We noted yesterday that a right foundation is critical. If you do not have a good foundation nothing else will stand. We noted as well that when a person is saved, he or she immediately receives the Holy Spirit in them. He, the Holy Spirit, takes up residence in every born again Christian’s life. His purpose in the saved person’s life is to guide that person into all truth. He is called “the Comforter”. He is the helper, the advocate that even born again Christian receives at the moment of salvation. He is the third Person of the Godhead. He will never be content to let His temple be defiled. The Bible declares that every born again Christian is a temple of the Holy Ghost. Every born again Christian needs to become a part of a true local church, as we read in our passage as well as elsewhere in the Bible.
There are many professing Christians today who choose to be orphans. They cannot be content there because the Holy Spirit indwells every true believer. He will never be content with His temple being defiled or deficient.
In the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Jesus addressed seven local churches. He did not address some wandering saint who was detached from His design. He addressed the “angel”, which in the context is the pastor of the local church. Every true church needs to have a pastor. That is God’s design. The pastor needs to be a saved man who is properly trained and humbly serving the Lord.
I mentioned that as a younger man, I knew God wanted me to be further trained for whatever He had in mind for me. God did not show me what He had in mind for me at that time. He showed me He wanted me to get further training. The problem that I faced was that I was a part of a New Evangelical church. New Evangelical churches have no way of training people to serve God more faithfully. They choose not to follow God and thus those who are part of those groups cannot follow God faithfully. According to what we see in the Bible, God moves His child to a closer walk with Him. He expects His child to grow. He shows us that when proper growth is not taking place, He will chasten His child in order to get him to grow properly.
As we mentioned, Jesus personally addressed seven local churches in the first century. The pastors of those seven churches needed to be reminded that they were not in charge of their churches. Jesus Christ was in charge and He had an order by which each true church must function. Jesus also showed that He has the authority to remove His candlestick from any church that does not want to follow His lead.
In our text we are reminded and warned that it is essential to build with the right materials. The foundation is established. The foundation is Jesus Christ. That is the only foundation that is right. As we have noted, growth needs to take place on that foundation. A building needs to be established on that foundation. That building must be according to God’s will. It must be built with gold, silver, and precious stones. Building with wood, hay and stubble will not last. Those materials cannot withstand the holiness of God.
Again going back to the seven churches in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, none of those churches exist today. They all fell apart because they did not heed the warnings and instructions given to them. Jesus Christ is not forced to remain in a church that rejects Him. We must remember that He is not only the Foundation, but He is also the Head of every true church. The head directs the body. If you did not have a head, you would not live.
Those who have butchered chickens know that when the head is removed, that bird cannot function properly. Its wings will flap uncontrollably for a bit. Its legs will kick frantically for a short while. Eventually that bird will stop all movement. When the head is removed, its actions are irrational.
There are many ‘churches’ that are extremely irrational. They make lots of noise. They have lots of activities. However, they produce zero good fruit. They are just social clubs that offer different flavours of social activities. Many people love those places because they feed their ego and their ‘felt’ needs. They do nothing for their souls and that is evident because their attendees see no need to be directly tied to them. Their followers are wanderers. In the summer a honky-tonk loud music event is just as good as being within their usual four walls. A fishing expedition is also just as good. Or they may taking a camping trip and again they find no need to be assembled in their group.
Those who are truly saved, desire to be where Jesus designed them to be. They want to be under the teaching of their Head.
As we noted, the true church has a godly pastor. He is a man of God who is building his own life on the truth and is directed by God to help others to do the same. He knows the Word of God and is opening the Word of God in the presence of those that God sends to him. He does not build his teaching on the foundation of men’s writings. He builds his teaching on the true foundation — the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who are truly saved will also be like the Bereans who gladly received the apostles’ doctrine, and searched the Scriptures daily to see if those things were so. Born again Christians examine all that they hear in the light of God’s Word. They are not critical in the sense that their goal is to find error. They are critical in the sense that they want to know the truth. The Holy Spirit indwelling them is not content with lies. He is the Truth and He wants His temple to be filled with Truth.
Today is the Lord’s day. It is the day that Jesus Christ established as the day when His followers gather together in a special way to be instructed by Him. He met often with His disciples on the first day of the week, after His resurrection. He set a pattern for them to follow. After Jesus’ ascension, the disciples met together on the first day of the week to teach the Word of God. In fact, they met with saints every day of the week. However, they taught their disciples the importance of meeting together in a special way on the first day of the week. The “collection” was to take place on the first day of the week. They were found together on that day.
The Holy Spirit is working in the heart of every true believer today to guide you to a true local church. If you are saved, He will guide you to be a member of a true local church. Due to the apostasy of our time, the local church may be further from your home than it used to be. There is a “falling away” taking place. Jesus warned that the harvest was plentiful but the labourers were few. That was true while He was on earth and it is also true today. It seems there are less and less labourers all the time. Most professing Christians believe that a good church needs to have a multiplicity of programs in order to function properly. In the Bible they had one program. That was the preaching of the Gospel. They did not gather for programs, but rather to be fed the truth. Where will you be today?
Pastor Bartel