We believe that God is giving reformation to his church in this nation. And central to this reformation is cultivating a culture of celebration and joy, what we might call Sabbath living. Because we are so utterly amazed at the goodness of God, because we are so thankful and grateful that Jesus has saved us and cleansed us and given us new life, we cannot help but sing Psalms. We cannot help but dance. We cannot help but revel in all of the good gifts of God: our spouses, our children, good wine, marinated steak, laughter, stories, and poetry. The world is our banquet, our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. This is the kind of culture that true evangelical, gospel believing faith produces. And we are seeing the beginnings of it here and in pockets all over this country. But as we pursue this, you must be aware that there are plenty of people who would like to see nothing better than for our attempts to fail. And one such faction of nay-sayers are those who accuse us of gluttony, drunkenness, and being unwise with our Christian liberty. First, we must recognize that our own Lord Jesus was accused of being a wino and a glutton. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that faithfulness would elicit this accusation from some. At the same time, we know that the only reason that accusation is funny is because it was not in any way, shape or form, true. And thus, secondly, we are called to the same standard as the Lord Jesus. As we cultivate a culture of celebration, a culture of joy, and culture of Sabbath living, we must do so constantly on guard. We are being watched, we are being studied. Let your joy be overflowing, let your gladness be honest and sincere, but give no place to overindulgence, and give no opportunity for any of their accusations to stick. The Scriptures clearly say, “Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”
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