Discover Church

Good morning, and welcome to redeemers. My name is Brett. I'm one of the pastors here at the church. I'm happy to be here with you. We have finished the letter of First Corinthians last week actually, so very thankful that we finally made it through for the next 3 weeks for doing a short series ask on Discover Church discipleship and worship. And so I'm excited for the next 3 weeks. Then we have fifth Sunday breakfast and then we get into Matthew at the beginning of Advent. And so I am greatly anticipating our time ever going to spend in the scriptures through Matthew. I hope you like Matthew will probably be there for a decade. I don't know so if it's going to be it's going to be a while, so enjoy this three-week series. Okay. I'm just going to like laid out on you sick right. Now. You have a Bible you can open up to Ephesians chapter 3. I'm going to read the text for us this morning, then we will pray and begin to talk about. Church to invert 7. It says of this gospel. I was made a minister according to the gift of God grace given me by the working of his power to me. I am the very least of all the state. This Grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the instruction. Of Christ and to bring light for everyone. What is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the Heavenly places. This is according to the Eternal purpose that he realized in Christ Jesus our lord and whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him, but I asked you not to lose heart over what I'm suffering for you which Your glory Lord, we invite your presence the Holy Spirit into this place as we discussed the church and what that looks like and putting you really on display to one another and To The World At Large maybe learn as a people to live in the margins and to seek out the oppressed and those who are broken down and then we invite them into the very story of God that is Redemptive and gives life to God help us today to understand your intentions and your purpose is for your church in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. We're going to talk about the church this morning and my guess is that every single person in here whether this is your first time ever stepping foot in a church, or you been going to church since you were sleeping in the pews. That was me that you have some sort of experience preconceived ideas about the church. You probably also have some awkward or letdowns some experiences with the church that have caused some reclusiveness to it or some distrust with it or just some embarrassment about it. I grew up in the boom of the 80s and 90s mega church movement where church was an event that you went to on Sundays cuz it was happening. It was cool. It was a hyped-up place. I also remember sometimes taking friends out to we had this massive Amphitheater at the church that I grew up in the church about five to six thousand people were Far Cry from that here this morning. And I remember some Sundays bringing friends out and just Burying my head in disbelief of the songs that we were singing where they were blowing bubbles are being asked to make weird animal noises and or 2 all grab hand and raise them up and let go so we are all raising our hands to the heavens. And I understood on maybe one of those so the sentiment that was going on, but I walked away going this is weird. What is this all about what is God's intentions and purpose for the church and there's been so many ideas and philosophies and mindset surrounding the church and how we function as a church and what we should be doing as a church and this morning I hoped you deconstruct some ideas that maybe haven't been helpful or beneficial and then in that replacing building back up. What a church As We Gather should be doing what are the main ideas of premises that we've been working incredibly hard at as a church to dismantle is that the church is not a building but the church is a people but the reality is even in a group like this morning you all are too large for my living room. And so we actually have to gather somewhere that can house these people that want to come and worship the Lord now, that's probably not a lot of work to do this morning in order to get this point. Across that the church is a group of people who are called out by God who are followers of Jesus a local church is an assembly if a church never meets. It is no church at all. The church never meets. It is no church at all. Now there may be some of these is how and when the church meets there may be a meeting that is Wednesday's for example, like my friends church and sisters right now vast Anthony on Wednesday night as the regular Gathering cuz they were meeting in the school and they can't meet in a school but the reality is and as a people if we don't meet we are no church at all meeting is something that churches do an assembly and parts with a church has saved individuals coming together corporately we see this in 1st Corinthians. Is chapter 11 and chapter 14 when the whole church comes together Paul is we just discussed had extensive instructions for how the church ought to behave and operate as they gather a church is a distinctive. Gathering when they come together to partake in the Lord's Supper to praise God to sing spiritual songs and to minister to one another will make the Assembly of the church such an important identity. There's two things here this morning that I want us to grasp as we begin to discuss the church. First of all, when the church gather it's a visible expression to itself that Christ is as we come together in this place this morning, it's sort of like if you ever been to a family reunions and at the end of family reunions, everybody wants a massive what together picture they want a picture together. They want to remember this visible moment that they exist as a family together. So on Sunday for us as the church gathered in France and they're our schedules and they're people who missed and there is sickness and there are meetings. If that's what the church is a visible expression As We Gather that we exist for our King to when we come together for expressing that reality that truth but this is an outpost of declares the glory of Christ one to another in this Gathering. By the way, the church expresses who they are the alogent Everett Ferguson puts it like this in a sembly the church becomes a conscious of itself confesses itself to be a distinct entity shows itself to be what it is a community of people gathered by the grace of God depended on him and honoring him. The assembly allows the church to emerge in its true nature of the church. We visibly in discussing here wheat this mystery is coming out of visibly expressive one to another but not only that as a church gathers together. It's an expression to the universe. Who we are. God is joining espalda Claire's in the New Testament letters, Jew and Gentile together taking two groups that often lead odds with one another rich and poor powerful and Powerless prominent and pushed out marginalized Outkast and because of the church is in a selected group of people that come together invisible Express to the world a different way to be not based on the same power structures and systems that the world has put did you play with the clearest because of Christ the Plainfield has been leveled and we're all one in him loving caring and taking care of one another. Shopkins when the church assembly actually comes together with this diverse group of people. It's beautiful few years ago. We had a family that was at our church for a year-and-a-half and his name was dale dale dale was from Nigeria day. I would show up in the African. Yeah. Oh, yeah. She open African Garb every week. He would come and beautiful colors and worship his chains with a bunch of rule lightful. And it was beautiful. His wife one evening, they came to our house for a 8 in womens dinner and it was wonderful and we are a group of people who get past all of the barriers of the world puts up and says because Christ is King. We are a United group of people this morning Luis was supposed to read the song but he couldn't make it to my Louise read the song. He's been reading it in Spanish, which again is a visible to splay of the diversity of the body of Christ that really exist in unity outside of the church. sweetie young and old coming together as little kids come running up to those who are older in this church, and they are teaching the younger ones and caring for them such a joy because why the church is beautiful expression of Us coming together and walking in life with one another I missed it, but two weeks ago if you were here many of you wept with Jerilyn as she sang Blessed Be Your Name why because you know her story and what she did just recently walkthrough with losing Elijah her son and our hearts ache and they broke with her also glorifying the same King the same God encouraging one another why the church a visible expression one to another that Christ is King a visible expression to the world outside of us that Christ is our stuff that happens in a gallery when we commit to know one another to come together and to worship god with each other to actually be intertwined and involved in one another's lives begin to live out what it means to be the church one to another This body and bodies of Otherworldly kind of love that people would crave and desire because of Christ now, here's the problem. The vast majority of people and you ask why do you come to church cuz a lot of misconceptions and wrong ideas about it this morning if I were to ask what brings you to church, is it the coffee and it's free and it's all right, or I we doing okay job as a barista back in the day. Maybe it's the chi chi maybe a music maybe it's the friends and the reasons can vary for why we actually show up here on a Sunday from a physical experience that is it provide something physically for me are a spiritual experience. We provide something spiritually that are otherwise not get if I didn't gather already motionless. I just come to church and sometimes I'm just a move by whatever is being shared and he said discussed and talked about or two religious experience for some of you. I feel right with God when I'm here because I'm checking it off the box and I'll probably get blessed this week. I can give you all sorts of ideas of why we actually rolled out of bed on a snowy morning and Drug ourselves to this place. And it begs the question when we come together. What are we doing for the last 50 years? What are the movements of the church at Large? Kind of pushed out a lot of the Jesus e churchy kind of things that you probably would have saw take place in early church Gatherings. We lost some corporate prayer for making any more welcoming environment. We started serving coffee Praise Jesus in our church is right and we begin to move in this environment which we saw the church primarily as a Outpost for evangelos and bring your friends to church so they can hear the gospel and they can come to know Jesus and to some degree. This has been a great area in which we turn the volume up and said, let's have Sunday being Evangelistic Gathering a bit like a Billy Graham crusade in which Jesus is proclaimed Lobby. Yes, and amen. We need that every week to get to the gospel to get to Jesus that we may all see him. But in a sense we then left the volume the same are turn down the volume on aspects of this. People ship if you go to other churches outside of redeemers, you might be shocked to find out they don't take communion often which seems to be at the early church did on a regular basis. They don't pray together. They don't push one another towards Community would just sort of lived in this come and see place and what you get a nice little TED talks and emotional words a few points to go on your way and let me tell you something. I am a product of that movement and I do not look back on it with any disc case. It may have been at some point. What kept me around. But the problem is is there's now a hunger and a thirst for more spiritual things at our Sunday Gatherings isn't there a desire to not just be this glamour that huge and massive but a community of people who walk with one another in life. To know one another and care for each other and for a church to begin to move forward and what it looks like to do Jesus the kind of thing in church, believe it or not. That's something that we believe we should be doing over a typical modern angelical Sunday Gathering is often void of many of those things in efforts to make people feel good. To make people feel at ease that you might not have to pray with anyone and you can get in consumed and kid out people want to spiritually connect floor. What does it look like in the new test? Let me just give you a quick rundown teaching and admonishing one another all throughout the New Testament letters all in the book of Acts. There is this idea that were teaching him. We read this morning at monashee one another singing hymns Psalms and spiritual songs Colossians 3:16 scripture publicly 1st, Timothy for encouraging one another hockey bruised chapter 10 sharing the Lord's Supper 1st Corinthians 10, these things cannot happen in a vacuum these things happen as the church comes together and maybe you can have them as part of a substitute for some extracurricular that you do outside of the Gathering of the same, but we assume that your mom's first and foremost to the Believers. They gather together with this intent focused on being under the king in one place very important for us this morning the intent the focus of the church our church United people under the kingship of Jesus Christ functioning as the priesthood of all to all believers on our website. We say we are a group of people committed to following the ways of Jesus spending time with him becoming like him and doing the things. He did Sunday Gatherings are the primary way. We worship together. Learn the scriptures pray for one another and create space to allow for the spirit to work and to move Our desire as a church is not just to mimic successful models of having. Okay teaching OK streaking tolerable tolerable amount of time that we spend on this but to be a people that say we want to come here and say never really curious to what you're up to today, Arthur lives. Wait on you once you receive from you that I want a spiritual connection Beyond just coming and listening and walking out of these doors and saying that was good for this week. What's going to happen next week? And I don't want to look weird like Corinth. They were out of control doing all sorts of them stirred things drawing attention to themselves. But to be a people who actually say God, what are you up to in our midst the church the church to be a place in which we come together trip says it like this Paul Tripp. The church is not a theological classroom get that out of your head. It is a conversation confessions repentance reconciliation forgiven if you think education center, how about that for a new name? You want me to spit it again? A conversation confession repent is reconciliation forgiveness and sanctification Spencer. That is who and what we desire to be where listen flawed people who are flawed. People are flawed people. Do you watch? Play Store faith in Christ and gather to know and love him better and learn to love him as others, but he designed. That's the church. What do you look for in a church? He showed up today. It wasn't good parking number two or three thing people look for in a church music kid parking and then doctrine of people's checklist of what they actually want in a church where we want Witcher 3 things with you. I get 5 minutes on each of them. It looks like number one. We want to be at church that speaks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Just come straight from Matthew 5:33. We're going to spend more time on this later on and Isaiah. Let me put it like this and Isaiah 55 1 through 3 come everyone who thirsts come to the waters. He has no money come by and eat and buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy hearken diligently to me and eat. What is good Delight yourselves in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me hear that your soul may live. God has placed eternity in our hearts. There is a longing desire for something more. Now what has happened and let's just say secularism in this cultural moment right now. There's been a desire for secularism to obtain a chain to a utopian type society in which will progressed forward without the king who oversees righteousness and goodness and Love & Mercy without King. Jesus will still take the values that Jesus brings without him raining residing in our lives. This is a desire a humanistic desire for each ternatea chalone Peaks that every single individual have in their lives. It's what people are in streets rioting and are ticked off and upset but every four years we have big issues in big problems because we have big hopes of a big leader fulfilling his big dream for every single person. Ends like a carrot dangled out in front of us year after year because we can't get that type of society full of writ eternity is in place in your heart. If you're not a Christian in here this morning, there is a drawing of calling a ruling for the peace and you're searching your craving. That's why you wake up and come to church at 9:30 in the morning on a Sunday. Is there something we long for what does the author of Matthew tell us here? He says we're hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Church, we need to have a spiritual appetite for the things of God. We have a tendency to look too experienced people to work to successful Phyllis satisfy. All of those things are great things. I'm thankful for the many successful people for the mini loving caring kind people for the experiences that you've been told enjoy the experiences that I've been able to enjoy your work for leisure time and all the rest, but we seek to find peace alone in those on our lives begin to unravel because they cannot give what they promised to give in the first place that only comes through knowing hungry and thirsty after Jesus cuz the hunger and thirst if you have will never be satisfied by even the good things in this life, The current appetite in the modern church is one that seeks this pop culture model of culture basically saying we want you resemble. We want to look like we want a celebrity. We want to know it all we want somebody that can just give us the answers and celebrity ISM runs. Wild. We Elevate leaders to places? They never should be in the first place. Then we are devastated were broken and me a bad experience at your bad experience because we put too much on a person they cannot fulfill in which God never intended for them to fulfill God calls your leaders in the church to actually get underneath of you not to reside above you. Every promotion but I've ever taken is actually a d motion of service. Truly sincerely, that's what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus. But the current appetite of our culture is please me. Give me only what I want to hear Let Me Be Moved emotionally. It's not one that actually says do I hunger and thirst after righteousness do I desire to Tasty seed that? God has been good to me are big God shrinks in evangelicalism and our heroes are pastors are worship leaders seem to be getting enlarged the church does not need more hero pastors. I need an understanding that Jesus alone is the hero and we are the body of Christ lifting one another up. Thank you. I sincerely mean that with all of my heart. That's what a vibrant Church looks like. When you seek first the kingdom will how do we do that? The kingdom is God's Redemptive Rule and Reign the world Kingdom points directly to sorry the word Kingdom points directly to God kingship or his rule action and Sovereign governance over all created things. What is this mean? They're going to seek first the kingdom of God. We need to know God and we were actually going to take time to open the scriptures and talk about them. We're going to see things like this is the church the manifold wisdom that through the church God is declaring who he is to the world around him. Incredible. We just spent fifteen months in 1st Corinthians really spent a long long time in Matthew. I promise you. All right. Why because we want to know God his word and his plan for All Nation All Nations. Also means as a church were seeking first the kingdom of God. We need to be a people who are being conformed to His Image. I'll tell you what one of the greatest ways that I'm conformed to the image of God is not me and my Bible in my house praying and reading that might be the most selfish time I have with the lord. It's when my wife tells me I'm being a jerk like, I don't think so and she didn't know you were okay. I think I am then. All right. You got it babe. I'm there. I'm with you why she's seeing blind spots and revealing things in me to cause this change. I'm being formed and changed into the image of Christ by the renewing of my mind news flash. I have not arrived. Spend a little time with me and you'll know that very quickly. What does that mean of the church? You got to hang with each other. We got to hang with each other. We come here on Sundays.

How to know one another birthday doing glorifying God through life and Ministry in these are all interconnected as we know God we're being conformed to His Image wishes can missions up to do to go and be the church in the world around us what that means for each and everyone of us knowing god learning things about God as he taught his disciples were taught through the Epistles were taught in the Old Testament what it looks like to be a person whose thoughts are shaped by scripture not culture whose thoughts are shaped by what God has to say democracies have to say the word shaped truly by the words of God in our thinking we're getting to know his character who he is and what he is like the first premise in which the Setai on State and they're in the garden tempted Eve was is God actually good. That is a question that comes up again. And again in people's lives. Actually good. I lost my job my spouse passed. I can't have children but actually good and then we want to tempt us on these big question concerning the character in the nature of God and the scriptures to clear in the face of travesty over and over again the goodness of God and the trajectory that were actually headed towards as a people. I need to be reminded that constantly for without that concert reminder the faithfulness of God through his word. I can still come to the pressures of is God actually good because right now the details in my life would say otherwise and the post of people that feel that way this morning. God is good the scriptures declare it. I understand that moment in life feels totally contrary to that truth and reality, but it doesn't take away from the goodness of God need to hear from the word. You need to hear from other people's lives. Informed In His Image. It's often friends who come alongside and are those consistent reminders of the faithfulness of God, and I've been faithful in their life and he'll be faithful in your life as well. We hunger and thirst for these kind of relationships. Let me come here. Do we seek to actually be shaped by the Holy Spirit? She consider these things and there's a whole lot of other ideas. I loved hit you with. But in Matthew, he says seek first the kingdom of God, then these things what things should you wear what you eat? What you drink but your programs at your church offers. A Ministries we have going on then these things will be added unto you can we all return to the church a little bit and so we put a lot of Hope in certain styles of church. And not enough help in the king who oversees the gallery but a lot of Hope in a big movement of something rather than humbling ourselves and saying God what you have for us as a people who you stop by today in my opinion is no accidents. Do you know their name? Did you reach out to them? We live in an age when people are craving that. At the Redmond Hotel studying the study out in public at love the interruptions and I had this couple they sat right next to me and in the corona day and age they asking me questions in a big table. I said, can we sit by you? And I said absolutely and I'm headphones are charging. So I was just listening to everything going on around me and I heard them talking about needing the Wi-Fi password and I saw this long line for them just to wait in to get the Wi-Fi password and I said, I'm really sorry. I was totally he's dropping. All right, but I have the password if you want the password I can give you the password and so they said sure and so we begin to talk a little bit where you from and they go don't really want to tell you cuz we're from California.

What were the good kind of Californians and I was like, well my property value go up every minute. So I'm really thankful for that. So keep calm and keep buying keep doing your thing. All right, that's awesome. I'm thankful for that. And so had a fun little conversation with him and it again to engage and talk for a little bit and at the end of it they looked at me, and they said thanks for talking to us. Thanks for talking to us. Hurts to even notice people around us anymore. So afraid to have conversations to get involved in people's lives, and that's actually what the church is called to do. It's messy I'll be the first to say that I've been involved in too many messes times to cause them to the recipient. I get it we're Sinners, but it's worth the mess to pursue one another for going to be a church. We need to get off the sidelines and commit to one another. Seek first his Kingdom Hall of commitment to the kingdom.

In modern evangelicalism. I'm the first to admit my failure in this and I think there's a holistic call the church. We have not called followers of Jesus to enough in the church. I call I give up one Sunday a month. I can't do more than that. I get it. I understand but there ought to be a call to radical discipleship as we look at discipleship even next week and what it means to be a follower of Jesus in our culture. The majority is primarily due. This event that we come to attend and that's asking a lot of people already but there ought to be this desire that have been committed to Jesus. I want to be committed to the mission of Jesus as well. And I want to call us to a deeper commitment not to Simply fixing junk that breaks here on Sundays. What you actually say, what is the church if it's not a building, it's the person you're sitting next to are you invested in somebody's life in this church. I'm calling you to start committing to one another. Spending time with each other caring for each other. But it's how we grow and Thrive and see God work and see God move a call to the kingdom results in an actual interest to people. I'm called to the kingdom and I do all sorts of great stuff at my church and I clean the floors. I do have are you called two people? What was Jesus about? Came and I brought the kingdom and I understand the big Mission Vision of a death and resurrection of Jesus. He was committed to people and inviting them in. I'm an introvert. I'm semi an introvert. I get it at the put on the extra brightness of times called to one another. That's what it means to be the church. Don't become so consumed too preoccupied with your own wants and desires to be committed to one another. Finally all I finally have time for him. Our response to hunger and thirst after righteousness to being committed to one another in creating space even in the Sunday Gathering to being a priest one to another what does that mean? That means when you came in here this morning? Anime eyes and say who can I talk to you? What do you want to do? Holy Spirit. What do I want to do? And who do I want to talk to you but is your driving in your car as you're walking up the steps as you're sitting in your seat as Racine for some it's an invitation to say. Unveil to me what you would want me to do in this gathering this morning because it's not just Brett and Carson or Michael or whoever else comes up here and speak it performs. That is nothing you can get that at home. When we come together as a church reaction are called to minister to one another to take a risk to be both to send out an invitation to invite and Chargers share life with one another that is essential and that is probably what a radical Church looks like going forward. It's not so clean and put together a performance-driven and oriented that way for such a beautiful mess which invites one another into the actual Gathering of the states because God wants to do something here through you. to each other No Pastor, he just wants to do something for you as you speak. I wholeheartedly disagree about your full premise. Yes, I believe that God shows up and moves as we teach the scripture is always faithful to do that. You are missing something you are missing something. If you miss the opportunity to invest in the people next to you in this place my heart my prayer is that because of the Gospel. We have eye to see the people that we need to minister to or to say. Help. I'm lonely. I'm broken. Can you pray for me? And it would be bold and take risks even in the gathering before after going to some quiet time. I say I want to pray I want to invest I want to be for him God help us. Help us to be these kinds of people. Help us to be a church. That is not event-driven. But it's people driven. Troy can actually open your eyes and look around and see the massive amounts of ministry that can happen as we open our lives. We open our refrigerators. We open our pantries and we invite people into share life with us. To courage one another and to do that even on a Sunday morning when we gather that we would be a people that are concerned and curious as to what you're up to in this place. Chicago give this time to you. Jesus name. Amen. Amen if you knew.