Communion Meditation July 2021

by

Matthew 11:28  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

1) Here we have an invitation from the ruler of the heavens and the earth.

Come to me. Approach me. Trust in me. Believe in me. Follow me. Come to me. Draw on my strength. Live in my wisdom. Come to me. 

He is offering rest to the weary and burdened.

2) We have the description of those invited to come to Jesus.

All who labor and are heavy laden. ESV

All you who are weary and burdened. NIV

Weary and burdened with what? Sin, self, life in a fallen world, heartbreak, sadness, pain, confusion.  I don’t think we can limit it to one or two things.  

Jesus invites all who are weary and burdened, but he invites only those.  Those who are proud, self-sufficient, content with their own power and resources, those who are not weary and burdened with sin and shame, are not invited to Jesus, and they are not welcomed to this table.

Only those who know they need Jesus and trust him can come to this table.

3) We have a promise from the great shepherd of the sheep, Jesus.

I will give you rest.  Rest, from your weariness, rest from your burden. 

He is not promising a vacation by the beach. 

He is promising to remove your weariness and your burden; 

he will take it from you are bare it himself, it will bear it away. 

Leaving you nothing but rest. 

He will refresh you, by taking away the burden of sin.

That is what Jesus is offering at this table. Rest. Come to me. Rest in me. 

I have completed the work, I have paid for sin, I have borne your burden. I have the strength to exchange for your weariness. 

I have died; and yet I live.  I offer you life; my life, my blood, my body, my strength, my victory.  I offer you rest.  The work is finished. I have earned your salvation and it has already been accepted. You can enter into rest; now. Today.

O Christian, are you weary, seeking rest? Come to the Savior now.

Communion Meditation July 2021

by

 

God, in speaking to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, gave fallen mankind their first promise of grace.

In Genesis 3:15, He said this, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall strike his heel.”

God speaks of the perpetual warfare, the division, and the enmity that will exist between the people of God and the children of the serpent.  We see the world in vastly different ways – the children of God wish to follow the Lord, and the children of the serpent want to be gods themselves. We have vastly divergent perceptions of the world; different world-views.  There is no common or middle ground, no possible compromise between the two warring humanities and their competing visions for life.  So, they are at odds, over everything.

And God wanted it this way.  He put the enmity, the division, between them.  There is a great difference between the Children of God and the Children of the Serpent, a chasm separates them – and we see that division in the Lord’s Supper.

This Supper is given only to the Children of God, to believers, to those who call Jesus Savior and Lord and really mean it.  If you don’t follow Jesus as Lord, you are a Child of the Serpent and you have no place at this table. Don’t come.

But when the Children of God partake of this table we remember two things: the crushed head and the bruised heel.  

Jesus has crushed the head of the serpent. Sin has been paid for, death has been defeated, rebellion has been put down.  Jesus lived and died to defeat the serpent and his influence on the Children of God. His head is crushed.

We also remember the bruised heel.  Jesus suffered.  He became sin. He absorbed the full penalty for sin. He bled and died that we might have life.

Jesus speaks life to us at this table.  Real life, spiritual life, and eternal life in fellowship with Him.  We come to the table to enjoy that fellowship of life.

Session Summary July 2021

by

Your session met on Tuesday, July 13 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm.  Ed Payne encouraged us to see the greatness of God, known through Scripture, and described in the Westminster Confession of Faith, as a great aid to our worship. We gratefully received a $500 gift from Lakemont PCA for our hosting their VBS in June. We transferred two families to Christ Church Presbyterian at their request.  We received Ella Kate into communicant membership after hearing her profession of faith. Bryan gave a brief report of a long, but good, General Assembly Meeting. Pastor Mark will attend the Presbytery meeting in Lyons on Saturday. We will contract with Followers in Fellowship to allow the Classical Conversations group to meet at our church on Fridays during the school year.  We discussed a new prayer initiative, the Walk Thru the Bible seminar, mercy ministry, shepherding concerns, Covid-restrictions, and the Sunday Evening Prayer meeting.  We will restart the Usher Ministry, passing the plates for our collection, and our pre-Covid communion procedures beginning August 1, 2021. We will have a fellowship meal on July 18 to hear from Rev Andy Lee and welcome our new members from the last year.  A special Sunday School class for our new members to grow in our knowledge of our church, God, and one another will begin sometime in August.  Pastor Mark will guide the class.  Our financial transition to Queenborough Bank has gone smoothly and we altered our phone service to update our ancient equipment. It is one of the greatest gifts from God for us to find a home, a welcome, and a family in the church fellowship. Westminster is such a home and a blessing for many.  Pray that God would add to our numbers and deepen our fellowship with God and with one another.

News from the Session

by

Your session met three times last month.  Two times we gathered to receive new members; Scott and Chris Harris, and John and Vanessa Etheridge. We met once to discuss Stewardship and increasing our giving to missions.  So, here are a few things that we are working on.

 

We are considering a new proposal to increase our giving to missions through special offerings and thereby adding to the number of missionaries that we support.  This is a work in progress but we will have a missionary visit on July 18 to discuss his future work. Also, we are seeking to reinvigorate our ministry teams.  Covid produced something of a parenthesis year and we would like to get things cranked up again. And finally, we are in the final stages of promotion for the Walk Thru the Bible presentation called OT live for July 24.

 

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

by

“Then I (John) heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, 

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

    and his Bride has made herself ready;

it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” 

And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Revelation 19:6-9

 

God made marriage to be a reflection of the love that Jesus has for his bride, the church.

Marriage in the ancient world had three steps.

First, the parents signed the marriage contract for the bride and the groom and the dowry was paid.  The couple was officially betrothed; we would say engaged.

Second, the groom would prepare a place for his bride.  Usually, he would add a room unto his father’s house to be his new home.  

Third, when he had prepared a place for his bride, he would travel with his male friends to the bride’s home at midnight to announce the marriage supper/celebration.  And they would parade to the new home and celebrate the wedding for several days.

For the church, the bride of Christ, the marriage contract was signed in eternity past; theologians call it the counsel of redemption. God has chosen a bride, the church, for his Son. There is a contract.

The Son, Jesus, is now preparing a place for his bride, and preparing the bride for his place.  He is gathering, and perfecting his church from every tribe, tongue and nation. “The fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”

In this time of preparation, we come to the Lord’s Supper. We are engaged to be the Lord’s and we are walking with him, growing in maturity, and eagerly anticipating the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Then, finally, the marriage supper of the Lamb shall come. Jesus will return to claim his bride and bring her to himself for the never-ending celebration of marriage.

The marriage celebration is by invitation only. The invitation comes to all who believe the gospel. If you are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, you are invited to come to the Lord’s Table today. If you are a living part of the bride of Christ, if you have faith, and have joined with a Bible-believing, evangelical church, come to the table.  If you do not believe, or if you have not made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ, don’t come.

You are engaged, you belong to the Lord. You are preparing yourself for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Come, for all things are now ready.

My Only Comfort in Life and Death

by

Heidelberg Catechism

Q and A 1

December 8, 2019

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own,1but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—2 to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.3 He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,4 and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.5 He also watches over me in such a way6 that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;7 in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.8 Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life9 and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.10

1 1 Cor. 6:19-20

2 Rom. 14:7-9

3 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14

4 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2

5 John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11

6 John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5

7 Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18

8 Rom. 8:28

9 Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14

10 Rom. 8:1-17

What is comfort?

We think of a fluffy pillow, a good movie, and an ice-cold drink after a hard day’s work.  Comfort is ease, rest, self-indulgence.  But that is not what it means here.

Comfort comes from two Latin words that mean “with strength.”  What comforts is what gives strength, or fortifies.  It is the courage to live by grace in this fallen world.

“Comfort is that which results from a certain process of reasoning, in which we oppose something good to something evil, that by a proper consideration of this good, we may mitigate our grief, and patiently endure the evil.  The good, therefore, which we oppose to the evil, must necessarily be great, and certain, in proportion to the magnitude of the evil with which it is contrasted.”  Zacharias Ursinus

This comfort is equal to anything that life or death can throw at us.

“Faith is more than knowledge, but it is, nevertheless, also knowledge; and without the knowledge of faith, the confidence of faith is impossible.  You cannot make a Christian by instruction, but the Christian can be indoctrinated, and by growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ may increase in the conscious possession of the true comfort in life and death…

The “only comfort in life and death” is concerned with a good, which “eye hath not seen and ear hath not heard and has never arisen in the heart of man.”  It is, therefore, a good that can be posited over against the evil of life and death only by the mind of faith.  And this faith lays hold upon that which the Spirit of God reveals to us, not by inner light, as the mystics would have it, but by the Word of God as we possess it in the Scriptures.  It is the believing mind that lays hold upon the promise of God, is certain of that promise, contemplates that promise so that the believing heart embraces the thing promised and esteems it so great and gracious, that the sufferings of this present times are not worthy to be compared with it.” Herman Hoeksema

Only comfort.  This is not one way of coping with the difficulties of life, but the only way.  It is the only comfort that is equal to the task.  There is only one comfort in a fallen world.  The promised grace of God embraced by living faith.

This is personal comfort.  What is your comfort?  Everyone tries something to cope with a fallen world.  Drink to deaden the pain, the exercise of power to try to control something, the diversion of entertainment.  We do need to ask ourselves what is our comfort?  How are we trying to cope with the evil of human life?

The answer is that I belong to Jesus Christ, and I am not my own.  We have been told to be true to ourselves, to listen to the voice within, to be authentically yourself, and to do what we think is best.  The secular answer is to go deeper into yourself for you define your own morality, and shape your own identity.  This is Friedrich Nietzsche Ubermensch, “an overman is someone who can establish his own values as the world in which others live their lives, often unaware that they are not pre-given.”

The Bible, and the Catechism which summarizes its teaching, points away from self to God in Christ.  We belong to a faithful Savior.  This savior saves. Saves us from our fallen condition, our fallen world, and saves us from ourselves.  Jesus, the savior,  Christ, the anointed promised messiah is my certain and only comfort.

We are redeemed by God the Son

He is faithful.  True to his word.  He will do what he has said.  Most of the promises given in the Bible have already been realized, especially those promising the coming of the seed of the woman that would crush the head of the serpent and deliver us from our fallen world.  He is faithful.  His word is our comfort, our strength in this broken world.

What is the source of all my discomfort?  If you trace your diseases back to their source, it is sin.  The underlying issue is always sin.  Sin is our biggest problem.

What does this faithful God and Savior do for me that provides such unshakable comfort?  Three things.  He forgives my sins, he protects me in this fallen world and he leads me home, to a perfect place.

Forgiveness.  Jesus pays for my sins with his precious blood.  The Son of God has taken away my guilt and shame.  He hasn’t merely overlooked my sins, but he has paid for them in full.

We are preserved by God the Father

Protection. The tyranny of the devil.  The devil has hidden himself in our day.  So much so that many think of the devil in the same category as the tooth faerie, mother nature, and Santa Clause.  It is a pleasing fiction.  But, the devil is real and his tyranny and destruction can be seen everywhere.  My faithful savior shields me from the evil that is in the world, the temptations in this world in opposition to God.  I am no longer a slave to sin.  I can walk in newness of life.

Not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my heavenly father.  God is near.  Everything that happens is preparing me for glory, for perfection.  God promises that all things work together for the good of those who love him.

We are Renewed by God the Holy Spirit

Assurance of Salvation –  It is one thing to have sufficient strength to do something and another to actually do it.  To have comfort, fortification, given to you, you still must know that it is yours, and you still must use it.  To be assured that we belong to God means that we can draw on his all-sufficient bank account.  We can sign the check and draw from his account.

The Holy Spirit grants us the well-founded certainty that we belong to God.  He gives us assurance of salvation.  This is confidence that we have eternal life and that we are heading into life eternal.  We are living the heavenly life, in some sense, now.  The future blessing is also assured.  This provides comfort in life and in death.

Wholeheartedly Willing to live for Him –  We do not live for ourselves, for that is a leaky, unstable bucket to invest in.  We live for the glory of God.  We seek to make his name great in all the earth, not our own.  We are willing, with all that we are, to live for him.

If this is not your conviction you really don’t understand your only comfort.

Ready, equipped, to live for Him.  The Holy Spirit makes us ready to live for him.  Equips, enables and empowers us to walk with God in this life and to follow the path he weaves to glory.

God the Father, Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth

by

Heidelberg Catechism

Lord’s Day 8, Q 26

June 13, 2021

What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth”?

That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who of nothing made heaven and earth with all that is in them,1 who likewise upholds, and governs them by His eternal counsel and providence,2 is for the sake of Christ, His Son, my God and my Father,3 in whom I so trust as to have no doubt that He will provide me with all things necessary for  body and soul;4 and further, that whatever evil He sends upon me in this valley of tears, He will turn to my good;5 for He is able to do it, being Almighty God,6 and willing also, being a faithful Father.7

[1] Gen. 1:31; Ps. 33:6; *Col. 1:16; *Heb. 11:3. [2] Ps. 104:2–5; Matt. 10:30; Heb. 1:3; Ps. 115:3; *Acts 17:24–25. [3] Jn. 1:12; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:5–7; Eph. 1:5; *Eph. 3:14–16; *Matt. 6:8. [4] Ps. 55:22; Matt. 6:25–26; Lk. 12:22–24; Ps. 90:1–2. [5] Rom. 8:28; *Acts 17:27–28. [6] Rom. 10:12. [7] Matt. 7:9–11; *Num. 23:19.

We believe in God, but what do we believe about him? I have often thought that we should examine potential pastors with one simple question, “Tell me about God.”  If they could not talk accurately and edifyingly about God for one hour, they fail. So, what do you believe about God?  The Apostles Creed is a good place to start.

God the Father is the eternal Father. Since before eternity past God has been the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. There has never been a time when Christ was not; despite what the Arians claim. They have forever existed in a fellowship of love and light.  Fatherhood is an essential part of God; it has always defined him. God is not the ‘father’ of all mankind.  He has created all and rules over all, but is not the father of all. Only those who believe in Jesus are given the right to be called the children of God (John 1:12).

God the Father is the creator.  Out of nothing, He spoke the universe into existence by the power of His Word. Ex nihilo – Latin for out of nothing (Hebrews 11:3). He started with nothing and with it, He made all things.  We can reform and reshape the substance of what God has made, but we cannot call things into existence from nothing.

God the Father sustains the universe. He upholds and fuels its continual existence. We don’t think about this very often but it should amaze us as much as the original creation.  Our God sustains billions of stars spanning countless light-years.  Everything has its unique place and function. All creation serves God’s design and they fulfill God’s purpose. Including us.

God the Father governs us by his eternal counsel and providence. “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’ (Isaiah 46:9-10). 

Does God really sovereignly decree all things for me? Yes, everything that happens to me comes from my Father’s hand. We can call God our Father! God becomes our father as we are united to Christ through faith. Just as a Father does, God provides for us, chides, teaches, and grows us to maturity in Christ.  God, like Job understood, gives what we experience as both good and bad.  More on this later.

God the Father is faithful. We trust him for all that we need for both soul and body, and God provides.  We need have no doubt that God will fail in his role as father and provider. He may lead down bumpy roads, but he leads, he provides, he cares, and he has a purpose in it all. He provides what is necessary for us to fulfill our purpose in His grand design to display His glory.  He does not fulfill our dreams nor meet all our wants and desires.  Confusion here drains the life out of faith.

 God the Father sends evil. What? That can’t be right, can it? “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity;I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). There is no one like God; no one comparable to God.  He has no equal, no competition. There is no dualism or eternal struggle between the good god and the bad god.  There is only one God, and He can work with evil and form something good with it, and not get his hands dirty in the process. God contains and controls evil so that it serves his purposes.  Think again of Job. The evil that came to Job was limited by God and made purposeful by God. “All things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

God the Father guides us through this valley of tears. This fallen world is saturated with tears.  The pain and destruction of sin is real and it is evil. We each experience unequal measures of the evils of a sinful world. Yet, the measure of evil that I experience in this world God my Father uses for my good. “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). And again, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

Yet, how is that possible? How can  God turn evil into good? There are many promises of God that seem impossible to us.  Namely, “I will give you new spiritual bodies.” “I will raise you from the dead.” “I will turn the evil that you experience into a blessing for you.”  I do not understand the math on this, nor can I fully explain it.  The eternal God is still a mystery to me in many ways.  But, I know him as almighty. Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37).  None can change His mind nor thwart His purpose.  If he says it He will do it. And He is Father – He would do anything good for his children.

Communion Meditation

by

Dearly loved, children of God, we now come to the Lord’s Supper and are invited to do so by the Lord Jesus himself. He has prepared this meal for us and He will meet us at this table.  

This spiritual food is designed to be a blessing to us; nourishment for our souls. Here we remember the death of Christ and the salvation that he has purchased for us. This is how our sins are forgiven; through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. At this table, we are reminded that we belong to a heavenly kingdom. This world is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven.

We are to give thanks to God for making this spiritual meal available to us. God has given his only Son to us, not only to die in our place but to be our heavenly food and our spiritual support.

This meal is a great encouragement to those who come with simple, childlike faith.  But it is dangerous to those who come causally, routinely, and without faith. If that is you, don’t come. Consider what was required of Jesus to prepare this meal. The divine had to become human; the human had to become sin; sin had to be punished; hell had to be silenced, for Jesus to prepare this table for you. Remember him, and come in faith to this table.

Compare your life to the 10 commandments; how are you doing? Do you love God above all and your neighbor as yourself? If you have offended God, and we all do; admit it, confess it, commit yourself to fight against your remaining sin.  If you have sinned against your neighbor, make it right.  Confess, reconcile with them.  Make restitution if necessary.  Live at peace with all men.  Stand ready to forgive others who have sinned against you. Forgive them as you would have God forgive you.

If you refuse to follow Christ in faith or to forgive and seek forgiveness; this table is not for you. Repent, make it right, with God and with others, before you come to this blood-bought Holy Table.

Then come as a member of a Bible-believing and evangelical church; come with a clean conscience, trusting in his mercy, expecting his grace.

Session Summary May 2021

by

Ted Kuhn opened our meeting with a devotion from Acts 20 and Paul’s meeting at Miletus with the elders from Ephesus.  We have scheduled our next meeting for June 15 at 5:30pm. An update our our Walk Thru the Bible Seminar on July 24 was given by Pastor Mark. Fellowship Team has scheduled a Church Picnic, a baby shower, and a Game night and will continue to arraign future luncheons, dinners, service projects, topical studies, and testimonies. We will expand the responsibilities of the Administration Team to include staff communication, and new ministry development.  They may even change their name to the Trellis Team.  Ask them why.  On June 10 the elders will gather to discuss a vision for stewardship and missions for Westminster.  The “Awakened, not Woke” conference was discussed as well as a possible discussion group on current issues from a Christian Worldview and what we can practically do about impacting our communities. We would like to begin our Home Group ministry again.  We debated when and how to begin them.  More information will follow.  Our new website is up and running (wpcmartinez.org). We are in the process of changing banks from Fifth Third to Queensborough.  The process should be completed by July. We have 3 facility use agreements for the fall.  We will be hosting a Classical Conversations chapter through Followers in Fellowship, Veritas Academy for the 28th year, and the American Academy for the English Martial Arts.  We are looking forward to a post-Covid expansion of fellowship and ministry.  May God bless us and we trust in Him.

Communion Meditation  May 23, 2021

by

Martin Luther said that the Lord’s Supper is nothing less than the gospel.

You must believe the gospel to be welcomed at this table. If you do not trust in Christ, if you have not tasted of the blessings of the age to come, do not come to this table.

The Gospel is the triumphant declaration of what God has done in history through Jesus Christ. The gospel is the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Son of God.

The Gospel is a history lesson that saves.  

God has ushered in a new age in redemptive history.  We are in “the last days” (Hebrews 1:1-2), or “the end of the ages” have come upon us (1 Corinthians 10:11).

Heaven has come to earth through Jesus Christ. Eternity has broken into time. We have a foretaste of heaven. A glimpse of glory at the Table of the Lord.

A new creation has already begun. Jesus was the first man to enter the new creation (1 Corinthians 15:20; 35-39). All who trust in Christ participate in this new age. We do not have spiritual bodies but we do share in the power of his resurrection and taste the powers of the age to come (Ephesians 1:18-20).

To be saved means to be delivered from this present evil age and transferred into a new age of life, righteousness, and joy.

The gospel is the good news that God has acted in history to establish a new world and that the blessings and privileges of that world are available to all who will repent and believe.

If that is you, come. Your faith in Jesus Christ, and trust in the gospel is your invitation to come to dine with Christ at this table. 

Adapted from Blessed are the Hungry, p. 147-150.