What Really Matters in Our Meetings

The title of this event is Extraordinary, the Weekly Gathering of the Local Church.

! And I don't know if when you saw that title, if you saw that title, you thought, yeah, he doesn't know my church.

Like, it's anything but extraordinary.

Like, maybe if you really, really ordinary, the weekly gathering of my church.

Or subordinary, the weekly gathering.

And what we hope through our time together is to see you return with fresh faith to your local congregation.

Because as you may have guessed, the Christian life is not about conferences.

It's not about events.

It's about what Jesus is building, which is the local church.

So whenever we do something, Sovereign Grace Music does something, we're always very aware that whatever we receive here is meant to serve you in your local context.

Tonight, I'm going to talk about what really matters in our gatherings.

And this is not a text message.

Only one of the messages I'm going to give is taken from a text.

I prefer to preach from a text, but this is a kind of a workshop-ish event.

And so we want to do the best, do all we can to make this a time where you go home with practical, specific tools that will serve you in your congregation.

So as you seek to serve your church.

So it begins with asking the question, like, what's most important about what we do?

I would imagine even in a group this size, we have a lot of different backgrounds.

You know, if you put our Sunday meetings next to each other and compare them, there'd be some real differences.

And that's been true throughout history.

You know, you have similarities and you have, sorry, differences.

You have formal and informal meetings.

You have word-oriented and sacrament-oriented meetings.

You have planned and spontaneous meetings.

You know, meetings that excel at planning and then meetings that just really love it when everything's by the seat of our pants.

Sovereign Grace has its own little history.

It's a liturgical history.

We began in the 1970s.

We were born out of the Jesus movement.

So if you've seen Jesus' revolution, that's us.

I mean, we were that era.

That was my era.

I got saved in 1972.

And they got it right.

All that stuff was happening.

And it was a crazy, crazy time.

So our meetings at that time looked like a lot of singing.

You'd have some people sharing some prophetic words and then preaching.

That was the liturgy.

And, you know, it worked.

People kept coming back.

And we thought, this is great.

Then we started reading our Bibles.

And started studying what the church had done for centuries.

And realized that not everything we were doing was helpful.

I mean, a lot of it was.

People did keep coming back.

People's lives were changed.

Not everything we did was wise.

And not everything we did was biblical.

So we started thinking about it more.

And trying to discern what's really important.

Now, when you read your Bible, you realize God doesn't give us this specific meeting structure.

Some people act as though he did, but he didn't.

You can't find it in the Bible where, you know, there's one way of doing things.

But there are better ways of doing things.

And generally, a meeting that you've thought about will go better than a meeting that you haven't thought about.

Generally speaking.

So here's the question we're going to seek to answer in this little time.

What are the, some questions.

What are the closed-hand, open-hand issues when it comes to our weekly gatherings?

Like, what should we have real convictions about?

And what things should we kind of lose or wrong?

Doesn't mean we can't have preferences and desires.

But what are the most important things?

What can help us plan?

What's biblical?

What's cultural?

What's context?

That's a good way of defining it.

Or separating the categories out.

What's biblical?

What's cultural?

What's context?

And we're going to seek to address those questions.

And rather than laying out a specific practice that you should follow,

what we're going to do is consider five values that should inform and direct the choices and decisions we make about our gatherings.

Now, you may not be in the position of making those decisions.

But that's okay.

Even if you aren't the one who makes the decisions,

you want to have these values in mind as you participate in your gathering.

Each of the five values has two priorities.

The first is an indicative value.

In other words, it's something that just is true about our gatherings.

So each value, there's something that this is the way God set it up.

The second value is something that we pursue as response to that first priority, that first value.

So here we go.

The first one shouldn't surprise you is God.

Our gatherings are God initiated and they're meant to be God exalting.

So there you have the indicative and the, not the imperative, but the fruit of that.

The indicative, what's true?

Our meetings are God initiated.

What should that mean for us?

We should seek to exalt God in them.

When we think of worship, as I mentioned in the call of worship, we usually start with ourselves.

I mean, it's sad, but we usually do.

You know, we're singing, we're praying, we're lifting our hands maybe.

We organize things, we read scripture.

You know, we're doing all this stuff.

But when God presents worship to us, it doesn't start with us.

He starts with him.

Because God is the one who initiates our worship.

He starts it.

He's the one who tells us what it should be like.

And we see that throughout history, throughout scripture.

God put Adam and Eve in the garden and said, I want this perfect relationship with you where you submit to me and you enjoy my presence and you will know the fullness of my love for you.

And Adam and Eve said, no.

No, thanks.

We can figure this out on our own.

You've got most of it right, God.

But in the issue of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we think this will be better for us.

And obviously it wasn't.

So who comes running?

Who comes after Adam and Eve after they sin?

Well, God does.

Adam, where are you?

It's God who, after the flood, establishes a covenant with Noah.

It's God who reveals himself to Abraham in the fields of Hebron.

It's God who gets Moses' attention through a burning bush that's not being consumed by the fire.

It's God who calls his people together at Mount Sinai to reveal his laws.

It's God who speaks to the prophets through the kings.

It's God who sent his son to redeem us.

It's God who sent his Holy Spirit so that we might know his love and be transformed by it.

God's done all this.

He's always the one who takes the initiative in our relationship with him.

I don't know how you came to the Lord, but when I look back on how I came to the Lord in 1972,

I think I did absolutely nothing.

Nothing.

I was raised Roman Catholic.

I was going to become a priest.

Went to a junior seminary in freshman high school.

It closed down at the end of that year.

Hopefully there wasn't any connection.

This is the kind of guys we're getting.

We're shutting this thing down.

I stayed.

Went to high school.

Freshman year in college.

I thought I was in.

I thought I was going.

And a guy from Campus Crusade, which is not crew, knocked on my door, kept knocking and said,

Hey, I want to get with you.

I want to get with you.

And I said, No, I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

And finally I got with him.

And then there in the student building of Temple University, the fall of 1972, he explained to me how there was nothing that I could do to ensure that I would see God after I died.

And that he would welcome me into his presence.

That only what Jesus did was sufficient for that.

I wasn't looking for that.

God did all that.

And that's how he is.

That's what our relationship with him is like.

When Jesus sat down with the woman at the well.

John 4.23.

She says, The hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

For the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

He's coming after us.

We don't gather as a result of our own desires or planning or impulses.

We gather because God wants us to behold his glory and to be transformed by it.

That's why we gather.

He's initiated our relationship with him and he calls us to gather in his presence.

For what purpose?

To exalt him.

To make much of him.

So David says in Psalm 34.

I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord.

Oh magnify the Lord with me.

Let the humble hear him be glad.

Oh magnify the Lord with me.

And let us exalt his name together.

Let's go after this together.

He doesn't want to do it just by himself.

He's found something so good, so amazing.

He says, let's do this.

Let's exalt God together.

That means when we are meeting, we're not gathering just to talk about God.

We're not just gathering simply to consider him or to share our feelings about him or to share our thoughts about him, to philosophize about him, or share our opinions about him.

We are gathering to exalt him.

We are gathering to exalt him, to magnify him in our minds and in our hearts and in our lives.

He is a specific God, not some vague deity, a God that we make up, a God of our own choosing, made in our own image.

We're exalting the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit who rules history, the nations, and our hearts.

We lived in Philadelphia for 10 years, and I loved it.

We didn't end up in the city, but I love every time I'm in a city, just looking at the diversity of people.

We live in Louisville.

It's not quite as diverse as Boston.

We live in, I mean, Boston is a city where you just, different kinds of people everywhere.

And you know what I like to think when I'm looking at that?

Jesus is Lord of every one of them.

There's no one that he is not Lord of.

And I want them to know it.

I want him to be exalted because he is a certain way and not other ways.

And I want people to know him.

Ephesians 2.18 says, for through him, through Jesus,

we both have access in one spirit to the Father.

There is a God that we know who's not a single person God.

He's a tripersonal God, which is amazing because that means he loved,

he existed in love before anything existed.

And now he wants us to know that love.

He invites us into it.

So we exalt him for it.

And that exaltation one day will be universal.

Psalm 150, verse 6, let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Psalms 150:6

Why?

Romans 11.36, for from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory forever.

Amen.

We read verses like that sometimes.

Just kind of read over them and just go, yeah, that's great.

Yeah, from him and through him.

That's earth shattering.

That should cause us to shake in our boots that we know this God.

So what I'm going to do for each of these points is draw some implications from it for our meetings.

If our meetings are God initiated and they're meant to be God exalting, what does that mean?

Well, although God is invisible, he's spirit, we can't see him.

He's to be clearly perceived in our meetings.

He's to be clearly preeminent and honored and heard and treasured.

There is a God that we have a relationship with that we love and we want to see exalted.

So people should get that.

We should get that.

It's not just a meeting.

We are exalting God himself.

We don't have to feel the burden of performance or production.

Meetings shouldn't burn us out.

If God initiated this, if he's the one supplying all the strength and all the ability and all the desire and everything that we need,

and our part is just to exalt him,

that means the success of the meeting isn't ultimately dependent on what we do.

It's dependent on what God has done, what he is doing, and what he will do.

And we are gathering to marvel at and to live in the good of the God who has called us to gather into his presence.

It's so unburdening.

Three, no one should be impressed with our plans and preparation and production as much as they are with God's word and worthiness and works.

Say that again.

No one should be more impressed with our plans and preparation and production than they are with God's word, his worthiness, and his works.

The most important thing about our gathering is not our creativity.

It's not our originality.

It's not our innovation.

The most important thing about our gathering is our listening and faithfulness and bearing witness to who God is and what he's done and what he's said.

That's what we're called to do.

That's what we're called to exalt.

And then our gatherings are to be innately and expressly Trinitarian.

Trinitarian.

We come to the Father through the Son in the power of the Spirit.

We address Jesus as our brother and friend and King and Savior.

We address God the Father as the architect of the plan of salvation.

Although God, the triune God, has conceived of salvation, God the Father in the Bible is described as the one from whom all things originate.

Through Jesus in the power of his Spirit.

But we think about these things and it just makes God more glorious.

So that's part of what it means to exalt him.

But we can't spend any more time on that.

Second value.

Scripture.

What a surprise.

Our gatherings are Scripture governed.

The Word of God rules over, governs our gatherings.

And they're meant to be Scripture fueled.

They're meant to be Scripture fueled.

When people attend a concert of their favorite musician or band, they express their devotion in various ways.

They might bring a poster.

They might dress like them.

Or they might go crazy on social media.

They'll sing along with them.

Or they might shout or dance or try to touch them.

They'll do anything short of destroying property.

Well, sometimes even that happens.

But they're kind of free to do what they want to show their adulation of the musicians.

God's not like that.

He's not a rock star.

He's God.

So he's the one who gets to define what's appropriate and right and pleasing to him.

We can't say, well, God, I'm just being really sincere in what I'm doing.

Sincerity is not enough to make it pleasing to God.

It has to be what he has told us to do.

Saying, I worship God in my own way, on the golf course, by silent meditation, by waving flags.

That's how I do it.

That's not enough.

We're to worship God the way he has told us to.

So how do we know what constitutes God-pleasing worship?

Well, he tells us.

That's why he's given us his word.

A man named Herbert Bateman IV, in his book Authentic Worship, says this.

From the beginning, all records of worship, whether erecting altars or performing circumcision,

always express a response of submission, obedience, and trust in God's verbal statement of relationship,

his word.

So we see throughout the Bible that when people aren't submitted to, obedient to, and trusting in God's verbal statement of relationship,

his word, things don't go very well.

Adam and Eve didn't trust God's word.

Things didn't go very well.

Satan said, did God actually say?

Started to question his word.

In Genesis 4, God has regards for Abel's offering of worship, but not Cain's.

Something about Cain's offering wasn't in line with what God wanted him to do.

In the second commandment, God prohibits worship through images, which the Israelites rejected as they danced before the golden calf in Exodus 32.

Didn't go well for them.

Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu offer up strange fire, which we're not quite sure what that was, but God didn't authorize it, and God struck them dead.

This is serious.

In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of the authority of God's word in our worship when he quotes Isaiah 29.

This is in Matthew 15, 8 and 9.

This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Does that mean traditions are bad, like commandments of men?

No.

Traditions can be helpful.

But when traditions contradict, ignore, or minimize what God has clearly directed us to do in Scripture,

then they end up becoming idols.

And there are a lot of churches that started on a good path, seeking to obey God's word,

but those practices became mere traditions that weren't rooted in God's word,

and then have no life in them.

God cares about how we worship him.

And he governs our worship by his word.

And so that means his word is to fuel what we do when we gather.

Throughout history, God has maintained his relationship with us,

not merely through experiences or visions,

but through his word.

One of my favorite examples of this is in Exodus 33 and 34,

when Moses asks God to show him his glory.

And God says,

I'll cause my goodness to pass before your eyes.

So then in Exodus 34, we see what God does.

He says,

The Lord passed before him

and proclaimed.

The Lord.

The Lord.

A God.

A God.

Merciful and gracious.

Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Keeping steadfast love for thousands.

Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.

But who will by no means clear the guilty,

visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children

and the children's children

to the third and the fourth generation.

This is right after Israel had danced before the golden cow.

What did God want Moses to see?

He wanted him to see who he was.

How did he show him who he was?

By speaking to him.

And you can't imagine,

we can't imagine how

assuring those words were to hear.

I am the Lord, the Lord of God.

Merciful.

And gracious.

2 Timothy 4.2

We're commanded to preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season.

Reprove, rebuke, and exhort

with complete patience and teaching.

In other words,

this is to continue

in our relationship with the Lord.

Hebrews 2.1

tells us we need

constant reminders of God's word.

Therefore, we must pay

much closer attention to what we have heard

lest we drift away from it.

It is so important

that we not build our gatherings

around our traditions,

our preferences,

things that seem to be working,

but around what God has actually said.

And then we do that in a way

that stirs people's hearts.

That causes them to treasure God's word

and not despise it.

And not ignore it.

Colossians 3.16 says

that it is the word of Christ

that is to dwell in us richly

as we sing psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs

with thankfulness in our hearts to God.

So, what are some of the implications

of a meeting that is Scripture-governed

and Scripture-fueled?

Well, one,

we should maximize in our gatherings

what is mandated or implied by Scripture

and minimize what isn't.

So, some of you are probably familiar

with the regulative principle,

which is in this camp,

in this area.

The problem with the regulative principle,

which says that we don't do anything

in our gathered worship,

apart from what God has commanded

or inferred,

is that it leaves a lot of space

for, like, wisdom issues.

And so, I won't go any more on that.

So, yes to preaching.

Yes to praying.

Huh?

When we're together.

Yes to congregational singing.

Praying is one of the things

that we realize we weren't doing

when we gathered together

in Sovereign Grace.

We prayed sometimes,

but it wasn't a conviction.

Like, yeah, we're to pray together.

That's something we're supposed to do.

Yes to spiritual gifts.

All of them, I would say,

as a continuationist.

The Lord's Supper.

Greeting.

Reading Scripture.

No to performances.

Movie clips.

Painting.

And other things.

Musical hype.

We want to maximize

what God has told us to do.

Minimize everything else.

Two, we're to sing the Bible.

Pray the Bible.

Read the Bible.

Preach the Bible.

See the Bible.

One of the things we changed

when we planted a church

13 years ago

in Louisville, Kentucky

was to begin in our ending

and our meetings

with the Word of God.

We've never done that before.

But wow,

what a difference it makes

when you tell people,

hey, God's calling us together.

God's sending us out.

I used to connect the,

I used to plan the meeting

with just picking songs.

You know, I'd pick five songs.

And there you go.

I've planned the meeting.

I've done my part.

Now, when we do our planning,

we don't even pick the first song

until we've got the call to worship.

Because that song

is coming out of that call to worship.

And we want that to make sense.

We want there to be progression.

So another part of having your people

see that the Scripture's fueling the meeting

is by explaining things theologically,

which I'm going to do a whole session

on that tomorrow,

on transitions.

So I'm not going to spend time on it here.

Three, preach expositionally.

Say what the Bible says

and the way God said it.

Obviously, that's one way

the Bible fuels our meetings.

Four, seek to move people

more by the word than by music.

Music is a very powerful emotional motivator.

It affects our emotions.

The word of God

is meant to affect our emotions.

This is why when we started tonight,

you know, we just read the Bible.

We didn't have to have.

Is this a song?

Just want to welcome everybody tonight.

Thank you so much for coming.

Just help your souls at peace this morning.

It's an end.

You know, music can communicate emotions,

but a lot of times it can be manipulative.

And we can start to think that

really, unless music's playing under the Scripture,

it's not that good.

Don't let your people think that.

The word of God stands on its own.

Is it wrong to play music under Scripture?

No.

Is it needed?

No.

Let's put the emphasis in the right place.

Number five, evaluate responses,

people's responses,

more by Scripture than your culture.

So I've been all around the world

and seen different congregations

respond in different ways.

I put this as a mixed crowd right here

from what I observed earlier.

Some of you are just ready to let it all out!

And others are like,

who's this person around me?

A little nervous about what they're going to do.

And I would say,

we want to let our responses

be evaluated by Scripture

and not our culture.

It was up in the Northwest years ago.

It was in the early 2000s,

and it was a hip culture.

Maybe it still is.

Hip, cool culture.

So this particular church

was really hip and cool.

And I was talking to them about,

you know,

people don't seem to be very happy.

Well, yeah, it's just the culture.

Well, you know,

you know,

I don't think our culture tells us

how to respond.

I think it's the Word of God.

So I picked this passage

in Nehemiah 8, 5 and 6,

because I think it's so instructive

as to what affects us.

Ezra opened the book

in the sight of all the people,

for he was above all the people.

And as he opened it,

all the people stood.

Well, there's a response.

And Ezra blessed the Lord,

the great God,

and all the people answered,

Amen, Amen.

Lifting up their hands.

There's nothing about music there.

And they bowed their heads

and worshiped the Lord

with their faces to the ground.

Just showing reverence for God's Word.

I mean, there are other passages

that we could look at,

but let's let the Word of God

evaluate our responses

rather than our culture.

All right, number three.

The gospel.

So we've got God,

we've got Scripture,

and now we've got the gospel.

Our gatherings are gospel-grounded

and meant to be gospel-driven.

So this is,

oh, it's just,

you know,

gospel-centeredness

in some phases,

some areas of the church,

you know,

is popular at times.

You know, gospel-centeredness,

gospel-centeredness.

You know what?

To God,

the gospel's always popular.

It's always popular.

Throughout Scripture,

God has called His people together

to celebrate His acts

of deliverance and salvation.

Psalm 96, verses 1 and 2.

Psalms 96:1

Oh, sing to the Lord a new song.

Sing to the Lord,

all the earth.

Sing to the Lord,

bless His name.

Tell of His salvation

from day to day.

So for the Israelites,

that meant when they gathered,

they were to thank God for,

sing about,

and remember the way

God had delivered them

from the bondage of Egypt

and brought them

into the promised land.

That was huge.

And then after the exile,

they celebrated God

delivering them from Babylon

and restoring them

to the promised land.

For Christians,

we have something greater

to celebrate

that those things pointed to.

It means that our fellowship

with God is grounded

in Him reconciling us

to Himself

and assuring us

of His eternal purposes

for us

and for creation.

So 1 Peter 3.18 says,

For Christ also suffered

for sins,

the righteous

for the unrighteous,

that He might bring us

to God.

If Jesus,

through His substitutionary

sacrifice on the cross,

did not bring us to God,

we would have no ability

to approach Him.

It would be impossible.

We have no expectation

that He should hear us

or bless us

or draw near to us.

But because of the gospel,

we can draw near

to the living God.

There's a passage in Hebrews 10

where after chapters and chapters

of explaining why Jesus

is a better high priest

of a better covenant,

a better mediator,

offering better sacrifices

and saying He can do

what the old priest

couldn't do.

The old priest

could just go

into the Holy of Holies

once a year,

once a year,

bearing the sins

of the people.

No one else

was ever allowed in there.

Ever.

Ever.

And so in verse 19

of chapter 10,

after He's shown clearly

that Jesus

is a greater high priest,

He said,

therefore, brothers,

since we have confidence

to enter the holy places

by the blood of Jesus,

by the new and living way

that He opened for us

through the curtain,

that is,

His flesh,

and since we have

a great priest

over the house of God,

let us draw near.

He says,

come on.

Before it was,

don't draw near,

don't draw near,

don't draw near.

Now in Jesus,

draw near,

let us draw near

with a true heart

in full assurance

of faith

with our hearts

sprinkled clean

from an evil conscience

and our bodies

washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast

the confession

of our hope

without wavering.

Why?

Because He promised

His faithful.

It's the best news.

It's the best news.

That's the gospel

that grounds us.

That's what our meetings

are grounded in.

Paul didn't hesitate

to remind those

who was writing to

of the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15.1,

I would remind you,

brothers,

of the gospel

I preached to you

which you received

in which you stand.

He goes on to say

it's of first importance.

Colossians 2, 6, and 7.

Therefore,

as you have received

Christ Jesus the Lord,

so walk in Him,

rooted and built up in Him,

and established in the faith

just as you were taught.

In other words,

keep doing this.

Keep doing this.

Don't go somewhere else.

Don't think there's something

better to give people

than the gospel.

David Pryor

in his 1 Corinthians commentary

says,

we never move on

from the cross

only to a deeper

understanding of the cross.

It's amazing.

So that means

the gospel should drive

our meetings.

You could say

the gospel should fuel

our meetings,

but we had to pick

another word.

So it drives our meetings.

Sometimes that's

through the structure.

You know,

some churches are built

around a gospel ark

where you start

with the adoration of God,

then the acknowledgement

that we are not like God,

that we have sinned,

so we acknowledge our sin,

but then there's

the assurance of pardon,

that God has done something

for us in Christ,

and then a response

of thanksgiving,

giving and hearing His word

and communion.

That's one way

of doing that.

But there are other ways

of doing it.

Just making sure

that people understand

when we gather,

hey, you know what?

Apart from Jesus Christ,

we're all in a lot of trouble.

Just never forget that.

Never forget that.

Apart from what Christ has done,

we are all damned

in hell for eternity.

But because of what

Jesus Christ has done,

we get to enjoy pleasures

as His right hand

forevermore.

Forever.

Forever.

That's amazing good news.

The gospel is the power of God,

he says in Romans 1, 16.

That means technologies,

technologies,

techniques,

and good transitions

can never replace the gospel,

which alone

is the power of God.

That's why we sing

songs like we sang earlier.

When Satan tempts me

to despair

and tells me

of the guilt within.

Has that ever happened to you?

Have you ever felt

despairing of your sins?

Well, here's what you do.

Upward I look

and see Him there

who made an end

of all my sin.

What?

What do you mean

He made an end

of all my sin?

Well, here's what happened.

Because the sinless

Savior died.

Okay, He's sinless.

My sinful soul

is counted free.

Well, what, what, what?

Free from what?

Well, free from the

penalty of sin,

free from the power of sin,

one day free from

the presence of sin.

Well, how did He do that?

Well, for God the just

is satisfied

to look on Him.

Pardon me.

And pardon me.

It's no news like it.

That's how we come.

That's how we can come.

That's why I celebrate

the Lord's Supper.

We proclaim His death

until He comes.

So, what are some

of the implications

of a meeting

that's gospel-grounded

and gospel-driven?

Our songs and prayers

and preaching

are meant to be

gospel-exalting

and expanding,

not drawing attention

to something else,

not unclear,

not vague.

They are pointing

to Jesus Christ,

who He is,

and what He's done.

Two, we emphasize

what God has done

over what we have to do.

In other words,

the indicative

of the imperative.

People shouldn't leave

our meetings every Sunday

with a lot of shoulds

and a lot of musts.

They should leave with,

I can't believe it,

and a lot of get-tos

and want-tos.

That's what a gospel-driven

meeting will produce.

Three,

the gospel should,

we should be aware

of the gospel

in terms of the structure

of our meetings.

There's a story we're telling.

We'll talk about that tomorrow.

We should regularly observe

the Lord's Supper

and baptism.

And then,

another effect is

diversity is seen

more as a fruit

than a pursuit.

If our meetings

are gospel-ground

and gospel-driven,

we will see people

of different ethnicities,

age brackets,

financial states,

educational backgrounds,

we'll see different kinds

of people coming.

Why?

Because we're gathering

around what unites us,

and that is Jesus Christ.

All right,

fourth value.

And these will,

and then we'll sing

another song.

Spirit.

Our gatherings

are spirit-empowered

and meant to be

spirit-dependent.

Our gatherings

are spirit-empowered

and meant to be

spirit-dependent.

Just as God initiates

our worship,

he empowers it

by his spirit.

Thinking back again

to Jesus

and the woman

at the well,

he assured her

that whoever drank

of the living water

he offered

would never thirst again.

A few chapters later,

he says that

whoever believes in him

out of his heart

will flow rivers

of living water.

And John says

in John 7, 38,

now this he said

about the spirit

whom those

who believed in him

were to receive

for as yet the spirit

had not been given

because Jesus

was not yet glorified.

So when Jesus said,

the father is seeking

those who worship him

in spirit and truth,

he's saying

we can't worship God

apart from

the spirit of God.

So everything

we experienced

in the meeting

is empowered

by the spirit of God.

Anything good

of lasting value,

it's empowered

by the spirit of God.

Do we believe that?

It's not empowered

by our incredible planning

and ingenuity.

It's empowered

by the spirit of God.

That's what Paul says

in 1 Corinthians 12, 11.

All these are empowered

by one and the same spirit

who apportions

to each one

individually

as he wills.

Because our gatherings

are spirit-empowered,

our worship of God

is lifeless,

insufficient,

and unable

to bring fruit

apart from

the spirit's work.

It's the spirit

who brought

our dead spirits

to life

through the life,

death,

and resurrection

of Jesus

according to the plan

of the Father.

And he empowers

what we do

when we gather.

Now if we're aware

of that,

that will make us

spirit-dependent.

Which means

that Paul says

in Philippians 3,

Philippians 3:3

verse 3,

for we are the circumcision

who worship

by the spirit

of God,

there it is,

worship by the spirit

of God,

and glory in Christ

Jesus

and put no confidence

in the flesh.

Put no confidence

in the flesh.

What does it mean

to be dependent

on the spirit?

Not putting confidence

in what we're going

to do

to impress

the people

who come

or to inspire

the people

who come.

We can't do that.

The spirit can.

And we want

to be depending

on him

to do that.

The spirit works

in a surprising

number of ways.

Paul lists

in 1 Corinthians 12,

1 Corinthians 12:4–6

verse 4 through 6.

He doesn't listen,

but he says,

there are varieties

of gifts,

but the same spirit.

There are varieties

of service,

but the same Lord.

There are varieties

of activities,

but it is the same God

who empowers them all

and everyone.

In other words,

every aspect of our meeting,

we are depending

on the Holy Spirit

for it to bring fruit.

This is extremely important

what happens

behind a pulpit.

It's just not the only thing

going on in the meeting.

And the spirit's empowering

everything else

that's going on

and we want to ask

for the spirit's help

in those things.

Our singing,

just like it's to be filled

with the word of Christ,

our singing is to be characterized

by the spirit's work.

Ephesians 5, 18,

do not get drunk with wine

for that is debauchery,

but be filled

with the spirit,

addressing one another

in psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs.

Our prayers

are a sign

of our dependence.

Jude 20 says,

but you, beloved,

building yourselves up

in your most holy faith

and praying

in the Holy Spirit,

which leads to

what are the implications

of seeing our gatherings

as spirit-enabled,

spirit-empowered,

independent.

One,

it will increase

our prayer life dramatically.

Like,

if we're not praying

for our meetings,

we don't really believe

that our spirit-empowered.

It doesn't just happen.

And it certainly doesn't happen

because of our planning

and gifting.

It happens because

the spirit of God works.

Two,

it will increase

our faith,

expectation,

and anticipation

that God will work

in our midst

when we gather.

You know what?

The spirit doesn't look

at how many people

are in our congregations

attending on a Sunday morning

to determine

whether or not

he's going to show up.

Aren't you thankful

for that?

And yet,

we can begin

subtly to think,

oh no,

if I have a big congregation,

if we have big attendance,

then the spirit's

really there.

That's not how he,

that's not how he works.

I mean,

there's 120 people

in the upper room

and that was a pretty big,

a pretty big event

that happened there.

God doesn't need

a lot of people.

He needs people

who are trusting him

and depending

on what he can do.

We'll begin to see,

three,

we'll begin to see

how many ways

the spirit is actually working.

You know,

as we look around

and see people standing

at the door greeting,

oh,

why there's a gift

of hospitality.

We don't pass

the plate anymore,

I don't know,

but as you see people

getting out their phones

to give,

you see,

there's a gift

of generosity.

As you see people,

someone praying for someone,

there's a gift of faith.

You just see the spirit

working all around

your church.

And then we'll expect

to be emotionally engaged

and physically affected

because it is the spirit

who's doing the work.

It's not dependent

on our personality,

our background,

our experience.

It's dependent

on the spirit of God

and what he's seeking to do.

And what is he seeking to do?

He's seeking to exalt

Jesus Christ

in us and through us.

All right,

last one.

Church.

We've got God,

we've got scripture,

gospel,

we've got the spirit,

and the church.

Our gatherings

are church defined

and meant to be

church engaged.

church.

Anybody here with a church

of more than 500

on a Sunday morning?

Okay,

300,

is everybody 300 or less?

Let's see.

Okay,

someone around there.

We can be tempted

as small,

our church is between,

it's just a growth spurt,

so we're between

500 and 600 right now.

We have been between

300 and 400 for years,

a long time.

But here's the temptation

to think that,

you know,

somehow we've got to

perform something.

We've got to do,

we've got to get

something going here.

You know,

if we're going to grow,

we've got to make

something happen.

So let me just say

a few things

that the church is not.

Sunday gathering.

Sunday gathering

is not a production company

offering a weekly event

defined by lighting

and video and staging.

It's not.

Sunday gathering

is not a theological lecture

filling people

with head knowledge

but doing little

to affect or shape

their passions

and desires.

Sunday gathering

is not a business venture

or a fast food franchise

driven by principles

of pragmatism

and marketing

and financial success.

Some churches

are very much that way.

Sunday gathering

is not a place

to push the boundaries

of creativity

for the sake

of doing something new.

The Sunday gathering

isn't a theater performance

where actors

whose words and actions

bear no resemblance

to their daily lives

get up in front of people.

Our Sunday gatherings

are extraordinary.

extraordinary.

They're extraordinary.

It's the church

redeemed from every tribe

and language

and people and nation

redeemed from sin's bondage

!

in God's wrath

and God's wrath

by the blood of Christ

gathering

to bear witness

in the presence of God

and to each other

of his greatness

and glory

and goodness

in Jesus Christ.

Our gatherings

are defined

by the reality

of what Jesus

came to do.

In him,

Ephesians 2.22,

in him

you are being

built together

into a dwelling place

for God

by the Spirit.

That's what he's doing

in that group of people.

Building a dwelling place

for God.

We're not being built up

into an emotional

or spiritual

and musical experience

but into a spiritual house.

1 Peter 2.4 and 5.

As you come to him

a living stone

rejected by men

but in the sight of God

chosen and precious

you yourselves

like living stones

are being built up

as a spiritual house

to be a holy priesthood

to offer spiritual sacrifices

acceptable to God

through Jesus Christ.

Christ.

The church has insiders

and outsiders.

Paul talks about

in 1 Corinthians 14

where he says

when the church

comes together

and outsiders

or unbelievers

enter.

Church is not just

made up of the people

we see in the room.

It's made up

of God's people

past, present,

and future

and when we

gather

we are

experiencing

a foretaste

of the marriage supper

of the Lamb

at the end of time.

And we're gathering

with all those

who have gone before

and all those

who are presently

around the throne

and all those

who will one day

be around the throne.

Paul talks about it

in, I'm sorry

the writing of Hebrews

talks about it.

If you believe

Paul wrote Hebrews

then it's Paul

but if you don't

then that's fine.

You have come

to Mount Zion

this is Hebrews 12

22

you've come

to Mount Zion

to the city

of the living God.

This is what's

happening every Sunday

morning.

We're coming

to Mount Zion

the city

of the living God

the heavenly Jerusalem

and to innumerable

angels

in festal gathering

and to the assembly

of the firstborn

who are enrolled

in heaven

and to God

the judge of all

and to the spirits

of the righteous

made perfect

and to Jesus

the mediator

of a new covenant

and to the sprinkled

blood

that speaks

a better word

than the blood

of Abel.

That's who's gathering.

It's the church

as God

has defined it.

That means

that our meeting

should engage

the church.

We are the household

of God

1 Timothy 3 15

which is the church

of the living God

a pillar

and buttress

of the truth.

In other words

we're not oriented

towards a performance

we're not oriented

towards a production

or people on the stage.

We're not

seeking to build

a bunch of spectators.

who are part

of an audience.

We made a very

conscious effort

I don't know

if this has ever

been a temptation

for you

but not to refer

to the people

in the congregation

as the audience.

They're the congregation.

We are all members

of the congregation

being led by Jesus

in the praise

of the Father.

Every member

is involved.

We're welcoming

one another

instructing one another

greeting one another

we're comforting

one another

serving one another

addressing one another

admonishing one another

encouraging one another

church is engaged

church is meant

to be engaged

so what does

that look like?

Well first

we'll be conscious

of the uniqueness

of what's taking place.

There's no meeting

in your city

in your town

in your village

in your whatever

it is you live in

that's like your

Sunday meeting

on Sunday morning.

There's nothing

like it.

A lot of big

important meetings

happening

business meetings

political meetings

education meetings

nothing like

what's happening

in your church

on Sunday mornings.

Two

we'll involve

the congregation

in various ways

we'll look for ways

to involve them

of course as the church

grows bigger

that becomes

more complicated

a little more

challenging

still can be done

through serving

through prayer

through ministries

through scripture

readings

through music

three

the sound

of the congregation

will be our priority

when we sing

we want

people to be able

to hear their voices

and we want

when the music

drops out

the instruments

drop out

for people

to sing louder

I've been in

different contexts

where when you

drop the instruments

out people

sing softer

because they

aren't used to

not being supported

by the instruments

oh no

we're supporting you

these instruments

are supporting

the congregation

doesn't mean

you can't hear them

you need to

hear them

to lead

in some

meaningful sense

but you do

allow space

for people

to hear their

voices

number four

pastoral care

will be the

forefront of our

planning and

preparation and

leadership

we're not just

running a meeting

we are caring

for people's souls

you can't run

the meeting

without the people

that's part of

what it means

to shepherd the

flock

we'll be

historically

aware

number five

mining

liturgy

songs

and teachings

of the past

just

finding out

what's there

that Christians

have been doing

for centuries

that we would

benefit from

someone said

tradition

is the living

faith of the

dead

traditionalism

is the dead

faith of the

living

I think that's

a great way

of putting that

so we want

to be committed

both to

reforming

the dead

faith

and reclaiming

the living

traditions

of the past

aren't

Sundays

extraordinary

when you put

all those things

together

we've covered

a lot of ground

tonight

but those five

values are true

of every church

no matter the

size

age

the denomination

the leadership

the geographical

location

the ethnicity

or musical

style

those five

values are

true

of every one

of those

churches

God himself

calls us

together

he speaks

to us

he brings us

near through

the redemptive

work of Christ

he's present

with us by

his spirit

and he glorifies

himself

through our

unity

and while you

may not need

to change

everything

and you

shouldn't

change

everything

about what

you're doing

on your

Sunday

meeting

it's worth

asking

questions

about

everything

it's worth

asking

questions

is God

really being

exalted

do we really

believe he's

brought all this

together

does scripture

really govern

what we do

or are we just

doing what

has been

passed down

is the gospel

really the

grounds of

what we

are doing

every Sunday

and are people

aware of that

do we believe

that the spirit

is empowering

everything we do

and are we

dependent

do we feel

our need

for the spirit

to work

in our midst

every week

or do we

just assume

because we've

been doing

this for like

four years

we're good

to go

it's not

how God

works

Jesus said

you gotta be

part of the

vine

you can't

be cut off

and expect

to bear

life

you gotta be

always part

of that

vine

and then

finally

are we

are we

aware

that

what God's

doing

is not

just

through us

it's

through the

whole church

that's what

defines us

we're a body

we're a temple

we're a building

we're a field

we're all doing

this together

it's amazing

my prayer

is that

these values

will guide us

in terms of

what we might

need to add

what we might

need to take

out

we might

need to change

or what

we might

just to give

greater emphasis

to

because I doubt

if you're here

that any one

of these

would come

as a shock

to you

especially

governed by

the word

of God

what a surprise

it's just

how we apply

it

and how we

think about

it

and it's

amazing

just to

think that

what we do

every Sunday

is just a

foretaste

just a foretaste

of what we'll be

doing

in eternity

not singing

necessarily

but endlessly

receiving

and celebrating

the love

of the triune

God

for our

eternal joy

and his

eternal glory

that's what's

happening

every Sunday

morning

it's worth

our attention

it's worth

our careful

planning

it's worth

our eager

anticipation

so let's

pray

and then

we're gonna

sing one

final song

the band

can

come on

Father

we thank

you

that you

have given

us the

privilege

of gathering

with your

people

every Sunday

what

what an

amazing

thing it

is

we

we pray

that it

become more

amazing in

our eyes

that we

see

the way

you see

you see

we see our

meetings the

way you see

them

not as simply

us getting

together

but your

presence

in our

midst

calling us

together

to experience

your goodness

the riches

of your grace

the immeasurable

riches of your

grace to us

in Jesus

Father we pray

that we would be

more

dependent on

your spirit

we pray that

our meetings

would be fueled

by your word

that we would

treasure your

word we'd

esteem and

value it that

we'd be affected

by it

we pray that

every member of

the church would

feel more and

more a part

of what you're

doing to bring

glory to your

name through

Jesus Christ

and the power

of your spirit

we thank you

Father for doing

all these things

in Jesus name

amen