God's Glorious Church
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Introduction: Last week I had the joy of spending the Lord’s Day with my home church celebrating 150 years of gathering together as a church. There were many testimonies and stories shared that highlight the fact that God’s church is a glorious church. However, none of those memories testified to the glory of God’s church like the truth we discover in Ephesians 2:22.
In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
God has always had a plan to be present with His people. Today, as we consider the beauty and glory of what it means to be a part of Jesus’ church we are going to discover this wonderful reality.
God’s Church is glorious because He dwells with His people.
God’s Church is glorious because He dwells with His people.
Transition: Turn your copy of God’s word to Ephesians chapter 2:19-22
Jesus’ Church is being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. The reason God’s Church is glorious is not because she always has her makeup on. Its not because the body is without blemish but rather that those blemishes are being sanctified by Christ that He might present to Himself a bride without spots or wrinkles! Plainly, the church is glorious because God is with us. His presence makes His church beautiful.
Transition: Now this is not a new idea in the least. I want you to track with me through the Scripture to see how God has always had a plan to be with His people. Notice first…
God created His people to dwell in His presence and reproduce His glory throughout the earth. (Adam, Eden, Sin, Noah, Babel and the scattering of the nations) Gen. 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
2. God promises to be the God of His people (Abraham Gen. 17:7)
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
3. God establishes the pattern of His presence with His people. Exodus 33:12-16 (Moses, Law, Tabernacle) in order to be a witness to the surrounding nations.
Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”
4. God’s preserves His promise through seasons of obedience and rebellion. (Joshua, Judges 21:25 , Kings- The nation asked Samuel to anoint them a king like the other nations when God wanted to be their king. Saul= Didn't work out. David= on his best day revealed the nation need for a true king. On his worst day was an idolatrous, murdering, liar. Solomon= started well and ended in failure. Which launched the nation of Israel into years of division, rebellion, and eventually God’s merciful judgment using other nations to take them into captivity. Be careful asking for what we want rather than what we need, God may just give it to us. However, we see through this history a glimpse of hope even in the way they sang to one another. )
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
5. God’s presence is the song of His people. (Psalm 46)
To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
6. God’s presence is a prophetic promise to His people. (Is. 7:14, Ezk. 36:22-28)
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
7. Jesus, is God in the flesh, dwelling with His people. (John 1:14)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
8. Jesus life, death, burial, and Resurrection is the fulfillment of His promise. Jesus makes it possible for God the Spirit to not only be with His people but be in them. (John 14:17)
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
9. This was the reality on the day of Pentecost when Jesus birthed His church. According to Acts chapter two God was with His people in a permanent way like He had not been before.
10. God is building His people into His dwelling place! (Eph. 2:22) As Stephen preached in Acts chapter 7, The Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands…
11. God’s presence is the hope of His people. This is true today because the Holy Spirit indwells His people, but one day we will dwell with Him not by faith , but by sight in His very presence. (Rev. 21:1-4) A place to go to help us answer this question would be the vision of Heaven that John recorded on the Lord's day when he was exiled on the Island of Patmos. This is why for centuries the church has repeatedly preached heaven as our great home and this earth as a temporary dwelling. In heaven we will be with God, in His presence, without any hindrance of the flesh. In the book of Revelation we see God being loved supremely. I’d encourage you to read through the last book of the Bible with that thought in mind and prayerfully ask our Father to have His will on earth as it is in Heaven.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Transition: How does God’s presence make His Church glorious? Implication.. the so what difference does God’s presence make?
God’s presence helps His people make Him known.
God’s presence helps His people make Him known.
God is dwelling with us, and helping us love those not yet a part of the church.
Transition: We are going to slow down and focus our attention on 4 ways that God’s presence promotes evangelism among His church. We might say these are key ways that God’s presence helps us to witness to the world.
Anytime someone brings up the topic of evangelism or witnessing we may each have different ideas that come to our mind. I might immediately feel guilty because I think that's not something I often do. I might shrink back and say I can check out at this point because I’m not gifted in that area of church life. Sadly, much of our response to Jesus’ command to be His witnesses is rooted more in the stigma that Christianity has placed upon evangelism rather than a clear Biblical understanding of what witnessing is. We are going to focus on 4 very important aspects of witnessing that come out of the truth of God’s presence with His people.
Gathering
Gathering
1 Cor 14:23-25 God’s glorious church is specially inhabited with His presence when we gather together. When we gather , and there are among us those who do not belong to Christ they hear the word of are witnessed to He is with us. But notice the corporate nature all throughout the Scriptures of God’s presence. He doesn't isolate His presence to individuals, but to His whole body. Do we want to obey God and make His glory known? Do we want to be evangelistic and see those who are lost without Christ brought to faith in Christ? Then here, gathering together on the Lord’s Day, is a great place to start!
If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
Love
Love
John 13:35 God’s people are identifiable because of the way we love one another.
This is why we treat one another with… I Cor. 13:4-7
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Power
Power
John 15:26-27 God’s people witness because the Spirit bears witness to Christ.
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
We must fill ourselves with the Spirit inspired word so that He can illuminate our mind and mouth when its time to witness. Empowered by the Spirit, we speak the gospel of Christ. When we are saturated with His gospel, His word will flow out when the press is put on us. (Matthew 10:16 Example) This isn’t about speaking the right formula, but depending on the Holy Spirit so that in every opportunity we speak by His power the words of the gospel.
In a culture that seems to be more and more hostile to Christ let His church be reminded that by His power we will gloriously testify to His name!
Hope
Hope
Ephesians 2:12 , I Peter 3:13-17 God’s people are ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us. (example: imagine having this conversation at work, school, around lunch today, or the drive home.... The world is going crazy, there so much evil and chaos going on…
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
Closing: Philippians 4:4-7 God’s church is glorious because He is with His people. He is building us into His dwelling place. He is forming Christ in His people. He has granted us His presence that we might love Him, love one another, and witness this hope we have to the world. Lets pray and ask His help to remain faithful stewards of His presence.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.