Come Sojourn with Us
This is where you will find sermons and updates for our church. Our mission is to preach expository sermons focusing on the gospel of Christ. We are a church that is tied to the reformed tradition and seeks to submit to the scriptures so we walk in the Lord’s wisdom rather than our own.
We would love to have you join us on our Christian sojourn if you are in the Belgrade, MT area. If you are not in area then join us by listening to our bi weekly free sermon podcast.
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Luke presents Christ as one who is moving through this world, through Jerusalem, and eventually to heaven. Feasting communicates who has table fellowship in Luke's writings. The Lord's Supper is a taste of that heavenly feast as we gather together in the Lord's presence.
The Belgic confession assures us that the sacrament are given to us to strengthen our faith. However, the sacraments also communicate to us that we are weak. We are prone to wander, and testify to the reality that we need a savior. The sacraments communicate to us the truth of the gospel and cannot stand apart from it.
When Christ is on the cross he states, “it is Finished.” This seem like a simple enough statement, but what does it really mean? What implications could this have for the Lord’s Supper? What does this mean for our lives in the Lord?
Christ identifies the elements in the Lord’s Supper as His body and blood. Is Christ saying that the bread and the wine are merely a memorial? How can these elements continually be tied to Christ when he sacrifices himself once time? How can we be assured that as Christ is in heaven that we have life in the Lord?
The Apostle Paul mentions baptism and circumcision as two signs of Christ’s work. Does Paul mention circumcision first to show that there is something more basic or inferior to this sign tied strictly to the Old Testament? Does he mention baptism second to communicate we have really arrived in history? Is it possible that Paul sees these two signs as having similar implications, but looking to the coming of Christ from different viewpoints in history?
Moses lays out the expectations for the sacrificial system with Israel. Moses communicates essential points of this sacrificial system from Leviticus 7. This chapter teaches us that there are feasts anyone can eat, other feasts only the priests, and then there are offerings that are not eaten at all by the priests. Why does the Lord have some meals with his people? Why does the Lord have some meals with the priests? What does any of this have to do with the Lord’s Supper?
So often people think of the sacrament of circumcision as a physical sign while baptism is a sign of Spiritual renewal. So, these signs might point to Christ, but they have radically different intentions. When we survey scripture we find that this is not necessarily a true distinction with circumcision being physical while baptism is spiritual. In fact, Moses teaches that one being uncircumcised is stating that one is not walking in power of the Lord. So, can we really say that circumcision is not a spiritual sign?
The Apostle Paul speaks Abraham first having faith and then receiving he sign. This would seem that the sacraments are a sign of our faith rather than a sign of the covenant. This has profound implications because this would mean that first we would profess our faith and then receive the sacrament. So, why would we as reformed people baptize infants if this contradicts the Apostle Paul? Why would infants potentially receive the sign if they have not first professed faith like Abraham did?
This is the ripped audio from our membership class video. I wanted to put this up on the web because many people who visit our church inquire about the doctrine of infant baptism. I do not claim this lecture to be the definitive defense of the doctrine, but I see it as presenting some Biblical reasons for infant baptism.
We might be tempted to think that there is not a whole lot we can learn from Israel or the history of Israel. They are a people who lived under the Old Covenant and they were people who did bad things while we are the people who are going to do good things because we are more informed right? The apostle Paul wants the church to learn things from Israel’s history. How does Paul use their history to show that we can fall into similar things? What does the history of Israel have to do with us, our sacraments, and even the Lord’s Supper?
We follow the structure of the Heidelberg Catechism which progresses as the preaching of the gospel, then baptism, and now the Lord’s Supper. We have argued from the previous Lord’s Day that infants are baptized because they are part of the covenant of grace so the sign of circumcision and baptism have a correlation to one another pointing to the same covenant of grace. If this is true, then we do we not allow infants to come to the Lord’s table if Christ is celebrating the passover? Or is the passover merely the opportunity to lay out the Lord’s Supper? So, what is the Lord’s Supper?
Our confession uses strong language that we are to be baptized once. This means that we do not agree with other traditions that will baptize someone a second time because they do not see infant baptism as being a valid baptism. Why do we believe in one baptism? What is the bigger picture of this baptism? How do we as Reformed people see baptism as something for children and adults? Why are we not Roman Catholic even though we baptize infants?
When we look at the Lord’s Supper we might think that this is something that is empty or something that we do on Sunday. Our concern is that this is something that could just be a mere sentimental memory of Christ rather than communing with Christ. How do we know that this supper is more than that? How do we see that this supper challenges us to live in an exclusive relationship with the Lord?
Christ states in a very strong way that in order for us to have life we must eat his body and drink his blood. Why does Christ use such language? What does this language communicate regarding our life in the kingdom?
It is easy for us to beat up on the immediate audience that meets with Christ and asks Christ for things that might seem silly to us. In other words as Christians we might think that it is silly to ask Christ to provide bread. In our minds this might be something that is so short sighted. If we are honest, there are many things in our lives that miss the promises of Christ, the provision of the Gospel, and the ultimate peace of the kingdom. How does the sacrament of communion help to refresh in us the life of the kingdom? How does it call us to look beyond this world?
We are a bible believing church in the Belgrade, MT. We are a Reformed Protestant church who desire to build one another up in love as we sojourn under the sun.
