Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from Romans 11 and 12. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ:
- In the Gospel Lesson Jesus commissioned Peter and the other disciples to build His church. Followers of Jesus have been doing the same for the past nearly 2,000 years. We do so by utilizing the Word of God given to us through these same apostles, the confession of Peter in the Gospel Lesson regarding Jesus, the Christ, our Messiah and Savior, the Son of the Living God, building the church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
- In our text, we see the apostle Paul doing essentially this same “church building” with the congregation in Rome. What he wrote serves as a practical description of “HOW THE CHURCH IS BUILT.”
- I would assume that we are all interested in doing the same – building the church. It is really the chief function that our Lord and Savior has given us as a church. We all struggle at times with our commitment to this spiritual and godly work – we have our own jobs, our own challenges, our own family obligations, our own interests, hobbies, and activities.
- Even if we are not earnestly motivated at present to build the church, it should be of some interest to us as to how this is accomplished. So hopefully we will all learn something about this, and hopefully we will all be built up a little more so that we can become more eager and zealous to build the church. First we note that:
I. The Building Of The Church Is Through The Gospel Proclamation, The Gracious Gift Of God’s Salvation, Which Causes Us To Marvel At God’s Wisdom
Gospel: “Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ Jesus answered, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’”
The love of God in Christ Jesus our Savior is wonderful, completely unexpected and undeserved – so that those who know and believe His love for us in Jesus the Christ, the Savior of the world, join Paul in exclaiming:
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.”
Statement: This is foundational for the church, the wonders of God’s grace and love for us. But sadly, many churches are not centered in and built upon this reality. And sadly, many Christians do not come to church to receive this gracious love, mercy, and forgiveness of God. But I hope and pray that this is what you have come here to receive – so that you have already rejoiced in God’s absolution, so that your heart is even know being warmed and built up in faith in God’s love, and so that you are eagerly anticipating God’s gracious love in the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
Application: Again, this is foundational for the church – down to this very day. The only life that we have in God is in His gracious and merciful love! And although we often fail to acknowledge this, there is also great power in God’s gracious love for us – as Paul describes it in our text, for:
II. Having Received God’s Gracious Love, We Give Ourselves To God And To Graciousness, No Longer Committed To Worldly Ways
Text: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, BY THE MERCIES OF GOD, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Statement: Everything begins with God’s mercy and grace and love. This is what compels greater commitment to God – which is expressed in our “sacrificing” of ourselves, our whole being, to the will of God, being transformed by God’s love rather than conformed to the wicked world. But if this is not based in “the mercies of God,” then it is essentially worthless and likely to be quite wicked. For it is Christ Who builds the Church – certainly through us as well, but He always builds His people upon His gracious love.
Application: So we must remain focused upon His grace and mercy, but allowing His wondrous love to move us to greater love and commitment. For part of our transformation in His grace involves greater humility:
III. Having Received God’s Grace And Mercy We Come To Reject All Pride, Arrogance, And Hypocrisy – And All Must Take Care To Do This
Text: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
Statement: Nothing destroys the church faster or more efficiently than pride, arrogance, and hypocrisy – and as the apostle noted, EVERYONE needs to take great care in this. For pride and arrogance, and the hypocrisy it generates, is ANTI-CHURCH, ANTI-GOSPEL, and a rejection and refusal of God’s love. It is absolutely spiritual death.
Application: This is why a life of repentance is so important and essential for God’s people. Only repentance opens a person to the possibility of receiving God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness, the experience of His love. And it is His love that builds up and transforms the members of Christ’s Church. So let us take care not to allow any of this poison into our midst, and to remove it as quickly as we can – but everyone taking care not to capitulate to the sinful arrogance which comes so easily and naturally to us.
For such arrogance destroys the effectiveness of our service, and:
IV. The Church Is Built When We Humbly Utilize The Grace Given To Us Properly
Text: “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
Statement: This is not an exhaustive list, but I want to emphasize it once again. The church is built by: prophecy [preaching and teaching the gospel], in serving, teaching, exhorting or encouraging one another, by sacrificial and generous giving, with zealous and eager leadership, and by cheerful mercy and goodness done to others. Each of us can find our place in this list. And each of us can contemplate our own “performance” and our need to grow in our faithfulness and our zeal.
Application: And the way we start is to repent and confess our weaknesses, our reluctance, our lack of zeal and commitment, our stinginess and lack of compassion and mercy. We turn back to Christ for His gracious forgiveness and cleansing. Having received His love, we ask that He strengthen our love for Him and our commitment to Him – so that we can grow more effective in building His church!
Conclusion: All of this has been the principle desire and work of God since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin. He has provided us with righteousness and salvation and blessing – salvation which is forever! The heavenly Father has graciously revealed His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to us – in our baptism, in His Word, and in the Sacrament of His body and blood. In this He has also revealed to us the depth of His great love and mercy.
And in this mercy, by the mercies of God, we are built up and we build up the church around us. Do you want this for your congregation? Do you want this for your church? That it truly be the church of Christ? Then consider carefully that this is “HOW THE CHURCH IS BUILT.”
May God grant such blessedness to each of us, and to our congregation, with His great abundance! Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.