Will you be a stone in the temple?
8/18/02
Minister Cedric A. Portis
cedque8@cs.com
Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Ephesians 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Ephesians 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Ephesians 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
In reading over this text of scripture a few things that leaped off of the page. First of all Paul is talking about saved folks, those who have submitted to Jesus as Lord of their life.
In addition to that he talks about Jesus being the chief corner stone. Now the cornerstone is the strongest and the truest stone in a building. It is laid first and all other stones placed in the building are placed with the cornerstone being the guide.
The other stones placed in the building may not be as perfect as the cornerstone, but to be placed in the building, the other stones must possess some of the characteristics of the cornerstone.
And for a stone to be ready to be placed in a wall of the building, the Master Stone Mason may have to take a tool and mold it, shape it, break pieces off of it, until it is ready to be placed into the wall. And sometimes there are stubborn stones, stones that will not conform and submit to the will of the Master Stone Mason and for that reason, will not be placed into the wall. I know you can follow the metaphor that is being painted for you this morning, so the question as well as the topic for this sermon; Will you be a stone in the temple?
Our theme for this Men’s and Women’s day is Building a better relationship with Christ and let me tell you that your relationship with Jesus will determine whether you will be a stone in the temple of the Lord, or will you put yourself in the pile of non-conforming rocks called hell.
And I say put yourself because the Master Stone Mason will give you every opportunity to be in the temple wall, but God allows you to choose your destination. But let our relationship with Jesus secure us in the Holy Temple of the Lord.
We sometimes in church we take for granted and assume everyone knows how to come into a relationship with Jesus. Let me warn you this morning that if you have not told someone about Jesus yourself, don’t
assume they know. So with that in mind we will look as some essentials that will develop, heal and or strengthen our relationship with Jesus.
First, there must be genuine confession. Has some one ever told you that they were sorry and you know it was not sincere, not genuine? Well, how do you think the Lord Jesus feels when He is constantly bombarded with unheartfelt confessions and empty promises of what we are going to do for Him if He gets us out of this situation that we have made for ourselves for the third or fourth time.
In a day of being overwhelmed with courtroom dramas, society is teaching us that if we can justify our guilt that some how that erases our guilt. We figure out why we are not guilty based on what someone else has done to us, or we blame our upbringing or we just flat out say I just could not help my self.
And somehow we convince ourselves that there are reasons beyond our control that cause us to sin. Sin is not airborne, I don’t come home from work and say to my wife, “I got some sin on me today” No church sin just sits there and looks at you, but it has no place in your life until you pick it up and put it into action.
Giving sin excuses is not honest confession.
John I 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
John I 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
I don’t know about you but if I try to start off a relationship with someone by calling them a liar, I don’t think that relationship will go far.
Our relationship with Jesus must be based on honesty not only with Him but with ourselves and our confessions should be as David confessed in Psalm 51 “For I acknowledge my transgressions, my sin is ever before the against the only have I sinned and done evil in thy sight.” Confession means that I understand that I was wrong and that what I did was sin.
And let me tell you that your confessions of sin must be specific. We can’t insult the Lord with what I call the “blanket prayer” - Lord forgive me for everything, you know what I have done. No if you knowingly committed the sin, you need to confess it and ask forgiveness for it, for yes God knows, but you need to show Him that you know as well.
Our relationship with Christ will strengthen when we see sin as He sees sin. Don’t get into the lie of the little sin/ big sin debate with yourself. Don’t dress it up, make light of it or call it something that it is not.
Call it what you want but my Lord Jesus did not come to this earth to die for a mere transgression, or a mere indiscretion, He did not die for a mistake on my part, or a failure, he did not die for a small wrongdoing on my part. Jesus came to this world to die for SIN.
Plain Sin and disgusting as it sounds, Sin, unclothed, undisguised, uncoated, Sin, Sin sounds bad, it makes you uncomfortable, well it should. The more uncomfortable you are with sin, the better your relationship will be with Christ.
But more than confession is necessary. The second point is that: There must be genuine repentance. Confession means that I am honest with Jesus about my sin, but repentance means I turn away from that sin. I abandon it and walk away from it.
I will have nothing more to do with it. I know how it affects my relationship with Jesus therefore I repent of my sin. True repentance brings a total change in the direction of you life. It is a total change in thought and behavior in how we think and act.
It is an emotional reaction. We are full of sorrow for what we have done, and now we find our former behavior repugnant. But it is also more than just an emotional reaction. New emotions have led to new behavior. We actually live differently as a result of real repentance.
Corinthians II 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Those who have no relationship with Christ, the unsaved, regret the mess sin has brought into their lives, but they have no intention on changing the way they live. And why should they, until you admit that you are lost, you will not look to be saved.
But even the so-called religious people seem to miss this point. When John the Baptist began to preach, the most religious people of the day were the Pharisees. But he said to them, “You generation of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” Somehow these people, though very religious, had not shown evidence of a genuine turn around in their lives.
They thought so highly of themselves that they could not imagine they needed to repent, and like them we feel that we don’t have a need to repent like those people who never come to church. You know the alcoholic, murdering adulterer, drug addict embezzler.
No church, real repentance is important because it determines whether or not we have a relationship with Jesus. Real repentance is the acknowledgement that we are just sinners saved by grace. Repentance says that the only difference between us and those so-called bad people is that we have Jesus.
Real repentance keeps you humble and let me tell you that if you loose you humbleness, you will fracture your relationship with Jesus. The Bible calls us to daily self-examination, daily we are to look at our life and compare it to the life of Jesus. And let me tell you, if you do that, you won’t have to worry about becoming prideful, boastful or labeling someone as a bad person.
We must also trust Jesus and believer his promises. Trust his love for you and believe that if you have genuinely confessed your sin, and genuinely repented of your sin, that He has genuinely forgiven you for your sin. You don’t have to suffer for a certain amount of time. You don’t have to prove you are sorry by feeling guilty until he finally decides that you have suffered enough. It is over. Your sins are forgiven. And you must believe it. If you have wronged someone and you are not sure they have forgiven you, your relationship suffers. Jesus does not want the relationship between you and Him to suffer. He wants you to be free of guilt.
The Lord has a great work for all of us to do and we can’t do it if we are walking around with a long face feeling guilty about something we have confessed and been forgiven for. Jesus needs you at your best and feeling guilty cripples you emotionally.
And lets look at the big picture here. The Master Stone Mason is looking at you holding on to that guilt and He is taking his tool and trying to break your grip free and remove this piece of the stone will not allow you placement in the wall of the temple.
I serve a God that is bigger than that problem that your are going through right now, I serve a God that will give you the strength to over come that addiction or affliction in your life, I serve a God that gave a prostitute a new lease on life, made the blind see, caused the lame to walk, turned water to wine and raised the dead.
I serve a God that through Him all things are possible, but you have to turn it over to him. If you could fixit, don’t you think it would be done by now? I don’t know but when I try to fix a problem or overcome something without Jesus, I just mess it up even more. I can’t serve the Lord effectively burdened down with things that He has already told me to turn over to him. Things that he has already forgiven me for.
Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
If you come into the house of prayer to worship Jesus and you are carrying all of this baggage, it not only will affect your relationship with Jesus but it will affect your praise.
You may want to jump for Jesus, well full of baggage your leap won’t to too great,
you may want to run for Jesus, well swift you will not be burdened with this baggage,
you may want to sing for the Lord, well I can’t speak for you but my song is a clearer when my mind is stayed on Jesus,
My song is stronger when I have let go of the baggage, so I can now lift my hands to the hill for which cometh my help.
Church I let the bags go because I am not going to let some mess that I have no control over keep me from being a stone in the temple wall.
Thirdly, If you want a stronger relationship with Jesus you must let your light shine.
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
First of all, Where does your light come from; Jesus
what makes any of the works you do good, Jesus, and I said earlier that the stones in the temple must resemble or possess characteristics of the cornerstone to be in the wall.
Jesus wants others to be able to look at you and see Him. Let me tell you saints that your relationship with Jesus is strained when you become conveniently Christian. Conveniently Christian, You know someone asks if you are a Christian and your mouth says yes, but your actions say, “well it depends on the situation.”
Your light is supposed to shine wherever you are and no matter what is going on around you.
Let me tell you that the light of Jesus does not come with an on and off switch, and since it doesn’t come with a switch what do we do, we get a lamp shade and tone the light down or cover it up all together at times. Matthew 5:15 says that men don’t light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick, so the whole house can receive light.
There was a little boy standing on the corner and beside him was his dog. Now this dog was just a mutt, basically sitting there lifeless and looking lazy. So a man saw the two and approached the boy and said, son “what kind of dog is that.” And the boy replied boldly and proudly, “Sir, He is a police dog,” the man looked at the dog holding back his laughter and said, son, I know what a police dog looks like and what a police dog acts like and this is not a police dog. And the boy one more time looked up proudly to the gentleman and said, But, Sir he is in the secret service.
Let me tell you this morning that Jesus does not need any undercover Christians, no behind the scene Christians. He needs you to be bold with your witness, God did not give us His Spirit to run around like scared chickens whispering “Jesus Saves” No! with the Spirit of the Lord we are to boldly profess to men that JESUS SAVES and He saves to the utmost.
Don’t be like the churchgoer that had his pastor unexpectedly drop by his work place. And the pastor not knowing exactly where his station was so he asks the receptionist, “excuse me, can you tell brother so-so that his pastor is here to see him.” And she replies pastor?, as in church-pastor?, you mean to tell me that he actually attends a church. From the way he acts around here you wouldn’t think he could spell Jesus.
No, Church Jesus does not have nor does he need a Christian secret service. But He wants soldiers that are on the front line, ready to go to battle for the lost souls.
The song says go tell it on the mountain, but I tell it on my job, in my neighborhood, to my family to someone may meet on the street, That I love the Lord and he saw me sinking deep in sin, and He threw me a life preserver and his name is Jesus and now that Jesus has given me new live, I hold on tight to His unchanging hand.
So what, they put me down for the way I praise Jesus, So what they can call me crazy when they see how I serve Jesus, but my faith is unwavering and I continue to let my light shine for Jesus no matter what I am faced with.
Because there will come a day when those who mocked and ridiculed you, put you down for that Jesus joy you were showing them.
There is going to come a day when the mockers will be down to their last dime,
back up against the wall, body racked with pain, got that bad report from the doctor, There is going to come a day when they come to themselves and
your phone is going to ring and you are going to hear a faint voice saying,
will you pray for me, can you come sit with me, what was that scripture you was telling me to read that day, what was that song you were singing when you were going through that crisis in your life. Now they are ready, to learn about your relationship with Jesus and you show them that they can have one also.
Finally and most importantly what solidifies your relationship with Jesus, what gives you rock solid faith, what assures you a place in the wall of the temple is your confession that Jesus is Lord of your life.
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
People miss salvation right here. They miss the opportunity to have that wonderful relationship with Jesus right here. They want Jesus to save them so they confess Jesus as Savior, but they don’t want Jesus to rule them this is the confession that Jesus is Lord.) Confessing Jesus as Lord means taking yourself off the throne of your life and putting Jesus Christ on that throne. Listen, If you do not receive who He is, you cannot have what He gives. If you do not receive Jesus as Lord, then you cannot have His gift of salvation.
Let me give you an illustration: Suppose a man and woman are leaving the church after a glorious wedding ceremony. It has been a perfect engagement and to be the beginning of a fruitful marriage. As they drive away from the church, the bride asks her husband when he is going to take her home. Confused the husband reminds the wife that their new house is not quite ready and won’t be until after the honeymoon. And she says I don’t mean our house, I’m talking about my mama’s house. I mean I love you and all, the wedding was great and I’m glad we are married but I’m ready to go home to my mother.
You can’t really expect me to change the way that I have been living. Don’t get me wrong, I love you, I hope to see you on weekends if it is convenient and I’m glad that you committed to take care of me, and if I’m sick or need money I know I can call you.
After all I have taken you as my husband. But don’t get any ideas that what we did at church is going to change the way I live.
What kind of relationship would that be? Exactly the same kind that many Christians enter into when they think they can receive Jesus as their Savior without submitting to Him as their Lord.
Hey thanks a lot Jesus for saving me, I give you a call if I need something, I may come to see you on the weekends if I don’t have anything else to do, and if I have any money let after I have went shopping, got something to eat, washed my car, I may put some change in that plate that they pass around, but in the meantime, I’m going back to the way I use to live.
Jesus cannot be Lord of your life and you continue to be comfortable sinning To confess Jesus as Lord is the highest calling in your life. Psalm 107:2 says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”
We learn in I John 1:8 that we know sin from personal experience, but the Child of God will fight sin and never be comfortable in it. Why, because we know that continuing to abide in a life of sin keeps us from a relationship with Jesus.
We cannot serve the flesh and try to serve Jesus.
The Bible tells us that no man cannot serve two masters,
you can’t just talk about Jesus you have to be about Jesus.
If you feel that you have hit rock bottom its time to reach for Jesus
Life always full of stress, the song says Jesus can work it out
If you feel that there is no where to turn, turn to Jesus
If that habit is just got you enslaved and you just cant break free, freedom is in Jesus
If you’ve got a void inside of you and you just cant fill it, Let Jesus fill you till your cup runneth over.
If the yoke of sin is just breaking your back the chiropractor you need is Jesus.
You say to yourself that I want a breakthrough, I want peace, I want joy,
Jesus said “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace”
Jesus, do you know Him today, do you love Him today
I know him as Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace, my Lord and Savior the Messiah, the way, the truth and the live, the Creator, my sustainer
He is the bright and morning star, the Lamb of God,
He is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear.
He is strength when I’m weak
Understanding when I am confused
He is comfort in the midnight hour.
He is the way out of no way,
Bridge over troubled water
and He loved me enough to die on the cross for me.
Thank you Lord for being there for me,
Thank you for saving a wretch like me.
I serve a God that is all powerful. There is no one beyond saving. I don’t care what kind of life you are living, I don’t care what kind of things you have done, I serve a God that death couldn’t hold, calmed a raging storm, feed thousands with five loaves and 2 fish and what’s most important He died for you and me, so that we may live as He lives. The only person preventing you from being saved and having a stronger relationship with Jesus is you.
The Lord said I will stand at the door of your heart and knock, but you must opened the door
To claim to believe that Jesus can save your soul, forgive your sins, give you eternal life and yet be less that your Lord, makes no sense at all and is totally foreign to the Bible.
You don’t have to keep sinking deep in sin, you don’t have to keep crying yourself to sleep only to wake up still worrying, riddled with fear, you don’t have to be unsure about your salvation you can have that relationship with Jesus that you read about in the Bible by giving Jesus the only position in your life that He will accept and that is Lord.
People always talk about what they are going to miss out on by serving Jesus, what they are going to miss out on by having an intimate relationship with Jesus. Let me tell you, the only thing that I’m going to miss out on is Hell.
Because I did not know what fun was, what happiness was, what joy and peace and was until Jesus was Lord of my life.
I stand before you today to offer you life by way of Jesus. Any other choice you make is death. Will you be a stone in the temple? Or will you be a stubborn, non conforming stone that is cast away.
As I close I want to leave you with this:
Who would dream of amputating his own leg? No one, unless that person has lost his mind or was faced with the choice of losing either his leg or his life. This was the story of a man that was fishing alone in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He was trapped when a boulder fell on his leg, and he was unable to free himself.
Knowing the area and night was coming, with the freezing temperatures he would die of exposure, he knew what he had to do. Relying on his skill as a doctor’s assistant, he took a nylon rope out of his tackle box, tied it tightly above his knee, and cut off his leg with his hunting knife.
He then dragged himself to his car and drove 10 miles to the nearest town. He not only survived this trauma, but with an artificial limb, he is out fishing again.
What a decision YOUR LEG OR YOUR LIFE. But what if the stakes are even higher? Suppose you had to choose between giving up some habit, lifestyle, or relationship and giving up Heaven? The Lord made the issue of following Him that decisive. Will you cut off what ever is keeping you from a relationship with Jesus, Will you allow the Master Stone Mason to mold you and make you into a stone fit for the temple of God, or will you choose eternal death.
Matthew 16:26 – “What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
