WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.879 Okay, we're going to turn to Acts chapter 2. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:09.720 And Corey last week mentioned and preached on the first part of our vision. 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:13.919 Our vision is to be a healthy city center church in and for Edinburgh committed to the 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:18.120 gospel of Jesus Christ and worship discipleship community and mission. 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:21.240 And we're taking these five weeks to look at this vision statement. 00:00:21.240 --> 00:00:25.519 So Corey looked at being the importance in the New Testament, have been a city center 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:29.519 church and our basis for that in the book of Acts. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:35.479 And today I'm looking at the first of these four characteristics worship discipleship 00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:36.479 community and mission. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:38.600 I'm looking at worship. 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:42.079 But in many ways what I want to say by way of introduction is that these things do fuse 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:43.079 together. 00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:46.799 They're not all individual really and they're not all separate. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:49.120 There's a quadrinity really. 00:00:49.120 --> 00:00:55.239 There's four things that come together in this vision that we have for the church. 00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:59.960 And if you, I am the worst ever mathematician. 00:00:59.960 --> 00:01:02.440 So this is probably a tell example. 00:01:02.440 --> 00:01:06.599 But I do remember 45 years ago doing Venn diagrams. 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:08.159 Did they still do Venn diagrams? 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:09.159 I don't know. 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:12.480 Venn diagrams, circles, intersect. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:17.960 And so I guess if you had these four worship discipleship community and mission as circles, 00:01:17.960 --> 00:01:20.800 they would all intersect together. 00:01:20.800 --> 00:01:24.640 And where they overlap, where the four of them overlap would be where we want to be, St. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:25.799 Columbus as a church. 00:01:25.799 --> 00:01:28.640 So they all come together in many ways. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:34.879 And we hope that all churches that have Jesus Christ as the center and the core of their 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:43.159 life and worship will be the same, but with different emphasis and different kind of perspectives 00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:45.000 on some of them. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:51.359 But today I'm looking at worship, which is the first of these four, which is the core 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:56.840 things that we're engaged in, the core things that we do and that are important to us. 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:58.920 And obviously that's a huge subject. 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:02.879 And it's a subject that really does cover all the other areas as well. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:08.240 But I'm going to focus on really one aspect of that, which is our corporate worship, our 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:11.759 worship together, our public worship in many ways. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:13.599 That's what I'm hoping to focus on. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:17.560 The communal part of our Christian lives. 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:24.199 Sundays, what we do on a Sunday when we gather together and as groups when we gather during 00:02:24.199 --> 00:02:25.199 the week. 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:29.719 That's really what I want to focus on because I know that we could focus on much more. 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:35.360 We know Romans 12 talks about offering our bodies as living sacrifices, which is our acceptable 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:36.759 worship to God. 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:39.439 And we know that all of our life is worship. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:45.080 We know that you have the personal disciplines of prayer and Bible study, which is worship 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:50.520 or reading the Bible as I think Kody mentioned Wednesday, meditating on God's Word, these 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:52.640 spiritual disciplines. 00:02:52.640 --> 00:02:56.380 And we know there's one to one discipleship, which is all part of worship. 00:02:56.380 --> 00:03:02.400 But do remember, even when we're living our Christian lives alone, as we think, or individually, 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:08.080 you're never alone because you're fused into the Trinity of God. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.240 You're part of His community. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:16.159 So even when we are praying and living on our own, we are part of the divine community 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:17.879 in our lives. 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:24.200 And that is expanded as we think of our worship together. 00:03:24.200 --> 00:03:31.240 To belong to Jesus Christ is to be part of a worshiping community. 00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:33.000 It's our critical identity. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.800 One Peter 2 says that once you were not a people, now you are a people. 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:40.560 And we are a worshiping people together. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:45.640 And so for a few minutes, I just want to look at what that, not in any way exhaustively, 00:03:45.640 --> 00:03:50.800 but what that might look like in some cases, what does it mean to have, what is worship? 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:56.120 What does it look like for us as we follow the prescriptions of Scripture and particularly 00:03:56.120 --> 00:04:00.000 here in Acts 2 at the very beginning of the church? 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:06.760 So we see this people who become Christians and immediately they are a worshiping people 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:09.239 and a worshiping people together. 00:04:09.239 --> 00:04:10.239 It's embryonic. 00:04:10.239 --> 00:04:11.239 I know that. 00:04:11.239 --> 00:04:13.439 It's prototypical, is it where? 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:14.799 It's new. 00:04:14.799 --> 00:04:18.199 And that worship would develop and mature and change in some ways. 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:23.480 But the principles that are behind what happened at the very beginning of the Christian church, 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:30.279 the New Testament, are significant and important and we want to believe in them and emphasize 00:04:30.279 --> 00:04:31.279 them. 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:35.159 So when we talk about worship, what do we mean when we say worship? 00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:40.439 When we speak about corporate coming together, Sunday worship together, what is it? 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:45.880 Well, I think there's a number of things from this passage that I want to highlight. 00:04:45.880 --> 00:04:50.600 The first is that it's spirit-filled worship. 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:57.320 We read that a little bit in verses 37, which was these people becoming Christians, they 00:04:57.319 --> 00:05:05.360 asked Peter, what will we do to be saved, and he said, repent and be baptized, every 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:09.759 one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, you will receive 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:11.920 the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:16.719 So what marked off that community of people right from the very beginning was something 00:05:16.719 --> 00:05:20.439 unique was that they were a spirit-filled people. 00:05:20.439 --> 00:05:24.879 They were a people who had a personal relationship with God. 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:31.719 The brokenness, the barrier between themselves and God that was caused by sin had been taken 00:05:31.719 --> 00:05:37.279 away as they repented and trusted and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:38.600 of their sins. 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:43.959 God became a reality to them, became personal to them, and as I said, they and we become 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:54.319 uniquely linked and united to the Trinity in this loving social, genus and personal God. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:06:01.000 That's who we come to know, and that is an amazing reality for us. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:08.800 And it leads to an immediate paradox for us, because when we come into a relationship 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:15.759 with a living God, we come into a relationship with truth and even with absolute truth, and 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:25.519 that gives us a sense of fixed foundational dependence upon what God has revealed. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:32.560 And yet that fixed reality that is part of what He reveals to Himself about us is fused 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:40.680 and merged with a deep, deep humility because we are not worthy of being in a relationship 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:42.599 with Him because of sin. 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:49.640 He is gifted as salvation, and it makes us as a people both those who hold on to truth 00:06:49.640 --> 00:06:56.160 as we see it revealed in God through Jesus Christ, yet who are humble and generous and 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:00.760 welcoming because that is how God has treated us. 00:07:00.760 --> 00:07:06.040 So it was kind of, it's a paradoxical thing to be humble and generous and welcoming and 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:14.439 regard everyone the same, but also hold on to truth that is fixed and unchanging. 00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:20.879 So we are a people who are Spirit-filled and who share all of us as Christians. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:23.879 Everyone here who is Christian, if you're not a Christian today, it's magnificent to 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:28.240 have you here, and we hope that you find Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:36.160 So those of us who are here have a common DNA, we have the Spirit, a shared DNA, the 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:37.439 Spirit of God lives in us. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:41.480 We have Jesus as a common Savior together. 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:48.160 We are baptized in the Holy Spirit, united to the Father, and everyone, and we must always 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:54.240 remember that, everyone is welcome to come and join with us in worship, but the heart 00:07:54.240 --> 00:08:00.960 worship that we offer can only come when we surrender our hearts to Jesus Christ and repent 00:08:00.960 --> 00:08:02.600 and are baptized. 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:09.160 And that means that in terms of our Spirit-filled characteristic, we are a people of forgiveness. 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:12.240 We have repented and believed. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:16.560 And so the atmosphere we believe when we gather together is an atmosphere of forgiveness. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:22.519 It's not a tight, self-righteous, judgmental spirit, but it's a forgiving spirit where 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:24.680 sinners saved by grace. 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:30.560 So you might know, you have to know here as a congregation that we're big on forgiveness. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:34.679 When you've got me as a minister and Corey as the assistant, you've got to be big on 00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:37.960 forgiveness because we make lots of mistakes. 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:43.559 But that's the atmosphere we have, and that's the air that we breathe, because that is exactly 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:46.720 what we've been saved to and saved from. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:53.320 And isn't it true, or sorry, isn't it often not true of churches and communities of believers 00:08:53.320 --> 00:08:59.879 together that quite often it's easy to be sharp, it's easy to be critical, it's easy 00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:02.279 to be judgmental and demanding? 00:09:02.279 --> 00:09:10.840 And can I say it's always a bigger temptation in ministers to be like that, but we are a 00:09:10.840 --> 00:09:16.139 forgiving and must be a forgiving people that is part of the Spirit-filled reality of who 00:09:16.139 --> 00:09:18.199 we are. 00:09:18.199 --> 00:09:24.919 And therefore we should always be, I think, as well as a diverse people, because our DNA 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:27.080 is the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:09:27.080 --> 00:09:28.559 We shouldn't be tribal. 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:34.319 I know we belong to denominations, but that should never make us tribal. 00:09:34.319 --> 00:09:40.679 It should never make us find our unity simply on the tribe that we belong to, whether that's 00:09:40.679 --> 00:09:47.319 a denominational tribe or a social tribe or a class tribe or a race tribe. 00:09:47.319 --> 00:09:50.559 That is what's set apart the New Testament church. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:57.079 Our unity is not based on our Scottishness, our Presbyterianness, our ethnicity, our hobbies, 00:09:57.079 --> 00:10:01.359 our culture, our class, our profession. 00:10:01.359 --> 00:10:07.959 Our unity is based on our common profession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:12.240 That should make us a diverse people, shouldn't it? 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:21.440 It should make us able to welcome and embrace and come together as a diverse people, a spiritual 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:24.400 people reborn together. 00:10:24.400 --> 00:10:30.600 And that is what will help create a great atmosphere and culture for worship. 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:41.440 So we share unity with gospel churches, whether...we could talk about the church throughout the 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:45.399 world, the church universal, but I'm talking primarily about local church here, but we 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:49.120 do share unity with other gospel churches. 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:50.120 That's important. 00:10:50.120 --> 00:10:51.360 We're not suspicious. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:55.120 We're definitely not sectarian, okay? 00:10:55.120 --> 00:11:00.160 We belong to a gloriously diverse worldwide culture of believers. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:01.799 Let's not forget that. 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:06.439 And let's not forget that while God might not be converting people in huge numbers here 00:11:06.439 --> 00:11:10.439 in Edinburgh at the moment, He's doing it all over the world. 00:11:10.439 --> 00:11:16.399 Many, many people are joining the community of God's people. 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:21.079 So we do share unity, but we are also committed to the local church because that's the New 00:11:21.079 --> 00:11:23.240 Testament model we have. 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:26.000 I hear sometimes people saying, I don't really need the church. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:27.559 I can't be bothered with the church. 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:31.399 I just meet up with lots of Christians who are my friends. 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:33.159 That's my gospel community. 00:11:33.159 --> 00:11:34.839 That's my church. 00:11:34.839 --> 00:11:38.000 Can I challenge you if you think like that? 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:40.559 Because that's easy. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:45.599 That is really just a community of friends who happen to be believers. 00:11:45.599 --> 00:11:47.479 The church is diverse. 00:11:47.479 --> 00:11:49.559 It's structured. 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:56.919 We come together in worship and it has God's authority and God appoints those with spiritual 00:11:56.919 --> 00:11:59.759 oversight and we're different and we need to be forgiven. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:05.240 If we're always just with our friends, it's not really church. 00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:10.679 It is maybe fellowship together as Christians. 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:18.360 But church is a different animal from that and it's much tougher and much more challenging 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:20.559 and yet much more blessed. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.360 So it's a spirit-filled worship. 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:27.039 The second thing about it is apostolic worship. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:31.960 Verse 42, we're told that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching to the fellowship, 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:34.120 the breaking of bread and to prayers. 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:39.840 So the New Testament church was unashamedly focused on God's teaching, God's word that 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:42.800 came with the apostolic authority. 00:12:42.800 --> 00:12:48.639 Before the New Testament was finally completed, yet it was the apostolic message, the tradition 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:54.000 that they brought, the teaching of Jesus Christ, the outworking of prophecy from the 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:55.000 Old Testament. 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:57.240 The Old Testament itself has revealed truth. 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:03.279 That was the foundational aspect of the worship of the New Testament church. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:07.080 They were committed to the teaching from God's word. 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:11.759 That's why the lectern here remains in the middle of the church and it's not at the side. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:17.559 There's symbolism there that's significant and it matches up with the big pulpit there. 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:21.199 You know, if I don't preach the truth from that, that top thing comes down and top of 00:13:21.199 --> 00:13:22.199 me. 00:13:22.199 --> 00:13:24.399 And I'm gone. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:26.199 That's why I don't go up there. 00:13:26.199 --> 00:13:28.559 But it's at the center, isn't it? 00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:33.879 It's in the middle because we are unashamedly people who preach and believe God's word, 00:13:33.879 --> 00:13:38.759 that the gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ has given us, the message of Christ and Him 00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:41.239 crucified, we're not ashamed of. 00:13:41.239 --> 00:13:45.519 And it's the message that transforms in His power and His life. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:48.279 And we're learning people together. 00:13:48.279 --> 00:13:54.159 We want to, as leaders, we really want to make Sundays great. 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:57.199 We really do put effort. 00:13:57.199 --> 00:14:03.319 You might not think that, but we do put great effort into preparing our message and preaching 00:14:03.319 --> 00:14:05.639 God's word and praying through that. 00:14:05.639 --> 00:14:11.960 And we need your help to do that because we can prepare a message and preach that message, 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:14.639 but you've got to be fed on it and nourished. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:16.399 You know, there's nothing worse. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:21.159 Is there for a chef who prepares a beautiful meal and puts it out on the table and it's 00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:22.840 not eaten? 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:24.199 So we all have that. 00:14:24.199 --> 00:14:25.519 We're all involved in it. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:31.720 I know I've said this many, many times here, that it's not, you're not passive as you listen. 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:33.319 You're feeding and nourishing. 00:14:33.319 --> 00:14:34.879 You're coming prepared. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:39.439 You're asking God what He's wanting you to learn today. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:45.800 And we are all looking for our hearts to be transformed when we come together and worship. 00:14:45.800 --> 00:14:50.160 And you forgive us when that's not the case. 00:14:50.160 --> 00:14:52.640 But our response is so important, isn't it? 00:14:52.640 --> 00:14:57.840 What we, what you draw out from the word as it's preached, as it's sung, as we pray 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:00.080 together, it's so important. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:04.600 And I want to repeat a phrase that I mentioned earlier, a number of, a couple of months ago 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:11.080 maybe in terms of that apostolic worship, the teaching, the preaching of God's Word 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:13.840 is remembered in our knowledge. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:18.560 Don't strive for knowledge beyond what we are willing to obey. 00:15:18.560 --> 00:15:20.120 So we're not just, we don't come to church. 00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:25.960 It's not a, it's not a consumerist activity, we're just wondering what I can learn. 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:30.440 What new things, what exciting new things will I be told today? 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:35.560 It's not so much Gordon Blu cooking as Mincent Eyes. 00:15:35.560 --> 00:15:41.960 Okay, it's much more what is going to feed us and transform us for the day. 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:45.800 And what is God teaching me that I need to put into practice? 00:15:45.800 --> 00:15:50.680 Not that I will store away in some intellectual corner of my mind. 00:15:50.680 --> 00:15:55.320 But what is He, what light is He bringing into the darkness of my heart that is being 00:15:55.320 --> 00:15:59.280 exposed and needs changed today? 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:05.480 Everything and our teaching, we strive and prayerfully to be inspiring, educational, 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:08.600 but corporate together. 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:11.879 It's not a show, it is God's truth. 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:13.279 He is our touchstone. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:20.959 It's apostolic and will remain focused always on the apostolic message of God's Word. 00:16:20.959 --> 00:16:22.439 That is foundational essential. 00:16:22.439 --> 00:16:24.360 So it's spirit-filled, it's apostolic. 00:16:24.360 --> 00:16:28.279 But it's also in the third place, and it's from the same verse, verse 43. 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:32.720 It's shared worship, really important. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:39.559 Devote themselves to teaching fellowship and the breaking of bread into the prayers. 00:16:39.559 --> 00:16:47.199 Fellowship, coinonia, communion, it was together. 00:16:47.199 --> 00:16:52.639 It has the whole idea of generosity, of giving and of being in one another's company, of 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:53.639 sharing. 00:16:53.639 --> 00:17:01.720 And so our corporate worship, our Sunday mornings, is not a ritual, it's not just a habit. 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:09.160 It is this shared coming together under God through the Spirit with apostolic teaching 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:12.079 and fellowship with one another. 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:17.680 And I think that's increasingly important in the isolation that we've been forced into 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:19.879 over the last couple of years. 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:27.040 And even, and can I say it today, the online stuff, if you're watching online, is good. 00:17:27.040 --> 00:17:28.800 We're grateful to God for it. 00:17:28.800 --> 00:17:31.480 But it's never a preference. 00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:38.280 Can I ask you never to choose going online before coming out to worship with God's people? 00:17:38.280 --> 00:17:42.640 I know there's reasons why sometimes we have to do it, and it's great we can. 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:44.920 But can I ask you not to make it a preference? 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:48.720 Because you're missing out, what you're missing out, you're missing out on sacrifice. 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:52.519 You're missing out on hassle. 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:55.960 You're missing out on getting up and getting ready and getting out. 00:17:55.960 --> 00:18:01.880 You're missing out on the frustration of having to speak to people and deal with people and 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:02.880 serve. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:07.960 But remember, it's two-way. 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:10.759 When we're not together, we're not eyeballing one another. 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:12.880 We're not together and facing one another. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:14.960 We're not interacting with one another. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:15.960 We're not... 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:18.799 We're diminished when we're not together. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:23.120 Even the masks that you're wearing diminish our being together, because I can't see the 00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:28.680 expressions on your face, and I can't share the smiles or the grimaces that you have as 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:30.079 I preach. 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:35.519 And it's so important, isn't it, that God has called us not only to face one another... 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:39.759 Oh, sorry, to face Him in repentance, so we've come face to face with God. 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:41.920 But we face to face with one another. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:47.360 We come into contact, worship is about loving God, but also about loving one another. 00:18:47.360 --> 00:18:54.560 The core of who we are is that we are a shared people, a people who share grace and love. 00:18:54.560 --> 00:18:59.680 It's the outworking of the Lord's command, isn't it, that we love Him and that we love 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:03.240 one another and primarily in worship. 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:08.440 And can I say that the meal, the sacramental meal that's spoken of here, the breaking of 00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:14.080 bread, sacrament, the Lord's supper, and also baptism, which is mentioned earlier, is really 00:19:14.080 --> 00:19:17.240 important and is significant. 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:22.920 And the whole idea behind food is massive, isn't it, in the New Testament? 00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:24.799 It's massive spiritually. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:30.559 And the great thing about eating together is that you don't eat in cubicles. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:33.160 You don't eat where you're face to the wall. 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:39.480 You eat at a table, where your legs under the table and facing one another and fellowshipping 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:40.680 with one another. 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:43.720 I just mean ordinary eating. 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:48.279 But one of the amazing things about the first church that I was part of in Roskeen was it 00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:53.440 was a traditional church building and it had pews, beautiful American pine pews, light-colored 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:54.440 pews. 00:19:54.440 --> 00:19:56.400 And the first four pews were outstanding. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:58.160 Do you know why? 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:04.200 Because you could turn them round, the backs of the pews flipped up to become tables. 00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:07.200 It was a remarkable piece of engineering. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:12.640 And you could lift up a seat from the front of the pews so that you were facing the people 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:13.640 in the pews coming to you. 00:20:13.640 --> 00:20:19.240 And there was a table, what a brilliant invention, for the Lord's supper. 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:23.800 And I think that reminds us that not just the Lord's supper, but eating in general was 00:20:23.800 --> 00:20:25.360 an important part of worship. 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:30.240 Now, as time has gone on, we've compartmentalized things much more. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:34.159 And the Lord's supper is a sacrament that we engage in. 00:20:34.159 --> 00:20:38.799 We don't normally eat ordinary meals with it. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:43.919 But I think that was very much part of the New Testament worship, the love feast, where 00:20:43.919 --> 00:20:49.079 they ate together and they shared the Lord's supper together. 00:20:49.079 --> 00:20:55.059 And I think that any New Testament church who worships will be sharing with one another. 00:20:55.059 --> 00:21:03.200 When we come together, food, generosity, forgiveness, it's all based around the cross, the sacrament 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:08.639 that we're reminded of and has this future element towards it that we, even when we're 00:21:08.639 --> 00:21:10.919 gathered like this, this is not the end. 00:21:10.919 --> 00:21:14.079 And this is not the final reality for us. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:19.639 It's pointing forward to something, a feast that will be far, far greater and far better 00:21:19.639 --> 00:21:20.639 together. 00:21:20.639 --> 00:21:21.639 Such beauty. 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:31.480 But what we want to do in our worship, as part of our worship, is to make shared meals 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:35.400 part of our experience of the Lord's supper sometimes. 00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:41.360 So as a supplement to what we do on the Lord's Day once a month when we have the Lord's supper, 00:21:41.360 --> 00:21:47.160 we want to have communion together, fellowship, coinonia on a Wednesday evening, on the fifth 00:21:47.160 --> 00:21:49.080 Wednesday of the month. 00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:52.480 So we kind of work in these things. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:55.639 The fifth is an extra Wednesday really, and there's four a year. 00:21:55.639 --> 00:22:01.599 So on that fifth Wednesday, we're going to have a fellowship meal together, and we're 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:09.279 going to just worship together around tables, and we are going to celebrate the Lord's supper 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:12.319 as well and do exactly what they did. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:17.159 I love meal together in the New Testament as it was in the New Testament and share the 00:22:17.159 --> 00:22:18.960 Lord's supper together. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:23.400 Fellowship for us, I think, as is mentioned here, I think it's become a bit of an insipid 00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:26.640 word, kind of a bit of a soft word. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:33.440 But it's a powerful word of sacrificial communion and shared life together, and that's God's 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:34.440 model. 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:37.960 And that's why, as I say, these things are all intertwined. 00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:41.759 Hospitality is so important to us because it's in many ways, it's a powerful aspect 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:46.120 of worship, closely linked. 00:22:46.120 --> 00:22:48.319 So it is a shared worship. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:53.960 That's why it's so important that you've made the effort to come out in the rain today. 00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:56.279 And I'm sure many of you thought, oh, what a hassle today. 00:22:56.279 --> 00:23:01.559 I think I'll just sit and watch it on the line and have to go early because I'm serving 00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:03.159 or I'm doing something. 00:23:03.159 --> 00:23:04.519 Praise God that you came today. 00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:05.519 It's a brilliant thing. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:09.759 And it's a really important part of who we are and what we do. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:11.039 Shared worship is the third thing. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:14.439 Fourth thing is prayerful worship. 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:25.000 And awe came upon every soul, verse 43, many wonders were being done together by the people. 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:33.120 And it goes on to say that they were praying together in so much of what they did, breaking 00:23:33.120 --> 00:23:36.640 of bread and two prayers. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:43.680 There's nothing as the progressive revelation of the New Testament happens. 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:49.240 There's no place where prayer becomes less significant for corporate prayer. 00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:55.880 The prayer of God's people together becomes a sideshow and added extra, the joint activity 00:23:55.880 --> 00:23:56.880 of the few. 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:59.880 It's an absolute given. 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:06.560 The family together calling out to God without whom we are dead. 00:24:06.560 --> 00:24:12.039 Giving thanks, praising God and recognizing our need for Him to open the souls and the 00:24:12.039 --> 00:24:16.319 hearts and the lives of those who don't know Jesus Christ. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:23.879 So we have that aspect of prayer that is so important in our lives and in our worship. 00:24:23.879 --> 00:24:29.680 The New Testament church came together for a great example of it, just in the next couple 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:34.000 of chapters where Peter's imprisoned and the people join together in prayer to have him 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:35.000 released. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:38.319 And of course, he's miraculously released and they don't believe it. 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:39.480 They can't believe that he is, I think. 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:43.880 It's a vision that he's got out of prison and it's just a beautiful reminder to us of 00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:47.360 how little we actually believe in prayer, even though we do it. 00:24:47.360 --> 00:24:48.880 And maybe you think that as well. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:53.599 Oh, well, I go along to the engine room or I get up early and one, two, seven, praying 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:56.680 on Friday and nothing changes. 00:24:56.680 --> 00:25:03.200 We will see miracles when we keep praying and persevering in prayer to the one, when 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:08.759 we recognize it's not ritualistic and not simply going through the motions, but is critical 00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:11.759 to part of our worship. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:16.200 I know seven o'clock on a Friday morning is inconvenient. 00:25:16.200 --> 00:25:19.680 Seven thirty on a Wednesday evening is sacrificial. 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:20.680 It's painful. 00:25:20.680 --> 00:25:21.680 It's a pain in the neck. 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:26.039 We would rather do many other things, but it's where we will make our battle cry. 00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:29.519 It's where we will be encouraged. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:34.839 It's where we will sense God answering our prayers for the worship on a Sunday to be 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:38.759 spirit filled and for us to grow and to develop and see new people. 00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:43.679 It's where we will get our wisdom to be able to share our faith with those who don't know 00:25:43.679 --> 00:25:45.039 the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:52.439 So prayer is critical to that New Testament church and to worship unto ourselves. 00:25:52.439 --> 00:26:00.240 And then the last thing is that it was joyful and awesome worship, which is what we strive 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:02.119 after in our lives. 00:26:02.119 --> 00:26:07.479 We're told that with awe, the awe of God came upon every soul. 00:26:07.479 --> 00:26:10.519 Many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 00:26:10.519 --> 00:26:16.079 And then later on we're told they were praising God with generous hearts, God giving them 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:18.839 favor with all the people and the Lord added to their number. 00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:25.359 So there's this sense of joyful praise and worship together. 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:31.079 Now the word there that's used is exuberant. 00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:32.919 Exuberant worship when we come together. 00:26:32.919 --> 00:26:35.599 You'll go, what God has done is amazing. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:40.519 It's so easy to forget that. 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:43.559 And yet there's awesomeness because of who He is. 00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:52.079 Now I think sometimes we've associated reverence or awe with misery. 00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:56.759 And we've associated joy with flippancy. 00:26:56.759 --> 00:27:00.480 And nothing could be further from the truth. 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:07.160 There should be expressed and exuberant joy when we come together in worship fused with 00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:11.799 a holy reverence, which is not dull and boring. 00:27:11.799 --> 00:27:16.279 It is what comes from the heart in our lives. 00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:23.960 Now I think culturally as doer, Presbyterian Scots, we're not great at being exuberant. 00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:26.880 We're not great at expressing it in our worship. 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:29.720 And I think sometimes that's a shame. 00:27:29.720 --> 00:27:34.240 And it's something that we shouldn't be embarrassed about. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:38.480 And it's important because it reflects what's in our heart. 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:44.120 But you know, it doesn't mean it needs to be flippant or daft. 00:27:44.120 --> 00:27:47.240 It's just a sense of exuberant. 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:53.079 However you express your exuberance doing so in worship, but also reverent awe, awesome 00:27:53.079 --> 00:27:54.880 recognizing who God is. 00:27:54.880 --> 00:27:58.000 That's why song is vital in our worship. 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:00.480 That's why music is vital in our worship. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:01.839 It's why truth is vital. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:07.160 It's why your hearts and my hearts in preparation are vital. 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:12.839 John Stott, when he's commenting or quoting, speaking about this passage, or this specific 00:28:12.839 --> 00:28:18.319 area, says, it's right to be dignified in worship, but it's unforgivable to be dull. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:20.240 I really hate dullness. 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:23.960 I hate when I preach a dull sermon. 00:28:23.960 --> 00:28:27.559 And I hate when there's a dullness about what we do that we just feel we're going through 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:33.240 the motions we come and go and our eyebrows are raised because it shouldn't be like that 00:28:33.240 --> 00:28:34.480 for us. 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:41.079 One of our priorities in the new or the updated card we're doing is related to worship and 00:28:41.079 --> 00:28:43.200 it's joyful Sundays. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:47.039 We're just focusing that as part of our priority, joyful Sundays. 00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:51.000 You come, you're refreshed, you're renewed. 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.279 I hope they'll be memorable. 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:57.359 They'll be anticipated that you don't drag your feet, you don't dread coming to church. 00:28:57.359 --> 00:28:59.359 It's not a terrible experience. 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:01.439 And when we fail, you'll forgive us. 00:29:01.439 --> 00:29:08.279 But when you come empty, when you come sore, when you come gilly, you'll leave fed and 00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:14.599 restored and forgiven and renewed and assured and challenged in your faith. 00:29:14.599 --> 00:29:19.079 So all these things are, I think, critical and important. 00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:22.399 I'm not going to say anytime it's gone about formal and informal worship. 00:29:22.399 --> 00:29:26.479 Both are exposed in this passage. 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:33.120 But in conclusion, there were people who, verse 42 says, were devoted to worship, devoted 00:29:33.120 --> 00:29:34.120 to worship. 00:29:34.120 --> 00:29:36.640 And that's what I want us to be as a community in St. Columbus. 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:37.640 I know it's hard. 00:29:37.640 --> 00:29:39.400 It's really hard when we have to gather. 00:29:39.400 --> 00:29:43.039 We're not just a community to live together and near one another and see each other all 00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:44.039 the time. 00:29:44.039 --> 00:29:45.039 It's really difficult. 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:48.480 It's a lot of work to be devoted to worship. 00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:50.160 But it's what makes us who we are. 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:51.839 It's what makes us new. 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:53.680 It's what makes us united. 00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:59.160 It's what helps us to deal with tensions and struggles and battles that we have. 00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:05.560 Enables us to look forward and remind ourselves it's just a taste of what's to come together. 00:30:05.560 --> 00:30:12.640 We battle today, but we look forward in worship and hope that our Sundays here are just a 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:19.680 very small taste of what God has in store for us, a day of rest, a day of fellowship 00:30:19.680 --> 00:30:25.240 in a powerful way with God and with one another and the hope that we have in Him. 00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:32.160 So devoted to worship and that involves that intensity of preparation and prayer and commitment 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:37.720 to fellow failed humans who are saved by grace. 00:30:37.720 --> 00:30:41.279 It's not just that you come to worship and there happens to be other people there. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:49.279 So we come to family with all the difficulties and struggles of that and we love them. 00:30:49.279 --> 00:30:52.519 We love one another because of who we are. 00:30:52.519 --> 00:30:57.599 So we're committed to one another, but it doesn't mean we're inward looking or insular. 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.399 We're devoted to being outward looking. 00:31:00.399 --> 00:31:03.879 The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 00:31:03.879 --> 00:31:05.799 They found favor with the people. 00:31:05.799 --> 00:31:06.799 What does that mean? 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:10.559 Well, it means that they weren't insular and they weren't sectarian and they weren't 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:11.559 judgmental. 00:31:11.559 --> 00:31:17.119 It means that they have this great outward looking desire and people noticed them. 00:31:17.119 --> 00:31:18.639 They found favor with the community. 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:22.640 So that is a great challenge for us who are a gathered community. 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:25.800 How do people see us? 00:31:25.800 --> 00:31:30.640 Surely hospitality is one of the biggest ways that they will see us as we share our Christian 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:35.360 friendships with our unbelievers who are our friends as well. 00:31:35.360 --> 00:31:36.880 It's a great challenge. 00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:42.720 God saw fit to add to their number daily and I hope He feels fit to add to our numbers 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:43.720 daily. 00:31:43.720 --> 00:31:48.799 Our mission is to be a healthy city center church in and for Edinburgh committed to the 00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:53.039 gospel of Jesus Christ and worship discipleship community and mission. 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:57.480 The first of our four priorities that come from that is joyful Sundays. 00:31:57.480 --> 00:32:00.480 I hope that becomes and is the case. 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:05.279 And the first of our four commitments that also in a sense kind of overflow from that 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:09.440 is our commitment to the Bible, to prayer and to the sacraments. 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:11.400 That's part of who we are. 00:32:11.400 --> 00:32:14.000 Amen.