Trinity Fellowship

Study in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith

A woman's glory is her ability to fill and beautify the creation. After God made the man, He saw it was not good for him to be alone. Man without a woman is like Christ without a church. Nothing already made was up to this high and honourable calling, and so the situation called for a fresh creation from God. God made the man for dominion, and next He makes the woman for the man. Together, their task becomes both possible and rewarding. The woman is the glory of the man, which means she is the glory of the glory. She is the crowning jewel, the finishing touch, the magnum opus of creation. Her beauty, her diligence, and her tenderness ideally suit her for her calling to fill, create, nurture, and beautify. As she does this, she gains the love and the trust of her husband, her children, her church, and her community. The glory she has received from on high fills creation such that it redounds back to God many times over. A godly woman is a force multiplier. Women, what is God calling you to this week? Do you need to put your phone down to be more intentional with your little ones? Do you need to drop something else that is a distraction from your central calling? How can you use your glory to equip your husband to excel at his calling? Can you see the glory in the mundane task of sending little eternal people out into the world? Are there places outside your home that could be blessed by your gifts? You were made for fullness and beauty. This is your glory in Christ.

Study in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith

The glory of men is their strength. Men were made to do hard things. Men were made to bear heavy loads. When men work out physically, they get stronger. When men push themselves to do more, they generally get better at it. It's trendy in our world, even our Christian world to be soft, easily steered, self-absorbed, and to get distracted from the dominion mandate for which we were made. The Bible certainly instructs us to take a weekly Sabbath, a day of rest, but beyond that, it says we are to be known for hard, diligent work, and it warns us against sloth, laziness, and cowardice over and over. David fell into sexual sin in the springtime when kings were supposed to go out to battle. So where is the battle that God is calling you to? Is it dealing with a sin in your life? Is it leading your wife or family more intentionally? Is it starting some new venture, a new project? Does it look hard? Will it require suffering? Might you mess up along the way? Men, you were made for this. This is your glory in Christ.

Study in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith

Matthew's gospel retells the story of Israel. Jesus has played the role of Moses, of Joshua, of Solomon, of Elisha, and of Jeremiah. He has been through exodus and conquest. He has preached wisdom and repentance. He has predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of the temple. He has walked from the humiliation of the cross to the exaltation of the resurrection. He has gone from being forsaken by the Father to sitting at His right hand. He found His creation growing old and corrupted by sin and has started to make all things new. He was killed by unfaithful tenants in God's vineyard but has now reclaimed His inheritance. Every Lord's Day He continues to call us into His presence to pardon us, to teach us, to feed us, and then to send us back out into the world to make Him known. The end of Matthew's gospel is a new beginning for us. Will we do what He has told us?

Study in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith

The end of Matthew's gospel reaches not just back to the beginning of the gospel story, but to the beginning of all beginnings, back to the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. Jesus rises on the day after the Sabbath, but that is also the beginning of a new Sabbath, the first day of a new creation. This is not just a return to the old creation, but an improvement on it. According to Matthew, the story of Jesus is about heaven coming to earth, heaven invading earth, heaven renewing earth. When heaven invades earth, the powers are shaken. Easter is about this fundamental shift in powers. Each Lord's Day we are announcing that the God of heaven is overthrowing the powers of earth. So our charge is to live accordingly. Seek Jesus while He may be found. He is the only answer to the sin which makes us weak, cowardly, and foolish. He and He alone has the key to new life.

(No video is available for this week's sermon.) Jesus the God-man was put on trial. Jesus the God-man suffered and died on the cross. Jesus the God-man went into the tomb, into Sheol. But death could not hold Him, and instead of being swallowed by death; He swallowed death in victory. He turned the tomb into a womb, death into a transition to new life. He turned the place of death and defilement into a Holy of Holies. Jesus proved Himself the Lord of death. And this is why Jesus emerges with all authority in heaven and on earth. His authority extends from heaven, where He reigns with His Father, to earth, where He reigns by His Spirit, to the world of the dead, the world under the earth, which He conquered in His burial. Our charge is to follow Him in this humiliation and death; to have the humility to die to ourselves, to be united to Christ in His death, and then to stay united to Him in new life. Christian, you are a new creation if you are in Christ. His life, death, and resurrection have paved the way for you. Death will not have the last word.

Study in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith