Mark 2:13-17

13 He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.
14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Is Jesus teaching here that there are some who are righteous and and others who are sinners living on this earth, and that He is calling only those who are sinners to Himself? We know from the rest of scripture that this can not be true. For example, Romans 3:10-12 says, “As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.'”

Jesus here is making the point that He is calling to Himself those who are aware of their sin and their need for a savior. The scribes and Pharisees, though they were sinners just like the rest, thought of themselves as righteous and, as a result, saw no need for Jesus as Savior.

If we are to come to Christ and remain in Him we must acknowledge our deep need for Him. As we do ministry we must proclaim the Gospel and understand that it is those, who under the conviction of the Holy Spirit are made aware of their deep need, that will come to Christ. The self-righteous, are in some ways, furthest from the Kingdom. Christ is able to cover the worst of sins but only if the need for a Savior is acknowledged and trust is placed in the person of Jesus Christ.

Let us not fall in to the error of the scribes and Pharisees, thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought and thinking that some, because of their sin, are out of reach of the grace of God.

Posted in Devotional Thoughts Pride Joe Anady Mark 2:13-17
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I just wanted to say that it was huge blessing to be able to get away with my wife for our 11 year anniversary and to not worry one bit about Emmaus. Lindsay and I shared with another couple that we were six weeks in to a new church plant, and they said, “Really! And you are on vacation? Do you think the church will be there when you get back?” To be honest, I hadn’t even thought about it until that comment was made, and even then it wasn’t a bother to me.

It is a huge blessing to be able to start a new church with so many good people contributing to the work of the ministry. I heard that the Angel Food distribution went very well. Thank you to all who pitched in and helped out with that ministry! Also, I thought that Russell Schmidt did a great job preaching on Sunday. If you missed it, I would encourage you to listen to the sermon on-line; it should be up in just a couple of days.

Ultimately, I know that you are not doing any of this for me; you are serving the Lord in all that you do. Never-the-less, I can’t help but feel personally grateful. It is an awesome encouragement for me to see others passionate about the ministry to the same degree that I am. It is evidence that this is indeed a God thing. He is in all of this, moving in each of our hearts, as He brings us together as the body of Christ.

From my perspective, this is definitely not my church. I say that knowing that it is a true statement from a Biblical perspective – this is Christ’s church indeed. But I also say this as I observe the reality of  what is happening at Emmaus. I do believe that God has called me to Pastor this congregation an I take that calling seriously, but I am only one of a plurality Pastors. I know that God has gifted me to play a particular role in this church, but I also see that everyone of you has been gifted, and you are using your gifts to edify one another and to bring glory to God. What a joy it is to watch all of this come together!

Blessings,

Joe

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Greetings Emmaus,

I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday at 5:00pm in the Youth House at BFC. Remember, Russell Schmidt will be bringing the Word from 1 Peter 1:22-25. Please pray for him this week as he continues to prepare.

Blessings,

Joe

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Just a heads up that we will still be meeting in BFC’s Youth House on Sunday, July 24 at 5:00pm. Please continue to pray for our future meeting location. We have a couple of very good options but we are not quite ready to make the move yet.

Blessings,

Joe

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Gospel Community Groups are Starting 7/17/2011

Emmaus will offer a handful of Gospel Community Groups starting this week with more groups coming soon. If this initial batch of groups fills up, or if the times do not work for you, please understand that more groups will launch in the coming months. Our goal is to have everyone involved in a GCG’s, but we are also requiring that all GCG leaders go through a rather intense training process. Training leaders takes time but we do not want to rush this training process. Thank you for your patience as we strive to provide Emmaus with enough GCG’s for everyone to be involved, and yet maintain a high standard and a sense of continuity amongst our group leaders. If Gospel Community Groups fill up before you sign up, you can also join the Emmaus Essential class mentioned below.

Youth Ministry Change Starting 7/19/2011

Beginning this Tuesday, both Jr. and Sr. High youth will be meeting on Tuesday nights from 7:00-8:30pm at the Zerebny’s house located at 26419 Old Agency Road. The youth will continue at this location at least until we find a new location for Emmaus.

Angel Food Ministries Distribution 7/30/2011

Angel Food Ministries will be distributing food boxes from the church office at 717 E. Florida Ave. on Saturday, July 30th. Distribution runs from 9 – 10:30am with set up beginning at 8:00am. Glen and Anna would love to have you come and serve along side them as they package food, walk folks to their cars, and pray for them. Please call Anna at 951•293•4145 or visit the “Ministries” page on our website for more information.

Emmaus Essentials Starting 8/7/2011

We will be studying the Doctrine of Salvation starting August 7th at 10am at the church office. We will be using “Making Sense of Salvation” by Wayne Grudem. This is one part of a seven part series that was taken from his large volume called “Systematic Theology”. You can order the text on Amazon or request that the church order the book for you. The book costs $11.24. Please come to the first meeting having read chapter one and having answered the questions in the back of the chapter. Also, I noticed that Wayne Grudem has free lectures corresponding to the chapters in his systematic theology available on ITunes. I thought that these might be helpful for commuters or for those who are a little lest than enthusiastic about reading this much every week.

Location Update

We will likely be meeting at BFC for at least one more week, if not more, but there is a possibility that we experience a move in the not to distant future. Please check the website regularly this week for an update on meeting location.

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Hello Emmaus,

Just a quick reminder that our scripture memory for the week is 2 Timothy 3:16 which says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” The children will have an opportunity to recite this verse in front of the congregation this week just like we did last week.

The idea here is that young and old memorize scripture together, and that parents teach their children this discipline within the home. Please, do not let your children memorize scripture without helping them to understand what it means and how it should change their lives. It is a very dangerous thing to pack a young persons mind full of scripture, and then to send them off into adulthood thinking they “know” the Bible, when in fact, they don’t understand it. Scripture should be memorized, understood, and applied; anything less is potentially destructive. The scriptures should be stored up in the mind, but it also needs to sink down into our hearts where it can truly transform us.

Blessings!

Joe

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There is a page on our site entitled Emmaus Essentials and as of today the page still says COMING SOON! That is because we have been in the process of developing this concept and deciding where it will fit in the life of the church. As you know, we desire to do a few things well here at Emmaus; we want to pursue depth and to avoid lifestyles that are busy and cluttered with things that distract from our relationship with God and others. That is not to say that we will not offer a lot of things here at Emmaus, but rather that what we do offer will be focused intensely on our mission to help people grow in their love for God, their love for one another, and their service within the church, community, and nations. We would like for everyone to attend Sunday worship with regularity, to be involved in a Gospel Community Group, and to use their spiritual gifts for the edification of the church and for the proclamation of the gospel. Really, it is about that simple.

That said, we also see a need to provide instruction that will help Christians to grow in their understanding of Christian faith. We have decided to offer a series of courses on a variety of core topics that we believe will help our people to love God and others more deeply.

The courses will typically run for 4-6 allowing you to “dive in” for a short time and still stay committed to your Gospel Community Group. For starters we will offer a course on the Doctrine of Salvation on Sundays from 10am – 12pm at the Church Office. The course will begin August 7 and run for 8 weeks until September 26, 2011. This will probably be the longest course that we offer, but 8 weeks is needed given the subject matter. We will be using Wayne Grudem’s “Making Sense of Salvation” as our text. You can either order the text yourself or request that we order it for you. Please check back on the Emmaus Essential page for more details coming soon.

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As I was preparing today to lead the people of Emmaus in the Lord’s Supper for the first time this Sunday, I was struck with the seriousness and power of this ancient tradition.

To begin with, it’s overwhelming to contemplate the fact that this ordinance was established by Jesus Christ Himself and was handed down through the apostles, the early church fathers, all the way through church history, and to us today (in fact the Lord’s Supper has as its roots the Passover feast established after the Exodus). When we participate in the Lord’s Supper we are not only considering our deep connection with one another as individuals within the local church, but also our connection with the saints around the world and those who have gone before us.  This is big! The Lord’s Supper, though it involves individual contemplation, forces us to consider our unity in Christ as the church of God both locally and universally.

As we take the wafer, which symbolizes the body of Christ that was broken for us, and the juice, which symbolizes the blood of Christ that was poured out for us, the symbolism reminds us that we are not islands unto ourselves. We are, as individuals, deeply connected to and dependent upon Christ; and because of our union with Christ, we are also deeply connected to one another.  As believers, we have Christ in common; He unites us as we each send our roots deep down in to Him.

This is why it is so important that we search our hearts before we partake of the Lord’s Supper. We do not want to be guilty of hypocrisy when it comes to our relationship with God or our relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ. We must examine our hearts, confess sin, and do all that is in our power to be at peace with all men (1 Corinthians 11:27-30, Romans 12:18).

We can easily forget that when Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper it was in the context of the Passover meal. Jesus was sitting around the table in an intimate setting with His disciples as they shared a meal together. When the early Church participated in the Lord’s Supper, they most likely did so in the context of sharing in a full meal together. Today, most churches take five minutes out of their worship service to remember Christ by taking a wafer and juice while the congregation sits, not with their eyes on one another, but looking strait forward. Now I’m not saying the way we do things today is all wrong, but I do think we should be aware of the fact that the Lord’s Supper was originally observed in a context that was much more conducive to the sharing of life to life relationships.

As we take communion this Sunday we will do so in the same way that we always have, wafer and juice in hand we will confess sin, remember our Lord’s death, and look forward to His second coming. This is good and proper; but please add to your contemplation a deep awareness of the unity that we share in Christ Jesus. Who knows, perhaps we will change the way that we approach the Lord’s table in the future, but for now, let’s make sure that we approach with hearts that are right before God and one another.

Posted in Articles Devotional Thoughts Church Life The Lord's Supper Theology Joe Anady 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 Romans 12:18
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