by Pastor Patrick Cho

2016 is well underway, and as is the custom at LBC San Diego, we have introduced a new theme for the year. The purpose of the annual themes has been to focus the church’s attention on a major spiritual truth that brings particular applicability for the church body or addresses a specific need. It has been our practice to establish these themes since 2000, but it has had particular significance for my life since 2011 when it became my task to decide the annual themes. In the past five years, the themes have been “Bound as One” (Eph. 4:1-6), “Dying to Know Him” (Phil. 3:7-8), “Making God Big” (2 Cor. 3:18), “One Thing I Do” (Phil. 3:13-14), and “The Gospel Wins” (Eph. 1:13-14; Rom. 8:28).

Our theme for 2016 is “As One, In One” from John 17:20-23. It is very similar to the theme of 2011 in its focus on the church’s unity, but this year it takes on a slightly different nuance to focus more on the unity of the church that is accomplished through our being brought into unity with Christ. Jesus prayed in John 17:21, “That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” There is a lot packed into that verse and it gives the reader much to think upon. If you consider the weightiness of what Jesus is praying, “that they also may be in Us,” it is enough to fill your heart with joy and wonder for ages. Because of God’s grace to save us through the work of Christ on the cross, we have been granted entrance into a very deep and intimate relationship with the Triune God.

As believers, our unity, which is often illustrated and demonstrated through the practice of the variegated “one another” commands of Scripture, is rooted in our unity with God. This truth is equally humbling and wonderful when you consider that as sinners we were once estranged from God and self-proclaimed enemies of the truth. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, when we placed our faith in Jesus, God was willing to forgive our sins and bring us into fellowship with Him. Jesus reconciled us to the Father. The fact that we could be brought into this fellowship is alone incredibly amazing.

When I introduced this theme to the church family, I helped convey the significance of the unity of the church and how it reflects our unity with God.

1. Our Unity Serves as an Illustration of God’s Love.

God has placed us in the church so that we can grow in and show forth the love of God. As we have received the love of God, we can then reflect it out towards others so that they can see at least some sense of the greatness of God’s love through us (1 John 4:7-21). Since we have been brought into God’s love, this then becomes our motivation in everything involving the Christian life. The love of Christ compels the believer to greater godliness and supplies the heart with fuel towards joyful obedience (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

2. Our Unity Serves as a Picture of Christ’s Body.

God has placed us in the church to reflect the oneness of God and our unity in Him (Eph. 4:1-6; cf. John 17:20-23). One way we particularly demonstrate this is in our service in ministry. God has designed the church such that no individual member has been graced with every spiritual gift. He has made it so that all the members are interdependent. We are saved into the church and need one another in order to present a fuller picture of what it means to be in Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

3. Our Unity Serves as a Catalyst for Spiritual Maturity.

God has placed us in the church so that we can mutually grow to maturity in Christ (Eph. 4:11-16). This spiritual maturity is not only brought about by the teaching ministry of spiritual leaders, though that is true (1 Cor. 3:6-7). He doesn’t only use the preaching of His Word, though that is true (Col. 1:28). The great means of promoting the growth of the whole body is through the exercise of each individual part. When the members of the church serve together in a picture unified worship, the whole body benefits.

4. Our Unity Serves as a Protection Against Personal Sin.

God has placed us in the church so that we can help each other in the fight against sin and the pursuit of holiness (Matt. 18:15-20). Church discipline strengthens the church and protects the churches unity. This may seem counter-cultural but it is true. When someone in the church falls into unrepentant sin, it threatens the unity of the church. The church is specifically called to remove members who would threaten, damage, or divide the church’s fellowship because of their unrepentant sin. In this sense, church discipline and communion are related ideas. Communion is a picture of the unity of the church, so the one who has been removed from the fellowship of the church through excommunication should not take communion with the church. One of the goals of church discipline is to call the sinner to repentance in order to restore them to fellowship because church discipline is about the unity of the church.

I’m so excited to unpack the theme of “As One, In One” in 2016. My hope is that it would help widen and deepen our understanding of the implications of the amazing gospel of grace for our lives. Hopefully it will cause us to see Christ more clearly and draw us to Him to a more intimate fellowship. May this theme fill our hearts with true worship and further strengthen the church.

by Pastor James Lee

2015 is past, so we’re well on our way in the New Year. Some of us, freshly resolved, have been enjoying our daily Bible reading or Scripture memorization which we gave up on too soon last time. Some of us have lost a couple pounds and feel the energy and hope ironically from sore muscles and more steps accrued on our pedometer. But for others, our goal to pray an hour each morning before work has hit a pothole, or our fitbit has become just another cool watch (?). Dear brethren, wherever you find yourself, persevere and endure and keep your focus on the Lord in humble affection. Charles Spurgeon once humorously quipped, “By perseverance the snail reached the ark.” Our discipleship is daily and hourly and moment by moment, and our God is actively at work in us. His promises remain true, so then, let your labor NOT be in vain. Passivity or discouragement is not faith, God-centered discipline is.

As one means of encouragement, I thought it might be helpful to meditate on God’s sovereign handiwork just looking back at 2015, even as we move forward in 2016. Perhaps part of our outlook for today at the office or our future in our ministries is disconnected from a functional theology that is distorted in practice from our profession? Let me say it another way. What we believe or don’t believe about God doesn’t change God, but what we believe or don’t believe about God changes us. And it would serve us well to cultivate a humbled gratitude for what the Lord has already sovereignly and graciously done… that God’s past faithfulness to us will spur us forward in faithfulness today.

It’s significant that the Word of God frequently exhorts us to “remember”, to recall, to remind ourselves of various truths, for our soul’s sake, for His Church’s sake, for His glory’s sake. Just the word “remember” occurs at least 168 times in one of our English translations of the Scriptures. God’s people were told to “remember His covenant” (Gen. 9:15-16), “remember” Israel’s former slavery in Egypt (Ex. 13:3), “remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness” (Deut. 8:2), and to remember how the Lord “remembered” Hannah. The psalmist sang, “I shall remember the deeds of the LORD. Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will mediate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds. Your way, God, is holy; What god is great like our God?” (Psalm 77:11-13) Isaiah recorded, “Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me. Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:8-10) Jesus warned, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32) as well as commanded, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19) Paul preached, “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:35) and “Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ.” (Eph 2:12) Therefore, it will edify us to meditate on God’s Fatherly handiwork in our own lives, or rather to mediate on it, accurately, humbly, and gratefully

We live in a culture that measures a company’s success based on measurable profit margins and stock prices, and are far less concerned about what goes on within that company internally and the direction it’s going. Those of us who are immersed in a homogenized suburban bubble might unknowingly refer to those “poor people” as a kind of separate “class”-ification, than viewing them as people just like us, equally made in God’s image, facing different circumstances. We’re tempted to impatience when our expectations for change in our world, in our church, in our spouse or children, and in other folks is coming too slow, in a different way, or seemingly not at all. We rightly don’t want “to waste our life”, be productive for the Lord, and be fruitful in doing His work. Nevertheless, we are prone to wander and we don’t always feel it. We must not say we are better, but that Christ is better by far.

Sinful comparisons to other people and other churches, discontentment of where God brought us and who God brought us, the greener grass conspiracy, the lies of instant fixes and popular shortcuts and reverse engineering of impactful ministries are the regular temptations and transgressions of God’s people. Stephen Altrogge asked, “How is it possible to be so blessed by God and so unhappy at the same time? To live like kings and behave like ungrateful pigs? To have more than any generation in history and yet still crave more?” We tend to focus on what we don’t have rather than on what we do have. We’re impatient. Sometimes we functionally think that God needs our wisdom and help and that our leaders need more of our great “suggestions” (or criticism) than our support, prayers, real solutions, and faithful co-labor. We give into the Devil’s deception and our own prideful arrogance that only we know better and could do better or that there is a better circumstance or better place or better ministry or better this or that, so we can always find something wrong wherever we go, rather than being a servant, rather than seeing what’s good, seeing how God loves the people and ministries we quickly size up. The spiritually short-sighted will always measure success like this world. They will never measure that against Moses 40 years of exile before being called or Sarah’s barrenness or Jeremiah’s zero converts or Elijah’s depression or our single brother Paul at the end of his life being abandoned by all in Asia or Isaiah executed or Tyndale’s decades suffering or Jim Elliot’s “early” death.

God never wastes anything! God is working even in our waiting! Some things take more time than we like. He is actively at work in my life and your life and in our church’s life, in ways we would not plan, in timings and paths we would not expect or desire or consider as valuable steps and blessed journeys and holy processes and loving preparations. Most people think of Romans 8:28 in the context of our trials, and we should. But that alone is insufficient. Romans 8:28-30 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” God works “some” things for good?! No, we’re told in v. 28 that God works “all” things for good! And what is the context? Our salvation, calling, justification, sanctification, glorification… so that we might be conformed to the image of His Son!

Let me remind us that in 2015, there was nothing wasted by God, nothing that wasn’t ordained and planned and purposed for our good and His glory. Our trials and victories, our internal conflicts and our reconciliations, our personal struggles and our finding God’s help in our time of need, our yet unanswered prayers and our answered prayers, our greater understanding and deepening of relationships. If we pray that God will open our spiritual eyes, we’ll see that the Lord has accomplished many wonderful things in our lives, “small” and “big” and everything in between, and they’re all gracious and undeserved and impactful. Not everything will meet our preconceived expectations or external standards, but that doesn’t mean profound and wonderful things weren’t accomplished.

At LBCOC, we established our singles ministry, welcomed new faces, witnessed to many non-believing friends, and helped people find churches, even if it led elsewhere. We’ve heard testimonies, and seen babies born and people grow, and watched a marriage proposal with every member there. We’ve seen folks willing to stretch themselves further than they ever did before, and our Alliance grow in its commitment to the MVP. We’ve seen reconciliation when conflict occurred. Without asking our facility, we were given a new larger room for Sunday worship service at an earlier time, both answers to longtime secret prayers of our leadership team. God is sovereign, and none of those things are accidents. I’ve been a Christian 30 years, and one thing I’ve learned and relearned from the Lord is that His timing and His ways are not the same as mine. And just because my expectations or yours aren’t met doesn’t mean God isn’t working and accomplishing everything, everything He intended. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” God chose to take 80 years to mold a man named Moses before he led His people out of bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land. God promised the Savior-Seed, the Messiah, but glorified Himself in the millennia before Christ was finally sent. We eagerly await His return, we don’t know when… but He does. And it would be a mistaken attitude and outlook to think God isn’t doing anything right now… because of one expectation of His return not having come to pass. Yet, let me suggest that that is exactly what you and I sometimes do. We celebrate what happens up front, but not always what goes on behind the scenes. We value the produce of fresh peaches on a summer afternoon more than the work of labor to produce them or the faith of farmers who lost them in a storm. We admire the trellis, and we forget the beauty of the vine.

God delays for good reasons as does in answering right away, but He is always at work, always at work, perfectly and wisely. One reason is that we would know not just that God loves us, but how deeply God loves us. Robert Murray McCheyne said, “You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm… Every wise workman takes his tools away from the work from time to time that they may be ground and sharpened; so does the only-wise Jehovah take his ministers oftentimes away into darkness and loneliness and trouble, that he may sharpen and prepare them for harder (and greater) work in his service.” Perhaps 2015 was a year of leanness and tough financial choices? Do you know that’s a blessing as much as having “more” might not always be the best thing at that time? Not having much can tempt us to be discouraged, but it can also teach us to be good stewards and force us to trust God… and not money. Affluenza is a spiritual disease, and we don’t need a rich relative who won the lottery, because our Father is infinitely rich, and He is providing and He will provide, as long as we seek first His kingdom and not our own.

In a small congregation’s life with limited manpower, losing members is always difficult, emotionally, financially, and physically. LBCOC had six precious church members transfer elsewhere, but we rejoice none of them left because they wanted to leave or because of conflict or because they were drawn to something better down the street. Because for them serving Christ, not serving self, was always at stake. And we rejoice because now they’re all active members at their new churches within a few months and that they keep in touch and are a blessing to their new churches. That’s God’s blessing us all! And He’s brought some new people, everyone we love so much! We’ve had non-Christians come and ask questions and become our regular friends. We’ve been able to encourage many visitors because they let us know that in emails even when it was their only visit. Those “small things” are really quite big! Kent Hughes says success is serving, loving, believing, praying, holiness, attitude, and faithfulness. Why? Because that’s how God defines success… and it’s not necessarily bodies, bucks, and buildings. Hughes encourages, “Think of what it would mean if we were faithful, living in profound obedience to God’s Word and working long and hard at our tasks; serving with a foot-washing heart; loving God with all our heart, soul, and might; believing what we believe; praying with the dependence and passion of Christ; living pure holy lives in this sensual world; manifesting a positive, supportive attitude in the midst of difficulties! If that is mediocrity, then give us more this blessed mediocrity – for it is success!”

Jonathan Leeman wrote:

“There’s a temptation I have noticed that you and I are susceptible to: we can love our vision of what a church should be more than we love the people who comprise it. We can be like the unmarried man who loves the idea of a wife, but who marries a real woman and finds it harder to love her than the idea of her. Or like the mother who loves her dream of the perfect daughter more than the daughter herself. We start loving the idea of a healthy church more than the church God has placed us in. When Christ died for the church, he made it his own. He identified it with himself. He put his name on it. That’s why persecuting the church is persecuting Christ (Acts 9:5), and why sinning against an individual Christian is sinning against Christ (1 Cor. 8:12; cf. 6:15). Individually and corporately, we represent him. Think about what that means. It means that Christ has put his name on immature Christians, and Christians who speak too much at members’ meetings, and Christians who wrongly give their unbaptized children communion, and Christians who love shallow praise songs. Christ has identified himself with Christians whose theology is underdeveloped and imperfect. Christ points to the Christians who wrongly oppose biblical leadership structures and the practice of church discipline and says, “They represent me. Sin against them and you sin against me!” How wide, long, high, and deep Christ’s love is! It covers a multitude of sins and embraces the sinner… If you love your children, you want them to be healthy. But if you love your children, you love them whether they are healthy or not.”

The typical mindset among professing believers is aptly described by the real high-gloss magazine article titled, “223 Ways to be Happier and Get What You Want, Without Doing Any Work.” God blesses those who are faithful, and you and I might not always see that, or be thankful for that, but He’s graciously working for us anyway to His glory. Even as we should regularly and rightly reevaluate ourselves and our ministries, remember that He measures productivity very differently than us. He’s always mercifully and lovingly and powerfully at work in our lives, sovereignly in our sanctification. He’s making us more ready for something greater than we might plan, or in ways that is greater in His eyes than we envision. I don’t know what exactly, or how or when, but I trust and believe He is doing it and He will do it. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. The greater the task and reward, often the greater and longer the preparation. Robert C. Chapman challenged, “If we act only because our path is clear of difficulty, this is not Faith. Faith acts upon God’s Word whatever the difficulty, and to walk by faith brings highest glory to God.”

Let’s continue to walk by faith, not by sight. The Christian life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. It’s a seed not quickly sprouting, it’s life in Christ deeply rooted. It’s not drawing a line in the sand for which we refuse to give God our entire life, it’s denying oneself daily no matter the earthly prospect or valuation. It’s the joy of being His forever… even today. God was, is, and always at work for you to His glory. Be encouraged and fight the good fight of faith!

by Pastor Jim Kang

Introduction

As a preacher, not only am I concerned about how I preach, but also how preaching is done in many churches. Also, as a pastor, not only am I concerned about what our congregants are eating spiritually (or not), but also what other churches are eating spiritually (or not).

One of the things I lament is how little the Old Testament (OT) is preached in many evangelical churches today. For example, out of the 27 churches in the Gospel Coalition Bay Area Regional Chapter (GCBARC), which our church is also part of, there is only a few churches that are preaching regularly from the OT. And the GCBARC is supposed to be the largest conservative evangelical organization that churches are part of in the Bay Area! We are only a small sample within much of the broader evangelicals, yet only a few churches are preaching the OT. That explains why so many professing Christians today have so little understanding about the OT, how the New Testament (NT) is connected to the Old, and how the gospel does not start with Jesus in the NT but actually in the OT.

Because there is so much disconnection with the OT, many simply perceive the OT as a collection of random stories. Hence, people fail to see the metanarrative of the entire Bible. As a result, many do not make Christological connections. So, people simply overlook in seeing Jesus Christ in the OT.

Also, not only I lament for little preaching that churches are hearing from the OT, but also, when they do hear from the OT, so often the preaching that is done from the OT is nothing short of mere moral sermons. They lack doctrinal substance. They lack the gospel indicatives. They lack Christological connections. For instance, when people hear the story of David and Goliath, so often Goliath is referred to some “giant problems” in life that can be slayed with little stones of faith. But is that the main point of the story? Like the story of David and Goliath, there are many stories in the OT that have been misinterpreted and misapplied. Genesis 22 is another example.

In typical sermons from Genesis 22, examples of moral preaching are common. The message is, for instance, just as Abraham obeyed, so should we, as if that is the primary point of the narrative. Another point may be that we should all be willing to make a great sacrifice just as Abraham did, as if that is the focal point of the story. Another point may be that we should also all trust our father just as Isaac did. While all those (moral) points are not necessarily wrong or immoral, they are not the primary point of the passage. Hence, let me explain why moral preaching is dangerous.

The Danger of Moral Preaching

First of all, moral preaching often has basic hermeneutical error. That is because they (sermon or preaching) often start from the text and go straight to the applications (i.e., the moral applications). Moral preaching fails to deal with the grammar, history, and theology of the narrative and the text.

Secondly, moral preaching is dangerous because it provides little or nothing about the gospel. It fails to show what ways the narrative points out the gospel indicatives. You can point out the moral lessons from any stories in the Bible, but that does not mean you have preached the gospel or pointed out the gospel indicatives. In fact, a preacher may preach from a Gospel book (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John), yet fails to preach the gospel.

Thirdly, moral preaching is dangerous because it is man-centered than God-centered. That is because moral preaching focuses on what man needs to do than what God has done. Generally, the moral sermons are imperatives with little or no indicatives of who God is and what he has done. Moral preaching truly promotes behavioral change without the gospel. Moral preaching is a great tool that promotes legalism.

Fourthly, moral preaching offers little or no connection to Christ. It fails to show what ways the narrative shows the glimpse or typology of Jesus Christ. In theology this refers to the progressive revelation of God. That is, in Scripture, especially, in the OT (doubly so in Genesis and other books in the Pentateuch), God reveals his redemptive truths (i.e., the plan of redemption through Christ) not all at once, but slowly in little glimpses until Christ finally comes to fulfill in the NT.

The moral preaching really does injustice to what Jesus commands what we should do with the OT. In fact, it was Jesus who commanded to search the Scriptures (i.e. the OT) because the OT testifies or bears witness about him (John 5:39). Did you hear that? Jesus commanded us to search the OT and see him there because the OT testifies about him!

Also, on the road to Emmaus, Jesus “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, explained the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). That pretty much summarizes the entire OT (the writings of Moses and all the prophets). This clearly implies that Jesus made Christological connections of himself to the OT. I wish I could have been to such Bible study when Jesus was making such connections!

Moreover, in Luke 24:44 Jesus said, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Again, that pretty much summarizes the entire OT. And Jesus clearly states that the entire OT are written about him. So, that is our duty when we read and study the OT. We ought to make connections to Christ. We ought to see the gospel indicatives and theological significance. All these things, moral preaching fails to do.

by Pastor Mark Chin

One of the inevitabilities in life is to be in a place where we feel short on love – either we don’t have enough love for the difficult people in our lives or we ourselves feel we are not being loved enough.

Sooner or later we discover the truth that human love – our love and that of others – is inadequate to address our hurts and needs. This is just as true in marriage as it is in ministry or the work place.

The frequent human response is to withdraw and create distance between ourselves and others – or to be discontent, discouraged, or angry.

Luke 22:14-23 subtly points out the heart of the problem. Our hearts and lives, and the hearts and lives of those around us (that’s all of us), are sinful and selfish by nature – and the love that comes from our hearts is sinful and self-serving by nature. If this were not the case – we would not need a Passover lamb – a perfect substitute and savior to die for our sins.

Until we come to grips with this – we will always struggle with discouragement and discontent – for our love and the love of others will never be enough to cover our unloving attitudes and behavior or the unloving attitude and behavior of those around us – be it our husbands, wives, children, co-workers, or fellow church members.

What’s the remedy? Luke 22:14-23 points out that our cups must be filled with the contents of Christ’s cup – it must be filled with the new wine of the new covenant – His life and His love. We need a good and perfect love from above – and we cannot give what we don’t have.

The good news is that Christ has the love we need to cover – not just our sins but the sins of those in our lives. He deeply desires and is able to give His life and His love to us in abundance. However – our cups will not be filled by Christ if we are not with Him or if we do not empty our cups of the dirty old wine that presently fills it. By faith – we must be emptied and we must go to the Savior to be filled.

It is for this reason that Jesus exhorts us to abide in Him – to abide in His Word – to be in prayer and to actively obey His commands by faith (John 15). It is the reason we are called to build our lives around the ministry of His Word and prayer – why we are called to follow Him 24/7.

As we follow Him – we meet the cross of loving others – which leaves us with only 3 choices: we walk away, we destroy or remove the unlovable, or we die to ourselves – become empty and allow Christ to fill us with His love and his life.

Frequently there is shortage of love in many churches because American Christians are seldom willing to follow Christ by faith to the cross of loving difficult people in our lives. We are content with the old wine that fills our cups – and simply want more of it. I’m as guilty of this as anyone.

But when we are crucified with Christ – new life and new love abounds – providing an abundance of love not just for ourselves but for those around us.

So the real question when you and I are hurting or are short of love is: have we been to the cross lately?

by Pastor Patrick Cho

As 2015 comes to a close, we get another chance to reflect on God’s inestimable goodness to us and the many blessings He has poured out upon us. Regardless of life’s circumstances, we who are in Christ have every reason to be thankful. Our attention was given to Psalm 102 at the New Year’s Eve fellowship, where the psalmist laments his suffering and exile. But even in the midst of his trouble, he remembers that God is everlasting and will remain faithful to His promises. What stands out incredibly is that the psalmist looks past merely a present deliverance of God’s people to a future, final, eschatological deliverance of Zion! He remembers the promises that the Lord’s kingdom would be established and there would be a perfected deliverance of His people. The psalmist displays remarkable faith in the covenant faithfulness of God.

We, too, have this future hope. Jesus came not to usher in His eschatological kingdom, but to open a door that had been sealed tight. As sinners, we had no reason for true hope because of our offenses against our holy and perfect God. But Jesus dealt with our sin on the cross and suffered the punishment and died the death that we deserved. He bore our guilt and took our sin upon Himself so that we would not have to bear it or suffer God’s wrath. He rose again, giving us the proof of our faith and the guarantee of our final deliverance. Now He sits at the right hand of the Father, but He has promised that He is coming again to establish His kingdom and rule, and to gather us home to Himself. Just as the psalmist trusted that the Lord would be faithful to His promises, so we should trust in the truth of God.

An interesting contrast is made in Psalm 102 as the psalmist contemplates his life. He sees that his days are fleeting, that the end of his life is near. What is a human life but a cloud of smoke or an evening shadow? It is here one day and gone the next. But God is everlasting. The psalmist’s life is measured by days, but the Lord is measured by years. “And Your years will not come to an end” (v. 27). Our God is everlasting and eternally unchanging, so what He says will come to pass. He is faithful in His promises. We have no reason to doubt regardless of our circumstances.

In light of this meditation, perhaps we can end 2015 on this note. Whatever troubles you may be facing, and however difficult the trials of life may seem, if you are a Christian, you ought to remain thankful. He is forever and He holds the future. Whatever uncertainties and anxieties you feel, there is no uncertainty with the Lord.

by Pastor James Lee

Jesus questioned, “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. (Matt 21:28-31).

While no one can ever be saved by good deeds or their own meritorious performance (for even our best is but filthy rags – Isaiah 64:6), our obedience by faith, demonstrated by what we “DO” is partial evidence that we are truly His and that we genuinely have affection for Him, not just for His gifts. Jesus rebuked the self-righteous pride of the chief priests and elders of the people, by illustrating heart obedience is manifested in a way that doing is not equivalent to saying. Likewise, James 1:22 exhorts us, “Prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” This in no way is to say that simply doing is sufficient to please God, lest we forget the cries of those who will say “Lord, Lord, did we not do such and such in Your name” and then suffered righteous judgment (Matthew 7:21-27). Instead, a response of humbled obedience reveals what the religious elite did not have, but many of the tax collectors and prostitutes were divinely given – a repentant recognition of their spiritual bankruptcy and a desperate plea that God would forgive their treason and rescue them from their lawless propensities. The first son may not have initially obeyed, but he was the one who ultimately obeyed, and the second… really, not at all.

Michael Riccardi points out, “Holiness does not simply mean bringing our outward behavior into conformity to an external standard. You do not need supernatural power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to do that; you just need strong willpower. Hypocrites can conform to the external trappings of religion while remaining destitute of holy desires. But certainly that is not the sanctification to which we are called… We want to have sanctified affections as well as sanctified actions – because God commands us not only to behave righteously; He also commands us to be holy. Therefore, the truly holy person does not merely “do what God commands”, though he certainly does that; the holy person “loves what God loves’, and then acts in keeping with a new heart… Now if this were not so, and sanctification were simply a matter of performing external duties, then ‘Nike-sanctification’ would make sense. You know: Just Do It. Try harder and be better… And what you have there is the kind of moralistic externalism that depends – not on the power of the Spirit of God working within you – but on the strength of your own willpower, whether your heart is properly engaged or not.”

Thomas Watson adds, “A man has no more power to change himself than to create himself.” Biblical change today and in the new year does not start with your unique will power that can morph into nothing more than the arrogant boast of man, it starts with repentance and bears fruit with the humble obedience of faith in God, not self. We must take note that in our striving and persevering by faith that true humility senses that humility is a gift beyond our human reach. Because if humility is the product of our reaching alone, then we will instinctively feel proud about how successful we are at reaching. It is a gracious gift we must pray for and cultivate by our faith and obedience.

John Piper warns us of the pastel vainglories that yet reside in our hearts, “There is the fact: God is above. We are beneath. We are not worthy to tie His shoes. The distance between God and us is infinite. His greatness, His power, His wisdom, His justice, His truth, His holiness, His mercy and grace are as high above ours as the heavens are above the earth. Besides the fact that God is above and we are beneath, there is the heartfelt sense of the fact. Besides truth there is the sinking in and the feeling of the truth. That is as crucial here as knowing the truth. Do we feel this distance between God above and us beneath? Are we really humbled by it, or do we paradoxically even take pride in knowing that we have seen that it exists. Oh, how subtle is the creeping contamination of pride!”

So as you and I rightly make resolutions and goals in the coming year (it is a good, wise, and biblical thing to make plans!), let us bow in utter subordination to the Preeminent One, the Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Passive, neo-antinomian, semi-gnostic, Keswick “let go and let God”, pietistic, “gospel-centered”, Tchividjian-esqe nonsense is not biblical sanctification. Embrace together in sweet unity the overarching sovereignty of God and your ordained human responsibility to obey Him and exercise the means of grace He’s given, and escape the arrogance of independently trying to decide the nitty-gritty of your daily planning and living. Rest in the tough and tender decrees of God’s loving and revealed wisdom. Do not be arrogant and say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” (James 4:13-16) But in humility, then DO in obedience by faith, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17) Those who are truly humbled will work and labor and suffer by faith to glorify the Lord. This must be the starting point of our doing in the new year. Our focus must not simply be on what we are to do, but for who are to become for His glory alone by our doing in the strength that He provides. My prayer is that we will not simply have accomplished this goal or that goal, but that we will be truly loving, truly serving, truly worshipful, and truly unashamed. In other words, that we will become godlier people not just doing godly things.

Kevin DeYoung challenges us to embrace an aggressive, Spirit-empowered, gospel-driven, faith-fueled effort in our spiritual maturing, “It’s all too easy to turn the fight of faith into sanctification-by-checklist. Take care of a few bad habits, develop a couple good ones and you’re set. But a moral checklist doesn’t take into consideration the idols of the heart. It may not even have the gospel as part of the equation. And inevitably, checklist spirituality is highly selective. So you end up feeling successful at sanctification because you stayed away from drugs, lost weight, served at the soup kitchen, and renounced Styrofoam. But you ignored gentleness, humility, joy, and sexual purity. God has not really gotten to your heart…This sort of exhortation seems promising at first, but it proves ineffective in the long run. Mere rule keeping is not the answer because holiness cannot be reduced to a little ethical refurbishment.”

Let us not content ourselves with only making a show of godliness like contemporary white washed tombs, but let us hold fast the commandment of Deuteronomy 6:5 to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” And in that, by faith, let us pursue His promised Christlikeness by obedience to His revealed will by disciplining ourselves for the purpose of godliness, “for bodily discipline is only of some profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:7-8)

As the new year begins and we resolve to make practical goals to glorify God with our lives, let’s remember that both small and big changes go a long way in our sanctification. If a ship’s navigation, crossing the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Liverpool, were off just 1 degree, that ship would be way off course to the degree it traveled. It would not land in Liverpool. But just as one degree error can put a ship off course, conversely one or a few degrees correction over the course of time can make a real difference to bring us to where we desire. Of course, some things in our lives require more drastic measures. A man with severely clogged arteries might need major bypass surgery, but a 30 year old with elevated cholesterol may only need to make some minor dietary adjustments. But when either is neglected, there are consequences. And either way, we need help from God and His people in some form. We cannot cling to pride and depend upon our own privatized strength. Bad habits are hard (not impossible) to break, but good habits can last a lifetime. As we evaluate areas of our lives, we must prayerfully assess what degree of changes are required and commit ourselves to act accordingly in a way that produces longterm Christlikeness and fruitfulness. Crash diets eventually leave us 10 pounds heavier than before we started, but godly habits established and maintained, by faith in God and not in ourselves, will reap enduring benefits of spiritual health long after quick fixes filled the bargain bins.

There are joyful opportunities to make fresh commitments in our devotional life, intentionally yet dependently work on our hearts, plan how we can regularly teach and shepherd our homes through daily family worship, strategize how we might love and witness to our next-door neighbor, reassess our personal budget and stewardship of His resources, cultivate good habits to improve our physical health so we can have more energy to serve Christ, commit ourselves to labor for His church in fresh ways, or even take up a new hobby. Schedule some personal time this week to pray and write down some spiritual goals, and don’t leave it to chance or convenience. Life can get quite busy, and I imagine all of us are, regardless of how well we might each organize ourselves. Therefore, the core concern is always priority. But the wonderful news is that though we might not be able to do all that we desire to do, we can always focus and do what we’re each called to do. Our Lord ensures and provides for this, and present and future grace should encourage and embolden us to continue to persevere, trusting in the Father’s wise bestowment and His every good assignment to each of us. May we heed Paul’s hopeful exhortation in Philippians 2:12-13, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

by Pastor John Kim

2015 has been a significant year in that I have surpassed the half century mark. To be honest, I didn’t think I would make it this far. I was surprised that I made it to 40 years and the past decade had me convinced that I would either die of a heart attack, stroke, or at the least a broken heart after having faced some tsunami-like waves of trials that seem to come every few years.

But if there is anything I keep learning, it is that as a Christian, not to mention as a Christian pastor, there are some lessons that continue to deepen and gain greater clarity over time. Some lessons simply will not make as much sense in your 20’s or 30’s, not to mention your 40’s and 50’s. I’m sure there is much more wisdom that will be gained when you hit your 60’s and 70’s and if you are blessed to get to the 80’s and 90’s and still are coherent enough to understand what is going on, I can only imagine that the wisdom and knowledge that has been steeped in the trials and tests of life will be like a fine wine that can only be truly appreciated when it has matured over time and is then enjoyed to the fullest.

One set of lessons that I keep learning is how to minister to people. In a recent book written by Collin Hansen titled Blind Spots, Tim Keller in the foreword writes about the legacy of Jonathan Edwards and how various factions would lay claim to Edwards as their hero regarding a commitment to doctrinal orthodoxy, or to cultural engagement, or to revivals and missions. An interesting observation is made that the Princetonian theologies, such as Charles Hodge and B.B. Warfield were indeed faithful to the Reformed theology of Edwards but were not as sensitive to matters of revival and spiritual experiences. There were those of another mindset, even Jonathan Edwards Jr., who were social activists, abolitionists, and creative theological thinkers, but they abandoned biblical orthodoxy. Then there were those like Charles Finney who embraced the concepts of revivalism but were vehemently opposed to the Reformed heritage of Edwards. Over time these various factions would war against each other, all the while appealing to Edwards for their heritage but if Edwards were to witness all that was done in his name, you would wonder if he could stomach all of the chaos.

Why is this an important thing to consider? I see similar veins of thought in our current day as well. You have what Keller calls the “courage” group that stands valiantly for the truth; the “compassion” people that stress service, listening, and engagement; and the “commissioned” folks who are committed to building the church and reaching the lost. Keller goes on to say, “Once things are broken down like that, it becomes clear that these should be strands in a single cord. Each group goes bad to the degree it distances itself from the others.”

I think when we are younger, we are prone to fixate on a particular bent or way of thinking that emphasizes certain things, such as truth, or love, or social justice, or whatever it is that catches your attention. But getting older doesn’t necessarily bring balance. Some times you will simply get hardened in your way of thinking to the point where you can only see the faults in others while you are blind to your own. These are the kind of people who hear what they want to hear, see what they want to see, and react and respond according to the grid that they have setup in their own minds as how they interpret and discern things. Much of this is an issue of being patient and cultivating maturity that will only come with time. It doesn’t happen overnight.

After pastoring for 28 years (has it been that long?), there are some things that I have been able to observe about people in the church. If there is one thing that is challenging in ministry, it is not only dealing with people, it is trying to discern and understand where they are spiritually.

The parable of the soils (Matthew 13:3-9; 18-23) provides a general kind of backdrop when it comes to having what I believe would be a biblical perspective.

1. The Stone Hearted
2. The Pretenders
3. The Status Quo
4. The Faithful

1. The Stone Hearted

The soil represented here is that there is no soil. The seed of the Word hits the hardened heart of one who does not understand it and the enemy snatches it away before it can do anything (Matthew 13: 19). The people that fit this category essentially represent those whose hearts are closed to the gospel and to Christ. There is nothing you can do to connect with them, no matter how much effort, no matter how much care, no matter how much sensitivity or even with hammer blows, there is no positive response. This really is because the eyes are blind and the heart is hard and the ears are not willing to hear the truth. Only the Holy Spirit can open the eyes and soften the heart and unplug the ears so that the truth of the gospel will do its work of transforming the soul of a person.

Why is this helpful to know in terms of ministry? This kind of heart can really be at the center of why there is no substantial response to the preaching/teaching ministry as well as the shepherding and care that is extended. The difficulty lies in the reality that this is not always so evident when it comes to assessing a person’s spiritual condition. The stone heart can be covered by a nice smile, a winning personality, and someone who is very outgoing and even socially involved. There are those who would actually seem to be pleasant people and you can have good conversations but at the end of the day, nothing happens. Sometimes we think we have to try something different or just try harder when in fact there is really nothing you can do until God breaks the heart of stone and turns it into a heart of flesh that can receive the truth of God and be sensitive to the Spirit of God. All you can really do in the end is pray for these people because your efforts are not going to change anything. Does this mean we don’t stop caring or ministering to these people? No, but it does help us have a better perspective so that we would not be discouraged by the lack of response.

2. The Pretenders

This soil represents the kind of person who seems to initially respond to the ministry of the Word. There seems to be even a quick reaction but it is only temporary because it doesn’t last. Why? Because when affliction or persecution arises, this person falls away (Matthew 13:21).

There are those who seem to be part of the church family as they attend and even serve. Some would even attain positions of leadership and exercise a great amount of influence and impact. But then something happens, whether suddenly or over time, and we find out that they never held to biblical conviction or truly believed in the gospel. It has been shocking because it often comes unexpectedly. But just like the parable of the soils, there are those whose faith is exposed when the wind of trials blows or when the self-serving agendas are brought to light that you see that they never were genuine.

This has been a very sobering reality in that not only is it something that you see happen with the average church member, but it happens even within leadership, especially those that are younger. There can be much zeal and passion and this can obviously be perceived as a blessing because churches are typically lacking in zeal and passion and that’s why it can seem like a breath of fresh air to have someone who stirs things up a bit and has a bit of that fiery spirit that spices things up. But all too often with that youthful exuberance comes an immaturity and even an arrogance that gets exposed through mistakes and misunderstandings and instead of responding with humility and teachability, there are extreme acts of betrayal and desertion that shows absolutely no signs of regret or repentance. While this doesn’t mean that all who struggle to this degree are not Christians, it is hard to say that someone is truly honoring God if they say one thing and then contradict through how they live for a sustained amount of time. It makes it very difficult to then understand how someone could present such an outward display of what seems to be saving faith and yet have such a shocking desertion. But this is not new. The apostle John shares this in 1 John 2:19 that there are those who will leave the church because they never were truly a believer. While this can be very confusing for many, we can know that these things were foretold by Jesus Himself. There will even be false prophets who will say, “Lord, Lord,” but will ultimately be exposed by their fruits because they didn’t truly know the Lord Jesus.

3. The Status Quo

The soil in which the thorns and weeds is probably the most common issue in many churches. You have many who hear the word week in and week out and yet the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth chokes out the ministry of the word and as a result there is no lasting fruit (Matthew 13:22).

There are many who struggle with the ups and downs of the Christian life and manifest the highs and lows of their walk with God as well as with their attendance and service in the church. This would seem to be the majority of those who are a part of the local church and depending on the season of life (i.e., graduating from college, getting married, having children, etc.), you can see the challenges affect them in significant ways. Inconsistency in serving and even attending Sunday services can start to become patterns and difficult to break. Since many struggle with this kind of mentality, it can become the status quo and therefore be acceptable since the bar is quite low.

If there is one thing we see here in America, the opportunity to become wealthy has been a part of the expectation of life. But in the pursuit to become wealthy there are so many things that the world promises that many are duped and deceived into thinking that to become wealthy and prosperous is the main priority in life. You can especially see this lived out through the lives of those who in youth or college seem to be so dedicated and involved with the church or campus ministries but after they graduate and then start working, get married, and have children, there are so many who seem to turn away from the Christian faith, some claiming that they were never Christians in the first place. The things of this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life perfectly define their worldview in how they live. But many of these will still stay in the church because it is almost like a good luck charm or a guilt offering – at least going to church will make it seem like I’m a decent person. But there will be those who desert as well and they will blame-shift and try to point out the problems of the church, which simply masks the reality that their heart was never there in the first place.

The love of the world can wreak havoc in many churches because it affects so many people. The worries of the world is closely tied because if one is in love with the world, then you will be caught up with what you think the world thinks is important, keeping up with the trends, looking for worldly approval or fearing worldly rejection. You can even get caught up with the mundane things of life and be anxious about it to the point where it defines you. Such are the realities for many in the church and while it can be frustrating, we must remember that any one of us can be susceptible to being caught in the current of the world and it is not so simply to get out.

4. The Faithful and the Fruitful

The only soil in the parable that ends well is the one that is the fruitful soil, represented by those who hear the word and understand it and then do something that shows it has truly impacted their lives. There are two things that that really stand out about this soil – there is a hearing that results in understanding and there is a bearing of lasting fruit. This is not like the other soils in which the seed doesn’t even get a chance or never takes deep root or is choked out. These are true believers who stand the test of time and show that the Word of God has truly transformed their lives.

There are some incredibly dedicated and faithful men and women who endure and persevere in their testimonies of walking with God and serving the church. While this percentage is not high, it is a tremendous encouragement to still see those even from previous church ministries where I pastored continuing to run the race well and have been consistent over the years. But even with those that are genuine believers, there are challenges and struggles along the way and it is important to remember to be hopeful and to encourage them because they are not like the other soils where ultimately there is no true and lasting faith. There is a whole spectrum of believers that both the leaders of the church as well as the members of the church need to take into account and discern so that when you minister to them, you are truly coming alongside and helping them as God intended. This is not to say that we will never be mistaken regarding those who claim to be Christians but really are not. We cannot ultimately know the heart of a person but we can start to discern by whether there is lasting fruit or not in response to the ministry of the Word of God.

If there is one verse that I would encourage you to consider as you anticipate a new year of ministry in 2016, it would be the following:

“We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always see after that which is good for one another and for all people.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14-15)

Remember not to focus on just the admonishing but consider the rest of the verse. There should be a whole lot of encouraging, helping, and being patient with EVERYONE! Note the contrast given after that – do not repay evil with evil but ALWAYS see after that which is good for one another and for ALL people. That’s quite a tall order but this is why we were given the love of Christ and when the love of Christ controls us and compels us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15), we can remember that Christ came and died for us so that we would no longer live for ourselves but for Him and in loving Him we love those around us, especially those who are in our church family as He has seen fit to put those people in your life as a calling to minister.

by Pastor Jim Kang

This is the final post for the six-part series on Theology and Practice of Corporate Worship. Here’s the brief outline of the series:

1. Introduction
2. Who Should Worship?
3. Why Worship Corporately?
4. When to Worship Corporately?
5. Where to Worship Corporately?

How to Worship Corporately?

I can’t speak for every church, but I can explain how we worship where I pastor. Perhaps the best place to begin is to check out the “Order of Service” in our bulletin. There you’ll find full disclosure of our liturgy. By the way, liturgy is not a bad word. Unlike many contemporary churches that have distaste for the past or structure or formality, we actually appreciate the rich heritage and orderliness. Liturgy simply means how worship service is conducted. [1] Every church has its own liturgy and every church is liturgical (I can assure you that even those who say they’re not liturgical have their own liturgy). Perhaps one of the most important questions to ask at this point is: What shapes our liturgy (the way our church conduct our worship service)? That’s because every church is influenced by something and/or someone.

It is helpful not to be confused between style and substance. For us we don’t sacrifice substance for the sake of wanting to be cool or have a cool style. That’s because worship is not about us. It is not about how cool the “worship band” is or how cool and entertaining the worship service is. It’s not about whether visitors would like us or we would be accepted by our non-Christian friends that we invite. The fundamental question is whether God will be pleased with our worship (1 Cor. 10:31). Also, are we faithful to his mandates in how we worship? The focus of worship service is God, not us. In worship service we have an audience of one and that’s God.

We believe corporate worship should be God-centered, not a man-centered production. The first question should be “How does God call us to worship him?” not “What do we like or what are our preferences?” Thus, when we gather on the Lord’s Day we come before a holy Trinitarian God with joyful reverence and awe, aiming to glorify him and to enjoy him. Worshipping God is not a form of entertainment, nor do we craft worship merely to evoke some emotional response. Hence, what shapes our liturgy is the timeless gospel. In fact, the corporate worship is to glorify God by re-presenting the gospel. Thus, our service is divided into five aspects: 1) God Calls His People, 2) God’s People Confess, 3) God’s People Praise, 4) God Nourishes His People, and 5) God Sends His People Forth. And within each section, there are elements of worship that directly or indirectly re-present the gospel. Let me briefly explain each section.

Biblical and Theological Rationales of Our Liturgy

I. God Calls His People

Call to Worship: Just as Genesis 1 and Ephesians 1 teach, it is God who initiated the work of creation and redemption. That is how the gospel begins. The gospel begins with God, not with man nor his needs. Since worship service is shaped by the gospel and ought to re-present the gospel, this is how our worship begins at our congregation.

We don’t drum up noises to get God’s attention or call him to our worship. Rather, the first thing that the people would see and hear at the onset of worship service is to see the minister of word walk to the pulpit and call the congregation to worship by turning their attention to God’s word first and foremost. Rarely the people would hear from the minister’s mouth something about the weather or some news about the local sports team. With the word of God, the Lord through his minister officially summons his people to worship him.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

II. God’s People Confess

Confession of Sin: When we are reminded of God’s transcendent majesty and holiness at the onset of the service, we cannot help but to see who we really are. That prompts us then to acknowledge and confess our sin. Unlike so many churches today that rarely confess sins together, we actually include confession of sin as part of our liturgy.

Confession of Faith: Not only we confess our sin, but we also confess God’s timeless truths together. Since God is same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, his doctrine is timeless. Hence, in the past we confessed the timeless historic Christian faith together (e.g., the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Belgic Confession).

III. God’s People Praise

Songs of Praise: Worship is an expression of our gratitude, adoration, or praise only when we properly understand who God is and what he has done for us. So, it only makes sense that expressions come as a result of recognition of God’s glorious truths.

Offering/Prayer: Not that God needs our money, but giving shows our gratitude and devotion. We give as an expression of our thankful heart and commitment to support the local church.

Offering Song: We offer a song of thanksgiving.

Announcements & Greetings: We want to celebrate what God is doing and what we want to do in glorifying him through informing and announcing. We also want to greet one another with God’s love.

IV. God Nourishes His People

Reading of God’s Word: So often in our performance-driven culture and churches, we’re too caught up with what we say, what we sing, and what we do. But one of the most important aspects of worship service is not so much what we have to say to God, but what God has to say to us. Hence, we give premium to reading God’s word, sometimes a big chunk of the scripture.

Preaching of God’s Word: According to some of the magisterial Reformers like Luther and Calvin, this is perhaps THE most important part of worship service. The centerpiece of the worship service is when Trinitarian God speaks to his redeemed people the word through his ordained minister to nourish his people.

Prayer of Application

Song of Response: After hearing the word of God, we respond to God’s word with a song.

V. God Sends Forth His People

The idea is we gather for worship, and then we scatter to our respective mission fields.

Benediction: God sends us out with his parting blessing and promise of peace. Just as the gospel begins with God and ends with God, the last word we want to hear is God’s blessing and his promise of peace.

Moment of Meditation: We silently reflect what we just heard.

Conclusion

Dr. W.A. Criswell, the famous Baptist preacher at First Baptist Church in Dallas, once said, “To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to feed the mind with the truth of God; to purge the imagination by the beauty of God; to open up the heart to the love of God; to devote the will to the purpose of God.” [2]

[1] R. G. Rayburn, “Worship in the Church” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, edited by Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999), 1193-96; “Liturgy” in Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingstone (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997), 988.

[2] W. A. Criswell, Criswell’s Guidebook for Pastors (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1980), 29.

Some Helpful Reading on the Subject

Ashton, Mark, R. Kent Hughes and Timothy Keller. Worship by the Book. Edited by D.A. Carson. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

Chapell, Bryan. Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009.

Dever, Mark and Sinclair Ferguson. The Westminster Directory of Public Worship. Ross-shire: Christian Heritage Imprint, 2008.

Duncan, Ligon, Dan Kimball, Michael Lawrence and Mark Dever, Timothy Quill, and Dan Wilt. Perspectives on Christian Worship. Edited by J. Matthew Pinson. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2009.

Frame, John M. Worship in Spirit and Truth: A Refreshing Study of the Principles and Practice of Biblical Worship. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1996.

Hyde, Daniel R. What to Expect in Reformed Worship: A Visitor’s Guide. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013.

MacArthur, John. Worship: The Ultimate Priority. Chicago: Moody, 2012.

Old, Hughes Oliphant. Leading in Prayer: A Workbook for Worship. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

_______. Worship: Reformed According to Scripture. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.

Ryken, Philip Graham, Derek W. H. Thomas and J. Ligon Duncan. Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2003.

Tozer, A.W. Whatever Happened to Worship: A Call to True Worship. Camp Hill: Christian Publications, 1985.

by Pastor James Lee

Dale Galloway shares the following story:

Little Chad was a shy, quiet young fella. One day he came home and told his mother, he’d like to make a valentine for everyone in his class. Her heart sank. She thought, “I wish he wouldn’t do that!” because she had watched the children when they walked home from school. Her Chad was always behind them. They laughed and hung on to each other and talked to each other. But Chad was never included. Nevertheless, she decided she would go along with her son. So she purchased the paper and glue and crayons. For three whole weeks, night after night, Chad painstakingly made thirty-five valentines.

Valentine’s Day dawned and Chad was beside himself with excitement! He carefully stacked them up, put them in a bag, and bolted out the door. His mom decided to bake him his favorite cookies and serve them up warm and nice with a cool glass of milk when he came home from school. She just knew he’d be disappointed; maybe that would ease the pain a little. It hurt her to think that he wouldn’t get many valentines – maybe none at all.

That afternoon she had the cookies and milk out on the table. When she heard the children outside she looked out the window. Sure enough here they came, laughing and having the best time. And, as always, there was Chad in the rear. He walked a little faster than usual. She fully expected him to burst into tears as soon as he got inside. His arms were empty, she noticed, and when the door opened she choked back the tears.

“Mommy has some warm cookies and milk for you.” But he hardly heard her words. He just marched right on by, his face aglow, and all he could say was:

“Not a one… not a one.”

Her heart sank.

And then he added, “I didn’t forget a one, not a single one!”

In a spiritually dead world that is constantly and selfishly searching for “love” in all the wrong places, and thus unable to truly love, remember that as the elect of God, you are loved eternally and immensely, not because of you, but in spite of you. I find it terribly humbling that as the only people who are loved as completely as we are loved by our Creator, I am still terribly deficient in my love for people. Even the best kindness of an unbeliever, who also is made in the image and likeness of God, is nothing compared to the God-glorifying and soul-satisfying love that the Lord can work through His redeemed people, the church. The utterly amazing love of God for His children ought to make us great lovers of souls – because the white hot love of our Creator for His adopted ones is not only sufficient for our every need, but overflows beyond what we ourselves can possibly hold. We will never run on empty or be left alone in this world, if we love others, even our enemies, as He does, no matter how completely we give of ourselves.

Let us live this day and each day after as people who are consciously shattered and built up by how greatly we are loved, bearing more and more fruit of the Spirit in love. By responding to our Holy Master in daily submission to His Word, daily trust in His Sovereignty, and daily delight in His beauty, I pray we will find ourselves more and more like our Good Shepherd who already proved His love for sinners (Romans 5:8). Recently, old wounds began to bleed profusely in me and a sinful anger welled up in my depraved heart towards someone who hurt me deeply. It is so difficult to love our fellow sinners who sometimes cause us such bone-shattering sorrow. But as His elect, we are not our old flat-lined selves, but we’ve been raised to newness of life in Christ, so that even as we are in the process of being conformed into His image (Romans 8:28-29), we are enabled and are responsible, to love others as He does.

“For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7)

by Pastor John Kim

As Thanksgiving is approaching, I would like to challenge you in your attitude of gratitude when it comes to how you view those in the church. It is all too easy to grumble and complain and gripe about all the problems: the problematic people, how things are going too slow, how things are going too fast, how we never did it this way before, how we always did it this way, and a host of other things that get uttered as we keenly observe all the faults and weaknesses and short-comings of anyone and everyone around us.

I have to admit that sometimes it’s hard to stomach the continued stream of negative comments that come from the self-appointed judges who seem to measure everyone against themselves and are quick to offer their complaints while at the same time there hardly seems any positives. Every conversation is simply an opportunity to lodge a charge against someone or something that brings offense or “bothers me” and it seems as though there is not even a glimmer of hope that things will ever change for the better.

It’s no surprise that there are many conflicts and divisions that build up between church members and one glaring blind spot is the lack of a thankful heart. Thanklessness is something that can stay under the radar for most people as comments are couched as “concerns, observations, issues, prayer requests” and the obvious command to be thankful according to Scripture is summarily dismissed as being irrelevant to whatever it is being addressed.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 provides a blueprint for the kind of heart attitude that should be a constant presence in our lives if we are walking in the Spirit, especially as we consider our relationships with one another in the church.

“Rejoice always”

Rejoicing is not something that we will always feel emotionally consistent. While we are quick to quote certain verses to others such as James 1:2 or Philippians 4:4 when we see them down or discouraged, do we have a rejoicing attitude when we consider the church family God has called us to be a part of and are we especially rejoicing in the Lord?

It is definitely a challenge to rejoice when there are various trials. But rejoicing can take place when one is walking in the Spirit and as joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), this fruit can actually grow during times of testing because the glory of God and His kingdom purposes are being carried out. And even though there is some discomfort or even suffering involved, we can still rejoice because the rejoicing is not based on the circumstances but in our relationship with the Lord that is being strengthened and confirmed in the midst of the trials.

Rejoicing will definitely not take place if one is walking in the flesh, if your eyes are fixed on the circumstances instead of Christ, and if the love of Christ is not controlling your heart and mind. A lack of joy in the life of the Christian definitely leads to spiritual weakness as the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10) and it really is impossible to stand strong in your faith without the joy of the Lord undergirding the heart and mind.

“Pray without ceasing”

One thing that is easy to do is to grumble and complain about someone but never actually pray for them. Do you realize that God has put certain people in your life to not only cause sanctification to take place but to also remind you of your ultimate dependence is not to be in your own abilities, your own righteousness, your own wisdom, but to deepen your trust in the Lord?

Before you lodge a complaint about the pastor, the pastor’s wife, the pastor’s children, the elders, the elders’ wives and children, the deacons, the deacons’ families, the Sunday school teachers, the nursery department, the praise team, the sound team, the setup team, the cleanup team, the parking team, for that matter, anyone and everyone at the church, could you honestly come before the Lord with such complaints without once ever genuinely praying for them, their welfare, their good, and their benefit? It is no surprise then that there is a thanklessness that dwells like an ingrown toenail that never heals, when there is a prayerlessness in relation to those that you might have complaints. This is particularly a point of conviction because I find it very easy to highlight the faults of others, even share those faults with others, but never pray for them.

We are actually called to not only pray without ceasing, but to pray for all (1 Timothy 2:1-2) as well as to pray for one another (James 5:16); so that pretty much covers everything. But we can’t just talk about praying – do you actually pray? Do you especially pray for those that you are struggling to be thankful for, no matter what the circumstances? If you refuse to pray for others, not only are you being disobedient, but you show a lack of care that God’s children should show toward one another in the church. To fail to pray is to fail to love. This should not be so.

“In everything give thanks”

Here it gives a great challenge that we are to give thanks in everything. This is not necessarily the same thing as giving thanks FOR everything. It is obviously difficult to give thanks when there are difficult situations or circumstances, especially in dealing with people. But the lack of thanksgiving in one’s life during the tough times can reveal a deeper issue, namely that of a hardened heart that is not led by the Holy Spirit. The exposure of a thankless heart can often be a blind spot because it is too easy to be singularly focused on the circumstances or the people that are associated with hardships, and so Christ is no longer front and center in how we have set our minds as well as our hearts.

This really follows the previous two thoughts about rejoicing and praying. It’s like a package deal – the one who rejoices always and prays without ceasing will also be the one who gives thanks in everything. You don’t pick and choose in this matter.

Are you truly thankful? Can you see the grace and mercy and kindness that God shows you in all the little ways as well as the big? Do you see His lovingkindness manifested to you day by day? Even though there are difficult people, can you see how God is sharpening you and maturing you and sanctifying you to not only trust Him more but to love others more in a 1 Corinthians 13 way? Do you take time to see the blessings that come with the challenges, that to even have a church family in which you can have relationships is not something to be taken for granted? That you have a pastor and teachers who are committed to the Word of God in preaching and teaching and living it out, however imperfectly but faithfully? That you have brothers and sisters in your church family, that you have the opportunity to fellowship and share in the grace and truth of God and that you can be a part of each others lives as well as investing in the future generation?

There is much to be thankful for and I want to particularly challenge you to consider evaluating how thankful you are in the context of the local church. Get a piece of paper (physical or digital) and start writing down the followings responses:

1. Thankful for your pastor and leaders – Take some time to write out how you are thankful for your pastor and leaders. Be specific and note what they do in providing spiritual leadership for the church. This is not to gloss over their shortcomings or weaknesses but you should be able to thank God for your spiritual leaders who watch over your souls.
2. Thankful for your fellow members – Think of specific members who you can look back on and see how God has used them to bless you, to encourage you, to challenge you, and to spur you on in your spiritual walk. While it might seem strange, think of those who also might have been difficult, awkward, and even discouraging and consider how God used them to grow you and mature you. You can still give thanks to God, even for those who meant evil toward you, but God used it for good (ex. Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 50). The dynamic of various relationships can definitely be stretching but it provides ample opportunity to love one another with the love of Christ.
3. Thankful for the gospel – Give thanks to God how precious the gospel is to you as well as how the grace and mercy of God has been shown to you. Consider also how God uses sinners like us to share the good news of the gospel. Remember that the members of the church are really all united as forgiven sinners because of the cross of Christ and that it is only by His kindness that we are granted the privilege to be ambassadors of the gospel to this world.
4. Thankful for the Word of God – If we didn’t have the Scriptures, we would truly be lost. In a world that continues to insist that there is no such thing as objective propositional truth that governs all of mankind, we see how the world continues to spiral down as the whirlpool of conflicting worldviews sucks people into confusion and conflicts. But with the sufficient and authoritative Word of God as our lamp to our feet and a light to our path, the church can walk in confidence both in unity as well as in purpose in carrying out the Great Commission and in obeying the Great Commandment. Thank God for His Word and thank those who faithfully preach and teach and counsel and model the Word of God in your life.
5. Thankful for the head of the church – At the end of the day, we will always have reason to be thankful when we are with the church because the head of the church will always be true, faithful, trustworthy, and the one who leads us. If we fix our eyes on Christ as a church, then we will not only be undistracted by the things of this world, we will also be able to be united in our focus as a body and be more useful for the kingdom of God as well as united in how we view each other. Give thanks for our Lord and Savior who will always be the true and only head of the church.