Unity

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is

For brothers to dwell together in unity! 

Psalm 133.1

Sunday night is our church's annual Joint Summer Picnic – the second installation of our five-part Summer Second Sundays joint meetings with a handful of other area churches (Hyde Park Baptist, Bible Chapel, Valley Chapel, and Liberty Baptist). And I am so glad that we at Pleasant Ridge can once again be a part! It truly is a joy and privilege to spend a Sunday evening in fellowship with the people of God – and especially so when we can demonstrate our kinship by gathering together across local church boundaries. What a reminder that God has “many people in this city” and that we are building the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church!

I fully expect it to be a “good” and “pleasant” evening. Maybe not weather-wise! But it should indeed be “good” and “pleasant” to see the assorted people of God gathered together in “unity.” People from numerous different pockets of our city – some of them from little neighborhoods on the west side that many in our own church may have never even driven past. People of various social and economic backgrounds. People with various accents – ranging from Kentucky bluegrass, to non-descript Midwestern, to various international flavors as well. Some will be carrying canes, others diaper bags, and still others smart phones. Some will join wholeheartedly in the various activities, others will sit quietly on the side. Some will talk until we’ve learned learned their whole life story, while others will be more shy. There will probably be a handful of different preferred Bible translations. And differing views on the timing of the Lord’s return. And (praise God!) there will be multiplied skin tones, too! And, of course, we’ll be coming from five different churches, and so have five different pastors, and five different sets of readymade table-mates. And so we could clump together in various little groups, centered around one or other of the identities listed above. And some of us will, I am sure … and not necessarily in bad ways, even.

But what I am looking forward to most (and I hope I am alert enough to just pause and take it all in) is seeing all these different people dwelling “together in unity!” I am looking forward to seeing God’s people, in spite of all that could keep us apart, enjoying one another; getting to know one another; counseling one another. Finding new friends and reconnecting with old ones. Feeling an immediate kinship with and love for people that we are meeting for the very first time … and committing to pray for them, even though we don’t know if and when we might see them again. And all of this without the slightest consideration for the various earthly identity markers that might otherwise keep us apart! That will be “good” and “pleasant”!

I am looking forward, Sunday evening, to a little reminder of what the kingdom of heaven will be like: a vast gathering of people – incredibly more diverse than our little gathering – and yet all part of one family. All eyes fixed on one Savior. All loved by the same Father. All washed by the same blood. All drawn by the same Holy Spirit. All captivated by the same words from the same Book. All gathered around the same throne. All singing the same truths. And calling the most unlikely people ‘brother’ and ‘sister,’ and truly loving them – because we have found something (or rather, someone) in common who is far more magnetizing, even, than race, or culture, or nationality, or upbringing, or heart language, or peer group, or any other earthly identity! Jesus! He is our common bond. He is our unity. He is the one who brings us all together into this thing called the family of God! And on Sunday we'll get just a little glimpse of just what that larger family looks like … and how special it really is. I hope we'll stop and take it all in (and that you will do the same in your local setting, too): just “how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!”

PRBC at 50!

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of our church.  Below are a few lines I composed for the occasion:

The Bible doesn’t have a lot to say about birthdays, anniversaries, and the like. The Israelites had their yearly feast of Passover, of course … like we have our regular observances of the Lord’s Supper. But there is not much said about ten year anniversaries of this great event, or twenty-five year celebrations of that thing God did. One exception, however, was the year of jubilee – to be celebrated every fifty years, dating back to the year the Israelites came into the Land of Promise.

You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee. Leviticus 25.11

There was something special about the fiftieth year. In that year, the Israelites released their indentured servants from their debts and their servitude. In that year, every Hebrew returned to the parcel of ground which God had first given to his tribal and familial forefathers in the land of Canaan 50, 100, and 200 years since. In that year, no crops were sown, but the people lived off the provision from the prior harvest. It was, in short, the Sabbath of Sabbaths. After seven sets of seven years came this one year of remembering and rejoicing!

Now, of course, we are no longer operating under the same covenantal forms of governance as in ancient Israel. We do not live in the Land of Canaan. Nor do we have indentured servants who might need releasing. And most of us don’t own any farmland on which we might refrain from sowing crops. Therefore there is much about the Old Testament year of jubilee that does not apply to us. And yet, as we mark fifty years of the Lord’s faithfulness to Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, there is application to be made from Leviticus 25. Namely that …

Fifty years is a good distance from which to look backward at God’s faithfulness and salvation!

That is, essentially, what the Israelites were doing each time the jubilee came around. There were, of course, a number of divine purposes behind the year of jubilee. But perhaps most straightforward was that, by sending them all back to their original tribal allotments fifty years after their first entrance into the Land, God was reminding His people of all He’d done for them in that time span – of His bringing them across the Jordan River on dry ground; of His driving out from before them the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; of His lining out of their tribal allotments in Canaan; of His settling them in houses they had not built and with vineyards they had not planted, and so on. At fifty years, sufficient enough time had passed that the people could look back and say: ‘God really has done amazing things, hasn’t He? We weren’t sure how it was all going to pan out in those early days, but look how far the Lord has brought us!’

And we can look back and say similar things, can we not? Look at all that God has done for the many people who have worshipped Him on this

hilltop for these last five decades. Who knew, in 1962, how it all would turn out? Would this little band of believers survive as a church? Would they see God’s blessing? Well, at a distance of fifty years, we can surely say that the answer was ‘yes’! Every Lord’s Day, for 2600 weeks, the good news of Jesus has been heralded in this place! Scores of people have been converted to Christ through this church’s witness. God has quashed our enemy’s attacks, again and again, by the preaching of the word and the praising of His name on this hillside! Numerous children have been raised, by this congregation, in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, and grown up to serve Jesus. Pastors have been raised up from this congregation. Missionaries have been sent out. And many of our beloved brothers and sisters have, in these last five decades, made safe landing in the harbor of heaven, helped along the way by the love, counsel, accountability, and truth poured into their lives by this family of believers. What reasons we have for jubilee!

Remember, too, that returning to the land and going over the memories wasn’t the only thing that the Israelites were to do during the fiftieth year. They were also to release their servants, and to cancel the arrears of their debtors! Why? As a reminder that they, too, had once been captives and debtors – both in Egypt, and to sin! But in the year of jubilee, when debts were cancelled and captives set free, God was reminding His people that they, too, had been released from sin’s captivity and debt! They, too, had been set free by the blood of a spotless Lamb! And what a good thing for us to fix our attention on at the end of fifty years atop this “pleasant ridge” – we once were lost, but now we’re found; were blind, but now we see! That’s worth remembering … and celebrating!

What has God done in your life these last fifty (or twenty, or ten, or two) years since you first sat down with these people in this place? There is no better time to thank Him than in this year of jubilee!

Pray without Ceasing

That is God’s command to us in 1 Thessalonians 5.17. It does not mean that we lock ourselves away in a closet all day and never do anything but pray. But it means that, as we go about our daily routine, we ought to be lifting up the day’s events, the people we meet, and the tasks that lie ahead to God. Over the next week, I want to ask you to add our Vacation Bible School to the list of things you are praying for through the day. I also want to ask you to maybe print this blog post and use it as a prayer guide for VBS during your daily quiet time … and for some of you … as you commit time to come and pray while VBS is happening. So, pray for…

Our Teachers and Assistants - Tammy, Midge, Allen, Stephanie, Joyce, Carolyn G., Eric, Linda, and Mirian
▪That their lessons would be well-prepared, accurate, winsome.
▪That the manner in which they teach would convey to the children that God is great and greatly to be praised.
▪That they would love the children deeply, and so be an attractive testimony.

Our Other Volunteers - Mark, Scott H., Mandy, Diane, Alisha, Regina, Carolyn V., Philomina, Gwen, Scott M., CJ, Sarah W., Brian, Brad, and Karen
▪That their games, snacks, administration, songs, and other duties would be done with all their hearts … and be well-prepared.
▪That they would love the children deeply, and so be an attractive testimony.
▪That they would, especially, have opportunities to interact with and show the love of Christ to the parents.

The Children
▪That God would bring them … lots of them!
▪That God would make their hearts ready to learn, teachable, and softened toward His gospel.
▪That God would give us a group of children who can, by-and-large, attend the whole week long and get the full picture we’re trying to paint.

Parent’s Night - Friday, 7:45-8:30pm
▪For Charles as he prepares a brief gospel message for the parents, from the book of Jonah.
▪That many parents would come.
▪That the parent’s hearts would be softened toward the message, and that many might be drawn to Christ.

Remember, If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5.14)!

Vacation Bible School

VBS is coming ... July 11-15, 6:30-8:30pm nightly. Check it out.

VBS is July 26-30!

Click the link ... and email it to a friend who has kids!

Southern Ohio Bible Jubilee

Southern Ohio Bible Jubilee

Sponsored by the Ohio Valley Baptist Association
and hosted by Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church

featuring Dr. Bruce Ware
May 17-18, 2010

About our Speaker
Dr. Ware is professor of Christian Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He is the author of several books, including works on the Trinity and on God’s omniscience … and also Big Truths for Young Hearts, a book for children and parents.

He plans to speak to us, both evenings, on the person of Christ – who Jesus really is, and why He is so infinitely worthy of our praise.


About the Jubilee
Here are the details you need to know:

When: May 17 and 18, 6:45pm

Where: Pleasant Ridge Baptist [Map] | 6401 Ridge Ave. | Cincinnati, OH

Cost: Free of charge

Contact: Kurt Strassner | 513.731.9066 | jkstrassner@gmail.com

What else:
*Music provided by OVBA churches

*A love offering will be collected for Dr. Ware
*Refreshments to follow on the 17th
*Nursery provided, through age 4