Faster Unto Thee

Sermon Synopsis: Whenever the Doors Are Open

Here is another sermon synopsis, minus, as always, illustrations, transitions, introduction, conclusion, applications, and more.

Sunday I preached a sermon entitled, "Whenever the Doors Are Open." It addressed the common conception that a person can separate their relationship with the Lord from a relationship with His Church. This notion is prevalent as people today separate "spirituality" from "organized religion," an idea that may young Christians buy into.  I argued that one cannot do this for four reasons.

1. True spirituality obeys God's commands. God commands that we assemble for worship and edification (Hebrews 10:24-25) and we see the assembling of believers in Scripture as an assumed norm for Christian life (Acts 2, I Cor. 12, 14). The point I made here is that if God requires us to assemble for worship and edification and we do not, then we are living in disobedience, and that puts us out of fellowship with God. Spirituality has the legs cut out from under it if disobedience is the norm.

2. True spirituality employs spiritual gifts. God gives spiritual gifts to be used (1 Cor. 12, 14). They are given to a believer for that believer to minister with. To do this best, assembly with other believers is necessary. When I skip church for no good reason, I rob other believers of the benefit of my God-given spiritual gifts. Also when I skip, I rob other believers of the opportunity to exercise their gifts for my benefit. In the end, skipping can be a violation of the love command, not merely a sin of omission in regard to using gifts as God intends. Spirituality that refuses to employ gifts in community and thus be accountable to a community of believers is not biblical spirituality at all.

3. True spirituality fosters a longing for corporate worship (Psalm 84, Acts 2:48). The Bible holds up as spiritual models people who love to be among God's people in worship. There is a craving for God's presence as especially experienced among the assembly of believers and a true recognition that one's spiritual life is dependent upon, to a great degree, relationships with other believers. If that desire to be in the assembly is not there, neither is biblical spirituality. True believers long for the courts of the Lord and love to be among his people.

4. True spirituality persuades the world (John 13:35). True spirituality persuades the world that we belong to Jesus. Jesus said that the love the disciples were to have for one another (modeled for them as Jesus washed their feet) would be the chief identifying mark of a disciple of Jesus. Wow. That tells me that if I am reluctant to be a faithful part of a church community, I am bereft of a key marker of belonging to Jesus. Unbelievers will be far more persuaded of my belonging to Jesus if I am in relationship with other believers and demonstrate love to those other believers. So disconnecting my spirituality from church involvement undercuts my identity with Christ and lessens my impact on unbelievers.

Thoughts on Revival Services

Recently our church hosted revival services and they actually went well this time. I say "actually" because our church has experienced revival services that turned out to be, well, duds. By "duds" I mean the guest preacher did not connect well with the people, the altar rail was always left empty, and every reason given for why the annual revival services ought to be done away with seemed to make sense.

But this year the services went well. Pastor Steven Schmidt of the Tabernacle Baptist Church of Chillicothe, OH, was our preacher and he not only connected well with the people but was also an encouragement to me (it helped that he is my uncle).

Here are a few of my thoughts on holding revival services.

1.  They are not completely a thing of the past. The claim is often made that hosting revival services does not "work" anymore. In the past, we are told, the annual or twice a year pattern of scheduling a special string of services featuring a guest preacher accompanied by tearful testimonies and the best music the church had to offer revived the spiritual life of a congregation, lead to new conversions and re-commitments to Christ, and gave the local church a fresh dose of spiritual passion that would carry them for six months or so. But that happens so rarely anymore. We schedule the services, few people come, and if we bring in an old-time revival preacher the young people hate it, and if we bring in a more contemporary preacher he or she just doesn't know how to "do it" - that is, preach in a revival-style. Many churches who in years past had revival services that produced the intended results have had too many duds in a row in recent years and have decided not to schedule anymore. It is just too disappointing. Ask any pastor who has experienced sevreral duds in a row in his church and you will probably hear a reluctance to spend the time, money, and energy on hosting another dud that seems to change nothing.

I agree that the culture and church have changed and revivals do not produce the intended results as easily as they once did. But the fact is that sometimes they do work. Sometimes the pieces come together as we pray hard, invite the right preacher, and plan well. And if they sometimes work, that should tell us that we should not give them up completely, and that often the reason they are duds is our lack of fervent prayer and poor choice in preachers.

2. Selecting the right preacher is key. Some guest preachers are great at seminars. Some are great at being a regular pastor. But few are really good at feeling the spiritual pulse of an unfamiliar congregation and tailoring sermons and delivery style to fit the moment and call people to a deeper walk with God. And, quite frankly, some simply do not have the right temperament for the work of a revivalist. While a revival preacher does not need to be a yeller or overly dramatic or a sensationalist (and should not be in my opinion!), a revival preacher does need to have a way of taking on problems head-on with a graceful bluntness that forces listeners to confront their own sin and compromise and repent. To be frank, some preachers just are not direct enough and do not have the personality in preaching that drives listeners to a point of decision. In the past, I have invited preachers to preach revivals who would make great long-term pastors or seminar leaders but are not geared toward the swoop-in-and-rattle-some-cages-style that a good revival preacher has. After all, part of the job of the hired gun is to say some things that the pastor cannot without terrible fallout. So the reason that some revival services are duds comes back to the selection of the preacher.

3. Altar calls can still work. The long tradition of inviting people to respond publicly to a sermon by walking up the aisle to the front of the church to kneel at an altar rail of prayer has fallen on hard times in many churches. People are creeped out by the thought that the congregation will witness their trip to the altar, and are afraid of what will be asked of them. And folks without a church background may have no idea what an altar call is. But, done right, altar calls can still work. We learned that if the altar is first used for prayer in general, not just for when someone feels guilty, that the altar can become a warm, welcoming place. We also learned that it is very helpful if the preacher gives multiple reasons for coming to the altar that it takes the pressure off those coming forward, for no one but the person coming forward knows just why they are heading up front. Probably the most helpful reason given by our guest preacher for altar calls is that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble," and certainly responding to an altar call humbles a person.

4. The importance of prayer in the weeks before the services. Getting the congregation to begin praying for the services in the weeks before they arrive is crucial. It is a mistake for a pastor to simply encourage his people to pray for the services and lead in public prayer himself. His own prayers are not enough, and most of the people will not get around to praying about it on their own. So the answer, in part, is to call on them to pray right then and there. In our church, I sprung a special prayer time on them one Sunday morning. I instructed the congregation to circle up in groups of about four or so and to pray for three things: their own hearts to be ready, the guest preacher, and the lost. That sparked something because they were not just listening to me pray in a worship service about the revival, but had to lead in prayer themselves. Then I challenged them to pray everyday for the revival, especially at 7 p.m., wherever they were. That way, we could all be praying at the same time about the same thing even while dispersed. There is something about acknowledging your own need for revival and an open heart in prayer that prepares the believer to hear the upcoming revival sermons.

There are so many other things I am learning about hosting revival services, but that is enough for today. Suffice it to say that we will not give up on holding revival services, we will just plan them better.

Reflections for Holy Week

A few devotional reflections for Holy Week ...

Matthew 27:27-31 Jesus is Mocked

The heading in my Bible for this reading is, “Jesus is Mocked.” Think about that for a moment: Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, the co-creator of the universe, is mocked. The one person who should have received all honor and glory and worship was mocked. He was mocked by the very sinners he came to save.

Jesus is silent as they put that ghastly robe on him, making him look like a clumsy and comical king. Then there is that crown. A crown is supposed to be a symbol of authority and dignity, but this twisted crown of thorns put on his head by twisted men is meant to demean its wearer and add injury to insult. They give him a reed in place of a royal scepter and then take that symbol of authority from him and hit him with it and spit upon him.

You cannot miss irony here. This Jesus, before whom every knee will one day bow (Philippians 2:10), took their insults quietly. The soldiers simply did not know that they were insulting a real king - the ultimate king, and that one day at his second coming they would be running for cover. 

The ridicule of Christ continues today. From a celebrity mocking him at an awards show, to scholars denying his Lordship and deity, to regular people who hear of him and reject him as Lord of their lives, the ridicule continues. But one day, at this return, we all will bow before him, right next to those Roman soldiers, and we all will acknowledge him as Lord of all. The only question is this: will that be a day of rejoicing for you and me, or a day of fear and judgment?

Matthew 27:32-44 Jesus is Crucified

For crimes he did not commit he was crucified. For crimes we did commit and will commit he was crucified.

Jesus had explained all along to his disciples that he would die in Jerusalem. And now it happens. Hung between two real criminals, the sinless son of God bore our sin. No one but God understood what was really happening, that the cross was an altar, and upon it was the perfect sacrifice, so perfect that never again would sacrifices need to be offered.

Hung naked on the cross, Jesus was mocked more, and that lie about him destroying the temple was told again. “You who would destroy the temple and rebuilt it in three days, save yourself!” O, make no mistake, he could have easily hopped off that cross and smote the mockers, but he had a mission to complete. He had to pay for our sin, and that required him to pass through shame, suffering, and death itself. And he did it for you and me.

Matthew 27:45-56 Jesus Dies

God sent darkness over the land to herald Jesus’ death. As the physical life of the Light of the World was about to be snuffed out, God made nature itself acknowledge the moment. Happy sunshine was beyond inappropriate.

And Jesus, feeling not only the physical pain of crucifixion, but also the weight of the sin of the world on his shoulders, identified with the words of the Psalmist from Psalm 22, a memory verse from his youth: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some thought he was calling for Elijah, but no, he was just crying out in pain and isolation. The weight of our sin was crushing him. And then, when the time was right, he voluntarily gave up his spirit and died. Salvation had been purchased for everyone who would believe.

And just like God marked the event with darkness, so God also marked the moment of Jesus’ death by tearing the temple curtain in two. That curtain had separated the common man from the most sacred part of the temple. But Jesus’ sacrifice had removed the barrier between the holy God and sinful man. The old rituals were now obsolete. A clear path between God and man had been opened by the cross. And then, another sign - dead saints came out of their graves! And it was then, and only then, that the Roman centurion standing there had his eyes opened. “Truly this was the Son of God!” Amen.

 

Matthew 27:57-66  Jesus is Buried

                        The God Factor
                                 by

                   Jennifer L. Veldman

 

Alone

quiet

empty

utterly still.

 

After the chanting of crowds

the pleading of the sick

the constant throng of worshipers

it has come to this.

 

The magnificent God incarnate

shrouded

silent

cold in the grave.

 

The most blessed Son of the Most High

humiliated

broken

dead in a borrowed tomb.

 

How could He fall so tragically?

End of show

over

done for.

 

God Himself defeated by death

profound failure

hopeless

sin victorious.

 

Humanly speaking, all is lost

doomed to damnation

dead as Christ Himself.

 

But God is not human.

 

This is just the intake of breath

the stunned expectant interlude

before God performs His greatest act.

His most impossible triumph.

 

Impossible and even lamentable

to consider that God Almighty

would stoop to humanity’s lowest low

and evermore remain our happy sorrow.