Intro – Video about the project in Mexico. “The House Built by God” - La casa construida por Dios.
Psalm 127:1-2 (NASB)
Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. 2 It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
A year and one week ago, our missions team met with Brad Berg. Brad had a special request of the church family here – would we take on the project of funding and building a new multi-purpose building for Rancho San Jose, the camp in San Marcos, MX? Cost would be around $21,000. That sounded like a lot for us to take on. It was. If it did happen, it was going to have to be a “God thing.” Our missions team proposed it to our elders, the guys all agreed it was a good project to undertake, and we set some dates. A special offering would be taken up December 7. We announced it and committed it to the Lord and the CCC family. November 23, we had a special worship time together with brothers and sisters in Mexico, via Skype. We knew that 21,000 was a stretch, but we also knew we serve a big God. This wasn’t going to be something we do. After all, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. The kids in our elementary worship brought in a bunch of money they collected. Then came the day of the big offering. Would we reach the goal? Yeah – we overreached it. Later that week, and over the next 2, some more money came in until the final count: $34,492.49. That’s more than 50% beyond the goal we had set out in front of us. As a result, the building size was increased to a bigger, more useful size. Brothers and Sisters, that was God using us to do something amazing! Every person who contributed to that offering can say, “I had a hand in that!” Every person who prayed that the Lord would accomplish this can say, “I had a hand in that!” This year, as the House That God Built is used and people young and old hear the good news about Jesus and as people cross over from death to life there at Rancho San Jose, you and I will have the joy of saying, “I had a hand in that!” And some time in the future, when we’re together in Heaven, and we look around and see those people there with Jesus and with us forever, we’ll be able to humbly say, “God let me have a hand in that!”
So, here are your representatives: Tom, Kaye, and Beth Bailey, Jerry Swinter, Kent Wolfe, Gary Erickson, and Bob the Builder. By the way, we’re not all builders by trade. February 19, the 7 of us loaded into one of the church’s vans, with our stuff, and took off for Mexico. The chill factor that early morning was around -25. Remember? We made the 24-hr trip in 2 days and arrived to unload the building before it was too dark. The first beams went up on Saturday morning, and by Thursday evening of the next week, we had this: (show photo).
Now, before you’re too impressed, we had other help too – Brad’s brother and his wife, another guy from their church, and another couple showed up to help after 2 days. What’s more important is the number of people who were praying for this project, and the way God helped us. The number of things that all came together to get this done ought to remind us again and again that this is a house that God built – and that He used this church family to get it done. For instance, after the offering here, there was the timing. It was just 2 days before we started that another crew poured the foundation. That had to be in place before any building went up. It was done when we arrived. The building itself had to be delivered. We drove into the camp with the delivery truck behind us. 7 hours before we left Rockford, I went to get my passport card and couldn’t find it. After an hour or 2 of frantic searching, Carrie found it – it had been placed in an odd place when we moved, back in August. Driving across the border and through Acuna, in Brad’s van, is a prayer journey all by itself! We narrowly missed being in an accident. We made it to the campgrounds and unloaded the building from the truck before we unloaded our luggage from the van. Weather was good the next morning. The ground had dried enough that we’d be able to get around, and we went to work. Brad’s tractor was our main lifting tool. It had some issues, but it was enough to get things done.
There were some exciting moments – the kind where someone could have been squished – but God protected us. There was weather – like 2 mornings when it snowed, and wind that kept us from being able to do the roof, but it paused at just the right times so we could move ahead. Just like creation, 6 days we worked, hard, and then we ceased from our labors. We took off early Friday morning. We made it to Dallas just in time to see rush hour coated in wet ice. Cars and trucks were off the roads all over the place, and it kept raining and freezing all the way into OK, but we decided to keep at it because there was another storm coming! We made it home safely. Tom got to thaw out the water main at his house, and we got to be here for worship the next morning!
The reason we’re taking time for this today is because this was everyone’s project. Whatever you contributed made this happen. For a long time, I’m going to be pointing back to this to remind us that God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. This was more than we could do. This is what God did. Remember…
Psalm 127:1-2
Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. 2 It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
La casa construida por Dios - “The House Built by God.”
Who do we thank? That’s a no-brainer!
Which brings me to Hebrews 3…
Hebrews 3:-6
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
Jesus is the Builder of His household – and (V6) we are that house! Now, ponder that for a minute. This building isn’t the House of God. No building is. In its beginning days, the Church didn’t even have buildings. If you’ve accepted Jesus, you’re a part of the House of God. The house is never greater than its builder. It is a reflection on the builder – hang onto that for just a moment.
Just like Moses was a part of God’s House in the OT, you and I are the House of God today. Let that simmer for a minute.
Today, we’re finishing a series called “Crossing Over.” Simply put, we’ve spent some weeks talking about how a person crosses over from death to life in Jesus. The Bible lays out some of the specifics of that. Remember the 4-finger exercise? It’s a simple way to take something you have on hand and explain how to “cross over” to just about anyone. Remember, faith is the thing that holds it all together, and the rest builds on there. Today, we’re at that final finger.
Ill - Carrie and I are in the process of joining the grandparents club. From what I am told, it’s a pretty good gig. So far, it’s been pretty OK. Already, we are praying daily for our little girl and both of our grandkids! Already, I’m a grandparent with pictures. Have I shown you my grandkids? Here’s Baby A, sucking his or her thumb. Cute, huh? We get reports daily about how the kids and their mom are doing. Pregnancy is a complex and precarious journey. Come the first of August, those kids will be born, and we’ll breathe a sigh of relief. Then, do you suppose the excitement will finally be over? Hardly! It will just be starting, right!? That’s how it is when you’re reborn into the family of God! The process of getting there is interesting, at least, but that’s hardly the end. That’s the beginning of real life – what Jesus called “life to the full” and what Paul calls being “a new creation”! Today, if you have crossed over, or if you do cross over…
You are the House of God…
I. That’s A Wonderful Concept
It’s wonderful because it means…
1. God has built you
Jesus told Peter “I will build My church.” Sure enough, on the day it began, Luke records in Acts 2 that the Lord added day by day those who were being saved. 1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house…
When you and I accepted Christ, we became part of this God-mess called the Church. You can find all kinds of flaws with it and bellyache about what’s wrong in it, but the fact is God is the Builder of the Church. He has a lot of work invested in His Church, and I believe, from the way He speaks of it, that He’s partial to His Church.
2. God lives in you – Jesus is there!
It shouldn’t surprise us, should it, that God lives in His house? That’s you! In Colossians 1:27, Paul refers to Christ in you as the hope of glory. Jesus promised this would happen. And that means that…
3. God chooses to represent Himself through you
Ill - It seems like I’ve always had someone that lived across the street or just 2 doors down who spent all of his time fixing up his yard. Paul Moore was an elder in the church of St. Joe, IN. Paul was a retired guy. He was good friend and a good neighbor. You could tell that Paul put some time into his yard. His grass looked like every blade had been individually manicured. Now, I’m glad that my neighbor’s yards looks nice, and I’m glad when they have time to work on it. The problem is it makes mine look worse!
God could represent Himself to the world any way He chooses, and the way He chooses to do it…is through His House - you. You are the house of God. I wonder, as people look at His house, what they think of God. You go ahead and answer that for yourself right now, and we’ll go on to the next point:
II. That’s A Dangerous Situation
Mosul had the largest Christian population in Iraq. As Isis swept into the area, they deliberately set out to terrorize Christians and get rid of them. They either had to convert to Islam, pay a large tax, leave, or face being killed. Christian houses and businesses were marked with the Arabic letter “nuun,” the first letter in their word for “Nazarene.” In other words, they were tagging them as Christians to be persecuted. You may see this symbol. It has become a way that people are saying, “I’m one of them! I’m a follower of the Nazarene and I stand with those who are being persecuted for Him!”
You need to know that there is one who’s an enemy to the House of God. He wants to bring it down. Just because you’re a part of that House, it’s a dangerous situation, and the lines are being drawn.
Hebrews was written to believers who hadn’t resisted to the point of shedding blood yet, but it was coming. They needed a word of encouragement to not go back to trying to keep the Law as a means of salvation. How easy it is to take what we have in Jesus and restructure it back into a list of regulations and ceremony that you keep and then you “win” heaven!
1. The stakes are high
Look again at v.7-8
So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert…
This verse points back to what’s just before it. I think the point is that there’s a lot at stake here. This isn’t just a nation of people wandering in the desert. It’s the Household of God scattered all over the earth that’s under attack.
2. We can let go
Look again back over these verses:
12…a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
13…may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
14…if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first
18 to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?
Let it be enough to say that we can always let go of our faith. Each of us carries the capacity to sin and even to walk away from the whole faith relationship with God. God says it here, and life verifies it - it does happen. We can let go.
This ch. In Hebrews is full of that sense of warning, because the devil wants to take God’s Household apart.
Ill - When the Romeros got Sally just 8 years earlier, she was only one foot long. But Sally grew till she was 11 ½” long and weight 80 pounds. By the way, Sally was a Burmese python. July 20, 1993 Sally turned on the Romero’s 15-yr old son Derek. She strangled him. That’s what Burmese pythons do. Sin works that way. At first, it doesn’t seem very threatening or dangerous. Then, it grows until, without you realizing it, it’s big enough to strangle you.
Being the House of God can be a dangerous thing.
III. That’s a Matter of Faith
Seems like there are a lot of people with ideas about what it takes to be a member of the Church. One thing’s for sure- we know it’s not by being good enough. Lilly Tomlin once said, “The problem with the rat race is, even if you win it, you’re still a rat!” We do know that, don’t we? Our own efforts to be good enough, to get ahead in the game, aren’t enough to earn heaven. Still, Paul talks about working in…
Philippians 2:12
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…
It’s a present imperative verb – it means carry out and continue carrying out, carry through your salvation. What exactly does that mean? This is the same Paul who writes that salvation is by grace through faith and not by works. “Work out your salvation”? Wait a minute!
It doesn’t say, “set the terms of your salvation.” It doesn’t say that you’re supposed to get together with God and say, “God, we’ve got some issues here. Let’s work this out.” Can you imagine what that would look like? “Lord, I’m all good with this clean living thing except for the thought life part. So, I’ve written in a clause here in the covenant.” Or “Lord, I’ve been thinking this through, I can handle the attending church every week thing, but I’m just not a person to talk very much to others about Jesus. So, I’ve put that exception in the covenant here.” Do we have an agreement?”
No, Philippians 2:12 tells us that we’re supposed to produce “salvation life” in our lives because we’ve been saved. V12 really can’t be taken without v13
Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
The reason it’s possible for us to produce Godly living in the first place is what v13 is all about – God is at work in us – working on our wills and working on our lives to make them what He wants. That’s where our salvation is still being “worked out.”
Now, about that fear and trembling part – it’s not because we should live in the fear that we’re not good enough. We’re not. It’s because failing to follow through on your commitment to Jesus is a serious issue.
Now, I am saved by grace through (faith)
I entered into my relationship with Jesus on the basis of (faith)
God so loved the world that whoever (believes in Him) should not perish but have eternal life.
The righteous will live by (faith)
For we maintain that a man is justified by (faith) apart from observing the law.
Without it, I can’t possibly please God. Faith is the premier condition for salvation.
So where are you at if you don’t have it? Where are you at if you once had it, but chose to hand it back in? Being the Household of God is a matter of faith.
Why was one whole generation of Israel wandering in the desert for 40 years, until they all died, and they didn’t enter the Promised Land? We could read it right here – v16, they rebelled, v17, they sinned, v18, they disobeyed. We could go back into the OT and make a list. We could say it was because of the way they grumbled when Egypt’s chariots had them pinned against the Red Sea and was bearing down on them. We might point to that golden calf and running amok at Sinai. We could cite the rebellion of Korah and all the people who joined him. We could, like Ps 95, talk about the incident at Meribah and Massah when the people put God to the test and questioned whether or not He was even with them. We could talk about the time they grumbled against Aaron and his authority. Or we could look in Numbers 14 at the way all but a few of them were all set to not conquer the Promised Land because they were afraid and lied about it. We could review all of the times that Israel blew it in their history and say, “Yep. God finally had enough. Ps 95 is talking about one of several times that God was angry at them.” Then, when you get to v19, it gives a reason that no one would have written in:
So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their [unbelief.]
Wait a second. What about all the things they did that upset God? What about all their disobedience? What about their lousy attitudes? What about the things they said and the golden calf? Hebrews 3 tells us the problem that’s behind all that: disbelief. The opposite of faith.
If you think about it, every time there’s a choice to step aside from where God wants us, it takes a certain degree of disbelief. Eve listened to the serpent’s lie – “You will not surely die!” and she didn’t believe what God had said, so she ate the forbidden fruit. Israel didn’t believe God would give them water or feed them or protect them or lead them well, and they proceed to grumble and whine and rebel. It all goes back to their unbelief – their lack of faith.
There’s a whole generation of Israelites that shows how disbelief can keep people from entering the Promised Land.
So, it’s not enough to stop with just becoming God’s people – especially in God’s Household called the Church. There’s the “working it out” part to be done – the work that happens because “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” There’s the work that happens because “it is God Who is at work in you…” You had a wonderful conversion experience? Good. Now, work it out. You went to CIY, on a youth trip, to camp and really got convicted about some things? You really believed them? Good. Now, “take care,” “be careful,” “hold fast.” Live like you’re part of God’s house.
Being a part of the House of God is first and continually a matter of faith. If you enter it by faith, you can leave by unbelief. Work out your salvation – follow through on your faith.
Conclusion:
OK, so, what can you do to ensure that you work out your salvation? Here are 3 helps:
1. Do the things that make faith stronger
Since salvation is first and continually a matter of having faith, it makes sense to do the things that make faith stronger.
Romans 10:17
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
If you’d like your pygmy-sized faith to grow, start by spending some time in the Bible.
2. Hold one another accountable
v13 …encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today
How much better do you work when you know someone’s going to be checking your work?
This isn’t a Lone Ranger thing. I don’t want you to have hardening of the heart. I don’t want you to be hurt by sin’s deceitfulness. I’m going to challenge you. We have an obligation to each other to help each other in this.
3. Remember your previous confidence
14 …if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
Don’t forget the confidence you once had. Frequently, the Bible reminds people of what they have been through and what they have believed in the past. Sometimes, we just need reminders. God hasn’t changed, and He’s not going to. So, surround yourself with reminders.
Conclusion
It may be that you’re a person this morning who needs to begin that faith relationship with God. It’s hard to begin working out your salvation if it hasn’t begun yet. Are you ready to begin? If not, why not? What’s the good reason you have for saying “No” to your Creator today?
