the glorious exchange

Church was awesome yesterday!

• We had Matthew Lilley and the 6:22 Band in yesterday leading worship (link), and they played an awesome set. Those guys are so talented. Here’s the setlist:
  • Shine by Collective Soul
  • Behold the Lamb by Brandon Willett (a new fav)
  • Salvation is Here by Hillsong United
  • Reward of His Suffering by Jonathan David Helser
  • Mighty to Save by Hillsong
• Great stuff. I preached on Jonah 2: the prayer of Jonah from the belly of the whale. He moves from the recognition of God into a passion for others, which is where the 2:9 project will hopefully take us as a church.
• We saw quite a few new people yesterday, which was exciting. Our Echo Group last night reflected that as well. We even had a guy come because of a doorhanger he had received the day before! Awesome.
• Speaking of Echo Group, last night’s discussion on Mark 10 was incredible: we had great discussions on marriage as a picture of the Gospel, incorporating children into our community, what the real meaning of the “rich young ruler” passage was, and how we can learn from all of that as Christians in today’s society. Great stuff.
• I get to hang out with a couple of the new guys tonight at Buffalo Wild Wings. We’re headed to watch the hockey game. I’m stoked. Go Penguins.
• Miranda took the day and took her sister and some friends to the beach. So excited she got to do that. Equally as exciting was the fact that I slept until 1pm. You really don’t understand how tired I was. I’ve been running practically nonstop since last Wednesday. Whew!
• Praying for lots of things…pray for me and us as a church. I’m so pumped about what God is going to do through us as a church! I can’t believe I get to do this…

We weren’t able to podcast, so here you go:

I. Uzzah’s Story (2 Samuel 6)

v5: David and his house were worshipping God with all that they were and all they had.
Songs and all types of instruments were being used to praise God in an everyday setting.
v6: The threshing floor of Nacon was a step above the ground, so the oxen would have a more difficult time getting up. Meanwhile, the ark, being carried on a cart, went to fall off
of the cart. In order to save the ark, Uzzah acts quickly, placing his hand on the ark
to steady it.
v7: God’s anger was kindled, as the coals of a potentially raging fire, and God “burst forth” against Uzzah, who died next to the ark.
v8: Accordingly, David was angry at God for killing Uzzah, who was simply trying to help.

II. Religion

The assumption made by Uzzah is that he would be exempt from the law for trying to help. He was not. The law was very comprehensive and unbreakable. When ruling by religious, God is terrible. He is ruthlessly just and wrathful, showing no favorites.

Religion says that if you obey, you won’t experience the wrath of God. But how hard is it to obey!

III. Jonah’s Story (Jonah 2)

At first glance, Jonah’s story is similar. God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah refuses.
So God sends a storm to get Jonah in the water, and then He sends a whale to eat Jonah until he gives up. This is the traditional reading of the book. But I’m going to propose a fresh look at the text.

v1-2: Jonah is repenting, calling out to His God. But why is Jonah repenting?
v3-4: Because he was experiencing the wrath of God because of his rebellion. He was driven away from the love of God and into His wrath. He realized the separation from God’s love because of his sin.
v5-6a: Jonah died. The depth of the Mediterranean sea where Jonah sank was far beyond the record human free dive. Jonah drowned. But…
v6b-7: God saved Jonah, resurrecting him from death. Jonah, just before he died, or perhaps when he was thrown in, said a prayer for mercy. And God honored it.

IV. Gospel

I didn’t tell you the whole story with Uzzah. There were two assumptions made by Uzzah. The first was that he would be exempt from the law because he was trying to help. The second, and more serious offense, was that he thought he was cleaner before God than the mud that the ark was going to fall in. Religion says that we are good if we obey, and God might accept us. The Gospel, on the other hand, says that we are suck, but God is gracious as we call out to Him through His son, Jesus Christ. And because of His grace, we then obey. Check out verses 8-9.

v8: Jonah is talking about the Assyrians. The Ninevites. They pay regard to vain idols, so
they have forsaken their hope of steadfast love. Because of the grace and mercy that
Jonah has experienced, he wants others to feel the same steadfast love that he has felt.
v9: So Jonah, with thanksgiving on his breath, vows to sacrifice his time and effort to
preaching the word of God to the capital of Assyria. Why? Salvation is not from Jonah.
It’s not from his preaching. It’s only from God Himself, through Jesus, His Son and our
Savior.
v10: “He gets it.” And the fish releases him to do what he is called to do.

The book of Jonah is not about a rebellious prophet who refuses to do what God calls him to do, so God punishes him to manipulate him into doing God’s will. It is about a gracious and loving God who puts Jonah the rebellious prophet through an eye-opening experience to the Gospel, the ever-loving grace of God. It is about a perfectly just God, who holds off His wrath through Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice through whom our prayers reach the temple of God in heaven.

V. Gospel in Community

Now what happens? As Jonah 2 demonstrates, when the Gospel impacts our souls and hearts, we are not only reconciled back to God. We are reconciled to humanity. We want others to experience what we have experienced. To embrace God is no small thing. I want to talk briefly about this community. The community we call Harmony Church.

We want to Love God and love people. This means we must be impacted by the Gospel. That as Jesus works in us, and as we abide in Him, we are able to love Him back and we begin to love others as He does. All because of the Gospel.

We want to Live in the Kingdom of God, under His rule and authority. We constantly want to remember that because He has sacrificed for us, we are to humbly sacrifice for Him. It is the very least we can do. We are to give our time, money, and effort to Him. We are to have Godly marriages for Him. We are to raise Godly families for Him. We are to have Godly relationships for Him. All because of the Gospel.

We want to Echo this way to others. Like Jonah, when the Gospel impacts us, we want for others to experience the same mercy and grace that we have. We live, breathe, and speak the Gospel through words and actions.

As a church, we want to be known primarily not for meeting in a bar, for good music, or for good teaching. We want to be known as a community that Jesus has impacted. People should look at the way we live our lives and point and say “I don’t understand what it is, but something is different about those guys at Harmony.” We should be a community of unbelievable grace and unexplainable love. But this isn’t always easy, because like God’s love towards Jonah, it sometimes requires us to tell the truth to people: that they are sinners in need of God’s mercy, not our acceptance.

It’s from Monergism Books and Challies.com. Register using this link: $200 Monergism Books Spree

or click here:

Let’s hear it. Who’s headed to Reston this week?

Last Thursday and Friday, a then acquaintance-in-the-Gospel, now brother-in-the-Gospel came to visit our great city. Gordon Duncan is pastor of Sovereign King Church in Garner, NC (http://www.sovereignkingpca.net). I loved having coffee with him on Thursday night. We talked about everything, from family to churches, to paedobaptism (he convinced me - not easy to do), to books (I’ve gotten tons of recommendations from him), to music and everything between. He’s wiser than I (doesn’t take much), and it was really refreshing to have someone that I agree with theologically to pour into my life. We did lunch at Dr. Unk’s together, and he loved the space, just as I do. God has truly been gracious with us there. I look forward to the next time we see one another, in early June at the next a29 conference. I plan on going to Garner and hanging out with him, and then we’re headed to the luncheon together. Should be a blast.

Check out Gordon Duncan’s thoughts on Greenville here at his blog: Greenville and Dr. Unk’s