How God Builds The Church Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Is God passive, watching as we scurry about on the earth below?

No, He's quite active, working out a plan. Paul tells us that God is building for Himself a temple. It's called the Church, a place for His dwelling through His Spirit. Today, we learn to take our places in that Church seriously.

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, the Church on earth is hardly monolithic, with a wide number of denominations and fellowships all claiming they've found God's truth as they understand it. How does God build a unified temple for Himself with bricks of so many types? Dave, your intro mentioned two differences that exist within the Church.

One has to do with the issue of nationality and race. Thankfully, God takes people from various backgrounds, various ethnicities, and He is indeed building a glorious temple for Himself. But also, you mentioned denominations, and there are many reasons why we differ oftentimes on things that are not essential. But at the same time, the true Church is always united on the gospel of Jesus Christ and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. And God, as you mentioned, is building His Church. I love this passage from the book of Ephesians that emphasizes the fact that God is the builder, and He has something in mind. He is building Himself a habitation in the Spirit, and thankfully, we are a part of it.

As a matter of fact, at the end of this message, I'm going to give you an opportunity to help us as we continue to strengthen the Church and get the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible. For now, let us listen. 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. There are two different ways in which God lives with His people. One is He indwells us. The moment you become a Christian, as you did, Phil, a number of years ago, and God did change your life, by the way, the minute that happened, you see, the Holy Spirit of God comes to indwell us. The Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, you are indwelt by the Spirit. And it says in Romans, he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his. You don't belong to God unless you have God dwelling in you. You say, well, God dwells everywhere.

Yes, but He is localized. He brings His special presence to His believers and He indwells them. As God hath said, I will dwell with them and walk with them, and they shall be my people and I shall be their God. So you get into your car and you're driving along the Kennedy Expressway and God is with you because He indwells you and you ride the L, and God is with you as you ride the L, and aren't you glad that He is as you ride the L? God is with you, all right? But it is not just that God dwells in His people, God also dwells among His people. We're talking about a different presence of God. Did you know that there's a sense in which, when we gather together in the name of Christ to worship as we have done today, that God dwells among us in a very special way? You know, it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14.

I read it last night because I wanted to comment on it today. It says that when somebody comes into your church, into your church service, there should be people who are prophesying in language that people can understand, not in strange tongues — that's Paul's argument because the people in Corinth were using those tongues inadvisedly — but he said the reason that that should do it is so that if an unbeliever comes in, the secrets of his heart shall be exposed, and he shall fall on a space and say, surely God is among you. Wow. Do you know what should happen at the Moody Church, 1609, North LaSalle Street in Chicago? Do you know what should happen? Unbelievers should come in. And they should see, by the way in which we sing, by the way in which we talk to one another, by the glow that is on our faces, by the way in which we relate, by the word that is preached and the songs that are sung, they should say, surely God dwells with those people. That's what they should say.

Oh, I desire it. You know, it is said that when the ships came from England during the first great awakening in America, that sometimes the sailors, when they were still on the ship, fell on their face before God and they repented of their sins before their feet even touched American soil because they began to sense that in New England God was doing something so wonderful and so profound and people were being smitten with conviction that they thought they had better get their hearts right with God before they actually got in the very presence of the preaching that was taking place. You know, how can you pray for Moody Church? And many of you are on our prayer wall, but there still is room for more, isn't there? How can you pray? Well, you pray many things, but you pray that the presence of God would be there so that when unbelievers walk in, they say those people are different.

Surely God dwells there because God dwells in his people, but God also dwells among his people. You know, by the way, that's why it's so important that you just don't blow off church, stay home and stay on the Internet. You know, it's because it's because God is here and this is serious business.

I'll tell you, this is serious business. This is why we believe in church membership, because once you become a stone, figuratively speaking, in the building and God leads you to this particular, this particular congregation, this is not small stuff. You know, it says in 1 Corinthians, if any man destroy the temple of God, him God will destroy. You come and you be critical of the temple and you do not contribute to the temple in your spiritual way and in your time and your talents and your treasure, but you alienate yourself from the temple, from the people of God.

It's serious business. God says he'll destroy you. You know, there are some times when church splits may be necessary over certain doctrinal issues, over certain moral issues and all kinds of things, but there are times when it's based on simply preference or power. Somebody wants to exert his power. Somebody was telling me about a church split like that in which there were six people who tried all that they possibly could to destroy the church and they pretty well did it. That is the local congregation and he told me later that within about a year and a half, five of the six were dead. God says you destroy my temple.

I will destroy you. It's serious business. This is where God dwells. This is where God dwells. Maybe that's why when we come into the auditorium and prepare for worship, we could be very reverent and we could be quiet and we could have our heads bowed.

It's one thing after the service to meet our friends, but may we come in with a sense of reverence and not think that we can come in late because after all you aren't graded on your attendance. No, we're talking about the house of God where he dwells. I'd like to make a couple of very important lessons from what we've learned. We've looked at the foundation, Jesus Christ. We've looked at the stones that's you and me. We've looked at the occupant of the building, who is the architect also, namely God. God. But I want you to notice in the text, first of all, that God is doing the work. He is doing, he's the architect indeed.

Now, this is not as clear in this translation as it is in some, but there are three passive verbs here. It says in verse 20 that we are being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. You'll notice in verse 21, it says that we are being joined or fitted together. And verse 22, we are being built together. Who's doing all the work here?

Who's doing the building and the fitting? It's God. Have you ever thought of how wonderful it is for me as a pastor to simply remind God of the fact that the people of Moody Church are his and not mine? You know, there are people you meet and you say, God, I'm just glad that that person is yours. Occasionally, not often, but maybe once every five years, we meet someone like that because all of you are so nice. What I'm talking about sometimes, you know, Sunday school teacher, listen to me.

You know those kids that are driving you crazy? Would you remember that God is the one who is building them and quarrying them and fitting them? And would you remember that all of us at some time drove our Sunday school teacher crazy?

Would you remember that? Listen, this is serious business. God is at work in that classroom. God is at work during our club programs. God is at work in our prayer meeting.

It is, it is God who is doing it all. And we had better recognized that it is his work and we, we yield it to him and we depend upon him because we know that if he doesn't do it, it doesn't get done. But we're talking about the miracles of God. Yesterday, my prayer partners met with me. We had about 10 men here for two hours sharing and praying. And as they were, I sit on a chair and they come and they encircle me and put their hands on me and pray for me. And one of them mentioned in their prayers a very good point. He says that surely God has done this. You don't get 10 men to take part of a Saturday morning to come down to pray at a church and to share prayer requests and to believe God together. That has to be of God.

You can't find 10 men in the world who would do that even if you paid them. You have hundreds of women meeting together for, to demonstrate reconciliation. That isn't something that you can just plan and you can pull all the stops and suddenly they appear. They will not appear except for the fact that God works in their life and they desire to be one with one another and they, and they seek the healing and the strength of God. God is at work. God is at work.

How encouraging. You mean to say as one book predicted that the church is going to be out of existence? I mean, who are you kidding?

Whose, whose project is this anyway? You mean the almighty God for whom Jesus Christ shed his blood for the church? You mean that is going to go out of existence when Jesus said that the gates of hell are not going to prevail against it? Give me a break. Give me a break. It's God who's the architect. We are God showpiece.

We're God showpiece. You see, it is God's intention that when people come to this place, we mirror God. We mirror God because believe it or not, they will judge our God by our conduct and our relationships and by our worship.

They will judge our God according to that. Somebody was telling me the other day that he was in a certain situation and I not free to say what lest it be misinterpreted, but it was supposed to be a time of worship and a time of reverence and people were sitting outside during this ceremony and, and they were, they were talking on their cell phones and they were whispering and they were there. Now what does that say about the presence of God there?

What does it say about it? We're God showpiece. We're God showpiece because here is the place where it happens.

God is among us. Finally, whatever God does, of course, it will endure. You know, remember the book of Ephesians was written to the people at Ephesus and you remember their huge goddess Diana and they said, great is Diana of the Ephesians. She was their goddess and you know, you can go there and there are ruins today at Ephesus, I'm told. Just ruins and everything is gone, but you know what God did is going to endure.

The people who received this letter from the Apostle Paul as they followed it and as they walked with God, what they did continues to this day and will continue forever and ever and ever in heaven. And that's why Augustine said when Rome was destroyed, he said, whatever men build, men will destroy. The standard oil building will someday be destroyed.

No doubt about it. It will last a long time, but it will not last forever. Whatever men build, men will destroy. Let's get on with the business, he said, of building the kingdom of God because that will endure forever. Now if you could just see into my heart at this moment, and of course I mean that figuratively, what you would find is someone who is trying to say to you with all of the strength that he can and hopefully some clarity, in light of the fact that we physically are not going to endure forever and we are going to have to give an account of Jesus Christ for the way in which we lived. Should we not pour ourselves into the people of God and into the work of God and into the temple of God, recognizing that it is only what we do for Jesus Christ that will indeed last as the little jingle says it, only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last. So why are we running around doing all kinds of things that won't last forever? Why are we trying to climb that ladder?

Why aren't we, why are we trying to be somebody when it won't matter in a hundred years whether or not we were somebody or not in the eyes of others and the world? God says I'm in the building business. And what he wants us to do is to come and say look, you're the stones, so you represent the walls and I am the occupant. I cannot believe that this is in the Bible but there it is, last part of verse 22, to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit.

In a few moments the service is going to be over. The way you conduct yourselves after this service, the people whom you meet, the friendships you make, the talk that you have, all of that is to represent the dwelling place of God. God is in his people but God is among his people. And next Sunday when people come here who do not know Christ they should say surely God is among those people. Now listen there may be some people who are listening and you're saying that you know they're saying you know you folks really do know God. I urge you today to come and believe in Jesus Christ, give up all trust in your own righteousness, all of the rituals upon which you depend, we urge you in the name of Jesus, shed those and come to Jesus as you are and say I'm a sinner and I receive the gift of eternal life.

That's the message you see that will take you from the quarry of sin and make you a member of God's household so that you can get on with the building of God's temple. Believe in him today, we're talking about eternal important matters and if you will let us pray. Father, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for giving us the privilege of being a part of your household. Thank you for letting us be stones in the building.

Thank you that we can be fitted together, that we can be polished by the people sitting next to us, by the interrelationships. We pray Father today that your spirit might do its work in our hearts and thank you that we are building a place where God dwells. We pray that this sanctuary which is just really brick and mortar and rug and tile might be transformed into a place where people recognize that surely God dwells here among his people. May that be so evident that they will not be able to miss it.

May there be people who indeed fall on their faces and say surely God is here because this is your building and we are your people. Father, complete the work that you've begun. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Well this is Pastor Lutzer. One of the things that really excites me is the fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ saves people worldwide and God is building his church from various countries. I'm holding in my hands a letter from someone who listens to us on one of the radio stations in South Africa. This listener is in South Africa and writes, running to win is a great program which has always been my source of spiritual food. Your program ministers to me personally and I have become a source of inspiration to many other people in my church and this person attributes their spiritual growth to this ministry. I have to say my friend that you are a part of this ministry. Would you consider becoming an endurance partner as we continue to expand the ministry of running to win to even more countries?

Here's what you can do. Go to RTWOfferer.com. RTWOfferer.com and when you're there you click on the endurance partner button. You'll discover that endurance partners, they pray for us, they contribute regularly.

Of course the amount that you contribute is entirely your decision. You can find out all the info you need. Go to RTWOfferer.com, click on the endurance partner button or call us at 1-888-218-9337. And I want to thank you in advance for helping us. We have one desire and that is to spread the good news of the gospel to even more countries.

Go to RTWOfferer.com, click on the endurance partner button or call us at 1-888-218-9337. As I already mentioned, we want to thank the many of you who are a part of this ministry and those of you who are being led right now to also join Running to Win. It's time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. For many, life's heartache is almost too much to bear.

An anonymous woman tells this story. Our gay son has HIV and is living at home. He never brings gay people to the house. My husband, who is a Christian, is constantly berating him and talking disparagingly about homosexuals. It's working against our son turning to Christ. You can't hurt someone into salvation.

What's a broken-hearted mother to do? Well, mother, first of all, I'm captivated by your phrase. You can't hurt someone into salvation. How right you are. Your husband needs repentance.

He really does. His self-righteous attitude is destroying your son. It's destroying the family. It's dishonoring to God. Okay, your son is gay and has HIV.

I get that. But thankfully, he does not bring gay friends into your home, according to your question. And what we must do as human beings is to be able to accept people even when we disagree strongly with their sin. You know, when we pray for our children, one of the things that we should do is to pray, first of all, for ourselves. That's so critical that we might be able to approach our children and even wayward children with a sense of brokenness and humility. It seems to me that your husband, whom you say is a Christian, your husband has never really seen his own sin. If he were to, he would be on his knees in deep repentance, and he would be loving his son.

He is an example of the kind of Christian that oftentimes indeed does turn people off to Christ. What should you do? Obviously, you've done what you can. You need somebody else to intervene in this home. You need somebody else to speak to him and to help him to understand that what he is doing is wrong and destructive. Somebody else needs to help him see his own need and his own sin. I pray that God will enable you to work something out whereby he will be brought to reality and that your son will be brought to Christ. Jesus said that he did not come to bring the righteous but sinners to repentance. Is your son a sinner?

Yes, he's a candidate for grace. Some compassionate counsel 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. 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 we go further in our study as we hear a message on The Mystery Solved. Don't miss our next broadcast. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.