You learn the nature and content of the love of God from the way that love acted in history in Jesus Christ, and you experience that love as a present, life-changing reality as the Holy Spirit pours it out into your heart. Both of these are utterly crucial. If we make claims to have experiences of the love of God without solid foundations in history and its God-given meaning, we become cultic, emotionalistic, fanatical; and if we claim to understand the history and the meaning of history but we don’t experience the love of God poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we become barren and impotent and intellectualistic.
So said John Piper.
The purpose of going to church is to receive the gifts God wants us to have. The purpose of the sermon is to preach Christ crucified, the proclaim the Good Story of Christ’s entry into history to save a fallen creation and the Holy Spirit operates through that Word to “pour the love of God into our hearts”.
Back in the old hippie days they used to say “be there or be square”. The church service is the means that God uses to deliver forgiveness of sins and as we say over and over again – where there is forgiveness of sins there is life and salvation. It is not possible to love Jesus and never go to the place where he chooses to come to you.
dear Pastor,
These days the “hip” thing to say is “It is not about religion it is about a relationship!” I heard a wonderful talk on Issues ETC several days ago about relational theology. I have seen so much theology about “buddying up with Jesus or having an almost school girl kind of crush type relationship with him in the interdenominational circles I get around on occasion. Now it is not about going to church as they are over-programmed and over- entertained so they can worship out on the golf course or beach. So just how many Bibles do you see open in those places I wonder! There are those who are constantly searching but never finding. They pray harder, fast more, study deeper and if they don’t get this warm fuzzy from this then they think they are drifting away from God so they need another charge so it will hold for a bit longer. These same ones get nothing out of church because they are burned out from doing and not receiving!! It seems that Jesus is the passive one in this whole relationship thing. It is all about doing more and getting less. Wouldn’t it be so much better to wait on God to give to us what we need to receive? It is difficult to explain to those who do not believe in the sacraments as if Christ is not really present in the Communion Service then there is not assurance of sins forgiven. Every thing becomes an act we do and nothing that God gives to us. God forbid our worship is reduced to all we do and nothing of God’s pure undeserved grace to us every week. We bring nothing we receive so much!
Betty M