<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

From Pews to Priesthood

Turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor, are the pews our final destination?

Now turn to the neighbor on the other side and say, no neighbor, they're just our starting point.

Lay aside your fears and see what God can do.

I invite you to bow your heads with me as we acknowledge Him.

Our Father in Heaven, Our Father in heaven, we are thankful that you brought us to a place that has been set apart to meet with you, to worship you, to listen to you.

And Father, we pray that you would manifest yourself through your living word.

We know that that's something you have promised to do.

And it's a promise that you love to fulfill.

So we're thankful, Lord, that you will speak to our hearts, inspire us, convict us, motivate us.

And we thank you, Lord, for answering our prayers in Jesus' name.

I want to start this morning with a question.

How many of you, how many here are puzzle lovers?

But I have to ask, What is it about puzzles that captures our attention, keeping us at the table for hours, sometimes even days or weeks, until every piece finds its place?

Collectors in the house, okay, I see quite a few more hands.

You know, there's something about opening the box and sorting out all the pieces, and then patiently beginning to put the pieces together.

Patiently, I say, because it will take hours.

Sometimes it might take even days or even weeks.

Puzzles and Legos only make sense when each piece fits into its proper place.

That's the only way that there will be any kind of satisfaction in doing the task that you have set yourself to do.

Because Think about it, a puzzle piece all by itself, just any ordinary puzzle piece is incomplete by itself.

On their own, the Lego pieces might not look like much.

They're just a bunch of pieces put just there together, but they're not connected.

But when they're connected, when they're joined together, the picture that those puzzle pieces began to form as they were connecting 1 to the other.

As you take those pieces they finally begin to take shape as you put them together.

That's exactly the picture of the Apostle Paul when he wrote in his book to the Ephesians.

There in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 18 to 22, listen to what Paul wrote.

He said, for through him we both have access by 1 spirit to the Father.

Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.

In whom The whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

And as we read through that verse did you notice Paul's emphasis?

It seems like he's trying to make a point And he wants to be very clear.

There in the text, Paul writes, being fitted together, being fitted together, being built together.

And I found it interesting that the Greek word soon, soon, soon, soon translated fitted together, is sun, meaning along or aside, coming together, and a compound word of harmon, which means joints, and you're gonna love this, and the Greek word, lego.

The whole word literally means joined closely together, interconnected, hinged together.

Paul is trying to paint this picture of not merely gathering together, not merely coming to a place where you're going to be together at the same time.

But what Paul is getting at here is that there is something that's under the surface.

It extends further than being visibly together.

Paul is talking about an interconnection, an experience that has some intimacy to it.

That is to say, not being socially, emotionally, and spiritually distanced, but rallying together, coming together, being fitted and built together.

And these words echo the counsel of Ellen G.

White, written in the 19th century, that's still very true and relevant today for us.

Let's look at the quote and let's read it together.

The work of God in this earth can never be finished until the men and women comprising our church membership rally to the work and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church officers.

Because if we are disciples of Christ, longing for that heavenly home to come, for us to be called forth and to be able to enter into the presence of God.

We want the work finished on this earth, don't we not?

Jesus himself said when he came, he says, I have come and I have finished the work that you have given me to do.

There's a sense of task, of a commission that's been given to us.

And when we are filled with the Spirit, there's something in our bones, something in our heart that launch to not only be obedient to the commission, but to finish the work that God has given us to do.

And if this concept, this thought, this idea is true, then there is something that we need to really take a close look at, really close look at.

You see, just like a puzzle or a Lego set, each of us, with no exception, as members and friends of the church, we have a place.

Each of us is designed to connect with others.

The creator God created us to be social beings, to love, to connect with people on a social level.

That's why there's many options, many places in this world that you can go to where you can know that you can encounter people of like desire that just simply want to hang out, connect, and be able to have a relationship.

And they may have nothing to do with the church, much less with God, but yet that's how they function, because God instilled within the human desire and the human psyche that desire to connect.

God wants his people to come together and to connect, to be fitted together, be built together.

And when God fits us together in Christ, when God accomplishes that in us, He's building something.

Something is coming together, far greater than the sum of its parts.

His dwelling place on earth, otherwise known as the church.

His dwelling place, a place where God meets with his people.

And if we are her community, men and women who drive the distance to come to a place where they're going to spend 2 or 3 hours together, whether it's fellowship or whatever else motivates us to come, coming together, making the sacrifice to be here, then we must know our role in this house, in this place.

We must have a perspective that if it's missing, we're never going to get this work done.

Back to Menu

From Pews to Priesthood

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine