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Worship - October

This Sunday we celebrated the Lord’s Supper, and even though we are doing it somewhat differently than what we have in the past, this is something that each of us has done at least a couple of times a year since we became Christians. In nearly every church I have been in, the leadership of the church sets aside a few minutes to remind the congregation of the importance and solemn nature of this ceremony.  Even with these constant reminders, however, our tendency is to lose our wonder and grow accustomed to what is being celebrated.  We eat the bread, we drink the cup, and before we know it, it’s all over with and we’re ready to move on with our day.  If we are not careful, our muscle memory takes over, and we have consumed the elements and barely given any thought to the Gospel.  I don’t think that is what Christ had in mind when He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Oftentimes when I am meditating on the Lord’s Supper I like to go back to the Old Testament.  I love the Old Testament because the more I study it, the more I understand how it points forward to the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  And when it comes to the Lord’s Supper, I love to go back to the Passover in particular.  It was during the Passover feast that Christ gave his disciples the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, and I have no doubt that He did so for a reason.  There is a song that I came across a couple of years ago which I think beautifully connects these two earth shattering events, and helps us to refocus our hearts on the cross during communion.  The song is by Caroline Cobb and Sean Carter, and is called “The Passover Song”.  The song begins with the phrase, “There’s a promise in our veins, but it’s faded by all these years in chains.”  It speaks of the children of Israel held captive in Egypt, and reminds us of the promises that God made both to Adam and Eve and to Abraham.  To Adam and Eve God promised that their offspring would crush the head of the serpent, though the serpent would bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15), and to Abraham God promised that through his offspring all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3, Galatians 3:7-9).  Thus within the bloodline of Abraham's offspring there was a promise of blessing and redemption.  The problem was, the children of Israel were hopelessly enslaved in the land of Egypt.  Telling of the coming of Moses, the song goes on to say, “Send a prophet, send the plagues, That by sunrise we will no more be slaves."

Bringing us to the very night of Passover, the song then says, "Take the lamb, take the blood, and paint it on our doorways.  At night death will come but pass us by... This is all our hope and peace".  God's wrath was coming down upon the nation of Egypt, manifested in the death of the firstborn of every single family in the land. But in His graciousness, God provided a means of escape, and anyone who would kill the lamb, consume its flesh, and paint its blood on the doorway of their house, their household would be spared.  The nation of Israel was then instructed to reenact the ceremonies of Passover as a means of remembrance, teaching one generation after another of God's salvation that came through judgment.

However, within the story told through this song we take a sudden turn when it says, "There's a poison in our veins, and it leads to death we cannot escape."  Romans 5:12 reminds us that coursing through each of our veins is death which comes through sin.  This time, however, the song does not call for a prophet and plagues, but says, "Send a ransom, a perfect son.  Remedy the curse by his precious blood."  As bad as the "years in chains" were for the nation of Israel, their slavery pales in comparison to the curse of sin.  Thus no animal's blood would ever be sufficient to wipe away the stain of sin.

Now, completing our journey from the Passover to the cross, the song says, "And the lamb that will come, his cross will be our doorway.  And the red of His blood will make us white.  And the daughters and sons rejoice in resurrection! And death is swallowed up in endless life."

This is what we are celebrating and remembering when we eat the bread and drink the cup together, and in doing so we are proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes. 

Spiritual Development - October

“The Waiting is the Hardest Part” by David Mathis

Patience is the Virtue – This illusive virtue, then, which corresponds to the dreaded condition of waiting is patience. It is the first thing Paul celebrates about love in 1 Corinthians 13 – “love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4) – and one of the most repeated exhortations to church leaders (1 Thessalonians 5:14; 2 Timothy 2:24; 4:2). Eternal life is the possession of “those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality” (Romans 2:7). And patience is a virtue so rare, and of such divine doing, that Paul twice draws on its exercise as a defense of his apostleship (2 Corinthians 6:4-6; 12:12). Patience is the companion of humility and the enemy of pride. “The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit” (Ecclesiastes 7:8). It is the appropriate posture of the creature illumined enough to say, “God is sovereign, and I am not.” And it is not our own production, but “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22; 5:5).

Three Pathways for Cultivating Patience – In the practice of patience is one of the times we most feel the burn of sanctification and the inward groans of the Spirit (Romans 8:23). At times it can seem we’re being conformed to Jesus almost effortlessly; the winds of the Spirit in our sails, as we feed the nourishment of self-forgetfulness. But part of waiting is the conscious hardship. We taste the bitter pill of patience and feel it slither ever so slowly down our throat. It’s not patience when we’re gloriously unaware of the waiting. And so when we feel the burn, we need divine promises in store and a plan of attack. Here are three biblical pathways for cultivating patience in the waiting.

1 Renew Faith and Hope – when you feel the first resistance, let it be a reminder to go Godward. Recalibrate the focus of your faith. Move the weight of your trust off self, where it keeps gravitating back, and consciously reorient on God. Whether it’s simply spare moments or seemingly endless days, waiting is not waste in God’s economy. It is in the delays and the pauses, and in becoming aware of our lack of patience, that he works to save us from self-reliance and revitalize our faith and hope in him. Patience comes with faith (2 Tim. 3:10; Heb. 6:12) – faith for the moment, and hope toward the future. Faith feeds hope, and when, “we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:25).

2 Pray and Give Thanks – Second, let the waiting prompt you to pray. The summons to “be patient in tribulation” is followed with the reminder to “be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12). A healthy life of prayer doesn’t necessitate hours each day in the closet, but eyes to see the opportunities in, and a heart to size upon, the unexpected moments and seasons of waiting. And there is a remarkable role for thanksgiving in cultivating “patience with joy.” Paul prays for Christians that they may be “strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:11-12).

How do we “put on … patience” (Colossians 3:12)? The apostle points us to thanksgiving not once or twice, but three times: Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15-17) Few things will pass the time as effectively and richly as counting your blessings and naming them to God.

3 Remember the Patience of God – Finally, the pain of waiting can point our hears to the life-saving patience of God. We owe our everything to his kindness and patience with us. “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?’ (Romans 2:4). He was patient when the first man and woman sinned. His “patience waited in the days of Noah” (1 Peter 3:20). He was patient with Abraham and patient with Israel. He showed his patience through his prophets (James 5:10). And if he is patent even with “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,” how much more has he shown his patience to us in making known “the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:22-23)? Jesus himself is the climactic display of God’s perfect patience toward sinners (1 Timothy 1:16). He is patent toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9) We “count the patience of our Lord as salvation” (2 Peter 3:15) and bank on his promise, in all our waiting, to “sustain you to the end” (1 Corinthians 1:8).