Christ Church

Shawn Paterson

The Good News of Jesus Christ (KC)

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SERMON TEXT:

1 Cor. 15:1–11

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

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Joyful Covenant Children (KC)

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INTRODUCTION

As we look around the room each Lord’s Day, we can see that many of us are in the thick of it when it comes to raising children. This is not simply an optical illusion; back in January, we ran a report and discovered that 37% of our congregation is under the age of 11, and nearly half are under the age of 18. Therefore, it is good to keep returning to the important topic of childrearing from time to time, for as the Apostle Paul wrote, it is no trouble for him to repeat himself, and it is good for you (Phil. 3:1). 

THE TEXT

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1–4 NKJV). 

CHILDREN, OBEY YOUR PARENTS IN THE LORD (V. 1)

Note that the Apostle Paul writes directly to the children—he expects their active participation in hearing his words read aloud in the congregation. He also writes that their obedience is done “in the Lord.” Children of believing parents are members of God’s covenant community, united to Christ. 

THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU (VV. 2–3)

God’s commandments are for our good. They are not arbitrary but rather are set in place so that we may thrive in the world He has created. Children should know that God has promised great blessings to those who obey their parents. And parents should never forget the purpose or end of all our discipline and training—that our children would genuinely love and have great joy in the Lord all the days of their lives. 

FATHERS, DO NOT PROVOKE YOUR CHILDREN (V. 4)

Just as children have a duty to obey their parents, parents—especially fathers—have a duty to help them obey and keep them from resentment or bitterness. As the Apostle Paul writes to the Colossians, “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (3:21). 

This means that fathers should not be overly strict, harsh, stern, or overbearing. You must remember their frames. But this is not the only way to provoke your children. Passive fathers, who exercise very little discipline (or inconsistent discipline) frustrate children as well. This approach likewise creates homes that are filled with anxiety and unhappiness. 

CONCLUSION

We want our congregation to be filled with families with children who are both obedient and full of genuine joy. But the only way to accomplish this great goal is for children and parents to do their part. 

Children, you are to obey your parents in all things, and as you do so, know that you are pleasing God, and He promises it is for your good. 

Parents, you must do the hard work of cultivating your children’s lives and faith. You must endeavor to know them individually and prune them with great tenderness. You should see to it that they are planted in healthy soil, full of happiness and joy. And all of this must be done in faith, trusting the Lord. It is only then that we can expect to reap a great harvest, from generation to generation.

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Availing Prayer (King’s Cross)

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THE TEXT

16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit (James 5:16–18). 

WHAT KIND OF PRAYER AVAILS MUCH?

  1. Effective, fervent
  2. Righteous

WHY THE EXAMPLE OF ELIJAH? (1 KINGS 17–18)

  1. He was a righteous man, “with a nature like ours”
  2. He prayed earnestly

CONCLUDING APPLICATIONS

  1. Be encouraged to pray, not discouraged. If you are seeking to live a godly life through the power of the Holy Spirit, then you have God’s attention. 
  2. Recognize where you pray already, and do so earnestly and with renewed faith.
  3. Take practical steps to cultivate additional times of focused prayer—because God is faithful and kind.

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The Severe Grace of Church Discipline (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

As a young church, we have not yet experienced a public church discipline case. While the elders have been active in encouraging, admonishing, and occasionally suspending individuals from the Lord’s Supper privately, we have not yet reached the point of needing to go through the formal process of excommunication.

But if we are a faithful church, a time is coming when we will have to work through this together. Therefore, we should seek to understand the biblical practice of formal church discipline now in order that we may be found faithful when confronted with the task. 

THE TEXT

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not meanwith the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person”

(1 Corinthians 5 NKJV). 

WHAT WE DISCIPLINE

It could be said that there are two kinds of church discipline. The first kind is formative discipline – we sit under the preaching/teaching of God’s Word, we receive the sacraments, and we participate in the ebb and flow of community life. This is positive discipline. 

The second kind is corrective discipline – beginning with private admonition, bringing in two or three witnesses, suspension from the Lord’s Supper, and ultimately excommunication (Mt. 18:15–20). This is remedial discipline.  

The kinds of sins that lead to formal church discipline are unrepentant, outward, and serious. 

WHY WE DISCIPLINE

We practice discipline for the good of the offender, with the hope that they will repent and be restored. 

We practice discipline for the good of the church, to prevent the spread of sin, to maintain our witness to the world, and to honor God and prevent His coming in judgment against us.

HOW WE DISCIPLINE

All remedial church discipline is conducted with patience and grace, imitating our Lord. 

When the individual is simply unrepentant and their sin rises to the level of needing formal discipline, the elders will suspend them from the Lord’s Supper for a limited time (2 Thess. 2:15–17). If they continue in their unrepentant sin, the final step is public excommunication. This typically involves a hearing, in which charges of sin with witnesses are brought forth and the individual has the opportunity to defend themselves. At a subsequent meeting of the elders, a verdict is voted on and communicated to the congregation at the next Lord’s Day service.

CONCLUSION: THE SEVERE GRACE OF DISCIPLINE

At the end of our passage, the Apostle Paul ends with this exhortation, “Therefore, put away from yourselves the evil person” (1 Cor. 5:13b). 

This is a quotation from Deuteronomy, in which the unrepentant sinner was to be put to death, removing them from the covenant community (Dt. 13:5, 17:7–12, 19:19, 21:21). Under the New Covenant, while the civil magistrate still bears the sword (Rom. 13:4), the people of God remove the unrepentant from the covenant community by excommunication. In a very real sense, this is an obvious mercy under the New Covenant. At the same time, excommunication points to a spiritual reality more severe than physical death—spiritual death. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt. 10:28). 

Discipline that honors Christ must be exercised with a sober understanding of the severity of such judgment, and with a spirit of meekness, humility, and love. 

The goal of excommunication is not punishment but restoration. It is meant to be an act of mercy toward the unrepentant sinner, that by the Spirit they would be awakened to their sin, repent, and seek the forgiveness that is only found in Christ.

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Hearts Assured Before Him (King’s Cross)

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THE TEXT: 1 John 3:19–24

And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us (NKJV).

I. SUMMARY OF THE TEXT: GOD DESIRES FOR YOU TO HAVE ASSURANCE

II. YOUR ASSURANCE MAY BE “SHAKEN, DIMINISHED, AND INTERMITTENT”

Westminster Confession 8.2: Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation

True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God’s withdrawing the light of His countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him to walk in darkness and to have no light: yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived; and be the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair.

Reasons We May Lack Assurance

1. Sin

2. Satan

3. Self

4. Sovereignty

III. HOW TO CULTIVATE ASSURANCE

1. Attend to the means of grace
2. Look inward and repent of any sin
3. Turn outward in service and love

IV. CONCLUSION: STAND ON GOD’S PROMISES

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