January 12, 2014 at OGC

January 11, 2014 By in Sunday Morning Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

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Big day tomorrow!

Note: it’s a name tag Sunday. Grab one on your way in and help make community easier for all.

8:30 AM – Prayer time in the conference room. Always up for newcomers to help us with intercession.

9:30 AM – Equipping Hour for all ages. Adult discipleship classes include Reformed Theology, New Testament, and Biblical Finances.

10:45 AM – Worship Service. I’m preaching on 1 Thess. 5:16-18, a message called “The Jewelry of Grace.” I plan to focus on v. 17 and what it means to pray without ceasing. Here’s how Charles Spurge0n tied joy, prayer, and giving thanks together:

When joy and prayer are married their first born child is gratitude. When we joy in God for what we have, and believingly pray to him for more, then our souls thank him both in the enjoyment of what we have, and in the prospect of what is yet to come. Those three texts are three companion pictures, representing the life of a true Christian, the central sketch is the connecting link between those on either side. These three precepts are an ornament of grace to every believer’s neck, wear them every one of you, for glory and for beauty; “Rejoice evermore;” “Pray without ceasing;” “in everything give thanks.”

At the end of the service we will receive twelve new members into the body. Be sure to greet them in the receiving line after the service and join us for a reception in the fellowship hall.

6:00 PM – Concert of Prayer in the conference room. We will resume our monthly times of intercession. Special emphasis on Japan given the Homestay ministry coming up next month.

Looking forward to a great Lord’s Day with God’s people!

Ten Reasons NOT to Become a Church Member

January 9, 2014 By in Ecclesiology Tags: , , Leave a comment

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Sometimes I feel woefully inadequate persuading good-for-nothing-brick types to join a local church through positive arguments. For this post I decided to try the reverse psychology approach with ten good reasons why someone would NOT want to join a local church.

One, you should not become a church member if you do not want your profession of faith in Jesus to be evaluated and deemed credible or not by a body of believers charged with determining, with God’s help, who really does belong to the King as opposed to who might just be fooling himself (Matt. 7:21-23).

Two, you should not become a church member if want to avoid any of the inevitable “one another” commitments of the New Testament that find their fullest and best expression in covenant community (John 13:14).

Three, you should not become a church member if you think participation in the ordinary means of grace – the preached word and the sacraments – are somehow optional in the Christian life (Heb. 10:24-25).

Four, you should not become a church member if you want to maintain complete control over your finances such that you feel no obligation to support the local ministry from which you receive ministry and experience community (Gal. 6:6).

Five, you should not become a church member if any of the idols of your heart have such a grasp upon you that you fear exposure by rubbing shoulders more intimately with other members of the body of Christ (Heb. 3:12-13).

Six, you should not become a church member if the idea of submitting to anyone’s authority gives you the willies and that you might be held accountable to the commitments covenant members make as a part of church membership (Matt. 18:15-20).

Seven, you should not become a church member if you prefer to sit on the sidelines of the church and bury your gifts in the ground for fear of the what the Lord might require of you in terms of ministering to others (1 Pet. 4:10-11).

Eight, you should not become a church member if the tyranny of busyness so controls you that you can’t imagine fitting another thing, no matter how important, into your schedule (Eph. 5:16).

Nine, you should not become a church member if the only world that concerns you is within your own four walls and that obeying a commission to take the gospel to the unreached people groups of the world and/or the folks where you live, work, and play don’t register on the radar screen of your life (Matt. 28:18-20).

Ten, you should not become a church member if you don’t want to belong to the one entity God has ordained to put His glorious plan and purposes on display before all things invisible (Eph. 3:10).

Why Churches Should Require Membership Covenants

January 5, 2014 By in Ecclesiology, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Man Signing Contract

Next week, Lord willing, OGC will take in a dozen new members.

Note: for a biblical defense of the concept of church membership click here.

We praise God for the new bunch of folks He has brought into our fellowship. Each of these saints has attended our membership class. They have completed an extensive application and submitted to an interview with two of our officers. They have been approved by the elders in a formal motion at a business meeting and so noted in the minutes. And without exception, each has signed a dated covenant of membership. Copies of that covenant will be made available in the service next Sunday for every member to reaffirm the commitments that come with belonging to a covenant community of believers.

The question I wish to address in this post is why insist on members of a local body signing a membership covenant? Answer? INFORMED CONSENT. What in the world is that? Informed consent is documentary evidence of a church member’s familiarity with the teachings, policies, practices, and requirements of participation in the community and most importantly their agreement freely and willingly to abide therein. Why does that matter? Many reasons, but none more important in our litigious age than in the matter of church discipline.

The reason, among others, that there is a covenant of membership on file in our office with my name and date on it is because I don’t trust my own deceitfully wicked heart (Jer. 17:9). Should I wander off into unrepentant sin, perish the thought, I want my elders and church to come after me with the full force of Matt. 18:15-20, Gal. 6:1-2, and a bunch of other texts aimed right at that heart. Furthermore, I don’t even want to be tempted in the event of such an unfortunate set of circumstances to entertain the idea of suing my church for slander or some such nonsense. Having given my informed consent in the way of a covenant of membership assures that OGC doesn’t have to think twice about even excommunicating me if necessary for fear of an expensive and damaging lawsuit, not to say the havoc such a thing would bring upon the peace and welfare of the church.

Most people I speak with to attempt to persuade them about the importance of church membership rarely even give this aspect of the matter any thought whatsoever. Peacemaker Ministries has done a good job of articulating this and can help to explain:

Church membership is generally viewed by the courts as being a matter of contract, whereby members freely choose to associate with a particular church community and in doing so accept the benefits and duties of that association. The membership process provides an ideal means to obtain informed consent to a church’s policies and practices. Informed consent is easier to prove if you establish membership in a clear and explicit manner.

The article then proceeds to outline four steps to this end:

  1. Membership Class
  2. Membership Interview
  3. Declaration of Membership – public installation and records to that effect
  4. Written Commitment

Here’s how they unpack that all important fourth dimension:

Further evidence of express informed consent may be obtained by requiring new members to sign a written commitment to membership, which includes a specific reference to having received a copy of the Relational Commitments and to being willing to support and submit to them.

The entire article is worth your time and effort. To read it click here.

Have you thought about this as a professing Christian? It matters a lot to your spiritual welfare and that of the church to which you belong that you do think long and hard about it and that you give your informed consent for the glory of God, the welfare of the church, and the good of your soul.

This Sunday, January 5, at OGC

January 2, 2014 By in Sunday Morning Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

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Just a few thoughts about this Sunday, January 5, at OGC:

One, back to the regular schedule. Prayer at 8:30 AM, Equipping Hour for adults and Sunday School for kids at 9:30 AM, and worship service at 10:45 AM.

Two, three new EH adult discipleship classes start including Reformed Theology (W1), New Testament (W5), and Biblical Finance (F4). Praise Factory and Big Questions and Answers for kids resume as well. Nursery care as usual.

Three, worship service starts with a John Piper sermon jam at about 10:41 AM. Yes, you read that right.  A video sermon jam. You won’t want to miss that. Be on time! Don’t know what a sermon jam is? Come and find out.

Four, I will preach my first of two New Year’s messages from Mark 12:18-27. The title of the message is “What Would Jesus Ask?” My apologies to our friends with the WWJD movement. Pray with me for the Lord to show up with power. Every message from God’s word matters, but these pacesetting messages at the beginning of every year have the potential to influence us in unusual ways as we set priorities anew and afresh.

Five, the Lord’s Supper will follow the message. Be sure to prepare your heart.

Should be a great day by God’s grace.

On a different note, our year end giving was strong! God is good through the faithfulness of His people. We made up the shortfall on actual expenses and a bit of the overall budget. Specific numbers will come later. Thank you for your generosity.

This morning I began my day reviewing one of the most powerful promises in the Bible (Romans 8:31-32, ESV). I commend it to you for shaping your thoughts as another year begins: 

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 

God has already done the harder thing. He has given you His Son. What can you possibly imagine does not fall under the comprehensive promise umbrella of His “all things” for you in 2014?

Another Prayer for New Year’s Eve 2013

December 31, 2013 By in prayer, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

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Scotty Smith has already posted his. Not sure anyone does this kind of prayer writing better than he does. His example prompted me to offer my own version.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-16

Lord who wills all things great and small, this particular “mist” reflects at the end of another year mindful that You have graciously granted him once again length of days free from cancer or any other potentially life-ending threat. My times remain in your hands and You have seen fit in Your mercy to extend them a bit longer for Your purposes. I continue to praise You that I am immortal until Jesus has finished with me. And that You will perfect that which You started some forty-one years ago until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:6), for this too I am so thankful. For all the ways I have acknowledged Your sanctifying influences this past year, as well as the many I have missed, it means everything to me that You relentlessly work all things together for my good that I might be further conformed to the image of Your beloved Son,  (Rom. 8:28), my older Brother, who is not ashamed to be so called (Heb. 2:11).

I praise you, Father, for keeping me from the evil one and causing me in 2013 to continue to stand in the glorious gospel which I received and by which I am being saved (1 Cor. 15:1-2). While I have not always greeted the hard providences of 2013 or any year before it with a rejoice always, pray unceasingly, in everything give thanks disposition (1 Thess. 5:16-18), I revel in a gospel that wholly makes up for those shortcomings and every other crime I commit against Your goodness.

In a year when I felt the temptation to abandon my charge more than I can ever remember, You graciously steadied me with Col. 4:17 and Douthat’s Bad Religion. Where would I be without Your Word and good books that come to my rescue in just the nick of time? That you have gifted me as well with a wife I can’t shake, a staff I don’t deserve, a church by all human accounts I shouldn’t have, and a calling to which I never ultimately measure up, these gifts take my breath away and make me want, by your grace, in 2014 to be a better husband, better co-worker, better pastor, and most of all a better follower in practice of the way, truth, and life (John 14:6).

For what I do anticipate awaits me in 2014 in the way of ministry, travel, family, continuing education, and every other detail of life, I ask You to keep me from presumption by reminding me to qualify all expectations with a thoughtful and careful “if the Lord wills.” I do not know what tomorrow will bring or any other day of the new year. However, I resolve with Your help to leave what lies behind and advance forward to what lies ahead in the upward call in Christ Jesus banking on these, among other, exceedingly great and precious promises (2 Pet. 1:4):

  • You are for me and not against me (Rom. 8:31).
  • No weapon fashioned against me will succeed (Isa. 54:17).
  • You dwell in the heavens and do whatever pleases You (Psalm 115:3).
  • You will direct my paths (Prov. 3:5-6).
  • You will hear and answer my prayers (Psalm 116:1-2).
  • Your power will work mightily within me (Eph. 3:20).
  • I will not be subject to a spirit of fear but governed by a spirit of power, love, and self-control (2 Tim. 1:7).
  • You give grace to the humble and exalt at the proper time (1 Peter 5:5-7).
  • Nothing, absolutely nothing can or will separate me from Your love (Rom. 8:31-39).

Finally, One who was and is and always shall be, whatever time I may have left in these headed-for-the-finish line days of mine, whether one year or ten or more or less, as You will, may I be able to say with the apostle when all is said and done “I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished the race” (2 Tim. 4:7).

Amen.

First Quarter 2014 Featured Resource

December 30, 2013 By in Books Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Holland Michigan Tulip Festival - Windmill and Tulip Flowers

Books change lives. I believe that with all my heart. Over forty-one years of walking with Jesus now, I have experienced over and over again the power of God unleashed in my life through an extra-biblical resource devoured at just the right time.

That’s why we have a resource center at OGC. And it’s why we feature various works from time to time in order to commend them to folks. For the first quarter of 2014 I have decided to draw attention to Richard Phillips’ excellent volume called “What’s So Great About the Doctrines of Grace.” For my previous review of this primer on the doctrines of grace click here.

Doctrines of Grace

Why beat the drum for a book for a second time? Couple of reasons. First, new folks to OGC will profit immensely from reading these pages, especially if the grid of reformed theology is something of a new concept. You won’t find an exhaustive treatment of TULIP within, but you will get a first-rate introduction to glorious truth.

Second, the volume will accompany quite nicely one of our new Equipping Hour (9:30-10:30 AM) classes starting this Sunday, January 5. Deacon Matt West will teach an introduction to reformed theology (meets in W1). If you have yet to take this core class in our three-year discipleship scope and sequence, I urge you to do so this time around. Of course you won’t go wrong with either of the other two offerings, namely biblical finance (F4) and New Testament (G0spels, Acts, & Hebrews – W5), but for a church with our confession of faith, everyone needs to take the reformed theology intro at least once.

I am happy to say that we have nearly a dozen or so copies in the resource center for the low price (our cost) of $7.00. Pick up a copy this Sunday!

A New Year’s Call

December 29, 2013 By in Spiritual Life Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

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What summons beckon you in 2014? If you are like most folks, lots of things run through your mind.

Of all the options you weigh, consider this from Scottish churchman and hymn writer, Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), among, if not the most important of them:

Be much alone with God. Do not put Him off with a quarter of an hour morning and evening. Take time to get thoroughly acquainted. Converse over everything with Him. Unbosom yourself wholly,—every thought, feeling, wish, bonarplan, doubt,—to Him. He wants converse with His creatures; shall His creatures not want converse with Him? He wants, not merely to be on “good terms” with you, if one may use man’s phrase, but to be intimate; shall you decline the intimacy, and be satisfied with mere acquaintance? What! Intimate with the world, with friends, with neighbors, with politicians, with philosophers, with naturalists, or with poets; but not with God? That would look ill indeed. Folly, to prefer the clay to the potter, the marble to the sculptor, this little earth and its lesser creatures to the mighty Maker of the universe, the great “All and in all!”

Might you resolve to spend more time alone with God this coming year than in any previous one of your life? If so, you will never regret it.

The Church & Infertility

December 28, 2013 By in Body of Christ Tags: , , , , , 2 Comments

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I don’t pretend to get this. Nancy and I never suffered the trial of infertility. We have known and know even now dear brothers and sisters humbling themselves under the mighty hand in this journey (1 Peter 5:6-7). We see the hurt. We feel the pain. We ache with the longings that go unfulfilled. Still, without walking a mile in those shoes, it makes it tough to identify as well as one might wish.

Jeff Cavanaugh has written a helpful blog post on this subject for the Gospel Coalition. He speaks from his own agonizing experience. It opened my eyes as to how the church can powerfully comfort but also unwittingly afflict folks bearing up under their inability to conceive. He explains:

I’m painting a bleak picture of infertility here, I know. There is no way to ignore how painful it is. It’s certainly the biggest trial my wife and I have ever faced, individually or together. But God has used this trial to grow us spiritually and demonstrate his love for us in ways we couldn’t have anticipated. And the church—that network of loving, supportive, prayerful relationships we have in Christ’s body—has been used by God to comfort and sustain us and others like us.

That’s not to say relationships in the church are easy when you’re struggling with infertility. Those aforementioned feelings of isolation and alienation are real. Friends in the church have seemed thoughtless at times, not considering how things they say might be hurtful; at other times they’ve been awkward, aware of our struggles but at a loss for what to say. Often the strain has been entirely our own fault—we’ve promised in our church covenant to “rejoice at each other’s happiness and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other’s burdens and sorrows,” but sometimes jealousy and bitterness sap our motivation to do any rejoicing or accept any comfort.

Naturally I long for my church and all gospel-grounded ministries to act like the comforting network described in paragraph one. However, I realize too readily how easily we can miss the boat messing up as in paragraph two.

I encourage an entire reading of “How the Church Makes the Trial of Infertility Better (Or Worse).”

May Jesus and His gospel enlarge our hearts to enter the struggles of saints battling this hard providence as well as a host of others as we have opportunity.

39 Years, 39 Lessons

December 27, 2013 By in Marriage & Family Tags: , , , Leave a comment

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On December 21st of this year, my bride and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary. Since then I’ve pondered reasons why, by God’s grace, we’ve survived, even thrived all these years. I wondered if I could articulate as many lessons learned or being learned as years. Here’s what I came up with.

  1. Believe the gospel for yourself AND about your spouse.
  2. Love your spouse more by loving him/her less than Jesus.
  3. Believe the best of your spouse as a saint.
  4. Suspect the worst of yourself as a sinner.
  5. Repent of sin quickly.
  6. Use the words “Will you forgive me?”
  7. Use the words “Of course I forgive you.”
  8. Forgive 70 x 7.
  9. Patience, patience, patience.
  10. Listen attentively.
  11. Ask questions to draw out the heart.
  12. Avoid judging with broad-sweeping statements; speak the truth in love.
  13. Peacemake, don’t peacebreak, or peacefake.
  14. Get mediation help/counseling if necessary.
  15. Prize oneness highly.
  16. Wait until you’re on the same page the bigger the decision.
  17. Pray for one another.
  18. Pray with one another.
  19. Read the Bible together.
  20. Read good books on marriage and other topics together.
  21. Limit TV and other forms of digital entertainment time.
  22. Converse with one another.
  23. Defer to one another –  A LOT.
  24. Kiss each other good morning, goodbye, hello, and good night.
  25. Go to bed at the same time.
  26. Give conjugal rights freely.
  27. Go to church together.
  28. Be a part of a gospel community together (small group).
  29. Serve others inside and outside the church together.
  30. Practice hospitality.
  31. Keep good boundaries with extended family and in-laws.
  32. Never demean one another in front of others.
  33. Never raise your voice to one another.
  34. Share everything together.
  35. Eliminate the “D” word from your vocabulary altogether.
  36. Stay in touch with each other throughout the day, especially when travelling apart.
  37. Date each other; take walks together.
  38. Get away from the normal routine together, if and when you can.
  39. Always look for the next lesson God will teach you.