Songs for Sunday, October 8 @ Christ Community Church

So often, we can get lost in carrying out what we call “church”. We talk about going to church, church buildings, church services. There are times when we try to get specific and explain that the Church, the Bride (Ephesians 5:25-27, Revelation 19:7-9) and body (Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 4:11-16) of Christ, is not an organization or a building or a religious activity but a people who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

Thinking of the Church as anything less messes us up. We can start to think of it from a religious perspective instead of a 1)Biblical one, or 2)one that is rooted in a relationship with Jesus and what He has done in us. If the Bible teaches that the Church is more that the world sees it, it is important that those who are saved see it “with the eyes of [our] hearts enlightened” so that we remember that the differences between being a member of an organization or a member of the Church, the body of Christ, lie in having hope in Christ (Ephesians 1:18).

The good news is that there is good news — the gospel! Our hope lies in Jesus alone because He alone can give hope. We do not have to worry about keeping our minds right when thinking of the church under our own power because those who are in Christ are “transformed by the renewal of their mind” (Romans 12:2) and part of having new life in Christ is Him renewing “the spirit of [our] minds…after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24). You see, the same good news that brings us to Christ sustains us because it is all about Jesus — who He is, what He is done, and what He is still doing because He is risen as He said (Matthew 28:6).

The gospel is good news — literally, it is what the word means, but it is only good news once we understand the deadly reality we are in because of sin. The Bible is clear that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). That sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2) and deserves the penalty of death (Romans 6:23). We have no works that can redeem us, nothing worthy in us to save us. The reality of our sinfulness is that when we stand before God at the end of our lives, God would be just and right to condemn us to the penalty we deserve. The only thing that can make any difference in that is if we put our faith in Jesus, confess Him as Lord, and believe in Him (Romans 10:9-10).

You see, when Jesus saves someone — because He is “rich in mercy” and “the great love with which He loved us” (Ephesians 2:4), He forgives them of their sin (Acts 10:43, Ephesians 1:7). He redeems them (Galatians 3:13, Titus 2:13-14). He has borne the punishment and shame due for their sin (Isaiah 53:4-6, 2 Corinthians 5:21) and trades it for His own righteousness and favor with God (Romans 4:5-8, Philippians 3:8-9). So, for those who are in Christ, when they stand before God, we have “an advocate…Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).

If the day we stand before God played out like a courtroom, all the evidence would be presented. Any and all humans would be guilty without hope of appeal. And those who are in Christ would plead nothing other than guilty (1 John 1:8-9). But before the sentence of death and hell is passed and the gavel slams down with an eternal level of finality, our Advocate speaks up and says that we have been cleared of all charges. The guilty can be declared innocent because Jesus has “forgiven us all our trespasses”, He has cancelled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands” by “nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14)! He bore the wrath due our sin (Romans 3:24-25 Galatians 3:13, 1 Thessalonians 1:10) and covered us with His righteousness (Hebrews 9:11-14, 1 Peter 1:18-19)!

I know I have said it several times, but that’s good news!

So, tomorrow, the Church will gather all around the world as it has on the first day of the week since Resurrection Sunday. There will be many who set out to go to church. Many will seek a religious experience. Some will go out of guilt. Others will attend because they think there is a divine roll book and perfect attendance will gain them entrance into heaven. But the Church, those who have been saved by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, has the opportunity to gather and worship Him, to sit under the teaching of His Word, to lift our voices in praise, and to be the Church.

What about you?

If you are saved, now is a good time to pray and set your focus on Christ! Prepare your heart for gathering and worshiping tomorrow by doing it today!

If you are not saved, that does not have to be bad news. Some of those Scriptures linked above tell how to be saved very clearly! Check out Romans 10:9-13:

…because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

If you want to be saved, repent of your sin and believe on Christ. Confess Him as Lord and give your life to Him. The Bible tells us that, if anyone does this — if anyone puts their faith in Christ, they are saved.

That’s good news!

Here are our Scriptures & songs:

Scripture | Luke 18:9-14 —

⁹He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: ¹⁰“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Song | His Mercy is More —
Scripture Inspiration: Lamentations 3:22-23, James 2:13, Romans 5:20, Hebrews 8:12, Isaiah 40:28, Hebrews 4:13, 1 John 3:20, Micah 7:18-19, Exodus 34:6, Psalm 145:8-9, 1 Timothy 1:15, Luke 14:21, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Colossians 2:13-14, Psalm 107:9, Ephesians 3:20, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Galatians 2:20-21

Scripture | Ephesians 2:1-10 —

¹And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.