Read Galatians 5:19-26
Imagine you have two dogs. One dog is good. The other dog is bad. These two dogs fight every day. How do you know which dog will win the fight? The dog that wins is the dog you feed. These dogs represent the civil war in each of us—the sinnerâ€saint struggle in every Christian heart.
As God’s sinnerâ€saints, two natures (the “flesh†and the “spiritâ€) battle within us. Unfortunately, the bad dog has food options everywhere. Every day, the worst of the world utilizes the best of things to steep us in moral compromises and outright sins. To starve the bad dog requires effort, but God gives us a buffet of grace to feed the good dog in order to win the fight. This buffet is found in the gathering we call worship.
Worship is much more than singing and listening to a motivational speech. Worship is where God gathers us as the body of Christ. We remember that we became one body through the waters of baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). We confess our sins and receive God’s Word of forgiveness (John 20:20). We also rehearse the tenets of our faith in creeds shared with saints past, present, and future (1 Corinthians 15:3). God’s Word is proclaimed in the message where we receive renewed faith (Romans 10:17). And we share communion with God and one another in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16â€17). Then we are sent with a blessing that we are to share with others where we live, work, and play (Genesis 12:2).
This weekly feast of victory for our God leads us to thank the Lord, to sing His praise, and seek to tell everyone what He has done. And that is how the good dog wins.
Imagine you have two dogs. One dog is good. The other dog is bad. These two dogs fight every day. How do you know which dog will win the fight? The dog that wins is the dog you feed. These dogs represent the civil war in each of us—the sinnerâ€saint struggle in every Christian heart.
As God’s sinnerâ€saints, two natures (the “flesh†and the “spiritâ€) battle within us. Unfortunately, the bad dog has food options everywhere. Every day, the worst of the world utilizes the best of things to steep us in moral compromises and outright sins. To starve the bad dog requires effort, but God gives us a buffet of grace to feed the good dog in order to win the fight. This buffet is found in the gathering we call worship.
Worship is much more than singing and listening to a motivational speech. Worship is where God gathers us as the body of Christ. We remember that we became one body through the waters of baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). We confess our sins and receive God’s Word of forgiveness (John 20:20). We also rehearse the tenets of our faith in creeds shared with saints past, present, and future (1 Corinthians 15:3). God’s Word is proclaimed in the message where we receive renewed faith (Romans 10:17). And we share communion with God and one another in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16â€17). Then we are sent with a blessing that we are to share with others where we live, work, and play (Genesis 12:2).
This weekly feast of victory for our God leads us to thank the Lord, to sing His praise, and seek to tell everyone what He has done. And that is how the good dog wins.