This week we begin a special series of four sermons that provide some spiritual context for the capital campaign for Tenth Church, This People, This Place, This Time. I want to invite you to turn to your Bibles, please, to Acts chapter 13. But as you're doing that, I want to say just a few words about this series of sermons before I begin. We're taking something of a little break from our regular studies in First Kings. And as we do, the first and perhaps most important thing I want to say is something we really have been saying since we began discussing the possibility of a capital campaign, which is that this is an opportunity for our spiritual growth. Yes, there are projects that we hope to complete through the capital campaign. projects here at 10th and across Philadelphia and truly around the world. They are projects that require a certain substantial financial investment, but the real opportunity for us is also spiritual. How can we grow together as a church in prayer, in faith, and in stewardship? And I say together because this is a rare opportunity for us to do something that involves virtually every member of the entire church. I was reminded of that already on Monday morning when I received two very encouraging messages. One was a message that came by email from one of our families saying that their young three-year-old daughter had been regularly reminding them to pray for the Capitol campaign. They could hardly get through a prayer over a meal or at bedtime without an insistent reminder to pray for the Capitol campaign. Well, that's encouraging. One of our young children moved by the Holy Spirit to encourage us all, really, to pray and to do so with a childlike faith. The same morning, I also received a letter in the mail from one of our very oldest members, a woman usually not able to be with us for worship, but wanting to write to say how much she had appreciated various materials that she had received related to the Capitol campaign and how they had been a help to her in her prayers. for the ministry of Tenth Church, for those of us who gather week by week for worship and for ministry, and also to pray about how the Lord may be leading her to participate through her own financial giving. So here, then, is a matter for prayer that stretches across the generations. God's blessing on Tenth Church, His provision for what we need, and our growth in Him as we seek His provision. But you know, true spiritual growth always comes from the Holy Spirit speaking through the Word of God. And so we want to have the Word of God speak to us. We want to hear what He has to say in His Word. And over the next four weeks, I want to preach four expositions of biblical texts that I think have practical bearing on God's calling for us as a church. We don't want to miss the opportunity as a church to grow in our giving, in our faith, and in our life of prayer. And so we begin this morning with a text that made a very large impression upon me during the course of my doctoral studies, working on the theologian Thomas Boston, something that he said about a verse in this passage that made a big impression on me and has helped to shape my ministry ever since. The text here, Acts 13, the context here is the first recorded sermon of the Apostle Paul. He's in the city of Pisidia in Antioch. He has begun his first missionary journey and he is doing that trip with Barnabas, a close friend and spiritual mentor, and I'll be saying more about Barnabas in just a couple of weeks. You'll notice even on a cursory glance here that like the rest of the sermons that we read in the book of Acts, Paul is preaching the gospel. It's a sermon centered on the cross and on the empty tomb, on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is to say, the gospel. As Paul preaches, he surveys the history of Israel. from the patriarchs through the exodus and then on to the prophets and the judges and the kingdom of David. And he speaks very directly about the good news of our salvation. You can see what he says in verse 28. He's getting to the climax of his sermon and he says this concerning Christ. They found in him no guilt worthy of death. And although they did so, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb, but God raised him from the dead. And there you have the basic facts of the gospel. Jesus died, and he was buried, and on the third day he rose again. And as we were saying only on Good Friday and then again on Easter Sunday, to believe these true facts about the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is to receive eternal salvation. And then in order to give further explanation, Paul relates here the resurrection of the Christ to the promises first given to David. He's wanting to emphasize his point about the saving work of Christ and he relates it to what God had done in the time of David. You'll notice in verse 33 and 34 and verse 35, you'll notice that there is a quotation in each of these verses from the Psalms, promises that God had given to David of messianic sonship and everlasting life. And having given those promises, Paul then says this, and it's our focus this morning in verse 36, that David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption. But then a contrast in verse 37, he whom God raised up did not see corruption. That's a verse referring specifically to Jesus. Now the teaching in verse 36 is somewhat incidental to the main point that Paul is making in his sermon. I will come back to that main point at the end to tie everything together, but let me also say that what Paul says in verse 36 is important in its own right, as is everything we find in the Bible. And I want to apply this verse to us and to our work as a church here in Philadelphia. Every believer in Jesus Christ, and I think you could extend that to say every church of the Lord Jesus Christ, has God-given work to do in its generation. And to fulfill God's purpose, we must do that work while we have the time, because death is coming very soon, when all our work will be done, whether we have served the Lord well or not. Well, here Paul gives David, I think, one of the highest commendations that anyone could ever receive. It is said here of David that he served the purpose of God in his own generation. Sad to say, but many people never serve the purpose of God at all. They live for themselves, satisfying their own desires, gratifying their own lusts, glorifying their own ambitions, but never living for the glory of God. David was not like that. He did live for God. And so when his time on earth was done, it could be said of him that he had served the purpose of God. As we see the example of David, we should ask ourselves, am I fulfilling God's purpose for my life? Are we doing that as a church? Are we serving God's purpose in our generation? If you know anything about David, you know that he was far from perfect. If you have ever read Psalm 51, for example, you know that David would be one of the first to admit that, that he was not a perfect man. Against you, you only, have I sinned, he prayed to God, and done what is evil in your sight. David knew that he was a sinful man. And pretty much everyone else knows that as well, because it's written about in the Bible. I'm not going to rehearse his failures again this morning, but let me say that even for all his failures, it can still be said that he served the purpose of God. He was a good man, even a great man, and most importantly, he was God's man. Therefore, he was able to fulfill God's purpose in his time. I think really, by the grace of God, David did more for God during his lifetime than almost anyone else in the history of the world. Let me just remind you of some of the ways that this verse is true, that David served the purpose of God. I think he did that in worship. That's a good place to begin because everything else in life flows from a heart relationship to God that is expressed in praise to Him. David was a man of worship. He understood that his chief end in life was to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. He was truly a man after God's own heart, and in fact you see that in many of the songs that he wrote in the praise of God. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name, David sang. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. Those are just a few of the familiar lines from the many, many praise songs of King David, the sweet singer of Israel. You see, he fulfilled God's purpose by giving God the glory that God deserves. And not only that, but he also encouraged others to join him in giving worship to God. There are other ways that David fulfilled God's purpose. Another way was by staying faithful to God's Word. He himself spoke the inspired words of the Holy Spirit, but he also meditated on the Word of God that had been proclaimed through others. The words of the Lord are pure words. David said, the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. This is the testimony that David gave and presumably because it was true in his own life. His soul had been revived. His simplicity had been made wise. His heart was made to rejoice by the living word of God. And you'll notice that I haven't said anything yet about David's public accomplishments. All I've spoken about is his own personal relationship with God, his daily encounter with God through prayer and through singing and through the word. And even if that is all that you knew about David, and he was a man who loved to worship God and listen to his word, well, even that would be enough to tell you that he had fulfilled God's purpose in his generation. I say that partly because worship in the Word is our main purpose in life, but also because I think you'll find that a man who worships God and listens to His Word will be growing in godliness and he will be ready to do some useful thing for God in the world. And David did that. In fact, he did many useful things. He accomplished God's purpose in battle. Maybe you remember his famous victory over Goliath. Remember why he went into battle, man against boy? Not because he was confident in the strength of his own arms, but because he saw that Goliath was defying the living God. And he knew that God should not be so dishonored. And so in the strength of God, David went out and he slew Goliath. And he defeated many other enemies for God after that. We read about them in the Old Testament, Philistines and Amalekites and rivals from the house of Saul and the list goes on. David was the victor in battle. And through those victories, he established a kingdom. That was another part of his service for God. You may remember that David was anointed to be the king when he was only a small boy looking after his father's sheep. When the prophet Samuel anointed him, he was set apart for kingship. But David did not seize that kingship before God gave it to him. He waited patiently for the death of Saul. And then when the time was right, he established the kingdom. He conquered Jerusalem. He suppressed various rebellions. He sired a royal dynasty. And all the while, he was fulfilling God's purpose in his generation. He was establishing that kingdom which God had promised would never end. Then he did all of the work that a king would do. He was defending his people. He was pursuing their peace and prosperity. He was ruling for justice. And then at the very end of his life, he was able to pass on a legacy of faith to his own son. Do you remember David's famous last words? I am about to go the way of all the earth," David said, "'Be strong, show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, that you may prosper in all that you do.'" And so David served God's purpose in his generation, as the Bible said, he did that in worship and the Word, in building and ruling a kingdom, in passing his faith on to the next generation. And this is a good example for us because we, too, have God's purpose to accomplish in our generation. We could never do what David did. You might say, thank God I don't have to go out and face Goliath. That was David's task for his time and his place. But we, too, have God's work to do. A place to start, I think, is where David started with worship and the Word. This is the primary calling of every believer and every Christian church, to worship and to honor God, to praise and to glorify His name. We are encouraged to do that, I think, by the history of Tenth Church, because for as long as anyone here can remember, indeed for much longer than that, people have been gathering on this street corner in this city to hear God's Word. to sing God's praise and confess our faith and offer prayers and celebrate the sacraments and give our tithes and offerings in all of these ways to worship God. This is our main purpose as a church. I was interested last Sunday night, following our Easter hymn festival, very briefly, to meet a couple at the back door of the church who had just wandered in off the street at the very end of the service. Maybe they're here this morning again, in which case I'd be pleased to say hello again. But in any case, they had come in apparently because they had heard the music out in the street. They recognized that something was going on in here. They came in to investigate. And what did they see here? I think they saw people fulfilling God's purpose. people from many different backgrounds, many different situations in life, and yet united by this common purpose of giving praise to God. You know, that's been our purpose as a church from the very beginning. When the cornerstone for our first building was laid, this was back in 1828, John Quincy Adams was president. Maybe you've heard of him. The following words were spoken by the very well-known Presbyterian pastor and theologian, Ashbel Green. He said, this house is ever to be considered as dedicated to the worship of the one only living and true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And Green said, in this house of God, no doctrine ought ever to be taught, no worship ever attempted that is not consistent with a belief in God and a belief in the deep depravity of man and the atonement and intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. with the indispensable necessity of the renewing and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. May many souls be one to God, he said, in this his temple on earth that shall in time be translated to the glorious worship of the house not made with ants, the house of God eternal in the heavens. Well, this is our calling as a church to worship God. Praise God that He enables us to do that. And as we worship, we also listen to the Word. This, too, is part of God's purpose for us. It's reading the Bible, preaching the Bible, hearing the Bible, believing the Bible that enables us to do everything that God is calling us to do as a church. Here is the foundation of our faith. It is the Word of God, not something that we ever outgrow. A commitment we renew every week as the Word is read and preached, and indeed we ought to be renewing it every day of every week as we spend our own time in the Word of God. Back in 1980, when James Boyce had been serving here as senior pastor for more than a decade, he preached a sermon in which he looked forward to all of the work that God still had to do in the life of this Church. And to this day, I am inspired every time I read these words again. Dr. Boyce said, we have to go on teaching the Word of God, because that is what more than anything else has characterized the ministry of Tenth Church. He said for 150 years, and of course, we could bring that up to date. We could say for 178 years, this pulpit has taught the Word of God consistently, in depth, systematically. And Dr. Boyce said that work is not yet done. It has to be done, age. after age. And he went on to list some of the books that he was still hoping to preach, some of them on my list as well, Isaiah, Romans. This is the ministry of the Word of God, which is the calling of the church at every time and every place. Now, having said that, it should also be said that every generation also has unique responsibilities, spiritual tasks that only that generation can accomplish. There are always new issues to engage, new battles to fight, new projects to complete. I mean, only David was called to slay Goliath. The generations after that have their own battles to fight. And we can see this principle of the work of a generation, I think, traced out in the history of Tenth Church. There was a generation, the first generation, that had the vision to plant a church in the first place. a group of elders and businessmen, as it happened, who funded the first church building almost entirely by themselves. And they also had other decisions to make, not just a decision to build a building, but a decision to call a pastor, and in particular in those days, to decide whether they wanted a pastor of the old school, as it was called, or the new school. And in case anyone is wondering, Tenth Church is an old school church. That's the way it's been from the beginning. There was a generation after that, a little later in the 19th century, that began a longstanding commitment to world missions. First by supporting others, and then by sending our own members to do gospel work in other places. There was a generation that saw the vision for a new church in a growing neighborhood and built this beautiful sanctuary on the corner of 17th and Spruce Streets, a place for the worship of God. Of course, that generation had other work to do. That was the same generation that preached against slavery from this pulpit. There was a generation that understood the power of radio. And as soon as the federal government finally allowed religious programming, that generation helped Dr. Barnhouse broadcast the gospel on CBS radio across the country. There was a generation that became intentional about racial reconciliation, particularly under Dr. DiGangi, the promotion of civil rights in the city of Philadelphia, the integration of the leadership as well as the membership of the church. And then there was a generation, and I'm looking out on some of you, you were part of that generation that made an intentional commitment to serving the city. You may know the number of outreach efforts to the city of Philadelphia that began particularly in the 1980s. Ministries to the poor and the homeless and those dying of AIDS and children who needed a good education. And there were other battles to fight in those days. In the evangelical church, a battle for the Bible. In American culture, a fight for life. Those battles continue in so many ways, but they were first engaged under the leadership of Dr. Boyce and also Dr. Coop, as you may know, who was an elder in the church in those days. Even just a brief summary of some of the history of this church, you have to see what an enormous debt of gratitude we owe to our fathers and mothers in the faith. Surely, we may say of them what Paul said of David, they served the purpose of God in their own generation. And one of the ways they did that, not the most important way perhaps, but certainly not to be overlooked, important spiritually in its own right, was by giving their money to kingdom work, both in support of the preaching of the gospel and also to provide facilities for worship and fellowship and outreach. This too was part of their work for God. And in many cases, they made costly sacrifices to do it. If you were here at the congregational meeting in January, you know, or if you've read our congregational history, you may remember that no sooner had the cornerstone been laid for this building than the United States went into its worst financial downturn of the 19th century. It was the mid-1850s that lasted right up into the early years of the Civil War, and it was a difficult time, and yet the people of Tenth Church believed that they were called to build a church, and build it they did. I love the story that one of our members told me about the commitment his parents made in the days of Dr. Barnhouse to build, in effect, the rest of our middle building, filling in what are now our nurseries and then upstairs also the kitchen, making our reception hall and fellowship hall fully functional. They told me how his father came home and wanted to participate in the building fund through financial giving. He had listened to what Dr. Barnhouse had said. He wanted to respond, but the mother of the family wasn't quite so sure. She was the one who looked after the finances of the family. She wasn't really sure how they could give any more than they were giving. Well, in the end, they decided as a family that they would eat bread and gravy for dinner one or two nights of work, and they would be able to give out of what they were able to save. Now, most of us use that building every week, never thinking about the sacrifice that people made to build it. But that was the work of their generation. God gave them the grace to do it and the joy in doing it. Of course, the point of that is to say that we are called to do the work of our generation, not just in worship and in the preaching of the Word, but in addition to that, in whatever unique ways God is calling His people to serve Him in this place at this time. And I think I can say before God that in many ways we have been doing that work, not perfectly, not any more perfectly than David served the Lord. We too are sinners in need of the grace of God. But can we not also, by way of praise to God, say that he is enabling us to do his work? Every year for the past decade and more than that, I'm not sure quite how many years back we could go, but at least the last 13 years, every year we have commissioned new career partners to go out and do missionary work in other places in the world. That's part of the ongoing work of our generation. We have planted in the last 10 years at least three daughter churches, another one trying to get off the ground in the Chinese immigrant community. So maybe you could say four, and then at least a dozen additional congregations beyond that that we have supported through prayer and financial giving. This is part of the work of our generation, the re-evangelization of Philadelphia. We have, by the grace of God, a growing presence on the art and music campuses in our own neighborhood. through the ministry of Paul Tripp and others, a renewed commitment to intentional outreach to our Center City community. Ministries that have been begun in recent years to the disabled, for prison inmates, and for their children. Every Sunday, as we are doing this very morning, we are using the latest in digital Internet technology to broadcast the gospel around the world. Tens of thousands of people have heard the gospel from hundreds of countries in the last five years. This, too, is part of our work in our generation. We live at a time when people are looking for meaning beyond themselves. suffering the alienation and isolation that come in a culture that really has no spiritual center. And it's right in that context that we hold out the hope of grace in a growing community that testifies to the love and the beauty and the truth of Jesus Christ. That work, our work in our generation, is the most important work in the world. not because it's our work, but because ultimately it is God's work. Now the capital campaign for Tenth Church is only one small part of that generation work, but it too is part of our God-given calling. If you have been here for a little while, you know that in recent years we've taken a number of steps to care for our facility, to expand our presence in Center City. We can point to a number of practical things we've done. One of them is the 100-year roof over our heads that we rarely think about, but it's keeping us warm and dry for worship all the time. A complete system for climate control in our central buildings. That's something we've done in going back about 12 years. The education building that we have across the street, a building in use almost every day of the week. Those are a few of the practical things that have been part of God's work for us, but there's still so much more to be done. I'm not going to review the projects in the capital campaign. Perhaps you've had an opportunity to read about them. But let me say that they will help us in virtually every aspect of ministry. In one way or another, they will help us in preaching the word, in the ministry of music, in fellowship and outreach, in our ministry to the disabled and to the homeless, in the Christian education and care of our children, in church planting across the city, in caring for orphans, building the church in Muslim countries. It's a long list of projects. It encompasses really the full range of our mission as a church. One of the best things about the work of that campaign is that as we give ourselves, and as God leads us, also our money to these projects, we have an opportunity to grow in grace and godliness. The work is practical, the growth is spiritual. Because as we trust the Lord to provide and pray for him to do that, we are growing in faith and in prayer. As we respond to God's call to give, we are also growing in the grace of giving, and that will help us in turn in all of the ministry that we do going forward. I would say, as I look at the example of David, I have to say we cannot wait for some other generation to do whatever God is calling us to do. If not us, then who will do the work of God in this place at this time? And if not now, when will it be done? This is our time to serve. And so we pray as a church and as individuals, and we say, Lord, what are you calling me to do? What are you calling us to do? How do you want me to participate? What is your purpose for us in this generation? And as I call you to consider the work of God in our time, I want you to understand that our time will not last very long. Some of you here this morning know that already. You've been thinking about your own mortality. For some here this morning, it hardly seems possible, but it would have to be said that your generation is passing. That's a reality we all have to face in our own time, and we should face it here because it's one of the main things that Paul was saying about David. Yes, he served the purpose of God in his generation, but what happened after that? Well, the Bible tells us what happened. He was laid with his fathers, verse 36, and he saw corruption. In other words, he died and was buried and his body returned to the dust. For 40 years, he had been the king of Israel. That was his time to do God's work. A full generation, even in biblical terms, by biblical proportions, 40 years is a full generation of work. But when his days were done, his work also was done. And we do not have very long to do God's work, not long at all. I suppose as a pastor, I am more keenly aware of the brevity of life than almost anyone, because often it is my privilege to stand by the graveside and to say that we commit the body of our brother or sister to the ground, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, that is my privilege. And I think of all of the worthy men and women who have died in recent years, men and women who did the work of God at Tenth Church, Margaret Barnhouse, James Boyce, Lawrence Dow, Helen Wilson, Grace Emery, Elmer Rice, Sherry Sneathan, Fred Garibaldi, Hannah Cohen, Mariano DiGangi. Those are just a few of the people. I'm sure I've forgotten someone, maybe even someone important to you. That's just the beginning of a list. Some of those names may not mean very much to you. You may recognize some of them, but not others. All of them mean something to me because those are my brothers and sisters. I hope to see them again. They certainly meant something to the people who saw them doing God's work in their generation. They knew who these people were. But like David, the time for doing their work soon passed. Understand then the urgency of serving God's purpose while you still have the time. Earlier I mentioned Thomas Boston. I want to read you something he said about this verse. Some of you have heard me say it before, but I always find it helpful when I read it. Maybe it will be helpful to you as you hear it again. He talked about our generation work, the work we're called to do in our generation. He said that work is the work we have to do for God and for the generation in which we live, that we may be useful. not for ourselves only, but for our God and for our fellow man. And he went on to say, there are, by the wise dispensation of God, several generations of men in the world, one after another. One goes off the stage and another comes on. Each generation having its work assigned by the sovereign Lord. Each person in that generation also having his work. Now is our time. We could not be useful in the generation that went before us, for then we were not. Nor can we personally be useful in the generation which will come after us, then we shall be off the stage. Now is our time. Let us not, therefore, neglect usefulness in our generation." Well, those were good words. For Thomas Boston's people at his place in his time, I think they are good words for us. They ought to be our prayer for Tenth Church, for me and for you, for all of us, that we will be useful for God in our generation. And part of my own desire to see that prayer answered in my own life comes from such a deep sense of obligation to those who have gone before us. I was thinking of this when I saw a scene at the end of The Lord of the Rings when King Theoden was dying on the field of battle in his daughter's arms. If you don't know the story, that old king had fallen under the spell of wicked counsel and for a long time he had done nothing useful at all for anyone. He certainly hadn't done the work that a king was supposed to do for his own people. And yet, by grace, you might say, in the end he was roused to fight for righteousness and to give his life in the great struggle between good and evil. And with his dying words, knowing that he finally had fulfilled his purpose, he said, I go to my fathers in whose mighty company I shall not now feel ashamed. And he said that because he knew that the shame of his former failures had been wiped away. He had finally done the work of his generation. Well, the Bible says that like King Theoden, David, too, fell asleep and he was laid with his fathers. That's the biblical way of speaking about death, or one of the ways, anyway. And when David died and returned to his fathers, he was able to face them unashamed. He had done God's work. in his generation. But you know, David received an even greater blessing than that, based on the promise of God. His body returned to dust. But the Bible says after that, in the next verse, verse 37, it goes on to speak of someone whom God raised up who did not see corruption. You see, it's putting the work of David and of all of us in the context of the risen Christ. That's what Paul's speaking about here. Who's the one who was raised up without ever seeing corruption? That was Jesus Christ. And that's a way of saying here that the promises that God made to David in the Psalms, all those promises of messianic sonship, death without corruption, those promises were not fulfilled in David. They couldn't be fulfilled in David because he died and he did see corruption. And so those ancient promises must have been pointing beyond David to the greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternally begotten Son of God, who did not see corruption, but on the third day, already on the third day, rose again. All of this promised in the time of David, the coming of the Christ. with resurrection life, and that's the hope for David, that's the hope for anyone, not just the work that we do on this earth, but an eternity of God's blessing which is based on the work of Jesus Christ. Our confidence is not in any work that we might do for God in our generation, although as we have the opportunity to work for God, we praise him for that opportunity. But our confidence is in the work that God has done for us in Jesus Christ, His life, His death, His resurrection, the forgiveness of sins that comes through Him, the hope of everlasting life. And it is in the light of the saving work of Jesus Christ that I say to you, do not be discouraged in the work that you are called to do for the Kingdom of God. Do not be discouraged about your failures, all the ways that you recognize. I haven't really measured up to what God would have had me do. Don't be discouraged about that because you have a Savior who offers you grace. The good news of His empty tomb is that your sins are forgiven. Now by the power of His resurrection life, you are called, as I am called, to do the work of God in our generation. Our Father, we praise You for what You did through David, more than any of us could do. But more than that, we praise You for what You did through Jesus. that saving work which no one else could do, without which we could never be saved. Lord, it is out of gratitude for Jesus and what He has done for us that we would ask You to enable us to do something for You. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.