Applying the Gospel

“The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

Jesus teaches that Christian worship is Trinitarian (“in spirit”), and that it will be in accordance with God’s revelation (“in truth”).

Worship “in Spirit”

Jesus, the Son, says we will worship the Father. He also says that God is “spirit.” Maybe “spirit” should be capitalized, to refer to the Spirit, commonly called the third Person of the Trinity. “Worship in Spirit and truth is Trinitarian worship—worship that is aware of the distinct work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in our salvation” (John Frame). In the one Godhead, the Father and the Son have dwelt, from all eternity, in the blessed communion of the Holy Spirit. The Father and Son relate to Each Other in the Spirit. We can’t conceive of everything this means. But, because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can know that we’re invited into this Triune relationship. As we have been granted the very Spirit of God, we’ve been welcome to relate to God the same way God himself relates to God. We relate to the Father the same way the Incarnate Son, Jesus, relates to him, in the Spirit. This is the best gift and the highest privilege of God’s grace!

Since God is Triune, and our worship is a participation in the Trinitarian life, this means worship involves worshiping together. For Christians, corporate worship is “natural.” We cannot conceive of worship solely or even primarily as a private devotion. The Spirit is the divine Unifier of Persons; worship in the Spirit is when people (plural) are unified in communion with the Triune God.

Worship “in Truth”

“The acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will” (WCF 21.1). There is such a thing as “acceptable worship” (Heb. 12:28) and unacceptable, unauthorized worship (Lev. 10:1-3; Acts 5:1-11), because truth matters in real relationships. God tells us who he is, he tells us what relationship with him will be like, and he forbids us from relating to him according to our own imaginations (see the Second Commandment). So Christians worship God on his terms, in his ways, according to the truth that he has revealed to us.

Ultimately, Jesus is the truth God has revealed to us about himself for worship. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus is the Son worshiping the Father Jesus is a human being worshiping God as God would, in the Spirit. His life and words are the pattern for our worship, and more than “merely” the pattern. Jesus is the true worshiper (Pss. 15 & 24), and we may only come to God through him, we may only truly worship in his name.

According to the Gospel, how is it possible for sinners like us to worship the Father, to relate to him as his Incarnate Son relates to him? What does it mean that the Father and Son relate to Each Other in the Spirit? What does it mean that we are welcome to relate to God in the same way, in the same Spirit? What is the significance for your life, your worship (personal or corporate)? Why does truth matter in real relationships? What do you think about God telling you what is acceptable worship? What do you think about God rejecting “unauthorized” worship, even revealing that it means death? Are there ways in which you are prone to approach the worship of God according to your own imagination or preferences, rather than according to his revelation? What does Jesus reveal to us about true worship in his life and teachings? Why would you want to worship in his name rather than coming to God in your own name?

“Worship is the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son’s communion with the Father” (J. B. Torrance). Worship is something the church does corporately on the Lord’s Day. “Corporately” is another way of saying “communally.” Corporate worship reflects the divine communion of persons. And now, because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that divine communion of persons is not limited to Divine Persons, but it is shared with all kinds of people who enter into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus. Christianity is about one communion, one relationship in particular—the relationship between the Father and the incarnate Son in the Holy Spirit. That one communion is opened up to us by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The church is blessed to participate in that one communion by entering into the Son’s own place in his relationship with the Father in the Spirit.

Hopefully this isn’t too opaque or abstract to be truly meaningful for us. We may dive headlong into corporate worship, heart and soul and body, and abide in Jesus together as he abides in the Father. We are invited to participate in this new reality as really real. We truly participate in the divine life together as God’s new creation during the very ordinary rituals of the Lord’s Day liturgy. There is nothing more real in our relationships than what we do together in corporate worship. We really respond to God’s calling us to worship together. We really proclaim and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus together. We really pray and sing to our Father together in the name of his Son. We really confess our sins to God before one another. We really hear the assurance of God’s forgiveness of our own sins and the sins of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We really offer gifts of thanksgiving to God for the blessing of each other. We really hear the Good News about Jesus together in the reading and preaching of God’s Word. We really acknowledge Jesus before men in the corporate confession of our faith. We really declare that we enjoy reconciliation to God and that our relationships with each other are renewed because of Jesus when we pass the peace. We really eat and drink together at the Table—not just sharing an earthly meal, but a heavenly one in God’s presence, spiritually, that is, through the Spirit of Christ. We really stand as a people together under God’s gracious blessing.

It’s not that we experience “real fellowship” only when we connect over a midweek meal or a shared interest; corporate worship is the really real fellowship in Christ that reorders all other times together. It’s not that “real discipleship” only happens in a small group Bible study, one-on-one mentoring, or pastoral counseling; corporate worship is really real discipleship, where we truly learn what it means to follow Jesus and live with God together in his name. It’s not that “real prayer” only happens at the prayer meeting or in your morning quiet time; in corporate worship we truly pray together in the pattern of the Lord’s own prayer to his Father and ours. It’s not that “real evangelism” happens only out on the streets; corporate worship is where all kinds of people hear the Gospel addressing them in their unbelief. This worship is not just a token version of reality; corporate worship is the most real reality to be found in this world.

Do you feel the need to come to church as something like your need for Jesus himself? Do you view corporate worship as the primary place where you learn to live as a Christian? In what way(s)—if any—is your idea of sanctification connected to corporate worship? Do you find real strength for life with God in the “Ordinary Means of Grace,” the Word and Sacraments? Do you recognize how profound it actually is to confess your sins before others in the church, and to hear them also confess their sins regularly? Does your giving represent the sacrificial offering of your whole life to God as a response to his grace? How do you love and serve others while participating in corporate worship? How do you open yourself to receive their love and service? How do you view the intersection of evangelism and worship? How does corporate worship shape your life for the rest of the week? What do you think about the Trinitarian view of worship proposed by J. B. Torrance?

This is a sermon from Psalm 51, preached Thursday, October 14, 2021, during Worship at the Stated Meeting of the Pacific Northwest Presbytery of the PCA, at Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Beaverton.

Sermon Audio (mp3)

Sermon Notes (pdf)

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
(Genesis 1:26-27)

Of all God’s creation, humanity is uniquely made in the image of God. Readers of the Bible have long debated what exactly that means. It’s pretty easy to discard ideas like physical properties—God is Spirit, so we don’t resemble him in the eyes. So the discussion usually turns to capacities. What can we do that uniquely reflects something of the Triune God? Is it our capacity to reason? to imagine? to communicate with words? to create? to love? to live vicariously? These are all fascinating things to explore. But are these kinds of things of the essence of what it means to be created in the image of God?

What if being created in the image of God wasn’t strictly about things like our capacities? What if this is more relational language? The very next time the Bible uses this language is just a few chapters later, with explicit reference to the original creation of humanity:

When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
(Genesis 5:1-3, emphasis added)

The father-son relationship between Adam and Seth is analogical to the relationship between God and humanity. This seems to suggest that sonship is a significant aspect of what it means to be created in the image of God. Male and female, humanity has been created uniquely to enjoy a Son’s relationship with God as our Father. Perhaps being created in God’s image is less about something intrinsic to our existence in-and-of ourselves, like capacities, and more about a special relationship that God declares to us for our faith.

When you consider the Triune nature of God, it makes sense that God uses the language of “image” and “likeness” to communicate the idea of this relationship. In himself, God is Father and Son in the loving communion of the Spirit. What it means for God to be God is for him to relate as Son to Father, and that is what it will look like for us to reflect his image. Of course, in our sin, we have rejected this relationship and ceased to reflect true divinity in our humanity. We need someone to restore the image of God and Sonship for us.

Jesus is the true Son of God, both in his eternal divinity as the second Person of the Trinity, and also as the perfect human being in right relationship with God the Father. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15). Whether male or female, “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:26-29). By God’s grace, you are being “conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he [Jesus] might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).

“You sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father” (J. I. Packer). God is Son. Sonship is what it means for us to be created in the image of God. And Sonship is what we are being redeemed for, renewed in the image of Christ.

What do you make of the thought of enjoying the incarnate Son’s relationship with the Father? Why is it important that this Sonship is true of both male and female? In the Bible, a big part of Sonship has to do with inheritance (consider Gen. 1:26)—what is the inheritance of God’s Son (and therefore the inheritance of all those who are in Christ)? Can you think of some other Scripture passages that describe what it means to have God as our Father? Why might a discussion of “capacities” be insufficient to describe what constitutes the image of God in humanity? What else do you think it might mean to be created in the image of God?

“This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Theology can be defined simply as thinking about God. But theology is not a merely intellectual endeavor; theology is more deeply relational, spiritual, and is perhaps better defined as knowing God. We don’t just know information about God; we know God personally, as he truly is, as he has revealed himself. We don’t just think remote thoughts of God; we think toward him, prayerfully. In his prayer, Jesus defines eternal life in these terms. Eternal life is—essentially—relational knowledge of the Triune God. So, “doing theology” and enjoying eternal life really should be the same thing.

“Eternal life as theology” makes sense precisely because God is Triune. Eternity itself is characterized by the mutual, delighted knowledge of Father and Son in the Spirit. The very Being of God (which is the foundation for all reality!) is the blessed communion of Persons. We are made in God’s image, which means our humanity is meant for the same kind of spiritual knowing. This is the promise of salvation itself.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Many people—including many Christians—think that it’s impossible truly to know God as he is in himself. But, again, it is of the essence of the Triune God to know and to be known. Before everything, in himself, he is the God of mutual knowing. In fact, the real wonder seems to be that we could possibly not know this God! We, who were made in God’s image for mutual knowing! Truly, the cosmos broke when we “knowers” refused to know the Known One. Nevertheless, God will be known, and in time he has truly made himself known for relationship through Jesus Christ.

“We know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.” (1 John 5:20)

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him… Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (John 14:6-10)

To be a Christian means to confess that we do believe that the Son (Jesus) is in the Father and the Father is in the Son. To be a Christian means to believe in the perichoretic union (mutual indwelling) of the Triune God who makes himself known to us in Christ. It means trusting that we actually can know the One who has made us and redeemed us for this very purpose. In fact, being a Christian means knowing this God with his own knowledge of himself, even as the Son knows the Father in his own Spirit and truth.

This is practical. Thinking that theology—one’s relationship with God—is not innately practical, that it must somehow be made practical, is itself bad theology. We are, of course, prone to do theology badly. (You do theology, whether you’ve thought explicitly about it much or not.) So we need to do theology Christianly. We need to get to know this God in Christ better, so that we can better live with reference to him at all times. We need to turn to God’s revelation prayerfully; theology is thinking toward God in the Spirit. We need to do theology corporately; theology is relational, and should be done in community with those who know God (the church). And we need to do theology doxologically; if your theology doesn’t often erupt into delighted praise, something’s off.

Does your “working definition” of Christianity include knowing God, and Jesus whom he sent? Do you conceive of theology as merely an academic, remote, abstract, perhaps even irrelevant exercise? What do you think about theology as proposed here, as the relational knowledge of God that is of the essence of eternal life, as being caught up into God’s relational knowledge of himself? How does this understanding of eternal life differ from other common understandings of eternal life? Why might it be important to embrace this understanding of theology? What difference does this understanding of theology make for church ministry or evangelism? Do you have any thoughts about doing theology prayerfully, corporately, or doxologically? Do you believe that God can be truly known by people? If so, how, to what degree, and why do you believe this? What does it matter that the God whose very Being is Persons in mutual knowledge is himself the Creator, the One who is behind all reality? How is this understanding of theology “practical,” Biblically speaking? What areas of theology are most interesting to you? What areas of theology are most difficult for you?

(Originally posted Nov. 16, 2015. Edited Aug. 31, 2021.)

Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

If you ask any Christian, in any church, in any place, at any point in history, “What is your mission in life?”—this should be the obvious answer. Jesus has commissioned us, given us a mission. He has called us to participate in his own mission in the world. “Mission” comes from the Latin for “sending.” In John’s version of the Great Commission, the risen Lord Jesus says to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). Jesus is the Sent One, the Great Missionary, who commissions his people to be sent like he is.

This sending, this mission arises from God’s very nature, from his Triune being. “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). His being is love. “The statements ‘God is’ and ‘God loves’ are synonymous” (Karl Barth). In his eternal life, there is no self-centeredness. “His love is eternal” (Psalm 136), because it is who the eternal God is, it is how he has his being. In himself, even before he created other people, the Triune God has always been about other People. The Father loves the Son in the Spirit, and the Son reciprocates this love in the same Spirit to the Father.

In time, God the Father sent forth God the Son in the love of God the Spirit, to be born a man: Jesus. (Really, this is the Great Commission!) God did this, not in spite of who he is, but in accordance with who he is, because of his Triune nature. Jesus is the God of love come in the flesh, come to make God known to us so that we might share in the Son’s own relationship to his Father. When Jesus brings us into the life of God (something signified and sealed to us in baptism in the Triune name), he is bringing us into a life that is not just about the self, but about other people. With this God, being brought in means being sent out. In the life of the Triune God, the consummate “insider” is outward-faced. And with this God, being sent out doesn’t mean you go alone. “I am with you always.” Jesus, the Sent One, accompanies his sent ones through the presence of his Holy Spirit.

This is why the Great Commission makes so much sense. Jesus—God—is not commanding us to do anything that he himself has not done. Jesus said, “All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). In the Great Commission, he tells us to keep it going, to make known to others everything we have heard from Jesus.

A disciple is someone in relationship with Jesus, whom Jesus has brought into the life of God. The church (the assembly of disciples) makes disciples by baptizing and teaching. When a disciple of Jesus makes another disciple of Jesus, he is just sharing the relationship that has been shared with him. He is introducing other people to Jesus, to God. The disciple wants other people to know about Jesus—who he is, where he comes from, what he’s like, what he has said and done, and what these things mean for life with God. The disciple makes others to be disciples of Jesus, not of himself. The disciple makes disciples, who will in turn make other disciples, and so on.

We are to make disciples “of all nations.” This means we do not show favoritism to people who are just like us, people of our own family, clan, tribe, or nation. The Greek word translated “nations” here, ethne, is also often translated “Gentiles.” Jesus’ original Jewish disciples were being sent out to non-Jews with the Gospel. Ethnic, cultural, social, or linguistic barriers don’t void the Great Commission, because Jesus Christ has “all authority in heaven and on earth.” You have been authorized by the Lord of all to share the Gospel with all people, to look to bring them into a relationship with Jesus, just as you have been brought in by his grace. Amen.

If someone were to ask you, “What is your mission/purpose in life?” would you respond by simply repeating the mission Jesus has given his disciples? How do you feel about the Great Commission? How would you summarize the Gospel? What are some ways you might be responding faithfully to the Great Commission? Are there times when you forget your mission? Are there times when you are afraid of telling others about Jesus? Do you have other obstacles to participating in Jesus’ mission? Does it matter to you that Jesus claims universal authority? Does it matter to you that Jesus promises his presence to those who go out into the world with his message? Does it matter to you that the church is in this mission together? Would you like help becoming a disciple who makes disciples?

Why should you come to church?

Jesus.

(There’s really no other good answer, but let’s expand on that just a bit…)

The Bible doesn’t really have a category for Christians who are not part of a local church. Salvation means being conducted into the community of God and his people. We are saved into eternal life together. (No one is saying that’s all chocolates and roses in this life!) Spirituality is fundamentally a reality of the Christian community, not just the individual. We don’t just need each other in order to grow spiritually as individual Christians; spiritual growth means growth together in the Spirit of Christ. Spiritual growth means relational growth. Jesus has accomplished our reconciliation in the Gospel, and eternity in his presence will mean the perfection of our relationships. “God is in the business of creating community” (J. B. Torrance). And no wonder—God is a Being in Community!

The church, then, is a central feature of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The direct result of Christ’s atoning death on the cross was the creation of this new community, the reconciling of different persons and people groups in the one body of Christ (see Paul’s “Letter to the Ephesians”). Maybe it’s strange to our ears: “Good News! Because of Jesus, there is a church!” This will sound less strange to us as we grow in our appreciation for the grace of God seen in one another in the church. “It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God’s Word and sacrament” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). There is a sense in which the “most Christian” time of the week is our time together on Sundays.

So we gather as the church to participate together in Jesus’ everlasting life, shared with us as a gift of his grace primarily through his Word and Sacraments. These are often called “the Ordinary Means of Grace,” because they have been instituted by God as the normative way by which he communicates his gracious love to us for our faith. The true preaching of the Word and the right administration of the Sacraments (sometimes joined by the proper exercise of Discipline) are known by John Calvin and many in the Protestant tradition to be the distinguishing marks of the true church. With them, according to God, you have a Christian church! Without them, you don’t. If you want the assurance of faith—that you belong to God and he belongs to you—then you need exposure to the Means of Grace. In other words, come to church for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We think it’s good that certain basic, biblical things would be obvious about the environment of our church. The God we worship (the Trinity) and the way in which we worship (through faith in Jesus Christ) must be constantly prevalent and explicit—ultimately, we want to be God-centered, Christ-centered in everything we do. Communion, community, and love are very important to us. It is loving to pursue Gospel-repentance and faith in each other, and to take the message of the Gospel out into the world seeking the repentance and faith of all peoples. We testify to the coming Kingdom by living justly, compassionately, and generously. And we believe that our commitment to one another as members in the church mirrors our very commitment to Jesus Christ.

We have our bad days, to be sure. You shouldn’t expect perfection from yourself or others. But God hasn’t given up on his church. In fact, he never will. He doesn’t engage with the church because it’s always a pleasant experience for everyone. He gives himself to us because that’s just who he is. The church will always be precious to him. It’s good for you to be a part of it!

Please feel free to use this in your personal or public Worship.

~

Blessed Trinity, you dwell in the sheer delight of eternal communion. You are the Lord of joy, and you have made us and blessed us to share your joy in relationship with you. But we have sought our happiness apart from you, in the things you have made, in the works of our own hands, in anything and everything but you. Our sin has made us miserable. Nevertheless, Lord Jesus, it was your pleasure to welcome us back into your own joy, even though it meant your death to do so. Even though we don’t deserve it, please forgive us and restore to us the joy of your salvation. Make your own joy to be our strength. Grant that our greatest delight would be in knowing you and making you known, to the glory of your Blessed Name. Amen.

Yahweh, who knows the heart, says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Deuteronomy 5:21). And Jesus says, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).

This commandment proves that God is not interested in a merely external show of obedience, but that he is after our hearts. Coveting can manifest in things like fighting (James 4:2), but it can just as well remain invisible, hidden from all the world. But you cannot hide your heart from God. This commandment vindicates Jesus’ interpretation of the Law, that holiness and sin are fundamentally matters of the heart (Mark 7:20-23). God requires our love, which has to do with the deepest levels of our motives, affections, and desires.

The depths of our hearts are often hidden, even from ourselves (Jeremiah 17:9-10). But God searches these depths. He knows that we sin, and he wants us to know this about ourselves, which is why he gave us commandments like this one (Romans 7:7). He commands our wholehearted, perfect, pure, unceasing love, without even “one particle of covetousness to hinder” (John Calvin) in order to reveal to us that we are sinners in need of his mercy. Have you been dissatisfied with what God has given to you? Have you wanted more? Have you felt that, if only you could possess this one thing (whatever it is), you would finally be content? Have you envied others what God has given to them, as if you were entitled to it but they were not? Yes, of course you have, there is no doubt about it. You need God’s forgiveness, not just for the apparently evil or ungodly acts you have committed, but for the secret things going on inside your heart.

“Covetousness… is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). When you covet, your heart is attached to something, demanding something, yearning for something that you believe will fulfill you. Really, your heart is going after a God-substitute. You cannot be thankful for what you have, only resentful of what others have. You resent God for his generosity, perhaps feeling like you deserve more, and you become perfectly willing to dehumanize your neighbor and objectify others (like his wife) along the way.

Now you know something of how bad it is, but don’t stop there. Now, even more, you can know how good Jesus is. Jesus never once coveted what God had given to his neighbors. Can you imagine it? Jesus never found himself bent out of shape about what God had not given to him. Jesus was perfectly content with his Father’s providence and will, even though it led him through poverty and pain to death on the cross. Jesus was satisfied with God. Jesus never begrudged us anything, but took pity on us and gave us everything. Jesus gave us God. He gave himself up for our forgiveness, and he gives himself to us for our life with God. By his Spirit, he gives us a new heart—his own righteous heart—to live free of covetousness vicariously in him. Jesus gives us his own satisfaction with God. Thanks be to God, Jesus is enough to fulfill us forever!

Have you ever felt like, “It’s not coveting if I see what my neighbor has, want it, and just go buy one for myself”? What sorts of tangible things might you have coveted? What sorts of intangible things might you have coveted? What is the most ridiculous trinket your heart has gone after like a God-substitute? Have you ever coveted what imaginary people have? (Think of actors you’ve seen in television ads driving the car you should be driving.) Have you been upset at the thought of “that person” enjoying what you feel you deserve to enjoy? How is it a resentment of God’s generosity and a dehumanization of your neighbor to covet what belongs to him? How do you feel about the fact that your own heart deceives you about your covetousness? How do you “put to death” (Colossians 3:5) something so subterranean as covetousness? What is it like to live vicariously in Christ and therefore with his resources to live free of covetousness?