June 7, 2009
Sermon #787
(The Parable of the Wedding Supper)
The Corporate Destiny of the Local Church
Matthew 22:1 - 14 (NKJV) 1And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ 5But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
8Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Proverbs 29:18 (NKJV) 18Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.
Proverbs 29:18 (NLT) 18When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is happy.
Introduction: Every one born has a destiny and so does every local congregation. This afternoon I am to bring a church to a newly formed church. In this service I want to bring a word to the Cathedral of His Glory but it will apply to every church everywhere.
I. The Church belongs to Jesus
Matthew 16:13 - 19 (NKJV) 13When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
ILL: Christ said “I will build my church” It is built upon the “rock” of revelation but it is His, both the universal and the local assembly are His!
A. It is Jesus who directs who should be a member of a church
1 Corinthians 12:18 - 19 (NKJV) 18But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
B. Church membership is a covenant just as marriage is a covenant.
ILL: As in the marriage covenant “What God has put together let no man put asunder.” When one leaves a local church it is paramount to a divorce. Both the person leaving and the church suffers grief. I have seen communities and families torn apart by church splits. The only way a person should leave a church is to be called to another and to go with the first spouses blessing. Unfortunately most people leave a church because they could not get their way. They will not surrender their way for the good of the union. It is the same with divorce!
II. Like a marriage, things are going to change – people are going to change. It is a union going somewhere! The first “church” was the assembly in the wilderness.
ILL: Moses called the “church” to move, change.
Numbers 10:33 - 35 (NKJV) 33So they departed from the mountain of the Lord on a journey of three days; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them for the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them. 34And the cloud of the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp. 35So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said: “Rise up, O Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered, And let those who hate You flee before You.”
A. Who were the enemies?
ILL: Egypt is behind them. They are in a desert place. The people who would not “rise up” and move became the enemies.
The people wanted there own way. Perhaps a mother was preparing a wedding. She told her husband, “we cannot move now I have wedding plans for our little girl.” The father said, “I am tired of this manna already. I enjoyed my food better when it was flavored with the garlic in Egypt.” So they decided to stay or go back! Any group that decides they do not want God’s destiny but are going to have their own become the enemy of their own destiny.
ILL: God’s provision is on the way to His destiny!
B. Any Church that follows God’s Divine Destiny has to be willing to change.
ILL: The last move of God is always the enemy of the present move of God!
ILL: When a church I was pastor of built a new sanctuary the congregation did not want to leave the old highly inadequate building. Only when they ran out of heat did they move! When we were in the theater and built the Cathedral building we lost members who would not relocate.
ILL: When Israel refused Moses left an entire generation of bones scattered in the wilderness.
Numbers 32:6 - 15 (NKJV) 6And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: “Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? 7Now why will you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them? 8Thus your fathers did when I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. 9For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them.
10So the Lord’S anger was aroused on that day, and He swore an oath, saying, 11‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, 12except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.’ 13So the Lord’S anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. 14And look! You have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel. 15For if you turn away from following Him, He will once again leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”
III. There has to be unity!
1 Corinthians 12:12 - 28 (NKJV) 12For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
A. The Church must follow its leader.
(Anything with more than one head is a monster.)
ILL: Acts 15:1 - 2 (NKJV) 1And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.
Acts 15:12 - 19 (NKJV) 12Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. 13And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me: 14Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. 15And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: 16‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; 17So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things.’ 18“Known to God from eternity are all His works. 19Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God,
(Who was James? The Pastor of the Church of Jerusalem)
B. No dissension
Romans 16:17 - 19 (NKJV) 17Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. 18For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. 19For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.
ILL: Much too often the local church does not “mark those who cause divisions” but follows them.
Matthew 12:25 (NKJV) 25But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
ILL: Church leaders are called to lead not to please. They are not to eternal childhood and selfishness among the redeemed. Unfortunately church members had rather follow the divisive member than “mark them.”
C. Honor your Pastor
Mark 6:1 - 6 (NKJV) 1Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. 2And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! 3Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him. 4But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 5Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.
ILL: They did not believe in Him or honor Him – therefore His ministry was limited among them.
ILL: The pastor of a church is like Moses – he steers the vessel because he knows where the vision is taking the church.
D. V. Hill once said, “the great majority of all the churches in America don’t matter!”
ILL: God spoke to seven churches:
Revelation 1:9-11 (NKJV 9I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
ILL: If 70% of the churches in this world closed it would not matter!
· Ephesus
Revelation 2:4 (NKJV 4Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
· Smyrna
Revelation 2:8-10 (NKJV 8“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write,
‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life: 9“I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
· Pergamos
Revelation 2:16 (NKJV 16Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.
· Thyatira
Revelation 2:20-23 (NKJV 20Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.
· Sardis
Revelation 3:1-3 (NKJV 1“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write,
‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
IIL: The “Rapture has come and there they sit!
· Philadelphia – the only one of the seven!
Revelation 3:7-13 (NKJV 7“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
11Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 13“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’
· Laodiceans
Revelation 3:15 (NKJV 15“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Conclusion Only one in seven – Philadelphia! Only one in seven finds its corporate destiny. Why? It has an open door – it is not a “social club” It has an open door where everyone is welcome!
Matthew 22:8 - 14 (NKJV) 8Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Church! We are getting ready for the wedding. The Philadelphia Church is the one that goes into highways and gathers them together! It’s the Kings privilege to discover who is proper and who is not!
