sermonette: The Dynamic Character of the Church

Offertory
Martin G. Collins
Given 12-Apr-04; Sermon #661As; 14 minutes

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Paul spoke of Jesus as the cornerstone and of Christians as being built into a spiritual house. united with him Jesus' own words to Peter at Caesarea Philippi were, You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. It is upon the faith of Jesus, the cornerstone, and that faith reflected in those chosen by God that the church is built. Come with me to I Peter 2 and verse 4. I hear Peter speaks of the chosen stone and his chosen people. Jesus Christ and we, the Church of God. First Peter 2. We'll read verses 4 through 10 to begin. Coming to him as to a living stone rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious, you speaking to us also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes in on him will by no means be put to shame. Then verse 7 also mentions the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, then a verse 8 and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. The stumbling or they stumble, being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. And in verse 9, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of Him. Who called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light. And then of course, verse 10 speaks about the mercy that we have obtained. And so we see there that we are a royal priesthood and we are our responsibility is to raise up or rather proclaim praises, which we have done already in this service with three hymns. And that we are living stones. Now from Peter here in I Peter 2 verses 4 through 10, we learned three things about the character of the church. The first is that as individuals we are likened to a living stone and the church to a living structure into which we are built. Obviously this means that true Christianity is a community. Individually we find our true place only when we are built into that structure. Christ, of course, is the main cornerstone as we read there in First Peter. Turn with me to Ephesians 2. Read verses 22 or rather 19 through 22. Ephesians 2:19. And again, this Paul emphasizes a similar thing to what Peter just did in verse 19. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit, we see there another reference to us as building as being part of that building where each and every one of us building blocks in the overall structure. Solitary religion is ruled out as an impossibility. The independent professing Christian who would be a Christian but is too superior to belong to the visible groups of God's people is simply a contradiction in terms. You can't be an individual independent Christian and have nothing to do with the fellowship of the brethren. Now as long as a brick lies by itself, it is useless, becomes of use only when it is incorporated into a building. So it is with the independent professing Christian to reach his potential, he must not remain alone but must be built in the fabric of the church. And just to visually. Enable you to see that this is a block of stone that will probably be used, not this one specifically, but one like this in the new building that we are trying to build. I say trying because this 11 problem after another scene, but God-willing, that we will be building. If we take this block and we put this out on the church property, we are not going to have a building. We're not going to have anything but rubble out there and maybe with other stones and things like that. So it takes If each and every one of us are one of these stones, it takes all of us to build the structure, not just one, and of course we are going to have many stones in the new building or bricks or blocks or whatever they may be. The second thing that Peter mentioned about the character of the church is that we are a holy priesthood. He is the one who himself has access to God and whose task it is to bring others to Him. In the Old Testament times, this access to God was the privilege of the professional professional priests. And in particular of the high priest who alone could enter into the holy of holies. Although Jesus Christ, or rather I should say through Jesus Christ, the new and living way, access to God becomes the privilege of every Christian. Now the priest is a bridge builder. As royal priests, each of us has the duty and the privilege of giving a true witness by the way we live our lives, thereby setting a good example to those who our Father in heaven calls. Our example, a genuine likeness of Christ's life, builds a bridge between humanity and God, and Christ as the high priest, is the mediator between God and human beings as I Timothy 2 and verse 5 states. Now the priest is the one who brings an offering to God, and we also must continuously bring our offerings to God under the Old Covenant. However, the offerings brought were animal sacrifices, and of course our sacrifices and offerings are somewhat different today, but our sacrifices are spiritual sacrifices today. We make our living sacrifices to God in service and in praise as we did earlier and also in prayer. And there are many other ways to Send up those spiritual sacrifices to God. And on the holy days we offer monetary offerings as well as our service. We make our work and our lives and offering to God, everything is done for God according to His will, because if it is not done according to His will, then it's not acceptable to Him. So even our simplest task is done to his glory if it's done with the right attitude and it's done according to his will. Return with me to Romans 12. We'll read verses 1 through 8. Romans 12:1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We make our worship of God an offering to Him because we do it in sincerity and truth, that is if it's done in an acceptable way. We obey His command to worship Him when and how he commands without straying from his instructions. In verse 3, for I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. So we see here a command to be humble. But to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith, for as we have many members in one body. But all the members, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. So this reflects back to the unity of the Christian community that I mentioned earlier and the fact that we are living stones being placed in that overall body. In verse 6, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them if prophecy let us prophesy in proportion to our faith or ministry, let us use it in our ministering. He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality. So those who have more strength or time or wealth are expected to give more. But in an attitude of humility and joy and desire, he who leads with diligence and he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. As a result of our faithful adherence to his directives and humbly and lovingly making ourselves offerings. The worship of Him is a joy rather than a burden. Where God desires most of most of us. Um I should say what God desires most of us. Well, obviously at one o'clock this morning I did not put that down correctly, so I'll just go right on by that. My apologies. He expects love, service, and obedience from us in a nutshell. And the third trait of the, of the, um, dynamic church. is that the function of the church is to tell forth the excellencies of God. In other words, it is to witness to others concerning the mighty acts of God by our very lives, even more than by our words, we are to be a witness of what God in Christ has done for us, a true witness. I'll turn with me to Isaiah 12 verse 1. Isaiah expressed God's excellency in a hymn of praise. If you're wondering why I was up at 1 working on this sermon is because at 9 o'clock I decided to write another one because my other one was too similar to my previous sermons and I thought it should be different. So here in Isaiah 12 we will read verses 1 through 6, and here Isaiah expresses God's excellency in a hymn of praise. Isaiah 12 1. And in that day, you will say, O Lord, I will praise you. Though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away and you comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid, for Yah, the Lord is my strength and song. He also has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy, you, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And in that day you will say, praise the Lord, call upon His name, declare his deeds among the peoples, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst. So obviously Isaiah was inspired and excited and joyous when he wrote that, and it really does express. How excellent God is. The excellent things are things that are exalted that are worthy to be celebrated and remembered, things that are awesome and majestic and wonderful. These excellent things come from the excellency of his ways, not just his designing and creative power, but from his truth and his wisdom and his plans and his very character. We read earlier in I Peter 2 that the apostle Peter described the dynamic nature of the true church of God to the dispersed Jews who had for so long viewed their temple and synagogues with pride and others with contempt. It is natural for them to object that the Church of God had no such glorious temple. Nor such numerous priests. The reality of the Church of God seemed unimpressive to the unconverted mind which those Jews indeed were. The services and offerings of it had nothing of the pomp and grandeur that the Jewish extravagance had. To this, Peter answered that the Church of God is a much nobler, nobler fabric than the Jewish temple. It is a living temple consisting not of dead things but of living parts. In Christ, the foundation is a living stone. We are living stones, and we make a spiritual house, and we are a holy priesthood. And though we have no bloody sacrifices of animals to offer, yet we have much better and more acceptable sacrifices, and we have an altar too on which to present our offerings, for we offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to our Father and Jesus Christ. And so now we have the opportunity to offer in a physical sense an offering to God as instructed in Deuteronomy 16 verse 16. So we will now take up the offering and special music will be performed by Brian Wolf and his work that he wrote himself is entitled Moonlight Reflections on Water Drops.