Unless the Lord Builds the House

Humanity right now is very busy creating expedient societies. Expedient societies, because they want things done their way. They have certain objectives. Certain governments want power. Other governments or officials want personal prestige. Money is a target of some. Religion, and fostering a certain religion, and promoting it or forcing it on others. Control. We see all of these things in the news this week, whether it's from the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, over in Africa.

We see here in the United States individuals gearing up with some self-centered motives, willing to say almost anything in order to advance themselves. But the Bible says, unless the Lord builds the house, the weary builders toil and veen. And so these governments and their objectives, and this world at large, will not come to anything. In fact, Jesus Christ says it will all come down. The houses will come down.

All of them. Until finally, a great house supplants them all. Another society right now is being created. It's being worked on. It's being developed. It is the house of God. God is building a house. It's a spiritual house. You know, the purpose of a house is to fill the house with people. It's not just to have a house. People inside a house go about living. Living and loving, serving and enjoying, fellowship and eating, growing.

That's what a house is for. Jesus said, in my father's house are many rooms, and I'm going to prepare one for you. A room is being prepared for us. And let's consider the invitation that we have been given to dwell in the house of God. But also to consider the ramifications involved in that invitation. Because not all those invited will actually be living there. Many are called, but few are chosen. Do you want to live and dwell in the house of God? Let's begin with the foundation. Every house has a foundation, or at least it should. The foundation is very, very important.

And in Matthew 16 and beginning in verse 13, Jesus began to form the foundation of His house, of His church, that which He would call His own body, in fact. Matthew 16 and verse 13, when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, that's on the coast up north in the northern part of Israel, He asked His disciples, saying, What do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

And they said, Well, some say you're John the Baptist, some Elijah, some others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. And He said to them, But who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter said, You are the Christ, the Christos, the anointed, the Son of the living God.

Right there we begin to see that this house has authority from a higher source that comes down through the house. He is the Son of the living God. And in verse 18, Jesus said, And I also say to you that you are Peter, the Greek word petros. Petros means a detached stone of almost any size. It could be a small stone or a large stone, but it's a detached stone. You are a stone, one that might be thrown or disposed of, as opposed to Jesus Christ.

But He says, On this rock I will build my church. He was referring to Himself. And that rock, the Greek word for that rock is petra. Now we all know what petra is as far as a destination, and it's a place of rock. It is eroded rock that's now canyons and walls, but it's rock that doesn't move, it's not tossed aside. And that was a reference to Himself being the chief cornerstone of this house that is being built. See that in Ephesians 2 and 20 in a minute. If we go to Ephesians 1 and 22, we find how this assignment of order came about.

Ephesians 1 and 22. It says, And He, that's God the Father, put all things under His, that's Jesus Christ's feet. So God the Father had the authority to put all things under Jesus Christ's feet, which means Jesus Christ now has authority of all things because they're under His feet. And He gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. So Jesus Christ wasn't just established as an authority figure over the church. It was that which He cared for, that which He claimed with His own life, that which He continues to live for, that which He is filling with His all.

He fills it Himself. That's His focus. His project is to make those of that house, of that body like the Father. Indeed, He gave us the commission in Matthew 5, verse 48, to become you therefore, like that Father. That is our commission, and He set us an example of that. In chapter 2 and verse 19, when we become part of this church, part of this building that is being created, we take on a different identity.

Therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. We begin to live for that house, by that house, of that house, and eventually in that house, in a literal sense. And today, symbolically, we are of the household of God, of the church, the called out ones.

Verse 20, this house had to be built, and it's built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. So those were the fundamental teachers. Jesus Christ gave the doctrine in the Old Testament to Israel and the New Testament to the apostles, and then those apostles taught that doctrine. They wrote it and they preached it. In verse 21, in whom the whole building now is growing building. Remember, He said, I will build my church. Now He's building it.

In whom the whole building being fitted together, it's being constructed, it grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In whom you are also being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

So within this house, this temple, Jesus Christ said, I will not leave you alone, but I will come to you, and I will send a comforter. He and the Father come to us through the Holy Spirit, and they live in that temple. And that temple is us individually, but especially collectively. Let's see what Peter says in 1 Peter 2 and verse 4. 1 Peter 2 and verse 4. Coming to Him as to a living stone. Jesus Christ is very much alive. He is very involved in the church. He is the rock, the Petra, the unmovable rock, and He is a living rock, and we are to come to Him. Rejected indeed by men, but chosen by the Father and precious. Verse 5. You also as living stones. We have to be a part of a building that is life. It's living. It's Ephesians 4, 16, that which every part contributes and does it share.

You are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

All this sounds good. This is a definitive description of what we are, what the church is, and what God's role with the first fruits in the human race right now are. And we can be thankful and happy about that. And yet we're going to find out that there is a responsibility. There are other implications in order for an individual really to be in that house and remain in that house. Let's look next after we see the foundation. Let's see what's the purpose of this house? Why would we have the church? In verse 9 of 1 Peter 2, it says, but you are a chosen generation. You know, none can come to God unless the Father draws them. You can spend your life going out and finding people who disagree with the truth. And then you can take literature, you can take doctrinal papers, you can take the Bible, you can argue, and you can convince people that the truth is right. I've seen this happen in Africa. We have a whole congregation over there that is convinced now that this is the church, that all the doctrines are correct.

They absolutely are convinced. God is not called a one of them, but we have a congregation of people that well-meaning individuals have worked on for now almost two years and convinced a lot of them that the doctrines of this church are correct. Now, they haven't internalized any of it. They don't feel it on the inside. They can't seem to keep it straight. But you can convince somebody of the truth. It's possible. It doesn't mean they're going to be called. And in this case, these people have shown that they're not being called. God has to draw a person, or Jesus says, that person cannot come to me. It just cannot happen.

So we, as a church, have a purpose, and that is preach the gospel, and those who are called and baptized are to be taught.

Taught and then baptized.

So here we see that there's a chosen generation who becomes a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him. It's not about me. It's not about you. We're not here for us. We actually have a purpose that this church is to reflect the light, to be a light, to reflect the praises. You go back to our calling in 1 Corinthians. Not many wise men now are called, but Christ is our wisdom. Christ is our knowledge. He is called the weak of the world so that no flesh should glory. The purpose of the church actually is to reflect the brilliancy and the intellect of God's way to the rest of mankind, to show that God's way works. We're to be living examples of that, excited about it. And if anybody asks us about our faith and the hope of our calling, we're ready to give an answer. How many people will say, oh, you're such a good person. Oh, you just have such a good family. You know, you have this. Well, no, it's not about me. I'm not a good person. It's only because of the way of life that God has shown you and me that we can receive those compliments, but those praises ought to go to Him, not to us. We were once not a people, but are now the people of God, who have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

We, in verse 11, are to reject this world, abstain from fleshly lusts, having our conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may buy your good works, which they observe glorify God in the day of visitation.

They will have a calling, too. They will have a day when God visits them, and it's all about God. They will remember, somehow, observing what you and I do, and they will glorify God in that day. The mission of the Church is to do the work of God, and that's found in Mark 16, verse 15, Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. Now, it didn't say go into all the world and try to convert everybody.

You may have tried this on your friends and relatives, you know. There are some awfully nice people in this world, a lot nicer people than me. And you think, why doesn't God call that person there? Just so wonderful! But He doesn't. I don't know why He doesn't. But we nevertheless are to preach the gospel to every individual possible.

And that's the mission that this Church has had and done its best, and we continue to try. The General Conference of Elders is always looking at ways to improve it. It's almost impossible for our little needle-in-a-haystack Church to have any sort of visibility, but at the same time, we're not going to give up.

We're going to keep having bigger and bigger ideas and keep pounding on doors and seeing if God will open them. Someday, they will open, until they do. We'll just keep trying. And the Church can keep improving and perfecting itself.

So it will be that much of a better example so that God gets more glory. In Matthew 16, he who believes and is baptized, that person will be saved. But again, that responsibility is between that individual and God. All we can do is preach the gospel and be ready to teach and baptize those whom the Father is drawing and that respond positively to that calling. The leaders, the ministers of the Church, have a lot of responsibility. I'm familiar with Ephesians 4 and 11, and how He Himself, the head of the body, gave some to be apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers, etc.

Those jobs have authority and they have responsibility. And they are four. It says in verse 14 and 12, the edifying of the body of Christ. Edifying means to build up, to enhance, to refine it, to encourage it, to feed it. In verse 13, we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure, the stature, the fullness of Christ. There has to be growth. We have to be ingesting Jesus Christ, that perfect bread.

We have to be putting sin out of our life, getting rid of the old self and going forward. The ministry is also there so that we should be no longer children. Not just babbling about in simple little concepts, not really fully understanding, not having the discernment or the spiritual maturity about what this way of life is all about. Not getting past things like pickiness over little things and laws and rules and just focusing in on the pickiest little thing and trying to find little twigs in the Bible, things maybe also we could obey or keep or add to or whatever.

Not going in again and laying the basic doctrines down, like it says in Hebrews 9, but growing, growing up into the fullness of Christ, the stature of Christ, that we're no longer children, tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine. Verse 15, But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Jesus Christ. This is the direction and the purpose that the ministry have. That's our goal. And if you ever want to know what your pastor, what my internal intentions are, all you have to do is turn over to the book of 1 Thessalonians and read chapter 2.

And that, Paul, defines how I feel and what I try to do and my purpose in being here with you and for you very well in that chapter. It just, that's what it is. And I hope every minister feels that way. I know Mr. Anderson does.

He wraps his arm around this congregation and loves and serves from the heart. And that is what the ministry is about. It's a calling. It's not something anybody can choose. It's something that Jesus Christ appoints.

In 1 Peter 5 and verse 1, the elders who are among you I exhort. So he's exhorting the ministry. I, who am also a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed, shepherd the flock of God. There's a lot to shepherding a flock. We get to see a lot of shepherds when we travel over in Africa. People who go out and tend to animals. One, this trip, one just riveted into my mind. It was an older man. Often it's young boys and they're just doing their job. But here's an older man and he had a good size herd of cattle, goats and sheep all together.

And they were ranging and he was very attentive to each one. What they were eating, how they were doing, what dangers lay in the area. Because it was near the edge of a national park that has lions and other wild animals and there were even wild animals outside that park. And this man was really going about caring for those animals. It was just delightful to see. Animals do need care, not that you're animals and I'm not. We all need care. But there is feeding, there's nurturing, there's water, there's pasturing, there's attention, there's observation, there's encouragement, there's sometimes correction. Part of what Paul says there in 1 Thessalonians 2 is, you know, a pastor wanting to love and help like a mother nursing a child. Few verses later it's like a father correcting a son. It's all types of things. You would give yourself, you do give yourself, you would go through anything so that the last scripture or the last verse in that chapter is, the whole flock gets into the kingdom. That's the goal. That is the goal. Shepherd the flock which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly. It has to come from the heart, otherwise it's some kind of a job. It must be kind of like a hireling. You hire somebody in your absence. He doesn't want to do it, but he'll do it for the money. You know, I'll say this for the other ministers, not referring to myself, but when the end of our relationship with our former association took place in 1995, nobody knew that there would be a future. Nobody knew that there would be a united Church of God. We simply stopped serving or were fired, and that was the end of that. But when it came to starting up churches again or reorganizing, there was no indication of pay either. In fact, there was some time before pay. That was not anybody's mind. Nobody cared. I don't know what will happen, but we've got sheep. We need to get back there and organize them and help. There are probably 450 elders in that situation where we have the flock that Jesus Christ has called people to shepherd. He just mentions here that you do it willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. That's what Jesus Christ is to us, our example. That's what any leader is, who has any effect on others. He's an example, or she is an example. Examples to the flock. Luke 22, verse 25, talks about not having politics within the leadership of the church, not feathering beds, not having tenure and relationships and things like that. He uses the term benefactors, like he talks about the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, the kings of the Gentiles, and then over them benefactors are. The benefactor often was a tyrant, he was a corrupt leader in the Roman Empire, but he would give land to a general in the army, or some high-ranking official in the army. He would give some of the Romans conquered land out on the fringes to these army generals, and they would accept that land. So you have a corrupt leader in the government, now has an army general or a centurion, somebody, who is obligated to support the corrupt guy because he got land. And so the corruption continues. So now you rule an area or rule troops corruptly because your boss is corrupt, but everybody keeps the system going, you see, and everybody is indebted to somebody else. Jesus Christ says, don't do that. Do not have self-ingratiating politics. Verse 26, but not so among you, on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. Who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the one who serves.

Jesus Christ, you know, when he comes back and all his power and glory and might and rips the heavens apart and comes in with all the holy angels and rules the world, he says the first thing he's going to do is gird himself and serve us a meal.

That's going to be pretty neat. That's what he wants to do. He's excited about serving a meal to us. He thought nothing of taking on the form of a servant and washing feet. We need, as a mentality of the household of God, to follow God's leaders. This is not a request. This is not a plea. This is mandatory for anyone who will be in the house of God, including me and you.

Because nobody will be in the kingdom of God, the family of God, the house of God, who rebels against authority of any kind or any way. Satan the devil tried it. He's out. Anybody who rebelled is out.

Just read from the beginning of the Bible, starting with Adam and Eve. They're out.

In Romans 12 and verse 1, it's important for us all to realize that this has nothing to do with an appeal for you to follow anybody. It's just an appeal for you to be in the house of God, for you to have a room prepared there.

And one of the main requirements is you have to submit to the will of the Father, the will of Jesus Christ. You have to submit to authority in your land, your own government, and within the church. You have to submit to authority within your family, wives to husbands, children to parents, etc.

The first commandment with promise, God established these things, and that is a paramount requirement. If you can't do that, you can't be in the family house. It just won't happen.

Romans 12.1, Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. That's a broad blanket statement.

For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't think all authorities are just perfect. I just don't.

I don't think that the speed limit on Signal Butte is set right, because the speed limit on Ellsworth is 15 miles an hour faster.

And when those two streets were exactly the same construction in the same rural area, the same width, the speed limits on one with 35 and the other was 50. And it made no sense at all. And every time I drive down that 35 mile an hour stretch for five and a half years, I've said, Who put these roads at different speeds? Of course, you know which one I like better.

But nevertheless, it's there. Why it's been there, I don't know. Of course, they're changing the road now, and who knows what it ought to be now. But anyway, why? Somebody just didn't think it through. So therefore, I don't have to drive 35 and go 50 on both or what?

Because it doesn't make sense. And how can I don't have to pay my tax? I don't have to pay all my income tax. They're taking too much money out of there. I'm going to keep some of that. Pay that sales tax. I'm not going to, you know, on and on and on. What's it going to be?

How can you and I be in the kingdom of God if we do not follow the authorities that God has placed on this earth? That's what Paul is saying here.

Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God.

And who will be in the kingdom of God? Those who do the will of the Father. So that's the rub. If we want to be in the kingdom of God, we have to submit to authority. And we really need to get serious about submitting to man's authority, governmental authority, authority in the church, authority in the family, authority wherever it is. And develop that mindset of God and quit this rebellion that the world leads us in. Whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God. And those who resist will bring condemnation or damnation on themselves.

God's mentality of submission is shown by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ didn't like the Roman rule that you have to die today, strip naked, shredded and hung on a stake. He just didn't think that made good sense. Do you think it would have made good sense to you if that would have been the Roman decree of the day?

He probably didn't think that made a whole lot of logic when he was about to be betrayed. And he prayed to the Father three times asking not to have to go through that.

It didn't seem like that authority, even of the Father, was quite right at the moment at the time. And therefore he was praying for something else, if at all possible.

And yet, even to his own death, he was our example. And even though he was treated horribly, he didn't have an attitude in return.

In 1 Corinthians 16, verse 15, there was a household of Stephanus, Stephanus of Achaia.

And Stephanus, I guess, was a minister.

It makes a statement in verse 16, that you are to also submit to such, and to everyone who labors and works with us.

So Paul is saying the ministry that's working on your behalf, you need to submit to those. In Hebrews 13, verse 17, it says, Obey those who rule over you.

Again, it's a general statement, and also specifically applied to the church in this case.

And be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account.

So there is that responsibility. Now, we might say, or you might say, well, wow, that doesn't make sense. That doesn't free-spirited. That's not democratic. That's not me doing my own thing my own way. That's letting some person, often a younger person or a person with less qualifications or less aptitude, having some authority over me, and I have to submit to that. And sometimes what I'm told to do is just flat-out nonsense.

Well, guess what? You're right. It is. You've got to submit anyway.

That's part of the testing of being here on earth. I found that out in my life.

In 1 Peter 2 and verse 13, we find that you can't just choose not to submit because it doesn't make sense or because it's mean, cruel, or even nasty.

Therefore, 1 Peter 2 verse 13, Therefore, submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Now, obviously, this is not including the ones that tell you to break the Sabbath, or steal, or lie, or cheat, or things like that, because we have the examples throughout the Bible that we should obey God and not man and take our chances. You have the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You have Daniel and the Lion's Den, etc. as examples of that.

You have Peter and Paul, who kept preaching and were thrown in prison, but kept preaching anyway because Christ told them to preach, and they wouldn't stop. But here, submit yourself to every ordinance of man. Notice, for the Lord's sake, men's ordinances, for God's sake, whether as to the king, the king is supreme, or to governors, or those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of those who do good. That's the police.

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good masters and the gentle, but also to the harsh masters. That's where it gets tough. But notice, we're to be submissive even to them.

1 Peter 3, verse 1, wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands.

Even some who do not obey the word, it says. Those who aren't in the church.

It's an interesting thing that God has wives to be submissive to husbands, and that he made the wives a little smarter than the men.

It's just the way it is. They're a little slower, a little more plodding, a little more methodical. They're a little less in tune with the family. They're a little more impulsive, a little more self-centered.

They tend to not be so conscientious of things like security, family dynamics, savings, things like that.

And yet God wants the wife to submit to that individual.

Now let's look back. We've got people in the church, like some young minister named John Elliott, who was ordained, I think, at age 24 or 25.

He's the pastor, and a group of old people, and he's green.

And then you've got the wives who are supposed to submit to the husbands, and they're pretty green when they get married.

They don't know what to do. You have children who are supposed to submit to parents who have never had children before, and they're trying to figure out what they're supposed to do.

We're all supposed to submit to the government, most of whom have never been in government before. They just got it elected based on lying their heads off.

And then you have... what else do you have? I don't know, that's probably enough. But, so you have all of these things that are created, as it were, to test us.

Are they going to make mistakes? Every one of them will make mistakes. Herbert W. Armstrong said, I make a lot of mistakes. I don't try to make them, but I end up making a lot of mistakes.

God says, you are to submit to imperfect authority, and so am I.

Now, since this is so important to God, who is all-powerful, who can create miracles, when you do that, He is able to make the craziest things work out fine.

Or, conversely, if you and I rebel against authority, and our logic and our ways prevail, which are logical, they are smart, they are time-tested, He can make that fail.

He can make failure succeed and success fail.

Because God has a plan He is working out, and I have seen many times the craziest things that we have had to submit to, or even I have said to members, and well-meaning, but we are going to do this later on to see, wow, that was not the wise thing to do. But look how beautifully it worked out.

And those who went along with it, some of them were like, wow, we would have never thought that would have worked out, but wow, that just worked out great.

So that which appears logical and rational to human beings is not necessarily the way it needs to be.

If you have the faith and the trust that following God and being submissive, only to what He says, only to what is good, only to attempts that are right, never evil, never sin, no Jim Jones nonsense, but I am talking about people who are trying to do their very best.

If you submit to that, things will work out. Things do.

Nevertheless, we will be tested with this, because more than anything, God has called us to find out if we are going to be in His house.

Find out if we qualify for that, and that is not going to come by just an enchanted life of sitting in the lounger.

Likewise, you young people submit yourself to your elders. 1 Peter 5, verse 5.

Young people submit to your elders, and yes, all of you be submissive to one another and clothed with humility.

In other words, self-ambition and insubordination should not be there for anyone, including the leadership.

The leadership should not be running out and making all the big decisions.

Leadership should also be listening and supporting and submitting to other ideas when those ideas are right.

As Mr. Armstrong said, it is a good example, back with the counsel that he had.

Submission is an interesting thing. You can preach it, but you cannot enforce it.

It is not something you can make anybody do. It has to come from the heart. It has to come by desire.

It comes from one's own choice. Either a person is submissive to God and to the authorities that God has placed and will be in God's kingdom, or a person has chosen not to be submissive to God.

Therefore, it tends to do what that individual thinks is good and right. It is a matter of choice.

Every human has to submit in various ways at various times during his life. That seems to ever change.

But every Christian always has to submit and do so in a godly manner.

Now, there comes a point of having to live with leaders' flaws. How do you deal with that?

It is going to be mature enough to realize that no one is perfect and every leader will have flaws.

I will have them. Mr. Anderson will have them. Our deacons will have them. Husbands will have them.

Church officials will have them. Everybody is going to have flaws.

Our governors will have them. Presidents will have them.

Jesus said to his disciples at the last Passover that he observed with them, You will govern and rule over twelve tribes of Israel.

Now, just four verses ahead of that, they were arguing about who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And he is going to put these guys over the twelve tribes of Israel.

Now, in between their statement, he teaches them about not ruling like the Gentiles.

And so there is going to be growth. There is going to be growth in all people before we get to rule and reign in the kingdom.

And you just have to relax and realize that every husband, every leader, every pastor, whoever has authority, you kids, every parent will make mistakes.

But with God's help and inspiration, your parents and leaders will make fewer mistakes.

And they will do so for the best effort of everyone, not just self-centeredly.

We are training for rulership in God's kingdom.

All of us, actually, are going to be reigning over cities here on earth.

Revelation 5 and 10 tells us that.

Do we have flaws? Do you have flaws? Sure. Every one of us does.

No one is invulnerable to the poles of the flesh.

And the Apostle Paul was very clear that he fell into that category as well.

Government in the Church is full of imperfections, but we don't want to be. We don't try to be.

We hold seminars. We study. We pray. We fast.

We try to figure ways and ask God for help in ways to do things better, to teach more accurately, to set a better example, to be more giving and serving, even though at times we are constrained by time and distance and heavy workloads.

Nobody should become disillusioned or disheartened because of a lack of perfection anywhere.

This life is all about learning and growing. I'm sure the Council of Elders learns and grows.

Mr. Armstrong, all the ministry, husbands, everybody learns and grows. I remember my father, after he had raised three boys and pounded us pretty much into perfection, came to a whole different mindset and repented thoroughly of being a disciplinarian, for which we were all saying, no, Dad, no, Dad, we actually liked it and appreciated it.

We turned out better because of the way you know, I should have been soft. I should have been caring.

Parents will grow as well and learn as well.

We certainly all have done that.

I apologize to Rayanne and to Michelle. Rayanne for being too hard, Michelle for being too soft.

Cindy got it just right. She was in the middle, I think.

You do get soft as you get older, especially if someone is as precious as Michelle is.

Anyway, we all learn things. It just takes time, though, doesn't it?

So don't get disillusioned, even if people suffer.

Even if people suffer. You know, we have great examples right here.

We have people who, back in the 1950s and 1960s, by our best understanding of what Christ was saying there in Matthew 5 and 6, were told to separate when they came into the Church.

You have to go back to your original wife, your original husband. You can't live together.

Some of you here today have been impacted by that. Those were tough things. Those hurt.

Those separated families. All the way up until 1974, when a clear understanding of the term, poor Neah, used there in Matthew and also over in 1 Corinthians 7, began to be understood as better Bible aids and better translations came out.

And so, yeah, can people be hurt? Sure, they can be hurt. And that can sometimes cause severe trials.

And yet, are those good for us? Yeah, sure they are. They test. You come through, and you're stronger because of that.

You can just, again, ask some of the people who were able to stand through and be steadfast and trust God.

Living forever in God's kingdom is a much greater reward than having an intact family for a few years in the interim, just because something was not clearly understood. The United Church of God has a paper on godly governance that says, the logic of good shepherding dictates that church leaders should organize the congregations in a manner that guarantees solid spiritual instruction, proper administrative oversight, help for personal weaknesses, protection against abuse, an impartial system of judging conflicts, and a commitment to openly admit and rectify errors.

Now, on the other side, the logic of godly submission dictates that all followers have a mindset of patience in a godly manner with the leaders who have responsibilities that involve them.

Even when one is hurt by a leader's mistakes, we are to react in a godly manner.

A godly manner.

When problems occur within any form of leadership, what is the right godly response?

Whether it's a child to parent, husband and wife, member and pastor, etc. What's the godly response?

If you go to the fruits of the Spirit, it's interesting, you have love, joy, and peace.

We like those. Followed by long suffering. What's that one in there for?

That's to cover all the mistakes of the love, joy, and peace.

When you forget to have love, joy, and peace, or it's not perfect, then you need long suffering, gentleness, goodness, and bigness, humility. It all works together.

It's where the government of God reaches into the Church with the mind and the character of God.

When Jesus Christ was relied and spat upon, how did he respond?

He responded with long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, and bigness.

Wished people well, did not retaliate. God did not charge them with this sin.

All of us are Church members, and we all have a responsibility within the Church.

That is to be joined, knit, and provide, through love, the needs of one another. In Ephesians 4, verse 16, it says, From whom the whole body, this temple, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies?

It's not just a static structure. Remember, Christ is building the Church, the temple is being put up, you are lively stones. Here is the body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which each part does its share causes growth of the body. This is the temple going up. It causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

We all have this work of the Father, of the Holy Spirit, within us.

You and I have been called. We have a mystery revealed to us.

We are enlightened. We are promised a place in the family home. That comes with a responsibility in our part.

And the question is, do we want to fulfill that responsibility? Do we really want to be in the family of God?

We can't keep what we had and what God gives us. You can't say, well, this is who I am. I'm a little bit self-centered, a little crusty. I have some ideas of my own. I don't really like to follow. I'm a pretty smart cookie. I had a professional career. I'm going to keep that. Now I'm going to add to that a bunch of spiritual knowledge. I'm going to add to that prophecy and getting into the kingdom of God and reigning with Christ.

We're going to keep it all. That's me. No, you can't keep it all. You can bury the one. You can commit, what would you call it? I'd call it carnality suicide.

It's taking the old man and burying it. Through baptism, we die to our old man. We symbolically say, no, I'm getting rid of the one and I'm taking the other. But you can't have both.

In Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 2, Paul brings this out. Ephesians 3 verse 2, If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, verse 3, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery, so you get included on the mystery, you get the insight into the truth, verse 5, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.

This comes in, but something has to go. In verse 14, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

His old self had to go, and His old prowess. He is no longer Paul the Pharisee, taught by the chief of the Pharisees, the wisest guy, the one who was so motivated.

No, that had to go. Now He is bowing His knees to the Father, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with His might through His Spirit in the inner man.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts, that you may be rooted and grounded in love, that you may be able to comprehend with the saints. Verse 19, to know the love of Christ. Verse 20, Now to Him who is able to exceedingly, abundantly give all these things that work in us. See, all of these things are things that can come to us if we humble ourselves, and if we will do the will of God, and if we submit to the authority that the Father places in all areas. Verse 21, To Him be glory in the church, by Jesus Christ, to all generations, forever and ever. It's all about God. It's not about us. If we can't submit to God and be tested through this plan, then we can't be in the church. We can't be in His ultimate Kingdom, in that family home. Romans 12 and verse 1 shows us what we have to do. And it's not easy. It's not easy. Whenever you read the word sacrifice, you know it's not going to be easy. I beseech you there, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. That which we want to do gets cut out. That which we were has to go. A living sacrifice, dying daily, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, if you want to be in the family home. If you want this calling, and do not be conformed to this world, heady, high-minded, proud, egotistical, arrogant, nope, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And the perfect will of God is not being smart and being wise and knowing how everything ought to be done. That's not God's will. That's not how God operates. Smart people don't lead three million people up to the edge of an ocean, hopelessly trapped, as they escape Egypt. It just is not done that way. God's never done it that way.

If you want human logic, you won't find it following God. But rather, we sacrifice our will and are not conformed. There is a future of this Church. We find it in Ephesians 1, verse 3.

That which makes no sense will ultimately prevail. And that which is wise, the wisdom of this world and the wise of this world, will ultimately fall. Ephesians 1, verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

He has blessed us. You know, I can't tell you, growing up in the Church, how many times people who were not part of the Church thought we were just lunatics. Lunatics, lunatics, lunatics. From the time I was a little boy, and Mr. Armstrong started buying all that property in California, that was literally on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, had railroad tracks running right through the middle of it. It was falling down worthless, useless white elephants and decaying property that was so bad, you could really get ill. My parents used to worry about me as a boy because I used to go in and under and through all of that stuff. And it was pretty nasty. And yet, you come along in the 1970s and, oh, we're campus beautiful award, three years in a row, you know. And how nice. Even then, people were saying, oh, I remember them coming to the auditorium for the great concert.

And I had Juleenie up there, and he was doing the firebird and all these wonderful things. And he had the wealthy come over from Beverly Hills, and they would walk in, and he was like, okay, I want the music, but what's with this stuff? You know, you're sad with keeping people with your odd religion. They didn't want anything to do with us. They thought we were weird. They thought we were odd. That is just the way it is.

But we have been blessed, although we're crazy and weird and odd today, even, if somebody says, what religion are you? The United Church of God. Oh, really? Holy rollers? No. Is that like Lutheran? Somebody asked me, is that Lutheran? No. What is it? Well, you know, you tell them, you ever hear of Herbert Armstrong? Oh, yeah, what happened to his son? Him and his son, you know, you get off into that.

You guys are crazy, and you, you know, California, the state of California took you over. It goes nowhere. It just goes nowhere. Have we been blessed? We have been blessed beyond belief. The understanding, the plan of God, the future that remains. But you talk about people who are, I mean, we've not done things according to this world's wisdom. Just have not done things according to this world wisdom. Yet, he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. That's what's important.

That is amazing. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. It's funny, the same people invariably are on their third divorce and are currently split up. They've got some children that won't speak to them. They've got some itchy, scratchy things that they picked up from other friends and relationships. They're so wise, and you guys are really weird, but they're so wise in their own life. But their life's a mess. Just a mess. I won't get into some of the examples I've seen of very successful people who have looked down.

But he, in verse 4, chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That's where it all comes down. Holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons. That's the kind of sons he wants. By Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

God doesn't want to take the kingdom of God forward and do some very interesting, creative things down through the infinitive future and have a bunch of people second-guessing. Well, I don't think that sounds logical. I don't think we should do that. Have you counted the cost of that universe you want to make? We're kind of thinking here, maybe we shouldn't do this.

All of us have formed a pack, and we're telling the Father now. I don't think so. No. I'm sure there's some very unique things, like sending his son to the earth to die, and be shredded. That probably wouldn't have passed certain advisory councils. But nevertheless, these things make sense to God, and we have to show that we are willing to support his decisions. In him we have redemption through his blood. Who thought that one up? I'd still scratch my head. Why was the blood of the Son of God sitting on his right hand required in order to forgive sin? Why couldn't they do something else? I mean, I could think of a lot of things.

You know, you have to grow watermelons and smash them on your head or something, but why would you have the living God of heaven have to come become a man, and why is it blood? You see? Things God comes up with and determines are different than what we would, and his intellect is so much higher than ours.

And he is made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made know to us the mystery of his will. His will. According to the good pleasure which he purposed in himself. In verse 11, he has also, in him we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things, according to the counsel of his will.

Can you submit to that will? Can you submit to the government? Can you submit to various authorities? It's all about the will of God, and this is where the test is. Mr. Armstrong said repeatedly, when I was in his congregation, this whole thing boils down to, can you submit to authority?

The entire Bible boils down to that one principle. Those who submit to authority will be in the kingdom of God, and those who don't submit to authority won't be in the kingdom of God.

That's an interesting way of looking at it. In conclusion, we have all come to God because of a unique invitation, a unique opportunity. It's by his will, it's for his purpose. It is to do what he wants. Otherwise, we don't get to come. We don't come to God, and God tests each of us who come. Why are we coming? What's our will? What's our desire? What's our nature? What's our mindset? What are we really here for? We need to remember what this church is all about, and that is the body of Christ is producing the children of God.

These are the literal, real children that God and Jesus Christ are going to have in their family. They're training, they're teaching, they're putting the right mentality in their family, and they will have family that is like them and nobody else. In verse 17, we conclude that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

The Lord is building a house, and in it are many mansions, many rooms. One is being prepared for you. Are you being prepared for it?