Good morning, everybody. It's good to see you. If you're new-ish to Watermark, my name is Kevin. I'm one of the leaders here.
And Echo's going to come read the scripture in a few minutes, but Echo, before you do that, I'm going to just introduce our theme.
If you are new to Watermark, I wonder what you think the Sunday service is all about.
And in particular, what is up with preaching?
What's the point with sermon? You've got some guy up there, and he speaks for hopefully 30 minutes, sometimes a little longer.
I wonder what your expectation is of the sermon, of preaching.
Well, churches can do some really interesting things when it comes to sermons.
These days, for some reason, it's fashionable. We all do series, right?
We take six or eight weeks, and we do something that's all joined together.
And I found a couple of interesting series. I think we've got them up on the screen.
Here's one. Okay, I think it should be coming sometime.
One church did a series on you drive me crazy, dealing with difficult people.
Okay, that maybe is a good topic. Some of us think we should do that.
What about It's Your Time? It's Your Time to Shine.
COVID is done. Time to shine.
Relationships. Okay, that's It's Complicated.
Do you know how many series there are called It's Complicated from Facebook, right?
And then Game Changers. I don't know what that's about, but that looks interesting.
I'd be interested to find out what that is about.
Well, if you've been coming to Watermark for a while, one of the things you'll know is that we don't really do that.
Our series aren't very hip and cool.
And the next series we're going to do starting next week is simply called Ecclesiastes.
It's about as creative as it is.
And then after that, we're going to do Matthew.
And then after that, we're going to do Ephesians.
And nothing spicy like Sex and the City or Keeping Up with the Corinthians.
And part of the reason for that, if we're honest, is, sorry to speak for Chris and Niels, but certainly for myself,
I think we're just not smart enough or cool enough to do that.
And I think we all know there's nothing worse than someone who's not cool trying to be cool, right?
That just doesn't go down well.
But actually, there's a deeper reason than just our personality or our personal preference.
And that is actually, it's a matter of conviction.
See, ever since Watermark started 12 years ago when Tobin was here, right from the earliest days,
one of the founding principles of Watermark Church is that we're going to be a church that is rooted on God's Word,
that our Sunday services are going to center around God's Word and God speaking to us from His Word.
And generally, what that means is what we call expositional sermons or expository preaching.
I know that's a big word, but the word expositional or expository simply means to open something up,
to make something that's maybe not that clear clear, to expose something.
Think of a journalist that writes an expose, right?
They find some scoop, and they dig in, and they find the story, and they write this expose exposing what's hidden.
They bring it out into the light.
But, well, expository preaching is when we preach, we go to a book of the Bible, a passage of Scripture,
and the goal is to say, what is in here that maybe is hidden or hard to see?
Or let's find out what was the author trying to say in this passage,
and therefore, what is God saying in this passage?
And we try and open it up to make clear what God is saying so that we can hear God's Word.
So expository preaching has the main point of the sermon, generally, is the main point of the passage.
And the opposite of this, of course, is a topical sermon,
where I come up with a topic or a theme, like how to deal with your baggage,
or how to deal with difficult parents, or how to win at life.
And I come up with some ideas and some thoughts and some points.
But then, because I'm, you know, this is a church, we've got to find a Bible verse.
So I go to my Bible, and I find a verse to back up what I'm saying.
Okay, well, there's a place for that from time to time.
But generally, what we want to do is come to God's Word and say,
what does God's Word say so that we can hear from that?
Okay, now, why do we do that?
I mean, surely we're in the 21st century.
Surely we want to be more relevant, more modern, more attrational than that.
Why do something so old-fashioned, like just preach through Ecclesiastes?
Well, I'm so glad you've asked that question.
And we're going to hear from Echoes, going to come and read God's Word,
and then we're going to find out why.
Okay, so let's listen to the reading of God's Word.
As we consider why we usually preach through entire books of the Bible,
we'll read from three passages of Scripture today.
Isaiah chapter 60 and 6, 2 Timothy, and 2 Corinthians.
Please follow along on the screen or your bulletin.
Starting in Isaiah chapter 66, verse 1, we read,
Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
What is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made, so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look.
He who is humble and contract in spirit, and trembles at my word.
Then in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 14 to 16,
But as for you, continuing what you have learned and have firmly believed,
knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings,
which are able to make you wise for salvation through facing Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
Lastly, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 1 to 6,
Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart,
but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways.
We refuse to practice cunning or to temper with God's word.
But by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers
to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
For God, who said,
Let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in face of Jesus Christ.
This is the word of God.
Echo, you did so well there.
That was not easy passages to read, so well done.
Great.
Why do we do this?
Why do we as a church choose to preach through books of the Bible like this?
Well, there's a couple reasons.
The first reason is because of what the church is.
Because of what the church is.
Look at the first passage in the bulletin with me.
And look at what God says here.
Now, the context is, the book of Isaiah kind of chronicles the nation of Israel.
And the first half really deals with their problem.
They're in a bad way.
They get taken to exile.
What's speaking about them going to exile?
And the second half talks about the way that they're going to return to God.
They're going to come back.
God starts off Isaiah 40.
Comfort, comfort to my people.
And at the end, it's kind of talking about the resolution to what has been their problem.
And in chapter 64, Israel repents.
They turn to God.
And they say, God, we are committed to following you.
And look at how he responds in chapter 66.
He says,
Thus says the Lord,
Heaven is my throne.
The earth is my footstool.
What is the house that you would build for me?
What is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made.
And all these things came to be.
So what's God saying here?
Well, he says,
Heaven is my throne.
He's saying,
All these things came to be through my hand.
God is saying,
I am the creator,
the sustainer,
of everything and everyone.
You look at the night sky,
you see the stars?
My hand brought them about.
The galaxies,
the Milky Way,
the universe,
the multiple universes,
however many there are.
All these things came to be because I brought them about.
And you look at the minuscule things.
If you could,
you know,
down in 600 BC,
see atoms and molecules,
if they're telescopes.
You see all those things?
Those things,
my hand brought them about.
And so,
he says,
The gold that you want to use to build the temple,
the silver that you want to use,
all these things came about by my hand.
Verse 1,
You see,
the people of Israel are running around.
They're thinking,
Oh God,
God's in a bad way.
The temple is ruined.
605 BC,
the Babylonians smashed the temple.
God is restless.
He doesn't have a place to rest.
He must be in anxiety in heaven.
So,
let's build him a temple,
a really good temple.
And if we can build him a great temple,
a house,
finally,
God will be at rest.
And then,
things will be okay.
And God says,
Actually,
everything that you want to use to build my house,
actually,
I'm the one that brought it into existence.
And so,
before you get too excited about thinking about building me a house,
just remember who it is that built me a universe.
It's me,
says God.
God says,
Don't you see,
I am the sovereign God,
the creator.
Everything around you,
I brought it into being.
And it's the same thing that Solomon says in Psalm 127,
a very famous song.
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
his people,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
Friends,
the church,
God's house,
is not simply a human organization.
It's a divine,
even a supernatural organism,
an institution.
It's not the product of human ingenuity,
of human wisdom.
God,
himself,
is both the foundation,
and the head,
the builder,
and the sustainer,
of everything,
but including his house,
his body,
the church.
In the church,
if there's any real life that happens,
any real change,
supernatural change,
it's not because the leaders are great,
or because the leaders are smart,
it's because there's a great God,
who's at work in that church.
The church is God's building,
it's his house that he establishes.
So Israel is saying,
we're going to build you a house.
And God says,
I don't need you to build me a house,
you need me to build you a house.
I,
all these things my hand has made,
says the Lord.
John Piper very famously said this,
you can build a great big church,
by human wisdom,
and human ingenuity,
but all you'll do,
is build a monument,
to your own futility.
Think about that.
You can build something wonderful,
and big,
and impressive,
and people say,
wow,
look at that.
But if it's built on human wisdom,
human ingenuity,
in 20,
and 30,
and 50 years time,
people are going to say,
remember there's that church,
Watermark?
Those guys thought they were so good,
they were so impressive.
Whatever happened to that church?
All it will become,
is a monument,
to your own futility.
You see,
the nature of the church,
it is God's church,
it's God's people,
it's a family,
with God as the head,
and the center,
and the foundation,
of the church,
and its leaders,
are merely its servants.
Which is why,
one of the reasons,
we've said this before,
I really struggle,
when people call me,
Pastor Kevin.
Right?
If you're new to Watermark,
don't call me,
Pastor Kevin.
Okay?
Because I feel,
it kind of like,
elevates,
like there's the regular congregation,
normal Christians,
and then there's the pastor.
Right?
And then there's God,
just above them.
Actually,
no,
we're all sinners,
we're all broken.
Okay,
yeah,
sure,
I've got a role,
the other pastors,
have got a role,
that's right,
but this is God's church.
It's one of the reasons,
why often,
we'll introduce ourselves,
and say,
Kevin,
I'm one of the leaders here,
Nielsen,
one of the leaders here.
Yeah,
okay,
my job description,
says senior pastor,
but actually,
Jesus is the senior pastor,
it's his church,
and we are its servants.
Think about this,
when I go visit my parents' home,
in Cape Town,
right,
so I go there,
I know,
my dad's going to say three things,
when I walk in the door.
Firstly,
son,
it's so good to see you,
welcome home.
Secondly,
make yourself at home.
Okay,
he's going to say that.
And the third thing,
he's going to say,
you know where everything is,
right?
Here's the fridge,
there's the chocolates,
there's the snacks,
there's the Cape Town wine cabinet,
make yourself at home,
right?
So imagine,
two weeks later,
my dad walks in,
and I'm repainting the one wall,
and then I knock out the one wall,
I just want to make my room a little bit bigger there,
and then I can bring in a contractor,
we're going to change the bathroom.
He says,
what are you doing?
Hey,
you said,
make yourself at home.
I don't like the wall here,
and I don't like that,
I thought I'd just change it.
What's he going to say?
He says,
hey,
when I said,
make yourself at home,
I didn't say,
this is your home,
okay?
It's still my home.
I get to determine how I want this home.
Well,
friends,
the church is God's house.
It belongs to Him,
to God Almighty.
And we,
the leaders,
we're servants here,
but we don't own the church.
It's not,
Watermark isn't my church,
it's His church.
We are servants here.
And so,
that means that,
this is God's family.
He's the one who determines how we build,
and what happens in here.
This week,
I was reading in my devotions,
Exodus.
And,
if you've read Exodus lately,
the second half of Exodus,
it can be a little challenging,
okay?
There's chapter after chapter,
about lots of instructions,
how to build the tabernacle.
The tabernacle was the precursor to the temple.
And so,
for chapter after chapter,
it says,
you know,
the curtain must be this many cubits,
and this many silver clasps,
and they must be fit into the base,
and the base must be made of this material.
And then the priest's clothing,
they must be made out of this,
and you must have little patterns here,
and bells over there.
And after a while,
you think,
okay,
I get it.
Just tell us there was a temple,
tell us there was a church,
and there was a curtain,
and just give us the basics,
okay?
Do we need all this detail?
And you read on,
and on,
and on.
Sometimes you think,
what's going on here?
And in chapter 40,
about,
I think it's about 15 times,
it says,
and Moses did what God commanded.
And Moses did what God commanded.
And Moses did.
Until you get to the last paragraph
of the book of Exodus,
and what does it say?
The glory of God
filled the temple
with such power,
and such authority,
the priest could hardly minister.
In other words,
God came down,
and filled it,
and suddenly you realize,
God knew what he was saying,
all along.
God had a plan for his temple,
how he wanted it,
because he wanted to meet with his people,
and bless them there.
And God coming down,
was contingent upon Moses building,
how God wanted him to build.
Okay?
The first thing is,
the church is God's church.
And we build according
to the maker's instructions.
Second thing,
why do we do what we do?
Why do we do things this way?
Because of what the Bible is.
Okay?
I wonder what you think of the Bible.
I mean,
what is the Bible really?
Yeah, sure,
it's a collection of 66 ancient documents
written between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago.
Different genres,
different authors,
different languages.
Some poetry,
some history,
some wisdom literature,
some biography.
But what is it really,
in its essence?
What is the Bible?
Maybe you think,
the Bible is great wisdom.
It gives us direction,
how to live a happy,
and meaningful life.
Maybe you think,
the Bible is a book of inspiration,
encouragement.
You're feeling down,
you're feeling overwhelmed by life.
Well,
you go to the Bible,
it's going to give you some promises
and some encouragement.
Maybe you think,
the Bible is a religious manual
to guide you
in your religious search
through life.
Well,
those who come to the Bible
will certainly discover
all those things.
Great encouragement,
great direction.
But actually,
the Bible is more than that.
The Bible is God's word to us.
Look at our second passage,
in our bulletin here,
in 2 Timothy.
Paul writes,
and look at what he says here.
He says,
I know,
Timothy's writing to this young man,
this young pastor.
He says,
I know how from childhood
you've been acquainted
with the sacred writings,
that means the Jewish scriptures,
which are able to make you wise
for salvation
through faith in Christ.
Okay,
now,
pause here.
That's the primary purpose
of the scriptures,
to lead us
to salvation,
saving faith in Jesus Christ,
to reveal to us
our need for God,
and the good news
that Jesus has gone to the cross
so that we can find salvation in Him.
That's the main purpose
of the scriptures.
But notice here,
Timothy only had the Old Testament.
The New Testament
hadn't been formed
or finished,
formed by the stage.
And so,
Paul writes,
he says,
even the Old Testament
is meant to lead Timothy
to saving faith in Jesus.
So,
the whole Bible,
New Testament
and Old Testament
are all about Jesus,
right?
Do you see that?
It says,
the scriptures,
the Old Testament
are meant to lead you
to faith in Christ.
Verse 16,
for all scripture
is breathed out by God
and is profitable
for reproof,
correction,
training
in righteousness.
Paul says here
something amazing.
He says,
the scripture
is breathed out by God,
which is his way of saying
the scripture
is not just inspired
by man.
It's not like the apostles
or the prophets
sat down to write
and said,
God,
I really need your inspiration
or they found some inspiration
from the mountains
and the weather
and God
and they wrote
this very inspiring book.
That's not what he means.
It means that actually
when the authors write,
the human authors
are actually God's mouthpiece.
They're God's spokesperson
as it were.
And the apostle Peter writes,
he says,
no prophecy
was ever produced
by the will of man,
but men spoke by God
as they were carried along
by the Holy Spirit.
And so what that means
is that,
yes,
there's a human author,
but actually behind
the human author
there's the divine author
using that human author's
personality,
his giftings,
his vocabulary,
his style
to actually say
what God wants him to say.
And so this book,
yeah,
it's got lots of
human author personality
and style,
but it's God's word,
to us.
The scriptures,
you could say it like this,
when the Bible speaks,
God speaks.
I once heard somebody say,
slightly cheekily,
but anyway,
if you want to hear
God speaking,
read God's word.
If you want to hear
God speaking audibly,
okay,
you want to hear
an audible voice,
read God's word out loud.
Yeah,
slightly cheeky,
but now,
now of course,
the Bible isn't the only way
that God speaks.
He can speak through
nature and creation.
Psalm 19,
the heavens declare
the glory of God.
But even Psalm 19
goes on to say
nature isn't enough.
That's why we need
God's word.
God's law is perfect,
reviving the soul.
God's word is just
opening the eyes.
God speaks through nature.
But God also speaks
through the Holy Spirit,
right?
If you're a Christian,
you've got the Holy Spirit
living inside of you.
Sometimes God the Spirit
will speak to you
and guide you,
put an impression
on your heart,
maybe give you a picture.
That's true.
But the most authoritative way,
the most direct way
that God speaks to us,
the way we can be sure
it's God and not just me,
is through His word.
And what that means is
God's word is profoundly meaningful.
When we engage with Scripture,
when we search it
and explore it
and mine it
and open it up,
we get to hear
what the sovereign,
eternal,
uncreated,
forever existed being
thinks and what His heart is.
Friends,
when you read Scripture,
the one who made you
or knew you
before you were even conceived,
the one who knows
everything about you,
the best of you
and the worst of you,
the one who knows you
better than you know yourself
and who loves you
better than anyone loves you,
reveals His heart to you
in Scripture.
And so this isn't just
a manual or a guide
or a book of wisdom.
It is profoundly personal
because it's God
revealing His heart.
It's not only meaningful,
it's powerful.
God's word actually
accomplishes stuff.
It actually has the power to it.
In the Bible,
the Bible uses many metaphors
to describe the Scriptures.
Paul says,
it's like a sword
that cuts through the fog
and the confusion.
You're kind of not sure,
who am I?
What is my purpose in life?
The Scripture is like a sword
that can cut through there
and go straight to the matters at hand.
Jeremiah says,
the Bible is like a hammer
that breaks open hardness
and hard hearts
and can speak to our hearts.
Jeremiah says,
the Bible is like a fire bomb
that is about to combust
and is bubbling below the surface
and can change your whole life.
The writer to Hebrews says,
the Scripture is like
a surgeon's scalpel
that cuts straight
through the flesh
and the muscle
and gets straight
to the heart of the matter.
I remember,
let me show you the Scripture.
One Thessalonian says this,
Paul writes,
when you received
the Word of God,
which you heard from us,
you accepted it
not as the Word of man,
but as it really is,
the Word of God,
which is at work in you.
See, God's Word
is not just profound,
it does something,
it changes you,
it's at work in you.
I remember about 10 years ago,
I was leading a congregation
in Cape Town
and a friend of mine
who leads another church,
Ian,
was preaching at our church
and he was preaching
from John chapter 21.
Now if you know
John chapter 21,
it's the end of the Gospel of John,
Peter and his friends,
Jesus died,
he's risen again,
Peter and his friends
are fishing
and Jesus comes to them
and Jesus says
this interesting thing to Peter,
he says to him three times,
Peter, do you love me?
Peter says, yes, I love you.
Jesus says, Peter, do you love me?
He says, yes, Lord, I love you.
Third time, Peter, do you love me?
And my friend Ian is saying,
why does Jesus ask Peter
three times, do you love me?
And I'm sitting in the front row,
I'm the pastor,
I'm in to know the answer
and I think,
that's a great question.
I've always wondered about that,
why does God say that?
Three times, do you love me?
And just ask him once, right?
And Ian says,
well, let's just go back
to John chapter 19.
You remember how Peter says,
Lord, I'll never betray you.
Everyone else will deny you,
but I'll die with you.
And a few hours later,
Peter denies Jesus.
But how many times
does he deny him?
Not just once,
not just twice,
three times.
And so Peter denies Jesus
three times.
And three times,
Jesus comes
and he elicits this response
from Peter,
saying,
Peter, I know you love me
and I've still got a calling
on your life.
Just because you sinned
doesn't mean I've written you off.
And as Ian opened that up for me,
it was like this fire bomb
in my heart exploded
and it was like,
God spoke to me and said,
Kevin,
I know you're a sinner.
I know you mess up.
I know you deny me,
but your sin doesn't write you off
in my eyes.
I still love you
and I know you love me
and I haven't written you off.
I can still picture
sitting in that chair today
how God's word spoke to me
so powerfully
because it wasn't the word of man,
it's the word of God.
I remember a few years later,
listening or watching a video
of John Piper
preaching Isaiah 46.
And he just works through Isaiah 46
comparing the sovereign God
to the gods of Babylon.
And he opens up
and he shows what God is saying.
And as I sat there,
tears rolled down my eyes
and as I realized,
this God that we serve
is completely unlike any other God.
He is sovereign
and glorious and majestic.
But you know what's happening?
In those moments,
that wasn't just human wisdom.
That was God.
As his word was opened up,
God spoke to me
and changed my life.
And that's what Paul,
that's what was happening.
And Paul says,
this scripture is at work in you.
It's powerful.
It changes you.
God's word is powerful.
It's meaningful.
But it's also deeply personal
because it's where we encounter
the personal God
who knows us and loves us.
In other words,
in God's word,
God shares with us
not just his instructions,
not just his rules,
not just his good news,
but also his heart.
His heart.
When the Bible speaks,
God speaks,
which is why
God takes the way
that we take his word
very seriously.
Look at Isaiah 66
with me again.
God says this,
heaven is my throne,
the earth is my footstool.
What is the house
that you would build for me?
What is the place of my rest?
All these things,
my hand is made
and so they came to be.
But then look what God says.
He says,
Israel,
you're not going to build me a house.
I'm going to build you a house.
You're not going to build me a temple.
I'm going to build you a temple,
says God.
But what kind of people
is God going to use?
I mean,
who does God trust
to do the work
of building his temple?
Sure,
he's not just going to use anyone.
He's going to use specific people.
Well,
look at what he says.
This is the one
to whom I will look.
What he means is
this is the one
that I will esteem and honor.
He who is humble
and contrite in spirit.
Okay,
that makes sense.
God's going to use humble people.
But how does God define humility
or contrition?
What does it mean
to be humble before God?
Well,
look at the next line.
Those who tremble
at my word.
Those who
don't sit in judgment
over my word
is those who come
to my word
and say,
God,
what do you want to say?
Friends,
the reason why we
in Sundays
want to work through
God's word
and come to God's word
and say,
what does God
have to say to us
is because
it keeps us,
as God has presented it,
we don't want to hear
the opinions of man.
We want to hear
what God has to say
because of what the Bible is.
The Bible is
God's word
to us.
And that leads us
to the third thing
which is what is preaching.
What is the church?
It's God's church.
What is the Bible?
It's God's word.
What is preaching?
It's God speaking to us.
Look at a passage.
I'm afraid
it's not in your bulletin.
I'm sorry,
but it should be on the screen.
Look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 with me.
The Apostle Paul
writes this
and he says,
When I came to you,
brothers and sisters,
I did not come proclaiming
to you the testimony of God
with lofty speech
or profound human wisdom.
For I decided to know
nothing amongst you
except Jesus Christ
and Him crucified.
And I was with you
in weakness
and in fear
and much trembling.
And my speech
and my message
were not with plausible
words of wisdom,
but in demonstration
of the Spirit and power
so that your faith
might not rest
on the wisdom of man
but on the wisdom,
on the power of God.
Paul says here
that what is preaching?
Preaching is not giving
a religious pep talk.
It's not saying,
come on,
you can do it.
It's not just a bit
of inspiration
or encouragement.
Hopefully it should be
a little bit encouraging.
That's what a TED talk is, right?
I like TED talks.
Nothing wrong with TED talks.
But that's not preaching.
Preaching is when we as a church
come to God's Word
and we open it up
speaking for God
on behalf of God
to make clear
what God has said.
So that as a body
we can encounter God
in His Word
as He has revealed Himself.
Look at the third passage
in our bulletin today.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4,
he says,
Having this ministry
by the mercy of God,
we do not lose heart.
Okay, just side note there.
All ministry,
Christian leadership,
is by the mercy of God.
It's God's gift.
It's not because we are brilliant
or smart or amazing.
It's the mercy of God.
It says,
But we have renounced
disgraceful,
underhanded ways.
We refuse to practice cunning
or to tamper with God's Word.
Rather,
by the open statement of truth,
we commend ourselves
to everyone's conscience
in the sight of God.
Paul's writing here
and he says,
When he left Corinth,
a whole bunch of other
preachers were coming
and they're saying,
No, you can't trust Paul.
I mean,
he doesn't speak very well.
He's not that clever.
Don't trust him.
Come on,
I'll tell you
what you really need to believe.
And what they do,
they bring the Scriptures
and they say,
Oh, Paul,
he wasn't really speaking the truth.
What you need to do
is if you really want God
to love you,
you've got to be circumcised.
You've got to serve like this.
You've got to give like this.
You've got to do
a whole lot of religious hoops.
They were adding to God's Word.
And what does Paul call that?
He says,
Disgraceful,
underhanded ways.
Look at verse 5.
He says,
Rather,
we proclaim not ourselves,
but Jesus Christ as Lord,
with ourselves as your servants.
Now,
just side note here,
Paul makes an interesting argument.
He says,
When I come to you and say,
Okay, Watermark,
listen to me.
I've got a wonderful message for you.
Okay?
It's not in God's Word,
but listen to me.
What am I doing there?
I'm actually setting myself up as Lord.
But Paul says,
We didn't do that.
We didn't proclaim ourselves.
We proclaimed Jesus Christ as Lord.
And how do you know we did that?
We proclaimed His Word.
So in other words,
the authority that you speak from
is the Lord of that church.
Does that make sense?
Okay.
Not really.
Should I explain that again?
If I come in my own authority,
who's the Lord of this church?
It's me.
But when I come and say,
Listen,
don't listen to me.
I'm just a servant here.
But this is what God is saying.
Who's the Lord of this church?
Jesus is.
Because we're listening to His Word,
not the Word of man.
Friends,
Can I confess something?
It is so easy,
so easy,
for pastors to tamper with God's Word
and to make it say what they want it to say.
Because if I want you to do something,
all I need to do is just come to it and say,
Find a Bible verse and take it out of context
and twist it and say,
God says you need to do this.
You need to serve me.
You need to do this.
And how are you going to argue with God?
If I pull off the God card,
it's pretty hard to argue with that.
But Paul writes and he says,
That's not what Christian ministry is.
We refuse to tamper with God's Word
that is disgraceful and unhandled.
Rather, we proclaim not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus.
So imagine this.
Imagine you're a businessman,
you're a businesswoman,
and you've got an important client
somewhere in Asia, in Japan.
And you've got a big deal,
and you need to go and negotiate
and handle this deal.
And you're going to fly there,
you're going to come back,
do the one-week quarantine.
But just before you fly out,
you get COVID.
And so, oh boy, okay,
you're in lockdown.
You can't go.
But it's an important transaction,
and so you send a messenger
to go and represent your interests.
And so you say,
Listen, this is what we need to do,
this is what we need to say,
go and represent our interests.
And the messenger,
the representative,
goes there and says,
Actually, I don't really like
what that guy was saying.
I think I've got a better idea.
And so he goes to speak to the client
with his own message
and his own ideas,
and he changes the terms, right?
He says, listen,
scrap what he was thinking.
I think actually this.
How are you going to feel about that?
Okay, you're going to be
a little bit upset, right?
Why?
Because he's meant to represent you,
but he's coming with his own message.
Friends, do you know how easy it is
for pastors to do that?
To pretend to represent God's word,
but to come with my own word.
It is so easy for us to use God's word
to manipulate people.
But look at what pastors is.
We have renounced such disgraceful,
underhanded ways.
We refuse to tamper with God's word.
Rather, we proclaim to you,
Christ is Lord.
So, how do we protect the church
from doing that?
How do we protect the church
against manipulation?
Well, one way is we come
to God's word and say,
God, what do you want to say
in your word?
And so, we open up
at Ecclesiastes chapter 1
and say, God,
what is your word saying here?
What's your message to us
as a church,
and how can we apply that?
And the next week,
we say, okay, well,
what is Ecclesiastes 2?
What are you saying here?
What is the author saying?
What are you saying?
And how can we apply that?
And the next week,
well, what is God saying here,
and how does that speak
to us as a church?
Friends, when you come
to church on Sunday,
you don't want to hear
what I have to say.
Who cares what I think?
Okay?
What I think is
completely irrelevant.
When we come to church
on Sunday,
we gather because we want
to hear what God
has to say.
And how do we do that?
Well, we come to His word.
We open up His word.
We expose His word
and say, God,
what are you saying
to us as a church?
Okay.
Well, practically,
what does this mean?
Let me suggest four
very quick practical
applications of this.
First thing is this.
When you come to church,
come ready to hear God speak.
Okay?
It's very easy
to come to church on Sunday
and you're still mourning
the loss of your soccer team
the night before.
Okay?
Or you come to church
on Sunday
and you're thinking
about the stock price
and you're hoping
that things are going
to rebound
and things are going
to hopefully pick up.
Or you're thinking
about that meeting
you've got tomorrow
and you just go
through the motions.
So, friends,
come to church ready.
Say, God Almighty,
the creator of the universe,
God, come and speak
to me today.
In the call to worship,
in the songs we sing,
in the communion,
God, speak to me
through your word today.
I want to meet with you.
Each Sunday
on the way to church,
on the bus,
as you walk down the ramp,
God, I want to encounter you today.
Speak to me today.
Secondly,
bring your Bible.
We here brought
the biggest Bible
I've ever seen
in my life today, right?
Bring a Bible to church.
Now, the reason why
is this.
There's a verse
in Acts chapter 17
and listen to what it says.
It says,
the Bereans
received the word of God
that Paul preached
with all eagerness,
examining the scriptures
daily
to see
if the things
that Paul said
were true
were really true.
So, Paul's in the synagogue
and he's preaching
and he says,
remember how God said this
in Isaiah 53
and they say,
wait, wait, wait,
let's just check Isaiah 53
and they're searching
that what Paul said
is true
is actually true.
Friends,
bring your Bible
to church.
I promise you,
I'm not going to lie to you,
but just double check
and actually flick there
and say,
okay, 2 Corinthians,
what's the context?
What's actually going on here
when Paul says that?
And search that
what we say
is in God's word
is actually in God's word.
Bring your Bible
to church.
Third thing is this,
when moving churches,
find a church
that will teach you
God's word.
Now, this is more applicable
to us than any other time
because so many people
are moving, right?
You want to go to the USA?
Okay.
You want to go to England?
Okay, Chris and Fiona,
I was going to say
find a good church,
but I guess they don't
have too many choices.
They're going to go
to the church
that they're working at.
But if you're moving overseas,
find a church
that is going to teach you
God's word.
Now, just a quick hint,
don't find a church
based on their social media.
Okay, that doesn't help.
Or how cool the pastor is
or how amazing
the music is.
And just because
their website says
they believe in the Bible
doesn't actually mean
they're going to teach
you God's word.
Okay, no church
is going to say
we don't believe the Bible,
we think it's rubbish,
don't come here.
Every church is going to say
we love the Bible.
Okay, find a church
that is going to teach
you God's word
week by week,
chapter by chapter
through His word.
Find a church
that's going to teach
you God's word.
Finally,
be a man or a woman
of prayer.
Oh my goodness.
Be a man or a woman
of prayer as well.
Be a man or a woman
of the word.
Okay?
Friends,
you will only become
a man or a woman
of God
to the degree
to which
this book
owns you.
If you want to have a,
if you want to be anchored
in the storms of life,
if you want a rock
that is going to build
your life upon,
when the storms come,
if you don't want to be
blown over,
make sure you're a man
or a woman
of the book
of God's word.
Day in autumn,
one of my heroes
says like this,
to read the scripture
is to read Christ.
To read the scripture
is to hear Christ.
Make the worshipful
reading of scripture
your central daily habit
without which
you have not lived
a normal day.
Friends,
it may be that
if you get to the end
of the day
and you haven't even
gotten to God's word,
there's something
off about that day.
There's something
that doesn't feel right
because you're so used
to feasting,
starting off your day,
having your heart
mesmerized by the
wonder of God
in his word.
Friends,
God's word is living
and active.
It's meaningful,
it's powerful,
it's personal,
it's true.
It's the life source
of Christians
and it's the life source
of the church.
That's why you and I
must become people
of the word.
That's why we must be
a church of the word.
That's why we preach
through books of the Bible.
Thus says the Lord,
heaven is my throne,
the earth is my footstool,
what is the house
that you would build
for me?
What is the place
of my rest?
All these things
my hand has made
and so they came to be.
But this is the one
that I will look to,
he who is humble
and contrite in spirit
and trembles
at my word.
Let's pray together.
Oh, heavenly father,
as we,
as we as a church family,
revisit some of these
foundational truths
of why we do
the things we do.
God, I pray,
I pray God
that you will put
the fear of God
on us,
on us as a church
and particularly
us as leaders,
that God,
we will never do
what Paul says
the other leaders
were doing.
Twisting God's word,
tampering with your word,
playing fast and loose
with your word.
God, I pray
you put the fear
of God in us,
that we will be a church
that will sniff that out,
that will reject that
and renounce that,
and will be those
who tremble at your word.
God, make us men
and women of your word.
But I want you
to anchor us
in the word,
that when the storms
of life come,
when things are difficult,
we will know
what our rock is.
We will be firmly rooted,
that the foundations
of our lives
will be so deeply
fastened into you
because we are people
of your word,
that we will not be shaken,
we will not be blown over.
God, I pray,
help us.
In your great
and awesome name we pray.
Amen.