Intro: Jesus promised to build His church. Matthew 16:13-18 He made it clear that He would build His church. He builds it on the confession that He is Lord.
But what type of building is He building and what type of materials is He using?
Jesus is building a spiritual temple and a holy temple.
A spiritual temple because we are the place where the Holy Spirit lives. We no longer make animal sacrifices we are to make sacrifices of prayer, praise and service.
A holy temple because we are cut from the quarry of sin to be holy and separated for Jesus and His service. There is positional holiness. This is given to us by God when we confess Jesus as Lord in response to His drawing. There is practical holiness. This is where we put off the old man and put on the new in a character of life empowered by the Holy Spirit living within us.
This temple is spiritual house and holy priesthood. There is what we call the priesthood of all believers. You don’t need a priest in robes to go before God for you! We have all been given access to the presence of God.
The purpose of the temple, house, holy priesthood is to offer 1 Peter 2:5 spiritual sacrifices to God!
The best proof of the gospel and the goodness of God is still a life set apart and devoted to Jesus. How appropriate this encouragement from Peter is. He wrote to Christians that were emotionally drained and drained by the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and disruption of the social norm. Peter encourages them and us to continue coming to Jesus to be built into the spiritual temple and household of God.
What are the methods that Jesus uses to build His church with living stones?
I. Jesus uses submission to build His church
Peter is writing to Christians that are being persecuted in the time of Nero. He calls them to submission. (Chapter 2 Submission
There is an ongoing shaping of who we are to be like Jesus. “you also as living stones are being built.”
A) Submit to the truth about yourself
1) Sinner
2) Saint
3) Living stone – It is not about you anymore. Living stones are placed in the temple and community of believers. 1 Peter 2:5
B) Submit to the truth of who Jesus is
Unless we come to Jesus as the living stone we will not become living stones, a spiritual house or a holy priesthood. To become a living stone we submit to Him as savior. He takes lifeless dirt and makes it a living stone.
He is not just the savior He is Lord. 1 Peter 2:4 “coming to Him a living stone.” There is a call to continually come to Jesus. To continually submit to His Lordship.
C) Submit to one another in order to honor Jesus
Why do we need to submit to Jesus and each other in love? Because submission strangles pride. Pride is the chief enemy of Christlikeness and humility.
Jesus calls us to be servants. Jesus doesn’t call us into the church body called Immanuel so that we can be served by the pastors, deacons or members of the church. He calls us to submit to His will and His work as servants of His kingdom.
Ephesians 5:21 “submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.”
1 Peter 4:10 “Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God.
Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.”
Would you like to see revival come to Immanuel? Practice serving one another.
The first condition for revival given to us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 is humility, “If my people will humble themselves.”
"This attitude of complete submission and complete trust is of course the key to working out our own salvation in fear and trembling and is the mark of a truly spiritual Christian."
- John F. Walvoord
Submission allows Jesus the master builder to cut and chisel the edges of selfishness, greed, hatred, envy, etc. away so that we can be fit into His temple.
The question before you is, “will you present yourself to Jesus and say your will be done.”
II. Jesus uses cooperation to build His church (Peter wants us to see the point is strength in unity)
There is a famous story that comes from Sparta. The king of Sparta was bragging about the great walls of Sparta to another king who was visiting there. The visiting king looked around and said, "What walls? I don't see any great walls." The Spartan king then pointed to his vast army: "These are the walls of Sparta. Every man is a brick." [Barclay, Daily Study Bible,195-96]
The point is very clear. A lone stone or brick is useless by itself. If we are called living stones so too are Christians. We were created in Christ Jesus to become part of a household, a temple that is eternal in the heavens not made with hands.
When you read about the early church you discover a community of believers that had everything in common. Peter is painting a picture for us. It powerfully displays to us what can be in the church. It is a picture of stability, growth and activity in a unified church.
There are places in Europe (I forget where) with walls of stone–giant walls that go on for yard after yard if not mile after mile–that were quarried and built by hand. The walls have no mortar; the stones are so perfectly cut and placed that you can't get a credit card between them. Their strength is in their unity. As a result they have lasted through the centuries and yet stand as firm and strong as the day they were set in place. God cuts and quarries us by His hand. He places us in the body so that we can stand together in strength. We do this apart from any earthly mortar, only the mortar of His love and grace, a love and grace we minister to one another. [Tony Bartolucci]
Unity in diversity. 1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us that we are all the temple of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:6 Paul makes clear there must be cooperation to fulfill God’s plan.
Orchestra – different instruments that can make a symphony only through cooperation.
Unity and cooperation will always accomplish more than criticism and isolation.
We must remember the church is not a physical building, a civic or religious group. The church is the called out saints, living stones committed to Jesus and each other.
III. Jesus uses transformation to build His church
When we walk in a spirit of submission and cooperation the result we get is transformation.
The person and word of God encounters us, challenges us, calls us to what? Transformation.
It is within the context of community that our hearts and minds are transformed. It is through encouragement and engagement with God’s word that we are changed in our thinking and our action.
A) The church will grow
1) Spiritually
2) Numerically
B) The church will have power (Matthew 16:18 “the forces of Hades will not overcome it)
Conclusion: Imagine Immanuel where we all recognize we have a place to fill and a part to play. It isn’t about individual opinions, desires or needs. It is about the community called the church.
Worship times become times of expectation as we anticipate God gathering another living stone to be placed into His household, His building.
Are we willing to let Jesus build His church? Even if it begins to look like something we don’t recognize and certainly don’t have control over?
