How To Build The Church
Matthew 7:21-17 John 13:34-35 Glenville 10-23-2011
We are continuing our series, “Moving Things To The Next Level”. We have looked at “How to Kill a Church”, “How to Heal The Church”, and today we are going to “Look At How To Build A Church”.
If you were going to build a building, two very important things you need to decide is what is going to be the location, and what are the materials the building is going to be made out of. What happens if you build a building on someone else’s property without their permission? What happens if you build a building in a flood zone? What happens if you build a building out of wood infested with termites?
We know these are not great ideas for building anything, and yet we will make the same mistakes in the building of our lives. We will place our lives in situations that have led many others to death and destruction, and because it has not happened to us yet, we think everything is okay. We bring people into our lives through relationships that are full of infestations that will destroy our spiritual walk, but we are okay with it, because it looks good at the moment.
Jesus was a carpenter by trade, so he knew quite a lot about building things. In our Scripture reading this morning, Jesus spoke of the dangers of building your house in the wrong place. It may look good for a while, but there is the promise that the decision to build in the wrong place is going to eventually cause that house to come crashing down. When it does, you lose everything. Have you thought about where you are actually building your life today.
Jesus had a goal in mind in telling us the story of two men building houses. The first built his house on sand, the second his house on rock. Location made all the difference when the flood waters came and beat against the house. If you had a major crisis hit you today, who is the person you would have to turn to for help. You ought to be doing your best to love that person right now.
Jesus’ goal was to get us to understand that what we are doing now, is one day going to have eternal consequences for our lives. He had told us that God is not all that impressed with what we do in church. If you are expecting to stand before God, and tell God at the judgment, all the wonderful things you did at church, you are going to be sorely disappointed.
Jesus said, “let me tell you what some people are going to say to me about how they helped to build the church, Some will say “Lord we prophesied in your name”, “lord we cast out demons in your name”, “Lord we did many miracles in your name.” “Lord did we ever help to build the church.” Yet Jesus said, “I will say to them plainly, “I never knew you, you evil doers.” Can you imagine spending years in church only to hear Jesus say “I Never knew you.” Now it’s obvious that Jesus knew the people by name, and that he recognized them, but he did not know them personally and intimately because of the life choices they were making in regards to refusing to put Jesus’ words into actions.
They believed as long as they believed in Jesus, came to church, and participated in something, they had it in with God. How many of you know that the devil believes in Jesus, comes to church, and participates in a host of activities every Sunday. The key in building a church is not performance, but putting Jesus’ words into action.
Which words of Jesus are the most important for us to put into action. We are tempted to think, we get the most credit for not doing the things that Jesus told us not to do. The thing is, Jesus did not give us a long list of don’t do this and you will make it in. Instead, Jesus put a lot of emphasis on just one thing when it came to building the church. He put his whole mission of coming to the earth on us doing just one thing to convince the world that Jesus was sent by God the Father. Jesus said, if you just do this one thing, then people are going to believe that I am who I am. If you do this one thing, it will change your life.
Jesus says in John 13:34-35, 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The problem with Jesus’ statement is that it seems so simple that we just dismiss it as nice talk. We hear the words love one another, and what we put in our minds is to be nice to each other as long as you do not make me upset or angry. If you do, I’m going to tell you off and put you back in your place.
Jesus did not come and die just for us to be nice to each other even though that would be a major improvement. You do not have to be saved to be a nice person. It is nice to be nice, but that’s not what a Christian is all about.
To make the commandment even worse is that love is a word with so many meanings. I love God. I love my mom. I love my boyfriend. I love my dog. I love watching sports. I love the way this hamburger taste. I love when Pastor Rick preaches short sermons. It's the same word, but there or so many different levels of commitment involved in each of those love statements. Some of the statements don’t involve any commitment at all. Some of them just involve feelings. Some of them is nothing more than a smile or a yes.
Now when Jesus says these words, he says them on the night Judas is betraying him. Judas had just left a few minutes earlier to go and inform Jesus’s enemies what Jesus’ plans are for the rest of the night so that they could come and arrest Jesus. Jesus knows that this is his last night on earth before he is to be killed by nailing him to a cross and stabbing him with a spear. And with all this in mind, he tells the disciples, fellows here is my plan to build the church. I want you to make sure that you carry out this one commandment, because if you don’t nothing else is going to really matter.
If you are wondering what commandment should I be sure to keep so that I know Jesus will know me when I die, it’s this one. Jesus said, 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Now some of you are thinking either one of two things. 1. You’re either thinking, it’s got to be more to it than that. I already love people. Or you may be thinking, how can you just make somebody feel something for somebody that they do not feel. Let’s take a poll here, how many of you think you love everybody here in this building. How many of you know there are some people in this building that you have very little love for?
Now Jesus was not talking about simply a feeling when he talked about loving. We can’t trust our feelings to find out if we love somebody or if they love us. Anybody who has been in love, knows that you will also fall out of love. Jesus is not commanding us to come up with a feeling. He’s commanding us to make conscious decisions to do what’s best for another person in the same way, that Jesus makes a conscious decision to do what’s best for us. How many of you know, because Jesus loves us, He will not encourage us to sin? We know we love someone, when we refuse to encourage that person to sin.
Love is not based on what I’m going to get out of this deal. If it were, how many of you know that Jesus would be getting a terrible deal in choosing to love us. I look at myself and after 38 years of being a Christian, I thought I would be a much more faithful follower of Jesus Christ than I am today. I find I still let myself get distracted by the things and the temptations of this world and end up walking away from Jesus and from those around me in the process. I know that when I walk away from Jesus, I walk away from loving people. I do not ask what’s best for them, I want to know what’s best for me. What am I getting out of this deal?
Look at any sin in your life, and you will discover, at the root of it is a desire to please yourself. It really is not, oh the temptation was too much too handle. The reality is, I did not want to say no to me. The immediate sensation or pleasure, was more important at that moment, than long term faithfulness.
Jesus is letting us know, the sooner we choose to ask what is best for the other person and act upon it, the sooner the world will know that we are his disciples. Now one of the problems we have is that love according to Jesus, is a 24/7 job, but we are tempted to reduce it to a 3/1 job. What’s a three one job. It’s choosing to love for three hours one day a week. Guess which hours and which day I’m referring to.
We confuse performance, with love and wonder why the church isn’t growing. Nobody believes that Jesus is the Son of God strictly by how good the choir sings or how well your solo came out, or how well you ushered or how well I preached. That’s not the proof of discipleship. Love is the proof of discipleship.
We also want to build the church in the wrong place. We think because this building is called a church, that’s where the building needs to happen. No. The greatest need for the building of the church is in the home. As parents, how we speak to our children and treat them at home is our most effective evangelism tool. Why? Because it is a demonstration of our love which is evidence of whether or not we are disciples. If your kids think you are phony, because of your actions at home, then nothing you do in the church is going to change that image.
They are not going to receive the ministry that God wants to do through you. Husbands and wives, your love and respect for each other and the way you relate to each other, is a much more effective church growth technique than you handing out flyers in the neighborhood. Because if you are living for the Lord, others who observe you are spreading what God has done for you and is doing in you.
As youth, your attitude at home, your willingness to do what’s reasonably asked of you, and your obedience to your parents is far more important to God, than how well you dance, how well you sing, or how well you serve in some ministry in the church. Your choice to love your parents is going to be how other youth know that you are one of Jesus’ disciples. You can’t talk trash about your parents one day to your friends, and tell them about Jesus on another day, and expect them to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
When people see how we love each other in our homes, that is the most powerful witness that Jesus is making a difference because He is the Son of God. An intentional love at home is a choice to begin to serve each other. We look for ways to look out for the best interest of the other person. We look for ways to be helpful. We look for ways to be supportive. We look for ways to be encouraging. We look for ways to do more than our part. We look for ways to build each other up.
We choose to forgive each other when we mess up. We say we’re sorry to each other and apologize. We then move on together. This is at the heart of being a Christian. This is what Jesus means when he says, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus loves us, even after we have been a mess. He doesn’t keep taking us back to that point in which we messed up. He’s willing to move on. Loving each other is moving on past our mistakes.
Now when we take our behavior from home to the church, we build the church because what we bring to the church building is genuine love for one another that we have already been practicing. Christ’s nature is working through us. Now when your sister, or brother, or mother, or father, or friend is singing, praising, leading, dancing and testifying, you know that it’s coming from their heart and out of their love for Christ. You know they are not perfect, but they are striving to become more like Jesus. Nobody here is demanding perfection, but are you at least striving for it.
Now when guests come to the church, they too see the love we have for one another because its not something we fake when we get to the church building. They see us looking out for each other’s best interest instead of the selfishness that is all around us and glorified in our culture. They see us looking out for their best interest, by speaking with them and doing our best to make them feel comfortable in our midst. They observe how we speak to each other, how we serve each other, and how we talk about each other. They observe how couples leave the church. Is the husband 10 feet ahead of his wife, which gives the message, we may be together, but we don’t want to be. Is that what Christ does for you in marriage.
They observe how many times our teenagers rip each other apart with pout down comments and jokes at the expense of others. Do you think new youth are impressed with this is what Jesus does for young people. How committed to you at loving people at home for the cause of Christ. None of us have as much time left to be together as we think we do. We are all only going through this life once. You only get one time to be a youth, one time to be a teen, one time to be a young adult, one time to be a middle adult, and one time to be a senior citizen.
And not all of us are going to have one time to be all of those things, but we all will have one time to die and then we go before Jesus. Make the decision to quit fighting and ask God to help you love this person. You are probably making their lives just as miserable as they are making yours. It does not have to be that way. God had something better in mind for your relationship.
Is your refusal to love at home going to be the reason Jesus, said I never knew you. Or will it because you chose to love at home, Jesus will say when you enter, “everybody rise up, here comes another that helped to build my church.” We can have all the technology we want inside our building, but if our goal is to build the church, then we must love one another as Christ loved us. This is what is going to convince the world that Jesus is the Son of God. We need you to help us to build this church. Will you do it this week at home.
How To Build The Church
Matthew 7:21-17 John 13:34-35 Glenville 10-23-2011
We are continuing our series, “Moving Things To The Next Level”. We have looked at “How to Kill a Church”, “How to Heal The Church”, and today we are going to “Look At How To Build A Church”.
Two Things Important To Build
Location
Choice Of Materials
Problems Of Buidling?
1) Someone else’s Progerty
2) Flood Zome
3) Infested wood with termites
We Build With Same Problems
1) Wrong location—death and destruction
2) Infected Relationships
Jesus Carpenter By Trade
1) Knew Problems Of Building Wrong Place
2) We Build In Wrong Places
3) House On Rock & House On Stand
4) Major Crisis Will Hit
5) Who Is Our Major Crisis Person
Jesus Goal
1) What We Do Today Major Consequences Future
2) God Not Impressed With Church Work
3) Boast Of Things They Did In Church
4) Jesus I Never Knew You
False Beliefs
1) Believe IN Jesus, Come To Church, Serve In Church
2) Satan Does It All
3) It’s Not Performance—Putting Jesus Words Into Action
4) Let’s Not Do What He Told Us Not To Do
5) Jesus Not To Do List Is Short
Jesus Put a Lot of Emphasis On Just One Thing
1) Do This One Thing To Convince
Jesus says in John 13:34-35, 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
1) The problem with Jesus’ statement is that it seems so simple that we just dismiss it as nice talk.
2) Be Nice To A Degree
3) Christianity Is Not Being Nice
What Is Love
I Love God, Mom, Boyfiend, dog, sports, hamburger, short sermon
Jesus Gives His Commandment His Last Night
1) His Strategy For Building The Church
2) Gives It In The Face Of Death
3) Jesus said, 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Two Lines Of Thought
1) I Already Do It
2) Can’t Make Me Feel Something I Don’t
Jesus Not Interested In Feelings
1) Feelings Come & Go
2) Make A Conscious Decision To Do What’s Best
3) Jesus Never Encourages Us Into Sin
4) We Should Not Encourage Us To Sin
Love Not Based On What I’m Getting Out Of The Deal
1) Jesus Made A Bad Deal To Love Us
2) 38 Years & Still A Disappointment
3) I Walk Away From Jesus, I Stop Loving Others
4) Any Sin, Desire To Please Myself
Jesus—Ask What’s Best For Other Person And Act Upon It
1) Jesus Expect 24/7 We Want 3/1
2) We Confuse Performance With Love—No Growth
3) Want To Build In The Wrong Place
4) We Build The Church At Home
Parents Speak To Children Evangelism Tool
Kids Think You Phony—Hurts The Ministry
Husband Wives—Love Respect----Evangelism Tool
Youth---Attitude At Home Vs Ministry At Church
Intentional Loving Each Other At Home—
Most Powerful Witness
Ways To Look Out For Best Interest
Helpful, Supportive, Encouraging, Doing Extra, Building Up
Choosing To Forgive, Saying Sorry, Apologizing, Moving On
Heart Of Being A Christian—Jesus’ Commandment
Jesus Loves Us Even After We Have Been A mess
Doesn’t Keep Taking Us Back There
Bring That Behavior From Home To Church
1) We See People Being Real
2) Christ Nature Is Naturally Working
3) See Guest Differently
4) Excited About Our Faith
5) How We Relate To Each Other
6) Looking Out For Each Other
7) Observe Husband & Wives—Leaving
8) Observe Teens Relating—Put Down Jukes
We Don’t Have As Much Time Left As We Thing
1. One Time, Youth, Teen, Young Adult, Middle Adult, Senior Citizen
2. We Don’t All Get All
3. We Do All Die & Then The Judgment
4. Make The Decision To Stop The Fighting
5. Both Of Your Lives Are Miserable
6. Be First, Even If You Have To Be The One All The Time, Jesus Did
Don’t Let Home Be The Reason Jesus Never Knew You
Let Jesus Say—Rise Up Everybody
Technology Not Enough
Love Convinces The World That Jesus Is Real
