Preaching in chapel

One of the things we get to do here at CBTS is preach in chapel. Chapel here is five mornings a week, Mon-Fri, 7:30-8:00 AM, and is required for all students, faculty, and staff, which means there are usually well over 300 people there. Most days we sing simple worship songs and then hear a short sermon.

On Thursday, I got to preach. I was given the theme of “Self-Examination: Taking the Log Out of Your Own Eye,” and I chose Galatians 6:1-5 as my text (“Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you spiritual ones should restore such a person in the Spirit of gentleness, keeping watch on yourselves, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens and in this way fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work; then he will keep his boast to himself and not direct it to his neighbor. For each one will have to bear his own load”). At the end of the sermon, I made the following applications to our CBTS community:

1. We should recognize that every member of this community, by virtue of
their faith in Christ, is indwelt by the same Holy Spirit. No one should
feel that they have been catapulted to a higher spiritual plane than anyone else
here at CBTS. The one Spirit has come to each one of us. Let’s
recognize this and celebrate it!
2. With regard to those among us who
fall into some sin and feel their need for God’s grace, we should restore them
through the gentleness that the one Spirit gives us. We should be gentle
in dealing with a struggling brother or sister because we ourselves are open to
the same kinds of temptation. Let’s be humble and gentle in our spiritual
rescue operations.
3. We should look to Christ’s self-giving love—the
love that he demonstrated on the cross (Gal 2:20)—as the pattern of our own
burden-bearing love for one another. We are called to be imitators of the
one who loved beyond all measure. Let’s look to Christ.
4. We
should have the spiritual maturity to realize that we are not “something
special,” that we do not need to promote ourselves and our good works in front
of other people. If we are confident through the Spirit that God will
commend us, we do not need to look for the public praise of others. Let’s
keep quiet about our good deeds in patient expectation of the judgment
day.
5. Finally, we should be confident in the work of the one Spirit
in our lives. We should rejoice and boast to ourselves about the good
fruit the Spirit has enabled us to bear. We should be confident that we
will stand approved before God. Let’s bear the load of our spiritual fruit
joyfully.

In about three weeks from now, Tommy, Charlie, and I will each have a chance to preach in chapel. They’ve given us three days back-to-back, and Tommy has suggested that we all three preach on the same theme. We’ve talked about a couple of themes as possibilities: “The Love of Christ” (my thought) or “Performing the Scriptures” (Tommy’s suggestion). We’re excited about this. Pray for our preparation, and we’ll let you know how it goes.

-Wes, for the team