1996 SINGLE SERMONS
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
14th ANNIVERSARY
DR. JIM DIXON
MARCH 3, 1996
MATTHEW 16:18
The cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France, is not really unique. It’s only one of many cathedrals in France called Notre Dame, which means “Our lady.” But of all the cathedrals that bear that name, the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris is by far the most famous because of its location on that tiny island in the midst of the Seine in the middle of the great city of Paris. It is the most famous because of its beautiful gothic architecture and because of its vast age and its impressive history.
The cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris is more than 800 years old. The year was 1164 when first they began to build that cathedral, and through the centuries incredible things have happened there. People gathered there to pray for victory during the Crusades. People gathered there to pray for deliverance during the black death when the bubonic plague swept over Europe in the late Middle Ages.
People gathered there to pray for peace during the Hundred Years’ War. Joan of Arc was beatified there in that cathedral, and Mary, Queen of Scots, was married there. Princess Marguerite married a Huguenot in that cathedral, triggering the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre, when thousands of French Protestants were killed. Napoleon Bonaparte took the crown from the Pope’s hands and placed it on his own head, declaring himself emperor, right there in the cathedral of Notre Dame.
So, you see, from a historical perspective, the cathedral of Notre Dame is great. And from an artistic or architectural perspective, the cathedral of Notre Dame is great. It’s a masterpiece. Some would say it is the greatest example of gothic architecture on the Earth. But, you see, from God’s perspective, I promise you that the cathedral of Notre Dame is little more than nothing, simply a building in which the church of Christ has at times met.
You see, the church of Jesus Christ transcends buildings. It transcends that building. It transcends this building. It transcends all buildings. It transcends time. It transcends faith. The church of Jesus Christ cannot be conquered. It will not be conquered. The church of Jesus Christ is eternal. And this morning, on the 14th anniversary of Cherry Hills Community Church, we focus on the theme of the church of Jesus Christ. And with this purpose, we examine this one verse, Matthew 16:18, when our Lord Jesus Christ said, “I will build My church, and the powers of hell will not prevail against it.” From this verse we have three teachings.
The first teaching is this: the church is His work. You see, Jesus didn’t say to Peter, “You will build My church.” Jesus didn’t say to the apostle, “You will build My church.” And Jesus doesn’t say to us today, “You will build My church.” Jesus said, “I will build My church.” You see, the church is His work, and we need to understand what this means.
Now, I want to tell you the true story of two local congregations. One church is called the Silver Lake Presbyterian Church. The other church is called Faith United Presbyterian Church. Both of these churches had 600 members when they hired a brand-new pastor. And in both cases, the new pastor came to the church and the new pastor sought to be faithful. The new pastor loved Christ and loved the people and sought to serve Christ and sough to serve the people. In the first case, in the case of the Silver Lake Presbyterian Church, the church shrank from 600 people to 400 people and the new pastor was fired. In the second case, the case of Faith United Presbyterian Church, the church grew. In fact, it exploded from 600 people to 4,200 members. And that new pastor became renowned.
Now we might ask, “Well, why? What was the difference? Why did one church shrink? Why did the other church grow?” Some would say, “Well, it must have been the new pastors. They must have both tried and they must have both been faithful, but maybe the second pastor was more talented and gifted.” But that is not so. And we know it is not so because, you see, the new pastor at both churches was the same man. It was Dr. Dean Wolf. He was the new pastor at Silver Lake Presbyterian Church and he was the new pastor at Faith United Presbyterian Church. He was the new pastor at Silver Lake Presbyterian Church when the church shrunk from 600 to 400 and he was fired, and he was the new pastor at Faith United Presbyterian Church when the church grew from 600 to 4,200 and he was renowned.
I served with Dean Wolf for eight and a half years. He was my boss and he is my friend. And today he pastors a little congregation in Hemet, California, a congregation of less than 100 people. And in Dean’s ministry, there have been many mountaintops and many valleys. In his life, there have been many mountaintops and many valleys. But you see, Dean has learned one thing. He’s learned one truth: the harvest is the Lord’s. And when we say the church is His work, what we mean is that the harvest is the Lord’s.
In John’s gospel, the 15th chapter, our Lord Jesus Christ said, “I am the true vine. My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of Mine which bears no fruit, He takes away. Every branch which does bear fruit, He prune that it might bear more fruit. You are already pruned. You are already made clean by the Word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” You see, the harvest—the productivity, the fruit—is the Lord’s.
The Bible tells us that there was a problem in the church in Corinth. In the congregation there was division, and some people in the church in Corinth were saying that their true pastor and leader was the Apostle Paul. Other people in the congregation were saying that their true pastor and leader was Apollos. So, in 1 Corinthians chapter three, Paul writes these words: “Who is Apollos, and who is Paul? They are servants, slaves, through whom you came to believe, as God assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but it was God who brought the growth. So he who plants and he who waters are nothing, but only God who brings the growth.”
Do you understand? Do you understand that we are called to enter His field? We are called to service—each and every one of us who believe in Christ. We are called to plant. We are called to water. But the harvest is the Lord’s. And as we come to this church and we think of this church and we look at our future, I promise you that the future is bright. The future is bright if we will enter His field and plant and water, trusting His harvest. You see, if you don’t trust His power, His provision, and His harvest, you’ll never enter the field. It would be a horrible pressure to enter into ministry if you really believed that you were the key.
We’ve invited you to go and teach Sunday school this morning. We need Sunday school teachers. But few of you would go and teach Sunday school if you really believed you were the key to the deal. If you really believe that any good that was going to happen in that classroom was totally dependent upon you, I would never stand up here and preach. I would never have entered the ministry if I really thought things were dependent upon me. But you see, the harvest is the Lord’s, and you can enter that Sunday school classroom. I can enter this pulpit and we can come with confidence in Christ. The harvest is the Lord’s. We’re simply called to plant. We’re simply called to water and to trust the harvest to Him.
The church is His work. Then secondly, the church is His possession. The church is His possession. Jesus didn’t say to Peter, “I will build your church.” Jesus didn’t say to the apostles, “I will build your church.” He doesn’t say to us today, “I will build your church.” This church doesn’t belong to the staff. This church doesn’t belong to the elder board. This church doesn’t even belong to you, the congregation. But you see, the staff, the elder board, the congregation, and the church itself belong to Christ. “I will build My church.” The church is His possession.
Now, I’m sure that many of you have heard of the Colorado ballot initiative to repeal nonprofit property tax exemption from churches and from other nonprofit organizations that seek to serve the community. This Colorado ballot initiative apparently will be voted upon at the general election in November. You’ll have a chance to vote on it. If this ballot initiative passes, churches from that time forth in the state of Colorado will have to start paying property taxes. And parachurch and other nonprofit organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America and the YMCA and the Salvation Army will also have to start paying property taxes. And I know this is a very controversial subject and I know that there are many opinions (I’m sure there are many opinions in this room).
There can be no doubt that this ballot initiative is targeting churches. The initiative is being led by John Murphy. He’s an attorney. He’s a radio talk show host. He is said to have a charismatic personality and to be very winsome. And yet there’s no doubt that this man who is sponsoring this initiative hates churches. He is offended by the God who is represented in the Bible and is proclaimed in Christian churches. And he has said, and I quote, “I find no comfort or fear in the blood-drenched Jehovah who killed us all except for a family of eight and plans on coming back to do it again. No more water; fire next time. If it’s okay with you, I don’t feel guilty even if a long time ago someone did eat an apple when they weren’t supposed to. If I didn’t vote for Adam, why am I stuck with him? How come I’m supposed to accept Moses—the land-grabber, the killer of babies and elders—and the horny David who killed 200 Philistines so he could cut off their foreskins and bed yet another for his harem? And what of the incestuous Lot? And what of Elijah, the killer of 42 children who laughed at his bald head? I’m supposed to accept this crowd as God’s mouthpieces when I think they all belonged in the penitentiary?”
This is a statement from the man who is sponsoring this ballot initiative that you will vote on in November. Now, I think it’s fair to say (and sad to say) that this man does not understand. I mean, it’s tragic. This man does not understand the God of holy scripture. He doesn’t understand His character or purpose. He doesn’t understand God’s holiness and God’s justice. And he certainly doesn’t understand God’s love and God’s mercy. And he’s misrepresented the teachings of holy scripture. But I also think it’s fair to say this man is targeting churches, and the effect on churches would be great.
I just went to a conference at Focus on the Family for pastors where they discussed this new ballot initiative. And they explained that, of all the churches in the state of Colorado, the church which would be most greatly affected would be Cherry Hills Community Church. They said that we would have to pay more property taxes than any other church in the state of Colorado and that we would have to pay $360,000 in property taxes every single year if this ballot initiative passes. And of course, if it does pass, that’ll be a great challenge for us as a congregation. And we’re all going to have to dig a little deeper. We’re going to all have to be a little more committed. But I promise you that the greatest effect of this initiative, if it passes, is not on this church. We will survive. The greatest impact of this initiative if it passes in November will be on those little tiny churches all over this state. Do you know and do you understand that 90% of the churches in America are less than 100 people? 90% of the churches in this country have less than 100 people. Some of those churches are just struggling to survive. They can barely pay for their programs. They can barely afford to pay a minimal salary to a single staff person. And this initiative, if it passes, will take some of those churches under. Even the sponsors of the initiative admit that.
It’s a scary time. And yet we might ask ourselves why. Why is this initiative being sponsored? And why did our government and the people of this country long ago decide not to tax the church? They had a variety of reasons, but one of their reasons was this: they believed that the church was His possession. The founders of our country and the people through the centuries in this nation believed that the church was God’s possession. The issue was ownership. The people who decided not to tax the church believed the statement of our Lord Jesus Christ when He said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and render unto God the things that are God’s.” Render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, render unto God the things that belong to God. And the church belongs to God.
The church belongs to Jesus Christ. It is His possession. And certainly, I hope and I pray, that in November this initiative is not passed. Not for our sake alone, but for the sake of so many other little churches and so many other nonprofit organizations that are seeking to serve this nation and this community. And yet I’m confident and I promise you that even if the initiative does pass the church is still His possession. Even if that initiative does pass, it doesn’t change this fact: the church is God’s possession. It belongs to Jesus Christ. And when we think of the church of Jesus Christ, we should not think first and foremost of property or building. When we think of the church of Jesus Christ, we should think first and foremost of people—people who love Jesus Christ, people who have received Christ as their Lord, and people who have invited Christ to be their Savior and to save them from sin. Such people, such congregations, are His possession.
We belong to Him, and our future is bright. The future of this church, Cherry Hills Community Church, is so bright if we would always be mindful of the fact that we are His possession. If you believe in Him, if you’ve invited Him to be your Lord and Savior, He would remind you today that you have been bought with a price. He has purchased His church with His blood, and we belong to Him. And if we are mindful of that—that we are purchased by His blood, bought with a price—then we’re going to live every single day from this day forth for Him. We will not live for the world, not influenced by the world, but we’re going to live for Him. As a church, we’re going to seek to serve Him no matter what the cost. We’re going to seek to serve Him, head to toe. We’re going to seek to serve Him all the days of our life if we truly believe we are His possession.
We’re going to have confidence. If you really believe you are “a people of His own possession,” as it says in the book of Hebrews, if you really believe that, you’re going to have confidence. Jesus said, “I know My sheep; My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life. No one is able to snatch them out of My hand. My Father is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” We have confidence that the church is His possession.
Finally, the church is His victory. It is His work. The harvest is the Lord’s. It is His possession, purchased by His blood, and it is His victory. “I will build My church,” Jesus said, “and the powers of hell will not prevail against it.” Those words, “the power of hell,” in the Greek language are literally “the gates of Hades.” Most Bible scholars agree that the reference is to the powers of death and the powers of Satan—the powers of hell itself. Satan comes against the church of Christ, but he will not prevail. He will not win. The victory is the Lord’s.
I want to tell you a little story. It’s kind of a personal story. Barb and I have lived in the same house for almost 12 years (with Drew and Heather, of course). And we’ve loved that house. It’s been a great blessing to us for these 12 years. And yet, sometimes, the house has kind of reminded us of that old movie called The Money Pit. It seems like so many things are constantly going wrong in the house, particularly as the house gets a little older. Even from the beginning our house had some problems.
Even as it was being built, they mismeasured the foundation. In fact, they mismeasured it, they mispoured it, and they were more than three feet off in the depth of our foundation. That threw everything off as they were trying to build the house, and they ran a staircase to the second floor right up into a beam so that in order to get upstairs you had to duck and go around the beam. And that was a little problem. And they did correct that.
Then when they poured the cement in the basement, they forgot to bury the pipes first. And so they just poured the cement right over the pipes and it looked like little gopher tunnels going all through the basement. And they had to come back in and jackhammer the cement out and repour the whole thing. There are just problems like that.
Then, of course, through the years, as things have gone wrong Barb and I have called people to come and try to fix the problems in the house. And somehow it seems we’ve just not had very good luck with people who’ve come to work on our house. In fact, sometimes it seems like they’ve kind of made things worse instead of made things better. I think of one occasion when our garage door opener malfunctioned. And I tried to repair it, but I have a mechanical aptitude of zero and so I didn’t do so well. And Barb and I looked in the yellow pages and we found somebody who could repair automatic garage door openers.
So this man came to our house. Now, you need to understand, we are so blessed because we have a three-car garage. That’s been a great blessing for Barb and I and our kids and all our cars. This man came and looked at our garage doors. We only had one door that wasn’t working. Initially, we had a little small talk, and the man asked me what I did. I told him I was a pastor. And he smiled and took his card out, and there was an ichthus on his business card and he told me he was a Christian. And of course I was very grateful. I mean, I’m just very grateful that he is a brother in Christ. And yet, I must admit, we’ve had very bad luck with people who’ve had Christian symbols on their business cards.
Sure enough, it happened again. He looked at the garage doors and he said, “Well, you’ve got a problem with your ball bearings and the rollers, and the door won’t roll up over the rack and the ball bearings are worn out. It’s not just on this one door. All three of your doors have the same problem and you have some other problems here too.” And he said it would cost about $450. And you know, I really wanted to trust the guy because, I mean, he is a brother in Christ and all. And so Barb and I say, “Well, all right, we have to go to lunch. So we’re heading out. We’ll be back in a couple hours.”
We came back in a couple hours, and we know something’s wrong immediately. His truck’s not in front of the house and the garage doors, two of them, are just a little bit off the ground and something looks wrong. And we come in the house and open the door to the garage. We’re absolutely stunned. I mean, it looks like there’d been an earthquake and the epicenter was right under our garage. You look in there and there was sheet rock just broken and on the garage floor and it looked like someone had taken a hammer and just pounded holes in the interior of the garage doors. And the garage doors were off their roller racks. And on one of the racks (which is attached to the wall by a two-by-four) the two-by-four and the bolts were just ripped right out of the wall of the garage and the rack was halfway down. And I mean, it just looked like a disaster area.
Barb and I looked at each other and said, “You know, it’s happened again.” We went back in the house and a little later in the afternoon we decided to call the guy. And I call him and he goes, “Pastor Dixon,” he says, “You’re just not going to believe this.” And I said, “Well, try me.” And he said, “You know, the moment you and your wife left, the devil just came into that garage.” And he says, “Pastor Dixon, I’m telling you, the devil destroyed your garage.” He actually expected me to believe that the devil destroyed my garage. I explained to him that the devil might have done it, but he was going have to come over and fix it.
I promise you, the devil is not trying to destroy my house. Or if he is, it’s very low on his list of priorities. And the devil’s not trying to destroy your house. Or if he is, it’s very low on his list of priorities. But I’ll tell you what the devil is trying to destroy. He’s trying to destroy this church. He’s trying to destroy every church the world over. He is trying to destroy the church of Jesus Christ. And in the book of Revelation, the 12th chapter, we read many things. But one thing is clear: Satan has come down. He is prowling this Earth like a roaring lion. And he seeks this woman called the church. He wants to destroy her. He wants to destroy the church. And the Bible tells us that, as we approach the consummation of this age of the world, Satan’s attack against the church will be heightened and he will come with a greater power, seeking to destroy the church.
In the book of 2 Thessalonians, the second chapter, the Apostle Paul writes, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet Him, I beg you, brothers and sisters, do not be quickly excited or shaken either by spirit or by word, or by letter claiming to be from us to the effect that that day has already come. That day will not come unless the apostasia comes first and the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, is revealed.” Now, most of us have heard of the Antichrist, but what of the apostasia? What does Paul mean when he tells us that the end of this age will not come and the return of Christ will not come until the apostasia comes first?
This Greek word apostasia is the word from which we get our word “apostasy.” It literally means “to fall away.” Some Bible scholars, some theologians, believe that it is used in reference to society as a whole, meaning that at the end of this age there’ll be growing apostasy in society as a whole. And certainly that is true. But most Bible scholars see this as a prophecy concerning the church, the visible, institutional church. It means that in the church there will come the apostasia. In the church there will come great apostasy. There will come a time of falling away. And this fits other passages, other prophecies, in the Bible. The Bible says, “Understand this: in the last days some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared.” The Apostle Paul writes that “the day will come when people will no longer endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own liking and they will turn away from listening to the truth. And they will wander into myth.”
I want to give you a brief example of the apostasy that is occurring in mainline Protestant denominations today. There is a church in Washington, DC, our nation’s capital, and that church is called The Foundry United Methodist Church. It is the church of our president (President Clinton) and of our first lady (Hillary Clinton). It is their church. A few months ago, in November of 1995, that church hosted a day-long celebration organized by an organization called PFLAG—the parents, family, and friends of lesbians and gays. That celebration at the Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, DC, had a number of speakers. The primary speaker ridiculed the Christmas story, praised homosexual marriage, said that Jesus Christ was gay, called Jesus Christ a drag queen, and declared the 10 Commandments to be immoral. At that conference at the Foundry United Methodist Church prayers were offered to ancestors, to angels, and to the spirits of Buddha, Muhammad, and Jesus.
Don’t you just wonder how in the world we got from the vital Christianity of the early church to the kind of garbage we see in so many churches today? Don’t you just wonder how in the world it happened? How did it happen? Of course it is the apostasia, the falling away, prophesied in holy scripture. And when the pastor of the Foundry United Methodist Church was asked what he thought of the conference and the celebration, he said he found it stimulating. When they asked the pastor of the church what he thought about the statement that Jesus Christ was gay and what he thought of calling Jesus Christ a drag queen, pastor Jay Philip Wassman made this statement. He said, “I don’t condemn it. I just don’t know.” And isn’t that tragic? Isn’t that tragic? And how amazing it is that in the visible, institutional church, as we approach the end of the 20th century, there is this kind of apostasy.
But don’t be discouraged. Don’t be discouraged, because, you see, the church is the Lord’s. It is His work, it is His possession, and it is His victory. He will prevail. I promise you, there are great churches in this nation. There are faithful pastors and there are faithful church members who love Jesus Christ and who love people for His sake and who are seeking to be faithful to the Word of God.
Just a few weeks ago, Bob and I (and Bo also) went to a conference in Atlanta, Georgia, sponsored by Promise Keepers. And we met in the Georgia Dome. 42,000 pastors met. And that was exciting. But what was even more exciting is that God showed up. I mean, it was a neat time together with 42,000 pastors. I’m told it’s the largest gathering of pastors for a single purpose at a single time in the history of the world.
There were 42,000 pastors. I promise you, those pastors love Christ. Their churches love Christ and are seeking to serve Christ with all that is in them. Jesus Christ will preserve and protect His church. And those churches that honor Him will continue to flourish, and we will prevail for His kingdom’s sake. He will come again. He will come in great power. He will come to judge the world. He will come to receive His people unto Himself. He will come to save His church. And so, this morning, as we look at our future, we want to be found faithful. Our future is bright. Our future is bright, not because of our power, but because of the power of Jesus Christ in us. The church is His work. We’ve been called to serve in His field, but the harvest is the Lord’s, and the church is His possession—purchased with His own blood. And we are to serve Him, head to toe, all the days of our life, knowing that nothing can take us from His grip. We are secure in His hand. The church is His victory, and the powers of hell will not prevail against it. Let’s close with a word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, thank You for this time together. We do acknowledge, Lord Jesus, that You are the great head of the church, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. You are our Lord and You are our Savior. Lord, we look back on the 14 years of this church, which is just a very small expression of Your kingdom. But Lord, we are so grateful for Your power. We know, Lord, by Your will, that You raised this church up 14 years ago. Lord, we look forward to the years ahead because we know that the church is Your work. You’ve called us into Your service, but we have the confidence that the harvest is the Lord’s. Lord, we know the church is Your possession, purchased in Your blood. And Lord, help us to serve You faithfully all the days of our life. And Lord, we believe that, because of You, the church will reign victorious for everlasting ages. Lord, help us to be faithful until that day when we will see You face-to-face. We commit ourselves anew to You, Lord. Thank You. In Your great name we pray. Amen.