An Architectural Deacon

Maybe you’ve noticed some strange announcements about our upcoming Men’s Meeting.  Yes, we are going to gather in Woodinville, and yes, we are going to talk about one day having a building, one day, in a city we would call home and a hub of ministry.  When churches begin to talk about building and buildings lots of questions arise – and often because a foundational and biblical understanding of buildings has been lost.

Think of a building as a deacon.  Its job is to serve the church in her mission.  And that would be our goal:  to acquire a permanent space where we could be better equipped to do all god has called this particular local body to do.  A building as a deacon would –

Be a place to worship.  And this is our first and most important reason to have a building.  We are called to gather and worship God corporately each Lord’s Day.  A building should exist, and exist in such a way, to promote congregational worship, the preaching of His Word, and the administration of His sacraments – in a public and in a beautiful way – architecturally, acoustically, and aesthetically.

Be a place to feast and fellowship.  Part of being the church is simply being together.  With our distinctives of having a sunny Calvinism and an optimistic eschatology that believes the promises of God to a thousand generations, we are a celebratory people who need a place to help cultivate many aspects of those distinctives.

Be a place to love one another.  A central physical location provides an opportunity to minister together in many of the areas we sense our distinctive callings as well – including all kinds of biblical education, practical theology and counsel, glorious music, excellent musicians, and much more.

Be a place that speaks to and mobilizes for the community around us.  A physical building speaks.  It testifies to the material and earthy presence of the Lord’s people in this world.  It is part of shaping the definition of that city or community.  A building does so with its location and with its architecture.  It also does so as it becomes a beachhead from which to go out and a refuge with which to welcome in.  The stones should cry out with us, “God is good, God is merciful, God calls you to come.”

How Does Isaiah 13-27 Speak to Us Today?

Isaiah is a book of promise surrounded by heavy oracles of judgment.  We begin the second section of Isaiah (13-27) with a series of judgments upon what might appear to be a random set of nations (Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Syria, Ethiopia, Egypt – chapters 13-20).  One thing they all had in common was that they were all threatened by Assyria at one time or other and were actual or potential partners with Judah in anti-Assyrian alliances (or in the case of Assyria, an alliance formed to hold off Syria/Israel).  These nations most likely never heard these oracles; but in actuality they were not for their ears; they were for Judah.  But another way to look at this is that these messages were for the nations as they saw their fulfillment with the fall of Babylon – the one in 70AD.  And that is how we come to understand that these messages are for us, the new Jacob, the new Israel, as well.

Odd People at the Table with You

When you come to the Table, you come to Christ’s body and blood.  And when you come to the Table, you come with Christ’s body and blood.  You are to discern the Lord’s body and that means you are to look around you and see the body of the Lord – in the person over there that you think is really odd, or the person over there that you have an attitude about, or that other person whom you think you would never really want to be with.

When we are reconciled to Christ, we are part of the reconciliation of the world where the strangest of relationships will take place.  The wolf will lie down with the lamb, the leopard with the young goat, the calf and the lion, and so on.  What are we learning?  We are learning that in Christ, we are enabled and called to love our brothers and sisters and even enjoy being with them.  We are to see Christ in them.  We are to allow them to see Christ in us.

Coming to the Table is a communal event.  This is not your little, personal devotional time with Jesus.  Look up and around you – who are you eating with?  You are eating with Christ.  Look – there is His body.  Now partake and then go live like it the rest of the week.

Dealing with the Shame of Abortion

One of the problems with abortion being legal these last 42 years, apart from all the blood on our hands, is what we do with the blood on our hands.

Our nation officially tells us that there is no blood on our hands.  Our nation tells us that there is nothing to worry about.  Our nation tells us that any guilt or shame or conviction we feel is illegitimate.  Yeah, right.  Just like that baby was.

I want to say something different – I want to say it to those here who have had an abortion and have never told anyone.  I want to say it openly and publicly to any who would listen and have had an abortion or encouraged a girlfriend, forced a girlfriend, to go and get one.  You feel guilty.  You feel the shame.  You may even feel the conviction – if only for a moment.  Before you turn and harden your heart again – would you hear me out?

The blood of Jesus Christ, the life of Jesus, His death on the cross – it is all for you.  His death on the cross occurred, not only because you did those little sins that no one really worries about but we all commit – bitterness and envy, outbursts of anger and lust, covetousness and filthy language – He died for what you consider “the big ones.”

Why did He die for your sin of murder?  The same reason He died for King David’s sin of adultery and murder.  Because had He not died for our sins, there is no way, no possible way, that we could be saved.  And He has been committed to your salvation since the day He thought of you – which was long before you were ever conceived.

There doesn’t have to be any guilt or shame anymore.  He took it.  Jesus took it.  We stand against abortion because God hates it.  But we stand with you because Jesus Christ died for your sins – and for ours.  There is no reason, no reason that you need to hide your sins from God – you may come – you must come – you must come now – and confess your sins and find forgiveness and healing and hope and renewed promises – in Christ.  Stand with us and with God – He will deliver you.  He loves to do so.

The Table Where Christ Was Betrayed

We come to the Table of the Lord where Jesus instituted His supper.  On the night in which He did this, one of His own who was not of His own, Judas, betrayed Him.  That betrayal would lead to the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus.

Jesus knew all of this.  He knew that the bread was His body and as He broke the bread He knew what would happen to His body.  He knew the cup of wine was the cup of His blood shed and He knew it would be a cup of violence, a cup of wrath, even the cup of His Father’s wrath.

But He knew as well that this Table pointed to the glorious truth of His exhaustive sovereignty over everything, every event, every wrong, every tear.  And He knew that this Table also declared the completed work which would take place which would right every wrong, deliver every suffering, cleanse any sin, put down every evil – and save the world.

You are invited to come and participate in both.  Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

Psalm Singing for God

Coming out of the Advent/Christmas season where we pause to enjoy so many of the rich, traditional hymns of that season, we enter into the New Year and return to the regular worship of singing the Psalms.

For most of us, Psalm-singing is not something tied to our past and it certainly is not as easy as singing the poetic verses of Christmastide.  The Psalms are full of biting language, imagery that is not as familiar, often raising more questions than answers to the newly initiated.  That is because Psalm-singing is work – a lot of work.  And that is because worship is work.  It is an activity that should leave you tired when you are finished.  You have been called to offer up yourselves as living sacrifices and to offer up the sacrifice of praise.  You have not been called to come and get comfortable and cozy and enjoy some inspiring entertainment for you and your soul.

So why does God call us to sing the Psalms?  This is His songbook.  These are His first choices.  These are the songs that sing of His victories and the great victory of His Son – but they do so in prophetic ways and not always in straightforward ways.  In the midst of the songs every human emotion, every life situation, every outburst of praise and every cry of despair can be found – and the Lord wants all of that brought to Him and to His throne.

In singing the Psalms we sing of Christ and we do so as the body of Christ.  We sing to God and we sing to one another.  We train and equip, teach and admonish, lift up and redirect the body of Christ, the church, as we do this work of worship.  When that happens, we are then trained to write and sing other songs that imitate what God has written – and what God loves to hear His people sing.  And after all, He is the focus, the center, the reason that this worship service is taking place.  Come and worship the Lord.

We Rule in Community

So it is true that the world is ours because the world is Christ's.  We have been raised up in Christ to rule with Him in the heavenlies.  But that rule is not a ruling by individuals, each clamoring to see how much of the Wild West one can claim for himself.

Frame gets this right - 

"There should be among us no spirit of competition or jealousy, but a desire to 'stir up one another to love and good works' (Heb 10:24).
So we practice the faith always in community.  Our brothers and sisters play a vital role in building us up in Christ, and their needs have a special call on our compassion.  As we have a special responsibility to support our families (1 Tim 5:8), so we should use our resources and gifts to support our Christian brothers and sisters (Gal 6:10)." - Frame, ST, p115