Trinity Evangel Church

As we've heard on multiple occasions, Sunday is like the fat kid spinning the merry-go-round roundabout on the playground for all the other kids. In this analogy, the other kids are the other days of the week. The kids aren't very interested in how he's going to spin them, as long as it gets accomplished. But, this Considerable Kid has his techniques.

I was talking to Calvin Higgins about baseball pitching techniques. I am as much a sports guy as most of you are Russian. I appreciate the identity, and at times wish that I could identify as such, but the reality is that the identity isn't mine. A pitcher gets the power for the throw not from his arm or shoulder, or even his back. The kinetic energy build up starts in the legs. The pitcher generates mechanical energy in one leg, passes it back and forth, before transferring it through his body, whipping his arm, and into the ball.

In the same way, the Considerable Kid stepping up to the merry-go-round is ready with his technique. He builds his mechanical energy, winds the swing back, transfers to a forward movement, and launches the play-set into a spin.

If we were to zoom in on that final moment of him launching the set, to see what happens when he lets go, that moment is what I'll scratch at today.

Just like the baseball pitch, and the Considerable spin, our Lord's Day Liturgy is structured a specific way, to accomplish a specific result. Last Sunday, Sean talked about our aim in our worship liturgy, as our "progress and joy in the faith."

I'd like to build on that foundation. We are aiming to make progress in our faith, and to increase the joy of our faith, but what does that look like when it happens? What does a community of people who have made and are making progress in the faith look like?

The point of all the energy being put into the spin is for the merry-go-round to spin. Being equipped with what we receive in worshipping the Lord, we are then sent out. We have a considerable blessing here at Trinity Evangel Church. The fundamental, decisive factor in why we love what we have here is God's blessing. Every Sunday His blessing equips us.

But it doesn't equip us in order for us to then sit still on the play-set. That would be like the Considerable Fatty Kid cranking his body back, twisting forward, and right before the launch, he has a sudden jerk and stops the expected spin because everybody was so happy and comfortable on the play-set. "Why would we ruin it? We're having such a good time. It's going to get messy. Let's not risk it."

That would be ridiculous. We're on this thing in order to be spun. We come to church in order to be sent out. The TEC Bubble is a thing. It's comfortable here. Yes, that is one of God's blessings on us. But, we are to be sent out. There are those in our body who's role it is to cultivate and maintain the condition of our community. And then there are those who's role it is to go and build something. We are meant to subdue the earth - to subdue Marysville - under the Lordship of Christ.

A people who are making progress and increasing in the joy of their faith are a people who are not sitting still. They're taking ground. Our Lord's Day battering ram efforts are setting the tone for the rest of our week.

The Bible warns against a lack of enthusiasm. Once Spurgeon was preaching to a sleepy congregation who had eaten too much before the service. When he couldn't get their attention he shouted, "Fire! Fire! Fire!" When they jumped from their seats and asked where it was, he said, "In hell!"

Young people are too often lethargic in their progress because they think they have time. "I have all my life before me. What's the rush?" While the more advanced in age can be lethargic in their progress because they think they don't have much time. "My life is behind me. What's the use?" And so, with a lack of expediency, Christians continue in their lukewarmness.

We are under God's provisional hand here at Trinity Evangel. Livy's analysis about Hannibal's army is something for us to look out for. After multiple victories on the part of the Carthaginians, the solders got confident in the wrong things and grew comfortable and complacent.

The habit of idleness which each day made more seductive, so weakened the fibres of both body and mind that from that time forward it was their past victories that protected them rather than their present strength.

We don't want to be a people that only looks back, grows comfortable and complacent. We want to trust God for his blessings on us as we go and advance.

The Lord's Day equips us for the advancement of our faith. So what does it equip us with? What is the kinetic energy transfer from the Call-to-Worship, through the Cs, and out the Commissioning?

Hebrews Chapter 11 defines and demonstrates a life of faith in different circumstances in response to the call for a life of faith that Chapter 10 gives. If we're going to talk about progress and joy in faith, the second half of Hebrews 10 is not a bad place to get our feet wet.

Hebrews 10:19-25

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

This is our Call-to-Worship, Confession, Consecration, and Communion.

And what we are receiving for each of those things is:

Apart from other things, the blessing that we're receiving from worshipping the Lord is a Confidence of Faith. This is the kinetic energy transfer through our worship service that launches us out.

Our worship creates in us a Confidence of Faith. We then see a pattern of Commissioning in verses 26-39. Verses 26-31 say that in our assurance of faith, we do not go on sinning. And Verses 32-34 say that being enlightened, we endure suffering well. As we go out, we are to be confident when we are under temptations to sin, and trails of suffering.

There is this pattern of Call-to-Commission that we see in Hebrews 10:19-34. And it culminates with the "therefore" in verse 35.

Hebrews 10:35-39

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,

When people shrink back, they do so because they're in an unpleasant place. They're under some kind of pressure where it is easier to give way than hold their ground. They're in a tight, constricted, painful place.

"angh": tight, constricted, painful, strangled, and compressed

We feel squeezed and pressured - with fear or pain - and so we shrink back. We live in an anxious world.

Edwin Friedman, in A Failure of Nerve, presents this sort of culture of chronic anxiety as the thing that destroys institutions - from families, to churches, to nations. He says that "America has become so chronically anxious that our society has gone into an emotional regression."

A downward spiral towards ultimate destruction. He says,

The anxiety is so deep within the emotional processes of our nation that it is almost as though a neurosis has become nationalized.

Friedman was not a believer. But he did point out the truth that the author of Hebrews asserts in this verse.

The phrase "who shrink back and are destroyed" could be better translated as "those of timidity unto destruction." There's a clear connection between the shrinking back - being of timidity - and the destruction that is more direct than just an "and" communicates. One leads to the other.

When we shrink back in timidity, when we are anxious, we are anxious unto destruction. Anxiety brings destruction.

Anxiety manifests itself in our demonstrations of faithlessness. We yield to the pressure of temptations or trials and don't do what we ought, focusing on the frustrations of our circumstance instead of the confidence of our faith.

The author of Hebrews contrasts shrinking back with having faith. Which means, the reason we shrink back in anxiety is due to a lack of faith. We doubt God's promises. (10:36) Doubt is the petri dish in which the culture of anxiety grows. We shrink back from being steadfast and head into destruction when we throw away our confidence. (10:35)

We have received confidence to enter, assurance of faith, unwavering steadfastness, encouragement in communion. Therefore, do not throw it away.

Doubt brings anxiety. Anxiety brings destruction.

Hebrews 10.39

Our worship and liturgy is meant to equip the progress of our faith so that we may hold fast in confidence without any doubt. Our worship brings about an assurance of faith.

So that in our Commissioning, we may be equipped with the sort of faith that brings life everywhere it goes.

The phrase "who have faith and preserve their souls" could also be better translated as "those of faith unto the preservation of their souls." The faith leads to the preservation of the soul. We are not to be timid and cowardly moving backwards. We are to be confident and assured, advancing forward.

There is a wrong way to be confident. In 2017, Sean gave me one of the best rebukes I've ever received, "Your level of confidence doesn't match your level of competence." That could be written on my gravestone. "He had more confidence than competence."

Being confident in ourselves is not the Confidence of Faith that we're after. "Believe in yourself," although is usually said with good intentions, is arguably the worst advice you can receive.

G.K. Chesterton has the famous section in Orthodoxy when he's criticizing "believing in yourself." He said a publisher once commended a person for believing in himself. To which Chesterton replied:

Shall I tell you where the men are who believe most in themselves? For I can tell you. I know of men who believe in themselves more colossally than Napoleon or Caesar. I know where flames the fixed star of certainty and success. I can guide you to the thrones of the Supermen. The men who really believe in themselves are all in the lunatic asylums.

In our day, the lunatic asylums have been let loose. We have men fully confident that they’re women. Women confident that their men. Identity crises everywhere. He goes on.

Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin; complete self-confidence is a weakness.

It's not self-confidence that we have. I've never liked the phrase “Work like an Arminian, sleep like a Calvinist.” Its awfully misguided. Having to rely on yourself and working like God doesn’t control the outcome is extremely discouraging, frightening, and angst-producing. No. Work and sleep like a Calvinist.

Having an assurance of faith in the sovereignty of God is like strapping jet-packs to whatever it is you're doing Monday-Saturday. If God wills it, then what you’re endeavoring to do will work. And if He doesn’t, you’ll be the better for it, and you don't need to be anxious. Your confidence is to be in Him, not in yourself.

Self-confidence is usually a demonstration of a masked lack of confidence. There's a type of assertive brashness that pours out from a pitcher of insecure restlessness. Having to prove your worth or flex your size, in front of others or for your own reassurance, is not confidence. The goal is not to act confident. It’s to be so.

David demonstrates this kind of confidence in Psalm 27, which Jonathan read for us.

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

Psalm 27:3

Though an army encamp against me,

And notice why David has this confidence of faith.

Psalm 27:4

One thing have I asked of the Lord,

David wants to be in God's presence. He wants to look upon the Lord.

Psalm 27:8

You have said, “Seek my face.”

David seeks the Lord, and believes that he will look upon Him.

Psalm 27:13

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord

He encourages us to do likewise.

Psalm 27:14

Wait for the Lord;

The confidence that we receive from the Lord comes out of our faith in the Lord and His word, as we stand in His presence, giving Him our worship and our praise, Sunday to Sunday. We spin on the merry-go-round, and every cycle the Considerable Day grabs the handle and launches us again. Our worship creates a Confidence of Faith that brings about considerable life everywhere we take it, not a timid anxiety that carries with it a shriveled destruction. We go out into the anxious world, with an unwavering presence.

Verse 39 doesn't just tell us that faith brings life. The entire structure of the verse, and the half-chapter leading up to it is to demonstrate to us the assurance that we do have the confidence of faith.

Faith, not fear.

We don't wait for confidence in order to then obey in faith. We are already of those who have faith. Do not throw away your confidence.

What do people with the faith that we're equipped with every Sunday and make progress in look like? They look like a confidently joyful people with an unwavering presence bringing life into an anxious world.

When we look at the world's anxiety, it is tempting to join them in it, in a sort of hysterical reaction. It gets personal out there. The enmity is not between two abstract energy sources. The antithesis plays out through flesh and blood, voices and votes, diapers and spanking sticks.

We're tired of the repetitive lessons with our kids, and the ongoing rebellion. Their disobedience feels personal, and we're tempted to shrink back and respond with a lack of faith, with frustration and anger, a lack of endurance and steadfastness.

Or perhaps your kids are grown and not walking with the Lord. There is contempt and brokenness in your relationship. You are tempted to misplace your faith, shrink back into anxiety leading into further destruction, instead of demonstrating a calm confidence and assurance of faith, leading to the preservation of your soul.

Perhaps its with your work that you are tempted to shrink back and throw away your confidence. Your plans are not aligning like you wanted them to. Things are not working out as you had hoped. So, you’re tempted to be anxious and timid, leading unto destruction, instead of holding fast to the confession of your hope with cheerful boldness.

Perhaps you're in much pain, day in and day in, acute and encompassing. Not shrinking back is a daily, raging battle for you. You're tempted to doubt the goodness of the Lord, and let go of your endurance. Remember, that "you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." "Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward."

We run into anxiety nearly everywhere we go. In the midst of all of that, do not throw away your confidence. Hold fast to the confession of your hope - that Jesus Christ is Lord, and it will all be okay.

We make progress in faith and in joy my getting deeper and deeper rooted in our assurance of faith. We are not to be an anxious people in an anxious world.

If our liturgy was focused on ourselves, or held us in our guilt, or gave us merely information about the truth, or was a memorial instead of a celebration, we would be well-equipped to join the world in their anxiety.

But our worship every Lord's Day brings us into God's presence with confidence, gives us the full assurance of faith with clean hearts, makes us steadfast in our confession of hope, and encourages us in our communion with God and one another. All to make us a confident people with an unwavering presence in an anxious world.

We want to be the kind of people that run into the battle without hysteria and panic. We want to be a people that are confident, competent, and calm. We receive this blessing of the confidence of faith when we enter into God's presence in worship, and then we take it with us as we go out to live a life of faith through embodied joy under the Lordship of Christ.

You know that without faith it is impossible to please God. Do you know, though, that God rewards those who draw near in faith? It’s the same verse (Hebrews 11:6)! You believe, keep seeking His blessing. You believe, keep doing good by faith. You believe, go in the confidence of His blessing.

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 ESV)

As we've heard on multiple occasions, Sunday is like the fat kid spinning the merry-go-round roundabout on the playground for all the other kids. In this analogy, the other kids are the other days of the week. The kids aren't very interested in how he's going to spin them, as long as it gets accomplished. But, this Considerable Kid has his techniques.

I was talking to Calvin Higgins about baseball pitching techniques. I am as much a sports guy as most of you are Russian. I appreciate the identity, and at times wish that I could identify as such, but the reality is that the identity isn't mine. A pitcher gets the power for the throw not from his arm or shoulder, or even his back. The kinetic energy build up starts in the legs. The pitcher generates mechanical energy in one leg, passes it back and forth, before transferring it through his body, whipping his arm, and into the ball.

In the same way, the Considerable Kid stepping up to the merry-go-round is ready with his technique. He builds his mechanical energy, winds the swing back, transfers to a forward movement, and launches the play-set into a spin.

If we were to zoom in on that final moment of him launching the set, to see what happens when he lets go, that moment is what I'll scratch at today.

# Equipped To Go

Just like the baseball pitch, and the Considerable spin, our Lord's Day Liturgy is structured a specific way, to accomplish a specific result. Last Sunday, Sean talked about our aim in our worship liturgy, as our "progress and joy in the faith."

I'd like to build on that foundation. We are aiming to make progress in our faith, and to increase the joy of our faith, but what does that look like when it happens? What does a community of people who have made and are making progress in the faith look like?

The point of all the energy being put into the spin is for the merry-go-round to spin. Being equipped with what we receive in worshipping the Lord, we are then sent out. We have a considerable blessing here at Trinity Evangel Church. The fundamental, decisive factor in why we love what we have here is God's blessing. Every Sunday His blessing equips us.

But it doesn't equip us in order for us to then sit still on the play-set. That would be like the Considerable Fatty Kid cranking his body back, twisting forward, and right before the launch, he has a sudden jerk and stops the expected spin because everybody was so happy and comfortable on the play-set. "Why would we ruin it? We're having such a good time. It's going to get messy. Let's not risk it."

That would be ridiculous. We're on this thing in order to be spun. We come to church in order to be sent out. The TEC Bubble is a thing. It's comfortable here. Yes, that is one of God's blessings on us. But, we are to be sent out. There are those in our body who's role it is to cultivate and maintain the condition of our community. And then there are those who's role it is to go and build something. We are meant to subdue the earth - to subdue Marysville - under the Lordship of Christ.

A people who are making progress and increasing in the joy of their faith are a people who are not sitting still. They're taking ground. Our Lord's Day battering ram efforts are setting the tone for the rest of our week.

The Bible warns against a lack of enthusiasm. Once Spurgeon was preaching to a sleepy congregation who had eaten too much before the service. When he couldn't get their attention he shouted, "Fire! Fire! Fire!" When they jumped from their seats and asked where it was, he said, "In hell!"

Young people are too often lethargic in their progress because they think they have time. "I have all my life before me. What's the rush?" While the more advanced in age can be lethargic in their progress because they think they don't have much time. "My life is behind me. What's the use?" And so, with a lack of expediency, Christians continue in their lukewarmness.

We are under God's provisional hand here at Trinity Evangel. Livy's analysis about Hannibal's army is something for us to look out for. After multiple victories on the part of the Carthaginians, the solders got confident in the wrong things and grew comfortable and complacent.

> The habit of idleness which each day made more seductive, so weakened the fibres of both body and mind that from that time forward it was their past victories that protected them rather than their present strength.

We don't want to be a people that only looks back, grows comfortable and complacent. We want to trust God for his blessings on us as we go and advance.

# Equipped With Confidence

The Lord's Day equips us for the advancement of our faith. So what does it equip us with? What is the kinetic energy transfer from the Call-to-Worship, through the Cs, and out the Commissioning?

Hebrews Chapter 11 defines and demonstrates a life of faith in different circumstances in response to the call for a life of faith that Chapter 10 gives. If we're going to talk about progress and joy in faith, the second half of Hebrews 10 is not a bad place to get our feet wet.

Hebrews 10:19-25

> Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

- We are called to draw near to God with ***confidence to enter*** in verses 19-20.

- We have full ***assurance of faith*** with clean hearts and washed bodies because of our Great Priest in verses 21-22

- We are ***steadfast in the confession*** of our hope in verse 23.

- And we are ***encouraged through fellowship*** and communion in verses 24-25.

This is our Call-to-Worship, Confession, Consecration, and Communion.

And what we are receiving for each of those things is:

- Confidence to enter

- Full assurance of faith

- Unwavering steadfastness, and

- Encouragement in our assembling

Apart from other things, the blessing that we're receiving from worshipping the Lord is a **Confidence of Faith**. This is the kinetic energy transfer through our worship service that launches us out.

Our worship creates in us a **Confidence of Faith**. We then see a pattern of Commissioning in verses 26-39. Verses 26-31 say that in our assurance of faith, we do not go on sinning. And Verses 32-34 say that being enlightened, we endure suffering well. As we go out, we are to be confident when we are under temptations to sin, and trails of suffering.

There is this pattern of Call-to-Commission that we see in Hebrews 10:19-34. And it culminates with the "therefore" in verse 35.

Hebrews 10:35-39

> Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,

> “Yet a little while,

> and the coming one will come and will not delay;

> but my righteous one shall live by faith,

> and if he shrinks back,

> my soul has no pleasure in him.”

> But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

# Anxiety Brings Destruction

When people shrink back, they do so because they're in an unpleasant place. They're under some kind of pressure where it is easier to give way than hold their ground. They're in a tight, constricted, painful place.

***"angh"***: tight, constricted, painful, strangled, and compressed

- Angst

- Anger

- Anguish

- Anxiety

We feel squeezed and pressured - with fear or pain - and so we shrink back. We live in an anxious world.

Edwin Friedman, in ***A Failure of Nerve***, presents this sort of culture of chronic anxiety as the thing that destroys institutions - from families, to churches, to nations. He says that "America has become so chronically anxious that our society has gone into an emotional regression."

A downward spiral towards ultimate destruction. He says,

> The anxiety is so deep within the emotional processes of our nation that it is almost as though a neurosis has become nationalized.

Friedman was not a believer. But he did point out the truth that the author of Hebrews asserts in this verse.

The phrase "who shrink back and are destroyed" could be better translated as "those of timidity unto destruction." There's a clear connection between the shrinking back - being of timidity - and the destruction that is more direct than just an "and" communicates. One leads to the other.

When we shrink back in timidity, when we are anxious, we are anxious unto destruction. Anxiety brings destruction.

Anxiety manifests itself in our demonstrations of faithlessness. We yield to the pressure of temptations or trials and don't do what we ought, focusing on the frustrations of our circumstance instead of the confidence of our faith.

The author of Hebrews contrasts shrinking back with having faith. Which means, the reason we shrink back in anxiety is due to a lack of faith. We doubt God's promises. (10:36) Doubt is the petri dish in which the culture of anxiety grows. We shrink back from being steadfast and head into destruction when we throw away our confidence. (10:35)

We have received confidence to enter, assurance of faith, unwavering steadfastness, encouragement in communion. Therefore, do not throw it away.

Doubt brings anxiety. Anxiety brings destruction.

# Faith Brings Life

Hebrews 10.39

Our worship and liturgy is meant to equip the progress of our faith so that we may hold fast in confidence without any doubt. Our worship brings about an assurance of faith.

- In our Call to Worship we are equipped with the confidence of God's presence.

- In our Confession we are equipped with the assurance of forgiveness.

- In our Consecration we are equipped with steadfastness in our confession of hope.

- In our Communion we are equipped with encouragement in fellowship.

So that in our Commissioning, we may be equipped with the sort of faith that brings life everywhere it goes.

The phrase "who have faith and preserve their souls" could also be better translated as "those of faith *unto the preservation* of their souls." The faith leads to the preservation of the soul. We are not to be timid and cowardly moving backwards. We are to be confident and assured, advancing forward.

There is a wrong way to be confident. In 2017, Sean gave me one of the best rebukes I've ever received, "Your level of confidence doesn't match your level of competence." That could be written on my gravestone. "He had more confidence than competence."

Being confident in ourselves is not the Confidence of Faith that we're after. "Believe in yourself," although is usually said with good intentions, is arguably the worst advice you can receive.

G.K. Chesterton has the famous section in Orthodoxy when he's criticizing "believing in yourself." He said a publisher once commended a person for believing in himself. To which Chesterton replied:

> Shall I tell you where the men are who believe most in themselves? For I can tell you. I know of men who believe in themselves more colossally than Napoleon or Caesar. I know where flames the fixed star of certainty and success. I can guide you to the thrones of the Supermen. The men who really believe in themselves are all in the lunatic asylums.

In our day, the lunatic asylums have been let loose. We have men fully confident that they’re women. Women confident that their men. Identity crises everywhere. He goes on.

> Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin; complete self-confidence is a weakness.

It's not self-confidence that we have. I've never liked the phrase “Work like an Arminian, sleep like a Calvinist.” Its awfully misguided. Having to rely on yourself and working like God doesn’t control the outcome is extremely discouraging, frightening, and angst-producing. No. Work *and* sleep like a Calvinist.

Having an assurance of faith in the sovereignty of God is like strapping jet-packs to whatever it is you're doing Monday-Saturday. If God wills it, then what you’re endeavoring to do will work. And if He doesn’t, you’ll be the better for it, and you don't need to be anxious. Your confidence is to be in Him, not in yourself.

Self-confidence is usually a demonstration of a masked lack of confidence. There's a type of assertive brashness that pours out from a pitcher of insecure restlessness. Having to prove your worth or flex your size, in front of others or for your own reassurance, is not confidence. The goal is not to act confident. It’s to be so.

David demonstrates this kind of confidence in Psalm 27, which Jonathan read for us.

Psalm 27:1

> The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 27:3

> Though an army encamp against me,

my heart shall not fear;

though war arise against me,

yet I will be confident.

And notice why David has this confidence of faith.

Psalm 27:4

> One thing have I asked of the Lord,

that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to inquire in his temple.

David wants to be in God's presence. He wants to look upon the Lord.

Psalm 27:8

> You have said, “Seek my face.”

My heart says to you,

“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

David seeks the Lord, and believes that he will look upon Him.

Psalm 27:13

> I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living!

He encourages us to do likewise.

Psalm 27:14

> Wait for the Lord;

be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the Lord!

The confidence that we receive from the Lord comes out of our faith in the Lord and His word, as we stand in His presence, giving Him our worship and our praise, Sunday to Sunday. We spin on the merry-go-round, and every cycle the Considerable Day grabs the handle and launches us again. Our worship creates a Confidence of Faith that brings about considerable life everywhere we take it, not a timid anxiety that carries with it a shriveled destruction. We go out into the anxious world, with an unwavering presence.

# We Have The Confidence of Faith

Verse 39 doesn't just tell us that faith brings life. The entire structure of the verse, and the half-chapter leading up to it is to demonstrate to us the assurance that we do have the confidence of faith.

Faith, not fear.

Advancement, not anxiety.

Trust, not timidity.

Preservation, not perdition.

Confidence, not cowardice.

We don't wait for confidence in order to then obey in faith. We are already of those who have faith. Do not throw away your confidence.

# Conclusion

What do people with the faith that we're equipped with every Sunday and make progress in look like? They look like a confidently joyful people with an unwavering presence bringing life into an anxious world.

When we look at the world's anxiety, it is tempting to join them in it, in a sort of hysterical reaction. It gets personal out there. The enmity is not between two abstract energy sources. The antithesis plays out through flesh and blood, voices and votes, diapers and spanking sticks.

We're tired of the repetitive lessons with our kids, and the ongoing rebellion. Their disobedience feels personal, and we're tempted to shrink back and respond with a lack of faith, with frustration and anger, a lack of endurance and steadfastness.

Or perhaps your kids are grown and not walking with the Lord. There is contempt and brokenness in your relationship. You are tempted to misplace your faith, shrink back into anxiety leading into further destruction, instead of demonstrating a calm confidence and assurance of faith, leading to the preservation of your soul.

Perhaps its with your work that you are tempted to shrink back and throw away your confidence. Your plans are not aligning like you wanted them to. Things are not working out as you had hoped. So, you’re tempted to be anxious and timid, leading unto destruction, instead of holding fast to the confession of your hope with cheerful boldness.

Perhaps you're in much pain, day in and day in, acute and encompassing. Not shrinking back is a daily, raging battle for you. You're tempted to doubt the goodness of the Lord, and let go of your endurance. Remember, that "you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." "Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward."

We run into anxiety nearly everywhere we go. In the midst of all of that, do not throw away your confidence. Hold fast to the confession of your hope - that Jesus Christ is Lord, and it will all be okay.

We make progress in faith and in joy my getting deeper and deeper rooted in our assurance of faith. We are not to be an anxious people in an anxious world.

If our liturgy was focused on ourselves, or held us in our guilt, or gave us merely information about the truth, or was a memorial instead of a celebration, we would be well-equipped to join the world in their anxiety.

But our worship every Lord's Day brings us into God's presence with confidence, gives us the full assurance of faith with clean hearts, makes us steadfast in our confession of hope, and encourages us in our communion with God and one another. All to make us a confident people with an unwavering presence in an anxious world.

We want to be the kind of people that run into the battle without hysteria and panic. We want to be a people that are confident, competent, and calm. We receive this blessing of the confidence of faith when we enter into God's presence in worship, and then we take it with us as we go out to live a life of faith through embodied joy under the Lordship of Christ.

----------

## Charge

You know that without faith it is impossible to please God. Do you know, though, that God *rewards* those who draw near in faith? It’s the same verse (Hebrews 11:6)! You believe, keep seeking His blessing. You believe, keep doing good by faith. You believe, go in the confidence of His blessing.

## Benediction:

> To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 ESV)

If you believed that in Christ, to die is gain, (and it is), then what would be worth staying around for on earth? What would you do? I have an answer. I will show you a verse for it. It dominates my thinking every week, and for many years now it has changed what I think my purpose is to promote as we assemble for worship on the Lord's Day.

If you were thinking Colossians 1:28, you’d be close, though I actually got the aim in Colossians 1:28 wrong for a bunch of years (I was too dualistic and too dour). The verse I'm thinking about right now changes the tone of the work in Colossians 1:28, a tone that is reflected in our liturgy, our order of service, what the service does and drives toward and how it ends.

TEC held its first service of worship on the second Sunday of January, 2011. We are about to turn 13, and start our 14th year as a Trinitarian community of worshipping, maturing disciples, who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord over all the world. Somehow, the changes that have happened to the outer man as we've grown older hardly compare to the renewal in the church body that God has worked among us. One of His graces that keeps feeding and forming us every week is our gathered worship.

At the beginning of each new calendar year (and today counts, though technically the last day of 2023) we've examined the subject of worship and been reminded/refreshed about our liturgy. Liturgy is inescapable; there is always a liturgy. Liturgy means the order or pattern followed, the things we do and what comes before or after, and all of it should be identified with a why. Maybe an assembly desires maximum freedom for the Spirit to lead, so there is minimal preparation or planning, but that is, ironically, still a plan. Perhaps the most common liturgy for churches that emphasize Bible teaching is: singing to prepare hearts for the sermon, the preaching of the sermon, and maybe singing another song or two during the offering and/or altar call in response to the sermon.

There is no inspired bulletin dropped from the heavens. God gave the nation of Israel explicit requirements for a multitude of settings, many with strict times, places, and elements. But the hour has now come when true worshippers worship the Father in Spirit and truth, independent of one defined place. While we have some freedom in liturgy, we also have opportunity, in all wisdom, for how the liturgy works to make us more complete in Christ.

We've followed a five-part sequence every Sunday but the very first, in which we only had four. They are the Call to worship, Confession of sin, Consecration, Communion, and ending with a Commission. This liturgy itself is a mini gospel presentation, as evangelism begins with a call, leading to repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, unto a life of following Christ toward greater holiness, as we share fellowship with God, and are sent by Him as representatives.

This time around we won't be working through all five again; there are messages about that in the church app. But there are a few things I want to remind us about, and next Lord's Day the elders have asked Philip to pick a part of liturgy to preach about. As an elder in testing, and with one of the requirements being apt to teach, we want him to have that opportunity in front of the whole flock. He's chosen to speak about the Commissioning, and that will be good.

After that, while I've come to realize that the assembly's worship is more than (though not less than) the preaching of the Word, I've been treasuring up some thoughts about the preaching task and my purpose in it. That will be a future message or two.

Today I want to talk about what makes staying on earth worth it. When it comes to enduring everything for the sake of the faith of God's elect, when it comes to warning and teaching in order to present everyone complete in Christ, what I've come to realize that what makes it worth it is your progress and joy in the faith. The pastors labor that you would be growing in Christ and glad in Christ. This is not limited to Sundays, but at the end of the Lord's Day, I pray for your progress and joy in the faith — to the glory of God. This is what we are worshiping for.

This is the aim that came to Paul's mind when he desired to be done with his earthly mission. Remember that he wrote to the Philippians from prison, and that some other men were preaching the gospel to make it harder for Paul. He rejoiced that Christ was being preached at all, and had courage that Christ would be honored in his body, "by life or death" (verse 20). Then:

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith….” (Philippians 1:21-25)

This is a great construction, great content, great purpose.

Here is the final phrase in its awkward original order: “unto the your progress and joy of the faith." It's a large object of the preposition, all part of one purpose. There’s one article that governs everything after "unto/for.” That article also connects "progress" and "joy" in a way that shows they are related--progress that is joyful and progress in joy, and in a way that allows for "of the faith" to be modifying both verbal nouns: "progress of faith" and "joy of faith."

Progress means “a movement forward to an improved state,” traction toward new territory. It could be translated as “furtherance” or “advancement.” It’s the same word used in Philippians 1:12 for the spread of the gospel, and the only other time it’s used in the NT is 1 Timothy 4:15 where Paul told Timothy to let his “progress be evident to all.”

It was worth it for Paul to wait for the gain of being with Christ to see the progress of his people’s faith in Christ.

He would have expected progress to include more knowledge of Christ and having the mind of Christ (2:2), more striving side by side without fear (1:27-28), more obedience of faith in manner of life worthy of the gospel (1:27).

There was no doubt in Paul’s expectation that God Himself would bring about such progress.

“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” (Philippians 1:6 ESV).

And yet it also required no holding back on their part, following Paul’s own pursuit of progress.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12–14 ESV)

So Paul considered progress as belonging both with God’s sovereignty and our responsibility.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13 ESV)

His life was aimed toward their progress in faith, that they would live from faith to faith.

Our liturgy aims toward this same thing. From call to commission, it’s for the advancement of faith. Confess in faith, get faith stronger, including fed in union with Christ and His body.

It is possible to be strong in faith and yet have weak joy in faith. As Paul maintained to the Corinthians, “Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith” (2 Corinthians 1:24 ESV). Joyless faith is unguarded faith, susceptible to offers of joy elsewhere.

Joy is the “experience of gladness.” It is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. The distinction between circumstantial happiness and abiding joy is more helpful in the adjectives; circumstances or the sovereignty of God regardless of circumstances.

The verb form is rejoice. So later in Philippians Paul exhorted those with faith:

Finally, by brothers, rejoice in the Lord. (Philippians 3:1 ESV)

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice. (Philippians 4:4 ESV)

Don’t be content with gutting it out. We are able to rejoice in heaviness as faith is purified until it won't be necessary, “joy inexpressible and full of glory” (see 1 Peter 1:6-9).

Jesus purposes to share His own joy with His people. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11 ESV).

There is no more joyful place than in God's presence, abiding in His love. It shouldn’t be limited to a couple hours on Sunday morning “at church,” but it should include those hours. In the love of Christ we are forgiven and cleansed in conscience, for holiness, in fellowship, and blessed for work. The liturgy we follow is intended for our advance in joy. We are worshiping in joy and learning to live in obedience to the command: “Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

We are not worshiping for ease and niceness of faith. We are not worshiping to increase troubled-consciences or to increase theological arrogance. Our liturgy is not intended to drive God’s assembly to despair or some sort of “godly” doubt.

We are making liturgical advances. We are worshiping for the progress and joy of your faith.

Are you making progress in the faith? Are you making progress in being more joyful in the faith?

After thirteen years of our worship, we are not the same. May the Lord continue to show us His steadfast love as He completes His work, working and willing our worship for progress and joy in faith. As faith advances, and as we are not frightened, it is a sign of destruction to God’s enemies and a sign of our salvation from God (Philippians 1:28).

You can make progress toward the wrong things, but you cannot make too much progress in faith. You can find joy in the wrong things, but you cannot have too much joy in faith. So press on, beloved. Press on toward the prize. You are His, press on toward Christ for your joy.

[May] your love abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9–11 ESV)

If you believed that in Christ, to die is *gain*, (and it is), then what would be worth staying around for on earth? What would you do? I have an answer. I will show you a verse for it. It dominates my thinking every week, and for many years now it has changed what I think my purpose is to promote as we assemble for worship on the Lord's Day.

If you were thinking Colossians 1:28, you’d be close, though I actually got the aim in Colossians 1:28 wrong for a bunch of years (I was too dualistic and too dour). The verse I'm thinking about right now changes the tone of the work in Colossians 1:28, a tone that is reflected in our liturgy, our order of service, what the service does and drives toward and how it ends.

TEC held its first service of worship on the second Sunday of January, 2011. We are about to turn 13, and start our 14th year as a Trinitarian community of worshipping, maturing disciples, who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord over all the world. Somehow, the changes that have happened to the outer man as we've grown older hardly compare to the renewal in the church body that God has worked among us. One of His graces that keeps feeding and forming us every week is our gathered worship.

At the beginning of each new calendar year (and today counts, though technically the last day of 2023) we've examined the subject of worship and been reminded/refreshed about our liturgy. Liturgy is inescapable; there is always a liturgy. Liturgy means the order or pattern followed, the things we do and what comes before or after, and all of it should be identified with a why. Maybe an assembly desires maximum freedom for the Spirit to lead, so there is minimal preparation or planning, but that is, ironically, still a plan. Perhaps the most common liturgy for churches that emphasize Bible teaching is: singing to prepare hearts for the sermon, the preaching of the sermon, and maybe singing another song or two during the offering and/or altar call in response to the sermon.

There is no inspired bulletin dropped from the heavens. God gave the nation of Israel explicit requirements for a multitude of settings, many with strict times, places, and elements. But the hour has now come when true worshippers worship the Father in Spirit and truth, independent of one defined place. While we have some freedom in liturgy, we also have opportunity, in all wisdom, for how the liturgy works to make us more complete in Christ.

We've followed a five-part sequence every Sunday but the very first, in which we only had four. They are the Call to worship, Confession of sin, Consecration, Communion, and ending with a Commission. This liturgy itself is a mini gospel presentation, as evangelism begins with a call, leading to repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, unto a life of following Christ toward greater holiness, as we share fellowship with God, and are sent by Him as representatives.

This time around we won't be working through all five again; there are messages about that in the church app. But there are a few things I want to remind us about, *and* next Lord's Day the elders have asked Philip to pick a part of liturgy to preach about. As an elder in testing, and with one of the requirements being apt to teach, we want him to have that opportunity in front of the whole flock. He's chosen to speak about the Commissioning, and that will be good.

After that, while I've come to realize that the assembly's worship is more than (though not less than) the preaching of the Word, I've been treasuring up some thoughts about the preaching task and my purpose in it. That will be a future message or two.

Today I want to talk about what makes staying on earth worth it. When it comes to enduring everything for the sake of the faith of God's elect, when it comes to warning and teaching in order to present everyone complete in Christ, what I've come to realize that what makes it worth it is your *progress and joy* in the faith. The pastors labor that you would be growing in Christ and glad in Christ. This is not limited to Sundays, but at the end of the Lord's Day, I pray for your progress and joy in the faith — to the glory of God. This is *what we are worshiping for*.

This is the aim that came to Paul's mind when he desired to be done with his earthly mission. Remember that he wrote to the Philippians from prison, and that some other men were preaching the gospel to make it harder for Paul. He rejoiced that Christ was being preached at all, and had courage that Christ would be honored in his body, "by life or death" (verse 20). Then:

> “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, **for your progress and joy in the faith**….” (Philippians 1:21-25)

This is a great construction, great content, great purpose.

Here is the final phrase in its awkward original order: “unto the your progress and joy of the faith." It's a large object of the preposition, all part of one purpose. There’s one article that governs everything after "unto/for.” That article also connects "progress" and "joy" in a way that shows they are related--progress that is joyful and progress in joy, and in a way that allows for "of the faith" to be modifying both verbal nouns: "progress of faith" and "joy of faith."

# Progress in Faith

**Progress** means “a movement forward to an improved state,” traction toward new territory. It could be translated as “furtherance” or “advancement.” It’s the same word used in Philippians 1:12 for the spread of the gospel, and the only other time it’s used in the NT is 1 Timothy 4:15 where Paul told Timothy to let his “progress be evident to all.”

It was worth it for Paul to wait for the gain of being with Christ to see the progress of his people’s faith in Christ.

He would have expected progress to include more knowledge of Christ and having the mind of Christ (2:2), more striving side by side without fear (1:27-28), more obedience of faith in manner of life worthy of the gospel (1:27).

There was no doubt in Paul’s expectation that God Himself would bring about such progress.

> “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” (Philippians 1:6 ESV).

And yet it also required no holding back on their part, following Paul’s own pursuit of progress.

> Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12–14 ESV)

So Paul considered progress as belonging both with God’s sovereignty and our responsibility.

> Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13 ESV)

His life was aimed toward their progress in faith, that they would live from faith to faith.

Our liturgy aims toward this same thing. From call to commission, it’s for the advancement of faith. Confess in faith, get faith stronger, including fed in union with Christ and His body.

# Joy in Faith

It is possible to be strong in faith and yet have weak joy in faith. As Paul maintained to the Corinthians, “Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith” (2 Corinthians 1:24 ESV). Joyless faith is unguarded faith, susceptible to offers of joy elsewhere.

**Joy** is the “experience of gladness.” It is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. The distinction between circumstantial happiness and abiding joy is more helpful in the adjectives; circumstances or the sovereignty of God regardless of circumstances.

The verb form is *rejoice*. So later in Philippians Paul exhorted those with faith:

> Finally, by brothers, rejoice in the Lord. (Philippians 3:1 ESV)

> Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice. (Philippians 4:4 ESV)

Don’t be content with gutting it out. We are able to rejoice in heaviness as faith is purified until it won't be necessary, “joy inexpressible and full of glory” (see 1 Peter 1:6-9).

Jesus purposes to share His own joy with His people. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11 ESV).

There is no more joyful place than in God's presence, abiding in His love. It shouldn’t be limited to a couple hours on Sunday morning “at church,” but it should include those hours. In the love of Christ we are forgiven and cleansed in conscience, for holiness, in fellowship, and blessed for work. The liturgy we follow is intended for our advance in joy. We are worshiping in joy and learning to live in obedience to the command: “Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

# Conclusion

We are not worshiping for ease and niceness of faith. We are not worshiping to increase troubled-consciences or to increase theological arrogance. Our liturgy is not intended to drive God’s assembly to despair or some sort of “godly” doubt.

We are making liturgical advances. We are worshiping for the progress and joy of your faith.

Are *you* making progress in the faith? Are *you* making progress in being more joyful in the faith?

After thirteen years of our worship, we are not the same. May the Lord continue to show us His steadfast love as He completes His work, working and willing our worship for progress and joy in faith. As faith advances, and as we are not frightened, it is a sign of destruction to God’s enemies and a sign of our salvation from God (Philippians 1:28).

----------

## Charge

You can make progress toward the wrong things, but you cannot make too much progress in faith. You can find joy in the wrong things, but you cannot have too much joy in faith. So press on, beloved. Press on toward the prize. You are His, press on toward Christ for your joy.

## Benediction:

> [May] your love abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9–11 ESV)

By this time it’s too late to do much about it, but it is not too late to encourage you in what you have done and to make sure you’re ready when your children ask in time to come, “What do these presents mean?” They mean the world.

A gift is something handed to another, willingly and without payment. The word used for gift (χάρισμα) in the New Testament connects it with grace (χάρις), with something undeserved, with benefit(s) bestowed by favor.

The whole world is a gift; all are yours. None of us have anything that we have not received (1 Corinthians 4:7). The first five and a half days of earth were gift creating days, which God presented to Adam for his blessing. Eve was a gift, resulting in lyrical praise. Food was a gift for mankind to share; “Behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth.” All is gift: life and new life, breath and bread, sun and moon and stars, the Word made flesh and the Word that richly dwells in our hearts. Through the Logos all things were made, and in the name of the Lord all things can be received with thanks and enjoyed (1 Timothy 4:4-5).

Among the false gods of men none matches the Lord God Almighty in magnanimity, in generosity, in freely given good things. Bacchus/Dionysus gave wild parties, but he stole freedom in making men slaves to pleasure. But as we worship the true and living God we see that gifts are good, giving is good. Giving is godly. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11)

We come to our final Advent Activity for this advent season. This is it, the fourth Sunday before Christmas. We’ve been Waiting all this time. While waiting we’ve feasted and we’ve sung; we’ve had a feast of singing and we’ve sung at our feasts. We’ve been preparing to remember the Son of God’s birth, while also remembering the Son of God’s promised return. A King was born, joy to the world. The King comes again, let every heart prepare Him room.

And to the advent activities of Waiting, Feasting, and Singing we add Giving.

One more reminder for this cycle: there are no verses, let alone biblical laws, that require giving gifts on December 25, or on days leading up to this recognized holiday. We are not required to shop, purchase, bake or make, wrap, or place gifts under a tree to be opened in a coordinated manner on an appointed day, worldwide. But, giving is godly. Bearing gifts is true image-bearing, as our heavenly Father gives and gives and gives. Advent season is as good a time as any to exercise ourselves for the purpose of godliness. It is as good a time as any to be blessed.

God’s Word has much to say about giving and receiving, about generosity and gratitude. Scripture also gives us a quote of Jesus that we don’t learn about until after Jesus had ascended. It’s worth considering the context.

In Acts 20 Paul met with the elders of the church in Ephesus for his final time. It’s a well known passage, including Paul’s claim that he did not shrink from declaring to them the whole counsel of God (verse 27), and his exhortation to the pastors to pay attention to themselves and the flock, the church of God which He obtained with His own blood (verse 28). Paul commended them to God and the word of His grace which builds up and gives an inheritance (verse 32). And then as he finishes, he reminded them of how they knew they could trust him. He didn’t come to take from them, he came to give to them.

“I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:33–35 ESV)

It’s that last quote that not Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John recorded in their Gospels. Paul leaves no doubt, though; this isn’t just consistent with a principle, this is explicit teaching, “the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said.”

It is more blessed to give. Why? How? Is this just a rhetorical device to manipulate giving?

One way we know it’s not manipulative is because he’s in the middle of telling them that he hadn’t tried to get anything from them. He was explaining his own blessedness in giving.

Another reason why Paul isn’t being manipulative is because he knew that there was a way to give, and give big time, that was useless. “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3).

But the greatest reason is that Paul knew Jesus’ teaching accords with how God made the world to work. God, who is the happiest being, with the ineffable felicity, is the Father who gives. The principle here applies: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17 ESV).

God gives. Giving is loving, it is love manifest, love incorporated. The Father: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16). The Son: “Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us” and this pleased the Father, “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). Husbands are called to imitate this giving, “as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). The Spirit: individual spiritual gifts for each member of the body for the whole body’s good (see 1 Corinthians 12:4-11).

So we receive from God to reflect Him. Jesus told His disciples, “You received without paying; give without pay” (Matthew 10:8). There is wisdom in this worldview.

Once gives freely and grows all the richer;

Or old school:

The liberal soul shall be made fat:

It turns out, the blessed giver is getting something in return: blessing. That’s an act of faith, and it makes our souls fat. The one who gives grows more considerable.

The world works the way it does because God is not stingy. He is not reluctant to give. He gives to those who hate Him, sun and rain and breath and kids. He gives even to the ungrateful, and all their gifts weigh them down in accountability. The world is changed through gift, of course in Jesus Himself, and also as earthly fathers mimic that giving work to their children, even as entrepreneurs give to the market. So give and be blessed. Give and be made fat.

Connecting some of this back to Acts 20, pastors are again a big part of the problem. It’s fairly easy to identify the ones grabbing at prosperity off the backs of the sheep. But then there are the pietists, discouraging the sheep from feasting and giving feasts, warning them away from a boogeyman materialism which keeps them from the blessing/joy that comes through giving to others.

Can you spoil giving? Of course! Give to be seen, to get recognition from men (as Jesus warned against in Matthew 6). You can give to make it so that you don’t have to give yourself, giving without love, giving to distance. You can give to cover a guilty conscience. You can give without wisdom, too far beyond your means.

But if you give by faith, out of love, you are imitating the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

Giving is an advent activity, a Christian practice. It is not the only act of stewards; we earn or provide paychecks (from which to have something to give). Ownership of private property (at some level) is the prerequisite for generosity. So also giving isn’t primarily about expense, but it is about love.

Jesus was “born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth” (“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”). The Wise men brought gifts to Jesus, which is right, Jesus is the King. But now, we can give gifts to fellow servants of the King, in the King's honor, while we wait for His return.

Live in alignment with God’s invisible law that blesses the world. It is more blessed to give than to be reluctant. Don’t hold back.

The world is changed through gift, in the gift of Jesus Himself, and also as earthly fathers mimic that giving work to their children. Some of you are trying to break generational sins, others to build generational inheritances. Give blessings by faith and be blessed. Give and may you and your people be made more and more soul fat.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18 ESV)

By this time it’s too late to do much about it, but it is not too late to encourage you in what you have done and to make sure you’re ready when your children ask in time to come, “What do these presents mean?” They mean the world.

A gift is something handed to another, willingly and without payment. The word used for gift (χάρισμα) in the New Testament connects it with grace (χάρις), with something undeserved, with benefit(s) bestowed by favor.

The whole world is a gift; all are yours. None of us have

*anything* that we have not received (1 Corinthians 4:7). The first five and a half days of earth were gift creating days, which God presented to Adam for his blessing. Eve was a gift, resulting in lyrical praise. Food was a gift for mankind to share; “Behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth.” All is gift: life and new life, breath and bread, sun and moon and stars, the Word made flesh and the Word that richly dwells in our hearts. Through the Logos all things were made, and in the name of the Lord all things can be received with thanks and enjoyed (1 Timothy 4:4-5).

Among the false gods of men none matches the Lord God Almighty in magnanimity, in generosity, in freely given good things. Bacchus/Dionysus gave wild parties, but he stole freedom in making men slaves to pleasure. But as we worship the true and living God we see that gifts are good, giving is good. Giving is *godly*. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11)

We come to our final Advent Activity for this advent season. This is it, the fourth Sunday before Christmas. We’ve been Waiting all this time. While waiting we’ve feasted and we’ve sung; we’ve had a feast of singing and we’ve sung at our feasts. We’ve been preparing to remember the Son of God’s birth, while also remembering the Son of God’s promised return. A King was born, joy to the world. The King comes again, let every heart prepare Him room.

And to the advent activities of Waiting, Feasting, and Singing we add Giving.

One more reminder for this cycle: there are no verses, let alone biblical laws, that require giving gifts on December 25, or on days leading up to this recognized holiday. We are not required to shop, purchase, bake or make, wrap, or place gifts under a tree to be opened in a coordinated manner on an appointed day, worldwide. But, *giving* is godly. Bearing gifts is true image-bearing, as our heavenly Father gives and gives and gives. Advent season is as good a time as any to exercise ourselves for the purpose of godliness. It is as good a time as any to be *blessed*.

God’s Word has much to say about giving and receiving, about generosity and gratitude. Scripture also gives us a quote of Jesus that we don’t learn about until after Jesus had ascended. It’s worth considering the context.

In Acts 20 Paul met with the elders of the church in Ephesus for his final time. It’s a well known passage, including Paul’s claim that he did not shrink from declaring to them the whole counsel of God (verse 27), and his exhortation to the pastors to pay attention to themselves and the flock, the church of God which He obtained with His own blood (verse 28). Paul commended them to God and the word of His grace which builds up and gives an inheritance (verse 32). And then as he finishes, he reminded them of how they knew they could trust him. He didn’t come to take from them, he came to give to them.

> “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:33–35 ESV)

It’s that last quote that not Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John recorded in their Gospels. Paul leaves no doubt, though; this isn’t just consistent with a principle, this is explicit teaching, “the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said.”

**It is more blessed to give**. Why? How? Is this just a rhetorical device to manipulate giving?

One way we know it’s not manipulative is because he’s in the middle of telling them that he hadn’t tried to get anything from them. *He* was explaining his own blessedness in giving.

Another reason why Paul isn’t being manipulative is because he knew that there was a way to give, and give big time, that was useless. “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3).

But the greatest reason is that Paul knew Jesus’ teaching accords with how God made the world to work. God, who is the happiest being, with the ineffable felicity, is the Father who gives. The principle here applies: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17 ESV).

God gives. Giving is *loving*, it is love manifest, love incorporated. The Father: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16). The Son: “Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us” and this pleased the Father, “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). Husbands are called to imitate this giving, “as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). The Spirit: individual spiritual gifts for each member of the body for the whole body’s good (see 1 Corinthians 12:4-11).

So we receive from God to reflect Him. Jesus told His disciples, “You received without paying; give without pay” (Matthew 10:8). There is wisdom in this worldview.

> Once gives freely and grows all the richer;

> another withholds what he should give,

> and only suffers want.

> Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,

> and one who waters will himself be watered.

> (Proverbs 11:24-25 ESV)

Or old school:

> The liberal soul shall be made fat:

> and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

> (Proverbs 11:25 KJV)

It turns out, the blessed giver is getting something in return: *blessing*. That’s an act of faith, and it makes our souls *fat*. The one who gives grows *more* considerable.

The world works the way it does because God is not stingy. He is not reluctant to give. He gives to those who hate Him, sun and rain and breath and kids. He gives even to the ungrateful, and all their gifts weigh them down in accountability. The world is changed through gift, of course in Jesus Himself, and also as earthly fathers mimic that giving work to their children, even as entrepreneurs give to the market. So give and be blessed. Give and be made fat.

Connecting some of this back to Acts 20, pastors are again a big part of the problem. It’s fairly easy to identify the ones grabbing at prosperity off the backs of the sheep. But then there are the pietists, discouraging the sheep from feasting and giving feasts, warning them away from a boogeyman materialism which keeps them from the blessing/joy that comes through giving to *others*.

Can you spoil giving? Of course! Give to be seen, to get recognition from men (as Jesus warned against in Matthew 6). You can give to make it so that you don’t have to give yourself, giving without love, giving to distance. You can give to cover a guilty conscience. You can give without wisdom, too far beyond your means.

But if you give by faith, out of love, you are imitating the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

# Conclusion

Giving is an advent activity, a Christian practice. It is not the *only* act of stewards; we earn or provide paychecks (from which to have something to give). Ownership of private property (at some level) is the prerequisite for generosity. So also giving isn’t primarily about expense, but it is about love.

Jesus was “born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth” (“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”). The Wise men brought gifts to Jesus, which is right, Jesus is the King. But now, we can give gifts to fellow servants of the King, in the King's honor, while we wait for His return.

Live in alignment with God’s invisible law that blesses the world. It is more blessed to give than to be reluctant. Don’t hold back.

----------

## Charge

The world is changed through gift, in the gift of Jesus Himself, and also as earthly fathers mimic that giving work to their children. Some of you are trying to break generational sins, others to build generational inheritances. Give blessings by faith and be blessed. Give and may you and your people be made more and more soul fat.

## Benediction:

> But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18 ESV)

Music is one of the seven great lights in the medieval model of education. It's part of the Quadrivium, along with Geometry, Arithmetic, and Astronomy. The common denominator of all four is numbers. Arithmetic is the study of numbers proper, geometry is numbers in space, astronomy is numbers in space and motion.

Music is numbers in time, numbers in proportion and intervals.

“[M]usic advances even further towards that ‘summit of perfection’ for which the quadrivium is a prerequisite. The theory of music is a penetration of the very heart of Providence’s ordering of things. It is not a matter of cheerful entertainment or superficial consolation for sad moods, but a central clue to the interpretation of the hidden harmony of God and nature in which the only discordant element is evil in the heart of man.” (Henry Chadwick)

Rhetoric is the pinnacle of the Trivium, Music is the crown of the Quadrivium, and in some ways, Music is the high point of Rhetoric, or at least a glorious expression of truth and goodness in beauty. A song is time adorned, and a song sung together is adorned time shared.

Christmas is a celebration of God adorning humanity by taking on flesh. The eternal God now shares time with us. What better way to honor the Son’s birth than singing?!

In our series of Advent Activities we started with Waiting. Since then we've successfully waited two additional weeks, closer to Christmas and to the Second Coming. Last week we considered Feasting, and I am bursting after multiple opportunities just this past week. Now we come to Singing.

Unlike waiting, I've addressed singing multiple times, whether related to our liturgy or just while teaching through some psalms. Also unlike waiting, which is more a question of How? instead of If? since the time will pass regardless, feasting can be consciously rejected (and is by some). Singing can be good or bad or rejected. Unlike feasting, singing can be outsourced; we can depend on/hire surrogate singers. While there are certainly times to enjoy the skill of a soloist or performing group, we shouldn’t choose to only be an audience and never a choir.

Whether or not your noise is skillful, even tuneful, it ought to be joyful. And the coming of the Son of God in flesh, once already and again anticipated, should stir the soul up to sing. A Queen once said, "a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." Are we just supposed to hum about that?

Though singing is not the command in Colossians 3:16, it is an inevitable and edifying result of obedience. We Bible people will be known to the degree our lives together are lyrical.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

The word should be "in-dwelling." It's supposed to dwell richly, abundantly, in full-measure. We could say, let the Word live like it's completely at home in us. It belongs in us.

One thing that stands out is that it is identified as the word of Christ. Christ Himself is the Logos, the Word, who took on flesh and dwelt among us. So we're to let the Word of the Word dwell in us. This is only the second time this label is given to Scripture (see also Romans 10:17), and it seems that Paul was going out of his way to help the Colossians see the preeminence of Christ.

Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation, not in time, but in rights and privileges (Colossians 1:15). By Christ and through Christ were all things created and so all glory to Christ (Colossians 1:16). Christ is the head of the church, the firstborn from the dead, both chronologically and eschatologically (Colossians 1:18). In Christ the fulness of God was pleased to dwell (Colossians 1:19), in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).

Christ, His person and His power and His life and death and resurrection to life, compels songs! It started on the night of His birth. There is good reason to think that the heavenly choir was doing more singing than chanting in Luke 2.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

"Hark! the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King!"

Philippians 2:5-11 has been called a "hymn"; it does have a different rhythm than most prose. It sings of the Incarnation, of Christ Jesus who was made in the likeness of men, and was found in the form of man. 1 Timothy 3:16 also has a more lyrical shape, and begins with the Incarnation, "God was manifest in the flesh." The section above in Colossians 1:15-20 is also often called a hymn, and highlights the Incarnation in multiple ways.

Back to Colossians 3, when Christ appears our lives, now hidden in Christ, will appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:4). So we are commanded to forgive like Christ forgave us (Colossians 3:13). We are required to be ruled by the peace of Christ (Colossians 3:15). And we must let Christ's Word have its place at home in us (Colossians 3:16).

What happens when that happens is that we don't stay quiet. We speak and we sing. There is wisdom and there is thanks. And in our verbal arsenal are songs, songs, and more songs.

No joke, I've read the argument that psalms and hymns and spiritual songs refer to three classes of psalms. But, there isn't agreement on what psalms are which psalms.

Psalms tell us to sing, and many Psalms look to the coming of Christ. A couple of Christmas applicable-s are Psalm 96 and 98, both of which start with singing and anticipate the Lord coming to judge.

Oh sing to the LORD a new song;

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

Of course anything written after about AD 90 would have to be application of Colossians 3:16, but so would any English translation of Colossians 3:16, or of any inspired Psalm, or any more modern musical arrangement.

Some of the best in our arsenal are Christmas carols. Carol is a word for a song of joy and praise, now most often associated with the Incarnation. Great carols exalt Christ. They teach and admonish one another in wisdom. They express our thanks to God. They let us apply Colossians 3:16. They unite us as one body. They let announce joy to the world.

“He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found” is Genesis 3:15. “Adam’s likeness, Lord efface, Stamp Thine image in its place” is Colossians 1:28 in carol form. “God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. … Now to the Lord sing praises all you within this place.” “Comfort, comfort ye, My people, Speak ye peace thus saith our God; Comfort those who sit in darkness, Bowed beneath their sorrow’s load.” “Boundless shall Thy kingdom be; When shall we its glories see?!”

There's something that makes singing stir the soul, and when the soul is stirred it wants to sing.

Let men their songs employ. When I say this message is an apology for Christmas carols, I mean apology not as an admission of error or regret, but apology as defense against criticism. In fact, the ubiquity of pagans singing about Christ's birth is an apologetics class itself.

Not every meal is a feast. Not every get-together needs a Cantus bully; we are not on stage in a musical. That said, maybe you could use a little more considerable noise in your house. Get some Cantus under the tree. Use "Sing Your Part" (or get the app).

What better than singing (in minor keys) to express our sadness and longing? What better than singing (in major keys and moving melodies) to express our joy and praise?

Choirs help to make community. There’s more about that in a book called, Keeping Together in Time; choirs are a force against isolation and depression. TEC has power because we have one amazing singing voice. Singing together has grown us.

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth

Singing is not mere preparation, it is participation. Singing is not filler, it is an expression of faith. Don't hold back.

Sing Your Part is not just the name of an app, it is the charge to every member of the body of Christ. You are a part, you have a part. The church/choir is stronger and better and brighter because of you. You have been called/employed to sing joy to the world, the Savior reigns!

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5–6 ESV)

Music is one of the seven great lights in the medieval model of education. It's part of the Quadrivium, along with Geometry, Arithmetic, and Astronomy. The common denominator of all four is numbers. Arithmetic is the study of numbers proper, geometry is numbers in space, astronomy is numbers in space and motion.

Music is numbers in *time*, numbers in proportion and intervals.

> “[M]usic advances even further towards that ‘summit of perfection’ for which the quadrivium is a prerequisite. The theory of music is a penetration of the very heart of Providence’s ordering of things. It is not a matter of cheerful entertainment or superficial consolation for sad moods, but a central clue to the interpretation of the hidden harmony of God and nature in which the only discordant element is evil in the heart of man.” (Henry Chadwick)

Rhetoric is the pinnacle of the Trivium, Music is the crown of the Quadrivium, and in some ways, Music is the high point of Rhetoric, or at least a glorious expression of truth and goodness in beauty. A song is time *adorned*, and a song sung together is adorned time *shared*.

Christmas is a celebration of God adorning humanity by taking on flesh. The eternal God now shares time with us. What better way to honor the Son’s birth than singing?!

In our series of Advent Activities we started with Waiting. Since then we've successfully waited two additional weeks, closer to Christmas and to the Second Coming. Last week we considered Feasting, and I am bursting after multiple opportunities just this past week. Now we come to Singing.

Unlike waiting, I've addressed singing multiple times, whether related to our liturgy or just while teaching through some psalms. Also unlike waiting, which is more a question of How? instead of If? since the time will pass regardless, feasting can be consciously rejected (and is by some). Singing can be good or bad or rejected. Unlike feasting, singing can be outsourced; we can depend on/hire surrogate singers. While there are certainly times to enjoy the skill of a soloist or performing group, we shouldn’t choose to only be an audience and never a choir.

Whether or not your noise is skillful, even tuneful, it ought to be joyful. And the coming of the Son of God in flesh, once already and again anticipated, should stir the soul up to sing. A Queen once said, "a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." Are we just supposed to hum about that?

Though singing is not the command in Colossians 3:16, it is an inevitable and edifying result of obedience. We Bible people will be known to the degree our lives together are lyrical.

> Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

The word should be "in-dwelling." It's supposed to dwell **richly**, abundantly, in full-measure. We could say, let the Word live like it's completely at home in us. It belongs in us.

One thing that stands out is that it is identified as **the word of Christ**. Christ Himself *is* the Logos, the Word, who took on flesh and dwelt among us. So we're to let the Word of the Word dwell in us. This is only the second time this label is given to Scripture (see also Romans 10:17), and it seems that Paul was going out of his way to help the Colossians see the preeminence of Christ.

Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation, not in time, but in rights and privileges (Colossians 1:15). By Christ and through Christ were all things created and so all glory to Christ (Colossians 1:16). Christ is the head of the church, the firstborn from the dead, both chronologically and eschatologically (Colossians 1:18). In Christ the fulness of God was pleased to dwell (Colossians 1:19), in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).

Christ, His person and His power and His life and death and resurrection to life, compels songs! It started on the night of His birth. There is good reason to think that the heavenly choir was doing more singing than chanting in Luke 2.

> And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

> Glory to God in the highest,

> And on earth peace,

> Good will toward men.

> (Luke 2:13-14 KJV)

"Hark! the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King!"

Philippians 2:5-11 has been called a "hymn"; it does have a different rhythm than most prose. It sings of the Incarnation, of Christ Jesus who was made in the likeness of men, and was found in the form of man. 1 Timothy 3:16 also has a more lyrical shape, and begins with the Incarnation, "God was manifest in the flesh." The section above in Colossians 1:15-20 is also often called a hymn, and highlights the Incarnation in multiple ways.

Back to Colossians 3, when Christ appears our lives, now hidden in Christ, will appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:4). So we are commanded to forgive like Christ forgave us (Colossians 3:13). We are required to be ruled by the peace of Christ (Colossians 3:15). And we must let Christ's Word have its place at home in us (Colossians 3:16).

What happens when that happens is that we don't stay quiet. We speak and we sing. There is *wisdom* and there is *thanks*. And in our verbal arsenal are songs, songs, and more songs.

No joke, I've read the argument that **psalms and hymns and spiritual songs** refer to three classes of psalms. But, there isn't agreement on what psalms are which psalms.

Psalms tell us to *sing*, and many Psalms look to the coming of Christ. A couple of Christmas applicable-s are Psalm 96 and 98, both of which start with singing and anticipate the Lord coming to judge.

> Oh sing to the LORD a new song;

> sing to the LORD, all the earth!

> Sing to the LORD, bless his name;

> tell of his salvation from day to day.

> Declare his glory among the nations,

> his marvelous works among all the peoples!

>

> Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

> let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

> let the field exult, and everything in it!

> Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy

> before the LORD, for he comes,

> for he comes to judge the earth.

> He will judge the world in righteousness,

> and the peoples in his faithfulness.

> (Psalm 96:1-3, 11-13)

Of course anything written after about AD 90 would have to be application of Colossians 3:16, but so would any English translation of Colossians 3:16, or of any inspired Psalm, or any more modern musical arrangement.

Some of the best in our arsenal are Christmas carols. *Carol* is a word for a song of joy and praise, now most often associated with the Incarnation. Great carols exalt Christ. They teach and admonish one another in wisdom. They express our thanks to God. They let us apply Colossians 3:16. They unite us as one body. They let announce *joy to the world*.

“He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found” is Genesis 3:15. “Adam’s likeness, Lord efface, Stamp Thine image in its place” is Colossians 1:28 in carol form. “God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. … Now to the Lord sing praises all you within this place.” “Comfort, comfort ye, My people, Speak ye peace thus saith our God; Comfort those who sit in darkness, Bowed beneath their sorrow’s load.” “Boundless shall Thy kingdom be; When shall we its glories see?!”

There's something that makes singing stir the soul, and when the soul is stirred it wants to sing.

*Let men their songs employ.* When I say this message is an apology for Christmas carols, I mean apology not as an admission of error or regret, but apology as defense against criticism. In fact, the ubiquity of pagans singing about Christ's birth is an apologetics class itself.

Not every meal is a feast. Not every get-together needs a Cantus bully; we are not on stage in a musical. That said, maybe you could use a little more considerable noise in your house. Get some Cantus under the tree. Use "[Sing Your Part](https://singyourpart.app/)" (or get [the app](https://singyourpart.org/)).

# Conclusion

What better than singing (in minor keys) to express our sadness and longing? What better than singing (in major keys and moving melodies) to express our joy and praise?

Choirs help to make community. There’s more about that in a book called, _Keeping Together in Time_; choirs are a force against isolation and depression. TEC has power because we have one amazing singing voice. Singing together has *grown* us.

> For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth

> Hallelujah….

> King of kings and Lord of lords

> And He shall reign forever and ever

> (Handel, Messiah, HWV 56: Part II, no. 44. “Hallelujah Chorus”)

Singing is not mere preparation, it is participation. Singing is not filler, it is an expression of faith. Don't hold back.

----------

## Charge

Sing Your Part is not just the name of an app, it is the charge to every member of the body of Christ. You are a part, you have a part. The church/choir is stronger and better and brighter because of you. You have been called/employed to sing joy to the world, the Savior reigns!

## Benediction:

> May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5–6 ESV)

One of the derogatory labels given to our church by at least a few Christians outside of our church is that we're the "boozer" church. I've also heard a less inflammatory observation, but from the same section of bleachers, that we have mostly orthodox doctrine but an overemphasis on alcohol.

Forget for a moment the fact that classifying “wine as an alcoholic beverage…makes about as much sense as classifying cheese as a salted food” (Robert Capon, The Supper of the Lamb, Location 1245). Let's give the benefit of the concern? Are we too focused on fermented drinks?

Maybe. We should willing to put on those shoes and walk a mile to see if alcoholism is a problem for us. It's a good exercise. Lives have been destroyed by the sin of drunkenness; drunkards earn their damnation, let alone the temporal damages visible in the ditches behind them.

There are a few questions down this road.

Is alcoholism a one-off sin, or does it usually show up in a tangle of sins? Getting drunk is a choice, no matter how strong the physical dependence/addiction or cultivated habit. Drunkenness is a sin of letting some other substance take over; it’s filled with stupor not the Spirit (as contrasted in Ephesians 5:18). And yet this sin almost always starts by a desire to forget some other sin, maybe not even yours but seen by you. That said, a guilty conscience thirsts for cover. Strong drink blurs strong memories, at least for a while. Drinking wine because we’re fully forgiven of all our sins by faith in Christ isn't the same as drinking to forget.

Are there any other problems/sins that are as ruinous, perhaps equally or even more so, but that masquerade as virtuous? More to the contrast, can a teetotaler sin, in his/her teetotaling attitude? I'd say yes, and I'd say that the spiritual superiority complex (aka, pride) is only the single-barrel sin. The cask strength sin is fear. Even though international bitterness units and the highest level of tannins can't separate us from the love of God, Christians too often fear the things of earth that God called good.

Is love of alcohol our problem? Do we have too much of a focus on fermented drinks? For now, I don't think so. I think, to the degree that it's representative, we do not yet have enough fermented living (whether or not that means imbibing fermented drinks themselves). And if I was trying to describe just part of what distinguishes us, it would be that our doctrine leads not just to understanding truth, but to pursuing embodied goodness. In fact I'm good with someone saying that we're “focused on alcohol” in so far as the better way to say it is that we're focused on the embodied joys of faith in obedient feasting.

In light of our faith, why wouldn’t we be? Is Jesus Christ God in flesh? Did Jesus live without sin, and die for our sins, the just for the unjust, so that we might receive the righteousness of God? Have we been baptized into Christ, buried by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life? Did He come to give us life, and life abundant? Is our faith futile? Are we still in our sins? Do we have an eternal inheritance reserved for us in heaven? Is Jesus Lord, and has He said, “all are yours, and you are Christ’s”? Can anything separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?

Is the earth the Lord’s and the fulness thereof? Then partake of His gifts with thankfulness and eat and drink to the glory of God!

There are only so many options:

A feast is a larger than usual meal shared with others—family and friends, for sake of celebrating something. It’s a time of joy, laughter, stories, and strengthening, via the food itself and the fellowship. It’s not for everyday, but some can be scheduled. There were obligatory feasts in the Old Testament, to commemorate the Passover, to thank God for the harvest. Feasting is a receiving and a rejoicing in the good things God has given. It sees God as the source of our gladness and strength.

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock

Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,

Feasting done right is for strength not suppression of the truth.

Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son

Feasting belongs with a life of truth and thanks, as Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV)

Jonathan has taught on this passage, and spoken about feasting a number of times before. I'm trying to add a side dish to the table, not steal his main protein.

One thing I'd point out from this paragraph is that those who reject are more likely to be the problem than those who receive. Paul told the weaker brothers in Romans that they could not eat and still honor God by abstaining with thanks (Romans 14:6). And actually, fasting is an assumed tactic of spiritual discipline in Scripture. But insincerity in rejection is the target, and its cousin ingratitude.

What drives abstinence and prohibition is not always demons, but it is often more defense, not offense. It's fear, not faith. It's defining righteous by what we avoid rather than by good works done.

Too many pastors have told their flocks not to feast (except figuratively on sermons, maybe also theology books). Pastors fear losing control (as if control was actually possible). They may not be devoted to the teachings of demons, but fear and manipulation are more demon type tactics than means of the Spirit.

You can't easily manipulate feasting people. Joy is strong. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Mr. Joystrong is the guy who gets up and fights attackers because he has great joy in what needs defending. Mr. Joystrong is a considerable man, and considerable men don't bother with controlling men.

“May your men wear their weight with pride, secure in the knowledge that they have at last become considerable.” (Capon, The Supper of the Lamb, Location 2461)

Feasting isn’t about eating and drinking as much as you can; it’s not a contest of portions. Note again that thanksgiving and prayer season the meal if it's to be a feast. Like waiting, feasting is a heart posture, but also like waiting, it's more, not less.

True feasting fights envy; Judas fussed about any extra expenses, and so do the woke and complaining egalitarian Karens in our culture. Feasting fights pride, isolation, pretense. Feasting fights idolatry, especially in materialism and consumerism, because God gets the thanks, the stuff isn’t god. Feasting fights laziness, there’s too much Pre-op and Post-op work to ignore. Feasting fights false/demonic/dualistic teaching. Feasting fights fear, especially pietism, which is works based righteousness. Feasting by faith strengthens faith.

Of course you can overindulge; gluttons and/or drunks are sinners. You can eat/drink too much out of boredom, or to distract yourself from pain and other problems. You can do it to be selfish, worldly. But none of those belong with truly considerable men.

How does advent help us? Waiting isn't just a December thing, and feasting isn't only for a four or five week window from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. But there are more parties with more fudge and more cookies. And, good. Our remembrance of the incarnation is that Jesus took on flesh, not to destroy it. The reception encouraged in 1 Timothy 4:4 depends on 1 Timothy 3:16, God was “manifested in the flesh.” He came to destroy sin and death, which are the real enemies, not food and wine, not meat and sweets.

And we are headed toward the Supper of the Lamb as seen by the apostle John in Revelation 19, to the feast Isaiah saw in Isaiah 25.

Feasting opposes fretting. A good feast is not grabbing the neck of the event and strangling the strings tighter and tighter.

Better is a dinner of Costco Dino-nuggets with love than a plate of organically fed duck tongue with strife (see Proverbs 15:17). Feasting that increases affections that inform our obligations is a great delight, feasting that is an obligation for affection flips over the table’s purpose.

King Lune gave wisdom that is not fictional:

“For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there’s hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land.”

Let us be considerable men, considerable fathers, with considerable presence. If you picture considerable people, you do not picture them holding a goblet of grape juice in one hand with a half slice of Wonder Bread with the crust trimmed off in the other.

René Girard once wrote, “Few people want to be saints nowadays, but everyone is trying to lose weight.”

The two aren't mutually exclusive, sure. But what if it would increase your godliness for you to eat more? Is it a sign of greater godliness that you won't eat or drink? It really might be. But don't be deceived by simplistic, superficial satisfactions.

Self-control over calorie counting that does not include patience and joy and love (which belong with the same fruit of the Spirit) is a lesser self-control, the Kraft cheese single of self-control.

Guy Fieri employs “the Hunch.” Lean in, over the table, elbows above hands. Embodied posture. Afraid of looking silly? At some point, that sort of fear is what keeps us from confessing the glory of Christ. Let men their feasts employ.

May you become even more considerable fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, for generations. May you never be content with following (advent/holiday) traditions without also committing to shared joy with your people through bread and wine around a table (or Christmas tree) of love.

[May you be] 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. (Colossians 1:11–12 ESV)

One of the derogatory labels given to our church by at least a few Christians outside of our church is that we're the "boozer" church. I've also heard a less inflammatory observation, but from the same section of bleachers, that we have mostly orthodox doctrine but an overemphasis on alcohol.

Forget for a moment the fact that classifying “wine as an alcoholic beverage…makes about as much sense as classifying cheese as a salted food” (Robert Capon, _The Supper of the Lamb_, Location 1245). Let's give the benefit of the concern? Are we too focused on fermented drinks?

Maybe. We should willing to put on those shoes and walk a mile to see if alcoholism is a problem for us. It's a good exercise. Lives have been destroyed by the sin of drunkenness; drunkards earn their damnation, let alone the temporal damages visible in the ditches behind them.

There are a few questions down this road.

Is alcoholism a one-off sin, or does it usually show up in a tangle of sins? Getting drunk is a choice, no matter how strong the physical dependence/addiction or cultivated habit. Drunkenness is a sin of letting some other substance take over; it’s filled with stupor not the Spirit (as contrasted in Ephesians 5:18). And yet this sin almost always starts by a desire to forget some other sin, maybe not even yours but seen by you. That said, a guilty conscience thirsts for cover. Strong drink blurs strong memories, at least for a while. Drinking wine because we’re *fully forgiven of all our sins by faith in Christ* isn't the same as drinking to forget.

Are there any other problems/sins that are as ruinous, perhaps equally or even more so, but that masquerade as virtuous? More to the contrast, can a teetotaler sin, *in* his/her teetotaling attitude? I'd say *yes*, and I'd say that the spiritual superiority complex (aka, pride) is only the single-barrel sin. The cask strength sin is *fear*. Even though international bitterness units and the highest level of tannins can't separate us from the love of God, Christians too often fear the things of earth that God called good.

Is love of alcohol our problem? Do we have too much of a focus on fermented drinks? For now, I don't think so. I think, to the degree that it's representative, we do not yet have enough fermented living (whether or not that means imbibing fermented drinks themselves). And if I was trying to describe just part of what distinguishes us, it would be that our doctrine leads not just to understanding truth, but to pursuing embodied goodness. In fact I'm good with someone saying that we're “focused on alcohol” in so far as the better way to say it is that we're focused on the embodied joys of faith in obedient feasting.

In light of our faith, why wouldn’t we be? Is Jesus Christ God in flesh? Did Jesus live without sin, and die for our sins, the just for the unjust, so that we might receive the righteousness of God? Have we been baptized into Christ, buried by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life? Did He come to give us life, and life abundant? Is our faith futile? Are we still in our sins? Do we have an eternal inheritance reserved for us in heaven? Is Jesus Lord, and has He said, “all are yours, and you are Christ’s”? Can anything separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?

Is the earth the Lord’s and the fulness thereof? Then partake of His gifts with thankfulness and eat and drink to the glory of God!

There are only so many options:

- We are still in our sins and have no reason to feast.

- We are still in our sins and all we have is a feast.

- We are delivered from our sins and yet refuse to feast.

- We are delivered from our sins and why not feast?!

A feast is a larger than usual meal shared with others—family and friends, for sake of celebrating something. It’s a time of joy, laughter, stories, and strengthening, via the food itself and the fellowship. It’s not for everyday, but some can be scheduled. There were obligatory feasts in the Old Testament, to commemorate the Passover, to thank God for the harvest. Feasting is a receiving and a rejoicing in the good things God has given. It sees God as the source of our gladness and strength.

> You cause the grass to grow for the livestock

> and plants for man to cultivate,

> that he may bring forth food from the earth

> and wine to gladden the heart of man,

> oil to make his face shine

> and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

> (Psalm 104:14–15 ESV)

> Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,

> who walks in his ways!

> You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;

> you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

> (Psalm 128:1–2 ESV)

Feasting done right is *for strength* not suppression of the truth.

> Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son

> of the nobility,

> and your princes feast at the proper time,

> for strength, and not for drunkenness!

> (Ecclesiastes 10:17 ESV)

Feasting belongs with a life of truth and thanks, as Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4.

> Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV)

[Jonathan has taught on this passage](https://subsplash.com/trinityevangelchurch/media/mi/+q6q56nk), and spoken about feasting a number of times before. I'm trying to add a side dish to the table, not steal his main protein.

One thing I'd point out from this paragraph is that those who *reject* are more likely to be the problem than those who *receive*. Paul told the weaker brothers in Romans that they could *not* eat and still honor God by abstaining with thanks (Romans 14:6). And actually, fasting is an assumed tactic of spiritual discipline in Scripture. But **insincerity** in rejection is the target, and its cousin ingratitude.

What drives abstinence and prohibition is not always demons, but it is often more defense, not offense. It's fear, not faith. It's defining righteous by what we avoid rather than by good works done.

Too many pastors have told their flocks not to feast (except figuratively on sermons, maybe also theology books). Pastors fear losing control (as if control was actually possible). They may not be devoted to the teachings of demons, but fear and manipulation are more demon type tactics than means of the Spirit.

You can't easily manipulate feasting people. Joy is strong. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Mr. Joystrong is the guy who gets up and fights attackers because he has great joy in what needs defending. Mr. Joystrong is a considerable man, and considerable men don't bother with controlling men.

> “May your men wear their weight with pride, secure in the knowledge that they have at last become considerable.” (Capon, _The Supper of the Lamb_, Location 2461)

Feasting isn’t about eating and drinking as much as you can; it’s not a contest of portions. Note again that **thanksgiving** and **prayer** season the meal if it's to be a feast. Like waiting, feasting is a *heart posture*, but also like waiting, it's *more*, not less.

True feasting fights envy; Judas fussed about any extra expenses, and so do the woke and complaining egalitarian Karens in our culture. Feasting fights pride, isolation, pretense. Feasting fights idolatry, especially in materialism and consumerism, because God gets the thanks, the stuff isn’t god. Feasting fights laziness, there’s too much Pre-op and Post-op work to ignore. Feasting fights false/demonic/dualistic teaching. Feasting fights fear, especially pietism, which is works based righteousness. Feasting by faith strengthens faith.

Of course you can overindulge; gluttons and/or drunks are sinners. You can eat/drink too much out of boredom, or to distract yourself from pain and other problems. You can do it to be selfish, worldly. But none of those belong with truly considerable men.

How does advent help us? Waiting isn't just a December thing, and feasting isn't only for a four or five week window from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. But there are more parties with more fudge and more cookies. And, good. Our remembrance of the incarnation is that Jesus *took on flesh*, not to destroy it. The reception encouraged in 1 Timothy 4:4 depends on 1 Timothy 3:16, God was “manifested in the flesh.” He came to destroy sin and death, which are the real enemies, not food and wine, not meat and sweets.

And we are headed toward the Supper of the Lamb as seen by the apostle John in Revelation 19, to the feast Isaiah saw in Isaiah 25.

# Conclusion

Feasting opposes fretting. A good feast is not grabbing the neck of the event and strangling the strings tighter and tighter.

Better is a dinner of Costco Dino-nuggets with love than a plate of organically fed duck tongue with strife (see Proverbs 15:17). Feasting that increases affections that inform our obligations is a great delight, feasting that is an obligation for affection flips over the table’s purpose.

King Lune gave wisdom that is not fictional:

> “For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there’s hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land.”

Let us be considerable men, considerable fathers, with considerable presence. If you picture considerable people, you do not picture them holding a goblet of grape juice in one hand with a half slice of Wonder Bread with the crust trimmed off in the other.

René Girard once wrote, “Few people want to be saints nowadays, but everyone is trying to lose weight.”

The two aren't mutually exclusive, sure. But what if it would increase your godliness for you to eat more? Is it a sign of greater godliness that you *won't* eat or drink? It really might be. But don't be deceived by simplistic, superficial satisfactions.

Self-control over calorie counting that does not include patience and joy and love (which belong with the same fruit of the Spirit) is a lesser self-control, the Kraft cheese single of self-control.

Guy Fieri employs “the Hunch.” Lean in, over the table, elbows above hands. Embodied posture. Afraid of looking silly? At some point, that sort of fear is what keeps us from confessing the glory of Christ. Let men their feasts employ.

----------

## Charge

May you become even more considerable fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, for generations. May you never be content with following (advent/holiday) traditions without also committing to shared joy with your people through bread and wine around a table (or Christmas tree) of love.

## Benediction:

> [May you be] 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. (Colossians 1:11–12 ESV)