When we say “church” we talk about people

We need to understand that the Church of Christ is all about relationships. Everyone knows that the Church is not bricks and mortar, buildings and structures, laws and traditions.  When we say “church” we talk about people. 

The New Testament word for Church means "the called out ones."  The Church is made up of Christians. The Church is all of us who love the Lord and love his work. In the Church, we are related to one another based on our love for the Lord.

It is a relationship based on an understanding of who we are in relation to each other.

Rom 12: 3: For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

There always is a danger to think of ourselves more highly than we ought and there is also the danger of not thinking of ourselves as highly as we ought.  Our opinion of ourselves ought not to be too high or too low. It ought to be an opinion based on what God has done in our lives and on what God’s calling means in our lives.  We need to desire for our lives what God’s idea is for us and what place and role God has given us in his work.

We think too much of ourselves when we assume that we received a gifting that we do not have, or believe we should play a role that God has not given to us.   On the other hand if we think too little of ourselves and if we do not recognise the gift of God in us,  we do not serve according to Gods calling and equipping of us. 

All our spiritual gifts and talents are necessary and important for God’s work. And we are responsible to each other and we are accountable to each other to get the work done. We need each other to accomplish what the Lord intended for us personally and communally.  When we are lazy in the work God gave us, the serving of one another suffers. We have to exercise our gift that God has given us.  This is how God wants to make a congregation strong.

Let’s build each other up in faith, in love and in enthusiasm. Let’s serve the Lord joyfully in his Church community!

Arise and Shine

(Is 60:1) "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

This means at least three things.

Firstly, we should be people living outside the darkness of sin. We cannot live the same lives as the children of darkness.

Eph 5: 8 -12: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.  It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. “

So, secondly, it means that as we are in the light, we should live as children of light. Our lives should be full of the fruit of the light: goodness, righteousness, and truth.

Thirdly, the light of Jesus should be evident in our lives. People should be able to look at us and see the light of Christ in us. This is how Isaiah puts it:

(Is 60:3) “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

For those who do not know Jesus Christ our lives must show that we own something important that they do not have. They must see the glorious light of God’s presence in Christ in our lives, become curious and become willing “to come to our light”.   Even kings, leaders, yes, people with influence and authority will come to the “brightness of our dawn”. Because we carry in us the light that Jesus brought into the world.

This is the thing:  reflect the light of Christ and show others the way to God and to heaven, because you carry the Light of the world wherever you go! 

Arise and Shine!

We need to care, to even grieve, about our world.

You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. (Amos 6:6 NIV)

Israel enjoyed to worship. They were thrilled by artistic excellence. But what they did, did not please God, because they loved to be pleased and to enjoy themselves, and was not making their beautiful music to please and glorify God.  

God charged them with these words: “You do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph." They are charged with apathy. They were indifferent, insensitive, apathetic. They enjoyed great worship, but it was selfish and not God honouring, because it was all about their own gratification.

They were complacent.  Israel was not concerned about the destiny of those who did not share in their prosperity. God was concerned, but their hearts was unmoved.

If we would apply this to ourselves, we must ask a critical question.  Do we feel what God feels about the state of the world? Do we care about the things God cares about? Do we care about the ruin of Joseph?

God cares about people. His passion is people.  If our beautiful worship and praise do not come from compassionate and obedient hearts, God will not notice what we do.  He will only notice our complacency and our indifference.

True fulfilment comes when we serve like Jesus did. Jesus lived for others. Jesus gave his life for people. People were his focus and they should be ours as well.

It is so easy to take things for granted. We need a wake-up call like the one Amos gave to Israel. We seek things that will not satisfy or even thrill us. We will be satisfied when we spend our lives caring about the welfare of others.  Then our worship will also reach the heart of God, because God first of all made us to glorify him by doing his work. And his work is to touch the lives of those who are in ruin.

Mother Teresa was one day followed around Calcutta by a man inspired by her work. At one point he cried out, "Mother Teresa, I wouldn’t do this work for a million dollars!" She replied, "Neither would I!" This is the heart of someone who cares.  Of someone who did "grieve over the ruin of Joseph."

We have to get up from our complacent and indifferent lazy-boy chairs and become people who care enough to do something to touch the lives of those who need to know the Lord.

We need to care about those who need our help.

Preparing for the Lord's Supper: The power of the acknowledgment of guilt

The power of the acknowledgment of guilt

Daniel  9:7-8:  "Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame....  because of our unfaithfulness to you. O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.”

Daniel does the unexpected by praying this. Israel is in exile and has lost many precious possessions – home, country, freedom, businesses and vineyards.  We would expect him to pray: "O Lord, give us back our temple and city, our dignity and freedom". But Daniel begins his prayer speaking about a much greater despair than the loss of assets and wealth.  Instead, he prays, "Have mercy on us who are in the misery of shame because of our unfaithfulness to you, o Lord”   To be covered with shame because of your sin is greater misery to Daniel than the hardships of exile, war and poverty.

Daniel does not try to blame others for Israel's misery. Listen to what he says:

(Dan 9:5) “We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.” And (Dan 9:7) “We are covered with shame. “

Shoulder to shoulder with the godless unbelievers and idol worshipers, Daniel admits, often stand the equally unfaithful, disobedient and ungodly people of the Lord.

We must realize that the people of God, even the members of the Church of Jesus Christ, are numbered among the guilty ones! If we refuse to do so, if our pride makes it impossible for us to be covered in shame for our sins, we will not be able to reconcile with God and in returning to him find the true purpose of our lives, namely to serve God and glorify him forever. 

As we prepare for the Lord's Supper, we must always begin by confessing our own sin.   As we prepare for the Lord's Supper we cannot try to minimize guilt and wrong. We must be willing to own up to them.

What really distinguishes the Christian from the world is that Christians since the time of the apostles are willing to say: We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. What distinguishes us from unbelievers is that we confess our sins and shortcomings. What distinguishes us is that we run from sin, while the world runs after sin.

As we prepare for the Lord's Supper we need a shame that makes us sorry enough for our sins that we are willing to quit.  In expectation of true joy that we are welcome at the Table prepared at the cross and through resurrection, we need forgiveness that comes from our shame for our unfaithfulness.

We want to come to the Table to feast with our Lord and celebrate our forgiveness and enjoy our restored relationship with our God through the work of Jesus Christ, his Son and our Lord. Being covered with shame for our unfaithfulness and impurity has the power to lead us back to the Lord’s Table, where we are received by a forgiving Jesus and have fellowship with our loving Father, through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives.   

God is merciful and quick to forgive.

Good News Bible: Isaiah 55: 6 and 7

⁶Turn to the Lord and pray to him, now that he is near.  ⁷Let the wicked leave their way of life and change their way of thinking. Let them turn to the Lord, our God; he is merciful and quick to forgive.

The most dangerous lie that we can believe is that God cannot (or will not) forgive us. Those that say, "I am too far gone" and "I cannot change” have fallen into this trap. It is true that our sinfulness before God is great. Scripture tells us (Rom 3: 23) that “everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence”.  Some recognize this truth, yet draw the wrong conclusion from it saying:  “I am beyond redemption”. 

No, our God is so great that there is nobody this side of the grave that is too far gone, or beyond hope.

The right conclusion is that we should throw us upon the LORD for his mercy and forgiveness, by turning to him and praying to him. Because as we turn to God, we turn away from wickedness and when we pray to him, we will see his mercy and experience that he is quick to forgive.  God is not waiting for us to sin that he can smite us, but he is waiting for us to turn to him that he can bless us with his mercy and pardon.

We need the Gospel of Jesus Christ .... final. Preaching the God of the Gospel.

Preaching the God of the Gospel.

As we have heard over the last couple of Wednesdays, Paul proclaimed and preached the unique Gospel, or Good News, of God that we now find in the Bible and that teaches that we come to saving grace through obedient faith!  Paul says all of this happens by “the command of the eternal God”.  Rom 16: 26.

To spread God’s Good News and to receive salvation through its revelation, is all God’s work.  He commands his servants and the message they share.  God therefore gives authority to the preached Word as it all happens under his dominion. It is accompanied by his power and blessed with his personal interventions in the lives of everyone that hears – and listens.

The God of the Gospel is the Father of the Saviour and the Sender of the Spirit. He who in his great power created us, and everything that exists, and who is the Judge that required punishment for our sins, is our God who also gave his beloved Son to carry the sentence in our place and who plants and germinates the Word he commands to grow in our lives to bring us into his community.

The preaching of the Gospel is therefore all about the God of the Gospel.

Listening to God’s Word, is about getting to know God better and better.  He who commands his Word, commands his servants who preach and commands the outcome of the Gospel proclamation in our lives: salvation and new life!

We should recognize that it all begins and ends with God. We should praise him and worship him always. At every opportunity he gives.  He should be the one to whom we ascribe glory forever.

In the end, and at the end, we will worship the God of our redemption with his Church and all who are in heaven, yes, we will forever praise his wisdom and goodness.

We need the Gospel.

But most of all, we need to get to know the God of the Gospel who now commands the bringing of the Good News to you and me, and as such commands our eternal future.

Praise the God of the Gospel! Praise him always!

Worship him at every opportunity he provides.