Needed Pillars in God’s House

Let's start by asking a simple question just to get us settled in. If you think about your house, can you think about things in your house that begin with the letter P? You want to shout out a few? Things in your house that begin with the letter P. What is it? Pot, paper, panel, piano, pencil, porch, peanuts. For those who don't have peanut allergies, you know when the one P that I want to speak about? Well, that's intangible things. Yes, peace, prayer. P I want to talk about is what I think you all need in your house, which you're probably all thankful for more than any of those, which is pillars. A pillar. There's no house if there are no pillars. Revelation chapter 3 verse 12. We take pillars for granted, but as we think about God's house, the word that has been on my heart has been, how many pillars, how many pillars do I have in God's house? How many pillars? What's the strength of the house? Well, let's look at the pillars. We know what the foundation of God's house is, which is Jesus Christ. He's the cornerstone, the teachings of the prophets and the apostles. That's the foundation. But to be a pillar is very different from being a pen. A pen is very useful in the house. Paper is very useful in the house. I'm sure all of us, if we have children, have drawings of our children that we take with us to our workplaces. They're very important. We have papers that have great significance, but many of them end up in the trash eventually. They fly off with the wind. There are pens. There are pots and pans that have a lot of use. They help cook. There's a piano that gives us a lot of emotional strength and joy. But what we need in the house of God, what we need in our house are pillars. And the question that I have asked myself and I ask about our church and we should all ask about ourselves are, am I a pillar in God's house? And if I'm not clear that that is my destination or that is a clear goal with which I'm sitting in the church, I'm wasting my time. I want to repeat that. If my clear goal in why I am sitting in the church of God is not that I must be a pillar, I'm wasting my time. We've heard about this from, Santoshi spoke a book, Congregation, Club and Church. How do I know that I'm really being a part of the church and I'm gripped with being the church? Not because I'm a member, not because I submit to the leadership and to the doctrine, but because I have made it my ambition to be a pillar in this church. And I'm not settling to be a pen or a paper or a pots and pan or to be a piano or to be a pillow. Throws that add color to the room, pillows that we rest on, not pillows, but pillars. Where people can build walls around me. That others can lean on me and say, gain strength from me. That's what a pillar does. Pillar says, you don't need to build, you don't need to hold me up. I hold you, I hold others up. And I come to the church meeting and I come to the church services saying, I'm going to be a pillar. If I'm not actively making that a pursuit in my life, no matter how well my life is going, no matter how well behaved my children are, no matter how well everything in my life is going on, if I'm not becoming a pillar, I'm wasting my time in this church. And here's another thing I want to say also. This is not a calling for men. This is a calling for every man and woman and children as they're growing up. That should be the goal. That I don't need maintenance, I'm here to support, to build up. Ephesians chapter 4 says, God has given to the church, apostles, prophets, teachers, to build up the church so that every church may have its proper function. Revelation chapter 4 verse 12. Revelation chapter 3 verse 12, it says this, He who overcomes. This is the promise to one of the best churches that John wrote to among the seven churches. He didn't seem to have a word of correction to the church in Philadelphia. And to the church in Philadelphia he says, He who overcomes, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. What a tremendous blessing for Jesus to lay His hands on us, on the church of Philadelphia and say, church in Philadelphia, you keep overcoming. If you overcome, I'll make you a pillar in the house of God. And to see that as to be a tremendous compliment that we can have over each one of our lives, man and woman. That we can be that to other brothers, to other sisters. That is given to those who overcome. I read that Philadelphia was a church that was a place which was subject to a lot of earthquakes. That reminds me of California. Imagine if you have those strong pillars that can withstand earthquakes. The Lord said, He's promising to shake everything that can be shaken. And God says, I'm looking for pillars. And He says, He who overcomes, I'll make you a pillar in the temple of my God. What is the path? And it's to those who overcome. I want to say some simple things that is worth much more meditation. But how do we overcome? I want to point to Romans chapter 8 verse 37. You may know this. But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer. That word is overcome. We overwhelmingly overcome through Christ who loved us. That is how we overcome, through Christ who loved us. May I prove, we sang that song. May I prove I've been with Jesus. How do I prove that I've been with Jesus? Because He's all my righteousness. He's all my righteousness. That's how I prove I've been with Jesus. Because I walk around justified. One who's been called totally righteous because I've been with Jesus. May I prove I've been with Jesus. Sitting at the feet of Jesus. Sitting on the lap of love. May I prove that I've been with Jesus. Because He's all my righteousness. And that is how I overcome too. The justification of Christ is not something that allows me to be sloppy in the Christian life. That allows me to take sin lightly. The proof that I have grabbed a hold of justification is that I seek to live the glorified life. The sanctified life. He whom He predestined, He called. And He whom He called, He justified. And He whom He justified, He glorified. You can't separate that. And the glorified life is the life that lives way above all the things of this earth. So justification is not something that allows me to just say, okay, I'm going to have an easy path out of all of my sins. I can come to be justified about all of my sins. No. Those whom He justified, He glorified. He says, live the glorified life. Freed from all sin. He who overcomes, I'll make you a pillar. We overcome through Christ who loved us. Another mark of the fact that Christ loved me. Remember, I said that that's how we overcome sin. It's through the justified life. Because He's all my righteousness. One attitude of the fact that I know that Christ has loved me. The love of Christ should result in a hatred, hatred of sin and self. God said that. Jesus said that many times. You have to hate the one and love the other. You have to despise the one and cling to the other. What is the result of me knowing that Christ deeply loves me? That He laid down His life for me. This is how we know love. That He laid down His life for us. 1 John 3.16 What is the outpouring or the outworking of that? Faith working through works. What is the work? What is the response that I see in it? That I sing great songs for Him? That I'm very emotional with Him when I read Romans 8.37 and things like that? No. It's that I have a great hatred for sin and self. That's the mark. That's how I see it. God knows those who are His. The twofold seal of God. 2 Timothy 2.19-21 That's the twofold seal of God. That God knows those who are His but those who name the name of Christ will abstain from all wickedness. All iniquity. That's how I see it from my side. That I know that I'm His. That I know that I'm justified. How do I prove that I live a life that is fully justified? That I abstain from wickedness. That I hate sin and self. More importantly self. It is from self that all sin comes out of my life. It is from self that all sin comes out of my life. It is from the heart that comes out. All of these things. All the filth, the wickedness. And so when I think about victory over sin, I can so easily be reducing my victory over sin to chopping off the fruit. No, the root is self. That evil eye inside of me. That inner me which is the real enemy. That hates God. That is hostile towards God. I must recognize that, that that is that life within me. We sang that song, I can sing, I am free, yet not I but Christ in me. I am free, yeah, but it's not me, but Christ in me. When the race is complete, I still will repeat, yet not I but Christ in me. When the race is complete, I was thinking of that when I sang that song. Dear brothers and sisters, what is the sign that the race is complete? When the race is complete, still I will repeat. What is the sign that the race is complete? We think that's when we die. But if I look at the life of Paul, he says, I have finished the course. To me, if I'm, God says it's time for me to come home, and I have not properly dealt with self, I will plead with the Lord, Lord please give me more time. Not because I can see my grandchildren, and not that I can see my great-grandchildren, but I have not finished with self. Run the race so as to win. Buffet my body, make it a slave, what is that? Just so that I can die properly? No, the race to win, 1 Corinthians 9 is very clear. I should run the race so as to win, conquer all of self, for the name of Jesus Christ. So if the angel comes to me tomorrow, and tells me, Sandeep it's time to come home, I say, Lord is there any way I can have a few more days, weeks, months, years, not to make more money, not to see graduations and retirements, nor that I may finish more completely with self. That is how I prove my love to God. To those who overcome, I will make a pillar. But I have to grab a hold of, Lord I want to be a pillar in the house of God. I want that to be why I'm coming to church every Sunday. We can sow glory in our children becoming, learning so much every quarter from our Sunday school lessons, and they act it out, and we're very proud of them, and for good reason. And as our children maybe grow up and they get baptized, that's a wonderful thing. But can our children see that their parents, both daddy and mommy, are becoming pillars? Otherwise, I don't know if my children have much hope of grabbing a hold of what they really should be grabbing a hold of. You'll see, daddy and mommy took me to a good church, but they were not pillars. I'm not saying elders. Dear brothers and sisters, it's got nothing to do with elders, it's got nothing to do with leadership. As I said, it's for men and women. But mommy was a pillar in the house of God. Daddy was a pillar in the house of God. He took church seriously. She took church seriously. He will not go out from it anymore. The church is a big deal. The temple of God. And I'm not talking about RLCF specifically or anything like that, as I think about NCCF. That's for each family to decide. But the church of God, the body of Christ, he will not go out from it anymore. There's a loyalty to the body of Christ through the head. And to the people of God. The temple of God is my home. I'm a pillar here. You throw out the pillow. You can throw out the pillows. You can throw out the pens. The papers will fly away. The pianos get old and go out of tune. But the pillars remain. Will not go out from it anymore. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's the end of all of the Lord is my shepherd. And I shall have a feast in the presence of my enemies. But where am I headed? As I'm traveling through still waters and pastures and tables in the midst of my enemies. Where am I heading? Where am I going? My home is in the house of the Lord forever. Because that's why I'm a pillar. And I want all of my children, I want myself to see me as a pillar. Not nicer homes. Not nicer cars. Not nicer churches. Not nicer Sunday schools. Not nicer memory verses. Daddy and Mommy were pillars. And I will write the name of God. And I just want to highlight three things. As we just read in verse 12. I'll write the name of my God. What is the name of Jesus' God? Father. Today is Father's Day. I was reminded today to say Happy Father's Day to my Father in Heaven. And all of us can do that. No matter whether a man or woman, child. Take the time to say Happy Father's Day to the Father in Heaven. You know what happens on Father's Day? Everybody in the home tries to be a little nicer to me. Let me do a little bit extra for you. Be a little kinder to you. I'll forgive your faults a little more today. I'll be a little sweeter to you today. Can we say Happy Father's Day to God today? I'm going to try a little harder to please you. Everyday can be Happy Father's Day to the Father in Heaven. All of us men know. Mothers know how our children try. A little more. Can we try a little more to be good to our Father in Heaven for all the goodness He has been to us. Happy Father's Day our Father who art in Heaven. Happy Father's Day. I want to serve you a little more today. That's what my children do. They try to serve me something. So we teach our children to do it on Mother's Day. Try to make breakfast for them on Father's Day. Try to give something to them. Write a little card for them. Think about them a little bit more today. Our Father who art in Heaven. Happy Father's Day for you today. The other one is the name of the city of my God. My new Jerusalem. That's the other thing that's written in our heart. I looked at God writing on the Ten Commandments. Stone. And He inscribed it. Just seared it. I don't know if flames came out as the hand of God touched the little stone on which He wrote the Ten Commandments. But I had that picture of God saying, You know your heart is so stony. God seems so different. But I say, You overcome. You keep coming to Christ as His righteousness. And starting to hate sin and self. I'll make you a pillar and I'll write on this heart of stone. I'll write, God is my Father. God is your Father. And I'll come into my heart of my innermost beings. And I'll write also the temple, the new Jerusalem, the church. There's a loyalty to the church that we also get. Not only a loyalty to the Father. It's not just the vertical. It's the horizontal. And I wanted to ask you one thought, dear brothers and sisters, as we sit here in local churches. I want you to think carefully about this question. What word is more important to you in the local church? Submission or fellowship? Two beautiful words. Two beautiful words. Submission or fellowship? Which is more important to you? Let me make it a little bit easier for you. Those of us who are adults. Which word is more important to you as parents? Do you want submission from your children? Or would you love fellowship with your children? Of course you want both. But I think you can have fellowship. If you have fellowship, you have to have submission. But you can have submission without fellowship. Children who submit but don't want fellowship. Just want to do the bare essentials. Always do their bed in the morning. Always clean, do their chores. But no fellowship with them. They are vacant at the dining table. They eat their food. All their vegetables. Take that table, plates into the kitchen and do everything. Perfectly obedient children. Perfectly submitted children. No fellowship. What a sad, sad family. And as I think about my church life. What is overwhelmingly conquering? And what is writing the name of the temple of God, the new Jerusalem in my church look like? Is it barely submission? Is it just submission? To the elders? To those who are in authority over you? What is submission in the home? Is that what we want? And so as we sit here today. What are we glorying? Look at my track record. I'm perfectly submitted to the elders. If the elders tell me to do this, I do it. I've been submitting to the elders. But how much fellowship do you have with one another? This is not the best definition. But if it just helps us very simply picture. What is fellowship? Two fellows on a ship. Two fellows rowing. Do you have that? Pick the brothers who are here. Pick the elders you have. Do you feel like that's the relationship that we have? I want that with all of my children. Hey, we're just fellows on a ship. We're trying to get home. We're trying to live in the house of the Lord forever. We're trying to guide this ship. I need you to row. I need you to row. We need one another to row. And this is the heart I believe of. From what I can tell of the elders here too. Definitely my heart is an elder as I think of NCCF. Do I crave for submission or do I crave for fellowship? There's no doubt in my mind. Submission is the bare minimum. Fellowship is what we're after. Dear brothers and sisters, do you have fellowship with the brothers in this church? Do you give priority to them? The name of the new Jerusalem written on our heart. This is our goal. To seek fellowship, not submission. Submission is absolutely essential. But submission is just the pathway to get to fellowship. And also he'll write the name of Jesus. Not only King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But in Revelation chapter 19 verse 11 through 16. You can look it up if you want. But Revelation 19, 11 through 16. It talks about Jesus coming back. And there are two names that is related to Jesus. In that passage, Revelation 19, 11 through 16. In that passage at the end, verse 16. He says, written on his robe and on his thigh. Is the name King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And that is the name of Jesus. He must be total Lord. But also in verse 12. It says another thing about his name. And he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. And to him who overcomes. To those who are pillars in the house of God. Jesus says, not only I'm going to give you this name. Total Lord. Absolute Lord. I'm going to give you a name that nobody knows except myself. So not only is he King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But he is deeply intimate with us. I'm not going to tell you anybody else. That's my name. He is intimate with the righteous. To those who fear his name. And so we don't just seek Jesus who is Lord over Lords and King over Kings. And we want him to rule over all the earth. Wherever the sun shall rise and set. He is not only Revelation chapter 19 verse 16. King of Kings and Lord of Lords displayed across his chest. He is also giving us a name that nobody knows except himself. Deeply intimate. He has brought us into his chambers. And has shown us an intimate love. That's the Jesus we must be following. This is what ought to be written on our hearts. Revelation chapter 3 verse 12. To him who overcomes. I'll make him a pillar in the house of God. And he will not go out from him anymore. And I'll give him my name. The name of my father. The name of the new Jerusalem. Written on my heart. And my name. Dear brothers I've shared a lot of verses. I hope you meditate on it. It's a short message. I don't want to take too long. But for us adults. We prove that we are going to be students. Because we take the time to meditate on these verses. There are sermons. It's upon sermons across all these verses. Scripture is infinitely deep. I pray that you may write those sermons to yourself. As you meditate on these verses. And ask the Lord to write it on our hearts. That we run the race till we're complete. Finally I want to say. Today is June 19th. In culture it's known as Juneteenth. And here in America. What is the specific importance of June 19th? It is the day when. The last of the slaves. In America were told they can be free. Abraham Lincoln. Signed the Declaration of Emancipation in 1862 or 1863. Some of those days. But it didn't get all the way. Clearly the slave owners didn't want to tell. All the slaves that they were free. And Juneteenth. June 19th 1865. June 19th today. Hundreds of years ago. Was the day when finally. The proclamation of. Declaration of Emancipation reached Texas. And a proclamation was made June 19th. You're totally free. That didn't make the fact. That didn't make everybody free. But that was when it was proclaimed. To all of America. And I mentioned Texas for a reason. Texas was the last state. To receive the good news. That slaves can be free. The blacks could be free. Texas was the most resistant. It was the last state. But you know what? Texas was the first state that celebrated Juneteenth. Texas was the last state. It was the holdout. The last holdout. But Texas was also the first state to say. We're going to celebrate Juneteenth. What's the good news for me in that? The last shall be first. It doesn't matter how long it's taken. For you to come to the truth. It doesn't matter if you're the last holdout. In fighting self and sin. Forgetting what lies behind. Let's be the first to celebrate Juneteenth. Let's be the first to celebrate. The gospel of total victory over all sin. That every room in the house. Shall be given over to the Lord. Not only for his Lordship. But for his intimacy. That the Lord's presence will dwell everywhere. So there's a message to welcome everybody in. Even though you may have been late in life. To receive the news of the emancipation. And even though you were resisting for so long. Longer than anybody else here. You can be first in line to celebrate. You can be like the one leper who. With a loud voice. Glorifies the Lord. And says Lord Jesus I want you to be. A temple. I want to be a pillar in God's house. Forgive me. For the way in which I've sat in the church. Seeking to receive. And not to give. To be a pot or a pan or a piano or a pillow. Lord Jesus I repent. From now onwards. I'm going to be a pillar. Man or woman. I'm going to seek. To be somebody that others can lean on. And gain strength from. Whose got it's trees firmly planted. By the river. Who delights. In the law of the Lord. Whose leaves are always green. Whose trust is in the Lord. And whose trust is the Lord. That's the pictures of the tree. Firmly planted. Like a pillar. I'll be that Lord Jesus. I'm going to seek my sustenance from you. Others can find their shade in me. Others can find. Their strength through me. Man or woman. I'm going to know your word. I'm going to delight. In thy law. Day and night I will meditate on it. So that I can be that tree. I can be that pillar. And I'm not moving. After money. After pleasure. After comfort. Every other outcoming of self. I'm going to seek to be a pillar. And Lord Jesus write your name. You're my father. Happy Father's Day to you Lord Jesus. Father in heaven. Happy Father's Day to you. I want to please you today. I want to seek you today. And I want the temple of God. Written on my heart. I want fellowship. Not just submission expressed through my life. I want to seek fellowship with the brothers and sisters here in the church. And I want your name Lord. Not only King of Kings. But the intimacy that you seek to offer to everyone of us. Sitting at your feet. What things we hear you say. We want to hear those things. Those deeply intimate things. That you want to tell us how specially, personally loved we are. May God help us. Thank you for listening.