Sidelined

This morning we begin worship with:

Ephesians 4:15-16

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

On the sports talk shows the headlines blare when the quarterback is hurt, but not a word when a water-boy calls in sick.

But it is not so in the church, for it is described as one body.  A body is connected.  Each part is important.

1 Corinthians 12:21-26  

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 

Whether you are weak or strong, private or public, in management or part of the rank-and-file, you are essential to the whole.  

Don't believe that?  Recall please your latest toothache, stubbed toe, or splinter.  That is how the rest of the body feels when you are sidelined.

Destination

This morning we begin worship with:

John 14:1-3

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Rarely these days do we start a journey without entering the destination into an app, from which a gentle voice gives us step by step directions along the way.  Our verse today is the preface for the wonderful exchange between Thomas and Jesus that speaks of the "way":

John 14:4-6

" . . . And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

But without knowing the destination, the way taken is pointless.

Our destination is heaven.  And there, it is not some random cloud as depicted by so many an illustrator.  It is a room in a house prepared specifically for us.  Friends, our destination is home.

Just

This week we begin worship with:

Psalm 119:154

Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!

The American way is self-made and self-sufficient.  We are told to look for solutions within ourselves.  This verse, however, corrects that notion.

Naomi had a kinsman redeemer.  Boas came to her rescue after the loss of both her husband and her sons.  Without them, she and Ruth had been reduced to gleaning to survive.

Ruth 4:9-10

Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”

We too need a redeemer.  But we are not simply poor, we are guilty and stand accused.  We need someone to plead our case.

Isaiah 53:6

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all. 

Our redeemer must argue, on our behalf, that sin can only be punished once.  

1 John 1:9 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

Foundation

This morning we begin worship with:

Job 33:4
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

This is the foundational thought of Job.  What follows is that because God made me, He loves me.  Because He loves me, He will redeem me.

In fact, this chapter contains a clear rendition of the Order of Salvation.  Praise God for the continuity of scripture. And for the work He has yet to do I us.