Christ Church

Working on a Building II

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

A basic truism of modern design is that form follows function. This is self-evidently true, but the reason modern men have found themselves living, working, and worshiping in overgrown shoeboxes is that we have allowed ourselves to drift into a truncated and reductionist view of what our actual function as human beings truly is. Our central purpose, our central task in life, is to worship God in accordance with His Word. The form of a church building must therefore follow this function.

The Text

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:1-5).

Summary of the Text

So, because we are being built up into the new man, growing up into the image of Jesus Christ, certain things must be set aside. If we are put on the white robe called Jesus, there are certain foul rags that we have to take off in order to do so. We must remove malice (v. 1), deceit (v. 1), and every false front (v. 1). We must take away every form of envy (v. 1), which we addressed last week. And if you have a tongue filled with venom, then put that away as well (v. 1). But getting rid of sin, though it is a precondition for growth, is not the same thing as growth. Holiness is not the absence of sin, but rather the presence of something else. We are to be like little babies, who desire the sincere milk of the Word, so that we might grow by it (v. 2). Hunger drives us there in the first place (and this hunger is a sign of life), but then we come back for more because we have tasted it and found that the Lord is experienced as gracious (v. 3). We come to the Lord as to a cornerstone that is alive (v. 4). Men rejected Him, but God did not. He is alive, and if we are being built upon that foundation, so are we alive in the same way. We are living stones (v. 5), being built up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. We are called to this so that we might offer up spiritual sacrifices, sacrifices that are acceptable to God because of Jesus Christ (v. 5).

A Church Building

The function of a church building is therefore not to be the church, but rather to house the church. The sign out front should not say Christ Church, as though that were the name of the building. Rather, to speak precisely, we should say that Christ Church meets here. The function of the house is to contain the spiritual house. The function of the church is to provide the church a warm and dry place to compose our worship.

Now the point here is not to be superstitious about word usage, and if someone offers to meet you “at the church,” your response ought not to be to rebuke them as a vile transgressor. But we do have to remember that the altar sanctifies the gold and not the other way around. When the saints start to come in for the service, the building should say, “Shhh . . . the church is here now.” The saints should not say, “Shhh . . . you’re in church now.” The building is not God’s mausoleum.

A Perfect Cube

The New Jerusalem that descends down from Heaven is a perfect cube (Rev. 21:10, 16). This is the same shape as the Holy of Holies in the old covenant. The word Paul uses when telling the Corinthians that they are the Temple of the Holy Spirit (naos) is a word that would be used of that inner shrine (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19).

So this sanctuary is made up of the people of God. The angel says that he will show John the bride, the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9), and then he shows Him the New Jerusalem. The heavenly Jerusalem is the mother of us all (Gal. 4:26). The New Jerusalem is the place we come to worship every week (Heb. 12:18, 22). You are the sanctuary, and you will sanctify the building—not the other way around.

An Architectural Servant

Now of course we want a church building to do what all buildings do—keep the rain off, and the wind out. But once we have gotten past that basic consideration, what should it do because a church meets there?
Peter says that we are to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God. What are those? What should we offer wherever we might meet, and what could a well-designed building help us do—as distinct from distracting us from doing?

We should therefore consider the elements of a worship service which a building—well-designed and well-used —would help us do. This building is called to be a servant, a tool, an instrument

What We Do

When we worship God, here are some of the basic components that a building could help us do. These are distinct elements of our worship that a poorly designed building would get in the way of, and which a well- designed building would help us with.

First, we gather. The word church is the rendering of ecclesia, which means “called out.” The building should be open and easy to enter. Second, we gather to listen to the Word, and to partake of the sacraments. This means we gather in a landscape setting, and not with a long, narrow nave. Third, we gather in order to offer our musical praise to God. The building should sing with us, and not fight us as we try to sing. Fourth, we gather in order to love one another. The place where we worship should be conducive to koinonia fellowship. And fifth, our mission in this community is to declare the crown right of the Lord Jesus to an unbelieving world. The building from the outside should make that statement in a winsome but authoritative manner.

Keeping It About Jesus

The building is not ever to become a Jesus substitute. Jesus is our substitute, and so we want to live in such a way as that when we finally have our building, we do not find ourselves inundated with those who would attach themselves to a respectable church for all the wrong reasons. But it is not possible to come to a church made of dead stones, but filled with living stones, and not encounter the true and ultimate living stone.

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State of the Church 2014

Christ Church on

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Introduction

It is our custom to have a “state of the church” message every year around this time. Sometimes the message has to do with the church nationally, and other times the point is more local, pertaining to our own congregation. This year I want to focus on this congregation, and the point of this message is to reiterate some of our basic distinctives. What are we about? What are we trying to emphasize?

The Text

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe” (Phil. 3:1).

Summary of the Text

The church at Philippi had particular challenges, and Paul addressed them all by urging them to rejoice. This is a response that is always appropriate because God is always sovereign and God is always good. Not only is it appropriate for Christians to rejoice all the time, it is appropriate to bring repeated reminders to them to do so. To repeat the same exhortations should not be a grief to ministers, and it should be received as a means of keeping us all safe.

Two Kinds of Distinctives

One kind of distinctive arises from what we believe the Scripture teaches and requires of all believers. We focus on it because we believe that all believers should focus on it. This would be a principled distinctive, coupled with an ecumenical invitation.

A second kind of distinctive would arise from our particular circumstances. These are tactical circumstances, tailored to the life and situation of each congregation. Are we in an urban setting or in a small town? Should we build this kind of building or that kind? Should we build a Christian school or is there already a good Christian school? These are tactical questions.

A third kind of distinctive is sinful. This is what happens when a group tries to separate itself from other Christians through various kinds of doctrinal vainglory or ministry showboating. This is what the disciples were arguing about on the road (Mk. 9:34). We are not immune to this temptation (why would we be?), and so we want to resist it everywhere we find it. The place to look is under your breastbone.

That said, what are our principled distinctives?

Corporate Worship

We worship God because He is worthy. We do not do it for any of the results that might come about from it. Rather, we do everything else for the results it might have in helping us to glorify God. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).

Worshiping God is not a means to another end. Worshiping God is the highest calling that a human being has, or that the entire human race has. It requires no other justification. Whatever you do, it should drive you to this great end. Whatever you do, it should culminate here, in the glorification of God. There is great wisdom in the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism here. This is our chief end.

Dangers: one danger is that you make something you call worship into a great big deal, but it is not spiritual worship at all. Another danger is that of trying to get worship to “do” other things, like evangelism. But this is backwards.

Components: Learning the structure of covenant renewal worship, growing in our musical wisdom and literacy, teaching your families the importance of worship, weekly communion, and practical Bible teaching.

Basic Discipleship in Community

We want to emphasize basic and foundational issues in our teaching—personal piety as measured by relational piety (1 John 4:20). We want our doctrine to revolve around practical Christianity, Christian living that is meant to be lived. This is why there are recurring themes in the teachings, conferences, books published, and so on. We emphasize things like confession of sin, dealing with bitterness, maintaining relationships, how to read your Bible, the importance of Christian education, and so on.

Dangers: the danger here is that of reducing everything to a moralistic or legalistic approach. But the biblical approach is always credenda before agenda.

Components: Understanding the Apostles Creed, true Christian education for Christian kids, parish studies, having our lives intertwined in koinonia fellowship, and being driven by an eschatological optimism.

Worldview Evangelism, Outreach, Cultural Engagement

Jesus is Lord, and this means that He is relevant to all things. No area of human endeavor lies outside His authority. Our evangelism is not an attempt to helicopter victims out of a disaster area, but rather is the work of rebuilding a disaster area. Everything is relevant, and everything is related to Jesus.

The Christian faith has cultural ramifications. The Christian faith is political. The Christian faith is public. We have no business taking this light of His and putting it under our own bushel.

Dangers: one danger is the obvious one of calling it cultural engagement when we just drift along with whatever it is the world is dishing up. Another is the cowardice of shutting up because of the pc police. Or that of using a Jesus stamp on all of your personal prejudices.

Components: real Christian education (again), and a willingness to get out of our comfy little ghetto. In order to learn cultural engagement, we have to engage. We must not capitulate, and we must not run away. We must engage. This means knowing, loving, and praying for non-believers—without trying to become like them.

Conclusion

In the coming year, and in the time after that, there will no doubt be a number of times when we have practical and tactical decisions to make. A good example would be the issues surrounding the building of our new sanctuary. We have been without one since this congregation was established in 1975. We have a church that we planted just ten years ago that has its own building now, and we still don’t, which is the coolest thing in the world.

But when we come to build our own building (or if we do anything else), make sure that everything is brought back to these three areas. How will this help us do that? Unless we make a point of doing it this way, we will be like a crotchety bachelor deciding to get married in his late forties. What could go wrong?

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What the Lord’s Brothers and Sisters Knew

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Introduction

Jesus had four brothers, and at least two sisters (Mark 6:3; Matt. 13:55-56). The names of His brothers were James, Joses, Judah, and Simon. James was the author of the book of James, and Judah was the author of the book of Jude (Jude 1:1). With Joseph and Mary having that number of children, it would not be hard for their descendants to number in the many millions today. You ought to be nicer to the person you are sitting next to— they might be related to Jesus. But of course, as we will see, the Lord calculates the importance of these things differently.

The Text

“His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come. When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee. But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret” (Jn. 7:3-10).

Summary of the Text

At this point in the Lord’s ministry, the Lord’s brothers were not persuaded by Him. They were not believers. They were pious Jews, observing the Feast of Booths here, but they did not believe the claims Jesus was making. They taunted Him—if you want to make a name for Yourself with these miracles that You are doing, you need to go to the big city to do them (vv. 3-4). The text then says explicitly that they were talking this way because they did not believe in Him. The reply that Jesus makes to them shows the true nature of the true antithesis. Jesus says that every time is “their time,” but His time has not yet come (v. 6). The world cannot hate them, which means that in some fundamental way, they were still part of the world system (v. 7). Members of His immediate family belonged to “the world.” Jesus, however, testified to the world that its works were evil— in a way that His brothers could not do. He told them to go up to the Feast, which they did (vv. 8-9). Jesus followed later, but went secretly (v. 10).

Sorting Some Things Out

Several of the disciples were named James also. One was a son of Alphaeus (Acts 1:13). Another was a son of Zebedee, brother to John, and he was martyred by Herod (Acts 12:1-2). A third James, James the Lord’s brother, was a leader in the church at Jerusalem, and was called James the Just by Hegesippus, a second century historian. This James is the one who wrote the book of James. His brother Jude, another half brother to the Lord, wrote the book of Jude.

True Relations

All the references we have to the Lord’s siblings prior to the resurrection indicate that they were not impressed with Him. We have the evidence of our text in John 7, of course, and in Mark, when Jesus made His first big “stir,” they showed up at the crowded house in order to take Him in hand. We see this by the response the Lord gave to them.

“There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother” (Mark 3:31-35).

In the third century, blood relatives of the Lord were called desposyni, those belonging to the master. Now something like that would be fun to discover on ancestry.com, but look at how the Lord places it all in perspective. Anyone can be His brother, His sister, or His mother. How? By doing the will of God.

The Impact of the Resurrection

So before the resurrection, to the extent we have information about it, it shows that the Lord’s siblings did not believe in Him. We know that Mary did believe in Him, but there were family dynamics going on. But immediately after the resurrection, everything apparently changed. After the resurrection, we don’t have any record of unbelief in the Lord’s family. James, the Lord’s brother, is reckoned among the apostles (Gal. 1:19), and a pillar in the church (Gal. 2:9). The Lord’s brothers were reckoned among those in ministry (1 Cor. 9:5). The key appears to have been the fact that Jesus made an appearance to James after the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:7).

What is Faith?

Scripture tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Scripture tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). But most of all, we see in Scripture that faith is a gift, a grace, a present (Eph. 2:8-10).

The gift is not automatic. Someone could have grown up right next to Jesus—in the bedroom next to His—and not have faith. Proximity does not create faith. An encounter with the risen Christ does.

We understand the connection between the baby Jesus and the risen Jesus because we have heard the entire story. But some want a sentimental Christmas with the baby Jesus only. If He stays in the crib, He can’t mess around with my life. Genuine faith cannot function in this way.

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What Mary Knew

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

Last week we considered what Joseph knew, and obviously Mary knew all the same things, and for the same reason. But she had more direct experience with the marvels that came to earth through her. For example, the angelic communication with Joseph came through dreams, but came to her directly.

The Text

“And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women” (Luke 1:28).

Summary of the Text

At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel was sent to Nazareth in order to deliver a message from God to a virgin named Mary (Luke 1:26). Mary is the English form of her name—to those who knew her at the time, she was Miriam. This is of course the verse from which the famous Hail, Mary prayer is derived, and so we must note a few things about that. The word hail here is simply a respectful greeting by the angel, not a prayer of supplication. He implies the name of Mary without saying it, and notes that she is “greatly blessed,” which the source of the phrase “full of grace.” The distinction is that Gabriel is saying that she is a recipient of grace here, not that she is a reservoir of it for others. And of course, the Latin form of Hail, Mary is Ave, Maria.

Provided we understand these words in their original context, there is nothing wrong with Protestants saying or singing these words—they are in the Bible. To refuse to do so is the display the very kind of superstition we think we are objecting to.

Sorting Some Things Out

Because a cult of Mary grew up in the history of the Church, and certain problematic doctrines came out of that, we have to take a moment to define our terms. As Protestants, we affirm the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. That is to say, we affirm that at the time of Christ’s birth, Mary was still a virgin, never having known a man. This is a distinct doctrine from the perpetual virginity of Mary, which we do not affirm. (This is why we have a comma in our use of the Apostles Creed—“born of a virgin, Mary”). The title the Virgin Mary refers to a permanent status. That is the doctrine that Mary was a virgin throughout the course of her entire life, along with the doctrine that the birth of Jesus was a distinct miracle, not violating Mary’s virginity. Some early Reformers (Luther, Latimer, and Cranmer) held to the doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity, but it was rightly abandoned by Protestants fairly early. As we noted last week, Jesus had at least six siblings, and Matthew tells us that Joseph refrained from having relations with Mary until after the birth of Jesus (Matt. 1:25).

Another phrase we should be familiar with is the immaculate conception. This is commonly (and wrongly) assumed to refer to the conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb, when it is actually referring to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother— who, according to tradition, was named Anne. The concern was to make Mary sinless by a miracle, in order to be a fit receptacle for the sinless Messiah. As long as we are here, we should mention another common confusion—the Ascension of Jesus should not be confused with the Roman doctrine of the Assumption of Mary.

And then, of course, Americans have complicated things by dragging these terms into discussions of football— the Hail Mary pass, and the famous Immaculate Reception by Franco Harris of the Steelers.

Taking Care of Background Assumptions

When discussions of prayers to the saints (and to Mary) come up, as they do from time to time, many Protestants don’t know how to answer this argument. We ask one another to pray for each other all the time. We do it in this service. Why can’t we ask dead saints to pray for us in the same way that we ask living saints to pray for us? Why do you have to be alive on earth to pray? The answer is that you have to assume functional omniscience on the part of whatever deceased person you are talking do, and this shapes everything else you do. It becomes, of necessity, a prayer, and not a simple request to a fellow saint.

Now it is a shame we have to spend a lot of time removing clutter in order to develop a biblically high view of Mary. But that is why we should be doing it.

What Mary Knew

We do not know this from Scripture, but based on the customs of the time, Mary was probably between 14 and 16 years of age when Jesus was born. As we consider the remarkable faith of this remarkable young woman, we should meditate on the following things that we know Mary knew.

Mary knew her Bible: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour (1 Sam. 2:1; Hab. 3:18; Is. 61:10; Deut. 32:3). For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed (1 Sam. 1:11). For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name (Ps. 71:19; 1 Sam. 2:2). And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation (Ps. 103:17). He hath shewed strength with his arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts (Ps. 89:13). He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree (1 Sam. 2:8; Job. 5:11). He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away (1 Sam. 2:5; Ps. 107:9). He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy (Is. 41:8-9; Ps. 98:2) as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever (Gen. 15 & 17)” (Luke 1:46-55).

Mary knew her calling: After the angel had announced God’s intention for her, and explained it, and answered a basic question, Mary responded with a spirit of glorious submission (Luke 1:38). She did this, knowing that it would result in a very hard conversation with Joseph—and possibly others. This was not a “no cost” obedience. Mary knew her salvation: She knew that Jesus would have an everlasting throne (Luke 1:32). She knew her child would be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). She knew God was her Savior (Luke 1:47). She knew Jesus was that Savior (Luke 2:11). She knew that He was the salvation of the entire world (Luke 2:32). She knew that a sword would pierce her own soul (Luke 2:35). And she was there when it all happened (John 19:25).

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