Set Apart for a Godly Task

Recently my brother-in-law and I replaced a window in my house which was not doing it’s job.  The purpose of a window is to keep the weather out and let the sunshine in, but this window was failing to do one while accomplishing the other.  As we removed the old window the true extent of the problems became obvious.  Much of the wood around the window was rotten due to the window’s lack of ability to keep the weather outside.  To fix this issue we replaced the rotten wood with new, treated wood before replacing the entire window. 

There are times when the church is not accomplishing the good work that God has called it to undertake.  It has allowed rot to set in and some major renovation needs to take place.  The rot must be removed.  Or to use the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2:21, the church is in need of a good cleansing.

The church of God is called to be set apart, to be holy, for Godly work.  How can the rot within the church be recognized and dealt with quickly?  How does this truth affect the church as a whole and each individual within the church of God?  What renovations need to be done within the church so that it can accomplish it’s call?

Join us this week at ElmCreek Community Church as we study 2 Timothy 2:20-21 and discover God’s desire for us as His people.

Striving to know Christ and make him known!

J.C. Ryle: If We Are Thirsty We Must Have Simple Faith

"He that thirsts and wants to come to Christ must remember that simple faith is the one thing required.  By all means let him come with a penitent, broken and contrite heart; but let him not dream of resting on that for acceptance.  Faith is the only hand that can carry the living water to our lips.  Faith is the hinge on which all turns in the matter of our justification.  It is written again and again that 'whoever believes shall not perish, but have eternal life' (John 3:15,16).  'To him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness' (Rom. 4:5).  Happy is he that can lay hold on the principle laid down in that matchless hymn:

     'Just as I am, without one plea,
     Save that Your blood was shed for me,
     And that You bid'st me come to You,
     O Lamb of God, I come!'"

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

“Radio personality Paul Harvey tells the story of how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sin. ‘First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night.

‘So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more--until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!’”  (Chris T. Zwingelberg)

A life is consumed by sin before it is captured by the salvation offered through Jesus Christ.  But once a life is seized by the grace and mercy of God it becomes dead to sin and alive to God.  The sin no longer controls or dictates that life.  To use the example from above, the life saved by Christ is no longer consumed by the taste and smell of the blood on the knife. 

Baptism is the perfect representation of this change from death to life.  Join us this week at ElmCreek Community Church as we celebrate together the transforming power of Jesus Christ in the lives of others and witness their obedience to Jesus’ call to be baptized.  For they are now “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).

J.C. Ryle: If We Are Thirsty We Must Actually Come to Christ

 

What foolishness there is in dying of thirst while standing before a lake of fresh, clean water.  The same can be said for the spiritually lost.  Their souls thirst for something more and they will continue to thirst until they actually come to Christ and drink.  Read these words from J.C. Ryle.

"He that thirsts and wants relief from Christ must actually come to Him.  It is not enough to wish and talk and mean and intend and resolve and hope.  Hell, that dreadful reality, is truly said to be paved with good intentions.  Thousands are yearly lost in this fashion, and perish miserably just outside the harbor.  Meaning and intending they live; meaning and intending they die.  Oh, no!  We must 'arise and come'!  If the prodigal son had been content with saying, 'How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I hope some day to return home,' he might have remained forever among the swine.  It was when he arose and came to his father that his father ran to meet him, and said, 'Bring forth the best robe and put it on him . . . Let us eat and be merry' (Luke 15:20-23).  Like him, we must not only 'come to ourselves' and think, but we must actually come to the High Priest, to Christ.  We must come to the Physician" (Holiness, J.C. Ryle).

A Hymn of Praise

“A farmer took a piece of bad earth and made things flourish thereon.  Proud of his accomplishments, he asked his minister to come by and see what he had done.  The minister was impressed.  ‘That’s the tallest corn I’ve ever seen.  I’ve never seen anything as big as those melons.  Praise the Lord!’  He went on that way about every crop, praising the Lord for it all.  Finally, the farmer couldn’t take it anymore.  ‘Reverend,’ he said, ‘I wish you could have seen this place when the Lord was doing it by himself’” (Ronald Reagan, in a speech in Indianapolis).

This farmer does not realize that no matter how much care he puts into his crops, they could not and would not grow without the Lord’s power and grace.  The same can be said for the human heart when it comes to salvation.  Pride tends to get in the way and credit for all the “accomplishments” in our faith and salvation begin to point inwardly.  But the reality of salvation and sanctification (becoming more like Jesus Christ) is that it can only happen through the power of Christ.

The words of Paul in 2 Timothy 2:11-13 are a reminder to us all where all credit and praise should be focused. For he is the life-giving, unchanging, and faithful King.  To Him be glory forever and ever.

2 Timothy 2:11-13  (ESV)

11 The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

12        if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he also will deny us;

13        if we are faithless, he remains faithful—  

      for he cannot deny himself.

Join us this week at ElmCreek Community Church as God’s Word comes alive, meeting us where we are, and changing us for his glory and praise.

Striving to know Christ and make him known,

Pastor Mark

John Calvin on 2 Timothy 2:13

"If we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself."  (2 Timothy 2:13 - ESV)

"The meaning is, that our base desertion takes nothing from the Son of God or from his glory; because, having everything in himself, he stands in no need of our confession.  As if he had said, 'Let them desert Christ who will, yet they take nothing from him; for when they perish, he remains unchanged.

"Christ is not like us, to swerve from his truth.  Hence it is evident, that all who deny Christ are disowned by him.  And thus he drives away from wicked apostates the flatteries with which they soothe themselves; because, being in the habit of changing their hue, according to circumstances, they would willingly imagine that Christ, in like manner, assumes various forms, and is liable to change; which Paul affirms to be impossible.  Yet, at the same time, we must firmly believe what I stated briefly on a former passage, that our faith is founded on the eternal and unchangeable truth of Christ, in order that it may not waver through the unsteadfastness or apostasy of men."

J.C. Ryle: Dealing Directly with Christ

There is a burning desire within each human being on this planet to know something or someone more so completely that ultimate satisfaction and peace are found.  Some look to the workplace while others look to relationships.  While still others look to the church.  But when worship services, Bible studies, and even their own ministers fail to quench the desire within them they feel unsatisfied or perhaps even content that this is how their life will be.  Yet always looking for the next "thing" to satisfy their spiritual thirst.

How sad a state of such a life!  For nothing can cure the thirst in the soul of a man except Christ.  Attending a service does nothing for the state of the soul.  Bible studies in the end cannot and will not cure the dry mouth of the soul.  Only a direct encounter with Christ will relieve the thirst found within the heart of man.

May these words of J.C. Ryle be an encouragement and conviction for those who thirst and have yet to experience a direct encounter with Jesus Christ.

"He that thirsts and wants relief must come to Christ Himself.  He must not be content with coming to His church and His ordinances, or to the assemblies of His people for prayer and praise.  He must not stop short even at His holy table, or rest satisfied with privately opening his heart to His ordained ministers.  Oh, no!  He that is content with only drinking these waters 'shall thirst again' (John 4:13).  He must go higher, further, much further than this.  He must have personal dealings with Christ Himself.  All else in religion is worthless without Him.  The King's palace, the attendant servants, the richly furnished house, the very banquet itself - all are nothing unless we speak with the King.  His hand alone can take the burden off our backs and make us feel free.  The hand of man may take the stone from the grave and show the dead; but none but Jesus can say to the dead, 'Come forth and live' (John 11:41-43).  We must deal directly with Christ."  (Holiness, J.C. Ryle)