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Remembering the Reformation

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Each year in October many protestant remember and commemorate the protestant reformation. Perhaps you are not familiar with the Reformation. If not here is a short video from Ligonier Ministries that explains the reformation in about 3 minutes.

We at Grace Community Church because we are a reformed church which means we can trace our doctrine, beliefs, and practices directly to the reformation owe a debt of gratitude to not only Martin Luther but to all the reformers who risked their lives to recover the Biblical gospel.

Here is a transcript to the video. Our thanks to Ligonier for providing this helpful resource. https://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-was-reformation-all-about

Transcript

500 years ago, a German monk named Martin Luther started a protest that exploded into worldwide movement. At that time, Europe lived in the shadow of the Roman Catholic Church. It was more like an empire than a church. It crowned and cast down kings, and used its dominance to keep people in the darkness of superstition. That sounds pretty unfamiliar.

But in some ways, Luther’s day was very much like our own. Just like today, everyone had an opinion about the Bible even though almost no one had actually read it. Like so many of us, they were trusting the thought-leaders and taste-makers of their day to tell them what was in the Bible and whether or not to believe it. Luther was one of the very few people actually reading the Bible, and what he found was earth-shattering. Even though he was a monk, Luther hated the God of the Bible. But when he studied it, the world around him began to make sense. God made sense. The significance of Jesus became clear to him. He discovered the answer to his deepest question: how could evil be overcome? Specifically, how could his own evil—his own sin—be dealt with?

Luther discovered that he couldn’t do anything to fix this problem himself. He had to rely on the finished work of Christ alone. Luther had discovered a central truth. It changed his life. It changed the world. The Protestant Reformation was about two things. It was about who can say what’s true and it was about how to reconcile who we are with who God is. It recognized that God’s Word is the ultimate authority in this world, and that the perfect life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ are the only answer for evil and the only basis on which sinners can stand before a holy God. The Protestant Reformation is a story of transformation—a transformation from hate to love, from slavery to freedom, and from blind faith to a glorious discovery of the truth in Jesus Christ.

Ligonier Ministries exists to cultivate this transformation in a new generation. In a day when few are reading the Bible, and when confusion reigns in the church, we want to help Christians know what they believe, why they believe it, how to live it, and how to share it. Join us.

Grace Community Church Weekend Recap

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Another wonderful weekend at Grace Community Church of Berea! I find it refreshing to gather with our church family each Sunday morning at 10:30 for family prayer and then at 11:00 as we worship together in song and hearing the Scriptures preached.

The Message this week at Grace Community

This weeks message focused on John 14:1-3 where Jesus said " “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. "

In the message two major points were highlighted. The first being that Heaven is meant to be a comfort for the believer in both life and death.

This is understood by examining the circumstances in which Jesus spoke the words of John 14. The disciples where dealing with troubling circumstances surrounding the impending crucifixion and the impact that would have on the disciples.

Yes a death was going to take place, the Lord Jesus would be put to death and that would directly impact the disciples. Where they afraid for their own lives? Possibly. But they were also troubled over the Lord's statement that He was going to leave them and where He was going they could not follow.

In other words He was preparing them for life to go on without his physical bodily presence. So His words of Heaven were meant to provide them with comfort in life and not just death.

The second major point is that Jesus is the real, true attractional power of Heaven. Jesus told the disciple that he was going to come again and take them unto himself.

Pay careful attention to what Jesus said. He did not say that He was coming again to take them to Heaven, He said that He was coming to take them unto Himself! He is the pull of heaven for the believer!

If you would like to mention to the full sermon you can do that here:

Or you can listen here: https://gracecommunitychurchberea.com/sermons/heaven-awaits/

The Way

Also this Wednesday the Way will be meeting at 6:00 as the series on relationships continues.

Christ’s Cure for Loneliness

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"If you feel alone, you are not alone in being lonely." Those are the opening words at fortune.com's blog post that highlighted the survey findings conducted by health insurer Cigna. The responses to the survey are unsettling.

We are becoming a lonely nation.

Nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feeling alone (46 percent) or left out (47 percent).

  • One in four Americans (27 percent) rarely or never feel as though there are people who really understand them.
  • Two in five Americans sometimes or always feel that their relationships are not meaningful (43 percent) and that they are isolated from others (43 percent).
  • One in five people report they rarely or never feel close to people (20 percent) or feel like there are people they can talk to (18 percent).
  • Americans who live with others are less likely to be lonely (average loneliness score of 43.5) compared to those who live alone (46.4). However, this does not apply to single parents/guardians (average loneliness score of 48.2) – even though they live with children, they are more likely to be lonely.
  • Only around half of Americans (53 percent) have meaningful in-person social interactions, such as having an extended conversation with a friend or spending quality time with family, on a daily basis.
  • Generation Z (adults ages 18-22) is the loneliest generation and claims to be in worse health than older generations.
  • Social media use alone is not a predictor of loneliness; respondents defined as very heavy users of social media have a loneliness score (43.5) that is not markedly different from the score of those who never use social media (41.7). https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8294451-cigna-us-loneliness-survey

“We are created for community, fashioned for fellowship, and formed for a family, and none of us can fulfill God’s purposes by ourselves.”

— Rick Warren

Young and Lonely

What I found most surprising was the number of young people between the ages of 18 – 22 who ranked the highest on the loneliness scale. They were much more lonely than older generations despite the prevalence of social media. Apparently virtual connections are no substitute for real human interaction.

What should the church do

As Christians the rise in loneliness provides us with an opportunity to reach out to people of all ages and minister to them through simple friendship. But let's make sure that our efforts in befriending people are sincere and genuine. Insincerity and ulterior motives rarely pass the smell test.

Let's begin by with some concrete actions that we can take when a guests visits Grace Community Church.

Before the service

  • Each one of us needs to understand that Karina and Elyssa are not the only greeters. Yes the first greeting a guest get may be from them, but it should not be the only greeting they receive. As naturally as possible each one of us should seek out the first time guest and make them feel welcome. Making others feel welcome doesn't require advance training. Simply think about how you would like to be welcomed and do that!
  • Show genuine interest in each and every one of our guest. Regardless of age or economic status all need to be treated with kindness. Don does an excellent job of making our guests feel at home. You may not have Don's gifts (I know I don't!) but each on of us can still do our part to make them feel welcomed.
  • You may not have much time to talk with a first time guest before the service as many of them will not arrive until almost starting time – hey I do that too when I visit a church for the first time. Therefore make it a point to seek them out after the service and introduce yourself. The key to being friendly is taking a genuine interest in the other person. Here are some way you can do that.
  • Ask them some general, non-threatening questions. Questions such as "Do you live in Berea or Richmond?" If they are a college student (or you think they are) ask them "Is this your first year at school?" and follow up with "How do you like it?" or "What major are your working towards?" If they appear to be husband and wife and they have children ask them "How old are your children?" By the way show interest in their children ask them what their names are and introduce yourself to them.
  • Keep your questions general and non threatening. Ask them if they have any questions about the church. Or if they are new to the area ask them if they have any questions about the area.
  • If they ask you where the nursery or restrooms are located please do not just point them down the hall take them there.
  • Make sure that no one ever sits by themselves. This is a subject that I should have addressed in the past but it grieves me when I see a person who has had the courage to walk into a strange place for the first time and they sit there all alone. That only serves to magnify the stress they may already be experiencing. I understand that everyone likes to sit with their family and friends but your family and friends will understand the need to make others feel welcomed and wanted by offering to sit with them or inviting them to sit with you.
  • Invite them to lunch. You're going to eat lunch anyway right? So why not invite them to have lunch with you? Don't think you have to take them out and blow your budget. If you can and want to do that then great. But if not don't sweat it. Invite them to your home and share a sandwich or something else simple with them. Don't worry about the house, or the dishes just focus on them and everything will be fine.

I understand how difficult all this can be. If meeting new people is intimidating to you then imagine how intimidating it was for them to visit our church. If they can get out of their comfort zone so can you! Just do it!

Don’t Walk That Way!

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Sermon Text: Ephesians 4:17-19

Sermon Title: “Don’t Walk That Way”

INTRODUCTION:

The text for this morning begins the third and final division of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  The first division of the book is primarily doctrinal in nature.  The Apostle has written in detail about God’s eternal plan and purposes and how the believer has become a part of them.

God’s plan began in eternity past long before time as we understand it came into existence.  In eternity an agreement was made between the members of the Trinity whereby the Son would be sent by the Father to be born of a virgin, to be raised in an ordinary family working along side Joseph in the carpentry shop.  The extraordinary thing about the life of Jesus was his total and complete obedience to the will of the Father.  His obedience allowed him to make atonement for the sins of the elect.

Through repentance of sin and faith in Christ those who had been chosen before the foundation of the world would be blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3) they would be adopted by the Father (Eph. 1:5) and placed into the new society that God was creating.  A new society designed to show the immeasurable riches of the Father’s grace.

SECOND DIVISION

The second division in the book begins in chapter 4 and verse 1 where Paul begins the application of the doctrine he has taught in the first three chapters.  The focus of this second division is to aid our understanding that every believer is a part of the body of Christ and that the Lord Jesus gave to the body gifted men to first establish and ground the body on the right foundation and then through the ministry of the pastor-teachers equip the members of the body to do the work of the ministry which results in the body being built up as each member exercises their spiritual gift for the good of the body.

In the second division of the book (Ephesians 4:1-16) Paul sets before us, before the believer the general guidelines as to how those who are now in Christ should live.  He writes in verse 1 “I therefore a prison for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,” He then provides them with the attitudes that characterize the worthy walk, attitudes such as humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, doing whatever is necessary to maintain the unity of the Spirit and to grow up into Christ and to become mature in Christ.

THIRD DIVISION

Now as we enter the third and final division Paul moves from the general to the specific.  He is going to spell out in detail how the believer must conduct themselves now that they are in Christ.

Paul again makes the direct connection between doctrine and practice,  as he always does he links the two together.

Our conduct as believers must always be dictated, must always be controlled by what we believe.  You will not consistently behave in a manner worthy of Christ apart from understanding who you are in Christ.  Your practice must be founded upon and flow from doctrine.  Belief governs behavior!  Profession should lead to practice.

Christianity is not a code or a set of principles that we try and live up to.  Sadly, that is how many thinks of Christianity.  For instance, they read the Sermon on the Mount and think to themselves, wouldn’t the world be a much better place if everybody would just live this way and so they try and do their part.  What happens?  They fail miserably.

Why because trying to live out the principles outlined in the Sermon on the Mount apart from regeneration, apart from being born again is nothing more that trying to be a good moral person.  But they can’t be a good moral person because they are as Paul is about to describe darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God.  Therefore, they can not live out the precepts of God apart from the life of God apart from the power of God.

In this final division of his letter Paul shows us that the Christian life is a life to be lived.  And as Dr. Jones points out it is lived out in the details.  If we don’t live out the details, we are effectively denying the truth we say that we believe.

The Christian life is a life that is lived out in every one of our actions, in every one of our decisions.  In all of our attitudes.

Knowledge brings responsibility!  If we do not apply the truth we know (such as what we have learned about spiritual gifts and discipleship) then when we stand before the Lord Jesus one day we will have to give an answer as to why we failed to apply the knowledge we have received.  Listen to the last sentence in Luke 12:48

Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Therefore, we must take prompt action on the knowledge that we have been blessed with because we will be held responsible for what we did with that knowledge.  We need to take the words of James seriously….

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
(James 1:22, ESV)

SOMETIMES ITS GOOD TO REMEMBER

He begins by reminding them of their prior lifestyle.  Notice how he begins verse 17 “Now I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do…” The implication is that he is about to describe is their old way of living. He is reminding them that this was how you lived indeed how all live apart from Christ; but now that you are in Christ you must not live that way anymore.

Because they are in Christ they are new creations (2 Cor. 5:17) and because they are new creations the old has passed away and the new has come.  The moment a person comes to faith in Christ the moment they are born again everything about that person becomes new.  Do you want to know if you are saved?  Did you change?  Has everything about you become new?

John MacArthur writes: “Salvation is not a matter of improvement or perfection of what has previously existed. It is total transformation. The New Testament speaks of believers having a new mind, a new will, a new heart, a new inheritance, a new relationship, new power, new knowledge, new wisdom, new perception, new understanding, new righteousness, new love, new desire, new citizenship, and many other new things—all of which are summed up in newness of life (Rom. 6:4)”

Paul’s emphasis in 2 Cor. 5:17 is that the believer has not received something new that is added to the old, no the believer has become new.  His exact words are “behold the new has come.”  Everything is new!

Why then do we – believers – keep on sinning if the new has come?  Paul helps our understanding.  He writes in Romans 7:17-18

“So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” (Romans 7:17–18, ESV)

What is Paul’s answer?  The reason we still sin as Christians is because of the sin that still indwells us, resides in us.  We sin because our flesh, our bodies have not yet been redeemed and it is that remaining sin that keeps us from experiencing in this life the fullness of the new nature we now possess.

Believers are not perfect people; all believers must deal with temptation, they must deal with the constant pull of the old lifestyle. That is what Paul begins to deal with. Notice verse 17.

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.”

He begins with the word “now”.  In other translations it says “therefore”.  I like the ESV translation of now because it gives the sense of “ok now you are ready to hear this.  Now that you have the right foundation, now that I have given you the proper doctrine now and only now can you begin to properly practice what I’m about to say.  Now that you have been given the doctrine now your behavior can be dictated by your belief.”

Now he is ready to begin addressing their new lifestyle that will identify them to pagan culture that surrounded them that they were now a part of the body of Christ.

Remember as we began our study of Ephesians we learned what a wicked evil place Ephesus was.  MacArthur in his commentary on Ephesians quotes a Greek philosopher who himself was known for his paganism he described the city of Ephesus “as the darkness of vileness.  The morals were lower than animals and the inhabitants of Ephesus were fit only to be drowned.”

But these Ephesians now that they are in Christ must no longer live that way.  They must be aware of the constant siren call of temptation, they must be aware of running into their old party buddies who would undoubtedly urge them to come and just hang out with the guys, hang out with the boys for just one night, after all what harm could one night do?

Paul says, no don’t be fooled, don’t be pulled back into that lifestyle.  You must no longer live that way.  Because they were Christians they were to live like Christians.

The situation the believers in Ephesus found themselves in mirrors our own today.  Our culture is out of control morally.  Our culture bypassed moral bankruptcy decades ago and the same temptation rages on for believers today to go back to the old ways, to go back to their old lifestyle.  The culture places tremendous pressure on believers, young Christians are pressured by their peers, by their professors and teachers.  All believers face a constant onslaught of our culture to conform to the culture instead of conforming to Christ.

But just as the believers in Ephesus were to be known for their distinct lifestyle so too today we as believers who are living in our own “darkness of vileness” are to be known for the distinctiveness of our lifestyle.  Let’s be honest with ourselves it’s hard to live for Christ.  It’s hard to live in distinction from the world.  But brothers and sisters that is what your Lord has called you to.  He has saved you from the “darkness of vileness” and brought you into the light of the glorious gospel.  Hard yes, difficult certainly.  Impossible no!  Remember “I can do all things through Him (Christ) who strengthens me.”

Jesus said in Matthew

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Why are our lives to be different?  Why are our lifestyles to be radically different from the culture around us?  Because when the unbelieving world sees our lives, sees the distinctiveness of our lives our distinctiveness brings glory to God.

Now is the time to start living out your faith. You are right where the Ephesians were at when they first read Paul’s letter.  We have spent months carefully working our way through the doctrinal portion of his letter.  Which means you like the Ephesians have been doctrinally prepared so that your beliefs can dictate your behavior.  Your life can be congruent with your doctrine.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

You may be here this morning and wonder what it is I’m really going on about?  It doesn’t seem to make much sense.  Could it be that the reason it doesn’t make sense with you is because you are not yet in Christ, you have never been saved.  Your way of thinking about spiritual things is futile, your mind and your understanding is darkened because of the blindness and the callousness that sin creates.  Yet there is something going on that you can’t quite put your finger on, a little alarm bell is going off, the warning light of your conscience is flashing.

There is only one way to escape the darkness and the futility of sin and that is through the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.  You have been exposed to the light today.   What should you do?  Act! The Bible says “Today is the day of salvation, today if you hear his voice – act!  Repent of your sin, turn from you sin and turn to Christ and cast himself on His mercy.  Urgency do it now!

 

God’s Gifted Men

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God’s Gifted Men

INVITATION:

I would like to invite attention this morning to the 4th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and specifically verses 11-13.  The Apostle writes

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,”  (Ephesians 4:11–13, ESV)

INTRODUCTION:

Some commentators believe that the first 16 verses of Ephesians 4 are the heart of Paul’s letter.  When I first encountered that assertion frankly I didn’t know what to think.  I wondered how that could be considering all the rich deep truths that Paul has laid before us.

For instance, Paul has shown us that those who are in Christ were chosen before the foundation of the world, and the believer has been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  The believer has been predestined for adoption to the Father.  The believer has been redeemed, the believer has been forgiven, the Father has lavished the riches of his grace on the believer.  The believer has obtained an inheritance.  That’s just chapter one.

In chapter two we who were dead in the trespasses and sins have now been made alive!  Why?  Because in His great love the Father showered us with mercy and saved us by His grace.  But that’s not all not only has he saved us he has raised us up with Christ and we have been seated in the heavenly places with Christ.  But wait there’s more, for all of eternity he has determined to show us the immeasurable riches of his grace.  [Read more…]