He is risen, he is risen indeed, was how the early church greeted each other. Consider 1 Corinthians 15 and Paul’s reminder to a church that believed in Christ’s resurrection but had started doubting their own.

What is Pentecost actually about? It’s often hijacked as a prooftext for a required second baptism in the Spirit, or ripped out of its redemptive-historical context altogether. Consider Acts 2 to recover what Pentecost actually accomplished.

Even in marriage, selfishness creeps in, and asking forgiveness only makes the relationship stronger. Consider Romans 6 and what it means that someone united to Christ by baptism simply cannot go on living in sin.

How many of us love the satisfaction of finishing a project we started? Consider John 10 and the confession’s teaching on particular atonement, Christ finishing exactly what he set out to do for exactly the people he died for.

Spirituality outside the church has become self-help ideology dressed up in New Age language. Consider Paul’s instructions for orderly worship in 1 Corinthians 14 to recover what worshipping in spirit and truth actually looks like.

Two questions remain before we leave this chapter on Christ the Mediator: not just what Christ did, but who he did it for. Consider the confession’s teaching on definite atonement and how Old Testament believers were saved by a Christ not yet come.

Forty years ago Neil Postman warned that television was turning our brains to mush, training us to prefer entertainment over substance. That same caution applies to the Corinthians’ obsession with tongues, a gift Paul insists has to serve the church’s understanding, not just its excitement.

Think of the comfort of knowing a friend is praying for you, really taking the time to understand what you’re facing. Consider the confession’s teaching on Christ’s ongoing intercession for his people, a far greater comfort than any human friend’s prayers.

This is an exciting season for the church, growing not just spiritually but in number, to the point of needing more chairs and more communion cups. This inauguration of new deacons works through what the office is actually for.

Every week at the Lord’s Supper we look back to the cross, but the confession pushes us to also look at what the ascended Christ is doing right now. Consider the ongoing, present ministry of Christ from heaven.