This is my prayer for each of us, that grace and truth will be inseparable in our lives. And this marriage will be reflected in our demeanor and attitude, in our posture of serving, and in our words, actions and thoughts towards our families, friends, and the family of God. Oh, that Truth would pierce our hearts with floods of grace! Would you pray that with me this week?
AB
‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come [2 Cor 5:17].’ Before Christ we were not merely bad people, who were cleaned up and made a little better through Christ – we were dead people made alive in Him [Col 2:13]. In fact, our old nature was ‘…crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me [Gal 2:20].’ This is the Word becoming flesh in us.
And as we learn to continually walk and live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us, the more clearly do we display the life of Christ in us – the hope of glory [Gal 2:20, Col 1:27]. This is my flesh becoming Word.
Brothers and sisters, live from your true identity this week – as those who have been made alive in Christ. And serve as Christ has served you – by becoming Word among us.
AB
The final movement of the Gospel Story Liturgy is Glorification.
Glorification is the ultimate consummation of Christ and the Church being united together for all eternity (Rev 19:6-9).
Glorification will be the place where we see face-to-face, that which is perfectly seen in the face of Christ. It will be the place where we see free from the veil of sin. It will be the place where we know fully those things we have only known in part. It will be the place where we perfectly reflect God’s glory back to God, to one another and out into the world (1 Cor 13:12, 2 Cor 4:6, 2 Cor 3:18).
In the glorious presence of God, in glorified bodies, before a glorified Saviour we will live fully, perfectly, completely to the glory of God alone (Ps 145:5, Phil 3:20-21, Ps 86:12).
So as we lead ourselves, pray that God would open our eyes to His glory. Then we serve our people praying that the Holy Spirit would open their eyes the glory of God. And from God’s revelation of Himself, we respond by holding up the mirrors of our lives to reflect God’s glory back to Him, and to the world.
Now in part. Then in full. Always for His glory, forever.
AB
The fourth movement of the Gospel Story Liturgy is Restoration.
The redemptive work of Christ has restored and secured right relationship between God and man. When we are united with Christ, we are clothed in His righteousness and it is His perfect sacrifice that allows us to come boldly before the throne of grace crying, ‘Abba!’ [1 Tim 2:5, Col 2:11-12, 2 Cor 5:21, Heb 4:16, Rom 8:15]
Christ has also restored and reconciled us one to another in the family of God. He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility and made a people – a family – from strangers, foreigners, enemies, representing languages, cultures, ages, understandings, backgrounds of men and women, boys and girls. [Eph 2:14-18, 1 Pet 2:9-10]
And he will one day restore all creation – which even now groans under the weight of sin and death and decay. [Rom 8:19, Rev 21]
So we sing with joy knowing that we have been restored.
And we sing with hope, longing and expectation when together face to face with the Father, side by side with our brothers and sisters, and in the new heavens and new earth we will fully realize our restoration for all eternity.
Remembering Restoration,
AB
If our Sunday services only acknowledged the reality of our broken Genesis 3 lives (The Fall), and did not continue on to speak the whole story, we would be without hope. But it is exactly there – in Genesis 3 – where God promises Redemption.
Redemption that has been accomplished by perfect life and perfect sacrifice of God’s perfect Son, Jesus Christ. ‘It is finished (Jn 19:30),’ is the victory cry of our redemption. ‘It is finished,’ is the deathblow to the consequences of our sin, which is death (Rom 6:23).
So we want our songs, order, and services to allow people to look at their own sin – which is their death – and look at the death of Christ – which is their life.
‘And He will swallow up death forever; and the lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. And the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.’ Isaiah 25:8
Remembering Redemption,
AB
The second movement of the Gospel story liturgy is ‘The Fall.’
Sin has distorted, warped and broken everything and everyone. As we gather God’s people, some enter acutely aware of this reality – addiction, illness, suffering, death, fractured relationships, fears, the list is endless. Those people need to be reminded that they are not alone in their sin – here we are as a family of the wounded walking looking to our Suffering Servant King (Isaiah 53).
As we gather, some enter believing like the Pharisee’s that outward law keeping, rule following, a polished perfect life shakes free the stain of sin and makes us right with God. As we gather, some enter with an awareness of sin lying dormant, waiting to be awoken by the Holy Spirit.
It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance, and repentance only comes with the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit (Rom 2:4). So we do not run from the reality of sin and brokenness in our world and in our lives as we gather. In fact, as we trust the kindness of God to reveal the beauty and perfection of Christ, we will come face to face with the depth of depravity that is the human heart… thankfully this is not where the story ends.
The first movement of the Gospel story liturgy is ‘Creation.’ And where does creation begin? With God. ‘In the beginning God…’ (Gen 1:1).
The sovereignty, rule and reign of God extends from eternity past even before He created time, space, and formed the world. He is the ‘…only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see (1 Tim 6:15-16),’ and He alone is worthy of all honor, glory and praise.
As we gather to worship, there will be those who are following Christ, and those who do not. And both groups need to be reminded of the transcendent reality of our great God in a world overwhelmed by fear, and uncertainty. Our lives and circumstances may seem out of control, but nothing is ever beyond His control.
“Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.” Ps 115:3
Remember,
AB
Welcome/Call To Worship: Psalm 145
•GREAT ARE YOU LORD
•YOUR GRACE
•JESUS, I AM RESTING
Sermon: Isaiah 44
Communion [Hab 3:2, Rom 12:1, 1 Cor 11:26]
•JESUS, ONLY JESUS
•JESUS!
Spurgeon said, ‘The most important daily habit we can possess is to remind ourselves of the Gospel.’ Why? Because we are forgetful people. Scripture is full of commands to ‘remember.’ And full of examples of those who forget – no sooner does Israel step foot out of 400 years of slavery do they long for the ‘comforts’ of their former bondage (Exodus 16). After Joshua dies, a whole generation is lost to idol worship because those older failed to pass along the works of the Lord (Judges 2). Paul reminds the church in Galatia not to submit to a yoke of slavery – because they had forgotten their true identity as children of God.
The Gospel – the good news of who Jesus is and what He has done demands a response: worship. So we want to use our liturgy to remind people of the Gospel. To rehearse the old old story – that God is the Author of CREATION, at the FALL we sinned and as a result all things were broken and distorted, but God promised REDEMPTION which is accomplished in and through the work of Christ on the cross, RESTORATION with God and one another is won for us in that completed work, and one day we will be fully GLORIFIED – perfected as we sing and celebrate the Gospel story in the very presence of God for all eternity.
There is nothing more essential, or of greater significance we can offer those we are leading and serving than to help tell the Gospel story. Over the last several months all of the people who have been putting set lists together have been using this Gospel pattern – Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration, Glorification in the structure and order of our songs. So as you practice, think and prepare for Sundays – rehearse the gospel again and again and again – because ‘…we never move on from the cross, only into a deeper understanding of it.’
Rehearsing and Remembering,
AB
What is liturgy? It is the work of the people, the structure, rhythms, purpose and intention behind our gathering. And over the next couple of weeks I want to walk you through our liturgy at Cornerstone - what we do, and why we do it.
Why is liturgy important? Because a gospel-centered liturgy runs counter to the liturgy of the culture, reeducating, reforming, reshaping us under the authority of God’s Word, by the power of God’s Spirit, as God’s people. Liturgy is education.
Liturgy connects us to a larger story… As we gather, we join the saints and angels in the very presence of God, all of heaven, every nation, those who have gone before and those who will come after in seeing and responding to our God (Rev 5:11-12, Neh 9:6, 1 Pet 2:9, Phil 2:10-11). Using the Word, prayers, and songs that have stirred wonder and worship in God’s people past, and will continue long after we are gone. It shapes how we gather, how we are sent and how we engage on mission together. Liturgy is connecting.
And liturgy sets a framework of long-term discipleship, ensuring a balanced diet of understanding and expression (more on this in the weeks to come). It allows those mature in their faith as well as those exploring faith, and those who are mourning as well as those who are celebrating to enter in, engage, and respond to God’s revelation of Himself. Liturgy is discipleship.
Growing together,
AB
Welcome/Call to Worship: Psalm 89:1-4
Sermon
Communion: THERE IS A REDEEMER
Revelation 12:10-11
Our one true calling: to love.
Your gifts are not an end in and of themselves, but an opportunity to exercise love.
You are only walking in your calling with your time, talents, relationships and resources when those things are done because of Love, by love and to love.
‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.’ – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Love well. And use all you have and all you are – including your musical, vocal, and technical abilities to have God’s love perfected in you (1 John 4:12).
Love,
AB