In a few days I will have the opportunity to preach the gospel at Cedarville Community Church just outside Fort Wayne. It’s a small congregation where the pastor, Monte Sheets, has served for over 35 years. Monte is a fine man who has shepherded faithfully in reminding the congregation of the reality of their sin, the power of God’s grace in Christ and the assurance of God’s love. That congregation will hear that same message when I preach.
This particular Sunday is a “holiday” of sorts, Fathers’ Day. The less attractive, socially awkward younger brother of Mother’s Day is often used as an occasion for sermons on the need for fathers to step up. It is an old trope, grounded in a sad reality, that in most churches mothers are honored on Mothers’ Day while in most churches fathers are admonished on Fathers’ Day. The solution to this discrepancy, however, isn’t to honor fathers more or mothers less, nor to admonish mothers more or fathers less. The solution is for Fathers’ Day and Mothers’ Day, and every other Lord’s Day would be about the Lord.
Faithful preaching should include both acknowledgment of jobs done well and encouragement to us to do well. The key is that faithful preaching should always acknowledge the jobs done well by the living God, the work of Christ for us, the work of the Spirit in us, and from there the encouragement to do well. We are His children, therefore we go and do. We are His bride, therefore we go and do. We are indwelt, therefore we go and do. As theology wonks like to put it, the indicative drives the imperative.
Which brings us back to the church. We do what we do because we are what we are. What we are is His. What we do each Lord’s Day therefore ought to be about Him. We gather neither to be rebuked nor to be encouraged. We gather to worship. Worship isn’t what we do before the preaching, while the band is on the stage. Worship isn’t the feeling we have when the pulsing music leads us to sway. Worship, friends, is ascribing glory to the living God. It is honoring Him, praising Him, celebrating Him. Does that move us? It should, but that’s not the goal. Does that unite us? It should, but that’s not the goal. Does that make us want to come back again next week? It should, but that’s not the goal. The goal is His delight.
It is not uncommon for believers to grumble about the vapid worship at their local church. We all say the church is a mile wide and an inch deep. Then we go look for something different by moving from this vapid worship to that, from this mile wide and inch deep to another just like it. It is vapid and shallow because it is about us, the vapid and shallow. It aims low and hits low. We are not worthy of our attention and focus, and will always disappoint us. Let us instead go and meet with the living God. It isn’t Fathers’ Day, but our Father’s Day. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.