Author: Saju Joseph

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Sermon

A Distinct People of God called to live Exemplary Lives. (Nehemiah 3)

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/a-distinct-people-of-god.mp3″]

Last week Jinson shared a beautiful sermon on ‘Our response to Opposition while serving an unstoppable God’ from Nehemiah chapter 2.

We learned about the Unstoppable might of Gods plan unfolded in the life of Nehemiah, the significance of waiting & our faithful response while facing opposition.

Today let’s look at Nehemiah chapter 3.

After reading through chapter 3 you must have already realized that this chapter is a bit different from all the other chapters, the chapter is all about who built which part of the wall and that’s it.

Most people skip chapter 3 when they’re preaching through Nehemiah and commentaries are very short on this chapter. One of the best books on Nehemiah is “Hand Me Another Brick” by Chuck Swindoll and nor does he address chapter 3 in his book.

Basically, Nehemiah chapter 3 is where the rebuilding of the walls begins. The purpose for which Nehemaih was sent is now in progress.

As we see the walls being rebuilt, there are 2 questions we need to ask ourselves.

First Question – Why were the walls being rebuilt?

Yes, we did talk about it in the earlier chapter that the walls were built to protect the people from their enemies. But do you think that God really needed a wall to protect his people?

Second Question – What walls are we supposed to build around us today?

Most often as Christians we can conclude that the walls are the walls of separation; separation from the world, separation from the society, separation from the culture around us.

I’ve been a victim of this conclusion people made from the scriptures. Growing up in a Christian family I was always asked to separate myself from the world and to live a holy life. Psalms chapter 1 was always read out to me in defense to that lifestyle.

‘Do not stand in the way of sinners
Do not sit in the seat of the scoffers’.

But that’s not the truth. Our calling is not to build walls between ourselves and society. The point is not for us to separate ourselves from the culture around us.

Let’s turn our bible to Jeremiah 29:41-9 and see what God is saying to his people.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.

God says to his people to find their welfare in the welfare of the city. The false prophet came and told the people to separate themselves — something that we are tempted to do today — but that was not what God had for His people).
We must remember that we have been called into the world — to be in the world, but not of the world.

Jesus Christ when he was in this world demonstrated that lifestyle for us. He was often found among unbelievers, tax collectors, people who were rejected by society and the religious people of that generation, the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Just last week I was having a conversation with one of my friend in the office and he said to me, ‘If we ignore the fact that Jesus was the son God and just a mere man, what he said and did while he was on this earth would look quite offensive to the current generation Christians’. He was a radical man with a radical approach to life and people around him.

In John 17:13-18 Jesus said,

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them,for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Often a wrong understanding leads Christians into wrong behavior towards others.

As Christians we can go to work and never interact with people from other religious backgrounds, we distance ourselves, we judge them wrongly, look down on them for their beliefs, never participate in their fun activities, avoid going to movies with them, avoid parties etc.

Remember, God is always on a mission and as God’s children we are on a mission. There must be proximity to the people who don’t know Him in order to show them who God is. So, why rebuild these walls then?

The walls are much more to do with Distinction.

While we are not called to separate ourselves from the world, we are called to be the distinct people of God. We are different from people who don’t know Him. We have been ransomed by Jesus Christ, bought back from the world. We’ve been saved from Satan, Sin & Death but we’ve also been saved to a newness of life, one in which our lives look drastically different than the world looks. And our desire now should be to put this newness of life on display and making the distinctions obvious so that it can be the aroma of life to some.

I believe that the wall around Jerusalem should be thought of us analogy to the wall of distinction around God’s people today. Not a wall to separate, but a wall to identify.

But here’s the beautiful thing, Jesus went outside the wall, he went outside the camp. And so are we called to live.

Not just are we called to live outside the camp but we are called to live Exemplary lives, one that Glorifies God in everything we do.

We see a snapshot list in Hebrews 13:1-16, a kind of lifestyle we are called to live.

• Let brotherly love continue.
• Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
• Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
• Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
• Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
• Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
• Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
• Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood, therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
• Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
• Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
The first section of this text talks about the importance of distinction. The second section talks about how we use that distinction to give ourselves away outside the walls (the camp).

It’s a privilege to be called a distinct people of God and our response is to faithfully serve him and live for His glory till the last breath of our lives.

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Articles

Why is Church boring?

This is one question I often asked myself when I was a young boy and maybe you asked the same one at some point as well.

After many years now, when I look back I can see how graciously God led me to find the answer to that question and so let me share why I personally found Church boring when I was young and what really changed in these past years.

In attempting to answer this question please note that I am not referring to any particular church or congregation but it’s a general view.

Here’s why I felt church boring:

1. I never knew what God’s Love truly meant.

I was born in a Christian family and for 17 years all I knew about church was that no matter what, we have to go to church every Sunday without fail and anyone who doesn’t go is a sinner who will one day end up in hell.

And because of that knowledge I would regularly go to church with my parents and siblings. It worked well for us until we were kids because the Sunday school kept us entertained. The boredom started when we stopped going to Sunday school.

On the other hand, I was a pretty bad student in my school and felt rejected by my teachers, neighbors and even by my father. A hopeless young guy like me found pleasure in sin and would indulge in all unwanted activities and ungodly friendships.

Until one day an old man visited our home and my Mother asked him to counsel me. Instead of talking to me at home, he took me to a park and all I remember is him telling me how much God Loves me; a love so deep that God sent his only son to die for a worthless, hopeless and rejected person like me. He told me the story of Jesus all over again and all that while I kept weeping for I knew that God had touched my heart.

The day I truly understood God’s love, church worship became more meaningful because it was then that I could express my love and gratitude to God in praising and worshiping him.

2. I did not bother to know the purpose of my Life.

It hurts to see people who never feel the need to find their Life’s purpose. I was one among them.

After knowing God’s Love my next journey was to find the purpose of my existence. In a world of consumerism where people exist just to consume and survive we often fail to understand the true purpose of Life.

We are taught that life is about the survival of the fittest and you got to do whatever possible to get to the top. Parents teach them, schools promote them and companies encourage these ideas.

After much struggle with the forces outside me, I finally came to a realization that my Life is meant to Glorify God. That is it! That is why I am created and that is why I exist.

It sounds mean, right? Glorify God? What about me & my life?

I did struggle with those questions but I learnt that my greatest satisfaction and fulfillment only comes from Glorifying God. We are objects of God’s affections made to have an intimate relationship with a loving Father.

It can’t be about making lots of money or else every rich man would have been happy, which is not the case. It can’t be about reaching the top position in a company as well or even becoming the top businessman.

When I learnt that my purpose was to Glorify God and that true fulfillment in life will eventually come from God, Church became a training ground to learn more about this God and what it means to glorify Him.

3. I found no joy in reading the Bible.

I found the Scriptures too heavy, unapproachable and disconnected from the thoughts and views of our current generation. Especially the old testament books always would put me off.

Have you ever felt so?

As I continued going to church and listening to sermons and talks by godly men I began to realize how wrong I was in my understanding. I learnt that the scriptures were not only approachable and applicable even to this generation but I also experienced the life-transforming power of the scriptures in my life as well as others around me.

I grew in love with the Bible as I systematically started reading through it. It gave me direction for life and helped me mature in my faith.

My love for the scriptures encouraged me to go church even more.

4. I failed to see people the way God did.

In church you will find all kinds of people, some who will always encourage you, uplift your spirits and then there are others who like to poke their head in everything you do, say things that put us off and so on and so forth.

I’m sure you’ve experienced these kind of people.

The people who come across negative are often people who are still struggling and are yet to mature in their faith. Yes, they are imperfect people. But guess what, Church is supposed to be a place of imperfect people, Isn’t it?. Jesus died for the sick & sinful people of this world.

If I expect the church to be a place where only perfect people should meet, then I am the first one to be thrown out because I am still an imperfect guy and I will be imperfect until the Lord comes.

I often looked at people with a judgmental attitude and never enjoyed their company and would end up hating them even more.

All I needed was to see them the way God saw them, the way God saw me, imperfect yet loved ones, purchased by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Who am I to judge them when God doesn’t? The beauty of the church is about a perfect God connecting with imperfect people like us and to one another and fulfilling His purpose.

When I started looking at people the way God did, Church became a place to hang out and share the pain & the joys with every brother & sister.

Conclusion

Church is not a place, it is people; wherever God’s people meet it’s the church. The church is who we are as the people of God, an outward expression of what is being accomplished through the life-transforming message of the gospel.

We view the church as a family, a redeemed people being reunited to God and one another through Jesus Christ.

It is our desire that everything we do as the church would be a reflection of that message. We also desire that as the gospel changes the hearts of God’s people that change would flood into the streets of Mumbai and the world around us.

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Sermon

Nehemiah’s response to Gods Sovereignty, Graciousness and Provision

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/nehemiah.mp3″]

Since last few weeks we’ve been doing this series on the Book of Nehemiah.

We looked through chapter 1 and now moving on to chapter 2

Here’s a short summary of Nehemiah’s story so far –

This story is from 445 BC, a story recorded in the Bible. The people of God disobeyed and rebelled against Him. In return, God turned them over to their enemies and they were expelled from their native country for almost 70 years. Nehemiah was one of those exiled people who ended up as a cup-bearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes and was stationed at his winter palace in Susa the citadel.

After 70 years of exile, the people of God were now coming back to their native country led by two other men called Zerubbabel & Ezra. Nehemiah is living  a comfortable life as a cup-bearer to the King and after hearing the news of his people he is devastated and for almost 4 to 5 months he fasts, mourns and prays to God reflecting on His promises and asking him to show compassion in the eyes of the king so he can go to his people and rebuild the walls again.

Week 1 – We saw how the Book of Nehemiah was primarily the Story of God. It’s a story that gives us a glimpse of how God graciously worked among His people just after the great exile. We saw God as a Promise-making, covenant keeping, loving and gracious God. It ultimately points us to Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross that rescued us from sin, shame, death and defeat. God kept his promise and displayed his love and grace by making a new covenant with us through his son.

Week 2 – We looked at Nehemiah’s reaction when he heard that his people were in great danger. In the light of Gods saving grace, we learned that it’s never too late to turn back to God, that Gods timing is always perfect and even through our failures and short-comings he is always Glorifying himself in and through us.

Week 3 – We saw Nehemiah’s response in prayer, a patient, heartfelt, long-suffering prayer. His prayer starts with God at the center, he owns his sins, he reflects on Gods promises and ultimately desires that God’s WILL would be fulfilled in all of it.

Last week I was personally convicted of two things 1) I felt that I never started on the right note before stepping into this ministry and that I hardly spend time seeking God the way I should be. 2) I felt at times I’ve been quite complacent and ignorant about the pain, suffering, needs of the people in this city to whom we want to reach out. And as I confessed and repented before the Lord last week I felt God’s peace and a newness in my spirit.

For this week, the passage we will look into is Nehemiah 2:1-8. We will learn about God’s Sovereignty, Graciousness and Provision and what should be our right response to all of it.

Let’s read through Nehemiah 2

One day after around 4-5 months, Nehemiah as usual goes to the King to serve him and unlike other days, Nehemiah was quite sad in the presence of the king. Interestingly the King notices his sorrowful countenance and asks him the reason for this .

Nehemiah’s reaction implies that he did not expect the King to ask him that question because he became afraid when the King questioned him. He firstly responds by saying “Let the king live forever” indicating that he means no harm to the king in anyway. He then personalizes the problem saying “the city where my father belonged to is in ruins, its gates are destroyed by fire.”

And when the king asks him for his request, he immediately makes a quick prayer to the Lord going on to say “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father’s graves, that I may rebuild it”. When the king asked him about his return he immediately gave him a time and also added “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the prince beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the Kings forest that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy.

And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me”.

When I look at this passage the first thing that strikes me is God Sovereignty over the situation.

What seems like a casual interaction between Nehemiah & King Artexerxes was pre-ordained by God,  He was in complete control from the beginning of the story. We can sometimes wrongly conclude by thinking that because Nehemiah prayed, God acted or else the walls of Jerusalem would have been in ruins forever.

But the truth is, it’s the other way around. God in His sovereignty prepared Nehemiah’s heart to fall on his knees in prayer so that He can act.

Psalms 135:6 says “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps“

Psalms 115:3 says “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases“

Isaiah 46:10 God declares “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my pleasure“

Imagine a chess game between a grand master and an inexperienced young player. No matter what  strategy the new guy starts comes up with, the master ultimately find his way around to win the game.

In our story God is the grand master, his ultimate goal is His Glory. We are like the young player, no matter what wise orfoolish choices we make in our pursuit of fulfilling Gods purposes in our lives God ultimately finds His way around to bring us to a point where He is glorified in and through us. Isn’t that amazing!

God uses us and our circumstances ultimately to bring Glory to His name.

And that’s what he did in Nehemiah’s life and that’s what is does in our life.

God is the story writer, the cinematographer, the producer, the director and even the main character of a film that when released will shake the foundations of humans beliefs and change the course of human history forever.

We are the fortunate ones that God has chosen as instruments in his hand.

I look at my past and see God’s sovereignty over every aspect of my life. My failures, my successes, my disappointments, my anxieties, my hardships, my wrong choices, my right choices … all of it seems to be so much orchestrated by a sovereign God who desires His glory more than anything else.

Our God is a sovereign God.

Talking about Gods sovereignty, once Abraham Lincoln was sitting with his ministers and while addressing a problem one of his ministers turned to him and said “we should pray that God is on our side” to which Abraham Lincoln said “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

The second thing I see in this passage is God’s gracious heart towards his people. I love the portion in Ezra’s prayer in

Ezra 9:8-9 he says “Even in our slavery, God has given us new life and light to our eyes. Though we we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in slavery. He has extended grace to us in the presence of the Persian kings“

Ezra 9:13 – “Our God have punished us less than our sins deserved and have allowed us to survive“

We see God’s graciousness evident even in Nehemiah’s situation. In verse 8 Nehemiah says “And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me“.

The third thing we see is God’s provision for his people. God not only moved the king’s heart to release Nehemiah from his duty but also to provide timber to make beams for the gates and for the walls.

When God Calls, He also Equips. When God Calls, He Enables. When God Calls you, He qualifies you. When God Calls, He Provides, Equips, Enables, Qualifies & Provides.

God provided Nehemiah everything he desired to re-build the walls of Jerusalem for the protection of his people.

When Jane & I decided to move to this new church plant in mumbai we did not anticipate anything, we had no clue where we will be heading to. All we wanted to do was to follow the Lords leading and here we are enjoying God’s blessing and favor.

He gave us a family  to encourage us, build us, cover us, pray for us, Love us, care for us. Just the last week the owner of this hall where we meet called us into his office and brought down our rent money to less than half. Isn’t that God’s favor?

Matthew 6:33 – When we seek Gods kingdom and his righteousness he promises to provide everything that we need.

Remember he is a promise making and covenant keeping God.

Hers’s how Nehemiah responded to Gods sovereignty, graciousness & provision.

  1. Because he knew that God will extend His grace as He did in the past Nehemiah trusted in him –He knew God will show up and did not lose hope.

You see Nehemiah saw God changing the Assyrian king’s attitude toward them in Ezra 6:22 “For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the LORD had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.”

On the other hand he also knew that it was King Artaxerxes who had in the past decreed that work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem should stop. (Ezra 4:23).

There was hope as well as uncertainty & risk but Nehemiah knew God will act and show grace.

The question we need to ask ourselves is how are we doing in the aspect of trusting in him?

When things get rough do we believe God to be the grand weaver who is at work and is making everything beautiful in his perfect time?

When our hearts are driven towards sin and temptation, do we believe and constantly remind ourselves of the power of the Gospel that is constantly at work in our lives?

Or do we lose hope and give up on God?

Nehemiah trusted in God.

As a church, God  has called us to be a blessing to the city of Mumbai. Are we willing to trust God and put our hope in him for growth and fruitfulness?

Man says,‘Show me and I’ll trust in you’. God says, ‘Trust in me and I will show you’.

We can’t always see where the road leads but God promises there’s something better up ahead, we just have to trust him.

  1. Because Nehemiah knew God is sovereign, He waited on the Lord– He not only trusted but waited on the Lord till he showed up. Almost for 4-5 months he continued fasting and praying until one day God showed up at the Kings palace.

Waiting is one of the hardest things to do, isn’t it? Especially for our generation who are used to instant gratification.

Psalms 37:34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land.

Lamentations 3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

How are we doing with WAITING? I’m sure everyone here has been holding on to some promises of God over your life. How long are you willing to wait? It could be 5 days, 5 months, 5 years or even more.

Most often when we don’t see an answer from the Lord, our tendency is to work things out on our strength and wisdom. We can get carried away with the need so badly that we can fail to allow God to do his work in his time.and by doing that we make a mess of our lives.

Even though we know the scripture in Proverbs 3:5 that says “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” we still go back to working out things on our own.

Nehemiah could have done a 100 things on his own but he waited on the Lord and continued fasting, weeping and praying till God answered.

As a church lets continue to be in the posture of prayer as the Lord reminded us last Sunday, faithfully serving him; even sharing and witnessing to our friends, colleagues and the people God brings in our life.

At the right time God will show up and cause us to inherit His land for His glory. Amen.

  1. Because Nehemiah knew God will provide, He was well prepared– Even before God showed up, Nehemiah had already prepared his heart to step out in faith. He had done the planning, he had counted the days because when the king asked him to give a definite date of his return he was prepared with an answer. He knew exactly what resources he would need for the building of the walls.

Our prepared heart is the evidence of our faith.

There were two farmers who prayed for rain while there was a drought in the land, but only one of them would get up in the morning and plough his field. Tell me which farmer trusted the Lord more?

God wants us to have a prepared heart just like Nehemiah so that when the opportunity comes we are ready to step up.

All you young men and ladies prepare yourselves in the Lord. Let’s not remain as infants feeding on milk. Soak yourselves in the Word of God, grow in your faith. Pray unceasingly, so that when the harvest is ready we will have enough laborers to gather the crops. You know what I am talking about.

God is doing a great work among us. He is building his Kingdom in the city of Mumbai. Either we are in or out. Today you will have to decide for yourself whether you want to trust in Him, wait for his perfect timing and stay prepared when the call comes.

God bless you!

Nehemiah Sketh

Categories
Sermon

A Covenant Making, Promise Keeping, Loving and Gracious God

We are staring with a new series on the Book of Nehemiah. The approach is to do an Expository study of Nehemiah and understand God’s heart and His purposes for our lives as His children.

Expository preaching involves the exposition, or comprehensive explanation of the Scripture; that is, expository preaching presents the meaning and intent of a biblical text, providing commentary and examples to make the passage clear and understandable. The word exposition is related to the word expose — the expository preacher’s goal is simply to expose the meaning of the Bible, verse by verse.

In case you’re wondering why we’ve taken this route, here are 5 reasons why we think it’s Significant.

1. Exposition magnifies the Scripture which therefore leads the preachers to discover the original intent and meaning of the text before drawing out any conclusions.

2. Expository preaching is one of the best ways to preach the Bible because if every word of God is pure and true, then every word needs to be dealt with.

3. Expository preaching familiarizes people with the scripture itself instead of simply giving them a speech. It also encourages them to study the Bible on their own.

4. In Expository preaching, the Scripture clearly stands out as the ultimate Authority no matter how powerful and gifted the preacher is.

5. Last but not the least and my personal favorite – Expository preaching drives us to see the Gospel at work in every text of the Bible because the ultimate goal of every word of the Bible is to point us to Christ and His finished work on the cross.

Let’s Read Nehemiah 1

Personally, I love the story of Nehemiah. I’ve always been drawn to the courage of this guy called Nehemiah who took up the challenge to build the broken walls of Jerusalem at any cost.

This time though when I read through the story of Nehemiah, I realized that Nehemiah is not just a story of a man and the Rebuilding of the wall. The story of Nehemiah is an amazing story that gives us a glimpse of how God graciously worked among His people just after the great exile. It is primarily the story of God.

Rebuilding the wall was least critical in the rebuilding of a nation dedicated to God’s purposes. The wall is important only because what was restored at the same time behind the wall.

– The more special the watch case, the more expensive the watch.
– The more guards around a home, the more valuable the goods and people within are esteemed.

So the wall was rebuilt to protect and maintain a work within the people of God.

What made the walls of Jerusalem so valuable are not the walls themselves but what the walls could protect: the heart of the nation of Israel or later as we discover, the heart of God’s people, the Jews.

So, as we open the series on Nehemiah, the goal for today is to see God as a covenant making, promise keeping, loving and gracious God. That’s the goal for today.

The story of Nehemiah goes back in history when God’s people sinned against him and God turned them over to their enemies.

2 Kings 17:7 – “And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods”

Psalms 78 gives us a descriptive explanation of how Israel rebelled against God and refused to obey Him and acknowledge Him even after all the wonders He did for them.

God eventually turned them over to the enemies because it was God’s Glory that was at stake.

2 Kings 24 – Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylon) came up to Jerusalem, and the city was attacked.

70 years of exile is what they went through.

At the end of these 70 years, we see a number of Jewish exiles returning back to Jerusalem.

Ezra 1-6: Zerubbabel led the first wave of Jewish exiles to return in 536 BC
Ezra 7-10: Ezra led the second in 445 BC
Nehemiah 1 -3: Nehemiah led the third in 445 BC

The book of Nehemiah opens up with an account where Hanani, one of the brothers come to meet him and when asked by Nehemiah about the people who returned from exile, he replies by saying “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

A closer look at the man Nehemiah will tell you that he wasn’t different than anyone of us who live in the city of Mumbai. He had a full-time job as the cup bearer to the King and possibly lived a routine life, though a luxurious one because to be a cupbearer to the King was not a low esteem job. But what amazes me is his heart for God and for his people.

Even though he was far away from his country and people, living a comfortable routine life, he obviously seemed to be a devoted person because his first and immediate response when he heard the dreadful news was to go to God in prayer. The other aspect in his opening statement reveals that he knew his God and revered Him unceasingly.

“O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments”

Nehemiah calls on God by mentioning His character & His nature. ‘A God who is a covenant making, promise keeping, loving and gracious God.’

His people are in trouble, life seems to be unfair to them, and they are falling prey to their enemies because of the broken walls but Nehemiah goes to God and calls out to Him as a covenant making, promise keeping loving and gracious God.

Our generation almost live in similar circumstances where pain and suffering are part of life for many around us. Wars, deaths, calamities, destruction, poverty, hunger are headlines in our newspapers. It is easy for people to look around and say God does not exist because if God exists this wouldn’t be the state of our world.

The truth is not that God doesn’t exist but that we constantly fail to go to Him and give Him the Glory He deserves.

In a situation like this it is important how we as children of God respond back to Him. Do we join the majority and question God and his sovereignty? Or do we go to Him in a humble posture of worship just like Nehemiah and remember Him as the covenant making, promise keeping, loving and gracious God?

“He is and will ever be the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.”

In the light of Nehemiah’s beginning statements I want us to remember 3 things about God that which if we hold close to our hearts will change us more as a person and will take us on an unbelievable journey just like Nehemiah in building the Kingdom of God.

1. God’s Promises are bigger than our circumstances

Yes, the circumstances of the people of God who came out of exile was devastating. They were in great trouble and shame because of their enemies who had access to the city due to broken walls.

But Nehemiah was falling back on the promises of God because he knew God’s promises are bigger than any circumstances his people are facing.

In a similar way even though Sarah was barren and couldn’t bear children for Abraham, he still believed in the promises of God that his children will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. The bible says in Genesis 15:6

“Abram believed the LORD, and he credited to him as righteousness”

Abraham believed that God’s promises were bigger than his present circumstances.

What is our response when we look at our present circumstances? Do we get disappointed and heart broken or do we chose to fall back on God’s promises instead? Let’s search our hearts.

2. God’s faithfulness is bigger than our rebellion

As we read through the book of Nehemiah you will learn that these people even after returning from the exile had the same issues of rebelliousness and disobedience.

They ridiculed Nehemiah, spoke lies, behaved Lazy, entertained ungodly fear and even continued having strife among themselves.

Before we judge these people let’s be honest, don’t we behave like them at certain times? We quite often disobey and hurt God in indulging in our sins, we pretend and perform to cover our wrong doings, behave lazily and even entertain ungodly fear while proclaiming the gospel to our friends and colleagues.

What is God’s response to all of this?

FAITHFULNESS

2 Timothy 2:13 – “Even though we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself”

Deuteronomy 7:9 – “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations”

Let’s remember this – God’s faithfulness is bigger than our rebellion and our response should be Repentance just like Nehemiah.

3. The cycle of failing to keep the law is always broken/overcome by the grace and mercy and provision of God.

After Nehemiah repented of his and his forefathers sins, he took on the task of obeying God by rebuilding of the walls. And as we read on the story we will learn that eventually the cycle of failing to keep the law was broken and overcome by the grace, mercy and the provision of God.

What is our greatest need today?

Deliverance from sin and slavery and a healthy relationship with our heavenly father. Isn’t it?

Did God already make provision for our need?

Yes, he did.

Can we achieve it on our own?

Never. The Bible says Even our righteousness are like filthy rags before a Holy God.

The fact is we can receive forgiveness & freedom from our sins only by believing in God’s son Jesus Christ who came and died for us 2000 years ago. He lived a sinless life yet paid the penalty that our sins deserved by dying a horrific death on the cross, conquered death and rose again in victory on the third day.

There is absolutely nothing more that we can do other than believe in Jesus and accept His Grace, Mercy and Provision which he bestowed upon us in full measure.

Just like the days of Nehemiah, God is building His Kingdom and our response to Him is what will matter the most. And remember the end goal of all of this is GLORY, GLORY, GLORY to the Lord Almighty.

Let’s Pray.

Related Sermons from the Nehemiah series:

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Articles

What is Expository preaching & Why is it significant to us?

Unlike other preaching styles like ‘Topical Preaching‘ where the preacher decides what topic is relevant for the congregation; Expository Preaching is very much different which is something that we at The Gathering follow.

Topical preaching is not necessarily wrong in that sense because there are church leaders who are genuinely led by the Spirit to teach their congregation what the Lord directs.

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Expository preaching involves the exposition or comprehensive explanation of the Scripture; that is, expository preaching presents the meaning and intent of a biblical text, providing commentary and examples to make the passage clear and understandable. The word exposition is related to the word ‘expose’ — the expository preacher’s goal is simply to expose the meaning of the Bible, verse by verse. – www.gotquestions.org

Here are few reasons why we prefer Expository preaching.

1. Exposition magnifies the scripture which therefore leads the preachers to discover the original intent and meaning of the text before drawing out any conclusions.

2. We’ve found Expository preaching as the best way to preach the Bible because if every word of God is pure and true, then every word needs to be dealt with.

3. Expository preaching familiarizes people with the scripture itself instead of simply giving them a speech. It also encourages them to study the Bible on their own.

4. In Expository preaching the Scripture clearly stands out as the ultimate Authority no matter how powerful and gifted the preacher is.

5. Last but not the least and my personal favorite – Expository preaching drives us to see the Gospel at work in every text of the Bible because the ultimate goal of every word of the Bible is to point us to Christ and His finished work on the cross.

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Sermon

Scripture & Preaching

‘Scripture & Preaching’ is the third part of our Liturgy series. The questions we will answer in this part are as follows.

Q. Why is the Holy Bible important to us?
Q. What is the goal of Biblical scriptures?
Q. What is Preaching?
Q. Why is preaching important?

Before we deep dive into answering the above questions, let me share with you some facts about the Bible we should know.

1. The Holy Bible has 66 books – 39 books in the Old Testament & 27 books in the New Testament.
2. The word Testament means ‘contract’ or ‘covenant’.
3. The Bible is written by approximately 40 authors from different walks of life, they were shepherds, farmers, tent-makers, physicians & kings.
4. They were written across a period of 1500 years.
5. The Bible was the first ever book to be printed in the year 1454.
6. The Bible is translated in 2018 languages, the highest ever.

Biblical scriptures has been an inspiration to many generations and it continues to inspire people even to this day.

Ravi Zacharias, one of my favorite preachers experienced the love of God through the scripture when he was a young boy lying down on the hospital bed. Somebody gave his mother the Bible and asked her to read the book of Luke. As Ravi was lying down helpless waiting for his death, he heard this mother read Luke 14:19 which said “Because I live you live”.

Later Ravi said that the word changed his life forever and meant to him as the defining paradigm for the rest of his life.

There are endless stories of how the Biblical scriptures has changed people lives throughout generation.

My life was changed when I was a young boy who failed in studies and was rejected by my teachers, neighbors and especially my father. An old uncle counselled me and reminded me of God’s love from the Bible; it changed my life forever.

The Importance of Scripture

To answer the importance of scriptures let me talk about the 2 major characteristics of the Scripture.

i) Authority of Scripture
ii) Sufficiency of Scripture

AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

Wayne Grudem in his book “Bible Doctrine” defines the Authority of Scripture as follows.

“The authority of scripture means that all the words in scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of the scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God”

Scripture is important to us because they are Gods own words. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Paul writes to Timothy as says

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

There are internal as well as external evidences that prove the Bible is God’s word.

Internal Evidences

a) It’s Unity

Even though the Bible is written by 40 different authors from different walks of life across 1500 years there is an unbelievable uniformity in the overall text from the start to the end without any contradiction.

Most people who contradict the scriptures have either not read it completely or are interpreting it wrongly. If at all there were any major contradictions the scripture would have been abolished long ago.

b) It’s Prophecies

The Bible also contains prophecies which has been fulfilled through ages. The Old Testament has over 300 prophecies about Jesus that were fulfilled.

There is absolutely no other religious book with this type of predictive prophecy.

c) It’s Authority & Power

Like I mentioned before, the Scriptures carry an Authority & Power that has been transforming lives of millions across the globe.

It is quite rare to see a book change and transform people’s lives in such a massive way.

External Evidences

a) It’s Indestructible nature

There were hundreds of attempts made to destroy the Bible over generations, from Roman emperors to Communist dictators to modern day atheists & agnostics. None of them were successful, the Scripture and its impact over human lives still continues to grow.

b) It’s Self attesting nature

In India it’s a common practice to get photocopies of our educational certificates attested by a Lawyer before submitting it to any government procedure. The Lawyer verifies it against the original document and validates the photocopies with his stamp saying they are true.

To attest any document in this manner the attesting person should have a higher authority and should be a reliable source.

In case of the scriptures if anybody has the authority to validate its authenticity its scripture itself because there is absolutely no Higher authority or reliable source that can validate the scriptures.

The two arguments people use to speak against the scripture is either ‘Human Logic’ or ‘Scientific Truth’. In no way these two are reliable sources or else they would have the answers to human sufferings and pain. Only the Bible has the answer to human suffering and the cure.

SUFFICIENCY OF SCRIPTURE

Waye Grudem defines Sufficiency of Scriptures as follows

“The sufficiency of scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation; for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly”

2 Timothy 3:15 –

“and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Please note in the above verse Paul says the primary goal of the scripture is to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, it is to restore the broken relationship between God and Humanity.

Therefore the sufficiency of scripture means that we don’t need any more special revelation to help us relate to God which I believe is the most important need to every human being.

The work of Christ on the cross revealed in the Holy Scriptures is all sufficient for our redemption from sin and sufferings which also promises us an eternal life of Joy and fulfillment.

The answer to human sufferings is sin and Bible says that Christ died for all and bore the penalty of our sins once and for all on the cross. He died in our place and conquered death and rose again on the third day. All we need to do is to believe in his redemptive work, put our faith in him and follow him wholeheartedly.

The Gospel is the only truth that needs to be treasured.

In Colossians 2:8 Paul is warning the church to be careful of ungodly philosophy and empty deceit which is based on human traditions, the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ.

In Galations 1:8 Paul says “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed”

We believe in the Scriptures because it is all sufficient.

PREACHING

Preaching is proclamation especially the fundamentals of the gospel.

In 1 Cor 1:23 Paul says ‘We preach Christ crucified.’

We preach because we are commanded to do so in 1 Timothy 4:1-4

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

In Romans 10:4 Paul is urging the believers saying “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”

Preaching is important because it reminds people about God’s faithfulness and his provision for salvation.

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Sermon

Our Offerings to God – Singing, Confession & Giving

 

Last week we started with a new series on Liturgy and we looked at Sacrifice – The Act of worship.

We read through the book of Romans chapter 12 where Paul is appealing to the church in Rome by the mercies of God to offer themselves as a living Sacrifice.

Sacrifice in the new testament is the act of worship where we offer ourselves, our bodies our minds into total submission to God and to one another not because we have to but because we want to.

In Romans 5:8 Paul writes “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Romans 3:25
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood.

Hebrews 10:10
And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

We firstly gather around the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And our response to that Sacrifice is our offerings in the form of Singing, confession and giving.

We don’t sing, confess and give out of religious duty.

Very often it is possible for us to look at these offerings as some kind of favor we do to God or as an obligation.

Remember the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and asked what he should do to inherit eternal life. From the outside he seemed to be a great guy, was obedient to the scriptures, lived a righteous life, had a good reputation in the society, but Jesus reveals the condition of his heart, his heart was set on the worldly treasures.

Yes, Is it possible for a Christian to do all the rights things and bring the right offerings to God and yet have his heart set on the world and the things of this world?

The rich man’s acts of righteousness was done as a duty. In fact, His treasures and possessions were the center of his life. He just couldn’t imagine a life without his wealth and possessions and walked way depressed. He failed to recognize that everything belonged to God, that everything comes from God.

In Acts 17:24-25 the author writes
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

First and foremost we have to recognize that it is because of His mercies that we are what we are, it is because of His mercies we have what we have. Everything in our life works for good because we love him and treasure him more than anything else.

Therefore, our singing, confession and giving is a response to his great love and mercy.

Now, some may ask if everything belongs to God than what does he need from us.

The answer can be found in
Psalms 50:7-15

v14 – offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving
v15 – call upon me in the day of trouble

The 3 things God desires from us is

  1. Humility
  2. Gratitude
  3. Dependence on Him

Without these 3 our singing is meaningless, our confession is waste of time and our giving is worthless.

So, let’s fix our hearts in the right place as we now look into each of these elements in Liturgy.

SINGING

Why do we sing?

We sing because the scripture says so

Colossians 3:15-17
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Paul tells us that worshiping God together in song is meant to deepen the relationships we enjoy through the gospel. This happens in 3 ways.

1. Singing helps us remember Gods word.

Paul says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly…singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.”

Last week in our community group we talked about how we can find ways to get rid of guilt when we sin and learn to live as the adopted children of God. One of the ways we talked about was to constantly remind ourselves the word of God.

Singing, especially is an excellent way to remind ourselves of truths from Gods word.

I remember a few months I kept playing and singing a song called “Father, you are my father” the whole day because I was low and discouraged with something that happened, reminding myself of the Father’s love for me. It took away my sorrow and filled my heart with joy and hope.

That’s what happens and should happen even when we gather on a Sunday morning to sing and celebrate. Reminding ourselves the word of God.

2. Singing helps us respond to Gods grace

We’re also told to sing with “thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Our wholehearted singing demands a response.

God gave us singing to combine objective truth with thankfulness, doctrine with devotion, and intellect with emotion.

3. Singing helps us reflect on Gods glory

Doing “everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,” implies bringing God glory.

Worshiping God together in song glorifies God. It expresses the unity Christ died to bring us.

It anticipates the song of heaven when we’ll have unlimited time to sing, clearer minds to perceive God’s perfections, and glorified bodies that don’t grow weary.

Singing is not about giving preferences to particular kind of music or a particular worship band. It is about glorifying God.

CONFESSION

In our community group one other solution we talked about in dealing with guilt was to be able to confess our sins to one another.

Most of the time when we fall into sin we often think we can deal with it on our own without telling anybody, which is very dangerous place to be in. We allow the guilt to ruin our days and weeks until we find a solution on our own by sometimes moving to a quieter place, until we hear a preacher on the television who speaks words of encouragement etc.

Dealing with sin and guilt on our own is a very unhealthy and dangerous practise. Many have ruined their lives.

The healthy way to deal with it is to use the provision God has given us and that is to confess with one another.

James chapter 5:16 says

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

When we confess to one another we allow others to speak and remind us of Gods word, his love, our identity and lead us into devotion completely setting us free from guilt and shame and enable us to live a life of freedom and joy.

You don’t have to ruin even a single day with a guilt ridden, unproductive and unhappy mentality.

For Christians, confession of sin, ultimately, is application of the gospel.

James chapter 5 calls Gods people to a corporate confession.

Confession of sin in the presence of others is applying and celebrating the gospel, together.

Confession is part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. And that is why we Confess.

GIVING

We give because Jesus said so. In Matthew 6:2 he said

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

We give because the early church gave and set aside a sum of money for missions work.

1 Cor 16:2
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

Proverbs 3:9 ‘Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops’.

Proverbs 14:31 ‘Whoever is kind to the needy honours God’

Motives For Giving

1) TO BLESS GOD:- 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, ‘Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God’ so we primarily give to bless and bring glory to God

2) TO BLESS THOSE AROUND US :- Because Jesus said in Acts 20:32 ‘It is more blessed to give than receive’.

3) TO BE BLESSED OURSELVES :- Not for selfish reasons but to be in an even better position to give even more into the work of God. In 2 Corinthians 9:11, Paul exhorts the generous brothers at Macedonia that, ‘You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion’.

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Sermon

Sacrifice – The Act of Worship

Series: Liturgy
Date: 28th March 2016

Preached by Saju Joseph

Good Morning & Welcome Everybody.

As posted on Facebook we are doing a series on Liturgy.

The dictionary definition of Liturgy means ‘a fixed set of ceremonies, words etc that are used during public worship in a religion’. In our context it simply means what we do on a Sunday gathering and that’s what we’re going to look at. The question we will answer is ‘Why do we do what we do when we gather?’

Growing up in a Christian family, I have often asked these questions to my parents and church leaders and have received answers that formed my opinions about Church.

In these series what we will do is basically answer these questions from the scriptures, we will conclude with what the Bible teaches us and therefore build our foundational beliefs around it.

We have divided the topics into four weeks and this is how it looks like.

Wk 1 – Sacrifice, as in the act of worship.
Wk 2 – Giving, Singing and Confession.
Wk 3 – Scripture and Preaching.
Wk 4 – Communion and Baptism.

Today, we will be looking at ‘Sacrifice’ as in the act of worship and the bible text that we will look at is Romans 12.

The book of Romans is a letter written by Paul to the church in Rome and in the NIV version the chapter starts with the word “Therefore”.

Imagine we pick up any letter and stumble upon a paragraph that starts with the word “Therefore”. We comprehend that whatever the writer is about to say henceforth has some connection with what he has already said and it won’t make any sense to read through it without reading through the previous chapters and understand what the writer is trying to say.

When you read through chapter 1 -11 you will see Paul talks a lot about doctrine and the verses are full of heavy theology. He talks about Righteousness, Gods judgment, Justification, Slavery to sin & Righteousness, Future Glory, God’s everlasting love, the message of salvation.

It’s heavy with theology and doctrine. And therefore when we see Paul using the word ‘Therefore’ as he begins a new paragraph, we see him moving from doctrine to practice, from theology to ethics, from foundation to application.

It’s like me teaching my children how stuffs work. For e.g. I can teach my children what an Iron box is, and how it works, how the metal gets heated when attached to an electric board, and how the hot metal when pressed on our clothes removes the creases etc. And then I conclude with a “therefore” saying how they need to be careful while they are around a hot Iron and how they need to use it carefully and stuff. Paul is doing a similar thing here where he shares the doctrine and now moves to the application part of it.

Secondly we see that Paul makes an appeal to the believers in Rome, a serious, urgent and a heartfelt request. We see him doing it quite often and uses the word ‘I urge you’, Í beg you’. I believe he is making an appeal because it seems that the people know a lot of things about God but are struggling to keep up with it in action and are failing to apply it in their Christian walk.

Paul goes on and makes an appeal to the people that they offer themselves a living Sacrifice to God. Sacrifice is the act of worship where we offer ourselves to God holy and acceptable not in our minds, but in posture, in our lifestyle, in our conduct, in our behavior towards one another.

But sadly even in our generation we have people struggling with these issues where they know a lot about God, they know the bible text in and out, they have a strong theological understanding of the scriptures but completely fail to apply them in their Christian walk, fail to offer their lives as a living Sacrifice and worship him with all their heart, mind and soul.

Whenever Gods people gather together something powerful should happen but sadly that’s not what we experience. Sometimes we fail to experience joy and fulfillment when we are with our fellow believers. Maybe one of the reasons for this kind of bitter experiences is also because we have been failing to live in the light of the Gospel, our heads are full of knowledge, theology & doctrine but our actions say something else.

Here Paul is making an appeal for men to fully understand that we need to live out the life God intended us to live, not just in our minds but in our actions, in our commitment to one another.

Let’s read the verse again (verse 1,2). The next word that we see Paul uses is ‘by His mercy’. What he means ‘by His mercy’ is to see things in the light of what God has done for us, he is not saying ‘by the knowledge you now acquired ’ or ‘by the theology you just learnt’, his words are ‘by the Mercies of God’.

Look at our lives. How did we reach here today? Isn’t it because of God’s mercies? Are we here because of our righteousness or our choice? It is purely because of God’s redemptive work in our lives.

Remember the Cross chart we looked at while going through lesson one of the Gospel Centric Life. When we are saved we grow in the awareness of God’s Holiness and also grow in the awareness of our sinfulness. We learnt that the only way we can bridge that gap is when we daily appreciate Gods redemptive work on the cross by sending his Son to die for our sins. It is His mercies that saved us from our sinfulness and placed us in His holiness.

This is our identity. Our identity comes from God. Our identity is that we are children of God who are being saved by God every single day of our lives and that’s what we keep reminding ourselves.

It’s our identity that should lead us to activity. The world’s got it upside down. The people of the world says your activity decides your identity. But in Jesus it’s our identity of who we are that leads us to activity.

It is the mercy of God that leads us into Holiness and it is God’s mercy that drives us to worship.

Sacrifice is an Old testament language. Sacrifice in the Old testament is the offering of bull, dove etc. When the people came into Gods presence with these sacrifices God accepted them as a substitute from their Sin, but even when they offered sacrifice they knew that it’s not actually these sacrifice which will completely redeem them from God’s wrath. In Hebrews 10 verse 4, the writer says it’s impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. So even though they offered sacrifice, what God wanted was their heart.

We see later that Jesus Christ Himself becomes a sacrifice for us, He dies for us as a remission for our sins, He brought an end to the old testament sacrifice.

Now, when Paul is talking about sacrifice he’s not talking about the old testament sacrifice, he’s talking about something else. So, lets look at that.

Paul says, ‘offer your bodies as a living sacrifice’. The first word he uses is ‘bodies’. What Paul is trying to say is that our body matters. Even though we’re living, we’re in the flesh but it’s not just the flesh, skin and the blood but also our minds because in later verse he also mentions “be transformed by the renewal of your mind”

When I was growing up I always thought of offering myself means giving myself to serving ministry, doing things for God. Doing things on my own strength and capabilities because God needs me, he needs my intelligence.

But when read 1 Peter 2:5 it says
Offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

What we learn is that even the offering of ourselves should be done through Jesus Christ.

In this text Paul is appealing to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice through Christ Jesus not just in the looks of it but also in our motives & behaviors.

We see in the preceding verses he goes on to give practical ways of offering ourselves to the body of Christ, most of it is self explanatory but to see in the context in which Paul is presenting them to us is more important.

This is what Sacrifice means, this is what worship means. We gather every Sunday to worship God in submission and reverence as one body, not thinking more highly about ourselves, to have think with sober judgment, to serve, to teach, to exhort, to contribute to each other’s need, to lead with zeal, to show mercy, to show genuine love, to abhor evil, to live in harmony, to feed our enemies and not to overcome evil by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Let’s look to God in prayer.

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The Essentials of a Christian Community

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have 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 members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. – Ephesians 2:13-22

The above verses talk about the formation of the community that God built for himself through his son Jesus Christ and also gives us an idea of what that community looks like.

Without Christ and his sacrifice this community is meaningless.

4 things that stand out from the text are as follows.

1. Oneness

We are made one in Christ and there are no diving walls that separate us from each other. In Galatians 3:28 Paul writes “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

2. Reconciled as one body

God reconciles us as a body, purifies us as a bride and therefore we take responsibility for each other and help each other get right with God and walk in holiness.

3. Access to the same Spirit

Since we all have access to the same spirit, the same spirit that gifted one with certain skills and talents is available for another. We all have access to one Spirit therefore we don’t walk with pride thinking we are better than others or in shame because we don’t match up to others. It is just a matter of asking God.

4. Built on the foundations of the apostles & prophets

Our understanding of the community of God is not laid on a weak and man made foundation but instead it is rooted in the foundations of the apostles & prophets. Our foundations are God inspired and they are meant to give us life and life in abundance.

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Our Gospel Rythms

We have 3 gospel rhythms that define our churches:

  • Christ [His life, death and resurrection] is the center of everything we are and do as the church. His life is the example, He is the truth, and He is the only means of obtaining salvation. Jesus is the Christ, the promised one, our rescuer. Because of this we have reoriented our lives around Him and His finished work on the cross. Therefore we are unashamed of Christ and His glorious gospel. It is there where we find life.
  • Gospel Community is the primary way in which Red Tree Churches are organized. We see Gospel Community as a beautiful display of God’s redemptive work in the world; as well as one of the most effective ways for gospel-centered discipleship to take place. Wherever one finds followers of Jesus living life together on mission for the glory of God one truly has seen God’s church. We hope that our churches would be marked by transforming joy and love for one another.
  • Commission. The Gospel not only saves us from sin & death, it also saves us to a new and glorious purpose in life. With this new life, we get the privilege of participating in God’s redeeming work on the earth. We proclaim and manifest God’s coming kingdom through love, sacrifice and service to the world around us. We are passionate about cultivating a culture of worship, discipleship, community and mission in our city.