Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] We are continuing this series we've been doing the last few weeks called Nicaea 1700. And I mentioned this earlier, but we're taking an opportunity. This summer represented the 1700th anniversary of the original adoption of the Nicean Creed at the Council of Nicaea. It was set up to discuss the Arian heresy.
[00:00:22] Now we're doing a series where we walk through that creed bit by bit. And if you heard me say that last, those last couple sentences and thought, that is the most boring content for a sermon series. What are you doing to us?
[00:00:35] I apologize, but not really. I actually think this is incredibly helpful. I think it's a really good thing to do this sort of thing.
[00:00:43] And I'll give you kind of two reasons for this. The first one is this. You know the Nicaean creed, the one that we just recited together? That's an English translation of it, but we just recited that together. That's a. That's a doctrinal statement that Christians across denominational lines, across cultural lines, across socioeconomic lines have agreed on in complete unity for 1700 years.
[00:01:08] That's nuts. There are churches that don't affirm the concept of creeds who affirm all the doctrines represented in the Nicene Creed. Right. Like, there is something really powerful about that. I think when we take time to study documents like the Creed, it helps root us in the immensity of our faith. Your Christian faith is not something that is isolated to North America in 2025 in your local church. When we step into worship, when we connect with brothers and sisters, when we connect with the Lord, we are stepping into something that is large and something that is transcendent and something that is ancient. And I think that's really good to be rooted in that truth.
[00:01:52] I also think, second to that, it's really important to be rooted in the Creed. For what I just said, it's this distillation, it's this really simplified explanation of orthodox Christianity, or a way to say that is it has taken the biblical teaching on primary doctrines and distilled them down into the short little form that we can easily read and understand.
[00:02:17] Right. The Bible is a complex text, and the Creed is beneficial because it distills down some of these primary doctrines. And if you don't know the term means primary doctrine is a term we use to refer to those beliefs which are the dividing line between what is and isn't Christian.
[00:02:34] Right. There are all sorts of secondary doctrines that Christians in good faith debate and discuss, because there are things that are open to interpretation in the Scripture, right? What's the best way to do baptism? What's the kind of music we should play up front? There are all sorts of things, things that different churches debate and discuss in good faith that don't change the difference. They don't make a dividing line between Christian and non Christian. But primary doctrines are those things that you must affirm in order to be a biblically defined follower of Christ. Right?
[00:03:08] And we live in a cultural moment where, guys, it's actually really important for you to have eyes on what is and isn't Biblical Christianity.
[00:03:18] We live in a time where it's actually really popular to commandeer Jesus's likability and to put his name on worldviews or ethical structures or stances or beliefs that Jesus himself would never affirm and are, in fact, even denied by Scripture.
[00:03:36] You can go on social media and you can find hundreds of videos of people saying things like, well, I think the core teaching of Jesus is just that you should love and accept everyone unconditionally.
[00:03:47] And so I feel like maybe I am a Christian in the true sense.
[00:03:50] But here's the thing, guys, here's the thing.
[00:03:53] There's a difference.
[00:03:55] There's a difference between biblical Christianity and whatever the heck you want to believe and do.
[00:04:03] It's really easy because Jesus is so kind and so likable. It's really easy to stamp him in his face and his name on things that you already believe and want to do.
[00:04:14] And it is our rootedness in the teaching of Scripture, in the primary doctrines of Scripture, that help us discern what statements, what teachers, what beliefs are and are not Christian, historically and biblically. The creed is helpful to do that. It helps us step back and consider those things. And so for the last several weeks, we've been working through this. We spent three weeks working through the doctrines surrounding the Trinity. And by the way, we could have spent two or three dozen more Sundays digging deeper into that, but we spent three. We did one week where we talked about God the Father, one week where we talked about God the Son, and one week where we talked about God the Spirit. And we talked about this amazing kind of gospel progression where we understand that because God made us, because God is our Creator, he has authority over us, and we were made for deep and intimate relationship with Him. But sin has separated us from him. And His. His holiness and our sinfulness make it impossible for us to actually approach him or know Him. He's. He's so holy that our sinfulness is incompatible and God becomes the God we were made to Relate with becomes other and alien and totally unknowable until God enters into our world and he puts on flesh and bone. God the Son lives among us, and all of a sudden, the unknowable, unapproachable God who is bathed in mysterious light is a guy standing right in front of you that you can spend time with and you can get to know when you can hear him speak, right?
[00:05:49] But Jesus's work that he came to earth for to live a perfect life and die an unjust death and raised from the dead by the power of God and ascend to heaven, from which he'll return, that work required his body, right?
[00:06:02] And so he's no longer physically present with us. But God ups the ante of intimacy.
[00:06:08] Rather than us losing intimacy with God, when Jesus ascends to heaven, we gain intimacy because God the Spirit enters into the picture. Before, God was totally other, totally unapproachable. And then, as John 1 says, he came and he set up his tent among us, but the Holy Spirit amps it up because in Christ, the very Spirit of God dwells within you.
[00:06:31] And so God goes from being unapproachable to being around us, to being in us and with us, ministering to us, loving us, caring for us. It's amazing.
[00:06:42] And that leads us to our time today. We're almost at the end of the creed, but we're going to take today and we're going to talk about the doctrine of the church, the reality, the importance of the church of Jesus. Guys, it's at the absolute core of, of Christian belief.
[00:07:00] God has saved us into a new family with him, and that is the church we're going to be in. First Corinthians, chapter 12 today, if you want to go ahead and turn there. We really believe in the importance of access to God's word. Dear to manual. So we have house Bibles around the room. If you didn't bring a Bible with you today, look under the chairs in front of you. You'll see them. If you don't own a physical copy of God's Word, I would strongly encourage you to just take a pew Bible home and keep it. Or talk to one of our pastors and let us get you a nicer one. We really believe in the importance of access to the Word.
[00:07:32] We're going to be in First Corinthians 12 today, and my main point is simply going to be this.
[00:07:37] God made one church with one mission.
[00:07:40] That's. That's what we're going to get at today.
[00:07:43] God made one Church with one mission. Even though there are tons of differing and unique expressions of local churches in Christ, all of us who follow Jesus have been adopted into one church. And this church has a singular and deeply important mission.
[00:08:04] But that actually leaves us, I think, with a big problem, because I know in a space like this, many of us actually have deep wounds in our heart associated with the church.
[00:08:18] Right.
[00:08:20] Some of us in this space right now, today, are struggling with your involvement in church. People who should have walked in community with you, who should have walked in grace with us, instead hurt us, rejected us, abandoned us. And if that's you today, if I just pricked at something that hurts, first off, I want you to know I am so glad you're here.
[00:08:42] I know that it can be an act of bravery to push through and to show up on a Sunday morning. And I'm glad you were here. I'm glad you made that choice.
[00:08:50] But beyond that, I pray that today is a balm of healing for you.
[00:08:56] I think, as we'll see in our text today, a Christian unplugged from the church is dying, and a church missing Christians is wounded.
[00:09:08] We need one another, and the Gospel of Jesus truly is sufficient. Hear this. The Gospel of Jesus truly is sufficient to heal the wounds inflicted on you, even the wounds inflicted by brothers and sisters.
[00:09:26] It is possible.
[00:09:27] So pray with me, and we're going to jump into this. Jesus, we need you this morning.
[00:09:33] We need you to be our discipler. We need. We need you to be our teacher.
[00:09:38] We need you to be the one who does ministry to our hearts today. Spirit, we pray that you would speak through your word, that you would remind us, encourage us, convict us, challenge us to come home.
[00:09:50] To come home to you, to come home to family.
[00:09:54] Father, we pray that you would be a healer of our wounds and that you would show us what real life, what real freedom, what real redemption looks like, and that we will be able to give ourselves fully to the work you are doing in us and in this world.
[00:10:08] We need you to accomplish this work. So we pray it in your name, Jesus. Amen.
[00:10:14] Okay, First Corinthians 12 is where we're going to be today. First Corinthians, if you don't know, is a letter. The Apostle Paul wrote it to a church he planted. You can read about the planting of the Corinthian church in Acts 18.
[00:10:26] It's an interesting church, and it's a gift for us today.
[00:10:30] The reason is because the Corinthian Church deeply struggled.
[00:10:35] They really were bad at it. That's that's the nice way to say it. They were very bad at being a church. And I'll be honest, to me, that's incredibly comforting. It's incredibly relatable, right?
[00:10:47] They're really bad at it. And so Paul writes them a couple letters. And we're looking at the first of those letters. And this letter can basically be broken up into two sections. The first section is Paul going, what the heck, guys?
[00:11:00] That's basically about 2/3 of First Corinthians. Is Paul just going, really, really? Okay. Oh, yeah, that's what we're going to do. And then at the end, he goes, okay, you sent me some questions. Let me answer them for you. And then he goes and starts answering their questions. Our text today is kind of a blending of the two. And so one of the things the Corinthian church was really struggling with was competition and division.
[00:11:24] I don't know if this. If anyone in the room relates to this, but they got it in their head that certain people were better Christians than other people and that it was good to be considered a better Christian. And so they started looking for ways to judge who were the most holy Christians in their church. Who baptized you? Who? Oh, listen, you got baptized by Bill. I got baptized by Paul when he planted the church. So actually, you know, like those kind of debates, right? And they started arguing about who has more leadership and authority in the church. Then they started arguing about who's has the best spiritual gifts. Wow. Wow. You serve in the children's ministry. Cool. I get to prophesy. So, you know, kind of like that was kind of the debates that were happening.
[00:12:05] And so Paul, he takes this section we're in, and he's clarifying his teaching on spiritual gifts. He's talking about how they've gotten that part wrong. They've misunderstood how the Holy Spirit gifts his church and what those gifts are. And so he. He's. He's answering a question. He's also rebuking them for how divided they are, how they've taken this idea of spiritual gifts and used it as a way to compete with one another to figure out who's the best.
[00:12:33] They've stratified their church, right?
[00:12:36] And so Paul here, he takes one of the most famous metaphors in the whole New Testament for the church, and he expounds on it to show them how they're missing the Holy Spirit and they're missing the beauty of what God does through his church. So we're going to start in verse 12. Read with me. And we'll go through this starting verse 12:12 chapter of First Corinthians, we read this.
[00:12:57] For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many are one body, so also is Christ.
[00:13:08] For we were all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all given one spirit to drink. Indeed, the body is not one part, but many.
[00:13:21] Okay, if you've spent some time in church, at least some aspect of this metaphor is probably familiar. Right? The church is a body and Christ is the head, and we're all different parts of it. Paul uses this several times over the course of the New Testament, but he digs into the metaphor most here in First Corinthians, and it's just such. It's such a brilliant metaphor. Like, it works really, really well, right? He says, you know, a human body is one unit, but it's made up of lots of distinct and different parts. It's the same way with Christ. And this phrase with Christ, it doesn't refer to Jesus specifically, but his kingdom, right? The church, the family of God, is like a body.
[00:14:02] It's one unit, but it's made up of many distinct and different parts. It's worth noting here, by the way. This is like a little textual note, but it's worth noting this because we can miss this kind of thing. Paul assumes our understanding of differences, and he has to emphasize unity. Do you catch that?
[00:14:23] He assumes that you understand the differences. Yeah, we're all very different. And so the part he emphasizes is, but we're. But we're one.
[00:14:31] Do you catch that?
[00:14:33] Like, in Christ, you're one body, not just many.
[00:14:38] You were all baptized by one spirit into one body. Doesn't matter if you're Jew or Gentile, slave or free, one body. Paul is saying that even though we're all different, rich and poor, different cultures, different levels of exposure to religion, different levels of spiritual maturity, all sorts of contexts were all offered the same gospel.
[00:14:59] One spirit, one God, one baptism, one faith, all different, but one God's church.
[00:15:07] And hear this, because we just spent three weeks talking about the Trinity, much like God himself has both unity and diversity mixed together.
[00:15:19] This is God's very design for the church.
[00:15:23] Take a moment here.
[00:15:25] Let's pause First Corinthians, and let's remember this specific line of the creed that we're discussing today, because I think that needs a little explanation for some of us, and it'll be helpful to this part of the text. So the part of the creed we're considering this week is this. We believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. That's the part we're considering. So the Creed tells us the Church is three things. Did you catch this?
[00:15:51] It's holy, it's Catholic, and it's apostolic. And some of you immediately go, wait, Catholic, right? Like, wait a minute, hold on. Can we back up for a second?
[00:16:03] Let me take us through each of these words in turn. The Church is holy. That means the church has been set apart by God.
[00:16:10] That's what holy means in this context. The Church is set apart from the curse, set apart from the world. The Church is Catholic. Big C, Catholic. That means universal.
[00:16:22] It doesn't mean Roman Catholic. Right.
[00:16:25] It means universal.
[00:16:27] One church throughout space and time.
[00:16:30] That's what Catholic means here. It means that not just the people in this room or the people in your small group are your brothers and sisters in Christ, but all believers throughout our community, throughout our state, our country, our globe.
[00:16:45] The believers who are in hiding in countries where it's illegal to be a follower of Christ.
[00:16:51] The. The believers who have different convictions than you about politics.
[00:16:55] Like, across the globe, we're brothers and sisters. And catch this across time.
[00:17:02] The brothers and sisters who come before you, the great cloud of witnesses.
[00:17:06] The brothers and sisters who have shown the truth of the gospel through their faithfulness, their testimony through our time and space.
[00:17:13] That is the Catholic Church, not Roman Catholic, Big C, Catholic. Right. And then he says, it's apostolic. I love this one. This is reminding us that the Gospel has not changed in 2000 years. One of the accusations that is brought against Christianity by other world religions is that the Bible was very obviously changed and the Christian message morphed and adapted to meet the needs of Roman and then European culture. But we can objectively, historically say that that is not true.
[00:17:46] All actual historical textual research shows that the New Testament message has not been changed in 2000 years and that the message of the gospel is as clear today as it was 2,000 years ago. You know, the early church, they used this. This phrase, and I think it's. It's so perfect, they called it the rule of faith. The rule of faith. And to the early church, the rule of faith was this.
[00:18:08] Jesus handed the gospel to the apostles, and the apostles faithfully preserved the gospel with no changes and then handed it to us.
[00:18:19] So the rule of faith is that we would do the same, that we would faithfully preserve it with no changes, and we would hand it off to the generation after us.
[00:18:30] You need to hear this church that has happened for 2000 years. You need to know this. Think about your own testimony. Those of you who are in the room, who are in Christ, I want you right now to consider your testimony.
[00:18:43] At some point in your life, probably multiple points, someone shared the gospel with you, right?
[00:18:50] A grandparent, a parent, a Sunday school teacher, a friend, a youth camp leader.
[00:18:56] Someone shared the gospel with you, and at some point it clicked and you went, yes, yes, this is who I am. This is who Jesus is. I want this. And you stepped into the church. But you need to know something.
[00:19:07] At some point in that person's life, someone told them the gospel.
[00:19:10] And at some point in that person's life, someone told them the gospel.
[00:19:14] There is a straight line, a straight line of faithful gospel presentation and invitation that goes from your faith journey all the way back to Jesus on the mountain, commissioning the apostles.
[00:19:31] When we say the church is apostolic, that's what we mean, that the gospel has been faithfully preserved and handed down through generations of faith, starting with Jesus and leading to you. And hear this church, that means it's your turn.
[00:19:50] The rule of faith applies to you as much as it did to them. Amen.
[00:19:57] So the creed tells us also there's one baptism for the remission of sins. That isn't saying that baptism has some supernatural power to remove your sins, but rather that Christianity recognizes that baptism is the singular ordinance that connects us to Jesus's work and death and resurrection to satisfy the debt of our sin and grant us his righteousness. Right? Lay down of Christ in his death, raise up to walk in his life. It's one work. It's a universal work. There isn't Christianity basic and Christianity plus, depending on how many ads you're willing to sit through, there's one Christianity, there's one Christianity, there's one baptism, there's one church. We all had the same one, and we're all drawn into the same family. Beloved.
[00:20:39] There's so much encouragement in this. I think.
[00:20:43] So much encouragement in this.
[00:20:45] We live in a world that's so divided and so stratified, right?
[00:20:51] What's your race? What's your ethnicity? What's your socioeconomic background? What high school did you go to for the St. Louis people in the room? What's your job? Where do you live? What do you drive? Who's your favorite team? Who did you vote for? We divide and divide and divide and divide. And we live in a moment that loves to demonize and push away anyone who doesn't check all 1746 boxes of belief and preference that we have in our own lives. Right.
[00:21:23] It's hard, it's exhausting to keep up with all the things you're supposed to have a check on. We live in a cultural moment that is so siloed and so divisive, but the gospel does something amazing.
[00:21:37] It blows those silos out of the water.
[00:21:41] It tears down the dividing lines.
[00:21:45] And there's something about the finished work of Christ that. That equalizes all, all people, that crosses every single one of the cultural barriers that we, let's be honest, make up.
[00:22:01] It crosses all the lines, and it draws together people who by the power of this world, would never cross paths, much less knit their lives together.
[00:22:14] And yet in Christ, in the blood of Jesus, we are drawn together into one family and the dividing lines of the world are torn down.
[00:22:25] And it's because we begin to realize, you know, for all the differences I have believed between me and the other people in this world, at the end of the day, we're all the same in our sin.
[00:22:39] We're all the same in our need for salvation.
[00:22:43] We're all the same in our neediness before God. We're all equal at the foot of the cross, in need of grace and forgiveness. Amen.
[00:22:52] The blood of Jesus draws together people who would never be unified under any other circumstance.
[00:22:57] Any other circumstance draws them together. The kingdom of God unites the divisions of the sinful and broken world. The lion and the lamb rest together. Amen.
[00:23:09] Cubs and Cardinals fans, together in eternity forever.
[00:23:15] Guys, the power of the gospel is real.
[00:23:18] It can cross these barriers, I promise. Well, Jesus hasn't returned yet, Pastor. Okay, but there's more to this story than just unity. There's more to this text than just we're all one. There's also the diversity piece, and the diversity is actually just as important. Important. Read on with me. In verse 15, if the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I don't belong to the body, it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God has arranged each one of these parts in the body just as he wanted.
[00:24:06] And if they were all the same part, where would the body be?
[00:24:10] But as it is, there are many parts, but one body the eye can't say to the hands, I don't need you.
[00:24:16] Or again, the head can't say to the feet, I don't need you. On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable.
[00:24:24] Those parts of the body that we consider less honorable. We clothe these with greater honor. Our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, which are respectable parts. They're not need.
[00:24:33] Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable. Paul now makes the same point twice. He's repeating it because it's important. He's really bearing down on this. Remember, this is a church that was incredibly divided. This is a church that struggled with competition.
[00:24:52] Who's doing it better, who's more spiritually mature, who's closer to God.
[00:24:57] And Paul says to them, hey, listen, every part of the body matters.
[00:25:05] Every person, every part. I used to, when I was a youth pastor, I used to jokingly say to the students, you know, you may be the armpit of the body of Christ, but everyone needs an armpit, right?
[00:25:16] You may. Look, listen, it's true. It's true. Try and live without an armpit, okay? You may look at Christians around you and think that you just don't measure up to them, that you're not enough.
[00:25:29] We see folk like our missional partners, right?
[00:25:32] They come and they share testimony. They, oh, we've sold everything we own. We've taken our family, we're moving to go live in the rainforest, and we're going to preach the gospel to unreached people groups. And we sit there and go, wow, you are really better at this than me, right?
[00:25:47] And by the way, that's not me, single or not, praise God that we have missionaries that we get to support who go do exactly that, right?
[00:25:55] But how easy is it?
[00:25:57] How easy is it to see other people using their gifts, going on the mission field, standing up front and speaking, leading in an area of ministry, creating art, and then look at your own gifts, your own faith, your own practice of Christianity, and just think, huh, I am not as good at this as they are.
[00:26:22] I'm just worse at this.
[00:26:24] It'd be easy to think that you just don't matter in the body.
[00:26:28] I'm not doing so and so.
[00:26:30] I'm not. I'm not. I don't have the faith of so and so. So I just don't matter as much. But beloved, never lose sight of this truth.
[00:26:39] God has arranged you as he saw it.
[00:26:45] God has arranged the body as he saw fit.
[00:26:49] God is the one who draws together the different parts. He has fitted together his body and he has given you the personality, the gifting, and the role in the body that he gave you.
[00:27:02] Beloved, it is God who has called you, is God who has saved you. It is God who has placed you in his church. And this is an amazing privilege.
[00:27:14] God has put you in this church to do the things he made you to do.
[00:27:19] So you don't have to be anyone else.
[00:27:21] You don't have to have anyone else's gifts.
[00:27:25] You get to be you and hear this church.
[00:27:29] God honors this.
[00:27:32] This is his design. God honors every part of the body.
[00:27:38] Think about it this way.
[00:27:40] What part of your body right now would you be cool with me casually cutting off with a pocket knife?
[00:27:48] Right? Just like, check this out.
[00:27:50] You don't use your pinky very often. Come here. Come here. Right.
[00:27:56] I'm going to go out on the limb and I'm going to guess you would say nug. Pastor, step away.
[00:28:01] Right?
[00:28:02] Right.
[00:28:03] Even the parts that seem small, even the parts that seem indispensable. We don't want to lose them. We don't want them getting hacked off. And you need to hear this. Anyone who's had surgery can tell you this.
[00:28:15] Your body notices when parts are missing.
[00:28:19] Your body's not a fan of parts breaking or being missing.
[00:28:24] You may think that pinky toe only exists to find the corner of your coffee table at night when the lights are off.
[00:28:31] But you lose a couple toes and you have to learn how to walk again.
[00:28:34] Right?
[00:28:35] Your whole body feels the difference.
[00:28:40] Every part of the body has a purpose. And every part of the body is precious. Beloved, you may be the spleen in the body of Christ.
[00:28:50] Your role may be mostly unseen. You may be immature in your faith. You may struggle with doubts and selfishness. And you may take from the church more than you give because of where you're at in your life right now. And you may think the body would be better off without you.
[00:29:07] But hear this.
[00:29:09] Your God sees you and he has placed you in the body on purpose.
[00:29:17] He considers you.
[00:29:19] You are precious to him.
[00:29:21] He honors you.
[00:29:23] He places you in the body with a role with meaning.
[00:29:28] And this is the truth of the gospel. Is it not?
[00:29:31] That we are sinful rebels? That our God made us for deep connection and relationship? And yet we choose rebellion and sin, every single one of us. And God will be perfectly justified to leave us to our own devices and to our own destruction.
[00:29:46] We worship a God who's not content to allow our sinful rebellion to be the Final word on his good creation. So we entered into our mess. He took our form. He lived among us a perfect life and died an unjust death and rose by the power of a God and ascended to heaven from which he'll return to restore all things so that you might be restored.
[00:30:09] Sinful, rebellious you.
[00:30:11] Is that not the gospel that God sees you and considers you and values you?
[00:30:20] In spite of. Of your failure, in spite of how you screw up.
[00:30:27] Beloved, you matter deeply.
[00:30:31] You matter.
[00:30:33] The church needs you.
[00:30:36] Those of you who consider IFC your. Your home church. I know we have people visiting. But for those of you, this is your church.
[00:30:42] Know this. This church needs you.
[00:30:45] We need you.
[00:30:47] God brought you to this family for a reason.
[00:30:51] We feel it when you're not doing well, when you're missing.
[00:30:55] Because you're part of us who are members. One of another. Read on with me. Verse 24.
[00:31:01] Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individual members of it.
[00:31:24] Paul wraps this truth about the church of Jesus together in a way that's so powerful.
[00:31:31] The church of Jesus is both diverse and unified.
[00:31:35] It's both.
[00:31:36] It is both diverse and unified. And in spite of what culture warriors may tell you on social media, that you can only have one or the other, unity or diversity, it is in fact the combination of both that makes the church what God has made it to be.
[00:31:52] It is in the combination of the diversity of the church and the unity of the church that brings about the advancement of the kingdom of God. We are many and we are one.
[00:32:02] We have all sorts of different parts and all sorts of different roles and all sorts of different strengths and all sorts of different weaknesses. And they all come together to make this amazing thing that is the church of Jesus.
[00:32:13] The text says, beloved, we are all in this together.
[00:32:17] We lift one another up. We're dependent upon one another. We are members, one of another.
[00:32:25] I love that phrase.
[00:32:27] To burn that phrase into your heart, this has significant impact on your faith, on your life. Beloved.
[00:32:35] And here's. Here's how I think is the best way to say it. This is kind of a harsh way to say it, but I think it's helpful to say that we are members. One of another means this in Christ.
[00:32:47] If you're in Christ, the church has a claim on you and you have a claim on the church.
[00:32:55] It's both.
[00:32:57] The body needs you and you are a part of the body.
[00:33:02] The church has a right to expect you to show up and to give your best to the work of the kingdom because the church has claim on you. Now, this is important, by the way.
[00:33:15] I mean the church, Big C, not one local church. This isn't me trying to make you feel guilted or pressured into staying at one church for the rest of your life.
[00:33:25] But you do need to do the work of seeking out a church that God is calling you to and plugging into it.
[00:33:31] You need to know this church.
[00:33:33] We're not in competition with the other gospel preaching churches in our community and the world.
[00:33:39] We're not different restaurants all trying to scrabble for the same customers.
[00:33:43] We're not in competition. We're in collaboration.
[00:33:47] These are brothers and sisters in Christ who are a part of the same body we are a part of, who are doing the same work we're doing.
[00:33:55] And so when God pulls you from one local congregation, whether you move or whatever the heck is going on, you don't need to feel bad for that, but you do need to do the work of finding a church, plugging yourself into it, and saying, I'm a part of the body. When I'm missing, the body feels it.
[00:34:13] The church has claim on me and I need to live into that.
[00:34:19] And the opposite is true as well, by the way.
[00:34:22] You have claim on that church.
[00:34:25] You have claim on them to say, I'm a part of this body and I'm not doing well.
[00:34:29] So you need to come around me and help me. You need to help me grow in my faith. You need to disciple me. You need to challenge me to grow in holiness and godliness. We're to spur one another on to good works, right?
[00:34:41] So listen, if IDFC is your church family, you just need to hear it, right?
[00:34:48] I love you. I'm your pastor. But I expect you to be a part.
[00:34:53] Expect you to.
[00:34:55] This is where God has called you. Let's be all in.
[00:34:59] When you unplug, when you stop showing up, you stop helping.
[00:35:05] You need to know this. This isn't me trying to make you feel bad. But I need you to hear this.
[00:35:09] Our church hurts.
[00:35:12] You suffer because we love you, because we miss you, because we're worried about you, but also because the body feels missing parts.
[00:35:24] Surely as a body feels congestive heart failures, the church body feels your absence, feels you missing.
[00:35:33] Because you're needed.
[00:35:35] You're needed Jesus said, the greatest commandment is basically to love God and love others. That was the theme for the women's retreat, wasn't it? Yeah, sick. See? Connected. Do that on purpose.
[00:35:51] Greatest commandment is to love God with all of your person and to love others.
[00:35:56] Both these ideas are on display in what we're talking about here.
[00:35:59] Our love of God draws us to submit to him, to obey him. Jesus said, people will know you love me. If you love me, you'll obey my commands, right? If you love me, you'll obey me. To love God is to submit to him, is to realize he's in charge is to obey Him. And that means joyfully engaging in the body he has placed us in.
[00:36:25] So our love for one another overflows out of our love relationship with our wonderful God because we rejoice together. We suffer and mourn together. We do life together, together. What a beautiful text, right?
[00:36:39] One body, many parts. It's a beautiful metaphor. I don't know about you, but like I'm reading, like, it tears me up and I love you guys.
[00:36:46] I love that we get to do this life and this faith together, right?
[00:36:50] But it does leave us with a really important question, which is, how do we do that?
[00:36:55] What does that look like, practically?
[00:36:58] Well, the simple answer is to give yourself over to following Jesus in his church, right?
[00:37:03] He has made one church, big C. He saved you and he's placed you in it. So joyfully find and embrace a local congregation that God is calling you to, and go hard for the kingdom there, right? That's the easy application.
[00:37:18] Remember Matthew 28, when Jesus gives the Great Commission, remember that one? It's kind of an important one. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, right?
[00:37:26] Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations. That's the mission. That's how Jesus. That's the language Jesus uses to describe his church. Go and make disciples.
[00:37:36] That's what this amazing, diverse, messy and unified thing we call church is.
[00:37:43] That's what it's for.
[00:37:45] A group of disciples going to make disciples.
[00:37:49] And notice what Jesus says about disciples in the Great Commission.
[00:37:52] Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, Baptizing the enemy of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you.
[00:38:00] These disciples, this church, are baptized.
[00:38:04] That may seem like a real simple thing, like almost like a non sequitur, but it's why we included that part of the Creed with this discussion about church.
[00:38:14] Because baptism is this, let's be honest, easy step of obedience.
[00:38:20] For someone who says, I'm Going to follow Jesus. Now I say easy. I get that it can be scary, that it can be nerve wracking to be in front of people and to do those things. If you experience that kind of social anxiety, please don't hear me downplaying your experience.
[00:38:33] But I say it because it's a really good first step of saying, I want to follow Christ. I want to be all in honest church. Awesome. Have you been baptized?
[00:38:42] Have you been baptized? It's a great first step. It's a way to step into this little ritual that helps you connect to Christ's work accomplished for you. But it's also a way of declaring to your local church, I'm in Christ and I'm giving my life to pursuing Him. And it's a way for your local church to come around you and say, we see the spirit of God in you and we're with you in this journey. Let's go hard for the kingdom together.
[00:39:04] It's a powerful, beautiful thing. If you are in this room and you are in Christ and you haven't been baptized, I would urge you to consider that as a practical next step of your faith.
[00:39:14] That is the way by which you publicly step into the life of the church.
[00:39:19] But secondly, he says, we grow in obedience, teach them to obey everything I've commanded them. This is great because it assumes that we'll grow in spiritual disciplines, right? This is how the Holy Spirit helps us to love Jesus and obey him when we engage in practices like the reading of scripture and prayer and Bible study and worship and community. All these things help us to know and obey the voice of Jesus like a disciple.
[00:39:40] As we grow in obeying Jesus, we will unavoidably begin to see that obeying the New Testament teaching of Jesus means joyful participation in the life of the church.
[00:39:52] There's just no getting around the fact that the Bible has no context for an isolated solo Christian.
[00:40:01] The Bible has no description for someone who goes, you know, I follow Jesus, I believe the Bible, but I just like, I don't know. Church is full of hypocrites and I don't like getting up early on Sunday. So as I listen to podcasts and read the Bible on my own, I'm kind of doing my own thing, growing in my faith.
[00:40:15] The Bible has no context for that, has no definition for that.
[00:40:19] The Bible describes Christians in the context of our one another ministry.
[00:40:25] The way we share life, the way we share the gospel, the way we build one another up.
[00:40:32] So throw yourself into the life of the church if you want to Grow in obedience if you want to. Grow as a disciple. The way Jesus describes it.
[00:40:39] Connect to a church, guys. Think of the way.
[00:40:44] Think of the way we prioritize things that matter to us. I'm gonna get real real here for a second.
[00:40:51] Think about your own calendar this week. For the next seven days, think about the things that are important to you.
[00:40:57] Your job, your kids, sports commitments, your friend circles, the vacation you're scheduling, holidays and get togethers.
[00:41:10] I'm just going to ask you, like, I think this is. I think this is actually a very helpful mental exercise.
[00:41:16] Does your inclusion and participation in the local church rate as a similar priority for you as those other things?
[00:41:27] Do you put the same effort, the same weight into creating space for your participation in the family of God as you do in your participation in your job, in your kids, sport and school activities, in your hobbies, in your holiday time with family?
[00:41:46] And you might be thinking, that's not fair, Pastor. I don't have a choice in some of those things.
[00:41:51] Yeah, I know.
[00:41:53] And the Bible only describes Christians in the context of community.
[00:41:57] And the Bible only describes spiritual growth in the context of commitment to one another.
[00:42:03] And the Bible only describes the church as a body where all the parts are needed.
[00:42:08] This is not me trying to, like, lay a weight on you and make you feel guilty.
[00:42:12] You're on your own faith journey. And I understand, though, but I think it's a really good gut check to just go, we live in a culture that celebrates individualism.
[00:42:22] The Bible doesn't do that.
[00:42:25] The Bible calls us together.
[00:42:27] And so it's worth considering. Because your togetherness as a son or daughter of Jesus, does that weigh as much to you as the other priorities in your life?
[00:42:37] It's worth considering.
[00:42:40] I'm not trying to be legalistic.
[00:42:44] I've heard people say things like this. Look, I'm a part of the church, even if I have to skip often.
[00:42:49] And here's the thing that is true.
[00:42:53] I'm married, even if I ignore my wife all the time, right?
[00:42:58] But if I want to have a healthy marriage, if I want to have a healthy marriage, I'm going to invest in it.
[00:43:05] I'm going to prioritize the time.
[00:43:07] Beloved, give yourself to the local church man if you want to come back up.
[00:43:12] I'm going to land with this thought I said this at the beginning, but I know many of us carry some form of church hurt or wounding from church circles. It can feel really scary, even triggering for folk for me to talk the way I'm talking.
[00:43:27] And if you've experienced real hurt in church family. It can feel insulting for me to stand here in the pulpit and tell you how you just need to plug into church and that'll fix things.
[00:43:38] Listen, that's real. I'm not belittling your experience. I'm really not. I've been there. I've been there.
[00:43:44] I've received some of the deepest hurts I've ever received relationally in the context of church family.
[00:43:50] I promise you God can heal you.
[00:43:53] I promise you Jesus can heal those wounds.
[00:43:59] He designed you for this kind of community.
[00:44:02] He designed you to experience faith with others.
[00:44:07] The late Baptist minister Tony Campolo once paraphrased St. Augustine by saying this. The church is a whore. But she's my mother.
[00:44:17] And his point was that our church, church should not pull us away from the very family that God has adopted us into.
[00:44:23] It's beautiful. It's true. But he actually misses the nuance of the quote from Augustine. It's from a sermon Augustine delivered in the three hundreds. He's paraphrasing it right. But if you look at the sermon that Augustine actually preached, I actually think he says it better for us.
[00:44:38] He says, the church is our mother and she's the bride of Christ, who is the true and great husband. And then he says, her glorious marriage to Christ is all the more beautiful because she used to be a prostitute.
[00:44:52] But Christ, in his mercy and love, has redeemed her, made her perfect and spotless.
[00:44:59] He then says, our mother, the church is beautiful and grateful for the amazing work that Jesus has done for her.
[00:45:09] I think the nuance there is so powerful. I love the difference. If you've been following Jesus more than five minutes, you've been sinned against by a Christian right.
[00:45:18] That's what happens in church family.
[00:45:21] But it can be devastating.
[00:45:24] But that's why it's so important to know the truth, that our Jesus is in the business of sanctifying sinners and purifying the unclean.
[00:45:34] His spirit is working in our lives.
[00:45:38] He's working in your life.
[00:45:41] And we can come together in grace.
[00:45:45] We can come together in forgiveness precisely because of how amazing Jesus is.
[00:45:52] And that really is the point.
[00:45:56] God has called you, boy.
[00:45:58] He's called you into one new family. New.
[00:46:02] He's called you into this family.
[00:46:05] That family has a mission.
[00:46:07] Your role, your place, your gift, your involvement in the body is so important because this church, with all its wrinkles and all its failures and all its mix of holiness and humanity is Jesus's one and only plan for advancing his amazing gospel into a lost and hurting world in desperate need of hope.
[00:46:30] So we jump into the church with all the nerves, with all the hurt, with all the inconsistency, with all the hypocrisy in us, and never want to rail walls.
[00:46:43] Because the gospel is great.
[00:46:45] Because Jesus can change our hearts.
[00:46:48] He can change our church. He changed us.
