“If I had to put my finger on one quality that has marked my church experience in Sovereign Grace Churches in general and in Covenant Fellowship Church in particular, it would be the presence of joy. I have spent my life around Christians who sing with joy, serve with gladness, cultivate gratitude, talk about what it means to be happy pastors, and celebrate the grace that has rescued us from sin and death.”
Jared Mellinger, “Joy: Rejoice in the Lord Always” in Our Shaping Virtues (October 2022)
“Extravagant devotion has countless ways of being expressed. And may those countless ways be expressed in the context of the local church—may our local churches become filled with one expression after another, by one individual after another, of extravagant devotion to the Savior. But we can begin right now. We can do what we can right now. And what we can do right now is the only appropriate way to begin this Celebration conference. And that is to pour out our hearts to him in worship for being the wonderful and beautiful Savior he is to us.”
C. J. Mahaney, “Extravagant Devotion” in Continue in What You Have Learned: Sermons from C. J. Mahaney that Shaped a Family of Churches
“Singing is meant to shape our response to Christ. An undeniable connection exists between the way we engage with God in corporate worship and how we approach every other day of the week. If our singing is half-hearted on Sunday, it’s likely that our desire to glorify Christ will be half-hearted on Monday.”
Bob Kauflin, “Christ our Song” in A Christ-Centered People (Summer 2021)
“God’s glorified people will inherit the kingdom from which all sin, sorrow, suffering, and death will be banished. Christ as king will set all of creation free from its bondage to corruption, making new the heavens and the earth and establishing his eternal rule in his consummated kingdom. Surrounded by unimaginable beauty, we will enjoy unhindered communion with our triune God, beholding him, serving him, worshiping him, and reigning with him forever and ever. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
“Judgment and Consummation” from We Believe: The Sovereign Grace Statement of Faith
Excerpt from Tim Kerr, “Give Me Jesus: Delighting in Christ Through the Means of Grace” in A Christ-Centered People (Summer 2021)
David Mathis says that fellowship is a help when we drift from other means of grace. “When the desire to avail yourself of hearing his voice (in the word) has dried up, and when your spiritual energy is gone to speak into his ear (in prayer), God sends his body to bring you back.” He also says, “Corporate worship is the single most important means of grace and our greatest weapon in the fight for joy, because like no other means, corporate worship combines all three principles of God’s ongoing grace: his word, prayer, and fellowship.”
It is easy to forget the reason why corporate worship is so powerful. There is much more going on than simply songs and smiles and encouraging words. 1 John 1:3 reveals the Trinitarian ground and delightful source of the fellowship we experience with each other: “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
Here we see the often unnoticed dimension of the gathering of the church. It facilitates enjoyment, communion, partnership, and friendship, which is an overflow of the fellowship we have with God the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit. Just as a musical concert is best experienced in an appreciative crowd of fans, so the church gathered is where we enjoy, treasure, and commune most deeply with Christ.
The key here is presence. This means of grace is for participants alone. To know this reality, we have to be there—each of us indwelt by the Spirit, strengthening and encouraging each other with our gifts, experiencing God’s active presence as his people meet to worship him.
How is Christ best treasured in our lives? By taking the necessary time to ponder Christ in Scripture until affections for him are kindled in our hearts, by abiding in his love through prayer, and by joining our puzzle piece together with the many other puzzle pieces of the church gathered, so that we can display the finished picture of Christ to each other, and delight in the wonder of that picture together.