Focus on the Church Part 2

Having taken a hiatus from the
Book of Romans to delve into that great chapter, Isaiah 40,
having completed Isaiah 40, the elders talked about extending
this time and putting a focus upon the church, spending some
six to eight weeks is what we’re forecasting to just focus in
on some of the doctrines of the church. And by means of that,
I selected a passage last week, which is really one of the progress
reports, as I’ve introduced in times past and reminded last
Lord’s Day, those progress reports that are really peppered throughout
the book of Acts. You see, one of the progress
reports. In chapter one, verse 14, these all with one mind were
continually devoting themselves to prayer. You have another progress
report that we spent some time on last week. Last week, Acts
2 41 through 47. There’s another one in Acts 4
4. There’s another one in 4 32 and 35. One of the ones we didn’t
really ponder last week was Acts 5. 41 and 42 in verse 42, it says,
and every day in the temple and from house to house, they kept
right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. And so you
have these punctuations throughout the book of Acts that are really
just progress reports letting us know how the church was faring
in the world. Acts 6, 7, Acts 8, 4 through
8, Acts 12, 24, Act 16.5, but we began to focus
on Acts 9.31 and admittedly we didn’t make it too far, which
did not bode well for my six to eight week forecast, but we’ll
take another stab this morning. Acts 9.31 is one of those progress reports One of those
updates on the church, and it is a crucial one. I was reading
again from some additional commentaries this past week, and this really
is such a crucial passage, and I hope that God’s people will
be encouraged by it as we have been. X9 31 says this. So the
church. throughout all Judea and Galilee
and Samaria enjoyed peace being built up and going on in the
fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued
to increase. You know, my habit, my starting
place is always the simple sentence. The simplest statement that can
be found is just this. The church enjoyed peace And
it continued to increase. The church enjoyed peace and
it continued to increase. And as I already suggested, we
got a little bit. Stuck on those first few words. The church. And we laid out last
Lord’s Day, what I just presented were seven statements of truth
regarding. The church. As you step back
and look at the doctrine of the church in the New Testament,
you find these things to be true. The church, first of all, is
a God ordained institution. It’s not a man made deal. We
didn’t just decide as God’s people one day to formulate a club.
This was something that God did, something that God formed. Secondly,
we found that the church is a dynamic institution and it’s comprised
of all believers. And it answers the basic question
where or rather what is the church. As I shared last week, one excellent
definition of it goes like this. Predominantly Ecclesia applies
to a local assembly of all those who profess faith and allegiance
to Christ. It can refer to a specific church
like this one. It can refer to a group of churches
the church in Fort Collins. It can refer to the universal
church which is quite invisible and that is one of the things
that we pointed out seems to be clearly in focus used for
the first time in this way in Acts 9 31. When it refers to
the church singular. in all Judea and Galilee and
Samaria and so the church now is seen as a greater organism
than just a church mentioned in a local area. The third thing that we saw regarding
the church was that the church was initiated by God at Pentecost. That answers the question when
was the church established. There were those that want to
say that you can trace the church all the way back to Adam and
Eve or at least back to Abraham. But the church is a new institution
in God’s economy and it begins at the giving of the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost as we pointed out last Lord’s Day. The fourth thing
that we noted regarding the church the teaching of the New Testament
shows us that the church Has both a visible and a and an invisible
aspect to it as we’ve already kind of tipped our hand. That
statement answers the question where was or rather where is
the church where can we find the church. Sometimes the church
is quite visible in a local setting. But even there you don’t know
who is truly in Christ who truly comprises the body of Christ
in that local place and such is. the case in the world. All
of those who profess faith are part of that universal church,
but it’s not always visible who those are. The fifth thing that
we were reminded was that the church is pictured in Scripture
under a number of very powerful metaphors. The church is presented
to us in Scripture as Christ’s body, of which he is the head. It is presented to us as Christ’s
bride, which we just sung about. It is pictured as a flock. It
is pictured as a house or a building or even a temple, even as we
just sang. It is also pictured as a family.
The sixth thing that we were reminded of regarding the doctrine
of the church is presented in the New Testament is the church
is a divinely granted institution which Jesus himself vowed to
build. That’s a different point than
I made initially. The church is a God ordained
institution and it would have been so if Christ hadn’t promised
to build it. The point is separate and distinct
from the initial point that I made. Not only is it a God-given institution,
it’s a God-given institution that Christ himself vowed to
build. I will build my church, Jesus
said. And the seventh reminder that
we focused upon in our consideration of the church is that these local
gatherings, these churches, are places where God may be rightfully
worshipped. He is due that worship. And this
is where God’s people gather together, not just to worship,
but for corporate worship, implying that they have been in worship
all week long. This is the culmination of that
worship. Not only where God may be rightfully
worshiped, but believers can be built up in the faith through
the exposition and teaching of the word through fellowship and
prayer. And then finally, it’s a place where unbelievers And
we believe that unbelievers are in our midst. And that’s a joyful
thing. We want them. We long for them
to come to Christ. But here is where unbelievers
can hear the gospel preached, hopefully with great clarity.
And all of those reasons roll together. The very purpose that
we do them is for the glory of God. All of those things ultimately
are for God’s glory. If you would go back to Acts
9, if you haven’t already turned there back to back to Acts 9
and Chapter Chapter 9, rather in verse 31. And we want to just
refresh as we look at this verse, we’ve almost lost sight of it
for focusing on the church. Two of those first three words,
but I want to look at the very first word, so. There is a. Suggestion here that there is
a conclusion being drawn. And it’s essentially. Commonly
held that the conclusion being drawn is the piece that is ultimately
mentioned in this very passage is the piece that was brought
about by the conversion of Saul as if to say now the church could
enjoy peace now that Saul was converted. There are no doubts was a change,
but it’s hardly it can hardly be said that simply because Paul
was converted, all persecution ceased. So there has to be a
different kind of peace in mind. We’ll look at that in a moment.
But the conclusion being drawn is just that that we’ve already
introduced already. This was yet another progress
report. Saul’s conversion was a profound event. But it wasn’t
the end of persecution. Persecution doesn’t end for the
church even to this day. The church enjoyed peace. So the church enjoyed peace. And as we began to present last
Lord’s Day, the astounding thing about this verse is not that
the church enjoyed peace or that it continued to increase. But
that it was enjoying both of those things at the same time. Many times the church has grown
radically and drastically in its numbers, but it isn’t always
met with peace. Many times the church throughout
the centuries has enjoyed peace, and yet it has languished with
regards to growth. The astounding thing here is
that it was doing both. If you would, as you glance down
and you note in your particular translation, if you have an older
translation, it may read churches. The best manuscripts here have
church in the singular, and that’s why we made the point that what’s
being pointed to here, what’s being indicated, is a different
use of the word church than had previously been used here in
the Book of Acts. It’s the first suggestion. Here
in Acts 931, since the beginning of the apostles ministry, and
I would say since the beginning of the church in Acts 2. Of some kind of religious community
beyond just the borders of a particular city, as one characterized it,
that this is an entirely new conception of the church. It’s
not found in the book of Acts before used in that spacious
sense. And when he means spacious, he’s
talking about Judea and Galilee and Samaria. Up to that point,
every reference to the church had been to the church in Jerusalem,
but now it is employed with a wider outlook. The preposition is significant. It is not the church of. Judea
and Galilee and Samaria, but the church throughout Judea and
Galilee and Samaria. Not one church for Judea and
one church for Galilee and one church for Samaria. That was
true. But what he’s pointing to, what
he finally closes with is this great movement was sweeping race,
racial prejudice and perpetuating bitterness away forever. And
one church was being called out of Judea and Galilee and Samaria.
They were now part of one great institution of God. So the church,
it says, enjoyed peace, the greater church, the work of God began
to enjoy peace, and you know that throughout your reading
of scripture, peace is used in a different way in different
places. There is peace with individuals, there is peace between nations. In what sense was the church
enjoying peace? I’ve already suggested that I
seriously doubt that it was ease. Freedom from all persecution,
because if you read through the book of Acts, both before Acts
9 31 there was severe persecution and you could say you could at
least advance the idea that once Paul had been converted that
suddenly the church began to enjoy a new era of peace a new
kind of peace. The only problem with that argument
is there’s there’s severe persecution that follows. Look at a few of the examples
leading up to Saul’s conversion conversion. Go back, if you would,
to Acts chapter five. Verse 17 and 18. And here you have peppered throughout
these verses, you have those progress reports, as we’ve already
pointed out, you have the church flourishing even in the midst
of these troubles and these persecutions you still are able to enjoy what
we refer to as progress reports. The church is still progressing. Look at Acts 5 verse 18. But the high priest rose up along
with all his associates that is the sect of the Sadducees
and they were filled with jealousy and they laid hands on the apostles
and put them in a public jail. Still further look at Acts 540. They took his advice after calling
the apostles in. They flogged them and ordered
them to speak no more in the name of Jesus and then released
them. The hardest thing to imagine here is that the church is flourishing.
And yet look at verse 542. And every day in the temple,
one of these progress reports every day in the temple from
house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus
as the Christ. The church is progressing. Look
over in Acts chapter six. In Acts chapter six, pick it
up in verse nine, but some men from what was called the synagogue
of the freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and
some from Cilicia and Asia rose up and argued with Stephen. And
yet they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit
with which he was speaking. Then they secretly induced men
to say, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses
and against God. And they stirred up the people
and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and dragged
him away. And they brought him before the council and they put
forward false witnesses. Who said this man incessantly
speaks about this holy place in the law, for we have heard
him say that this Nazarene Jesus will destroy this place and alter
the customs. Well, that’s hardly peace. That’s
hardly a mark of progress, is it, in the church? Jump over to the next chapter,
Acts chapter 7. Stephen doesn’t fare so well. When they heard
this. They were cut to the quick, they
began gnashing their teeth at him, being full of the Holy Spirit,
he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and
Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, behold,
I see the heavens open and the son of man descending at the
right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud
voice and covered their ears. They rushed upon him with one
impulse. And when they had driven him out of the city, they began
stoning him. And the witnesses laid their
robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. The last thing
that you could call that was progress and yet that is essentially
what we find in Acts 9.31 as a progress report. Still further
persecution you see in Acts chapter 8. Look at Acts chapter 8. This is the context the very
context in which Acts 9.31 is built. Saul was in hearty agreement
with putting him, that is, Stephen, to death. And on that day, a
great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and
they were all scattered throughout all the regions of Judea and
Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen
and made loud lamentations over him. But Saul began ravaging
the church, entering house after house, dragging off men and women,
and he would put them in prison. Acts 9 1, which also is the immediate
context, not only by way of chapter, but. Says that Saul’s still breathing
threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord went to
the high priest. Now we know ultimately that Paul, Saul was
converted, came Paul. And yet that is the suggestion.
That what the peace is referred to here is a peace and a freedom
from persecution. That’s not the case. Turn to
Acts chapter 12. In Acts chapter 12. You have a remarkable. Outbreak
of persecution out the hands of Herod. Pardon me now about
at that time, Herod the king laid hands on some who belong
to the church in order to mistreat them. And he had James, the brother
of John, put to death with the sword. And when he saw that it
pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. And that
was during the days of unleavened bread. And when he had seized
him, he put him in prison, delivering him up to the four squads of
soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him
out from before the people. So Peter was kept in prison,
but prayer was being made fervently by the church. to God. So what is this peace? What peace
can he be possibly referring to here when it says that the
church enjoys peace, especially in light of the fact that Jesus
himself said, you will have difficulty. The world hated the Lord Jesus
as he articulated, and because of that, the world will hate
us. The world hates the church. Unbelievers do not love God and
they do not love the things of God, not the least of which is
the church. So this peace has to be a different
kind of peace. And what I would suggest to you
is that is the peace, the settled peace of God in the midst of
uncertainty and persecution, the peace that only God’s people
can have. The peace that only the saints
of God can manifest by God’s grace in the midst of their difficulties,
a calm, a settledness. John Fox. In his Fox’s Book of Martyrs,
detailed the testimony of the church throughout the ages. That
kind of peace that passes all understanding. The peace that
only the saints of God can have in the midst of their turmoil
and difficulty. John Fox said it this way. It’s
not a bed of ease that he was articulating when he said, What
force of princes, kings, monarchs, governors and rulers of this
world with their subjects publicly and privately, with all their
strength and cunning, have bent themselves against this church? It’s not ease. It’s absolute
difficulty that the church finds herself in time and time again. But note this and how the church,
with all this notwithstanding, has yet endured and held its
own what storms and tempests it has endured. It is wonderful
to behold. So what kind of peace mark the
early church? There’s no doubt that it was
peace with one another. There was a unity and that is
articulated throughout those progress reports in the Book
of Acts, both by statement and by explicit example. There was
peace with God. That peace with God was restored
through the price that Christ paid on the cross. But they were
also enduring rather enjoying a different kind of peace. It
was that calm and settled composure in the midst of this persecution
and difficulty that they were facing. They were not producing
the peace. They were enjoying what God had
worked into them, just like the unity that God works into our
midst. We don’t produce it. Paul, writing
in Ephesians, said that we are to be diligent to preserve the
unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, and that’s the same
way with peace itself. We enjoy the peace of God. We
don’t produce it. We lay hold of it by God’s grace
in prayer. We don’t bring it about. The
church enjoyed peace. And as I suggested, the astounding
thing is not that it just enjoyed peace, but it was also enjoying
growth. It continued to increase. That’s
the extent of the simple sentence. The church enjoyed peace and
it continued to increase and there’s no way around it. It’s
talking about church growth. I know that little phrase makes
us all nervous. God isn’t against growing the
church. God isn’t against churches being big. It’s how you go about
that. Is it the broad way that leads
them in or is it the truth of God’s word? I would long for
this church to be a mega church if we were built still yet on
the truth of God’s word. If we still stood on principle.
If we still held to the things of God, I would long that the
entire church comprise the population of Fort Collins. The church was
being multiplied. It wasn’t just surviving, it
was thriving. It was growing. It was true and
lasting church growth. The growth of the church is a
typical theme, as I’ve already suggested in the progress reports
in Acts. You go through those progress
reports, it’s not afraid to articulate numbers in one case, 3000 souls
in a single day. We should long and pray for a
day like that. Wouldn’t that be exciting? You better get here early the
following Sunday, right? As one pastor said, the idea
is not merely that the numbering of the units, that is of fullness,
what it’s talking about was The church was made to abound. The
church went forth in abounding power, growing and multiplying. And that’s what we long for.
We must long for that because it’s souls, individual souls
that hang in the balance. We don’t long to be big for bigness
sake. We long to be big for the souls
that are out there. The interesting thing, as I’ve
already pointed out, is not that the early church was either at
peace with one another or that it was growing. Many churches
do one or the other. The amazing thing that the church
had both, it was enjoying peace while growing. So oftentimes
as churches grow, they grow and split and grow and split, they
get into this pattern. You get to a certain size and
they split. Growth often causes disunity. Some people don’t like
the purple carpet that somebody else wanted. They didn’t want
the property, you know, the doors of the property. I remember this
fight produced a church split. They didn’t want the doors of
the property facing east. The elders messed up when they
put their ink on the plans. Some churches are growing, but
they’re constantly bickering and warring with one another.
That’s the trend. The church grows to mega church
proportions and then it splits. Or the church, in order to avoid
any kind of a split, just seeks to enjoy the peace and sets aside
principle. And maintains its growth, but
lacks peace. Sometimes they develop a false
sense of peace. They cling to the Broadway. They
build a huge following, and yet they don’t enjoy the peace of
God that comes from doing things God’s way. Other churches are at peace with
one another, but they’re dead and they’re lifeless. I’ll never
forget the day that I ducked into one church. They all believed
the same thing. I won’t even articulate what
it was they believed. They all, I mean, you could like
a bunch of parrots walking around. They all articulated the same
exact thing, all 15 of them. Why did the early church enjoy
a peaceful growth? This isn’t a formula that I advanced
this morning, but I can tell you this. If these elements are
missing, no church will enjoy God’s blessing of a trouble-free
increase. No church. No matter what kind
of money is thrown at it, no matter what kind of denominational
support it enjoys, no matter how extensive or expensive The
programs that are employed no matter the staff and their personalities
if these things are not present the church will not grow and
enjoy peace. It won’t. I want to show you three elements
today that were present there in that early church in Acts
9 31. What I would refer to as the
necessities for a trouble free increase. How can the church
grow and enjoy peace at the same time. How can our church grow
and enjoy peace. The first element that was present
there in Acts 9 31 and is articulated is divine edification. The church
enjoyed peace being built up. It was in progress it was under
construction. As one. Faithful expositor put
it, Luke, the man who wrote that word, had no thought that the
church was complete. It was being built. The word
word also indicates progress. He saw the work going forward. Moreover, it looks to finality
that which is being built will yet be completed. I love that. Luke, as he wrote, saw not only
the spiritual, pardon me, the spiritual conception of the church,
but its invincibility, the fact that nothing can destroy it.
The church was being built. That word edified or built, as
Paul so frequently uses it, describes orderly and continuous growth,
like layers of a cake slowly and carefully stacked upon one
another. That structure was being raised
and raised by God. This idea of being built is throughout
Paul’s writings, and so often we begin to think that we are
the ones doing the building. There is an element where we
are called to edify one another that same word that’s used. God’s
people are called to a mutual edification of one another. First
Thessalonians 5 11 therefore encourage one another and build
up one another. And in a sense in so doing you
are building up the church as those around you are members
of the church. But ultimately that work is God’s
work. Romans 14 19 says the same thing. So then let us pursue
the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Because of that we are to be
discriminating and what we approve. Not all things edify. First Corinthians
10 23. We are to be selfless in this
pursuit of walking and serving alongside of one another. Let
us each please his neighbor for his good to his edification. We are supposed to be about,
if you will, we’re workers. In this project called the building
of the church, but it’s God’s work, it’s God’s project. But
after all that, those things are true. It’s not what Luke
is pointing to here, he’s not talking about our edification
of one another, he’s just not. He’s using this word oikodomeo
in the simplest fashion, the building of a house, that’s the
image. And that God is doing the building. And it goes back
exactly to what Jesus said last week in Matthew chapter 16, I
will build my church. And here we just have a picture
of the fact that it was already underway. Jesus is doing exactly
what he planned. The church was literally being
built up, it wasn’t anything that they were necessarily to
do, it was something that God in his grace and power was accomplishing. You have an echo of this in first
Peter, just listen briefly, one verse. to actually first Peter
to coming to him as a living stone rejected by men, but choice
and precious in the sight of God. You also, as living stones
are being built up. It’s not such an incredible image
as if the images is as if you are all bricks and God is taking
each one of them one by one and slowly building his temple. You are being built up as a spiritual
house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. It’s God. It’s the Lord
Jesus that’s building this edifice. See, Luke acknowledges here that
he is building the church. He is growing the church. God
causes the growth. No wonder. And we should be fearful. To yield to this admonition that
unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build
it. We long to have God’s hand. We long to have God at work in
our midst. We long to have God building
our church and divine edification is an absolute requisite if we
are to enjoy a trouble free increase. We might grow without it. We
might even for a season enjoy peace without it, but we won’t
have both without divine edification. Secondly, secondly, a reverent
lifestyle, a reverent lifestyle. It says going on, first of all,
look down at the passage going on in the fear of the Lord. The
word going on literally refers to it’s as if you’re talking
about walking. It’s what you talk about when
you’re going used constantly throughout the Gospels. They
were going from place to place. It’s a going. It’s a it’s a fact
that after the fact they went. That’s the use of this word. One pastor said the particular
word which could be translated walking always suggests purpose. As opposed to aimlessness, this
is what the elders sought for this body. After the season that
we’ve been through, we sought to gather the flock of God and
restore and press refresh, if you will, as I suggested last
week on our purpose, we want to have one purpose. We don’t
want to just wander around. We don’t want to just be living
aimlessly here. In the city. This word that Jesus
used, he goes on to say, made use of in the Great Commission
recorded by Matthew. Go, he said. What a beautiful
image here. We are commanded to go here and
ask. They were doing it. They were
going on. They were doing exactly what
Jesus had told them to do. Go. When he said go. He wasn’t talking
about. Individuals all going about their
own separate way, it’s talking about the church, the church
was going and the church was going in the same direction,
the church was all moving as one. They were moving in the
service of Christ. That going on refers to their
conduct, their way of life, it wasn’t just an occasional thing,
this was what they were doing, this was them. And it says they were going on
in the fear of the Lord. That’s always such a it’s such
a confusing concept to some people. That phrase was used over 300
times in the Old Testament. Two times in the New Testament.
That is not an astounding observation. It’s not like God suddenly said,
oh, that’s all right. You don’t have to worry about
me anymore. You don’t have to be afraid of me. You don’t have
to fear me. I take that to mean the people
of God were wrapped up in their reverence of God. That’s what
it refers to. They were absolutely revering
and worshiping God in all that they did. The phrase that was
so common in the Old Testament and yet so rare in the new is
used and it’s used of that reverential awe. It’s obviously used here,
but it’s used in a number of other places and alluded to in
many more. Second Corinthians 511 says,
therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. We
long to please not ourselves. We long to please not the world.
We long to please not even our fellow Christians. We long to
please God. That’s the fear of God. Knowing
the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. See, with Paul’s criticism
of the heathen in Romans 318, there is no fear. Before that
of God before their eyes, the unbelievers, they don’t look
at God with reverence, they don’t look at they could care less
about God. They want him out of the picture completely, really. Not believers. We walk, we work
out our salvation with fear and trembling. We are subjects, Ephesians
5.21, to one another in the fear of Christ. We are careful, as
2 Corinthians 7.1 puts it, to cleanse ourselves from all defilement
of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We long to please God. We reverence Him. And that’s
why this fear is so misunderstood as a cowering dread. It’s not
a cowering dread. We reverence God. As one pastor
said, the more a man fears to offend God and the greater his
care to please him, the greater his hope and comfort will be.
The more we fear, the less reason we have to fear. If we fear God,
we need not fear any else. Going on. In the fear of the
Lord, the church. That’s what’s in view. The church was a reverent body,
the church was a worshipful body in every aspect of their life. That word going on now begins
to expand, it wasn’t just that they came together in worship,
it was that going on was in everything that they did, it was with a
purpose. They were moving with a purpose, everything in their
life. You see, there’s this tendency. It’s an incorrect tendency to
divide our lives up into the sacred and the secular. And when
we kneel on our knees in prayer, that’s sacred. And when we we
have our quiet time, we grab our Bible and we find a quiet
place with a lamp and we sit with our Bible on our lap and
we have our quiet, that’s sacred. When we have our home fellowships,
we clean it up as we’re driving across town and we sit in our
home fellowships. That’s sacred. Church worship,
that’s sacred. Sunday school, sacred. But the rest of our lives we
divide up and that’s secular. Tozer addressed it and nailed
it when he said every act of a Christian’s life is to be as
truly sacred as prayer or baptism or the Lord’s Supper. Can you
imagine? Can you imagine if you went about mowing the lawn with
that mentality or driving? To say this is not to bring all
acts down to one dead level. It is rather to raise every act
up into a living kingdom and to turn the whole of life into
a sacrament. It is not what a man does that
determines whether his work is sacred or secular. It’s why he
does it. Do all, Paul said, To the glory
of God, right? Tozer continues, the motive is
everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God
in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act. There is no
secular anymore for the Christian. All he does is acceptable to
God through Jesus Christ, for such a man living itself will
be sacramental and the whole world a sanctuary. What a powerful
thought. Thirdly. There’s a third thing
that the church must have if it is to enjoy peaceable growth,
if it is to have this trouble free increase. The passage says going on not
only in the fear of the Lord, but in the comfort of the Holy
Spirit. The early church needed comfort,
didn’t it? We already saw that it was in
the midst of persecution. It wasn’t just occasional. It
wasn’t just happenstance. It wasn’t that some emperor was
having a bad day. These were the forces of evil
prompting the world leaders to constantly persecute Christ by
way of his church. Church needed comfort and encouragement. And no God’s willingness to provide
it. This word comfort. It’s a beautiful word. It’s far Kalau. And in its basic
meaning, it means to come alongside, called to come alongside. But
it came to mean to admonish, to exhort, to cheer, to encourage,
to comfort. But there’s also one that Jesus
promised that had a very familiar name. He was called the Paraclete,
the Holy Spirit. Who Jesus promised would come
alongside and would come and courage and courage and comfort. And God provided that kind of
comfort to the early church, and if he provided that kind
of comfort to the early church, will he not do so for us? The testimony of the Holy Spirit,
which Christ gave in John Chapter 14, he says, I will ask the father
and he will give you another helper. That he may be with you
forever, that is the spirit of truth with which the world cannot
receive because it does not know him or behold him. But you know
him because he abides in you and he will be in you. The word
comfort. In our passage is the same Greek
word as the paraclete. The Holy Spirit. It wasn’t just a calling to our
side, but it was the very comfort from within that we We gain by
way of our precious Holy Spirit. One pastor accurately stated
it when he said the word comfort is palpably inadequate. To say
that the Holy Spirit comforts us. I mean we so often comfort
one another whether we have a physical ailment or a spiritual need or
a pain. But the Holy Spirit goes so far
beyond that, doesn’t He? The Holy Spirit, He goes on to
say, was spoken of by our Lord as the paraclete, the one called
to the sight of His people when He was about to leave them. He
came for comfort, to bring about adoption. He came to fill the
gap, to console those who were left behind, to be made an exhorter
as well as a comforter. The advocate who would plead
the cause of the absent Lord. The Greek word here covers two
values, the comforting advocacy of the Holy Spirit. We have one
that comes to comfort us with God’s love and peace and then
immediately advocates for us before the Father himself. The
church can’t grow without that. The church can’t flourish. The
church can’t enjoy peaceable growth without divine edification. The very building of God without
reverent lifestyle of its people. And without spiritual encouragement,
which is the very purpose of the Holy Spirit. There’s many ways to enjoy false
comfort. Avoid God. Avoid God’s word. Avoid God’s
people. Those are the things that bother
our conscience. But if the church is to grow,
it must have that comfort. We must seek Him. We must seek
each other. We must delve more deeply into
God’s Word. What a blessing Paul gave when he looked over the Thessalonian
church in his mind’s eye and said, now may our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us
every eternal comfort and good hope by grace. Let’s go before God. O merciful God, we humble ourselves
before you and we long to grow. We long to enjoy peace. And we
pray that by Your hand this church would be built up by these great
means. Change our hearts, Father. The
hardened hearts. The peaceless hearts. Those who
do not know Christ especially. We pray that You would bring
about a real and lasting change in this church by the transformation
of Your people. We pray this in Jesus’ name.