MBTS Chapel

um good morning midwestern seminaries virgin college it is a joy to gather with you this beautiful day let's start our time let's frame our hearts and our minds by singing truth together christ the true and better adam join with me christ the true man son of god and son of man who intented [Music] and he who makes the many righteous brings us back to life again dying he reverse the curse then rising crush the serpent's hand christ the true and isaac humble son of sacrifice [Music] their salvation was provided [Music] glory hallelujah [Music] called to lead a people home standing bold to earthly powers god's great glory to be known and with his arms stretched [Music] the soaring [Music] be the champion [Music] is [Music] he shall be the throne forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] the story [Music] let's remain standing together thank you dr ms swain for your leadership and worship team up here and each one of you for singing what a glorious hymn to sing together i want to call us to worship scripturally this morning from the book of ephesians we shall read together from ephesians chapter 6 beginning in verse 10 down through verse 20. ephesians chapter 6 beginning in verse 10 down through verse 20. let's read together finally be strong in the lord and in the strength of his might put on the full armor of god so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the powers against the world forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places therefore take up the full armor of god so that you will be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm stand firm therefore having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace in addition to all take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the spirit and with this in view beyond the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints and pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel for which i am an ambassador in chains then proclaiming it i may speak boldly as i ought to speak let's pray father we vow to you this morning in worship our heart rejoices in these verses we are struck by the fact that the apostle writes here enlisting the prayers of these saints not for his change to be alleviated but for the gospel to go forth with great boldness from his life and father what a lesson that is for us this morning and i pray for each one of us that our desire will be pauline in this sense praying to god daily make us bolder in the gospel of christ more broadly from these verses help us to be alert to the way the evil one works the destruction he would like to bring the harm he's determined to cause help us to be faithful to be spiritually alert and guided and grounded and indeed to live as though we are putting on daily the armor of god we pray these things in jesus name amen thank you you may be seated it's a light to welcome each one of you to chapel this morning our second chapel of the fall semester in the new academic year customarily with that uh the seminary's provost preaches the second chapel service of each semester as i kick us off with the first chapel service of each semester uh our provost is a man each one of you know there is obviously a short biographical reference in your chapel bulletin today but dr jason deusing is a gifted scholar a committed colleague a devoted servant of midwestern seminary and also a cherished friend to so many of us and i reflect often on the fact that amongst our senior leadership team and really beyond that senior leadership team uh i am a privileged man to get to serve with individuals who not only are gifted and godly and committed but also are good friends and occasionally i have someone to say to me something like you know you got to be careful it can be risky serving with your good friends and i always think it's riskier to serve with your good enemies and so we'll take friends and so we're delighted to have good friends who serve here i want to mention also a couple of announcements for the samara community abhe um accrediting agencies here visiting us today and tomorrow and into friday and want to encourage each one of you if you bump into them give a word of greeting if they want to talk visit with them take the time to visit if they're looking for to find a location help them get to where they desire to be so we want to be good host to the abhe here along those lines faculty who are slated to meet with the abhe team that meeting will take place as a reminder in the banquet hall immediately falling chapel at 11 am so make sure to make your way there well i must say a word this morning even in the context of worship about the spurgeon college women's volleyball team and what a spectacular collection of young ladies both in talent and in disposition and their commitment to christ and those of you who got to be at the gym last night for some of that or all of that just you enjoyed a spectacular evening and i am so proud of these ladies the team under coach stanton and the way they've improved so much over the year and it was just a glorious night and so we look forward to many of those glorious nights in the student center and again i'm like an evangelist for women's volleyball now uh i i i was so you know i was grew up playing basketball i played a little baseball enjoyed football i was not conversing at all until volleyball men's or women's until last year but to go to a couple games and get to understand how the score is kept and how you win how you lose how the fault lines are accounted for and it's it's an exhilarating sport to watch and uh to not just watch the mechanics of a volleyball game but to to watch a coach and young ladies you believe in play is just a particular source of joy so ladies we're proud of you we're thankful for you and we can't wait to see game after game this year especially those in the student center uh one other word uh on another high note i want to and remind each one of you that the midwestern women's institute classes begin tomorrow so if you want to register if you want to participate you need to register today or at the very latest tomorrow morning on the front end of those classes so midwestern women's institute that is uh for both single and married women and so we invite all of you to participate all the ladies in our midst and in this community um to those who are married gentlemen i say to you encourage your wife to participate support her in her participation watch the kids so she can participate i did that years ago in a similar institutional context with a similar program and it was a glorious experience for my wife and it was a very small contribution i could make to her to serve her in that way so she can participate not just what she's learning but the fellowship that takes place in that setting so men i say to you i promise you if you get your wife involved in mwi you will have a healthier and happier marriage i promise you if you get your wife involved at wmwi i will have a healthy and happier marriage okay so do it for me too lastly i want to point us to friday morning uh we'll be here in this chapel for the funeral service of chrissy wallin and i want to encourage you again each one of you uh if you can to be here to support roy and the loss of christy this past year past week due to covet and as you can imagine a devastating loss and the support of this community uh would mean a great deal to him so we'll be here the service is at 10 and i'll be preaching the service and along with roy's pastor and there will be visitation from about 9 a.m to 10 a.m again for all the employees uh you're you're invited you're not you're not mandated to come you're invited to come and to do so while on the clock so it's excused to be out of the office for that gathering roughly from nine to roughly 11 a.m so i hope to hope to see you here for for the wild and family dr swine continue to lead us brother [Music] how i love the voice of jesus on the cross of calvary he declares his work is finished he has spoken this hope to me oh the sun had ceased its shining though the war appeared has lost christ has triumphed over evil it was finished upon that cross [Music] now the curse it has been broken jesus paid the price for me full apart [Music] jesus christ [Music] it was finished upon [Music] death was once my great opponent fear once had a hold on me but the son who died to save us rose that we would be free indeed [Music] love the son who died to save us rose that we would be free indeed [Music] is [Music] [Music] god i rejoice in jesus victory it was finished upon that cross it was finished upon that cross it was [Music] how great the chasm that lay between us how high the mountain i could not climb in desperation [Music] i turned to him and spoke your name into the night and through the darkness your loving highness tore through the of my souls the work is finished the end is written jesus christ my who could imagine so great of mercy grace the god of ages stepped down from glory to the cross has spoken i am forgiven the is [Music] christ my living lord hallelujah [Music] praise the lord who set me free [Music] jesus [Music] praise the lord and set me free [Music] their salvation in your name jesus christ [Music] then came the morning that sealed the promise your buried body began to breathe out of the silence out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave and has no claim on me let's sing that again then came the morning begin to breathe [Music] for jesus [Music] [Music] the one who set me [Music] [Music] for jesus christ [Music] [Music] their salvation in your name jesus christ [Music] jesus christ [Music] [Music] amen you may be seated well good morning if you have a copy of god's word i invite you to find john's first letter first john in chapter one first john in chapter one verses one through four and as you're finding it also please join me in prayer father we're grateful for this day to gather around your word so thankful that your word is words of life enabled by the power of the holy spirit to illumine our minds and hearts to set us free from sin to encourage us to strengthen us and i pray in these brief moments that you would do that and that you would help us even as you meet here with us for your name's sake and your glory amen first john chapter one and the first four verses that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the father and made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our your fellowship is with the father and with his son jesus christ and we are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete william shakespeare begins his play one of his tragedies richard iii with a famous line and even if you've never heard of richard iii or read richard iii or seen richard iii acted out you may be familiar with this line it begins this way richard iii speaking he says now is the winter of our discontent now is the winter of our discontent and here richard is using a metaphor the idea of winter a season of gloom and overcast skies to depict a state of discontent a state of restlessness and what's happening in the play is that richard and his family are under current oppression by henry iv and they're about to throw that off but at this point at least in this first line richard iii is opening the play by saying now in the winter of our discontent as i was reading this recently i thought really it was a fitting description of our own season our own cultural moment these months and years in which we're in in our land and in our world truly now is the winter of our discontent as a church member and friend of pastors this is the most challenging environment i've ever observed for pastoral ministry i don't know how my brothers are persevering in this time it's so challenging this winter of discontent as a citizen in this country these days are some of the most uncertain that i've ever seen just in terms of not being sure of what tomorrow might bring much less four hours from now and to someone mindful of what's happening among the nations of the world my heart regularly breaks repeatedly breaks for increased reports of persecution total disregard for humanity general bleakness that most peoples in the world are experiencing even now but even if you're not dialed into all those things like that i am maybe your experience is far more local and just tied to your present circumstances you're starting a new semester at a new school you've moved away from your family for the first time you're into three weeks and it's sort of hitting you that that this has all been fun kind of like camp but now it's this is my life and i'm here and there's a sort of creeping in the clouds this winter of discontent might be called homesickness and this might be called loneliness might be called uncertainty or perhaps you're entering into the final phase of your doctoral program and that looming mountain of the dissertation is just staring at you and everyone tells you it won't be that bad it can be done you can tackle it but you alone know you've got to go into a room and sit down and type the thing and it's weighing on you and with that there's also the looming sense of what do i do when i've done this is when i'm done this has been my job for three or four years and now i don't know where i'm gonna go i don't know what i'm gonna do there are no academic jobs out there i mean how do i you're feeling the weight of discontent and restlessness simply because of a personal trial an uncertain future or just simply circumstances that are beyond your control now is the winter of our discontent well as followers of christ we know that our hope is not in this world no matter how challenging it might become within or without local or global but yet as we persevere here awaiting and longing for christ's return much like the arrival of spring the end of winter bringing spring how are we to think of this wintry season and more importantly how are we to live well first i think it's helpful to think of it as a season now is the winter of our discontent it is a season even though there is much in this world to lament we can remind ourselves that in this season god's promises are true and he hasn't changed there is still every day every minute of every day something to be thankful for and more than that there are multitude of reasons to have hope we can be reminded that god's kingdom is still expanding in places never before thought possible even even with the disregard to humanity and many of the nations of the world god's kingdom is expanding in nations we've never thought before possible churches are being formed and people are coming to christ among muslim peoples by the hundreds and we can find hope hope and things like that and so it is a season and therefore it's not actually as bleak as it appears living in kansas city as i have for seven years there's two weeks or so just to warn you here for those of you who have moved out of time there's two weeks come january february where it gets into the single digits and there's a couple of those days in those two weeks where it feels like it's never going to come out of the single digits but it always does it's a season it always does it's not actually as bleak as it appears and if we train our hearts and our minds to look on christ we'll be remembered we'll be reminded of all these things we know to be true and in that we'll have hope but even as we're personally wearing it persevering in that way how are we to live how are we to follow christ in these wintry seasons and more importantly as we're thinking about going out and doing ministry or going out into the marketplace how are we to help others do the same what patterns should we be giving to lead others and to have others follow christ as we follow christ well my purpose today and by looking and thinking about this text in first john is to show that the one vital way the one vital way that god has given us to be in this world and not of it to have renewed life within us to have true hope regardless of how we feel or whether we have any answers for what's coming to simply walk in the spirit is to pursue fellowship to pursue fellowship and to pursue it as if our lives depended upon it to prioritize it as if our lives depended upon it because they do they do let me explain what i mean these first four verses of john's first letter point us in it to the gospel and john is saying that the natural most natural byproduct of the gospel is fellowship is fellowship and as we examine this i hope to remind us of the value of fellowship especially in our season of wintry discontent so look with me now first john chapter 1 and we'll do some bible study here in the first four verses and then if you hang with me through that we'll get into some ways in which i think might be applicable to you to pursue fellowship in this age this these first four verses comprise john's prologue to his first letter and if you read it you'll hear echoes of his prologue to his gospel it's the same author using the similar devices and this makes it unique in that it lacks many of the typical headings we'll find throughout new testament letters john does not announce himself as the author he's not announcing who are the recipients he just starts right into this beautiful brief prologue the way he starts his gospel in the same way and this should clue us in that john's letter is actually really a sermon it's a letter yes it's meant to be read and to be read again but it really is a sermon and it's given to people that he knows well so well that he doesn't have to announce who he is as the author and so he dispenses with all the usual personal greetings he's so familiar with them he just gets right to what he has to say we know this in part because later in chapter 2 he'll refer to his audience as his children and then in verse 19 he'll reference some who are among them who left them so he's clearly preaching a sermon to a community that he knows well but in this prologue these brief four verses don john does present and summarize many of the themes to which he'll return later throughout the letter it is a prologue it is a preface it's almost a table of contents of what will come and he uses a very unique literary device that i just find fascinating to capture the attention of his audience and what he does is he uses a single sentence from verse one all the way through halfway of verse three in the original language that's just one sentence so he starts off with this sermon that's just sort of one long sentence and it's a single sentence that scholars have called a grammatical tangle a grammatical tangle and if you come across that and you think okay well then i'm not going to try to translate first john if it begins with a grammatical tangle i'm running away from that give me something a little more simple what do they mean by a grammatical tangle well in the first verse there are four verbs but none of them are the main verb so he's just launching all these descriptive verbs at you but the main verb doesn't come until verse 3. these four verbs in verse 1 are giving account as to the authenticity of the message he's proclaiming as well as the christ proclaimed so in these early verses john speaks here of the christ as the word of life that was fully human he talks about christ as someone they have seen and someone they have touched he was a fully human being and he also talks in these first four verses of jesus christ as being someone fully divine he was from the beginning and he gets to the point of saying with the father fully human and fully divine and so as much as john is articulating throughout his letter a very balanced and effective christology when you think about the two natures of christ you want something that's completely imbalanced 100 man 100 god and even in john's day there were sects of people drifting into error trying to diminish his humanity or diminish his divinity to somehow make sense of who was the god-man christ jesus john beautifully in four verses is just articulating look we've seen him we've touched him but he was also from the beginning and with the father he was fully man and and fully god all at the same time refuting those in the companies of his hearers who are whispering in their ears various kinds of heresies trying to pull them from the side and would begin to rip apart even the early church in the years after john finishes these letters but don't miss this in the midst of him articulating a balanced christology we would say he is not giving sight of the point of the balanced christology namely christ himself and then what they're to do with the message of christ themselves how they are to live and it's here we begin to see his pastoral focus i'm going to teach you well i'm going to guide you into truth i'm going to open up the word of god i'm going to show you the things that are true about our lord and savior jesus christ but for a reason and so we see his pastoral focus he gives how the gospel should change their lives and produce fruit the gospel this idea of the coming of christ is the most important thing and it's also the key to living the christian life and living in fellowship and that's the key to thinking through how we live and seasons of discontent so let's look a little bit more closely at this first long sentence that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we've looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the father and made manifest to us that we have seen that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you that is one long sentence at the center of that sentence is the phrase word of life this phrase is a powerful one and it's intended to communicate a lot of things about the word himself jesus christ who came in the flesh but who also came as a life-giver he is the word but he is the word of life he is giving eternal life in john's gospel chapter 6 john recounts the disciples response to jesus teaching them some difficult things to grasp and at the end of that peter says lord to whom shall we go you have the words of eternal life and we have believed and have come to know that you are the holy one of god jesus christ is the word of god and he is the keeper of words of life he is both the word and he is the life giver verse two depending on your translation i'm using the esv largely here it's set apart by a couple of dashes and scholars often refer to this verse as a parenthesis and to underscore john saying if you don't believe that we've heard seen and touched jesus christ let me say it to you again in a little bracket here that we really have my me and my fellow witnesses had actually been with jesus he's saying that jesus's life was made manifest here jesus god himself became a man in part so that humans could know and comprehend him sometimes at christmas time we just blow right past the miracle of the incarnation or christmas time is the only time we think about the incarnation but part of the gospel is understanding that jesus christ the word of god who was with the father from the beginning came and was manifest as a man for a purpose a man himself in these verses verse 1 and 2 and part of three john is continuing to testify that he and those who saw and knew and touched jesus bear witness to what they have seen for a purpose that the result of their proclamation of jesus christ would result in others having eternal life now one more granular thing and this is where we get a little more lecture than than sermon but you can't miss something of real structural beauty in the way that john has crafted this sentence in verse one notice the order john says that they've heard and then he says that they've seen then we go through the parenthesis of verse two and then we come out in verse three and john recounts that they encounter jesus the word of life he reverses the order he says first that they've seen and then they've heard so verse 1 they've heard they heard with their ears and then they saw jesus then he gives his bracketed verse in verse two and then in verse three comes out and says actually we saw and then we heard see if you think of that visually it's almost like a you can think of it two ways going down into a valley or coming back up or going up to a mountain and coming back down we heard and then we saw and we saw and then we heard and what's at the center of either that mountain or that valley is christ himself john is just inverting those two verses to point you to the word of life himself we heard him and then we saw him who jesus christ we saw him and then we heard him and he's doing this structurally the beauty of the words of god inspired by the holy spirit used by the apostle john to illuminate even in this package jesus christ himself we heard and we saw we saw and we heard the center is christ it elevates and points to the word of life jesus christ john's emphasis here is not only on the message they receive and proclaim but even more on the object of the message and in that so much is key and don't miss this all of you who are students here in your days at this school you will receive all kinds of help you will receive knowledge about things that will unlock doors to room you never knew existed that will change your life forever your professors will help clarify things that in your mind have always been muddy and it will transform your life forever but with all that biblical clarity that you get and all that it helps you sort out x from y and a to z don't drift past the object of that knowledge jesus christ himself don't gain a head full of knowledge and be able to answer all these things and miss our lord and savior jesus christ himself john and his followers didn't we shouldn't either i was visiting last week in a phd seminar with mike brooks and he had read a sermon by charles spurgeon on first timothy 1 15 called the gospel in a single verse only spurgeon has the best sermon titles the gospel in a single verse and in that sermon spurgeon refers to what luther called verses like first timothy first 115 as little bibles there are verses and sections throughout the bible that are actually com luther called little bibles why do you call them liberal bibles because contained in these small sections are the essence of the whole bible itself first timothy 1 15 is one i think this long sentence in first john is one as well this is a little bible contained in this thing at the center of it is christ is all that you need to understand what is the word of life and to know how to live this is a wonderful little bible well in that first part of verse 3 we actually get our main verb it's the phrase we proclaim and that's key for understanding what john is saying here at the start of his letter we proclaim also to you jesus christ it's the center of everything he's the word of life and we're proclaiming him to you we're proclaiming him to you and it's a statement sharing that this isn't a message that we just testify to and have but for those who've seen jesus in the flesh but it's for all of you who hear the message that's proclaimed john is relaying here that the gospel the good news about the life death and resurrection of jesus christ that following the fall fall of humankind into real and actual sin and separation from god god the father and eternity past sent god the son and the power of god the spirit to become a human being to become one of us so that jesus christ could fulfill every requirement of the law perfectly and then once he had done that he laid down his life enduring a significant punishment both real and physical but also eternal the weight of which we can never possibly understand by bearing the full weight of the wrath of god he did that he took our place and endured and satisfied every requirement that god would have for the punishment of sin why so that anyone who believes in him can actually have their sins forgiven he took your place he took my place to really take away all of the requirements of the law that were upon us all the punishment that we deserve before our infraction of every ounce of the law and he did it so that we could have fellowship restored jesus christ made available for free true life eternal life as the word of life and john and the apostles receive this message from christ and now they proclaim it we proclaim it to those receiving the letter and therefore to us who are still reading the letter even today this christ the center of this little bible is for you to know and to cherish and to love have you actually come to a place in your life where you have repented of your sins and trusted jesus to see those sins forgiven as what i said and described clicked with you in some way that it has never clipped with you before that somehow it's unlocked some door that you've never seen you can trust in christ today even right in your seat right now it this is for you it is free and it is good news and it is for you and you can trust it even right now but jesus christ came and did these things and lived this life for a purpose it is transactional it is meant to free us from our sins but it's also to do much more than that and here we get to the heart and the final section of what i want to go through here the key to persevering in the seasons of discontent is the pursuit of fellowship jesus christ died and rose again and gave us new life so that we could have fellowship with him and with one another look at the last half of verse 3 so that you two may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son jesus christ through christ the fellowship with god that was lost in the fall has been restored life in christ is the essence of fellowship when the bible talks about fellowship the idea here is clearly christian fellowship it's not superficial or surfacy fellowship it's not fellowship tacked on to a nice meal that we have or gathering to watch a sporting event it is true christian fellowship it's rooted in a common faith with christ and as this term is used throughout john's work but also all of the new testament it contains this idea of mutual sharing or partnering something that's reciprocal just as jesus refers to believers as being branches connected to him the true vine to abide in him those branches are connected to him and therefore can have fellowship and connection to one another thus john's point and these first four verses is just summarized well by john stott stott says we proclaim to you concerning the word of life what was from the beginning which we have seen heard and touched and the objects of our proclamation are fellowship and joy the purpose of the gospel is life in christ and fellowship therefore how are we to cultivate that fellowship and here i have three areas i think we as believers in christ have to be intentional about culturally cultivating fellowship with one another in the local church i think number two we have to be intentional about cultivating fellowship with christian friends and then three we have to be careful about cultivating fellowship with god himself and if we do this we will be able to persevere through the seasons of wintry discontent first with the church and with the church in christ true fellowship in the church is only possible if it finds its source in christ you may say well that's obvious well not every church is focused on christ not every building that houses people gathering together under the name of christ is actually focused on christ a longtime friend of c.s lewis austin austin farrer once wrote to be a loyal churchman is hobbyism unless it is the way to be a loyal christian to see through the church to christ as a man sees through the telescope to the stars anyone can be a member of a local church but local churches that point you into the way of christ help you actually to be a faithful christian to see through church the church to christ is the way a man sees through the telescope to the stars not every church has this telescope pointed to christ and where a church has its telescope pointed is going to be the focus and the basis of their fellowship whether it's trends or fads or humor or cultural engagement or running away from the cultural whatever it may be true fellowship is only possible in the church if it's focused on christ it's a negative side the positive side is that true fellowship is possible in the church and is meant to be found uniquely in the church so as you start a new academic year here are a few things to think about fellowship in the church should be planned when does your church meet where does it meet what time do you need to leave to get there even more what what text will the sermon be covering in the days ahead find out in advance what what is the current prayer focus of the church who will you plan to meet when you get there what conversations do you intentionally plan to have what's the state and condition of your heart as you prepare to meet with your local church what things can you do saturday night to ensure that you're ready for sunday morning fellowship in the church needs to be planned it also needs to be pursued you have a plan now follow through with it get up when you say you're going to get up go when you say you're going to go meet the people you say we're going to meet regardless of how you feel regardless of what other urgent things come up fellowship in the church just doesn't happen if the it pursue it and you also have to protect it the fellowship of the church should be prioritized see it for what it is fellowship in the church is god's gift to you it's a vehicle that god has given you to hear from and have fellowship with other people and other believers to help you to melt away clouds an instrument that that god uses by his holy spirit is the local church to help you to think right to help you to wake up i cannot tell you the number of times in my own christian life that working through something or struggling through something the answer came clarity was given not in my own personal bible study but through the preaching of the word on sunday morning gathered in the local fellowship or through a word spoken in the hallway by a fellow believer in my local church plan it pursue it protect it secondly we should think about fellowship with friends in christ let's talk about friendship for a moment friendship c.s lewis says arises out of mere companionship where two or more of the companions discover that they have something in common or interest that they did not know that they shared until that moment the typical expression lewis says that friendship is something like what you too i thought i was the only one christian friendship transcends it is a beautiful thing when it does this cultures race generations ethnicities regions of the country regions of the world you can go anywhere in the world and the places i've traveled and when you find true believers in christ instantaneously you feel at home and you know you have something in common with them we should be developing and cultivating these christian friendships i have a bitten here about how i think you should also also cultivate friendships with christians who are no longer living but i'll save that for a history lecture um but nevertheless we have a wonderful non-living friend that you can make named c spurgeon on this campus and if you spend your entire academic career here and not investigate the life and work of ch spurgeon you're missing out on the potential of friendship and even fellowship with a wonderful brother who's gone before us who can regularly point you to christ but more importantly i think it's important to develop christian friendships among those who are actually living i've read several articles this summer about this country is engaging in a friendship crisis in the last 30 years many studies have reported that 20 people report 20 percent less of actually saying they have 10 friends or more 16 less say that they actually have less of a best friend than they did 30 years ago or decades ago and that's happening out there it's also happening within and particularly it's true i don't pay much attention to generational distinction but but among millennials these these stats are off the charts they millennials articulate that they don't know how to create friendships they don't have lasting friendships those of us in christ have so much in common we should be pursuing these things christian friendships are often brought together by christ and sustained by christ fellowship among friends in the same way should be planned they should be pursued they should be protected what old friends do you need to connect with what new friends do you need to make how can you center your friendships more on christ are you going to be the one when having a good time who might direct that conversation a bit awkwardly more to the things that really matter for all time and eternity i'm all for having fun and oftentimes i need friends who can help me to have fun because i can tend to be a bit more serious but those friendships are even more sweeter when they're rooted in christ himself they need to be planned they need to be pursued they need to be protected a long time ago when i was in college a group of friends and i decided without a lot of force foresight to covenant together to meet wherever we go in the world from that point forward once a year and the purpose of our gathering would be to sharpen one another to encourage one another to check on one another hold each other accountable to update one another and by god's grace since 1998 until this year except for one zoom year last year during covet we have met every year these friends and we've all drifted to different places they don't read everything i write they don't even know i'm probably preaching today they're busy we're busy but there's enough of a common connection to us in christ jesus that when we meet there is true and sweet fellowship and god has used that instrument of friendship to save me from all kinds of harm i know but also to encourage and direct me in all kinds of practical ways and even spiritual ways it has to be planned it has to be pursued it has to be prioritized if you want those kinds of friends it takes intentionality this is the outgrowth of the gospel christ jesus died and rose again and lives in us through the holy spirit so that we can have fellowship with one another in the church fellowship with friends and then lastly and most importantly we can have fellowship with god himself in christ god through christ and by the holy spirit is the best friend he is the best source of fellowship that anyone can have jonathan edwards in a beautiful sermon called the excellencies of christ said wherever whatever so there is that is desirable to be in a friend in is in christ and that to the highest degree can be desired edwards marvels that the lion and the lamb the actual lion and the lamb is someone that we can be friends with we can have fellowship with he is our friend and it's right for us in christ to calm our friend with jesus as the best friend the true christian truly experiences what the hymn means by melting the cloud of sin and sadness driving the dark of doubt away to persevere through the winter of discontent it's a realization that you're never alone that you have fellowship with christ the best friend what does it actually mean to have god as a friend well well jesus christ is not an imaginary friend even though he is invisible it's not like calvin's hobbs or christopher robin's winnie the pooh where you're constantly talking about this friend you have but no one actually believes that you have him you're the only one who knows that he's true he's not imaginary even though he is invisible he's a bit more like lucy's aslan actually more real than anyone ever actually knows and just as powerful and just as sweet and just as involved in one's life he is invisible now but he is real and he will be visible one day and our friendship and fellowship him is anchored in the fact that we will see him one day fellowship with god should also be planned and pursued and protected you may find yourself in a new season this semester make the most of those seasons prioritizing fellowship with god one of my last summers in college i was sharing an apartment with my younger sister i was about to graduate she was in the middle of her degree and we were both working and it turned out that that summer all of my friends had gone and it was really the first summer in a long time that i was virtually alone my sister's schedule was such that i would eat most meals of my alone in my house and i struggle with this because i'm used to just having 18 people around me all the time and all these noises and things and god through his kindness taught me some of these key principles of what it meant to have fellowship with him that very summer i was given for the first time a prayer guide had by the imb international mission board how to pray for muslims during ramadan i said this is a great plan what i'm going to do is every meal that i have i'm going to use this prayer guide and i'm basically going to have a meal with god himself i'm going to eat and pray and talk to god and that experience that season of loneliness was one of the sweetest times for developing actual fellowship with god and even learning how to pray and to think about other peoples in the world that i've ever had plan and take advantage of the circumstances you've been given to have fellowship with god pursue it and protect it carry it through prioritize your fellow fellowship with god in christ and ask for his help and regardless if you're discouraged about the patterns in your life before you are today hereby given a clean clean slate to start again be encouraged pursue god plan to have time with him pursue fellowship with him lastly we see further the point of all this in verse four and we are writing these things that our joy may be complete john says that our joy may be complete this final post script to john's prologue is simply saying that having fellowship with god made possible by the gospel brings the type of joy that only the bible can speak about and the world can never understand in john 20 jesus appeared to the disciples before his ascension and he john records that the disciples were glad when they saw the lord it's the type of joy that only comes out of having true fellowship with god a true fellowship shared among those who know god this is the type of joy that emotes from the fruit of the spirit the fruit of the spirit is what love joy and so forth joy in full god means for us to find joy in him to be happy in him to delight in him so much of this joy increases the more we have fellowship with him since january of this year in 2021 i've been working through very slowly the gospel of mark and the times in which i read the bible and i've been helped very much by tim keller's book king's cross older book and it's really guided me into this amazing season of just focusing on christ for himself and these are stories i've read many times these are thoughts i've had many times but the focus on christ himself to having fellowship with him has brought about such deep joy that i struggle even to describe it i regularly daily it's been weeks i get to the point of just having to stop and i just sit there and marvel at how wonderful we have a savior he is a wonderful savior and when you have fellowship with god and you experience the joy in christ god in his kindness some comes along and lifts you up and helps you to see how wonderful he truly is when you prioritize it and plan it and pursue it you will be amazed by the joy that god gives us in christ there's a moment in j.r.r tolkien's trilogy where his fellowship is faced with the daunting task of trans traversing the underground minds of moria half of you now know what i'm talking about most of you are thinking not one of those tolkien stories again but this is important the dwarves that lived in the mines of moria uh were once industrious and this was a incredibly powerful and industrious place but now at this point it's reduced to something dark and dreadful the fellowship following the leadership of their guide gandalf leads the company of travelers interestingly by speaking a word to enter into the minds that word is friend fellowship speaking the word friend they go in there they don't have a map gandalf who's typically omniscient clearly doesn't know for some reason what to do and they don't know where to go they begin to look to each other facing darkness they basically make up their minds tolkien says to go towards light in the north door and following the light together as a fellowship however faint proves essential to their successful navigation of the minds and ultimately to the achievement of their overarching quest to see evil destroyed and the return of the king in this cultural moment these days that look more and more like shakespeare's tragedy the winter of our discontent the christians sojourned through our culture or through our experience is very much like of the fellowships journey through the minds and don't miss the point that the fellowship were not traveling alone this was not some hero quest this was a fellowship a group of people traveling together their fellowship made all the difference what we need in these days is fellowship primarily with the church with christian friends and god himself to help point us to what regular sources of light to lead us on our way out of the darkness out of the winter of discontent out of the murkiness of the clouds we've been given that light through the lord jesus christ the word of life himself tolkien's fellowship searching for help in a dark corridor found that faint source of life and by it we're able to move forward in their quest may we do the same seeing the true value of fellowship in the winter of our discontent until evil is destroyed and we see the return of our king let's pray together father we're thankful for these brief moments and the opportunity to realize anew how good you are how kind you are that you condescend to us and allow you even to call you friend by the blood of christ and i pray that this semester we would all seek that as the answer to the many questions we have about the days in which we're living in jesus name amen let's stand together and go out with these words christ the true and better david lowly shepherd almighty king [Music] he the champion [Music] shall his people be [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus have a great day [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 67min 32sec (4052 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 01 2021