The Gathering - Part Sixteen

As we prepare to gather and to celebrate Christ's incarnation, let's remember . . .  

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. - John 1:1

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. - John 1:14-18

When we gather, we are called to give attention to God's Word. We do that through singing God's Word, reading God's Word and listening to God's Word being taught. But let never forget that Jesus Christ is the Word of the Father now in flesh appearing! He has come and dwelt among us in order to show us the glory of the Father. We do well at this time of the year (and any time of the year) to give attention to Him. He should be the central focus of our gatherings. He should be the One we praise!

"Father, we thank You for sending Your son, Jesus to dwell among us and to speak to us about who You are. May we be strengthened by Your Holy Spirit to give Jesus our undivided attention in the midst such a busy time of the year that is full of so many distractions. May You be the center of our gatherings! Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

Joy to the World
     by Isaac Watts 

Angels We Have Heard on High

     Traditional Carol

O Come All Ye Faithful

     by J. F. Wade

My Soul Magnifies
     by Chris Tomlin | Daniel Carson

Hark the Herald Angels Sing
     by Charles Wesley

Good Good Father
     by Patt Barrett | Anthony Brown

What Child is This
     by William C. Dix

Jesus, Son of God
     by Chris Tomlin | Matt Maher | Jason Ingram

Glory in the Highest
     by Chris Tomlin | Ed Cash | Jesse Reeves

The Gathering - Part Fifteen

We are told in Colossians 3:16-17 to  . . . 

"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."

We stated last time that one very important reason that we gather each week is to give attention to God's Word. Paul tells us in this Colossians passage to let the Word richly dwell in us and to teach and admonish one another with singing. When we gather we are not only called to speak the Word to one another, but to sing it. So what songs should we be singing? Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs! There is much speculation on what Paul meant by these three categories. Are we to be singing from the book of Psalms or is this just a category of songs? Which hymns? What is a spiritual song? We don't have space to take this discussion up in detail here. But let me make one point. The songs we sing ought to be sung not only to God, but to one another in a way that teaches and encourages. They must therefore either contain the Word or help illuminate the Word. The lyrics that we sing are very significant. We take that responsibility at our FBC worship gatherings very seriously. In one sense, our songs are our "sung theology." If there were never any time spent teaching God's Word through a sermon and all we had was singing, what would we know about God? What would we know about our salvation? Hopefully, our songs are a good compliment to the time we do have studying His Word. And let me encourage you that when we do gather and sing to allow your mind, emotions and will be engaged in the process. Allow the words to dwell in you richly and allow God to sing through you to those nearby.

"Father, we thank You for music. Thank you for those you have given the ability to craft songs that teach us about You in ways that are creative and memorable. May we gather together with the purpose to glorify You and to encourage one another! Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

Angels From The Realms of Glory 
     by James Montgomery 

The First Noel

     Traditional English Carol

My Soul Magnifies the Lord

     by Chris Tomlin | Daniel Carson

Glorious Day
     by Michael Bleecker | Mark Hall

Christ is Come
     by Mike Weaver

Who Would Have Dreamed
     by Bob Kauflin | Jason Hansen

The Gathering - Part Fourteen

     One very important reason that we gather each week is to give attention to God's Word. This becomes extremely significant when we understand the context of the Gathering. We are God's called out ones who He exhorts to gather together regularly and to not forsake that gathering (Heb. 10:25). It is therefore not our idea to hold church services, but God's. He calls us together and the common element we have amongst so many different people is Christ. He is the One who makes a relationship with the Father possible. Our gatherings each week are an opportunity for His people to meet with Him and with one another. And during these times He desires to speak with us. 
     We see in scripture that when God's people gather together, God's Word is always central. When God gathered the Israelites to Himself at Mt. Sinai, the giving of the Ten Commandments was the focus (Ex. 19-20). When the Israelites returned from captivity and sought to restore the Temple worship they read from God's Word (Neh. 8:1-8). The early church devoted itself to the teaching of God's Word through the apostles (Acts 2:42). Paul urged Timothy to make sure that he gave attention to the public reading of God's Word (1 Tim. 4:13). When we gather, we are to do the same. Over the next few weeks we want to consider what this looks like for us in our gatherings today.

"Father, we thank You for Your Word. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths. May we as Your Church continue to hold Your Word in high regard and give attention to it every time we gather. When Your Word is read, sung and taught may we recognize that it is You speaking to us, Your body, and may we be faithful to respond in worship to all that You speak to us. Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

O Come All Ye Faithful

     by J. F. Wade

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee

     by Edward Hodges | Henry Van Dyke | Ludwig van Beethoven | add. lyrics M. Lukens

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

     by Charles Wesley

God With Us
     by Jason Ingram | Leslie Jordan

Good, Good Father
     by Patt Barrett | Anthony Brown

The Gathering - Part Thirteen

Last week we started a three week series from the Psalms entitled "Greatly To Be Praised." This title comes from Psalm 96:4 which declares, "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!" We have been talking about why we gather together each week and in the last few posts have been focusing in on the aspect of celebrating the communion that is possible with God. Celebrate! I think I know how to celebrate. When my team scores a touchdown, when someone I love has a birthday, when the hero of the story comes in and saves the day. But is my best celebration given to God? Most often not. I hold back. I am sorry to say, I at times just go through the motions. Why is that? Mark Carey quoted C.S. Lewis last week.

“We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”

Mark also shared from Psalm 117 a pattern that shows up in many of the Psalms - there is a "call to praise" and a "cause for praise." I think we often understand that we have been called to worship. I think that's why we show up. However, the cause for praise is often what we forget. Praise for our sports team or a good meal just comes natural to us because we have enjoyed watching or eating and as Lewis stated this praise completes our enjoyment. I think the reason that our greatest praise is not given to God is because we have not come to know Him like we ought. If we really knew Him we could not help but to praise. It would be our obsession, as I believe it will be in Heaven. So how do we get to know Him? We give attention to His Word. This becomes part of the third reason why we gather. To soak in God's Word so that we know Him more fully. We will take a look at this next time.

"Father, may You be to One who receives our greatest praise and may that praise be great, for You alone are great! As we gather this week, may our focus be given over to You, the object of our praise. May we take great joy in the expression of our delight in You. Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

Psalm 100

     by Chris Tomlin | Jason Ingram

O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing

     by Charles Wesley

One Thing Remains 

     by Brian Johnson | Christa Black Gifford | and Jeremy Riddle

Greatly To Be Praised
     by Brian Eichelberger | Zach Bolen

The Gathering - Part Twelve

Over the last few weeks we have been looking at the purpose for why we gather together each week. The quick answer would be "we gather to worship." What we are seeking to do here is to unpack what that means for us in the context of the corporate gathering. We want to come better prepared for worship and be able to fully participate in this gathering. Last time we looked at the second part of our purpose, "to celebrate the communion that is now possible with God."

I have never been to the Grand Canyon, but it is on my list of things to do. Consider how ridiculous it would be to travel all the way to Arizona, walk within feet of the rim of this spectacular marvel and yet only look at a picture of the canyon. You could talk all you want about how breathtaking it was, but until you actually gaze over the edge and take it all in, I don't think you are really celebrating it. The same is true in our worship. We can extol the wonders of who God is and what He has done, but until we have actually gazed upon Him and drawn near into His presence, we have not truly celebrated Him. 

The writer of Hebrews proclaims in 10:19-22a, 

"Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near . . . "

At any moment, we can by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, our high priest, draw near to God! Think about that! We don't have to build up to a climactic moment in our worship services where we are finally able to come into God's presence. It is not our work that gets us there. It is Christ's finished work. So when we gather together let us draw near. Don't hold back thinking you are not worthy to come. Christ makes us worthy! Don't let doubt hold you back, thinking that you just can't feel God's presence. Faith allows us to see that we are there! Let us come before God's throne and in doing so we are celebrating Him.

"Father, may we truly celebrate the communion that is now possible with You through the blood of Jesus. May we recognize the truth that we don't ever have to work our way there. May we come together already in Your presence and may we leave our gathering time closer to one another because we have been before Your throne together! Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

You Are Holy 

     by Marc Imboden | Tammy Rhoton

Majestic

     by Lincoln Brewster

Rejoice 

     by Dustin Kensrue

My Lighthouse
     by Rend Collective

The Gathering - Part Eleven

We want to take a break this week from walking through our Worship Gathering Purpose Statement and focus in on some lyrics that we will be singing when we gather this weekend. The songs that we sing each week help carry out our purpose and the one we want to focus on really demonstrates this.

Rock of Ages by Augustus M. Toplady

Verse 1:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee
Let the water and the blood from Thy wounded side which flowed
Be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure

Verse 2:
Not the labors of my hands can fulfill Thy law’s demands
Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow
These for sin could not atone; Thou must save and Thou alone

Verse 3:
Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling
Naked, come to Thee for dress, helpless, look to Thee for grace
Foul, I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die


I can think of no better way to . . .  "remember what God has done to bring us into relationship with Himself through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and to celebrate the communion that is now possible with God" than to sing these words. Let me try to summarize the themes of this great hymn that was written almost 300 years ago.

Verse 1 - Jesus is our Rock of Refuge whose blood was shed on Calvary. His sacrifice (water and blood is a reference to His brutal torture and death by crucifixion) brings about two remedies - it satisfies the wrath of God against our sin and it purifies us from our sin.

Verse 2 - No matter how zealous we might be to obey God's laws or how sorrowful and broken we are for our sin, these cannot bring about our salvation. We must completely trust in God to save us.

Verse 3 - Again, we are helpless, naked, foul. Our only hope is that God would wash us by the blood of Christ, that He would cloth us in Christ's righteousness and that He would continue to pour out His grace upon us.

What great truths to remember, proclaim, celebrate and to live by!

"Father, we acknowledge that we are unable to add anything to our salvation. You have done it all. It is all a gift of grace and yet of great cost to You. As we gather this weekend to sing these songs may Your glories become greater and greater in our sight, may we sing with understanding and may Your Spirit produce fruit in our lives this week because of our time together. Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

Let God Arise

     by Chris Tomlin | Ed Cash | Jesse Reeves

Our Song From Age to Age

     by Joel Sczebel

Rock of Ages

     by Augustus M. Toplady

Now Why This Fear
     by Augustus Toplady | Doug Plank

I Will Praise Him Still
     by Fernando Ortega

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)
     by by Jonas Myrin | Matt Redman

The Gathering - Part Ten

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines communion as, "a close relationship with someone or something." The second aspect of our purpose as we gather together is to celebrate the communion that is now possible with God. 

When we have remembered Christ's atoning sacrifice it leads us to celebration. What we are celebrating is communion with God. Again, this should give us pause for awe and wonder. The sovereign creator of the universe and the One who is holy and righteous is the One that we have rebelled against. Our sin has caused death and more specifically a separation from Him. Yet He desires and has made a way for us to draw near, to commune with Him. Bob Kauflin writes in Worship Matters, 

"For centuries prior to the coming of Christ, the high priest represented God's people once a year as he entered the Holy of Holies to make atonement for their sins. The holiest man from the holiest tribe offered the holiest sacrifice in the holiest place for the holiest people on earth. To attempt to draw near to God in any other way or by any other means would result in certain death (Leviticus 16:2). Now Jesus has entered a holier place, the heavenly sanctuary, having atoned for our sins and having torn down the veil separating us from God."

It is only through Christ's perfect sacrifice that we are able to commune with God but the good news is that we are able to draw near. What a blessed hope!

"Father, may we never lose the wonder of the ability that we have through Christ to have communion with You. May our time together this week be a true celebration of our relationship with You and may we recognize how vital this communion with You is to our worship and our lives. Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

Rejoice

     by Dustin Kensrue | Stuart Townend

Awesome is the Lord Most High

     by Chris Tomlin

Jesus Son of God

     by Chris Tomlin | Matt Maher | Jason Ingram

The Greatness of Our God
     by Stuart Garrard | Jason Ingram | Rueben Morgan

Even So Come
     by Chris Tomlin | Jess Cates | Jason Ingram