I don’t know about you, but the talk on Sunday definitely got me fired up for this ‘Wholehearted’ series! I’m excited about seeing afresh how God wants us to live our whole lives for him.
I loved this quote from John Piper -
“The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think and act in a way that will make God look as great as he really is… be a telescope for the world of the infinite, starry wealth of the glory of God”
But I found it deeply confronting, as well.
How wholehearted am I, really, in my walk with God? I fall down every day.
I can already see this series is going to be a challenge for me. To be willing to have my eyes opened to my half-heartedness. But not to shy away from that in guilt or fear, but to keep coming week by week for refuge to my good and loving Father. And trusting the power of the Spirit to change me as I try to humbly submit to him.
You can see why our Sunday gatherings are the ‘hero structure’ for the Magnification area of church life! Not because worship is something we just do on Sundays - but because our hearts are so prone to wander.
We desperately need to gather regularly together - to rehearse and remind each other of the gospel. Of what it is we’re living for.
To do all those things the Bible teaches us to do- pray, sing, confess, teach and admonish each other, encourage each other, have the word of Christ dwell richly among us - so that throughout the week we can live out what we’ve rehearsed together.
I love this quote from one of my favourite books on church, ‘Rhythms of Grace’ by Mike Cosper-
“Whoever dubbed the debate over musical style a “worship war” failed to realise that worship is always a war. The declaration that there is one God, that his name is Jesus, and that he has died, has risen, and will come again is an all-out assault on the saviours extended at every level of culture around us.”
So let me encourage those of us that serve on Sundays – and so many of us do! - that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. I know it can sometimes be hard work - with frustrations like early starts, lots of set up and pack up, short rehearsal times, troubleshooting random livestream issues, making sure there’s enough food, keeping energetic kids engaged, prepping fiddly crafts - but as much as it might not feel like it at times, we get to fight on the front lines to win our people’s hearts back to the better story of the gospel.
As Paul writes to the brothers and sisters in Corinth,
"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Cor 15:58)
Grace & peace,
Claire