So we are leading in order that God is glorified in the church and through the church, as we witnes to Christ and become more like Christ. I love the description of that growth in Eph. 4 where it described as becoming like unto a mature man, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. That’s what we are watching over their souls for.
Read moreLeading to the Glory of God Part 2
You don’t have to think very hard to see why God is going to be glorified, why the church is going to go to all the world making disciples if they are full of faith, making progress and exploding with irrepressible joy. It doesn’t take much to see how churches stand up under trials and resist temptation if they are exhibit inexpressible and glorious joy as they receive the goal of their faith, the salvation of their souls.
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We are the community of disciples for making mature disciples who follow Jesus more and more closely and participate actively in the Matt 28 purpose of the church. Disciples are people who are growing closer to Jesus, grasping his grace for each day of their lives, experiencing God’s love, loving his word, enjoying his people, being worshippers. And being proclaimers of his excellencies with us
Read morePs 27 Worship
From a longer message on worship here
In Ps27:4 David, yearning for more of God, says “one thing I ask of God, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” That dwelling in the house of God, living in God’s presence is fleshed out by the two following statements; this is what it means to dwell in God’s presence:
· To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
· And to seek him in his temple
To gaze and to seek. We might say, to enjoy and to pursue. David is doing what the people do when they saw that magnificent view. Confronted with the beauty of the Lord he just wants to gaze. In saturating his eyes he satisfies his soul by enjoying the surpassing beauty of the Lord. And the second half is that he seeks him. You seek more of the one you enjoy. You pursue what you prize. That is the heart of worship. Saying to God “what I see of you delights me, and therefore I pursue you, I make much of you, I delight myself in you because I enjoy being with you and belonging to you.”
Then in v6 he gives us a glimpse of what that looks like when he is with God’s people. He says I will do my service with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord. There is the singing and the music. The singing isn’t the foundation of the worship, but it sure is the natural symptom of a worshipping heart.
This was written down to make us dissatisfied with hearts that don’t want more. It was written to make us discontented if we aren’t growing in our worship life. It was written so we will yearn. It was written so we will raise our affections to him and yield our lives to him in worship.
The Kindness of God and the Kindness of Believers
The overwhelming tone here is that believers are kind because they have been shown kindness by God. Kindness is core to the believer's character because it is a primary characteristic of God's grace to us. We have to actively live in it - put it on, take it up, clothe yourself in it. When we do, it commends the gospel and commends real servants of the gospel - people who live and love as if they have been forgiven.
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