Why are We Here, Where are We Going, and How Do You Fit In? (2018)
Acts 20:28 - Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
1 Timothy 3:15 - …but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
3 principles to help us be best prepared for the most important test we’ll ever take
I. Be Sure You’re Building on the Right Foundation
A. The importance of starting correctly
1 Corinthians 3:11 - For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
B. You should thoughtfully consider the basis on which you are building your life and eternal destiny
The mission of Faith Church is to glorify God by winning people to Jesus Christ and equipping them to be more faithful disciples
II. Be Sure You Build on the Foundation Carefully
A. The two most prominent judgments in the New Testament
1. Great White Throne Judgment
Revelation 20:11-15 - Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
2. The Judgment Seat of Christ (or the Bema Seat Judgment)
2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Romans 14:10 - But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
3. We know that this event is different than the Great White Throne Judgment
a. Verse 15 - If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
b. Verse 12 - Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw…
c. Otherwise, we would have a situation where Christians still had to pay an eternal penalty for their sins
Romans 8:1 - Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:31-39 - Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:3 - Christ died for our sins…
Cf. Galatians 1:4, 1 Peter 2:24, Col. 2:13, 1 John 2:12, John 10:28-30
B. We want to build this year in ways that are going to last
Launch expanded Car Works program and ministry
Increase the percentage of the church family serving on a regular basis in Community Ministries
III. Be Prepared for the Joy that Comes from Doing Well on the Test
1 Corinthians 3:13 - …each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
- Happy New Year – I hope you’ve enjoyed some special time with family and friends the last couple of weeks…
- I also want to thank the many men and women who served so faithfully and sacrificially during our various Christmas and New Years and winter break ministries…
- I realize the vast majority of our family was involved in one way or another and it was a delight to proclaim Christ together…
- but that’s all in the rear view mirror…and this morning we have the privilege of launching 2018 by thinking about Why Are We Here, Where Are We Going, and How Do You Fit In?
- if you’ve been here for a period of time, you know that we begin every year seeking to answer those exact same questions…and that’s because we believe as a church family that it’s very important that everyone on our team has clear, compelling, and specific answers to each of these questions…
- and that those answers they are rooted in Scripture, based on decisions that we have made together as a church family, and that you’ve thought through what that means specifically for you…
- we also believe it’s a great privilege to be involved in such an endeavor…being allowed to participate what God is doing in and through one of His churches…
- and that’s true because we affirm what the Word of God says about the nature of the church…in places like…Acts 20:28 - Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
- so how important, and how precious, is the church of Jesus Christ to our Lord?...so important and precious that He purchased us with His own blood…
- if there really is an answer to the question – “how do I fit into that this year”…we want to know the answer and then quickly organize our lives and families around that…with hearts filled with thanksgiving and amazement that we have the privilege to do so…]…or this parenthetical statement…
- 1 Timothy 3:15 - but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
- that sounds kind of delightful, and it sounds kind of important, doesn’t it?...
- the household of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth…
- so most of us would not have gotten up on a Sunday morning, and left the warmth and comfort of our warm homes for a discussion of some entity that really doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things…
- but if we’re talking about the church of Jesus Christ, described by words like the ones we just read and many others, then we’ll do whatever is necessary to learn answers to these 3 questions before us today…
- with that in mind, let me invite you to open your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 this morning…page 131 of the back section of the Bible under the chair in front of you…
- there is no question that humanly speaking, 2018 is lining up to be a very important and very exciting year in the history of our church…
- of course none of us knows for sure what the Lord has planned…but again, from a human perspective…there is a sense in which we are on cusp of walking out the next logical steps in the development of our church’s philosophy of ministry…that in many cases is the culmination of decades of work on the part of hundreds of godly men and women…
- It’s a pinch yourself…can you believe it’s happening…point in time for us…
- and I suppose we would also say this – we want to be sure we get it right…which is why the theme we’ve selected for this year is…Being Careful How We Build…we’re taking those words directly from the passage before us…
- read 1 Cor. 3:1-5 – so all of that is well and good, Paul is likening followers of Jesus Christ to children who have to grow up…and a metaphor (word picture) like that can be very helpful to us…
- now, what’s better than one practical, understandable word picture?...a second one…
- read 1 Cor. 3:6-8…so that one’s clear as well, isn’t it?…so followers of Jesus Christ as like children who have to grow up, or like plants that have to be cultivated…
- but please look at the next verse…read 1 Cor. 3:9…what just happened?...now we have a third word picture on the table…we’re also like a building…and it’s that metaphor we’d especially like to study this morning…please follow the flow of thought carefully…
- read 1 Cor 3:10-15
- so we’re talking this morning about Being Careful How We Build…and with the time we have remaining, let’s think about
- 3 principles to help us be best prepared for the most important test we’ll ever take.
I. Be Sure You’re Building on the Right Foundation.
- don’t you love the creativity of the Scripture and the great extent to which God often goes to be sure we understand His will for us…
- 3 marvelous metaphors all talking about growth, about progress, getting to the next place…the very ideas we’re especially interested in around new year’s…
- and in verses 10 -15, when we pivot to the idea of a building…the focus is on…
A. The importance of starting correctly.
- anybody in construction will tell you that having the foundation level, and square, and at the right depth is crucial for everything else that happens…
- you have to get the foundation right…and Paul makes it clear, that with regards to the local church…
- 1 Corinthians 3:11 - For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
- that is a crucial statement for us to understand this year and every year…
- our foundation is not the ethical or moral teachings of the Bible…
- it’s not tradition or decisions made by church leaders over the generations…
- it’s not meeting social needs or performing good works…
- some or all of those things might have a place somewhere but none of that is the foundation…
- the entire focus of Scripture is on a Person…the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ…which means…
B. You should thoughtfully consider the basis on which you are building your life and eternal destiny.
- the Corinthians clearly needed to hear this…because we saw in the earlier part of the chapter that they were divisively arguing with one another about which teacher was best…I’m of Paul, I’m of Apollos, and so on…
- in the next chapter Paul’s going to say that he just figuratively applied what they were doing to those particular names…so maybe they were lining themselves up around different leaders in the church – we don’t know…
- but the motivation would have been to convince others of their superior wisdom because they were smart enough to select the best teacher…
- in other words, the foundation they were trying to lay was their own pride and self-made wisdom…no wonder their church was so divided and ineffective…
- that is why it would be wise for every person listening to this message today to pause and ask…has there really ever been a definite time in my life when I admitted my sin and inability to earn my own way to heaven…and then repented/turned away from that path of pride and self-righteousness and placed my faith/trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross?...
- do you remember the words of this great hymn?...
The Solid Rock
- My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
- When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil.
3. His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.
- friend, this is a decision that is made at a point in time…and if you’re not absolutely sure you’ve done this…can I encourage you to make at least New Year’s resolution that you will do everything in your power to fulfill…and that is to take specific steps to as the apostle Peter said – “to make your calling and election sure”
- this is why The Mission of Faith Church is to glorify God by winning people to Jesus Christ and equipping them to be more faithful disciples…that’s “why we’re here”
- now, for the many here who will be able to joyfully say – this is a decision you’ve already made…
- can I encourage you to plan specific steps where you intend to grow in your love for adoration for the Savior who made this kind of spiritual stability possible?...
- the last thing we want to do this year is get so busy in activities and projects that we lose our first love…
- that certainly includes the spiritual disciplines of studying your Bible and praying…communing with the Person who is your foundation…
- and if you would say – I struggle with consistency in that area of life…and I want my relationship with Christ to go deeper this year…
- let me respond to that by saying – that’s great, please allow us to help you…
- that’s a very important part of the answer to the second question in our title this morning…if our mission statement answers the first question – “why are we here”…
- then the second question – “where are we going” is answered in part by saying – wanting to have resources in place so that every person attending our various services and campuses is being cared for well spiritually…
- soul care, on an individual level, is always going to be one of our highest values…and for you, that might mean asking for accountability as you grow in spiritual disciplines
- so, what does that specifically look like?...
- around here we have multiple safety nets because different people grow best in different ways…
- so maybe it’s as simple as asking a friend to check in with you every week or every couple of weeks to see how you’re doing in your personal time with the Lord…
- and if you say – would someone care about me that much…absolutely…
- maybe for you it would be helpful for that to be a bit more formal…that could include enlisting the help of one of your service pastors…
- as our church becomes larger with more services and campuses, we are redoubling our efforts to be sure we are caring for each person well…you can always contact me, and you can always contact any of our pastors…but we have service pastors to provide special oversight and care…
- so, who are they?
- any of these pastors would be more than happy to provide any kind of accountability, or any form of spiritual ministry to you, your friends, or your family to help you grow in love with Christ who is our foundation…
- the same is true for your ABF teacher or small group leader if you are involved in one of those groups…
- the same is true of your deacon if you’re a member here…
- the overall point is – yes, we’re planning to launch a new service and a new campus this year…but not at the expense of individual soul care of every person who calls this church their home…
- the rock of our salvation is not buildings or programs or activities or busyness…it’s a Person, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…and our goal is that every individual in our church family would be more in love with Him at the end of this year than when we started…
- now, thankfully, the second principle is easily understood as well, and it gets at the core of our theme…
II. Be Sure You Build on the Foundation Carefully.
- this passage makes it clear, doesn’t it – that there are different ways a person can build…and what’s amazing is – you might not be able to look around right now and be able to tell…
- until when?...until the way that we built…the way that we lived…is judged…
- this is why Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe once said – as a Christian, I don’t fear the fire of hell, but I do fear the fire of heaven…
- now, I realize that’s going to require some explanation…so what are…
A. The two most prominent judgments in the New Testament.
1. Great White Throne judgment.
- you can read about that in places like Revelation 20:11-15…and it is a terrible picture of the unrestrained wrath of God upon those who refused to believe in His Son…
- and I realize you may not like that concept, but I would be less than a pastor if I did not clearly explain what God’s Word says on this subject… Revelation 20:11-15 - Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
- if the Bible is going to be our guide, the day will come when God’s holiness will be put on full display…and understanding the horror of the punishment is what helps us appreciate the sufficiency of the provision…Jesus, our foundation, took that for us…
- and no person who has trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will have to face the great white throne judgment…this is for those who have never believed…
- which is why our church puts so much effort into proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ here and around our world…because we want to do everything we can to prevent a person from ever standing before God without being clothed in the righteousness of Christ…
- now, 1 Corinthians 3 is talking about something entirely different…
2. The Judgment Seat of Christ (or the Bema Seat Judgment).
- a couple of other passages that also speak about this…
- 2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
- the word “judgment seat” is the Greek word bematos – that’s where the name “Bema seat judgment” comes from…
- Romans 14:10 - But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
- same word – bematos…
- every person in that culture would have immediately understood that picture…and we can too as we watch the Olympics…the bema seat is where the contestants appeared to receive their rewards, their crown, their prize…
3. We know that this event is different than the Great White Throne Judgment.
a. Verse 15 - If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
b. Verse 12 - 1 Corinthians 3:12 - Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
- so there’s no question about the integrity of the foundation, the issue is how you choose to build on it…
c. Otherwise, we would have a situation where Christians still had to pay an eternal penalty for their sins.
- Romans 8:1 - Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- Romans 8:31-39 – Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
- 1 Cor. 15:3 – Christ died for our sins
- Cf. Galatians 1:4, 1 Peter 2:24, Col. 2:13, 1 John 2:12, John 10:28-30.
B. We want to build this year in ways that are going to last.
- we want to avoid expending any of our time, any of our giftedness, or any of our resources on things that the Lord would someday deem to be like wood, hay, or stubble..
- no, we want to be very, very careful how we build…
- so, how are we going to do that?...
- one answer is – we’re going to be encouraging everyone from our church to buy and read this book this year – Center Church by Tim Keller…
- the sub-title will explain why we’re making this recommendation…”Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City.”
- in other words, we want to be sure we’re tethering everything we’re doing as individuals…and everything we’re doing at all of our campuses to the centrality of the gospel…
- hopefully that statement will make a lot more sense at the end of the year than it might mean right now…but we’re going to be studying in all sorts of ways…
- what does it mean to have a gospel centered personal life?
- what does it mean to build gospel centered friendships?
- what is a gospel centered marriage and family?
- how can we be sure we’re being gospel-centered in our soul care…in our outreach?...in our community based ministries?...
- what does gospel centered counseling look like?...gospel centered addictions treatment?...
- now, here’s a few things about this book…admittedly it’s thick…and its written in fairly small print…but it’s also amazingly affordable…and if all you did was skimmed it and studied the chapter summaries and reviewed the charts…it would be well worth the investment of time and money…
- if it helped you/us make choices that were someday deemed to be more like gold, silver, and precious stones – and less like wood, hay, and stubble – we’ll all be glad we did…
- we’re also going to be emphasizing these principles throughout the year in our preaching schedule…
- between now and the Biblical Counseling Training Conference in February – we’re actually going to be giving a series of messages that summarize the main points of Keller’s book…
- we rarely do that…which says something about how important we consider the message to be…
- then we’re going to turn to the Life of Christ and look at several of the places where He used the building metaphor to teach important lessons about following Him…
- after Easter we’ll spend some time in the book of Nehemiah…because when you’re constructing a new facility, you just ought to do that because there are so many relevant leadership lessons to be learned…
- all summer we’re going to talk about how to build one another – a study of the “one-another passages in Scripture”…
- then this fall a verse by verse exposition of the book of Titus – whose theme is Building from a Foundation of Grace
- let me just say a word about the preaching schedule itself because I realize you might wonder how all of this is going to work once we add our third campus…
- the short version is – Lord willing I hope to fulfill my role as senior pastor by handling half the preaching at all three campuses…and you might say – how is that mathematically possible…through the efficiency or technology…
- one Sunday a month, the plan is for me to speak live from FE and be broadcast live simultaneously at both FW and FN…
- that will allow me to let people know what’s happening at all our campuses so we can be praying for what’s happening around town…and also to inform folks of service opportunities at the various campuses…
- so someone who attends FE might also want to jump into a service opportunity at Car Works at FN…
- or someone who attends FW might be interested to know about an activity with our Men’s Ministry at Bethany Farms…
- then I’ll be preparing another message each month that I give live at each of our three campuses…that allows me the privilege to get to know the various persons attending and also to provide oversight to what’s occurring at each place…
- the other services will be led next by our senior staff members who have responsibilities at all three sites…
- people like Pastor Aucoin who will oversee soul care at all our campuses…
- Pastor Green who will coordinate counseling ministries across all our platforms…
- Pastor Garner who will lead all our children’s ministries, and Pastor Kjaer who oversees all our teen ministries and Pastor Folden all our assimilation…
- we’re very thankful to have pastors of their quality and experience serving ministry- wide and it will be beneficial for each campus to hear from them…
- the remainder of the services will be handled by our various service pastors…so they can provide the kind of direct shepherding we mentioned a few minutes ago…
- all of this ministry of the Word is intended to help us be careful in how we build this year on all sorts of levels…
- now, let’s talk about specific ministry opportunities…please take a look at the copy of our new 5 year ministry plan that’s in your bulletins today…
- I realize we’d all say we’re busy…but if we honestly evaluate our schedules…we might find a fair amount of wood, hay, and stubble…not things that are necessarily bad…but certainly not long-lasting…
- and it’s possible that some of us might find some band-width if we’re more careful about the way we build…
- our church family just crafted this plan together and I would encourage you to review it this afternoon or this week…looking for gold, silver, precious stones…
- let me highlight one as an illustration…do you see the second initiatives under Community Engagement?...Launch expanded Car Works program and ministry.
- by God’s grace, our Car Works ministry is going to have their first permanent building and full-time staff member…
- often one of the barriers to a single mom, or a family in crisis, or a veteran, or a senior citizen to receiving additional education or a meaningful job is reliable transportation…
- so we’re excited about all of this – but we want to be careful how we build…
- so we’ve been investigating other best practice models…
- and we’ve identified a software program that will allow us to start with a personal interview with each person or family seeking help at Car Works, or our food pantry/clothing closet, or any of these kinds of community ministries…
- and we’ll be able to determine the exact nature of their need and then put together a comprehensive care plan so we’re not making ministry decisions in a vacuum or in a way that is inconsistent…
- you might be one of the persons who could be trained to conduct some of those interviews…and possibly not just connect that person with car repair, but also offer faith-based counseling…
- and some day when you stand before God – that effort could be judged as being like gold, silver, precious stones…you were careful how you built…
- a couple of initiatives down from that one is Increase the percentage of the church family serving on a regular basis in Community Ministries. develop]
- there will also be practically endless opportunities to serve our collaborative partners…like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Family Promise, or Shine On University (for adults with special needs), or the Lafayette Senior Center and Meals on Wheels, Bauer Family Resources or the Hanna Center…
- and that places the church of Jesus Christ right in the middle of helping to address some of the most pressing social needs of our town…without ever having to abandon or faith-based values…
- and our strategy is simply to love and serve our neighbors…
- but what we’re already seeing from some of our collaborative partners is quiet requests to also perform more spiritual ministry…prayer requests for people they are serving…that’s already happening and we’ve not even opened the building yet…
- loving others is often the best platform on which to proclaim the gospel…
- and why is that so important…because we’re trying to thread the needle…
- we don’t want to be the hyper-fundamental church that believed the gospel but separated themselves from their communities…
- but nor do we want to be the liberal church that addresses social needs but long ago abandoned the gospel and the Word of God…
- we want to be careful how we build…a church that clearly and practically and sacrificially loves our neighbors…and who passionately proclaims Christ and His Word…
- by God’s grace, we are about to be in a better position to potentially do that than ever before…
- and you can easily fit into that…
- let me also say a Word about this financially…
- the cost of all of this including putting and keeping the tax credits in place is just over $16.5M…
- we took out $3M in short term debt in order to finalize the capital stack necessary to put the project together…but we asked our church family to consider participating in a 3 year capital campaign to pay off that debt along with funding 3 other important projects…
- that also assumed, by the way, that over that same period of time, we would transfer $775,000 from our general giving surplus to these projects as well…
- by God’s grace, our church family answered that call and we were able to make that announcement at our stewardship celebration…
- I realize fulfilling those commitments is hard for all of us…
- but let me tell you 3 things the Lord has chosen to do just since then…
1) A new foundation walked into a local law firm to discuss their desired year end giving and out of the blue asked about the NCC…
- one of our members works at that firm and was in that meeting…and explained her affiliation with us so there was full disclosure…
- we later received word that they are giving us $125,000…
2) You may know that 2 doors north of the NCC is a 2 story office
- we received last week that that building has been purchased and is being given to us…
3) You may have also heard of North Central Health Services, a large foundation in our town that meets an incredible number of needs in a 6 county area…
- they have a policy that they do not fund faith-based projects…but they also really like our community center…
- so their board found a way to support our project through funding the Family Promise, where once the tax credits roll off in 7 years, the Family Promise building will go to them – which is perfectly fine with us…
- that decision allows Family Promise now to give our project $475,000
- those three items total nearly a million dollars in unexpected income for our church family…
- and if the Lord allows us to keep our capital campaign commitments, it’s a strong possibility that we will have added a $16M asset to our balance sheet entirely debt free in three years…
- the lesson is – the Lord often blesses people who are careful about the way we build…
- and of course what we’re really asking the Lord to do through our efforts – is to bless us with spiritual fruit – to the praise of the glory of His grace…
- so what do we do with all of this?...
III. Be Prepared for the Joy that Comes from Doing Well on the Test
- are you picturing what it will be like when last year, and all of your previous years, are run through the grid of verse 13?…1 Corinthians 3:13 - each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
- how much of what has been done in your case will end up like wood, hay, and stubble?...
- either because of the motivation, or the nature, or the amount, or the quality?...
- how much will be deemed to be like gold, silver, and precious stones?...
- all of those previous years are in the record books now…
- but not 2018…let’s covenant together that we are going to be careful how we build…