Brown's Daily Word 5-22-08

Good Morning,
We are having some cooler days before the summer blast in few days. Praise the Lord for warmer days on the way. The Parsonage and the church grounds look luscious green. Larry Coles, the steward of the grounds and the trees is doing an excellent ministry caring for the Lord's good earth. We have planted several more fruit trees where I had my garden for several years. I have taken an early retirement from active gardening, at the suggestion of the local deer. We are planning to have a small orchard of fruit trees so that pastors who come after us may find us, "faithful and fruitful".
It is hot and humid in Orissa, India at this time of year, usually in high 90's. It is Mango season in India. Sunita is flying to Uganda for two weeks with her ministry and mission for World Vision. Jeremy, Janice, Micah, and Simeon are going to Burlington on Friday to invade the home of our dear friends, Warren and Linda Ayer. Laureen is flying from Washington to join them. Alice, the young grandma, is driving up to Burlington to spoil Micah and Simeon. I will be "Home Alone 2" for the long weekend. . . (Well, not really alone, as Jessica and Tom are coming home to help me with my big Memorial Day Cookout.) I have a very full weekend planned, with a wedding this Saturday and a funeral Sunday afternoon. We are getting ready for worship services for Sunday. Praise the Lord for life that He gives. It is abundant and Eternal Because of Jesus .
Someone once said, “The two greatest days in a person’s life are the day he was born and the day he finds out why he was born.” Most of us don’t recall the day we were born. However, that day obviously took place; otherwise, we would not be here. Unfortunately, many of us don’t recall the day we found out why we were born. Many people still don’t know why we are here, and that is a pity. John Calvin actually put it even stronger when he said, “All who are ignorant of the purpose for which they live are fools and madmen.” Thomas Carlyle said that “the man without purpose is like a ship without a rudder.” If you don’t know your purpose in life, you will wander aimlessly through life. You will simply exist from one meal to the next, and from one day to the next.When God saved us, I suppose he could have taken us immediately to be with him in heaven for all eternity. But he did not. He left us here on earth, and he left us here for a purpose. I would like to suggest that we are here for five purposes, which are illustrated throughout the pages of Scripture. I will simply draw your attention to a picture of the 1st century Church described in Acts 2:42-47. These purposes follow, as catalogued by Rick Warren in his book "The Purpose Driven Life" 1. We were formed for God’s family. 2. We were created to become like Christ. 3. We were shaped for serving God. 4. We were made for a mission.
5. We were planned for God’s pleasure.
Here, we will focus on the first purpose. Notice that the 1st century Christians were devoted to the fellowship (2:42). That means just what it says: they were committed, dedicated, faithful, and loyal to their new Christian family. Furthermore, all the believers were together (2:44). They spent a lot of time with one another. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts (2:46b). Every Christian ought to be a member of a true Christian church. The apostle Paul wrote to the Church of Ephesus and said, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19). I want to highlight several key truths from this text. First, the church is a family. Paul says that Christians are “members of God’s household.” That is, Christians are members of God’s family. The church is a spiritual family. In fact, your spiritual family is going to outlast your physical family. Though the Bible states that there isn’t marriage in heaven, there are Christians in heaven. In reality we’re all going to be related in heaven, and this spiritual family will actually outlast the blood family that we have here on earth. Second, God expects you and me to be members of a family. Notice that Paul says, “Consequently, you are. . . fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.” Membership in God’s family is not optional. Every Christian needs a church family. The 1st century Church was devoted to the breaking of bread and to prayer (2:42). Moreover, they were praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people (2:47a). This is a glimpse of God’s people glorifying and magnifying him, because they understood that we have been planned for God’s pleasure. It is in pleasing God that we find true satisfaction in our souls. John Piper put it this way, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him, and we are most satisfied in him in worship.” That is a wonderful statement! Think about it for a moment. When we are truly delighted and satisfied in God, he is glorified, and we find the greatest satisfaction in God when we are worshiping him. God has planned us for his pleasure. The reason any of us exists is to please God. I want to encourage you to find ways to grow in worshiping God. Think about worship as taking place in private and also in public. Our private worship is that worship that takes place between usand the Lord. It is that daily time that we set aside to read God’s word, to pray to him, and to adore him for who is. Our public worship is that worship that takes place each Lord’s Day. It is what we do when we come together each week to ascribe worth to God. When we come to public worship, we are called to come prepared. We are coming to meet with the King of kings, and Lord of lords. We are coming to the One who has created us, and then recreated us in his Son.
Thanks be to Jesus,
Brown

"Life is half spent before we know what it is." George Herbert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKKCZ3xyKzc&feature=related