Who We Are: #2 - Family

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Almighty God, you welcome you. Hey there. If you're new to Restored Church, we want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in. You're listening to a portion of our Sunday worship gathering. We believe the church is not an event, but a family you belong to, so we would love the opportunity to connect with you. If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please Visit our website, www.restoredtemecula.church and click on Contact. With all that said, we, we hope you enjoy the message. So before I get started, forgive my voice. My voice is a little tired, but some of you are like, great, you're not going to yell at us. This morning, before I get started, I felt something fairly strong that I just want to be obedient to share. I felt like the Lord was highlighting something for somebody this morning that, like, that you feel like deep inside of you, there's, like a cry. You read the New Testament, you read especially the Psalms and the Old Testament, you read all over the Scriptures, and there's this. There's this component of people relating to God in a way that, like, it describes them crying out, which is. That's kind of intense language, huh? Like, crying out. Like, when was the last time you cried out for anything other than, like, if your young kid's, like, running into the street and you're like, no, you know, like. But like, I got this sense that there's somebody here and there's like a deep cry of your heart that I feel like the Lord is inviting you to let it out this morning. And that. I know that sounds weird, but that might even be audibly. But the sense that I get is this, like, this crying out for your Heavenly Father. Like, there's a deep longing and desire for you. There's an unmet thing that's happening inside of you. And I feel like the spirit of God is drawing attention to that for some of you this morning. And I just want to say to you, like, I think your heavenly father wants to meet you in that space in a way that brings you healing and pleasure and wholeness. Okay. All right. That being said, I'm going to jump in. [00:02:15] Speaker B: All right. [00:02:16] Speaker A: There's my spiritual moment. I wanted to obey the Lord. Okay. My name's Tom. If we haven't met yet, I have the privilege of serving the church as lead pastor on eldership with the guys and so happy to be here this morning. If you're a guest, I just want to welcome you. So glad that you're here joining us. My prayer for you, if you're a guest, is that you would encounter Jesus. You would encounter God among us, that his grace would strengthen you and refresh you this morning in a way like deep down in your soul. And you'd be like, oh, man, I experienced God amongst God's people. And at the chance that there's anybody here and you're not yet in Christ. There's a difference between being in church and being in Christ. And the chance there's anybody here, you're not yet in Christ. My prayer is that you would encounter Jesus this morning, like I said, that you would realize that there's nobody like Jesus. He's nobody more beautiful, nobody more holy, nobody more wonderful and glorious and kind and faithful and generous. I pray that you would encounter him among us and that you'd yield to his lordship in your life and the trajectory of your eternity would be forever changed. I want each one of us in the room to experience every spiritual blessing of being in Christ, not just in church, in Christ, enjoying him, obeying him, and operating like him in every single area of life. Now, this morning, we're continuing week two in a series. We paused Matthew for a minute. We're jumping into a series called who We Are. And the heartbeat behind this series, if you didn't guess already, is to really talk about who we are as a church. What makes restored Temecula distinct. There's a plethora of wonderful gospel preaching churches all over the earth, local expressions of the global body of Christ, making disciples, growing as disciples, reaching their neighbors, seeing and pursuing the kingdom of God on the earth. We're one of many all over the earth. But what makes our unique local expression of the body of Christ distinct and unique, that's what this series is all about. And we're going through our six core values as a church, the things that matter the most to this church body. Okay, Last week, we kind of set the stage with the reality that every single person on the earth has values. Things that you put importance on, things that you prioritize, Right? Not just every person, every organization. Those of you guys that work at a. You have a job, like the organization you work for or the business that you started, there's values. And those values are really important because what we value informs what we do. And hear me on the flip side, what we do, it actually reveals the true things that we value, because we can have values on paper and those sometimes can be different. Those are like kind of aspirations, kind of the things that we aspire to. We can have Values on paper that don't exactly match with values in practice. And the things that we do as people, as organizations, as a church, the things that we do, they actually reveal the true values that we place on things. You tracking with me? This series is all about who we are as restored to Mecca. What are the things that we value, not just on paper, but the things that we. Not that it's just the things that we aspire to, but the things that make us distinct. Okay, now, if you were journeying with us last week, you know, we talked about our very first value, our first core value, and it's the primary value of our church. And that's the gospel, the good, joyful news of who God is and what he's done through Jesus. We talked about how that value of gospel, it's the most important of our values. We talked about how, like, if our values was like a solar system, that the gospel is like the sun in that all the other values that we have, the other five, they orbit around the sun, the sun. The gospel of Jesus is at the center of who we are. And today, what we're going to do. Eric already mentioned it, but we're going to talk about our second value, and that is one of family. And specifically that the church is a family. If you read the New Testament, the overwhelming most frequent metaphor used to describe the church is family. There's other metaphors, too. You know, an army and a bride. And they're beautiful, they're wonderful. They're all good. They're all components of helping us understand what the church is and how it ought to function and its purpose and all that. But the most frequent metaphor by far is one of family. And it's this beautiful reality that people whose trust is in Jesus. If your trust is in Jesus. Can I get an amen for a second? [00:06:51] Speaker B: Amen. Cool. [00:06:51] Speaker A: I can tell you guys are a little tired this morning. It's fine. It's cool. But I'm gonna talk to you a little bit louder. So when we talk about the church's family, like, we're talking about this beautiful reality that Christians, people who put their trust in Jesus, that how they relate to God is utterly transformed. If you're anything like me, you can go through life sometimes and be like, yeah, God's maybe around. Maybe he feels distant, maybe he feels aloof, maybe. No, no, no. The Bible says that when you place your faith in Jesus, your relationship with Almighty God is one of Father, and not like tyrannical father, not like mean father, not like upset father, like the perfect, loving, gracious, powerful, Holy Father. And if we relate to God that way, if you relate to God that way, that means that has implications for how we relate to one another as brothers and sisters. And so what I want to do this morning, some of you, you've heard this at length. We talk about this most Sundays. But I want to invite you to like actually press in with me this morning. Cause I think there's gold here for you. Even if you've heard some of this stuff a thousand times, there's a difference between what makes its way into our minds and what actually makes its way into our heart. Because I'm telling you, like, if the word of God migrates from your mind to your heart, it'll make its way out into the limbs, dare I say, of the tree, that you are to bear good fruit. What happens at a root level gets revealed at a fruit level. And I think God wants to do some really fun stuff with us. Okay, so I want to just talk about what it means that the church is family. As a disciple of Jesus, like, what does it practically mean for your life? Not conceptually, but practically in the day to day. Okay, so that's what we're going to talk about. Go ahead and grab your Bible if you have one. We're going to be in Matthew, chapter 12. Matthew, chapter 12. If you don't have a Bible with you, no sweat. The crew will put it up on the screen for you so you can follow along. I'm going to be in the CSB translation. I typically preach out of the csb, the Christian Standard Bible. And you can go find, put your finger on verse 46. That's where we're going to start. But before we do that, I want to pray for us. So I want to invite you to join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for being so kind to us. I pray for that person. There's a deep cry in there. That's that Abba cry. That's deep inside of them, their need for their Heavenly Father, I pray that you'd minister to them in power this morning. Through your spirit, I pray for each one of us. May we humble ourselves, humble ourselves in your word. And would you teach us, Holy Spirit? Would you show us the beauty of Jesus? Would you help? Would you counsel, would you guide, Would you lead? And may our lives reflect your kingdom more and more as we yield to your lordship and leadership and love in our lives. So we honor you and bless you, Jesus. You're so wonderful to us. Thank you. It's in Your name that I pray. Amen. Okay, so Matthew chapter 12, starting in verse 46. I'm gonna read through verse 50. You can read with me. It says this while he, the he, there is Jesus. Okay? While Jesus was speaking with the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to him. So get the picture. Let's just use this room. Imagine Jesus is in here. He's speaking and he's teaching and he's preaching, and his mom and his brothers are outside, okay? And look what it says. It says they want to speak to him. Verse 47. So someone told him, jesus, hey, look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting to speak to you. He replied to the one who was speaking to him, who is my mother and who are my brothers? Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, here are my mother and brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Okay, that's our passage. There's a lot here. I'm gonna try to get through it quickly, but I wanna just kind of COVID three things with you this morning. The first is this, what this teaches us about family. So we're gonna talk about that. We're also gonna talk about what this teaches us about the church. And again, practically, what does that mean for us? Okay? What does this teach us about family? What this teaches us about the church and what it means for us. Okay, let's talk about what we learn about family here. Now, you have biological family, right? You share the same DNA, right? Your biological mom, your biological dad, your biological brother, your biological sister, your aunties, your uncles. Like the blood thing, right? Like biology. Now, we talk about family. We talk about biological families specifically. That can mean very different things to different people. Okay? Because of your experience, for some of you, your biological family are the people that you rely on the most. The people that you can trust. That like, when all else fails, you know what I mean? They're never too busy. They're the people that you can always count on, your biological family. That's some of your experience. That's beautiful. That's awesome. For others of you biological family, kind of there's a sting there where it's like, man, these are actually the people that I can't really rely on. There's been hard things. There's wounds there, there's deep hurts there. Okay? So before I jump into this, I just want to acknowledge the reality that everybody's experience in the room is a little different, okay? We all have different experiences with family. Yet hear Me say this. All of us, every single one of us in this room, at the core, we share, I don't know if you know this, we share the same exact desire, a singular desire. And it's this. To be known and loved. To be known and to be loved. Every single one of us, all of us, we desire to have deep, meaningful, listen, lasting relationships. There's not a person on the planet who doesn't have that desire. If they express that desire that like, you know the dude who's like, kinda like, I don't need anybody, that's self protection. That's like a reflex because they got hurt and they don't wanna get hurt again. Every single person on the earth, all of us desire to have deep, meaningful, lasting relationships. And hear me, there's a reason for that. It's not just a coincidence that every human heart longs for that. The reason for that is this. All of us, you and I, we were all created in the image of God. The imago dei, the image of God, you see, the God of the Bible. You know this, but I'm gonna say it anyway. The God of the Bible is triune. Maybe you've heard the word trinity, right? It just, it's a really complex, it's a beautiful mystery, but it's simple, kind of watering it down. Not watering down, but simplifying it down. You have one God made of three persons, not three gods, not it's one God, but three distinct persons. So hear me say this. God himself is a community. God himself is a community. He's eternally united in deep, meaningful, lasting, loving relationship. Okay? And you and I, we were created for the very same thing. It's not a coincidence that you long for deep, meaningful, lasting relationships. That's God, right? We were created for true family because we were made in the image of God. Now in the passage that you and I just read together, in verse 49, Jesus says his disciples. That means his followers, the people of God. His disciples are his true family. Okay, if you're a note taker, my first point is this. Jesus is saying something. He's saying true family is more than biology. Point number one. True family is more than biology, right? The guy comes, hey, your mom and your brothers and your sisters outside, they want to talk to you. And he goes, who is my mother and brothers, right? And then he goes, my disciples. The disciples are my true family. True family is more than biology. Now listen, that kind of sounds a little shocking, especially for folks who really value their relationship with their family, which hopefully that's all of us. But either way, what Jesus is saying here is kind of like, whoa, Jesus, that sounds intense to us. It would have been utterly shocking to the people that heard this 2,000 years ago when he said it. Okay? Cause listen, 2,000 years ago, when all this goes down, there was no closer relationship for a person than their biological family. Okay? Your relationship with your biological family was, hear me, more important than the relationship, than even with your spouse. Let me read you a quote here for a second. There's a book called when the Church Was a Family by Joseph. Yeah, Joseph Hellerman. Fantastic book, by the way. Look at what he says. Will you throw that quote up there for me, Mike? It says this for persons in Mediterranean antiquity. That's for people who lived at the time of Jesus. This is wild. Marriage took a back seat priority wise to another, more important family relationship, the bond between blood brothers and sisters. Marriages were essentially contractual unions intended to strengthen the larger extended family through alliance building with other clans, other households and stuff, and the production of offspring. That's babies, it's having kids. While marriage was important for those reasons, listen to this. The closest same generation family relationship was not the one between husband and wife. It was the bond between siblings. End quote. So get the picture here. Jesus just got done saying something, didn't he? Jesus is telling people whose closest relationships were with their biological family that there's an even greater family, that there's an even truer family than biology. Here's why what Jesus is saying is true. Because biology, as good as it is, as wonderful it is, as glorious as it is, biology in and of itself is fallen. That means it's corrupted by sin. Listen, everybody, we all sin. We all blow it. Right? We all choose ourself over others. We all act selfishly. We all choose my way or your way over God's way. Right? In the Bible, what it does is it uses language. When it talks about this concept of being fallen or being sinful or being selfish, it uses the language of walking in the flesh. Have you heard this before? Walking in the flesh. Raise your hand if you have. Raise your hand if you've never heard that before. Just help me so I can understand how much time. Great youth. Okay, Walking in the flesh versus walking in the spirit. Okay? Walking in the spirit would be like, you know, the WWJD bracelet, Kids, youth, wwjd. What would Jesus do? Yes, what would Jesus do? So when a person is living that way, when they're like, I'm genuinely at all times considering, what would Jesus do in this moment. What would Jesus do in this interaction? What would Jesus do with this problem? What would Jesus do in this opportunity? What would Jesus say? That's the concept of walking in the spirit of Jesus, right versus walking in the flesh, which is referring to sin. Okay? Flesh is synonymous with sin. It's with. I'm pursuing my way at the expense of God's way. All right? Tim Keller puts it this way. I think this will be helpful. He says this, the flesh. Talking about this concept of the flesh. The flesh is the bent of the whole person to want to be the center of the universe. Anybody ever feel that way? I'm the only person. When you decide. This is what he's saying. When you decide you want to make your own decisions about what's right and wrong. When you decide you want to be your own boss. When you decide you want to live for your own happiness. What you're doing is taking center seat in your life and you're living as God. Because you see, the Bible says God is the only one whose glory we should live for. He says you should live for his glory. You should submit to his will. You should let him decide what is right and wrong for you. Listen to what he says. You can either do that or you can put yourself there and live for yourself. Listen to this. The word flesh in the Bible does not usually mean the body. At least not when it's talking about flesh versus spirit. Get this. The flesh is the bent of the whole person to be God rather than to be under God, end quote. You see the difference? I want to be God. I want to be the shot caller versus I want calls to be shotted through. I want to make my own call instead of receiving those directions from the Lord that's walking in the flesh. Now listen, if you live, if you grew up in America, you were trained in this, okay? It's really difficult to kind of undo that mentality. It's really tough. But the kingdom of God looks different. The kingdom of God has one king, and it's not me, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's a way better king. He's way more wise. He's way more glorious. He's way more. He's brilliant in and of itself. Here's the idea, guys. In and of itself, biology has fallen, okay? It's corrupted. It's corrupted by sin. It's flesh. It's selfish in nature. And therefore all of our biology's default state because of the fall, because sin has entered the world, right? All of our biology's default State. Its nature is to do the will of me, the flesh. The default nature is to sin. In other words, to choose my way instead of God's way. Okay, that's everybody. You, me, everybody. That's why the world's as broken as it is. Hear me? That's why so many biological families are as broken as they are. That's why so many of our biological families aren't what we want them to be. Just statistically speaking, many of you, you've suffered some of the greatest pains in your life. Not because of some wild stranger or some rebellious, wicked, evil person that you don't know on the street. No, it's like biological family. Whether it's abuse or whether it's abandonment or whether it's betrayal or there's like, division, that lingering division, you know, it's not the way it's supposed to be. And there's like this conflict that it doesn't seem to go away. It seems to be getting worse with that stuff. Same family member, like, and you could just chalk it up. Oh, he's just the weird uncle or whatever, right? Like. But, like, the conflict and the strife, like, the list could go on and on and on. But listen to me. What Jesus describes in the scriptures, guys, is something different than that. [00:22:29] Speaker B: He. [00:22:29] Speaker A: He describes something different. He describes a different family. And in verse 50, we read it, he describes people, get this. Not who do the will of the flesh, but people who do the will of God. Did you catch when he said that? In other words, people who obey their heavenly father. So here's the point that I'm trying to make with you, okay? Biology alone cannot produce the kind of relationships that deep down, you know you were made for. The relationship that deep down you crave and you desire. And you can't turn that craving off. You might be able to fake other people out, keep yourself distanced, but deep down, you want that. You were made for it. You desire it. Biology. Listen to me. Biology alone cannot make that happen. The things that you were made for. So that begs the question, what do we do then? Like, what do we do? I'll tell you, oftentimes what I see people do, and I've done this plenty of times in my own life. I needed. That is oftentimes what people do is they'll look for family elsewhere, right? So you have biology. Hey, there's some beautiful stuff happening here that's really wonderful and good, but there's a breakdown here. So I'll look elsewhere for family, like, for these deep, meaningful relationships, right? And oftentimes the place that people will look is. Is affinity. Not infinity. Affinity. A, F, F, I, N, T, Y, ish. If I misspelled that, that's embarrassing. And just, you know where I'm going. I just don't want you to think. I don't want you to miss what I'm saying. Affinity. If you're not familiar with what affinity is, what affinity is is like, people who look like me, people who think like me, people who. People who like the same things that I like, right? People that I have things in common with. That's affinity, right? So it's like, if you have the same ethnicity, you're drawn to people who have the same ethnicity as you, whether it's. Maybe it's the same tax bracket. Like, I have an affinity with people in the same tax bracket as me. As, like, oh, whether you're poor, whether you're middle class, whether you're upper middle class, whether you're wealthy, either way, it's kinda like, oh, you get. You're like me. You get it. We're gonna roll together. Like, I'm drawn to you. There's an affinity piece here because we have. We have similarities together, right? So it could be ethnicity, it could be your tax bracket, your socioeconomic status, it could be your hobbies, the things that you like to do, the things that you enjoy doing. It could be sports, could be art. You enjoy the same creative outlets. It could be music. When I was in high school, for whatever reason, the way that I'm wired, I do love music, and I pursued music my life and all that stuff. But I was very drawn to people who liked the same music as me because something inside me, I was like, oh, you're gonna get me. And you are gonna be able to connect on a deeper level because you like this random band that most people don't know about, or this artist that's maybe going under the radar, or this really popular artist that people make fun of, but I'm like, they're brilliant. Like, you see what I'm saying with this? We're drawn to people with the same. Like, we have an affinity with them. Now, here's the thing. Sharing affinity with people is awesome, okay? I actually think it's a tremendous blessing from the Lord. I think it's his kindness in life that we get to connect with people on that level. But listen, ultimately affinity presents us with the same problems that biology does. Affinity on its own, apart from Jesus, is still made up of people who seek to do the will of the flesh. It's still made up of people who are prioritizing the self. And what happens when that happens is inevitably that leads to conflict, inevitably, that leads to division, Inevitably that leads to some form of breakdown, of strife. Why? Because whenever you have competing wills, you're going to have conflict. You with me? So just cause you like the same band as me, that might draw us to, aw, dude, this is my guy, this is my girl. We're in it together. Just because you like the same hobby, like, yes, we're in this together. That does nothing to change the fact that when you progress in that relationship, inevitably you're going to come across two competing wills. And that's a recipe for conflict, isn't it? So if you're taking notes, my second point for you is this. True family is more than affinity. It's more than biology. True family is more than biology. And true family is more than affinity, okay? And like I said, every single one of us, we are created to have deep, meaningful, lasting relationships. We are created for true family, okay? But doing the will of the flesh keeps us from actually having it. Now, if biology alone doesn't produce it and affinity alone doesn't produce it again, the question still stands. How in the world then do we get it? How in the world do we get the thing that we crave deeply and not just that we crave it, the thing that we were made for. How do we get it? Well, the Bible tells us the answer. Thankfully, the answer is this. In order to get it, every single one of us needs a new nature. I'm not talking about mother nature. I'm talking about what's happening inside of you. You and I, we need a new nature. One that isn't set on doing the will of our sinful flesh. The apostle John puts it this way. In John, chapter one, starting in verse 12, he says this. But to all who did receive him, the him there is Jesus. He doesn't say to all who acknowledge that Jesus is real. He doesn't say to all who, like, talk about Jesus. He doesn't say to all who attend church gatherings or read their Bible or wear the uniform, you know, like, hey, I'm a Christian. Like, that's not what he says. He says to all who did receive Jesus, some of you need to receive Jesus. But to all who did receive Jesus, he gave them the right to be children of God. That's family language, huh? To those who believe in his name, his name is not just like his name. The name Jesus literally means Yahweh saves. It's the essence of who he is. Verse 13. Who were born. Look at this. Not of natural descent, that is biology. Or of the will of the flesh. Biology. Or of the will of man, but of the will of God. Here's what John is saying, okay? Faith in Jesus, trusting in Jesus, receiving Jesus. It results in, get this, a brand new birth. You've heard the phrase, born again. I'm born again. I'm a born again Christian. That's what he's talking about here. It results in a new birth. In other words, a brand new you. That rhymes, that'll preach a brand new you. Like a brand new you. Trusting in the gospel results in a brand new you. Some of you feel stuck in your life right now. You feel like you're in a rut. You know, there's sinful patterns. You know, there's hard things experiencing your experience in you. You don't need like a new strategy. You don't need a new relationships. Maybe you do, but what you really need is you need a new you. A brand new regenerative, born again, new creation in Christ. And it's available to anybody with faith every single day. Not like a one time deal, like a daily dying to that old self, putting on that new self. That's new life. Trusting in the Gospel results in a brand new you with a new nature. Look at this. Where your old desires are replaced with new desires. And those new desires become what Jesus talked about in verse 50 of our passage. The desire to do the will of God the Father instead of the will of Tom the King. You with me? Those are two different things. So here's my position, and I'm convinced that's what the Bible teaches. Note takers, here's your next point. True family is only found in Jesus. True family is only found in Jesus. Affinity on its own, that cannot produce it. Biology on its own cannot produce it. I do want to talk about biological family for just a second. I think it's important to note Jesus is not condemning biological family here. Okay? At all. All right? Biological family, get this. It matters a lot to God. Like a lot. It's really important. Okay? You remember the ten Commandments, right? The ten rules that God gives his people for human flourishing. The things, the things that really matter to him in his kingdom. The ten Commandments. Do you remember what number five is? You Bible scholars in the room. [00:32:09] Speaker B: Yes. [00:32:09] Speaker A: Honor your father and your mother, okay? Honor your father and your mother. Do you know that that comes before? Do not murder. It comes before. Do not steal. Listen, biological family, it matters to God, okay? So please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Jesus, he's not condemning biological family. He's pointing people to a deeper connection, a deeper family that's only available through the grace of go. Pointing to family that's redeemed, a family that's redeemed Family the way that God originally intended for it to be. It transcends even biology. It certainly transcends affinity. And I know so many of you in this room, and I look around and I think about the families represented. Some of you have unbelievably wonderful biological families. Like, God has really blessed you. It's awesome. I can rejoice in that. I can celebrate with that. It's so cool. It's the hand of God, okay? You have amazing biological family. Some of you, you've experienced the joys of family. Even at times when Jesus is in the center of it, you've experienced that joy. It's great. It's amazing. Even though it's not all that God intends, it's still wonderful. It still tastes good, huh? Some of you are even blessed with the best of both worlds. Like, you're blessed with, like, not only do you have good relationships with your biological family, but your biological relatives are also disciples of Jesus. Dude, Praise God. That's as good as it gets. Praise God, for that's the best case scenario. That's not everybody's story, but that's some of your stories, and that's wonderful. I talked about Costco last Sunday. I'm gonna talk about Costco again this Sunday. Raise your hand if you're a weekday Costco shopper. The smart ones in the room or. That was mean. Sometimes you can only go on the weekend. But how many of you guys, whether by choice or whether that's all the time, all the margin you have, you're a weekend Costco shopper. Okay, handful of you, here's the deal. Weekday is better because it's less crowded. Weekend is better for one very important reason. What is it? You already know, because when you show up to Costco on the weekend, there's all these really nice ladies who are literally handing you free food, going, take it, sample. You can have this. Yummy, yummy. It's so good. And you try it, and you're like, that's fantastic. Have you considered, as enjoyable as that can be, some of you, you're like, yeah, I can't say no to the free sample of Mac and cheese. I can't do it. I'm. Take this. Yes. The free. You know, the Free waffle, the free ice cream bar, the free. You name it. The sample game at Costco is strong on the weekend, not so strong on the weekday. Have you considered why Costco gives out free samples? Yes. They do it for a reason, right? They give you a taste of something because what will that do? It will increase your desire for it. They'll give you a taste of something because it will increase your desire for it and hopefully entice you to what? To buy that thing, Right? It's brilliant. It's smart, right? Here's what I want you to see, though. Your desire for it was already there, wasn't it? Or else you would say, I don't need the sample. I don't want the sample. You decline the sample if your desire for it's not there. But you say yes to that sample. The desire for it's already there. They're giving you a taste because they know that that desire is already there. And it's gonna increase that desire for it, and hopefully you'll buy it, right? Listen to me. Tasting the sample, it fuels the desire that's already inside of you, right? Friends, God, he uses all sorts of things in your life, all sorts of samples to get your attention, to get your attention. But his motive is not like Costco. His motive is not to sell you something. His motive, get this, is to satisfy the deepest longings in your heart that will not be satisfied apart from his lordship and kingdom and way. Now, listen, even the best biological family, the healthiest, most amazing biological family. Listen to me. Is a taste. It's a sample of an even greater and deeper family, the family of God. God's kind of like Costco in that he knows the desire's in there. And he will give you samples for you to taste, to increase that desire so that you pursue the very thing that you were made for you. With me, it's not just with biological family. The same thing happens with marriage. Marriage, it falls into the same category. Even the best marriage in the world is a taste. It's a sample of the intimacy and the oneness that's available to you in Jesus, the bridegroom and the bride. It's not just with biological family. And with marriage, how about parenting? Like, I have two daughters. I love my girls like I love them in a way that I've never loved anything else. Like, it's a love that's not like any other love. But listen to me. It's a taste. It's a sample of the unconditional and the unending love of The Father in Heaven. My Heavenly Father. You see this? What might be some of the things that God is allowing you to sample in your life of the desires that are already there, that he wants to lead you into something that will actually satisfy you, not let you down. There's more. I don't have time to talk about it, but there's more. So Jesus, he's saying. He's saying that the family of God transcends even biological family. It's the truest type of family there is. It's family redeemed. Okay, I'm running out of time. I want to talk about what this teaches us about the church. Then what does this teach us about the church? Okay. We talk about the overwhelming metaphor in the New Testament is the church is family. Not just even like it. It is family. If the church is primarily a family, that means there's some implications in that. There's some implications here. For starters, the church, and therefore Christians, right, are not, hear me, are not a collection of isolated individuals. Joseph Hellerman, again for the win. He says this. Quote, check this out. The New Testament picture of the church as a family flies in the face of our individualistic cultural orientation. God's intention is not to become the feel good father of a myriad of isolated individuals who appropriate the Christian faith as yet another avenue toward personal enlightenment. Nor is the biblical Jesus to be conceived of as some sort of spiritual mentor whom we can happily take from church to church or from marriage to marriage, fully assured that our personal Savior will somehow bless and redeem our destructive relational choices every step of the way. Listen to what he says. You may be surprised to discover that the expression, quote, personal savior occurs nowhere in the passages of Scripture. Our radical overemphasis on a personal relationship with God is an American, not a biblical theological construction. End quote, roundhouse to the chin. We're all laying flat on our backs. Here's what Hellerman's saying. He's saying that an independent Christian is not something we see in the Bible. He's like, you're not gonna find it. Why? Because the Christian belongs to a family. The Christian belongs to a family. My fourth point for you, if you've taken notes, is this. There's no anonymity in Christianity. Anonymous, unknown, disconnected anonymity. There's no anonymity in Christianity. Like the whole it's just me and Jesus thing, it's not biblical. It's not biblical at all. Now, I think most people would agree with this. Conceptually, yeah, that makes sense. But not functionally. Not functionally. Here's how I know. I'll just ask you. I'll ask you a question. For some of you, the answer is going to be clear. For others, the answer won't be, do other Christians know the real you? Like the real you. Not the mask, not the makeup, the real you. All of your wonderful gifts and strengths, all of the beautiful, unique things that make you you. And all of the things, maybe that you struggle with in life, the things that you're having a hard time in, the things that you're uncertain about, your doubts, your insecurities, your worries, your fears, the whole spectrum of who you are. Do other Christians know the real you? Because I'm telling you, there's no anonymity in Christianity. The relationally independent Christian, it's an oxymoron. Youth. That just means it's a contradiction. Charles Spurgeon says this. God's people are not dogs, else they might go about one by one. But they are sheep, and therefore they should be in flocks. Dang. So don't hear what I'm not saying. Your personal relationship with Jesus is essential. You gotta know God as father. Absolutely. Your personal relationship with Jesus is vital. It's critical. It's essential. You can't survive without it. However, a Christian doesn't only have a personal relationship with God. A Christian has a communal relationship with God because a Christian belongs to a family. There's no anonymity in Christianity because a Christian belongs to a family. So can I just talk to the disciples in the room for a second? If you're just figuring out Jesus and you're exploring, and maybe you're like, so glad that you're here, but if you're like, hey, I'm a disciple of Jesus, just for you guys for a second, are you following Jesus by yourself? Like, is your prayer life, Is it mostly by yourself? Is your engaging with the scriptures, you're engaging with the Bible? Is it mostly by yourself? Is, how about this? Your praise and worship? Right. Regular part of the daily life of a Christian is your praising God. Thank you, Lord. You're wonderful. You're glorious. You're good, you're holy. You're so gracious to me. You're so forgiving your praise. Right? And you're ascribing worth. Is that something that you mostly do by yourself, or are you intentionally doing these things with others? There's no anonymity in Christianity because a Christian belongs to a family. Okay, now listen, you are totally free to disagree with me on this, but this isn't like my opinion. This Is the Bible. If you disagree, that's fine. But I just. I'm gonna ask you with. In humility, genuine humility, give me one example of a Christian following Jesus by themself in the New Testament. If you can find one, let me know because I will repent. And turn around. I don't see it. A Christian is not an isolated individual with a personal savior. A Christian belongs to a family. There's no anonymity. Christianity. Okay, now I need to fly. I'm almost done. So if the church. If the church is a family, that means there's things that the church is certainly not. Okay? If the church is a family, it means the church is certainly not. Here's the next point for you. The church is not a building or an event you attend. We talk about this all the time. The church is not a building. We meet in a school, and it's not an event that you attend. In the Western world, we use phrases like, are you going to church? What church do you go to? Okay. I don't think there's any ill will there. I don't think there's any. But I want to talk about that for a second. Because there's implications, right? Going to church. When that phrase is used, listen, it miscommunicates what the church actually is, okay? The clearest way I saw this play out in my life, which is actually really beautiful, was my children, my kids, all they've known is church planting. This is their third church. All they've known is our family. We plant churches. This is what God's call on our life is. That's all they've known. And all they've known is that the church is the family of God. Like spiritual aunties and uncles. This is where we relate to each other. We relate to God as father, relate to each other as brothers and sisters. This is what this is. It's a family, right? And it was funny. Cause this third church plant for my kids, Millie's in the playground. We just moved back to Temecula to plant the church. Millie's on the playground and she's playing with kids. And kids talk about stuff, right? They're talking about stuff on the playground. And the topic of church comes up on the playground. And one of the kids asks her, asks her, hey, what church do you go to? And Millie literally was like, what are you talking about? Like, I don't even know how to answer that question. What do you mean, what church do I go to? I belong to a church. I have one. I go to Sunday worship. Gathering. I go to the Lord's Supper with gospel community stuff with my parents. She had no concept for how to even answer that question because her whole worldview around church was, church is a family. It's not an event. What do you mean? You go, Do I go to the Logue family? Do you see what I'm saying? It was beautiful because you knew. The church is not a building. It's not an event. Listen, some of you are like, come on, dude. Really? You're gonna, really, like, camp on this. Here's why it's so important. Here's why it's so important. Because when we treat the church like an event that you attend, it inevitably becomes a product that we consume. I'm gonna say that again. When we treat the church like an event that you attend, it inevitably becomes a product that we consume. And when the church becomes a product that you consume, it mutates the beauty of true family. It turns it into entertainment. It turns it into an hour or two of amusement or inspiration on a Sunday. Thank you. Listen, and when that happens. Listen to me. When that happens, it's only a matter of time until the church essentially becomes a business. I know that this will preach in this place because the amount of people that we counsel and shepherd coming out of environments where they felt treated like a resource. It's real. And I'm not throwing shade. Listen, the Western church is really hard to lead. It is. There's complexities that other parts of the world don't have to deal with. So I'm not here saying, oh, we're better because we. No, But I just know that this inevitably happens. And I've seen it happen so many times. The church. Next point, the church is not a business, okay? When we treat the church like an event, that you attend it inevitably because a product we consume. And when the church becomes a product you consume, it's only a matter of time until the church becomes a business. Listen. Where pastors become managers and CEOs instead of servants and shepherds, right? What happens in business? In business, you have a product, right? Business is a godly thing. It's wonderful. So many gifted, godly business owners in our church. Listen, in business, you have a product, and what you do with that product is you enter it into the marketplace, okay? And when it enters into the marketplace, it competes with other businesses for market share. In the case of the church attendance on Sundays. And when the church becomes a business, what happens? It starts to become tribal. It starts to become competitive. Oh, you go to that church, it Starts to become competitive like Coke is competitive with Pepsi. That will preach, that will preach. Local churches start competing for market share. I'm gonna preach an extra five minutes today, maybe a little bit longer. Let me read you one more quote. This is important. This is super important for us especially. Listen to me. Especially in this context, in this place where I genuinely believe that there's a lot of men and women and children and adult and youth who don't have a biblical understanding of what the church actually is. And what that does is it can make muddy and mess up sometimes even their relationship with God. So this is why this is important. Okay, let me read you this from Terry Virgo, father in the church. Amazing guy, helped plant a lot of churches, says this quote. More recently, pastors have been increasingly impressed by the successful growth of businesses and the models used by business leaders to promote growth. This has often led to a pragmatism foreign to the atmosphere of the Bible. Professionals are hired as so called staff members and assessed on their accomplishments and if necessary are fired, as in a business, if their work rate or stats don't impress. Rather than being recognized as elders emerging among the flock. He continues, churches can sometimes become obsessed with numbers so that members feel that they are merely a means to an end and not particularly valued for themselves. Growth can be measured purely in terms of the body count on Sundays, while spiritual growth and developing maturity can be marginalized or go unnoticed. In other words, we're pursuing quantity and we don't really care that much about quality. Friends, when the church becomes an event, when something that you go to do you see what the implications of living that way is of speaking that what that communicates about what the church is. When the church becomes an event, it inevitably mutates into a business where people become resources, pastors become managers, and Jesus, get this, becomes a product. Jesus isn't a product. Jesus isn't a product. He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He's the lover of your soul. He's the only one who can provide for you the satisfaction on every level that your heart deeply longs for and that you were made for. Church is not a building. It's not an event, it's not a business. It's family, redeemed. Alright, let's talk about what that means for us. [00:52:12] Speaker B: So [00:52:16] Speaker A: talk about our values. What makes this church distinct? What are the things that mean the most to us? If the church being family, is actually going to be of value to us, something that we value not just on Paper. But in practice, it means it will significantly affect how we operate. I'm gonna give you a couple examples. I'm gonna fly through these. If you want more on this, come talk to me afterwards. I have a lot of stuff that I'm gonna skip in my notes. I'm gonna give you bullet points fast. Okay? If we're gonna actually value the church's family, it means we're gonna prioritize time together. We're gonna prioritize time together. Hebrews 10, 24, 25 says, and let us consider one another. In order to provoke love and good works. Some of you, you need. We all do. We all need to be provoked into increasing love for one another and increasing good godly works that God prepared in advance for each one of us to do. Right? Verse 25. Look at. Look at what he says. Not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing. Is that a habit that you have going on in your life? If not, if so, I just want to respectfully and gently call you. Turn away from. That is it. But encouraging each other. And all the more as you see the day approaching. The day is the second coming of Christ. I don't know if you know this, but Jesus is near. Okay? He's coming again. He's coming soon. The scriptures say, I want all of us to not be like, dang it, Jesus is here. I had plans for my life. I want all of us to be like Maranatha, cry. Come, Lord Jesus, I want you. There's four of us. Yes. We'll take the hill with four. I'm cool with it. So listen, listen. If the church is gonna. If we're gonna value churches as family, it means we prioritize time together. It means we're gonna fight for unity. Okay? There's gonna be conflict. Cause we have competing wills. When it shows up, we prioritize the relationship over being right. The relationship trumps the family is what matters. The will of God is what we're fighting for. That's what we want. Okay? It means we practice forgiveness. It means we guard against gossip and division. It means we don't recruit offense. Join me. My offense against whoever. Right? It even means that we exercise appropriate church discipline when the Bible calls for. So we fight for unity. It means that we're honest and we're honoring the gospel frees us. We talked about this last week to be honest, because we're all broken. We all need a savior. Nobody in this room is better than you. And you're not better than anybody else. In this room. Guess how I know? Because at the foot of the cross, it's all equal. Jesus came to die for you. He came to die for me. Because we're a mess and we need saving. We're honest and honoring. It means we practice the one anothers. I was gonna read a list of you all the one anothers in scripture. Maybe I'll read you a few. This is what the scriptures say, the Christian to regularly be doing. To regularly be engaged in daily, even to be at peace with one another. Don't envy one another. Encourage each other daily. Be kind, tender hearted and forgiving to one another. Confess sins to one another. Serve one another. Regard one another as more important than yourselves. That one's tough. Speak the truth to one another. Don't lie to one another. Encourage and build up one another. Pray for one another. Be hospitable to one another. Bear one another's burdens. How are you going to do that living in isolation? You can't. Can I just say this? You guys do this so well. The most compelling thing about this church is the way that you guys bear one another's burdens. It's not the long winded preaching, it's not the gifted musicians, it's not the Sunday. All those things are important. We're gathered here not for you, not for me, for him. This is all to please him. The most compelling thing is your love for one another. How you bear one another's burdens. The ways that you practice these New testament one anothers. Guys, this is why gospel communities are such a big deal for us. Like it's a hill we're willing to die on. Gospel community, we call them gcs. It's an environment where we can actually practice the one anothers. Like you can't be in a gospel community without those things popping up. And what am I gonna do? Am I gonna follow Jesus with this or am I gonna pull back? It's the opportunity to practice the one another's gospel communities. They're not affinity groups. There's gonna be people have stuff in common. I don't think Great, but they're not affinity groups. They're not Bible studies. Do they study the Bible? Absolutely. They're not like small groups. They're a diverse community of people. Different ages, different stages of life, different backgrounds, different. Okay. A diverse community of people helping each other enjoy Jesus, obey Jesus and operate like Jesus in every area of your life. That's my plug. If you're not part of a gospel community yet, that's your next step in Your discipleship to Jesus with restored Church. You're wanted, you're invited. You don't need to pray on it. You don't come. Check it out. Okay? You can join the interest list for the next Intro to gc. Okay. I'm skipping a lot. I'm gonna close band. Will you come up [00:57:17] Speaker B: or. [00:57:17] Speaker A: You're doing okay on time. You with me? Can you still hear my voice? I'm losing it. Okay, great. Jesus, give me just five more minutes. So we talk about the church. It's not like one. It is the truest family. It's family redeemed, right? Family doesn't happen overnight. The kind of family that God desires, the kind of family that he created and that he installed and that he is redeeming. It's not something that happens overnight. I'm looking around the room. Some of you guys have been journeying in gospel community for years. And you start to see. It's a slow go, but the fruit is undeniable. It's beautiful. It's amazing. It takes time. It takes intentionality. But more than anything, it takes individual people. You and I. Listen to me. Believing and receiving the gospel of Jesus. Without Jesus, it's not gonna happen. Okay? Faith in Jesus is the only way to experience true family. The heart of my message. Faith in Jesus, you were made for it. You crave it. It's the only way to actually have it. Faith in Jesus, trusting Jesus. Biology alone can't do it. A gift from the Lord, but can't do it. Affinity alone can't do it. Only Jesus has the power to transform individualistic, selfish people. Listen to me. Into a redeemed family. There's one more really important thing I have to share with you. And it's like a really big deal. It's critical for you to understand about the church being a family. John chapter 17 is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. And the reason it's one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible is because it's the entire chapter is Jesus God the Son in prayer to God the Father. It's literally like you get a behind. We talked about the Trinity. You get a behind the curtain. Look at the triune God and how he relates to how God relates to God. It's profound. You'll never stop mining the gold in John chapter 17. One of the things that Jesus prays for In John chapter 17 blows my mind. He prays that the people of God get this would be so powerfully united, so powerfully connected, so powerfully in relationship together that the rest of the world would believe the gospel because of it. Do you realize what that means? You realize the implications of what Jesus is praying for? Listen. Yes. The family of God is for your benefit. 100%. It is 100% for your benefit. It's for your blessing, it's for your formation, it's for your flourishing. Absolutely. But get this. It's not only for you. It's not only for you. Because the desire for family, get this, is in the heart of every person you've ever met, even and especially the not yet Christian. Do you know what happens when the not yet Christian encounters the true family of God? Like when they witness it, when they see it with their own eyes? Do you know what happens, like, when they encounter different people? Look around the room. Do you guys have any idea how spectacular what God is doing amongst us is? Preteens in the front worshiping Jesus, their parents over here worshiping Jesus, their grandparents over there worshiping Jesus. Not just biologically. This is unbelievable. Go travel. I travel enough. And see the church in different contexts. What God is doing among you. Listen to me. It is spectacular. Now hear me. When not yet Christians, when they encounter the true family of God, different types of people, it's not biology that unites them. It's not affinity that unites them. It's not age that unites them, or stage of life that unites them, or ethnicity that unites them. When non Christian, when not yet Christians, when they encounter a diverse collection of people all united in deep, meaningful, lasting relationships with each other, do you know what happens? The same thing that happens to you when you stroll through Costco on the weekend. They get a taste and it provokes the desire that's already deep inside of them. And they're like, I was made for that. I got. I want that. How do I get that? Like what? And guess what? It's not because you and I are brilliant apologetics, brilliant apologists, have all the right answers, memorize all of scripture, know the best way to bring the gospel to people. Yes, we want to do that. We want to be intentional about that. Seeking the Lord in prayer about that. But do you have any idea how powerful of a testimony just your love for one another is according to Jesus? Prayer. It's the thing that has the power to bring salvation to the whole earth. You gotta see it. Catch the vision of Jesus, catch the vision of the kingdom. Cause if you do, you'll yield to it. You'll get caught up in it. And listen, it won't just be duty, religious duty. Obligation. You know what it'll be? It'll be delight. There's nobody like Jesus. Huh? There's nobody like Jesus. Stand with me if you're able to. We're going to respond to this. But listen, some of you, you're in a season of life where, if you're honest, you are missing out on the deep, meaningful, lasting relationships that you were made for. Listen, if that's you, there's a place in the family of God with your name on it. There's a seat at the table that isn't getting filled unless you're present. If that's you, I want to invite you. What might the next step for you be? And being embraced into the family of God. And maybe there's some fears, maybe there's some worries, maybe there's some wounds that you need to work through. We'd love to help you in that journey. It's been many of our journeys, and maybe for some of you, something inside of you does actually kind of feel broken this morning. Like there's a wound there. There's a brokenness in there, and I feel like it's a wound. It's a brokenness thing that only your Father in heaven can mend. Maybe, just maybe, you're the one that's crying out Father this morning. You can do that right now as we respond. Okay, here's what I'm going to. Vivian ray, come here. Yep. [01:04:48] Speaker B: Come here. [01:05:06] Speaker A: Sat. Going to invite you to close your eyes and hold your hands out as a posture you want to receive from the Lord. I'm not going to pray for you. Vivian's going to pray for you. [01:05:39] Speaker B: Dear God, I pray that you will be with our family because this church is your children, and I want you to bless them. If anyone feels like an outsider, Lord, raise them up to praise you and be with you. Because you, Heavenly Father, love your children and want to save them. And you're calling out to them saying, come, my children, come. Come be with me, my heaven, you're my children. Please be with me, Lord. I want you to raise up those people to praise you, Lord. To praise them. Because all of these people here, I can see in their eyes, they all want to praise you, even the ones who are afraid to. I want you to praise the Lord right now. Please, Lord, please call out to these people. Oh, it is. I know what it feels like when you feel like things aren't going out great, like you're trying to figure it out. Just go to the Lord, praise him. He wants you so bad. Go through the door. Open the door. Let him in. Lord, please be with these people. You love them. Please be with them. And in your name we pray. Amen. [01:06:50] Speaker A: Maybe we can praise the Lord together. Let's enjoy him. Lift your voices. If you're on the prayer team this morning, would you make your way to the front? You can come forward for prayer this whole time, Respond. Praise him. Adore him. Give him thanksgiving. If you've been adopted into the family of God because of the blood of Jesus, let him know how thankful you are. If you have not yet given your life to Jesus, you can this morning. We'd love to help you with that. There's a better way. Let's do it. The family of God. Love you guys.