All Things Well

We have, in Jesus, a Savior who does all things well and this can be thrilling one moment and daunting the next.  Excellence is an aspect of his character and a trait of his conduct.  And nowhere is his refusal to cut corners or take shortcuts more apparent than in the manner of his incarnation.  Strip the fuzzy sentiment from the manger scene and what you see is a painstaking tableau.  Thousands of years of prophetic preparation bring us to the cusp of the great project of our redemption.  Pains are taken.  Jesus must be one of us to save us, but surely he could have arrived a full-grown man.  Surely he would have been as priceless a sacrifice after a half-an-hour of sinless human existence as he was after thirty some years of sinlessness.
But Jesus' character required of him more than even justice dared to require.  And so he came as an infant.  He endured all of our weakness.  He maintained his sinlessness over a full lifetime of provocation and temptation.
He not only did what none of us would have dared to hope for, but he did it well.  He did it in such a way as to silence his enemies and inspire his disciples.
The Savior who took such pains and showed such diligence in effecting our salvation applies the same excellence and care to the construction of our mansions in glory.  He will cut no corners and spare no expense in seeing his sheep to their appointed fold.
Being disciples of a painstaking Savior is hard though when we think that we might skip our personal mangers.

Call to Repentance

Luke 15:7  (page 1623)

Call to Worship

Psalm 111  (page 952)

OT Reading

Psalm 139:13-18  (page 974)

NT Reading

Luke 1:26-38  (page 1589)

Message

He Does All Things Well

Mark 7:37  (page 1565)

The Cornerstone of Our Worship

This Sunday I am going to be preaching on what the incarnation means for our worship.  It's difficult to appreciate, but believers of God in the Old Testament were physical people who found their physicality an obstacle to worship.  When I have a bad cold I could kiss my wife but I don't because I know that, however sincere the gesture, however much love I am expressing by it, I am also expressing some very undesirable germs.  The Old Testament believer felt this acutely: he desired to kiss God, to worship in the flesh, but knew too well that his flesh was polluted with a fatal illness.

That's why God's people, who could change nothing about their physicality or God's holiness, kept gravitating toward idols.  An idol will always consent to be worshiped by me in my flesh, no matter how unwholesome that flesh may be.  It raises no objection. 

So in Habakkuk God tells us "woe to the one who says to lifeless stone 'wake up!'"  That's the story of the Old Testament:  hopelessly physical people trying to wake lifeless stones.

But the story of the New Testament turns that story on its head, because it is the story of a Living Stone telling us to wake up!

Jesus is not only the Living Stone, but the Cornerstone on which we too, like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)  By taking on the flesh as an infant Jesus not only demonstrated that he was worthy of our worship, but he also made it possible for us to worship him in the first place.  He removed the obstacle of our flesh by joining us in our condition.  Our physical worship is now made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  

That being the case, shame on us if we're found sitting on our hands, right?

Call to Repentance

2 Peter 3:13-14 (page 1896)

Call to Worship

Psalm 61 (page 897)

OT Reading

Habakkuk 2:2-3, 18-20 (page 1458)

NT Reading

Hebrews 10:1-7 (page 1872)

Message

The Cornerstone of Worship

1 Peter 2:4-6 (page 1888)

Welcome Faith Louise English!

 Welcome Faith Louise English!
Born: Monday, November 8, 2010 @ 8:50pm
Weight: 7lbs, 14oz
Length: 18in

Congratulations, Brian, Abby, Noah, Luke, & Naomi!

Sunday, November 7

We have been doing a lot of thinking and talking lately about the direction God would have our church go in.  It's right and proper that we should be deliberate about this stuff.  We're going to have some difficult decisions to make and we want to make them well.
But all of that inward focus can be a real problem for us.  So this Sunday we are going to focus on the person of Jesus Christ.  We are going to reacquaint ourselves with him personally, doing our best to get beyond ourselves, and beyond the plastic Jesus of our careless piety.  He's flesh and blood and we need to touch him.  He's loud and living and we need to hear him.  He's warm and moving and we need to follow him.
We are going to dispense with our usual order of service and I'll invite some participation.  And after the service we'll provide an opportunity for those who aren't ready to leave to go on worshiping in the sanctuary for a time.
Looking forward to seeing you there.

Readings for Sunday, October 24

This Sunday I'm going to be preaching on the three verses that follow last week's text.  

Paul didn't have much patience for people whose ears needed tickling or for those who were willing to tickle those ears with soft and pleasing words. The gospel is robust and slappingly vital.  It manages to be good news that still somehow offends those who need to hear it most.  

There's a part of me that wants badly to tell people what they want to hear because most people will tune me out after about 15 seconds of listening to me telling them what they don't want to hear.  

I have a fairly well defined political outlook.  I read articles, watch television shows and listen to radio programs that reflect that outlook.  And when I'm listening to the radio and someone starts talking or reporting from a political outlook that is very different from mine I seldom wait even 10 seconds before I'm reaching for the dial.  

None of us are in the habit of providing or receiving hard words.  And that's too bad, because hard words can save us.

Call to Repentance

1 Peter 1:14-16

Call to Worship

Psalm 124

OT Reading

Isaiah 5:18-24

NT Reading

1 Peter 1:3-13

Message

2 Timothy 4:3-5

Giddy Heads and Itching Ears

Readings for Sunday, October 17, 2010

This Sunday I will be preaching on Paul's charge to Timothy in his second letter to the young pastor. I think this is thrilling stuff and I'm grateful for it. I give my faith a significant portion of my time, resources, and energy. I want to believe that it's about something more than feeling good and behaving nicely.
So when Paul gives us this earnest, weighty charge part of me groans at the heaviness of the demand, and the rest of me thrills to the significance of the assignment. It's in that tension that I aspire to great things.

Call to Repentance
Hebrews 12:14

Call to Worship
Psalm 113

OT Reading
Amos 4:4-13

NT Reading
Ephesians 6:10-18

Message
Charged and Ready
2 Timothy 4:1-2

Readings for Sunday, October 10

This Sunday I will be preaching on 2 Timothy 3:16-17: the word is useful for teaching, reproving, correcting, and training in righteousness. That's all very well and good to say that Scripture is useful for these things, and I believe it. But . . .
If I went into my neighbor's woodworking shop and he showed me his large collection of tools, assuring me that they were all useful for making beautiful kitchen tables I would certainly agree with him. But admitting their usefulness, picking them up and handling them, learning their names and which drawers they're to be found in - none of these things will get me any closer to having made a table.
So I hope to preach a highly applicable message, one that will give us all lots to do.

Call to Repentance
James 4:8 (page 1884)

Call to Worship
Psalm 34 (page 871)

OT Reading
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (page 284)

NT Reading
James 1:19-25 (page 1881)

Message
Putting the Useful to Good Use
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (page 1855)

Results of Questionnaire

On Sunday we passed out a questionnaire to try and determine the level of interest in a midweek event of some sort. I received back 11 responses. That's fewer than I was hoping for, but I wanted to share the results so far while I wait for more responses.

Of the eleven responses two indicated that they had not interest at all in a midweek service.
Of the other nine responses about half were somewhat interested and the other half very interested.
And among those who were at least a little bit interested there was not any consensus about a day of the week, a time, a location, a frequency, or a topic. The only thing that most people agreed on was a preference for a small group format.

Given the tepid response and the lack of any general preferences it might be unwise for us to proceed too vigorously. But I am still interested in getting responses and further input. If there is a need for something between Sundays it would be worth doing even if it was only a percentage of the church that took advantage of it.

So please give the matter some prayer and pray for the leadership of the church that we would have wisdom about how to proceed.

Readings for Sunday, October 3

This Sunday I will be preaching on Galatians 6:1-10 with a special emphasis on verse 9.
I am results oriented. I like to see the progress I'm making, which is why mowing the lawn has a certain appeal to me. There is something wonderfully satisfying about that strip of uniformly cropped blades next to the untidy overgrown tangle of green next to it.
But there comes a point late in the summer when I feel like sabotaging my lawn mower and giving up in disgust. The grass never gets the message, never stays put at the height that my revolving blades have set for it.
That frustration is bad enough when it takes a week for the grass to get shaggy again: it would be unbearable if it only took a few minutes after I'd passed over it to grow back to its previous height.
That's what it feels like when we throw our best efforts at healing the world and making war on the sin lurking in our dark corners. Throw everything you have at the hunger in the world, and even if you were capable of filling all the bellies in a two mile radius at lunch you'd be facing the same amount of hunger again at dinner. Throw everything you have at the sin in your life; pull all the weeds of wrong thinking and wrong behavior; get done, turn around, and discover that it only took a minute of inattention for all those weeds to grow back thicker and more deeply rooted than before.
But Paul tells us not to grow weary, and assures us that we're going to be glad and rewarded if we keep it up. If that's the case, the good we do has got to be about more than the good that gets done.

Call to Repentance
1 Peter 2:11

Call to Worship
Psalm 111

OT Reading
Proverbs 3:21-32

NT Reading
1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Message
The Good Done
Galatians 6:1-10

Readings for Sunday, April 25

Sorry about the hiatus! Back to due diligence, right?

This Sunday I'll be preaching on the intersection of submission and freedom.  We should make it our goal to be no less submissive here than we will be in heaven, and no less free here than we will be in glory.  In the passage I'll be preaching on Peter tells us to be subject to all earthly authorities in verse 13, but then a few verses later we're told to "live as people who are free."
These wrinkles of contradiction don't get ironed out naturally.  It takes some practice to get it right.  But fundamentally it is our eternal condition that makes it possible.  People who anticipate casting their crown before the throne of God in glory will feel that they can afford to submit to (relatively puny) authorities here.  And people who look forward to an eternity of freedom unshadowed by even the cloud of sin's awareness, will feel that they can take the risk of behaving free now.

Call to Repentance
1 Peter 2:11  (page 1888)

Call to Worship
Psalm 138  (page 973)

OT Reading
Psalm 119:41-48  (page 959)

NT Reading
Titus 3:1-8  (page 1859)

Message
Free, and Free To Not Be
1 Peter 2:13-17  (page 1888)