Sermon: Unity in the Congregation--The Foundation of Unity

We're experimenting with video at the moment. We've recorded this week's sermon in both mp3 audio and video. The audio is clearest on the mp3 version but the video version is passable I think. I've posted both below, take your pick. This is the last sermon in the series on Ephesians 4 and congregational unity.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Download "Sermon: Unity in the Congregation: Foundation of Unity" in MP3 format

Sermon by Matt Kennedy

text: Ephesians 4:3-5

Thursday Notes

Dear Good Shepherd,

I've been locked out of my email all day so I've not been able to send the Thursday Notes until now and I've been working on other things as a result. I'll be sending something more substantive later but I did want to dash off the following:

Baptism: There will be a baptism this Sunday: Aydia, Raven, and Jaden--all children of Jennifer Austin will be baptized this Sunday at the 10:30am service. The Austin's are among the more than twenty five new members and attenders at Good Shepherd since our move to this new building. Be sure to be here Sunday to welcome the three who will be baptized into the visible body of Christ.

Yard Sale: This Saturday's yard sale starts at 9am...we'd love all the help we can get so please come and join in the fun.

Shepherd's Bowl Starts this Thursday: The Shepherd's Bowl starts this coming Thursday. There was a meeting last night in which a number of things were decided. I'll be writing a report and posting it up very soon--within the week. If you want to watch the meeting--WARNING: it's like watching paint dry--you can watch it here. But, again, I'll be sending out a summary

Men's Bible Study: There will be Men's Breakfast and Bible Study tomorrow morning at 6:30am. All men are invited and welcome. Chris Jones is cooking this week.

Mission and Ministry Study: Reminder that Mission and Ministry Sunday is coming up on September 13th. Between now and then, if you are not already involved in a ministry, think about how you might use your gifts to build up the body at Good Shepherd. You can read about this year's Mission and Ministry Sunday here

Welcome Back: Some of the college kids should be back this Sunday. Welcome! Hope you've had a great summer.

Adult Christian Education: During adult Christian Education this week, we'll finish our discussion of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper and begin a discussion more generally of the theology of worship in general and the theology of worship at Good Shepherd in particular. What is the purpose of Sunday morning services? What are we doing and why are we doing it? Who's desires and wishes should we be most concerned to meet in the music, liturgy, preaching and teaching? We'll discuss those questions and more this Sunday between services. Here is last week's class...

Parent Meeting September 6th: There will be a parents meeting for parents of children in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (ages 3-12) on Sunday September 6th after church. Parents and Catechesis helpers please RSVP to Anne at revakennedy@hotmail.com or call us at 773-4810.

Spiritual Maturity: Where are you in your Christian walk? Are you growing? RC Sproul gives a fantastic talk on spiritual maturity based in Hebrew's 6--you can listen to it here

Sermons: For some reason the podcast did not take last Sunday so the recording of Anne's great sermon was lost. She has posted the text here. Also, if you missed Micah's wedding you can read the wedding sermon here.

Well, that's all for now...more later

Sermon for Micah and Jill's Wedding

Good Shepherd's youth minister and my good friend Micah Towery, was married last Saturday and is now taking a new job in Vancouver. Here is the sermon I preached at his wedding.

texts: 1st John 4:7-11; Genesis 1:26-29

John begins with an instruction that, at least on the surface, everyone can affirm:

"Love one another" is the near universal teaching of every religion and every ethical system religious or non-religious. It's one biblical command with which the whole world can agree. If only we all loved one another there would be no more war, no broken relationships, no partisan politics, no poor people, no depression, no anxiety, no fear...if only we had love.

But John goes on and our consensus wanes: He writes, "for love is of God; Everyone who loves knows God and is born of God." Love has its origin, says John, in God. We've just lost our atheists. But we still have a pretty wide consensus. You can read that verse and check yourself: “I love people, I'm in love, well then there you go, I'm born of God and know God.”

John goes on: "He who does not love does not know God" This flows from the original premise. If God is the origin of love then it stands to reason that those who love have a connection with God and those who don't don't. But who doesn't love? Love is universal. Even the most vile criminal loves somebody. So, still we seem to have a big tent.

But what John writes next is deceptively profound: "God is love." Now we have to get the order of the words right. Love is not god. God is love. I said it is “deceptively profound” because it sounds quite simple and common and easy to affirm. I mean it's on bumper stickers. But the these words express far more than you might think.

First, the word John uses for love is a Greek word that all the Christians here should be familiar with: Agape. There are a number of Greek words for love used in the New Testament.. The three most common are Phileo, Eros, and Agape. Phileo is a feeling of brotherly love, friendship love. It's probably what we had in mind when we said that if we all just loved one another our problems would go away. The other kind of love: eros, is a romantic, passionate, sexual sort of love--we get the word erotic from it. It's the sort of love people generally feel when they say that they fall in love. Many people get married because they experience the feeling of eros. Eros is great –it's an exhilarating emotion. But if you know anything about emotions you know that they come and they go. They're not constant. That's why marriages based solely on eros tend not to last. Eros is always focused on the self. How do I feel about you right now? “Are you making me tingle?”

Agape is a very different kind of love. Agape is a decision of the will, a committed decision to act in love toward another person. To have agape means that you act for another person's good in all things despite you feelings or your circumstances. It is a love that is not focused on the self or on how you feel at a given moment but on the other—it is selfless.

Let's turn back to what John says. Agape is the only word John uses in this text. That tends to put a difficult spin on things. The question in the first two verses is not: do I feel that fuzzy warm feeling for people. The question is, do I consistently decide to act out self-giving love for the people in my life, putting their needs above of my own and serving them even when I don't like them? Agape love is the kind of love that Micah and Jill are going to promise to have for one another. It’s the only kind of love you can promise to have because it is the only love based on a decision.

Let's get back to John's declaration that "God is agape". John is not just saying that God agapes, he is saying that God is Agape. Agape is one of his core attributes. How old is God? He's been around forever. Who made God? No one, God is eternal. That means that he has no beginning and no end. He just is. He exists in an eternal now. How long have we been around? Not as long. How about angels? Are they eternal? No. Okay. So if Agape is a decision of the will to act in self-giving, self-sacrificial, love toward another, we have to ask: how can this quality be essential to the being of an eternal God when his existence precedes the existence of anything else to agape? Agape requires someone to agape. If agape is an essential attribute of God, how was God agape before time began? Who did he agape?

In the very first verse of John's Gospel, John writes, "in the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the word was God." before the beginning of anything, before time and space and all things the Word was. And the Word was with God. That means there was a relationship between the Word and God. They are two, they are distinct Persons. And yet "The Word was God"-They are one. We're looking at the foundations of the Trinity—unity and plurality—God is one and yet within that Oneness, he is three. In John 1, we see the Father and the Son—later John, Jesus, the Son, reveals the third person, the Holy Spirit.

Who did God agape before time began? God agaped God. God the father eternally apaped God the Son, the Word, and God the Holy Spirit. God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, lives in an eternally willing mutual self-giving, active love for himself.

To say that the eternal God is love is to make a Trinitarian confession.

Well that's all very fine and good Matt. I'll come to you when I want to know about the Trinity but this is a wedding and what does this have to do with marriage?

When the bible deals with the purpose of marriage we're given two pictures. One picture is implicit in Genensis 1—you can see it in your first reading. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply...” Notice the shift from singular to plural. God created “man” in his own image, in the image of God he created “him”; male and female he created “them.” The word “man” is singular and refers in Hebrew to humanity in general. God created “humankind”, in his own image--a single unity--but within that single unity—God created two distinct and different kinds, male and female, who are equally human and yet not one but two. There is one kind of being, a human being, but within that one being there are two distinct types.

Some theologians see this oneness and plurality in Genesis 1:27 and say, God created one humankind both male and female, for the purpose of reflecting of his own unity and plurality into the world—revealing his own nature. And I think they are right.

In chapter 2 of Genesis, God does something even more amazing and brings the woman to the man and “joins them together” in the first marriage and they become “one flesh.” So by the end of chapter 2, God has created humanity and instituted marriage in order to reveal not only his unity and plurality but the ground of the intertrinitarian relationship, his agape, his self giving love.

Every marriage is a picture of God to be revealed to all the world. Micah and Jillian are called to live together in such a way that their marriage reveals God and his divine love to the world.

I said a moment ago that the bible describes marriage as having two purposes. The first is to be a picture of God's own agape for God. The second is a picture of God's agape turned in a different direction. Let's go back to that second reading from 1st John 4. "9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The Bible teaches that human beings are in bad shape. We were created for the purpose of being in communion, in an agape relationship, with God, but we've broken that relationship. We turned from God our creator to live for ourselves and the things he created. That decision was made by our first parents long ago and it is repeated in each of our lives daily. And, if you think about it, it hasn't worked out for us too well. God made a different decision. God determined that despite our turning away from him, despite our sins against him, his purpose in creation would stand. He decided to agape us—to sacrifice himself on our behalf. So God became man in Jesus. He took all of our offenses and sins onto himself and suffered the consequences for them when he died on the cross. Then, having done away with sin which is the cause of death, he rose from the dead bodily on the third day and then he ascended into heaven where he still lives today.

The effect of this was that all who turn from themselves, repent, and surrender to him—become his forever. He gives himself to whoever calls his name. So that, as John says, “we might live through him”. Jesus makes his home in and with all who come to him—and corporately, the Church, all who are called by his name—makes Jesus manifest in the world. He pours his life into the Church, he agapes the Church, and the Church, agapes, lives her life and conforms her life to his.

This is the second picture of God's love that Christian marriage is designed to reveal—a picture of the agape between Christ and the Church. Micah is to agape Jill and serve her like Jesus agapes the church and Jill is called to love Micah and submit to him like the church loves Christ. The words they speak to each other, the things they do, the choices they make--tell the world the story of the agape between Jesus the Church.

How is that possible? How is agape possible in any relationship?

At the beginning we said, this stuff is easy. “Hey I love lots of people, so I'm good, I'm born of God.” It's a lot heavier than that. On my own, I can’t love anyone with divine agape. Micah and Jill can't either. No one can. This sort of love is impossible for sinful human beings. It cannot be done.

It can only be done if, as John says in the gospel reading tonight, you are abiding in the true vine.

This is why tonight is such a beautiful night. This is why angels are singing and heaven is rejoicing because both Jill and Micah “are born of God and know God”—and so when they come together the love of God will be revealed and the gospel of his love for his people will be made known.

end.

Anglican Worship and Sacraments: What is Communion 4

Thursday Notes

Dear Good Shepherd,

Here are your Thursday Notes...

Missions Sunday: Missions Sunday will be held on September 13th, 2009. For those of you who are new to Good Shepherd, Missions Sunday is the day set aside to learn and think about the mission and ministry of Good Shepherd and to step forward to either recommit or volunteer to serve in the ministries, mission, and/or programs of the church that are open to volunteers. One essential part of being a member of a visible body of Christ is using your divinely given gifts, skills and talents to build up your brothers and sisters and the congregation and Church as a whole.

There are lots of things going on at Good Shepherd that you've probably never heard of or about that need your support.

This missions Sunday will be a little bit different than last year's. In the past various ministries, especially those needing volunteer help, set out booths in the parish hall and between services we all sort of milled around and signed up. This year, we'll still have the booths and sign up sheets but given that this takes place between services, during the time usually set aside for Christian ed, we'll use the opportunity to present and discuss the overall mission and purpose of Good Shepherd, the one year mission goals that will, by then, have been set by the vestry, and how the various ministries, programs and missions of the church contribute both to our larger mission and to the specific fall 2009-spring 2010 goals.

In the past we have not been great at following up with those who have volunteered and plugging them into various programs. That's been due to the lack of extra manpower to help with the logistics and my own business. This year we think we have all the kinks ironed out so please don't hesitate to sign up.

I hope you will make a point of joining us for this important occassion and that if you are not presently serving in any way in the church that you will prayerfully consider doing so.

Missions Sunday is held between services on September 13th. There will be homemade sweetrolls and other good things to eat.

Men's Bible Study and Breakfast: Nobody is scheduled to cook tomorrow since a lot of people are out of town. If you would like to volunteer, please let me know. We start serving and studying at 6:30am every Friday. All men are welcome and invited

Worship/search Committee: Ife Ojewato was commissioned last Sunday as youth minister and we prayed over Micah and sent him on his way--there are details about his wedding ceremony below. Meanwhile, we need to find a new music director. We're in the process of establishing a worship/search committee to think through the way we worship and to find the music director God has already chosen to take the music program at Good Shepherd forward. The committee will report their recommendations to me and to the vestry and, with God's help, we'll be able to hire a new music director very soon. Please pray for the work of the committee. I'll let you know who is on it as soon as the full number of committee members are appointed.

RUMMAGE SALE 2: August 29, 2009 9am to 1pm. We will be having a Rummage Sale to sell the balance of the items from the Yard Sale and to try to raise some additional money for Rectory upgrades. If you have items you would like to donate, please leave them on the tables in the hall downstairs.

Please volunteer to help us out with this sale. A sign up sheet is available in the hall. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask Cookie.

Thank you to all who helped with the first Yard Sale last week. It was amazing to see how much we did with so many on vacation and only a small core of faithful people. You were appreciated! in addition to earning almost $1,000, we gave out 62 backpacks and 100 school supply packets and lots of ice cream.

Micah's Wedding: will take place THIS SATURDAY at Red Barn in Deposit, NY. The address:

18 Kelsey Rd
Deposit, NY 13754-4218

Mapquest directions
The wedding begins at 6pm and there will be a reception at Red Barn after. If you are still interested in helping with regards to food, please talk to Carrie ASAP. Red Barn is about 40-50 minutes away, so make sure you give yourself enough time! Micah will print out directions for you if you cannot look them up for yourself online.

Micah Wedding Help: There are a few opportunities to serve Micah this week as he prepares to get married. Three ways you could help:

1. Bake cookies! It is up to you what kind. If you could make 2 dozen and either drop them off at the church by Saturday morning or bring them with you to the wedding, that would be great.

2. Chopping skills -- Saturday morning, from 9am-12pm, we will be in the church cutting fruit and vegetables and assembling food trays. Your help would be greatly appreciated!

3. Some of you can't be there but would love to help. You may prefer to serve Micah and Jillian by contributing financially to this part of their wedding.Carrie Moorhead is taking care of all of these details. If you are interested in helping in any of the above ways, send her an email or give her a call at 607-221-0820 or Carrie.Moorhead@gmail.com.

Baptism: Since February we've gained over 25 new members and/or regular attenders. God has certainly blessed us. Jennifer Austin and her children Aydia, Raven, and Jaden and Jennifer are among them. On Sunday August 3oth, Aydia, Raven and Jaden will be baptized at the 10:3oam service and welcomed into the visible Body of Christ. Please be there to help celebrate this great day.

Christian Education: Anglican Worship and Sacraments. Last week we looked at some of the Old Testament imagery associated with the Lord's Supper. This week we'll move to the New Testament and ground the Anglican understanding of Communion in the teaching of the Apostles.

The Shepherd's Bowl: There have been a number of questions about the Shepherd's Bowl that I wanted to answer and I don't have the time to write an article today, so if you've got questions about it,please watch and listen.

Systematic Theology: The Trinity If you are taking the Systematic Theology course, I wanted to give you a heads up for this Saturday. We may have to cut class short due to Micah's wedding but we will meet and we'll start into a discussion of the Trinity. If you want to read ahead, you can read chapter 14 in Grudem's book which is pretty long but very good. Looking forward to seeing you at 3:30 this saturday. In September we will return to meeting every Saturday.
You can watch the most recent class here.Acolyte Practice: Acolytes will meet This Sunday, the 23rd of August after the 10:30am service.

Theology of Preaching: John Macarthur started a new series this week on the purpose and place of preaching/teaching in the church. A lot of Christians wrongly confuse preaching with public speaking and rate it accordingly. Image, charisma, video, symbol and performance are easy and digestible. Expository preaching is difficult to do and difficult to hear. It requires attention and study both on the part of the preacher and the congregation. In short it requires a full bodied commitment and attention to the word. So it is neglected. But it is through preaching, the proclamation of his word, that God shapes, moves, rebukes, nourishes, corrects and builds up his people and brings a congregation to maturity. Macarthur provides a good corrective to the contemporary tendency to discount preaching and along the way gets to the heart of what a church is supposed to be about. You can listen to the first sermon in his series by following this link

Podcast: Last Week's sermon entitled: The Sacrifice of the Son. You can listen to that here. That sermon represented a one Sunday break from our series on congregational unity based in Ephesians 4:1-3. This week we'll go back to that series and talk about the necessity of patience and bearing with one another in love. Womens Bible Study: There will be women's bible study this Saturday. All women are welcome and invited!

Well that's all for now...

Sermon: The Sacrifice of the Son

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Download "Sermon: The Sacrifice of the Son" in MP3 format

Sermon by Matt Kennedy
text: Isaiah 53:1-6

This Sunday we took a break from our series on the qualities necessary for unity in the church based on Ephesians 4 to talk about the Cross of Christ.

John Macarthur: Why Is Preaching Worth Fighting For?

John Macarthur started a new series this morning on the purpose and place of preaching/teaching in the church. A lot of Christians wrongly confuse preaching with public speaking and rate it accordingly. Image, charisma, video, symbol and performance are easy and digestible. Expository preaching is difficult to do and difficult to hear. It requires attention and study both on the part of the preacher and the congregation. In short it requires a full bodied commitment to the word. So it is neglected. But it is through preaching, the proclamation of his word, that God shapes, moves, rebukes, nourishes, corrects and builds up his people and brings a congregation to maturity. Macarthur provides a good corrective to the contemporary tendency to discount preaching and along the way gets to the heart of what a church is supposed to be about. You can listen to the first sermon in his series by following this link or link below the picture...

Why Is Preaching Worth Fighting For?

From text messaging to Twitter to sound bites on TV, we live in a rapid-fire society, no doubt about it. To reach contemporary audiences, should churches do away with preaching—or at least shorten the sermon? John MacArthur looks at a pastor’s most sacred charge in his study, Why Is Preaching Worth Fighting For?..listen here

Good Shepherd Update Friday August 14, 2009

Dear Good Shepherd,
.
This Sunday we'll be sending Micah Towery out into the world with our blessing.
Micah has served for two years as youth minister and music director. Next Saturday he will get married to Jillian and then move to Vancouver where they will make their home. When Micah came to Good Shepherd, there was no youth ministry and we were without a music director. Through God's grace and the gifts that he gives for the up-building of the body, Micah created the youth group from nothing and leaves Good Shepherd with an established foundation for youth ministry upon which Ife will build. Micah is a gifted preacher and teacher, a faithful minister, and a good friend. It's hard to imagine what Good Shepherd will be like without him.

I wish he were leaving on a Sunday that were not smack in the middle of so many people's vacations. August is the lowest month attendance wise at Good Shepherd and so many will miss saying goodbye but we'll do our best. At the 10:30am service, we'll pray for him and send him out and then, hopefully, many of you will be able to attend his wedding this coming Saturday.

Ife Ojewato: Ife will take Micah's place as youth minister.
We'll lay hands on him and pray for God's blessing on his ministry this Sunday at the 10:30akm service. Ife has served Good Shepherd for the last year as our Urban Missions minister. He has also assisted Micah with the youth group, and led the Tuesday Night Bible Study "First Light". Please come this Sunday and pray for and celebrate this day with Ife.

Yard Sale tomorrow August 15th 11 am - 3pm: This Saturday we're going to have a yard sale to raise funds to do some much needed repairs to the Rectory. This should be a big, fun project. If you have not signed up, please come and help.

Helpers are needed to set up and price items on Friday. If the weather cooperates, it will at least partially be held outside in the parking lot. We need people to man a couple of tables each. We will also be selling hot dogs and soda so we will need people to cook them on the grill and keep the supplies coming.

Carmen will be giving away school supplies and ice cream to customers. If you would like to contribute, you may consider a monetary donation to purchase the supplies. Any amount would be appreciated. You can give cash to Carmen, Dolly Shaller or Cookie.

Thank you. If you have any questions, please call Cookie Finch.

Micah's Wedding: For those of you who don't know, Micah's wedding will NOT be happening in the church building. It will take place at Red Barn in Deposit, NY. The address:

18 Kelsey Rd
Deposit, NY 13754-4218

The wedding begins at 6pm and there will be a reception at Red Barn after. If you are still interested in helping with regards to food, please talk to Carrie ASAP. Red Barn is about 35-40 minutes away, so make sure you give yourself enough time! Micah will print out directions for you if you cannot look them up for yourself online.

Christian Education: Anglican Worship and Sacraments. You can listen to last week's class here. This week we'll continue our discussion of the Eucharist, looking in particular at the key biblical texts dealing with communion. I'll also answer questions that have come up. Next week we'll move on to speak more directly about the form of worship--the prayerbook, the liturgy, the smells and bells, and why we do what we do.

The Shepherd's Bowl: There have been a number of questions about the Shepherd's Bowl that I wanted to answer and I don't have the time to write an article today, so if you've got questions about it, please watch and listen.


Systematic Theology: I know that the schedule says that we are having systematic theology this Saturday, but the schedule was created before the Yard Sale was planned. So we will not be meeting this Saturday. The remaining dates are still right. In September we will return to meeting every Saturday. You can watch last week's class here.

Acolyte Practice: Acolytes will meet again on Sunday the 23rd of August after the 10:30am service.

Podcast: Last Week's sermon entitled "Meekness" in our series on congregational unity can be listened too here.

Reading area: We've set up a reading area in the parish hall, with comfortable furninture and lots of books. Most of the books are Christian ones but there are also books on philosophy, politics, literature, and other topics. The idea is to have a well rounded reading center. Please note that the presence of a book in the Library does not mean that we agree or affirm what is written there. I have done my best to weed through but I may have missed some. Most of the books are mine, so please be sure to write the title of any book you take and your name on the sign out sheet that is hanging on the wall next to the couch. Thanks : )

No Womens Bible Study on Saturday: There will not be women's bible study this Saturday due to the Yard Sale

Youth Group: Youth Group will be meeting this week on its regular schedule, but we'll be doing different activities. Junior high will be going out to eat at around 1pm and Senior high will meet at Midway Lanes for bowling at 6. This is Micah's last Sunday. After that Ife will be taking over!

Good News for the Week
Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” 20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, 21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.


Be sure to invite your friends and neighbors to church!

Anglican Worship and Sacraments part 5: What is Communion?

Monday, August 10, 2009

Download "Anglican Worship and Sacraments part 5 Communion" in MP3 format

Q and A about the Shepherd's Bowl

There have been a number of questions about the Shepherd's Bowl that I wanted to answer and I don't have the time to write an article today, so if you've got questions about it, please watch and listen.

Sermon: Unity and the Congregation--Meekness

Text Ephesians 4:1-3

Monday, August 10, 2009

Download "Sermon: Unity and the Congregation--Meekness" in MP3 format

Mark Driscoll on Joel Osteen and the Prosperity Gospel

Good stuff

Thursday Notes

Dear Good Shepherd,

Happy Thursday, here are your Thursday Notes...

Here is the third installment of the New Member series of articles, videos and podcasts...this installment takes a theological turn


Men's Breakfast and Bible Study: Meets tomorrow morning and every friday morning at 6:30am. We're currently studying 1 Samuel. All men (of any age) are invited. Micah is on schedule to cook. tomorrow.

A Note about Preaching: There are times in the life of every congregation that issues need to be dealt with on a Sunday morning. I felt like one of those times was last Sunday. It was not fun, but I believe it was necessary. It has already resulted in a lot of good. Some have expressed worry, however, regarding visitors. What happens when visitors attend and the sermon is about an uncomfortable situation in the parish...won't that turn them off?

First, part of a pastor's job is to apply the scriptures to the congregation. The text I quoted on Sunday from 2nd Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness..." comes from Paul's advice to a young pastor named Timothy. Paul tells Timothy to bring the bible to bear on the circumstances and situations of his congregation. That advice applies to all pastors which means that necessarily there will be times when uncomfortable subjects are brought to the forefront during sermons. I've done it before. I'll do it again. I don't have a choice.

Second, Paul himself faced this difficulty many times. As we've said before, his epistles were not intended as mere letters--they were to be read out as sermons to the receiving congregations. Can you imagine what it must have been like in the Galatian congregation when Paul's words, "foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" (Galatians 3:1) were read? Or how it might have gotten a little uncomfortable in the Corinthian church when Paul mentioned the man who was having an affair with his step-mother in 1st Corinthians 5. Paul was generally not concerned about what visitors thought in those circumstances because there was an issue that needed to be addressed for the good of the body. If the congregation is being destroyed internally, then whether visitors are attracted makes little difference. The health of the body is at stake.

Third, God is in charge. A famous pastor once said: "God will determine the breadth of the congregation. It's up to us to worry about the depth." In other words, if we are doing what we need to be doing, seeking Christ and his righteousness, loving God and loving each other, sitting under the teaching and sometimes conviction of the Spirit through the scriptures, then God will give us growth. We will be a living church. The moment we stop seeking to be faithful to Christ or dealing honestly with problems and issues, is the moment we risk losing our Christian identity and integrity. I think the reason God brings people to Good Shepherd is that we do not hide our faults and our failings. We need the grace of God and we know we need the grace of God.

So ultimately, I would be a lot more worried about our long term health if we decided not to deal with serious issues because of the possibility of turning some people off.

Anne's Yard Sale August 15th 11 am - 3pm: We are going to have a yard sale to raise funds to do some much needed repairs to the Rectory. This should be a big, fun project. Please sign up this Sunday to help out. Also, if you have any good, clean, useable (in good condition) items, leave them at the church by August 13th. We want to make this a quality sale.

Helpers are needed to set up and price items on Friday. If the weather cooperates, it will be held outside in the parking lot. We need people to man a couple of tables each on Saturday. We will also be selling hot dogs and soda so we will need people to cook them on the grill and keep the supplies coming.

Carmen will be giving away school supplies and ice cream to customers. If you would like to contribute, you may consider a monetary donation to purchase the supplies. Any amount would be appreciated. You can give cash to Carmen, Dolly Shaller or Cookie.

Remember to sign up to help Anne+ with this project. Thank you. If you have any questions, please call Cookie Finch.

Abigail Finch was in the newspaper this week after the Finch home, thankfully, was spared when a tornado touched down very close by. Read about it here.

Christian Education: Anglican Worship and Sacraments. You can watch last week's class here. This week we'll continue our discussion of the Eucharist, looking in particular at the key biblical texts dealing with communion. I'll also do my best to answer questions that have come up.

Michele and Gerald will be married this Saturday at 1pm. The entire church is welcome to attend. There will be refreshments afterward in the parish hall.

Locking Doors: If you are the last one out of the church and have a key, please make sure to check and/or lock the doors. On Sundays the two front doors as well as Both side entrances need to be locked. Thank you.

The Shepherd's Bowl: There was another meeting this week between Conklin Avenue Baptist (CAB) and Good Shepherd regarding the Shepherd's Bowl. CAB believes that they will have enough people to cook every week. That means that we will be able to cook separate meals every week rather than one for both meals. We also decided that Good Shepherd's meal would be on Thursday's as it always has been while CAB would experiment, for September, with running their meal on the same night. The reason some think this might work is that we believe we will be drawing from very different areas of the south-side. CAB will be focused on the people who live close to our old location and who would probably not walk all the way to our present location. We will focus on the Saratoga Apts and the eastern portion of the south-side. After a month, should the experiment of having the two suppers on the same night fail, CAB will move their supper to a different night and we will continue meeting on Thursdays. Things seem to be coming together well. We have a great pool of volunteers and we'll pray that that pool gets deeper.

Systematic Theology: We will not have class this Saturday because of Michele's wedding. You can watch last week's class here.
Acolyte Practice: Acolytes will meet again on Sunday the 23rd of August after the 10:30am service.

Podcast: Last Week's sermon, Unity and the Congregation can be found and listened to here.

Truthfulness of the Bible: Theologian DA Carson discusses the inerrancy of the bible in this brief but good video. Watch it here.

The Nature of Scripture: In 2005, RC Sproul published a very good book on the nature, authority, and truthfulness of the bible called "Scripture Alone". If you have questions about scripture or doubts about its claims, please be sure to get it.

Reading area: you may have noticed that we've set up a reading area in the parish hall, with comfortable furninture and lots of books. Just a note about that--most of those books are mine, so please be sure to write the title of any book you take and your name on the sign out sheet that is hanging on the wall next to the couch. Thanks : )

Comfortable chairs: We've also moved a number of comfortable chairs into the parish hall from the school. Now that we have rented it out, all the stuff that was left there needs to be taken out. The chairs are much nicer to sit in than the hard cold folding ones...God has provided so many small blessings alongside the larger ones.

Womens Bible Study: There will be women's bible study this Saturday at 10am in the church as usual.

Youth Group: Youth Group will be on its regular schedule this Sunday: Senior high, 6-8; Junior high, 1-3. It's my (Micah's) second to last Sunday! My time is nigh! Please come and invite some friends! Ife will not be there this week, but next week he will be. August 16th is my LAST week at Good Shepherd, so we're going to go out with a bang. Senior high will be bowling 6-8 at Midway Lanes, and Junior High will be going out for lunch at 1pm after church. Remember to invite friends!
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Micah's New Number: Because Micah is leaving the country he is getting rid of his Sprint phone. He has a new Google Voice Number, which you can call and leave a voicemail message that he will receive. And if Micah is back in the country, it will more than likely ring a new phone. This will be his new permanent phone number. Anyone from Good Shepherd is free to call him at any time and he will do his best to respond. Ask him for the number.

Book Recommendation: Scripture Alone by RC Sproul

The Rev. Dr. RC Sproul is one of the best Christian writers, thinkers and teachers around. His book, "Scripture Alone" is top notch for those wondering about the nature, authority and truthfulness of the bible.

Every generation of Christians since the time of Jesus has had to face attacks upon Scripture from an unbelieving and hostile world. And in every generation, men and women have stood for the absolute inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture as essential to the health and welfare of the church.

From his work with the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy to his many lectures and writings, Dr. R.C. Sproul has been a leader in the defense of the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture during our time. This new book collects four previously published articles by Dr. Sproul on this subject, The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy and his commentary on it, and The Ligonier Statement on biblical authority, which helped lay the groundwork for the work of the International Council...more

I'll be borrowing from it a little when we come to the "scripture" section of our Systematic Theology class so if you want to get a head start, buy it now. If you are not in the class, buy it anyway(follow the link above)...I can think of few better resources for understanding the bible.

DA Carson: What Does Inerrancy Mean? Is it Essential to Christian Belief

If you are new to the congregation, Good Shepherd officially holds to the the doctrine of the inerrancy of scripture and all leaders, teachers, and preachers at Good Shepherd must affirm it.

Al Mohler: A House Divided?

This is a good article describing the current state of play in the Anglican Communion. I agree with Dr. Mohler's assessments and opinions on this matter...

Less than a month after the Episcopal Church voted to end its commitment to a moratorium on the election of openly homosexual priests as bishops, one of the largest and most liberal dioceses of the Church has nominated two openly homosexual clergy to election as bishop. The stage is now set for the Episcopal Church to break with the larger Anglican Communion and thus fully to normalize homosexuality within their church.

The diocese of Los Angeles announced Sunday the nomination of six priests as candidates for two openings as auxiliary bishop. Two openly homosexual clergy are on the list, a man and a woman. The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, Bishop of Los Angeles, affirmed "each and every one of these candidates," noting his pleasure in "the wide diversity they offer this diocese."

Acting just prior to the Diocese of Los Angeles, the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota also announced candidates for election as bishop. The three candidates include the Rev. Bonnie Perry, pastor of All Saints Episcopal Church in Chicago, Illinois. According to the Chicago Tribune, Rev. Perry has been in a committed homosexual relationship with another female Episcopal priest for 22 years.

All this adds up to a context of extreme volatility. The Episcopal Church now threatens to turn the Anglican Communion into absolute turmoil. Given the circumstances, the Anglican Communion will have no choice but to act. Conservatives, led by archbishops from the "Global South," have long warned the communion that they and their churches will not accommodate themselves to the normalization of homosexual behavior and relationships. As they rightly recognize, such an accommodation is nothing less than a denial of scriptural authority and an act of defiance against the clear teachings of the Bible.

Amazingly, the titular head of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has responded to the action of the Episcopal Church by suggesting the possibility of a "two-track model" of Anglican relatedness that would recognize "two styles of being Anglican."...more

Why do you homeschool?

Many have wondered why Anne and I have chosen to home-school our children. RC Sproul is in the middle of a lecture series discussing some of the reasons some parents decide to home-school or, if they have the resources, to put their children through private school.

Lecture 1: The Myth of Neutral Education

Lecture 2: The Goal of Education

Lecture 3:The Problem of State Education

Note: I do not think nor am I implying or saying that those who choose differently are somehow wrong nor do I believe that public school is the wrong choice. This post is just intended to explain for those who have asked why we personally have made this decision:

Sermon: Unity and the Congregation

sermon by Matt Kennedy

Ephesians 4:1-3

Monday, August 3, 2009

Download "Sermon: Unity and the Congregation" in MP3 format

We said last week that when a visible congregation meets together, something mysterious and powerful happens. We looked at texts in Matthew 18, 1 Cor 5, and Hebrews 12 that taken together point to a kind of transcendence—the gathered congregation is made present with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven and Jesus Christ is present powerfully in a way that he is not otherwise. In the preaching, sacraments, and prayers, divine power is unleashed. The body as a whole is changed. Each believer individually is changed. Believers are encouraged, convicted, corrected, and nourished by Christ himself. Non-believers are moved by God to faith, from death to life, from hell to heaven. The whole body is drawn up into Christ and made more fit to reflect his glory.

In our marriage series, if you remember, we said that one purpose of marriage is to proclaim to the world the love between Christ and his church. That proclamation which is implicit in marriage, is made explicit when a congregation meets. We in this local congregation, in this smaller gathering, make manifest and proclaim the love and obedience of the universal church, Bride of Christ, for the Husband, for the Lord. So when someone comes through these doors he should see in our life and fellowship, the qualities and characteristics of the whole Church—the universal fellowship that extends from earth to in heaven and transcends time and space—love, humility, patience, devotion, submission, awe, worship—the refracted and reflected glory of Jesus Christ in our lives and in our collective life.

But there is a second more explicit proclamation made when a believing congregation comes together. Paul names it in 1^st Corinthians 12:27, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” When believers talk about the Body of Christ, and we said this last week, they almost always mean the invisible, universal Body of Christ made up of all believers. But in this section of Corinthians, Paul is addressing the local congregation in Corinth, encouraging them to build the “local” body up by participating in it, using their gifts, by not fighting and dividing—why? Because “you”, the local church, “are the body of Christ.” The local congregation, then, makes manifest not only the Church universal—but in an even more mysterious way, Christ himself, his own body.

What is true for the church in Corinth is true for the Church of the Good Shepherd.

What we do together, how we live together, how we speak to one another and how we love or hate one another tells the world a story, preaches a sermon to the world about Jesus. As the Body of Christ we signify Jesus to the Word.

So, as we said last week, unity “with” a visible church is a biblical mandate for believers...and as Paul says to the Corinthians this morning and as he says in his letter to the Ephesians, the unity “of” the congregation is also a mandate. A divided Church proclaims to the world a divided Christ.1st Corinthians 1:10 “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” Why? He tells us in the very first question of verse 13:

“Is Christ divided?”

That's a rhetorical question with some power behind it. The Corinthian congregation, preaches Jesus to the world. The problem is that “divisions” proclaim a false Christ. The divisions, the cliques, the factions in the Corinthian church tell a lie about Jesus—divisions in the church say to the world, according to Paul that “Christ is divided”. A divided congregation preaches Christ's body still broken, his bones still in the grave, a Christ who is not risen. Divisions say, Jesus is powerless to hold his body together. So the fights we have here with our brothers and sisters, the grudges, the built up resentments, the unforgiveness, the grumbling, whispering, gossiping, the backbiting, slander—is not just destructive in the familiar way that it is in the world. These things are bad enough at school or in the office.

But here in the Church, we bear false witness about Christ. We slander Christ. Here we sully the name of Christ. Here we dishonor him in the face of the world and in presence of his angels and archangels and the company of heaven.

That's not a small thing.

That's why we're in Ephesians 4 where Paul deals with the unity of the visible church, the congregation. There are feuds and divisions here that are right now tearing at the unity of this congregation. Men, leaders, fighting over money. Brothers and sisters making harsh judgments about others in the congregation based on nothing but their own ungrounded assumptions. People going from person to person grumbling and criticizing and complaining about the behavior of others without even trying to talk face to face, just spreading bile into the body. I'll be honest, I've been tearing my hair out over the last two weeks wondering what to do about this. But the remedy hit me again this week when 2 Timothy 3 came up in the daily lectionary we use. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This stuff is powerful. All we can do as a church is sit under God's word, sit under scripture, and let God use it to correct, rebuke convict and train us.

He's doing that right now in Ephesians 4. In verse 2, Paul describes those characteristics, those active things each of us must do and be to keep the unity of the congregation. “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” There are three qualities named: humility, gentleness, and patience. Humility and gentleness are linked. Patience precedes and sets the foundation for “bearing with one another with love” That last phrase “bearing with one another in love” is the core instruction in verses 1-3. Bearing with one another in love is how you “make every effort”--it's the fuel which drives the “eagerness” to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of love.

We're dealing this morning with humility. The model for humility, and I said this last week toward so I won't re-read it, is found in Philippians 2:1-10—if you want to have it open for reference that's fine, but we talked about it extensively and laid down a pretty thorough foundation for understanding humility—today I want to look at humility from a different angle.

Humility is the opposite of pride and I think we'll get a better grasp of what humility is by thinking about its opposite. Pride is a hub sin a sin that spawns a host of other sins: jealousy, envy, slander, a critical spirit, ingratitude to name several. Pride is the impulse and desire to be first, to be adored, admired, and ultimately worshiped. It is grounded in a deep idolatrous love for the self that not only supersedes love for God but produces a desire to be God. When a proud person is not given the honor, admiration, adoration that he believe is due, his response is rage and division. Satan understood that so long as he was in fellowship with God he could never be God, so he rebelled, he divided. Adam and Eve wanted to be gods themselves so they rebelled and divided. That's the pattern. If you're a proud person you need the space to be your own little god. That's why you're always leaving things and people. Other people make it hard for little gods to fully live into their little god-selves.

Here are 5 things that pride does.

1. Pride takes offense (cain): Because the primary focus of a proud person is on himself and whether or not he's being given the deference, respect, gratitude and admiration he deserves, it's really easy to offend a proud person. If you're proud, you turn all of your conversations into reasons to talk about yourself, your feelings, your deeds, your opinions, and your looking for the same kind of focus in others. What does he or she think of me? And so when someone forgets to say thank you. Or someone else's accomplishments are recognized, if your work is unnoticed, your great sacrifices and sufferings not sympathized with, your name not mentioned--you get angry, offended. You take it personally. Because you are always thinking about you, you think everyone else is always thinking about you and so what people say and do is always in some way aimed at you.

2. Pride is envious (Saul). The proud person is sad/angry when others are recognized, promoted, admired, congratulated or praised. If you're proud, when people speak well of another person's work or performance, or character, you might play along, but in your heart your thinking of all the ways that the person being praised is inadequate, not quite as good as everyone thinks. You're thinking about ways that you are better and how blind and stupid everyone is for not noticing. You're also probably thinking about way's to make the praised person's failures more widely known—because its just not fair that he gets so much undeserved attention.

3. Proud people hate to be criticized even constructively but love playing the critic (pharisees). Now, it is true that nobody loves criticism. I don't like it one bit. But if you're proud you simply cannot handle it. You're not just defensive, you are unable to process the criticism as anything but an attack. When you're criticized, you immediately generate a thousand reasons why the critic is wrong, doesn't understand, isn't looking at the facts. Sometimes critics are wrong, especially if the critic is another proud person, but because you're proud, you can't assess honestly whether the critic is ever right.

But you're really good at spotting imperfections in other people, you've honed that skill. You have a critique in your head for every member of your family, your coworkers, friends, and you can call up that list at a moment's notice. The humble person, by contrast, can generally take criticism well and is able to discern good constructive criticism from false and destructive criticism primarily because the humble person is already aware of his own faults and is very honest with himself about them. When the humble person senses the need to confront someone in a critical way about that person's behavior, he'll always check himself first. Am I being fare, am I criticizing this person legitimately?

4. Proud people complain when things are not as they would have it. Since they are the center of their own universes, when things are not as they would have it things are not right. If you're proud you're always thinking about why you don't like your present circumstances and usually trying to figure out who to blame for it. Humble people are generally surprised at and thankful for what they have.

5. Proud people are naturally prone to tear down leaders. If you're proud, the decisions of your leaders, bosses, parents, anyone over you in any way are always flawed, their assessments always wrong, their motives always sinful. Everything would work a lot better if you were in charge and so your bosses, leaders, parents, teachers, whoever, are always less capable of doing their jobs than you. Nothing angers you more than a leader who will not listen to your wise counsel. Humble people are certainly aware of flaws in leaders and willing to call them on it but the idea of being under the authority of others is not a problem. He can appreciate good leadership because it is not a threat to him.

I believe that most of the conflicts right now in this church have their root in pride.

What do you do if you've noticed this kind of thing in your heart? First be honest with yourself and be honest with God. Repent, ask God's forgiveness. If your pride has caused a fight here in this congregation, ask forgiveness from the person affected by it, and then commit to turn yourself around. Repentance is not true repentance without that last part.

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

But how do you get rid of something like pride? I mean if you try really really hard not to be proud and you succeed, don't you just end up being proud of your accomplishment in not being proud?...it seems like an impossible battle to win. And it is. It is utterly impossible for me or you or any human being to gain victory over pride. Thanks be to God that we are not alone; thanks be to God that the battle is his and not ours; thanks be to God that he lives in us through his Holy Spirit and has the power to change hearts and minds and emotions.

I would say that the first thing to do after we repent is that we need to pray. “Lord, I've realized today that I have a proud heart, thank you for showing me that, please give me your grace to be humble, please shape in me the character and heart of your Son Jesus Christ, help me to love you more than me, to love others above myself”--pray that or something like that every day. And then you work. It's interesting that directly after that great hymn of Christ's humility in Philippians 2 Paul says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (12-13). Paul is not talking about “eternal” salvation—our salvation from hell. If you are a believer that salvation was accomplished on the cross of Christ and his perfect righteousness was credited to you when you believed. You have been justified. Rather, the salvation Paul points to here is our salvation from the dominion of sin. We have been saved from sin's eternal consequence already (that is called Justification) but we are daily being saved from sin's power and dominion (that's called sanctification). This is a cooperative thing. God works in you as you work. God gives you the power to do what you could otherwise not do. So you and I work to change the way we think and act and talk with regard to others and ourselves, we discipline our bodies and minds, adapt new habits of thought—and God works in us to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Some examples: Practice admiring other people and their good qualities instead of analyzing their words about you, analyze how you can say things to build other people up. Think about ways to promote and protect the reputation of those you consider rivals....more examples and close in prayer

end

Anglican Worship and Sacraments: Communion part 1

Systematic Theology: The Will of God