Brick by Brick: Building the Kingdom

Introduction

How many of you enjoy building things? Perhaps you like to build things out of wood or metal to be able to use. Perhaps you like to build things out of existing parts like a car or computer. Perhaps you prefer to build things out of plastic legos. Legos, while yes, they are a pain to step on, can bring a whole lot of fun to a family. Creativity can go into overdrive and 200 legos can be used to make many different objects! Having a curious and at times destructive son, legos are a hit more often than not. Gabriel will hand me a lego and I’ll connect it to another one and within a couple of seconds we have a structure being built a couple of inches off the ground. The building process is going great and after a minute or two, what does Gabriel do? Gabriel loves to knock the structure down and start from scratch. Every time he knocks the legos down he chuckles and smiles from ear to ear before handing me one in hopes that I’ll build something else for him to destroy.

As one who loves legos and as one who at times thinks too deeply about things, I think it’s easy to look at a structure of legos and compare it to our life as a whole. There are different parts and different pieces that are important to different seasons of our life. Sometimes life is hard and we’re stretched really thin and we wonder how things will work out or where this piece will fit. In the moment, these moments are difficult and they seem like they will ruin everything… Yet, whenever you step back you’re able to see that even those big, bulky, good for nothing pieces have a purpose and that they are not the end. They often add a new area for other, easier pieces, to build on top of.

Just as a tower of legos can relate to the chapters of our life, they can also represent each one of us as individuals. We read in the Bible that we, as Christians, are a part of the Kingdom of God. We’re a part of the body of Christ 1 Corinthians 12 talks about this in detail as does Romans 12 as we find this

Romans 12:4–5 CSB

4 Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

There are many parts and functions, but there is one body. There are many legos but there is one structure. We as Christians look different and have various giftings from one another. Yet, we read in the Bible that we’re all a part of the body of Christ. Therefore, there is work to be done together to fulfill our purpose as a group. The enemy would love to come in and, like Gabriel does to me sometimes, knock our structure down and get us divided into individual legos. He’d love to get us to look at ourselves. This isn’t our calling according to the Word, though. We’re united! We have a task ahead. We need one another now more than ever before. This morning, our last Sunday morning together, let’s look at how we are to live as members of the Kingdom fulfilling our God-given responsibilities.

2 Timothy 4:1–5 CSB

1 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom: 2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. 3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. 4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

This text of Scripture is commonly preached during ordination services, if you’ve ever taken part in one. Many pastors will commission a young minister or deacon and encourage them in the way that Paul does to Timothy in this passage. Paul is nearing his end here in 2 Timothy 4. His time is almost here and he senses it if you read to the end of the chapter. Yet, Paul isn’t discouraged! He boldly states that the Lord has strengthened him in the past and that the Lord will bring him safely into His kingdom. Paul lives with this “already/not yet” mindset. He is saved but he’s not yet in glory. He’s been redeemed but he’s not yet perfected. He has hope but he’s not without hardships. Paul knew that he was living in the “already/not yet” reality. We are as well. We know that Christ has come and He has poured out His Spirit. In doing this, we read in the Gospels that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The last days are upon us! But the last day is not yet here. So, how do we live in the already/not yet? How do we play our part in the Kingdom of Heaven while living on earth? Paul, nearing his death, exhorts Timothy and encourages him to do several things that we should be prepared to do as well. Let’s look at 4 specific things from this text that we must all do in the days ahead as we look at this text.

1. Proclaim the Gospel (1-2)

Why do you do what you do? Sometimes whenever children are in school they are asked what they want to be whenever they grow up. The answers vary from child to child, but many of them have a reason as to why they want to do that occupation. They’ll say, “I want to be a teacher because my grandma was a teacher” or, “I want to be a doctor because my dad is a doctor” or, “I want to be a stay at home mom because that’s what my mom does.” Students have reasons as to why they want to do things in the future. Why do you do what you do? There are some things that we simply have to do. We have to earn an income to provide, sure. We have to do tasks in order to get through each day, sure. But what is the motivation behind those things? If it’s to just get through each day then we’ll be tempted to do the bare minimum and to call it good. We’ll just survive and get to the next day - while we all have these days at times, this isn’t the most healthy way to live. What should be the motivation behind why we do things? We have to remember that we have been given a task from God - the Creator of the Universe has a plan for your life and He expects you as a Christian to proclaim His truth to others.

Danny Akin shares in his commentary on this text that it’s easy to think that we’re not really noticed by others. We can slack off a little here or there, we can take the easy way out, we can just slide on through and no one will care because they won’t even know what happened. If our motivation behind working hard or doing something is to provide or please ourself then we’ll be tempted to take shortcuts left and right when no one is looking… Yet, whenever we correctly understand that we serve an audience of 1, we will take the task at hand seriously.

Paul charges Timothy before God. What does this mean? It means this: The opinions of others aren’t our number 1 priority. God’s approval is what matters most of all.

If God’s opinion matters most of all, what does God want us to do? Verse 2 shares that we are to preach the Word and to be ready in season and out of season. Now, not everyone is a preacher, sure, but we are all called to be witnesses for Christ

Acts 1:8 CSB

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

What does this mean? To be a witness is literally the word martyr. We are to be witnesses of who Jesus Christ is. This means that we share the Gospel truth with others and we stand up for what Scripture says. We should always be ready to share the Gospel and to correct others who are going astray, to rebuke false teachers, and to encourage those who are struggling. Friends, we are living in a world of people who are drowning in depression, overwhelmed with oppression, and absolutely confused by anxiety. What does our world need now so desperately? We need to be encouraged by the Word of God. We need the life changing grace that only Jesus can provide! How can we provide this to our world? By proclaiming the Gospel to others.

In the years ahead, proclaim the Gospel. Don’t just offer traditional suggestions or advice given to you from your great grandparents. Don’t offer political platitudes. Proclaim Jesus. Jesus is enough. Proclaim His Gospel and watch Him work in the lives of others. As AW Tozer once said, “A fearful world needs a fearless church.”

2. Remain True to the Word (3)

As the Gospel is proclaimed, there will be some opposition. In Paul’s day we read about some of this opposition in the verses that follow in chapter 4. We read that several people deserted Paul to go to different places because they loved the things of this world. This was a common theme in Biblical times, you could either love the things of this world or you could love the Word, but you couldn’t have both. There must be a priority. There must be a first love, to borrow from Revelation 2 with the church at Ephesus forgetting its first love. What comes first to you? Ask yourself: Do I care more about the comforts of the world or do I care more about conforming to God’s Word?

If our answer is the Word then we must remain true to it because many people in our world will reject the Word. People in the New Testament encountered people who wanted to mix the Gospel with something else. The Romans would’ve been tempted to mix Jesus with their preexisting pantheon of gods and goddesses. Other gentiles would’ve been tempted to mix Jesus with something else. Jesus + anything = nothing.

People in our world do the same thing. They mix Jesus with culture. They mix Jesus with politics. They mix Jesus with what they want to think. Friends, why is this the case? Because people want to have their ears tickled. They don’t want the Gospel, they want a pat on the back. They don’t want a savior who will call them to repent of their sin, they want a teacher who affirms them in their sin. That’s the moral genie that America thinks Jesus is but that is not the King Jesus of the Bible.

There will be opposition. Therefore, we must remain true to the Word.

A while ago I ran into someone who asked me what the biggest problem facing the American church is… I had to think about it for a while but I eventually answered by saying the greatest problem is this: Is the Bible true? How we answer this question will say all that needs to be said about our trajectory as a church and as individuals. If you believe the Bible is true then you must live accordingly. If you believe the Bible is truth then you can’t live in opposition to the Bible because you know that to do so is to live in sin and the Bible calls sinners to repent. Yet, many churchgoers don’t believe that the Bible is true. Less than 1/4 Americans believe that the Bible is true. Many churchgoers agree with this. If the Bible isn’t true then why believe what it says whenever our culture says something different? Why not just go with the flow instead of standing out?

Paul encourages Timothy to preach the Gospel because people want to have their ears tickled. People want the same today. There are many teachers who will tickle your ears if you listen close enough. They’ll comfort you in your sins and make you feel really good about yourself. They’ll rarely use the words sin, repent, or condemnation. What should our response be? To avoid such people and to stay true to the Word even when that brings about conflict.

3. Always Stand With Confidence (4)

Just as people want to have their ears tickled, they are also turning away from the truth and looking to false ideologies and theories to govern their lives. Many atheists make the following claim: I don’t believe in the Bible because it’s a book of myths written by men thousands of years ago. If this were true, we would have no reason to stand with confidence on what the Bible says. Is this claim true, though? The Bible answers differently than people do. The Bible says that Scripture is trustworthy because it is inspired by none other than the Creator of the Cosmos

2 Timothy 3:16 CSB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

If Scripture is inspired by God then we can confidently knock down the idea that it was written by men and contains the ideas of humans. The Bible is God-breathed. Therefore we affirm what it says. Yet, we know that there are many today who hear the Bible and turn away from it. What do they often turn toward? They turn to something else! Sometimes it is science, other times it is a different religion, some even turn to some sort of agnosticism. To turn away from the truth is always a bad thing. To stop believing in the truth is a very bad thing. To reject the King of the Universe is the worst thing someone can do!

How do we avoid turning away? We must stand with confidence upon His Word.

Paul talks about salvation coming from hearing the Word in Romans 10 as he notes

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Jesus says that those who have ears should hear

Matthew 11:15 CSB

15 Let anyone who has ears listen.

What must we listen to? Motivational speeches? Self-help workshops? Encouraging messages? No. We must listen to the Word and let the word change us - we must not think that we should change the Word or filter the Word through our preferences and likes and dislikes. We stand firm on what the Word of God says and we share its truth with others - even those who reject it.

In the days to come, many people will reject the Word and many churchgoers will turn away from it. This begins slowly, usually. A churchgoer who believes in the Bible one day will not suddenly reject it the next. Normally it’s a process that starts like this: There are difficult passages and stories in the Bible for us to understand properly. Therefore, we gloss over them and never study them because we don’t like them. As we continue to go on in our lives people ask us what we believe and we answer by saying that we are Christians and they talk about how they used to be a Christian until they really studied the Bible. As time goes on, we look back on those tough passages and stories and instead of admitting that we are wrong for rejecting them, we think that the Bible has it wrong. As soon as we believe that the Bible is wrong about a story or idea in one place, that seed of doubt is cast with every passage we read afterward. It’s a slow fade. One day you reject the virgin birth. The next day you reject the resurrection. The next day you reject Jesus being a literal person. At that moment, you stop believing in anything the Bible says.

Don’t do this! Don’t replace the truth with a myth. In the difficult days ahead, stand firm on the Word and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you and reveal the truth to our sinful hearts.

4. Yield to God’s Call (5)

As we allow the Bible to change us, we also have to allow the Bible to tell us how we should live and act. The final verse in our text contains several commands from Paul to Timothy and these commands are anything but easy. In high school I was a part of the Ozark High School marching band and I absolutely loved those sweet years of life. We’d compete in competitions around the Midwest and grow in so many respects. One of the most difficult moments of those years, though, came during the summer before Freshman year as I had my first ever band camp. Band camp was a week solid of 12 hour days full of learning music, going down to the astro-turf football field during 100+ degree days to learn how to march and practice setting drill on the field. Band camp was really tough and lots of people quit band during that week. To make it through, you needed to be self-controlled. You needed to be devoted. You needed friends to help you when you were tired and running on fumes. Thankfully I had those types of friends to encourage me throughout that week and as the years went on, those people would become dear friends even well beyond high school.

We know that God has a plan and purpose for us. But we aren’t given the blueprint to His purpose and plan. We know that He works all things for our good but we don’t always know how that will work out. We know His ways are higher and better than ours but we can’t always see those ways. What must we do in order to be obedient to God’s call on our lives? Live out 2 Timothy 4:5. We must be disciplined. We must endure hardship. We must do the work God has called us to do and we must tell the world about Jesus!

Consider where Paul is as he is writing this letter. He’s in jail about to die! He’s calling on Timothy to endure hardship - earlier in the letter he says this

2 Timothy 2:8–9 CSB

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and descended from David, according to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer to the point of being bound like a criminal. But the word of God is not bound.

2 Timothy 1:8 CSB

8 So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me his prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God.

2 Timothy 3:12 CSB

12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Why did Paul suffer? Because of the Gospel. What does Paul tell Timothy? To share in the suffering for the Gospel. Why? Because all who want to live a godly life will suffer!

Are you suffering today for the Gospel? If your answer is no, count your blessings because suffering is coming! Don’t actively go and seek it out, but do business with the Lord and ask Him to reveal to you His plan for your life. As we do our work of proclaiming the Gospel, we can expect to go through hard times, but we can also expect the Lord to provide every step of the way.

What must we do in the days ahead? We must follow the Lord’s will. The Psalmist says

Psalm 119:105 CSB

105 Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.

We’d all love this verse to say that God’s Word is a spotlight like the one Gotham City has for Batman. That spotlight is extremely bright and pierces through the darkness for miles and miles. That’s not what we read here, though. We read that the Bible is a lamp. It is a light. But it doesn’t give us the aerial view. It doesn’t give us the map for our entire lives. It doesn’t share with us everything that will happen to us on this journey. But it gives us directions for each step we take. We must be obedient to yield in the days ahead not to what we think is best but to what the Lord calls us to do.

5. Keep Your Eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2/Ephesians 2:4)

You can see that these first 4 points make the acronym “PRAY” - in the days ahead, my prayer for this church is that you all would pray for the Lord’s will to be done and that you all would keep your eyes on Jesus. I don’t know what God has in store for Morgan Baptist Church in the days to come, but I know who holds those days and I know who has those plans already prepared and my prayer is that His plans and will would be done. I pray that in the highs and lows ahead that you would keep your eyes on Jesus and seek to bring Him glory and honor for what He has in store and what He will do here. I pray that there would be deep unity in this body as the Gospel is boldly declared and the community is loved on.

I want to close this morning with 2 texts of Scripture about what Jesus has done and focus on His work and why we do what we do.

Hebrews 12:2 CSB

2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Ephesians 2:4–5 CSB

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

What has Jesus done? He endured the cross. He paid it all on the cross. He rose from the grave. He won for us the victory. He made us alive. He gives us eternal security. He saves us! What should our response be to what Jesus has done? We should praise Him and give Him thanks!

To quote from Dane Ortlund in his book Gentle and Lowly, “Christ was sent not to mend wounded people or wake sleepy people or advise confused people or inspire bored people or spur on lazy people or educate ignorant people, but to raise dead people!” You and I were dead in sins and we were bound for eternal separation from God in hell. But now we are recipients of His divine mercy. He isn’t just kind of merciful. He isn’t a little merciful, we read in Ephesians 2:4 that God is rich in mercy. Our sins are wicked and many, yet His mercy is more!

Conclusion

The Lord promises to build His church. He does the work. He brings about the harvest. He brings the increase. What does He expect of us? He expects us to be obedient and to follow after Him. He expects us to make disciples and share the Gospel. To live a life that brings Him glory. How do we do this? Brick by brick. Rome wasn’t built in 1 day - as they historians say. We’re not going to figure it all out overnight, it’s a process. Morgan Baptist Church is a great church not because it’s filled with inherently great people, but because it is filled with obedient people who serve a great Savior and who imitate Him. In time, the Lord will send forth a man to shepherd this church and I’m excited to see who He sends your way. I’m praying for this man and his family. I’m praying for you all as a church. My hope, like Paul towards Timothy, is that you all would continue to fight the good fight and proclaim the truth. Keep on being obedient and watch the Lord build His Kingdom.

JI Packer had this to say in regard to how we should live in difficult, uncertain times, “If you ask ‘Why is this happening?’ No light may come, but if you ask, ‘How am I to glorify God now?’ There will always be an answer.” Friend, how can you best glorify God today and in the days to come? What is He calling you to do? God has a plan. He has a purpose for you. Seek first His Kingdom and watch Him work in your life like you can’t even imagine.