OPEN: Down in Corpus Christi Texas, a church broke ground about 2 years to build a huge cross – 150 feet tall. But, they do everything big down in Texas and once they’d broken ground they decided they hadn't dreamed big enough. Now they plan to build that cross to be 230 feet tall and 95 feet wide (19 stories tall). But why did they stop at 230 feet? Because that was the maximum height allowed for flight patterns in the area. However, when the cross is completed it will be the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere, and the 2nd largest in the world. The largest cross in the world is more than twice that size and it's located in Madrid, Spain – that one stands 495 feet tall.
COST: for the Corpus Christi Cross - about $2.5 million dollars.
APPLY: $2.5 million dollars seems like an awful lot to spend for a cross. So why are they doing it? Well, partly because it will be BIGGEST cross in Western Hemisphere. But they’re selling the concept to Corpus Christi as a huge draw for tourists to the area. Now, the church says they’re really building this cross to proclaim the death of Christ… and maybe they are. But personally, I really think it’s all about bragging rights. Nonetheless it’s their money and they can do what they wish with it.
But what I find interesting is that when Jesus built HIS church in Acts, He didn’t do that!!! He didn’t build a huge 19 story cross. The cross that He died on reached farther into the heavens than anything man could ever build.
In our text today we’re given another insight into HOW Jesus intended to build His church. We’re introduced here to Stephen - one of the first Deacons in the church. He was described as being “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit”. (Acts 6:5) And Stephen was a man on fire for Jesus. Stephen was the kind of guy who tells everyone who’ll listen – about his faith in Jesus. He’s the kind of guy you just can’t get to shut up, he’s so excited. But some folks just don’t want to listen to that. And a lot of folks didn’t want to listen to Stephen.
Acts 6:10-13 tells us about some men who “…could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men who said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God." And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, "This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law.”
THEN the High Priest asks Stephen if these charges are true … and that’s all the excuse Stephen needs. He cuts loose on a sermon before the vaunted Sanhedrin, and he just never quits. His sermon not only answers the objections but which also lays the foundation of what it takes to be a church.
As I studied this text, I saw 3 principles every church ought to know about building the kind congregation Jesus had in mind. The 1st principle I saw here was this: God doesn’t need a building.
Stephen had been accused of speaking against Temple where folks worshipped, but Stephen said: “Our fathers had the TENT of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?’” Acts 7:44-50
For about 500 years the Jews had worshipped at a TENT (tabernacle). It wasn’t until about 500 years later that Solomon built the Temple. Stephen’s point was this: God didn’t need a building. A TENT had served the Israelites just as well for centuries. It wasn’t that God didn’t approve the Temple… it’s just He didn’t really need it
God had declared: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me that would hold me?”
Now that’s an important point to remember, because a lot of folks forget that. There’s lots of folks who tend to WORSHIP their buildings. For example, I recently had a Facebook conversation with a guy who wrote this:
“Here in (his) County every church you drive by looks like the Taj Mahal. And filled with Mercedes and Escalades in the parking lots on Sundays. Generally (it’s) the same in (the city) where I’m from. … Churches and their basketball courts and water fountains and coffee bars are built to appeal to well to do people (mostly white) so that they will continue to feel justified in opening their wallets each week.” (I have left the names of the city and county he mentioned out of this illustration).
Now I disagree with this man's view that “EVERY church” is guilty of this, but way too many congregations build their church buildings so that people will come and LOVE their building. And then later maybe (just maybe) they’ll come to LOVE Jesus. These kinds of churches are big on coffee bars, and chandeliers and stain glass and elegant furniture… because they want people to be impressed with their surroundings.
ILLUS: Our Sanctuary here is now about 4 years old. Back when we were in the planning stages, our contractor (a very decent man) began talking with your Elders about what they’d like to see in this sanctuary. Among the things he talked to them about was asking what kind of chandeliers the Elders wanted.
Now, do you see any chandeliers here? (no) Do you MISS having chandeliers here? (no)
When the contractor suggested having chandeliers the Elders just laughed and said these lights were just fine. In fact, when the builders were installing these florescent lights one of the men said “man it’s going to be really bright in here.”
Do you know why we wanted so bright in here? That’s right – we wanted to be able see stuff. We wanted to be able to read the Bible and see each other. All we wanted was light… and lots of it.
ILLUS: You see, a church building is just a tool. When a worker buys a tool he’ll buy the best tool he can get. He wants something that will last and have the power to do the job. But a good workman will NOT buy a tool that’s just for show. He’s not going buy a tool to impress you. He hasn’t got room in his toolbox for dead weight. He buys a tool to do a specific job, and if it can’t do the job… it’s worthless to him.
Now, this church building is just a tool. We want it to look nice in here, but our building’s primary purpose is not to look NICE. Its primary purpose is not for SHOW. Its primary purpose MUST BE to be a place to worship Jesus, a place where we can learn about Jesus, and a place where we can fellowship with each other. If it can’t do that for us… it’s worthless. The minute this building and the furniture means more to us than its use as a tool for ministry, we’ve got a problem
So, first – God doesn’t need a building. But what God does need, are people who’ll listen to Him. Stephen noted: “This Moses, WHOM THEY REJECTED, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ —this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer...” Acts 7:35
AND “Our fathers REFUSED TO OBEY (Moses), but thrust him aside…” Acts 7:39
And THEN he closed out his sermon by telling them: "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered” Acts 7:51-52
As you can imagine, that last didn’t make him real popular with the Sanhedrin. BUT that was one of the main points of Stephen’s message: You cannot please God…, and you cannot build Christ’s church…, and you can’t do anything of any lasting value for Heaven… if you’re not willing to listen to God and obey Him.
Now where are we going to learn what God wants to tell you? That’s right – from the Bible. We take the Bible very seriously here. We have Bible studies, and Sunday School classes, and I read large portions of Scripture before I start to preach. And we stress a daily reading program that many of you are involved with. But (pause) the Jews of Stephen’s day studied the Bible too… they just didn’t obey it.
Someone once said: “No one is saved by buying a Bible he doesn't read; and no one is saved by reading a Bible he doesn't obey.”
ILLUS: Too often people at church are like 3 year old who was playing with her toys. Her momma called for her to get up and go get ready for dinner but the girl didn’t seem to hear. After calling 2 times with no response, her mother gave her the full 3-name call: “Beverly Elizabeth Provost, did you hear me?”
The little girl looked up from her toys and said, “Yes, Mama. My ears did, but my legs didn't.” (Marguerite Provost, Georgia. Today's Christian Woman, "Small Talk.")
So… how do I know if “my legs” have heard God? Well, it’s all a matter of priorities. That little girl had a priority. What was her priority? She wanted to play with her toys. That took precedence over anything else she had to do.
ILLUS: When I was fired from my last church I went “job hunting” at several other congregations. One of the churches I applied to was in another state and I went there one evening to interview with them. There were about 8 or 10 folks in the room with me and they began asking me questions.
1st – there was a veteran who wanted to know if I preached Veteran’s Day sermons. I said “no.” I had great respect for veterans and was all in favor of honoring the vets on that day, and even using an illustration in the sermon that would tie into Veteran’s Day… but I had never preached a Veteran’s Day sermon. My principle reason: At my home church, the sermons were all about Christmas, and Easter, and Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and Independence Day, and so on. By the time the preacher had gotten done preaching all the holidays, there wasn’t much room to hear about Jesus. I swore that would never happen on my watch.
He wasn’t pleased with my answer. Why wasn’t he pleased with my answer? Well, he wasn’t pleased because his priority was Veterans. Now, is there anything wrong with honoring veterans? Of course not. But this man’s problem was that he held the very honorable position of Veterans ABOVE our commitment to Christ. That’s a problem.
The next guy to question me wanted to know what my stand was on the Masonic lodge. Now there’s always been an uneasy relationship between the Masonic lodge and the church (for some very good reasons) but my answer to this man was that my daddy had been a Mason and I’d been in DeMolay (kind of a Junior Mason). So I had nothing personally against Masons per se... BUT I had to admit that the only people I’d had problems with in the previous churches I’d served - was Masons. The Masons in previous churches had placed their allegiance to the lodge above their commitment to the church and to Jesus. I concluded by saying that any man who put any organization above Christ’s Church and Christ Himself… was going to have a problem with me.
He was not pleased with my answer either. Why wasn’t he pleased? He wasn’t pleased because his priority was the Masonic Lodge. The lodge held his loyalty above the church and Christ. That’s a problem.
My wife was in the next room with the kids and she said that she could hear these folks yelling at me pretty much through the entire interview. Suffice it to say - I didn’t get that job.
The question is this: What is your PRIORITY? Not “what is the priority of this church”, or “what is the priority of the Eldership” or “What is the priority of this preacher?” The question is “what is YOUR priority? Is it obeying Jesus? Or do you hold something else dear to your heart?
The reason the Jews killed all their prophets, and the reason the Jews wanted Jesus executed was because they weren’t telling the folks what they wanted to hear. They killed the prophets and they killed Jesus because they had their own agendas, and priorities. And God’s will didn’t fit into the picture.
(PAUSE) So Jesus DOES NOT need a building to build His church, but Jesus DOES need followers who put Him first, place him as their priority and obey Him.
Lastly, Jesus needs followers who keep their eyes on Him. Stephen was standing before the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was an imposing and dangerous group of people to mess with, and the Sanhedrin doesn’t like what Stephen has to say. They ultimately had him stoned to death. But Stephen doesn’t seem to care. WHY?
“(Stephen), full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55
Stephen’s EYES were ON Jesus. In fact, Stephen’s last WORDS were TO Jesus: “as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’” Acts 7:59
You see, everything Stephen SAID that day, and everything he wanted TO SEE that day was all about Jesus. That’s why it didn’t bother him when the Sanhedrin tried to intimidate him. And that’s why it didn’t bother him EVEN when he knew he was about to die for his faith. Stephen KNEW that was what might happen because Jesus had said: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12
The point is this: If we take our faith seriously, there’s folks who aren’t going to want to hear it. They might not stone you to death, but they can (and often do) work at making life miserable for believers. You just gotta know that.
CLOSE: At the beginning of the sermon I told about a $2.5 million cross in Texas. It will be an imposing structure – 19 stories tall, and it will draw people from miles around to see it. It will be a point of pride to that congregation (Corpus Christi)
But let me tell you of another cross - a cross not nearly as expensive. Not nearly as big. And not nearly as impressive OR worthy of bragging rights.
There’s the true story of a youth minister from Chicago who was taking his kids to Florida on a mission trip – but he wanted to make sure they didn’t get distracted by other things. So he went down the local lumber yard and got a couple of pieces of lumber and he built himself a cross. As the youth were about to get on the bus to leave he introduced them to that cross. He said: "I want all of you to remember the whole purpose of our going is to glorify the name of Christ, to lift up the Cross - the message of the cross, the emphasis of the Cross, the Christ of the Cross. So, we're going to take this cross wherever we go."
What do you suppose the attitude of those teens was? Yeah. Sure. This is going to be dumb. But what could they do, it was going to part of their journey, so reluctantly they dragged the cross on the bus. It banged back and forth in the aisle all the way to Florida. When they stopped at restaurants, they took it with them in to eat.
When they stayed overnight someone had to have it in their room. And when they went to the beach in Florida, it stood beside them in the sand while they ministered.
At first, lugging the cross around embarrassed the kids. But as time went on, it became a point of identification. The cross was a constant, silent reminder of who they were and why they had come. Eventually regarded carrying it as an honor and privilege.
The night before they went home, youth leader handed out 2 nails to each of the kids. He told them that if they wanted to commit themselves to what the cross stood for, they could hammer one nail into it, and keep the other with them. One by one, the teens drove their nail into the cross.
About 15 years later, one young man - now a stockbroker - called the youth leader. He told him that he still keeps the nail with him in his desk drawer. Whenever he loses his sense of focus, he looks at the nail and remembers the cross on that beach in Florida. It reminds him of what is at the core of his life - his commitment to Jesus Christ. (Charles Swindoll “The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart”)
That’s the message of Stephen’s sermon. Jesus came to build HIS church HIS way. And it’s not about a huge impressive cross, and it’s not about a huge elaborate church building. It’s about a cross. It’s about nails. And it’s about giving yourself COMPLETELY to Jesus.
INVITATION
