Grace to Worship

As we gear up to worship with others tomorrow, I am struck by our motivation for it. It is the joy of the grace we are given in Christ! This from Montgomery and Jones in Proof:

"This joy is the fuel that drives Christian worship. When a church proclaims God's undiluted grace, the deadly delusions of human religion are drowned in a flood of gospel-fueled freedom and intoxicating joy. The response of the redeemed is to "sing and shout, teach and admonish, and experience the rich joy of God's indwelling Word. We sing with grace, and we sing because of grace."

Let us sing!

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Smelly Church

Our small group had a game night and it was a blast. It is a joy to have such an amazing group of people as friends and to do ministry with. It is also really good to just play together every now and again.  But it was something that happened during one of our games that launched me into thinking about what people in the church hear, what they own, and why it matters.  It was Bible Taboo. Yes, the game Taboo (the buzzer had a dead battery) with biblical words. There really isn't anything sanctified about the game, you still try to get your team to guess a word by any means necessary without using the list of other words on the card.  The word on the card was "family." I quickly thought to myself... church values! Reservoir has for the last year or so communicated our key values as "Jesus. Family. Renewal." We are a people rescued by Jesus. Formed into family. For the renewal of others and all things. Pretty amazing, right?! So that's what I go with. "Wh
Read more

The Lies We Believe

Image
The latest book from John Mark Comer is a strategic reminder for believers to be suspect of the lies we believe and an invitation into the finished work of Jesus, and the truth for all of life.  Any time the founding-pastor-turned-monastic-community-builder releases a book there is a certain segment of Christendom, the hip, coastal, artisan coffee segment, that kicks up the dust in excitement. And since I like to do ministry among some of this set I thought it wise to take up and read.  To be honest, I always approach Comer with sinful cynicism. Maybe 12 years ago now I heard a talk were he went hard against Calvinists, which I believe myself to be, so everything is grain-of-salt for me. Of course I don’t want people to judge me for things I said candidly a decade ago, but I want you to know how I approach Comer as an author! Another reason, perhaps related to the first, is in his works that I have read I have always felt like Jesus and his finished work for us was either assumed or ab
Read more

Pangs Have Been Loosed

"[T]his Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it." -Acts 2:23–24  This is part of the defining sermon at the foundation of the church. Peter is preaching to the gathered crowd who came around when the Holy Spirit fell on the believers waiting after Jesus' ascension. This is what the preacher says of Jesus, that he was delivered according to plan, to solve the wrath against sin, and he was raised up because death couldn't hold him.  We know this pretty well if we have been around the church for any length of time. But let us not move over it quickly today because this is actually the center of our hope in life today and proof of the finished work of the cross for us. These words of Peter are true, and because what he describes happened, we are forever changed and empowered to live. 
Read more