For the first time in history, the church is celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ in digital only…since Coronavirus keeps us from gathering, this will have to do! In this service, we hear a message based on Romans 6.1-11, which begins at 13:22. We also have a virtual celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and hear a solo. Watch below!
Tag: sanctification
A spiritual problem
It’s hard to avoid the reality, when one watches the news, that there are political problems in the world. Of course, our neighbour to the south, the United States, is getting a lot of press about these things lately, with hearings going on around the appointment of a new Supreme Court Justice.
But one tweet I read yesterday reminded me that the problems are not political. They’re spiritual.
The root of all problems in our world today are spiritual. If people followed the way of Jesus, made clear for us in Scripture, those problems would cease to exist.
We all know that’s difficult; after all, the apostle Paul told the church in Rome that “everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3.23, NLT). But we can’t let the reality of human sinfulness become a crutch that makes us shrug our shoulders and leaves us saying that this is just how we are. God invites us to be better than that, to be sanctified.
To be sanctified literally means to become holy. It’s not the same as being sanctimonious, which is being holier than thou. It’s not about being better than others, or giving the impression of being better than others. Sanctification is a process, one that we submit ourselves to when we say ‘yes’ to Jesus’ work in drawing us closer to God through the blood of his cross.
It’s a process that is lifelong, and God invites us to journey with him toward the likeness of his Son. Only when we commit ourselves to this journey, this process, will we be formed spiritually, and find that the spiritual problems (which get many other names) will wane.
While you’re at it, will you pray with me, that the Lord will draw people committed to being more like Jesus into political office? “The System”, such as it is, has discouraged many Christ-followers from serving in municipal, provincial and federal politics. But that realm needs God’s people as much as any other…maybe more.
CHRISTIANITY 101: Things Are Getting Better
Darkness can seem powerful. When you walk through a dark room, it is as if inanimate objects take on a life of their own, and jump out in such a way as to cause you to stub your toe. Our minds play tricks on us. We think that some horrific creature is going to attack us.
We associate darkness with evil, and for good reasons: a lot of violent crime takes place under cover of darkness. Satan is known as the prince of darkness. When we close our eyes, we see only darkness, knowing that there is a remote possibility that we will never open our eyes again. Literature, even the Bible, practically equates darkness with evil.
But the funny thing about this terrible, awful darkness is that it can be dispelled very quickly. A lot of darkness can be dispelled by a little bit of light.
“Better to light a candle than curse the darkness”, said the founder of Amnesty International, quoting a Chinese proverb. “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle”, said St. Francis of Assisi.
People light candles at all sorts of events for various reasons, but almost all of them have this in common: hope. Where there is light, there is hope. Where there is light, we know that things are getting better.
So it is for us: the apostle Paul told the church in Ephesus nearly 2000 years ago, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph 5.8a, NIV). When we are light, we are getting better.
Based on Ephesians 5.8-20, you can listen to this message by clicking here.
Passionately His 