A New Vision of the Church

That's coming is, you know, it's called sing spiration because we're gonna sing. We're gonna learn how to sing. How to sing better. How to improve. I think our worship service is is very good, very inspiring, but we I think we can do better.

We can we can do better. We can encourage each other in a more effective way and offer to God a more enthusiastic worship. And that's what these brothers are coming here to teach us and to encourage us how to do men of experience. Alexander, are you back there? I don't got my glasses.

Are you there, Alexander? Alexander, would you stand up please for a moment? This is Alexander. He's also a new brother in Christ. I was not here last week, and I wasn't sure if we had introduced him.

He is a new brother in Christ. He was baptized 2 weeks ago. Sunday afternoon, Alexander and Juliana, his wife, would you stand also, please? There we go. She is, a member of the Lord's church and she's of course recently here in Canada only a few months, but, Alexander was only baptized a few weeks ago.

So we have many new brothers and sisters in Christ for which we are for which we are thankful. I wanna talk to you about Henry Ford this morning. Henry Ford, You know who Henry Ford is? Henry Ford, the American father of the automobile. Henry Ford, the American father of the automobile revolutionized manufacturing with his production line system of building cars.

A very fascinating interesting system, the production line. The idea would be that, workers would be lined up along a track and then the car, the unbuilt car, would just kind of be pulled along and each worker on the line would kind of, you know, one worker would be putting a bolt in the door and then another car would go by and then the same worker would be putting the same bolt in the door and then the worker next to him would be fixing the handle on that door and then another car would go by and he'd fix a handle on that door and and this was the production line. It it sounds old fashioned to us, but it was revolutionary in that time. The production line of, of manufacturing revolutionized manufacturing and production too. However, years later, this system was seen to have problems because companies noticed that employee morale was very low and the quality of work was starting to slip.

People started to be bored and and and and, you know, skittish working on this production line day after day doing the same thing. Even if they got $25 an hour doing it, the money wasn't enough. They they they needed more meaning in their in their work. And so they did studies at this level and it was shown that workers who understood how their little piece of of of of bolt or whatever fit into the big picture, these workers were more effective. They were more happy.

They they turned out a better quality of work, and so manufacturers began to experiment by having instead of a the production line, they had teams of workers building cars, and this was more effective. People understood their role in in the big in the big picture. And, as a matter of fact, they even had some workers put their names on the parts themselves built by, you know, Joe Smith, you know, Detroit to to get this sense of satisfaction of understanding where do I fit in to the big picture and my contribution counts for something in in the big picture. They found out that when people knew what the big picture was and how they fit into the big picture their work improved. They were happier.

They were more efficient. Well I I use this example this morning to highlight a similar situation and a similar problem in the church. You see, it seems that many of us are doing our little part. You ever notice that? We do our little part in the church day after day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

But a lot of times, we don't see the overall picture. We don't we don't know where our part fits in to the big picture of the church. And the fact that we add more people on the line doesn't seem to change anything. You know, we had more people are added, more people are baptized, more people come, more visitors come, more more people, enter into the church. Not just here, but everywhere.

But I'm I'm talking about here in particular, more people are added, and yet it's like adding people on the production line. One more guy putting in one more bolt, one more person sitting in one more pew, one more voice to sing one more song, one more dollar in the collection play, but somehow we don't have a sense of the big picture. And because of that, I think our overall effectiveness as a church is poor. Okay? We keep adding people.

We we feel the answer is let's get more people. Let's get a bigger church. Let's get more people. Let's get get more souls in into the pews and that'll solve the problem. And it doesn't solve the problem because our overall effectiveness, our joy level, okay, our joy level in the church doesn't increase with the number of people that there are in the church, with the number of dollars in the plate, with the number of bolts being tightened.

This doesn't improve the quality of our existence as a congregation. And so this morning, I'd like to describe the big picture to you if I can, and at the same time, I'd like to describe how you and I fit into the big picture. Okay. The same way that they did it for the car workers, I think we need to explain it to each other here. So that if we understand what the big picture is and where we fit in, maybe this whole thing will have a lot more meaning for us.

Well, I start with the bottom line, you know, this this famous expression, the bottom line. You know what the bottom line is? The bottom line, the basic facts. The basic facts for Henry Ford and the car manufacturers was to build cars. That was the bottom line.

The bottom line wasn't putting in bolts. The bottom line was to produce cars which would eventually be sold and the Ford company would make a profit. I mean, that's the bottom line. Now, don't kid yourself. You know, quality is job 1.

Forget it. Money is job 1. Profit is job 1. That's the bottom line. Profit for the car company.

Well, for the church, the bottom line is life and death. That's the bottom line. The bottom line for the church is not music, is not the inspirational weekend. That's a means to an end. The bottom line isn't having lots of people or not too many people.

The collection, the community. That's not the bottom line coming to hear the sermon. That's not the bottom line. The bottom line for the church is life and death. That's the bottom line.

You see, in life, there are 2 major realities. 1 is living and the other one is dying. Those are the 2 major realities of life. And God, who has the power over life and death, has revealed to us through the which is his word, which is the way he communicates to us, God has communicated the the the reality to us that those who believe in Jesus Christ will continue to live after this human life is over. And those who disbelieve this fact, those who reject this gospel will not live after this life is over.

They will suffer eternal torment. Boy, that's terrible. What a way to start a sermon. How to scare everybody off. But that's the bottom line.

I mean, that's really what it's all about. Life and death. People who believe in Jesus Christ will live eternally and those who reject him will not. They will be rejected by God. And this is very clear.

You know, Mark chapter 16 verse 16, a verse that all of us know, Jesus says those who believe and are baptized will be saved. Saved from what? Saved from death. Saved from condemnation. And then he says, those who disbelieve will be condemned.

Condemned to what? Eternal damnation. That's what. And in acts look at acts chapter 4. I just very quickly very quickly.

Acts chapter 4 verse 12. Peter says, and there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. There is no other name in all of history, in all of humanity, in all of religion. There is no other name other than the name of Jesus Christ by which people can be saved from death. That's the bottom line.

Now, you can disagree with that. You can say, I don't really believe that and I don't really believe, you know, the Bible and I don't really believe in God. You're free to reject it. But the one thing you cannot reject is the fact that this is what the Bible teaches. The fact that the Bible teaches that life is only possible through Jesus Christ and without him, you die eternally.

That's what the Bible teaches. And if you say, I believe the Bible, then that's what you believe because that's what the bible teaches. Alright. Now, this is the big picture. That's the bottom line.

I mean, I can't make it any clearer than that. I can't strip it of any more parts to lay it more flat, more bare before you. Life is about finding and keeping your soul salvation. That's what life is all about. And every time you see death I mean, every time you see death in your family, you've seen death in your family, your uncles, your aunts, your moms, your sisters, husbands, whatever, they die.

And every time you look at the news, what do they talk about news? They talk about death. Have you ever have you ever watched the news? I I dare you. Watch the news tonight and pick off on a piece of paper how many times the news story involves death.

Death of individuals. Excuse me. Death of individuals. You know, so many died in a plane crash, and so many died in El Salvador. And and this leader died and and Victor Davis died.

You know, they report death. So all around us, there's this terrible, this terrible cloud of witnesses that keeps telling us there is life and there is death. And death is inevitable. Death is inevitable. And every time you see it, every time the newspaper talks to you about it, every time the Bible talks to you about it, what it's really saying to you is that one day your turn is coming.

One day it's gonna be your turn. One day, your name is gonna be in the obituary column. One day, your name is gonna be reported. One day, it's gonna be your name that somebody calls and says, hey, guess what? So and so just died.

It's gonna be your name that they're going to be mentioning or my name. And that's the big picture. That's what it's all about. Life and death. That's what the church is all about.

Now, some people deny this fact. You know, others just try to escape into the world and, you know, keep You ever hear people that say, how are you doing? Oh, I'm just keeping busy. You know, when I'm 85 years old and somebody says, how are you doing? I want to say, I am ready to meet my lord.

I don't want to say, well, I'm just keeping busy for what? What purpose do you have at 89 to keep busy? To what? To avoid the thought? You know, I'm not being cruel here.

I'm just saying, when I'm 85, God willing, I want to have my mind fixed on where I'm going. The reality of my ending life and my beginning eternity will be before me and I want to be enthusiastic about it. Oh, God. This is over and something great is about to begin. Not, well, I'm keeping busy.

I'm playing shuffleboard or I'm playing Canasta. Who cares? Some people, this is what their life is all about. You know why? Because they haven't seen the big picture.

Well, I'm telling you what the big picture is tonight or this morning. Now, some people deny it. And some people stay busy to avoid the reality. And other people, some people, you people, have called up to go. And some people, you people, have called up to go.

And some people, you people, have called up to go. And people, you people, have called out to draw Somehow, somewhere, at some time in your life, you've sought out God. And God has responded to you by saying that he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will not die but will have eternal life. And you believed that. You believed that Christ and repenting and being baptized and following Christ, you would not die.

You would live forever. And that's the big picture. And those of us here who are sitting here today who have made that confession of faith, we've understood the big picture and we've chosen to of faith, we've understood the big picture and we've chosen to live. Alright. Now, let's summarize this first point.

The big picture is that some people are going to live forever because God will raise them from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit on account of their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Some people, hopefully most of us, will live forever and some of us will be damned forever and suffer forever. That's the big picture. That's the bottom line. That's as simple as I can make.

Alright. Well, if that's the big picture, then the next question is, where do I fit into all of this? You know, where do I fit into this big picture? You see, you can only fit into 1 of 2 places. You can't fit into a lot of different places.

You can only fit into 1 of 2 places, life or death. That's the there's no in between. Choose life or choose death. Have you got another choice? No.

I haven't got another choice. Life or death. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 12, he he Jesus, or we're against him pushing away from. In other words, if you are not consciously, sincerely, against them because no one is accidentally or unknowingly a disciple of Jesus Christ. Nobody gets to heaven by accident.

Nobody takes a left a wrong turn somehow and oops, well, here I am in heaven. How did I get here? Well, I might as well stay now that I didn't work that way. The big picture is that there is life and there is death. And you fit in at the point where you decide to choose life by believing in Jesus Christ.

And Jesus says, those who choose me are with me and it is evident that they are with me. It's not accidental. It's not half hearted. Not a kind of a laid back kind of being with him. It is a wholehearted sincere commitment to follow him and only him.

That constitutes a choice of being with Jesus Christ. That's what choosing life is all about. Now, if you're not truly with him, you're truly against him. There's no such thing as being on the fence or taking ever you ever hear yourself say that? I think I need a break.

I think I need a break from Christ. You don't take a break from Christ. You ever take a break from I'm tired of breathing. You know, in and out, the lungs must get tired. I think I'll just take a break from breathing.

Know, maybe 3 or 4 hours, we'll give the lungs a rest. What would happen to you? You cannot take a break from Jesus Christ. His apostles took no break from him. Never in the history of the discipleship, the disciples of Jesus did any take a break?

You're with him wholeheartedly. And if you're not with him wholeheartedly, you're against him. Now, I don't want to spend time talking about those who are not with Jesus. That's not the purpose of the sermon. The people who are not with Jesus their lives will take many twists and turns some good and some bad.

And the Bible doesn't say what happens to these people. It only says that in the end all those who don't know or reject Jesus Christ will themselves be rejected. 2nd Thessalonians 1:6 to 9. And God is not mocked. Even those who call themselves disciples, but are lukewarm, who never really gathered with him, who kind of stayed on the sidelines and let everyone else take the heat, kind of stayed on the sidelines and let everyone else take the heat, they also will be rejected.

You know, the ones that say, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophecy in your name? And Jesus says, go away. I never knew you. I never knew you. But the saved, the ones who confess Jesus and those who serve him faithfully, God has a plan for them.

They are his redeemed. They are his saints. They are his holy and blessed church. And those are the ones I want to talk to you about. Those are the ones who need to know where do I fit in.

And hopefully, that's where you are. You've understood life and death. You've understood that Jesus Christ represents life. You've made the choice to follow him. Good.

Now, the question is, well, now what? You know, a couple of new people who've been baptized. You know, I've made that decision. I've gone down in the waters of baptism. I've come up a new creature forgiven.

I'm an eternal being. Don't you? Alexander, did you realize you're an eternal being. And sometimes this whole idea of being an eternal being overwhelms us. You know, we say, yeah, now what do I do?

And sometimes this whole idea of being an eternal being overwhelms us. You know, we say, yeah, now what do I do? And so wellms us. You know, we say, yeah, now what do I do? Now what do I do?

This is where the production line mentality sets in. We think that from here on in, we have to come to church, read our Bibles, avoid sin, and just wait till the, you know, start Sunday morning, I have to put my bolt in, you know? You know, wait Wednesday night, put my bolt in on Wednesday You know, inspirational weekend. Three bolts, you know. You know, we don't we don't see it.

It's like we're in a waiting room. The church is the waiting room to heaven, you know. What are you doing? I'm just flipping through this magazine here of life you know for the next 30 years you know I'll be dying going to heaven soon and we just have to wait around and let's try to not sin too much you know let's not blow it now I mean we're almost near the end let's not blow it. This is this is the production line mentality of Christianity.

We need to realize that the coming to Christ that we have experienced has not only transformed us from guilty and condemned sinners to forgiven saints, but it also has changed the reality and the purpose of our lives here on earth as well. When you become a Christian, not only your relationship to God changes, the whole reality of your existence changes. Everything changes. You see, before before choosing life, we lived until we died. That was the bottom line.

That was our big picture. We lived until we died and we tried to make ourselves comfortable and have some fun before the inevitable happened. And that is, we lived until we died. We tried to stay healthy and busy and comfortable and avoid pain until the end came. And we tried at all costs to avoid thinking about the end.

That was that's life. People I know who are outside of Christ, boy, that's their lives. But now that we are eternal beings, don't you understand? Now that you are an eternal being, you don't have to worry about death anymore. You don't have to worry about the end of life any more.

You don't have to worry about missing something anymore. You have eternal life. It's almost cheap coming out of my lips because I'm a human being and I I I I I don't have the majesty of the Lord or or or or the awesomeness of, of Ezekiel for example or or or Isaiah who who was lifted up into heaven. I'm I'm only a man, a sinful man. And so the the words eternal life coming from my lips almost sound cheap.

But regardless of what it sounds like coming from my mouth, realize what it is that I'm saying to you. You will live forever. Forever. No end to your life. Now that we are eternal beings, our life ought to have different objectives.

They have different objectives. It's a different big picture for us. Our objective now is to build up the spiritual temple of God which is the church. This is our prime objective. I'll repeat it.

Our big picture, what we're doing here, what we're the car that we're building, okay, where your boat fits in, is the fact that you you are building up the spiritual temple of God, which is the church. This is where you fit in and this is what Tom was reading about in Ephesians. That's what Paul is describing. All of this I've said is to bring us to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2.

Turn to there if you have your Bibles. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19. I'll let Paul explain it to you. I'll let the spirit explain it to you. Paul says in verse 19, so then I'll start again.

He says in verse 19, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints. You're no longer strangers to God, aliens from God. You're no longer dead, he says. You're no longer dead, he says. You're no longer dead sinners, spiritually dead, terminal.

You're no longer terminal, he says. He says, now, you are of God's household. Having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, He is describing an image. You are now a member of God's household and this household was built upon the prophets and the apostles, the ones who spoke the word of God that ultimately reached you and and ultimately that you believed and that you responded to. And the cornerstone, the basic stone is Jesus Christ, the one we have our faith in.

That's who you are. That's the big picture. That's the big house that we're in, that we're building. And then in verse 21, he says, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. A new order has begun.

A new reality begins for us. New reality begins for us. The objective of our former lives was merely to be comfortable, to avoid pain, and to avoid the reality of death. But now, the objective of our lives because we are eternal being becomes the building up of this eternal spiritual dwelling called the household of God or in other words, called the church. The church is the household of God, the community of believers.

The objective of eternal beings is to build up the community of believers. Beginning with Jesus and the apostles, God is creating a spiritual temple and each individual Christian is one part of that temple and each is a spiritual stone. Keep your finger there and look at at first Peter. That's what Peter describes it as. In chapter 2 verse 5, he says, you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Look at it again. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house for the whole for a holy priesthood. You. You are spiritual stones. You're being built up in a spiritual house to do what?

To be a holy priesthood. What do priests do? They offer sacrifice to God, an ongoing church, an ongoing sacrifice of love and service to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That's the big picture. Our big picture is no longer life and death.

Death doesn't exist for us anymore. Our big picture now becomes the building of this spiritual house. Spiritual house in Christ Jesus where each of us is a stone being built up. And in verse 22 of Ephesians, Paul says, in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit. This is where God will dwell.

And you notice both Peter and Paul have the exact same vision here. The vision of a spiritual dwelling where God and his people live in communion together. And so God has saved us and God has given us the capacity to live eternally. And, you know, we ask ourselves, why did God give us the capacity to live forever? You know, so we could play the harp?

You know, we see that, you know, playing the, you know, in heaven. Is that it? That's Hollywood. God has given us the capacity to live forever and is forming us in such a way that we can exist in his presence forever. He gave us the capacity to live forever so that we can live with him forever.

He is an eternal being. He has to give us the capacity to be eternal so that we can coexist with him. And the Bible uses the imagery of God building a temple for himself using living living stones. Okay. So, using living stones.

Okay. So what is it that we need then? What am I talking about? Well, what I'm talking about is a new vision of the church and our place in it. We have to stop seeing our Christian lives, our church life as a production line where it's the same old thing week after week like car workers and and and and and getting and and having this attitude of how fast or how little we can do and still collect our paycheck at the end of the line.

Isn't that what we do sometime? What's the minimum we can do and still get into heaven? What's the minimum work I can do on the line, you know, and still collect my paycheck and get thrown out? We need to throw out that attitude. It's the wrong attitude.

We need to see God's overall plan for the church, not just the church out there somewhere. This church. I don't care about the church out there. Well, I do. But but my ministry is to this church, Lachine Church of Christ.

We need to see God's plan for our congregation that we are being formed into a creation that will coexist with God forever. You wonder what you're doing here? What you're doing here is you're being formed in such a way that you will be able to coexist with the eternal almighty God forever and ever. That's what you're doing here. We need to understand that what we are and what we do and what we strive for isn't done in order to gain this.

You don't come to church in order to go to heaven. I mean, Jesus's death on the cross has gained this for us already. Our love to one another mutual service, our caring are done so, so that we can taste just a little bit of what heavenly life will be like. Let me put it in another way. We do the things that we do in church pray, sing, read, serve, give, love, avoid sin.

We do all these things not to gain heaven. We do all these things in order to experience heaven. There's a big difference. There's a big difference between doing all of this to gain heaven and doing all of this to experience heaven. Brothers and sisters and friends, we've already gained heaven through Jesus Christ on the cross.

The church experience has been conceived for us to experience heaven, not to gain it. We need to realize that our own life together as a church here on earth has been conceived by God as an exercise to enable us to perceive just a little bit what heaven is like. So every time you hear the word, and every time you offer praise, and every time you forgive someone who offends you, and every time you offer help, and every time you you you share, and every time you give, and every time you bring a soul to Christ, you are and you will experience a small taste of what heaven is and what heaven will be like. A heaven filled with perfected people who are in love with Jesus Christ and each other. Oh, I'm so tired of sin.

Aren't you tired of sin? I'm tired of imperfect people. I'm tired of being imperfect, and I'm tired of you being imperfect. You're tired of putting up with my sins, and I'm fed up of putting up with your sins. And I'm fed up of putting up with your sins.

And I'm fed up of my sins and I'm fed up of putting up with your sins. And I'm looking forward to the day when God will perfect you and me and we can be together and there'll be no more sin. And I won't offend you, and you won't offend me. And you won't say, I think I'm gonna quit this thing. No.

No. No. Where all of us will equally love the Lord and one another. You know, there are no perfect people in the church here on earth. And sometimes there's not enough love in the church here on earth.

But that won't be the case in heaven. I guarantee you. Every time you come here, you're supposed to be experiencing a taste of what it will be like over there. That's why God put us together, not to aggravate each other, to give us an incentive for more. But on the other hand, every time you neglect the church and every time you fall into sin, and every time you prostitute yourself in the world with unbelievers, what you're doing is you are robbing yourself of this experience, and you are blinding yourself to the true vision of heaven.

And so we often speak of the building. We often speak of building new classrooms or new fellowship halls or repair the existing parts of the building, and that's okay. We need to do that, but we must never forget that our prime objective as a community of believers is to build the church into eternity. I'm here to build you up. You're here to build each other up and me up into eternity.

I'm here to get a glimpse of heaven, not to repair the building. And so this morning, I asked you to examine yourself and take stock for heaven's sake. I'm not swearing. For heaven's sake, take stock. Are you just passing through?

Ask yourself. Are you just making yourself comfortable and ignoring the end? Or have you found Jesus Christ? And have you responded to him in repentance and in baptism? And have you found eternal life?

And are you building into eternity? I encourage all of you from this day forward to see everything that you do in church as part of experiencing the big picture. Don't just punch the clock. Praise and pray and learn and serve and give and grow all with the view that the La Chien Church of Christ is a spiritual temple being built up by God for the purpose of having fellowship with us for all. And I finish with the idea that if you have this view big picture that we are an eternal temple and we're building each other up and we're we're thirsty for an experience of heaven and that's why we pray and sing and love each other and serve and give, that's why we're doing it.

We're not just punching the clock. We're tasting. We're getting a glimpse of heaven through our experience. If that's your view of the big picture, then you won't be afraid anymore. And you won't be impatient anymore when your growth or the growth of someone else is a little slow.

You won't be so quick to condemn if you've got this long view because you have a long view of things, and you know that perfection comes with perseverance and not with anger. Don't be angry with your brother. Don't be condemning yourself because you're slow to grow. Have the long view. Have the long view and understand that perseverance brings perfection.

Secondly, if you have this view, you will see your investment of time and money in the church as something of great value and eternal consequence. And perhaps, perhaps, you will become more generous with your service to other people and with your financial commitment. Instead of putting the majority of your emotional and financial wealth into things that will perish with time, you will begin to see the wisdom of investing heavily into heavenly things. Maybe that's what we should put in the back. Invest heavily into heavenly things.

And then finally, those who visit among us will be drawn to Christ. If we have this view, those who visit among us will be drawn to Christ not because they lose a theological argument. They'll be drawn to Christ because they also will capture the vision of heaven that they experience when they are among God's holy and loving and spiritually committed people. Brothers and sisters, let this become our vision and our passion for the La Chien Church of Christ. God bless you.