Readings for June 12, 2011

This Sunday I am going to be talking about some of the implications of Pentecost, and most notably what the gift of the Holy Spirit means for the chances of our success as believers.

Say you lived in a little village attached to a remote outpost of some kingdom.  And from your little village you could watch across the frontier as the enemy restlessly marched back and forth and gathered strength.  That would be unsettling.

But you would take some comfort in the fact if a wall was built around your little village.  Still, wall or no wall', the kingdom would retreat from your village if the attack was pressed.

You would take even more comfort if the wall was made tall and strong and great resources were put into its construction.

You would take even more comfort if behind those walls a strong and palatial keep was built.

You would almost start to rest easy if a large garrison was stationed within the keep.

But in the back of your mind you would know that garrisons can be evacuated and armies can retreat.  Walls and fortresses can be abandoned.

But if the king himself, left his distant capital city and moved to your village and made it his home that would change everything.  You would know that your home would be the focus of the enemy's hostility, but it would also be the focus of the kingdom's defense, enjoying the benefits of all of the kingdom's resources.  That's what it means to us that God gave us the gift of His Holy Spirit.  There are no lonely or vulnerable outposts of the faith.

It is a relief beyond measuring to think that God has taken up residence with me.

It's entirely alright to want the Holy Spirit for selfish reasons.  In fact, the only alternative to wanting him for selfish reasons is not wanting him for prideful ones.

Let's earnestly seek the assurance that comes from having the Holy Spirit and loudly celebrate that assurance when we possess it.

Call to Repentance

1 John 1:5-7  (page 1898)

Call to Worship

Psalm 66  (page 901)

OT Reading

Joel 2:28-32  (page 1416)

NT Reading

Acts 2:1-8  (page 1692)

Message

Sealed

Ephesians 1:13-15 (page 1818)

Readings for Sunday, June 5, 2011

In this passage Paul begins by talking about his ministry as a gift of God's grace, making clear how undeserving he is, being the less than the least.  But by the end of the passage he alludes to his suffering out of concern that it might be a cause of discouragement for them.  There does seem to be a gap between the glorious and gracious nature of the "gift" of Paul's calling and the painful condition he suffered on account of it.  

There was, even in that day, a natural suspicion of the virtue and legitimacy of any philosophy being promoted by a loser.  And Paul looked like a loser who talked like the pope.

Ironing out this wrinkle and talking about the nature of the ministry has some relevance for us as modern day believers.

Call to Repentance

Philippians 2:12  (page 1827)

Call to Worship

Psalm 52  (page 890)

OT Reading

Nehemiah 6:1-9  (page 757)

NT Reading

2 Corinthians 4:1-11  (page 1797)

Message

The Gift and the Glory

Ephesians 3:7-13 (page 1820)

Readings for May 29

This Sunday I'm preaching on Ephesians 2:19-22 in which Paul uses no fewer than three metaphors in a few sentences to describe the relationship of believers to God and other believers.

We have gone from being aliens to being citizens.  What's more, we're now members of God's own household (we get to go in God's fridge and have our mail delivered to his address).  And we are also 2X4s being used in the construction of God's temple in which He's pleased to reside.

Each of these metaphors has significance for how we are to live our Christian lives and how we are to operate as a church.  

For instance, the divide that Paul makes so much of, the divide between Gentiles and Jews, seems much less significant to us than it did to him: we were never so keenly aware of our disadvantage in being Gentiles, nor so keenly aware of the blessings peculiar to the Jewish people.  But the emphasis on mutual citizenship and equal standing before God in Christ is something we need to hear and apply.  If, as Paul says, we are all citizens whether we were born here or lately arrived from a great distance, our citizenship should eclipse all the other distinctions.  It can be very subtle but we make distinctions in the body of Christ that we have no business making, distinctions based on how long we've been believers, whether or not we have a believing heritage, how exciting or pedestrian our testimonies are, etc.  That would be like classing the people in a pool based on the order in which they jumped in, or how deep their part of the pool is, when all God wants to know is if you're wet or not.

Call to Repentance

Romans 13:8  (page 1765)

Call to Worship

Psalm 10  (page 850)

OT Reading

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7  (page 1039)

NT Reading

1 Peter 2:4-10  (page 1888)

Message

The Drastic People of a Drastic God

Ephesians 2:19-22  (page 1819)

Readings for May 15, 2011

This week I'm going to be preaching on Ephesians 1:22-23 in which Paul explains that Christ is the head of the church which is, in turn, the fullness of him who fills all in all.  It is one of those breathtakingly grandiose claims that only an Apostle could get away with.  It's a hard claim to take seriously on the face of it.  We have a hard enough time filling a small church building for two hours one day a week.  And when we're spread apart we're spread so thin.  At least that's how it feels.

And if this claim that the church is the fullness of a Christ who mysteriously fills all things gets a skeptical response from us, how must the world hear it?

But what if it's true?  What if the Christ who holds the molecules together and gives all words their meaning is pleased to be full not of angelic hosts or the power of a million blazing suns, but full of the likes of you and me?  But it's true.  It boggles my mind that the fullness of Christ would be composed of the sort of people whose minds would be boggled by the fact that they compose the fullness of Christ.

But He knows what He's doing.  And if He knows what He's doing, we know what we need to do.

Call to Repentance

Acts 17:30-31  (page 1703)

Call to Worship

Psalm 16  (page 853)

OT Reading

Psalm 79  (page 918)

NT Reading

Colossians 1:15-23  (page 1832)

Message

Fullness or Full of It

Ephesians 1:22-23  (page 1818)

Readings for May 8, 2011

Amazingly, Paul, who had an academic's mind and was personally familiar with the great schools of the ancient world, did not establish anything like a seminary or a training school.  His hope for the discipleship of new believers and the equipping of the called hinged not on a program, not on a curriculum, not on a faculty made up of great teachers.  The whole endeavor hinged on the activity of God's Holy Spirit.  

In this passage Paul makes clear to the Ephesians that what he wanted most for them was that they would have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.  Wisdom is what we do with the information we have, how we make sense of it and what values we assign to it.  And revelation is the way in which that information is disclosed to us in the first place.  Paul wants us to have better vision and a better view.  

And it's kind of alarming and unsettling to think that it could really be that simple.  But it should come as no surprise that God should be alarming and unsettling.

Call to Repentance

Revelation 3:17-18  (page 1917)

Call to Worship

Psalm 111  (page 952)

OT Reading

Proverbs 2:1-10  (page 986)

NT Reading

James 1:2-8 (page 1880)

Message

Better Vision and a Better View

Ephesians 1:15-17  (page 1818)

Readings for Sunday, April 17, 2011

Jesus demonstrated the same impressive calm and confidence on his way into Jerusalem that he did a few days later on his way out.  What enabled him to accept the praise of the people without boasting was the same thing that allowed him to accept their abuse without retaliating - and it wasn't self-confidence.  He entrusted himself to Him who judges justly.

And we are to follow his example.  Of course, he was sinless and we are not.  Entrusting ourselves to him who judges justly means volunteering for feeling the conviction that requires repentance, but it also means that we can finally rise above the world's disapproval and hear the world's praise without rising above our proper place.  That's a beautiful gift that the Giver of every good and perfect gift would like each of us to enjoy.

Call to Repentance

Titus 2:11-14

Call to Worship

Psalm 24

OT Reading

Isaiah 25:1-9

NT Reading

19:28-44

Message

The Unflappable Savior

1 Peter 2:21-23

Readings for April 3, 2011

This Sunday I will be preaching on Ephesians 3:17 in which Paul, in the process of explaining to the Ephesians what it is he prays for them, explains that he prays in light of the fact that they have been "rooted and established in love."  So many of us who've been believers for a while have gotten into the bad habit of regarding the word "love" in Bible passages the same way we regard tags on mattresses: with a casually dismissive attitude.  

But the fact is that many believers (and churches) attempt to root and establish themselves in many other things before it occurs to them to root themselves in love.  We use, for our potting soil, things like doctrine, works, relationships, church, etc.  

And if we do decide to root ourselves in love we are unsure as to how to do that, and it sounds so namby-pamby to us anyway.

But this verse (and the broader passage) is all about love: knowing it; grasping it; being filled with it.  So let's consider what it means to be rooted and established in love and take steps toward seeing that we are.

Call to Repentance

Ephesians 4:17-18  (page 1821)

Call to Worship

Psalm 61  (page 897)

OT Reading

Amos 9:11-15 (page 1431)

NT Reading

Romans 8:31-39  (page 1758)

Message

Rooted and Established

Ephesians 3:17  (page 1820)

Readings for March 20, 2011

I'd rather wipe tears away than set about squeezing them out of people. 
But, having said that, there is something very sweet and effective about tears.  When the gears of my devotion seem hopelessly rusted those tears that God makes me shed have the effect of lubricating everything.  I wish I never needed to cry, but I'd rather cry than whither.
And the convicting, tear-inducing words that kick down the doors of my heart then step out of the way so that the good news can make its way in.  And there is good news.




Call to Repentance

Revelation 3:19-20 (page 1917)

Call to Worship

Psalm 126  (page 967)

OT Reading

Lamentations 3:13-24  (page 1279)

NT Reading

1 Peter 5:1-11  (page 1892)

Message

Sorrowing Saints

2 Corinthians 1:22-2:11 (page 1796) 

Readings for Sunday, March 13th

This Sunday I'm going to be preaching on sin, and particularly the sin of lust.  This seems strange to me.  Given the fact that our lives are taking place in a dramatic context of insecurity and turbulence both on the global level (natural catastrophes, economic collapse, wars and rumors of wars) and on the personal level (matters of health, and finance and more) it would seem that a sermon on the topic of God's sovereignty and God's faithfulness would be more welcome.
That's why I was surprised when I felt God was urging me to preach on this passage and this topic of lust.  
But here's the thing about lust: we reject it not because it's bad and will get us in trouble (although it is bad and will get us in trouble.)  The best and most effective reason in the end for rejecting lust is that purity is so much better.  "Blessed are the pure in heart" Jesus says, "for they shall see God."  I want to see God.  
This world's sinking ship is listing horribly, but, though we stand on its deck at the moment, we need not list with it.  We can stand as straight here as we will in glory.  
The faces of the world have the slack intensity of those who regard the vivid images of urgent news and exposed skin as if possessed by those images.  I want my face to bear the smile of one for whom the veil has been pulled back and the blur been removed, as one who sees God face to face and needs nothing more for delight and meaning.
Then, when I can smile and see rightly the right thing, let the world lurch and convulse: I will not lurch with it.


Call to Repentance

1 Peter 2:11-12  (page 1888)

Call to Worship

Psalm 84  (page 922)

OT Reading

Proverbs 4:10-19  (page 989)

NT Reading

Colossians 3:1-14  (page 1834)

Message

That Gibbering Ape

Romans 6:11-13  (page 1754)

Readings for March 6, 2011

This Sunday I am going to be preaching on that great passage from 1 Corinthians 9 in which Paul stirringly urges us to run as if we have the intention of winning.  He implies that there are those who run carelessly, either in the sense that they are not concerned with where they're going, or in the sense that they don't particularly care how quickly they get to wherever it is they're going.  He also implies that some Christians approach their fighting like they're shadowboxing . . . in the dark.  

Most of us, though, run generally in the right direction and at a moderate pace.  Most of us spar in a conservative manner: we might not land many blows, but we're not going to get knocked out either.

But Paul just can't see the point of running in the first place if you're not running for the first place finish.  And I suppose I can't see the point in that either.

Call to Repentance

Revelation 3:2-3 (page 1916)

Call to Worship

Psalm 46 (page 885)

Call to Repentance

OT Reading

Proverbs 2:1-15 (page 986)

NT Reading

2 Timothy 4:1-8 (page 1855)

Message

Holy, Simple, Devoted and Joyful

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (page 1782)

Readings for February 20

This Sunday I'm going to be preaching on Paul's text from 1 Corinthians 3 about the houses we build with the biblical material we've been given.  There are several things I appreciate about this passage.  Paul appears to give us a wide degree of latitude:  we all need to have the same foundation, but beyond that the "houses" of our faith might look significantly different.  God's grace is such that even those whose construction will be completely undone on that day will have some hope of glory because of the foundation on which they rest: some of us will make into glory with nothing more than Jesus and the skin of our teeth.  Praise the Lord!

And finally, we need not wait for the fire of judgment and we do not need to regard as sacred any of the walls in our house - only the foundation.  Everything else is a candidate for demolition and renovation.  The work will not be complete until Jesus completes it.  That too is a reason to praise the Lord and to approach the construction of our faith with renewed vigor.

February 20, 2011

Call to Repentance

Isaiah 30:15 (page 1108)

Call to Worship

Psalm 67 (page 902)

OT Reading

Haggai 1:1-11 (page 1468)

NT Reading

John 13:34-14:4 (page 1675)

Message

Hardcore Building Inspection

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (page 1774)

Family Altar

February 21 Haggai 1:1-6

February 22 Haggai 1:7-11

February 23 Haggai 1:12-15

February 24 Haggai 2:1-9

February 25 Haggai 2:10-14

February 26 Haggai 2:15-19

February 27 Haggai 2:20-23

Suggested Hymn

That Anne Steele wrote this hymn (based on Haggai 2:7) is something of a miracle of grace. Anne had suffered great disappointment in life, of the sort that would lead most people to self-pity and a demand that what had been taken from her be returned. But instead of looking for this world to satisfy the demands of her needy heart she prays that God's glory would shine in her heart until “life, love and joy divine a heaven on earth appear.” That's a prayer to pray with her whenever we sing this hymn. It is in the Common Meter and can be sung to any CM tune, such as Azmon (O For a Thousand Tongues).

Come, Thou desire of all Thy saints!
Our humble strains attend,
While with our praises and complaints,
Low at Thy feet we bend.

How should our songs, like those above,
With warm devotion rise!
How should our souls, on wings of love,
Mount upward to the skies!

Come Lord! Thy love alone can raise
In us the heavenly flame;
Then shall our lips resound Thy praise
Our hearts adore Thy name.

Dear Savior, let Thy glory shine,
And fill Thy dwellings here,
Till life, and love, and joy divine
A Heaven on earth appear.

Then shall our hearts enraptured say,
Come, great Redeemer! come,
And bring the bright, the glorious day,
That calls Thy children home.

Readings for Sunday, February 13, 2011

February 13, 2011

Call to Repentance

1 John 2:16-17 (page 1900)

Call to Worship

Psalm 19 (page 858)

OT Reading

Psalm 78:32-39 (page 916)

NT Reading

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (page 1789)

Message

Weather Reports

Hosea 6:1-6 (page 1401)

Readings for Sunday, January 30

Everyone hopes to some extent.  Everyone is afflicted.  Anyone can pray.  What makes the Christian different is that he goes higher up, deeper down and further in.

Reason will permit a certain amount of hope.  But the hope of the Christian quickly exceeds what reason would permit and keeps going.

The Christian is no more or less likely to suffer affliction, but he does not resist his suffering in the panicky manner of the lost.  The Christian finds that Jesus left the seat of suffering warm for him.  In suffering the Christian discovers an affinity with the suffering Savior.

And, while anyone is capable of praying, the prayer of the believer is not a matter of gasps and murmurs.  It is steady and progressive, part of an ongoing conversation building up to something.  Being faithful in prayer means participating in a conversation where many of the sentences will end in question marks and ellipses, but in which the last sentence ends with a delightful exclamation mark.

Higher up, deeper down, and further in.

January 30, 2011

Call to Repentance

Hebrews 12:11 (page 1877)

Call to Worship

Psalm 8 (page 848)

OT Reading

Proverbs 8:1-11 (page 994)

NT Reading

Galatians 6:1-10 (page 1816)

Message

Higher Up, Deeper Down, and Further In

Romans 12:12 (page 1764)

Readings for Sunday January 15

A proud king is afflicted with insanity and acts like a donkey for years.  He only stops eating grass when his long lost sanity, accompanied by his even longer lost humility, comes back to him.

Then later his son repeats the father's folly and gives free reign to pride.  Then one night a hand appears and writes on the wall "Weighed, weighed and found wanting."

The king made himself out to be someone very valuable and important but when measured on God's scale he did not amount to that much.  He was found wanting, lacking.

When we love others with devotion and treat them as though they were more important than we are we don't need to worry about the writing on the wall. 

Call to Repentance

John 15:6-8  (page 1677)

Call to Worship

Psalm 63  (page 899)

OT Reading

Daniel 5:18-31  (page 1380)

NT Reading

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 (page 1840)

Message

Found Wanting

Romans 12:10 (page 1764)

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

Readings for Sunday, January 9, 2011

In this passage Paul tells us that our love should be sincere, genuine and authentic, that it should not be hypocritical.  We can't take that imperative seriously without asking the question of what it means for love to be hypocritical and insincere.  If my attitude toward evil falls anywhere short of hatred, if the good is something that I salute but fail to cling to than my "love" is a hollow and fragile thing, like a porcelain hammer: perfect in regard to detail, but useless as to purpose.  

Call to Repentance
Romans 12:1-2 (page 1763)

Call to Worship
Psalm 97  (page 935)

OT Reading
Amos 5:4-15  (page 1425)

NT Reading
John 3:16-21  (page 1650

Message
A Love That Does Not Lie
Romans 12:9

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