Sermon: CKA Graduation 2025 - The Man As City

CKA Graduation 2025
Friday, June 6th, 2025
Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Proverbs 25:28

Prayer

Father, we thank you for the end of one chapter, and the beginning of another, and as these two graduates, these two young men, go forth into the world we ask you to protect them, to preserve them, and to prosper them in every way. We ask for your blessing upon the ministry of Your Word now, and we ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction

As we just heard from Proverbs 25:28, every person is like a city. And this evening the question I want to pose for all of us, but especially to Ezra and Chapman is, What kind of city are you? What kind of city are you becoming? What kind of city do you want to become?

According to King Solomon, if you lack self-control, if you cannot rule your own spirit, your passions, your body, your mind, then you are like a city broken down and without walls. You are a city in ruins. A city easily invaded and overcome by others.

• However, on the flipside, this also means that if you can control your spirit, if you are learning to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit which includes self-control, then imagine what you can become?
• You can become a great and magnificent city, with high and majestic walls. Or as Jesus says in Matthew 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.”
• So what kind of city are you? A city of darkness and decay, or a city of light and refuge?
  • Regardless of what you think yourself presently to be, I am just going to assume that everyone here has room to grow in their ability to rule their own spirit.
  • Whether because of our own sin, or weakness, or ignorance, all of us have walls in need of repair, gates in need of mending. All of us have areas in our city where we lack self-control and need to be built up into mature manhood in Christ.
• For example, the Apostle James warns of how difficult it is to rule your own tongue. We might liken the tongue to the media outlet or newspaper of your city. He says in James 3:2, “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.” And then he says a little later in verses 7-8, “For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”
• Jesus says in Matthew 12:34-35, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”
  • So if you want to rule the tongue, first you have to rule the heart, you have to bring into the gates of your city good things (truth!), and then store them up in the treasure house of your memory, so that when you speak only good things come out.
• Good words, good things, the good life, starts with receiving the Spirit of God, the spirit of Christ, so that you can rule well your own spirit.
• And so this evening I want to briefly develop this idea of the person as a city, and I want to offer you three qualities of a great city, that you ought to pattern your life after, especially in this next season of life.

#1 – A Great City Is A Place of Productive Work

It says in Proverbs 12:24, “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: But the slothful shall be under tribute.”

And in Proverbs 22:29 it says, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; He shall not stand before mean men.”

• Notice what Solomon presents as the path to success.
  • It is not a short and quick path for one, in fact it is usually a long path that can at times feel monotonous, and yet which Scripture extols under the virtue of diligence.
  • What is diligence? It is doing the right thing with a good attitude, day in and day out, especially when you do not feel like it.
  • Diligence is that long obedience in the same direction. It is the grinding work of a young ox, who bears the yoke in his youth and yet plows in hope.
• Hope is the virtue that inspires the virtue of diligence, and without hope, people procrastinate, they suffer from analysis paralysis, or sometimes they give up entirely and become sluggards. And so if you want to cultivate diligence and a productive city, you must start by cultivating hope in God.
  • God is the one who holds your life in His hands, and He wants you to be ambitious. He wants you to aspire to great things that will honor Him.
  • Sloppy work does not honor God. Half-hearted effort does not honor God. Never taking a risk does not honor God.
  • Hope on the other hand trusts God and then is decisive. Hope seeks out wise counsel, hears good advice, and then makes a decision and owns the consequences.
  • Hope remembers Proverbs 24:15, “For a righteous man may fall seven times, but rises again.”
• So imagine within your city there is a central park, you could name it Hope. And what this next season of life is mainly about is planting trees, sowing seeds, pulling weeds, and doing that all of that in hope that it is God who gives the growth.
  • It says in Proverbs 24:27, “Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.”
  • Meaning, there is a right order in which to do things. Before you get married, before you have children, before you build a household, there is a bunch of outside work in the field calling your name. Preparations need to be made.
    • That might look like working a bunch of odd jobs, it might look like going to college, but whatever you choose to do, do it in faith. Your work now is a work to prepare your city to accommodate others one day, especially a wife and children.
• Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:6, “The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.”
  • And so remember, trees don’t bear fruit 15 minutes after they are planted. These things take time. And it is the diligent hand, the man diligent in his business that will stand before kings.
  • More importantly, you are going to stand before the King of kings and give an account for your work.And so heed the words of Colossians 3:23-23, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”
  • Aspire to become the kind of city where all your work is unto the Lord.

#2 – A Great City Has Guards At The Gate

It says in 2 Chronicles 23:19, speaking of God’s city, “And [the king] set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.”

And likewise of that heavenly city New Jerusalem we read in Revelation 21:27, “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie.”

• What are the gates of your city? They are your five senses. They are how you interact and engage with the world.
• What then is the guard? It is your spirit. Your mind/reason is like the porter, the gatekeeper, who has to assess and judge what to let in and what to keep out.
• And so the health of your city, the air quality of your soul, is dependent upon this judgment. Are you going to indulge the flesh, and make provision for the flesh, and the lust of the eyes? Or will you pray with David in Psalm 119:37, “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; And quicken thou me in thy way.” Will you pray with Solomon the words of Proverbs 30:8, “Remove far from me vanity and lies.” What does Jesus teach us to pray, “lead us not into temptation.”
• And so resolve today, resolve now, to let no unclean thing enter and occupy your soul. Moreover, cast out the impure thoughts and imaginings that defile your conscience.
  • It says Jude 1:23, “hate even the garment defiled by the flesh.”
  • And Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee youthful lusts: but pursue righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
• If you would become a great and holy city, you must pursue this “with them that call on the Lord out of pure heart.” That means choose your friends carefully. That means, turn off the garbage that is social media, worldly music, movies and shows that tempt you to sin.
• If it is not entering in to build up your city, then it is coming to erode and sap your strength. Do not let them in.

#3 – A Great City Has Christ At The Center

It says of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22:1-2, “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

• Who is enthroned in your heart? Who owns your affections? If you are the governor, who is the emperor of your city?
• At the heart of every fruitful city is the throne of God and of the Lamb. And from His throne flows down pure water, clear as crystal, to make your central park fruitful in every season. This is how what you plant grows.
• Notice there are a variety of fruits, twelve different kinds. Meaning, God wants you to be fruitful in more ways than one. He wants you to bear new and different fruit in different seasons.
• But notice what is common to all this fruitfulness is that the throne of God and of the Lamb is its source.
  • Jesus says in John 15:5, “without me ye can do nothing.”
  • And in John 7:38 he says, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” And in the next verse it says this water is the Holy Spirit.
• So you can do nothing good unless Christ is with you. And so make knowing Christ, obeying Christ, and loving Christ your highest ambition, your greatest aspiration. This is what it means to have Christ as the center of your city.
  • Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
• God knows you need a job. God knows you need an education. God knows what you need before you ask Him. And so heed the words of your heavenly father who says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
• In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.