Category: Lord’s Day Liturgy

These posts are usually Exhortations to Confession or Meditations for Communion that went with the Lord’s Day Liturgy of Trinity Evangel Church.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Unabashed about His Brothers

Most modern writing advice argues against using adverbs. I’m going to use some intentionally.

It is—actually, amazingly, astonishingly—good to think about the kind of people Jesus associates with. He eats and drinks with the likes of us. He communes with the “such were some of you”s (1 Corinthians 6:11).

Christ’s suffering informed His sympathy; He took on flesh, He knows our weaknesses, He was tempted as we are (Hebrews 4:15). His suffering leads to our sanctification, and our sanctification has the same source as Jesus’ sanctification. Jesus doesn’t just get us, He owns us.

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers (Hebrews 2:10–11 ESV)

We are not to be ashamed of Jesus and His words (Luke 9:26). We are not to be ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16). But when we are tempted to hold it down about our relationship to Jesus, that’s our problem, not because Jesus has any problems.

And so, if anyone had quality justification for distance, it would be Jesus distancing Himself from us. We have problems. We have not recognized and represented the worth of His name. Instead, He remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13), and He is unabashed in calling us His brothers.

“Did you hear what he said? Us Lions. That means him and me. Us Lions. That’s what I like about Aslan. No side, no stand-offishness. Us Lions. That meant him and me.” (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Across Columns

Jesus came for losers. The gospel is good for the outcast, the broken, the sinners, the “others.”

But let us add three more qualifications.

First, this does not mean that men in positions of power cannot be saved. Jesus said it is harder for rich men to be saved (Luke 18:25), but not because He has to do more for them. It’s because, from a circumstantial point of view, they are less likely to realize their need.

Second, this does not mean that all men in loser positions can easily be saved. Resentment and envy have destroyed the souls of as many Have Nots as have greed and pride destroyed the souls of the Haves.

Third, this does not mean that men who are saved will necessarily remain in their loser position. I have been reading a new book called Loser Theology. It has some good observations. It does address the superficial ways Christians have defined godliness, as in, always the loser in the world’s eyes.

But remember how the Word of Christ refers to Christians. We are saved sinners, that’s always true, but typically called “saints.” Even the Corinthians got this label (1 Corinthians 1:2). We are called the redeemed. By God’s grace we move across columns:

  • from lost to found
  • from sick to sound, unhealthy to healthy
  • from sinners to saints
  • from unrighteous to pursuing the obedience of faith
  • from humble to glory

This humble dependence on God through faith really adds up. He came because we were far away, but now we’ve been brought near. He saw us dead in our sin, and chose us to make us alive and make us His handiwork.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

You Have Been Served

Jesus is the “Son of Man,” and He identified Himself as such (Luke 5:24). The title has quite a history. It is difficult to carry all the stones out of the quarry of its meaning.

Nearer to the end of His ministry Jesus did lift at least one heavy rock and show it to His disciples. He needed to confront their short-sighted vision of authority. In Matthew 20 He talked about the behavior of true greatness. He said that whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant (Matthew 20:26). Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave (Matthew 20:27).

Then He connected that to His own authority and His own activity. In verse 28 He said, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus’ service was not passive. He initiated. Jesus’s service was only responsive insofar as He saw the need, but not responsive as in He waited around to be asked. Jesus’ service was obviously not easy. The ransom required His blood. The life of spending oneself for others is a model that the master intended His disciples to follow. Also His ransom is our redemption, our reconciliation, our cause of rejoicing.

The bread and the wine are a call to remember that you have been served. They are a call to joy. And they are a call to follow the Son of Man.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Ridē Fidē

Whatever human agency we have only works because God is sovereign. We work hard, but only by God’s grace (1 Corinthians 15:10). The mind of a man plans his ways but the Lord directs his steps (Proverbs 19:21). Work heartily for the Lord (Colossians 3:23), by all means, for it is the Lord who works and wills in you (Philippians 2:13).

Earlier this year Philip talked about vive fide (here). It means: live by faith. Faith acknowledges that we can’t actually see all things, let alone be sovereign over all the things that happen in our lives. We must live by “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

As we are at the starting line of another school year, I would like to modify vive fide just a bit.

There’s a word I’ve heard a few times recently that is an appropriate analogy for our lives on this terrestrial ball: ride. We are on a ride, like it or not. Again this is no argument against yielded hustle, and also our steps are sovereignly ordained. So let us ride by faith.

Call it: ridē fidē.

That’s not accurate Latin. The Latin word in proper form would be equitā, as in, ride a horse (equus). Our English word “ride” has more Germanic connection. Whatever.

Here we go. Make sure the lap belt of Scripture is secure. Raise your hands in the air (if you want). And ride by faith.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

A New Reproach

Jesus, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. (Hebrews 13:12 ESV)

Jesus was treated as the unclean, Jesus was cast out, so that He could strengthen our hearts by grace.

We are with Him. He removed one mark of disgrace and has given us a new one.

Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. (Hebrews 13:13 ESV)

By His wounds we are healed, and then made stronger to shine as lights, even when the darkness . We’ve been reconciled to God through Christ, and now treated as strangers by those in the world. We’ve been forgiven of our sins, which to those still in their sins increases animosity. We’ve been given new life, and still we hope in a better and lasting city.

“Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess His name” (Hebrews 13:15).

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Against Sowing Discord

Drawe one waye. Pull in the same direction. Be likeminded. These are all ways to think about Philippians 2:2.

We want to finish this focus before frustration sets up, but here are a few final thoughts for this round of reminders.

Melody and harmony. We need the sopranos to kick butt and hit the high notes, we don’t need everyone to sing soprano. We don’t even need everyone to hit their harmony pitch precisely; get close. In other words, there’s some variety and even misses that won’t mess us up. But we do have to follow the lyrics, keep the same tempo, and be on the same page.

Seeds of discord. Proverbs 6 says a vile man “spreads contentions” (verse 14, LSB). A few verses later it lists six things that the Lord hates, even seven that are an abomination to Him. The last one is “one who spreads strife among brothers” (verse 19, LSB). Or another translation, “one who sows discord” (ESV). These seeds will take root. Be careful what you sow.

Trinitarian unity. Jesus prayed that His disciples would be one, even as He and His Father are one (John 17:22). This is not only part of our joy, it’s part of the way the world knows we’re loved by the Father (John 17:23).

As we have the mind of Christ and don’t grumble or dispute with each other, we shine as lights in a crooked and twisted generation (Philippians 2:14-15).

Let us drawe one waye.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

The Joy of the Fisherman

Peter’s impulse was right and his application was wrong. In Luke 5 when the catch of fish was breaking their nets his own pride was broken. Next to Jesus, the Holy One with more-than-human knowledge, Peter confessed his sinfulness. He wanted Jesus to go away from him. Practically, did Peter expect Jesus just to step out of the boat? More seriously, Peter did not grasp Jesus’ purpose.

Sinners should recognize their sinfulness. We are all sinners (Romans 3:23), and anyone who says he isn’t makes God a liar (1 John 1:10). And if God wanted nothing to do with sinners, He has the power, and the justification, to stay far away.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus came like a physician for the sick: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32).

We need this reminder because 1) we get the idea that our sin is beyond what Jesus can deal with. And/or 2) we get the idea that another’s sin is beyond what Jesus can deal with.

It’s like saying, “I know He’s a fisherman, but have you seen me? I’m a fish!” Right. Exactly. Jesus was a fisher of men, knowing full well what sort of stink He’d be dealing with.

So we rejoice that He’s caught us in His net of grace. We rejoice that He’s called us to catch others with good news. We rejoice that we do not need to be afraid. The joy of the Fisherman is our strength.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

Drawe One Waye

Be likeminded. That’s Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 2:2, and it’s been the theme of these recent exhortations. Christians, and Christians in a local church, should think the same way.

In Paul’s original letter he used a form of the verb think both at the beginning and end of the verse, and this type of thinking has an emphasis on attitude, disposition, leaning.

There is another word, an adjective, in Philippians 2:20 that means equal-souled, or same-minded. William Tyndale not only translated that word as “lyke mynded,” the Oxford English Dictionary attributes the English word to Tyndale in his 1526 translation of the New Testament.

Though Tyndale invented the word likeminded, and while the KJV did later use likeminded in Philippians 2:2, Tyndale saw a different way to express the exhortation. Here’s his unique, but vivid, image:

fulfyll my love that ye drawe one waye

This wasn’t just his rough draft. He kept it this way through his final revision in 1534.

Drawe one waye. It is the picture of pulling together, of pulling in the same direction. Imagine a team of horses pulling a carriage, or oxen yoked together pulling the plow.

Likeminded is great, though perhaps a static place. Drawe one waye is dynamic, a moving and active pursuit.

Drawe one waye was the theme of our L2L leaders retreat, and it’s going to be a theme for a while in TEC communication.

A stallion running beside the team may be fast and beautiful, but no help. A workhorse harnessed in but always dragging his stiff neck elsewhere makes the whole thing harder.

Beloved, drawe one waye.

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Lord's Day Liturgy

The Defining Feature

Jesus came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43). He is at the center of that kingdom, which is because He is the King. All authority has been given to Him, He commissioned us as His disciples to announce the good news to all nations, and we pray for His kingdom to come to earth, which includes His return, which He promised. Amen!

How do we proclaim? There is more than one way, but Paul wrote that “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

We do declare the good news with words, we also demonstrate our taste of the good news when we join together at the Lord’s Supper.

The kingdom spreads not by skin color, but by the Spirit indwelling. The kingdom spreads not by earthly citizenship, but among the citizens who are believers, with effect on their citizenship. There are parts of Christ’s kingdom that are here, local churches are outposts, and when we say, “Maranatha, come, Lord Jesus,” we want the fulness of Christ’s light and glory and fellowship.

To eat and drink together at this table, resisting division and selfishness as plagued the church in Corinth, is part of our proclamation. The good news has come to us, the kingdom is spreading as yeast in the loaf, and we are proclaiming our salvation and blessings through Christ’s sacrifice as the defining feature of our lives. Amen!

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Lord's Day Liturgy

An Oar to the Head

I am giving a short series of exhortations related to being likeminded. In Philippians 2:2 Paul urges the believers to think the same way, to be thinking on one purpose.

Likemindedness isn’t blind. Likemindedness can distinguish friends from enemies, and can distinguish friends who are doing great and friends who aren’t. There is a difference between someone shooting a cannon trying to sink our boat from another boat, and someone on our boat not rowing their oar as fast as we want them to. We share the same purpose with the guy a couple seats up, even when we’re tempted to smack in the head with our oar.

Likemindedness and maturity should be in balance. Likemindedness is both a sign of maturity and a strategy for getting more mature. As a believer in the body matures, he will be able:

  • to see more of what’s wrong
  • to see more of what could be wrong that isn’t, and be thankful
  • to speak clearly to the person(s) that can actually do something about what’s wrong, and not just spread grumbling
  • to do the first three FOR everyone’s increase in blessing, and not just for the fleeting cathartic feeling of scapegoating

Other examples: teenagers with their parents, employees with their boss, citizens with their government when it’s pursuing righteousness.

In our recent study through the temptations of Jesus, remember that Satan tried to divide Persons of the Trinity. He didn’t succeed, but the church is another target. Of course he knows that if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand (Mark 3:25).