20260322 The Church Part 3 Sunday Sermon Mike Dickmann

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful

to be your children. We're thankful to be under

your care. We're thankful for all that you've

done in our lives and all of the opportunities

that you give us to be useful in your service.

We ask now that you would own this time for your

glory and our good, that you'd enable us to hear

and apply the word to ourselves, that you'd remove

all distractions. that you would enable me to

speak the word of God and only the word of God,

all the word of God that you've given me through

the week, that I would hold back nothing and

I would add nothing to it. We ask for the lost

Father that they might be found of you today,

that this would be the day of salvation for some

of your people who are yet in their sins. Help

them. We ask it all in Christ's name. Well, we're

going to be looking at a couple of verses, passages

this morning. Hopefully you got the email earlier

in the week that listed them out and have an

opportunity to read them ahead of time, look

them over perhaps. But we're going to begin in

Acts chapter 2 this morning. We're looking at

Acts 2 · chapter mention

the church, continuing the journey. So you remember

this is the day of Pentecost that Jesus has promised

his disciples that they would receive another

comforter after he leaves them. He's told them

to go to Jerusalem and wait until that comforter

comes when they will receive power from on high.

And lo and behold what the Lord said was true,

they did. but spirit was poured out, they received

exactly what they needed, and they became bold

men for the glory of God, for the soul of the

lost, proclamators of the great gospel of God.

So that's what happened on the day of Pentecost.

And so as a result of all of those goings on,

and of course as we learned last week, the Lord

brought a whole ton people that he had prepared

to hear the gospel to that gathering in Pentecost.

And so we read then in verse 41, they that gladly

received his word were baptized and the same

day there were added unto them about 3 ,000 souls.

And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles

doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread

and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul,

and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

And all that believed were together, and had

all things common, and sold their possessions

and goods, and parted them to all men as every

man had need. And they, continuing daily with

one accord in the temple, and breaking bread

from house to house, did eat their meat with

gladness and singleness of heart. praising God

and having favor with all the people. And the

Lord added to the church daily such as should

be saved. So it's just a little snapshot here

of the result of the gospel and what exactly

did transpire. Multitudes were saved. Now, again,

that was a special day. And the Lord was working

to encourage these apostles that the Preaching

of the Gospel was, in fact, the thing that God

was going to use to bring men to Himself. So

you would expect that a large number of people

would have been saved, and that's exactly what

did happen under the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The Word was preached and the authority of the

Holy Spirit and men gladly received it, because

they were prepared by the same Holy Spirit to

receive it. So it's the beginning of the Church.

Some thousands were saved. And it tells us what

they did. And we looked at this somewhat a couple

of weeks ago, and so today we're just going to

mention just a couple of things. But they did

continue steadfastly in all the teaching of the

apostles and the fellowship. Fellowship with

God, with the apostles, with each other, the

breaking of bread. The Lord's Supper, as we now

call it, and in prayers. And fear came upon every

soul. Many wonders and signs were done by the

apostles. And all that believed were together

and had all things common. So I want to make

clear this is not a political statement. They're

not talking about an economic system. In other

words, capitalism is not in view here as a form

of economic government, nor is communism or socialism

in view here of what we're reading here. What

is in view is the love of God shed abroad in

the hearts of these new converts to share what

they have with others. It's not compulsion, it's

not taxation, it's none of those things. It is

an outpouring of love one to another. They cared.

Did these people, did they know each other? I

mean, there's a lot of things here that we could

speculate. We don't really know anything about

these thousands of people that were brought together,

but we do know that they had a love for one another

that allowed them to call what they had not their

own. But it was God's, because it was God who

has given them that what they have. So they willingly

shared what they had with one another. So we're

not looking at a compulsory thing. We're not

looking at something that should be done continually,

all over, everywhere. We're looking at what happened

on this special day when the Spirit was poured

out and the love of God abounded in these people's

lives and they expressed that love that they

had received from God by giving that love one

to another. So that's the lesson for us. What

are we? How are we considering one another? Are

we family? Are we loved ones? How is it that

we view ourselves? And how is it that we view

ourselves in the midst of all these other people?

Are we the least of the saints when we think

of ourselves? Are we the ones who possibly could

help somebody else? Are we the ones that need

help? Somehow, you know, they had to know who

needed what. So as a sharing of information about

themselves and about one another, gladly receiving

it, gladly helping, that's the Church, folks.

That's just, you know, this is the beginning.

So it's very fitting that the Lord would put

this in the very beginning of His Church. The

love of God should have brought in our hearts

should enable us to love one another and be willing

to give of ourselves for the benefit of each

other. So, I'm going to continue on then in 1

Peter. Now here we have a picture of the church,

lo and behold. It's a picture of the church.

And we'll read these first three verses first

in 1 Peter chapter 2. So we read, Wherefore,

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

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 it ye have tasted

that the Lord is gracious." All right, so he's

writing to a church here. And it's evident that

he doesn't just assume everybody that he's writing

to is a Christian. Did you get that? He says,

if you have tasted. that the Lord is gracious.

These things apply to you, then, if you have

had this taste, implying that if you have this

taste, you will desire more. You'll desire the

pure milk of the word if you have tasted that

the Lord is gracious. If you've never tasted

that the Lord is gracious, you have no taste

for the Lord himself. That's all. That's what

he's saying. Don't miss it. It's a very meaningful

description of the church. In other words, coming

to church doesn't save you. Thousands of people

come to church every Sunday and they're as lost

as my dog. Don't forget it. There's only one

way of salvation and it's sure not walking through

the building called a church building. So if

you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, you

have this desire as newborn babes to devour the

milk of the word of God and to grow. Christians

are always maturing. They're always growing.

That's what he's saying. When do you ever become

mature? Well, you become mature, but you never

stop growing. It's not like you become a so -called

teenager and you stop your growing. It's not

like that. You become a teenager and you want

to grow more. And you become an old man like

me and you're still after God to grow more. You're

still after usefulness. You still want to know

and experience more. That's just the way it is.

Or that's the way that it should be. I know we

have ups and downs and all of that. You know

all that too. But the overall tenor of our lives

is one after striving after growth. So that we

can know and experience God more and more. After

all, we're being prepared for heaven, are we

not? We're leaving all this stuff behind, right?

Everything that occupies our minds and our hearts

and our emotions now, we're leaving all that.

Is that going to be a glorious thing? It sure

is. Hopefully you realize it. When you leave

this whole earthly toys behind, you're going

to go even further on with the Lord. You're going

to experience more of them than you ever could

have this side of the river. And then we're told

here also that what? We're supposed to lay aside.

We're supposed to lay aside malice, guile, hypocrisies,

envies, and evil speaking. Is that what the verse

says? No. It says all. In this one little verse,

we've got three alls. We're not to lay aside

some of these things. We're to lay aside all

of these things. Again, the battle's long and

it's hard and it goes on and on. But that's what

we're called to. We're called to the battle.

We're called to lay all of these sins aside and

not just these, but any. Obviously... The apostle

couldn't list every single sin here. So we're

to get the idea that it's pretty important for

us to strive after holiness. The Lord is holy.

We are supposed to be His children. Children

take on the characteristics of their fathers

or their parents. normally wind up too far from

the tree. All sin is to be shunned, to be put

aside. So those are wonderful things. Hopefully

you can receive them as wonderful things. The

Lord didn't tell us to put sin aside if we couldn't

do it. Right? Hopefully you're bothered by sin.

I know I am. I want to put it all aside. And

again, when we cross the river, it will be all.

Sin will be aside. This side is the battle. Okay,

so there's more good news. There's a more glorious

description here of the church. But that's, I

mean, that's pretty good. That's a wonderful

group to be associated with, is it not? That's

a wonderful thing, that you can have good, intimate

fellowship with people who are all striving after

the same thing. All people who are all indwelt

by the Holy Spirit of God. People who have tasted

that the Lord is gracious. Is God good to us?

He doesn't call us to be alone. He doesn't call

us to go through this life alone He calls us

to go through this life together Together as

his body Now this this is that's great, and this

is even better, so I'm going to read I'm going

to read the parts of this description of the

church that pertain to Jesus Christ primarily

So in other words, I'm skipping verse five and

I'm skipping Well, I'm gonna read through five

four through eight But not verse five To whom

coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed

of men but chosen of God and precious who also

is Is contained in the scripture behold I lay

in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious,

and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious.

But unto them which be disobedient, the stone

which the builders disallowed, the same is made

the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling,

and a rock of a fence. even to them that stumble

at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also

they were appointed." Now that's talking all

about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you noticed,

maybe you didn't notice, but there's three Precious

in there. The Lord is called Precious three times.

So that's the first thing that we can notice.

The second thing we notice is that He's a cornerstone.

He's the cornerstone of the building He's the

cornerstone of the foundation So really those

that's enough That's the church folks Christ

Christ is in his church Christ is building his

church That's a description of the church that

I just read to you The church is full of people

who will not be confounded, who will not be ashamed,

who will not be disappointed in their chosen,

appointed, precious head of the church, the Lord

Jesus Christ. That's who should fill up the church.

So in other words, we see that there's some people

that don't, right? They were disobedient. They

don't believe the Word. They don't pay any attention

to the Word. And they're not in the church. They're

doomed. As all men are apart from Christ. As

we would be if we were out of Christ. They're

doomed. They're destined for hell. That's all.

There's two types of people in the world. There's

those who believe and there's those who don't.

And they are appointed to both of those destinations.

The scriptures make it clear. Not my word, but

God's So he said he's the cornerstone we all

know hopefully we all know that the cornerstone

of the foundation is the most important thing

It's the basic beginning element of the building

Everything must align with the cornerstone If

you're not in alignment with the cornerstone

the building will collapse It won't stand You'll

have the stones all out of order, all out of

joint. Do you get the idea here without even

me having to tell you? Christians are those who

are in alignment with Christ. They're stones.

They're not bricks. You never see it in the Bible

talking about bricks. Why? Because stones are

unique. They're not all the same. They don't

all look the same. They don't have the same shape.

They're not the same colors. They're unique in

and of themselves. But they're not so unique

that they can stand on themselves. They have

to be polished. They have to be knocked off.

Those sharp edges, the rough edges have to be

smoothed over to be made into this house. That's

the same thing he's talking about growing, desiring

the milk, wanting more. So we're Christians and

we're being built, it says, into a house. And

Christ is doing that work also through the power

of His Holy Spirit. He's knocking off our rough

edges. He's polishing us up. He's aligning us

with Christ more and more. The house is going

up. The Christians are united, aligned with Christ.

We're in agreement with Christ, in other words.

We want this building. We want this knocking

off of our rough edges. Hopefully I don't have

any sharp edges anymore. But I got some edges

that have been knocked several times. But they're

still not quite there. How do I know that? Because

I'm alive. Do you know that you have sharp edges

that need to be smoothed over? Are you counting

on the Lord to do that work through the power

of the Spirit? conforming you more and more to

Christ, aligning you with the cornerstone? That's

what we're about. That's what the church is about.

How does God do it? Well, He does it in any number

of wonderful ways. He can do it while you're

sitting in your study, or your chair, or wherever,

reading a word. And He can bring it to your mind.

He can use people. He can use discipline. He

can use sickness. He can use calamity. He can

use prosperity. He uses all manner of things,

but he is accomplishing his purposes in his people.

He is fulfilling his promises. He is fulfilling

his word. He's bringing it to pass. It may be

imperceptible at times. As slow moving as it

is, it is moving. We are being conformed to Christ.

Now that's a glorious thing, folks. And that's

how we can rejoice in suffering. We can rejoice

when we have setbacks. Because it's going to

bring us closer to Jesus Christ. It's going to

make us more like Him. That's what it says. And

it says he's precious. He's precious to God,

and he's precious to his people. Is he? You have

to answer. He's extremely precious to me. Or

is he precious to you? If we're just comparing

it to earthly things, do you have any earthly

things to you that are precious? I mean, our

kids, do we say they're precious? If you're a

kid, do you call your parents precious? Probably

not, but you should. Well, in other words, what

do we do? Do we just ignore those things that

are precious? Do we try to... remain as close

to them as we can? Do we try to impart as much

wisdom as we can? Do we love them, in other words?

Do we get into their world and relate to them?

Preciousness. They're precious to us. We don't

need to even hardly be talked about. We have

to normally, this is a normal case, you have

to be discouraged from counting your children

precious. Because you're overestimating it. You're

spending too much time with it. That's the normal

course of events in young families. But you can

never say that about Jesus Christ. He is precious.

He's beyond measure precious. You can't possibly

devote too much time and energy to the Lord Jesus

Christ if He's precious to you. The only thing

you can do is not spend enough time with your

precious one. That's the danger. You can get

so tangled up in today's affairs that He leaves

your mind. You don't even give Him a thought.

He's precious. He's precious to God. He's fulfilled

God's plan of salvation the gospel He's the head

the cornerstone of the church He's the only faithful

church member folks The rest of us fall far short

But he is a member of the church. He's here with

us right now. Do you believe it? He knows what

you're thinking right now. Isn't that amazing?

That's how close He is. He's ready. He's receiving

our worship. Or He's offended, if I can use that

word, at our lack of worship. He's precious.

He's precious to all of us who know Him. All

of us who have tasted that God is gracious. All

of us who are trusting Him alone for our salvation.

Are trusting that indeed He will do what He said

He was going to do and that is save us from our

sins and take us to glory. He's already proved

that at Pentecost He never disappoints. We'll

never be disappointed. He will accomplish his

purposes. Okay, so here's the description of

us in the church. Those who are in the church,

only those who are in the church. In verse five,

ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual

house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual

sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

And then in verse nine, But you are a chosen

generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation,

a purchased people, that you should show forth

the praise or the virtues of Him who hath called

you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

I don't think anything gets any better than this.

Describing some people like we are, church members.

those who were in Christ. I mean it lays it all

out there for us. It leaves us all without excuse

actually. We know what we're supposed to do.

We know what we can do to honor God, to show

forth His praise. We know all this. We also are

those who have the Holy Spirit that are empowered

to do these things. In other words, this is the

purpose of our existence. Right here. We're lively

stones, we're living stones, the same as Jesus.

The same description, the same words. The stone

that we're coming to. Remember, don't forget

that in verse four. To whom coming. We're coming.

It doesn't say who you came to. as if it was

a one -time act and now it's all over. It's who

we are coming to, continually coming to, continually,

continually until we die. We're coming to the

Lord Jesus Christ. Is that true of us? Hopefully

so. I mean, it was grand privilege. It's a wonderful

experience to come. We're coming to Him continually.

We come to Him through prayer and His Word. We

read the Word. We pray. We're coming. We're always

coming. We're always needing. We never get filled

up. We always want more, more, more. We want

to grow more, more, more. We want to honor Him

more, more, more. We want to tell everybody more,

more, more about Him. That's the picture here.

we're built up we already talked about the spiritual

house all these things are spiritual folks we're

not constructing buildings we are the building

so it says then we're a holy priesthood so is

that is that something that you aspire to No.

It says you already are. By virtue of being united

to Christ, coming to the Christ of the Church,

you are a holy priesthood. There's nobody else

that's going to do it. The world can't do it.

It knows nothing about it. You are a holy priest.

Are you fulfilling your holy priesthood? That's

what the question is, not whether you are or

aren't. Are you fulfilling it? Are you being

obedient? What does a priest do? Well, a priest

represents people to God and God to the people.

It's an intermediary. So that's what we're supposed

to be doing with one another. We're supposed

to be taking these prayer requests home, just

making it as simple and easy. and praying. That's

the royal priesthood. That's what we're called

to do. We're to bring other folks before God,

intercessors, intermediaries. Are you one that

allows people to be an intermediary? Have you

ever requested prayer? People can't pray for

you without your requesting it. It's that simple.

the holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices.

So in other words, there's all sorts of sacrifices

that we are to offer up to God. He just generalizes

it, spiritual sacrifices. How do you offer up

a spiritual sacrifice? Well, sometimes we don't

even consider it very spiritual. When you go

to work, if you work and you go to work, you

have the opportunity to offer a spiritual sacrifice.

How, in other words, how you do your job will

determine whether or not it is a spiritual sacrifice.

Do you do your job to the best of your ability

to the glory of God when the boss isn't looking?

Or do you take an opportunity to slough off?

Well, if you do, that's not a spiritual sacrifice,

but if you don't, it is. Do you do it to the

honor of God? It's a spiritual sacrifice. Anything

in our lives, we're to be worshipping, in other

words, 24 hours a day, or as many hours as those

who are awake. It's not just when we come here.

When we come here, we've got all kinds of opportunities

also. But we have opportunities all throughout

the day. How are you as a parent? What are you

doing? Are you making an idol of your kids? Or

are you raising your kids to the honor of God?

In other words, are you doing it God's way? In

the hopes that they come to honor God with their

lives. I might pause here and say that... I've

got about two more weeks after this to preach.

And then Tim's coming. And Tim's going to be

preaching on the family. Family leadership. Family

submission. The whole gamut. I think he's going

to preach the rest of the year. Just kidding.

So I know I'm looking forward to that, so hopefully

you are too. He's going to go into a lot more

of the detail here on all of these areas that

I'm broaching this morning. So I feel some relief

that I can be as brief as I am being. But a spiritual

sacrifice is the tenor of our lives. Present

your bodies a spiritual sacrifice, Romans says.

We're to subdue these bodies. We're to use them

for the glory of God, not to the disgrace of

sin. We are in our bodies. God expects us to

use our bodies for Him, in His service. Spiritual

sacrifices. Remember? They sold all. They gave

everything away. They were concerned with one

another. They were helping each other. They loved

each other. Remember? This is the same thing,

it's a different wording. But then we're assured

with these sacrifices that they are acceptable

to God by Jesus Christ. Remember? Nobody's perfect

here. Even when we attempt to do good things,

good works, we're imperfect. We have sharp falls.

We can't possibly serve God perfectly. But what

does God say? It's all right. I am going to receive

your spiritual sacrifices that are made acceptable

by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is going to make

up for all of our imperfections, all of the mistakes

that we make. When we're striving to please Him,

When we're giving of ourselves to the glory of

God, we have full assurance that God is pleased

and God accepts those sacrifices because of Jesus

Christ. It's the continuing intercession of Jesus.

He's there right now making intercession for

us. He made intercession on the cross. He continues

to make intercession now. He's making an intercession

for all the misstatements and everything that

I've already made. I have confidence in that.

He's going to bring some good out of His Word

being proclaimed. Not because of the glorious

way I'm doing it, but because He is my intercessor.

He's called me to do this. And He's owning this

Word for His own glory and for all of our good.

That's how we should view this Well, I'll sum

it up with this in verse 10 I know I didn't send

any of this out which in time past were not a

people but are now the people of God, which had

not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and

pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust which war

against the soul, having your lifestyle honest

among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against

you as evildoers, They may by your good works

which they shall behold glorify God in the day

of visitation. So there you have it. That's a

picture of the church. It all centers around

Jesus Christ. But it goes out also into the world.

And it does good works that men can see and identify

you as Christian. Can see God at work within

you. will come to repentance and faith in the

day of visitation. It's a glorious arrangement

that God has given. It's a glorious privilege

that we have to share Jesus Christ with others,

to be the encouragers of one another, to honor

God in our thoughts, words, and deeds, to have

this practical purpose to all of our days. We're

never aimlessly wandering through this life in

a fog We know things we live according to what

we know we make assertions with confidence We're

following our King We've submitted our ways unto

him You know, that's another way the Bible puts

it we want God's way to be our way We want God's

will to be our will. We don't want this clanging

and busting of heads. We want to be so in line

and attuned to God that everything that God wants

for us, we want. And life is glorious when that's

the case. And that's how He's designed it. He

knows we're dopes. He knows we need help. He

knows we need guidance. He knows we need light.

He provides it, He is it. Why would we want to

go our own way? Come unto Jesus, continuing to

come unto Jesus for all that you need, for all

that you desire. He's a glorious Savior, He's

a glorious intercessor. It's a glorious life

that He's called us to, communion with Him and

each other. Amen.