In 2 Kings 19 Hezekiah prayed to the LORD because Sennacherib (the king of Assyria) threatened to attack Judah. Assyria had already defeated Samaria, they “have laid waste the nations and their lands” (verse 17) and turned to overtake Judah which was not in a great position to fight. Hezekiah prayed that the LORD would save Judah. Isaiah prophesied that Sennacherib will be destroyed and even more than that, that Judah would grow strong.

The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward…The zeal of the LORD will do this. (2 Kings 19:30, 31b, ESV)

What a great picture of stability: take root downward and of influence: bear fruit upward . God would plant His people deep and prosper His people abundantly. They would be anchored and productive.

In his inaugural sermon upon being called to pastor the church in Amsterdam, Abraham Kuyper remarked:

[N]o organism flourishes unless it can spread its roots freely and unfurl its crown of leaves in the fresh air. (Kuyper, Rooted & Grounded: The Church as Organism and Institution)

Don’t we want the same things in this place, to be rooted and fruited? When I was working in my own yard years ago, preparing to add a sprinkler system and newly seed the whole area, I tilled and re-tilled and re-tilled the same ground to prepare a place for thick, green grass to grow. As a church we need more tilling and fertilizer and water and sun. We don’t need more soil, we need to keep working the soil we’ve got.

We officially affirm our first group of members today. As we prepare to do that, let’s remember why this is so great. The world certainly doesn’t encourage us to think good things about church. Why would anyone think that a church or even the Church is important in 2014? What place does it have in Washington state, with a majority citizens who prefer the religion of “None.” Besides, isn’t Christianity about the heart, about an organic relationship with Jesus, not a religion? Doesn’t church history demonstrate that institutions tend to mess up things for individuals?

Yes. There are bad signs outside and inside the church. But what is hope good for? Hope is something when the likelihood is nothing. When the situation is most bleak is when hope is most useful and necessary. Our hope isn’t in the church but we do have hope for the church. God has a great assignment for His church and great promises that attend us. His promises fly beside us and will escort us home.

We are a kingdom outpost of heaven, an embassy of our home country in a foreign land. We are affirming citizenship with the privileges and responsibilities, some that are inherent and others that are accepted. Certain truths define us and motivate us and give us joy. When we get down, when humility spreads roots down deep, God will grow us up and out into an increasingly fruitful people.

This message and these three points are intended to raise our hope anchored in humility.

We are created by and serve a God Who we can’t fully comprehend.

We are not our own idea. We didn’t get here by our own wisdom or free will or luck. We are an organic people given life freely by God. He is outside of us working in us.

A church cannot be manufactured; a polity, no matter how tidy, and a confession, no matter how spotless, are powerless to form a church if the living organism is absent. (Kuyper, .ibid)

It began in eternity past with the Father’s election. He chose us for salvation (Ephesians 1:4, 5, 11), and that involves His predestination of a people, a bride for His son. His electing purpose begins with individuals but it does not end there. The Father desires to honor the Son with the church and has planned an eternity of loving fellowship for us with Himself.

At the right time, the Father sent the Son and the Son willingly came for His bride. In order to win her, He lived and died and rose again for her (Ephesians 5:25). He purchased her freedom, ransomed her from sin, and intends to present her blameless to Himself.

The Father and the Son sent the Spirit; Jesus told His disciples that He would in John 16 (verses 7-11, 13-15). The Holy Ghost regenerates, He indwells, He seals, He fills, and He empowers. He teaches us about God in truth. He excites our affections and produces fruit in us. He lives in us to help and make us holy.

How can we—a people created by and through and for the Triune God—not become something great? He is all-in. What shall we fear? How could we not know the unity that the Son prayed for in John 17? We don’t depend on us “to unit all things in [Christ]” (Ephesians 1:10). The doctrine of the Trinity humbles us up in hopefulness and out in fruitfulness.

We are saved by and incarnate a gospel that we do not deserve.

The thing that messes all of this up is sin. Sin is why the Trinity had to get involved, why an outside force is necessary. Their particular work deals with our rebellion, our unbelief, our pride, our hate, and our death.

The the good news answers all of these soul disasters from the inside out. The gospel brings life. The gospel grows love. The gospel makes humble. The gospel invites faith. The gospel transforms servants and sons. Like God, the gospel is outside of us. When it is well-defined, we have a place joyful place to live.

We believe the gospel and we live it out by love through humble, hopeful, family service. “We who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you” (2 Corinthians 4:11-12). This is putting the gospel “in our mortal flesh,” incarnating it. No wonder some people want to be a part. We do not always act this way but this is what we were made for.

A church challenges sin for sake of forgiveness and belonging. We are the only people who can consistently address sin without being judgmental. We announce that sin has been judged. We know how to deal with haters because we used to be them. We alone have the tools to deal with conflict: peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-24).

Do you know my strengths and weaknesses? Do any of either annoy you? If you don’t know or if they haven’t bugged you yet, just wait. We know, or will come to know weaknesses and sins of those around us. And we are called to bear with one another and even forgive each other as Christ forgave us. This is how gospel people respond.

walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1–3, ESV)

The doctrine of the evangel humbles us up in hopefulness and out in fruitfulness.

We are united to and built into a body that is bigger than us.

Only a Triune God would come up with such a purpose. Jesus promised that He will build His church (Matthew 16:18). He aims to show off His wisdom to the spiritual powers by uniting us together (Ephesians 3:10): Jew and Gentile are fellow heirs, male and female are members of the same body, young and old are partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel (Ephesians 3:6).

We have responsibilities including but not limited to our own personal walk with Christ. We also have responsibilities to one another. Our “What We Believe in Brief” includes a variety of one-anothers. Every member must agree with the WWBiB and these are our commitments. Together:

• We proclaim Christ as Lord.
• We practice the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
• We assemble each Lord’s day to worship as the communion of saints and to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.
• We hold each other accountable in obedience of faith through Biblical discipline.
• We affirm that the Holy Spirit gifts each member for the building up of the whole and that the pastors equip the saints for the work of the ministry until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
• We continue Christ’s commission to make disciples of all nations and for the sake of following generations.
• We trust that God is building His church by His Word and causes believers to persevere unto bodily resurrection and a heavenly inheritance, to the praise of His glorious grace.

speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15–16, ESV)

The Trinity announces salvation in the gospel for gathering His church. The doctrine of the church humbles us up in hopefulness and out in fruitfulness.

Conclusion

We are a people baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4–6, ESV)

We are identified as those who belong with Him, who believe in Him, and who therefore belong with each other. We will continue to learn how to obey everything that Christ has commanded and, as we do so, may we see many more become citizens of the heavenly kingdom.

We represent Christ on earth. We reflect Him to one another, to our city, to our neighbors, to our kids. We have supernatural reasons to be excited and to be hopeful in our future together with and for Him.

• We have reason to be thankful.
• We have reason to pray.
• We have reason to join arms.
• We have reason to be excited.
• We have reason to read the Book.
• We have reason to trust.

If we do down, He will grow us up. As we are humbled before a God who is infinitely mysterious, infinitely gracious, and infinitely wise, our hope in Him will extend in fruit.

May God grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.