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
As we gather in this sacred moment for a sacred purpose,
let us make the most of our time together.
We have come to worship the Lord our God.
As we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
let us make the most of our time together.
We have come to worship the Lord our God.
As we respond to the melody in our hearts,
let us make the most of our time together.
We have come to worship the Lord our God.
Songs
Prayer
CONFESSION
Holy God, it is easy to boast of our faithfulness when life is easy and your blessings cascade over us like ever-flowing streams. Stop our mouths when we brag of our integrity and deride others for their wayward feet. Help us be more like Jesus, who taught his disciples to pray that they may be spared from the time of trial, than like the psalmist, who challenged: “Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and mind.” May our faithfulness speak louder than our words, that others may see in our example the joys of upright living, whether we are receiving the good from your hand, or the bad. Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Hear these words from the book of Hebrews: “The one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying, ‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation, I will praise you.’”
Lop*sid*ed
Belonging .. To What? To Whom?
Today's Message: Pastors Marlee Page and Dave Page
Belonging… to what, to whom?
This is the final message in our Lop*sid*ed message series. Where we are together as the church, and as individual Jesus followers, thinking about The Kingdom of God and His righteousness we ask, “what does that look like for us in this age that we find ourselves in?”
When we find ourselves in the midst of a world where culture says “His Kingdom? But what about you? What about your Kingdom? You come first – it’s The Kingdom of me.”
What does that look like for our Church, when church congregations and denominations are in decline around the world? When the basic trust of Pastors and religious institutions is eroding, what does it look like to be the Church today and tomorrow??
There is a question we are sometimes asked:
“Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?”
Somebody once said. “Trying to be a Jesus follower without being in the church is just as reasonable as being:
A soldier with no army.
An explorer with no base camp.
A cellist without an orchestra.
A hockey player without a team.
At the root of conversations like these is most often the question that doesn’t truly get asked: “How much can I get away with and still get into heaven?”
You see, for these past weeks we’ve shared with you that living disproportionately focused on God and God’s purposes for our lives is ‘lopsided living.’
We’ve suggested things and encouraged you.
But so far, we have been talking about lopsided living as it relates to each of us as individuals, what God has done for YOU and for ME and how that should impact our lives. The truth is we must also acknowledge is that’s not the whole story. Although God loves you and me and has a plan for us, He also loves US and has a plan and a purpose for US.
Would you accept from us that our Salvation is much bigger than us as individuals?
Salvation is shared and corporate.
We are saved together.
I think saved to be part of the church!
There are some, perhaps people you know intimately, that would not be happy with us for making a statement like this. Consider, for example, what Paul writes to the Church in Ephesus:
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:25-27
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Jesus loved you and I so much that he died for us, but, don’t miss how much Christ loved the church – as in, all of us together.
If we just think about ourselves, as the message of our culture encourages us to do, we miss out on the many blessings of our lived relationship with Jesus because those blessings are given to us to share together – through the church!
The primary gift that God gives to us is a relationship with Himself through Jesus and the Holy Spirit living inside us. We would all accept that; however, the second-best gift God gives us is each other, in the church – in the body of Christ. Church isn’t and was never meant to be some burden God puts upon us as Jesus followers. The Church is God’s way of blessing us!
We, and yes this includes Christians too, can be so individualistic. “It’s my life and my faith, and I can live as I want to.” Folks, that is just NOT true. That is the attitude of the forward on a hockey team who hogs the puck instead of passing it to their teammates.
Our relationship with Jesus, and each other, is very different. It is corporate. We are saved into the Body of Christ of which each of us is only one single part. We are part of the family of God. We are saved together and being a Jesus follower – a disciple – is something we are supposed to do together. It has been that way ever since the early church which we read about in Acts 2 when Laura spoke to us a couple weeks ago.
Those who received Peter’s message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day – remember that?
Becoming a Christian and then being baptized, led to the being “added to the number of believers,” which added to the church.
Then, in Acts 2:42 we read,
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
The term ekklesia existed before the birth of the church. That Greek term means ‘called out.’ The word was generally used to describe an assembly of citizens of ancient Athens that dealt with issues concerning the city’s citizens. The Christians of the early church likely perceived themselves as ‘called out’ by God for His purposes, no different than us today.
The Hebrew word qahal meaning ‘assembly’ or ‘people of God,’ was translated into the Greek ekklesia. Early Christians would have identified as being the ekklesia since they were the people of God.
This term first appears in the New Testament in Matthew 16:18,
“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church (ekklesia), and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Interestingly, ekklesia does not occur in the Gospel of Luke but appears twenty-three times in the Book of Acts.
To become a believer automatically means to be added to the number of believers – the church.
`Ekklesia’ is not a building.
The ‘number of believers’ is not an organization.
The church is a holy group of people – holy = set apart,
“The Ekklesia of Jesus, the Body of Christ,” formed of Christians all through the ages. Anybody who has been saved and enjoys the promise of eternal life IS a member of the church. God’s church is made up of everybody who has a personal relationship with God as their Father through Jesus Christ.
We need the church – and the church needs us. Every Christian is part of the church, the body of Christ.
God does not intend us to be “lone wolf” Christians.
Did you ever watch the Addams Family?
In the Addams family there is a character called simply “Thing” because it is a detached and apparently, living hand, which fumbles its way around the house, answering the telephone and opening the doors.
But there is no such thing as a detached hand in the church. Every part is attached to every other part. You don’t find an independent nose or a free-agent foot in the Ekklesia.
Our relationship with Jesus is not just a private and personal thing. Our ‘lop-sided’ lives should not be lived out in seclusion but in the companionship and mutual support of the church. The church is the community of His faithful and if we want to be His faithful then a most important way we express our discipleship is by belonging to His church.
Now, before we go much farther here, let’s clarify something that we can easily misunderstand when it comes to ‘belonging to a church’.
Today, unfortunately, there are those that treat being part of a church no differently than being a member of the gym or the golf club. They pay their fee regularly and you can call the church out to help if you need it, but belonging to a church, belonging to a part of this Church, must always be much more like being a member of a family.
Being in relationship with First Baptist Kingsville (FBK) and its people is not a matter of privilege but a result of participation. It’s not only about what we can get out of the deal but what we can give and what we can accomplish together.
Every one of us, pastors too, who are taking an active part, as much as they are able in the life and witness, of First Baptist Church Kingsville belongs to this church and is a valuable part of this church.
Even if you haven’t yet formally come into membership, meaning you are not formally a member of that legal organization called First Baptist Church Kingsville, we hope you feel at home here.
We want you to feel like you belong here.
If you are playing your part in the life of the church, as so many of you are, then you belong to the church. That’s the way it needs to be! That’s what so many people in the world today are searching for – purpose, mission, and a place to belong. We need each other as Jesus followers. We need the church!
Now, we said earlier that belonging to the church opens the door to many different blessings, so, let’s talk about those for moment. To do that I want to go back to this passage in Acts:
Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
In other words, primarily what they experienced was teaching, fellowship, communion, and prayer.
TEACHING
Jesus followers are called disciples. Disciple means, one who learns and then applies what they’ve learned. If we want to know more about Jesus and explore what a life disproportionately devoted to Him actually looks like we need other believers to help us. That’s why we have such a focus on learning here, multiple times throughout the week, in this building, and in some people’s homes. Here’s another truth; one message a week from your Pastors is just not enough. We need to meet to learn and grow together, to discuss our faith with each other. Someone once said, “Dialogue teaches the parts monologue can’t teach”.
FELLOWSHIP
You hear this from us all the time – “Doing Life together”
“They were like family to each other.” (Acts 2:42 CEV)
Church isn’t just services on Sunday! A crucial part of our church life together is in the relationships we have, the various groups and opportunities for Bible study, and prayer, and in supporting and bearing one another’s burdens. That’s why we’ve restructured around our Congregational Care Model and Family Ministry.
When those components are working properly, this framework epitomizes Ekklesia. This is the ‘in the trenches,’ front-line caring for one another, and the place where we discover the real blessings of doing life together.
1 Corinthians 12:25-26
“so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.”
This is one of the blessings of being a part of a church that cares for us when we are in need. Whether that need is because of sickness or even death, anxiety, sadness, economic issues or just plain struggling with life. We know that we are all there for one another. Here’s another invaluable part of this truth that we are sharing – it is just as much a blessing to be receiving care. Each one of us has the benefit and the responsibility of caring for one another when THEY are in need.
Fellowship is a TWO-WAY thing. So, when we think about the blessings we can receive as other people in the church love us with any kind of Congregational Care, make sure also to think about the blessings you can GIVE by your own expression of Congregational Care.
BREAKING OF BREAD
Worship and Communion
One of the things that a group of us pray for each morning before our service is that our worship together is a blessing to God. That when our Holy and Sovereign God looks upon us there is blessing for God and to each of us as well.
Charles Spurgeon said,
“Some go to church to take a walk; some go there to laugh and talk. Some go there to meet a friend; some go there time to spend. Some go there to meet a lover; some go there a fault to cover. Some go there for speculation; some go there for observation. Some go there to doze and nod; the wise go there to worship God.”
COMMUNION
Then there’s the communion table and its meaning. Communion is our remembrance.
It is the way Jesus has given his ekklesia to remember Him, to focus on his death and resurrection, and the meaning of that for us today. Jesus’ final act on this earth was as lop-sided as it gets. Submitting of the will of His father so that we might be reconciled to him. That’s why you should always expect this church to take communion regularly. We give the act of communion a very special priority because it is at the communion table that we meet with Jesus in a very holy way!
PRAYER
I think one of the greatest blessings of being a follower and a part of the church is found in the experience of prayer. Prayer is hard work! Sometimes we don’t want to pray or can’t make time to pray. At times like that we need others to help us to pray!
We have many Church prayer meetings – Before every service on Sundays, as well as on Friday and Saturday mornings.
Praying in our various Groups
Praying together one on one
Jesus tells us to pray together.
Matthew 18:19-20
“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. These are just some of the ways God blesses us through the church.
For so many Christians in this time, the focus of their understanding of their faith has become almost entirely individual. The priority is about their personal relationship with God. True discipleship is very different. It is corporate. We are saved into the Body of Christ, the ekklesia of which each of us is only one part. Being disciples is something we are supposed to do together.
We have said to you many times before, that none of us is meant to do this on our own. We need Jesus and we need each other. Our life as a disciple of Jesus is not just a personal experience. If it was left to be a personal thing then there is one final issue that we would also be left with.
Deitrich Bonhoeffer once said,
“It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break-through to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So, everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So, we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners!”
At this table Jesus dealt with your sin and my sin once and for all, as humans, so that we would never, ever be alone again.
Communion
Come as you are: old and young.
Just as you are: one family, right now,
each of you, -every one of you,
and have a seat right here.
God has called us, invited us to His Table.
Bread
Paul tells us “On the night when He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Cup
In the same way, Jesus took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”
Let us Pray
Great God of all the things you have created, you took the simplest food and used that to bring us closer to you. In that we find you among us as we eat together. In the great story of Jesus we hear your love for us being retold and we remember all Jesus has done for us because of that love.
Through the Spirit you set this bread and wine apart to be used only as an image of you and your love for us. For this gift of bread and wine that reminds us of all those other gifts you have given us we join together with every person who has been at this table in every time and in every place
AMEN.
Take these elements and be thankful.
Song
Benediction
Through the love of a saviour,
we are sanctified as people of God.Through God’s mercy, love, and grace,
we are brothers and sisters with Christ.Go and lead lives of integrity.
Go with the blessing of Christ’s love!