Selected Scriptures

September 2, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

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The sermon starts at 16:55 in the audio file.

Or, The Courage That Is Not Mundane

This morning I want to remind us about some of what we have, and how we came to have it, and what we must do daily to preserve it and press on. We live in a time of abundant blessings, both spiritual and physical, and we owe them all to Christ. Christ Himself is also the fountain of many faithful Christians who have worked good works from which we benefit.

In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises one character asks another how he went bankrupt. “Two ways,” the man replies. “Gradually and then suddenly.” Of course the “suddenly” only seemed sudden because he wasn’t paying attention to the “gradually.” Long, slow, gradual forces work both for bad and for good. We would profit more from this process if we paid more attention to our history, and in particular to those who did their daily work in the name of the Lord.

Even with minimal attention, it is hard not to be edified by considering the progress, not of Man, but of Christ’s salvation of men and His grace through them into the world for the last two millenniums (or at least since 1066). Much of that progress has come at a great cost in the midst of serious conflicts.

We don’t get to choose if we’re in a battle or not. God established an antithesis on earth, a hostile dividing line between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. We cannot get out of the fight, we do not choose whether or not to be soldiers. We can choose what type of soldiers to be.

But, who really wants to fight? We all want to win, or most of us do. Those who are Christians want Jesus to win, but we have to think about how involved we’re going to be.

We’re often a fearful people. We fear criticism or maybe worse, being pushed to the margin. We hate when others condemn us by ignoring us. We fear loss of reputation, loss of connections. We fear that others may recognize that we don’t know what we’re talking about. We fear that we might mess up. We fear that we might have to change something, suffer for something.

We need courage.

Finding Courage – The Fruit of Conviction

But courage doesn’t come easy. Courage is not an ornament that can be borrowed or purchased and hung on a branch. It isn’t about education; just reading a book won’t give you courage. It isn’t about money; having a lot of money can’t give you courage. It isn’t about status; some of the most panicky people are popular. It is all about heart.

To be courageous means to demonstrate conviction at the time of a decision. Courage rises from conviction. Courage is like fruit; it grows out of deep roots. We need to have our hearts filled first before we’re willing to face difficulties, let alone fight enemies.

Why aren’t there more modern day stories of Christian courage? There are so few courageous Christians because there are so few Christians with any deep, thorough, burning passions. Consider: what are you doing daily/weekly to develop your life-system beliefs, the way you believe that the world works, who is in charge of this spinning mass of problems, what you’re supposed to be doing on it? Text messaging, Facebook stalking, and World of Warcraft isn’t securing the ballast of your ship.

Defining Courage – A Fullness of Heart

The roots of conviction grow out of the soil of our hearts.

The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, meaning heart, so courage is “heart-age,” the quality of having heart, having inner strength. To encourage someone is to give them heart, to put into and fill up their heart. To discourage is to take away from their heart, to drill a drainage hole in the bottom of the tank.

That means that a lack of courage is not first an external problem when faced with an[...]

Selected Scriptures

August 26, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Jim Martin

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The sermon starts at 15:25 in the audio file.

Or, When Potlucks Aren’t Enough

Ephesians 4:1-32

August 19, 2018

Evening Service

Jonathan Sarr

Download the Kids’ Korner.

1 Corinthians 12:27

August 19, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 16:00 in the audio file.

Or, To Be and Build the Church

As I’ve described the last couple Sunday mornings, each summer our pastors take a couple months of meetings to review our previous ministry year and make prayerful plans for the upcoming year. We also take time to look back and look ahead with our small group leaders and their wives at our annual retreat, and we held our retreat at the beginning of last week.

Usually I choose a theme for the retreat, starting each of our sessions with a short devotion before getting into our discussion, and often the retreat theme rolls into a theme for the upcoming year.

For 2017-18, the theme was “All Are Yours.” It came from 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

The phrase, “all are yours,” is reality, and Paul used it to inform/remind the Christians that they didn’t need to divide themselves based on their favorite preacher; all the preachers of the word of the cross were theirs. More than preachers, the space-time continuum was theirs, and is ours. It’s a great and categorical-expanding truth, a structural concept that changes how we look at the world. It’s like getting bookshelves for the first time and finally having a place to put things. Believe that “all are yours,” and boasting is no longer limited to how far one man can take you. Believe it, and one’s place in the world becomes a constant opportunity to receive in thanks.

We eventually worked through 1 Corinthians 3 throughout the year and saw the theme in context. And the same will happen again, Lord willing, this upcoming year.

The theme is “You Are the Body of Christ” and it comes from 1 Corinthians 12:27.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

This is more indicative, more statement of reality, more truth to be believed. Chapter 12 begins Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts, teaching that goes through love in chapter 13 and tongues in particular in chapter 14. The Corinthians could compete over anything, including their favorite gospel preacher as well as their spiritual gifts. But they missed that gifts are given, and these gifts are of the nature that they come with strings, or better ligaments, attached.

There is one Spirit that gives a variety of gifts, there is one Lord for whom the gifts should be used, there is one energy by which the gifts are exercised (1 Corinthians 12:4-6), and there is one body that all the gifts benefit. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). There are many members, a whole lot of parts, and they are all connected.

The identity of each individual member is given by God, and the identity of the whole body is given by God: You are the body of Christ. This is indicative, to be received and believed. This is identity, to be cherished and embodied. Though we may know it as fact, I pray that we get it stuck in our minds, that we remember and meditate on it. When we wonder what we should do, may we start with who we are. You are the body of Christ.

In chapter 14 Paul exhorts our attentiveness to the body.

Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. (1 Corinthians 14:12)

This relates to our trellis talk from last Lord’s day. Be abounding, be overflowing in your effort to strengthen one another. This is the way of the Spirit. This is the imperative that follows the indicative.

In a pastoral effort to structure our corporate lives together in such a way as to promote the embodying and edifying of the body, here are some of the sp[...]

Ephesians 4:11-16

August 12, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

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The sermon starts at 16:40 in the audio file.

Or, It Does the Body of Christ Good

It is always easy to forget why we’re doing what we’re doing. Sometimes we even forget what we’re supposed to do, which, could be sinful, or it could be immature, or it could be because we’re busy trying to do a lot of things. You might forget to put the salt in one of the fourteen dishes you’re making for a big party, not because you’re malicious but because you were stirring a lot of pots.

It’s also easy to forget that we are disciples of Christ, not so much in terms of our identity as disciples but in terms of our mission as disciples, though we should tie our identity to our mission as closely as possible. Our tagline at TEC is “Reformed and still reforming disciples of Christ.” At times we’ve focused on what it means to be Reformed and also why we believe we need to keep reforming. We are gathered in the name of Christ, we confess our faith in Christ, we enjoy communion with Christ. Christ is Lord. And we are His disciples.

Disciples are not less than, but should not be satisfied only as, learners. In Jesus’ day, and as we read the record of His own master plan in the Gospels, disciples were followers. They listened and they watched and they interacted and they imitated and they obeyed. Jesus called men to be “with Him,” and this was not because He just didn’t have the technology available to send them an e-newsletter.

We are followers of Christ, followers of the followers of Christ, that is our identity. And we work, with words and with our lives, to see more people become followers of Christ. That is our mission. We are still called to make disciples. This is the calling of every Christian, not just some. A church is an assembly of disciples, learning how to follow Christ better and being encouraged and equipped to help others follow Christ better. Our discipleship efforts happen within the church, not just getting someone into the church. The goal is not merely conversion to Christ but conformity to Christ, to be “complete in Christ” (Colossians 1:28). Those who are being conformed to Christ are also building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:16).

The Discipleship Target

The following paradigm is simple, but profitable for equipping the saints for the work of ministry. We are all somewhere on the path of Christlikeness, and so we all need encouragement and training for our part of the work. Many of you have seen this target before, a shepherding bull’s-eye.

There are three levels, three general contexts.

Evangelism

The evangel is the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection for all who will ever believe. We are, Trinity Evangel Church. Evangelizing is telling others that news. We have a message of forgiveness, a message of reconciliation ultimately with God, but even with other image-bearers of God. Those who hate God hate those who represent God, so relationships are messed up vertically and horizontally. This is the largest, outermost circle on the target because this is where most people in the world are.

The message of disciples is not first a message of culture changing, it is a message of salvation, purchased on a cross. When that message is believed, it turns a person’s life and world upside down.

Evangelism does not require memorizing an outline, but it does require courage to tell others that there is only one way to peace with God. This evangelism, for most of us, happens “as we are going,” with our kids, with our neighbors, with those we befriend as we do our work. It happens even in the church, since not all who profess Christ actually are possessed by Christ.

Edification

When a man believes, he is like a newborn baby. This is t[...]

Galatians 5:1-26

August 5, 2018

Evening Service

Sean Higgins

Download the Kids’ Korner.

Or, Faith Working through Love

Galatians 5, or at least the second half of it, is perhaps what Galatians is known for. In other eras of church history, say, the 16th Century Reformation, Galatians was more needed for sake of it’s teaching on justification by faith alone. Martin Luther loved it; his love was to such a degree that he called St. Paul’s epistle to the Galatians “my Katherine von Bora,” and that was after saying that Luther would give up almost everything to have her. In a day when the church taught salvation by faith, not alone, but along with other measurable, external deeds (such as circumcision, Sabbath keeping, Law keeping), Paul’s teaching hits the target.

There is a connection between law-keepers, or at least those who talk about keeping certain parts of the law, and those who don’t love one another. The freedom that comes by faith is a freedom that results in loving others. The slavery that comes by adhering to the law as the way to please God manifests itself in our attitude toward others. This is the connection between the first half of chapter 5 and the second half. I had not noticed it until this week.

We emphasize the Spirit over law, and we emphasize walking in the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. But spiritual productivity is relational. We are made to work and take dominion and get things done. We bear God’s image as we bear fruit in our labor. But, and this is important for the task-oriented among us, our life in God’s Spirit is one that brings corporate peace, not just internal, personal peace. We are not saved by faith and works, but we are not finished until faith is working through love. Without faith, there won’t be love, there is only law, and the law continues to point out that we can’t produce love on our own apart from the Spirit.

Running Freely (verses 1-15)

In chapter four Paul contrasted the free woman and the slave woman, Sarah and Hagar, and used them and their offspring to illustrate our nature as children of promise. We do not have what we have because we took it, we have what we have by God’s grace.

Free from the Law (verses 1-6)

Therefore, we should not return to the practice of depending on ourselves. That is returning to slavery. For freedom Christ has set us free, which is both a “Duh” principle and a defining truth. Christ did not set us free so that we could choose to go back under the law, He set us free so that we could be different from the inside out.

The language is devastating. Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, as in believing that that a ceremony will make God more happy with you, then Christ will be of no advantage to you. The works make Christ worthless, and if Christ is worthless, then there is no salvation.

Then Paul repeats a previous point, that it doesn’t work to single out just one all-pleasing work. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision, as in the man who asks circumcision into his heart, that he is obligated to keep the whole law. It’s more than all or nothing, it’s all or Christ. Christ is all, or we must keep all the law. We haven’t, and we can’t, keep all the law, and even the attempt rips us away from Christ. You are severed from Christ, who you would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace. This is not a comment about losing one’s salvation, but a spatial way of describing how near one can be and yet still miss by a mile.

It’s the flesh, the natural man, that wants the law. But through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

To say that circumcision doesn’t count for anything is fighting words, at least to many in Paul[...]

Acts 2:42-47

August 5, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

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The sermon starts at 15:35 in the audio file.

Or, Attending to Gladness and Simplicity of Heart

God reveals many descriptions of what He wants His people to be, both in terms of individual believers as well as a Body of believers. We are a small local body made up of individual members, and the pastors are always considering the health of the body and how each part is working, whether properly or not (see Ephesians 4:12-16).

Another image used to describe us is that of a vine. There is a great book called The Trellis and the Vine, a book that highlights the biblical concept of God’s people as a living, growing organism. This contrasts with the structured, possibly static, organization. It is the church people who are alive; the church programs are not. And yet a growing, stretching, productive vine is benefited by a trellis.

The pastors still think in these terms/categories, even if we don’t refer to the book as much as we used to. Each summer we take multiple meetings to review our trellis for sake of examining the health of the vine and considering whether or not the current trellis is supporting the health of the vine as best as possible. We usually have explicit discussions with our small group leaders as well, for the sake of getting broader perspective/feedback as well as sharing responsibility.

The elders have been thinking, talking, planning, praying, and we’ll do even more over the next week as we make final preparations for our leaders retreat. In our discussions thus far, we’ve agreed that there are many reasons to give thanks for God’s grace among us and also that we can excel still more. On one hand we have high participation, and on the other hand, what percentage of the vine shouldn’t be expected to participate? Not every part of the body does the same job or gets used as much as other parts, but how many parts don’t need to do their part?

Together at Heart

The final paragraph in Acts 2 has often been seen as a paradigm for churches. I don’t have issues with that, acknowledging that some things will still look different between the newborn-church in Jerusalem and the almost two-thousand year-old expression in Marysville. But there are some descriptions that we should also want to describe us.

Acts 2:42-47

This is everyday life for “all who believed” (verse 44), many of whom had received Peter’s preaching to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (verses 38, 41). The rhythm of their schedules and the focus of their priorities was about being together. This togetherness included meetings and mindset.

Fellowship and breaking of bread happened in person, in an appointed location, at an agreed upon time. Selling their possessions and sharing with those in need required knowing the condition of those in need and bringing the money to them; they had relational proximity. They attended worship in the temple together, they ate in each other’s homes.

But they were also together at heart. Devoting themselves to the apostle’s doctrine provided corporate, not just individual, edification. Together they were in awe. They believed themselves to be together so much so that they helped to pay one another’s expenses. They rejoiced and prayed and praised as one.

They were together, with the same heart and often in the same place. This is only somewhat about attendance and much more about attentiveness. It has something to do with what you put on your calendar but a whole lot more to do with what you care about.

There is a word used twice in the paragraph that describes this commitment. In the ESV it’s the word devoted in verse 42 and the same word is translated as attending in verse 46. Both are not only from the same Greek word, both are in the same Greek form (προσκαρτεροῦντες, a pr[...]

1 Timothy 2:9-10

July 29, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

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The sermon starts at 15:10 in the audio file.

Or, Emotional Idealism as a Menace to Self-Control

When we used to have regular small group meetings just for students, one of the questions that I regularly got asked when I visited, especially the guys’ groups, was some version of this: If you only had one thing you could say to these guys before you died, what would it be?

The apostle Paul gave an inspired one thing to Titus to tell the young men. In Titus 2 he told Titus to “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (verse 1) and then followed it with five verses about what characteristics various groups in the church should be expected and/or trained to exhibit. The older men get six, the older women get four or five (depending on how you count), the younger women get seven, and the younger men get one.

Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

The word translated self-controlled (a form of σωφρονέω) in Titus 2:6 could also be translated “sober-minded” (KJV) or “sensible” (NASB), but these meanings are not really so far apart. Titus was to get the young men to focus on building just one virtue into their lives.

Here is a good working definition: self-control is a mindful restraint of one’s impulses, emotions, and desires. This is from Webster and from the Greek dictionary. The New Oxford Dictionary: “the ability to control one’s emotions and desires or the expression of them in one’s behavior, especially in difficult situations.” Such a definition highlights a couple things.

Self-control comes from within. It is mindful. You use your brain; you think. It is not a state of mindlessness, as in a trance or as in someone else bossing you. Sometimes you don’t want to listen to “Current Your Mind,” you have to remember what “Previous Your Mind” decided, when Previous Your Mind was not so stressed out. It still happens on the inside.

Self-control focuses on within. It is from within that immaturities must be dealt with in order to develop maturity, not just conformity. It is from within that sinful attitudes and wants come, and they are the primary target. The very idea of self-control assumes that you will naturally respond or desire things that are not right or beneficial, and therefore you cannot simply listen to your inner self as if it’s inherently good, you must tell things to, and be the boss of, your inner self.

It would be unmerited to say that a lack of self-control among young men is a modern problem. The fact that Paul isolates this one virtue for younger men almost two-thousand years ago indicates that it has been a problem for millenniums, not just for millennials. When we consider the overall emphasis of the book of Proverbs, written so that young men would get wisdom, I think we can safely say that young men have been idiots for generations.

But look in Titus 2 again. Being self-controlled is urged for the older men as well (verse 2), and it is also part of the training program for young women (verse 5). Since it is the older women who are to train the younger women, we expect that the older women must “likewise” along with the older men have this virtue and know how to exercise it in order to explain and model it for the younger women. Self-control is for everyone.

It is for everyone that is filled with the Spirit (see Galatians 5:23). It is a different Greek word there (ἐγκράτεια), but again, self-control refers to disciplined and defensive forces that protect the inner train from being pulled off the tracks. This is urged and illustrated for all Christians who must run the race of obedient living. It is the point in 1 Corinthians 9 and 10.

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. (1 Corinthians[...]

1 Corinthians 10:11-13

July 22, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 16:25 in the audio file.

Or, Dangerous Lusts of the Blessed

A long time ago I was told (by a successful triathlete who had her own poster) that if you’re serious about running, you don’t talk about going for a “jog,” you go for a run. This does not mean that you must sprint every mile, it does not mean that you must run every stride as hard as you can, but it means that you are serious about the work.

Paul exhorted the Corinthian believers to run to win. It takes self-control. It requires discipline. You cannot win while getting everything you want, even when what you want is reasonable, even when you have religious reasons for what you want. This isn’t a sight-seeing trot with Brazilian meat stations at every quarter-mile marker. Restrain yourself, including your rights, for sake of the race.

Who really wants to do that, though, am I right? Isn’t it easier to open up the bag and snack on a handful of salty, petty criticisms? “That brother/sister needs to grow up already.” Or maybe someone brought in a whole box of a dozen, cream filled gossip donuts. Slander is like a tasty morsel that goes down deep (Proverbs 18:8); it does not increase love handles. Or what about cutting a corner in the race, taking advantage in a business deal because after all, it’s EDB: how Everyone Does Business. Not only does God not mind, He the sovereign God of the system, so He clearly approves.

The church-goers in Corinth must have made similar arguments, and Paul makes a case from the Old Testament scriptures that not all who run, win, and some who wander are lost. In the first 10 verses of chapter 10 Paul shows how the generation of Jews that exited Egypt failed to run well. Though they had received great blessings of deliverance from God they also turned away from God. They stumbled in idolatry, sexual immorality, impatience, and grumbling.

In verses 11-13 Paul moves from teaching by examples to teaching by exhortation. Here we learn things about the benefit of the Old Testament, about humanity, about God Himself, and about types of temptation.

The End Is Near (verse 11)

Verse 6 and verse 11 begin with the same idea: Now these things happened to them as an example. Following verse 6 Paul worked through the types of temptations and sins that caused the exodus generation to stumble in the wilderness. Now in verse 11 and following, gives the reason for the review of the examples.

Reviewing these temptation types is good for us, and God graciously recorded the stories for our benefit: they were written down for our instruction. When it comes to reading the Bible, it’s true that nothing is about us, but it is all for us in one way or another. We get instruction, which is a word (nouthesia) that is more than information, it is “counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct” (BAGD). In some contexts it could be reproof or rebuke. It is warning (Colossians 1:28). The types of temptation we read about admonish us to run a better course. Do we not run better because we do not read better?

We need the instruction because we are those on whom the end of the ages has come. It’s probably better to understand it as “the ends of the ages” (NASB). We (still, almost two-thousand years later) live in a crucial time of history. We run between Christ’s advents. We need to run well.

The point is: get your head on straight. Running is physical but, like all disciplines, it is even more mental. Learn from the example of those who fell before you fall.

Fear When There Is No Fear (verse 12)

Verse 12 is short, it is also the center of Paul’s concern. The examples concentrate on this application: Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

In oth[...]

James 5:1-20

July 15, 2018

Evening Service

Jim Martin

Download the Kids’ Korner.