How To Hear A Sermon (1 Thessalonians) | Douglas Wilson

let us worship the triune god grace mercy and peace to you from god the father son and holy spirit and he said the lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer the god of my strength in whom i will trust my shield and the horn of my salvation my stronghold and my refuge my savior you save me from violence i will call upon the lord who is worthy to be praised and so shall i be saved from my enemies lift up your hearts almighty god you send every blessing upon the earth the joys of good food fine wine deep friendship health laughter music dancing sunlight water and all of nature so that we would worship you you are greater more beautiful more satisfying more wonderful than all that we could possibly imagine father you also send the curses and the hardships the fear the panic the dread the famines the hunger the barrenness the wasting sickness the locusts the plagues so that we would worship you so that we might put our hope in you and nothing else and so here we are father gathered with our families before your throne and we are here to worship you we bless you for all the blessings and we worship your holy name in the face of all the hardships you are good and nothing we desire compares to you and so we worship you now through jesus christ who lives and reigns with you in the holy spirit one god world without end and amen the text this morning is from first thessalonians chapter 2 starting in verse 13. these are the words of god for this cause also thank we god without ceasing because when you received the word of god which you heard of us you received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of god which effectually worketh also in you that believe for ye brethren became followers of the churches of god which in judea are in christ jesus for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen even as they have of the jews who both killed the lord jesus and their own prophets and persecuted us and they please not god and are contrary to all men forbidding us to speak to the gentiles that they might be saved to fill up their sins alway for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost but we brethren being taken from you for a short time in presence not in heart endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire wherefore we would have come unto you even i paul once and again but satan hindered us for what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing are not even ye in the presence of our lord jesus christ that is coming for ye are our glory and joy our father our gracious god we thank you for your word this morning we thank you for your spirit's presence with us i pray that as we consider this word your spirit would be active at active in our midst in our hearts and our lives our families i pray you'd help us to see where you would have us apply this and father we pray in jesus name amen so we're continuing our way through first thessalonians and we are now finishing chapter 2. in the first half of this chapter paul has recounted for the thessalonians what kind of character he and his co-workers displayed when they first arrived in thessalonica how did they work how did they labor what kind of people were they when they ministered to the thessalonians what was their character in other words what kind of men preached the gospel to them but now he moves on to describe the authority of the gospel as it is preached in itself he talked first about what kind of men preached the gospel and now he's talking about what kind of gospel it was as evidenced by the way the thessalonians received it so let's consider consider this passage and drill down a little bit paul says that he constantly thanks god for the reception that the thessalonians gave to the preached message that's in verse 13. he didn't thank god for how we were enabled to speak it he thanks god for how they were enabled to receive it we thanked god that you received this word not as the word of men but as the word of god it was in fact the word of god and that's how they how that's how they accepted it as the word of god it worked effectively and powerfully in the lives of those who believed in verse 13. this is one of the ways you can tell the difference between the words of men and the words of god when men go out to try to improve things they generally will speak words of exhortation or admonition or rebuke but the whole effect is generally trying to spread moral uplift let's let's try to make everybody feel a little bit better and maybe after you feel a little better you're going to all go out and be a little better but when you bring the gospel to pagans like they were in thessalonica you preach the death of a jewish carpenter who ran afoul of the authorities who railroaded him in a in a in a wicked trial ran him out crucified him outside of town he was laid in a grave and then three days later he came back from the dead and then ascended into heaven and we're going to declare that to you and your drunkenness is going to be gone your lustful ways are going to be gone your addictions are going to be gone because we proclaimed good news because we proclaimed that message which is the uh the folly of man but the wisdom of god that message transforms lives that's how one that's one of the central ways we know that we're not just inventing as peter said cleverly invented fables so you received it as the word of god and this word of god that you received was powerful to change lives verse 13 the thessalonians then became in effect the younger brothers of the believers in judea remember the church the christian church begins under the name the christian church at jerusalem on the day of pentecost the holy spirit is poured out and jerusalem is in judea and then all the surrounding area of judea heard the word of the lord and then what happened well the believers in judea were then persecuted by their countrymen and then the same thing had happened to the thessalonians in verse 14. so paul says you became basically the younger brothers of your older brothers the jews the believing jews in judea they were persecuted by their countrymen and now the same thing is happening to you he goes on in verse 15 to describe what the unbelieving jews had done they had murdered the lord jesus they had killed their own prophets they persecuted the apostles they don't please god and they are contrary to all men they don't please god and they get in the way in verse 15 they get in the way of those who want to preach to the gentiles so that they might be saved and this is why utmost wrath is coming down upon them and this is uh they are a good example of the english proverb that refers to the a dog in a manger a dog in a manger is a dog in the feeding trough that's not going to eat the food there it's not the dog's kind of food but he does like lying there and he does like snarling at any cow or horse that wants to come and eat there so the dog won't eat but he prevents others from coming and eating a dog in the dog in a manger is exactly what the jews unbelieving jews in judea were being they wouldn't partake they wouldn't believe in the messiah and then when men went to preach to the gentiles so they could be saved the jews reacted violently to that as well so they don't please god they are contrary to all men they they don't want anybody to be saved they don't want anybody to be to respond to this gospel and paul says in verse 16 this is why utmost wrath is coming down on them this is why they are going to catch it now this utmost wrath likely refers to the impending judgment that was about to fall on jerusalem which is obviously in judea in 70 a.d remember that jesus had expressly said that all the blood that has been shed from the blood of abel down to the blood of zechariah sun and barakaya all of it is going to come down on this generation all of it is going to land here this is ground zero for the wrath of god and jesus said all of this is going to happen within one generation so paul i think is referring to that these people who are trying to fight the gentiles getting the gospel preached to them utmost wrath is coming down on them and that happened as we know in 70 a.d i also want to take a minute uh to just dispatch any anti-semitic sentiments that some people might want to attach to this because paul refers to the jews did this the jews persecuted the people who were coming to christ keep in mind that the man who wrote those words was a jew the man who wrote them was a jew and notice also that it's true he says the jews did these awful things to christ and to the apostles but it's also true that he makes this point uh at the same time that he's saying that the thessalonians in greece had exactly the same thing happening to them they got exactly the same treatment from their unregenerate countrymen this viciousness is not how jews are this is how unregenerate people are this is what humans do to to other humans who get right with god when you live in a dark and sinful and broken and fallen world if anybody gets right with god wherever they are it wouldn't matter if it was in mexico north america europe uh greece or in judea it doesn't matter those who hate god are going to come after the people who have been given the grace of learning to love god so this is not anti-semitic this is simply observing the pattern what happened to the jews is what happened to the thessalonians as well then paul had to leave the thessalonians you remember that he was there he preached the gospel in the synagogue their synagogue for three successive sabbaths and then had to leave town because of the unrest that was stirred up he had to leave briefly and he longed to see the thessalonians again verse 17. he attempted to go back to thessalonica repeatedly but satan hindered those efforts verse 18. satan got in the way what is paul's reward what is he longing who who is he longing to see well in verse 19 he says the thessalonians are his hope joy and crown of rejoicing and that would be so the answer to that question what is his reward what is his blessing that would be the thessalonians the thessalonians were paul's glory and joy verse 20. now we're going to see in a moment how all of this hangs together how the reception to the gospel that the thessalonians rendered is connected to how paul longed to see them and how they were his glory i want to speak today about how to hear a sermon how to listen to a sermon paul says here that when they first arrived in thessalonica they preached the gospel he goes on to commend the thessalonians for how they heard him they received the message proclaimed not as the words of men even though they were the words of men all right so paul came and he spoke to them the words of a man but the words that he was speaking those words were not received by the thessalonians as simply the words of men god speaks in and through the gospel the thessalonians were to be commanded because they received the words that these men spoke as the words of god and they and because they accepted them as the words of god they saw they understood what was actually going on here now you've noticed i've no doubt that when i read a text at the beginning of a message i say something like these are the words of god the text this morning is first thessalonians 2 starting in verse 13 these are the words of god the scriptures are the words of god simply now there's an important qualification or addition that we want to make to this because i read to you from an english bible this is a translation of the greek the reformers distinguished a two-fold divine authority for the word one type of authority is the verbal authority down to in hebrew it'd be down to the jotson tittles in greek it'd be down to the iota the the tiniest little letter that you have there the authority extends down to the verbal shape that the word takes that's the full verbal authority and in a faithful translation the reformers taught that there you have the authority of the substance the authority of the matter the authority of the uh content so there's a twofold divine authority if you know greek and you're reading a greek new testament you're getting getting the authoritative word in its verbal expression and then if you're reading a faithful translation you're getting the content the the content of it you're getting the content of the word of god so uh when when we read in english jesus went to caesarea you know that there's a town called caesarea and jesus was the messiah of god and there was an occasion where he went to caesarea that's the content and it doesn't matter that you're thinking it in english that's the authoritative word of god now the scriptures even in english are the word of god the scriptures are the word of god when you open your bible you don't have to hunt around in order to try to find something that god said because he said it all now there's a theological uh school of thought uh called neo-orthodoxy that teaches that the bible is the place where you might encounter the word of god or you might meet with the word of god and then again maybe not now this is obviously a deficient view of scripture it's not an orthodox view of scripture at all but people can express it by acting like they have a high view of scripture well this is a this is a special place because when you open the bible who knows you might meet with god there god might reveal himself in the word or in the word or through the word but there are other occasions where you might open it and it's just the words of men it's like a mystic it's a mystic experience where it comes into focus and then goes out of focus again and when it's in focus then it's the word of god well this sort of um this sort of explanation is obviously a deficient view of scripture but i think we can take an illustration from it this is not how to approach the bible the bible is the word of god the bible doesn't contain the word of god the bible is the word of god everything you encounter in the bible is the word of god if you approach them the wrong way if you approach it the wrong way this is the problem with a red letter edition okay red letter if you're uh if if it's just a help to help you navigate well okay i must be in the gospels because look at all these red letters that's one thing that's fine but there a certain mentality creeps in when you've got the letters in red there's even a group of christians who call themselves red letter christians like we really need to pay attention to this part when you when you get a red letter edition you say you should say oh look at this a special edition of the bible all the words of the holy spirit are in black well the whole thing the whole thing is god's word all of it is god's word genesis to revelation you don't have to hunt around for the word of god in scripture but the neo-orthodox view of scripture might be a helpful way to approach listening to a sermon a sermon is not the word of god obviously a sermon from beginning to end is not inspired the same way this is you don't transcribe an uninspired preacher's message reduce it to writing and then uh staple it in the back of your bible it's not the word of god in that sense in that way yet when a minister of the word lawfully called and set apart stands before you with an open bible in order to expound what it says you should prepare your hearts to encounter the word of god you should prepare your hearts to encounter the word of god in the sermon you should come to worship expecting christ to speak to you in the message now you don't want you don't want everything you don't want anything coming to you second hand it's not like the minister goes and gets something from jesus and then he turns around and he gives it to you that's not how it works what you want you're the people of god you're the saints of god you are in communion with god and there is no barrier between you and christ there's no mediator between you and christ because christ is himself the mediator so when you meet with christ it's always christ direct when you meet with christ in the sacrament when you meet with christ in the message when you meet with christ in a moment where he is communing with you in some sort of special way you're always dealing with christ the christ who is the mediator who brings you to the father so you should come to worship expecting an encounter with christ evangelical sermons are not the bible stem to stern obviously not but something happens there and when it happens it's a profound work of the spirit uh experienced preachers will tell you that there are many occasions where they are simply they're preaching and they say something at random and it cuts an individual to the heart it just he he picks an illustration at random and it just goes right to the heart of the matter in this person's uh life and situation and so he talks to the minister going out afterwards and he could say something like hey hey man if you ever want to talk to me personally just pick up the phone you don't have to involve the whole church when you're talking just to me well that's not the preach that's not the preacher picking on someone what that is is is the holy spirit of god taking the words that are spoken as the as the sermon is being expounded faithfully and the holy spirit is applying it and your the encounter that you have in a moment like that is not with the preacher your encounter at that moment is with christ your encounter at that moment you're dealing with god directly now notice that i put the qualifiers on there a faithful minister opening the word expounding the word communicating the word to you uh c.s lewis once commented on uh some older divines they used to be called theologians pastors he said some of their messages if the sermon had had if the text had had smallpox the sermon wouldn't have caught it right there was very a very tenuous connection uh there was the the text and the sermon were socially distanced so in first peter 4 verse 11 what does peter say to the one who wants to speak the one who wants to speak if any man speak let him speak as the oracles of god if a man is speaking he should not be a minister should not get in front of the people in order to chat in order to tell personal anecdotes that's not his job that's not his business that's not what he's there for paul says in corinthians somewhere that that we did not preach ourselves when we came to you we did not preach ourselves but we preached christ we don't preach ourselves we preach christ so if any man speaks he should speak authoritatively not because he has authority in his own person but because he has authority in the office he has authority in the office he doesn't when it comes to his person he's just another guy when he's invested with the authority to speak as a herald or a messenger he he can speak with the full authority that god has commissioned him with he can say he can stand up and say thus saith the lord if you want to go to heaven you've got to turn to christ and that is the word of god that's not something that i cooked up that's that is faithful to the word of god so if you have two armies for example and they're about to face off and one of the generals uh does what jesus says in one of his illustrations and he counts the troops and he he says uh um we we need to parley and so he sends a herald out to talk to the other general and the young officer goes out rides out with the message for the general the the receiving general who listens to the message he doesn't stop and then turn to the herald and say what do you think of this it's not doesn't matter what the herald thinks of it the herald is just a herald he's just a messenger that's all he is so when the the word of god comes god wants it to come to you from the mouth of a herald from the mouth of an ambassador that's how he designed it he wants preachers to go out but he doesn't want us to put any authority in the preacher man himself in romans 10 verse 14 very famous passage how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him and i'm i'm adjusting the translation here how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher they need a preacher in order to hear and if they don't hear they can't hear they can't believe in the one whom they have not heard so i've changed it from how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard to and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard so why do i why do i do this in in the this romans passage there's a translation issue and without getting into the weeds the verb akuo the verb akua means to hear we get acoustics for example from it the verb akuo can take a different case ending for the object than other verbs normally do so akuo takes a different case ending and this makes the difference between whom and of whom how can they believe whom they have not heard when you listen to the gospel preached are you listening about jesus or are you hearing jesus that's the issue you're not going to be converted unless you hear jesus unless you hear christ you you're not going to ever be converted listening to someone talk about christ you can listen to someone talking about jesus till kingdom come and it's not going to touch you you are not going to be touched you're not going to be cut to the heart unless you hear christ say yes you come with me now when christ says to you in the message when christ says to you in the sermon follow me then you listen then you hear and then you're like the thessalonians who received the word of men as it was actually in actual fact the word of god so when um when we preach the gospel and we're expounding the gospel faithfully from the word christ himself is manifested so when the sermon accords with the text when the sermon accords with the text and the people are listening in faith then and there jesus christ is speaking to the people when the sermon accords with the text and you're listening in faith then and there in that moment jesus himself is speaking to you the second helvetic confession puts it this way it's a classic reformed confession the second helvetic confession says this in chapter one the preaching of the word of god is the word of god the preaching of the word of god is the word of god now that's not the case if i get if if i wander off in the message and start telling you a funny story of something that happened to me a few years ago and it's obliquely connected to the message but it's not that's not when this happens but you should come expecting to hear christ take something that is said and cut you to the heart with it the preaching of the word of god is the word of god and then the westminster directory says this the true idea of preaching is that the preacher should become a mouthpiece for his text opening it up and applying it as a word from god to his hearers in order that the text may speak and be heard making each point from his text in such a manner that the congregation may discern the voice of god now all this leads of necessity when you hear christ in the sermon when you receive the words that the preachers are declaring as the word of god and you receive it for what it is the word of god what is that what's happening well what happens there is a personal encounter there's a personal encounter you close with christ you are en engaged with christ himself and then that create that does something else the scriptures the the bible talks in many places about rewards the scriptures are not embarrassed to offer us staggering rewards in the next life for faithfulness in this life if we are faithful in this life god promises us mind-boggling rewards in the next the our current sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us now this these promises of rewards have been mocked by some like karl marx as the opiate for the masses you've got a hard life because people are oppressing you and so you latch on to these promises in the bible of in the sweet by and by you know pie in the sky and the sweet by and by when you die that's the opiate of the masses and then others professing christians thoughtlessly pursue it as if god were going to give them a chest full of gold doubloons for having been such good boys for having been such good christians you're going to get up to heaven and god's going to give you a gold-plated mansion right now the fact of these promised rewards is undeniable the the the bible is full of them the fact of the promised rewards is undeniable but we also have to consider the nature of the rewards they are all bound up in personal relationship they are all bound up in personal relationship paul says that his crown is made up of thessalonians what's paul's reward in the next life what's paul going to receive he's going to he's going to receive a crown made out of thessalonians he says they were his hope they were his joy they were his crown of rejoicing they were his glory and joy this is more like a wedding day than it is like a payday this is not a payday the rewards that god offers faithfulness in this life it's not like a payday it's more like a wedding day the relationship itself is the reward and it is a reward it's a wonderful thing if if you um if you met a young man who said oh i'm looking forward to getting married and you say oh congratulations we're getting married uh when it when is it he said all a couple of months and you say oh what led you together and he said well to be honest she has a lot of money her dad is filthy stinking rich and i've never seen so much money you should see the car her dad drives all right you would think about 30 seconds into this conversation this is one sick puppy right this guy is a mess and if it goes the other way if a woman is chasing a man for his money she's a gold digger we we address that kind of mercenary pursuit of marriage for the sake of money with contempt not because there's a reward involved but because it's the wrong one it's a reward that doesn't fit with that it doesn't fit you don't look forward to marriage because of the money involved that's not what you're after right but if that young man oh when are you getting married i can hardly wait uh uh uh why did you decide to get me get married well it's because i could i can't stand the thought of being apart from her silvery laugh i want her silvery laugh to grace my breakfast table for the rest of my life now is he pursuing a reward yes yes but it's not mercenary the relationship itself is the reward he's pursuing her right he's pursuing pursuing her and you have something like that with paul and thessalonians he wants to be in glory with them he doesn't he doesn't want god to say paul you were really faithful uh preaching the gospel and you know here's twenty thousand dollars that's not how this that's not how any of this works this is like a wedding day not like a payday at the same time so it's it's joy it's hope it's rejoicing and when you um one of the another aspect of this is when people are given over to this kind of pursuit their capacity for joy grows their capacity for joy in relationships grows so um uh the scripture talks about enlarging your heart may your heart be enlarged it's everybody in heaven is going to be blessed beyond all reckoning some some believers are going to be receive a greater reward but think of heaven think of the resurrection as this infinite ocean of joy and some people arrive there with a thin like a thimble and they're submerged in this infinite ocean of joy and the thimble fills up with joy other people like the apostle paul arrived there as a 50-gallon drum and they are submerged in the ocean of joy and they fill up with nothing but joy there's no envy and competition between the one the thimble and the 50-gallon drum because where the the 50 gallon drum is the thimble is going to be at some point and the 50 gallon drum is going to be way farther ahead this is god's going to enlarge our heart he is always going to be infinite and we're always going to be finite and it's always going to be further up and further in and it's always going to be a commensura reward with the nature of the relationship right so consider how this flows out from what was said just before this when the gospel is preached in power that means christ himself meets with his people in the declared gospel christ himself is present that means the relationship is present when christ speaks to you when the gospel is declared it's you and jesus it's you and christ there you are that means christ himself is meeting with you when christ meets with his people his people also meet with his people in first john 1 7 it says if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another so what happens is he is in the light and if you and your brother are here and you both walk you both get closer to the one who is in the light you both get closer to christ you can't approach the top of that triangle without the two of you getting closer to one another there's no way to converge on christ without converging on one another there is no way for paul to get closer to christ and the thessalonians getting closer to christ through the preached message without paul and the thessalonians bonding together this is how fellowship in the spirit arises one lord one faith one baptism one body and one spirit so then sermons are not sacraments but i think it's fair to say that they are sacramentals something is going on a sermon is not a lecture lectures are fine and the classroom is fine the theological lectures are fine but a sermon is not a lecture a sermon is not a talk a sermon is not a chat about the things of god it is a declaration but unless christ picks it up and uses it for his intended purpose a sermon even a declarative sermon even a sermon that in its form is like what it ought to be is is a sermon makes the hollowest sound that any mortal has ever heard if christ is not in it if the spirit is not at work if the people are not listening in faith nothing is lamer than a sermon nothing is lamer than a sermon if a room fills up to hear somebody who doesn't know what he's talking about talk about things that he doesn't know anything about and they don't either and they all nod and say it sounds gen it sounds generally pious we want we must be hungry for christ we want to come to the table and feed on christ we want to feed on christ in the message declared we want to we want to look at one another and see christ we want to look on the bread and see christ we want to we want to hold the cup and look at the wine and see christ we want to hear the words declared and hear christ all of it is about christ everything is christocentric in this and this and this is why um different traditions in the church veer off in different directions some go the high sacramental route i went to one service one time in the uk where there was no sermon at all it was just the sacrament it was just the book of common prayer and skip over the sermon and just the sacrament which is if this is food it was like a raw foods moment right no cooking um augustine said that it's the word that makes the sacrament it's the word that prepares the sacrament so the word is like cooking it's like cooking and eating it's like cooking and eating and then in other low church traditions where there's a long tradition of well this is a preaching this is a preaching communion we value preaching you'll have an opening prayer a hymn and then a lecture and then and and even it's a great lecture or a powerful lecture and then you close with him that's like watching a celebrity chef on television that's not eating either ever you watch oh man he can sure cook and then you throw all the food away and you turn the television off no food you want we want to meet together in the same room room see christ in one another see christ on the table see christ when we baptize someone seek hear christ in the sermon that's what we're after so nothing is lamer than a sermon nothing is lamer than a christless sermon even if it's a bombastic or or declarative you know let me tell you all about it kind of sermon nothing is lamer than that christ speaks with authority and not as describes as we heard earlier matthew 7 29 but jesus has so much authority that he can even pick up a scribe and do wonderful things through him it's not like we're having a competition between jesus and the scribes it's not like jesus boy he's a better teacher than this scribe look at the scribe go he's that's lame that's that's one level but there's something else to it the one disciple the one of the the the one member of the apo apostolic group who was ascribed was the apostle paul and when christ picked him up he turned the world upside down when christ picked paul when christ picked up saul of tarsus he did amazing things with that particular scribe he christ has so much authority that he can even speak through a scribe every mortal prison every mortal preacher is in this position and he needs to keep it in mind at all times unless uh it doesn't matter how fancy an altar you build if the fire doesn't fall and it's not up you know if the fire doesn't fall it doesn't matter it doesn't matter you can build an ornate gold altar or one fashioned out of stones but if the fire doesn't fall we're all without the fire remember even paul himself in second corinthians 2 6 he cried out in a holy despair talking about the task of preaching he said who is sufficient for these things you've got the eternal things of god and you're trying to fit it into the space allotted in the service you're trying to fit it into your outline you're trying to fit it into the hearts and minds of the saints gathered and you think i cannot fit this in there i can't do this we can't do this nobody can do this paul says in second corinthians 2 6 who is sufficient for these things and that's a rhetorical question the answer is nobody nobody is sufficient for these things the best preacher in the world is nothing more than a 15 yard sale violin but when christ picks that thing up he still astonishes the world with the music that he can make and if you asked luther or if you asked calvin or if you asked whitfield if you asked any of the great saints of god who were mightily used in some of the greatest revivals and reformations that have ever happened what are you the answer would be i'm a 15 yard sale violin that's what the answer would be and they are not lying to you they are not lying to you that's what they really are and the reason it had such an impact is because christ did it christ was there christ used them so when christ picks up that violin he knows how to play it he can fill the world with that kind of music christ is the revelation of god himself and he cannot be other than what he is he is the revelation he is the manifold grace of god when he is preached wherever he is preached he must be present there is no hidden christ there is no hidden christ he is emmanuel he is god with us there are sinners trying to hide from christ there are sinners running the other way they're they're sinners hiding under the chair but that's not the same thing as a hidden christ christ is not hidden he is the word of god he is the declaration of god jesus is the sermon of god and he fills up every available space and so consequently christ is here will you follow him when christ says to you follow me will you follow him when christ says put that down will you put it down when christ says pick that up will you pick it up will you come and follow christ the lord himself our father and god we thank you for your kindness to us we thank you for your word we thank you for all you've given us i pray that you'd help us to comprehend it i pray that your spirit would apply these things push them into the corners of our hearts father we pray and as we pray we lift up the words that jesus himself taught us to pray saying in the text from first corinthians 11 that i read every lord's day here at this table paul warns the corinthians about how they celebrate the lord's supper he says that when they were coming together there were divisions among them people were eating and drinking on their own and leaving others out and for that reason many were weak and sick and some had even died because people were not discerning the lord's body they were eating and drinking unworthily and he says they were eating and drinking damnation on themselves therefore paul says people should examine themselves as they come to this table and what are they to examine paul tells us he says he asks are you at odds with anyone at this table are there divisions among you are you hoping to eat and drink and finish the service quickly and get out before running into so and so that would be a form of eating unworthily are you at odds with your parents or your kids or your spouse or your in-laws are you at the first service i guess you guys are at the second service are you at the second service hoping to avoid someone at the first service are you here hoping to avoid someone at ccd or trinity or another church in town if so paul would say your coming together is not for the better but for the worst people who come to this table of communion while out of fellowship with other believers are not celebrating the lord's supper and this meal is not a blessing for you but a curse so what should you do well if you remember that your brother has something against you and you can sneak across an aisle or two in the middle of the next hymn do it go make it right better to go make things right and miss a couple of verses and then sit back down and really celebrate the lord's supper and invent to talk to someone in one of the other services determine right now before god that you will go make things right at the very first possible moment begin preparing your heart now to confess your sin or to forgive or both and ask god to bless that at this table and finally if you are at peace with everyone as far as it depends upon you as far as you know celebrate this meal like it's true don't close your eyes and ignore everyone around you open your eyes look down your row at your people look behind you look around see the bread in their hands see the wine that you are holding with them together with you and discern the lord's body here in our midst christ died for us christ lives for us christ is here with us so come and welcome to jesus christ in the night in which he was betrayed jesus took bread and he gave thanks so let's give thanks together our god and father we thank you for jesus your beloved son our savior thank you that he died for us thank you that he rose again for us thank you that he sits at your right hand and lives and intercedes for us thank you for christ and thank you for knitting us together in christ in jesus name amen when you're growing up sometimes it seems like you're growing so slow you're not making as much progress as you wanted and frequently spiritual walks spiritual growth can feel the same way you feel like you're still battling the same sin or there's that one thing that just keeps nagging at you and it's taking forever but every now and again you really should look back and you should say oh look how far i've come it doesn't always feel that way but you really ought to have moments where you look and you say look how far you've brought me god i'm not struggling with that anymore i do have more courage now i do have more faith now i am grown look how far i've come and you how how does that happen it happens you grow by food you've been fed and god is growing you and so that's one of the ways you know that what you hear here what you receive here every lord's day is real food for you you're growing and you should look back and you should see that you're going and if you're not you really ought to seek out a pastor you ought to seek someone out and say why am i not growing but in but in god's providence you should see the evidence that this is god's word that christ is here with you as you grow go with these words this is a this is the charge just a meditation from second corinthians 4. it says for we preach not ourselves but christ jesus the lord and ourselves your servants for jesus sake for god who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of god and not of us now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly abol above all that we ask or think according to the power that is at work in us to him be the glory in the church by christ jesus to all generations forever and ever amen

Channel: Christ Church

Views: 1,262

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Id: xqy9Se65b-E

Length: 45min 46sec (2746 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 24 2020