LET US SERVE HIM!

A story of angels was told by former members of a Bible Presbyterian congregation. In the context of building their first church, the cement trucks arrived several hours early and hardly any men of the church were at the construction site to handle the heavy work. Suddenly out of nowhere there appeared two men in construction garp with all of the right tools. They pitched in and worked for hours on end to ensure the correct construction of the basement floor and related foundations. When more men of the congregation arrived and their services were no longer needed, the two workers were suddenly not there any more. The only proof of their service was the excellence of their work!

Certainly, if the foundation of that congregation was laid by angels, the walls and roofing of that particular church was in all too human hands. Within thirty years, that congregation ceased to exist. The members were scattered to the four winds and several other churches in Franklin county can be traced back to the factitious backbiting which the members fell into.

Could the content of our passage in Hebrews been more appreciated and practiced, we might have a better report to set before you this Lord's Day morning. The writer to the Hebrews would encourage us all who Name Christ as Lord to practice the near presence of our Lord and King. Look at the instructions carefully, there is much for most of us to learn and to practice. Would your driving improve in Jesus were sitting in the seat beside you? Would your television viewing be different if He were sitting on the couch with you? Would your learning improve if He were present in the classroom? The author here would encourage us to consider God's promise that "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" as a self-evident premise that He really is with us each and every minute of the day.

Certainly, we expect His near presence when we are in a predicament. I can well remember fifteen miles on the interstate outside of Chicago twenty-five years ago, when there was a Semi right in front of me, one to my right and another to my left as well as the fourth one on my tail. I didn't read a road sign for miles and was worried that I would miss my exit. Of course, with all that heavy metal surrounding me, I was praying that none of the truckers would do anything stupid either! But, how about the times when we take advantage of traffic? There was an afternoon not too many years ago when the I 270 parking lot was barely moving. I noticed that one of the busy exits was actually moving faster, so I turned off and followed the lane right through and back on to the main highway. Oh, I was very smug that I had gained three-quarters of a mile by cheating! So I tried it again at the next exit and was humbled by a blocked lane which negated any advantage I had gained in the last twenty minutes. All of a sudden, I was just another one of the road running yuppies who swing and swerve for a ten yard advantage! How much more gracious it is to leave that amount of space for the strangers who may need it. If more of our drivers were thoughtful for others, our traffic would move ever so much more smoothly! So would our churches if more elders and deacons were humble men at their work.

Look at verse seven, this is the recipe for success in the work of Christ. Those who practice the Lord's presence are respected, loved and obeyed in all times and places. It is the humble who recognize the grace that has been given to them. And grace it is that saves and strengthened. Twice in our communion together things have not gone as smoothly as planned. Once, our ordinary recipe for bread was not available, so we used and bakery product. Another time, we ran through our six year supply of communion cups and had to make to with Dixie cups. No matter, the ceremonial emphasis was not the important thing.

No indeed, it is the Lord's presence in communion that is of so much greater importance! Just as the ancient Jews had to learn to leave their temple and go to Christ, so must we learn to leave our traditions and habits aside and seek Him who was crucified. At one Church service, the communion service was the most unusual one that I have ever participated in. It was indeed difficult for some of us to participate, but for the sake of our Lord we stepped outside of the Reformed tradition and went forward to receive the sacrament. I will not say that that was the best communion I have ever participated in, but it does remind me that sometimes we have to leave the comfort of our chair and bear the supposed "disgrace of the moment" that we had not expected, to show that our interest is indeed in Christ and not in sitting back and thereby criticizing our brethren.