Building With Jesus

Matthew 16:13-20 March 13, 2022 Pastor Vince Corpus

Thesis Jesus is building His church through believers who devote themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, prayer, and the breaking of bread, and this church—not jobs, activities, or comfort—is the only thing worth building because it alone survives death and lasts for eternity.

Series

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Type

Expository

Tone

pastoraldidacticprophetic

Method

grammatical-historicalredemptive-historicalapplicatory

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

53 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #37

"The pastor applies devotion to the apostles' teaching to the congregation's context at Cross of Grace Church. He identifies three specific settings where the church is centered on the Word: Sunday worship gatherings, community groups, and discipleship groups. These are where believers devote themselves to the apostles' teaching."

Doctrinal loci· 16 surfaced

Ecclesiology · 33 Soteriology · 10 Christology · 9 Eschatology · 8 Pneumatology · 5 Sanctification · 5 Doxology / Worship · 3 Ethics / Moral Theology · 3 Bibliology · 2 Hamartiology · 2 Pastoral Theology · 2 Theology Proper · 2 Anthropology · 1 Covenant Theology · 1 Providence / Sovereignty · 1 Spiritual Warfare · 1

Bible citations· 13

Illustrations· 4

personal story · unit #6 — The pastor illustrates the concept of a general contractor using the church's recent kids' ministry wing construction, noting that even a good GC makes mistakes—like ordering and installing the wrong sinks. He directly addresses Todd to validate the example.
personal story · unit #15 — The pastor illustrates the disproportionate time investment of children's activities with his own story of six years of sports yielding only one eternally significant lesson. He argues that a schedule full of activities communicates the church's low importance to children, and that championship victories are quickly forgotten.
historical example · unit #19 — The pastor illustrates Jesus's willingness to expose Himself to suffering by describing His three years with the disciples: Peter, who regularly said dumb stuff; Judas, the betrayer Jesus knew would betray Him; Simon the Zealot, who wanted a political revolution; and Matthew the tax collector, who benefited from Roman rule. All wanted the kingdom on their terms, and all abandoned Him at the cross.
personal story · unit #42 — The pastor illustrates the connection between fellowship and prayer with a story from his community group: a lady going through a hard divorce. Being in fellowship with her informed how the group prayed for, encouraged, and loved her—something they wouldn't have known without devotion to fellowship.

Theological claims· 11

Jesus, as the general contractor building His church, makes no mistakes, never miscalculates, and accomplishes all He sets out to do without timeline frustration. unit #7
Jesus builds the church on faith—faith that He died to pay the full penalty for sin, ransoming and freeing us, a work validated by the resurrection. unit #9
Jesus is the general contractor building His church, but believers are the workers—He calls and empowers every believer to do something unique, building the church in and through their confession and action. unit #10
The church does not get burned up by the fire—in 10,000 years, the church will still be gathering around Jesus, praising His name, and nothing else has this staying power. unit #17
The gospel message is more powerful than the difficulties of life—the church can endure because Jesus died to secure a people for His own possession that death cannot move or remove. unit #24
Death is the biggest, scariest thing humans face, and Jesus says death cannot prevail against His church—so believers should be about building the church. unit #25
The church is eternal. unit #26
The church is the blood-bought bride of Christ, worthy of Jesus's death to secure it for eternity, and if Jesus died for the church, it should be worthy of our meager human efforts to build it. unit #28
The church is eternal, outlasts death, brings reward, and reveals God's manifold wisdom—no other investment has this ROI, so believers should build a strong, vibrant, Christ-centered church for God's glory, the good of families, and the world's eternal witness. unit #32
Acts 2:42 is how believers build the church with Jesus—it seems simple, but that's the plan. unit #35
The desire to build the church is foreign to the unregenerate heart and only comes after a renewed, circumcised heart given by the Spirit—our desires are no longer our own but Jesus's. unit #47

Quotations· 2

"The gospel message is more powerful than the difficulties of life." — Alec (unit #24)

"Their desires are no longer theirs, but Jesus's." — Alec (unit #47)

Read it

Full transcript

30,772 characters 53 units ~34 min reading time

0 · The pastor introduces himself, locates the sermon in Matthew 16, and explains the burden he and Ricky share to preach on building the church

If you were here first service, you know lightning does strike twice.

My name is Vince, and I'm one of the pastors. And this morning we're going to be in Matthew chapter 16, if you want to go on and turn your Bibles there. A few weeks ago, Ricky and I were talking about, hey, what are we going to do for these two standalone messages. And, you know, we didn't, we didn't have a plan at the time. We just knew, hey, we've got two messages between Mark and Revelation, so what are we going to do?

And as we started talking, we both had the same burden but from different kind of places and different scriptures, actually. And that was, excuse me, something about like, let's build the church. We want to strengthen the church. We want to show the glory that the church is And so let's preach on building the church. And so last week, Ricky was preaching on Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls, right?

And how each family had a role in the building of the walls of Jerusalem. Well, today we're going to be speaking about the building of the church from Matthew 16. So let's stand and read God's word.

1 · The pastor reads the primary text from Matthew 16:13-20, where Jesus asks the disciples who He is, receives Peter's confession that He is the Christ, and declares He will build His church on this rock

Matthew 16, starting in verse 13.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah.' Others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in 'In heaven.' Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

2 · The pastor opens the sermon with prayer, asking the Spirit to help the congregation see Christ and what Christ is doing today

Father, thank you for your word.

Lord, help us now by your Spirit to see Christ and to, to see what Christ is doing today. We ask in his name. Amen. Thank you. You may have a seat.

3 · The pastor acknowledges multiple interpretive questions the text raises—the identity of the rock, the keys of the kingdom, binding and loosing—but sets them aside to focus exclusively on verse 18 and the building project Jesus announces

So this text has a lot of things going on there, right? Like, a lot of questions can be asked of it. Like, what is this rock that he's going to build upon? Is that Peter, or is that Peter's confession? Is Peter the first pope and therefore starting the papal line of succession?

What does it mean to have the keys to the kingdom of heaven? What does Jesus mean by Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Those are all really good questions, and we're not going to talk about those today, okay? So some other time, some other place.

Disclaimer: Peter is not the Pope, not the first Pope. Just want to be clear about that. Amen.

But this quote question. We want to zero in on verse 18, right? Because this text reveals that something is being built. There's a building project going on, and we want to talk about that today. What is going on with this building project?

4 · The pastor signals the sermon's structure—three questions (Who, What, How)—and introduces the overarching question that will frame the entire message: What am I building? He sets up the contrast between building things that fail and building things that matter eternally

Jesus is building his church.

And a logical question for us today is what are we building? What are you personally building? What am I personally building?

Are we building things that will fail and falter and find the end of their usefulness, or are we building things that matter eternally? So we're going to look at this in kind of 3 questions, right? Who's building? What are they building? And how are they building?

Who, what, how?

And the whole time that we're digging through those three questions, be thinking of this overarching question: What am I building?

5 · The pastor answers the first question—Who's building?—by returning to the text and emphasizing the subject of the verb: Jesus is building His church

So who's building? Jesus says, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." So the building project is going on is simply Jesus is building His church.

Jesus is building His church.

There's a lot going on in the world, but let that statement sink in. Jesus is building His church.

6 · The pastor illustrates the concept of a general contractor using the church's recent kids' ministry wing construction, noting that even a good GC makes mistakes—like ordering and installing the wrong sinks

You know, every building project has a general contractor, right? We just finished building this kids' ministry wing, and we had a GC. He was pretty good.

He was pretty good. He kept everything headed toward completion. He made some missteps though. He made some mistakes. Right, Todd?

I'm sure Todd can tell you way more than I can about this, but one example is they ordered the wrong sinks. And then they put those wrong sinks in the wrong spot in the bathrooms. Now they've been fixing them and they're, you know, it's fine. It's okay.

7 · The pastor contrasts Jesus the general contractor with human contractors, asserting Jesus's perfection in the building process: He makes no mistakes, never miscalculates, never experiences timeline frustration, and accomplishes all He sets out to do

Jesus is the GC. That is building His church. He never makes a misstep. He never makes a miscalculation. He never orders the wrong sink.

He never puts the wrong sink in the wrong location. Okay? Jesus does not make mistakes. He is ushering His building project, the church, to its completion date and its completion.

And He never makes a mistake. He never is frustrated by timeline issues. The Almighty is the one who is building on this project. He is the one who is never late, never wrong, and accomplishes all things that He sets out to do.

8 · The pastor identifies the foundation Jesus builds on—Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God

And He's building on a foundation. You know, they had to tear up that concrete that we had back there that was for the covered area and pour a foundation, right? Well, Jesus is also building on a foundation. He's building on the foundation of Peter's confession of who Jesus is.

The Messiah.

The Christ. The Son of the living God.

See, Jesus is building because He is the Son of the living God. That means He's alive as well. We talked a couple of weeks ago about the resurrection, right? Well, now, since the resurrection has occurred, Jesus is alive that enables Him to build.

9 · The pastor unpacks the content of Peter's confession—faith in Jesus, who died to pay the penalty for sin and free us

And what is He building? He's building the church. That is something of eternal significance. And He's building it on the foundation of Peter's profession.

And that profession is of faith. Faith in Him. It's the faith that He died for our sins, paying the full penalty to ransom us and free us from our sins. The resurrection proves that. And the faith is what He is building on.

10 · The pastor establishes that while Jesus is the builder, believers are His workers—He builds in and through them

You see, Jesus is the builder, but in a sense, we are too. You see, when He says— Peter's confession precedes Jesus saying He will build, and Jesus says, "On this rock I will build My church." So we confess. And through doing so and by doing so, Jesus builds the church in and through us.

So He's the GC, but we're the workers. You know, the GC, he didn't hammer any nails. He didn't lay any tile. He didn't hang the drywall. He didn't tape and float it.

He had crews and teams of people who were specialized to do those special things. And it is so wonderful with the church. He calls people and empowers them to do specific things that only they can do. And I'm not talking pastors here. I'm not talking those kind of people.

I'm talking about every single person that He calls, He empowers to do something that only they can do.

There existed a partnership between the general contractor and all of these guys, a partnership to get this project done, there exists a partnership between Jesus and His disciples as well. He is building His church through those disciples. And He's building on their confession of faith. And then those disciples take an active role in building the church. And so do we.

So do we. We're no different than the first 12.

11 · The pastor pivots from Who to What, transitioning to examples of what believers build that may not be the church

So He builds, but we build along with Him. So what are we building alongside Jesus? He builds His church.

He builds His church.

What are you building? Many of us are building things that may not be the church. I've got a couple of examples here that we'll work through.

You know, these are all good things, but they're not good things when they become the main thing.

They miss the call of Jesus to his disciples.

12 · The pastor addresses building careers, acknowledging work as a grace gift but warning against making it all-consuming

So we can build our jobs. Our vocations are a gift, a grace gift from the Lord, and we are called to work heartily at them as if working for the Lord himself. He is our boss after all. Oh man, but when we focus all of our time and our energy and our will there and it's not something that lasts, we're doing a disservice to the church.

Think about Luke 12 for a bit. Jesus tells this story of a man who had an abundant harvest, right? It was so abundant that he couldn't even store it. And he said, "You know what? I'm going to tear these barns down and I'm going to build bigger barns and I'm going to store all of my stuff and then I'm going to sit back and I'm going to say to myself, 'Self, you have plenty.

Eat." drink and be merry. And the Lord comes to him that night and, and the text says, demands his soul of him.

Calls him a fool. You fool, did you not know this very night your soul would be demanded of you?

And then Jesus just kind of leaves the question hanging. Whose will all those possessions be?

13 · The pastor applies the parable to the congregation, contrasting leaving possessions to family versus leaving them a strong, vibrant church

And, you know, we can maybe answer that question, "Well, hey, I worked hard and saved and built all this up for my family to have, and it's going to be okay." Well, okay, sure. And that's a good thing. I'm not saying don't do that.

Hear me. But what's more important?

When you're gone, for them to have a lot of stuff or the means to buy a lot of stuff? Or is it a better investment, a better thing for you to be involved in building the church in building them into the church so that when you're gone, there is a strong, vibrant, growing church there. That is going to be of better and lasting importance to them than the possessions that your job allowed you to lay up.

14 · The pastor addresses building kids, affirming the biblical command to train children up in the Lord but critiquing the endless activities—sports, band, clubs—that encroach upon time for the church

Another thing we can build is our kids. And look, absolutely, Scripture calls us, commands— it doesn't call us, it commands us us to train our children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

We are to build our kids.

What's one of the primary ways we build our kids, though?

With endless activities. With sports. With band. With clubs. With extra stuff.

All of them are good. I'm not here saying, "Don't put your kids in sports." No, no, no. I'm saying, "No, don't let those things run your life and encroach upon your time so that there's no time for the church." And I'm not talking about this building and what happens here in this place. I'm talking about the people.

All of those things serve a function.

15 · The pastor illustrates the disproportionate time investment of children's activities with his own story of six years of sports yielding only one eternally significant lesson

Here's an example of one of those functions though and how things can maybe be skewed. I played sports for 6 years. Basketball, I was horrible. You never want me on your team if you're thinking about, "Hey, Vince played basketball." Nope. I'll tell you now.

Can't hit the jumper. I can block out, but I can't jump high enough for the rebound, so you don't want that.

Played football and I ran track, okay? 6 years. I have one lesson that's eternally significant, and that's to not quit or give up.

One lesson for 6 years. Was it worth the 6 years? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. I can't answer that question.

Only the Lord can. But it's a lot of time.

The point is, if our schedule is so full with stuff that is not with the church, we're communicating the church's importance and relevance to our children. And if we are busy running them to and from activities, we're telling them those things are more important than what Jesus is building, and Jesus is building his church.

And look, if your kid's on a championship team, in 10 years nobody will care. Your kid might, might.

No one else will.

16 · The pastor unpacks 1 Corinthians 3, explaining that what believers build will be tested by fire on the Day of the Lord's return

We model the church's importance, we show its uniqueness and its eternal worth by what we do. And our kids are always watching, and they, they will see what's important to mom and dad. And we are called to show that eternal significance with our time, our talents, and our treasure. That were given to us by God to accomplish His purpose and His work. And what is His purpose and His work?

It's building the church. Building the church. And it's the same with anything that is good but can become the central focus, right? 1 Corinthians 3 tells us that the things we build will be revealed on the Day, capital D. What does that mean? On the day of the Lord's return.

On the day of Christ Jesus. The stuff we build will be revealed. How? By fire. And if it's not something that's going to last, it will be burned up.

That doesn't mean you will be burned up. That doesn't mean that our works and the things we build save us or condemn us. It's saying we can be saved and spend our whole life building something that doesn't matter.

And that on that day it will be burned up and we will get through the fire as if one saved by the fire.

What a waste.

17 · The pastor asserts the church's eternal nature in contrast to everything else that will be burned up

But you know what doesn't get burned up through the fire?

Say it with me.

You know what I'm going to say. The church. The church does not get burned up by the fire. In 10,000 years, the church will still be gathering around Jesus, will still be praising Jesus, will still be exalting His name. Nothing else will.

Nothing has that kind of staying power. Only the church.

18 · The pastor addresses building comfort, contrasting it with the risk of exposing oneself to what Jesus is building

You know, maybe you're building your comfort. Comfort, again, not a bad thing.

But the question to ask is, are you taking the risk of exposing yourself to what Jesus is building, or are you building things that insulate you from suffering? Because here's the hard truth: Jesus calls us to a a life of sacrifice while following him, and comfort is the enemy of sacrifice. And when you're building with people, it hurts.

I will hurt you one day.

I'm sorry. Yes, your pastor. I am a flawed Trying to do the right thing guy, I will hurt you one day and you'll hurt me one day too. It's hard to live life together, but it's worth it. See, if we build the church, we're called to expose ourselves to suffering and hardship in the form of relational, incarnational ministry to one another.

19 · The pastor illustrates Jesus's willingness to expose Himself to suffering by describing His three years with the disciples: Peter, who regularly said dumb stuff; Judas, the betrayer Jesus knew would betray Him; Simon the Zealot, who wanted a political revolution; and Matthew the tax collector, who benefited from Roman rule

Think about Jesus and his disciples. He exposed himself to these 12 guys for the majority of his time daily for 3 years. Why? To build the church. And think about these guys.

You got Peter, who's a lot like me, just saying dumb stuff. Regularly.

I coined the term last service, Peterisms. He's just got these Peterisms. I have these Vinceisms, don't I? Guys on the team, y'all know them.

Then you had Judas, who Jesus said, "Did not I call all 12 of you even though one of you is a devil?" Think about the pain every day knowing that this guy would be the one that handed you over for 30 pieces of silver.

Simon the Zealot, who expected him to show up with an army and drive the Romans out of town and just sit on a throne and be like, yeah. And then Matthew, the guy who's like, "You know what? The Romans probably aren't all that bad. I mean, I got a really big house from them." He was a tax collector.

These guys, they all wanted Jesus to bring the kingdom in their own understanding.

And none of them were there when he died. They all turned their back. They all left. They all scattered.

20 · The pastor applies Jesus's example to the congregation, calling believers to step out of comfort and build the church with Jesus working through them, just as He built through imperfect, flawed, and often wrong people

Jesus exposed himself relationally in order to build his church through imperfect, flawed, and oftentimes wrong people.

And he calls us to do the same, to step out of our comfort and to build his church through— with him working through us.

21 · The pastor transitions to the question of why believers should build the church, instructing the congregation to physically look around at the people surrounding them and identifying them as the reason

Why? Why build the church? Why should we spend ourselves in this endeavor?

Look around.

Look around. You can do it right now. Look at the person next to you, behind you, in front of you. I said look around and y'all all looked at me. No, look around.

They are why.

22 · The pastor steps into a shepherding moment, asserting that believers need each other as much as they need Jesus

They need you and you need them. As much as we need Jesus, we need the person in the seat next to us. We need the person in the row behind us. Why? Because Jesus doesn't save us to a relationship of, oh, it's just me and Jesus.

No, Jesus saves us to a relationship with each other and him. He calls a people to himself, not events.

They are why.

23 · The pastor expounds on the phrase "the gates of hell shall not prevail," clarifying the original word Hades corresponds to Sheol—the abode of the dead

Notice what Jesus says about the church: The gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now look, in the original it was Hades, which kind of doesn't necessarily correspond to hell as we think of it. That's more Gehenna. But Hades, which corresponded more to Sheol in Hebrew, which was what? The abode of the dead.

It's saying the place where death dwells. In essence, Jesus is saying The gates of death will not prevail against the church. Why?

Because Jesus is alive and he gives life to his church and death cannot touch her.

24 · The pastor cites Alec's insight that the gospel message is more powerful than life's difficulties

Alec said of this this point: the gospel message is more powerful than the difficulties of life. The hard things of life can be endured because the gates of hell cannot prevail over the church because at the heart of the church is the message of the gospel.

The message that Jesus died to secure a people for his own possession, that death cannot move, that death cannot remove, that death cannot cause to fall away.

25 · The pastor identifies death as the biggest, scariest thing humans face—unavoidable and inevitable

What is the biggest, scariest thing we face as humans? It's death. And second is taxes.

No, it's death, guys. There's nothing we can do that will prevent it. There's nothing we can do that we can evade it. There's nothing. There is no getting around it.

And you know what Jesus says about his church? Death cannot prevail against it.

Let's be about building that.

26 · The pastor reasserts the church's eternal nature, contrasting it with the things from 1 Corinthians 3 that get burned up

She is eternal. The church is eternal. Earlier we looked at 1 Corinthians 3, and we were talking about building stuff that gets burned up, right?

27 · The pastor unpacks 1 Corinthians 3:14, highlighting that building the church brings a reward

But you know what verse 14 says?

Another great reason to build the church. One, first reason is death cannot prevail against it. The second, Look at this. "If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward." As if the church weren't reward enough.

He says, man, be about building the things that I'm building. Be about that. And I'm like, that's reward enough. You know what? If we get to eternity And I know Neil better than I knew him a month ago.

That is a win. Well, I hope we have a little more time than that. But like that is the purpose of building the church so that when we get to eternity, I'm not like, hey dude, you sat in front of me for 15 years. Good to meet you finally. No, let's build.

But then there's an even better reward or a different reward. There's another reward that the Lord promises if we build this thing that won't be burned up, this thing that will survive. Why? Because death will not prevail against it.

28 · The pastor asserts the church is the blood-bought bride of Christ, worthy of Jesus's death to secure it for eternity

The church is the blood-bought bride of Christ. It is worthy of the Lord Jesus dying to secure it for eternity. It should be worthy of our meager human efforts to build it. It's what Jesus died for. He didn't die for your job.

He didn't die for your language club. He didn't die for your sports team.

He died so that the church could be forged into a people from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

29 · The pastor reiterates the overarching question—What are you building?—and signals another reason to build the church is coming

So what are you building?

And there's another reason to build it.

30 · The pastor unpacks Ephesians 3:10, explaining that the church is the vehicle through which God's manifold wisdom—every bit, every facet—is made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, those who have set themselves up against God

The church is the vehicle where God's manifold wisdom is made known. Paul says in Ephesians 3:10 about the church, "Through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known." To whom?

To the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Church is the vehicle through which the manifold wisdom of God is made known, not only to the world But to the rulers and authorities, those that have set themselves up against God, who say, "I want your place, God. I want your glory. I want to be you." And through the church, the manifold— that means every bit of it, all of it, all, every facet, every sprinkling of God's wisdom is made known to the enemies of God through the church.

Wow.

31 · The pastor applies the theological claim, pressing the question again: What are you building? Are you building what reveals God's manifold wisdom? The answer he gives: We should be

What are you building? Are you building that?

We should be.

32 · The pastor synthesizes the reasons to build the church: it is eternal, outlasts death, brings reward, and reveals God's manifold wisdom

The church is what Jesus is building, and he calls every disciple to be about that. So, so in summary, why build the church? It is eternal. It will outlast death.

The gates of death will not prevail against it. We receive a reward from building it, and it reveals God's manifold witness. Nothing else in all creation has that kind of ROI. Nothing. Only the church.

So let's build a strong vibrant, Christ-centered church for the glory of God, the good of our families, and the eternal witness of the world.

33 · The pastor anticipates the congregation's question—how do we build the church?—and addresses the objection that they're not pastors or seminary-trained

And you're probably— I hope you're sitting there saying, yeah, yeah, I'm in, I'm in, but how? I don't know how. Maybe you're sitting there saying, well, I mean, sure, but like, I'm not a pastor. I'm not a— I've never been to seminary.

I don't know how to build the church. Well, you know what? Neither were the disciples.

He's talking to guys that were fishermen's— fishermen's— see, sometimes I say stupid stuff like Peter. They were fishermen. They were, many of them, blue-collar guys. One of them was a crazy, like, overthrow the government type guy. Another guy was like a sellout to that government.

None of these guys were professional church builders, okay? The call to build the church lands at the feet of every single disciple. These guys weren't the apostles yet.

So again comes the question, how?

34 · The pastor directs the congregation to Acts 2:42 and reads the verse describing the early church's devotion to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers

Well, let's turn in our Bibles to Acts Acts chapter 2.

And yes, I cheated with my ribbon. Sorry.

We're going to read verse 42.

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

35 · The pastor anticipates the congregation's reaction—it seems too simple—and affirms that Acts 2:42 is indeed the plan for how believers build the church with Jesus

I know what you're thinking, "What? That's it?

Huh? There's got to be more than that, Vince." Right? That's it. That's the plan. That is the plan.

Seems too simple, doesn't it?

We're called to build the church because Jesus is building the church, and Acts 2:42 is how.

36 · The pastor unpacks devotion to the apostles' teaching, explaining it means devotion to the message given by the Spirit

Jesus builds His church. They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles. So what does that mean? Well, it means that they— that the message given by the Spirit is the message that they devoted themselves to, okay?

The apostles' teaching. And what did the apostles teach? They taught what Jesus taught. And what Jesus taught was that All of the Old Testament pointed to Him.

The teaching of Jesus was the confirmation of the Old Testament and the fulfillment of God's promises.

37 · The pastor applies devotion to the apostles' teaching to the congregation's context at Cross of Grace Church

So how does the church today devote themselves to the apostles' teaching? Well, at Cross of Grace Church, we are a gospel-centered, Christ-centered— we preach Scripture.

Devote yourself to the apostles' teaching by being centered on the Word. And the things that our church does that are centered on the Word are our Sunday worship gatherings. When we gather together, we sing the Gospel, we pray the Gospel, we preach the Gospel, we respond to the Gospel. Our community groups— there's an element of Bible study and Gospel-centeredness there as well. And then also our discipleship groups, which are smaller groups of 3 or 4 folks getting together and digging into the Word and digging into life together deep.

That is one place we're called to be devoted to, to the teaching of the apostles.

38 · The pastor applies devotion to fellowship to the congregation's community groups, which move forward the core value of family

The second thing they were devoted to was the fellowship. This primarily takes place in our community groups, okay? Our community groups move forward our core value of family. And if you're not involved in one, I would just encourage you, get involved in one.

Because in order to devote yourself to the fellowship, you have to know who is in your fellowship. You have to know who your circle is so you can get dug in deep with them.

39 · The pastor clarifies devotion to fellowship doesn't require making every gathering a super-spiritual Bible study

Our community group— never mind, that comes later. Sorry.

Be devoted to these things, guys. Be devoted to fellowship. It doesn't mean that every time you're together with a believer, you have to make it into some super spiritual, very deep Bible study lesson. No, there are different ways that we can march fellowship forward. Okay, here are a couple of ideas.

40 · The pastor offers concrete, practical ideas for fellowship: weekly Taco Tuesday at a restaurant, baseball games, bowling nights, movie nights, board game nights

Every Tuesday, Taco Tuesday, baby! Have your group or a subset of your group go and take over a restaurant. Just build that into your calendar. Hey, this is what we're gonna do, guys, every Tuesday.

You know, at one point— ah, come on, Chuy's, please bring it back— at one point Chuy's had the all-you-can-eat nacho bar, so you could literally go there and like get one drink, and then have unlimited nachos all night. That's craziness. That's the kind of stuff that like even that anyone can do. Free food. Sure, I'll take some.

And I get to hang out with my peeps. Yeah, sign me up. Just do that every week. It means building into your budget money for things like baseball games, I'm forgetting what else is in the list. Baseball games, bowling nights, movie nights.

Maybe you don't even have to spend money. Maybe you just get together for like board game nights. The point is you've got to be getting together with people. That is devoting yourself to the fellowship.

41 · The pastor connects devotion to prayers to devotion to fellowship

And then the prayers, be devoted to to the prayers. This one flows out of being devoted to fellowship. If you don't know who you're with, you don't know how to pray for them.

42 · The pastor illustrates the connection between fellowship and prayer with a story from his community group: a lady going through a hard divorce

You know, in our CG, we had a lady who was going through a really hard divorce.

Being devoted to fellowship with her informed how we should pray for her, how we could encourage her, how we could love on her. And we never would have known that if we didn't dig in and be devoted to fellowship.

43 · The pastor applies the illustration, listing specific questions believers need to know to pray for each other: How are they doing in their walk with the Lord? How's their parenting? How are they fighting sin? How are they coping with singleness? You can't know if you're not involved in their lives in the building of the church

You'll never know how you can pray for those that you're building the church with if you're not involved in their life. How are they doing in their walk with the Lord? How's their parenting going? How are they managing their struggle against sin? How are they fighting that sin?

Let me put it that way. Forget sin management. Fight sin. Kill sin. How are they killing their sin?

How are they coping with being single?

If you don't know— I mean, you don't know if you're not involved with them in the building of the church.

44 · The pastor explains that breaking of bread is code for communion in the New Testament

And Jesus is building in and through them. Finally, be devoted to the breaking of bread. Look, this is a code word, okay? Like overwhelming majority of the time when you see the breaking— the term the breaking of bread in the New Testament, it's code for communion, all right? Communion.

Here's the thing. The gathering of the saints on Sunday morning is so important that the Spirit had it come up twice in the means of grace. Once is in devoted to the apostles' teaching primarily through the preaching of the Word, and the second time is being devoted to the breaking of bread, which happens when the church is gathered in person on the Lord's Day.

45 · The pastor applies devotion to the breaking of bread to the Sunday assembly

We are to be devoted to this assembly.

We're to be devoted to it. We're not called to come when it's convenient or when it's easy or when things are conducive to getting all of the kids out the door on time. We're to be devoted to it. Why? Because it's how the church is built.

These four things are called the means of grace.

The word, the fellowship, the prayers, and the breaking of bread. And communion is a means of grace to the people of God. When we partake of the elements of the Lord's table, we proclaim, we remember, we celebrate, and we look forward to his return.

Be devoted to it.

We— that means we are supposed to plan our lives around these things, not these things around our lives. These things take precedence.

46 · The pastor traces the building of God's people through redemptive history: Adam and Eve's mandate to multiply, Abraham's promise that all nations would be blessed, Moses's law as Israel's constitution, the judges cycle, David and the failed kings

So what are you building?

Because the truth is Jesus is building his church through the church, and we are called to do that as well. And the building of this people group into a people with specific markers, it's not something new. It's not something that Jesus just decided in Matthew 16 to say, "Hey, you know what? I'm going to build my church now." No, this was the plan from the beginning. In the garden, God tells Adam and Eve, "Hey, multiply upon the earth.

Be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth." They were the ones who were supposed to make a people for God. They fell into sin and failed at doing so. Then he comes to Abraham.

And God said that through him all the nations would be blessed. Yet they end up in sin and falling in slavery and falling away into idolatry and worshiping the gods of Egypt, right? And then in Exodus, Moses leads them out from slavery and God gives him the law. And the law is kind of like the Constitution for the nation of Israel. And he's saying, "This is how I'm going to make this people group for my own possession." And what happened?

They fell into sin as well, and God brought judgment even so much so that he was like, "I'm going to do away with them, and through you, Moses.

Then we come to the time of the judges. They were meant to lead God's people.

We've got what scholars call the judges cycle, right? They're doing well. They're doing poorly. They're doing well. They're doing poorly.

And we come to David. Oh, we've got a king now. A wise human king finally. And he fails. And then every other king behind him fails.

Why did this not work?

Did God fail? No.

We see in Deuteronomy, Moses calls the people to do what? To circumcise the foreskin of their hearts. They needed heart circumcision. There needed to be a deep change at the core. And it hadn't been accomplished yet.

And then later in Deuteronomy, God promises himself to circumcise their hearts.

And this occurs only when Jesus dies for the sins of his people, is buried, is resurrected and then ascends. Why only after the ascension? Because after the ascension, He sends the Spirit, and the Spirit works the miracle of regeneration and gives us a new heart that is circumcised. And so now, finally and fully, this can take place. Jesus can build his people into a possession for his own possession.

47 · The pastor cites Alec's insight that regeneration changes desires—believers' desires are no longer their own but Jesus's

Alec again has great insight here. Their desires are no longer theirs, but Jesus's. Our desires cannot be what we want, but what Jesus wants, and that is to build the church. The desire to build the church is a foreign desire to us. It only comes after a renewed heart that is circumcised in its flesh.

And we know, we know this works.

48 · The pastor signals a shift to proof that the Acts 2:42 model works

How do we know this works?

49 · The pastor directs the congregation a few verses down in Acts 2 to verse 47 for the proof

Just go a couple of more verses down in Acts 2 to verse 47.

50 · The pastor reads Acts 2:47 and draws the conclusion: devotion to the means of grace by those whose hearts the Spirit has circumcised results in daily additions of those being saved

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Ah. The devotion to these things by those whom the Spirit has circumcised their hearts results in day by day more and more who are being saved. Guys, it happened down through history, even to here. This church that we are called to build is being built by Jesus through us doing what we are called to do, by devoting ourselves to the teaching of the apostles, the fellowship, prayers, and the breaking of bread. And in doing so, we build the church that the gates of hell will not prevail against.

We build something that will last for all eternity. We build something that is the very Lord building it through us.

51 · The pastor closes by reiterating the overarching question—What are you building?—and issuing a final charge: Jesus is building His church through the church, so let's be part of that building project

So church, what are you building?

Let's remember, Jesus is building His church through the church. So let's be part of that building project.

52 · The pastor closes the sermon in prayer, thanking God for His Word and affirming that the church's existence depends fully on God's efforts, not human efforts

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank You again for Your Word. Lord, we thank You that You are building something that the church's existence is not dependent on our efforts, but it is fully and wholly brought into existence by Your efforts. We sang earlier, "Grace and grace alone," and, Lord, that song is right. We are saved only by grace and grace alone. And we say so often that we are saved— in Protestant evangelical circles, we are saved by grace through faith, and that's 100% true.

But it's also true that we are saved by works, your works, Jesus. Your works, and you are still working, still building your church. So Lord, build through us, empower us to build alongside you. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

Oct 3, 2021

Not Far, Not In

We must know Jesus personally through faith, not merely know things about him or believe certain doctrines, because only knowing Jesus himself—trusting in his perfect obedience and atoning sacrifice—brings us into the kingdom of God.

Mark 12:28-34

Jan 16, 2022

Watch and Pray

Prayer is the key to discerning and doing God's will, enabling us to remain faithful despite our weakness and the temptations that seek to pull us away from Christ.

Mark 14:26-52

Feb 27, 2022

He Is Not Here

Jesus was raised from the dead as a historical certainty attested by reliable Scripture, and this truth demands a personal response from every human being—faith, rejection, or return.

Mark 15:42-16:8

March 13 · This sermon

Building With Jesus

Jesus is building His church through believers who devote themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, prayer, and the breaking of bread, and this church—not jobs, activities, or comfort—is the only thing worth building because it alone survives death and lasts for eternity.

Matthew 16:13-20

Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus declares 'I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.' What does it mean that Jesus u…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we meditate on Jesus as the certain, unstoppable builder of His church—a project that alone has eternal staying power—and how believers partner with Him through apostolic devotion.

Prayer

Building with Jesus, Not the World

Father, we come before you in awe of Jesus, our general contractor who builds His church with perfect precision, without mistake or miscalcu…

Family table

What Are You Building?

This prompt invites your family to think concretely about what deserves their time and energy. Listen for how they naturally weigh temporary…

Couples

Building Together With Jesus

What aspect of Jesus's church—its eternality, its worth to Him, or its power against death—stirred your heart most deeply, and why did that…

Memorize

Matthew 16:18

This verse is the theological foundation of the entire sermon—it contains Jesus's declaration that He alone builds His church with certainty and without error, and that the church alone possesses eternal staying power against which death itself cannot prevail. Memorizing this verse anchors believers in the conviction that the church, not temporal pursuits, is the only investment worth devoting their lives to.

Pray together this week

Building with Jesus, Not the World

Father, we come before you in awe of Jesus, our general contractor who builds His church with perfect precision, without mistake or miscalculation, and against whom the gates of hell cannot prevail (Matthew 16:18). We confess that we have often lavished our time, energy, and resources on things that will burn up—careers, comfort, possessions, activities that promise security but crumble at death's door. Forgive us for compartmentalizing the church into the margins of our lives, fitting it around what we have already deemed important, when you have called us to build the one thing that survives eternity.

We rejoice that in the gospel, Jesus died to secure us as His blood-bought bride, ransoming us from sin and death through His resurrection (Matthew 16:16). Because He conquered death itself, the church—His church, our church—cannot be moved or removed. Death has no power over what He has built. In light of this astounding grace, we want nothing more than to partner with Him in this eternal project.

Grant us, O God, the courage to restructure our lives around the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer (Acts 2:42). Give us renewed hearts that desire what Jesus desires—not the comfort of the world, but the building up of His body. Help us to see our families not as kingdoms unto themselves, but as vital members of the church, and to build them into devotion to Christ and His people rather than into the false security of material inheritance. Strengthen us to step out of comfort and labor alongside imperfect, flawed believers, trusting that you work through us by your Spirit.

May we, together, devote ourselves to building a strong, vibrant, Christ-centered church that reveals your manifold wisdom to all the heavenly powers and brings eternal glory to your name. To you alone be honor and praise, now and forever.

Draft · pending review

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus declares 'I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.' What does it mean that Jesus uses the word 'build' here, and how is His building project different from the other projects and investments we typically devote ourselves to?

Matthew 16:18

→ What are some of the 'buildings' you find yourself investing in right now—through your time, energy, or resources—that compete with the church for your devotion?
The sermon emphasizes that the church 'alone survives death and lasts for eternity,' while careers, possessions, activities, and comfort do not. How does this truth challenge the way you currently structure your week and priorities?

1 Corinthians 3:14
Jesus says He builds His church, yet the sermon also teaches that believers are called to partner with Him as workers in this building project. How do you understand the relationship between Jesus's sovereign building work and our responsibility to build the church together?

→ What does it look like in your own life to be a 'worker' rather than just a beneficiary of what Jesus is building?
According to Acts 2:42, the early church built itself through devotion to apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. Why do you think the sermon calls this 'simple' yet transformative, and what would it require of us to restructure our lives around these four practices rather than fitting church into the margins?

Acts 2:42
The sermon surfaces a sobering reality: many of us invest in things that 'will not survive eternity'—and these are often not sinful things, but simply good things elevated to supreme importance. Where do you sense this temptation most acutely in your own heart, and what would it look like to repent and reorder your affections toward the church?

Luke 12
The sermon teaches that 'the desire to build the church is foreign to the unregenerate heart and only comes after a renewed, circumcised heart given by the Spirit.' How have you experienced the Spirit's work in your own heart to make the church matter to you in a way that doesn't come naturally, and how does the gospel empower us to sustain this priority when comfort and ease tempt us away?

Ephesians 3:10

→ How can we encourage one another this week to keep building the church with Jesus, knowing that He has already secured its victory?

Draft · pending review

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

This week we meditate on Jesus as the certain, unstoppable builder of His church—a project that alone has eternal staying power—and how believers partner with Him through apostolic devotion.

Monday 1 Corinthians 3

Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ is the one true foundation—immovable, unshakeable, and sufficient for all eternity. When we grasp that Jesus Himself is the architect and builder, not us, our anxious striving gives way to confidence that His work in us and through us cannot fail, and our role is to build upon the foundation He has already laid with perfect precision.

Tuesday Acts 2:47

In the earliest days of the church, believers devoted themselves to kingdom life, and the Lord added to their number daily—a glimpse of the unstoppable momentum of Christ's church across all history. While careers crumble, possessions vanish, and earthly kingdoms fall, the church grows in power and number because it is upheld by the risen Christ Himself, and we are invited to build with something that will echo forever.

Wednesday Ephesians 3:10

Through the church—His redeemed and reconciled people—God displays His many-faceted wisdom to the heavenly powers, showing a wisdom that transcends time itself. When we devote ourselves to building the church, we are not merely serving a local community; we are participating in a cosmic display of God's intelligence and grace that echoes through eternity and captivates the watching universe.

Thursday Luke 12

Jesus calls us to fear God alone and to stop storing up treasures that moths and rust destroy, reminding us that physical security is illusion. Our deepest security lies in belonging to a church that death itself cannot touch—a communion of saints that transcends the grave—and this realization should reshape what we build and whom we gather around.

Friday Acts 2:42

The early church built itself not through programs or projects but through devoted attention to apostolic teaching, close fellowship, breaking bread together, and fervent prayer—ordinary means that God uses to strengthen and multiply His people. We are called to restructure our lives around these four devotions, and in doing so, we become partners with Jesus in the only building project that will never crumble.

Draft · pending review

Sunday-evening family table

What Are You Building?

For the parent

This prompt invites your family to think concretely about what deserves their time and energy. Listen for how they naturally weigh temporary things against eternal ones—and use their answers to gently point them toward the church as the only investment that outlasts death.

Pastor Vince talked about how Jesus is building His church, and it's the only thing that will last forever—even after we die. If you had to pick three things your family spends time and energy on right now, what would they be? Which of those will still matter in a hundred years? Which one is actually building Jesus's church?

Works for ages 8+ — younger kids can listen and offer one-word answers; teens and parents engage with the harder part about what lasts.

Draft · pending review

Couples · three questions over coffee

Building Together With Jesus

What aspect of Jesus's church—its eternality, its worth to Him, or its power against death—stirred your heart most deeply, and why did that particular truth move you?
Where are we currently investing time and energy in things that feel urgent but won't last, and how might we together realign our devotion around the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer?
What specific way is Jesus calling you to participate in building His church, and how can I pray for you to have courage and grace to step into that work?

Draft · pending review

Memory verse this week

Matthew 16:18

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Why this verse: This verse is the theological foundation of the entire sermon—it contains Jesus's declaration that He alone builds His church with certainty and without error, and that the church alone possesses eternal staying power against which death itself cannot prevail. Memorizing this verse anchors believers in the conviction that the church, not temporal pursuits, is the only investment worth devoting their lives to.

Draft · pending review

Where this was preached

About the church

Cross of Grace Church

About us · What we believe

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# Cross of Grace Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [Not Far, Not In (Mark 12:28-34, 2021-10-03)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2021/10/not-far-not-in)
- [Watch and Pray (Mark 14:26-52, 2022-01-16)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/01/watch-and-pray)
- [He Is Not Here (Mark 15:42-16:8, 2022-02-27)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/02/he-is-not-here)
- [Building With Jesus (Matthew 16:13-20, 2022-03-13)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/03/building-with-jesus)

## About
- [About the church](/about)
- [Plan a visit](/visit)

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