Can you honestly say that you “yearn” for every member of your church family “with the affection of Christ Jesus” (v. 8)? Think of how different our churches would be if we spent the week thanking God for every member in our congregation, recognizing that they are partners with us in the gospel, and valuing them as such.   

For many of us the inability to gather with church family during parts of the pandemic increased our appreciation for our pastors, elders, deacons, and fellow church members. It has not been unusual to hear people testify of how they will not take church gatherings, especially corporate worship, for granted again. Yet, if we’re honest, it won’t be long before we need to be reminded to give thanks for and appreciate our church family.
When we think about giving thanks and praying for fellow believers, we need to first remember that our union with Christ is the foundation for our communion with one another. This is clear in Paul’s letter to the Philippians in which he begins with the greeting, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus…Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:1-2). Paul wrote to the Philippians while he was in prison in Rome. In his letter he thanks God for them, prays for them, and expresses the affection he has for them. We too need to thank God for our church family and pray for them often.
Praise to God
It’s instructive that Paul began his thanksgiving with the people of God, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy” (Phil. 1:3-4). It must have brought great joy to him to remember meeting Lydia for the first time and hearing her profession of faith and having the privilege of baptizing her alongside her family (Acts 16:11-15). He must have rejoiced when he remembered the jailer’s profession of faith and baptism (vv. 25-34), not to mention countless others who came to saving faith under his preaching ministry. But it was the Philippians’ “partnership in the gospel” (Phil. 1:4) that filled him with great joy.
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The Preacher reminds us how important it is to guard our steps as we approach God’s house. Let us not neglect drawing near to God and His people on the Lord’s Day, listening to the preaching of God’s word, worshiping Him with reverence and awe, and recognizing His holiness. 

Have you ever considered that it is important to “guard your steps when you go the house of God” (Ecc. 5:1)? Perhaps we don’t often think of church as a dangerous place, and yet it is a very dangerous place for those who refuse to listen to the preaching of God’s word. The author of Hebrews warns that there are those who have “tasted the goodness of the word of God…and then have fallen away” (Heb. 6:5-6). In this case there is no other way of salvation for them “since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt” (6:6). Long before the author of Hebrews, the Preacher recognized the difference between the wise and the fools that went to the house of God. Therefore, in order to be wise in our worship, it’s important for us to understand what it means to guard our steps when we go to church.
First, we are to “draw near” (Ecc. 5:1). We are to make worship a weekly priority. Each Lord’s Day we are to go to church. Meeting together with other believers on Sunday should be a priority over all other things. As the author of Hebrews says, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb. 10:24-25).
We are also to “listen” to the preaching of God’s word (Ecc. 5:1). There are lots of different reasons people go to church. Some people go because they are invited by family or friends. Others go because they are curious about Christianity. Still others go because they like seeing their friends and making connections in the community.
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Have you grumbled against God lately or questioned why He’s doing something in your life? Dear believer, by God’s grace, let us replace grumbling with gratitude and questioning with a quiet trust in our heavenly Father, who is working in us, “both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). Then we will “shine as lights in the world (v. 15), “so that they may see [our] good works and give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). 

As a mother of four children I’ve heard quite a bit of grumbling and questioning. But as I listen to my children, I’m often convicted at how many times I grumble about a particular circumstance or question why God has allowed something in my life. Scripture reveals that these are serious sins. Oftentimes they lead to anger, bitterness, callousness, and discontentment. But by God’s grace we don’t have to grumble and question. Instead, we can be grateful and trust His plans for us. Such gratitude and trust flow from God’s power at work in us. We see this truth in Philippians 2:12-18, which teaches us about the work of God’s grace in the life of the believer.
In light of Christ’s obedience, in which He “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8), Paul exhorts the believers in Philippi to remain fervently obedient to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (v. 12). This salvation that they are to “work out” is the salvation that God, by His grace, has already worked into them. And they are to work it out with “fear and trembling,” motivated by Christ’s obedience.
The amazing truth about grace is that God doesn’t leave us to ourselves to work out our own salvation. He doesn’t save us and then tell us to accomplish the Christian life on our own. Neither does He cooperate with us, as if He does seventy-five percent of the work and we do the other twenty-five percent. No, His grace is just as active in our sanctification as it is in our justification. Justification is an act of God’s free grace while sanctification is a work of God’s free grace. Justification is “our declared righteousness before God, made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection for us,” while sanctification is “our gradual, growing righteousness, made possible by the Spirit’s work in us” (The New City Catechism, A32).
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As we remember Jesus’ death on Good Friday and celebrate the Risen Christ on Easter Sunday, let us remember the sufferers in the midst of our churches. There will be people that need us to tenderly speak to them and build them up with words of gospel hope. They may come hopeless, even feeling as if God is against them. Let us give them words of life, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth…I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26).   

Soon believers all around the world will celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Some will go to church because they are expected to do so by family. Others will go because they know the joy of gathering together on the Lord’s Day to worship Him. Still others will show up broken and tormented by trials that have torn them asunder. They may even be wondering if God “counts [them] as his adversary” (Job 19:11). The church needs to come around them and tenderly speak words of hope. Job 19 gives us a window into how the righteous suffer, and ultimately a window into our Savior’s suffering, as well as a glimpse of the sufferer’s only hope.
Job’s suffering was considerable, but perhaps it was the words of his friends that broke him and tormented him the most (Job 19:2). Instead of comforting Job they magnified themselves against him and wrongly pointed to his disgrace as evidence of some secret sin. But Job was suffering because of his godliness (1:8). Job found his friends to be “miserable comforters” (16:2). They had failed to approach him in tenderness and build him up. God’s people are to speak in ways that are only “good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29). In this way we reflect the tenderness and grace of Jesus who invites “all who labor and are heavy laden” to “come to Me” (Matt. 11:28).
When the Lord spoke with Satan, the adversary claimed that Job feared God because the Lord had “put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side” (Job 1:10). Ironically, Job says that “He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass” (19:8). He concludes that God has “kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary” (19:11). But nothing could be further from the truth. His adversary is Satan, not God (1:11; 2:5).
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God is love and He has loved us. In a self-centered society, God transforms love from selfishness to selflessness. Where many churches sound the call to love without doctrine and obedience, John sounds the call for love, obedience and doctrine. When we think it easier to love God than to love our neighbor, beginning with our own family members, John reminds us that to love God means to love those around us.

One of the greatest memories I have of Valentine’s Day is from my time in seminary when my friends and I helped each other focus on the love of God. We were in an accountability group together and all single at the time. Far different from the romantic cards, chocolates, jewelry, and flowers being promoted by the stores for gifts, we gave each other the reminder that God loves us.
In 1 John 4:7-21 the apostle John focuses the minds of believers on the truth that God is love. Significantly, John does not call his readers to “love one another” without telling them from where this love comes, “for love is from God” (1 John 4:7). Only those who have been born again spiritually and know God in an intimate, affectionate way, can extend true love to others.
The greatest expression of God’s love came in the incarnation. God loved us so much that He sent His only Son into the world to live a life of perfect obedience on our behalf and to satisfy God’s wrath on the cross. In light of His great love for us, we should love others. In fact, since God is invisible, we have the responsibility and the privilege to reflect His love to those around us. As He “abides in us” and “his love is perfected in us” we display His love to those around us (1 John 4:12).
The Spirit of God assures our hearts that we abide in God and He abides in us. Since our blind eyes have been opened by God’s grace to know the truth, we should be witnesses, teaching the gospel of Christ to those around us and confessing “that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 4:15). God’s abiding in the believer is transformational. He is perfecting His love in us and will bring it to full completion when we are glorified.
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All those who repent of their sins and trust in Christ alone for their salvation can be certain that God loves them. Dear believer, if tears are pouring down your cheeks today, and you are questioning God’s love for you, look no further than God’s creation and redemption, both of which testify of His steadfast love that endures forever.      

I have sat before women with tears streaming down their face confessing the truth of God’s sovereignty, but questioning His love in the face of death, despair, disappointment and disillusionment. Whether it’s the loss of a baby, the end of a marriage, the loss of financial security, the end of a desired career path, or the loss of a loved one, believers can at times wonder if God loves them in the midst of crushing circumstances. During these times it is necessary to immerse ourselves in the word of God, most especially the psalms. Particularly relevant for meditating on God’s love is Psalm 136.
God’s Covenant Love in Creation
Notably, the author of Psalm 136 begins with a call for a grateful acknowledgement to the Lord of lords and God of gods for His goodness and covenant love. This psalm was to be sung antiphonally with one group answering to the other as they stood opposite each other. Hearing the refrain, “for his steadfast love endures forever” twenty-six times would have driven the point home to their hearts that the God who condescended to them by way of covenant did so because of His great love for them. In fact, all of creation was a testimony of God’s covenant love, goodness and wisdom for His people. Because He “alone does great wonders” (v. 4), “by understanding made the heavens” (v. 5), “spread out the earth above the waters” (v. 6), “made the great lights” (v. 7), “the sun to rule by day” (v. 8), and “the moon and stars to rule over the night” (v. 9), we should thank Him and can trust Him. His goodness and steadfast love endures forever.
In the New Testament we learn that Jesus is the climactic revelation of God’s covenant love for His people. In Christ the Lord of the covenant and the servant of the covenant meet. He comes as Lord to extend grace, peace and mercy, and He comes as the servant to perfectly obey the law of God and atone for our sins on the cross.
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Since Christ feared the Lord perfectly on our behalf, and took the wrath of God upon Him, our enemies will not be exulted over us, and our past sins need no longer haunt us. Christ reconciled us to God so that we might have friendship with the Lord, not the world. And Christ redeemed us, so that we can experience true freedom.

Several years ago I missed a turn for one of my speaking events. It didn’t take me long to realize I was on the wrong road, but I didn’t know how to find my way without help. So I pulled into a gas station and asked the locals for directions. Thankfully, they were kind and helpful, and before long I was on my way again on the right road.
Missing a wrong turn for a speaking engagement isn’t nearly as bad as missing the wrong road in life. Scripture tells us that there is a right road, the way of the righteous, and a wrong road, the way of the rebellious (see Ps. 1:1-6). Only by God’s grace can we walk on the road of righteousness.
The road of righteousness is not a popular road, but it is a rewarding road. God’s glorious presence is with us each step of the way. But once we are on the right road, Scripture teaches us that we are confronted with three enemies that tempt us to doubt the way we have chosen is good.
The enemy within (the flesh) is ready to engage in sin and remind us of past sins. The Enemy without (the devil) seeks to seduce us and persecute us. And the world tempts us to walk in its ways of idolatry and immorality. Thankfully, Psalm 25 reminds us of four important truths as we fight against our enemies.
Fear of the Lord
First, we must fear the Lord (Ps. 25:1-7). In response to the Lord’s salvation, we are to walk in His ways, love Him, serve Him wholeheartedly, obey Him, and hold fast to Him (Deut. 10:12-13, 20). When our enemies threaten to undo us, we must trust in the Lord and wait for Him to deliver us. During times of waiting we must worship Him, accept His plans and purposes, incline our hearts to wisdom, and trust Him as our Leader and Teacher.
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How good and loving of the Lord to redeem a people for Himself to the praise of His glorious grace. Believers experience His grace as He turns deserts into delightful waters and parched land into pools of water (v. 35). He pours out abundant blessings upon His people.

When was the last time you wandered in the desert wastes of addiction or anger, dissensions or divisions, enmity or envy, idolatry or impurity, sensuality or strife, finding no way to fulfill the hole in your heart, but desperately trying to anyway? When have you faced betrayal or blame, cancer or chronic pain, depression or disillusionment? When was the last occasion you felt burdened or burned out, fainthearted or fearful, homesick or hopeless, weary or worried, as you served the Lord in the places He has called you?
Thankfully, as we strive to eradicate sin, endure suffering, and engage in service, the Lord offers us grace to fix our eyes on Christ and satisfy our soul with His Word. When speaking of desert wastes, Psalm 107 is a faithful guide to lead us to delightful waters. It exhorts us to give thanks to the Lord for His steadfast love, as we continue to put off sin, be patient in suffering, and persevere in serving the King.
Desert Wastes
Psalm 107 portrays a people from every nation worshiping the Lord in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, that in him all the nations would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). It leads God’s people to give thanks for His goodness and steadfast love. Ultimately, this psalm anticipates Christ as the one who redeems sinners from trouble and enables the redeemed to sing a song of thankful praise. To teach the comprehensiveness of God’s love, the psalmist portrays four different pictures of our plight on this side of glory, and how the Lord displays His steadfast love in each of them.
First, the psalmist depicts our faintheartedness (vv. 4-9). Recall the times you have felt lost and alone. The days you hungered and thirsted for satisfaction, security, significance. Your heart cries in the midst of toil and trouble. The Lord is the one who delivers us from futility into a fruitful land. And when He does, our hearts should be filled with thanksgiving.
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