Intro: A little bit of review. The big thing we were told last week is that Jesus made a promise. We already know that Jesus is a promise keeper. Our God is a promise keeping God. He promised in the moment that you chose to rebel and sin you will die. Every single day almost every minute that promise is kept.
So the promise we are focusing on is found in Matthew 16:13-18 is that He would build His church. There is something that we must see and understand from this promise.
1) It is not my church and it is not your church. Jesus said I will build my church. We must be delivered from the idea that this is our building, our stuff or even our breath. We will never do what Jesus wants us to do if we are upset about what happens to things!
When we believe that any of it belongs to us it will make us selfish and inward focused.
2) Church is never about making you happy!
If I or we seek to make you happy then the only people we will ever reach be the one or two we make happy. There will be things we do that don’t make you happy. So I will tell you up front the person I am seeking to make Happy is 1 Jesus and 2 my wife (lol)
Church is about the promise that Jesus made. I will build my church. Last week we learned that Jesus builds His church out of living stones. He reaches into the pit of sin and scoops out dead dirt and makes living stone. Did you know that you are made out of dirt?
Genesis 3:19 “You will eat bread[f] by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
Truth: Jesus is the only one that can take dead dirt and make living stones!
Truth: You will one day return back to the dust from which you were made – Your spirit/soul will return to God!
Truth: Jesus took you out of the pit of dirty sin t to make you a living stone, a holy priest working together with other believers to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.
Truth: When all the outward trappings of the church are gone the only way church remains is if Jesus was allowed to place living stones in place so they could play their part.
What is my desire for Immanuel Baptist Church? My desire is for us to be a Biblically functioning community of believers who are offering spiritual sacrifices to God. Prayer, praise, missions, ministry, self-sacrifice these are just some of the sacrifices that come from a contrite heart, a humble heart that is acceptable to God.
Jesus places living stones into together in order to make a community that is a dwelling place for Himself. What is a biblically functional community? It is a unity of believers in communion with God and each other! We learned last week about one of the tools that Jesus uses to build His church or place living stones in community. It was submission. The second tool is cooperation.
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.
You can play one of two parts in this.
1) Not cooperate with Jesus or His community because things aren’t exactly like you want them. The music isn’t just right, the order of service is wrong or too long. The people aren’t friendly, the people are too friendly, the music is too contemporary, the music is too traditional. We spend too much time in the New Testament, too much time in the old testament. You can come up with any number of reasons to not cooperate with God in building His community.
2) Cooperate with Jesus and His community of believers.
If we cooperate with Jesus we will see something miraculous happen. We have seen pieces and parts of it at Immanuel. Our devotion is to Jesus and each other. May I call you loved ones. Loved ones the only way to build unity and cooperation is to be in communion with Jesus and each other.
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.
If we are not seeing walls of separation tore down and people being built up what should we do? Often the answer is, get rid of the preacher, get a new staff, get rid of so and so.
The real answer is repent! Ask God to give you and overwhelming love for the people of the church you don’t even like!
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?
