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Author: MattMacNaughton

Grief in View of the Hope of Resurrection

Written by MattMacNaughton on . Posted in Grief. No Comments on Grief in View of the Hope of Resurrection

The Easter season is a unique time filled with not only great joy at the resurrection of Jesus but also great sorrow in recognizing the sinful state of man, our own sins against God that led to this predicament. Jesus bore our sin and shame on the cross, but we know that we still live in a broken world that is constantly presenting us with difficult circumstances and what may seem like random attacks against the life we desire to have. As we reflect on the message of the cross, we can understand what great anguish Jesus endured in our place, and we can look to His example as we consider the grief that the world brings us.

First, we must recognize that we are not ultimately bound to this world, but we are awaiting a new heaven and new earth. Peter talks about this greatly in his first letter (emphasis mine)-

1 Peter 2:9-11- But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

The temptation to be focused on the present circumstance is common to man. But as those saved by grace through faith in Jesus, we are called to live differently in this world.  We are not bound to the darkness around us- we have been delivered into His glorious light! This is both a present reality and a future hope. This is why we pursue holy living. It is also a practical testimony to the world, as we see in the next verse-

1 Peter 2:12- Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

People are always observing us, whether they know we proclaim to follow Jesus or not.  And those who know we call ourselves “Christian” have a concept of what that should and shouldn’t look like.  When we get lost in the murkiness of this fallen world and allow our flesh to spit hurtful words or make short-sighted decisions, it is because we have lost sight of what God has in store for us at the end of our lives, whether upon the second coming of Jesus or after our death-

Revelation 21:1-5- Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Jesus will comfort us directly! What a picture, the Savior that I betrayed in sin, who had to die for me so that I could have an unbroken relationship with, will comfort me when I see Him face to face. If that doesn’t motivate us to pursue Him, then maybe we must consider that He experienced a human life here on earth. This reality is hard to wrap our finite minds around, but it is the truth proclaimed in God’s Word.

But this truth is not far off! So we must recognize that our Savior lived a life on this earth that had temptations, grief, and difficulties.

The author of Hebrews describes this truth in chapter 4-

Hebrews 4:14-15- Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Accounts of the temptation of Satan against Jesus can be found in Matthew 4, Luke 4, and Mark 1.  But we can also find other places of temptation to prove His power, including to avoid death on the cross as seen in Matthew 16:21-23 and Mark 8:31-33, or in the situation regarding Lazarus as told in John 11.

John 11:1-3- Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

And what was the response of Jesus hearing this news? Verse 4-6:

But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Jesus made decisions based on His knowledge of God’s greater plan, not based on how He felt in the moment. Jesus could have kept Lazarus alive while he was not near. He could have done what any human who had the power of God would likely expect to do in such a situation. But He didn’t, because His primary concern was that God would get the glory. And the crucial part of this story comes in two simple words, as recorded in John 11:35-

Jesus wept.

The Creator of the universe. The Savior of the World. The Lamb of God. The Protector, Healer, Redeemer…. He WEPT.  Is there any surprise that we who are called to become more like Christ will face the griefs of this life? Jesus was a man of sorrows, as described in detail in Isaiah 53.  But the beautiful truth of what all this means is summarized in Hebrews 4:16-

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Our Savior, acquainted with grief, tempted but without sin, knows how life on this earth can be for us.

Therefore, we must finally recognize that we have not been saved out of difficulties, but we have been saved to live differently in spite of those difficulties.

Since the death of my wife, the words of 1 Thessalonians 4 have been one of many strongholds I use to combat the temptation against fear and despair in view of the grief and loss I have felt.

1 Thess 4:13-18- But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Brothers and sisters, we will face grief, not just because we are Christians, but because this world is not the end-all be-all of existence. But we must fight vigilantly against letting hard times define our existence. We can and should grieve the loss of loved ones, the unexpected employment change, the dissolvement of relationships that ought to have lasted a lifetime. But we cannot look at those things as isolated events, but instead trust that God is working in those circumstances to draw us close to Him, as said in Romans 8:28-

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

If we trust Scripture, if we believe that there is more to life than what’s here on earth, if we see that Jesus doesn’t just theoretically know about life but experienced it, if we can see that the difficulties of life draw us to more dependence on God, then we can begin to grieve in a way that draws us closer to God and further from this world. 

My last thought is another tentpole I hold on to, from Psalm 119-

Psalm 119:68- You are good and do good; teach me Your statutes.

When your family fails you, when your plans blow up, when the unexpected diagnosis comes, know that your Savior knows, He understands, He is with you and near you, and His Spirit is in you to help you as you walk through the grief.

Love in Christ,
Pastor Ben

Why we are having a Passover Seder

Written by MattMacNaughton on . Posted in Family Discipleship. No Comments on Why we are having a Passover Seder

We are just days away from Easter Sunday, the day marked on our calendars to set aside and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In reality, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus every time we gather because we understand our gatherings are in vain if Jesus does not resurrect from the dead.

As we prepare to gather on Easter Sunday, there are two events that we host that are intended to draw our hearts to the finished work of Jesus Christ: Passover Seder and Good Friday. Both of these events I encourage you to attend with your family.

The Good Friday service is a time where we look directly at the brutality of the cross of Christ and sit in the violence of the crucifixion for the sins of the world. We will also participate in the Lord’s Supper together. Register for Good Friday here.

The focus of this post is on the Passover Seder. Let me first state that hosting a Passover Seder is in no way required for Christians to participate in. In fact, if we required it, we would be in the wrong! (See Galatians, Colossians 2, Romans 14) We are no longer under the Jewish Law, but we have freedom in Jesus Christ!

We host the Passover Seder simply as a discipleship opportunity for the entire family that connects the teachings of the Old Testament to Jesus. We constantly say at Grace Life that the Bible is one big story of Redemption, meaning, as Sally Llyod Jones states, “Every story (in the Bible) whispers His name”. While we won’t go into the full meal that was celebrated in the Old Testament, we will look at how the different elements of the meal connect to Jesus. Here’s an excerpt from the book we read from at the Seder.

Passover is the oldest and most important of Jewish religious festivals, commemorating God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and his creation of the Israelite people. In its earliest forms it marked the beginning of the Jewish religious year (Ex 12:1; because of changes in calendars, later Judaism observed the beginning of the year in the Fall with Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana). It is based on the rituals of ancient Israel preserved primarily in Exodus 12-14 in which Israelites celebrated their deliverance by God from slavery in Egypt. The term Passover refers to the tenth and final plague God brought upon the Egyptians to persuade Pharaoh to let the people go, the death of all the firstborn of Egypt. In obedience to God’s instructions, those who believed placed the blood of a lamb on the door posts of their homes, so that God would pass over” those homes. The festival actually celebrates the entire sequence of events that led to the Israelites’ freedom from slavery. While thoroughly based in those historical events, the celebration encompasses much more as it becomes a vehicle to celebrate the very nature of God and His gracious work in the world. It is in this larger dimension that Jesus adopted the Passover service as a sacramental remembrance of God’s new work of deliverance in the Christ, and allows Christians to celebrate this ancient festival.

One of my favorite aspects of the Passover (and really the Jewish culture as a whole) is the family integration. Our culture sends kids off to different classes and places but in the Jewish culture, the family was always together. I love family integrated worship. I love our Family Sundays and I love serving alongside of our kids. The Passover Seder provides an opportunity for families to sit together, participate together, and celebrate Jesus together.

At the Seder, your children will have a role at the table. They will participate just as if they were in a Jewish household, but they will clearly see that all of this is about Jesus. Any opportunity to point our kids to Jesus is an opportunity we must make.

And really that is why we do it. The more we can understand how the Old Testament points to Jesus, the greater appreciation we will have for God’s grand story of Redemption. From the beginning (Ephesians 1) God’s plan to redeem people from their sin was going to be through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Passover looked forward to His coming, we now look back at His finished work and look forward to His soon return. And when that day comes, we will gather as the people of God around the table and eat and celebrate all that Jesus has done for us.

If you haven’t already, register your family for the Passover Seder here.

Update Letter from the Lynn Family, Missionaries to Ethiopia

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In the book of Acts, we see the church sending out missionaries to take the gospel to the world. This was to obey Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:9. Paul was one of those missionaries. In fact, he took three missionary journeys during the course of his ministry, planting churches along the way. As he wrote letters to the churches, some of which are recorded in the New Testament, he would often include updates on his journeys or send someone to give an update. Paul never left his supporting churches in the dark.

So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts. – Ephesians 6:21–22

Every so often, we receive an update from our ministry partners. We read them in our Sunday gatherings as a reminder to pray for those who have been called by God to gov over seas to share the gospel and as a reminder that we too are missionaries exactly where we are here in the United States.

To read the most recent update letter from the Lynn Family in Ethiopia, click here.

Commit to praying for them frequently and be intentional in sharing the gospel with someone today.

A Recap of the Book of Revelation

Written by MattMacNaughton on . Posted in The Church. No Comments on A Recap of the Book of Revelation

Studying prophecy is not the easiest task. There are strange images, flowery language, and sometimes difficult truths to decipher.  The book of Revelation gives us a picture of the end results of God’s ultimate redemption of all creation.  Specifically, it points us to the second coming of Christ and the events leading up to that point.  As we study through this letter, we see important truths echoed throughout the book, including God’s eternal nature, Jesus’ rule as King over the earth, the glory that will be given Him, and His glorious return to Earth.  We see in Revelation 1-3 that Jesus has a blessed plan to prepare His church for His return. Jesus provides the blessing of true security, freedom from sin and acceptance into God’s family, and the future hope of His return. In light of this, the church must set aside earthly distractions and look to Jesus alone for provision, carefully resist any message that gets in the way of preaching the Gospel, and point her gaze on the coming Kingdom.

Breaking down the main points that are echoed through the book will give us tentpoles to associate the reading of the text.

First, we see the idea of “He who is and who was and who is to come.” This is found in places such as 1:8, 1:17-18, 4:8, 10, 21:6, and 22:13. God is timeless! He has always been and will always be.  It is hard for us as temporal beings to try and understand God’s eternal nature, but it’s also a comfort to know that the God we worship is not a created being and has no beginning and no end.

Second, the establishment of God’s Kingdom wherein Jesus will reign as King of Kings on earth can be found  very specifically in chapter 13, but also in other places like 6:15.  The true Kingdom of God is coming, which helps us understand the conflict we currently experience and also the conflict to come is over who truly rules the world. Satan may have power now, but we know that Jesus will ultimately reign!

Third, we see the importance of Him who loves us and that He has freed us from our sins by his blood. This pointing of the blood of Jesus can be found in Revelation 5:9, 7:14, 12:11, and 22:14.  We must not forget that freedom from sin requires a blood sacrifice, and this awesome truth of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice orients the readers of Revelation back to the source of salvation.

Next, we see the giving of glory to God through worship of different groups of entities in Revelation 4:11, 5:12-13, 7:10, 12, 15:2-3, 19:1-7. So many of these doxologies will go on for eternity, with the true believers, angels, and even creation crying out the praise due to God for who He is and what He has done.

Finally, we see the assurance of Jesus’ second coming. This point bookends the letter- (1:3, 8  and 22:20) but is also mentioned in places like 2:25, 3:3, 3:11, 16:15, 22:7, 22:12. There is no doubt that Jesus is coming, and the events leading up to this and the immediate aftermath make up the majority of this letter. However, the letter opens with something special.

Revelation 1:4-7 sets up what’s to come in the messages to the seven churches found in the next couple chapters, which we will be studying intermittently throughout this year.  We can see the purpose of these messages as we break down this text.

Revelation 1:4-5a- John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,  and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. 

This text teaches us that Jesus provides the blessing of true security. Therefore, we must set aside earthly distractions and look to Jesus alone for provision. After all, He is Creator of the universe, a faithful witness who can only be truthful, Lord over life and death; why do we seek out from anywhere else? Yet money, family, status, knowledge, all these things can get in the way. Even though they may be good things (it is good to work in order to have money to feed your family), we have to see that Jesus gave us the skills, orchestrated the opportunity, and created the very things we consume! And we know that Jesus wants to provide for us, as we see in the next portion of the text.

Revelation 1:5b-6- To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

Here we see that Jesus provides the blessing of freedom from sin and acceptance into God’s family. If you’ve ever done a year-long read through the Bible, you have been through the genealogies contained in the Old Testament. While it’s easy to gloss over them, for the initial audience of Jews, these were of utmost importance. It was a way of saying, “Yes, I am a part of God’s chosen people. I’m a part of the lineage that gets God’s promised blessings.” For us, we get to say that too. Not because we are Jewish, as we have been studying out in Galatians, but because we are adopted into God’s family! And it’s important to recognize that the church, true believers, have that status. Because of this, we must set aside any message that gets in the way of preaching the Gospel. We are called to action because of the status gained through Jesus’ sacrifice. And we know that the Gospel is life-changing. So we must be careful not to preach a Gospel of change yourself/clean yourself up and then come to Jesus. We must not preach a Gospel of knowing a lot about God, knowing about the Bible, going to church, as though any of this will save us. We must preach the message of admitting sin guilt, believing Jesus died, was buried, and rose again in order to pay the debt for our sin, confessing our need for His salvation and repenting of that old life in pursuit of becoming more like our Savior.

And as Phil 1:6 says-

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Which this day of Christ is exactly what this text is pointing to!

Revelation 1:7- Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

Here we learn that Jesus provides the blessing of the future hope of His return. Because of this, the church must point her gaze on the coming Kingdom. If you feel like your life is meaningless- recognize the work that you are doing is not in vain as long as it is for the Lord. If you feel like you’re set and good to go- check that your priorities align with the coming King, and don’t be caught in the wrong. If you feel like you’re drowning and there’s no way to keep treading water- reach out to the hand Jesus offers. He’s already won. If you can’t seem to let go of worry- cast your cares upon the Creator, and take up his yoke. It’s work, but it’s much easier work than trying to plow through alone. And he’s going to restore us, this world, and the beauty of eternal life with God. (Rev 21-22)

As we look at these seven churches through this year, we will see points of praise and points of warning, all of it to show that Jesus has a blessed plan to prepare the church for His return.

Love in Christ,
Pastor Ben

Sabbath Break

Written by MattMacNaughton on . Posted in Spiritual Disciplines. No Comments on Sabbath Break

It’s hard to believe, but we are fully into the month of March, and with that comes many things, including the well-revered (and often much needed) Spring Break.  Though some might point to an ancient Greek tradition of taking three days off in the springtime from their labors, the American tradition of a break in the middle of the school year originates from a swim team forum in Ft. Lauderdale in 1938. The coach had the brilliant idea of bringing his team from frozen New York down to sunny Florida in order to get some training in.  By the late 1950s, this became the norm for many teams, and by the ‘80s and 90’s, Florida specifically became branded as a Spring Break destination, with programming by media such as MTV showcasing the extreme debaucheries being done by young people from across the nation. Such is the way of the world, to go from smart planning for exercise to a crazy racket of unbridled recklessness. As Christians, we have to be careful to guard our hearts against the twistings of our society. While Spring Break is potentially a good time to step back and reset, what does the Bible tell us about rest?

The first mention of rest comes in the creation account in Genesis 2:2-3:

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Of first importance is to recognize that God did not rest because He was so worn out. He is establishing a plan of rest and renewal as a part of the weekly rhythm intended for man.  After all, Jesus says in Mark 2:27 that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Essentially, yes, man can survive without the Sabbath, but it is a grace of God that He has set out for us a day to rest. Society tells us that we earn rest, not that we are meant to have it naturally.  And we know that rest is good, so if God rested from His work, who are we to think that rest is not important enough to prioritize?

We also know that it was a part of the Ten Commandments given to Moses and the people of Israel in Exodus 20:8-10:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

All of creation points to this need for rest. The cycle of day and night, the fruitful growing and winter dormancy of plants, the hibernation of bears, all of these rest cycles are natural to the created beings. Unfortunately we as humans have found ways to work outside of these rhythms with technology, but that makes it even more important for us to take the time to step back and see what rest does for us.  We may say that we see the value in rest, but we don’t design our lives with that priority in mind. Spring Break is not the ideal way to take this rest, nor does it follow God’s plan.  We aren’t meant to have a week of vacation after several months of non-stop work. God designed the Sabbath to be a weekly place to stop and rest. So how do we combat our tendencies to just go, go, go?

Plan to have time weekly for rest.

I know for me, my schedule can be quite different week to week. We don’t want to create a bigger problem of making the Sabbath into an idol (“I WILL NOT DO ANYTHING on Saturdays EVER!”) but we do want to create weekly space for rest that isn’t just falling asleep exhausted at the end of a 12-15 hour work day. This means that we have to plan a time for this type of resting in God. Whether you use a calendar app, a whiteboard, or a printed paper on the wall, block out time to rest each week. It will take some adjusting, and it may be a few weeks until you can clear out that time, but pursue it. Once you have it locked in, you will find it a sweet and soothing part of the week that you will want to continue to protect against the busyness of life.

Use your rest time to meditate, pray, and reflect on God.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Resting in Jesus isn’t just not doing your daily tasks, job, etc. The Sabbath rest is meant to bring our hearts and minds closer to our Savior as we consider what He has done, what He is doing, and what He has promised us as we continue forward in our lives and ultimately on to eternity with Him. We can only learn from God if we are spending time with Him in prayer and seeking out His voice that we have free access to through His Word.

Be present with your family by turning off the distractions.

Several years ago, I made it a habit to put my phone on Do Not Disturb any time that I went out to dinner or a movie or whatever it may be with someone. Although I recognize that luxury cannot always be afforded, I also know that I can spend an hour with someone and anything that comes up in that hour outside of my perception is in God’s hands, whether or not I am able to see it on my phone. It’s this type of being present that is the hardest to combat, especially when you have school events and multiple jobs and long commutes and the list goes on. But fight for that Sabbath time where you lay aside some of the constant communication with the outside world and focus instead on what is right in front of you.

The Sabbath is a gift of God’s grace where we get to reflect on Jesus as the center of our lives. He is our Provider.  He is our Healer and Restorer. He is our Savior, and He invites us to share in His rest by placing our faith in His finished work on the cross. This Spring Break, take time to rest in Jesus.

Love in Christ,

Pastor Ben

An Introduction to Church History

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History is a funny and yet profound subject. Every second that passes moves into the category of history. You began reading this blog post in the past. As the seconds turn to days, soon history becomes long periods of time that we study. The profoundness of history turns to irony when we repeat the things we’ve already failed. 

As the saying goes, History tends to repeat itself. 

Church history has much to teach us and the more we learn from our brothers and sisters in Christ centuries before us, the more we will learn to persevere in persecution and fight against false teaching. 

And that’s why I want to spend some time looking at moments throughout church history that will help us today. We won’t cover everything and we won’t dive as deep as we could into the events. My desire is to whet your appetite when it comes to church history. 

Before we dive into these moments, let’s lay the foundation by defining a few terms.

History is the study of human achievement. All of history is a part of God’s story. When we learn about history, we learn about topics such as the Vikings and World War Ii and how our country was founded. We can concentrate on one area of history such as the history of the automobile or the history of warfare. Church History is one area of concentration.

Church history is the study of the Christian church in every age since the time of Jesus. When we learn about church history, we are learning about what Christians have done in different parts of the world and events that are directly related to the spread of Christianity. Often our view of the church is shaped by western eyes but there is much to learn from the church in Africa, Asia, and everywhere in between. 

We’re going to learn more about different subjects like the Council of Nicea, the Protestant Reformation, the English Bible, and so much more! We’re going to visit Rome and Jerusalem and China and Germany and so many other places where God has done some really incredible things! But most importantly, the biggest lesson we will learn is this:

God is always faithful to His people.

Hebrews 12:1–2 states,  

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

What’s the very first word in verse 1? Therefore! Every time we see the word “therefore” in the Bible, we need to stop and go back to what the Bible says before. In this case, we look to Hebrews 11. 

Hebrews 11 is what many people have called the “Hall of Faith”. We see stories of Noah and Abraham and Rahab and so many more. Hebrews 11 gives us examples of how to live faithfully to the God who is always faithful to us. Hebrews 12:1 then shows how there are so many more people throughout history who can testify to God’s faithfulness. 

Church history tells us the names of some of those men and women. But the story of Hebrews 11 and the stories of the great cloud of witnesses is not about the men and women, it’s about God. Church History teaches us that God is always faithful to His people.

To understand church history, we need to know how it fits in God’s big story.

What’s your favorite fictional story? Mine is the story of Batman. To properly tell Batman’s story, you need time to read about the murder of his parents, his desire for justice, and of course, his immense wealth. Those are major plot points within the character arc of Batman. To know the story of Batman, you need to know the plot.

The plot is the main events of a particular story. Most every book, every movie, every tv show has a plot. The plot of every story has a beginning, middle, and end, all of which flow together. 

The Bible is the same way. The Bible was written to tell us who God is and how He was on a mission to save sinners. The Bible is the story of Redemption, covering roughly 6,000 years of history and points us to the future as well. “Every page, every story,” as Sally Lloyd-Jones, author of “The Jesus Storybook Bible”, says “whispers His (Jesus) name”. All of the Bible points to the One who came to redeem sinners from their sin.

God’s story of redemption contains for story lines:

Creation: God made everything perfect and for His glory. (Genesis 1-2)

The story of God does not start with us, it starts with God! God created the world and everything in it and it was good. When God created humans they were made in God’s image and God said they were VERY Good! The Earth was full of God’s shalom, which means peace. The kind of peace in which everything works according to God’s intention. The world was made for human flourishing, there we could live in joy in the presence of God as God’s co-workers caring for this very good creation.

The Fall: Mankind corrupted God’s perfect creation and has fallen short of the glory of God. (Genesis 3)

Humans rejected God’s rule and leadership. They deliberately went away from God’s commands and their actions declared they believed they were wiser than their creator. This resulted in sin and brokenness entering God’s good creation and disrupting everything. Every inch of the earth was touched by the brokenness that swept in. This rebellion results in physical and spiritual death for humanity.

But there is a glimmer of hope in Genesis 3. In Genesis 3:15, God intervenes. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 

God’s plan and design cannot be overcome. He graciously covers the sin of Adam and Eve. “Even as he executes sentences against them, he still loves them and cares for them, but their Creator wraps them in clothes of animal skins before they do. For God to love and protect Adam and Eve in that way, something had to die.” (DeYoung) Ultimately, it would be God’s Son Jesus, the offspring of Genesis 3:15 to die for the sins of mankind. Remember, this is a story of redemption.

Redemption: God has delivered mankind from sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Genesis 4 – Revelation 20)

Rightfully the Creator is angry towards the sin and brokenness, but thankfully He so deeply loves humanity and creation that He is determined to redeem the evil and suffering from the disruptive force of brokenness. Redemption is God’s Deliverance from Sin through Jesus.

This movement shows God implementing a master plan for redeeming the world God loves, rescuing the broken humans, and healing the broken world. We see God lay out a plan to redeem His people all throughout the Old Testament, but His people could not uphold their end of the bargain.

The most climactic part of this plot movement is when through the Person of Jesus Christ, God comes to renew the world and restore God’s people. The death and resurrection of Jesus inaugurate and unlock the power of the Kingdom of God and humans are invited to join in the mission of redemption. (Colossians 1:13–14 )

Restoration: God promises to make all things new through Jesus Christ (Revelation 21-22)

The story doesn’t end with redemption, but rather it continues with hope! God has promised to renew the whole world, and the Bible gives us a peak into this glorious future. The restoration of all things will take place when Jesus returns to defeat sin and evil, and He will usher in righteousness and justice. All the wrong things will be made right and all the sad things will become untrue. God’s perfect shalom/peace will cover the earth and God will purge this world of evil once and for all.

Now, where are we in this story? We are recipients of grace living in our Redemption as we await for the day of restoration. Yes, we are still living in a fallen world, but we await a Savior! A Savior who will come and restore all things! We won’t live in a fallen state anymore, because, as Paul writes,

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Philippians 3:20–21)

Church history teaches us that God is always faithful to His people. He’s always faithful because He said He is. Our brothers and sisters before us believed Him and we believe Him today. And we trust and we are “sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”. (Philippians 1:6)

The Process, Audience, and Goal of Preaching within the Local Church

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* This post is part 4 of a series on Expository Preaching in the Local Church, where we are taking a look at the meaning of “Expository Preaching”, its Biblical precedence, and the importance of Expository Preaching in the life of our church.  Read part one here. Read part two here. Read part three here.

Scottish Pastor John Knox (1514-1572) once said, “I have never once feared the devil, but I tremble every time I enter the pulpit.”

There is no greater joy than to stand before the gathered church and proclaim God’s Word. I look forward to it every week, and the weeks I’m not preaching, I miss it. I love preaching God’s Word to God’s people! But every week I’m reminded of the weighty task of preaching. 

As we close out this four-part series on Expository Preaching in the Local Church, I want to end by taking a look at preaching at our local church, Grace Life Church. While the typical Sunday sermon at Grace Life is roughly 45 minutes, there is a lot that goes into the Preaching Ministry of our church. Below, we will look at 1) the sermon writing process, 2) the sermon audience, and 3) the sermon goal.

The Sermon Writing Process

It’s Sunday afternoon. The sermon has been delivered. I’ve eaten lunch and I’m likely on the couch preparing for a nap. The Sunday afternoon nap resets the week for me. Before I fall asleep, I walk through the sermon. I note the portions that appeared to be helpful, I think through the illustrations to see if they were clear, and I pray the Lord’s words read that morning will have a lasting impact on those who hear it. When I wake up from my nap. It will be time to prepare for the next sermon.

It’s Sunday Evening. I already know what I’m preaching in less than a week and the internal countdown timer is rapidly dwindling in the back of my mind. I’ve looked at my schedule for the week and I block out time to work on my sermon. At some point before I head to bed, I will read the next portion of Scripture that I will preach. 

It’s Monday. After I complete my typical Monday administrative responsibilities, I spend time praying and reading through the text several times. I underline key words, circle words that I need to know more about, draw lines to connect the text to what was said before and after; all of which is to determine the one true intended meaning of the text. By the end of the day on Monday, I know I can summarize the text.

It’s Tuesday. Today, I’ll spend time in commentaries and other research materials, seeking to know more about the text. I’ll dig deeper into phrases and words that aren’t necessarily easy to understand. I’ll cross reference other portions of Scripture. I’ll spend time reading on the main topic of the text. By the end of the day on Tuesday, I’ll have completed the bulk of the study and will prepare to write the outline of the sermon on Wednesday.

It’s Wednesday. Today, I’m taking everything I know about the text and will begin preparing to preach it on Sunday. I want to avoid sermons that are just running commentaries of the text. I want to bridge the text of Scripture to everyday life. Today, I prayerfully work through my introductions, illustrations, sermon points, and main applications. By the end of the day, I will be ready to write my sermon manuscript. 

It’s Thursday. Today I rest from working on the sermon.

It’s Friday. Today, I will take my sermon outline notes and begin turning them into my sermon manuscript. I prayerfully write my sermon manuscripts word for word as if I were preaching them in front of an audience. This helps me work on transitions, illustrations, and the flow of the entire sermon. My goal today is to make the sermon as clear as possible. I want new believers to understand the text. I want children to understand the text. I want mature believers to love the text more. Writing the sermon manuscript helps me bring clarity to the sermon. By the end of the day, I will have completed the writing of the sermon. I know I can stand and preach what is written.

It’s Saturday. Today will be spent with my family doing the things we love. We catch up on necessary responsibilities and we rest. But the sermon timer is still running in the back of my head. I’m thinking through illustrations that may be clunky or going over portions of the text that are difficult to grasp. 

It’s Saturday Evening. The kids are in bed and I’m on the couch. I get my laptop out and I take my sermon manuscript and I turn it into my sermon notes: a page of paper that will fit right inside my Bible. I trim out material that is unnecessary to the content of the sermon. This may mean removing illustrations or extra passages of Scripture. I check once again that everything appears to be clear. I pray as I lay my head down on my pillow, already feeling the weight of preaching.

It’s Sunday Morning. I wake up and begin preaching the sermon. I want to go through the entire sermon, aloud in the car or quietly in my head, before I actually preach it. I don’t want to be tied to my notes the whole time, but rather I want to know the text. I want to be able to preach the sermon even if my notes are lost. 

As the timer gets closer to 10:20 am, I remind myself that this is God’s Word and the people in front of me desperately need the Jesus of the Bible. I remind myself that the Holy Spirit is working in me and these words are to be honoring to the Lord. I remind myself that my identity is not in how great a preacher I am, but rather my identity is in Jesus Christ. I remind myself that the sermon is never finished, even after I close my Bible. I know God’s Word never returns void and that the Lord may use the sermon for years to come. 

And I hold to those reminders until my nap comes and it’s time to begin another week of sermon writing in the midst of other pastoral responsibilities.

The Sermon Audience

The main Sunday morning audience at Grace Life Church is made up of the people of Grace Life Church. These are the people I know I will be preaching to week in and week out. I’m not preaching to another church or an audience made up of a certain political party or an audience mainly of lost people. I’m preaching to the redeemed people of God who make up Grace Life Church. However, I know that not everyone in the chairs in front of me belongs to our church, and therefore, I know I must point sinners to the Savior.

The central theme of the Scripture is to bring sinful mankind to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Everything in the Old Testament pointed to the Messiah. The New Testament is written to point sinners, Gentiles and Jews, to this same Messiah. So if the purpose of the Bible is to bring sinners to repentance, should that not be the preacher’s main purpose as well? Paul discusses this very topic in Romans 10:13-15. Paul states that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved from their sins. This of course is the message that God wants all humans to hear. Romans 10:15:  “How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them?” 

In order for someone to hear the gospel of Christ, it must first be proclaimed to them. Unbelievers will never hear about the one who loves them and died for their sins until someone tells them about this Divine love. The central theme of the Bible is the redemptive story of Christ and His forgiveness of sins and in order for this theme to reach the hearts of the lost, it must be preached. Therefore, at some point in the sermon, I am going to call sinners to repentance, just as Jesus did (Matthew 4:17).

Once the message of forgiveness through Christ has found its way into the heart of the sinner, this transformed individual begins a long journey in an ever growing relationship with Jesus. This is sanctification. Along the way, there will be setbacks, victories, joy, and sadness. How can these new believers and every one of their brothers and sisters in Christ overcome the struggles they will face in their walk with God? It comes back to the preaching of God’s Word. 

In Paul’s second epistle to Timothy, he tells Timothy how to help these believers. Simply, give them the Word.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 states, “Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.”  A few verses later, in chapter 4:2, Paul instructs Timothy to preach the Word. This preaching should consist of reproving, rebuking, and exhorting. These three things are what make the Bible useful according to Paul’s precious statement in 3:16-17. 

The preacher’s message should consist of reaching the lost for Christ as well as helping and encouraging believers. God’s word convicts (reproof), it corrects the sinner, and it instructs the reader on how to live a righteous life. This must be done through the preaching of the Word of God. 

The Sermon Goal

Every passage was written to bring glory to God by addressing some aspect(s) of our fallen condition. By correction, warning, diagnosis, and/or healing of this fallenness, a text reveals God’s means for enabling his people to glorify him and to know his grace both in the passage’s original context and in the present situation.

There is nothing more powerful than God’s Word and it is powerful and effective in the life of every soul because it is inspired by a Holy and Mighty God. A powerful, life changing Word must be preached because man’s fallen sinful nature must be addressed. The goal of every sermon is to draw the hearts of the people to God. 

One of the greatest responsibilities in the world is the one that the preacher holds. He is responsible for relaying what God has intended for believers to hear. Every message is unique in the way the preacher delivers it, but each message should draw the listener to God the Father. The Bible clearly states that preaching is extremely important for the lost to be found and for the sheep to be shepherd.  Jay Adam’s states in his book Preaching with Purpose: 

“The purpose of preaching , then, is to effect changes among the members of God’s church that build them up individually and that build up the body as a whole. Individually, good pastoral preaching helps each person in the congregation to grow in his faith, conforming his life more and more to Biblical standards. Corporately, such preaching builds up the church as a body in the relationship of the parts as a whole, and the whole to God and to the world.”

Because of the authority and sufficiency of God’s Word, I know that everytime the Word is rightly proclaimed, then I know that I have done my job. The Holy Spirit will do the rest of the work. He will be the one to take those words and pierce the heart of the listener. He will be the one to strengthen their faith. He will be the one to transform their hearts.

And that is my prayer behind every sermon I preach. I pray that the Holy Spirit will use the inspired Words of Scripture to change your heart and to make you more like Jesus.

By His Grace,

Pastor Matt

Preaching in the New Testament

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* This post is Part 3 of a series on Expository Preaching in the Local Church, where we are taking a look at the meaning of “Expository Preaching”, its Biblical precedence, and the importance of Expository Preaching in the life of our church. Read part one here. Read part two here.

This past Sunday, we began a new sermon series through the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. Let me be honest for a moment; it is quite intimidating to be preaching sermons on the greatest sermon ever preached. I read and listen to sermons frequently, but there has never been a sermon like the one Jesus preached from this mountain.

Jesus, according to the timeline in Matthew, has just begun his earthly ministry. He has called his disciples (Matthew 4:17-22) and He has traveled throughout the region healing people (Matthew 4:23-25). All along the way, he was preaching the same message: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). As the crowds begin to close in on him, Jesus finds a mountain with a great view of the Sea of Galilee. 

Scripture does not call this sermon “The Sermon on the Mount”. It was likely Augustine in the 4th century who first gave the term. This sermon is actually the first of five sermons in Matthew’s gospel record, all of which pertain to the same theme and the same message that Jesus preached: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

Though we are unsure, these are likely summary points of Jesus’ sermon. If Matthew 5-7 is actually the entirety of the sermon, then it would have been a 10 minute sermon. Which makes some sense, since it’s going to take a mere man like me 45 minutes to just get through a few verses at a time. The sermon on the Mount is also recorded in Mark and Luke, though not nearly as extensive as Matthew’s record.

English Theologian John Stott said, 

“The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed. It is the nearest thing to a manifesto that Jesus ever uttered, for it is His own description of what He wanted his followers to be and to do”. (1)

With every sermon, there are usually three main components: the preacher, the audience, and the message. Knowing who Jesus is, knowing who His intended audience is, and knowing the main point of His sermon will help us understand the content of the Sermon on the Mount. 

It also helps us understand the role of preaching in the New Testament.

When Jesus spoke, people listened. He spoke with authority, His message was clear, and it pricked the hearts of those who listened. Though He was the Son of God, Jesus used God’s Word to reach out to those who would listen. When Jesus spent time in the synagogue, He took the Word of God and read it to them (Lk 4:16-21). The content of the Sermon on the Mount is grounded in the words God had already given to the people of Israel in Exodus 20. 

Jesus understood that in order to bring people to His Father, He had to open His mouth. Pater Adam states,

“In public, formal teaching in synagogues or on the mountain, in private instruction to his disciples, in answer to questions raised by others, and in private conversations, he spoke the Word. By his preaching and teaching he both announced and extended the kingdom, called people to faith, refuted error, rebuked those who taught error, encouraged the weak, trained his disciples, explained the Scripture, rebuked sinners and summoned all to faith and obedience.” (2)

Jesus once told a parable in Matthew 13:3-23 of a sower who went about his daily business tossing seeds onto the ground. Some fell in rocky areas, others in thorny areas, and some landed in the perfect spot. The comparison Jesus uses is that the seed represents the Word of God. Just as the sower did with that seed, preachers must sow or toss the Word of God onto the hearts of people. How it affects the listener varies, but the sower of God’s Word never knows when it is going to fall into the perfect position. Through this parable, we see that Christ saw the Word of God as the gateway to reaching souls.

As the Sermon on the Mount unfolds, it is clear Jesus is after the hearts of the men and women who are listening to Him in awe. He spoke with authority the words of God and when men stand to preach to the church today, by God’s grace, they must speak from the authority of God’s written Word.

Another example of preaching in the New Testament comes from the man who wrote the majority of the New Testament. The Apostle Paul understood the importance of preaching. He spent his entire ministry training young men like Timothy, on how to be effective preachers. 

Acts 9:19-20 states, “For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘This man is the Son of God’.” Paul preached the Word.  He wasted no time either. Paul’s ministry was focused on proclaiming the same message as Jesus, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. Paul was committed to preaching the message of the Gospel. 

In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells them that those who preach the Gospel have beautiful feet (Rom 10:14-15). Preachers have “beautiful feet” not because they preach what is on their mind; they preach what God has commanded them to preach and they are carrying the daunting title of preacher!. This command is to preach the Gospel. 

Paul’s most popular student was Timothy. In his last letter to his beloved protégé, Paul urges Timothy to preach the Word. 2 Timothy 4:2 says, “Preach the message (or word), be ready  whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort  with complete patience and instruction”. Paul urges Timothy to always be ready to preach from God’s Word. This demonstrates Paul’s drive to see the preaching of the Scriptures. 

The next verse summarizes Paul’s position on the importance of preaching. “For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things.” Paul knew that soon a time would come when people no longer wanted to hear the truth of God’s Holy Word. Unfortunately, that day may have already passed.

Whether it is from the Old Testament prophets or from the New Testament apostles, the Bible clearly represents the intention of preaching. After understanding what God’s Word says about preaching, it is vital to understand that there is no preaching without the Word of God. No matter how creative the message, how beautifully arranged the outline, or how much concern comes from the speaker, effective preaching is effectively using the Scriptures.

If one is to develop a Biblical theology of preaching based solely on what God’s Word says about the matter, they must preach the Word the way It was intended to be preached. 

And through the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of the Lord in me, I pray I will always stay true to the preaching of God’s Word.

By His Grace,

Pastor Matt

 

(1) Stott, John. 2020. The Message of the Sermon on the Mount the Message of the Sermon on the Mount. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1

(2) Adam, Peter. 2004. Speaking God’s Words: A Practical Theology of Preaching. Regent College Publishing, 45

Introducing The New Middleburg Liturgy

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Read Time: 20 minutes

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In 1570, Puritan Thomas Cartwright was serving as a professor at Cambridge University when he was fired and removed for teaching against the Church of England. Upon his firing, he moved around to different locations, leaving each time due to his teachings from Scripture. He was committed to the teachings of Scripture and to the message of the gospel. As a puritan, he sought to live a life holy, separate from the world, pleasing to the Lord. 

In one of his writings, he stated (updated to English):

“Is there anything like our God? Nothing in comparison, and therefore the Prophet (Isaiah 40:17) says that all nations before Him are nothing, yes to Him less than nothing: and if men be nothing for whom the world was made, how much more are all other creatures in heaven and earth nothing before Him, and to Him less than nothing?”

In 1582, after avoiding arrest in several places, he began pastoring a congregation made up of merchants working for a trading company. When the company was relocated, he went with them and they settled in the capital of the Dutch province of Zeeland in the Netherlands, tucked up near the North Sea. In 1586, using primarily the liturgy of John Knox that Knox had given to the Church of Scotland, Cartwright drew up a new Liturgy intended to deepen the congregation’s love for the God of the Bible. We have this incredible liturgy from this congregation during a time of great reformation. This congregation’s liturgy was named after their city in the Netherlands, the Middleburg Liturgy.

As I read through the history of the Middleburg Liturgy, I can’t help but think of our church in Middleburg, Florida almost 500 years later. A little town nestled somewhere between Gainesville and Jacksonville that most people have not heard of. A little town in the Netherlands that most people have not heard of. Two towns that were traditionally filled with people who grew up there until an influx of outsiders came due to work and living conditions. The comparisons are quite interesting.

When I first read about The Middleburg Liturgy, I was of course excited about the name. It’s not often you read about a Middleburg in Church History! But the more I read, the more I saw similarities to the congregations. We have a deep love and desire to know the God of the Bible and to help others do the same. That was the sole purpose of the Middleburg Liturgy and the intent behind what I’m calling, The New Middleburg Liturgy.

Let me explain.

A liturgy in simple terms is an order to the gathering of a church. Depending on the church, most liturgies are based on the tradition of the denomination. Every church practices a liturgy, whether they call it a liturgy or not. There is something, like tradition or an “experience” that directs the structure of the gathering that helps the flow of the gathering or helps stay with the theme for the Lord’s Day gathering. The liturgy includes praying, singing, offerings, preaching, and participation in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Our liturgy, The New Middleburg Liturgy, serves two purposes: to guide and base our gathering on the Word of God and to guide and base our family worship on the Word of God. We believe our gatherings on Sunday can be modeled in our homes, connecting the truth that all of life is intended to worship the Lord our God. This is why we changed the look of our Sunday program. You can leave it in your Bible and use it throughout the week.

Our typical Sunday gathering will look very similar to this liturgy from January 29th, 2023. 

CALL TO WORSHIP – Psalm 22:3-5

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. (ESV)

SONG OF PRAISE

Your Mercy – Austin Stone Worship

PRAYER OF GRATITUDE AND CONFESSION 

CONGREGATIONAL READING OF SCRIPTURE – Jeremiah 17:7  

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. (ESV)

SONGS OF REJOICING

Your Glory/Nothing But the Blood – All Sons & Daughters

Come Thou Fount – Shane and Shane

PRAYER OF THANKS 

CONFESSION OF FAITH – The Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

PARTICIPATION IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH – See Back of Program

Welcome to new guests, dismissal of kids, announcements, and giving.

PRAYER OF SUPPLICATION (making our requests known to God)

A SERMON FROM GOD’S WORD TO GOD’S PEOPLE – Matthew 4:8-11

SONG OF RESPONSE

Behold Our God  – Sovereign Grace Music

DISMISSAL

Let’s work through the various elements and how they apply to both our church gathering and our family worship.

CALL TO WORSHIP

Church Gathering: Scripture commands: You shall worship the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 6:13; Matthew 4:10). This is a call to worship. This is why we start our gatherings with a call to worship, specifically a reminder of who God is from God’s Word. We are not gathering to be entertained. We are not gathering to have our ears itched (2 Timothy 4:3) with relevant ted talks that are void of Scripture. We are not gathering to have a mystical experience with God. We gather to worship the Lord our God! 

Family Worship: Whether it is in the morning or the evening, it’s important to take 5-10 minutes to have a time of family worship. Each week, begin your family worship time by reading the call to worship from the previous church gathering. Your children hopefully will remember this being read at the beginning of the gathering.

SONG OF PRAISE: 

Church Gathering: This is a song intended to direct our attention to the reason we are gathering: to praise the Lord! Howie Butler, our Praise Team leader, does a great job working with myself and those who are preaching to put together songs that go hand in hand with that Sunday’s sermon text. 

Family Worship: There are three songs your children will sing before they are dismissed to KidLife. For your family worship time, choose one of the songs, rather, let your kids decide which song to sing each day of the week. Again, this is a song they have just sung in our Sunday gathering. Search for the song on YouTube that has the lyrics with the video and sing along.

PRAYER OF GRATITUDE AND CONFESSION

Church Gathering: Prayer in our Sunday gathering is not a transitional element, but a moment we humbly go to the King of Heaven. With confidence we come to his throne (Hebrews 4:16)! This time of prayer is to praise the Lord for who He is and for all He has done and then to take time to confess where we have sinned against God, knowing that He is faithful to forgive us (1 John 1:9). As Pastor Ben or Howie pray during the gathering, take the time to pray from your seat as well.

Family Worship: At the end of your family worship time, ask each member of the family what they would like to pray for. Ask if any sins need to be confessed and what they are thankful for. Then ask a member of the family to close in prayer. Teach your children the power of prayer and when someone has a prayer request answered, thank the Lord for it!

CONGREGATIONAL READING OF SCRIPTURE

Church Gathering: For 4-6 weeks, we will read the same verse of Scripture aloud together. This is the same verse our kids are memorizing in KidLife. This is intentional because with a family integrated worship model, we are learning the truths of God’s Word together. Everyone can memorize these verses, and reading them aloud together not only helps in our memorization, but it unites us around God’s Word.

Family Worship: This verse is very familiar to your kids if they are actively attending KidLife. Read it together and even ask them to recite it to you when they have it memorized. Use the very helpful hand motions (created by one of our KidLife teachers, Tristan Tyler) found in the KidLife section on the App.

SONGS OF REJOICING

Church Gathering: These songs are intended to express our joy in the Lord. They are songs we sing about God to God that also help us meditate and think about the goodness of God. Again, these are songs that are selected because they connect to the theme of the sermon. Have you noticed the box surrounding a Scripture reference above the lyrics as we sing? That’s because we selected songs that go hand in hand with Scripture and that Scripture reference is the truth in which we sing.

Family Worship: See the Songs of Praise section above.

PRAYER OF THANKS

Church Gathering: This prayer is a simple “Thank You God” for all that he has done for us. We know we sing because of Him and Him alone! Again, take the time at your seat to thank the Lord for all that He has done for you. 

Family Worship: See the Prayer of Adoration and Confession section above.

THE APOSTLES’ CREED:

Church Gathering: As we read the Apostles’ Creed together, we will briefly learn about the different statements that it contains while proclaiming the truths behind what each one of us must believe for ourselves. Read more about why we are reading the Apostles’ Creed Together on Sundays from this previous Blog Post.

Family Worship: It takes one minute (if that) to read through the Apostles’ Creed. This is instilling truths of Scripture into your children, whom we pray will one day proclaim these truths for themselves. It’s written in a way to easily understand and memorize.

CLARITY: There are two portions of the Apostles’ Creed that we have slightly changed due to the change of meaning of words over time. 

The initial Apostles’ Creed stated that Jesus descended into hell. The Bible does not teach this, nor was this the intent of the original writers of the Creed. They were referring to Jesus’ death into the grave, intentionally confirming that Jesus actually died and was not just in a coma or deep sleep. Thus, we have modified the Creed to state “He descended to the dead”.

The initial Apostles’ Creed referred to the global Christian church as the “Holy Catholic Church”. Of course, we read the word “Catholic” and immediately think of the denomination. But the word originally referred to the church as a whole, not the denomination. There is much the present day Catholic church does and believes that is completely against the teachings of Scripture. For clarity’s sake, we have modified the Creed to state “the holy Christian Church” to refer to believers from all times and all places since the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

PARTICIPATION IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH

Church Gathering: This portion of our liturgy is to serve as a reminder of how we, as members of Grace Life Church, can participate in the life and ministry of the church. This includes giving, serving, and gathering outside of our Sunday morning gathering. And let’s be honest, church announcements can become mundane if we fail to see the importance of the local church in the life of every believer! Use this time in the gathering to write your check, give online or through our app, and to register for upcoming events.

Family Worship: While you don’t need to labor on all that is going on in the church during your family worship time, it is good to take a moment and pray for the people of Grace Life Church. Pray for the Elders and leaders, pray for friends, and pray for the Lord to build His church. This is a great addition to your Saturday family worship as you prepare to gather with the church the next day.

PRAYER OF SUPPLICATION

Church Gathering: A prayer of supplication is making our requests known to God (Philippians 4:6). During this moment of prayer, we are asking the Lord to open our eyes to His Word (Psalm 119:8) and to bless the gifts we have generously and cheerfully given to the gospel mission of our church (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).

Family Worship: See the Prayer of Adoration and Confession section above.

A SERMON FROM GOD’S WORD TO GOD’S PEOPLE

Church Gathering: The preaching of God’s Word is the central focus of the gathering of God’s people. We gather to hear from God by studying what He has said in His Word. We do not gather to hear from a mere man and his opinion or to hear a relevant message that intentionally celebrates self. We gather to hear the words of God! This is why we are committed to Expository Preaching. Read more about Expository Preaching in this previous blog post. 

Family Worship: Use this time in your family worship to read from a passage of Scripture. It doesn’t have to be the sermon text, you can just begin in the book of Matthew and read a few verses. This is what my family is currently doing. We read roughly 10-20 verses every evening. It will take us two months to read through Matthew’s Gospel account, but this allows for pasuses to answer questions or to refer back to what we read the night before. 

Each week, we include the upcoming sermon text so you can read ahead of time. Come each Sunday having already read the sermon text!

SONG OF RESPONSE

Church Gathering: This song is intended to sing in response to what we have just heard from God’s Word. We are singing the truth of the Scripture we just worked through. This is also a time for you to respond to the Holy Spirit’s work in your heart. Maybe you need to confess a sin that the Holy Spirit convicted you of during the sermon. Maybe you need to take a next step in your walk with the Lord. Maybe you need to pray with someone in the church. This is the time to respond to the Holy Spirit.

Family Worship: See the Prayer of Adoration and Confession section above.

DISMISSAL:

Church Gathering: As we close out our gathering, Pastor Ben will remind us one last time of why we gather and what we have just learned. The dismissal is a reminder that we will gather again next Sunday, as long as the Lord has not called us home. It serves as a reminder that our worship does not end, but continues throughout the week! We live each day for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Family Worship: As you close out your family worship time, remind your family to worship the Lord your God and serve Him only. Remind them of how much you love them and how much Jesus loves them! Remind them that all of life is worship.

The intention behind The New Middleburg Liturgy is to focus our hearts on our God. To see Him and known Him. To worship Him in all things. This is my heart for you and I pray you will behold the greatness of our God!

Let me close by praying this prayer over our church family from Colossians 1:9-14:

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 

By His Grace,

Pastor Matt

Preaching in the Old Testament

Written by MattMacNaughton on . Posted in The Church. No Comments on Preaching in the Old Testament

* This post is part 2 of a series on Expository Preaching in the Local Church, where we are taking a look at the meaning of “Expository Preaching”, its Biblical precedence, and the importance of Expository Preaching in the life of our church. Read part one here.

I’ve been enamored in my recent reading of the gospel accounts. As I’ve read through Mark’s Gospel account, I’m intentionally focusing on how Jesus responded to the culture, lived amongst his disciples, and spoke to the gathering crowds. There is so much we can learn from the recorded history of Jesus’ time on the earth He created.

One very teachable moment comes in Matthew 4 when Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, is being tempted by the Devil. Satan throws three temptations at Jesus: turn a stone to bread, jump from a balcony, and fall down and worship him. The intentions of the three temptations are what the Devil hurled at Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden in Genesis 3 and what he continues to hurl at us today.

As Jesus models for us how to fight and flee temptation, His immediate response to the temptations come directly from God’s Word. He fights temptation by wielding the Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). Charles Spurgeon states, 

“Jesus used Scripture to battle Satan’s temptation, not some elaborate spiritual power inaccessible to us. Jesus fought this battle as fully man, and He drew on no “special resources” unavailable to us. “Out flashed the sword of the Spirit: our Lord will fight with no other weapon. He could have spoken new revelations, but chose to say, ‘It is written.’”

Jesus understood the Bible is sufficient in all things.

The Bible is sufficient in all things, meaning, the Bible is enough to equip us to know God, to serve Him, and to honor Him in all things. The Bible is sufficient for our work life and home life. It is sufficient in our holiness. It is sufficient in the conduct of our church. It is sufficient in fighting sin and temptation. It is sufficient in our preaching as well. 

In order to understand what preaching is all about, one must establish what the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament, says about the proclamation of the Word of God.

The Old Testament is often neglected when it comes to preaching and Bible study. Many say it is outdated or that it does not apply to the church, but they have greatly missed the importance of the Old Testament which happens to have the same goal as preaching: pointing the world to Christ. Peter Adam states, “On many occasions when God spoke, His intention was not that His words would constitute revelation to the original audience, but that they would also serve a revelation for future generations.” (Speaking God’s Words: A Practical Theology of Preaching)

In other words, If God wanted it written down, then the Word of God needs to be heard. The Old Testament may be filled with a long list of genealogies and chapters full of Priestly rituals, but the message that it contains needs to be preached. This section will contain examples from the Old Testament on preaching. 

The Example of Moses

Moses lived a very interesting life. He spent his first forty years in the palace of Pharaoh, the next forty years herding sheep for his father-in-law, and the next forty leading a bitter people to a land God promised them. He saw God work powerful miracles first hand and even saw the back of God on Mount Sinai. He may have led the children of Israel out of Egypt, but Moses should be attributed a title that he rarely receives: preacher. Though he never had a church building and never had a personal office to use for studying, Moses “has the distinction of being the first preacher whose ministry is described to us”. (Adam, 39)

Peter Adam mentions four aspects of Moses’ ministry. First, Moses spoke for God. Second, Moses then wrote down everything God told him. Third, Moses read the Words of God to the people of Israel. And fourth, Moses preached. Adam establishes through the examination of Moses’ life that preaching was not just getting up in front of a crown and speaking. It involves understanding God’s Word. 

Moses was the man who stood between God and His people. Moses was the one who relayed God’s message to them. God established Moses to be the leader of the Hebrew nation and therefore Moses spoke for God. And when Moses received God’s calling, he understood that God wanted him to speak to the people because he was concerned that the people would not believe what he said and that the people would not be able to understand him due to his “slow tongue” (Ex 3:13, 4:10). Once Moses received God’s words, he realized the importance of writing them down. Not only did he write them down, he saw how valuable they were to the people of Israel and read the Words of God to them (Ex 24:7; Dt 31:9, 32:44). Moses performed these three steps before he expounded on God’s Word. 

Preachers today can learn from his example. Explaining the Scriptures should be the last thing they do. Moses made sure he understood what God was saying before he proclaimed to the people of Israel God’s Word. Once Moses began preaching, there are three sections to his sermons that every preacher should follow. First, there is an exposition, then there is an application, and last, there is an exhortation to the hearers. These three aspects of Moses’ preaching ministry are clearly evident in his sermons (Dt 1:5, 5:1-21, 29). Moses’ role as preacher helps establish the Biblical idea of preaching. “Indeed, it is possible to see Moses’ ministry as the foundation of all Old Testament ministry of the Word.” (Adam, 40)

Of interesting note, Jesus’ Scriptural response to Satan in the Wilderness in Matthew 4 comes from three of Moses’ sermons found in Deuteronomy.

Other Old Testament Examples

Moses is not the only Old Testament preacher whose ministry can help establish the role of preaching in the Old Testament. Prophets such as Elijah and Ezra both preached what God had given them to say and their recipients understood that what they were speaking was truth from God (1 Ki 17:2; Ezra 7:11; Neh 8:1-4). Ezra was clearly devoted to the Word of God. Ezra’s position as priest meant that people would come to him as their mediator to God. But people flocked to him to hear the Word of God (Neh 8:13). They wanted to understand what it said. They wanted to hear it read and they knew Ezra understood the importance of God’s law. 

Isaiah, another Old Testament prophet, is probably the most well-known of all the prophets. He prophesied of the coming Messiah and “part of Isaiah’s ministry of the word is to point forward to the great ministry of the Word that will be the preaching of the gospel to the nations”. Isaiah’s preaching was focused on Christ and His role as Messiah. His intended purpose for his preaching was to point his listeners to the coming Messiah. Just as God gave Isaiah this message, God has given preachers today a message very similar to Isaiah’s: Christ is coming, so be prepared! Preachers today must focus their message on Christ, just as Isaiah did.

Preaching is an extraordinary task. It is a joy to stand in front of God’s People and deliver a message from God’s Word. The sermons preached at Grace Life must be from God’s Word, because only God’s Word is sufficient. Expository preaching understands the text drives the sermon. And our response to expository preaching must be the same as the people in Nehemiah 8:1-3; “Bring us the Book!”

And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. – Nehemiah 8:1–3