How God Builds The Church Part 1

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Brick by brick, God is building a home for Himself, a home in the hearts of those who make up the body of Christ, the Church. We who believe are becoming vital parts of the greatest construction job of all time, built on a solid foundation. To learn more, stay with us.

From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, there's so much to glean from studying Ephesians that it will take many weeks for us to even skim the surface. Tell us about today's focus on how God builds the Church.

Dave, first of all, I want to commend you for the way in which you gave that introduction, its content. It is so scriptural. You said, brick by brick, God is building His Church. Of course, the Apostle Paul speaks about stones being built together. What a marvelous opportunity it is for us to become a part of something greater than we are as God does the building.

Of course, he uses people, but I'm glad that you emphasize that God is the builder. We here at Running to Win are so excited to announce that during this month, you have the opportunity of doubling your ministry impact. For every gift that you give, it will be doubled thanks to some of our partners. A great opportunity to help us because we desire to expand this ministry and thank God in the next 12 months, we hope to go into three new languages. Here is how you can help us.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Thank you for becoming a part of God building His Church here in America, but also around the world. You ever wondered what God really is doing in the world today? He doesn't seem to be working out agendas very well.

If you read the newspapers, there seems to be a lot of chaos, which of course there is. But what is God's real agenda? What is He up to? That's the first question on today's discussion.

But secondly, there's another question too. What should we be up to? Once we find out where God is working, we get in line and we work where God is working. You know, there are books being written today who say that the church is obsolete and that God no longer is going to be working through the church as it exists and it must either change or die.

One book says that the church should no longer gather as a gathering of people but be in small groups where there's no authority to be consistent with what people want today and the church should maybe turn to become a computer network, so you go to church on the internet. Well, I want you to know today that that is not only unbiblical, but as we shall see, there are things that God can do for you in this congregation that He can never possibly do on the internet or in cyberspace, whatever that means. God is a builder, and I want you to take your Bibles and turn to the second chapter of the book of Ephesians, and we're going to be seeing that it is His desire, catch this, to build a place for Himself, and wouldn't you know that in His grace and mercy, you and I are involved and we become a part of that building.

Now, if I were to stop here and pronounce the benediction, that would have been worth coming to church for if all that you had done is to hear that, not even to mention all the blessed music that we've just had. God is in the building business, and we pick up the text in verse 19 of chapter 2, consequently you are no longer foreigners and aliens, and this of course relates to what we spoke about last time, that Jews and Gentiles are one and that God is a reconciling God, and He's saying to the Gentiles, you no longer are foreigners, and in those days foreigners had a tough time, they were often evil spoken against, they were discriminated against, and you are no longer an alien. Now, if you have an alien card, at least you're a part of society, you're a little closer, but He says it's not even that, it says you are fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household. There is a sense of belongingness among the members of the body of Jesus Christ. We can see that in meetings, such as took place here yesterday, we can see it all over the world. No matter where you travel, you meet a believer in Christ, someone who knows God through Christ, and you'll notice that they are different, and immediately you feel as if you know them, and you're a member of the household of God. Now what we'd like to do today is to take you on a tour. Sometimes I have the privilege of leading tours, and I like to give lectures at the various places, so what I'd like you to do is to come with me and we are going to inspect God's building. We're going to take a look at what God is doing and how we fit into His agenda. Is that clear enough?

I think so. Let's begin the journey. First of all, we're going to look at the foundation of the building. This is a building where there is a cutaway, where you can actually see down under, and you can see what God is doing.

Notice the text. It says you are fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. First feature of the building that we inspect is the foundation. The foundation of the apostles and prophets, that doesn't mean that they somehow usurped Jesus Christ's place, as we shall see in a moment, but they did get it started. It was they who preached the gospel first. It was they who wrote down the New Testament and gave us the sayings and the life of Jesus, and so they are really, in that sense, the foundation. But Jesus Christ himself is the cornerstone. When I was about 10 years old, I attended a church that they were dedicating, and they were having a cornerstone ceremony.

You know what a cornerstone is today, don't you? You can see one if you just go out of the lobby and go down the steps outside the church. You can see there the cornerstone of Moody Church. It's maybe four feet by three feet, and it was probably the last stone to be put into the building. And when I was younger and I saw this being done in a church in Canada, they put a Bible behind the cornerstone and a church bulletin and a hymnal, and then they sealed it up.

And I suppose that those items are still there. My dear friend, that's not the cornerstone that the Bible is talking about. In those days when they laid, you see, the foundation, the cornerstone was a huge stone, maybe 17 or 18 feet long, and it was quarried at right angles, so it determined the shape and the size of the building. And if the cornerstone was crooked, why, indeed, the whole building would be crooked. It was the stone around which all of the other stones would be built, and therefore the cornerstone was like a plum line. It determined the strength, as we shall see, but also the accuracy. And the integrity of the building. Now that's what Jesus is. He is the cornerstone.

Now let me ask you a question. Why is a foundation so very important when you're building? Well, first of all, because it determines the size of the building. The size. If you were to go in the loop when a building was being built, you could notice by the area that was being dug up and the depth of the foundation and its size, you could get some kind of an idea as to how many square feet there were going to be, at least at ground level.

The very same way, what Paul wants us to understand here is that Jesus Christ laid a foundation stone and that cornerstone is big enough to have both Jew and Gentile and male and female and rich and poor and Hispanic and African American and Anglos. That foundation is able to bear all that. It is big enough. It determines the size of the building. But it also determines the strength of the building. Now when you go along Lakeshore Drive sometime and you see the standard oil building, believe it or not, I was in Chicago when that was built. Of course, it's a recent building, as you might know, and I had the opportunity of going to the top when it was just a steel frame because I was good friends with a man who had the responsibility of giving guidance to the company that built it. But one of the things that we noticed even at that time was the depth of the foundation. He told me that the foundation of that standard oil building goes down to bedrock. They kept digging and digging and then they poured concrete in there.

Why? One of the things they wanted to do is to make sure that even if Chicago had an earthquake, that standard oil building is supposed to be able to withstand an earthquake and it will keep standing. Now in the very same way, you see, when you look at the standard oil building today, of course you don't see the foundation.

All that you see is the superstructure, but you know for sure it must have an incredibly good foundation to be able to hold it, but you don't see it. You know, in the very same way, people don't see Jesus Christ. I've never had a vision of him.

I'm very skeptical of those who say they have had because there are all kinds of visions of people that sometimes reveal themselves and they may be from the other side of the spirit world, but the scripture says regarding Christ, whom having not seen, we love. We love him though we have not seen him, but here's the point. You see, just as you can't see the foundation, people can't see Christ, but when they see us, they should assume that a very, very good foundation must be there because we have no explanation for our lives and our ability to be able to withstand the storms of life except for the fact that we are built on solid rock. Beneath us there is firm footing. So Jesus, you see, becomes the foundation stone for us, and by the way, when you meet somebody, it's important to know not only their appearance and what they do and all that.

All that though is superficial. What you want to know is their foundation. Are they built on something that is unseen but very, very strong and firm? So that's the foundation is Jesus of this building.

Well, we continue our tour and now we're going to look at the stones. You'll notice that the text says, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ himself as the chief cornerstone. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

The whole building is joined together. The idea is stones and you and I are stones. That's the imagery that is used here. You remember in Solomon when he built his temple, the scripture says in 1 Kings that they went into the quarry and they quarried all of the stones and they actually polished the stones there and they measured them and then when they brought them to the temple area, there was not even the sound of a hammer that was heard, but all the stones fit together because that's the way in which they were quarried. Here's what God does. God goes into the quarry of sin. He sees this person who is a victim of all kinds of evils and he takes that stone and he quarries it and says, I'm going to use this for my building. Here's another person who's been addicted to alcohol or drugs or prostitution or possibly it's a person who's one of those good people who's never done these things, the kind of person who thinks that his goodness or badness is so wonderfully balanced that he should get into heaven just by the strength of his own record. And those people are harder, by the way, to quarry. Those are the more difficult stones, but what God does is he takes them and he goes into that quarry and then he brings them out and he says, these are the stones that I'm going to use for the building and he begins to build that temple and here is John and Peter and Mike and Frank and here's Sally and Mary and Tammy and all of these people then become stones in the building that God is constructing and we could go up and down the aisles today with a microphone and many of you could give testimony and say, yes, exactly. That's me because I was in the quarry of sin.

I was controlled by it. I was self-righteous and Jesus saved me and he made me a member of the body and a member of the temple that he's building. Now let's look at the Bible. It says that this temple, the whole building is joined together and it grows together. It rises. That's what my translation says. The new American standard says that it is growing together. Here it says it rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. It is a growing temple. Now you see the stones, they push and they pull one another and that's why you see it's important to know other believers.

You can't do this on the internet. You can only do it when you're in contact with others. Stone upon stone, stone upon stone and then the stones rub against each other and they polish one another and they hone one another and they make sure that the fitting becomes better and better. Isn't that what the body of Jesus Christ is all about? God puts you next to somebody either physically here in church or in a friendship and the friendship of course is the most important and he uses people and he uses people and what he's trying to do is to build that wall and sometimes there are stones that don't seem to fit. Have you ever met a stone that just does not seem to fit?

A stone that you would like to suggest should go to another temple here in the city of Chicago of which there are others. Listen to me carefully, when God wants to do a deep work in our lives he uses circumstances. When he wants to do a deeper work in our lives he uses people.

People who sometimes disappoint us, people who bless us, people who encourage us, people who let us down, people who don't live up to our expectations. He uses all that and all that you see is part of the polishing and the shining and the fitting together in the Lord. Look at the person who's sitting next to you and I'll give you permission to do that right now.

Just look at the person who's sitting next to you. They are a stone in the building and they are being fitted and those of you who did the looking you also are a stone in the building. First time at Moody Church one stone has actually looked at another stone but that's what God is doing.

He's making us fit. Now how far have we come on the tour? We've looked at the foundation, we've looked at the stones and now we have to discuss something else.

What's the purpose of all this? You know there are some buildings that are very famous because of the person who built them or the architect, Frank Lloyd Wright here in the city. We have people coming from all over looking at the buildings that he was the architect for. He's the one who designed the buildings so they're important because he designed them. Then there are some buildings who are important because of somebody who visited them. God willing when I go to Germany next month we will be again in the Wartburg Castle where I've been four or five times and we'll actually be in that room where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German about 10 feet by 10 feet in diameter or perhaps just a little bigger than that and and that's one of the reasons we visited it because because we want to be where a famous person was. There's another reason why a building can become important and that is because of the occupant. Many years ago and it is many many years ago my wife and I were in England and we saw actually the Buckingham Palace and we didn't see the Queen unfortunately she didn't come and invite us for tea we hope that that would happen but there was no no deal that afternoon but we saw Buckingham Palace.

I took a picture of my wife standing up against the gates of Buckingham Palace that's as far as we got we just weren't that lucky. Now listen the reason that this building is so important. Are you ready for this?

Everyone awake at this juncture. The reason this building is so important is because God has laid the foundation we're the stones and he's building a temple in which he himself delights to dwell and this temple is important because that's where God dwells that's where God dwells. You'll notice that the text says verse 22 we become a holy temple in the Lord and in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit.

Wow. Well this is Pastor Lutzer running to win of course is not the church but running to win is totally committed to help the church and we do so by discipling people leading people to Jesus Christ and doing all that we can to extend the net so to speak so that more people will come to faith in him. I'm holding in my hands a letter from someone who says I'm a single mom of a teenage daughter sometimes I fear for the future but your preaching of God's Word keeps me grounded. I listen to your messages with my daughter and then she goes on to say that they both have fear of the future but our ministry emphasizes that God is in control and he is able to forgive us for our sins. My friend today you are a part of this ministry it's because of people like you we can reach single people married people children and we can expand around the world and also this is the period of time when you can double your ministry gift. Here's how you can do it if you send in your gift this month it will be doubled. Now I need to give you some info very quickly I hope that you have a pen or pencil here's what you do go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 thanks in advance for helping us we're expanding this ministry to reach more millions of people with the gospel.

Go to rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone right now call us at 1-888-218-9337 thanks so much for helping us. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Lee listens to Running to Win on BBN 91.1 in South Carolina he says in recent radio broadcasts dealing with David's sin with Bathsheba you mentioned how God blessed David with wives plural if David's multiple wives were a blessing from God how can we argue that the Bible defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman how could God bless someone with something that's against his plan.

Well Lee I want you to know that you have asked your question very well you've pinpointed an issue that has been a matter of discussion really throughout many years but first of all let me say that when we argue that the Bible teaches one man one woman marriage we have to go back to the beginning Genesis where God clearly states that and also in the Old Testament book of Proverbs for example you have an emphasis on one man and one woman now it is true that in the Old Testament God tolerated polygamy and this was done I think as a concession to the culture but interestingly and perhaps I misspoke if you're quoting me correctly on a previous broadcast interestingly nowhere is polygamy approved by God explicitly one could argue that it was approved implicitly but nowhere is that stated so in the Old Testament it was something that God put up with but also notice everyone who had multiple wives all of the difficulties that were created as a result there was no easy relationships here brokenness fills the pages of the Bible in those stories where a man had more than one wife and so what we need to do is to realize though that the original regulation of God confirmed by the way in the New Testament in several different places is one man for one woman and that has to be upheld within the marriage relationship as God's ideal and God's expected ideal particularly during this era. Some wise words from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you Dr. Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Dr. Erwin Lutzer has concluded how God builds the church, the eighth message in a series on Between Heaven and Earth, taken from the book of Ephesians. Next time on Running to Win we'll see the final touches God will make to His holy temple, the church, as the place where His Spirit dwells. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.