TRCC Distinctive: Ministry: Part 1

TRCC Distinctive: Ministry: Part 1.

Saving Us from Ourselves

I have been alive now for 42 years; 22 of those years as a husband, 20 as a father, and going on 10 years as a pastor. Through all these years of life experience and observation – especially of myself – it is becoming increasingly clear to me that the essence of sin is self-centeredness. Martin Luther used the Latin term incurvatus in se which means “to be curved inward on oneself” throughout his lectures on Romans to describe the essence of the sinful human nature. So, regardless of whether it is pride or self-loathing, the focus remains inward toward oneself.

This self-centeredness is not only acknowledged but is set as the goal of secular humanist psychology. From the idea of self-actualization introduced by Goldstein and popularized by Maslow to Nietzsche’s Übermensch, this psychology preaches – and make no mistake, it is preaching – that the greatest goal is to look inside oneself to find one’s meaning and to achieve one’s greatest potential.

We, of course, should expect nothing less from secular humanist psychology, because if the basic belief is that there is nothing beyond us, then it stands to reason that there is nowhere to look except inward. The problem is that this doctrine of self as the ultimate goal has crept into the teachings of those who would call themselves Christians. Thus we see the rise of the so-called prosperity gospel and we hear sermon after sermon of pop psychology self-improvement with a little Jesus mixed in for good measure.

The truth remains, however, that we are, as Augustine put it, a massa peccati – a “mess of sin.” We are spiritually bankrupt by sin. It is therefore utterly crucial to understand Romans 3:23 in its context. If we are careless with the Scriptures, it is easy to read “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” to mean that we “fall short” or “miss the mark” because we are immoral or bad people. Therefore, the proper remedy is to make bad people good; to clean them up. And tragically most people, including many who would call themselves Christian, have completely missed the gospel by believing that its aim is moral reform.

C.S. Lewis wrote,

“We must not suppose that if we succeeded in making everyone nice we should have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world.”

The aim of the gospel is not moral reformation – to make bad people good. That is a false gospel, which is just another manifestation of incurvatus in se because the focus still remains inward toward ourselves. No; Christ Jesus did not come first to make bad people good. He came to raise the spiritually dead to life.

When Paul says we have fallen short of God’s glory, he means that we have been created to revel in the glory of God, to make much of Him and glorify Him. But sin has caused us to turn away from God’s glory and to seek our own. It makes us live our lives incurvatus in se. As John Piper wrote, “We have turned our back to the breathtaking beauty of God and fallen in love with our shadow.”

The gospel is that Christ came to turn our deadly focus from ourselves to the live-giving focus on the glory of God. Paul summed up the gospel when he wrote that “[Christ] died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” (2 Corinthians 5:15)

In other words, Christ died to save us from ourselves so that we would no longer fall short of our created purpose to glorify God.

As we take communion together, let us remember that through Christ’s spilled blood and broken body, we are justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; a justification that is not by moralism but by faith apart from our works to the glory of God. (Romans 3:21-28)

Remember the Sabbath?

A while back, my son and his friend were studying scripture together and a question came up: Why are there certain laws in the Law of Moses that we do not have to keep and other that we do?

Now, I am not going to attempt to fully explain the purpose of the Law in this one blog post. But as a study note: when you are reading the Old Testament, it is important to keep something in mind: What was the purpose of the Law? Paul tells the Romans it was to show us what sin is (Romans 7:7), and he tells the Galatians that it served as our tutor to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24).

A Pharisee challenged Jesus with this question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

In other words, Jesus was saying they are all the greatest commandment because He just summed up the Ten Commandments. The first four deal with loving the Lord with all that we are, and the last six deal with loving our neighbors. Jesus was looking past the mere letter of the Law to the very Spirit of the Law.

I would like to focus on one in particular. Have you ever wondered about the Fourth Command regarding the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments? (Exodus 20:1-17) All of the other commandments are easily understood in our context

• No other gods
• No idols
• Don’t use God’s name in a senseless or foolish way
• Honor father and mother
• Don’t murder
• Don’t commit adultery
• Don’t steal
• Don’t lie
• Don’t jealously desire anything that belongs to someone else

But what about the Sabbath? Is it Saturday?  Should we be keeping it from sunset to sunset? (Leviticus 23:32) Is it wrong to do work? Is God angry with us if we meet on Sunday and not Saturday, or if we paint our house or mow our lawn on the Sabbath?

Obviously, the Sabbath was very important to God; it made His Top Ten list. People were to be executed for not observing the Sabbath in the Old Testament (Exodus 31:14).

How do we reconcile that with what Paul instructs the Colossian church: “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”? (Colossians 2:16-17) We need to understand that these things that Paul lists were not related to some pagan religious festivals. He was referring to observances required by the Law of Moses. And he specifically mentions the Sabbath.

Again, we have to remember that the Law was made to point us to Christ. The Law is not the final statement; it is not the end. Instead, Christ Himself is the end (the goal) of the Law. (Romans 10:4) And as the writer of Hebrews says, the Law “has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things.” (Hebrews 10:1)

The Sabbath was established as a reminder that after six days of creating the heaven and the earth, God rested on the seventh day (Exodus 20:8-11). According to W.E. Vine, the doubled b in the Hebrew word shabath “has an intensive force, implying a complete cessation or a making to cease, probably the former. The idea is not that of relaxation or refreshment, but of cessation from activity.” (W.E. Vine, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, p.542) The Sabbath was not established as a day of worship, per se, but of cessation from activity.

The writer of Hebrews spoke of the Israelite generation that wondered in the wilderness for 40 years and said that they were not able to enter into God’s rest because of their unbelief. That is crucial to understand: Was it because of their disobedience? No; it was because of their unbelief. They did not believe that God would give them rest, therefore God did not give them rest. Their unbelief brought about their disobedience.

“Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest…For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.” (Hebrews 4:1-2, 8)

Remember that the Law – specifically in this case the Sabbath – was just a mere shadow of the things to come, but the reality of the Sabbath is found in Christ. This Sabbath – this complete cessation of work – is meant to point us to Christ.

The author of Hebrews goes on to write: “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:9-11)

Rest…Rest from what? It is rest “from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14) and points to our ultimate rest in Christ. (Revelation 14:13) So the Fourth Commandment had a shadow of the good things to come. It was written to lead us to Jesus Christ who came to bring us true rest. Or more accurately, Jesus Christ is our Sabbath day of rest. Therefore, let us indeed remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.

Now we can better understand Jesus’ words: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

At the same time, we must heed Paul’s words, “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord…” (Romans 14:5-6a; see all of Romans 14 for context). So let us be careful to not condemn a person who, in faith, chooses to dedicate Sunday solely to praying, singing, and reading the Word, as long as that person understands that God does not require the observance of a certain day for merit before Him. Nor let us condemn the one who chooses to mow his lawn, who, in faith, knows that his acceptance before God is not based on whether or not he regards a particular day above another. But let each person be convinced in his own heart that God is not angry with the other for acting in faith.

Missions at TRCC

Missions at TRCC.

http://www.threeriverscc.org/#/About/Missions

Three Rivers Community Church and our Mission

Three Rivers Community Church and our Mission.

The Treasure of Christ

Acting on a suggestion by a fellow prospector, George Carmack, along with his Native American wife Kate, her brother Skookum Jim and their nephew Dawson Charlie set out for Rabbit Creek, (later renamed Bonanza Creek after the gold discovered there), a tributary of the Klondike River in the Yukon Territory of Canada. On August 16, 1896, the party found huge quantities of gold along the river. Carmack quickly staked claims and registered them the next day at the police post located nearby at the mouth of the Fortymile River.

News of the discovery spread quickly among the prospectors throughout the Yukon River valley. However, due to its remote location and the onset of winter, the outside world was largely unaware of the immense deposits of gold being discovered. It wasn’t until ten months later in June of 1897 that boats ladened with freshly mined gold left the area.

On July 15, some of the first prospectors arrived in San Francisco and two days later news reached Seattle. Newspapers reported that as much as what would be the modern-day equivalent of $1 billion in gold had arrived, although even that turned out to be an underestimate. And thus, the Klondike Stampede began.

It is estimated that over 100,000 people headed for the Yukon gold fields. Few of these individuals had any experience in mining, with most quitting their jobs as clerks, salesmen, streetcar drivers, and policemen. They were simply blinded by the Yukon’s golden opportunity.

Arriving at the Alaskan ports of Skagway or Dyea marked the real beginning of the arduous journey to the gold fields some 600 miles north. The White and Chilkoot Passes were the only two northbound passages through the southern Alaskan mountain range. The Chilkoot Pass rose some 3,500 feet, and the trekkers had to carry themselves up 1,500 stairs dubbed the “Golden Steps” carved out of the ice and snow. Many had no clue what they were in for. In addition to the year’s supply of provisions weighing over 1,000 pounds that were required by the Canadian authorities, some brought peculiar items such as bicycles and gramophones. One intrepid party carried all the parts required to build a 40-ton steamboat. A piano was even hoisted over the mountain pass.

As many as 30 to 40 roundtrips over the pass were required in order to get all of their supplies across. Keep in mind that there were no Kelty backpacks, no Patagonia jackets, no Black Diamond climbing gear. The equipment was crude and bulky by today’s standards.

One would-be prospector wrote, “My feet are sore. My heals are blistered. My legs, sore and lame. My hands, neck, and shoulders are chafed from rope. But, boys, don’t think I’m discouraged; there’s a glimmer of gold in the distance.”

Once they finally cleared the pass with all of their supplies, they still faced a dangerous five-day journey to Dawson City up the Yukon River in makeshift rafts and boats that became known as “floating coffins.”

Almost 70 feet of snow fell that winter. Numerous people died and thousands turned back. Of the 100,000 gold-seekers, only 30,000 to 40,000 eventually reached the gold fields, and only half of those became prospectors. Of these, fewer than 4,000 struck gold, and only a handful actually became rich.

Nevertheless, that small settlement at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers near the Arctic Circle had the highest concentration of millionaires in the entire world. And yet they had nothing to spend it on. They failed to realize that all the money in the world would ultimately buy them nothing. Because today, not a single one of them has in their possession even a fleck of gold dust that they risked everything for.

Some would say they were too greedy or maybe just too ambitious. But I would argue it’s not that their ambition and drive for riches were excessive. Instead their drive and ambition were misdirected; their hearts were in the wrong place. Jesus did, in fact, instruct us to store up for ourselves treasures. But He said to store them in heaven… for where our treasure is, that’s where our heart will be. (Matthew 6:20-21)

God has placed in every man’s heart passion, ambition, and a drive for something beyond ourselves. C.S. Lewis wrote of this God-given drive, this holy ambition when he said: “We long for more, and the promise of God is that there is more beyond us, and still more awaiting us. More to delight us than we will ever exhaust, for the Fountainhead of Joy is our inexhaustible God.”

You see, when God appeared to Abram and said, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great” (Genesis 15:1), He wasn’t simply talking about Abram’s reward being the promise of a son or even the land promised to him. We know this because the writer of Hebrews said that Abraham “died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance.” (see Hebrews 11:13-16) No. God was speaking the gospel to Abram (see Galatians 3:8)—the good news that Jesus Himself would be Abraham’s reward. Christ would be his treasure.

We find our greatest joy in that which we treasure. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44)

When our eyes are fixated on our pursuit of joy in lesser treasures like money, sex, or fame, we end up building bigger barns and consuming more and more, yet we are never satisfied because they are not what we are made for (Luke 12:16-21).

J. Campbell White once said, “Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives. Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world he came to redeem. Fame, pleasure, and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of his eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.” (J. Campbell White, secretary, Laymen’s Missionary Movement, 1909)

So let us do crazy things like carrying a 40-ton steamer over a mountain for the kingdom. Or better yet, by faith, for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom may we say to that mountain, “Be taken up and cast into the sea.” (Mark 11:23).

As we take communion together, let us remember Jesus willingly poured out His blood on the cross so that He could open the eyes of our sin-blinded souls, and show us that our longing for more is in reality a longing for Him, and our joy in Him is complete because He is our greatest treasure.

Haggai 2:10-23

Haggai 2:10-23.

The Unity of God

I have spent some time in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians this week. The letter is just rich with truth of what God the Father has done through Jesus Christ on our behalf, and who we are in Christ. In fact, Paul uses that phrase “in Christ” or “in Him” numerous times throughout the letter to emphasize the believers’ identity in Christ and their unity with God.

Paul doesn’t waste any time getting down to business. After giving his characteristic salutation to the church, Paul immediately launches in to this beautiful discourse that is part doxology and part doctrinal statement. He begins: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” (Ephesians 1:3-8)

There are several points here, but one that I think Paul is trying to establish is that our salvation is wholly outside of ourselves, and even further that our salvation is not solely for our benefit, but it is “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 3:10). All of this is so that ultimately our salvation might be “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:6) Therefore, our salvation originates from the Father, is redeemed through the Son, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, which results in praise to God for His glorious grace. It is the triune Godhead, working in perfect unity, to establish, secure, and maintain our salvation for all eternity.

This image of unity is a major theme that runs throughout Paul’s letter. That “joining together” and “bringing into one” is shown by Paul in the second chapter of Ephesians between Jews and Gentiles. “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:11-18)

Look at that last verse again. “for through Him [that is, Jesus Christ] we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.” Our salvation hinges on the Unity of God – one God in three distinct persons. Or as stated in the Athanasian Creed:

That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons; nor dividing the Essence. For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal… So that in all things…the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity.

Why is this so important? It is because the perfect unity in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit provides the basis for not only our salvation, but the unity of the church. If there is no unity within God, then it is impossible for there to be unity within us. In fact, Jesus prayed, not once but twice in John 17 that we be one even as He is one with the Father. And, if there is no unity within us – if we are not in Christ, if we are not united with Him – there is no “access in one Spirit to the Father” and there is no church, because the church is one body, reconciled to God through the cross. But Paul says, “for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19 – 22)

That is one of the reasons why we are instructed to hold each other accountable, to encourage, rebuke, admonish, and exhort one another, to confess our sins to each other, being kind and compassionate, forgiving each other, because God in Christ has forgiven us.

Sin is destructive, even the hidden, personal sins that no one knows about. These sins affect the entire body, because you are a part of the body. If your arm is broken, you don’t think, “Well, it’s just my arm. The rest of my body feels great!” No, that broken limb affects the operation of the entire body; the body becomes weaker from the pain and added stress, and the other parts of the body must compensate and bear the burden for the debilitated limb.

In John Donne’s famous poem he writes,

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
… any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.

If this axiom is true for mankind in general, how much more so is it true for the church, which is the body of Christ? Any person’s sin within the body of Christ diminishes us, because we are involved in the body. Your sin, no matter how private and hidden, affects me; and my sin, no matter how private and hidden, affects you. Let us not take that lightly.

As we take communion together, let us remember that in Christ Jesus we have been brought near to God and to one another by the blood of Christ as a reflection of the unity in the Triune God. Therefore, let us “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6)

Faith Prays

Faith Prays. Luke 18:1-8

All Human Life Is Sacred

Today marks the 39^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case in which the Court deemed abortion a fundamental right under the U.S. Constitution. Since that fateful Monday, an estimated 54 million babies have been killed. I say “estimated” because statistics are only available from two sources. One source comes federally from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where states are not required to report statistics on abortions. And, for example, the state of California, which accounts for more abortions than any other state in the U.S., has failed to provide statistics in years . The other source comes privately from The Guttmacher Institute, which happens to be the research arm of Planned Parenthood, the world’s largest abortion provider – hardly a neutral source. Extrapolating from both sources, we come to approximately 54 million babies. (http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/)

Let’s face it, that number is difficult to wrap our minds around. To break it down: in this country alone, an infant has been murdered through abortion every 23 seconds of every minute, of every hour of every day for 39 years – just under one million four hundred thousand human souls every year. To give you perspective: the number of babies killed each year is roughly the number of American soldiers who have died in every armed conflict combined since the Revolutionary War.

According to the CDC, the listeria outbreak from tainted cantaloupes that occurred roughly from August and October of last year, killed 30 people. Do you recall the amount of press that received? It was covered seemingly without end by every major news outlet. Meanwhile, during that same period, 350,000 infants were slaughtered without a single headline.

Throughout the years with the advancement of technology and medicine, the courts have had to change their definition of “life” for the unborn. The Supreme Court’s decision defined “viable” as being “potentially able to live outside the mother’s womb, albeit with artificial aid,” adding that viability “is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.”

Laws relating to the time from viability (6–6 1/2 months) until the end of the pregnancy may not prevent abortion if it is “to preserve the life or health of the mother”; the “health” of the mother includes “all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman’s age — relevant to the well-being of the patient.” In other words, a woman may legally have an abortion up until birth if she can prove that having the child will produce excessive stress or burden to her well-being. (http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/what-does-roe-v-wade-actually-say)

As the argument against the child’s viability becomes increasingly indefensible, abortionists have shifted their emphasis more and more to that of a woman’s right to choose. But glaring questions remain: when in history has it ever been morally, legally, or ethically permissible to kill a person simply because they may prove to be an inconvenience to someone else? Since when does a person’s choice of convenience trump another’s inalienable right to life? And why is it legal to kill a child at a certain developmental stage while he or she is still in the mother’s womb, while it would legally be considered murder if that same child was intentionally killed by someone the second he or she exited the womb? As Scott Klusendorf, the founder and president of Life Training Institute (LTI), asks, “How does a journey of seven inches down the birth canal transform the nature of a fetus from non-person to person?”

Steve Calvin, Founder and Medical Director of the Minnesota Birth Center, states, “There is inescapable schizophrenia in aborting a perfectly normal 22 week fetus while at the same hospital, performing intra-uterine surgery on its cousin.” Even the laws here in the state of Georgia show this schizophrenia. Georgia maintains the crime of feticide by vehicle, making the unborn child at any stage of development a victim under the state’s homicide by vehicle law. (http://www.aul.org/states/georgia) So we are left with this untenable position where a person is charged with feticide by vehicle when he accidentally kills a woman’s unborn baby in a wreck while she is driving on her way to have an abortion by a doctor who has full protection under the law.

But this goes beyond politics or law. This is fundamentally a spiritual issue. While statistics and legal arguments are good and useful, we as followers of Christ must proclaim it for what it is fundamentally. We must proclaim that the life of the unborn child is a life that has been created by God Himself, that this living human spirit has been created in God’s image for God’s glory (In Genesis 9:6, God gives the basis for the punishment of murder as being the foundational truth that mankind is created in His image). We must proclaim that it is not an individual’s choice to take a life, but it is the Lord alone who gives, and the Lord alone who takes away (Job 1:20).

We must, as John Piper has said, “expose the fact that when two legitimate rights conflict—the right not to be pregnant and the right not to be killed—justice demands that we give place to the greater right, the right that does the least harm—the one that does not willfully kill.”

We must understand as Job did that “If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves when they filed a complaint against me, what then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make him, and the same one fashion us in the womb?” (Job 31:13-15)

And as the Psalmist sang, “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)

But we must not simply speak the truth. We must, as followers of Jesus Christ, live the truth. Our gospel must not come in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; so that the world will know what kind of people we proved to be among them for their sake. (1 Thessalonians 1:5) We must be the conscience of a society whose conscience has been seared.

If we truly believe that a child’s life or death cannot be based on a matter of convenience, then our support for a child’s life cannot based on our own convenience. That means giving of yourself. That means sacrificing your convenience. That means pouring your life out for the sake of others. We must not only say “no” to abortion; we must say “yes” to life by providing viable alternatives such as foster care and adoption and Christ-centered education through agencies like the Rome Pregnancy Center. We cannot simply preach “don’t get an abortion,” we have got to provide support to women who choose to keep their child, like our Young Moms ministry.

I am very aware that there is a very real possibility that someone here has had an abortion. I do not take that lightly. The meaning of communion for those put their faith in Christ is a reminder of His forgiveness purchased at the cross, and His forgiveness is full and free. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). The burden of guilt that the Enemy seems to think you must continually carry has been nailed to the cross. God’s absolution for His people is absolute.

Forgiveness is also full and free for those of us who have turned a blind eye or have sat in God’s judgment seat without doing anything to defend the cause of the helpless; those who have not heeded the command to “deliver those who are being taken away to death, and those who are staggering to slaughter, oh hold them back. If you say, “See, we did not know this,” does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?” (Proverbs 24:11-12)

But Christ’s forgiveness is full and free only for those who repent (turn away from their sin) and obey His words, “Go, and sin no more.” If you have not experienced that kind of forgiveness, please hear this: it is available to you through Christ alone. Go to Him, and fall on His mercy.

As we take communion together, let us remember that Christ’s death was so that we might have life. May we hold tightly to the unwavering truth that “God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)