God's Work
So, tomorrow is 'Labor Day' where we celebrate 'work' by 'not working'. The irony never ceases to amuse... But when you think of 'God's work', what do you think of? When did all of that take place? There are a lot who may assume that the bulk of God's work peaked in Bible times and was done a long time ago. From our perspective, most of the big things, anything really noteworthy - they're all done, and we get to enjoy the benefits of that work.
It's easy to believe that God's Kingdom building work all took place in the days of the Prophets, the Apostles and Jesus. And sometimes, we almost forget that God is still building His Kingdom and that we - all of us - are to be an active part of that work.
Many of you know that we've been in the process of building a home for quite a while now. And here's an early picture... [SLIDE] Just a bunch of posts in the ground. Now from my neighbor's perspective, I'm sure he had no real idea what is was going to be. A bunch of posts can be the start of a lot of things - a shed, a barn, maybe a big picnic shelter. Who knows? And even as it progressed, [SLIDE] he couldn't really tell what it might be. It's because he was only observing from afar. It wasn't his yard or project; he didn't have any plans or even a materials list - so he wasn't aware that this [SLIDE] was what we were going for.
The same can be true with God's work. From our vantage point, we look back on the accomplishments of the past. We know that the Church only exists today because of the sacrifices and faithfulness of those who have gone before us. There was a whole lot of effort throughout Deep River's history to get us here in this building at this location. And over the span of thousands of years, men and women have been used by God to accomplish His purposes and to build His Kingdom - of which we are a small part.
So is God finished with what He set out to do here on earth, or is there more? God accomplished those things in the past through people who, for the most part, were just like us. Could it possibly be that He also wants you and me to play a vital part in His work? And can you tell what those plans are only observing from afar? When it comes to God's Kingdom work, we can't just be observers, we must be...
I. Participants
Do you see a handful of posts sticking out of the ground and figure that's all there is? If you're just observing the work you easily could. - But when you're a part of the work - your perspective changes. How do you see your part in God's Kingdom building work...?
I want us to look at a passage of scripture from the Apostle Paul to those in the Church in Ephesus, from Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV)...
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, (20) built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (21) In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. (22) And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
In this text, Paul was addressing the Gentile believers - those who were not Jews; those who might have thought that they had no real part in the Kingdom Work. They may have just assumed that it was all the responsibility of the Jews - after all, they were God's "Chosen People".
In the verses just prior to our text, Paul explained that God was going to unite both Jew and Gentile in order to make a new man - a new body to bring both together. This was the Church - the body of Christ - made up of people from every walk of life to be an instrument in God's hands for building God's Kingdom; for spreading the Good News of Jesus, for helping change lives.
Let's look at verse 19 again a bit closer with that understanding...
Ephesians 2:19 (NIV)
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,
A visiting "foreigner" or an "alien" - neither was a full citizen. Up to this point, they couldn't really be a part of God's work as a full 'son of Abraham'. They could watch from the outside but could never really be full participants. Paul taught that they were now both fellow-citizens and members of God's family. They'd been brought into the family, and they came into the family...
A. Through Jesus
Let's look again at verses 20-21...
Ephesians 2:20-21 (NIV)
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (21) In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
Paul changes his metaphor and wrote not just about family, but about a building - which he refers to as a 'holy temple'. This was a radical change for those who previously knew that God's earthly dwelling place was the temple in Jerusalem. In Bible times, 'Gentiles' were considered 'outsiders' when it came to the temple and they were restricted to its outer court. In this sense, the idea of using the temple as an illustration, to the Gentile, probably seemed odd. But look again at verse 22...
Ephesians 2:22 (NIV)
And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Paul was teaching that now, even non-Jewish believers, could go from being just observers of God's temple, but could now participate in it - and would literally be a part of it. God was placing His presence in them. We see this same picture in 1 Peter 2:5 (NIV)...
you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
It's very easy for Christians today to feel like 'outsiders' when we look at those who have gone before us - great heroes of the Bible like Moses, Abraham, David, Elijah, Paul and the other Apostles. They have the record of their contributions to the Kingdom recorded in the Bible. Are any of us noteworthy enough for that?
But look at the language of the text. It's not just for the 'aliens' or the Gentiles back then - we are those Gentiles today. This teaching is for every believer because it talks about the construction and work of the Church. We saw that they came into the family through Jesus, but we also see that we come into the family... (The next point is exactly the same as the last...)
B. Through Jesus
This passage was written to people a long time ago - but it was also written for us! Let's look at those verses one more time with that perspective...
Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV)
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, (20) built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (21) In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. (22) And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Do you see what he was saying? We, who by faith, claim Jesus as Savior and Lord are the dwelling place of God! He has redeemed us to be a people through whom His life is expressed to the world. Every Christian is a vital part of this new body that Paul describes as a beautiful temple with each stone occupying an important position in the total structure.
And Jesus is the chief cornerstone of this new structure. It's from Him that we all get direction and He binds us together in purpose and work. Everything depends upon Him. But in a very real sense - each believer can be just as significant in fulfilling the work of Christ's Church as anyone ever has been through the ages. So...
II. What does this mean for you?
Are you just observing, or are you a participant? How do you contribute to the ongoing work of the Kingdom of God in this world? And that can be applied to the idea of dollars and cents, but I'm also talking about the investment of your life. Do you ever think of yourself as a dwelling place for God's presence...? Biblically speaking - that is what you are as a baptized believer.
Do you feel like you have anything to offer God or His work, His Church? If you don't, you need to be reminded...
A. God's Spirit lives in us
The term 'sanctuary' literally means "a holy place". By that broad definition, this entire building could be considered a 'sanctuary'. But what Paul is talking about in this text is the fact that God has made every believer a 'sanctuary', a holy place, a place where God chooses to dwell. Paul wrote about it in Ephesians and also in 1 Corinthians 3:16 (NIV)...
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
We all know that the 'Church' is more than just a building - it's us! When we talk about the work of the Church - we're talking about what we are doing, where we are serving in this building and outside of the walls. Many seem to think that if they're not out front on Sundays that they're not a part of God's work; that they're not really a part of the Church! That's not the case at all!
The Church is designed by God to function not only within the confines of a building but in this world! Yes, we want everyone here to have a place of service in this body. But more importantly - you need to take your Christian beliefs and convictions with you when you leave these four walls. Paul's challenge was for us to "be" the church. What you do may not be as high profile as what someone else does - but that doesn't limit your significance in the overall purpose and work of the Church.
In another text from I Corinthians, Paul said that the body is not made up of one part, but of many - each having their own function. He explained that while we have different functions, we are tied together with all the other parts. One cannot exist and function properly without the others. We have a common mission. When you act as if you're not that important, when you don't bother to get involved, when you skip services because you're busy and you're not really missed anyway - that is not true! Not according to God's design!
But just because we don't see how our work makes any difference - we are still called to...
B. Be faithful
In the Gospel of John, we find the story where Jesus miraculously fed a crowd of five thousand. The people there listening to Him teach were hungry, but the disciples didn't have anything to feed them. And at this point Andrew found a boy who happened to have some food. It says this, in John 6:9 (NIV)...
Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?
We don't know all the details, but it appears that the boy willingly gave all he had to Jesus. Maybe this was food for himself, maybe his siblings - maybe it was packed for him by his mother and he'd have to later explain to her that he gave it all away. And we don't even know his name. John only refers to him as an unnamed boy. And Mathew, Mark, and Luke record the same story but none of them even mention the boy - just the fish and loaves. Was he unimportant? And if so - why are we still talking about him over 2,000 year later...?
When the boy gave up his food - he had no idea that Jesus would take that small meal and do a miracle to feed five thousand people giving glory to God! When he left home that morning, he probably wasn't planning on doing anything huge. But it wasn't the size of the gift that made the difference - but into whose hands it was given. The boy was faithful, even when he may not have thought it was a big deal - but what he gave to God's work had a massive impact - because of Jesus!
We don't always get to choose how God will use us. We don't always get to see whether what we do for God will have small or large ripples. We can think 'what I do, or don't do, doesn't really matter' - but that's not for us to say - our job is to be faithful to whatever we're called. And we're called to serve.
The Church's work is to reach out to everyone with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's not a call to simply attend church services or even merely to participate in what happens just in the church building. It's a call to use our lives to the fullest extent to change this world in preparation for the return of Jesus!
So What?
Are you an observer of God's work or a participant in God's ongoing work? God has redeemed you through the blood of Jesus, so that you could be a part of His Holy work - His Kingdom work. He's calling you to respond to your redemption.
We, as God's Church, have not been redeemed so that we can simply have our own way, our plans - but rather that we would be available for whatever God wants us to do with our lives. We can sit around and excuse ourselves by saying that we're not as talented as someone else, that we can't find a ministry in the church or somebody else is already doing what I wanted to do - any number of excuses, and I don't want to say it too harshly, but that's what they are... - OR -
We can begin today by committing everything we have and everything we do to God's work. Then God will use us like He wants to use us. And you can be sure - if you want to be used for God's work, and if you commit yourself completely to God's work, He will use you. God has big plans for every one of us - if we'll let Him use us.
The plans may not be the ones you'd expect, or even the ones you want. You may not know that you've been useful at all - until you look back on your life and see God's fingerprints all over the hard times as well as the seemingly mundane.
There's no better time than right now to make a decision to give yourself completely to God. His plans are always better than our plans! Let Him bring out the very best in you for His kingdom work. Don't settle for just sitting and watching God work - He wants you to work alongside Him!