WELCOME
Communion Worship Service
Good morning First Baptist. We welcome you to worship this morning. Be sure to remember your brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the week as you pray for them, and as the Holy Spirit brings their faces to your mind. Be sure to also connect with them in the ways that are possible. And if you have any questions or would like to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to contact the church through the church telephone and leave a message. (519-733-4144)
Songs
Call to Worship
In love and joy God calls us together. And so we meet this day, as friends, as neighbours, as sisters and brothers in Christ. Called together by God, we bring our offerings to God: Our songs, our hearts, our prayers, our lives. Grateful for this opportunity to give and receive, let us worship God!
GOOD MORNING FBK & WELCOME TO WORSHIP!
Songs
Prayer
Prayer of Confession & Assurance
In confession the break-through to community takes place. Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person. This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession the light of the Gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart.
Assurance of Pardon
Christ died for our sins. He made a full atonement for us. We are forgiven and we have the promise of eternal life. Feel that forgiveness in your heart. We are His children. Amen.
Doing Life Together
How Good and Pleasant It Is
Today's Message: Pastor Dave Page
On the morning of April 9, 1945, in the last days of the Nazi German Reich, a tall unassuming man was led from his cell at Flossenburg prison to a rope hanging from a hook on a wall in a nearby courtyard and unceremoniously hanged alone, so tall he was that his feet often scraping the ground. In the next few hours, his colleagues, Admiral Wilhem Canaris, head of German Military Intelligence, and his deputy Major General Hans Oster, along several others were each in their turn similarly hanged. This man I’m speaking of, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the others were executed for of their roles in a conspiracy to assassinate Adolph Hitler. The conspirators had tried on several occasions to eliminate the Fuehrer, but had failed. The irony in Bonhoeffer’s involvement in these several attempts on Hitler’s life, was that he was a Pastor, had been a near pacifist, and argued for that belief in the years before his arrest. Indeed, his arrest in April 1943 had been ordered because he had evaded military duty and persuaded others to do the same. This may seem like a peculiar way to begin a message during a worship service, however I hope that at the end of it you’ll see the method here.
It is now about 77 years ago that Deitrich Bonhoeffer was hanged. Bonhoeffer is famous for many things, but this book Life Together, his classic work on Christian community, is one of the most life-changing books a modern day follower of Jesus could ever read. In some ways, Life Together is perhaps more relevant today than when Bonhoeffer wrote it almost 8 decades ago.
The local church was always at the centre of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s heart and theology. In his studies he wrote his first dissertation on life in the church (“The Communion of Saints: A Dogmatic Inquiry into the Sociology of the Church”). As a theological professor he laboured to train pastors for the church.
This September when we launch our next church year – Our 200th year as FBK doing ‘Life Together’, we are going to invite you to again read a book with us. This book – Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
For Bonhoeffer, obedience meant living out the Sermon on the mount in the context of Christian fellowship. So strong was this conviction that in 1935, Bonhoeffer decided to return to Germany from where he had been Pastoring in London England to lead a seminary, an illegal seminary. A seminary that would be opposed by the mainstream church and the Nazi regime. This seminary was more than theological training. This was meant to be an experiment.
The experiment began with 24 men, Bonhoeffer and 23 students. At Finkenwalde, in Poland, Bonhoeffer’s experiment developed over two years. For two years he meticulously attempted to lead the community of men to live together under the instruction of the Sermon on the Mount. The experiment brought great joys and great bouts of depression. By the end of it, Bonhoeffer had learned much about discipleship and christian fellowship. Thankfully, he put those lessons into words – two timeless works, Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship.
Life Together is a wonderful, biblical understanding of Christian community, how it is established and maintained, what role it should have in the life of the believer. In life together, Bonhoeffer begins with Psalm 133, our text for this morning.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 133
1 How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
Life for God’s People is a good and pleasant life by design!
In Psalm 133, we find the psalmist enjoying something. This is not his recalling something good, or thinking about the potential of something good coming in the future. No, we find the psalmist mid pleasure, and he wants us to join in. He wants us to participate. The psalmist is saying, “Behold! Come look! Come join in this thing that is delightful! The thing the psalmist desires us to behold is “God’s people dwelling in unity.”
While we do not know the exact date or occasion of this psalm, we know that it could have come at the resolve of any of the numerous occasions of division in God’s kingdom. One of those occasions occurred immediately after Saul, the first king died. One portion of Israel took one of Saul’s family members and made him king. While another part took David and set him up as king. The resulting conflict intensified until it appeared as if the only way the kingdom would be united again would be through total victory by the stronger side in a civil war. They would have to fight it out. However, through God’s providential elevating of David, all of Israel became one in their acceptance of David as the anointed king (2 Sam. 5).
This psalm celebrates that kind of unity for God’s people, the absence of division. How good and pleasant it is for God’s people to be united rather than divided, loving rather than hostile, and one rather than divided parts!
Like the nations of Israel, Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew bitter divisions in the church. Often times he found himself in the middle of very great differences. The church in Germany between the end of WWI and the end of WWII experienced much contention and tremendous division. Across the world, the Church of Jesus Christ was wrestling with the mightiest of topics – Conservatism , Pacifism, Nationalism – For Bonhoeffer, the posture one took toward Germany became a major threat to Christian fellowship.
So, like Bonhoeffer in Germany and David in Israel, we too know many potential threats to Christian fellowship – threats to a truly joy-filled Life Together. Consider just a few of these:
Very recently – Mask or no Mask, Vaccine or no vaccine Across the western world – Conservative or Liberal Closer to home – How we Parent The 2SLGBTQ+ community and how they will find space within the church….
This list includes some of the big items, but I am sure you can add to this list.
Other threats to Christian Fellowship might include: Past Offences Past Wounds…of both individuals/leaders in the Church and of the Church itself.
The number of threats and obstacles to the good and pleasant dwelling together available to Christians are so many that its experience, of living together in harmony, is often the exception rather than the norm. Think of the world around us at the moment; the typical experience of the world is division, rivalry, hostility, and war. Unity, peace, love, and togetherness are constant ideals sought after by all, but enjoyed by relatively few. Which is why we find most of the world today remains fragmented and divided along ‘party’ lines. This is the world we live in. It is a hostile place on many fronts.
This reality around us makes the experience of Christian fellowship all the more pleasant and good. The church is the place where the search for community, unity, love and peace should find its finish line.
Now, as the world is busy seeking the community promised in the Scriptures, everyone seems tirelessly working toward the same end – peace, justice, love, and unity. What we find in God’s Word – especially in this text is that the good and pleasant experience of community comes from God, not from our own doing. It is the gift of God’s grace and God’s favour. We can see this in several expressions in our passage.
The Oil on the head
Psalm 133:2
It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe.
The oil was for anointing. It is God setting apart someone or something. It was a physical sign of God’s favour and grace. By relating the good and pleasant fellowship of God’s people to the anointing oil on Aaron’s head (Aaron was the first high priest) the psalmist is saying that this good and pleasant fellowship is God’s work and it marks, it identifies, it sets apart his people. While everyone one else looks for this kind of community, the church possesses it now, and they possess it not because we have distinguished ourselves from the world but because God has given it to us by grace!
Psalm 133:3a It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.
In our largely non-agrarian (not farmer or involved agriculture) culture, we are less aware of the importance of natural occurrences such as the dew. However, in a culture dependent on healthy plants nearby for food, the regular morning dew was important. In that context, the dew was seen by the Jewish people as a sign of God’s favour. They recognized that it was God who watered the earth, and when they awoke to condensation on their porches, they rejoiced in the favour God had shown them.
Psalm 133:3
It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
What verse 2 and verse 3a say poetically, verse 3b states practically and plainly. The good and pleasant fellowship known by the people of God can be explained by the statement, “The LORD has commanded the blessing!”
Something worth spending time considering is this: Why has this fellowship been found in the church while remaining unachieved through the world’s culture and wisdom? The answer is this – It is because there in that time and, here in the church in our time, God has commanded the blessing!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer agrees with the psalmist when he states,
“Christian community is not an ideal but a divine reality.”
The community – the peace, love, joy, and unity – we long for with the world does not need to be created. It already exists! It exists in God. It exists in the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – the Holy Trinity. That is why this community is divine. It is from God and experienced by God.
Bonhoeffer tells us who is that rightful centre of this divine reality: “ Christian community is not an ideal we have to realize, but rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”
Do you see the difference? Unlike the world, Christians are not pursuing love, joy, peace, and unity. Instead, we are already participating in it. The community already exists. It is the creation of God. The good news of the gospel is not that we don’t have to achieve these things on our own. The gospel isn’t a playbook for how to bring heaven to earth. Instead, the gospel is making us aware that in Jesus and our relationship with Him, we have that community now. God has reconciled us, through the blood of Jesus to Himself, and to each other. Which is an already and long ago, accomplished fact.
Look at what Bonhoeffer taught:
“Christian community means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. There is no Christian community that is more than this, and none that is less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily community of many years, Christian community is solely this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.”
What does that mean? It means, first, that a Christian needs other Christians for the sake of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom. It means, second, that a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ.
And third, it means that from eternity that has been the plan!! You have been chosen in Jesus Christ, and united to Him and each other for eternity. That’s us together – His Church.
Can I share a sad truth with you? But truth all the same. The longing for community will always be out of reach for those in and of the world – apart from Jesus. But the community that is in Christ by the grace of God will possess it and enjoy it and they will possess it and enjoy it, forever.
Psalm 133 A song of ascents. Of David.
1 How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
Look one last time at this Psalm
Again we have to remember that this text is poetry. It is communicating truth to us through imagery. The imagery the psalmist wants us to see is this “running” of the oil and the dew. This good and pleasant community is like Oil on the head running down. It is also like the dew on the great mountain of Hermon running down to the lesser mountains of Zion.
Now, why do I point this out. Because I really want all of us to grasp that the idea here is that the community, this blessing of God, expands outward. That’s where we come in. God has anointed His people with this blessed community, and it runs elsewhere to others.
This is what the psalmist wants us to see, that the good and pleasant community known by those us would not be contained but that it would spill over to others. It would run like oil and dew to refresh those who do not yet experience it.
In the pages of the New Testament we learn that the Son through which this blessing would extend to the world, is Jesus. The community spoken of in the Psalm 133 turns out to be a road sign, a picture, pointing us forward to the true and lasting community that would be founded in Christ. And this community will eventually extend to all the ends of the earth.
Bonhoeffer sums this up so well:
According to God’s will, the Christian church is a scattered people, scattered like seed “to all the kingdoms of the earth” (Deut. 28:25). That is the curse and its promise. God’s people must live in distant lands among the unbelievers, but they will be the seed of the kingdom of God in all the world.
Our reality, between now and the end of time, we – God’s people, live scattered. And it’s by His grace we experience some taste of that good and pleasant community to come, and by His design this fellowship spreads through us to the world. These convictions concerning the good and pleasant fellowship known by God’s people greatly affected the behaviour of Bonhoeffer and they will affect us similarly if we too cling to them as true.
So, what do we do with this:
Firstly, receive this as a sort of An FYI – of a discussion to come in Sept. – so get the book!! Some Available in the Narthex.
But for today, here are two responses you might consider:
- Be Grateful.
Have you tasted the goodness and pleasantness of Christian community in any measure? If so, we must thank God, because it comes from God. Thankfully, Marlee and I both bear witness, as do many of you, to the fact that God has indeed blessed us. I look around and I see the good and pleasant experience of brothers and sisters doing Life Together in and through Christ here at FBK.
We see it weekly as many of you gather in to pray together and discuss the scriptures. We see it in the women and men in through 20s, 30s, and 40s sit at the community dinner table to laugh and enjoy the fellowship of men and women in their 60s and 70s.We see it each Sunday morning as we lift one voice united in worship and praise of our God.
God has blessed us FBK. This is not the experience of many Christians. One last nod to the words of Bonhoeffer:
“let those who until now have had the privilege of living a Christian life together with other Christians, praise God’s grace from the bottom of their hearts. Let them thank God on their knees and realize: it is grace, nothing but grace, that we are still permitted to live in the community of Christians today.”
- Be joyfully expectant.
Since this good and pleasant community has been achieved in Christ and will be brought to full completion by Christ, whatever our experience of Christian community is today, look for it to continue.
For example:
- Are you isolated at the present?
- Do you find yourself disconnected?
- Surrounded by the enemy?
- Do you know loneliness?
If you are a part of this community, if you by faith are in Christ, this is temporary.
We might find ourselves friendless in the darkest hours of our time here on earth… Like Paul we might find ourselves alone writing letters from prison longing to be in the presence of a fellow believer. Like Elijah we may sense we are alone even when there are fellow believers around.
The glorious truth about this community is that its fulfillment, its fullness still lies ahead of us. Be Curious, hopeful, anticipate and want for more because more is what’s to come!! Remember that the image of the relational God is stamped upon us. This is precisely why we find ourselves yearning for loving community but at the same time – Even in the church of Jesus Christ—where loving relationships should have the best chance of flourishing— the cultivation of community remains a constant challenge. It requires tremendous effort and sacrifice, and quite frankly, at times, it’s risky.
And so, an obvious question arises: Is community worth pursuing?
The Bible’s answer is yes, yes—a thousand times, yes. It’s our answer for you too. Why? Because God’s plan has not changed, and you and I are made for God’s plan. What that looks like for us specifically at FBK is what our Fall Kick off series will be focused on. Life Together.
Prayer
As the crowds followed Jesus, eager to be filled with hope, we come this day to this place, seeking nourishments for our souls. We hunger and thirst for the word of hope and truth, but our lives are battered by anger and hostility. Our hearts are filled with concerns for family and friends, for our country and our world. We don’t see how we can be of help to others. Sit us down, as Jesus seated the multitude. Calm us down, as Jesus reassured the disciples that all would receive care. Lift us up, as Jesus encouraged others to reach out in compassion. Give us hearts of confident faith in your presence, O Lord. Place your hands of healing on the many situations which we name at this time with our voices and in our hearts. Lord, we ask your merciful goodness for these situations and these loved ones. It is in Jesus’ name that we pray. AMEN.
Communion
Communion
A time to prepare: – not obligation but desire
Understand what it represents: Christs Body and Blood given for you that you might have redemption
Examine your own heart: Are you withholding forgiveness from anyone
Confess sin and thank God for forgiveness
Receive the blessing of forgiveness with gratitude.What we do, as followers of Jesus here TOGETHER, is a symbol of our need for His grace and our gratefulness for His response to that need.
Elements
On the night he was handed over, Jesus had a meal with his friends. He took a loaf of bread and after giving thanks to God, he broke it and gave it to his disciples. He said, “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
After supper Jesus took the cup of wine; and after giving thanks, gave it to them and said, “Drink this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, remember me.”
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father…. we come to your table on this day, HUMBLED because you have invited us here… let this meal be nourishment for our souls… let it fill us up from the inside out …. Father, we thank you for the gift of your son Jesus Christ, whose love pursues us our whole life long. Thank you for these symbols – the bread of life and the cup of forgiveness Thank you, Jesus, for giving your life to us in word and deed, even unto death, even death on a cross. Come Holy Spirit, feed us with your love that we may be filled with power to love God with all our hearts and souls and minds. AMEN.
“Through the broken bread we participate in His body, given for you.”
“Through the cup of blessing we participate in the new covenant Jesus gives.”
Song
Benediction
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessings.