Scripture: Selected Scriptures
Date: January 1, 2012
Speaker: Sean Higgins
On our 52nd Lord’s day together and on this first day of a new year, it seemed appropriate to review some of the Lord’s blessings on our body and consider how our assembly can continue to mature for His honor.
We have come a long way in a relatively short time under relatively difficult circumstances. We have cried, prayed, laughed, hugged, sang, and worked together. For all the challenges of planting a new church, for the stink of the fertilizer, there has been a sweetness in the soil as the seed sprouts out and peeks its head above the surface.
I was talking with Jesse Martin a few months ago when he discussed his idea to FaceBook about Trinity, that it was “a plant like no other.” [Actually, this morning, he clarified “Not your ordinary church plant,” though he thought my phrasing is more sermon title worthy.] He meant it on a couple levels, not including the level of thinking that we are better than other church plants. Yet there are unique parts of our story, parts of who we are that make us a plant like no other.
Do you remember the days of bringing your own folding chairs to our house? Do you remember waiting until Thursday or Friday just to find out where we’d be meeting that week? Then we moved to the Assemblies of God building and were surprised that we basically packed it out on our very first Sunday. We moved to this meeting place the Sunday before Easter, which may seem like a long time ago, though that means we’ve only been here eight and a half months.
We’ve started five Life to Life groups, supported a short term trip, created a website, found some men to lead us in corporate singing, had outreach on the Tulalip reservation, adopted a doctrinal statement, held two baptismal services, had a Christmas party, all while trying to wave our joy flags.
As a congregation we’ve worked through worship issues, marks of a maturing church, four chapters of John’s gospel, implications of being image-bearers, the importance of affections, and a new worldview wheel. We’ve challenged the typical attitude of truth-tubes by defining Christian life as more than thinking, as necessary as thinking (and theology) is.
All of this has been done while trying to live up to our name: Trinity Evangel Church. I taught a brief series on our name, including a follow-up message on various offenses that would be aggravated and others that would be assuaged if we lived up to our name. Each of the three names, first-middle-and last, are meant to remind us of who our God is and what He is like, as well as who we are and what our lives should reflect. For various reasons, it seemed appropriate to examine our plant on this day. I haven’t gotten tired of thinking about our name, and hopefully you haven’t either.
In the ecclesiological world, our plant is in the Trinitarian kingdom, the highest taxonomic classification.
Everything starts with the Trinity, really. The Triune God is life and all of the universe is from Him and through Him and to Him. We, His creatures, were made to worship Him, but that worship isn’t merely observing Him from a distance, as if He were three overlapping paintings on a distant wall for us to admire, say nice things about, and make coffee table books about Him. We were made to worship Him in joyful fellowship with Him.
One of the most important considerations for us is that the Trinity has application, maybe the most important practical theology in the Bible. We are to know God in truth and, in knowing Him, we also take on His shape, His mannerisms, His delights, His interests. Whether or not it was part of our congregation’s name or how many leaves are on our logo, to the degree that we ignore the Trinity we will fail to be the baptized community of disciples that Jesus commissioned.
How can we tell if our plant is taking a Trinitarian shape?
The way this is stated doesn’t require an all or nothing answer. God saves persons, but He doesn’t put us on individual paths to heaven.
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (Romans 12:4–5)
If we believe that podcast, pajama worship at home is acceptable, we might be frustrated in heaven at how many other people are there. Trinity reminds us that our God is eternally social and that He made us to enjoy relationship. Eternal life is Trinitarian life.
Why can the members of the Body be different and united, without competition?
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.(1 Corinthians 12:4-6)
And
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Corinthians 12:17-20, 24-26)
It’s not just fact that we’re different yet connected; it’s better because we’re different and connected!
The current elders are a good example of this, I think. We are pursuing equality with wide diversity in personality and giftedness. Our intentional approach with the body, taking responsibility rather than proving power or position.
The whole body should be thankful for differences rather than being annoyed by them or seeking to remove them.
It shouldn’t be too hard to imagine husbands and wives practicing authority and submission as a dance rather than a boxing match at home. Trinity reminds us of unity without uniformity, but harmony and equality with diversity.
God is love. Or, the Trinity is love. We learn what love is by considering love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are in eternal, committed, affectionate service of one another. They give themselves for each other and this is why we must do the same.
We are recipients of His love in Christ and by the Spirit who pours it out in our hearts (Romans 5:5). It is the great and greatest commandment (Mark 12:29-31), the first facet of spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22).
We were planted in a context where relationships are not valued, perhaps even mocked as subjective and unnecessary. Trinity reminds us that if God’s Son can take on flesh for us, if God’s Spirit can take up residence in our hearts, if God the Father will have fellowship with us, then our distance from others, our unwillingness to engage with them and serve them is our offense no matter how accurate our sentences are.
So how are we doing, Trinity? Do we reflect an individualistic (distant), proud (despising), entitled (demanding) sort of church life, or a connected, humble, and loving church life?
Like chlorophyll that provides energy for growth (photosynthesis), the gospel generates life, it is the power of God to salvation for all who believe.
Because of sin, the Trinitarian life requires grace. In other words, the three Persons of the Trinity must work to enable us to live with Them and like Them. The evangel, the gospel of grace, the good news is that the Father planned, the Son purchased, and the Spirit propagates His life in us. Evangel reminds us that our God is holy (holding the highest standard) and gracious (bending to save).
How can we tell if our plant is growing by the power of the evangel? In other words, how can we measure if our corporate life is worthy of the gospel? (Philippians 1:27)
We proclaim a gospel of death that brings life, and this is our platform for proclaiming the message. The dying happens mostly for us in being worn out, being afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down.
Paul said not only that he was brought to the breaking point over and over (2 Corinthians 4:8-9), but also that death was at work in him (which means that ministry is a dying life). He wrote:
[we are] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:11-12)
These are ways of dying for others. Being brought to our breaking point is a sign that we are being used.
It is not about getting from others. Philippians 3:18 describes those whose god is their belly, with minds set on earthly things.
Through this giving of our lives we are being conduits of grace as it extends to more and more people (2 Corinthians 4:15). Evangel reminds us about sacrifice.
The gospel is good news for us, for sinners, because we don’t deserve it. It is surprising how easy it is for us to act like we deserved it after receiving it. As evangel people, though, we are called to forgive as we’ve been forgiven. This is an impossibly high standard, but a necessary one.
Forgiving is hard work because it means someone did something against us that required forgiveness.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3:12–14)
Holding grudges is particularly Christian, but not an okay one. Christians get guilted into being around others and being around others usually results in problems. Evangel reminds us that we’re expected and enabled to handle those problems with tenderheartedness and patience like Christ.
Here we are challenged greatly, but here is where we need to live up to our name. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). To live by faith is what the righteous do, and it is hard to do righteously in this regard. So much of what we see, so much of what we feel fights against us in this matter.
But Christ is no longer dead and we who believe in Him cannot die eternally. Nothing can separate us from His love though we are slaughtered. We must live by faith when it is dark. He promises light soon enough. Evangel reminds us that God wins.
Our church was planted in a context where gospel is a only a message, not a life.
How are we doing, Trinity Evangel? Do we live a self-protective, petty, pessimistic church life or an abandoned, big-hearted, and confident church life?
On one hand, this may be the most self-explanatory part of our name, but how can we evaluate the health of our church plant?
In other words, do we care more about people or programs? This doesn’t mean that programs and structure are no good, but they must always serve the life and certainly they must not take life. This is one reason why we want to be careful how many things we plan for the body, even on Sundays, so that we do not wear people out just by looking at their calendar. Church reminds us about the Body of Christ, not business or busyness.
We will not be in a good position to think that we are the only ones in the know, the only ones who truly please God. That doesn’t mean that we must work alongside, or join, every professing fellowship. It does mean that isolationist, elitist, narrowing boundaries reveal we’re not in a good place. Church reminds us of our historical and global contacts. “the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:9).
It cannot be nominal recognition that Jesus leads His Church. We follow Him. He gives direction. He is the captain of the ship.
And he [the Father] put all things under his [Christ’s] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22–23)
We must be in constant recognition of His preeminence, in constant dependence on Him to grow and guide His people. That’s obviously much easier to say than to do, but it must be done. Church reminds us that Christ builds His.
So how are we doing, church? Are we churching for sake of the organization, separation, and self-determination or are we churching for the organism, doing our part, and submitting to the Lord Christ?
We have done a good job, by God’s grace, of not defining ourselves by what we’re against and, rather, by what excites us. We’re running toward a Trinitarian life, an evangel life. By grace, at least for the most part, God has kept our plant out of the FOG, the fellowship of grievance.
The Trinity doesn’t fellowship over their complaints, though I’m guessing with omniscient reign over unrighteous hearts, they have plenty of material. While we could (and many do) whine, we are delivered and defined by the evangel as a church. It’s been a crazy, great, challenging, heavy, happy, growing year. May year two, 2012, for Trinity Evangel Church be blessed by Him.
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. (Philippians 4:1)