Good morning, saints.
You hear me okay? That sound good? I got a green light. That’s impossible. You might want to turn it down a little. I have nowhere else I can put this outside of holding it, and I’m not going to do that.
We do want to welcome Stephen and Dora back. It’s so good to have you in our midst again. We’ve missed you. Brother, we look forward to, Lord willing, hearing from you in hopefully the near future. How about putting in a little pitch there, right?
It’s good to see some young people here in our midst. I hope this word will be helpful to you.
I’ll be honest, I struggled over this word. I felt the Lord gave it to me roughly two weeks ago, and I really wanted Him to give it to somebody else. But here I stand anyway.
We’re all aware that recently we’ve been speaking around this subject of the house of God. This morning, we don’t really want to go into a definition or some sort of teaching of what the house of God is. Instead, we hope to have a very simple, very practical word on being engaged in the house of God.
I believe at this time we would all agree that what is needed most in our midst is not more teaching, but a fully entering into this subject. I believe we can be more engaged than we are, and so we want to talk around that this morning.
Because we do need to enter fully into this calling. We need to find ourselves spending our lives on that which is eternal, not merely on that which has to do with this age.
You know, we’re going to find in the age to come that those who have been faithful in this calling of being engaged in the building of the house will have been prepared to reign and rule with Christ in the age to come.
But we’ll also find that those who are not faithful, who do not engage themselves, will forfeit such a privilege. And what a loss.
You know, I think there are many surface reasons why believers are not engaged in this matter of the building of the house, but I believe they can all be brought down to this matter of the self-life not being dealt with.
We have to be willing to take His yoke upon ourselves and learn Him. And we’ll find, if we do this, He’ll direct us and He’ll lead us in His will for our life.
What is clearly needed in these days is a hearing individually and corporately as to how we are to be engaged in the house of God.
You know, the Lord said, “I will build My church.” That means He is the designer. He is the architect. He is the foreman, if you will, of this project. In addition, He is the supplier of the materials and the master craftsman who does the building.
But we may ask, what is our part in this process? We are to be the materials He will use as He desires. So we find that we need to cooperate with Him.
You know, in Ephesians 2:10, it says—and I’m going to read out of the NASB:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
So what is this verse telling us? It states that for every believer, there are some predetermined works that they are to complete or accomplish.
Now, of course, these works will not be the same for everybody. But they will all be for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.
As we stated already, we want to exhort us in being engaged in the house of God. Exhortation involves encouraging on one hand and warning on the other.
You know, we know, for example, that all medications have these two facets on the label of the product: first, how to properly use the product, and also a warning against misuse of the product.
The Lord’s desire is that we would heed what we have heard. We need to go beyond the mere intellectual understanding of this subject and allow Him to press upon our hearts His great desire for His house.
That, in turn, could be a springboard to move us in this matter of being fully engaged in the house of God.
You know, it said of the Lord that zeal for the house had consumed Him. I don’t know if you found this out or not, but that zeal is not in you naturally. But the Lord wants to share that zeal with you.
But do we want to be partakers of that zeal with Him? That is the question. So again, may the Holy Spirit move upon our hearts and grant the grace that we would be fully willing to engage in the house of God.
Now, I do not plan on speaking very long this morning for at least two reasons. One reason is because our desire is to exhort us to be engaged in the house of God.
An exhortation at its core is not any new teaching, but persuading into obedience of what we have already heard. I think we’ve heard much already, so we only want to persuade us with a few points.
You know, the Holy Spirit is well able to take a single word and move a mountain. And though mountains may differ in size, they’re all as molehills to Him.
The other reason is because I believe there are some brothers in our midst who have a desire maybe to share or minister in this time, but they may be hesitant. They may draw back because they don’t feel like they can share for an hour.
Now, there’s no written rule that one has to share for an hour. You know, I’d rather hear two sentences anointed by the Holy Spirit than some large, eloquent, perfect teaching on the Scriptures without the Holy Spirit.
So may the Lord encourage some who may be sensing some leading to share. And remember, it’s not a matter of quantity, but quality.
Now, you can go to Ephesians 2.
In this matter of being engaged in the house of God, we want to consider two simple questions:
Let’s read some familiar verses out of Ephesians so we can point out a couple of things to answer these two questions. Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 15. I’m going to jump a little bit into the verse.
We are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
So what does it mean to be engaged in the house of God? I think, simply put, it means that every joint supplies. Every member of the body of Christ is to be engaged in the building process. There are to be no spectators in this matter of building the house.
We read earlier that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Notice Paul did not distinguish that only certain ones had good works prepared beforehand to walk in.
Each one—each one of us—has a place and a ministry to complete. But what happens if some do not supply to the growth of the body?
Have you ever had an injury to your body, in particular maybe like an ankle or a knee? Do you know what the rest of your body does to improvise for the injured part?
Sometimes, when the injury lasts a long time, other parts of the body will fall prey to injury by overcompensating. Have you ever had that happen?
Do we find ourselves to be so self-willed or self-centered—Jerry mentioned self-satisfied—that we don’t care if other members carry our load?
You know, my oldest brother was a great admirer of animals. He owned practically every type of domestic pet, and then some. I even recall that he took in an injured squirrel once and nursed it back to health.
But most of all, I recall when I was young that he had an ant farm. Do you all know what an ant farm is?
His ant farm was about so big. It had glass, of course, on two sides. You put dirt into it, you put the ants in there, and you let them go.
You know, it was fascinating to watch them because they built tunnels and chambers everywhere. When you looked at them with the casual eye, it looked like chaos—ants running everywhere all at once.
But when you watched carefully, you could see that there was a building process going on. Some were in charge of building tunnels. Some were in charge of gathering food. And some were even in charge of fighting invaders.
My brother used to love to capture a bee—this may seem cruel to some of you—and he would drop the bee into the ant farm to see what they would do.
And, you know, the ants who had the charge to fight would go after that bee. Ultimately, one ant would give his life for the whole colony because he was stung. And then the rest of the ants would gather and destroy the invader.
But also, some of the ants were there to minister to the queen—the queen ant. You could usually tell the queen ant because she was larger.
In fact, the primary purpose of the ants was to serve the queen. Did you know that? If for some reason—and my brother did this too—the queen was removed, there would be chaos. Ants would be running everywhere. They lost their purpose for living.
Likewise, we’re to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, we’re to be engaged in this building process.
It was also interesting because, though they were all doing different tasks in various places, they were all in harmony. All were found working toward the good of the colony. There were no rebels. There were no dropouts found in the colony. They were all engaged.
Oh, that we could be like these ants, that we could be diligent, that we could be fully engaged in this matter of the building of the house.
But we have to stop and ask this question: if we’re not engaged, why not?
Because we are to be fully engaged in the building of this house. Is that your purpose for living? Do you find that other purposes cloud or shadow this purpose? Are we like a lame joint that is out of place, hindering the healthy functioning of the body?
Yes, every joint is to supply, and there is also to be a proper working of each individual part.
Now, the last thing we want is for ones to hear an exhortation like this on being engaged and to go running out and setting their hands to whatever they think is the proper thing to do in the body.
Even as with the ants, there is to be an order in the house as the various works are to be accomplished. It is to be the works He has prepared for us, not the works we think we should engage ourselves in.
You know, I think many in the church function according to imitation. They see someone functioning, and they want to copy them. Or they may function because of pressure from others who want them to be engaged in some type of work due to need, or because it is what they deem important.
Others still want to serve according to what they like naturally or what appeals to them. You know, we treat it like a Golden Corral restaurant, picking and choosing what we want to do.
Are any of these how we are to be engaged? If not, how are we to be engaged?
First, in this matter of being engaged, there needs to be an absolute surrender to the Lord, an unconditional presenting of ourselves to the Lord. There needs to be a once-for-all consecration followed by a daily consecration of ourselves to the Lord.
One brother said, “If He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.”
Do you remember when the Lord appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus? What did Saul say to the Lord? We read this starting in Acts 9:3:
As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;
and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”
And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”
When Jesus appeared to Saul, Saul called Him Lord. He identified Him as his absolute monarch, ready to do His will. Likewise, we are to submit to the lordship of His will.
But often we find our problem is that we’re sidetracked with lack of interest, lack of desire, because we want to do our own will. We’re double-minded. We don’t have a single eye.
And we want to say, if there’s an area in your life that you know you have not yielded over to Him, don’t delay. Be honest with the Lord. Let Him be Lord over it. Don’t resist as He points out something.
You know, He’s worthy of such. In fact, He has bought us with a price, and we’re not our own. We belong wholly to Him. So may we, by the grace of God, resolve the issue of ownership and submit to the Lord.
But you may say, “I have consecrated myself to the Lord. So now how am I to know His will? How am I to be engaged in the house of God?”
You know, there’s a very interesting verse in John 7:17:
If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.
So what’s the Lord saying in this Scripture? He’s saying if you’re truly willing to do His will, it will be made known to you. We can trust that if we have turned the reins of our life over to Him, He will reveal Himself to us.
But what is a major way He uses to reveal Himself to us? We find in this matter of being engaged, there is to be a coming away.
What do I mean by that? You remember what the Lord had said to the disciples prior to the feeding of the five thousand? He said in Mark 6:31:
Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.
Have we entered into the principle of the secluded place? Have we made a habit of coming away with the Lord to a secluded place, where we can spend time with Him in His Word?
You know, it’s there in the secluded place that we can give Him a unique opportunity to reveal Himself to us. It’s there in the secluded place we can learn the desires of His heart and His direction for our lives.
It’s there in the secluded place we can learn of His will for ourselves, even as the Lord had done when He would come away to be alone with His Father.
But, you know, our problem lies in this matter of resting a while. We are so busy, we’re so occupied with many things, we find that it’s hard to stop and rest in His presence.
And thus, we often bypass these times and wonder why we walk in darkness and confusion, and we’re not clear in how to be engaged in the house of God.
You know, this coming away should be first thing in the morning, even as the manna provided by the Lord in the wilderness was to be gathered by the children of Israel at that time. But it can also be at other intervals in the day.
You know, we’re called to be companions of Christ. Companions know the desires of each other. We know that the Lord knows all about us, but do we really know the Lord?
If you have not done so, determine to settle once and for all to have this secluded time with the Lord in His Word. If you do not, you cannot effectively engage yourself in the house of God. This is an absolutely necessary principle.
And lastly, we would like to mention that we want to ask us to gather with the saints. In general, one cannot be engaged in the house of God if there is a forsaking of the gathering with the saints.
You know, in fact, we often find we are helped in this matter of being engaged when we gather with the saints.
We find a good example of this in the case of Ananias in Acts 9. You remember the story? Remember how he was sent to Paul after Paul’s conversion? What would have happened to Paul if Ananias had not obeyed the Lord in going to see him?
Being engaged in the house of God involves the building up of the body of Christ. Do we realize that we are members one of another? Do we realize that we belong to each other? Do we realize that we affect each other by what we do, be it good or bad?
When we have opportunities to gather and we do not do so, why don’t we? Can we not be willing to lay down any excuses? Can we not be willing to lay down any issues? Is He not worthy of such?
Now, we can’t just relegate this gathering together to so-called meetings. You know, we find there are many opportunities to be engaged with the saints outside of so-called established meetings, such as visiting the sick or shut-ins, or having a meal together.
You know, we were recently asked the question, “Are we a help or a hindrance in this matter of the building of the house?” We certainly can’t be a help if we refuse to gather.
For the Lord’s sake, may we be faithful in gathering with the saints for the purpose of building the house.
Now, in closing, we want to look at a parable in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 42. This is the parable of the faithful servant. Some may say, in the negative way, it’s the parable of the unfaithful servant. We want to look at the positive side.
Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
For this reason, you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household, to give them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.
Truly, I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
But if that evil slave says in his heart, “My master is not coming for a long time,” and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards,
the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour which he does not know,
and he will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Now, we know that the slaves referred to in this parable speak of believers, whether they fall under the category of faithful or evil. And we know that the Master is the Lord, and the household is the church.
You know, like the master in the parable, the Lord is away right now, but He will return. And He will reward each according to their work in the household of God, whether that be good or bad.
He’s given all of us a task. He’s given us the task of providing food in proper time. Of course, that food is the sharing of the life of Christ in you with one another.
The question is, will we be found faithful in this matter? Or will we be like the evil slave who, through disrespect and disregard, shirks the duty of the Master?
May I ask you, if you’re not engaged in the house of God, what’s holding you back?
Is it other interests? Where do these stand in the light of eternity? Is it ability? You know, God can and will equip you with the enabling by His grace. He will not call or lead you into anything that He will not provide grace for.
I remember Chuck Smith saying, as a newborn in Christ, “Where God guides, God provides.”
Is it that you do not know your part of how to be engaged in the house? Seek Him. Prayerfully wait on Him. You know, He’s faithful as a Son over His house.
And He’ll provide saints who will confirm what the Lord has placed in your heart as to the manner in which you should be engaged in the house of God.
Learn to be faithful in the small things, and He’ll open larger doors for you. You know, remember that children need to learn to crawl, then walk, then run. I don’t think you’ve ever seen a baby run.
We need to allow the Lord to take us by the hand. And He will lead us into that desire of His heart, which is even His house.
May we, by His grace, be faithful. May we find ourselves being those companions of Christ in being fully engaged in the house of God, and we’ll find then that we will satisfy His heart.
May we pray.
Lord, our prayer is simply that we would be like this faithful slave, that one that would be willing to be fully obedient unto You. Lord, to desire only that which is upon Your heart, to desire to be willing to be fully engaged in Your house.
We just commit these simple words, Lord, into Your hands and just pray in Your name. Amen.