Worshiping from Home | Sunday, May 17, 2020
May 15th, 2020“Practical atheism,” what’s that? It’s what Christians do, what we do, when we think and/or act in ways that fail to take God into account. It’s what happens when we fail to do this, “. . . seek the things above, where Christ is . . . ” and this, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1-2). I was challenged with this in some reading I was doing on God’s providence this week.
Unfortunately, we’ve all seen, heard, and read many examples of practical atheism in Christian circles since the outbreak of this pandemic. As your pastors, what we have tried to do in these weekly letters, sermon recommendations, and lectures from R.C., is what we have tried to do all along in our shepherding—we have encouraged you to seek Jesus Christ through scripture and prayer.
Keep the main thing, the main thing (Matt. 22:37-40).
Not only do we not want you to be practical atheists, even more, we want to urge you to follow hard after Jesus while striving in holiness of mind, heart, and behavior for God’s greater glory—to make your life about Him while denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Him.
Remember, God is in the details of your life and of the lives of every other human being, and of the entire universe! He isn’t just allowing things to happen or sitting back while things run amuck—God is ordaining all that happens, even things that seem to happen by natural cause or what some would call luck or chance (see e.g. Ps. 135:6; Prov. 16:33; Col. 1:16-17).
Consider the alternative: everything happens randomly, and the events of this earthly life are chugging along as they always have, evolving, changing, happening for no particular purpose and with no particular goal or end in sight. It’s all controlled chaos with no meaning. YUCK!
As your elders met this week and discussed the COVID situation, and the regulations, restrictions, proposals, and protocols as it all relates to our church and our shepherding, we talked about how the current situation is best understood in light of the very first verse of the Bible:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).
And the last two verses of the Bible from Revelation 22:20-21:
“He who testifies to theses things [the book of Revelation] says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”
We hope you are encouraged by R.C.’s final lecture in this brief series, as he instructs us to look to the cross of our redemption in Jesus for the peace which He alone brings to our lives.
Teaching link (for Sunday’s Zoom discussion): When Worlds Collide: Finding Peace (Lecture 5)
Suggested live-streamed worship service links:
Faith Bible Church (10:30am ET, John Crotts, pastor)
Grace Community Church (1:30pm ET, John MacArthur, pastor)
Grace Immanuel Bible Church (10:45am ET | Jerry Wragg, pastor)
Parkside Church (9:45am ET, Alistair Begg, pastor)