Saturday, January 4, 2014
Mathew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
WORTH THE EFFORT
The 2013 year-end college football bowl games are not done yet -- and today is January 4th. If the Apostle Paul were writing to us Americans, like he did to the Corinthians, would he not find some point of comparison with the Christian life -- as he did with Corinth's Olympic-style games? (cp. 1 Corinthians 9:24ff).
Surely the following is worth noting in connection with American football bowl games: every such event and the attendant activities surrounding it (parades, banquets, press conferences, etc.) require hundreds of hours of volunteer work. All of this in connection with a central event -- a football game -- that over and done in a few hours. Each week Christian congregations everywhere conduct services that also require the support of a large supporting cast and hours of unseen work -- from cleaning to typing and printing to lawn-mowing and snow-shoveling. And every Christian service has a far more important purpose and far more lasting value than any football game. In a Christian worship service God Himself serves the worshipers by drawing near to them in Word and Sacrament.
Tomorrow the weather may be nasty and to simply attend church may require an extra effort, but the benefits that await you through the preaching of the good news of Jesus' living and dying to bring you into God's family are beyond calculation. Remember how Jesus has promised to be with you as you gather to hear words of forgiveness, comfort and strength from His mouth. Remember how in His Holy Supper He personally gives you His own body and and blood to assure you of forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
O come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker ... and Redeemer.
