The Church Is an Oak Tree by the Water, Not a Building

Sermon outline

The church is a living organism kept alive by the constant flow of the Holy Spirit, not an organisation of structures, and it stays alive only by following God's ways rather than repeating religious formulas.

1. An organism, not an organisation

   The church has often been run like a business, but the Bible compares it to a body, which is organic. A house cannot grow, only be extended; an organism grows as long as life flows through it. A building is static and hard to change, while an organism is flexible and can live in many conditions. You can fill a house with plants and keep up the facade while the plants die. In an organisation titles, hierarchies and appearances matter; in a family, relationships and function count.

   “The church is not an organization, but an organism.”

2. Pictures of a living church

   Scripture pictures the church as living things: seed sown in the field of the world, a field where one plants and another waters but God gives the increase, a family of children growing to maturity, a vine and its branches, a house of living stones on a living foundation, and a wineskin that must stay flexible. New wine is fresh revelation and a fresh move of the Spirit; an old, hard wineskin splits unless it is softened by the water of the Word and the oil of the Spirit.

   • Matthew 13
   • 1 Corinthians 3:6
   • Hebrews 5
   • John 15
   • 1 Peter 2:5

3. The Spirit is the power stream of the church

   Paul asked the Galatians whether, having begun in the Spirit, they would finish in the flesh, a warning for many churches that began in revival and are now bogged down in structures. The life-giving sap of the Spirit must flow through every branch. Anything added by human tradition accomplishes nothing, because the flesh profits nothing. Jesus' last command was not to work in our own power but to be filled from on high, and from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and Antioch every move began with the Spirit. Doing the right thing is not the same as doing the God thing.

   Illustration: Search for a church online and you find pictures of buildings. The spiritual picture of the church is a great oak tree by the water.

   “Every organic life needs a power stream to constantly flow through it, to keep it alive. The Holy Spirit is the power stream who must consistently flow through every local church to keep it alive.”

   • Galatians 3:3
   • Romans 8:11
   • John 6:63
   • Romans 8:14
   • Acts 1:8
   • Acts 2
   • Acts 4:31
   • Acts 8:5-17
   • Acts 13:1-3

4. The church must follow the ways of God

   Churches fall into methods, formulas and the endless repetition of something once meaningful, but God is endless and His grace is new every morning, so there is always more to discover. We never reach a point where we know enough verses; revelation should keep flowing whether you have been saved one year or fifty.

   “Doing the right thing doesn't mean we are doing the God thing.”

   • Job 11:7
   • Isaiah 40:25
   • Lamentations 3:22-23

5. Leaders who knew His ways, not just His acts

   Moses refused to lead by formula and prayed, show me Your ways, and God answered that His presence would go with him. God made known His ways to Moses but His acts to Israel: the people knew Him through the pillar of fire, the Red Sea and the manna, while Moses knew His presence. Paul on the sinking ship knew God's ways while the rest saw only His actions. David inquired of the Lord all his life, valued one day in His presence above a thousand elsewhere, and when he failed prayed that God would not take His Spirit from him; through David God brought new worship and an open tent on Zion.

   “The blessing of the Lord is good. The favour of the Lord is good. But having a personal one-on-one relationship with God is very important.”

   • Exodus 33:13-14
   • Psalm 103:7
   • Acts 27:22-25
   • Psalm 16:11
   • Psalm 84:10
   • Psalm 51:11

6. His ways are perfect, higher and always fresh

   We question God's ways only when we have not learned His leading. He teaches us to profit, and His ways are higher than ours, revealed in part so that obedience leads to the next part. Abraham waited until a hundred and then raised the knife over Isaac; the three Hebrews said that even if God did not deliver them they would not bow. Israel crossed the Red Sea and the Jordan in different ways, and Jesus healed with mud, touch, spittle, a word and a finger in the ear, doing only what He saw the Father do.

   “He'll tell you in part what is it he wants, and then your obedience will lead to the next part.”

   • Psalm 18:30
   • Isaiah 48:17-19
   • Isaiah 55:9
   • Genesis 22
   • Daniel 3:17-18
   • Daniel 6
   • John 5:19

7. How to walk in His ways

   Jesus is the way and reveals the Father, and as we behold His glory we are transformed into the same image. God teaches His ways to the humble and resists the proud; Moses was the meekest of men and Jesus was meek and lowly of heart. He teaches the one who fears Him, which means seeing His endless greatness while knowing He is a Father who is all for us. He sets life and death before us, tells us to choose life, and waits for us to choose: the less of us, the more of Him.

   “The less of us, the more of them.”

   • John 1:18
   • John 14:6-9
   • Matthew 4:19
   • Philippians 2:5
   • 2 Corinthians 3:18
   • Psalm 25:9
   • 1 Peter 5:5
   • Numbers 12:3
   • Matthew 11:29
   • Psalm 25:12
   • Romans 8:31
   • Deuteronomy 30:19

8. Seasons change: God does not add, He multiplies

   Dr RJ Sing encourages the members that winter must come to an end and their season is about to change, because God is a multiplier. From Genesis God blessed man to be fruitful and fill the earth; the blessing was lost in the garden but restored when Christ redeemed us from the curse. Sometimes God does not let us understand so that we stay dependent on Him. He thanks everyone who gave and served in the recent renovation of the church, promising that those who got involved in God's house will see God enlarge their house, and reminds them that grateful people are not only healed but made whole.

   Illustration: Of the ten lepers Jesus healed, only one came back to say thank you, and he was made whole.

   “God is a great multiplier. He does not add to you, he's a multiplier.”

   • Genesis 1:28
   • Galatians 3:13
   • Luke 17:11-19

In this message