Holy Food

One of the central controversies in the Christian Church has been concerning the Lord’s Supper. What is going on? What is the bread and wine? Is it really the body and blood of Jesus? Or is Jesus hovering around the bread and wine supernaturally? Is He really present with us in a special way in this meal?

As we partake, I often say something along say receive the Lord's body given for you, this is Christ's blood shed for you. Do I mean that the bread and wine is altered into body and blood?

No, I don’t. It is bread and wine and stays bread and wine as I pray, say the words of institution, as we eat and drink and swallow.
But we do partake of Jesus by faith as we eat and drink. He is present with us and I believe that in Communion, His presence is particularly powerful. 

We not only partake of holy food because we are thankful to God for it, we also partake of Jesus because we are thankful to God for Him. We look to the crucified, buried, raised, enthroned and coming again Jesus. We give thanks to Him. We eat and drink believing that He is in us and we are in Him and the Holy Spirit fills us with confidence in Jesus Christ. Our faith grows stronger by eating this meal, and so we do more fully partake of Jesus.

So, let us make sure to give thanks to God for all of our good blessings and especially for the eternal blessing that is Jesus Christ, given for you.

Teaching That Saves

St. Paul told Timothy, Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

         What is it we should take heed of and what doctrine are we to pay attention to? 

    That Jesus came to save sinners. That He died and rose again. That He rules over everything. That He is coming again at the last day to receive His kingdom.

         Therefore, continue living out what God has worked into you. Be faithful. Don’t get distracted by the rumors of impending trouble, even of those who grow weak or deny the faith or who lead the saints astray. You stay steadfast. You believe. You teach others the same. This will save you and them.

         Dear Saints, you are here today to take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Thus, you shall save yourself and them that hear you. He does not mean that you become your own Savior. He means that you fully trust the One who is the Savior. Rest assured, God is faithful and He will save you and those that hear you to the uttermost.

Dangerous Church Food

We are living in a time in which some of the powers that exist would call this dangerous church food. They say that it is dangerous because there could possibly be someone here with a virus that could spread from one person to another and make us all sick.

Furthermore, this virus could spread from this place and make our community sick. Therefore, if we are to love our neighbor, then we should abstain from such food.

The powers are correct. This is dangerous church food. It is dangerous to principalities and powers. It is dangerous to fear. It is dangerous to unbelief. And where these powers of darkness loom, where there is such fear, where there is creeping unbelief, this food and drink and the Holy Spirit of God that flows through it, spreads the light of Jesus. It sheds light on the darkness. It banishes fear. It gives a sturdy resolve to the weak.

There is no doubt that this is, indeed, dangerous food. And just the sort of dangerous food that is necessary for soldiers engaged in a battle, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

So, eat and drink in faith and become dangerous to the world and the flesh and the devil. For Jesus, who died, rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father until all these enemies are subdued beneath His feet. Amen.

Be Strong and Courageous

Dear Saints, the Scriptures often exhort us to be strong and courageous. The power in that phrase resonates with us. We all want to be strong and courageous. We are drawn to strength and courage.

However, we often find ourselves weak and cowardly. How can we live in such a contradiction in terms that is the human condition?
Thanks be to God that He takes the weak and beggarly things of the world to confound the powerful and worldly wise.

This meal is a perfect example of God’s intention for us. Because we are weak and cowardly, the Lord condescends to give us tangible signs of His love and care for us. He gives us the waters of baptism that mark us as His own. He gives us bread and wine to show us that He gave us the body and blood of His Son.

We look at the water and the bread and the wine, things we can see, to give us strength and courage to believe in the God whom we cannot see. These signs bolster our faith and in faith we walk into the future, into struggle, into sickness, even into the valley of the shadow of death, and we fear no evil, for God is with us. 

In Christ, be strong and courageous.

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Preparation

Prayer of Thanksgiving

         Our Father in Heaven, You have blessed us mightily and we give You thanks. You have provided for us in great abundance and even in this time of rising unemployment and uncertainty, You have provided for our people. Please continue to give us each day our daily bread and teach us to work hard with our hands so that we can learn to bless others. Use us and our gifts to advance the Kingdom of Jesus to the ends of the Earth. Amen.

Prayer of Preparation for the Lord's Supper

         Our Father, thank You for bringing us together in this place. Thank You for showing us that our unity is in Jesus Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended and coming again. For in Jesus, we live and move and have our being. As we eat the bread and drink the wine today, reveal to us the glory that is Jesus Christ, the one loaf that was delivered for our sins and raised for our justification. And strengthen our local body that we may be one just as He and You and the Holy Spirit are one. Amen.

The Fire of God

Psalm 32:5 I acknowledge my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.

Words of Assurance-The Fire of God

Dear Saints, see that you do not refuse God who is speaking to you today. For if the old testament saints did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns us from heaven. 

In Old Testament times, God’s voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”

This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 

You all have embraced Jesus Christ, offered to you in the Gospel. God has sent His Holy Spirit to you, the fire of God, to give you life, to translate you into his unshakeable kingdom, to purge and purify you and to fully consume you. He has received you as He receives His own dear Son, who was an acceptable sacrifice, offered up once for all the people. If God is for you, who can be against you?

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

Confession

Psalm 32:3-4 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.

Our Father in Heaven, You have caused us to die to our sins and have raised us up with Christ. And yet, temptations and sins still afflict us: anger, bitterness, envy, lust, and pride. Forgive us for these sins. By Your Holy Spirit, lead us to seek the things that are above and to have hearts filled with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience toward our neighbors. Amen.

Praise

Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Our Father in Heaven, we glorify and praise Your Holy Name. You sent Your Son to us to live a perfect, sinless life, to suffer for us and to die on the cross to atone for our sins. The grave could not hold Him because You raised Him from the dead by the power of Your life-giving Holy Spirit. He appeared to the apostles and disciples with many undeniable proofs and commissioned Your people to proclaim His name to the whole Earth. He is now seated at Your right hand, interceding for Your people and ruling over heaven and earth. He has sent Your Holy Spirit to us so that we would proclaim to all the Earth the mighty acts of God. We give You glory for doing all of this so that the name of Jesus would be greatly exalted in the Earth. Amen.

What I Didn't Say

I was interviewed by Cross Politic yesterday about the letter that I wrote to the civil magistrate. The interview went well and it is slated to drop Sunday night. As sometimes happens in interviews, you get sidetracked in time and forget to say something you wanted to say. In this case, I think I forgot the  most important thing! I suppose I am not very practiced or very good doing interviews.

I am afraid that it sounded like I thought the most important thing right now is to talk to our officials. I don't think that.

That most important thing that I wanted to say is that the Lord is most clearly doing something and we should all pay attention!

Now, I know that is obvious to most of us but it should not go without saying. The interview was about the need to get back to work and worship. It seems to me there is a strong growing frustration with our civic leaders as the shutdown, the lockdown, continues on indefinitely. The frustration is understandable and we should be speaking to our officials and making our voices heard.

But we should also be listening, not just speaking. God is in control of all things. Whatsoever comes to pass is His Divine Providence. We need to really let that sink in. There is some sense in which our civil leaders are controlling our activity, and as time goes and if they overstep their bounds, we should do our civic duty as citizens under our Constitution. But we should do so acknowledging that our God, who is in control of all things, just sent a shock wave of fear and trembling around the entire globe.

Thank Him that He did not unleash a plague of death that destroyed the Earth. It should be obvious in this scare, that He easily could. And we would even deserve it.

Are we heeding Him? Are we repenting of our personal sins? Are we returning to the Scriptures as our only ultimate and infallible authority? Are we facing death without fear because we serve Jesus who is alive and we know that we will live forever in Him?

As we are shut up in our homes, are we talking to our wives, husbands, children, parents? Talking is good. That's a start. Are we talking about important things? About the kingdom of God? About our duty to God and men? About loving God and loving His people?

Now that we are not able to worship together as we once did, do we miss church? Worship? The people? The preaching? Communion? The accountability? The opportunity to love and serve others?

When  this ends, and it will, will we be the same? No, we won't. You cannot stay the same. You are going forward or backward. There is no neutral. After the dust settles, we should be better.

If we love Him rightly, we will. If we still serve ourselves the same way we did before, if we didn't pay attention, if we didn't get the message, if we didn't submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in everything, we will be worse.

But I believe better things for you, things that accompany salvation.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and grant you peace.

That's what I meant to say.

Death is Dead

The power of death is sin. It killed Adam and Eve and by it Cain killed Abel. Death reigned from Adam to Jesus, our Second Adam from above. But the power of death has been crushed. The antidote has been applied. Sin has been dealt with and only the finally enemy, death, has to be completely destroyed in the end, at the last day, in the final Resurrection.

         But even now, we who live in this body of death, are risen with Christ at the right hand of the Father. His death meant our death to sin. His life means our life in Him. And nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We are His and He is ours. We live with Him in the heavenly places, now and evermore. Even to depart from the body is to be present with the Lord. And He will give life to our mortal bodies and we shall be like Him for we shall see Him face to face.

Open Economy Now

4/14/2020

Dear Mr. President, Congressmen, Senators, Mayor, and Civic Leaders in the USA and Abroad,

I am writing to you as the Presiding Minister of Council of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), an International Denomination.

We have been praying for you and continue to do so. May the Lord grant you His wisdom as you make decisions in this time of trial.

First of all, thank you for the care and concern you have shown for the citizens who elected you, and for your attempt to do what you believed to be best for the public good in light of the available information at the time. 

It is now apparent that our initial information was incomplete. The pandemic is not what we all thought it was going to be. This is understandable. It was new. We all thought it was a dire threat and we all responded to protect the lives of our citizens, and our congregants, as we should have. It is now clear that the stated rationale for these temporary, emergency actions, “to flatten the curve”, has been achieved, and that these temporary measures are no longer necessary. If we continue on the current course of action of extreme mitigation, things may get much worse, as we fear they most certainly will. 

President Trump was right to say that the cure cannot be worse than the disease. In fact, it is. The pandemic did not justify putting millions of people out of work and locking down businesses and churches for the indefinite future. It is now time to open up for business, return to work and return to the worship of the Triune God. 

While Covid-19 is among us and members of our churches have been harmed by the disease, the much larger damage to our members has been done by cutting off the means of supporting the lives of their families. In our churches, we have few Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations or deaths. However, we have many people whose ability to support the lives of their families has been greatly damaged through the loss of wages and damage to their businesses. For us, the cure has been far worse than the disease.

We encourage you to consider the immense damage that will be caused by continuing down this current path of a closed economy. The lost livelihoods, closed businesses, and the isolation of our congregants, is a tremendous loss to the health and well-being of our society. This damage will only worsen the longer we stay on the present course of sheltering in place and keeping the economy and houses of worship closed. Dangerous social unrest is the likely result of staying on this course.

We have a great concern for the lives and health of our members as well as those in our communities. Many in our churches are elderly or are in a high-risk category for Covid-19. Those individuals and their families, pastors, leaders and physicians, are the ones to make the best decisions about how they should live during the spread of this disease. If this were a great plague, a direct threat to the health and lives of all of our congregants, as many of us initially thought it was, we would be glad to continue to comply with reasonable measures to mitigate the spread. However, it is now clear that it is not the plague and we are not prepared to continue to comply with extreme mitigation efforts. 

Our desire is to be obedient to the civil magistrate. However, we must also do what we believe God expects of us, what is best for our people and our communities, and what our consciences dictate. For our American members, The U.S. Constitution rightly affords us these rights of speech and assembly because they extend to us from God, Himself. 

The citizens of the United States and our congregants are already beginning to strongly feel the need to get back to regular living. While we do not currently have a date after which we will no longer comply with the extreme restrictions, we believe the time is now at hand for our leaders to stand down from the extreme isolation efforts, and the date after which we will no longer comply, is soon approaching, in days or weeks, not months. 

Our response in the churches has been to humble ourselves, confess our sins, the sins of the church and the sins of our citizens and governments. Please join us in humbling yourselves before the Lord Jesus. 

We call upon the grace and mercy of God to give us relief. Death is an enemy, the last enemy that will be destroyed by the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We acknowledge this. While we despise death, we do not fear death, because for us, to live is Christ and to die is gain. May God grant us repentance, and as we confess and repent of our many sins, we trust that He will be gracious to us and heal our land.

In the service of King Jesus,

Virgil Hurt

Presiding Minister of Council

Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC)

Endorsed by the Undersigned

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/open-economy-now?fbclid=IwAR3rxwBX_ZNAsRxSNpHLMGGHkatVJ7HZNqXeLTjpMCeHejW4kiISpGwGCPk

Glorious Gospel

We are sinners. Yes, that’s true. We deserve God’s wrath. Yes, that’s true, too. Even pestilence and plague. 

         But hear the Good News. Hear the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. You cannot save yourself. You cannot atone for your sins. Your death will not release you from your sin debt. You cannot live long enough to purge yourself of your own sins.

         But thanks be to God that Jesus Christ can save you. He has atoned for your sins. In His death, your debt to sin and death is paid. He has purged you of your sins.

         And the Lord has been raised from the dead and has raised you in Him to an everlasting life. And one day even your body will be raised from the dead to never die again. We do not fear death for in Christ we ever live, both in this world and in the world to come.

Prayer of Praise

O, Lord our God, You who have formed us in our mother’s womb and it is You who have formed us as the people of God. We will not fear, for You have redeemed us and called us by Your name and claim us for Your own. When we pass through the waters, You are with us. When we go through rivers, they will not overwhelm us. When we walk through fire, we will not be burned. The flame shall not consume us, for You, O Lord our God are the Holy One, who saves us by the name of Jesus, in the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Humble Thyself

In the wake of the outbreak of the coronavirus and the subsequent response by our civic leaders: president, governor, and mayors, there has been a wide array of opinions. "We have overacted! We have not reacted quickly enough! This is going to be a disaster! This no worse than the seasonal flu. Everyone should stay inside. Everyone should go about their business and let this run its course."

         The reality is that we have no idea what is going to happen. This is true in our ordinary daily lives, as well, but we do not even notice its truth. Although we assume tomorrow will be just like today, the truth is we do not know what tomorrow brings. This crisis may end up being not that big of a deal. It may end up killing millions of people. We don’t know. 

The reality is that our God is in control of all things. Hebrews says that He is a consuming fire. If He just breathes on us one little bit, we wither in abject fear and desperation. A little virus is not too much for Him, either to annihilate it in an instant, or to send it as a purging fire of His rod of discipline, both on His people whom He loves and upon a world that He owns, and is still largely in rebellion to Him.

         Our job is to humble ourselves before Him. As we do so, we run to Him for safety, for only in Him, in Jesus Christ, our Lord, is there any real comfort and peace and everlasting life. Humble yourself before the Lord and find an arbor of rest in Jesus.

Waiting and Fasting

It seems impossible for this shutdown to drag on for months. We won't even be able to do it for weeks. I am encouraged by President Trump's weakening on the shut down even as of yesterday, March 23. As of today, we still have a week to go for the mighty shutdown of 2020. That will get us to March 31. The Governors seem to be advocating for a longer time, shutting down all schools, many businesses and all gatherings over the size of 10. 

The churches have complied, and rightly so. We are good citizens and want to do our best to serve our communities in times of crisis. However, with hindsight, perhaps doing something quite different was best? Perhaps we should have merely strongly warned those at high risk to stay home and try their best to not contract this potent virus? And the rest of us should have soldiered on? That may soon be the reality and will give us great wisdom for the next time, and there will probably be a next time, that this sort of thing happens.

We've got a shutdown this week and I am guessing it will continue for another week after that. But after that....? After that, April 12 is coming. April 12 is Easter and Easter would be the perfect time to emerge from death into Resurrection. 

We are in a fast time. We are fasting from our community of believers. We are fasting from the Lord's Supper and the fellowship of the saints. My prayer is that our fasting would make us hungry. Hungry for the Word of God. Hungry for the Lord's Supper. Hungry for Corporate Worship. Hungry for the lifeline of the Body of Christ. Hungry to give ourselves to one another in Christian love so that the world will see that Christ is among us. 

I am thankful for this fast and I long to feast. Feast on Christ. Feast on the goodness that is His people. Feast in the joy and glory of Resurrection after the fast of death.

God is good.

Easter is Coming!

Everyone Dies

Everyone dies. 

We have all been asking what the mortality rate is for the coronavirus. And there is wild speculation about that. We won't know until the dust settles.

A better question might be, "What is the mortality rate of man?" The answer is 100%. Everyone dies.

Of course, none of us want to die foolishly or needlessly. Although death is an enemy, we do not fear death. And in the end, when our bodies have been resurrected in Christ, and we have been alive for 10,000 years, then whether we lived an extra five minutes or an extra five years is going to be indistinguishable. 

And when we look back at all this panic and fear of the year 2020, we will have a hearty laugh. That is the power of Resurrection. That is the power of an endless life. Look to Christ.

Easter is coming.

Wisdom for Uncertain Times

As a response to the corona virus, I did not do a normal sermon last Sunday. It was mostly Scripture reading that related directly to our issue at hand. I did make a few comments that are not listed here in the written sermon. You can find the recorded version here: https://www.providencekirk.com/sermons

Response to Disaster: Humility, Repentance and Faith

March 15, 2020

Lynchburg, Virginia

Exordium

Not a normal sermon. What is the Lord doing? It is marvelous in our eyes. God is good. He is saving the world. He works all things for good for His people. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. So does calamity.

Exegesis (Scripture Reading)

2 Samuel 23- David’s Mighty Men was listed in this chapter. David was strong and the chapter nearly boasts in his strength.

2 Samuel 24:10-17 David’s Census and the Anger of the Lord

The Lord’s Judgment of David’s Sin

¹⁰ But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” ¹¹ And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, ¹² “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’ ” ¹³ So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” ¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” 

¹⁵ So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. ¹⁶ And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.” 

Be Filled

Communion Meditation

Ladies, have you ever worked hard on a recipe and served up a succulent meal, only to have your husband or your children put their noses up at it? No doubt that is a disappointing situation.

Or, perhaps, you served up this scrumptious meal and everyone loved it but your teenage son didn’t say anything at all, he only picked at it for a few minutes. Then, about twenty minutes after dinner, he’s in the fridge and pantry fixing up some cold cereal because he’s says that he is starving.

What, you say? Did I not work hard to produce not only a beautiful meal, but one that was both super yummy and absolutely nutritious? Everyone thought so. Why didn’t you fill yourself up with that dinner like everybody else? He would probably offer some lame excuse, like, “I wasn’t hungry then.”

People, men, women, boys, girls, look at this meal. This is the body and blood of Jesus, given for you. He died on the cross. By His wounds, you are healed. He shed His blood. It covers your sin and shame. This is the meal you have hungered for, you who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Look upon this bread and wine, take and eat and be filled.

Prayer of Confession

This was our prayer of Confession last week on March 15, 2020, only a few days after we realized what a big deal this coronavirus thing was turning out to be.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Minister: Let us confess together. 

Our Father, we confess that we have loved the world and the things of the world. We have sought to be accepted and thought wise by those who despise Your law. We have given approval to those who practice things which You call sins. Turn us again that Your Church in America and throughout the world may be faithful to Your will for us as revealed in Your Word, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Additional Pastoral prayer of Confession- Our Father, we confess that as a nation we are not worthy of Your grace, mercy and kindness. You have granted us Your graces in abundance and we thank You. Out of Your kindness, You have treated us far better than we deserve, granting us Your unmerited favor. We are Your humble servants.

In light of this virus and the chaos that is ensuing in our state, in our nation and around the world, we confess that we are Your people and are fully dependent upon You alone. Deliver us, O Lord.

We confess our sins as Americans, and we, as American Christians, that even many of Your people in Your Church in America and around the world have not been diligent to obey Your Word and are guilty of various national sins, and sins even allowed in Your Church. Among them: worldliness in many ways, an unhealthy consumption of sports, our own financial prowess, our reliance upon the nanny state, ungodly education for our children, abortion on demand, sexual deviancy and confusion, fornication, pornography, homosexuality, lasciviousness, drunkenness and illicit drug use, disrespect of parents and those in authority, failure of wives and mothers in their duties, abdication of husbands and fathers, the failure of ministers to unapologetically preach the whole counsel of God.

Father, forgive us for these and other sins. Grant us repentance. Return Your people to obedience and holiness. Deliver us from this pestilence and grant us health in body and spirit. In Your great wisdom, use this scourge to purify Your people, that we might call the nations to obedience and discipleship, and expand the Kingdom of Christ as countless numbers of people come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Use this pandemic to bring the rebellious principalities and powers into conformity to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, both now and forever. Amen.

Don't Justify

One of the prevailing sins of mankind is making excuses for our sins. 'Yes, but she irritated me! Yes, but he laughed at me! Yes, but my father mistreated me! Yes but the pastor ignored me.'

         Now, while it is true that your sister may have bugged you unnecessarily and that man disrespected you and your pastor is not perfect, any ‘yes butting’ is just a way of not taking responsibility for yourself. When other people sin against you, that is no excuse for your sin. That is why the Bible says, ‘Do not return evil for evil.’ There is never an excuse for evil doing.

         In fact, when you attempt to justify yourself, it is the only surefire way to not be justified at all. Our justification is in in the Lord as He declares us not guilty. So, own your sins, all of them. That is the only way to get forgiven for them and to move past them. Any attempt at justifying only causes you to retain your sins as your own right. Why would you do that? Don’t justify, confess and repent and let the Lord justify you.