“The Church of Saint Who”
PRAYER FOR CHURCH BODY
Now as we are praying. I want to ask us also to pray for our church. Pray that we as a people will learn to love God with all our hearts. Lord make us desperate for You.
Pray that each of us will learn to love one another as Christ loves us.
Pray that God will create in each of our hearts a sincere love for those who have not yet embraced God’s grace and goodness. Ask God to create in each of us a love for the lost.
Pray that God will touch the hearts of those in this room who have been simply wearing a uniform of a believer but have never been transformed through a personal relationship with Christ. Pray that they will lay aside their pride and embrace Jesus today.
Pray for those who are not living in obedience to Christ, in whatever area, that God will speak to them today and give them to courage to take a step of obedience.
Pray for those who have harbored bitterness or strife for others, that God will give them the grace to forgive.
IN Jesus Name, AMEN
SERMON
A real saint, lives a life “set apart” to obey Jesus Christ. That’s the definition of a saint. As we continue this look at 1 Peter and a look at Saint Who, which is anyone who has placed their trust in Jesus Christ, I want to make sure that I clearly communicate what it means to be a saint, what is means to a Christian.
God loves you. But you are separated from God’s love by sin. There are only two options in this world.
You are either separated from God by sin.
Or
You are set apart by God to obey Jesus Christ.
You can only come to God through personally placing your faith in Jesus Christ and the merit of His sacrifice on the cross. We are not saved by out efforts, because our efforts cannot affect our true identity.
Anything else is just a uniform. It is a pretense, and sooner or later the uniform will come off, and you will stand before God either in your own sinful identity and be condemned,
Or you will Stand before God in Jesus identity and be embraced as His child.
Is your faith real, or are you just wearing a uniform that looks good on the outside but is farce on the inside.
If you are trying to obey Jesus without ever surrendering to His Lordship and embracing Him as Savior, its just a uniform.
Likewise if you are a Christian and you are trying to obey God in your own strength, trying to look the part, instead of abiding in Him and allowing His life to flow through you, you’ll be saved but your life will be one of great frustration.
Being a Christian is not something we do. Being a Christian must be who we are, and whose we are.
Turn in your bibles to 1 Peter, and we will conclude our look at the life of Saint Who, by finishing the chapter today.
Passage to explore: I Peter 2:
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and “A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
What is a living Stone?
Try to place yourself in the world of the first century. To peer into a mystery that is as yet undiscovered. The Word describes the Church as Christ’s body. What would a living stone, or building block be in the body of Christ?
A living Stone is a Cell. Built upon the foundation of DNA the blueprint of life.
Jesus Christ is our foundation through the new birth He has given us His spiritual DNA and we are being built together in Him as His body of which He is the not on the foundation but the Head.
Human body is one of the marvellous creations of god. We can say it as marvellous machine. It has wonderful capacity, of automatic mechanism of repairing its own organs, in case of any diseases or any accidents. It is highly organised by various living organs. Each living organ is formed from billions
and trillions of cells, which has various functionalities to perform. In a single day, a human body can form 10 billion cells and an equal number of cells die on same day. Every cell is needed. The same is true of you in the church.
There is no church unless U. R. in it!
Deoxyribonucleic acid (/diˌɒksiˌraɪbɵ.njuːˌkleɪ.ɨk ˈæsɪd/ ( listen)) — DNA — is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms (with the exception of RNA viruses). The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints, like a recipe or a code, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules. The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information. Along with RNA and proteins, DNA is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life.
1. As a Believer your Life must be built on the foundation of CHRIST Alone.
When a person is born again they given the Holy Spirit to live within them. Who works to transform us into the image of our foundation Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:29: For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Spiritual DNA –
II Peter 1:3: His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
II Peter 1:4: by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
When you are born again you receive a new nature and God through His Spirit and through His Word begins to transform you more and more into the nature of Christ. This is why God’s Word is so important. Just like DNA contains the full blueprint of a human’s life. God’s Word contains the blueprint of us becoming like Jesus Christ. God uses His Word to change the arhitecure of your heart and life.
But also we must be inter connected.
A cell by itself is useless and will die. It must be connected to the others to survive and perform its function.
Passage to explore: I Peter 2:
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
2. As a believer your life must be CONNECTED to Other Believers through Christ’s Church.
I Peter 1:
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
EX: Captain and Tenile
Love, love will keep us together
Think of me babe whenever
Some sweet talking girl comes along singing her song
Don't mess around,
You gotta be strong
Just Stop [stop], 'cause I really love You
Stop [stop], I'll be thinking of you
Look in my heart and let love keep us together, together
The song is correct, Love will bring us together! LOVE is the mortar of the church! LOVE is the Desmosome of the church.
Desmosome
A desmosome (Greek: desmos, band, soma, body), also known as macula adherens (plural: maculae adherentes) (Latin for adhering spot), is a cell structure specialized for cell-to-cell adhesion.
I Peter 1:22: Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
The word translated “earnestly” literally means an unfeigned love, a un-hypocritical love. It originally meant inexperienced with acting. I like that. Often time we simply pretend to love one another. We put on a front, especially if it is someone who at one time has offended us or someone we care for.
We know we are supposed to love other Christians so we put on a uniform and pretend to love but it is not sincere.
Peter here admonishes us to fervently love one another from the heart. It is active. We are to have a God like love, a selfless love for one another.
We are called to love one another the way God loves us. God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
Peter once asked Jesus how many times he had to forgive someone up to seven times? But Jesus answered no seventy times seven. Our love must be sincere and active.
There is no place in the heart of a saint for bitterness, revenge or hatred. No place.
Now in each of our lives there are people with whom we have a difficult time loving. There are some that we feel its just not worth the effort to try and love them. Or I have tried but they have just hurt me and disappointed me time after time, it’s not worth it.
But here is what we are to remember.
Ask yourself, how much is that person worth to God? How far did Jesus go to purchase back their soul from sin?
God loved them enough to die for them. To Him they are worth the exact same price as my soul, they were worth the precious blood of Christ.
Now this particular verse is speaking about fellow believers. Can we justify valuing them less than God does?
NO.
God commands us to love them fervently.
John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus commands our love. We can not live a life set apart by God if we do not obey God’s command. Furthermore Jesus tells us that our genuine, un-pretentious love gives evidence to others that we are His followers.
3. In Christ Jesus we are Living Stones meaning His life flows through us both individually and COLLECTIVELY.
Acts 4:
18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
A the Church, Christ’s life flows through us individually and collectively…
We Are Christ’s Body His Living Cells built upon the DNA of Christ that our lives are being conformed into.
• Therefore The Church should have a common PASSION - Christ’s Glory.
Prayer in bold Verses 18-30 Look at their common passion for Christ’s Glory.
• This is reflected in their ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of God’s complete SOVEREIGNTY. The focus of their prayer was on what God was doing in unfolding His Purposes. And their desire was to see Signs and Wonders performed in Jesus Name no matter what the cost so that Jesus fame would spread.
What is our passion at FBCE? Loving God – Worship.
FBCE - Congregational Vision
Our Purpose: God created us to share His life and to show His greatness. We find our fulfillment by passionately loving God, loving others, following Christ, and changing the world one person at a time. (Col. 3:4, Rom. 5:8-10, Is 43:7, Deut. 6:4-5, Mat. 28:18-20)
Our vision is to lead every individual to:
• Love God,
• Love Others,
• Follow Christ
• Change the world… one person at a time!
Loving God – Worship
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' (Mark 12:29-30)
Our priority must be God Himself; we are to seek to love and glorify God in all things, enjoying Him forever. (Mat. 22:37-40, 1 Pet. 4:11, Rev. 4:11)
Our goal is to live out our love for God through passionate corporate and private worship in spirit and in truth.
We Are Christ’s Body His Living Cells built upon the DNA of Christ that our lives are being conformed into.
• Therefore the Church should have a common PURPOSE – Christ’s Mission.
“grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,”
This is reflected in believers PRAYER that they could be an active part of completing God’s Mission.
What is our mission at FBCE? Change the World by putting God’s Power on display in our lives and witness.
Change The World – Outreach
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:18-19)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
God desires us to demonstrate our love for Him through practically loving others in action and in truth (Evangelism). (Mat. 22:39, 1 John 3:16-18, Rom .10:13-15)
Our goal is the change the world one person at a time by showing God’s love through evangelism and practical expressions of love in action. Our mission field is to take the hope of Jesus Christ to our Neighbors and the Nations.
We Are Christ’s Body His Living Cells built upon the DNA of Christ that our lives are being conformed into.
• Therefore the church should have a shared POSSESSION – Christ’s People.
Acts
34There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
They saw Christ living in and through one another. Therefore the needs of others were the needs of Christ’ body. The resources they possessed were the resources to meet the needs of Christ’s body.
These resulted in the church being of ONE ACCORD and enabled them to visibly represent their living out both the GREAT COMMANDMENT to love one another and so prove to be Christ’s Disciples and the GREAT COMMISSION of taking the Gospel to all peoples.
This is the Power of the Early Church. I pray God will so grace us with a Shared Passion, A Shared Purpose, A Shared Possession and Shared Priorities so that we together as the body of Christ may Live His great Commandment and fulfill His Great Commission.
Then when we are truly unified we begin to see the power of prayer unleashed.
Let me give you an example. I have been challenging us to pray for our unreached people group the Shan of Burma. The vast majority of them are Bhuddist. This the people group that we connect with through the ministry of Global Refuge.
Just yesterday I was at a meeting with Global Refuge International, and heard a tremendous answer to prayer.
Sai Tu is a General in the Shan State army. He is 70 years old. For most of his life he has been fighting for the freedom of his people. This week he met with Jaden McNeely of GRI.
He told Jaden that when he was a young boy before the Junta took power his father told him that God had a son and His name as Jesus and that He is the one He should pray to and not to Bhudda. Sai Tu acted on that truth and for 60 years has prayed to Jesus never knowing more about Him than His name and that He had a book that He had never seen.
This week Jaden gave Sai Tu a Bible. And now the doors are opening for even greater freedom to share Christ with the Shan.
The Example of Barnabas –
36Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Barnabas – the Son of Encouragement. As a Levite Barnabas did not have an ancestral rite to own land in Israel. (Num 18:20, Deut. 10:9) The tribe of Levi was given the tithe as their inheritance. Although we have l other passages in the scripture where Levites seemed to own land. (Jer. 32:7-44 as well as passages in Josepheus.)
It is quite possible that Barnabas family owned land in Cyprus and this is what was sold.
This is the same Barnabas who later traveled with Paul. John Mark was his cousin and the church in Jerusalem met in his sister’s home. (Acts 12:12)
WHAT is Our Possession at FBCE? Loving Others as Christ loved us.
Loving Others – Biblical Community & Service
The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:31)
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)
God has called us to be a people who express our love for God in our love for one another. This is the basis of biblical community. Through small groups we have the opportunity to pray, encourage, care, disciple and serve one another.
Our goal is for every member to become an active part of a small group and for us to be intentional about loving one another and meeting the legitimate needs of the church body.
We Are Christ’s Body His Living Cells built upon the DNA of Christ that our lives are being conformed into.
• Therefore the Church should have a shared PRIORITY – Christ’s Love.
Which leads to following His Example and teaching more and more. Growing into the DNA of His Foundation.
What is our priority at FBCE? Following Christ Faithfully.
Follow Christ – Discipleship
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)
Every aspect of our life is to be driven by a passionate longing to follow Christ Jesus (Luke 9:23-34). We are to die to self, embrace His life and follow His example and teaching. God’s Word and Holy Spirit are the power that fuels us to glorify and enjoy God, transforming us into the likeness of His Son, Christ Jesus. Abiding in Christ and His Word dwelling in us empowers us to worship God and do His will. (2 Cor. 3:18, Heb. 4:12, 2 Tim. 3;16, Acts 1:8, 1 Thes. 1:5-6, John 15:5-7)
Our goal is for every member to grow spiritually, develop a disciple of personal bible study and prayer and to discover and use their gifts in serving the body and mission of Christ.
We Are Christ’s Body His Living Cells built upon the DNA of Christ that our lives are being conformed into.
• Therefore each member of the church should PORTRAY – Christ’s Likeness.
Do I look like Christ?
The best measure of your who really are is what you do when no one else is looking!
• Christianity is not something WE DO.
• Christianity is who WE ARE, and WHOSE we are.
II Peter 1:
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Self Analysis
1. Are you growing in VIRTUE?
2. Are you growing in KNOWLEDGE of God through His Word?
3. Are you growing in SELF CONTROL?
4. Have you Learned STEADFASTNESS?
5. Does your life Display GODLINESS?
6. Does your life Display BROTHERLY AFFECTION?
7. Are you growing in LOVE for God and Others?
Look again at I Peter 1:
I Peter 1:
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
This is no half-hearted commitment to love. This is an all out devotion to God’s people. The word translated “earnestly” was used of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, where Luke 22 says He prayed so earnestly or deeply that “his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44). The word literally means “to be stretched out” (Strongs) or “to be at full stretch,” and has the idea of doing something in an all-out manner, with an intense strain (Bible Knowledge Commentary)
That’s how we’re to love one another, my friends. God calls us to love one another at full stretch, in an all-out manner, with an intense strain. That goes beyond just “tolerating” each other. That goes beyond just being polite and nice to each other if we happen to meet. No! This kind of lover goes out of his way to give of himself for another’s benefit even if that person doesn’t deserve it.
When we obey the truth, whether we feel like it or not, we can “love one another deeply from the heart.”
That’s what Bible College professor, Yohanna Katanacho, discovered. He pastors a small church in the Israeli city of Jerusalem. He is a Palestinian living in Israel, and a Christian to boot, so he faces a wide variety of persecution. One of the more dangerous forms of harassment comes from the Israeli soldiers who patrol the city, looking for potential terrorists. These soldiers routinely impose spontaneous curfews on Palestinians, and even have the legal right to shoot a Palestinian if he or she does not respond quickly enough to their summons.
Christ's command in the Sermon on the Mount to “love your enemies” seemed impossible to Yohanna. And yet there it was – unambiguous and unchanging. “For me, love was an active and counter-cultural decision, because I was living in a culture that promoted hatred of the other,” Yohanna says. “And not only did the context promote hate, but the circumstances fed it on a daily basis – the newspapers, television, media, neighbors, everything. One of the markers of the Israeli Jews and the Palestinian Arabs is alienating the other. To break that marker, I must have some other worldview.”
At first, Yohanna tried and failed in his attempts to feel love. Instead, the Israeli soldiers' random, daily checks for Palestinian identification cards – sometimes stopping them for hours – fed Yohanna's fear and anger. As he confessed his inability to God, Yohanna realized something significant. The radical love of Christ is not an emotion, but a decision. He decided to show love, however reluctantly, by sharing the gospel message with the soldiers on the street. With new resolution, Yohanna began to carry copies of a flyer with him, written in Hebrew and English, with a quotation from Isaiah 53 and the words “Real Love” printed across the top. Every time a soldier stopped him, he handed him both his ID card and the flyer. Because the quote came from the Hebrew Scriptures, the soldier usually asked him about it before letting him go.
After several months of this, Yohanna suddenly noticed his feelings toward the soldiers had changed. “I was surprised, you know?” he says. “It was a process, but I didn't pay attention to that process. My older feelings were not there anymore. I would pass in the same street, see the same soldiers as before, but now find myself praying, ‘Lord, LET them stop me, so that I can share with them the love of Christ.’” (“When Love Is Impossible,” Trinity Magazine, Fall 2005, p. 16-17; www.PreachingToday.com)
Do you want to be able to love sincerely and from the heart as God wants you to love? Then start with simple obedience to His Word. Decide to show love, whether you feel it or not, and let God change your heart.
It’s God’s plan for our spiritual transformation, and it’s a plan that begins and ends with love. First, we taste God’s Love. Then we crave God’s Word. Then and only then do we love God’s people. Then and only then do we “love one another deeply from the heart.”
