Trinity Fellowship

Trinity Fellowship Christmas Program

Study in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith

The character of God Himself should be the foundation of all our thinking and all our actions. Because God does not change, He does not consume Jacob or Jacob's children when they grasp at things that don't rightfully belong to them. Rather, just as He transformed Jacob into Israel, He now invites the people to return to Him. If they will test Him with their obedience in tithing, they will find that the Lord is pleased to open the windows of heaven to bless His people and put His favour on display to the watching world. When we are stingy with the Lord, we get progressively poorer. When we are generous with the Lord, even the unbelieving nations around us will see that we are richly blessed. This is not because God is a vending machine that needs to receive before He gives. Our tithing does not fill a need in God, but in us. Our generosity displays that we have the humility to understand that we are tenants in God's vineyard and that we have full trust in His provision and in His sufficiency to care for His own.

In Malachi, what starts as a complaint about the slowness of God's justice turns into a glorious picture of John the Baptist preparing the way as Christ returns to the temple. The people only want God's justice because they think themselves to be innocent. We know that we are spared God's judgement not because we are innocent but because Christ has taken the blow for us. When Peter reminds us that judgement begins in the household of God, he also encourages to remember that the gospel is the difference between those who are saved through suffering and those who are finally consumed by it. "If it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good." (1 Peter 4:17-19). Christian, your faith in Christ means that all that suffering can do to you is make you purer and cleaner.

Study in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith

The way we treat other people demonstrates the way we treat God. This is especially the case in our families, where the design of our marriage is to serve as a symbol of Christ and the church. Some of the men of Israel were heartless and faithless, breaking covenant with the wives God had given them. Others of the men were marrying outside of the faith. In both cases, the foundation for producing godly offspring was harmed, and God was offended. In our day too, marriage and fidelity are under attack from many different sources. The enemy knows what is at stake. Our charge is to not be like the faithless men of Israel, but like the faithful Man, the One who stays faithful, even when we are faithless (2 Tim. 2:13). He does not get bored and go seeking beauty elsewhere, but has fully committed to making His bride, the Christian church, truly beautiful. May we be like Him, guarding our spirits, faithfully tending to the blessings He has given each one of us.

Study in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith

At the heart of priestly ministry is the goal to see the people flourishing and living under the blessing of the Lord. This means that faithful teaching, righteous living, and genuine worship need to be practiced. There is no blessing from the Lord, no "life and peace" where careless teaching and undisciplined sin is found, or where corporate worship is nothing more than going through the motions. Although the age of priests has passed, God still ordains servants to lead His church. Pray for these men and for the health of this church, as we pursue the true Priest, the One to whom we are united by faith. He is our inheritance, and it is only by His mercy that the storehouse of God's blessings may be opened.

Study in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith

Here's the charge, brothers and sisters we have a great Priest who has gone before us and shown us what it looks like to give ourselves wholeheartedly to God. He has given Himself entirely so that we could be saved; let us look to His example and not forget that we serve a great God who is worthy of all of our praise.