the singing of psalms, feasts and memorials, the Table, this location to come and worship, our discipleship, fellowship, service to one another, gifts and acts of mercy, instruction, associations with other churches in the area and worldwide, the ability to rejoice with one another, to weep with one another, to carry burdens for one another, to be the body of Christ for one another and to those God places in our midst - and on and on and on.

But central to it all is our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the life of the Trinity bestowed upon us.  What we celebrate is our redemption, the resurrection of Jesus Christ applied to hearts here in the here and now.  What we long for is more of this – both in our own lives and in the life of the world around us.  We long to see a greater outpouring of His grace, of the work of the Gospel – and all to the glory of His grace.  Our celebration then, is much like this service of worship.  It is both a memorial of what God has done – and a heartfelt, urgent request for more – a realization that we must offer our bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord and an expectation, an anticipation that our Savior Who has reconciled the world to Himself, would and will make that more and more manifest.

And this is what He promises to give as we come here at His summons.  He will renew His covenant with us and call us to do likewise.  The Father has given the nations to His Son and calls us to join with Him in that promise and declaration to all around.  Come and worship.

And Then God Speaks

Part of the work of reformation is God making us realize that we are not up for the task.  Part of the work of revival is God making sure we see that we are not qualified, we are not equipped, that we do not have what it takes to accomplish what He has commanded.  This is because that both in reformation, something we desperately need today, and in revival, God has to reveal to us and convict us of our sins of self-righteousness, self-ability, and self-absorption.  He has to turn us away from ourselves again and point us to Jesus Christ – high and lifted up – high and lifted up on the cross for our sins – and high and lifted up at the right hand of the Father as the Savior and King of the world.

The church has become far too much like Judah in the days of Nehemiah who said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.” (Neh 4:10).  Attacks from the enemy outside are one thing.  Discouragement from within is often more destructive.  But as I said, this is often the very purpose of God.  He wants us to see that without Him, we cannot do anything.  We cannot succeed.  We will fail.

And then He speaks.  Then the wind is calmed, the rock is split apart, the fish vomits, the tomb is opened.  Our God is the God Who raises the dead.  Our God is the One who calls things to be which are not.  Our God is the cliffhanger storyteller.  Our God is the great knot untangler.  Outside of Christ, we can do nothing.  In Christ, we can do all things.  We can endure all things because we know that through all things He is victorious – He is perfectly accomplishing all that He intends.  We cannot see what that is most of the time – and this is why it is called faith.

Maybe it is not the church generally that you are discouraged about.  Maybe it is your marriage, your family, your health, your battles with temptations, your finances.  You are tempted to think God cannot make right on this anymore – it’s too big, too late, too tangled, too much rubble.  “Perfect,” God says, “come and worship at my temple and watch what I am about to do.” Come and worship God.

The Table and Tribulations

The last verse from our sermon text this morning says, “Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.”  Paul would not have the Ephesians be depressed or worried over his tribulations, his imprisonment, for it was their glory.  His message of salvation cost him his freedom – but it gave the Ephesians theirs.

Paul was imitating Christ who gave thanks as He instituted a ritual that would declare His broken body and shed blood.  He gave thanks for His coming tribulation for it would be for the glory of His disciples – and life for the world.

We partake by faith and in Christ and in the power of His Spirit we too rejoice in the filling out of the sufferings of Christ, which we, His body, goes through – and we rejoice looking for the glory which will be wrought in His body – in us and in our brothers and sisters, because we are poured out for them.  This is communion – the communion of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And it gives all aspects of life meaning and purpose.