Worship Service | June 21, 2020

WELCOME

ANNOUNCEMENTS

CALL TO WORSHIP

SCRIPTURE READING

PSALM 89:8–9, 13–14

O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.

You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

ADORATION

HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD

CONFESSION

CORPORATE PRAYER

Merciful Lord, we confess that with us there is an abundance of sin, but in You there is the abundance of mercy. We are spiritually poor, but You are rich and in Jesus Christ came to be merciful to the poor. Strengthen our faith in You.

We are empty vessels that need to be filled; fill us. We are weak in faith; strengthen us. We are lacking in good works that result from faith; compel us. We are cold in love; warm us, that our love may go out to one another and to our neighbors. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

FATHER YOU ARE ALL WE NEED

ASSURANCE

CALL AND RESPONSE

LEADER:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

TOGETHER:
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

(1 John 4:7–10)

THANKSGIVING

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

PROCLAMATION

SCRIPTURE READING

ISAIAH 1:10–20

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.

“When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?

Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,

learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

PASTORAL PRAYER

SEEK JUSTICE | ISAIAH 1:1–10

LORD’S SUPPER

INVITATION, INSTITUTION, & CONSECRATION

INSTRUCTIONS & DISTRIBUTION

JESUS YOU ARE WORTHY

PARTAKING & POST-COMMUNION PRAYER

SONGS OF RESPONSE

AMAZING GRACE

COMMISSIONING

PASTORAL EXHORTATION FROM EPHESIANS 2:8–10

2 Pillars Statement on Racial Justice, Restoration, and Renewal

2 Pillars Church is a part of the Acts 29 Network—a diverse, global family of church planting churches. As a part of this network, we exist in a family of nearly 800 churches worshiping in more than 30 languages across more than 50 nations. 

The elders of 2 Pillars Church stand together with our fellow Acts 29 churches, as well as like-minded churches in our city, in calling for racial justice, restoration, and renewal, by affirming the following statement: 2pillarschurch.com/racial-justice.

Please take some time to read the statement for yourself. May it stir your affections for Jesus and your longing for justice, restoration, and renewal.

Grace and peace.

Worship Service | June 14, 2020

WELCOME

CALL TO WORSHIP

SCRIPTURE READING

PSALM 95:1–8A

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts

ADORATION

BRING YOUR SICK

CONFESSION

CALL AND RESPONSE

LEADER:
Merciful God, you pardon all who truly repent and turn to you. We humbly confess our sins and ask your mercy. We have not loved you with a pure heart, nor have we loved our neighbor as ourselves. We have not done justice, loved kindness, or walked humbly with you, our God. Have mercy on us, O God, in your loving-kindness. In your great compassion, blot out our transgressions.

TOGETHER:
Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. Do not cast us from your presence, or take away your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the joy of your salvation and sustain us with your bountiful Spirit through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

(Based on Psalm 51:10-12)

ASSURANCE

PASTORAL ASSURANCE FROM PSALM 139:23-24

HIS MERCY IS MORE

THANKSGIVING

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

SCRIPTURE READING

GENESIS 1:26–27

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

EPHESIANS 2:11–22

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

SUPPLICATION

PASTORAL PRAYER

WORSHIP IN GIVING

Do you need help or assistance? If so, please let us know.

Instructions for how to give online, by mail, or by your bank's bill pay can be found at: 2pillarschurch.com/give.

PROCLAMATION

THE IMAGO DEI, UNION WITH CHRIST, AND RACISM

LORD’S SUPPER

Invitation, Institution, & Consecration

Instructions & Distribution

Partaking & Post-Communion Prayer

SONGS OF RESPONSE

HOW GREAT THOU ART

ADOPTION

COMMISSIONING

PASTORAL EXHORTATION

Learning to Lament

First it was the coronavirus. Wrecking our economy, killing the vulnerable, driving us out of fellowship with one another an into our homes. Then came the restlessness, the yearning to “get back to normal,” which began stirring up debates among friends that spilled over into protests and yelling matches online. Then came the news of a black man, gunned down while on a run by two vigilantes for a crime he didn’t commit. Then came the news of another black man, senselessly killed under the knee of a man who had sworn to serve and protect, which felt to many of us like deja vu.

I, as well as many of you, I’m sure, have heard a lot about what we as Christians ought to “keep in mind” over the last few months. We ought to remember that the Lord is sovereign, and that neither the coronavirus nor the murder of the innocent falls outside of the bounds of His will. We ought to remember that the Lord has many potential purposes for the coronavirus and for these recent events. In light of that, we ought to remember that whatever those purposes, that they are good because He is good, and that “all things work together for good,” for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). We ought to remember that vengeance is the Lord’s. We ought to remember that the Lord grieves the loss of innocent life. We ought to remember that regardless of the trials that come upon us during this season, whether it be sickness, unemployment, depression, loneliness, oppression, or anything else, that the Lord sees the pain of the sufferers, and hears the cries of the mourning, and He will provide for us in our time of need.

We really ought to remember these things, to treasure them in our heart and meditate upon them. But what about those of us who do not solely need to find comfort and encouragement? What about those of us who behold the carnage and the destruction being wrought upon the world by this microscopic murderer and feel something more than fear? What about those of us who watch yet another unarmed, black man be senselessly killed and want to do nothing but scream? What about those of us who, in our most honest moments, respond in our hearts to this season with anger? Not just any anger, but anger fueled by sorrow.

What does the coronavirus and racism reveal about the world? That it is broken. That things are not the way that they ought to be. These things are a product of the “breaking of the world” (to borrow a phrase from Robert Jordan) which we read about in Genesis 3. Just like death, violence, corruption, and famine. And “sorrowful anger” is a perfectly reasonable response to that.

I have felt this anger. It’s born in sorrow, produced in a context where we behold injustice and brokenness and find ourselves overwhelmed by our own powerlessness against it. 

It cannot be anger at God Himself, lest we accuse him of injustice on His part. Rather, it is an anger at sin. At the ways that it has sunk it’s teeth into this world that God created and corrupted it.

How dare it. How dare it take that which was supposed to be good, and turn it into a twisted version of what it was intended to be. How dare it drive us into our homes, apart from friends and family. How dare it stir up hate and prejudice in the hearts of men. How dare it kill our family and friends. How dare it run our medical providers ragged.

So what do we do with righteous anger in this season? We lament.

Lament is a uniquely Christian response to injustice and brokenness. I say it is uniquely Christian because it is saturated in a true and lasting hope. It is the expression of a groaning that, if expressed in the context of this hope, should cause us to drop to our knees, look upward, spread our hands, and cry out for God to work to correct all that is wrong. Outside of the context of hope, it produces cynicism and bitterness, causing us not to lament, but to lash out irrationally and cast stones of blame towards anyone we think may be responsible, including God.

What is our hope? That God Himself is as moved to anger and sorrow by the brokenness of the world as we are. More so, even. Not only that, but that He has actually taken action to correct it by coming into the world Himself, being subjected to this brokenness and injustice, and giving up His own life in order to break the power of sin and usher in His Kingdom.

God was even so gracious as to give us language of lament in His word. The Psalms are full of prayers of lament (13, 74, 102, 130 are a few examples). Jesus expresses lament on the cross (Mark 15:34). The Lord even gave us an entire book of lament (The Book of Lamentations)!

The gracious thing about lament, is that it is a place where God meets us where we’re at. We don’t need to posture ourselves or pretend to be okay. We can be honest with Him, and He is faithful to draw near to us and whisper “I understand.” He does not turn away our lament, nor is he disappointed and condemn us for unbelief. He invites us to draw near and be vulnerable in the safest place we can be.

For those of us like me, who feel that sorrowful anger during this season, may we not be as those who do not have any hope. Yes, we ought to remember the glorious truths found in Scripture, but may we also learn to lament. To go before the Lord in our sorrow and anger and cry out. May we be vulnerable before the Lord, and let the Spirit work in us to remind us who He is. May we not hide. May we find in that lament the strength in knowing that our prayers are heard and that the Lord is working to correct all that is wrong. Including viruses and racism.