Mill City 2/8/26 Mill City 2/8/26

2 Samuel 1

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning. Through snow and ice and disconnected H VAC units, we have finally gathered together, and we are getting ready to finally start Second Samuel. So if you're with us in the fall, we finished up First Samuel. We. We took a break with the Remember series and Give series, and now we get to start Second Samuel. We kind of jump into the middle of the story. First and Second Samuel actually were written as one book together. If you remember this when we first started, it's written as one book together because of how scrolls worked back in the day, they had to divide it in two separate scrolls. So it's one story. And we're jumping in the middle of a story at the beginning of 2 Samuel chapter 1. And we jump in the middle of a sad moment. And what we're going to see today is a lament that David has wrote for the people of God. And there are times where it's good to be sad. And when tragedy hits, when loss hits, there's something in us that aches for a response. I remember in 2001 when 911 happened, that as a nation, we were just collectively at a loss of words, and there was just a deep sadness for what many of us witnessed on TV and all the horror and the pain that came with that. And in November, two months after. I remember at the cmas, which is the Country Music Awards, Alan Jackson, he performed a song that he had written just a few weeks before. It's called Where Were youe In the World? Stop Turning. And the whole song is. It's a lament. It's country music, but it's a lament that captures how everyone felt in that moment as we witnessed all the pain and suffering at 9 11. And I just remember watching that with my parents and just being. Just felt it. You felt it in the room. And, you know, people outside of country music that don't even like country music, which is quite a few people, they actually, some of them very much appreciated the moment because what he was doing was capturing what we just felt. And that's what lament does. It captures this. This suffering, this. This loss, this pain that we feel. And it's good for. For us to sit in that. And poetic songs and poetic laments capture that. And that's what we get to see today as we jump into the middle of a story where we finish up in Second Samuel. We see the death of Saul and Jonathan and the defeat of Israel. We're going to walk through how David finds out about this. Then we're going to see how he laments and then as Christians, we're going to be able to sit in this and understand the importance of. Of what it means to be a people who lament. Well, so I'm going to pray for us, and then we'll walk through this together. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word. It is precious, it is a gift, and it communicates wonderful, eternal truths that mold and shape us and conform us into your image in new and better ways. And I pray that you would do that to us this morning as we read and study and sit under the authority of your precious word. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Okay, so if you weren't here for First Samuel, let me just give a quick summary. If you were here and it's been months, let me just help us remember. In 1st Samuel, God calls the final judge and the period of the judges and prophet Samuel. Because first and Second Samuel in the Old Testament is the beginning of the age of the kings. So the people are longing for a king. They want a ruler. They had God as their ruler. They had God as their king. And God used judges to reign them in at times. But this moment, they want a king. They go to Samuel. Samuel listens to the Lord, gives them their first king, which is Saul. And at first it goes well. Saul fits the bill. He looks like a king. He's tall, he's handsome. He leads the people, and they beat, they defeat the Ammonites. They do all kinds of things like this. And it's wonderful. And then as you keep reading, you see that his heart actually isn't fully for the Lord, that he has moments of deep faithlessness. And in his faithlessness, God rejects him as king. He anoints David, who is the next king of Israel. If you're familiar with anything in first and Second Samuel, you're probably familiar with the story of David and Goliath. That is when David steps onto the national scene after he's anointed by Samuel and he becomes a hero. He defeats Goliath, and then Saul appreciates David for, like, 10 minutes. It seems it's not very long. He, like, invites him to marry his daughter. He marries into the family. Things are good for a moment. And then quickly, I think Saul realizes, oh, David is the next king, and he becomes a threat. And the whole rest of 1st Samuel is Saul trying to kill David over and over and over again until finally we get to chapter 31 of 1st Samuel, when finally God brings judgment upon Saul and his house, and they're defeated by the Philistines.

In 1st Samuel 31 it says,

> Then the battle went hard against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was badly wounded by the archers.
> Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and mistreat me." But his armor-bearer would not, for he was very afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it.
> And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword and died with him.
> So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together.

So that is the end of Saul and 1st Samuel, or 2 Samuel chapter 1 picks up right where that leaves off a few days later. Verse 1.

> After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag.
> And on the third day behold, a man came from Saul's camp with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage.

So while Saul was fighting the Philistines, David was facing off with a band of Amalekites who had kidnapped him and his men's families. So he goes, he defeats them, and this is them kind of resting after the battle. And then all of a sudden, verse two, it says, and on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage. So clothes torn and dirt on your head. That was an immediate sign to David and his men that something bad has happened. That's a sign of lament. You're in your garments, you put dirt on your head. Something major has happened. Which David said to him, verse three, where do you come from? And he said to him, I have escaped from the camp of Israel. And David said to him, how did it go? Tell me. And he answered, the people fled from the battle. And also many of the people have fallen and are dead. And Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead. So this is the first that David hears of this, that Saul, Jonathan, his friend, they're gone.

Now, put yourself back in when we finish this up in the fall, and remember all that David went through to get to this moment and understand the complexities of how he must have been feeling. Saul tried to kill him over and over and over and over again, hurling spears, chasing him in the wilderness, chasing him in and out of towns, and finally it's over. And David had opportunities. He had opportunities to kill him himself. He had two opportunities with his hand in his life, and he spared him because he would not raise his hand against the Lord's anointed. He said, God will bring judgment on Saul. I will not. And it's finally happened. So that's in the background. And then also, Jonathan was one of his closest friends. Jonathan was a dear friend to him. If you remember when we walked the story of David and Jonathan, we got to see Jonathan, who was the next in line to be the king. Saul's son was. He was beloved by the people. He was a mighty warrior. And when David steps on the scene, he yields. It's very clear that he trusts that God has anointed him to be the next king. And that doesn't happen in the Old Testament, that doesn't happen in history. People don't give up their right to the throne like that. But he's a faith filled man and he trusts the anointing that David has. And you see, even when they talk, he longs to be serving in David's court one day. And he also. We saw how much Jonathan honored his father. He called him out at times for how he was pursuing David, but he honored him and stood by him in this battle. And his friend Jonathan is dead. So there is a lot happening in the soul of David as he receives this.

And then in verse five, it says,

> And the young man who told him said, "I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there was Saul leaning on his spear, and behold, the chariots and the horsemen were closing in on him.
> And when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, 'Here I am.'
> And he said to me, 'Who are you?' And I answered him, 'I am an Amalekite.'
> Then he said to me, 'Stand beside me and kill me, for anguish has seized me, and yet my life still lingers.'
> So I stood beside him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen.
> And I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm and brought them here to my lord."

Okay, if you're reading first into second Samuel, just chapter 31, straight into this right here. That's quite jarring because those aren't the same stories. That is two different tellings of what happened. And I just want to show you the differences in this. I've got a chart up here. And first Samuel, chapter 31, the narrator tells us that archers surrounded Saul and badly wounded him. But when the Amalekite retells, he says, no chariots and horsemen were close upon him. And in 1st Samuel 31, the narrator tells us that Saul turns to his armor bearer and asks to kill him because he doesn't want to be mistreated. But Amalekite says no. He called out to me. He said, I'm. He said, ask me to kill him. In 1st Samuel 31, we see that the armor bearer refuses. So Saul kills himself, but the Amalekite says, no, I killed him. The only part where. Where it is similar and you can line them up in compatibility is when it says in 1st Samuel 31 that the Philistines recovered just the armor. And then we get in the Amalekite retelling that the crown and the armlet he had so that you can line up, but everything else is different. So when we come upon situations like this in the Bible where there's. There's two differences there, that's an opportunity to lean in and to ask why? Why are these accounts different? And if you are undiscerning and you hop on the Internet and you get into the deep pages of Reddit or Google or wherever you go, you might find the lazy approach that's like, aha. Contradictions. See, your Bible is not trustworthy. And that's an opportunity to just sit in it longer, to ask deeper questions, to be more thoughtful and discerning. And once you do that, it's very clear what's happening. The Amalekite is lying. He's a liar. He's an opportunistic liar. He stumbles upon the battle. He sees Saul. Everyone knows that if Saul's dead, David is the next king. This is an opportunity for him to be rewarded in his mind. Grabs the crown, he grabs the armlet, he makes up a story, he leaves. And then he comes and he tells David the story. So he tells him this. Now David begins to really lament.

Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him.

> Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and likewise all the men who were with him.
> And they mourned and wept and fasted until the evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

For Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword, which is just a picture. When, when the leader mourns and laments, everyone does. They follow suit. They tear their clothes, they weep, they fast. Which just as a thing to think about, that's one of the reasons for fasting. Like we're in the south and when someone dies, we eat. Which I think can be fun, but also have a category for fasting is good for the people of God to actually to. To fast and to pray and depend upon the Lord. And that's what they do until evening.

And David said to the young man who told him, where do you come from? And he answered, I am the son of a sojourner and Amalekite.

> And David said to the young man who told him, "Where are you from?" And he answered, "I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite."

David said to him, how is it you who. How is it you who were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? So this is about the moment the Amalekite begins to realize that he has made a massive mistake. Because David had multiple opportunities to do just this. David could have ended Saul's reign, could have taken the throne, could have seized power. But he feared the Lord and he trusted the Lord. And he was not going to do and raise his hand against the Lord's anointing. He was going to trust the Lord when the Lord decided to bring judgment. So how in the world could this Amalekite, this person who belonged to a people who were enemies of God, think that he could raise his hand against the Lord's anointed and this would somehow be rewarded? This is not the case. And he realizes he has made a mistake, that condemnation is coming.

Then David called out, called one of the young men and said, go execute him. And he struck him down so that he died. And David said to him, your blood be on your head for you, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, I have killed the Lord's anointed.

> And David said to him, "How is it you were not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?"
> Then David called one of the young men and said, "Go near and execute him." So the young man struck him down, and he died.
> And David said to him, "Your blood is on your head; your own mouth has testified against you, saying, 'I have killed the LORD's anointed.'"

So the Amalekite, his reward for opportunistic lying is execution. And that's is another example from the scriptures of the dangers of lying. You can do a whole sermon on that right there. But that's actually not the main point of this story. And we're going to move on to what is the main point, which is this moment of loss for David and the people. And David is going to enter into a lament that he has written. We get the setup for that in verse 17 when it says,

> And David took up his lament over Saul and his son Jonathan, and he ordered that The Song of the Bow be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar.

So what we're about to read is a lamentation, a poetic sadness that the people of God are meant to read for centuries to come. And we also see that it's recorded in the book of Joshar, which. That is a Jewish history book that's referenced a few times in the Old Testament. It's lost to history. We don't have any more copies of it, but it was written in the Book of Joshar for the people, and it was recorded here in these scriptures for the people to remember and to lament together. So we're going to read this lament. But as we read this, I want us, as we catch this poetic capturing of the sadness of the people of God and David, we should remember the complexities of how David is feeling in this, of everything that's happened to him and everything that even Saul and his relationship and how complicated that was, that Saul was his enemy, that Saul wanted him dead, but Saul was also his father in law. Saul was also his king. Saul was also his commander. And now he's gone and so is his friend Jonathan. So there's a lot happening here. And we'll read this lament together. He said.

> Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your high places! How the mighty have fallen!
> Tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.
> O mountains of Gilboa, may you have neither dew nor rain, nor fields of offerings; for there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
> From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.
> Saul and Jonathan, beloved and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.
> O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you with crimson in luxury, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
> How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan lies slain on your high places.
> I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.
> How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished!

If you have a title for this lament, it's how the mighty have Fallen, which I got curious and I was wondering, and as best I can tell, that is where we get the sarcastic play on Lament, oh, how the mighty have Fallen. So this is. It comes back to this. It's how the mighty have fallen. One of the things he laments in the loss of Saul and Jonathan and this army is that the daughters of the Philistines rejoice. And this is. This is a picture of the people in Gath and Ashkelon. These are cities in Philistia. They're all celebrating. So not only have they lost their leader, but also their enemies are rejoicing and they're sad.

You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor fields of offerings. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul not anointed. With oil. Mount Gilboa is where this battle happened. It's where Saul died. And David curses it. He curses it. He wishes this place to be as desolate and devoid of the life that was taken there. Cursed be Mount Gilboa. Says, from the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back. And the sword of Saul returned not empty. Which, every now and then the ESV translations get a little clunky. I think it's helpful if you reverse this. The bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty from the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty. What that is saying is that they once were mighty warriors. They. They once fought for Israel, they slayed their enemies, and now they're gone and they're lamenting the loss of their mighty warriors. So Saul and Jonathan, beloved, beloved and lovely in life and death. They were not divided. They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions. And we've seen this, we talked about this, that they, that. And through everything that was going on with Saul and David, Saul or Jonathan, honored both his friend and also his father. And they fought together, and they were mighty in battle. You read that in First Samuel. Together they were mighty warriors who defeated their enemies. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

You, daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel. Remember how when he reigned, how prosperous we were. How, how the daughters of Israel had scarlet and gold. He says, oh, how, he said, how, how the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle. And this refrain leads into David reflecting on his friendship with Jonathan. Jonathan lies slain on your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant have you been to me. Your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women. So we catch this final glimpse of David's great love for his friend. And he describes this brotherly love that he had with Jonathan as surpassing the love of women, which we talked about this in the David and Jonathan sermon in First Samuel. If you weren't here, I'd encourage you to go back and listen to it. But just a moment to sit in that idea. It is good to have deep friendships like this. And more specifically, it is good for men to have deep friendships with other men. And a time where it is regularly written about that, that male. That male loneliness is a crisis. It's talked about as an epidemic, that men, especially young men, suicide rates are through the roof, substance abuse is through the roof. Drug overdoses has been through the roof. Sports gambling is an absolute disaster right now for young men. And on and on and on. It's just, it's regularly observed there's something wrong and that they're. There's a need for men to have deep friendships. And we aren't culturally set up well to do this. The men aren't culturally set up well to do this. In fact, it's very apparent that culturally we don't understand a depth of friendship like this. Because people read this and they, they, they jump to, oh, something, something sexual in nature must have been going on between those two. I mean, that is, that is, that is what some people will argue that this is evidence that something was happening between those two men. And it's like we've so misunderstood and are so underprepared to understand how important is to have deep relationships with other men that you can walk side by side and that you can see as brothers. So we, we need to, to grow in this. And especially if you're, if you're married. Let me just say this very clearly. If you're married and your wife is your only friend, nowhere in the Scriptures do I see that as wise. You should absolutely have friendship with your wife. Also, you should have depth of relationship with other men. She should not be your sole confidant. We have care nights where we separate the men and women. And one of the reasons we do that is so that men can grow in friendship and brotherhood and accountability and depth. And that matters. So you can go back, listen to that sermon. More was said there, but I'll move on. And he is just lamenting the loss of this great friend that he had. Verse 27. He ends, how the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war perished. So he ends that refrain, the reminder of what they lost in Jonathan, what they lost. And when you think about what David's doing on behalf of the people of God and personally, and thinking about this, it's very peculiar because you have to recognize that ultimately for David, this is a good thing for him. He's not going to have to look over his shoulder. He's not going to have to be on the run. He's not going to have the threat of death hanging over him over and over and over again. Saul for years has made his life miserable. And you can see this very clearly not just in First Samuel, but when you read the Psalms, particularly the Psalms that David wrote while he was on the run from Saul. You see this in Psalm 57. 4. It says, My soul is in the midst of lions. I lie down amid fiery beasts, the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp, sharp swords. I mean, you see the distress as. As Saul and his men, and all the lies and all the. All the slandering, all the. The threats. In Psalm142.3, another Psalm he wrote on the run from Saul, it says, when my spirit faints within me, you know my way in the path where I walk, they have hidden a trap for me under the threat of being captured continuously. Psalm 54, another Psalm that he wrote while on the wrong from Saul, he says, for strangers have risen against me. Ruthless men seek my life. They do not set God, God before themselves. They seek Saul and his ambition, but they don't consider the Lord. And you see the turmoil that David was in for years. So it's reasonable to assume this moment that he hears of Saul's death, that he's relieved. But that's found nowhere in this lament, not for a moment as you celebrate this, even though ultimately this is for David's good and he knows now I'm able to step into the throne that God has prepared for me, he still appropriately laments. He laments the loss of this nation's leader. He laments the loss of his king, he laments the loss of his friend. And he does this for himself and the people of God to remember. And I think David's response is exemplary. I think it's a very helpful example for us to have this category of lament, even though good things may await us, because I think as Christians, we are just in America. I think we're weaker here. And I see this in a few different ways. I see this in the way that some Christians approach funerals. And I'm not here to attack you. If you've said this or if you believe this, I do want to correct you. I've heard Christians say, well, this brother or sister died, and we're not having a funeral, we're having a party. We're having a celebration because we know where they are, and where they are is far better. So there will be no tears. We will celebrate. And I just go, where do you get that from the Scriptures? Where do we get that idea that we smile in the face of death? Where do you get the idea that we should just be happy? We know that good things just. David knew that good things awaited him. But in the moment of death, the appropriate response is lament. I see people when they lose a job, some Christians come alongside them and they're quick to just want to point out things and they'll say things like, yeah, you know, but it's an opportunity for you to trust the Lord. And it seems like you're really upset about losing this job. You might want to check your heart. It's possible that you have some idolatry for this job. It's possible that you have some control idolatry, that you're trying to control everything. And this is an exposure. God is working in this trial to teach you you should be joy filled. And it's like, whoa, he just lost his job. She just lost her job. There's a moment that it's appropriate to be sad. And certainly we can work through the other things later and count it joy for sufferings. But must we jump straight into the good things that might away? This happens with health trials, various members of our church going through all types of health trials and battles. And I appreciate some of the optimistic culture that surrounds all of that. You hear people say, you know, God's got this and, and, and we're, you know, just. And I appreciate aspects of that that rally in a way that's appropriate and good. But there also, there's a moment and there are days that it's just okay to be sad. It's just okay to lament the reality of suffering. And we should hold these together because human emotion is far more complex than this. We as Christians should be the best at this, y', all to have moments where we are just sad for the reality of death and loss and suffering, while also having our hope secured and tethered to the reality of the future promises that await God's people. We should be able to hold both intention together. And no one exemplifies this better than Jesus Christ.

When you get to the Gospel of John in chapter 11 with the recounting of the story of the death of Lazarus and his resurrection, when you read that in verse 11, it says, after saying these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. And that's important because Jesus absorbs the reality that his friend is dead, that Lazarus is dead, while also saying, I'm going to raise him. Jesus knows exactly what he's about to do. He's about to raise Lazarus from the dead because that resurrection is going to point forward to later, not far actually down the road where Jesus Christ will be resurrected, which again points to the future resurrection. So he's doing something bigger here. He knows what he's about to do. He knows the good things that are about to happen. And yet when he meets his friends Mary And Martha, verse 32, it says now, when Mary came to see to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews would come with her, also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, lord, come and see. Verse 35. Jesus wept. And I think that's important because I think if some American Christians would have written this story, they would have said, Jesus comes on the scene and he sees them weeping and he says, dry your tears because I'm about to do something big, I'm about to do something good. I'm going to do something glorious. But he doesn't. He sees his friends who are broken and in tears, and he's deeply moved in his spirit and he weeps. It doesn't say he cried a few tears, it says he weeps. What a wonderful example we have in our Savior. And seeing the need to lament, knowing that good things may await. But the reality is, is that death stings. Yes. Oh, death, where's your sting? That's future looking. But the sting is now. And there are moments where that recognizing that and living in that reality is beautiful and good for our souls. We should be a people who do this well. We should be a people who both hold the reality of death in front of us and cry. And also hold the reality of the future resurrection and new heavens and new earth, where there is no more death, where there is no more sting, where there is no more tears. And hold those both together. I mean, that's when Paul is writing to the Thessalonians. In 1st Thessalonians 4, he says, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who do not have hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. And I think some people just jump to the we have hope. We have hope. And it's like. But it presupposes what he just told them. He says, may not grieve as others who do not have hope. But he doesn't say, don't grieve. He says, no, we're going to grieve, but we're going to do it as those who have hope. Those who are grounded in the hope of the future resurrection. And that's what we're called to do. That when someone dies, the appropriate response is, if they're a Christian, is not, let's have a party. It's like, no, no, Death is awful. Now, we had a funeral here three weeks ago for one of our members, Ms. Valerie. And she was 93 years old. And y', all, she suffered greatly in the last few years of her life. And I could hold the thought in my head that says, I'm so thankful for where she is now. But when I sat with her family, I said, y' all should feel this death stings and it's okay to be sad. And we could hold both of those thoughts together. That when you experience loss, when you lose something, that you can be sad while also having your faith anchored in the reality that one day there will be no more losing, there will only be gain. That we as Christians can have sufferings. And know what James 1 says, when it says, count it all joy. My brothers know what Romans 5 says, that suffering produces character, care produces endurance. Like we can have all these together while also being faith filled and sad and also putting our hope in what is to come and growing and maturing along the way that we should be able to hold these both together. Because we as Christians live between the already and the not yet. We live between the reality of present suffering and the future promises that await. And we should be a people who lament well personally, but also we should help others lament, brothers and sisters. Do not rob others of the opportunity to both grieve and be sad and let God meet them in their grief. Because I think sometimes because we're uncomfortable, because we don't like the silence, or because we lack the theological depth to understand how we should respond. And we'll just offer shallow truisms or Christian niceties. We need to grow in helping other brothers and sisters who are lamenting suffer well and lament well so that God can meet them in their grief and grow their faith in wonderful ways.

I was on the Internet the other day and I saw one of my friends from college post this, one of the most moving things I've ever read on grief. And him and his wife had struggled with infertility for years. They six months ago had twin boys and were excited and did the gender reveal and all the things. And we're all very excited. And at 22 weeks, everything fell apart. They had emergency delivery and their boys lived for only a day. And then this past week, after six months of reflecting, he wrote this. And I Want to ask permission for me to read this because I found it to be very moving, very helpful. How God can meet us in our grief and our lament. And here's what he wrote. He said, grief is about allowing loss to enlarge my heart and increase my capacity to hold both joy and sorrow. Grief is teaching me that my boys live on in me and will always be a part of me. Grief is instructing me to cry out to God and complaint and lament long enough to hear him whisper, I know what it's like to lose a son. Grief is increasing my longing for heaven and the renewal of all things. Grief is daring me to believe that despite our loss, God is still writing a good story. Grief is consistently inviting me to choose life in the face of death. I'm a different person than I was six months ago. But as a friend who knows what it's like to lose a child, has told me I want my child back, but I don't want the old me back. I think I'm just starting to believe him. So it is through grief that I echo the words of Nicholas Wolterstaff in his book of Lament of a Son. I shall look at the world through tears. Perhaps I shall see things that dried eyed I could not see. I read that and I just was like, you don't arrive at that conclusion without having your faith so deeply anchored. The reality that one day he will make all things new, but he's sufficient to meet us in the moment of lament that comes through faith filled lament. You don't see God like this without him meeting us in our grief like this, knowing that God in our suffering gives us eyes to see, even if those eyes are stained with tears. You don't embrace this without faith filled lament. You don't refuse it. You lean into it. And that is something that we need to grow in as Christians. We need to grow in learning to lament well. We need to grow and having this trusting the Lord in the middle of the suffering and the loss.

And one of the ways we get to do that is through taking the Lord's Supper and through singing, which we're going to do in a moment. We're going to take the Lord's Supper and we're going to sing a song of lament. As we come to the table as Christians, we're reminded of what Jesus instituted for us on the night that he was betrayed. He took bread and he broke it. He said, this is my body that was broken for you. And he took the cup of the new covenant. He said, this is my blood that was shed for you, that as often as you eat and drink this, you proclaim my death until I return. Jesus instructs his church to practice this practice, to remember that he secured salvation for us on the cross while also pointing forward to one day when the final feast happens. And that we as Christians live in the middle between both. So we don't come to the table all the time with just joy filled hearts. Sometimes we come with heavy hearts, and that's good. If you're a Christian, you get to consider your sin, you get to consider our sufferings, and we also get to consider our Savior who meets us in our sufferings. And in a moment you'll come to the table and I invite you to. If you're not a Christian, we don't want you to come to the table. We want you to come to our Savior. That walking through this life will be filled with suffering, it will be filled with trials, it will be filled with death. And I hope that reality is impressed upon your heart to see that there is someone who can meet you in that and can point you to the hope that we have that is secure. So don't come to the table, come to Jesus Christ in faith. But the band's going to come up now. They're going to take the Lord's Supper, and then we're going to sing a song of lament that is meant to help us learn how to grieve well, how to lament well. And we will sing this out together.

Mill City 2/1/26 Mill City 2/1/26

Philippians 2: A Life Worthy of the Gospel

We had planned to begin our new series in 2 Samuel this week, but due to weather and cancellations, we’re moving that start date to next Sunday.

In the meantime, we invite you to be encouraged by a special message from Isaac Hill, recorded at Old Lexington Baptist Church in Leesville on January 18. We’re grateful for the opportunity to share this sermon with our church family.

This week’s group content will be standalone.

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

This morning we are going to be in Philippians chapter two. And so if you've got your Bibles, I would love for you to turn there with me. I'm going to read for us verses 1 through 11, and I'm going to pray and we'll dive in. This is what Paul says in Philippians chapter two.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every nation bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word in the way that it reveals who you are and what you are doing and who we are and what you are calling us into. And so we would ask this morning that you would use your word to teach and instruct us, and that it would not return void in Jesus name. Amen.

This morning, since we're jumping directly into the middle of a book, the Letter to the Philippians, I figured we could have a little bit of context. My Old Testament class professor always said, context is king. That was driven to my mind while I studied there. A little bit of context of the letter that Paul wrote. Paul was under house arrest when he wrote this letter to the Philippian Church. If you read the couple of chapters that are there, you find out that this is one of Paul's most encouraging letters that he has to write to the churches. We discover that he has a great and fond relationship of the church at Philippi. They mean much to him, both in his heart and then in his mission of declaring the gospel to those who have yet to hear. There's not a whole lot of correction in the letter, we do learn about some disagreements that show up between a couple members, but for the most part, Paul is really just encouraging this church to continue strong in the faith.

In chapter one, which is immediately before what we're looking at this morning, Paul writes to them to let them know about his imprisonment that he was under, but more specifically to write about how he has found joy in the middle of his circumstance. It turns out that the Lord has used it as an opportunity for the continuing advancement of the message of the Gospel, both to the prison guards that were keeping watch over him and then anybody who he also got to be around. After he shares this update at the end of Chapter one, I believe that there's a transitionary paragraph that leads into the rest of the letter, and I want to read the beginning phrase of that paragraph, because I think it's going to position us to correctly understand what Paul is talking about in the passage of chapter 2. This is what he says in Philippians 1:27.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

There's a footnote in the ESV translation, which is what I like to use, and it writes that if you were to literally translate this phrase, it would read, only behave as citizens worthy of the Gospel of Christ, that what we're going to see today is Paul is going to show for us three aspects, three characteristics of a life that belongs to a citizen of the Gospel of Jesus, that Jesus is king, he is Lord, and for those that believe and trust in him, we exist inside his kingdom, and there's a way of life that is called for us to live in under the message of Jesus. With that, let's jump in to chapter two, verse. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

He writes this language, if there is any. When he writes it that way, it's almost like when you and I would ask a rhetorical question. If you've ever been with your friend and you know somebody who did something totally outlandish, you might say, can you believe that? It's not really that you are asking. Can you show the proof and build out the reason as to why you believe that? No, you're just so confounded by what has taken place that it bursts out into question. In the same way Paul is saying, if there is any encouragement in Christ, there is. He's already written about it in chapter one, that there is encouragement in Christ as he's in prison. He writes, if there's any comfort from love, this letter is an encouraging letter, that the relationship that he has with the Philippian Church, there is comfort in love that he has from them. If there's any participation in the Spirit, he writes about their partnership with him in the Gospel. There's affection, there's sympathy. That's what Paul is seeing.

In verse two, what we see is he's saying, complete my joy. He's driving toward what he wants them to understand, what he wants to instruct them in. What we're going to see is what I believe is three categories that are important for us in understanding what it looks like, our life to look like it is worthy of the Gospel of Jesus. Verse two, he says, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. I think these are the three categories here. While we talk about them this morning as three distinct categories, because that's helpful for us in engaging it, they're actually interconnected with one another, as we'll see. But as we see here, Paul wants them to be of the same mind, Number one wants them to have the same love. It's number two, and he wants them to be of one in purpose. That word purpose is another way of translating the word accord. Those are the three categories that I think Paul is getting after and that we would do well to consider and study.

If you were to just read up to verse two here in the text, you would be asking some questions. What is the mind that we're supposed to be in? The same as what love are we supposed to be the same as what accord or purpose are we supposed to be full of? That's what I think verses 3 through 11 are going to help us this morning. Let's take these one at a time.

First, Paul is going to write about what it looks like being of the same mind. Pick back up in verse 3.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Paul begins to explain what it looks like to have this mind. First of all, he categorizes it as being the mind of Christ. We'll get to talk about that in more detail here in a minute. In verse three and four, he practically is walking through what it looks like to have the same mind. Let's work back through just bit by bit of what he said. Do nothing from selfish ambition. Ambition is that idea of drive or motivation by which we do things. What he's saying is, don't—those a negative command. Don't be driven to terminate what you do on self. Do nothing from selfish ambition. Don't let your ambition, your motivation, your drive to accomplish things be for the end and the purpose of ending on yourself. Then he says, do nothing from conceit. Conceit is the idea of thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to. The important thing about conceit is it actually has to do with our relationship with other people. The way that I can think more highly of myself is by thinking more highly of me over you.

Then he goes on and starts to give the positive aspect of this, what it looks like in humility, count others as more significant than yourselves. That's the opposite side of the conceit that not only would I not think of myself as greater than you, but I would be thinking of you as greater than me. That's true humility of me bringing myself low and considering you as more than important. That's the mind he wants us to have. In verse 4 he says, look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Very practically what it looks like is not just me thinking about what I've got on my plate or whatever difficulties I'm facing or whatever wants I have thinking about you and what you're facing and what you're dealing with and what you want.

To flesh this out a little bit more, I just figured I'd share some of how this passage in this last week was hitting home for me. How the Spirit was working in my heart, convicting me and thinking this in verse 4. I really appreciate Paul's language of look because in life what happens is we've got our stuff that we're dealing with, whatever it is. Your alarm goes off, my alarm goes off. I wake up and I go to my job and I sit at my desk and do my work and tackle my problems. Then I come home and I've got my house and my family and I'm zoned in. It's something about us that we've got to take care of it. We're looking at the things we're doing, and we're just looking and we're doing and we're looking and we're doing and just locked in. What Paul wants us to see—this is why I found that language of look so helpful—is that if we take a moment to pause and look, I see there's more than me. I see there's more than what I'm facing and what I'm dealing with and what I'm working at. Now I'm beginning to see you. If I spend long enough looking, I'll start to see the else who has all the things that you're doing that you're working towards, that you're facing, that you're struggling with.

This is why it's convicting for me, is that I'm very driven by accomplishing, by getting stuff done, but I should slow down. I hope to consider and look and see other people. Another thing that was striking in this passage is Paul doesn't say, don't just look to your own needs, but look to the needs of others. He says, don't just look to your own interests, but look to the interests of others. I think we might find it a little easy to wrap our heads around. Well, yeah, they have a need, so I'll help them meet a need that makes sense. But he just says their interests, what they have want for. That's true humility coming all the way down low, that I would consider what you want above what I want. This is the mind that Paul is wanting us to have and to share.

As mentioned earlier, Paul has a lot of commendation for the church, but he really wants to push them to grow in this way. As I was trying to consider how we might be able to connect in our own context with what Paul is writing here, I was thinking about verse one, as he's writing about the encouragement that's there, the comfort that is there, the sympathy, the affection. I was beginning to think we might say something like, the Joneses, they're just good people. They're good people. Or you might say the Millers, they're just so nice, just decent people. We might use language like that. Genuinely, we're talking about good things. We're talking about them being respectful, cordial, nice, kind. They're genuinely wonderful good qualities about people and something that we should be. But Paul is trying to drive us into something deeper because remember, he's talking about a life that is worthy of belonging to the gospel of Jesus.

I don't think it's enough that we could just be good people. It's not enough for me to just be decent. Even this morning as I'm here and I'm walking and I'm getting to shake all of your hands and meet you, I said, you don't know me. Maybe after you've had an interaction with me, you might think, oh, he's a decent fella. I haven't rubbed the wrong way. I think that's a perfectly fine thing. But I can do that and still be driven as a person by selfish ambition, I can do that and still be a person that is driven by conceit, that I would think more highly of myself, or that I could be a person that is really just mainly concerned with my own interests. So it's not enough. A life worthy of the gospel of Jesus in our mind must go beyond what are good things. We have to drive deeper into the faith that we have been called into. I would be thinking of other people as more important than myself. This is the mind of Christ. This is the mind that Paul wants us to live in as people who belong to Jesus. That word humility there is the perfect summation of what he is getting at, that I would be humble. That's the first category that Paul has for us of living a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus: that we would be of one mind, the one mind of Christ that is humble.

Secondly, being of the same love. Paul talks about, he wants them to be of the same love. Pick back up in verse five.

Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

As mentioned already that this mind of humility belongs to Christ. Paul is about to explain here the depth of the humility of Jesus. Follow the journey of Christ as Paul has it outlined here. First we see that Jesus was in the form of God. Theologically, Jesus is God the Son, that our God exists as a triune God, he is three persons in one being, that he is God the Father, the Son and the Spirit, and Jesus is God the Son. We could have spent all morning just trying to talk about and tackle and understand what that means, and we still would just barely have scratched the surface of understanding it. But let's focus on what Paul is considering this morning along the lines of humility.

Jesus has a claim to be God the man. Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago, a real person like you and I. He has a claim to the name of God that includes all the power, includes all the authority. In other scriptures we see that he's accredited with creation. He's the Creator, he's the Almighty, he's powerful, he's the Name above all names. He has the authority. Yet he, verse seven did not count—sorry, verse six did not count—equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men. This is the beginning of the path of humility that Jesus takes. It starts with the mind of Christ here, right? He says, do not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. He does not think of his claim to the name of God as that which should be grabbed with triumphal assertion. As one commentator put it.

I have a young son now. He's almost 10 months old and yesterday we got to play together and he has this little screwdriver chew toy thing to help him with teething or whatever. He was just holding on to it. He was just grasping onto it, super excited, super cute, and that's that idea of grasping onto it like it's the spoils of victory of war, that he's got this rubber little chew toy thing. When we think about the idea of Jesus having a claim to the name of God and that he didn't count it as something worth grasping to, what does he do? He put on the likeness of man that the Son of God eternal became like you and I. He had real skin, real bones. He had muscles that grew weary as the day went on. His mind grew hazy as tiredness began to set in, or maybe hunger, a stomach that growled when it was dinner time.

I want to be clear here so I don't get myself into trouble when talking about this aspect of Jesus being in two natures, fully God and fully man. When Jesus put on flesh, he didn't in any way lose his status as God. Remember, he has full claim to it. But he still did put on flesh. He still was like you and I, weak. We've gotten to talk with some of you that are much further along in the journey than I am now. I'm sure you understand that, do you not? Body begins to be weak, gets to be harder to do things. Jesus was man, with times experienced weakness. We could have spent all morning just talking about this aspect of Jesus, and still we would have just barely scratched the surface of what it means. Let's continue on along the purpose of what Paul is talking about, outlining the path of Christ's humility.

First, being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. We have Jesus, who is the Son of God, eternal, creator, almighty, powerful. Then he takes on human frame like you and I, and he experiences life like you and I experience with weakness, with sadness, with tears, with difficulty. He also submits himself to obedience to the Father. We see this throughout the Gospel accounts that Jesus in his ministry submits to the will of God. See this most potently in the Gospel of John. Over and over again Jesus recounts, I do nothing of my own accord, but I do that which the Father has sent me to do. He lives in that way. Not only does he submit himself in obedience, he submits himself to death. Not only does he submit himself to death, but he submits himself to the most humiliating death. It was not honorable for him to hang on that tree. That was cursed man's death. That was the death that he went to go to.

Do you see this path of humility? God eternal, Creator, Almighty, and he steps down into human form, and then he steps down into obedience, and then he steps down into death and into the humiliating death on the cross. At this point you might be thinking, did we start off this category by Paul talking about being of the same love? What does this have to do with love? That he whom for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. This is the giving of the Son, that in humility he comes. This is the kind of love that Paul is calling us to live in, the giving completely of oneself. Remember, it starts in the mind, the humility to consider for a moment that somebody might actually be more important than me. Then it shows up in real life and then I actually give of myself to that person, whatever it might be, whoever it might be, in whatever situation it might be. This is the kind of love that we are called into.

Think about First Corinthians 13, a very popular passage on love. It's patient, it's kind, doesn't envy, it doesn't boast, it's not proud, it's not arrogant. Selfishness and pride are the opposite side of this kind of love of bringing myself low and considering other people and loving and giving myself for them. This is what it looks like to live as citizens worthy of the gospel of Jesus, that I would love in a way that is giving of myself. Real love takes real sacrifice. It takes real giving. I love my wife and if I were to stand here and tell you not once have I ever had to give anything up for her, I hope you would look at me and say, you don't love your wife because it takes giving of myself—humility—to come low and to consider her interests above my own. If we never give up anything for the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ, do we love them? Are we of this same love that Paul is talking about here, this love of Christ that gives himself up for the sake of others? This is what it looks like to be people of the same mind and the same love as Jesus, to live as somebody that's worthy of belonging to the gospel.

That brings us to our third and final point being one in purpose. Continue on in verse nine.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The path of Christ's humility did not end in the grave, but Jesus rose victorious over death and over hell. Now at his name, because of his willingness to be humble and to submit himself to the Father and to submit himself to death, he now is risen and exalted above all things, risen and exalted above all names. So that at his name, every knee—your knee, my knee, the knees of all those who live around you in this area here, the knee of everybody who lives in my area—across the whole globe, across all time, in the grave, living and breathing in the spiritual realm, every knee will bow to the name of Jesus, our King. He is the King of the kingdom of the Gospel, and all will bow to him, and all glory will be due his name.

This has everything to do with being of one purpose. This is the one purpose of our God, that all glory would be ascribed to him. Our purpose is to bring glory to him. When we are citizens of the gospel of Jesus, who we are and what we do is to be of that singular purpose and none other. Your glory, not my glory, not the glory of a city, not the glory of this country, of this world. The glory is to him because we are his people. What it looks like for us to live in that way is that we get to follow the same journey and trajectory as Jesus who humbled himself, that when we belong to him, we're called into the same life of coming low.

Surely you all have experienced tumbling in your time. In those moments where you have been brought low, maybe it's for a purpose. Maybe it's not just random. Maybe it's not just bad luck. Maybe it's the Father trying to help us participate and join with Jesus so that our life could be worthy of the gospel of Christ. In those moments of weakness and being brought low, there is an opportunity for us to live in this way, to be people who would see others as more important than ourselves, just like Jesus did, to work and to live and to act for the interests of others, to love and to give of ourselves completely, and then ultimately and fully the same exact end result takes place. Glory to Jesus and not to ourselves.

I think that the greatest danger for us who live in the time and the space that we do is that we would try to be comfortable and follow Jesus at the same time. We've been called into more than that; we belong to a different kingdom. While our cultural moment is pulling on every thread for us to terminate all things on ourselves, Jesus is calling us into something different and greater. If this morning you belong to him, that is the life that we are called into. A life of surrender to the gospel of Jesus.

Maybe this morning you're thinking, yes, absolutely, that's what I want, live in that kind of life. If you think that what it's going to take is for you to walk out the doors and white-knuckle it, you're going to figure it out, you're going to change your mind, you're going to change the way you love, you're going to change the way you live, I would encourage you to look to Christ. The gospel is not about you doing and earning it. You can't. This life that Paul is talking about is not about earning anything. It's about living in what already is true, that Jesus in his humility really has rescued us and set us free from a life of selfishness. Do you know how destructive a life of selfishness is? It's so broken. But we can live into more. The gospel doesn't start at just us being set free, but his Spirit, the Spirit of the Almighty, the Spirit of the humble, comes to live within us and indwell us and empower us to live in this way. This is what it looks like for us to participate in this. As we sang earlier, how sweet it is to trust in Jesus, to trust him in this. Not to trust in our ability to execute this perfectly, but to trust in him and to come low into living this way.

Let's pray, Father. We confess that we are too often drawn into a life of selfish ambition, where the things that flood our minds are the things that terminate on us. There's a possibility that we could live this life by just trying to be respectful or cordial or nice, decent. But you're calling us into something more and we want to participate in that. Father, would you fill us with your Spirit to live as people that are worthy of the gospel of Jesus and that our minds would be changed, we would look up and see other people and consider their interests, that we would think of them as more important than ourselves. Then that would call us even deeper into loving them, giving ourselves up for those that are around us, those that are sitting in this room, and that ultimately that would draw us into the purpose, the ultimate purpose of all glory being given to Jesus, of our life bowing down our knees coming low to worship Christ as king of the kingdom to which we belong. In Jesus name, amen.

Mill City 1/25/26 Mill City 1/25/26

New Testament Prayers: Week 4

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Hey everybody. Unfortunately, due to the weather, we have been unable to meet, and we are going to be starting Second Samuel this coming Sunday when we are hopefully, Lord willing, able to get back together.

So what we wanted to do was I’m just going to take a moment to kind of walk you through some of the content that we had prepared and was intending to walk through as we finished up our prayer series this Sunday. And so just wanted to walk you through some of that.

If you will just grab a Bible, go to Matthew chapter 6. We’re going to look at what is known as the Lord’s Prayer. So Jesus, this is how he teaches his disciples to pray. And this is actually in the middle of what we’re looking at is in the middle of the sermon on the mount, although it shows up in other times as well.

So what we’ve done in our prayer series is we’ve taken the time to look at New Testament prayers and consider the things that Paul prays for. Some of the things that Paul prays for and we’ve seen these expansive prayers. The requests that he’s making are huge. He wants us to see the glory of God and to know eternally what’s coming for us. He wants us to be sanctified completely. That’s the will of God, that we would be sanctified, that we would completely be made holy. He wants us to know the love of God, the unknowable love of God, so that we might be filled with all the fullness of God, which is unfathomable. And then to be able to then see that he’s able to do more than we can ask or imagine. He’s beyond our mental capabilities. Like these are massive prayers.

And what we’re going to see here is something very, very simple, straightforward.

And so some of what I think is helpful for us to understand is that there is no ceiling to prayer when it comes to the things we can talk to God about and we can pray for, that we’ve entered into it goes as high as heaven, like it is beyond thought, it is beyond reason. We get to go and talk to him about everything and request anything and talk - like the expanse of prayer is wide open.

But the floor to prayer is very low. It’s not complicated. And that’s what we’re going to see as we talk through and see what Jesus teaches his disciples here, is that it’s not like, hey, in order to pray this is going to be real hard. Anybody can enter in.

So for the person who goes, man, I just don’t even know how to pray and I feel like when I pray it’s only like 30 seconds long and then I’m distracted, it’s like, yeah, you can do it. A prayer can be 10 seconds long. The prayer that when he says pray like this, he prays for about 20 seconds. The thing that he shows him how to pray.

But then we see that Jesus also prays all night long. And so there’s just, the ceiling is non-existent. You can go as high as possible. So for the person who’s like, oh cool, I prayed for 15 seconds, I did it - it’s like, no, you get to keep growing in this.

But for the person who’s like, I think this is really difficult and I don’t even know if I’m praying right - it’s like, hey, the entry level is real simple. And so that’s where we’re going to start with Jesus teaching a basic daily prayer that’s pretty straightforward.

And so I want to read the whole section we’re going to look at. It’s in Matthew 6. And then we’re just going to go through it piece by piece. And I’m going to try to go through it fairly quickly. This is the content that I would have been preaching, but I’m not really preaching to y’all. I’m just kind of walking you through some of this. So we’ll move fairly fast.

Matthew 6:5–8
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Now, I said I was going to read through the whole thing, but I want to stop there for a second.

He’s going to start off by basically saying, “Hey, I’m going to teach you about praying, but when you pray, there’s some ditches. There’s some things you just need to avoid.”

One of the dangers of praying is that you would pray to be seen by others. That’s the way he words it. He says, “Don’t pray like the hypocrites,” meaning that they look like something on the outside, but there’s something else going on. It’s a trick.

And so he says they pray in the synagogues, they pray at the street corners, and their goal is for you to see them. And he says they have their reward. They’ve done it. So if your praying is a performance, it works. It works as a performance, but it doesn’t work as a prayer. They get what they wanted because their prayer wasn’t to God. It wasn’t between them. It was for you to watch them.

And so he says, “Don’t do that. Don’t make praying a performance. Rather, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who sees in secret.”

So the bulk of Christian prayer should be done privately like that. You should have an active private prayer life.

He does not forbid praying in front of people, and we actually see that he prays in front of people. He prays out loud at times. The disciples pray together and pray out loud. There’s actually a lot of good and health that can come from us praying together. But you do have to watch that the point of your praying together is still relating to God, communing to God, speaking to God, and not somehow putting on a show.

So we just have to be careful if somebody asks you to pray at a meal or if you’re praying in your group. Like I know that there are times where we’re praying together and I’m thinking about what I’m going to pray and I’m not praying with them. And so I’m doing what he said here as I’m turning it into some sort of performance.

And he says, “Don’t do that. I don’t think you have to pray out loud in front of people. You do have to pray.” And he says, “Go in your room, close the door, pray by yourself.” So that is commanded of us as Christians.

But he’s not prohibiting praying together. But we do have to be on guard that when we do that, that we don’t miss the point and make prayer somehow a performance.

So he starts off there. Don’t do that. Don’t pray as a performance.

He’s going to give us another ditch. Don’t do this.

So then he says, “And when you pray,” this is verse 7, “do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Okay? So don’t heap up a bunch of empty phrases. Don’t think that your prayer has to be a certain length or a certain amount of flowery language or you’ve got to use the right words. Don’t do that.

And specifically, one of the things I think you would see here is that his disciples are coming to him and he’s teaching them how to pray. He’s explaining to them how to pray. And this is in the sermon on the mount. There’s another place where they come and say, “Teach us how to pray,” and he does the same thing.

If you went to a priestess of some deity and you were asking, “How do we pray?” what he’s saying is that they would, they have all this junk. You got to chant. You got to wear the right clothes. You got to be in the right place. We’re going to have to have some music. We’re going to need to cut ourselves. They’re going to add all this stuff to it. You got to do it a certain amount of time or it doesn’t count. Or you have to do it at a certain time.

And he just is like, “No, none of that. Don’t heap up a bunch of empty phrases. Don’t think that your many words are going to get it. Don’t think you have to assault God with language to get him to bend to your will. None of that.”

And then what he’s going to say is, “Pray like this.” And what he prays now is simple in its form, simple in his word use, simple in his sentence structure. It’s straightforward and it’s not long. Just pray like this.

So when we’re talking about like this, which is what he says in verse 9, pray like this, it’s simple, but it does open for us, I think, categories that might, when you’re thinking about the prayers that you have, might increase the like, oh actually, I probably should be praying about this and I should be praying about this.

So we’re going to take it through and just kind of go, what are the categories that he prays? You’ll notice the sentence structure is simple and the length is simple. But it maybe will add some complexity to your praying if there’s some areas where you’re just like, I haven’t been praying about that and that.

So I don’t want you to, because we’re going to go through it and look at the different categories, suddenly go, “Oh, wow. This is really complex.” It’s like, “No, he actually is praying pretty straightforward, pretty cleanly, pretty simply,” even if it opens up categories for you, it doesn’t make it more difficult.

Like I said, the floor here is very low. And I think that’s built into what he says when he says, “Don’t be like them.” This is verse eight: “For your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

And that’s the baseline assumption in praying, is that we’re going to the Father and he cares about us. He knows what you need. And that’s beautiful.

So if you understand, okay, does a three-year-old know how to talk to his father? Does he know how to approach him? Doesn’t know how to be humble and to be in need. Then if that can happen, then you can pray. If you knew how to ask your father for something you needed, then you can pray, because that’s the baseline thing that’s happening here.

So with that in mind, we’re going to look at, he says, “Pray then like this.” I’m going to read the whole thing and then we’re going to go through bit by bit to just see what’s in this prayer. Even though it’s simple and straightforward, it takes 15 seconds.

And like I said, that’s the entry to prayer, is we get to pray very simple, very straightforward. And then we can go from there into not more empty words and phrases, but just greater depth of relationship.

You know, Jesus prays all night long, and it’s not because he had to say the same thing over and over again for it to work. It’s because he relates to the Father. The same way that you would stay up all night and talk to someone, a friend that you cherish or someone that you’re in love with, and you would just, it would just keep going and it’s conversational and there’s so much to talk about and you don’t want to stop.

That’s what I mean by the ceiling to prayer. The requests that you can make, the things that you can talk about is unending because of the depth of relationship that we get to have with the Father.

But the entry level to just like what counts as a prayer is any of it. If you’re aiming it at him and if the point is to relate to him and to talk to him and to bring your needs to him, then it all counts.

So I’m going to, this is what he says. Pray then like this.

Matthew 6:9–13
“Pray then like this:
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”

That’s it. That’s the whole prayer.

So we’re going to walk through. I’m going to tell you what these different things mean, what he’s saying, and then I want you to consider them as like, okay, do I have category for that? Do I pray that sort of thing?

Again, not complicated in language, not long, not repetitious, but also for us to go, hey, there’s things I should be praying for.

It’s like, what? Well, let’s look and see what sort of things he says to pray for.

So he starts off with “our Father in heaven.” And that’s just framing up who are we talking to. Prayer is not to the universe. It’s not just floating out there. And Christian prayer is to the Father. We can pray to Jesus. We can talk to the Spirit. But in general, normative Christian prayers, we’re praying to the Father. That’s who Jesus bought our relationship with. He brought us back to the Father. Our arrangement was with the Father and that Christ comes to rescue us and to bring us in to be adopted as sons and daughters of God.

So we’re praying to the Father, and it’s beautiful this pairing. He’s our Father in heaven.

So he is our Father. That’s the - he loves us. He knows us. There’s this relationship built in. But he’s also in heaven. He’s big, competent, capable, ruling, reigning, glorious.

And so know who you’re praying to and begin with the relational depth there, but also the weighty glory of him reigning from heaven.

So that’s “our Father in heaven” is where he starts.

And then “hallowed be your name.” Now we don’t consider, we don’t talk about hallowing things very often, but it’s may your name be honored as holy. May it be set apart.

And I think that there’s two things happening here. This is just praising God. So it’s beginning with, I’m hallowing, like I’m surrendering to you your honor. It’s, you know, when the angels say glory to God in the highest, it’s I’m glorifying you now. I’m hallowing you now. I’m honoring your name now in this very moment.

And so it’s, you can praise God, glorify him, honor him. And it’s a way for you to remember you are my Father in heaven. You do love me but you are holy and completely other and different and above me. So it’s a humility in approach.

It also, if it’s a prayer that moves forward, is to be praying that, Lord, I would honor you, that I would show you respect, that I would bring glory to your name, that in my heart and my words and my actions I would live in a way that brings you honor.

So that’s start off knowing who you’re praying to, and then in submission and respect and humility, we praise him. But also do you pray that you would honor him as you go forward and as you live your life.

So that’s some of what’s happening there.

Okay. “Hallowed be thy name.” “Your kingdom come.”

Now again, I think all of these is such a simple phrase. All of these we could spend a whole sermon on just explaining some of what’s going on here. But the category that I want to open up for you is that we should be praying for the advancement of his kingdom on earth.

We want more people to submit to the King. Which means that we want more people to place faith in Jesus. We want the advancement and the good news of the kingdom to be proclaimed. We want the good effects of the kingdom to be extended.

So you should pray for missions and missionaries and for your school and for your co-workers. You should be praying that people would meet Jesus.

This is, you know, we have this section in when our groups meet. We want to discuss and review kind of how are we being missionaries together and who are we building with? We want to pray for those sort of things.

And this is built into what you’re going to see later. It’s a daily prayer. So it’s just the normal daily way to pray. You should be praying for missions. You should be praying for the kingdom to advance and for more people to surrender to Jesus.

And then this fits into that, but he says, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

So this kingdom advancing is faith and it is new believers, but it also is submission to his will. It’s that the world would look more like it belongs to him.

So “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” So we should be praying that his will would be accomplished in our lives, in the lives of others, in our schools and our neighborhoods, that it would look like we belong to him, that we would surrender to him, that good things would happen, that people would turn from sin, that we would do what is right.

And so as you’re going through and thinking through what are the things I’m praying for and how do I pray normally, we pray for missionaries, we pray for the work of the advancement of the kingdom, and we pray for the advancement of his will.

And then also when there’s situations in your life, you can pray it like this: I pray that your will would be done. I don’t know what should happen at work. I don’t know how this conversation should go. I don’t know how I should handle this, Lord. I pray that your will would be done. I pray that I would be sanctified and repent of sin and handle this well and honor you well. And so I just pray that your will would be done in this situation.

And so that’s the - he prays that.

Then he says this: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

This is humility in the fact that we are dependent on him every day of our life.

I think that for a lot of us, this is kind of where most of our prayers center around, just what’s going on today. What do I need? And that’s fine and beautiful that that shows up in our prayers. He expects it to.

This was a practical reality for them that often they needed their food today. Like they didn’t know if they were going to have it. Whereas we, you know, we have grocery stores and refrigerators and freezers. And so a lot of times we just kind of aren’t thinking about how dependent on him we are for the general just function of life, but you are.

And so we should normally be asking, Lord, hey, provide for me what I need. And one of the ways I word it, and I pray this through this with my boys a good bit, was, Lord, give us everything we need and help us to be truly thankful. Help us to enjoy it, but help us to be truly thankful.

But I think for a lot of us, this is the stuff. This is, you know, praying over this meeting I have at work and this test that I’m going to take and all these just different things that are coming up that are on our plate that day. This conversation I’m going to have with this person. Just, Lord, provide the things that I need to live, to exist, to function, for this day to go well.

And so we ask for that, and we humbly are dependent on him for those things.

I think for some of us the bulk of our prayer may be in this zone, this practical need zone. And I would just say, yeah, but you need to open up and understand we should be praying for missionaries. We should be honoring the Lord in our prayers and we should be considering his will at work and things. So, you know, spread it out.

And then I think that every once in a while I’ll meet someone and it’s almost like talking to God about simple things like bread is beneath God, so we shouldn’t talk about stuff like that. I shouldn’t pray to him about, you know, this test I have because I don’t want to waste his time.

And that also, I think, belittles him as if he’s big but not so big that we are able to waste his time. We’re not able to waste his time. He’s not exhausted by us. He’s not limited by us. We are to bring things to him, and he delights to talk to us.

If there’s something that’s burdening you or bothering you or in your way or in your need, you talk to him about it. He’s not too big for that. He’s not too busy for that.

And so I would say for the person who’s like, I only pray big prayers - it’s like, yeah, we should pray big prayers. But we also should know that he loves us, that he cares for us, and that he is dear and near, and not too big that these are beneath him, but so big that he can handle everything. And so I just think that don’t limit him in that way either.

So we should have the humility to realize situations and we should talk to him about practical things.

All right. So then as he finishes, he’s going to say, “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Those three together.

I find it very interesting and very helpful, and I point this out a lot when I’m talking to people about prayer. The Bible tells us we have three enemies: the flesh, the world, and the devil. And it doesn’t always frame them up like that in that order, but we do. It’s going to talk about those three things as that stand in the way of us following God.

So we’re told that we have to put to death the deeds of the body, that we’re fighting the passions of our flesh, that the flesh is opposed to the Spirit, and that we’re only going to walk in one. We’re either going to walk in the Spirit or walk in the flesh.

And so that’s the idea that you want to sin, you desire sin. That there’s a part of you, there’s a part of me that genuinely wants to sin, and I have to put that to death. I have to fight against that. You have to fight against that.

It tells us that one of our enemies is the world. This is not like “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” as in the people, but the world systems, world ideas that stand opposed to God. It is people that tempt us to sin or that tell us sin is okay or that normalize it, or the systems that are in place that help us rebel against God.

So that friendship with the world is enmity with God. That is the way the Bible’s going to talk about it. So that we shouldn’t be friends of the world but we should come out of the world. We should love Jesus. We should follow him. We shouldn’t look like we belong here. We should look like we belong to him.

So that’s a second enemy, is the world.

And then the third one is the devil, that we actually have a real spiritual enemy that wants destruction for us, that wants us to follow him into rebellion, that doesn’t want joy or peace. You know, he roams around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour is the way Peter puts it. So we have that enemy.

And what’s interesting and I find very helpful in this normal daily way to pray, Jesus has in mind all three. He has in mind that we are in a war against sin, that sin is destructive. We are in a war that the world tries to pull us and lure us and take us captive. And that we’re in a war against a real enemy that wants us to not surrender to the Lord and not follow him.

And so I think it’s very helpful that in his normal daily way to pray, he considers all three: the flesh, the world, and the devil.

And so when he considers the flesh, what he says is, “Forgive us our debts,” or forgive us our sins, “as we have also forgiven our debtors,” or as we have also forgiven those who have sinned against us. And so trespasses is another way that that’ll be translated at times.

That a normal daily way for you to pray is to ask for forgiveness, to walk in repentance. That repentance is part of the Christian life. And it’s not us walking with our head down in shame. It is delighting in the freedom that has been purchased for us by Christ, that we get to be forgiven.

And so you should, in your normal praying, be considering: forgive me for how I spoke yesterday. Forgive me for the language I use. Forgive me for the attitude that I have. Forgive me for when I had that opportunity to serve somebody, I just did it begrudgingly. I was annoyed the whole time that there was a person around me in need rather than loving them. So forgive me. Help me.

And this is why one of the normal things Christians should do with each other is repent to each other, because it’s been - it’s part of our normal praying. It’s part of our normal walking with the Lord, is that we’re asking for forgiveness.

The flip side of this, and I would encourage you to read what he says after this in 14 and 15, but he connects this idea of us being forgiven with us forgiving others. And Matthew 18 is also helpful here. Yeah, all of Matthew 18. I was wanting to see if it went into Matthew 19, but in Matthew 19 he starts talking about other things. So just all of 18.

But it’s helpful here in this idea of how forgiveness works.

But we’re to be people who receive grace and live in the grace and the mercy of God, and that we’re to be people who give grace and mercy to all those around us. And so that’s where he puts those together. That he says forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us.

And so that a normal part of our daily praying is to consider our sin, but also to walk in repentance and ask for forgiveness and to move forward in being forgiven and receiving mercy. That his mercy is over all that he’s made, and so that daily we receive mercy and it’s wonderful. And so that we would normal daily pray, repent of sin.

The next thing he says is, “Lead us not into temptation,” so that we would be aware that one of our enemies is the world. That the world is going to try to normalize sin. It’s going to be out there taunting us and calling to us.

And you’re saying, “Lord, don’t let me look at the bait on the hook and not see the hook.” You know, that’ll keep me away from temptation. He doesn’t just say, “Help me withstand temptation.” He says, “Pray that you won’t even enter into it. That you won’t go near it. That I won’t even be tempted today.”

And I was, Chet said one of the ways that he prays this and considers this in his prayer life is, Lord, help me to see the things that tempt me. You know, he gave the example of like if there’s a certain app on my phone that’s going to keep tempting me, help me to see that, recognize that, and just get rid of the app. Help me to see the areas and the avenues and the people and the places that lead me into temptation so I can get rid of them.

You know, I heard a pastor say this one time and I found it very helpful. But the sooner you show self-control, the less self-control you need.

So that saying, “I’m going to go to the party, but I’m not going to drink,” is harder than just saying, “I’m not going to go to the party.” Saying, “We’re going to go up into the dorm, but we’re not going to commit sexual sin,” is harder. It’s more difficult than just being like, “Hey, let’s just not go in the dorm. Let’s just not be alone together.” That temptation level is higher. So let’s avoid temptation.

And so rather than saying, “I want to avoid sin,” Jesus is saying, “Yeah, okay.” But also you want to be forgiven for sin and you want to avoid temptation. You want to go further back and say, “What are the things that tempt me? How do I not even get to where I’m close to the line? How do I stay away from temptation?”

And so that’d be a thing that you’d be praying, and that you would be aware of the world’s influence to draw and entice you away from the Lord and into sin.

Third enemy, and the way that he finishes prayers: “But deliver us from evil.” Now the word evil there, evil is a fine translation. Wickedness is a translation that it’ll be translated wickedness sometime, or wicked as in like wicked people, or the evil one as in Satan himself.

And so I think you just need to be in your praying mindful of the evil of the world. And so this is in some ways praying, Lord protect me from wicked men, from evil situations. Protect me from the evil that I’ve already gone into and that I’m surrounded by. Like deliver me out of it. Rescue me is kind of the word he’s using here.

But also to be mindful of like when Ephesians says:

Ephesians 6:12
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

That I think sometimes in our normal configuration of prayer and the normal way that we think, because we’re western, most of us, and we don’t grow up considering spirits and dark forces and invisible things, we even in our own faith are sometimes like, yeah, well this is my personal faith, but the real things in the world are like on the periodic table. And we even miss that like, no, God is real and the spiritual world is real. It’s as real as oxygen and hydrogen. We’re just not thinking about it right. We don’t have it framed up in our head right.

And so sometimes when we think about the things that we’re worried about or that are assaulting us, that we most often in the western world, when you think about like what are the enemies, you pick people. You pick political ideas or entities. And so the things that you’re worried about is like them trying to do this, this nation, this people, this idea, this group.

And Paul says, yeah, we’re not wrestling with flesh and blood. That’s not who we’re worried about. That we’re at war with a much bigger enemy in a much bigger scheme. And so your normal daily praying should consider, hey Lord, deliver us. Rescue us from the influence of the enemy. Rescue us from the evil one. Rescue us from evil. Rescue us from sin as it goes to work. Protect us.

And so your normal daily praying should include repenting of sin, praying against temptation, and praying about the work of the enemy, that he would not have any effect, that he would not, that the Lord would rescue you from lies that you’re believing and ways that he’s at work and ideologies and temptations and things that he’s doing in the world, and just that evil is at work in the world.

But evil isn’t just a benign force. It has an agent behind it, and being aware of that in our praying.

So Jesus says praying is not a show and it’s not some big long complicated thing. Pray like this. And then he gives a simple straightforward prayer. But I do think it opens up categories for things that we should consider as our normal prayer.

So that you should go in your house and close the door and pray simple straightforward things. And I think it’s helpful if you can print this out or you can open it up to Matthew 6 and you can just kind of go, okay, and help these things guide some of your praying. But don’t complicate it. Don’t think you have to say it well. You’re not filling out forms at the DMV. It’s not like it’s going to get rejected and sent back to you.

You’re talking to your Father who already knows what you need before you say it.

Now, Jesus does tell us to labor in prayer, to continue at it, to pray the same things. And he doesn’t mean say it seven times in a row for it to count. He just means come talk to him again about it tomorrow. Pray when it’s on your mind. Pray again. Pray this morning and pray this afternoon. And then when you think about it again, pray, because he cares about you and he knows you.

And keep at it. Keep talking to him. Keep telling him what’s going on. Keep letting him work on you in prayer so that we would be people who pray.

And the last thing I want to point out as I’m wrapping up just kind of this walkthrough, this assumptive reality of how we get to approach God that Jesus teaches his disciples, is purchased by Jesus. This is a blood-bought gift to you.

You don’t get to pray like this if Jesus doesn’t go to the cross, because he’s not your Father, because you haven’t been adopted. If Jesus hasn’t saved you, you haven’t been brought into the family.

Jesus has to go die for this to be a reality, that he gets to be our Father in heaven. You don’t get forgiven if there is no cross. You don’t get rescued from the enemy if there is no cross. You don’t get taken out of the world if there is no cross. The provision that we need stops at daily, and our eternal provision is not provided if there is no cross. His kingdom doesn’t come if there is no cross. His will isn’t accomplished if there is no cross.

And so one of the things that is to be in mind as we do this is to rejoice in the work of Jesus and to know the privilege and the delight that this type of praying is because it was purchased by the precious blood of Christ and given to those who belong to him as a way that we get to relate to God.

And without him it doesn’t exist, but with him we get to delight in and enjoy it. And it’s not something that we earn or that we achieve or that we do well. It’s something that he’s graciously given us as a gift.

So hopefully as we wrap up our prayer series, this simplified kind of, hey, it’s not a show and it’s not complicated. You get to go talk to your Father and you get to do it because Jesus has earned that for you and given that to you and modeled it for you.

Then go pray. Pray big prayers, but also realize that you get to talk to him normal daily about all the stuff of life. And trust him, because he’s your Father and he loves you and he knows you and he already knows what you need even before you ask.

Mill City 1/18/26 Mill City 1/18/26

New Testament Prayers: Week 3

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

My name is Spencer, I'm one of the pastors here. We are in week three of a four week series on New Testament prayers. So we are looking at some prayers that are in the New Testament and trying to capture some of the truth that is bound up in them so that it might encourage us in our prayers but also help us grow in the discipline of prayer which is vital for the life of the Christian. So we'll finish this, we have one next week and then we'll jump back into Second Samuel. So we're gonna be in Ephesians chapter three today, verses 14 through 21. It's on page 568 in the blue Bibles. If you don't have a Bible at home, please take that blue Bible. That's a, that's a gift we want. You have a Bible that you can read, but you can follow along with us. The text will also be on the screen.

There are some things in life that you learn kind of on your own through reasoning and all types of things. And then there are things that happen to you that just change you. Some external forces that just absolutely change your life. So this can happen in a variety of ways. One of the clear ones that happened for me was when we had our first child. So, you know, heard for years that we have a child, it'll change you. Have a child, it will change you. And kind of do that at some experiential level. That was going to happen before we had a kid. We had a, we had a dog. So we got a little bit of a jump start on taking care of some type of creature. And we loved that dog. I didn't like that dog. You've been here long enough, you've heard enough stories about that dog. That dog was the worst. But we loved it, took care of it. And then like lady and the Tramp, that story that plays out over and over again, we had a child and that child, like when you first hold your child in the hospital or if you adopt a child and the agency places that child with you either, and you're in the room with that child for the first time, like there's just something that happens within you. External force just comes in and it just, you, you thought you, you, you knew this category of love and that just gets deepened in ways that are just so profound and wonderful. And when I held my daughter for the first time, it was just powerful. Then went home and I saw that dog and I was like, I hate you. Like, I love, I love this child so much. With the Love that I had this child. I just is a disdain by comparison. But there's just something happens. There's external forces that work in you. That's not just limited to children. Sometimes experiences happen to you and it changes you. And none of those hold, hold a. Hold a flame to. When the Lord determines to work in our lives in powerful ways, the external force of who our Lord is is working in our hearts. It changes us in ways that are profound. And that's what this prayer is today. It's capturing that. It's a prayer for God to. To work powerfully within us. So we're going to see this prayer and see the encouragement that comes with a prayer like this and then also see the fruit that comes from these types of prayers. So let me pray for us and then we'll walk through this piece by piece.

Heavenly Father, I thank you that you do work in mighty ways. And I pray that this would be a morning in which you do that you would work in our inner being, in our hearts, in profound ways that help us not just hear your word, but do it. But that comes not from ourselves. It comes from you. And we ask that you do that in Jesus name. Amen.

All right, so this prayer begins in the middle of. Towards the end of chapter three with for this reason. Okay, we're going to stop there. So this happens in Ephesians. You see this phrase for this reason over and over again. And what's happening is that Paul is drawing to mind what he said previously. He's building on truth that he's already established for this reason. And we saw this a little bit in week one. Chet, in week one of this series went to a prayer in Ephesians chapter one. And that was built upon the truth that came before that, which is the first few verses of Ephesians is this. This declaration of how God plans to redeem his people, that he chooses us and he redeems his people. And then Chet walked us through this prayer of wanting to know God and experience his glory in profound ways. Then when you get to chapter two, those first 10 verses one through 10 and chapter two are some of the most, I would argue, one of the most important passages in all the Scriptures. It is a beautiful summary of the gospel. That we were once dead in sin. We were sons of disobedience, children of disobedience, that we were wayward and that God, in his mercy, he saves us by grace through faith, not of our own doing. So if you're looking to grow in some scripture memory this year, and you have no place to start. I can't think of a better place to start than that passage right there. Builds upon that talks about how Jews and Gentiles are both a part of the same household of God, of how God dwells in his church. So really, for this reason, builds upon the gospel that he's articulated with such beauty and specificity. And those first three chapters, because the gospel is good news.

> For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
> from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
> that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
> so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
> may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
> and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
> Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
> to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. Stop there. As I bow my knees, which just for a moment, we should consider our posture when we pray. Now, I'm not being dogmatic on this. I'm not saying that every time you pray you have to bow on your faith, bow on your knees, that every time you pray you need to be on your face before the Lord. I think you can drive and pray. I think you can sit in a chair and pray. But if the only posture by which we pray is a comfortable posture, I think we're missing something. In prayer, there's something about the physical body and how God has made us in the position of bowing before the Father, laying prostrate on your face before the Father. And if that's not an aspect of your prayer life, it should be because it brings humility within us. There's a physical humility displayed when we bow before the Father in prayer. That's what he's doing here. I bow before the Father, which also should be noted. This prayer is very trinitarian in its language, very explicitly. So going to see Father, Son and Holy Spirit in this prayer. And as most prayer in the New Testament that we see, all the prayers that we see written, some of the teachings that we see on prayer, normative patterns of prayer are to the Father, but we also think of our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So this begins with I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth is named. Throughout every family, every creature comes from, from his creation that we're named, that God's sovereignty and all of this is implied here.

And then we have verses 16 through 19, which is very dense, very rich, and it is a lot. So we got to kind of take it component by component. Because Paul's breaking down one kind of overarching truth for us piece by piece. My wife and I, we were trying to teach our kids some life skills and try to teach them to make a sandwich. You could just say, get on in there and make it. Make yourself a PB and J. It's like, no, it's like, this is how it works. Step one, get the bread out. Step two, get the jar of peanut butter. Put the knife in the jar, get the peanut butter out, smear it over this one piece, then take the a paper towel and wipe that peanut butter off. Because only psychopaths put that straight in the jelly. You know who you are. Leaving peanut butter remnants in the jelly like a. And then get the jelly smear in the bread, and then we piece it together and then you've got the sandwich. Right? So Paul's component by component here, there's one overarching sandwich, one big truth he's trying to give us, but he's got to break this down. So we're going to have to take this piece by piece to see what he's getting at here.

In this prayer, he says that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being. Okay, sit there. That first part, according to the riches of his glory, Chet helped us see in week one of this. He was quoting Herman Babnik, a theologian from a century ago, and describing glory and defining it. He said, the glory of God is the infinite, indescribable perfection and beauty of all the other attributes that all the good and wonderful attributes of God, his goodness, his faithfulness, his power, his might, and on and on, shine brightly in a way that displays glory. And he says, according to the riches of that glory, this indescribable, infinite, marvelous glory says, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with the power through his spirit in your inner being, to be strengthened with the power of spirit through his spirit, the Holy Spirit in your inner being. Okay, let's pause there for a moment.

There is an American lie that is told repeatedly over and over again that if you look inside yourself, inherit to who you are, you'll discover power, you'll discover greatness. And that greatness will help you win and overcome and be great. And y', all, that story is told over and over again, from Moana looking inside herself to, I mean, most recently, Stranger Things, the stories that we tell over and over again. There's something inherent inside of you that you just got to tap into. To overcome, to do great gets told over and over and over again. And that sometimes actually even funnels into some American churches, not even the majority, but some of them, certainly some with big platforms, and there are even some pastors, at least those who claim to be, that will parrot that lie. Over and over again. There's something you just gotta tap into. The power that's deep, that's wonderful within you. But that's not what the gospel teaches at all. It's not what the gospel teaches. The gospel teaches that if you look deep inside yourself, what you will discover is frailty, weakness, sin, brokenness, depravity. That's what's inherent in each of us. And that's what makes the gospel such good news. That's why that's wonderful that it's not in ourselves to arrive at greatness. It's on ourselves to overcome that. It comes from God working within us, the external power of God coming to work inside of us in powerful ways. May he strengthen by the power through his spirit in your inner being. This power comes from God.

In verse 17, he says, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through. Through faith. That Jesus Christ and faith in him brings the power of God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, to dwell richly in his people. And then he continues. That you, being rooted and grounded in love. Here we go. May have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and. And height and depth. And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God, goodness. When I was a kid, we got to go to the Grand Canyon. My stepdad and I, we went. And I remember getting out of the car, walking through this clearing and seeing the Grand Canyon and having a very normal experience that many people have when they see the Grand Canyon. You just feel small. Now, the reasons that you feel small, because the Grand Canyon is massive. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long. It is 4 to 18 miles wide. various points. It is over a mile deep. Totals at 1,904 square miles. You could take the entire state of Rhode island and put it in the Grand Canyon. I want to help you picture this for a moment. You may not find this helpful. I found this helpful and I'm talking. So theoretically, if you filled up the Grand Canyon with water, okay, it would take 4.17 quadrillion liters of water to fill the Grand Canyon. Now, if you're like me and you failed math as a kid, you might ask, what's a quadrillion? Had that same question. Quadrillion is 1 million billions, right? Take a billion. Now you have a million of those billions. And now you have a quadrillion four of them. That's how many liters of water it takes to fill the Grand Canyon. Now stay with Me further, the average adult human being, the capacity and the adult human being is about 42 liters. So if you were to take a human and fill it up with water. 42 liters. Okay. I in the eighth grade, well after my second eighth grade because I failed math. Stay with me. After my second eighth grade when I was there witnessing how big the Grand Canyon was, I was very small, very had not broken £100 yet. So half an adult human being. So think 20 liters capacity human being beholding 4.17 quadrillion capacity Grand Canyon. That's why I felt small. That's why anyone feels small. You might be. That's the most crazy confusing way to explain how to behold the Grand Canyon. I could keep going. I could tell you that if you took all the people in the world and put them in the Grand Canyon you wouldn't come close to filling it up. But it takes 60 to 70 trillion trillion human beings to fill up the Grand Canyon. I could do this with all kinds of things. With AI, I can do jello, I can do VW beetles, I can go all day pounds of sand. And every time I try to explain to you how big the Grand Canyon is by our understanding, you still can't grasp it because you can't understand 4.17 quadrillion liters of Wallers. Even if I switch it to gallons, which would be more helpful, I couldn't understand that. 67 trillion people. There's no quite way we could possibly picture and understand how big the Grand Canyon is. And when we in ourselves try to understand the bigness of the God who made that Grand Canyon, who holds that in the palm of his hand like it's nothing, the scale of comparison doesn't work. To try to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth of and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. It's not an 8th grade kid trying to stack up against the Grand Canyon. We don't have categories for that. The discrepancy between us and the size and the majesty and the wonder and the glory and the weight of glory of who our God is, is infinite. Yet God and his graciousness, this is what he does. Knowing that we and ourselves have no ability to begin to comprehend how great and how wide and how wonderful the love of his love of God. Him understanding this, He Himself dwells in us. He goes to work in our inner being to strengthen us, to empower us so that we can begin to understand the infinite capacity of love. That God has for us. That's. I mean, that's more than having your first child and having this love grow and understanding of what really love is, it's much, much, much, much, much bigger than that. When God goes to work in us to give us eyes to see and understand just the beginning of how great his love is. That's why, y'. All. I don't. When people who don't believe in Jesus and are skeptical when they take shots at the character of God. Your God is loving. Let me tell you how your God's not loving. Your God is not righteous. Not just. Let me tell you why your God isn't just. This is why. I don't. I don't get all offended. I'm not. Of course you would not begin to. How possibly could you begin to understand the depths and the riches of the love of God if He's not working in you to help you understand that in the first place? You have no capacity to understand how great he is. You have capacity to understand his great love. You have no capacity to understand his justice. You have no capacity to understand the riches of his glory and his majesty and his wonder and his all. So of course you would not get this. But when the Spirit goes to work in us and begins to open up our eyes to see and we. We begin to. To start to grasp how. How grotesque our sin is and how wretched our rebellion is against God and how we just joyfully choose sin over him repeatedly, over and over and over and over and over and over again to the point of ad nauseam. When we begin to understand with new spiritual eyes to understand how much our sin is heinous against a holy and perfect God who made us. Once we start to understand that, we can begin to partially understand how rich his love is that he would not injustice bring down his full wrath upon us. But he would send His Son to be crushed for us. He would send His Son to be crucified for us. He would send His Son to take the place that we deserve in judgment. And the more you stare at the cross by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, you begin to see how deep his love is. You cannot discover God without Him first working in you. You cannot know him without him first working in you. You cannot understand his glory, his goodness, or any aspect. And especially you cannot understand his love without him first working in us. We need God to work in us. That's why Paul's praying this. That's why he's praying this over them, because they're not going to reason their way to this. They're not going to logic their way to this. No, they need God. He's praying. May God work in your inner being to see this and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

And here's the sandwich, y'. All. Here's where it all comes in. That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. It all leads into that. He's praying you don't have it in you, but may God work in you, strengthen you, work in your inner being, so you might understand the depths of. Of the love of God, that the fullness of God may dwell in you. He's praying the fullness of God may dwell in you. Which begs the question, what is that? What is the fullness of God? I can both tell you what that is and can also admit I don't fully understand what that means. I can tell you biblically what that means. Biblically, it means that God dwells in you and his glorious attributes begin to work through you in mighty wonderful ways that display who he is. That's what that means. But how to fully understand that? I don't know. I don't know how you pictured that. I mean, you can tap a 4.17 quadrillion liter water tank and take your eighth grader and say, get to drinking, but I don't. So how do. How do you understand the fullness of God? And as I thought through this, the best way that my finite mind could try to picture this is that if you have a light bulb on a dimmer switch that you can slowly turn up, which I do in my. In my dining room, I've got this dimmer switch and turn it on, and I still have the Edison bulbs that haven't got out of stock yet. And you can turn it up a little bit and then you'll see the. The inner components of the light begin to light up. Light bulb begin to light up. But if you have a powerful enough light switch and enough light source, the more that you turn up that switch, the less you're going to see of the components of that light bulb. And eventually, if you turn up a light bulb to its maximum capacity, that you're not going to be able to see anything but light itself, you're not going to be able to see the inner workings of this at all, that the only observable substance will be light. And the best I can picture of what the fullness of God is is that God and His glory and the perfection of his attributes dwell so richly in his people that the only observable reality is God himself. And that's a beautiful thing to pray for that when people see you, the only observable reality that shines through you is the fullness of God. And that is a glorious thing to pray for. As he prays this on behalf of this Ephesian church. And you can't reason your way to that reality. You can't discover that our only hope is praying for it is praying for God to work in us in mighty wonderful ways. That at the fullness of God, God and all of his glory and his bright shining love working in us would just be the only observable thing about you.

So that reality makes this final part of the prayer that we're about to read so beautiful. Because that's true now.

To him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen, man. The end of this prayer is an opportunity to dream, to dream a bit. Any all ever dream about winning the lottery? I know a Baptist would never do that. I think most of you have. I've dreamed about it and all the silly material things that you could purchase if I won the lottery. Now let's just disclaimer. I don't buy lottery tickets because I'm a Baptist. I really don't. Let's put that aside. If I won the lottery right now, there's no limit on money. There are some material things that my heart would go after. No doubt. Probably not the same as you, but I would try to find. There are some big land tracks between like Cayce Lexington. So if you took Cayce Lexington, Red Bank. There's an area right there where there's still some big old land tracks. It's getting developed, but not all. And I scoop up one of those land tracks, 100 acres. And then I put a giant fence, we're talking like 20 foot fence all the way around it. And then I'd stock it with as many deer as possible. Just load it up. It'd be a reserve. I wouldn't be selfish. I'd invite some of you. Some of you that don't shoot things you shouldn't shoot. You know who I'm talking about. Some of you know how I'm talking about. This isn't pointing anybody specifically. It just annoys me when people shoot smaller bucks. But that's not the point of this dream. If I I would. I would get this big land track and then I build pretty much the same size house I have now, a little nicer and there'd be a pond because my son has gotten into fishing. We stock it with fish and we just invite people to this to be. So we just have people coming over enjoying it. And I'm sure you've done some version of that, probably different. I don't think your lottery dreams are based in that area of town. But we've done this if we're honest, many of us. And what makes some of those dreams about things that do not matter at all, that have no really tangible, eternal significance, the reason you could do that is because money is the limit, right? That's the point of those lottery dreams, is that money is the limit. And if you didn't have money, here are the things you could really do. But it's all about things that don't matter. It's all about things that don't last. It's all about things that will be here and gone.

When is the last time we took that type of creativity and dreaming about things that do matter, things that have eternal significance, that if there were no limits and God was at work in us in mighty wonderful ways, beginning to help us comprehend the limitless love of God and the fullness of him dwelling in us in rich and powerful ways. If that's true, then man, what are the things that we could be dreaming about that we could pray for now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think? And I want you to dream for a bit about things that actually have significance. If God and His infinite power is at work within us, what are the things that we should be praying for, things we should be dreaming about? I want to give you some categories. Last week we talked about holiness. We talked about. We read a prayer of sanctification, of us becoming more like Christ by repenting of sin and obeying him. And the hope is, is that you didn't just hear that, but you responded to be a doer of the word. And this week at group, you began to talk about sin and not in shallow ways, but in real ways. That's my hope. And if you haven't done it yet, please do. But what if in this past week you started to take sin really seriously and then leaving today, you started to pray big prayers of just like God, this area of my life that I so deeply want you to change, this sin that just keeps plaguing me, God, would you so remove its Influence in my life that a year from now, just walking with you and all of a sudden temptation comes and I'm like, neo from the Matrix, just. And you're just. No, it's just an annoyance. I'm just. Would you work so powerfully within me that I wouldn't feel the destructive influence of the sin? I just have so much fullness of you dwelling within me. That's a thing to pray for.

Let's talk about reconciliation as a category. Some of you have relationships with people that have been marred by the effects of sin. And maybe you're not talking to them anymore. Maybe there is relational weirdness. And it just. Every time you see them, it just. You. Every time you see something online, you just. What if you started praying in a way to our limitless God that he would work in a mighty way in you and in them, so that when you saw them, all you felt was actually love, the love of God. That brightness just shines through you in a way. It's like I. I just love that person so much because he can. He can work in mighty ways.

Give you a different category, personal evangelism. Some of y' all have that lost coworker or that friend that you've been building with for quite some time. What if you began to pray with dream and imagination? God? Would you. Would you use me to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ to this person? Would you save them? And what if God, in a few months, orchestrated you and her? Or you and him standing right in front of me in a pool baptizing them, celebrating that Jesus saved them, and then you disciple them? You say, come, follow me as I follow Christ. Here's how you study the Word. Here's how you pray. Here's how you live in community. Follow me as I follow Christ. And then in a few years, they're actually a group leader. Because you prayed for boldness and zeal, the death of apathy and self interest, and God worked in you and you declared the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Give you another category about planting a church. It's about time we did that. It's about time we planted a church. What if 50 of you weren't in this room a few years from now? What if you, because God, working in your inner being, gave you faith to take a step of obedience and go and take the gospel somewhere else? I'll give you one couple more categories. What if some of you considered the call to ministry, serving the local church? What if some of you prayed some dangerous prayers and God began to work in your inner being in wonderful, mighty ways. And you said, I, I'll make less money. I'll serve the church, I'll be obedient. And for, for the men in this room, some of you, that means considering the call to be a pastor and, and aspiring to the office of overseer and desiring that noble task 1 Timothy 3:1, in a way that you would give your life away to loving and shepherding and leading and preaching God's people. And I'll give you one last category to dream on. What if some of you became international missionaries, you began to pray those kind of dangerous prayers that when you think about it, you want to put it to the side because you don't want to go there. But God began to work in you and broke your heart for a people group that doesn't know the gospel, for a country that needs solid theological enrichment in the local churches. And you, in a few years packed up your bags and sold everything and you left. And you're obedient to the call to go, to make disciples of all the nations. Those are the things worth dreaming about and those are the things worth praying for.

Now, to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen, y'. All. He's able. He's able to do more than we could ever dream or imagine. Why aren't we praying? The type of dangerous, wonderful, glorious Christ exalting prayers that make us uncomfortable. We have access to limitless power to go to work in us, to do unimaginable work that he set apart for us. And the question is, is what are we waiting for? I think some of us are holding back. I think even as we think in those type of categories for a moment, there's already the counter that said, I just, I don't know, I'm not ready. I don't know if I'm ready for that yet. That seems scary. What if I fail? What if it doesn't work? What if? What if? What if? What if? And I want to tell you, you let God be the limit on what he's going to do in you and through you and get out of the way. We pray and we dream like this because of where this ultimately ends. Because to him belongs all glory and the church and in Jesus Christ throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. This ends in doxology. This ends in glorious praise to Him. Did we get to experience him in indescribable ways that we would get to be used by him to do unimaginable things to Him. Be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Brothers and sisters, God wants to strengthen us, to help us comprehend the depths of his love in profound, wonderful ways. And as we experience his love in infinite, wonderful ways, we'd be obedient to the things that he calls us to with no limit style Dreaming it's time for us to pray for the fullness of God to dwell in us. It's time to start praying bold, audacious, big dream prayers. And that's what we're going to do for the next few minutes. Daniel's going to come up here and he's just going to play and we're going to sit and we're going to pray and we're going to pray for two things. We're first going to pray for God and His fullness to dwell in us that would shine so brightly that when people see us, they see Christ. And the second thing we're going to pray for is going to pray for God to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. And we get to dream a little bit and we get to be dangerous a little bit. And we get to be silent for a little bit. And we get to let the Lord go to work in our hearts. So that's what we're going to do. For a few minutes we're going to sit in silence and then I will close this in prayer. But let me, let me make this clear. Some of you need to encounter, maybe for the first time, this power of God. Some of you. This won't make sense until God first begins a work in you, which means some of you need to place your full faith in Jesus that you've been putting faith in other things yourself. And now is the time for you to actually respond to the lordship of God so that he might begin to dwell in you fully. And I would encourage you to do that as well. But we're going to sit for a few minutes. Maybe you need to get a posture of prayer. Maybe you need to be open handed a little bit. Maybe you need to get on your knees. We don't have a traditional altar, but you might need to come up here, you might need to stand up and walk out, but prepare yourself to be in a posture of prayer. And for a few minutes we're going to sit in silence and we're going to pray for the fullness of God to dwell richly in us in mighty ways. And then we're going to pray for God to do far more abundantly than we could ever ask or think. Let's pray.

Lord, we pray that we'd be filled with the fullness of you, God. May you work in our inner being that we might be begin to comprehend how profound and wonderful our love is and a world way that you would dwell so richly within us and shine so brightly through us. Oh lord, would you fill us, God, to you who are able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. God, would you remove the limits that we place on you in our lives? Would you make us uncomfortable? Would you give us faith? God, we ask for faith to pray like this. May you work mightily in us to do the things that you desire for us. To you be glory and your church and our Savior Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

We're going to stand, we're going to praise our glorious God and we're going to worship.

Mill City 1/11/26 Mill City 1/11/26

New Testament Prayers: Week 2

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning. Nope, wrong way. There we go. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. We are beginning the year with a series on New Testament prayers. So just the first four weeks, we're going to look at. When you read the New Testament, you're going to see in various points where it's not teaching, it's. It's not application, it's not correction, but it's actually just there's a prayer. And we're going to look at a few of these over the next few weeks with the goal of encouraging us to pray, which is a discipline that we as Christians need to continue to grow and especially as we start out a new year. Then we'll jump into second Samuel and we're done with this to finish out first and second Samuel. So we're going to be in first Thessalonians 5, 23, 24. Last week, Chet took us to Ephesians 1, and we got to look at a prayer that calls God's people to delight in worship in God and his glory, to know him. And this week we get to see another aspect of what God desires for his people.

So I am getting closer to 40. Yeah. Which means getting closer to the age where you start going to the doctor more because you get to discover all the ways that your body is trying to kill you. You just. When you're younger, most folks, the only doctor that you have is whoever you see at urgent care. But when you get older, you, like, have your own doctor. And then you start having a team of specialists, which I've gotten a head start on already. I realized I had entered a new phase of life when I started bragging about how good my specialist was. But this, this is what happens, because the older you get, like, statistically, when you're younger, your car is more likely to kill you. When you get older, your heart is more likely to kill you. So you, if you want to live, if you want to thrive, you want to flourish bodily, you've got to actually go to the doctor more regularly. And our older folks know this. How many of you of our older folks this that? A big topic of conversation that shows up every time that y' all get together is doctor visits, right? It. It's, it's. That's a reality. And we should consider our health seriously. We should go to the doctor. We should be healthy. We should do all of those things. We should take our health deadly serious. It matters.

Paul in, in. In First Timothy 4, he makes the point that for a while, bodily training is of some Value. So he starts that statement with saying, yes, you should. You should take care of your body. There's some value there. But he continues and says, godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also the life to come.

> For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. (1 Timothy 4:8, ESV)

So it makes the case, yes, bodily training is of value, but you should train for godliness. As serious as we take our physical health, the question is, how serious are we taking our spiritual health? And more specifically, how serious are we taking sin in our lives? And that's the subject matter for this prayer today. This is a prayer of sanctification. It's very brief, but I'm encouraged that we get to look at this this morning and hopefully we will see a prayer that calls us to grow in being more like Christ, the process of sanctification. So let me pray for us, and then we will walk through this together.

Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us consider the reality of our sin in ways that we may not have or are not. That takes you going to work in our hearts in a way that compels us to be the people that you've called us to be. So God, I pray that you'd speak to us and that we would respond. In Jesus name, Amen.

All right, so first Thessalonians 5, 23, 24.

> Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24, ESV)

All right, so this is a prayer. It's a benediction, a blessing, a prayer that he prays over this church in Thessalonica. So before we jump into this prayer that comes at the end of First Thessalonians, I want to give a little bit of context for this letter that Paul wrote to this church in Thessalonica. So Thessalonica is a city in Greece, still is a major city in Greece, and at the time in ancient Greece was a major city that Paul traveled to. In Acts 17, he plants this church. It begins, it grows, and then there's some persecution and suffering that happens, and the God takes him elsewhere. And one of the things that Paul does in his ministry as he starts churches all over Asia Minor, Asia Minor in Europe, is he ministers to them from a distance. And some of that we get in these letters that God has inspired through him, teaching truth to these Thessalonians.

So when you read First Thessalonians, there's a major theme that shows up over and over again. And that is the encouragement that Christ will return, that Jesus is coming back. That's a, that's a big part of this letter. And that's important for Christians to remember that Jesus is actually coming back. If you were here this time last year in January, we were finishing a five month journey through the book of Revelation. And one of the helpful things that we gathered from that is this regular reminder that the end is coming, that Jesus will come, he will make all things new, that we need that encouragement, especially when life is very difficult.

Over the past couple of weeks we've had sickness, various forms of sickness flow through our house, which has been loads of fun, you guys, but we had the flu. Now we've got some type of infection. And one of my kids who was going through seven days of fever ridden flu in the middle of it, she just was so tired of it. She just was like, I'm, I'm so, I've just, I want to be well. And I just had to say, hey, listen, I know the flu stinks. Waking up every day feeling like this is rotten, it's awful. But there's a day coming in just a few days, you're going to wake up and you're going to finally feel better. And she just needed that little bit of encouragement to pick her head up and realize, okay, no, this is hard, but I'm going to be okay at the end of this. And the New Testament does this over and over again. It picks up our gaze a bit and says, Jesus is coming. He's going to make all things new. And that's the big theme that runs throughout this letter. And towards the end of him really pressing this upon this church, he prays this blessing over them. May the God of peace sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As, as Jesus is going to come, he says now, may the God of peace, which pause for a moment. Isaac Hill and I were, we were discussing this this week and he just made a really good point. He says it's so helpful that he, he could have chosen any attribute to emphasize here about God. But he says, may the God of peace. It doesn't say may the God of wrath. He says, may the God of peace, which is a picture of God the Father who makes peace with us. We once were lost, dead in our sin, enemies of God. But through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to become friends of God because he makes peace with Us and we live in peace with God, says, may the God of peace sanctify you completely. May sanctify you. So that is the prayer of sanctification. So let me take a moment and define sanctification, okay? Because it's important for us to not miss this sanctify, which is the verb form here, or sanctification, which is the noun form, the state of being. Sanctified comes from the Latin word sanctus, which means holy. And the original language, which is the Greek here it's hagios. So this is the process of becoming holy as God is holy.

When you read the Old Testament and the Old Testament law, in Leviticus 11, it says, Be holy as I am holy. But we get the fullest picture of what sanctification is in the New Testament.

> For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. (Leviticus 11:44, ESV)

So if I had to define sanctification for us this side of the New Testament. And sanctification is the process of becoming more like Jesus Christ through repenting of sin and obeying him. Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Jesus through repenting of sin and obeying him. Which means that for the life of the Christian, this is one of the most important aspects of our faith. It is becoming more like Jesus taking sin seriously, repenting and obeying him. That this should mark our lives.

Every now and then I'll be meeting with somebody and they'll, they'll ask some version of. I'm just trying to figure out like what, what is God's will for my life? I just want to know what God's will is for me. And when they say that, I have to have some self control because an intrusive thought comes in. Because first Thessalonians 4, 3 is the, the one verse that captures that idea. The bet, like the most explicit in the Scriptures, 1st Thessalonians 4. 3 says, for this is the will of God, your sanctification.

> For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality. (1 Thessalonians 4:3, ESV)

And every time someone, I know what they're saying. It's not that the will of God is just narrow to sanctification. They're asking about how do I think about this job or how do I think about this decision. I just wonder what the will of God is. In the back of my head, I'm like, it's your sanctification. No, put that away. You're talking about something else. But that is a big part of the will of God for us is that we would be more like Him. That's one of God's grand desires for us, is that we would be more and more like him. That's a big part of our faith. And in the context of First Thessalonians 4, when he continues, for this is the will of God, your sanctification. He starts to name what is one of, probably one of the bigger sins in that church and in that city at the time. He says that you had abstained from sexual immorality. And he goes on to explain that further. But you broaden that out to the rest of the New Testament and you see that God desires His people to take sin seriously. I want you to hear that He. He wants his people to take our sin seriously.

> And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24, ESV)

Galatians chapter 5, verse 24 says, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. That he references the horrific, violent, brutal murder of Christ pulls that imagery to mind. And he says, all of that violence you should reserve for your flesh, that you should murder, destroy, end the desires of your flesh.

> Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4, ESV)

Romans chapter 2, verse 4 says, or do you presume on the riches of his kindness in forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? It's this idea that gets throws up over again. We do not presume upon the kindness of God. The kindness of God and His patience and his forbearance is meant to lead us to repentance, to the turning away of sin to crucifying the flesh. You see this over and over and over again in the New Testament as it calls us to take our sin seriously.

So we should, as Christians, consider our sin seriously. That we should consider all the ways in which we sin. We should live a life that is one of walking in the light, that is one of confession, confessing our sin to the Lord and confessing it to other Christians as we walk in the light together. That we should be in the process of sanctification, reading our Bibles and reading His Word and knowing God and His Word and knowing his holiness, and as we read His Word, realizing and reflecting upon all the ways in which we sin against God. That we should grow in this type of holiness. That we should grow in the difficult work of identifying patterns in our life that need to be changed and changing those patterns. We should identify habits, we should consider what we watch. We should consider the things that we scroll through. We should consider the things that we fantasize about, the things we think about that in all these ways and more, we should consider our sanctification seriously. We should be serious about our repentance as we plead for God to sanctify us. We should have this type of Prayer, pleading for God.

And think about how thorough Paul is here. He says, now, may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And he says, and may your whole spirit so that word, the word for completely and the word for hold there in the original language are the same. And I, and I, I think, completely captures some of this. I do like what the NIV says. The NIV says, may he sanctify you through and through. May he sanctify you through and through thoroughly. And then he goes on to picture this. Your whole spirit, your whole soul and body be kept blameless. Now, I, I, I don't think what Paul's doing there is dividing the self into three different parts, body, soul, spirit. I don't think that's what he's doing. He's not doing three clean divisions of who we are. I think what Paul's getting at here is he's saying all of you, and this is what the scriptures do sometimes and just capturing all of who we are. This is your thoughts, your actions, your immaterial self, your spiritual self, your material self, your body, every aspect of may God sanctify you completely. And this should be our desire.

Let me address an aspect of sanctification that I think our church, specifically we need to receive this and understand this. Well, I'm going to say something, and for some of us that's going to be quite jarring. But just stay with me. You should desire. We should desire to please God in our sanctification. Now let me qualify for a moment when it comes to the work of justification, faith in Jesus Christ. When he converts us, we go from old to new, dead to alive. We're born again before Christ. You cannot please God. I think it's important, because we say this sometimes, is that we cannot please God with our good works. We cannot please God. We cannot earn our favor, earn favor before. We cannot earn our status before Him. And it's like, yes and amen. We absolutely should remember that, that we cannot please God in earning our place before him. So have that locked in our brain when he makes us new and brings us to a new life in Christ. In our sanctification, we should want to please God. We should want to please Him. And the New Testament captures this over and over again.

> But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. (1 Thessalonians 2:4, ESV)

I'll just give you a couple of ways it captures this in First, Thessalonians 2, 4, it says, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please man, but to please God, who tests our hearts in Colossians 1 a prayer, he says, and so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

> And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9–10, ESV)

So when it comes to the work of sanctification, the work of becoming more like Christ, the repenting of sin and obeying him, that we should want to please God, that is for our joy, for our flourishing, for our good, and we have to kind of separate those two parts of our brain that we will never please God to be saved. But in Christ, when he puts the Holy Spirit within us, that work that is flowing in us when we lean into this, it is pleasing to God. Every deliberate choice to kill sin and to honor God is a choice to depend upon his power and not our own. Every time we decide to know, I want to grow in this, I want to be holy as God is holy. It pleases him, it's pleases him. When we confess Jesus is better than everything else and we live that out. When we have temptation that comes to us and presents, send us and we just say, no, I want Jesus, I believe that he's better than everything else. And therefore I'm going to desire, I'm going to choose, I'm going to follow Christ here. It's pleasing. And we should remember that language because I think sometimes we get so much in the language of I don't have to please God, I have to please God, I have to please God. And we blur the lines a bit till we get to a little bit of Romans 6 where we're presuming upon the grace of God and that's not a place where we need to be as Christians, we should desire to grow in sanctification.

We should take our spiritual health seriously as like more seriously than we do even our physical health, as I said earlier, with all the time and energy that we take to think about our physical health, to think about our overall financial well being, our overall success in life, all that ever different aspects of our life which we should consider and pray for, we have a lot of energy that's directed in that. And then some of us, we have little energy that's directed in seeking the Lord, asking Him to sanctify us. I mean, consider our prayers. Consider what you pray for on a regular basis. Do you pray for, for physical health? Do you pray for financial success? Do you pray for a lot of good Things that you should absolutely pray for. God never grows tired of hearing those prayers. You should. We should grow and we should pray. We should do all of that. But do we pray for that with more zeal, more passion, more earnestness, more consistency than we do in praying and considering our own sin? That's something we should reckon with and we should consider.

I mean, think about the psalmist, how the psalmist pray. Go to Psalm 139. It says, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

> Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23–24, ESV)

When is the last time that we prayed like that? That on our face before the Lord? We're saying, God, would you search me? Would you know my heart? Try me, expose me, help me see. I don't want these grievous ways to have victory in my life. I want you to lead me in the way of everlasting. When is the last time that we prayed passionately, consistently, fervently like that?

Consider how David prays in Psalm 51 after he. He sins against Bathsheba and Uriah, which we'll read about in Second Samuel, coming up. And he has this prayer of repentance. He says in verse seven, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

> Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7, ESV)

When is the last time on your face before the Lord? You said, God, purge me. Purge me of the sin. Purge me like hyssop. Cleanse me. Remove this. I want to be holy as you are holy. I want to be whiter than snow. I don't want to be a slave to my sin. Would you purge me of this? When is the last time that we fervently prayed like this? This is the type of intensity that God desires of his people that we might pray like this, y'. All. We will. We currently do. And we will probably, with the size of our church, always have someone who is battling cancer, who is battling disease. And this church, we respond by consistently and passionately pleading with the Lord on behalf of our church family to heal. And we're not going to stop doing that. But with that type of intensity that we're asking for physical healing, do we do that with spiritual healing, with becoming more like Christ, with repenting of sin and becoming more like him. Do we pray like this? Because we should.

We should consider all the ways in which we are plagued by sin and praying. We should pray earnestly. God so tired of the sexual sin that's bound up within me. I'm so tired of stumbling and falling with actions and with thoughts. God, would you purge me? Would you cleanse me? Would you remove it? I don't want to sin against you when the temptation comes. I want to believe that you're better. Would you cleanse me of this? God, would you purge me of a dishonest tongue? Because I don't know what happens at work. My boss talks and it gets me stressed out and I tell half truths. I'm hanging out with my friends and they're telling all kinds of stories and I feel like I gotta tell a story and then I embellish upon it. And then all of a sudden I just. I don't want this anymore. I want to speak truthfully. God, would you purge me of a dishonest tongue? Would you cleanse me of the heartless apathy that has plagued me in this season? I feel so spiritually dry and distant. And I don't want it. God, I want to. I want a fervor for you. I don't want to be so apathetic. God, would you cleanse me of this? God, would you purge me of the greed within me? Because every time I get a raise, all I can think about is the next thing I want to buy that. All I can think about is more and more. I don't want that. God, would you purge me of my greed? Would you cleanse me of my faithless anxiety that I'm so tired of being so fearful of everything else but you? But God, I want to fear you. Above all, I want to try. I don't want to live in a persistent, consistent state of anxiety. God, would you purge me of the petty rivalries that I create in my own heart with people that don't even know that I'm mad at them and the gossip that flows out of me and the slander that flows out of me? I don't want this anymore. Would you cleanse me of this desire to seek substances for my pain? I'm tired of just wanting the next drink. I'm tired of getting THC in my system. I just. I don't want. Would you cleanse me of my faithless anxiety, my faithless idolatry? And on and on and on and all the ways that we should consider, all the ways in which we sin against God? When is the last time that we got on our face and prayed with that type of zeal? That's what God desires of his people, to pray and say, God, peace, sanctify me. Sanctify my whole spirit, my whole, every part of me. Keep me blameless until the coming of Jesus Christ.

John Owen, the Puritan pastor from centuries ago, and his work, Mortification of Sin and Mortification of Sin, which mortification just means putting to death of a thing. He impacts this idea of mortifying sin in the flesh. He says to mortify means to put any living thing to death. To kill a man or any other living thing is to take away the principle of all its strength, vigor and power so that it cannot act or exert or put forth any proper actings of its own. He goes on to say, it is the constant duty of believers to render a death blow to the deeds of the flesh that they may not have life and strength to bring forth their destructive influence. Boy, oh boy, when have we prayed that God would remove the strength, the vigor, the power, the destructive influence, the life, all of it from our sin? I just want you to remove the destructive influence of this sin in my life. God, would you do it? You put the spirit in me. It's alive and it worked in me. Would you empower me to put this to death? This is the pursuit of the Christian life. This is what God desires of his people. How often are we praying for our sanctification like this.

And push this even further. How often are we praying these type of prayers for one another? How often are we praying? Because look at this, this is Paul praying for them. He's praying for their sanctification. And how often are we doing that with one another? Because sanctification is not a solo sport, it's team sport. We have a Western American individualistic mindset that my sin is my business. The Bible says, no, it is not your business. You belong to a community. No, your sin is not just your business. This is how we love one another.

Well, I was watching over the holiday season, I was watching a movie called the Long Walk, which is an adaptation of a Stephen King novel. And it's about a dystopian future after an American civil war where there's a totalitarian regime in place. And they, they have a contest and a lottery for that contest. They take young men from all 50 states and they put them in the Long Walk, which is a death march, which is quite the movie to watch over the holidays. But I was really looking forward to seeing this movie and a death march, if you don't know what that is historically, it's where you tell people to walk. And every person that stops walking is shot. And the last person standing, last person walking, the end wins. The contest. And one of the things I appreciate about this story is that the main character, he arrives and he. He decides, I'm going to team up with some of these other guys and we're going to walk together. And they. They team up and they walk together. There's another guy that shows up, and his strategy is to walk alone. And he. His whole strategy is to discourage everyone else who's walking. And for a few days, it works. He gets in the head of a few other guys, they stop walking, they're killed, and he just keeps walking. And that works for one, two, three days. But about day four, day five, and day six, when there's only about 10 people left, the guys who've been walking together are still walking together. And there are times where it's in the middle of the night, and one of them is literally sleepwalking. He's asleep and he's walking. He's slowing down, and his friend grabs him and carries him every step of the way. So they endure as they go up steep inclines, and people are starting to fall off. One by one, they encourage each other together. And these five are walking together. By day five or six, the guy who's been walking alone begins to go insane. Name? He begins to lose his mind. He has this desire. He's freaking out where he wants a team, he wants people to walk with him. He feels all types of disorientation. Then he finally stops walking and he dies. And as I'm watching that, I'm like, that is such a picture of why we need each other so much. That sin is serious. This life is serious. There's a lot on the line, and we should walk together. We're not designed to walk alone. We're designed to walk together. That means we should care about each other enough to care about each other's sin and sanctification.

When is the last time that you. You reached out to someone in your group and asked them, would you be praying for me? I'm struggling right now with temptation. I've been struggling with sin. But would you pray for me? When's the last time that you've reached out to someone in your group, someone you're walking with, inviting them in? When's the last time that you spoke honestly about the reality of the sin that you're struggling through? When's the last. At a time, at a care night, as we're talking to each other in group, that you were real and honest and didn't give polished stories of your reality even further? When is the last Time that you cared enough about someone else that you're walking with to go out of your way to ask them tough questions. Do you know their sin? You've walked with them for a year, a few years, you know what's happening. When was the last time that you went on your way to ask them difficult questions, to reach out and say, hey, I know it's been hard lately, but I'm praying for you. And you're on your face pleading and praying, may God sanctify him completely. May he sanctify her completely. May you help this brother or sister, crucify this desire, and may they have victory. When have you been praying like this and caring about someone else that you walk with? This is what we're called to. This is sanctification in the church of Jesus Christ. This is what part of the reason he's given us one another, that we might walk together in this battle with sin.

Let me close with this. In verse 24, he says, he who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. The good news of God's sanctifying work is that God is the One at work within us. God is the one at work with us. He will surely do it. It is he that will keep us blameless. The God who calls us into faith carries us through to completion and works within us every step of the way. And if you belong to Jesus Christ, he will surely do it. And that is encouraging. And some of us need to be reminded of that today. Some of you need to be reminded of this because some of us have been trying to sanctify our worldly minds by our own effort, by our own strength. And we're neglecting this opportunity to run to the Lord in prayer, pleading with him, relying upon Him. Search me, know me, purge me, cleanse me, sanctify me by his power and not our own.

Some of us need to hear this this morning because some of you are deeply discouraged right now. You've been stumbling and stumbling and stumbling and I want you to hear so clearly this morning. He is at work within you and he will surely do it. That as you lean into the reality of spirit filled dependence upon him to crucify the desires of the flesh. Yes, we know biblically we're never going to be perfect. We know that. We know we're never going to arrive there. We know that we're broken, sinful, corrupt to the core. We get that. And also the Spirit at work within us will mold us and shape us in the image of Christ. And whatever you're facing right Now God is at work. If you belong to him, he will surely do it.

Some of us have neglected. Though hear this. Some of us have neglected the power of God coming to bear on our lives because we have not taken sin seriously enough. And it is time for us to start taking some sin seriously. The beginning of this year. Some of you need to start taking sin seriously. You need to start praying for God to search you, to know you, to purge you, to cleanse you. Some of you have neglected the power of God to destroy the patterns of sin in your life, be it for reasons of apathy, distraction, indulgence, indifference, unbelief. But all of those we got to put at the foot of the cross and we got to plead for God to change us. But if we belong to Christ, we have to start taking this seriously. And for some of you, some of you have only depended upon your own self. And this morning, it is time for you to depend upon the Lord to actually see him as Lord and ruler of your life, taking over every aspect of your life, including the things that you've held most dear to you, so that he might change you and conform you into his image. And beautiful, wonderful ways to bring about the change that God wants for you because there is a man or a woman that he has made you to be that is growing in Christ likeness. But you cannot take those steps to flourish and grow into his image until you start taking sin seriously. But if you woo, if you, if you, if you take the leap of faith, if you walk in the light, if you start talking to other Christians, if you do the tough work of sanctification, you will change. He will surely do it.

This is how we're going to close this morning. It's going to be a little bit different. We're going to take communion here in a moment. So let me go ahead and introduce communion now as we prepare for the table. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body that was broken for you. And he took the cup. This is the cup of the new covenant. This is my blood that was shed for you, that as often as you eat and drink this, you proclaim my death until I return.

> For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23–26, ESV)

So the table is a reminder that our sin cost the blood of God and that God and His abundant mercy and kindness gives us Jesus Christ. That covers our sin. So typically, we take a few moments and we consider our sin and we consider our Savior and then we come to the table. But that's not what we're going to do this morning. We're going to do something a little bit different. I'm going to ask Matt to come up and Matt is going to sing a song over us. So right now we're going to pray. We're going to pray. The song captures Psalm 139, Search me and his kindness leads us to repentance in Romans 2. And we're going to pray. We're not coming to the table. We're going to sit and we're going to pray. And we're going to ask the Lord to sanctify us. We're going to ask the Lord to expose us, to search us, to know us, to find the grievous ways within us. And we're going to sit in silence as he sings and ministers to us, as he sings over us. We're going to consider our sin. And I hope right now that the Holy Spirit begins to prod and worship. I hope he starts giving you action steps when you leave here today that you start having conversations. We got a care night this week in our community groups. I hope that you come prepared to bear burdens with one another there. But we're going to do the work right now where God's going to work in our heart. So don't come to the table. We're going to pray. And when he's done singing the song, then he'll invite us to the table. But right now, sit and pray before the Lord in silence. And may the Lord go to work in our hearts.

Mill City 1/4/26 Mill City 1/4/26

New Testament Prayers: Week 1

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Well, good morning. Happy New Year. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. If you will grab a Bible and go to Ephesians, chapter one. We are going to begin the year by. I got to get rid of this pen or I'm going to fiddle with it. Sorry. We are going to begin the year by studying prayer together and seeking to grow in prayer together.

As we start this year, I know a lot of people kind of think through, okay, how did last year go? What do I want to change, what I want to grow in? And as a church, we want to grow in praying. And so the way we're going to go about doing this is we're going to read New Testament prayers. We're going to see what they prayed for, how they prayed. At its simplest, prayer is just talking, talking to God. It is a gift from God to us that we would be able to speak to Him. He, that we, as intelligent, relational creatures, he's given us a way to relate to him in an intelligent way, who is the source of all relationship and the source of all intelligence. So he's given us a way to commune with him, to speak with Him. And we want to grow in this. And we're going to see how they prayed in the New Testament. We're going to practice it. We're going to mimic it, which is how we learn things. It's all the things that little kids do and the games they play and the ways they learn things. They just mimic the things that they're seeing. This is why you had an Easy Bake Oven. It's why you had a pretend little push lawnmower. It's why my dad spent most of his games as a child being a cowboy, because that's what he saw. Apparently, all the shows were cowboy shows. That's why I was a Ninja Turtle and why. Why I've been beaten up by Black Panther and Captain America more than I care to admit now with my two sons. It's because we see something and we want to practice it. We want to grow in it, we want to develop it, and we follow what we see. So we're going to do that. We're going to see how they prayed, what they prayed for, and we're going to practice it together.

So we're going to pray more in our groups over the next few weeks that we'll get together and spend more time in our groups praying. We always pray in our groups. It's a great time for us to share burdens with one another, pray for one another. Pray with one another for our missionary efforts and for our lives. But we're going to do more of that in the coming weeks. And as seems fitting, we're going to pray this morning as we begin, before we get into the text. Lord, we ask for your help and your mercy that as we study your word, your spirit would go to work to help us, to hear it, to see it, to believe it. So we ask for you to minister to us in this time. Lord, we're so often hard of hearing, so often dense, so often shallow, easily distracted, worried about other things. But we ask for your spirit to put away distraction and to open our eyes that we might see you in Jesus name. Amen.

So we're going to be in Ephesians, chapter one. We're going to pick up in verse 15. So Paul, the Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus and he's going to talk to them about him praying for them. And he's going to say what he's been praying for them. So he says, for this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints. So he that for this reason is a bridge statement. It's referencing what he's been talking about and where he's about to go, so that it's walking through all the things he's been saying already and then what he's about to say next. And. And so what he's been talking about is salvation. He's been saying that we have been saved by grace, by the work of God. It's what we read together a little while ago, that it's to the praise of his glorious grace that he has saved us, that he's predestined us, chosen us, adopted us as sons. And he's been talking about this and he keeps saying it's to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glorious grace. And he says for this reason, all of that salvation and that you believe it since I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints.

So those, those things, salvation and your particular salvation, the church in Ephesus. Here's what I've been praying.

> For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

So he's thankful for them in his prayers. And then he says, remembering you my prayers, that so he can tell us what he's been praying for, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know. So let's go back. So he's praying to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give you the Spirit of wisdom. So right there we see the Trinity, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit at work. And so what he's saying is, I'm praying that Jesus, who is our Lord, who's brought us into a relationship with the Father, I'm praying basically through Jesus to the Father. And he calls him the Father of glory, which is not a phrase he uses often, but in this whole context, he's got glory on his mind. He's been talking about all the salvation is to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glorious grace. And we're going to see that he says glory multiple times as we keep going. We're actually going to take some time to consider glory this morning. So he's saying the Father of glory that he may give you the Spirit. So he's praying that the Holy Spirit, and he calls him the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. So specifically what he's praying, he's asking the Father for the church in Ephesus that the Spirit would go to work in such a way that they would know God, that he would reveal God to them. He's going to say specifically what he wants them to know about God, what he wants to understand about God. But I want you to see that his primary, the basis of his prayer is that they would know God.

Now he's writing to a church that he helped get started. And when he helped get it started, it was kind of a mess. At some point he gets run out of the city. But he now hears that they're still following the Lord, they're growing. He's excited about their faith. He's thankful. But consider what he could be praying for them, what he could have written. Here's what I've been praying for. You think about what you would be praying for. A church plant in a difficult spot that has faced opposition. I wouldn't be surprised and honestly might would find it more practical if he had said, I'm praying for protection, praying that the Lord would help you against those that would oppose you. I'm praying for your safety. I'm praying for the effectiveness of the gospel work. Like there's a lot of things he could be praying for them. I'm praying that y' all find places to meet and gather where you're not in danger. I'm praying that you can share the gospel well and people will receive it. But that's not what he says. He's saying, I'm praying that the Spirit goes to work in your heart so that you can know God. He actually says that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened. Okay. It's a real simple picture. What do your eyes do? They see. What does your heart do? It loves. It takes in the essence of things. It's what people talk about, that they feel something in their heart. If you looked at somebody and said, the eyes of my heart see you, they'd get what you meant. And let's hope it was appropriate for you to say that to them. It's probably not first date conversation, but you they'd get it. And that's what he's saying is, I want your heart to grasp this. I want you to know know it. Not just know it. I want you to know, know it. I want the spirit to go to work so that you really, really, actually, really, truly inside of you know this. He wants us to know God and y'. All. That is primary, that is essential.

If you live your entire life and it's a good life, a comfortable life, that you're kind, you're generous, you're well liked, you're well received, you get to enjoy life, you get to partake in some of the good things that the earth has to offer. And then you get to the very end of all things and you don't know God. You get nothing. Nothing. You have nothing. But if we make it to the end and we know God, then we've gotten everything. And it's essential that we know God, that we have God, that we participate with God, that we worship God, that we delight in God.

I want to take just a moment for the skeptic in the room, because I've heard before, I distinctly remember my grandmother was a missionary, and I remember her talking to my cousin and he was being antagonistic to this idea, but he was saying that he thought it was crazy narcissistic that God would create the world and then demand that his creation worship him, that he would make himself essential. Basically, for this to be essential for us to either get God and that's all that matters, or not get God and like that this is the bare essence of all creation and existence would be, do you know God or not? Do you relate to God or not? He just said, that's crazy. So if that's where you are, I just want to give you two things to consider One, it is the right ordering of the world that us as creatures would relate to God, know God and worship God. That if you said, why should I worship God? And I responded by saying, because He's God, that's not a cop out. That's a legitimate answer. Imagine with me for a moment that you are a headstrong, recalcitrant, cheerless teenager, rebellious, problematic, mouthy, and you say to your friend, I just don't know why my mom's all in my business and why she wants to ask me all these questions and why she wants to be my friend. And let's imagine for a moment that your friend says, because she's your mom. That's a legitimate answer. You understand? That's a legitimate answer. It's actually messed up if she doesn't want to know you, talk to you, care about you. That's where the brokenness comes in. Not when she's momming, but when she's not. And so when we say, well, why would God want us to know him, worship him, relate to him, because He's God, is a legitimate answer. Because it's the right ordering of the world. It's my first one. Second one, if God were to say, create the world and then say, hey, the most joy, the most delight, the most goodness, the most life can be found in blank, and he pointed to anything other than Himself, then that thing would be more glorious than him, and it would be God, not Him. So not only is it the right ordering of the world, but it's actually innate to the, to the intrinsic goodness of God, and it's for our good that we would know him and relate to Him.

So what Paul is praying for is actually that we would get what we've longed for always, which is a right relationship with God, that we would really, really know Him. That's what he's praying for them. He's going to give three specific things he wants them to know. So he says that you may know, Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you? What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? That's number two. And number three, what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? So the first one, That you may know what is the hope to which he has called you? Second one, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? And the third one is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.

So the first one is that you may know what is the hope to which he has called us, called the Church? He's talking to Christians. What is the hope? Well, there's a hope of salvation. There's a hope of heaven. There's a hope of eternity. There's a hope of joy. There's all these things. But there are some places where Paul specifically references this hope that we have. And I want to point them out to you because I think he's getting at something specific here. It is all of those things, but it's bound up in something.

Romans 5:2.

> through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Through him, that's Jesus. We have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Okay? This is how we're saved. By the grace of Jesus, by our faith in Jesus. Grace meaning that he has freely gifted salvation to those who will believe. And then we just trust him. We believe in him. So if your New Year's resolution was to get your act together and be moral enough to please God, we're glad you're here. And that will never happen. I don't even know you. And I can already tell you that will never happen, because that's not how it works. So we receive salvation by grace. We receive it by the work that he's done. That's why it's good news that we place faith in him and that he saves us. That's what he says. So it's in faith, by grace, through faith. But then he says this, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So we're hoping our hope is the glory of God.

And he says this other places, says it all over the place.

> To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:27.

> waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Titus 2:13.

That's our hope, that he's going to show up in glory, that we're going to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. That's Wonderful if we know what glory is, because it's like, that's great. What's glory? It's glorious for sure. But what is it? What does it mean when we're hoping in the glory of God, he's our blessed, that we're awaiting the appearing of the glory of Christ. What does it mean when he says he's the father of glory? Tim Keller, who I thoroughly appreciate, he passed on recently. He was a pastor in New York for a long time. He said that if you'll notice that sometimes when you read a theology book that there's no that when it talks about the attributes of God, sometimes it won't even list glory. It'll just talk about his power, it'll talk about his omnipotence, it'll talk about his love, but it won't say that he's glorious or that he has glory. And he said the reason he thinks that, and he actually thinks that. Herman Bavink and his theology work puts it best when he says the glory of God is the infinite, indescribable perfection and beauty of all the other attributes. John Piper says that it's the beauty of his manifold perfections. And John Piper, when talking about glory, said, one of the reasons it's hard to define glory is that the word glory is a lot more like the word beauty than it is the word basketball. If you didn't know anything about basketball, in about 10 minutes, I could describe both the object and the game to you in such a way that you could walk into a room and pick a basketball out of a whole bunch of other balls and get some people together and basically play the game. Doesn't take much to describe it. You can do that. But if you don't know anything about beauty, you've never heard of the concept, and I've got to describe beauty to you, we're going to have a harder time. Piper says that we know beauty because we have the ability to point, say, that is beautiful. It's right there. And that's kind of how glory works.

But when the Bible talks about glory, it does talk about glory, and I think three distinct ways. So even though it's hard to describe, we've got to try to wrap our minds around it this morning. So I'm going to show you three ways that the Bible talks about glory, and then we're going to try to understand what it means that we have a hope of glory and why it's so important to Paul that our hearts know that this is the three ways that the Bible Talks about glory, talks about intrinsic glory, ascribed glory, and manifest glory. So if you just went right now and word search glory in your Bible and started reading all the places that said glory, you're going to see that it uses the word differently. And that's because it's going to use it in basically these three categories. Intrinsic glory is glory that is essential of the nature of something. God has intrinsic glory. He is glorious, whether you know it or not, whether you see it or not, whether you enjoy it or not. He is glorious that there are things that have glory. This is where Paul can say that there's a star differs from star in glory. It means it's intrinsic glory. Then there is ascribed glory, which is most often used for us to ascribe glory to God, meaning that we're responding to his intrinsic glory and we're saying that he has glory. This is when the angels show up to the shepherds and the stories that we read around Christmas and they say, glory to God in the highest. That's how they're using it. Give glory to God, acknowledge his glory, ascribe glory to him. And then there is manifest glory, which is God's glory on display. Glory that can be perceived, glory that can be received, glory that can be enjoyed. This is when the angels show up and it says, the glory of the Lord shone around them. He made some of his invisible attributes visible so that glory is displayed.

Now, I don't know if you know this, but you are hungry for glory. We thirst for it. We love it. You know when you watch a movie or a television show or you go to a concert or you go see a play, or you go watch someone play a sport, you know what you want? You want the most glorious version of that. You've never gone to a concert and been like, oh, I hope they come out 30 minutes late and they're off their game. I hope this is the most mediocre spot on their tour. Now you want the best one. If I told you I had a time machine and we were going to go watch Michael Jordan play, and then I took you to Birmingham, Alabama, so that you could see him play minor league baseball, you'd be furious. If I took you to 2003 when we could see him play for the Wizards, you'd be less mad but still annoyed. You want to go to early 90s Chicago because we want the most glorious version. We want to see. This is why we go see great sights. This is why we want to be in awe of things. We want to participate in glory. We Want to see the original cast sing the songs? Because we want the most glorious version. We're chasing it all the time. We want those things that when we look at someone and we go, I can't describe it to you. You should have been there. I mean, I can try to tell you about it, but all I can really say is, it was beautiful. You should have seen it. It's etched in my mind. I'll never forget it. And what he's saying is, I want your heart to know that the glory of God has never fully been revealed to man. It's been shielded for us. And every little bit of glory we've ever gotten is just a wisp of a vapor of a taste of a hint of a smell of the glory that is bound up in his person, in who he is. And our hope is that one day, full, unadulterated glory will be ours to partake in, to receive, to enjoy forever. That everything we've ever chased and wanted, that one day, it's just there. This is why the book of Revelation says, and I saw no sun, because the glory of the Lord is their light. You ever just walked out after being cold and stood in the sun, close your eyes and just let it kind of cook you for a second. You ever done this? Am I the only person who does this? Ever just stood and been like, oh, there'll come a day when there is no sun. It's just the glory of the Lord that we're standing in, soaking and delighting and enjoying that every bit of every little hint of glory we've ever tasted pales in comparison as we are brought up into the glory of the Lord forever. And if you belong to Jesus, that is your hope. And Paul's saying, I'm praying that the Holy Spirit would come into your heart and open it up so that you might see that, so that your heart might wrap around it. Because I can tell you, if it does, it changes what we care about and what we chase after.

That's the first thing he wants for us, that we would know what is the hope to which he has called us. Second thing, he's praying for the church. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? I want to highlight two words for you because I think it's quite possible that we've just read this backwards. The two words I want to highlight are his and in. Now, we read together earlier the passage leading into this. And in that, it talks about our inheritance, meaning that we Have a hope of something that we're going to receive, that he's set aside for us, that we have an inheritance that's kept in heaven for us, undefiled and undefeating, unfading. That's the way Peter puts it. But this doesn't say our inheritance. It says his inheritance. And it doesn't say for the saints. It says in the saints.

Now, if it said his inheritance for the saints, we would just think it's worded a little oddly, but we would understand what it meant. Because if your granddad came to you and said, hey, I want to talk to you about my inheritance, you're like, you mean my inheritance, but you wouldn't say that. You just wait and see. If that's what he was talking about, the thing you're going to inherit, meaning the stuff that he's going to give, you'd be like, that's cool. If he said, I want to talk about my inheritance for you, then you'd go, got it. So if that said for the saints. Got it. If it said our inheritance in the saints, then we'd go, okay. It just means as we are in the saints, as we belong to the church. But it says his inheritance in the saints, meaning that it's talking about the thing that Paul wants your heart to grasp is that he intends to have the Church, that God will have his people. It's a rich and glorious inheritance. And the reason we invert that is because without the Spirit helping our heart see it, we reject that idea. What do you mean? I want to show you this. This is throughout the bible. It's real.

> But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 2:9.

First Peter 2. But you Christians are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that when Jesus came, what he came to do was to claim a people that are going to be His.

> I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession."

Psalm 2:7-8.

Okay, now this is quoted in the New Testament to tell us it's referring to Christ. This is the Messiah. What's he say in verse 8? Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. In the Book of Revelation, when the tribes, when all the tribes and language and tongues and people are gathered around the throne, that is Jesus's inheritance. Those are his people that have been made his through his work and through the gift of the Father, who set it up this way and preordained by his will to do it. It's a glorious inheritance.

> But the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

Deuteronomy 32:9.

Deuteronomy 9:29 says, for they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched army. Deuteronomy 32:9 says, but the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is his allotted heritage. Heritage. That's why Jeremiah 10:16 in the same verse will say it both ways.

> The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, but Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.

Jeremiah 10:16.

Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, meaning that Jacob gets him, Israel gets him, for he is the one who formed all things and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The Lord of hosts is his name, so that we have a hope of glory, which is that we get him and that he intends to get us. That the church is his glorious inheritance that he plans to bring to himself.

You know, this is written in our hearts too. You can be one of the most non romantic people, but if you watch a show that has a love interest, you're still kind of like, alright, get it together. Fall in love already. I know, I'm just watching Cheers or the Office because I want to laugh, but I also now I'm somehow invested in you two dating. I care and I'm annoyed that y' all haven't gotten it together yet. I'm not a. I'm not a sappy person, but in the Office, when they started messing with their relationship at the end of the sea, the end of the series, I was having problems, you guys, I was distraught. Can't do that. There's something in you that wants this to work out. And y', all, that's what he's doing, that we're going to get him and he's going to get us. And Paul says, I'm praying that the Spirit would show up and help your heart to grasp that. That he intends to have the church as a glorious inheritance and that we get him. Do you know that? Do you know know that? I think it's so easy sometimes for us to just be like, yeah, well, I'm like lagging behind. I'm not really. It means in general, but it doesn't mean me specifically. That he loves generally, but not specifically. The enemy comes in right now and goes, sure, if the Bible says that, sure. But not really. And not really for you. You're in on like a technicality. You think Jesus Christ shed his blood and chose you in him before the foundation of the world on a technicality. Do you think that he bought you as a treasured possession on a technicality? Or do you think that the God of all the universe, who specifically Saved individuals made you an individual and specifically went to work to save your soul and has been at work in you to change you and to redeem you and to make you more and more glorious and. And to be made into the image of Him. Do you not think that he will not, with tears in his eyes, delight to welcome you? Let's not besmirch his glory by thinking that it's somehow beneath him to be that wonderful? Oh, he's glorious, and our hope is glorious, and his redemption of the saints is glorious. And it magnifies his glory that he goes to work to save you. And Paul says, I want your heart to know it. I want you to respond to it. I want you to see it, I want you to feel it. I want the Spirit to go to work so that you know know it.

And then he says, third thing he wants third thing he's praying for, that we would know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. So this is, if you believe, this is all for the saints, it's all for the Church, it's all for those who've placed faith in Jesus. But he says, I want you to know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward you according to the working of his great might? And then he's going to describe where his might is found according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when He raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

I'm just going to read that again because it's a lot to try to take in.

What is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when He raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. He goes on to say, he put all things under his feet and made him the head of the body of the Church.

And I love how these three things pair together. Paul says, I want the Spirit to help your heart know where you're headed and what we're longing for. I want the Spirit to let your heart know that he intends to have us. And I want the Spirit to let you know there's not anything ever going to come remotely close to stopping it. I want your heart to know the immeasurable greatness of his power, that he has worked in Christ when He rose him from the grave, when he seated him above all things, and that he has the name above all names in this time and the next time and all times forever. And not a single thing will stop his intended will from taking place. That's the kind of hope that we have. It's not even close. It's not a toss up.

See, I think if we can wrap our minds around it, the Spirit can help our heart see that God intends to have us. Then the next thing where the enemy goes to work and goes, well, let's hope it works out. We'll see if he does it. We'll see if you make it to the end. I don't know. We'll see. I sat on my couch yesterday and I watched the Carolina Panthers try to win a division. And I had hope. It's the word I would use. It did not work out. I now have to cheer for the Falcons. Today I coach Little League football. I got invited to coach tackle football with seven and eight year olds. I don't know if you've ever seen a seven or eight year old wear football pads. It's awesome looking. It's basically just pads with hands poking out. One of the things that happens in the world of Little League sports is people intentionally bring in older children because it makes a massive difference. And then because that happens every once in a while. I don't think it happens a ton, but it does happen. All parents are paranoid and angry forever. And if your kid just happens to be tall, people want to see their birth certificate. I've had coaches come over and ask children on my team what grade they were in. It's like, dude, quit talking to these children and get back over on your side. But imagine for a moment that somehow Lexington county allowed the Carolina Panthers to play against 8 year olds. Do you think they'd win the league? I mean, mentally picture the tackles that would take place. What would happen when we handed the ball off to a Carolina Panther and then watched 8 year olds try to take him down? If there weren't so many injuries, it might be fun to watch. Paul is saying, it's not even close. It's not a toss up. It's not in doubt. Do you see the resurrection of Christ? Do you know the immeasurable greatness of the power that was at work not in him, just in him, but toward you? That when he did that it was aimed at you. The redemptive work at Christ was aimed at you, the church. That he might claim you, that he might wash you, that he might make you new. This is why the Bible talks about all the time, that he's going to present us to himself. This is why in Ephesians 5, it calls us his bride, that he came to claim and to keep forever. And not anything is going to stop him from doing that. And Paul says, that's my prayer. I heard you believed. I'm so thankful. And I want you to know what that means.

There's some new Christians in our church, Paul saying, I want you to get on your face before the Lord and I want you to ask that you would know what this means. If you're trying to disciple somebody and help them grow, this is what you're praying for them. I want them to know what it means that Jesus has claimed them. I want them to know that there is no doubt. I want them to know that they will be kept. I want them to know what. What they're hoping for and longing for and what the end will be. I want them to know that if he says, you're his, you're his, and there's nothing stopping. We want to pray that the Spirit would be at work so we would know that the hope of salvation is the eternal delight in the manifest glory of God. That we would know that he has a rich and glorious inheritance in the saints. His church is beautiful. And that we would know that nothing is going to stop that from taking place because he has a powerful, immeasurable greatness of power at work toward his church in the resurrection of Christ. And that he's seated above all things, all rule, all authority, all power, all dominion. He has a name above every name, not only in this age, but in the age to come.

So we're going to pray. I would invite you to keep your Bibles open to Ephesians 1. We're going to put back, if you don't mind putting back on just the three things that he prays for. We'll have it up there. But I'd encourage you to look at what else he says in here. We're going to take a moment to pray. I'm going to start us, then we're going to pray. You pray where you are. Pray for your own heart. Pray for the heart of those in your group. Pray for our church, that this would be true, that the Spirit would go to work. And then I'll close this in prayer and we'll sing.

Lord Jesus, we're thankful for the salvation and the hope that we have. And so we ask you, Father, Father of glory, that the Spirit would come to work in our hearts. That you would send the spirit of revelation and knowledge of you. That he might open the eyes of our hearts to see this, to see you, to know you, to know the greatness of the salvation that you have offered. That it is not some small thing, that it is not some little moment in our life. That it is not fitting into our life in some way as if this is our religion, but other religions are somebody else's. And this is my thing, but that's their thing. That it's not little, but it is cataclysmic, glorious, eternal. And we ask that you'd help our hearts to see it and that your spirit would go to work. So, Lord, we're. We're going to pray. We ask you'd help us to pray and that you would answer our prayers. Lord God, may you answer the prayers of your people. May you open our hearts to the work of your spirit. To know you, To know the hope to which you have called us. To know what is the immeasurable riches of your inheritance in the saints. And to know. The great power that was at work toward us who believe in Jesus name. Amen.

We're going to sing together. If you need to keep praying, keep praying. Band's going to come back up.

Mill City 12/14/25 Mill City 12/14/25

|giv| Week 3

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Mike. Do I look that nervous? Last time I came up here, I said I was about to walk right out the back. This time I was about to walk right out the back. So here I am. Nevertheless, my name is Mike. I’m an elder in training here, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to be able to open up God’s Word with you today.
We are going to pick up where Isaac left off last week in Matthew chapter 6. If this is your first Sunday, or last week was your first Sunday, you are witnessing a little bit of an anomaly, because Isaac and I don’t regularly teach on Sunday morning. If, however, you would like to hear us teach more regularly, you can find our podcast on Apple Podcasts. No, we don’t actually have a podcast. Isaac did, but he did not invite me to be on it, and that doesn’t bother me. I’m okay with that. But acknowledgement, or even an offer, would have been whatever.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been going through our GIVE series, at a time of year where there is frequent messaging from modern companies directed at us with the intent of getting us to believe that more stuff equals more joy. We pause and we open up an ancient book that teaches us that God alone is our source of joy.
In 1999, Brian Johnson, a student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, founded a small startup company that sold cell phones to students on campus. He used the commission he made on the sales to pay his way through college. In subsequent years, he founded an e-commerce company called Braintree, which exploded in popularity and eventually became so big in the e-commerce space that they acquired a mobile payment app called Venmo. Being that it was one of the first companies to bring the ability for people to send money to each other electronically by an app, they did extremely well. In 2013, they were acquired by PayPal. Brian Johnson, the college student who at age 22 sold phones out of his dormitory, walked away with $300 million from the sale at the age of 36.
Here’s a guy with great success in business, resulting in significant wealth at a young age. When we hear that, we say, “Wow, that’s the American dream. That’s terrific. That’s everything we could possibly want.” While he does have an incredibly impressive résumé, it’s not these specific accomplishments that he’s best known for.
In 2021, he started Project Blueprint, which was a campaign against aging. This was an experiment he did on himself in which he started eating a vegan diet, taking approximately 54 supplements a day, exercising about one hour every day, doing red-light phototherapy, and doing electromagnetic abdominal muscle stimulation. In addition to that, he was receiving plasma infusions from his own son.
When he was interviewed by a reporter from The Guardian in 2023 about his ultimate goal with all of these endeavors and what he really planned to accomplish, he gave this incredibly insightful, inspiring, and impactful quote: “Don’t die.”
Interestingly, he’s not the only one to pursue this. Other people with this same goal include Peter Thiel, billionaire tech entrepreneur and one of the first major investors in Facebook; Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and a man involved in the creation of ChatGPT; and Jeff Bezos, the man who transformed his idea for an online book marketplace into Amazon, one of the richest and most influential companies on earth.
These are men with yachts, sports franchises, rockets—just about everything on your eight-year-old son’s Christmas list. Men with everything at their disposal. And what do they get from it? Anxiety. Anxiety about their life.
So here we are today in Matthew chapter 6, with Jesus saying that where your treasure is, your heart will be also, and you can’t serve God and money. You seek after what you desire, but ultimately desiring both God and money equally is not possible.
We pick up today in verse 25. Before we do that, I’m going to pray and ask for help.
Father, I come before you as a desperate man, knowing that you’re a God for desperate people. I pray for your help this morning, and I pray that our hearts would be changed by the good Scripture. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Open up your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 6, verses 25–34. This is on page 474 in the blue Bible underneath the seat in front of you. If you don’t have a Bible, you can keep that Bible.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25, ESV)
He starts off with a “therefore,” which means “for this reason.” Because of what I just taught you about where your treasure is, now I tell you this: don’t be anxious about your life.
Why does he go there next? Why would he presume that correctly applying his previous teaching could result in anxiety, such that he would immediately give a command against it? To answer that, it’s helpful to think about who was in the audience.
In the crowd would be his disciples, mostly tradesmen and fishermen. Alongside them would be other craftsmen, farmers, shepherds, day laborers—many who were making just enough money to live. The group of people Jesus is talking to are not people seeking money to show up their neighbors; they’re seeking money to survive. Jesus knows that when he tells people who seek money just to subsist to now not seek money, they will inevitably be anxious.
One of his disciples there was Matthew, the one who recorded this account. Matthew was a tax collector, which potentially means he had enough money to provide for himself. So there was likely a mix of people—some living paycheck to paycheck and others with some excess. Jesus thinks all of them need to understand that they should not be anxious about their life.
We can treat this passage as a standalone commentary on anxiety, filtering it through what’s going on in our lives—tense relationships, conflicts with spouses, concerns about our kids. The Bible does speak to those things, but that’s not the specific subject here. Today we’re talking about anxiety that comes from storing treasure on earth.
Back to verse 25. Jesus says not to be anxious about your life—what you eat, drink, or wear. These are basic human needs. Jesus says, “Don’t worry about those things.” That’s a high bar. Will I have what I need to live? Jesus says no—don’t worry about that.
What do we worry about? Hot latte or cold latte? Dunkin’ or Starbucks? What if I have to drink lousy Keurig coffee again? Should I wear those jeans? Are they flattering? Do they make me look cool? How silly are some of the things we worry about. Often our anxiety comes from being overwhelmed by nearly limitless choices.
Jesus asks, “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” The answer is yes. Life is more than calories, more than fabric. We know that.
Then in verse 26, Jesus makes it practical.
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26, ESV)
The birds are fed. They’re provided for. They don’t plant, harvest, or store. Jesus doesn’t say, “You don’t have to worry because you can plan.” He says, “You don’t have to worry because you are valuable to God.”
Some of us struggle to believe that. Maybe because of recurring sin, or because someone taught us we’re not valuable, or because we struggle with self-worth. At some point, nearly everyone wonders what makes them valuable to God.
David says in Psalm 8:
“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.” (Psalm 8:3–5, ESV)
God says you have value because he made you in his image. When Jesus asks, “Are you not of more value than the birds?” the answer is yes.
Verse 27:
“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:27, ESV)
This doesn’t advocate neglecting your health. We should be good stewards of our bodies. But anxiety over life cannot prolong life. The answer is no.
Verse 28:
“And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:28–29, ESV)
Solomon had unimaginable wealth, yet it didn’t compare to the beauty of the lilies God made.
“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30, ESV)
Worry over life betrays small faith because it comes from faith in earthly treasure.
Verse 31:
“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Matthew 6:31–32, ESV)
God knows your needs because he made you. No one knows you like he does.
If everything is stored here on earth, then death becomes the greatest enemy. Laying up treasure on earth results in perpetual anxiety.
Verse 33:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33, ESV)
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34, ESV)
Seeking the kingdom of God starts with the cross—repenting of sin, trusting in the gospel, and being transformed. Over time, our focus shifts to unseen things that glorify God.
You cannot serve God and money. Don’t be worried about your life. God will provide exactly what you need.
Let’s pray.
Father, we thank you for your Word that corrects us when we’re tempted to believe everything depends on us. Help us leave that behind and seek the kingdom of heaven. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Would you stand and sing with us?

Mill City 12/7/25 Mill City 12/7/25

|giv| Week 2

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning. Sounds like a couple of you might have what I got the other week. So I apologize if at some point I have to cough or drink out of the water here this morning. But as has already been mentioned this morning, we are in the middle of our Give series. And so every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we as a church take the opportunity, while our culture is pressing in on us with a message of consumerism, to look to the scriptures. What does Jesus have to say about what is an appropriate way for us to approach our money and our stuff? And at the center of it, at the heart of it, is giving that he gave himself. And so we want to look at what it looks like to be generous people. And as a part of our Give series, we have what we call a Give project. And so every year we have an opportunity to partner with some organization, mission opportunity, ministry, something, somewhere, someone in need that we can help fill the gap in as a church by giving of our money, giving of our time, resources, whatever it might be that year.

This year we've been focusing on international mission work. And last week Chet got to introduce phase one of our project. So if you weren't here, I'm going to briefly explain what we're doing in this phase one. We are partnering with mission organization based in Mexico called elam. And they specifically help partner with local churches in Mexico to share the gospel to people who don't know. And one of the ways that we specifically get to partner with them is that several times a year they do short term mission trips, medical mission trips into indigenous communities in Mexico where they go in trying to help meet physical needs of people, whether it be that they have a hard time seeing, hard time hearing, so some ailment in their body, and that is a doorway by which they use to partner with local churches to share the deeper spiritual need of the gospel of Jesus. And so we're specifically helping raise funds for that avenue of ministry that they do.

We're looking to provide for them an enclosed trailer so that they can transport materials. And then we're also looking to fill that trailer with all sorts of medical equipment for them as they do this work. So I'm excited that thus far we have been able to raise in the last week a little over $7,000 toward this project, which is exciting. Yes, very exciting. And so right now, if for some reason this all had to stop, we'd at least be able to at this point be able to purchase them a closed in trailer where they could transport their supplies. But we're hoping we get to continue and we get to continue to raise funds. We're looking for another $15,000 for this part of our project where we get to fill this trailer full of medical equipment to help them, equip them for the work that they are doing. And then Chet's going to come back at the end of this morning and introduce what phase two of this project is. And this is really a great opportunity for us as a church to give toward the mission that God is doing in these other mission organizations. And not only is it a good opportunity for us to give to them and in this participation of giving, this is a good opportunity for us to have our own hearts drawn in toward the mission that God is working across the world.

Today that's what we're going to be looking at in this passage. Jesus is going to be specifically addressing the orientation of our own hearts toward our stuff and our money. So let me pray and then we'll dive into the text. Father, we thank you that you first gave to us. And so we pray that this season, as we are pressed in to think that we should take and that it's about us, that we would consider others as more important than ourselves, like you did, and that we would be people of generosity. This morning, would your word speak to us? Would it inform what it looks like for us to be followers of Jesus? In his name we pray. Amen.

If you will, you can turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter six. We're going to be in verses 19 to 24. If you don't have a Bible with you, you can use one of the blue ones in the chair, chair in front of you. That's going to be on page 473 as you're turning there to give a brief context to the passage that we're going to be in. Because we're just jumping right into the middle of the book. We are in the Gospel of Matthew. So this is an account of the life of Jesus, his ministry on earth. And specifically in chapter six, we're in the section that is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. So this is the longest chunk of Jesus's teaching that we have in a row back to back, where he's sitting down and teaching his disciples. Specifically in the Gospel of Matthew, the main theme is the kingdom of God coming. And so he has a whole scope, a broad scope of topics that he's teaching on. What does it look like for the kingdom to be coming here and now? And if you actually look inside of those three chapters, 5, 6, and 7. And look at all the individual things he talks about. There's one that stands out that he talks about more than any other, and that is specifically our relationship to money, our relationship to our material possessions. And so that's what we're going to be looking at.

In this passage today, Jesus is going to be taking us on a journey from our outward experience with the material things with money, down into the inner experience with money and stuff. And he's going to do so in sets of two. So I'm going to cheat. I'm going to tell you exactly what we're going to talk about all morning, and then we'll get to go in more detail. So first, Jesus is going to teach on two different treasures. Two different treasures. Then he's going to teach us about two different eyes. Eyes. And then he's going to teach us about two different masters. And that's where we will finish out this morning. But first we'll start with two treasures. So let's read starting in verse 19, Jesus says,

> "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19–21, ESV)

So Jesus starts out by comparing laying up treasures on earth with laying up treasures in heaven. Don't do the one, do the other. So let's take this one at a time to start off. First, Jesus says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Now, what exactly does he mean by this? On the surface level, I think we can understand the basic principle of don't store up too much stuff on earth here. But how much is too much? Can I store a little bit? Dave Ramsey told me that I should save $1,000, then I should pay off all my debt, and then have three to six months worth of an emergency fund. Can I have an emergency fund? Is that something I should have? We don't even have to go outside the text for this question to come up. In Proverbs 21:20

> "Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it." (Proverbs 21:20, ESV)

So it's wise to have money, to have treasure stored up. But I thought that's what we're not supposed to do. Well, before we get too confused here, let's take a step back, look at the full context of what Jesus is teaching here. Because I definitely don't think the Bible is contradicting itself. I just think that Jesus is after something different than what this proverb is. So let's go back to the text, read it a little bit more in its full context. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.

The other month, my wife and I got to go to the State Museum, the South Carolina State Museum we were actually invited to. It was. Apparently you can rent like the lobby space. So it was a private event after hours. It was a wedding ceremony, reception that was being held afterwards. So we're there, we're having a great time, and then we find out like halfway through this event that apparently when you rent the space, you also get access, or at least when they rented the space, we had access to all the different floors of all the different exhibits. So we thought, perfect, we're here, let's take advantage of it. So there was like nobody in the museum. We're just walking around, having a great time. And on that first floor, when you walk in, you know, you got that big shark that's hanging down from the ceiling and you get to walk through. It's like the prehistoric exhibits and stuff. And we come across this one that I'm looking at, and it's called a fossil, a petrified fossil. I'm like, wow, that's pretty cool. It's impressive. It's been a while since I've been in the State Museum. And then I'm looking at it, it's not like in any enclosing, it's just out in the open. So I start reading in more detail. This is a replica of a. Immediately as soon as I read that, my care for this went from really to almost not. I could have seen a picture on the Internet of a replica of a petrified fossil. And so we move on from that. We're going through the different floors. Eventually we're on that top floor, which is like the Revolutionary War and Civil War memorabilia, and they got the Industrial Revolution stuff. And right in the middle of all that, there's this like 15 foot by 15 foot structure, which is apparently an old house that used to be used as like a schoolhouse where they would have gathered. And walking in, I'm walking on the floorboards, I start to read the description. This is the real deal. Apparently the boards that I'm standing on, the ceiling that I can touch, not just because I'm tall, because it's also short ceiling. Everything about this structure, it was the real deal. It was actual history from back in that time. Now, I'm assuming they probably deconstructed it and put up pieces in and put it back together. But this is really it. It's like from the 1800s, this old building. And I'm amazed being able to stand in here. I'm just taking it all in, soaking it all in. And the reason that it was so exciting is because it's not supposed to be there. That's not our experience with stuff. When was the last time you came across something from the 1800s? I don't know. You can go to the State Museum, you can see that. But this is the reason why we would even have something like a museum, that we would get excited about walking around and looking at old things. But because old things aren't supposed to last, that's not our experience. Things fade, they break. It's why we have to have replicas of fossils, because they're not around. That's our experience. So Jesus is saying, don't lay up treasures on earth because moth and rust destroy. Because stuff, it crumbles and falls apart.

He continues on. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Now notice here that Jesus isn't condemning laying up treasure. He's just telling us where there's a better place to put it. Now, what would you say if I told you that there is a house that has zero maintenance issues and zero maintenance fees? Can you imagine that maybe. No. I get one head nod back and think, no, it doesn't exist. If you could maybe envision it, it's possible that you have in your head that you don't have the maintenance issues or fees, but somebody else does and you just get to live there. Because that's not what we're used to. Stuff breaks, it falls apart. But if we take Jesus at his word for what he says, do you know that there's a place in which the things that you and I possess, they never fade? It never breaks. Did you know that there's a place where your check engine light never comes on again? There is a place where your H Vac unit doesn't make that weird clunking noise every time it turns on? There's a place where your phone screen no longer has a crack running right through the middle of it? Or that you know that Tupperware that you've got positioned just right under that leaky faucet underneath the little shutoff valve? Yeah. You know that Tupperware. You know it's there. That valve Never leaks again. That's a real place. And if you start to really think about it and consider it, I want to be there. Don't you want to be there? What would it look like for us to invest in that kind of place? Because Jesus says that kind of treasure, it never fades. And it's found in heaven is what he says.

It's found in the place where the glory and the presence of God is perfectly and fully manifested. And the story of the Scriptures is that that place, that heaven at the end of this time will come to be with us here on this earth, that that perfect place where the glory of God is perfectly displayed, where things don't ever break, things don't ever end, it comes to be with us. And Jesus says that he's going there to prepare a place for us. There's a seat at the table of the feast of the wedding lamb. The imagery at the end of the Book of Revelation, it's filled with beauty and wonder. The streets lined with gold walls and buildings held up by foundations of precious stone. A perfectly clear river running through the city, with a tree of life ever producing perfect fruit. Treasure abounds. Everlasting treasure abounds there in that place.

Now, laying up treasure in that place, I think it looks a little bit different than what you and I are used to because we're very physical, tangible, immediate response type people, right? And so it's easy for us to look at, you know, like numbers on a bank account screen. And that feels tangible as like a storing up of treasure. It's easy to think about the house or the car, the toys and the trinkets, because it's immediate feedback stuff. We invested our time, our energy, our money, whatever it is, and immediately there's something there. But when it comes up, when it comes to laying up treasures and heaven, Jesus says things like this in the Gospel of Luke, chapter six. He says,

> "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets." (Luke 6:22–23, ESV)

A little later he says,

> "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil." (Luke 6:35, ESV)

A little later in the Gospel are in, Jesus says this, and whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water, because he is a disciple, truly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.

> "And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." (Matthew 10:42, ESV)

Or in the Sermon on the Mount itself, chapter six, a little bit earlier than where we're reading. Jesus says,

> "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:3–4, ESV)

So this isn't quite as simple as hitting the Buy now button on the Amazon app and two days later a package arriving at your door. Maybe it looks a little bit something like this. Maybe you don't get invited to go hang out with the co workers at dinner after work because you've been labeled as one of those weird Christians. You've talked about Jesus one too many times for their comfort. Maybe it looks like you know that next door neighbor of yours that seems to hide out in the bushes with binoculars and wait until there's one too many leaves in your yard to report you to the hoa. Well, one week, you know, you notice his car has been in the same spot in the driveway for longer than usual and the leaves are piling up. So this is finally your opportunity to go and blow his leaves into your yard so that you can pick them up. Or maybe it looks like something as simple as carrying some cold water bottles in your car on a hot summer South Carolina day so you can hand out to the beggar at the side of the intersection. Maybe it looks something like someone in your group is talking about how money's tight and the grocery budget is really slimming up and they don't know exactly how it's going to work this month. And so the rest of you talk and deliberate. You get some money together, a couple, you go down to Walmart and you fill up bags with food and you go take it to their house and drop it off. This is the kind of stuff that it looks like to participate in storing up treasures in heaven. I'm sure we can continue on with different types of examples, but what Jesus tells us as well in this, if you were paying attention to these different references, Jesus says that the Father sees it all, the Father sees it, and in his justice will reward every effort that is made.

Now at the end of this comparison between the storing of treasures on earth, storing treasures on heaven, Jesus gives us the reason why. In verse 21 he says this. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Very basic principle. You care about the things that you put money into. I'll let you in on a little secret. I don't know if you knew this, but before six years ago I never cared about the property at 327 Piney Grove Road, which, if you don't know me, that's my home address. You can send mail there or something. I'll accept a Christmas card. Never cared. So pre2019, didn't ever think about it. Now, here's the rest of the secret. For the last six years, I have cared more about the property at 327 Piney Grove Road than any other property in my life. Because for the past six years, my wife and I have lived there. We've invested our time, our resources into making a home for us and our family and people to come over. But it's just how it works. Wherever we put our money, wherever we put our resources, our time, that's what we care about. We start to be drawn into that thing. Maybe we never cared about it before, it's just a thing, but we started investing our money, our time. All of a sudden, our heart is drawn there. In other words, Jesus is telling us, don't store up treasures on earth, not just because it doesn't last. That's an important thing to understand. It's because when we start storing up treasure here in this place, where does our heart go? Our heart starts to be drawn to this temporary space. But if we start to invest, if we start to store up treasures in heaven, where does our heart go? Our heart goes to that eternal kingdom. Our heart begins to care about, be drawn toward the Father, toward his work, toward his glory. That's what we care about when we start to do that.

So this brings us all back to that confusion where we started off. Here, Jesus says, don't store up treasures on earth. The proverb we read said, the wise man has it there. But remember that Jesus is after something else. That proverb, it's. It's teaching us about practical wisdom, of, you know, having a budget and being good stewards of the things we have. But Jesus, he's turning us in a different direction. He's focusing on the heart. So I think that when we ask the question, how much is too much? We've just asked the wrong question. And not just that, but actually if we ask that question, which I think we all have, if we've come across this, it exposes our heart that we don't know what Jesus is talking about. If that's our question, how much is too much? So I think rather the better question is, how can I store as much treasure as possible in the eternal kingdom? I think that's the better question. How can I store as much treasure as possible in the eternal kingdom? Because it's what Matters, it's what lasts. So when we're asking that first question, we've got our eyes in the wrong place. And that's why Jesus doesn't stop there, he continues on. So he's going to move on from talking about two treasures to now talking about two different eyes.

Verse 22.

> "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matthew 6:22–23, ESV)

So we've got a healthy eye and we've got a bad eye. Now I'll be honest with you, this illustration throws me for a loop just about every time that I come across and read it because I get stuck like envisioning a lamp in place of somebody's eyes on a face. And it's just a weird image and it throws me off and I get all tangled up. But I think it's actually much simpler than that when we slow down when we read it. And very basic principle here that we all understand. A lamp gives light. And so a lamp that's working well provides light. A lamp that doesn't work, no light, it's just darkness, you know. I help with our student ministry to middle and high school students. And so we have student nights during the fall and spring semester. We meet here in the building and we always play some kind of game. I like to have something fun and exciting put together and I'm always trying to figure out what's the game that they like most to play. Over the years I found they really love to play hide and seek. It's one of their favorite games. However, they do not want to play that in August because in August at 5:36 o', clock, the sun is still about 3/4 in the sky and this whole place is lit up. And it's not very challenging to hide or to seek. But November comes, the time changes. The sun at 5:36 o' clock is already down. It's dark everywhere in here. We turn the lights off, we have appropriate safety measures, boundaries, and the leaders spread out and the kids get to go and they get to hide. And now it's challenging because now you can't see there's no lamp that's giving off light to participate. So this is a basic principle that we understand about light and darkness being able to navigate this space.

So if we hold on to that idea and then we also. There's one other thing that I think is helpful at Least it's helpful for me when reading this verse. Reading this message that Jesus is saying is substituting in the definition for the word I. And so the definition that I think Jesus has in mind when he says the word I is how you view your stuff and money. So in other words, it would read like this. Now, what's about to be up on the screen in parentheses, that's my own words, not the words of Scripture, but you can track with me here. So if Jesus were to say it this way with the definition instead of the word, it would read something like this. How you view your stuff in money is the lamp of the body. So if the way you view your stuff and money is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if the way you view your stuff and money is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? So our view of our stuff and our money, it shines a light into our inner being. At least it has the opportunity to shine a light into our inner being. Because if we have a healthy approach to our stuff and our money, it exposes that we have light. Or in other words, remember what we just talked about earlier, that we can see, we can navigate, we understand the world as it is, and we can appropriately engage with things. And more importantly, we can appropriately engage with people because we have a healthy approach and understanding of what this stuff is. But if we have an unhealthy view of our money and of our possessions, then it's darkness. All of a sudden, it becomes challenging to navigate this space that we live in. All of a sudden, it becomes challenging to relate to people because we don't have an appropriate understanding of what this stuff is, what money is.

Now, I think a fair question to ask would be, what is a healthy or an unhealthy view of our stuff and our money? That's an appropriate question that flows out of this. Now, unfortunately, we don't have the time to dive the full depths of that question, and Scripture has much to say on it. So I think we would be wise to consider that question in our own hearts and then see what the Scripture teaches. But we can at the very least right now refer back to what we have already just labored to understand because Jesus has been teaching on this idea. A good starting point of having a healthy view of our money and our stuff is knowing that it's temporary. It's temporary. It's not all that it's cracked up to be, especially compared to the worth that awaits us in the eternal kingdom. I think that when we start to see our stuff and our money as just dust that's packaged in a neat little form for a little while, then our perspective on it starts to change. Those grandiose promises that wealth and riches make, they start to be exposed as lies.

And that leads us to our final set. We're going to see what truly is at stake here. This is where the true issue lies in two masters. Jesus finishes out with this in verse 24.

> "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Matthew 6:24, ESV)

If you work for Apple, then you sign a non compete, which means that you can at the same time also work for Microsoft, or if you work for Coca Cola, at least maybe high enough up in the ranks, you also would sign a non compete, which means at the same time you can't work at Pepsi. Basic understanding, they're in competition with each other as businesses. Jesus saying here that you can't live for God and also live for money. They're in competition, they're exclusive. You sign a non compete. This is what we mean when we talk about here being gospel centered. We don't talk about having our little Jesus stuff on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. And for the super spiritual 15 minutes in the morning, no, Jesus takes over it all.

Now here's the bigger issue with what Jesus just said. Because Jesus just said that you and I, we are servants and we have one of two masters. Either the Lord is our master and we serve him, or money is our master and we serve it. I think our American skin crawls when we hear that we don't have a master. No one tells me what to do. Well, Jesus has a different take. It's not a question of whether or not you will serve. It's simply a question of whom will you serve. And outside of Jesus, you and I don't have have a choice. Outside of Jesus, you and I are enslaved to money. It owns us. Just ask yourself these types of questions here. Do a little thought exercise. Outside of Jesus. So think before your life was surrendered to him, or maybe even some. When your life was, what was your drive? What woke you up in the morning? Why'd you set the alarm? What orients your schedule? Why do you live in that location? Why did you study at that college? Why did you take that job position? You think on these types of questions, you might start to see a pattern. Well, I Set my alarm for that time because I have to wake up to be a work and I have to be to work because I have to make money. And I moved here to this area because, well, there was a job, it was pretty good job, pretty good money. Well, I moved, I moved here because, I work remote and I was living in a big city where cost of living was extreme. And I came here, Columbia, you know, it's kind of still up and coming, so it's kind of cheaper to live here, but still got good amenities, you know, that's why I live here. Well, I studied at that college, I took out some loans to go to that college because I was convinced that it would pay off and I'd be able to make some money. We're enslaved to owns us. It works us and it grinds us until we're just shells of people. And the worst part is that it tricks us. It makes promises. And what we thought was going to be our deliverance from the guilt within and from the suffering imposed on us, it turns out to be the very force that holds us in captivity.

And if this morning that is what you feel like, you feel stuck under the compulsory rat race that we call the American dream, let me tell you that more isn't enough. It never satisfies. You can't have enough money in your bank account. You can't have a nice enough house, you can't drive a nice enough car, you can't have enough toys and trinkets to satisfy what is within you. It's a bottomless pit that just keeps on going. And if this morning you're prone to self righteousness, let me also tell you that you can't give enough to deal with that guilt within you. Because only Jesus is enough. Only at the cross of Christ is the guilt for sin actually paid for. Atonement is only found there. And when we close this morning, the news doesn't stop there. At the cross, Jesus rose from the grave. He rose in power and paved a way for you and I to live inside of new resurrection life. And this life, it's not theoretical. It's not just ideas that you and I talk about on a Sunday morning or on a Wednesday night when we get together. It's real power to live.

Do you know that you've been set free by Jesus for money? It no longer owns you. It is no longer your master. Jesus is. So as a church, we're going to participate in storing up treasure in the eternal kingdom because we see this stuff for what it is, just temporary Dust and a neat little form that fades away. But there's a place where the treasure abounds eternal. And that as we give to that, our hearts are drawn into him and his work. And so as a church, we're going to be people that give our money away. We're going to give and we're going to give and we're going to give. We're going to give to things like this give project to international mission work. And our hearts going to be spurred and drawn on towards that king kingdom work. We're going to be people that use our homes as places of rest for the weary and the broken, not as places where we can put up walls to block out those types of people. We're going to be a church that lend out our cars to people who need transportation because we can be inconvenienced. It's just temporary. We're going to be people that give food to the hungry. We're going to give shelter and care to the orphan and the widow. And we're going to give more and we're going to give more and we're going to give more. And we're going to ask the question, how much treasure can I store up in that eternal kingdom? Because that's what matters. That's what's eternal. It's not temporary. It doesn't just come and fade. It's forever. And most importantly, because when we belong to Jesus, we belong to him. And money no longer is our master. It does not own us. We are set free from it. What a beautiful, wonderful truth that we could belong to him.

Father, we thank you that in your generosity and your love for us you would set us free from what held us in captivity because we were being promised life in the path that leads to death. But we want the life that you offer. So would you remind us in your spirit of the resurrection power of Jesus? And would we be a church that participates in radical generosity? Because we are utterly and truly convinced that life is not found here. It's found in you. And we want to live and we want our hearts to be drawn towards you. Father, we love you and we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

One of the ways that we regularly remind ourselves of where true treasure lies and who the true master is is by participating in the Lord's Supper. This is a very practical and tangible reminder for us. We have real tables with real drink and bread up here and in the back and up in the balcony there's gluten free in the back right over here. And up in the balcony as well. But it's a real practice that you and I are about to stand up and walk and really grab some bread and eat it. And it's a reminder of who Jesus is and what he has done for us, that he went to the cross so that you and I could be set free from the bondage to something like money. And this is what Paul says about it in First Corinthians. He says,

> "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." (1 Corinthians 11:23–26, ESV)

So this morning, if you don't know Jesus, this practice isn't for you. Because we don't want you to be confused about who he is. We just want you to respond to Jesus, to respond in faith. This morning, though, if you belong to Jesus, this is a practice that we participate in, to remind ourselves of the cost of the generosity of our Father, that the Son would come and he would die on our behalf. And so take a moment wherever you are, and consider where is your heart? Where is the focus? And then confess. Confess that before the Father, but don't stop there. Come to the table and in coming, confess the work of Jesus that you and I have been set free from bondage and slavery to money. So when you're ready, come to the table and receive the most wonderful gift of his broken body and his poured out blood for you and I.

Mill City 11/30/25 Mill City 11/30/25

|giv| Week 1

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

If you will, grab a Bible and go to Acts chapter 17. It's our first week of our Give series. Recently, Starbucks released a barista cup and it's precious. That's it. That's the barista cup. There was an article about it in Forbes titled Starbucks Barista cup frenzy leaves big lessons for brands. So I just want to read the beginning of this article for you. It says the Starbucks barista cup caused a frenzy online and in stores. I don't exactly know what an online frenzy looks like, but that cup calls one. When Starbucks announced the release of limited edition holiday merchandise, including the bear shaped $29.95 glass cold cup, which you thought that the temperature of your cup was up to, you Incorrect. This is a cold cup. Actually, I think what it means is if you put hot coffee in it, you're going to burn your hand. So it's a cold cup. It says as part of their holiday menu, few people expected overnight queues in store brawls and a booming resale market. People camped out and fist fought each other. Then it says, beyond the surreal headlines, there are some valuable marketing lessons from the Starbucks bear cup drama. Starbucks barista cup has tapped into an undeniable human truth. I was on the edge of my seat reading this article. The barista cub has tapped into an undeniable human truth. And I had a lot of guesses, none of which prepared me for the answer. So here's the answer. People are obsessed with cuteness. Starbucks released 12 holiday items, but only one captured the public imagination. Cuteness is the primary explanation for the barista cup frenzy. Overnight cues, fist fights, cuteness, which makes a little bit of sense because you know you've seen like a baby so cute before that you punched its mother.

I would argue that Forbes analysis is incomplete. Cuteness may have contributed, but I think there are other undeniable human truths at work here. You know, as a pastor, I'm going to float sin out there. I also think that one of the things that this indicates to us is the absolute human ability to, to get our priorities out of line, to misplace value in things. That if you're punching someone for a cup because of the cuteness, your value system is off. And it's a real danger that we're all in. I think when I read these, sometimes I think like I'll read and go, oh my goodness, laugh at it and think, that would never, I would never do that. But really what I'm saying is I would never do that for a bear shaped Starbucks cup. I just have other things I'm willing to punch you for. I have other things that I've misplaced value in. Like, it just should give us the undeniable human truth that we are able to get our priorities out of, out of line. We're able to misplace value. We're able to suddenly think that something is more important than it is and to spend our time and our energy and our money on it. And that that is one of the primary reasons that we have our Give season, our Give series every Christmas season is that we're going to be pushed and pulled in a million different directions and told repeatedly that certain things have value that do not. And we want to always take this time to consider what actually is valuable and are we sending our effort and our money in the right direction.

So let's pray then we're going to start in on trying to figure this out together this morning. Lord, we ask for wisdom. We ask for discernment. We ask for the work of the Spirit to help us make correct valuations so that we do not waste our time and specifically for what we're talking about today, that we do not waste our money on things that have no real value. In Jesus name, Amen. Because of our ability to get this wrong, it's always very helpful for us when the Bible just tells us this has value, when it just steps in and explains to us this thing is valuable, it helps us know, okay, then that's something to pursue. That's something worth giving energy towards. I don't want to give away all of what we're doing in our Give series, but we're about to talk about Paul's missions efforts in the Book of Acts. So we're going to walk through. What we're going to do is walk through some of Paul's missionary journey, discuss it, see what's going on here, and then we're going to see something that's behind it, something that's at work in it that the passage doesn't talk about, but that we find out later as we read Paul's letter. So we're going to be in Acts chapter 17. We're going to watch Paul as he goes, who have just been in Philippi, in Acts 16, saw a few people converted to Christianity, got arrested and was beaten and then released. So he leaves. We're going to follow him as he goes to Thessalonica, Berea, and then on a boat down to Athens and then from Athens over to Corinth. And we're going to move pretty fast because It's a couple chapters of text, and we're just trying to follow along and see some of what's going on here.

So. Acts, chapter 17, verse 1.

> it says now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom. And on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead, saying, this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.

So part of Paul's missionary strategy was when he went to a city, if there was a synagogue, he went to the synagogue because they were going to be studying the Scriptures. And so he would go and start showing them in the Scriptures that Jesus had fulfilled the promises of the Messiah. It's one of the things that we do around Christmas time. We read some of these passages like we read earlier, and we see that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises made to the Jewish people that he is their Messiah. And that's what he's doing. He's saying, the Christ has come. Jesus has fulfilled this. And he does this for three weeks every Sabbath day. And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous. And that's where it goes into. After that verse, it's going to talk to us about. As people start to believe, some of the people in the area begin to fight against Paul. They actually attack them. And Paul and Silas sneak out at night. And so they were only there for a couple of weeks. They're seeing people believe and they're run out of town. So let's pick back up in verse 10 as the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.

> As the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.

So the brothers being the people who have just believed, it's just the beginnings of a church. And they're like, hey, we live here, but y' all, don't they want to hurt you, not us. Y' all get out of here. And we're going to keep following, figuring this out. And when they arrived, this is in Berea, they went into the Jewish synagogue. So Paul was like, I know my strategy. We're going back. Didn't work well last time, but we're going to do it this time. And it did work in some ways, because people believed. He's like, this is working. Even though some people hated me and wanted to Kill me. So he keeps going.

> Now, these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness.

I just love that that note was in there. Just like these people were better than the ones in Thessalonica. And that's in Scripture, and it's there forever, you guys. All right? Many of them therefore believed with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there, too, agitating and stirring up the crowd.

So we don't exactly know how long he was in Berea, but. But he was there long enough for people to believe and for that to become such a thing that's happening there that they find out in Thessalonica. So they're like, oh, well, he's just going to keep at it. So they head over there to run him off out of Berea. Then it says, the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea. But Silas and Timothy remained there. And those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens. And after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

So Silas and Timothy stay. They sneak Paul out to a boat and ride him down to Athens. And then he says, when y' all get back, tell Silas and Timothy to come to me. And then he's hanging out in Athens by himself. While he's in Athens, he finds out that there's a place in Athens. There doesn't seem to. He does go to a Jewish synagogue. Then he also finds out that there's a place in Athens where they just gather and share news and anything new and debate new topics and new ideas. So he goes there and starts proclaiming the Gospel. And we're going to pick up in that.

> The times of ignorance God overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

To Paul, as he's concluding, he says God overlooked ignorance, but not anymore. Now there's a man who's going to judge the whole world in righteousness. And he says, and God's proven this by raising him from the dead. So he's proclaiming the gospel that everyone everywhere needs to repent, which Just so you know, that's essential to the gospel, that everyone, everywhere needs to repent. Sometimes we'll pick specific isolated sins and someone will say, well, you think this is bad? And it's like, I don't know how to tell you this. We think everyone everywhere needs to repent, that you can't. If you just pick an isolated one, we're like, probably, yes, that's a sin. And that's a sin. And that's a sin. We believe that everyone has fallen short of the glory of God and needs Christ, that we aren't going to moral ourselves into this. We're not going to work our way into this. And this is what he's proclaiming to them. And he says that it's proven by. By the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

> Now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, we will hear you again about this.

So Paul went out from their midst, but some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. So several people believe he proclaims the Gospel. He goes to a new place, begins proclaiming the Gospel, and more people believe.

Chapter 18. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

> After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

So he jumped across out of. He was on Athens and then he jumped across Corinth, had to take a boat, and he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to them. And because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked for they were tentmakers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

> When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.

So now, instead of making tents, his occupation, what he's at work in now is proclaiming the Gospel. He's had enough room now to share it. And he's spending his time trying to articulate to them this. And he's studying with them and proclaiming it to them.

> When the Jewish people opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be on your own heads. I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.

And he left there, and he went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. I just appreciate that a whole lot. He's like, fine, I'm gonna go to the Gentiles. He walks out. He turns the corner. He walks in that house and is like, boom, Setting up shop. Here we go. So he's right next to the synagogue. He didn't go far away. He's like, I'm telling people about Jesus. I don't know. Right here next to y'. All. That's what he starts doing. Then it says, crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord. So he was next door. He was overseeing that. He just is like, I'm going to. And he heads over to the other house together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing Paul believed and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision.

> Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.

And he stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. So he's been chased all along. He's in Corinth. Jesus shows up and says, stay here. Keep preaching. Because there are many people in this city who are mine, but not yet. So Paul is in a spot where Jesus says, there are people here who belong to me, but they don't know it yet. I know it. They don't know it. And you've got to stay and you've got to tell them. You've got to proclaim the gospel. You've got to explain what's happened, and then they will belong to me. To me, because they already belong to me. That's what he's saying. And that's one of the things that undergirds missions. One of the reasons we go, one of the reasons we plant churches, one of the reasons we send, one of the reasons we go to places where people have never heard. One of the reasons we go to places that are difficult is because all over the place, there are people who belong to Jesus. And we've got to go tell them. We've got to go tell him who he is. And the Spirit goes to work in their heart, and Jesus claims them it's not something that happens without their knowledge. They are going to come to genuine faith in Jesus that will be tangible and real in their life. But what Jesus is saying is that he sins at times and he puts somebody in a place at times because there are people there who belong to him. They just haven't heard about him yet. That ought to give us courage. We ought to begin to beg the Lord. Lord, are there people at work? There are people at my job. Are there people in this class? Are there people on the street who belong to you that I'm supposed to stay and proclaim the gospel to? And we ought to start praying over maps, and we ought to start going to places and saying, lord, there's gotta be people here who belong to you. Put me in the right spot, Send me to the right place. Help me to be there to proclaim the gospel.

Now, there's something else that's happening in this text that I think we need to consider. Alfred Hitchcock was a director. He did movies like Psycho and the Birds, and he had a concept that he called the refrigerator test. He just said he wanted all of his movies that he made to pass the refrigerator test. The point was, you'd go see a movie, you're in it, soaking it up. It's great. You leave, you go home, you open your refrigerator to grab a snack before you go to bed, and suddenly you're like, wait a second. How did they get on the train in the first place? And you realize that the movie just skipped a thing. It didn't explain something to you, or there's a logical problem. You're like, why didn't the bad guys just shoot him? They shot his wife. Why'd they shoot her and then leave him alive? Were they running out of bullets? You open your refrigerator and you think, why don't they ever shoot at Captain America's legs? You know, I've played paintball before. I picked up a pallet one time. I got shot in the legs, like 45 times. Seems easy enough. And as we're reading this passage, there's a little hint at it in one place, but I think there's a thing that we should go. Hold on a second. How does Paul survive not just not get killed, but we've watched him travel around for years at this point. There was one moment where they said he went and made tents. And unless he sold the most extravagant, amazing tents, that he just did that for a couple of weeks, and then he was set for several years. It feels like there's something else going on here now, you could say, well, it's fair to assume that the people that are believing are starting to tend to him, they're going to feed him, they're going to help him have a place to stay. And it's like that. That's reasonable. But there's places where he shows up and there's nobody. That hasn't happened yet. And so this is one of those things where you go, well, how does. How is he doing this? Is he independently wealthy, like Bruce Wayne or something? What's going on? And then it doesn't talk about it in this text, but it does show up in Paul's letters. And so I want us to go to. It's mentioned in Corinthians, but it's talked about directly in Philippians. And I want y' all to see this. This is the end of Philippians chapter four. He's writing to the church in Philippi. So that was the first dot on our map. And he says, and you, Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the Gospel. So this is right when I first started, was proclaiming this.

> When I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again.

So he's writing to this church, and he's saying, y' all partnered with me from the very beginning you entered into partnership with me. Meaning that the work that Paul did, they had a hand in it. They had a share in it. Even though he's the one traveling around the church in Philippi is helping make sure that's possible. And y'. All. He says something crazy. Look at this. That's Philippi. The whole big section here is Macedonia. When he gets out of Macedonia, he's in Corinth. So he says, nobody helped me when I left Macedonia except for y'. All. So he's like, y' all helped provide for me while I was in Corinth. And that's why he mentions it to the Corinthians, because I didn't take anything from y'. All. He says, I worked. He mentioned that. And then he says, and the churches in Macedonia helped me. But he also says, when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me help. That was right after he left Philippi. He went through two towns, and the next town that it says he was in for three weeks was Thessalonica, which means that the Philippians, as soon as they believed, started helping Paul be a missionary. As soon as it happened, what they said Was, oh, we want everybody to know this. And if you're gonna go and tell people, we want in on that. We want to be a part of making sure that everybody knows what we now know. And it started immediately with them.

> Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

You know how that works, right? With your money, there are certain things where it's like your wallet magically appears in your hand that you're just willing to pay for. Usually people who get married to each other, those things are wildly different. So your spouse seems to have infinite money for this stupid category. When you know that you should never spend money on that. You should spend money on this brilliant category that you love. And that seems to be what happens. And what happens with the Philippians is as soon as they know about Christ and they find out that Paul's gonna go check, share it with other people, their wallet's just in their hands. They're just like, oh, yeah, we want this to happen. Make sure he has what he needs. And they do it the whole time. They find out he's in Corinth, and they're like, make sure he has what he needs so that he can tell more people about this. And Paul says that they've partnered with him. And then he says this. Not that I seek the gift, because they've just given him a gift. And he's telling him, thank you. That's what he was doing earlier. He says, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. He says. So he was telling him, thank you. He said, I appreciate it. He said, but that's not what it's all about. What it's about is that you are doing something that's valuable and that you receive credit for doing this good thing. He's basically saying to the Philippians, this is something you ought to do. It's a good thing to do. And I'm glad that you're doing it. Which if you've ever talked to missionaries, they do have that weird. They're really thankful, but they're also trying, like, they don't trying to be about money. So they'll say like, thank you so much. We also are just trusting the Lord, but thank you. But also, it's good for you to give. But also it's not all about, like, they have these weird. If you read this section in Philippians, you can see Paul being like, you should do this. But I'm not super worried about it. Cause Jesus is gonna take care of me. But not being worried about it doesn't mean I'm not thankful. I'm very thankful. And he just is trying to articulate all these things at once. And he says, I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent.

> A fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God, and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus,

so that they're getting to be stewards of God's provision for them by providing for Paul. And Paul says, God sees it, God knows it. It's a sacrifice pleasing to him. Now, I would argue that there are things we put money towards that do not fit the category of a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. Not to say that everything we spend our money on is bad. And I think that there are things that are, you're perfectly fine to exist and pay your bills and do things. But I think that when we see that there are things that the Lord delights for us to participate in, that we get to join in partnership with missionaries, that we get to enjoy partaking in the endeavor that they're after, and that we get to do something that the Lord looks at and is pleased with than we ought to. When he sets our valuation of something, take him up on it. When he says this is good and valuable, take him up on it. And when Jesus is talking about this, at one point he says it's not about the amount. He just says not even a cup of cold water will be forgotten. That if you give anything to try to participate in this, if you give anything to care and to love and because you're a disciple and because they're a disciple and because they're going, he says, not a thing's forgotten. So every penny is remembered and every penny is worth it. But then he says this in Philippians 4:20, then this is why we do this to our God and Father. Be glory forever and ever. Amen.

> To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

That's the point. That's the reason the Philippians want a partner. It's because they want everyone everywhere to give glory to God. To know who Christ is, to know what he's done, to know how good he is, to know how wonderful he is, to know how much he loves, to. To know the grace that he offers. When you ever consider how merciful and kind he's been to you, if you consider the weight of your sin, the weight of your failings, the weight of your shortcomings, the depth of the destruction that we deserve and how loving and good and wonderful he is, and that he's designed so that we would belong to him and so that he can lavish his riches and kindness on us for all eternity. And that that's offered to all who will call on him, then we want all to call on Him. That's why John Piper says that missions exist because worship doesn't. He says worship is the goal and fuel of missions. That's why we go, because we have tasted of the joy of worshiping Jesus and we want all the families of the earth in included.

So while everything around you is going to push and pull you in a different direction and tell you, you need this, you need this, you should have one of these in order to be happy, you'll need this. My sons asked me, they said Halloween hadn't happened. Why are all the commercials, Christmas commercial? I said, oh, boy, they want money. Our whole economy runs off of you buying things you don't need. And we're trying to take a moment to just go, look, we want to celebrate well, we also want to pause and go, is my money going in the right direction? Do I have my priorities right? Is my value system correct? Do I look like a person who knows the delight and the goodness of Christ? Does that show up in how my money and my budget works? And that's what we want to pause and do every year in our gift series.

So this year what we do. Not this year. I started the wrong sentence. I'll start that sentence in a second. What we do every year is we pick a project or two one time, three, I think, and we just say we want to give money to this. It's just an opportunity for our church to rally together and be generous. So we've done different things. Sometimes we do local things, sometimes we do further away things. This year we're going to partner, hopefully Lord willing, with two different organizations to do some foreign missions work. So I'm introducing the first project today. So this year we're going to do two. I'm introducing the first project today, we'll introduce the next one next week. And then over the next few weeks we'll try to raise money to support these agencies in the efforts that they're doing in foreign mission work. So the first one we're going to partner with is elam. It is a missions organization in Mexico. When we started praying about this and looking, we were like, we want to do something with foreign missions. We want to give some effort in this direction. Scott and Kit's Hill's son Scotty, also Isaac Hill, is one of our pastors. It's his uncle also Isaac Hill's wife Lydia, it's her uncle in law, works with Elam in Mexico. So we just called him up and started trying to talk to him about what would it look like if we partnered with you? What kind of work are you doing? What's the labor looking like right now in where you are? So this is a picture. One of the things, as we said, just start dreaming a little bit if we partner with you now. It's an EFCA organization. So the money's going towards an organization that is very transparent in how they handle their finances. ELAM is they pick that name because it's the name of Oasis mentioned in the book of Exodus and what they do. I'll read some of this specifically. I can find my notes here. Yeah. ELAM is a mission development and mobilization organization in Mexico that focuses on equipping and mobilizing local churches. They do this through trainings and through short term missions trips to indigenous communities. So one of the things they do is they'll partner with a local church in a harder area and they show up and help do missions trips to try to help that church serve the community and have an opportunity for evangelism, have an opportunity to build goodwill with the community as that church is trying to develop. So what they've been doing recently is, is medical mission, short term missions programs. And so they'll go to a community and do medical missions for a couple weeks to try to help a local in partnership with a local church in a community. So the core activities are they do general medical exams and treatment, dental care and hygiene education, vision screenings and the distribution of eyeglasses. And then throughout that they're doing church support and evangelism as a part of it.

So they currently have a donated auto refractor which is a machine you put on your face and it tells you what your prescription is. And then someone donated to them 6,000 pairs of glasses. So they show up to places, stick an autorefactor on people's faces, find out what the prescription is, find it and give them a pair of glasses. And so they're able to go to these rural places and under resourced places and help people see. They also have two mobile dental machines and chairs. And then they're using all this on supplies on borrowed trucks and on the open bed trailer covered with tarps. They've been going to Sierra Mezateca where there's about 300,000 Mezatecos and only a few local churches. They've been in Partnership with a church called Amigos de Fe. And they've planted churches and trying to plant churches in eight communities. They've done five medical trips in that area with about 80 to 120 medical patients, 40 to 50 dental patients, and then they were given out 20 to 30 glasses. And then in the areas near Veracruz and hidalgo, there's about 490,000 people. They have two medical trips they've done this past year. They've got a third one scheduled. On their first two, they had about 100 to 150 medical patients, 60 to 100 dental patients, and they gave out 50 to 100 pairs of glasses, which I don't know if you've ever tried to live without glasses and then got glasses, but it's magical. Just ask third grade Chet. So for them to show up to places where people have not been able to see and just outfit them, they walk in and walk out with glasses is a wonderful thing.

And so we just said, what would you need if we were going to give you money? What would you use it for? What would this look like? And so the biggest, they said the current biggest limitation is the logistics problem for them. They have an open bed trailer that they've just been throwing a tarp on. And so they said we'd love. Yeah, that. They said they have lost equipment due to rain. And some of the places that they go to, they end up having to park and hike up mountains. I mean, they're going to hard to reach places and difficult to resource places. And so they said they'd love to have an enclosed trailer. And so they sent us this sort of thing now just to help you all out. That 98,500 is pesos. So if you're like, nah, we're gonna have to smuggle in one of our trailers. We ain't paying that. That's in pesos. So don't stress out over that.

So here's what we said. We just said, start telling us what you would need. And they gave us a list. We said, dream. We've learned as a church that we want to. We want to get some options. We want to get some things in front of us and we'll see what the Lord does and what we're able to do together. Like we said, our hope is to knock this out, to be able to do what they've asked and do another one. But we'll see. We're happy to get to partner together however we're able to. But this is what. This is how the money would work for this Group the trailer is about $6,000. So the first $6,000 we raise, they're going to go get a trailer. After that, they would use 1250 for insurance, taxes, maintenance of the trailer. So they said if we're able to give them about $7,000, 7,500, they'll get a trailer and they'll be taken care of for a year, and then they'll, you know, just continue to operate with it. But they would be blessed by that because they'd be able to load it up, they'd be able to lock it up, they'd be able to show up to the place, unload what they needed to unload, keep. Like they just said this would bless their souls and their ability to get in and out of places and. And not lose equipment. So we said that sounded smart to us. So we thought, yes, let's try to get them a trailer if we're able to keep giving. Here are other things. They were like, well, look, y' all give us money, we're going to spend it. So they would love another auto refractor, which helps them to do multiple trips or to be able to just handle more people when they're coming in, getting them glasses. A lensometer is actually what you use to shine through glasses to make sure it is the right prescription. So auto refractor goes on the face, lensometer goes on the glasses. A diagnostic kit and a retinoscope is just the ability to try to actually check eyes, see what's going on. If they could have a mobile dental X ray with a computer, that would be amazing so that they could actually do X rays right there, see what's going on inside. And then they said dental chairs and lights, 600 general dental tools and supplies, 1500 general medical equipment, 500, for a total of $22,250. We'd love to be able to raise that for them. We'd love to get to join in partnership in a way that we get to be a part of people in areas of Mexico we'll never step foot in being cared for, loved, and getting a tangible picture of the gospel. As a group of people is trying to plant churches to articulate the gospel.

Just so y' all know, we don't do a whole lot as a church in partnership with any kind of foreign missions organization that isn't trying to plant churches and articulate the gospel. We think it is incomplete if we're just doing physical things, but we love to partner where they're doing some physical work, some. Some tangible help in connection with local church planting and church organization and these sort of things going forward. So as a church, every year we do every year at Christmas we partner with the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, which is, you see it on the tables and it's in your bulletin, which is a part of missions efforts for the Southern Baptist. We do that every year and then we pick a give project and then sometimes we pick as a give project a missions opportunity. And we've got two in front of us this year. This is the first one we're going to be able to get after we're excited to be able to partner in this specific way in Mexico for the sake of what they're doing and would love for you to begin praying about what does it look like for you to partner in helping see other people come to know Jesus and tangibly see what he does among a group people, let's pray.

Father, we're thankful. We're thankful that you have met us in our need. We're thankful that you have redeemed us and called us into something eternal. We ask that your spirit would be at work so that our church might be a blessing to those who are out and doing international efforts. We pray, Lord, that you would stir in the hearts of our church family so that we might be able to send people and we pray that you would stir in our hearts that we might be able to send money to the people who are already there. But may we be a part of what you are doing around the world in the places where people belong to you. There just hasn't been someone who's told them about you yet. In Jesus name Amen. Band's gonna come up. We're gonna sing. If you desire to give, there are there is a drop down menu online that you can give directly to it already. You can also give via an envelope or just put on the check that it's for our gift project. But we ask you to begin to pray and hopefully, Lord willing will be able to begin to move on this and then get into some of the other stuff, see what the Lord does.

Mill City 11/16/25 Mill City 11/16/25

Re:Member Core Practices VII Submit to Authority

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are in our final week of our Remember series where we're walking through our membership commitment and remembering the things, the values, the beliefs that bind us together as a church on the 14th and final commitment this week. And then next week, we will start our annual give series that we do, but we are wrapping up Remember this week. Before I launch into this final commitment, I want to give a caveat. It has a word in it that is a bit triggering, upsetting for Americans. It's something that we're not a fan of, and that is the word submit. So submitting or submission carries a lot of negative connotations in American culture. So if you watch ufc, mixed martial arts fighting, submitting is choking someone out until they have to tap out, which can carry a negative connotation. If you had classes where you had to turn in papers, you had submission due dates for your papers, and that's not a good reminder of things. We as Americans did not want to submit to a king. So we threw tea into a harbor and declared independence. Like, there's a lot of things that when it comes to submission, as Western Americans, we're just not the biggest fan of. There are some people that come out of religious traditions where submission was used, but practiced in ways that were cruel and evil. So there's a lot of ways this word gets muddied for us, which begs the question, then why use it? Why use a word that has been sullied for so many? And the reason is because it's a Bible word. It's a Bible worth worth keeping, worth clarifying. And the Bible sees submission as good, as beautiful. And so we include it in our 14th commitment for that very reason. So let me read our 14th commitment. It says, I agree with the beliefs and values of Mill City Church and submit to its elders. I will approach church leadership with any questions or concerns that I may have. Okay, so before we get to the what of submission, we're gonna take a lot of time to talk about the whole who is involved, who is submitting, who we submitting to. So we need to clarify that. And that's going to take up quite a bit of space for our sermon this morning. And then we'll get to the what which is submission. And then we're going to end with, why? Why do we do this? So who, what, why? In our final commitment of our member series. So let me pray, and then we'll walk through this together.

Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help Us have ears to hear. There are certainly those of us here that don't come to a subject like this neutrally based on culture, based on experience. God, I pray that you would break through all of that to help us hear from you in a way that compels us to be the people that you've called us to be. Ultimately, in submission to you, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

All right, so it starts with, I agree with the beliefs and values of Mill City Church. Let me do that very quickly. That just for clarity, means these 14 commitments that those who are recommitting and signing this, those who walk the membership process and sign the commitment. It's I agree with these beliefs and values that are bound up in this commitment that bind us in belief and practice and submit to its elders. I will approach church leadership with any questions or concerns that I may have. So we need to understand who specifically here in the leadership structure of our church. And that starts with elders. So we're looking at what this is called, church polity. This is what theologians call church polity. This is the structure, the governance, how the church is ordered, how the church is run, the organizational structure of our church. And we're gonna start by looking at elders because we are an elder led church Now, Elders, the word elder, the Bible doesn't use this in the cultural sense of how we think about this as those who are elderly, those who are older. Elder is a church office, which is another theology term meaning the public role of leadership in the church. They got us ordained that there's a, there's a public role of leadership in the church, and we call this eldership. So let me define quickly what we mean by elders here, and then we're going to walk through this definition piece by piece. Elders are a plurality of qualified men who lead the church. Elders are a plurality of qualified men who lead the church. So let's speak, spend time on that first part. Elders are a plurality. So when many people think of church leaders, some of the words that most often come to mind are pastors and ministers. So you hear the pastor of this church, the minister of this church, those are the ones that come to mind most often. Now, those are descriptions of what this office of leadership does. But in the New Testament, that's not what the office is called, that's not what the role of leadership is called. But in the New Testament, this role of leadership, there are two words that are used, elders and overseers.

So elders, coming from the Greek word presbyterios, which is where you Get Presbyterianism, presbyterias, and then the overseers. The Greek word episcopos, which is where you get Episcopalian, okay, elders and overseers. And these get used interchangeably. And what you see when you study the New Testament is that each church was supposed to have a plurality, meaning multiple. Multiple elders, multiple overseers leading each church. When you read the Book of Acts, as the church is spreading across Asia Minor on Paul's first missionary journey, when he's in Lystra, in Acts, chapter 14, it says,

> And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

And this is the pattern that happens. These churches are starting, and Paul as an apostle, is leaving behind elders to lead these churches. This happens over and over again. The church of Ephesus, which is what the letter of Ephesians was written to this church. We see that Paul later comes back to them to spend some time with them before he goes to Jerusalem, where he will be persecuted. So he meets them at a place called Miletus. And there he gives this long speech. I'll just give a quick snippet of it. In verse 17, it says,

> From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

And he gives this whole speech. That's a wonderful speech, worth reading. And towards the end of it, he says, pay verse 28,

> Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

And in that right there, we get multiple pictures here that these elders are meant to care for the flock. That's the language of shepherding, which we'll get to in a moment. The language of pastoring we also see here has made you overseers. That's again, this word Episcopal. You're overseers. You're leading and providing oversight to this church that Jesus obtained with his own blood. So this is the pattern of how the church is established. When you read the rest of the New Testament letters, you start to see this evidence all over the place. When Paul is writing a letter to Titus, who's pastoring on the island of Crete, in chapter one, verse five, it says,

> This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.

So again, that's multiple elders. These leaders in the churches throughout Crete. Now, there are five elders in our church. So Raz Bradley, Matt Freeman, Chet Phillips, Isaac Hill, and myself. So we're the five elders overseers who lead this church. And we lead this church together in a way that is actually even a little bit different than some other churches. We different than many don't actually have a lead elder. We don't have a lead pastor, senior pastor. We actually lead together in both unity and in mutual submission to one another. So we all. If you look at our, if you ever want to see our organizational chart, you can see the things that we oversee. Every elder has different areas that they oversee. And we are in mutual submission to one another. And we do that unified by the gospel and the beliefs and values of our church and the core doctrines that guide us and bind us together as an eldership team. But that's us. That's the five of us who lead together as a plurality of elders. But one of the next things you see in this definition, elders are a plurality of qualified. Let me sit in this idea for a moment that you must be qualified, which means you can't, not anyone can be elder. This has to be those who are qualified. And when you read the New Testament, what you're going to see is that the main qualifications for what it means to be an elder is character. They are character based. So if you keep reading Titus 1 after he tells Titus to appoint elders in every town, in verse six, it says,

> If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered, or a drunkard, or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good self, controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it.

The majority of those are character based, not violent, not a drunkard, hospitable. These are character. Now, there also is some competency in this as well. You gotta be able to teach, gotta be able to teach sound doctrine, gotta be able to rebuke those who need rebuking. But it's character. When you read First Timothy 3, which I won't read the whole list, but First Timothy 3 also has a very similar list. It says in chapter three, verse one,

> The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

And then you get the list.

Therefore, an overseer must be above approach. The husband of one wife, sober minded, self controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. And the list keeps going that most of those are character based, that elders must be men of character and competency matters. But boy, oh boy, it's not weighted as much as character. And what the y'. All. The problem for many churches in America is that they're too quickly to value the competencies before you've evaluated the character. And often the way that happens most is can he preach, can he lead worship? Those are the top two. And if you can preach, you can stand in front of a group of people and talk with some sense and you can play and you have a good voice. What happens is that competency is valued in a way that puts them forth before they've been properly tested to see the character that is bound up within them. And what you see over and over again is church implosions because their giftings talents were weighed more than their character. No, God values fruit. God values character and his leaders to be able to lead with character, not perfection, but maturity in their character that will last for seasons upon seasons. So sure, yes, you should be able to teach and to lead and to correct and do some of the competency based things. But God wants his leaders, he wants his elders, wants his overseers to be men of character, which is why we take eldership very slowly. Mike Goble is an elder in training, has been for, I think about a year in our church. And we take this process slowly because what we want to see is character over seasons. Because I mean, when you're in an evaluation process, you could probably fake it for a bit, but over time it's going to come out. When you're tested, when you're facing trials, when you're working together in a way where there's friction, we won't be able to see that character tested over time. So we take it very slowly before we lay hands and install someone as an elder. So notice our plurality of qualified. The next thing is men. So I don't have near the space to get into all the nuances of this. We have taught this for years. So I just want to be quite frank about how we believe this. We do not see any examples in the New Testament of women as elders or overseers. We only See the command for men, husband of one wife, that this is the office for men. We actually see a prohibition against women teaching with authority over men, which is the type of teaching that is reserved for elders and overseers. So I'm aware that that might be a difficult subject. And I know this is a difficult subject not just on a Western American church basis, but also in our own church, as folks have wrestled with this. And I am happy to. And our elders are happy to sit with anyone that has questions about this to talk more about this. But we do believe the Bible teaches this. We believe that it is not culturally bound at all in the text. We believe it is creation bound. We believe it is. It is not harmful, but actually flourishing for both men and women to abide by the Scriptures teachings on this. And yes, there are certainly traditions that disagree with us on this. One of my dearest friends, mentors for decades, is a Methodist minister in Texas, and him and his wife are both ordained Methodist ministers. And I love them to pieces and I see so much wisdom. I message them regularly like we. I love them so much. And we just disagree on this. And we're going to work together on all types of things, care about greater mission efforts and we'll. But we'll never lead in the same church context together. And that's okay because we can guard our consciences in a way that he can lead his church in the way that he wants to. I can be part of a team that leads our church in the way that we on this conviction. So yes, there are churches that disagree on this. Many of them, we love them as brothers and sisters in Christ and they're doing wonderful things. As for our church, we look at the Scriptures and we think the Scriptures teach this very plainly. And therefore it is qualified men. And the last part of that definition is who lead, who lead the church. So this leadership is called overseeing. This leadership is called pastoring, called pastoring. Which is why in our culture, I'm very okay. Even just how we talk about it, that we're elders, overseers, that we're pastors. I'm very fine with the interchangeability of that word, even though it doesn't show up as much as a noun as it shows up as a verb, is what elders do. I'm very okay with us being called pastors, but that's leadership. Pastoring is shepherding. It's tending to sheep. In First Peter, Chapter 5, one of the more helpful passages on this, it says,

> Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

That's where we get pastor, shepherd, shepherd, tend to care for the flock that is among you. And then that gets unpacked. Exercising oversight. That's leadership. Exercising oversight. Not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, don't do this compulsively step into this willingly. Don't do this for your own selfishness, gain your own selfish benefits, but sacrificially give yourself away eagerly. Not verse three, domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. Good shepherds, good elders are, are not with an iron fist leading their people, but are saying, come, follow me as I follow Christ. Compelling their people from the scriptures. This is where Christ is going. Let's go in this direction. And when verse four, the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory, which is the reminder that Christ Jesus is the chief shepherd of this church and that ultimately we all are in submission to him, and that the elders, the pastors of this church, are under shepherds of our chief shepherd, Jesus Christ. So elder overseer is the office. Pastoring is what we do. It's the leadership that we do so as elders in this congregation that we care for the needs of our congregation. And most of the time, those are spiritual needs. And we're ministering from the word of God, caring for those spiritual needs. Sometimes those are physical needs. It means we're like what we talked about last week, rallying the church who's been saving money to help meet physical needs, to go fix things, to go take people to doctor's appointments. We want to care for one another well, as we lead this church, it means that we teach the word of God, that we as elders, as pastors, have the responsibility to rightfully, accurately, winsomely, compellingly open the Scriptures and teach with authority what God has commanded from the scriptures that we want to teach. That's why we get in 1 Timothy 5, 17,

> Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

And it's talking about the elders who rule, who lead, be considered of double honor. The two honors being one that is respect and submission, and the other is being paid and that's why a few of us, three of the elders are on staff and we are paid generously by our church. But there's a responsibility for pastors to teach the church. This is something that we own, that we care deeply about, that we have a team approach to. So we teach that we rule, which means that we provide leadership and direction, that we lead by exercising oversight, which y' all is important. If we lack oversight, and at times we have, we've had to shift here and shift there and think about how we, how we grow and organizationally structuring our church and how we do this. But when we organize well, it allows us to be freed up to do the things that God has called us to do. If we are a disorganized mess, y', all, we will not accomplish the purposes that God has called us to be as a church. So we provide oversight and we do the other things. We correct those who are in sin, we admonish those who are idle, we encourage those who are faint hearted, that we help those who are weak. This is what it looks like to lead and to shepherd, and this is what it means to be an elder. So our elders are plurality of qualified men who lead the church.

But our 14th commitment doesn't just say elders. It says, I agree with the beliefs and values of Mill City Church and submit to its elders. I will approach church leadership with any questions or concerns that I may have. So that's written intentionally that we don't say eldership twice because that leadership part broadens out a bit, because you're not just coming to us with questions, you're coming to our leadership, which is not just elders who lead the church, it is also deacons. And that's the next thing I want to talk about in the structure of our church is deacons and how our deacons function. In this church. Deacon comes from the Greek word diakonos, which means servant. So the title and the job description are the same. Deacons, deacons, servants, serve. The same way that if you are a salesman, you do sales. If you're a teacher, you teach, if you're a lifeguard, you guard lives from the water. This is what deacons do. You okay? Deacons, deacons, servants, serve. Now, if some of you have church background, especially in some traditional Baptist churches, this may look different from your experience because in a lot of churches, deacons are kind of the board of leadership that run the church. If you came from that background or you're familiar with that background, that can be somewhat confusing. Now what I will say is that I think those churches miss this. The way that a lot of those churches functions, where you have the deacon board who helps run the church and organize things, they are functioning more like elders than actually deacons, because deacons aren't leading in that aspect. They're not ruling in that aspect. They're not running the church. Deacons are meant to be servant leaders. They are leaders in a specific area of service. And I just want to hit a few passages to help us see this. In Philippians chapter one, the very beginning, we see it says,

> Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

That's overseer elder. And we also say pastor and deacons, those who lead in service. The earliest example of this is in Acts chapter 6. In Acts chapter 6, they are facing a crisis because there's a daily distribution of food that needs to go out to different people, to widows, to those who are in need. And the leaders at the time, which are the apostles, they're covered up and they're doing all these things. They finally realize we need to do something about this, because if we're simply just serving tables, all of the what we're not going to have time for the ministry that God has called us to do, the ministry of word and prayer. And in Acts chapter 6, it says,

> And the twelve called together the whole body of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty."

So they realize we, in order to continue the ministry of word and prayer, we need people who can actually do some of these logistical tasks of service that matter in the church. And while the word deacon as a title doesn't show up In Acts chapter 6, most theologians look at that, and I look at this as well, to say that is a picture of what is coming in the formal office of leadership, a formal public leadership role in the church that is known as deaconing. So we see this in the New Testament, and unlike the leadership role of elder, we see in the New Testament that deaconing is not just reserved for men, but it's also for women as well. In Romans chapter 16, as Paul is finishing this out, he's addressing different leaders. He says in verse one,

> I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchrea,

And if you have an ESV Bible in front of you. What you'll see is there's a footnote, a little number that follows that word servant. If you look at the bottom where that footnote is, it says deaconess. And what that is the ESV is doing there is it's saying, you can translate this as servant or you can translate this as the official role of deaconess. And we look at this and say, no, actually Phoebe, from the context, she's clearly a servant leader in this church. She has a leadership role of service in this church that allows the elders overseas of that church to continue the ministry of word and prayer. When you read first Timothy 3 past the overseer elder qualifications, then you get to the qualifications for deaconing. It says,

> Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. Let them be tested first; then let them serve as deacons, if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.

Again, character. The deacons are to have character and let them be tested first, then let them serve as deacons. If they prove themselves blameless, there's this testing period, this evaluation period of seeing the character that is bound up within them. And then in verse 11 it says their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober minded, faithful in all things. And again, if you look at the word for wives, so you have an ESV Bible in front of you, you're going to see a footnote there. And that footnote, if you go down to it, it's going to say women, because the same word for wives in the Greek is the same word for women. And we look at that and from the context here we say, no, this actually is women likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober minded, faithful in all things. And we look at that, interpret that and say, absolutely, this is talking about the women deacons and specific qualifications to them. So in our church we have deacons, servant leaders in a variety of areas that allow us as pastors, elders to focus primarily on the ministry of word and prayer. We have deacons in community groups, so all of our group leaders are deacons that continue in a service capacity that free us up as elders overseers to shepherd and lead this church. We have deacons in worship, we have deacons in Kid City, we have deacons in financial care and host. And all of these different areas of service are important and they matter immensely. And if all five of us had to do all of that by ourselves, it would kill us. We'd crumple under the pressure. There's no way we can't accomplish all of these things. We would eventually give up our primary ministry of word and prayer. So I'm so thankful that we have so many gifted deacons in our church who fill that necessary gap to serve in a way that helps accomplish the purposes of our church. It's wildly helpful for us. So when we agree to the beliefs and values of this church, you're submitting to the eldership, but also if you have questions, you're welcome to bring those to also those who are deacons in our church. It means if you're in a group, a lot of times that's going to your group leader and having conversations with them. If you're in Kid City, you go to the deacon who's in charge and all the other service areas as well. So that's the who as our membership comes together and looks at this and commits together to be bound together by these beliefs and practices.

But what, what I said earlier is submission. Submission, submission to authority is seen as a wonderful thing in the scriptures. It's good. I mean, Hebrews chapter 13, one of the many passages that speak on this is obey your leaders and submit to them.

> Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

That there's this expectation in Christ's church that he's set apart these elders to lead and the flock, the congregation, the people of God who commit to that local body are meant to follow and submit to the leadership of those shepherds as we all collectively submit to Christ. And that's a beautiful picture. As elders who are submitting to one another as we submit to Christ, as the body is submitting to elders, as we submit to Christ, submission is seen as good. It is a good thing to do in the scriptures. And I understand culturally it is seen as a bad thing that culturally it's seen as a bad word. Submission in our culture means that you're less than. Because so much of our culture cares so deeply about individualistic free expression and no limitations on what you can do. That if I'm honest, so much of our culture values you by what you can do, that what you're able to do is where you find value. And I'll be honest, that is an evil way to measure your value. Because if you apply that logic to other things, apply that logic to disabilities, that finding value in what you can do, and if you can't do that, there's less value. It's like, no, that's so wrong headed and foreign to the scriptures in so many ways. Our value does not come from the things that we do. And our culture values freedom so much. If there's any limitation on those values. If you're gonna submit anywhere and not do these things, that you're missing out. And that's such a foreign concept to the scriptures. And honestly, our culture that's so drunk of that ideology has never been more unhappy, more unfulfilled, more empty, more longing and more lost. No, submission is good that when God looks at us from the scriptures and says, submit to these commands, he's not limiting our joy, he's maximizing our joy, knowing that these things that he doesn't want us to take part in ultimately rob us of true joy and satisfaction and fulfillment that is found in him. So we submit to God. And when God orders his church and says that, I've set apart these leaders, these elders to lead you, that submission to elders is a good thing, as we're responsible, we're going to answer for to the Lord, our chief shepherd, how we care for you. That it is a good thing to submit to eldership, that me as an elder living in submission to my fellow elders is a good thing. It's a wonderful thing that I don't get in my way all the time. It just is that every now and then, as I'm leading alongside our elders, it's happened to all of us that at some point, as we've debated from the scriptures, as we've argued, as we've come together to try to make a decision on something, every now and then there's an odd man that just says, I'm going to lay my preferences down. I'm going to submit to you as elders. And every one of us has done that. And it's good. The scriptures see this as good. And for clarity, y', all, submission does not mean silence. Submission doesn't mean silence. And if you've been a part of this church long enough, you know that our elders are approachable, that you can come to us and talk about anything. We're having meetings all the time with people talking about things that there are times where I've said something or done something that someone else has disagreed with or has hurt them and they've come and they've talked, and there's real emotions and sometimes real pain attached to those conversations. But I've seen it over and over again. Our church, in loving respect of our elders, coming and talking through things together. And at times we won't be in agreement. And that's going to Happen at times, we're going to disagree on things, but I've seen it over and over again, just as I am in sometimes disagreement with our elders, in submission to them, and they likewise. I've seen our members who say, you know what? I just disagree here. But I love this church and I respect and love y', all. And I'm gonna yield here as I follow y' all and you as elders, you're gonna answer for how you lead this church. But in submission, I'm going to follow you, y'. All. That is a beautiful display of unity of a unified church together. That's one of the reasons we actually don't vote on things as a church. We actually see voting as a democratic, an American democratic understanding of collective authority. And we actually. We don't vote on things, and that puts us in differences from other churches and other traditions. But when we have decisions as elders, we do things quite slowly, sometimes annoyingly slowly. Just want to move, but it's like, no, there's a reason for that. And we go through things slowly. So when we pitch something to our church, like a few years ago we pitched, we're going to buy the lot right next to us because we need space for parking. Because parking is a massive issue for us. And there are a few folks that came and so always say, come and talk to us. And they did. There may have been some areas of disagreement, and we listen. And then we moved forward in a decision and we bought the piece of property. But there are also, sometimes, I'll be honest, a few years ago, we pitched a mission initiative. We didn't go about it the right way as elders. And when we pitched it to y', all, it did not go well at all. Half our church was like, you lost us. And then when people came and talked to us, we didn't say, no, we're not listening. We listened. People reasoned from the scriptures and we said, you're right, and we stopped. We corrected, and we moved forward in unity. But that's how we move forward together. And I'm so thankful that we do. I'm so thankful that y' all come and talk to us. Y' all listen. If you have questions about how we're leading a thing and you remain silent, do you realize you were co signing and are okay with something being done stupidly or unwisely or not God honoring? No. We want you to come and talk to us. And if you've been around long enough, you know that you have our ear. And it's written here for leadership as well, to let you know, don't. You don't just have to come to us, go to the deacons, go to your group leaders, go and talk to them. We talk through things together as we move forward in unity, submission to the elders. But as we all submit to Christ.

So that's the what let's talk about why. Why have so much intentionality on church structure? Why have submission? Why have this 14th commitment? Because there is so many much on the line. If we spin our wheels without the type of organizational leadership and structure and this 14th commitment, there's so much on the line. Go back to our seventh commitment. This Jesus will return to rescue his church and judge his enemies. Those who have trusted in something or someone other than Jesus will be separated from God for eternity. As a part of God's church, I'm sent to proclaim the gospel so that as many as possible might be saved through Jesus. We should every now and then come back to this and realize what's on the line. To be sobered by the eternal reality of friends, neighbors, co workers who are destined to destruction, to a endless separation from the goodness of God that will have no end. There is so much on the line and if we are a disorganized person mess, we will spin our wheels with sideways energy and foolishness in a way that wastes the very precious time that we have to accomplish the purposes that God has called us together as a church. And there are churches that do this and we don't want to fall into that. We don't get bogged down into things like dividing over voting on the aesthetics of this space which has happened on repeat as churches have divided over the color of the carpet. That we don't want to waste time with rivaling leaders who are so concerned about their own kingdoms and their own interests that they split the church with their own selfishness. That we don't want to waste our time by having tyrannical CEO as pastors who are domineering from the top and not collectively as a plurality saying follow me as I follow Christ. We want to waste our time with deacons who are at war with the pastor. We want to waste our time with warring factions because people care more about how the music is done here or how missions is done here. We don't want to waste our time as pastors who can get bogged down in very necessary day to day tasks that distract us from the ministry of word and prayer. We don't want to waste our time as members who. And that's elders included because we're members. Members who stir up trouble with gossip and slander and create the kind of sin and sideways energy that distracts us from what we're supposed to do that has plagued churches for far too long. And we ain't got time for that. So we, in this structure, submitting as we submit to Christ, abide by this 14th commitment that keeps us on the same page for what eternally matters. So as we recommit, as we celebrate tonight or remember dinner, let us remember why it is good to have these values, these practices, these things that bind us together. And let's do so in an organized manner to the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom here and across the world.

Let me pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us as we close up this series, remember what is good and that we would live out the implications of these teachings in a way that makes much of our chief shepherd. In Jesus name, amen. Man's going to come up. We're going to sing one final song together. I hope as you walk through this series, as you walk through this process, we remember the good news of the gospel in new and better ways. We remember the values that we have that's bound us together. And then as we submit to Christ, we sing this song that ultimately what we desire is the will of God accomplished in this church. So y' all stand and we will sing.

Mill City 11/9/25 Mill City 11/9/25

Re:Member Core Practices V Everyday Missionary

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are working our way through our membership commitment. Normally we're working our way through books of the Bible. We are taking this season as a church family to say, hey, let's remember the things that we've committed together and let's recommit to these. We have a membership commitment. It looks like this. It's a one sheet piece of paper. It's got 14 points on it. It is intentionally simple. We are saying, hey, we believe the Bible and we're going to practice the things that the Bible calls us to. And this is some of how we're going to practice that together. The first ones are just, the first seven are things that we believe that we hold to, to be true. Number eight says, I actually believe that. I'm going to go apply that. And then from there on we're saying, this is how we're going to practice that here.

If you are a Christian, you should belong to a local church that has some authority in your life. You, you should be around Christians who you are beholden to, to walk out the things of what it looks like to be a Christian. And this is just us saying, this is how we're going to try to practice that together. Here we've made it to point number 12 of 14 and we are turning and saying, this is what it looks like as we kind of face outward as we work as missionaries together. I don't know if you know this and hopefully by the end of the day it'll be clear, but if you belong to Jesus, you are on his mission, you're a part of his mission, which means that you are a missionary out in a mission field. Do you know that? Well, now you do. Some of you are foreign missionaries. Welcome. Please help these Americans meet Jesus. Some of you are like, I didn't move anywhere. I'm not a missionary. I grew up here. It's like, well, you did grow up here, but that doesn't make you not a missionary. That just means God has you here for you to be a part of his work here. And so we're going to look at that together.

I'm going to pray and we'll read number 12 and then we'll start seeing, where does the Bible say this, how does the Bible say this? And how do we practice this together? Lord, we ask for your to bless our time. We ask for you to empower your word. We ask that we would actually, as we follow you and walk in the Spirit, do these things so that so more people might come to know you in Jesus name. Amen.

So number 12 says this. Empowered by the Spirit and partnering with my community group, I will obey Christ's call in everyday life to advance his mission of redemption by proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples. That's why we call it our membership commitment. We are committing two things. Let me read that again. Empowered by the Spirit, partnering with my community group, I will obey Christ's call in everyday life to advance his mission of redemption by proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples. That center phrase there, his mission of redemption is kind of what everything else is built into coming out of that. Jesus has a mission of redemption that he came to redeem sinners, to rescue, to make them whole, and that we're on this where John chapter 20, verse 21, he says to his disciples,

> Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."

So the church, his disciples are sent out the same way that he was sent. We're joining him in his mission. This is the way Paul puts it in second Corinthians says,

> All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

That what Jesus was doing was there was a lost world of people who were in rebellion and sin and Jesus died on the cross to pay for their sin. That he rose again so that we might have forgiveness and life. And there's forgiveness proclaimed in his name and hidden through his death. He is reconciling the world back to himself. That the gap between us and God because of our sin and rebellion is paid for. And then it says, he's given us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, meaning there's a way for us to find forgiveness through the work of Jesus and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. That that message has been given to the Church. This is why we say when we finish up on Sunday mornings and we're about to leave, we remind ourselves of this mission, this message, and we repeat consistently the Church's plan A for this message to go forward. There is no plan B. We've been entrusted with a ministry of reconciliation. We've been entrusted with the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal for through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. We're sent with a message to implore, to plead, to call people to be reconciled. This is something that we're Commissioned to go do this has been given to the church. We're joining him in this mission.

So let's go back to that first phrase, empowered by the Spirit. Partnering with my community group. Now, that's tagging back to some of the things we've already said in our membership commitment, that we're empowered by the Spirit, we're equipped for mission and service. I will say this briefly. If you are a Christian and you're like, I just want to know what it's like to walk in the Spirit. I want to know and live in the Spirit, then you have to do the things of the Spirit. And you have to do things that you need the Spirit for. You have to go and join him in mission and service. And then the Spirit empowers that. The Spirit does not empower eating Doritos and watching football. There are things that we partake in in life that we don't need to lean into the Spirit for now, sometimes the Spirit empowers you, repenting of how many Doritos you ate. He helps us with self control, but he's not empowering some of the things that we're partaking in. And if we want to walk in the Spirit, we're supposed to join him in this. And so we're saying, I'm empowered by the Spirit. I'm going to. Then we put partnering with my community group.

We yesterday had our fall festival. In a few weeks, we'll start our Give series, our Give project, together as a church. And that's really it. As far as the things that we say, hey, our whole church is going to go do this together. We very rarely say, hey, we want our whole church to go do this. Most of the time, our groups are just serving and working and laboring alongside of each other. So we have groups that serve at homeless shelters and groups that have partnered to feed people and work on houses or build wheelchair ramps or groups that are hosting parties intentionally to welcome people who don't know Jesus. We have groups all over the place doing things all the time. Every once in a while, we'll say, hey, this group bit off a little more than they can chew. And if other groups would like to join them, they sure would appreciate that because they got excited and committed to some things that are kind of expensive, labor intensive. They're going to get after it. But we'd love for two or three groups to partner with them. But most of the time, it's just your group. What are you gifted in? What are you good at? And y' all are partnering Together. And the mission is served by us going together. So that's what we're saying. We're going to do this.

In this context, I will obey Christ's call. This is not an optional thing. It is a matter of obedience. Matthew 28. Jesus, after his resurrection, he says he came and said to them,

> And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

He's talking to his disciples. Go, therefore, and make disciples. Okay? So he says, go do with them what I've done with you. Go make disciples. Go equip people. Do exactly what I've been doing with you. You're going to go do that with them. And then he says, of all nations, at this point, he had 11 disciples. It's a big ask of 11 guys. There's an assumption baked into this that as they make disciples, those disciples are going to go make disciples. That this is something that's given to all of those who are going to be brought into this. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So it's for the entire earth until the end of the age. It's given to the disciples who are going to make more disciples, who are going to follow in this and continue. Which means that if you belong to Jesus, you are a part of the gospel going forward to the nations. Because this was not said in English, but it's made it here now. And if you belong to Jesus, you're here now as a part of this effort to join in.

What does it look like to make disciples now, there are times in the Bible where someone is set aside for a specific purpose. We see that in Acts, chapter 13, there's a church, they're praying, and the Spirit specifically while they're praying and fasting, says, send Paul and Barnabas out to go do this, what I've asked them to do. So some people are going to stay and help send, and some people are going to go. That happens in Galatians. Paul talks about he has a ministry specifically to Gentiles, just like Peter has a ministry specific to Jewish people. That happens. My grandparents were missionaries to Nigeria. They learned Yoruba, trained to do medical work, and went and lived in Obama Shah to be missionaries. Which means that by learning Yoruba and moving to a Bomasha, they didn't learn Arabic and move to Lebanon. It's pretty straightforward. Seems Pretty self explanatory. But Ben Johnson, who is a part of our church and helps run 1040 Hope for the 1040 window, was in a class in Bible school and they were talking about the unreached people in the Islamic world. And he said he went back to his dorm and he wept at the idea that there were so many people following Islam, following Muhammad and not Christians. So he learned Arabic and moved to lebanon and started 1040 Hope. He works here now, helping send and equip missionaries. Sometimes people are set aside for specific tasks. But no matter where you are, where God has you, you're called to this, you're called to help send, and you're called to participate in this mission field, in this mission work, that we're a part of his mission of redemption. And I praise Jesus that there are people in Cayce and West Columbia and Irmo and Columbia that are here that know Jesus and are trying to reach people who don't know Jesus. So that's what we're saying, is that we're going to participate.

That's what Romans 10 says. He just said,

> For "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

Somebody's got to go. Somebody's got to sin. Somebody's got to go. Somebody's got to say it so that they can hear it. Once they hear it, then they can believe. Once they believe, then they can call on him. But Paul says none of that happens if we aren't going and we aren't talking. So that's where we come to what we're committing to, which is that we're going to practice this in everyday life, that in your normal everyday life, you're going to take the call to Christ's mission seriously. We're going to be mindful of it, active in it, aware of it.

So what we're going to do for the rest of our time is we're going to look at where Paul talks about this in Colossians. There's a lot of places we could go, but we're going to go to Colossians chapter four and we're just going to look and kind of walk through the way he says it, what he says, and try to grow together. And what does this actually look like, how do you be what we call everyday missionaries? How do I do that? What does that look like? So let's read Colossians 4.

> Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

So that's what he says, I want you to be in prayer. Then he says, at the same time. So while you're praying, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the Word to declare the mystery of Christ. But that would be the first thing, is to be praying for an opening for the Word. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the Word. And now he's specifically saying, pray that for us. But he's told them to be praying. And it would be a good thing for us to be praying for ourselves as well. For you to be praying for your group, for us to be praying for our church, that there would be an opening for the Gospel.

So we start there. If you are going, how do I be in everyday mission? I don't even know where to begin. You begin by asking the Lord, give me opportunities, open a door, help me to be in the right spot, help me to meet the right person. Help there to be a window for this. You begin to pray for the people on your shift. You begin to pray for the people on your road. You begin to pray for the people who work out at the same gym. You begin to pray, Lord, may there be an opening. May there be an opportunity. May you give me, put me in the right place. I know somebody who used to say they would pray, lord, you fill my plate. You just be the one who puts on my plate what I have today. And you're asking, lord, put me in a place where I can share the gospel. So we start by praying. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that. We've got more things we're going to spend a little more time on. But we begin there. We begin by praying.

Then he says that we may declare the mystery, which means that part of being an everyday missionary is that at some point we have to open our mouths and see the gospel. I said that. My grandparents were missionaries in Nigeria. They went as medical missionaries. My granddad actually became an obstetrician, an OB GYN because they said we need more OB GYNs to go do mission work. Which means that primarily what he did with his time was helped run a hospital, deliver babies. He would ride a bicycle around and help give out vaccinations. And he passed away this past November. And I was looking through his journal of his time there. And the very first page says, as you go preach, it's a reference to Matthew 10. You go to the next page and he talks about, I know I'm going to do mission work to medical mission work. I know I'm going to help run a hospital. But as I'm on my rounds and as I go village to village, I'm there to tell them about Jesus. He understood that it wasn't just the work of serving people who needed real, tangible earthly needs met. It wasn't just the in breaking of the kingdom, in a kindness and a service for the sake of healthy born babies, but that he was there to be able to articulate the gospel. And without an articulation of the gospel, it's incomplete. So we want your group to serve at a soup kitchen. We want your group to host a party. We want your group to do whatever it is in front of you that you're gifted to do. We want you to go be a part of a prison ministry. But we want, as you do these things, to love others, that you would articulate the gospel because at some point we have to declare it.

Which brings us to the next thing that Paul says, which I'm very thankful that he says it. He says, pray also for us so there'd be a door open that we may declare the mystery of Christ and that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. The reason I love that is because Paul was aware that there were times where he had tried to share the gospel and it was unclear. There were times where the Apostle Paul was like, oh my gosh, I rabbit trailed all over the place. What was I even? How did I get from here to there? Or I made that way too complicated, Or I jumped this thing. Like I'm so thankful that he's aware this is something that I should practice, prepare in. That's what Peter says. Be prepared to give an answer. Which this means is one if you think, well, I'm not good at it. I tried that and I did a poor job. Cool. You're in a club with the Apostle Paul. That doesn't mean that there's some people who are just always good at it and some people who aren't. It means that this is a normal thing when you're trying to articulate the gospel to people, that you might mess it up a little bit. You might not exactly know where to what to say next. But it also means that we should pray about this and get better at it. You should work on how to clearly articulate the gospel.

So I'm going to give you a starting place for that. This is where I think you should start. If you're like, I don't know how to share the gospel with somebody. I wouldn't even know where to begin. Pray and then do this. These are my starting places for you. I'm going to walk you through these briefly, and then I'll show you a little bit of how they work. First is if you're like, I don't even know where to go. In the Bible, if somebody walked over to you and said, hey, will you share the gospel with me? Where does the Bible say this? And you're like, okay, hold on. And you just. Romans Road is what people call it. But it's just verses in the book of Romans that clearly articulate it. And you can just kind of go to the book of Romans and work your way through. So it's Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23, 8:1, and 10:9. You can do 10, 9 all the way up to 13 if you want.

> For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

> But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

> For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

> There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

> If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

You can do 10, 9 all the way up to 13 if you want. Romans 3:23 says that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Five, eight says that Christ loved us in that while we were still sinners, he died for us. 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. So you're going to say you're a sinner. There's hope because he loves us enough to die for us while we're sinners. There is the wages of sin. What you've earned your wage, your paycheck for sin is death. But there's a gift that's in Christ. Then Romans 8 says, there's no more condemnation for those who are in Christ. So that if you're in Christ, if you actually belong to him, then you don't get the wages of sin, but you get this gift of eternal life. You get no condemnation. And then 10, 9 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So then you get to go to Romans 10, 9 and say, do you believe that? Do you want that? Do you want to trust him? Do you want to confess? And it's just a way to say clearly a picture of the Gospel. So if you have nowhere, start there, learn at least the references so you can get a Bible out and show them. You have your phone in your pocket. Get a Bible app. That's a good place to Start.

The other ones are concepts. There's a lot of people around you who do not know the basic storyline of the Bible. They think they do, or they think that we've all collectively moved on past Jesus and they don't need to know this information. It used to be you could start off by assuming people knew that the Bible, the basic storyline of the Bible, and you could start with just you're a sinner. And sometimes that would connect with people. But now a lot of people don't even know the basic storyline of the Bible. This is the basic storyline of the Bible. Creation, fall, redemption, restoration. Creation is that God made the world good. And we see this. You can connect with people on this all the time. There's a lot of really beautiful, wonderful things out in the world. Flavors, you guys. God designed the world and he made it to where food gets to taste good. That was nice of him. He didn't have to do that, but he made food good. Some chilies win awards. There's flavor, there's good, there's beauty in the world. Then there's the fall, which is that our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned, they rebelled against God and the curse enters the world and the world is broken. And we can see that clearly too, that there's so much wrong in the world. And some of the reasons it's so painfully wrong is because how beautiful it was or how much promise it held or how it could have been great if it weren't for blank. So it's creation and fall are seen clearly all the time. Redemption is that Jesus comes to fix that. He comes to reclaim the garden. He comes to buy back the people in rebellion. That there's this storyline of redemption. And actually we're all trying to live that out. We're all looking for something to fix the problem. And we're told that Christ is the only one who can. And restoration is that at some point all the sin and all the evil and all the brokenness is gone and it's fixed. There's no death, there's no pain, there's no suffering. That's the basic storyline of the Bible. And everybody's living in that storyline, whether they know it or not. We'll talk a little bit later about how to filter that into conversations, but I just wanted you to give the concept.

The next one, which is more of a zoomed in version of the same kind of thing, is that there's a functional hell, a functional savior, and a functional heaven. So this is, if I'm trying to talk to somebody. And I'm trying to filter in these basic concepts. Functional hell is just whatever's really broken in your life at this moment. Or what would be the worst thing, the thing of nightmares that's chasing you down. There's something that is just, if I get stuck in this, it'll be awful. And then functional heaven is where that's not the case anymore. And so your functional savior is whatever gets you out of functional hell and into functional heaven. Functional meaning practical, current. Let me give you an example. You might have a co worker or a friend who grew up really poor and poverty for them is their functional health. They might be currently really poor. And that's all that, that's affecting them in life. They just don't have the money to handle the next thing that's coming. And so they're constantly talking about their functional heaven, which is, if I just had enough money, I'd be fine, then I'd be okay, everything would be fixed. And so their functional savior is their job that they currently have. But this could be as someone who's not poor anymore. It could be someone who's currently in the middle of poverty and fighting it. But their job, they want the job. They have some vague future job. Like they're just, they've got something that's going to get them from point A to point B. And as we're listening to them and relating to them, we have opportunities to understand. Well, actually Jesus is a better answer for these things. He's a more complete answer. He's actually a real response these things. Like he works in all this stuff to undo all of this and we have the ability to begin to speak in. So I'm going to give you examples of that in just a second. But let's keep following what he says so that you would make it clear and you'd learn some of these basic things. I think that's a good place to start. And again, like I said, I'm gonna show you two examples or some examples of the how that works in a conversation in just a moment when we get there, alright?

Verse 5. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders making the best use of the time. So he says, be praying for an open opening for the gospel, that we might declare it, that we might make it clear. And then he looks at the church and says, walk in wisdom towards outsiders making the best use of those are those people who are outside of Christ that you should use your wisdom, ingenuity, intentionality for the sake of. How do I relate to people who don't know Jesus, and that you should make good use of the time. So when we talk about being an everyday missionary, this is some of what this means practically for us. We don't do a lot of things in this building. We meet on Sundays. We meet in community groups. We want you to walk in church, family. We don't have a ton of things on our calendar. This is a constant thing. When we go to add anything to the calendar, we sit and debate whether or not we should ever have anything on a calendar. We know that meeting and doing things is good, but, boy, we don't like it every time we plan something. It's just your pastors, just so you know. We don't want things on the calendar because we don't want you having a whole bunch of things to do here and missing out on being in the places where the people are that don't know Jesus.

There are a lot of churches in this city. If someone wants to come follow Jesus, if they're looking for Christ, they'll come. They can show up. But there are a whole lot of people who do not want to be here. No, thank you. They don't want to come to your group meeting. They don't want to show up on Sunday. We have to go where they are. So we want you to coach a Little League team, join a bowling league. We want you to go be out in the world around people who don't know Jesus for the sake of being a missionary. So when we talk about making the best use of the time, what we'll do with people. I've done it consistently being a pastor here is we'll sit down and just go, hey, what time do you wake up in the morning? What time do you go to bed? What happens in between? What does Sunday look like? What does Monday look like? What does Tuesday look like? What's your schedule? What's your job? Because it's possible that you work out four days a week and you see the same people repeatedly. Okay, learn their name. Start praying for them. Take your headphones out, Start talking to people. And you might say, well, that's weird. Okay, be weird for the sake of people knowing Christ. Some of you work jobs where someone is stuck with you 40 hours a week. The only way to get away from you is to quit. And they need this job. So start praying for them and start talking to them. And start asking for openings for the gospel to make the best use of your time, we say things like, don't go eat in your car. Eat in the break room. If someone invites you To a thing, go to it. And you can complain to the Lord. You can lament to him. You can say, lord, I'm going to be really stressed out. I'm not going to know anybody. This is going to be really hard. And then you can say, so empower me with the spirit. Help me to get over that. Help me to go have a good time. Help me to make a friend. Open the door for the opportunity. Let me find the other person who's standing around awkwardly. I'll go talk to them and then go, we don't want to have a church kickball team. We want you to go join a kickball team with pagans and become real friends with them so that you might share the gospel with them.

So if you look at your schedule and you go, I work from home. I don't have any roommates. I'm not in class with anybody. I don't know anybody. Then we just start going, okay, well, then you've got to get creative to make the best use of your time. And we'll help you plot on that. And you can talk to your group. But also you might say, I don't know anybody. I don't know how to make a friend. I've never made a friend in my life. Then we would say, join a community group. Those people have to be your friends. Step one. And then ask the people in that group, who are your friends? I'm gonna need to hang out with you. I want to join you in what you're doing. I tell my group this all the time, but if you invite someone to lunch and they'll go to lunch with you, you can just bring someone from our group to that lunch. They can't stop you. You can just be like, oh, so good to see you. Also got Logan to join us. Have a seat. What are they going to say? I thought it was just going to be us. They're not going to say that. And now they know someone else in your group. You're going out of your way to make the best use of the time. You're working together. Like, we get to do these things. But you're trying to think through, who am I around, where am I at, who's stuck with me, and how do I get to be on mission with Jesus there? Because those people need to know Christ, and we want you there. We want you to gather with us on Sunday, study the Bible, pray together. We want you to get with your group. This is why we have a review, the mission section where we're trying to talk through how's it going? What are you doing? Praying with each other, thinking it through. But then we want you out doing this. Okay? Making the best use of time.

Then he says, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Okay, Ought to answer, meaning that there is a. We are things that we're supposed to be saying. We already know that. So there are things that we should be including in conversations that we have conversations where we should be gracious, grace filled conversations and seasoned with salt. I don't think that means just be interesting. You know, he's not just like, bam, flavor your conversations up. I think he's saying be intentional about how you speak to people making the best use of the time to declare the gospel.

You know how like 95% of news anchors have worked to have this like generic American accent? Like they, they've gotten good at it, they practiced it, they just have neutral American. I think that most of us also have a practiced neutral American way that we talk to people who are not Christians. That if someone asked you who was in your community group that you've been walking with, trying to follow Jesus, if they said, hey, you know, I'm about to get married, do you have any advice? You might say something like, well, Ephesians 5 says, Matthew 19 says, here's one of the things we know as we follow Jesus, you might just. But if someone at work says, you got any marriage advice? I think a lot of us are more likely to jokingly quote a movie before we are to talk about anything that has to do with Christ because we know what we're supposed to do, have our generic American answers. Stop that. I've told this story a lot, but it was pivotal for me in my trying to figure out how to do this. I was in seminary. I was working at Sears selling appliances and yes, Fortune 500 company. You're right. It was a very excellent place to be. I'm not trying to brag. All right. Anyway, just trying to make ends meet. Was working there. And there was a guy I worked with who we would just be talking about, whatever, shift slow, or just having discussions about sports, money, life, whatever. And he would consistently say, well, I'm a Muslim, so we. I'm a Muslim, so I. Well, the Quran says he just did this all the time, all the time. And I had known him for months. And then suddenly one day I was like, wait a second, I can do the same thing. He's been teaching me Islam for like three Months. And I can be saying, well, I'm a Christian, so we believe I'm a Christian. So the Bible says I'm a Christian. And just applying it to me, that was part of it. He was just applying it to himself. He was just telling me, here's why I would think about it this way, because this is what I'm taught. And every time, I just found it interesting just listening to him, being slightly discipled at work on how to be a good Muslim. That's what I was doing. And I was like, this is. This is excellent. I can do this. So I started just responding, well, I'm a Christian, so we believe this, we think this. And it's a way to just incorporate it. It's pretty neutral. I'm just talking about myself, but I'm getting to articulate the gospel. I'm getting to articulate how the Bible influences my choices. I'm getting to have my conversation seasoned with salt.

All right, let's talk through some of. Like, if you're thinking, okay, I want to do this. I want to figure out how to get this into conversations. It feels really weird, feels really hard. I want you to understand that this is some spiritual warfare stuff. The enemy doesn't want you to do this. There are some opposition things to this. It's not going to be the easiest thing. You're going to feel tense, adrenaline. You're going to have to lean into the spirit for this. All that's true, but I also want to just give you some practical things to consider and ways to apply some of this. I want to tell you a story about. I don't think I'm the best at this, but I trying to relate some of the stories, some ways that I've seen this work and some of the ways that I've been able to have this conversation.

There was a guy who was putting in a panel at my house, and he was struggling. He's on, like, his fourth hole that he had drilled into the wall. He's over there, I mean, fighting it. And he's got some work to do to fix the problems he's causing at my house and to do the thing. But he's made more problems since he got here. He hadn't even done the thing he was supposed to do. That's what he was doing. But, y', all, he's stuck at my house. He can't leave unless he wants to quit his job. So I'm like, well, I better make the best use of the time. I have no real desire to like, talk to him. Just so, personal. If you're like, my personality is not like yours. My personality is to go live in the woods. My wife and I daydream about that. What if we just lived somewhere and didn't know people? We've gotten over it. We love y' all dearly, but we've had to work to get past that. And some days, we still want the woods, you guys. But I'm going, okay, I gotta. He's here. Let me try to, you know. And so what I said to him, I did. Creation, fall, redemption, restoration. I said, man's it fighting you? He's like, you know, he's trying not to be like, I'm ruining your house. But he was like, yeah, it's not going great. And I said, yeah, you know, I'm a Christian. And the Bible starts off. It says that God created the world and it was beautiful and that Adam and Eve rebelled. And it tells us that because Adam rebelled, work is cursed. So it's always like this, man. Most of the work, I always find that most of the work I'm doing, I can get 80% of it done in 20% of the time. And then I have, like, one screw that. I fight for four hours and go to Lowe's six times. And it takes it because it's cursed. It fights me. I was like. And that's one of the things that I think is wonderful about being a Christian is it says, jesus has come to redeem all this, to fix all this, and one day, it's not going to be a thing anymore. We ended up having a bit of a conversation out of that, but it was just. Anywhere there's brokenness, anywhere there's beauty, we can connect to creation and fall. And this happens all the time. We see beauty all the time. These are things that people point out to you all the time. They'll point out beauty to you all the time. Look at how wonderful that is. And we get to respond. Yeah, you know, I'm a Christian. The Bible says God designed all of this good and beautiful. And it's the beginnings of a conversation. It's seasoned a little bit. Somebody points out brokenness to you. They do this all the time. This is the worst. This is awful. Can you believe this? Yeah, I can. We've entered into a conversation about the fall. I can enter right into that. The Bible has a lot to say about fear and doubt and injustice and brokenness. And it also has a lot to say about the person who fixes that. The hope that we have to think through the functional savior thing.

I had a friend who, the more I knew him, a big part of his story was how broken his home life was growing up. And it just factored really big in his life. Makes sense. And then he would daydream and he would talk about like his, his whole hope. The storyline of his life was get married, white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and not do the stuff my parents did. He was on a redemption arc. And so in that story, he has a functional hell and he has a functional heaven. So I can start listening for what's his functional savior. Some of it was him being a good father was going to come later, but it also was whoever he was dating at the time was going to take him from hell to heaven. Which meant a couple of things. He was going to put either way too much pressure on this person because he needs them to save him, or he was going to be too excited about the concept, the prospect of who this person was. That he was going to overlook a lot of things because this was his chance and it could be really bad, but he was just going to let it be really bad because this is going to be. Because it's not the reality of the situation, it's what it represents. And so I now, knowing the gospel, knowing this person, knowing their story, have ways to begin to fit in. Hey, man. I can agree with him on the brokenness. I can agree with him that this is good, but I can't agree with him that it'll fix everything. There actually is a better family and a better hope and an eternal one. And there's a better savior who actually can undo this in his heart in a way that this can't. She can't. There's a God who can speak to these things that are broken deep inside of him that she can't, won't ever be able to. And the expectations of that will crush her. So I have the ability to begin to speak in because I understand functional health, functional savior, functional heaven. And so this is a helpful way for you to begin to listen to the people that you're around and try to understand what are they thinking will fix this? What are they thinking will make this better? What are they thinking will save me? What do they think is broken? What do they think would be good? I had someone who's group leader in our church recently say this has been one of the biggest benefits of being in a community group for them is that we're consistently sharing the gospel with one another in our groups and it helped him understand how to do that at work, how to apply the gospel to all these different situations, how to begin to speak the gospel in all these different situations in a way that made sense.

Okay, so we're going to turn off generic American responses. We're going to be praying for the Lord to give us some opening. We're going to have some mental preparation on how the general storyline works. We're going to begin listening for these things. And then here's what we're going to do. We're going to make some conversations kind of awkward, but not terribly awkward. But you actually have openings for these types of conversations all the time. Because people constantly ask you to agree with them. Constantly. They talk and talk and talk and then they say, right, you know what I'm saying? Isn't that what you would do? Don't you think? And how often have you listened to someone say things that no, I don't think. No, not right. No, that's not what I would do. And how many times have I just gone. Does that just. Why do I need to get in the middle of this mess? I'm like the kid in Christmas Story who just goes football even though he wants a red Rider carbon action single shot air rifle with a compass in the stock. Like he just is. He's got something he really wants, but he's lost. He's just not paying attention. He's just dumbfounded. Like this. So they say, right? Isn't that what you would do? Just go, no. First of all, it'll be fun, don't you think? How would you handle that? Whatever. They ask you this all the time, you know what I'm saying? No, I wouldn't do that at all. But we get these situations all the time. Someone says, you enter into a conversation where they're talking about what they would do if they won the lottery. Now pause for a second. I have my locker room, Sears job answer to that. But that's not actually what I would do if I won the lottery. And that's not how I would talk about it. If I was with my community group. If I won the lottery, first thing I would do is be terrified. I don't know if I can handle that amount of money. That sounds scary. Which is a weird thing to say to your co workers. They'd be like, what? I could absolutely handle millions of dollars. I don't think you could. I've seen you handle this paycheck bad. You guys, you've made a lot of bad choices since I've known you you get these opportunities where they ask you, what do you think? What would you do? What would you. How would you handle this? What would you do in marriage? What would you. I have people come say, hey, you got any marriage advice? You got any whatever? And these are these moments where we get to go, yeah, I actually do have a lot of thoughts on marriage, but I'm a Christian, so it's all informed by the Bible. Do you want to hear that? Oh, yeah. The Bible says. I'm a Christian. So the Bible says a lot about how we handle money. So I can tell you how I'd handle, you know, $2.5 billion. You're going to be annoyed with me, but here we go. And you can start those conversations. Someone says, am I right? And you can go, I don't think so. So. And they'll say, what? And you can go, I'm so glad you asked. But you have these moments all the time. And if you actually think about it, if you actually have your radar up, you've gotten a lot of windows, a lot of doors for you to begin to share the gospel, for you to begin to have conversations that are real. And the truth is, some of these people, you're like, I'm building a relationship with them. I'm building a friendship with them. And if I asked you why, you would say, so that I can share the gospel with them. Okay, and now you have these doors, these openings, these opportunities, and you're like, but if I do that, they won't be my friend anymore. Okay, well, then you're not making the best use of the time. If you're in these friendships for the sake of sharing the gospel, and you won't share the gospel, that's odd. But when you begin, if you say, well, they'll stop being my friend, well, then, okay, go make a friendship with someone who wants to hear this and pray for that door to be open. But you also don't know that that's true because someone shared the gospel with you. And it was like someone had brought water to a desert. And you would declare that it's the greatest news you ever heard. And there's somebody that you're around that you have a relationship with that you have an opening for, you have an opportunity with that you love dearly. And you might could begin to tell them something. And the spirit go to work in their heart because Jesus has bought them with his blood. And they suddenly go, thank you so much for sharing this.

So we're going to go be active in this, and y' all you gotta understand there are some energy level things that happen in relationships and invitations there, your invitations to people, the things you're asking people to participate in, take energy level. There's energy level differences. So some people will be like, I invited them in my group, they don't want to come. Okay, first of all, invite people to your community group. That's one of the best places for them to be and hear about the gospel. But if they don't want to come, that kind of makes sense. Would you like to come to someone's house you don't know, meet people you don't know, discuss, eat food that was cooked at their houses that you haven't seen? You don't know where that came from. Just add a little bit of mystery. Discuss a thing you don't care about. Pray to a God you don't believe in for three hours. No. No. Well, that's weird. It's like that actually, they might not want to. That energy level, you know, there's a different energy level from can we grab lunch together to do you want to come to my community group? Do you want to get matching tattoos and move to Colorado with me? Like, energy levels on invitations change, you guys. And so start figuring out what will they say yes to. Some people would much be much more willing to come eat dinner with you at a restaurant than at your house. Some people would much rather eat dinner with you at your house. Some people don't want to come eat dinner with just you at your house because they have to carry the conversation. They'd much rather come to a party. Some people don't want to come to a party because meeting a bunch of new people scares them. Be wise, use the best. Make the best use of the time and start figuring out who am I around? What kind of invitation will they say yes to? How do I get the rest of our group around them? And how do we begin to be everyday missionaries together? But let's take this seriously because someone once told you the gospel and you will never be the same.

And God has us around people where he has already infiltrated with missionaries and we're supposed to tell them, let's pray. Lord, may we be blessed in our everyday mission efforts. Lord, may your spirit be at work to convict and to send and to equip. And Lord, may when the gospel is proclaimed, people respond in belief. Help us to take this seriously and obey. Lord, we ask for open doors and for clear presentations, for fearlessness that we would be unashamed of the gospel. It has the power of salvation for all who will believe in Jesus name. Amen.

As we conclude our time together, we're going to sing in a moment, but we're going to take communion. And in First Corinthians, chapter 11, Paul gives instruction on what communion is and how to respond to it. He says,

So as Christians, we come around the table together to remember that Christ's body was broken for us, that his blood was shed for us, and that our only hope is in Him. Some of you have very real sins that you're struggling with right now, very real doubt, very real pain. And one of the things that we do is we take very real bread and very real fruit of the vine, and we remember that he died for us in a very real way, and that he rose in a very real way, and that his substantive work on the cross is effective and efficient for salvation, and that our only hope is in Him. There's something to the tangible nature of this, the slowing ourselves down and the remembering that if I'm not in Christ and he's not in me, I have no hope. And so this is something that we share together because we have one Lord that saves all of us.

So if you are not a Christian, this is not something that you would partake in because you do not yet know and remember and proclaim the work of Christ on your behalf. But if you belong to Jesus, I would invite you to take a moment to confess, to take seriously what we are about to participate in. And when you are ready to take communion, if you have a gluten allergy, we do have gluten free, the back corner over there. So when you're ready, take communion.

Mill City 11/2/25 Mill City 11/2/25

Re:Member Core Practices IV Conflict & Unity

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are working our way through our membership commitment. It's different for us. We're normally working our way through books of the Bible, but we've taken the fall to just kind of go, hey, we collectively are following Jesus together as a church family. And what are the things that we've committed to? What are the things that we believe? And then kind of, what, how have we designed how we're going to live life together? So we, we are on commitment number 11 out of 14. It's just a one sheet piece of paper that we say, yes, this is what we're trying to do here. It's kind of our outline for discipleship. I want to begin by showing you this tweet that kind of made the rounds a while back. I think it's a good intro to what we're talking about today. It says, nobody talks about Jesus. Miracle of having 12 close friends in his 30s. The point of that tweet is it's hard to have relationships. Being friends with people is difficult. You're doing well if you've got one. But this idea that you'd have a lot and that they would stay together and you'd be able to keep working things out. And the reality is in the church, Jesus says that they'll know you're my disciples by the way, you love one another. So that it is supposed to look different for us, that the church is supposed to put this picture of what love and relationships are, are meant to look like and be able to walk things out together. So this is actually a miracle that we're all supposed to get to participate in as Christians. But it is difficult to do. We understand that. So that's what number 11, our commitment is for us. I want to read it as we begin. It says, I expect relational difficulty as I seek genuine relationships with other sinners saved by grace. I will actively fight against gossip, drama, bitterness and relational weirdness. I will work toward reconciliation in all conflict, seeking always to live at peace, unified with others in the mill city family. So we're going to take that line by line. We're going to show you where that comes from in the scriptures, what we're talking about, what we're committing to. Let's pray. Lord, we ask for your help. We ask for your grace. We ask in the name of Jesus that this would be true for us, that we would work towards reconciliation and all conflict, seeking always to live at peace and be unified as your people. In Jesus name, Amen.

All right, so that first line, if you're going to commit to membership here, and if you have committed to membership here, you have announced, I expect this to be difficult. You're like, I looked around, I saw you guys. And I'm pretty sure this is going to be hard. Yeah, that's how it works. I expect relational difficulty as I seek genuine relationships with other sinners saved by grace. And in some ways, this is commitment. 9, 10, and 11 follow a logical flow. 9 is, I'm going to pursue deep, genuine relationships. I'm going to do that by being here on Sundays and by committing to belong to a community group and that we're going to pursue these types of relationships. And then 10 says, and I'm well aware that I'm a sinner, so I won't be surprised if someone comes to me and says that I've sinned, I'm aware of that. I'll walk through that with them. And then 11 says, and I'm also well aware that they're sinners. And so this is going to be hard. What we're saying is that we expect. It makes sense that if what brought us here is sin and the need for forgiveness, Christianity is the people who raised their hand and said, I need help. The people who said, if the Lord doesn't have mercy, I'm in trouble. If he doesn't forgive sin, I'm in trouble. I want this to be about Christ. I want it to be about his goodness. I want my hope to be in Him. And if we all get together, the assumption that we would somehow not have conflict, that we're coming from different backgrounds, different economic places, we speak different languages at times, that we're coming from all these different places and we sinful. The idea that that wouldn't cause conflict is crazy. So we're saying, no, I expect that I'm a sinner who needs grace, and I expect that you're a sinner who needs grace. And I'm pretty sure if we try to have a real relationship, that's gonna. There's gonna be some problems. A lot of times we don't have conflict with people because we don't have relationships with people. The reason there's no frustration, the reason there's no difficulty, the reason there's no conflict is because you're not around each other enough for that to have even come up. We're saying, we want to be around each other enough to grow in these deep, genuine relationships, which means we expect there's going to be Some difficulty. So we say, I will actively fight against gossip, drama, bitterness, and relational weirdness. So we're saying, okay, it makes sense that we would have some problems, but I'm going to commit to fighting against these things. And this isn't just I won't participate. It's I'm going to try to stop them. I'm going to fight against it in myself and in others. We're going to. We're going to police this. We're going to defend something that is good together. Okay? Gossip. It's listed several times in the New Testament as a sin. What it is, is me and you talking about someone else. Be true. Slander would be if it was untrue. We're not going to do that either. But gossip is like, hey, did you hear this? Hey, I got something to say. People will say, I don't know if I should say this. And I've practiced. If you say that to me, I'll go, then don't. I'll try to wet blanket that as fast as I can. Because I know if you say it, I'm probably going to like hearing it. Proverbs says they're delicious morsels. Whispering like, this is a delicious morsel. And it's like, you know, don't even open the donut box. Like, I don't want to have to choose whether I'm eating two or three. Like, I just get it out of here. So when you're like, I don't know if I should say this, then you probably shouldn't. Don't say it. I don't know if you're the right person to talk to. I'm probably not. Leave me out of this. But we're going to fight against the gossip Is me and you talking about someone else. Did you hear that this was going on? One of the things I found personally that I love doing is telling you why someone did something. I don't know, but I have good negative guesses. So I. For a long time ago, I can tell you why they said that. I can tell you exactly what they're trying to do. And I had to learn, no, I can't. And even if I was right, I should keep my mouth shut. But we're going to fight against that. This is not going to be something we're going to participate in, which means that it's not just you're not going to say these things, but you're going to be an unsafe person for someone else to say them to. We're not going to get together to spill the tea? No, we're going to keep it all well contained, Highly good contained tea in our church. Family. Drama, not a Bible word. The Bible word that most often is used is we're going to pursue peace and we're going to see that a lot. Drama would be the opposite of that, would be you making things worse, making things bigger than they are, overreacting to things. The Bible talks about stirring things up. So Romans 16:17 and Titus 3:10. We've on the screen together, it says,

> I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.
>
> As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him.

There are obstacles to following Jesus. There shouldn't be other ones that we add in. There shouldn't be other things that we go, well, you know, this is a problem. And this is a problem. And this is. Have you noticed this? I've noticed this. This is a problem for me. Is it a problem for you? We're not supposed to do that and to stir up division. He says, avoid them. Watch out for that. That's bad for you. You know, there are people who can. Their joy is contagious, and there are people who. Their bitterness and frustration and dislike is contagious. I have. I have a friend who can make you dislike a movie. You watch it with him and he can talk you out of it. I'm a little bit like that. I have to watch. So I don't dislike it when he does that. I'm like, yeah, tell me how stupid this movie is. But I heard two other friends talking, and one of them, they're friends with that guy. And one of them said, yeah, I didn't like that movie. And the third friend said, did you actually not like that movie or did you just see it with this person? And later that friend said to me, I don't know. I don't know if I actually didn't like it or if they just so affected my ability. And it's like, y', all, you've got to be aware that that's a thing. Someone can come poison something for you, and they can poison your church family, they can poison your community group. They can poison things for you. They can get in your head and talk you out of joy and forgiveness and. And life and grace. And he says, watch out. You may have someone who comes and says, hey, you know, I need to talk to you about something. And all they're doing is this.

Titus 3:10. For a person who stirs up division makes it worse. That's drama. It's stirring things up after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him. Or as Proverbs 16:28 says,

> A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.

I love the way 26:20 says it, for the lack of wood, a fire goes out. And where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. There's nobody actively stirring it up. A lot of times things will stop, we say drama, bitterness and relational weirdness. Bitterness is. You're not talking about it, you're just seething over it. It's internal. It's not gossip. It's just as something that you're working out internally. You're going, yeah, I know what they were doing. I know. No, that's fine. This is just be how. Okay, yeah, you're just working it out in your head. They were rude to me. I know they were rude to me, whatever. And it just starts changing your relationship. We're not going to do that. We're going to be on guard against that in our heart. Relational weirdness is not a Bible term. It's a catch all. We're trying to grab a concept when we talk about relational weirdness. It. It's one of those things where it's like, you know, it's developed where we used to be okay, or we had this thing and we talked about it, but now I just don't really know how to talk to him anymore. I don't really want to talk to him anymore. If I find out they're going somewhere, I don't want to be there. It's like, oh, well, that's relational weirdness. And we just kind of sometimes will consign ourselves to that and go, yeah, I don't know, I don't like them, they don't like me. It's fine, we're fine. We're not in a group together anymore. So it's fine. I'm fine, we're fine, it's fine. I'm telling you a little bit something personal about myself. When I wake up in the morning, my left heel hurts so much that it's hard for me to walk. But I'm coming up on 40. So what I thought was, well, I'll just have that be true about me until I die. I'll limp around my house in the morning and then at some point it'll stop hurting and I'll move on because I have no intention of seeing a doctor about this. That's what relational weirdness is. It's just relationships. It's where you're going. This is fine. I'm fine. No, it's okay. No, this isn't a problem. I don't need to talk about it. I'm okay. And it's like, yeah, you have this. Like, something's painful, something's weird. You feel this twinge. You don't want to talk. I don't. Nah. And you just go, it's fine, though. As long as we ignore it, it's fine. And then someday I'll die. And it's like, no, we're going to fight against that. I'm allowed to do that with my heel. But you're not allowed to do that with your relationships. But I want you to see something first. 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 says this.

> Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

He's talking about conflict. He's talking about forgiveness and unforgiveness. And he says, no, I forgive them if you're forgiving them, we're going to walk in forgiveness. And he says, so that Satan doesn't trick us. And one of the reasons we commit to fighting this stuff is because Satan wants us to walk in unforgiveness, wants us to walk in fractured relationships, wants us to have relational difficulty and drama all over the place, wants that to be true for us where we don't enjoy and participate in what Christ has purchased for us. And we just have all these little fractures and broken relationships and frustrations because we're trying to walk together. And if we're going to do that, it's going to be difficult. And he says, no, we're going to walk in forgiveness so that we won't be outwitted by Satan. This is one of the reasons we're fighting against it, because this stuff is cancer for a church. Most people who have church hurt, and they'll talk about it. It's them, this. So it's unacceptable here. It's unacceptable in any church. But we're. We're not going to practice it. We're going to sort things out. But how are we going to do that? And that's what we say. Next. I will work toward reconciliation in all conflict, seeking always to live at peace, unified with others. In the mill city family, reconciliation is. There's a broken relationship and we're going to fix that. There's something between us and we're going to get rid of it. We're not going to let it develop. We're not going to let it grow. We're not going to let it see. We're not going to talk about other people about it. We're not going to let bitterness develop. We're going to try to sort this out. We're going to get to where we can be at peace with one another. And this is commanded over and over again in the Scriptures. So we're about to look at a lot of verses together. 2 Corinthians 13:11 says,

> Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

I said, I love that. That's a command. Agree. It's like something you'd say to your kids, hey, get along, be friends. That's what he's doing. He's saying, aim for restoration, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Our God is a God of love and peace. We actually get to participate in that. We get to have love and peace. And that gets to define the relationships here. And so we aim for restoration. That's what we're seeking to do. That's what the whole point of this is. So that's what you're committing to is, I'm going to do that. I'm going to commit to aim for restoration when there's conflict, when there's frustration, when there's difficulty. Romans 14:19 and Hebrews 12:14 says,

> So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.
>
> Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

I love these verses. The reason I have them next to each other. Pursue and strive. Pursue what makes for peace. Strive for peace. It means it takes work. This is something that's going to call out effort in us. You know, this is the reason this is all over the place in the New Testament is because they were like us. They became Christians and then found the other Christians kind of annoying. They had problems, they had difficulties, they had hurt feelings, they had sin. And he keeps going, y' all gotta work that out. You gotta work that out. You gotta pursue this stuff. I think sometimes we think about peace as, like, a byproduct. Like, it should just be there. It's just something you have or you don't have. When it's there, it's nice. When it's not there, it's, you know, whatever. And he's like, no, it takes work. We think of it as like a musical or something. Like they're in a barbershop and somebody's sweeping and somebody's cutting hair. Somebody's buzzing, and then they just start singing. It's magic. And that's what peace is like in a church. Imagine like we're monkeys in a Disney cartoon or something. That's not what it's like. That's not even what it's like in the thing you're watching. Where did that piano come from? Like, they've practiced this, obviously, and there's now instruments that aren't in this barbershop. But we act like that, and it's like, no, it's something that's going to take work. If you're going to be at peace with someone, it's going to take effort. It's going to take striving, it's going to take pursuit. And we're not going to want to do it. But it's worth it. And we're commanded to. So Romans 12:16-18 says,

> Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
>
> Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
>
> If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

So this idea of living in harmony, living peaceably with all. And in the middle there, he says, do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. I've been a part of a community group in this church for 12 years. One of the things that I have found is part of the problem is that I'm right and good and they're stupid and bad. You ever feel that, you ever want to say, if they would just quit being wrong, then we wouldn't have a problem? Some of you married people know what I'm talking about. I've explained it to them twice. I don't know why they're so dumb. But you just feel that, you feel like I'm right. If you just see what I see, if you just know what I know. If you would just get on board now, you're like, yeah, and I got a Bible verse now, agree with me. Where is it at? It's like, that's not. There's a level of humility needed when we approach this and we're coming in and going, I'm aware of my own sin. I'm aware of my own self righteousness. I'm aware of my own haughtiness. I'm aware that I'm so wise in my own eyes constantly. I think I'm the smartest person who's ever existed. I just feel right about everything. My opinions feel like facts. And it's like that robs us of getting to do this. We're to live in harmony with one another. This isn't a solo. You have to work at it. Repay no one evil for evil. I want you to hear this. They actually did the thing that you're upset about most of the time. Sometimes we're like, yeah, but they really did sin. It's like, right? Yeah. Nobody's arguing that. We actually started with that we expected them to sin. They're a sinner who needs Jesus. We are not nobody's. We're not scandalized. Yeah, they really did it. They really. No, but they really. But it was really hurtful. It was really mean. No, they actually said it. No, they actually did. Yeah. Yeah, they did. And it's bad. Nobody's saying it's. It's not bad. Nobody's saying it's not sin. Nobody's saying it's okay. But we are saying we're not going to repay evil for evil. We've got to give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Then verse 18, he says, if possible, and he's clarifying so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all meaning that there are some people that you can't be at peace with, but it has to be on their side, not yours. So you can't say, well, this person's just impossible to be at peace with. And it's like, only if it's on their side, not yours. You have to be holding out, going to be peaceable as far as it's up to me. All the parts that I can handle, I'm going to handle, and I'm going to live at peace.

Okay, so what does pursuing reconciliation look like? We committing to do it? We're going to pursue reconciliation in all conflict. What does that look like? Well, first thing we can do is forbearance. Bearing with one another is just a way that you are going to absorb some of their sin in a way that you're going to offer forgiveness, offer love, and you don't have to have a conversation about it. Proverbs 10:12 says,

> Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

Proverbs 17:9,

> Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

There's a way for us to just by love forgive one another. And I think those proverbs can apply to, you've had a conversation, you've sorted things out. But I also think it's just one of those things that we get to do. We get to delight in to do someone is rude to you in your group, or they planned a time to meet with you and then they showed up late, and that drives you particularly crazy. The most offensive thing someone could ever do, they should hang up the phone on their mom and come show up on time to meet you. It's unacceptable. But you have these different things where it's like this, no, it was really rude. It was really offensive. They said that and it really hurt my feelings. We celebrated this birthday and then they acted like I didn't exist. And I told them it was my birthday. This stuff happens and it hurts. There's times where you go, yeah, but I've offended other people. I've been rude before. And I'm just gonna offer grace and forgiveness and love so that we get to have it. If I offer you grace and forgiveness and love, then our relationship gets to have grace and forgiveness and love. I just get to pour it in. Some of you people who live, have roommates and are married or whatever, you need to learn some of this. Like some of your relationships, you get to just add grace and forgiveness and love to your house on your own, from your side, and then it gets to be there. I'm pretty sure my wife does this with me 75 times a week where she's just going to make sure there's Love and kindness in our house. I know for a fact that I do things that she's asked me not to do. I noticed it this week as I was thinking about this. She tells me all the time when we're on the phone, say bye. Yeah, seems pretty simple. I'm constantly like, sounds good. Click. Alright. Yeah. It works for me. Click. I did that a couple times this week and I thought, I wonder if she's on the other side of the phone being like, I'll get texts every once in a while that say say bye. Because it's become evident to her that I've already hung up. I don't know if she's still talking. I don't know. I hung up the phone, you guys. I don't know how she finds out that I'm not on the phone anymore because apparently I don't say bye. But there's times where I just do that. She's told me a thousand times. I know for a fact I hung up on her twice without saying bye this week. She didn't say a word about it. I don't know if she didn't notice or if she just is like, he can't help it, something wrong with him and just chooses to love me and covers an offense, something that legitimately offends her. It bothers her, but she's just showing grace and kindness so that our house just gets to have love and we get to do this because we belong to Jesus. We just get to love each other. And so there's a whole lot of things that you can just go, you know what? I'm just going to forget. I'm just going to love. This is just going to be okay and I'm not going to hold on to it. 1 Peter 4:8 says,

> Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

This applies in situations where we have to have multiple conversations. This applies to situations where we're having to work some stuff out. This applies all the time that we're seeking to love one another earnestly. But I'm just letting you know that forbearance lets you do this sometimes where you just go, I'm just going to choose on my side to not be offended by that. To be offended, but then to just choose to forgive and move on. And you can do that until it starts to grow. Because sometimes I think people say that's what they're doing and they're really just avoiding conflict because they don't want to have to have the conversation that makes them Uncomfortable. So they go, I'll just forgive. They were rude to me. That's fine. They're just a rude person. And then you see them and you say in your head, well, hello, Rudy. And it's like, okay, if you're doing that, I don't know if you've done the forbearance thing where you're choosing to forgive and show love. Like you, something else is happening. And so it's like, you can choose to do that, but you also can't sit and seize and have resentment and bitterness and difficulty. And if you start realizing, I'm trying, and I've done this for a while, but now it's still growing and it's still happening, and they're still offending me, and I'm going to have to have a conversation, which is the next thing that happens. So we can bear with one another, we can forbear, we can forgive without conversations. But then there are times where Matthew 18:15 says,

> If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

You're trying to aim for restoration. You're trying to gain your brother. There's something between us, and this is what I think we sometimes miss. There'd be something between us. And someone will go, just. Well, it's just what it is. And it's like, you don't care about your brother. You're okay with just losing a sister. If you're going to hold on to that, or you'll be like, well, I just don't want to. I don't want. Sometimes people have in their mind peace just means the absence of conflict. But if I know about the conflict and you don't, conflict is still there. That's not peace. That's like, we see a hole and we put a blanket over it that didn't fix the hole. It actually increases the likelihood someone will fall into it. And so sometimes we're doing that in our relationships where we're just going, well, I just. I'm not gonna say anything. And it's like, yeah, but you're gonna hold on to it. That's still there. It's gonna affect the relationship. They won't know exactly why, but they'll feel it. And so he says, now you go talk to him. Because we're trying to aim for restoration. We're trying to gain our brother. And there are some baseline assumptions. If you sin against me and I come to you and I tell you or if I sin against you and you come and tell me we're making some assumptions. I love you. I want good for you and for us. I believe the spirit's at work in you so that this can work, so that you can repent, I can forgive. Like, I'm assuming good things about you if I come and talk to you. You're assuming good things about me. Now you're telling me I've sinned. I don't like that part. But you're making some baseline assumptions that are like, but if someone sins and I just go, yeah, not worth talking to them. Well, all my baseline assumptions are bad. Don't really care that much about them. Or you'll say things like, yeah, but I would talk to them, but I know what they're gonna say. And it's like, okay, so you're just gonna condemn them from here. Judge and condemn them from here, Lock them in that. And even if you are right and that's what they say or that's how they act, still supposed to do that for their good. God has you in this position in this relationship to see this thing and to have this conversation for their good, for their joy, and for yah's restoration. And it goes the other way, too. Matthew 5:23-24 says,

> So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

You say, they didn't sin against me, they're mad at me. Okay, well, go talk to them. You can go have a conversation with someone where you say, it seems like you're mad at me, but I don't know what about, and I don't want to guess. You can go and say, hey, I know I did this, and I know that we hadn't quite been right since, and we need to talk about it. Matthew 18:16 says,

> But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

That every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. We talked about this last week, but it's. If someone sins against me or if there's hurt, if there's conflict between us, I'm going to go talk to him privately. If that doesn't work, I'm going to get some other people to come help, and maybe that's because they don't see it. It's very clear that it's sin, but they don't see it. They're just denying it. Or maybe it's not clear that it's sin. We just aren't having a good conversation. It's hard for us to sort this out. Or they're, they said that I'm wrong, and so now I got to get somebody else and say, hey, maybe I'm wrong here, but can you come help us sort this out? But this is why if someone comes and talks to you about someone else, you are supposed to ask, what did they say when you told them? Because you're assuming we're on step two. If you're talking to me about it, you've already talked to them between you and them alone, and it didn't go well. That's my assumption. So how did that conversation go? And if you say, I haven't talked to them, then I'm supposed to say, well, go do that first. Now, I have had a lot of people ask, can't I come and talk to someone just to try to get some wisdom on how to have that conversation? Can I come and ask and say, am I wrong about this? Like, should I even be upset about this? And the answer to that is, yes, you can do that in limited circumstances with wise people who are actually helpful. You can come and say, hey, I'm trying to have this conversation with them. I'm really angry and I don't think I'm going to do it well. And you help me think about how to word this, how to structure this. You can also do that. You can say, I'm in conflict with a person. They don't have to know who it is. They don't have to know all the details. As a pastor, I do this all the time. Someone will say, hey, I'm having a hard time with someone. Can I tell you about it? And I'm like, yeah, maybe. But you can also, like, you can redact it. You can give me some of the details and not all the details. And I can try to be helpful on how to go have that conversation or how to approach this. You can go ask someone, am I wrong about this? And they might tell you, yeah, you're wrong. And then you may still have to go have a conversation with someone that says, I've been mad at you for bad reasons and it's affected our relationship, but we're ultimately going to be having conversations with the people that there's conflict between us. But this is the thing that happens, Philippians 4:2-3 says,

> I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

So there are times where you just need somebody else to be in the room to help you have the conversation. I want to have the conversation. We don't communicate well. We need help. We've tried this two times, three times. I've already brought this up. They don't understand what I'm saying. I don't understand what they're saying. We need somebody else to come sit in the room and try to help us out. That's okay. You can get help. You're not trying to build a co if it's just conflict, frustration, difficulty, not addressing someone in sin. You're not trying to build a coalition of people on your team. You're trying to have someone who's wise and helpful to help you hear both sides sorted out, working towards peace, someone who's going to help make peace. Okay. Ephesians 4 says,

> I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

He's saying, the church should look like Christians, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Oh, what if that's what it looked like? What if someone sat you down and said, hey, I love you and I need to talk to you about something. But they had humility, gentleness, patience. They said, hey, I want to talk to you because I belong to Jesus and I love you and you belong to Jesus. And we need to sort this out because there's some difficulty between us being eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I think we need to be real about the fact that a lot of times we're most eager to maintain our own comfort, more eager to maintain that than we are to maintain unity in the spirit. That I really just want you to get on my side so you'll quit getting on my nerves. And I'm not really wanting to sort this out in a way that gives grace and helps us both grow. But we should be eager to maintain that. We should dislike conflict between us to the point that we're wanting to overcome it. We should be like my sons, when there's a tag in their shirt, they will come to me like they're being attacked. Like a four year old will come like, and it's like, what is going on? This tag, let's burn this shirt. But it should be like that. It should be like there's something between us or something causing problems, and I can't stand it. I'm eager to maintain unity. So let's have a conversation. Let's get together, let's sort this out. And if we all have this, then it becomes easier. You should expect that this is going to be hard and you should expect other people to come do it. And when they come do it, you should feel loved, not attacked. You should go, oh, good, they want to maintain unity with me. They love me enough to try to sort this out. The reality is, if we clip off years where there's aren't conversations like this, if we go through your group never, then maybe y' all just aren't around each other enough or don't love each other enough because the idea that I'm around you and haven't seen things, that maybe, maybe we just aren't sorting things out like we should. Maybe we're not eager to maintain unity when we start telling ourselves, well, I just might. I might just go somewhere else. I think this happens so often in churches, especially in the south, where there's so many churches. You reach the place where now I'm going to have to have a conversation. I'm going to have to forgive, I'm going to have to repent, I'm going to have to go through conflict. No, I'm just going to go somewhere else. And you tell yourself that this shouldn't happen. There must be something wrong here. Because our assumption is that peace is a byproduct, not something we have to strive for as we just go somewhere else. And you're there for three years or four years or five years, really just long enough for these people to start really getting on your nerves or sinning against you or hurting you or for them. And then you go somewhere else. When we've reached the moment where we could grow and we could walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and actually step in the things the gospel empowers us to do and walk with the God of love and peace and have him be with us in these moments. Let's do that. Colossians 3:12-14 says,

> Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
>
> And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Saying the same kind of things. He says, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. He's saying, this is who you are. You're chosen, you're holy, you're beloved. And he says, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience bearing with one another. That warms my soul that that's in the. It's in the Bible. Why does he have to write to every church and say, please put up with each other. And you're in a church and you're like, I'm having to put up with these people. There's something wrong with this church. And it's like, no, we look like we're in the New Testament. We're Bible people who are having a hard time sorting some of this stuff out. That's fine. It's normal. It's what it looks like for us to walk in life together. So he says, bearing with one another, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. But I want you to see that bearing with one another if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, so you also must forgive. This is a command. This is why we commit to it. This is why we say, this is what we're going to do here. This is how we're going to handle this here. Because we're commanded to. I was talking to a pastor one time. He had been a pastor. He was doing some stuff in kind of church, the church world. And we were talking about something when the first church had just started, our church had just started a church plant, and we only had a couple of groups. And I said we had some people that were at odds with one another. And he said, man, that's tough, because you can't, you know, what are you gonna do? You can't make them talk to each other. And I said, oh, we're gonna make them talk to each other because of this, because we're commanded to do this. So we're going to expect of each other that we're going to do this. We're going to expect that we're going to try to sort things out, and it's good for us. I need that expectation on me from you. And you need that expectation on you from me that we're. No, we're going to have the conversation. We're going to sort these things out because we can. And the reason we can. And the reason why you won't do this. You will not do this unless you understand what's in the middle of that highlighted section as the Lord has forgiven you. If we don't know the grace and the mercy and the depth of the love and the forgiveness of Christ, then we won't do this. We won't want to, and we won't have the ability to. We just will refuse. But if we're walking in this if we understand the depth of our sin and the grace of Christ. And then we can. And we delight to do it because we're participating in something that Jesus bought for us, that he claimed for us, that he gave us. This is what Jesus. What Paul says when he's talking about Jesus and he's talking to the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers and the hostility that was between them. He says in Ephesians 2,

> But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
>
> For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.

He's talking to Jews and Gentiles there, and he's saying that we get to all belong to the Lord. And that's true for us in these other situations. He's our peace, and he bought reconciliation between us and God, which means the reconciliation between me and you is so narrow. We're drowning in the mercy and the forgiveness of Christ. So we delight to walk it out with each other, to participate in it tangibly in a real way in our lives. I love Matthew 18. So this is. He walks through the stuff we've been reading about, addressing your brother in sin. He gets through it. And I love that Jesus has disciples who follow him around and ask questions, because they ask the questions that we ask. Then Peter came up and said to him, lord, how often will my brother sin against me? And I forgive him as many as seven times. Don't you just love the disciples? Sometimes Jesus is like, this is how you forgive your brother? This is how you go get your brother back. This is what it looks like. Peter's like, mm, that's so good. Quick question, though. When can I stop? And y', all, he says, seven. Ain't none of us saying seven. We're Americans. The most we go on things is three. Because of baseball. Been trained in us. You get three, some of us lop off that third one. Fool me once, fool me twice. Fool me, can't fool me again. Sorry. That's just how some presidents say it. But I love this. Peter asks. Jesus says,

> I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Just means all the times. What's so wonderful about this? We'll talk about us. We'll talk about what Peter's asking in a second. But I want you all to see this. You ever have that moment with the Lord and you think how Long before you're done with me. How many times am I going to do this before you're just done with me? How many times am I going to fail and come back and say, I need you and I need mercy and I need grace. How many times is this going to happen before you're done with me? And the Lord Christ expects us to Forgive each other 77 times in a day, because that's the type of grace and mercy that he has for us. When will he be done with you? Never. If you belong to Christ and are covered by his blood. He has paid everything to keep you. He will keep you. So how much mercy and forgiveness do we get? All of it. And how much mercy and forgiveness do we give? All of it. Because we're the only ones who have access to all of it. That's why the church is known by their love. Because we have so much love and so much mercy and so much forgiveness that we don't run out giving it to each other. And you say, they've sinned against me and they've done it again. Right. But I'll never run out of the forgiveness that Christ gives. So I never run out of my ability to share. And I get to participate in a real way. When I feel the pain of forgiveness, I get to know that he was actually dripping blood on that cross because it hurts to forgive, but it's so good because everything breaks down without it. And so we get blood bought reconciliation and we get forgiveness and we get peace and we get joy and we get those handed to us by the God of love and peace, who loved us so much that he died for us. And we absolutely will not settle for not sharing that with each other and not participating. As people who belong to this type of God, we get to delight to share it with one another, even as it is hard, because it reminds us of the goodness of Christ and the mercy and the forgiveness that he's offered. And we get to walk what it looks like to belong to Him. If you're going to commit to a church, how many times are you going to have to forgive? All the times. And how many times are you going to be empowered by Christ to forgive? All the times. Because that's how many times he forgives us.

Let's pray. Oh Lord, may you bless this church by your spirit, that we would aim for restoration and that we would be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Lord, you have forgiven us so much. You have had endless mercy granted to us. May we share it with each other. May we not see the sins committed against me as higher and more egregious than my sins committed against you. May I not think so highly of myself. May we not be outwitted by Satan, but may we be people of forgiveness and mercy and kindness and goodness. And may we have the conversations that we need to have and share the love that we need to share, which is given to us endlessly by you. So God of love and peace be with us in Jesus name, Amen.

The band's gonna come back up, and here's what we're gonna do. Jesus says if you have something against someone, you need to go talk to them. He says if someone has something against you, you need to leave your gift at the altar and you need to go talk to them. So they're gonna play and we're gonna have a moment. I want you to humbly walk to the Lord and just say, help me to see my sin. Help me to not think so highly of myself. Help me not to be wise in my own sight. And if there's someone I need to talk to, if there's somebody that the spirit's convicting you, that you need to have a conversation with, then go have a conversation with them. You don't have to have the whole conversation now. You can get up and go grab and say, how many. Let's plan a time. We need to talk. You can shoot somebody a text message. Some of you need to step outside and make a phone call as an act of worship. You don't need to sing. You need to go call somebody. We need to be people who are eager to maintain peace. We want people to commit to this. But some of you have come over here from another church because you're in the middle of this exact thing and you need to go back and sort some things out. But we want to be people who look like we belong to Christ. So take a moment, pray, listen, and do as the Spirit leads, and then we'll stand and sing together.

Mill City 10/26/25 Mill City 10/26/25

Re:Member Core Practices III Correction

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are continuing to walk through our Remember series, which is an opportunity for us to walk through our membership commitment and to remember the things we're committing to. We are in the 10th commitment today, so we'll get to that in a moment. How many of you have used Airbnb for vacation and seen that some properties have oddly specific rules? And a lot of them. So if you've seen that there are stories behind those rules. The reason I know this is because my family and a few other families went in together on an Airbnb that we've had for a year. And in just a year of having an Airbnb, I've realized that people will do all sorts of things at your property. They'll do things like have a pop up kitchen that's a food truck but in your house. And they'll just have customers just show up in the middle of a residential neighborhood to buy food and then clog your pipes with lots of grease to which costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars to fix. They'll do things like try to film a horror movie in your house. One of the families has been doing this way longer and they have way more stories. And in our rules is a nod to something that happened at one of their other properties. They had someone that brought livestock onto the property. In our rules, it says you cannot bring livestock onto the property. You know why? Because they brought some chickens, I think a turkey. They dug a barbecue pit and they slaughtered them on the property and then they cooked them on the property. And they left the carnage behind. And a live chicken that had to be rehomed. If you don't have rules in place, people are going to harm your property. That's just, that's the nature of it. That's why these rules exist. And when some people are skeptical of the Bible and Christianity, one of the things that you often hear is they'll say, why does the Bible talk about sin so much? Why does it there's such a focus on sin. And it's because God created humans humanity to live in relationship with him. Where we worship and honor him above all things, then we also live in harmony, in order with one another. And that we as humans find new, creative, worse ways to reject God and to sow disorder in creation by our actions, our inaction, we willfully and gleefully break God's rules. So the Bible has much to say about sin, because sin is a reality and God desires for us to live in relationship with him and one another in a way that is good. So there are lots of rules and lots of things where God says no to, but there's reasons for that. I want us to see that today as we walk through our 10th commitment. God takes sin seriously. And as a church, we take sin seriously because it's not neutral, it does bring harm, and God has better things for us. So I want to read the 10th commitment, and then we will pray and we'll walk through this together. So let me read our 10th membership commitment says confession and repentance will noticeably mark my life. I fully expect to be confronted and corrected as God allows other members of the Mill City family to see sin in my life. I submit to care through the process of church discipline as overseen by the elders and. And carried out by my church family. Okay, we're gonna walk through this commitment together. Section by section, we're gonna see why God takes sin seriously and why we also should, as well as we seek to be obedient to his commands. So let me pray, and then we'll walk this together. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us have ears to hear this morning in a way that would make us interact with the reality of something that is serious in a way that would help us walk in faith out of here. Trusting you above our own instincts, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

All right, so let's work through the first part. Confession and repentance will noticeably mark my life. So that's confession, which is admitting sin. So confessing sin, the reality with specificity in our lives. And then repentance, which is you're moving towards sin and your repentance is turning away from sin and back towards the Lord. So confession and repentance will noticeably mark my life. And that is because God takes sin seriously. And some people will try to be I don't know, Jesus had a lot of different things to say. Sometimes people speak about Jesus as if he came to bring new vibes about love and things that are disconnected from the reality of a broken, fallen world. And it's not how our Savior speaks. Do you read the Gospels? Do you see? Did you read his opening message? When you start in the Gospel of Matthew, you start reading about Jesus. One of his opening sermons is Matthew 4:17, where he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

> From that time Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17, ESV)

He says, repent for the kingdom. Turn from your sins, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And that message of Repentance is something he comes back to over and over again. It's because he takes sin seriously. At one point, there are some people that are trying to understand a difficult situation that happened to some of his fellow countrymen, some Galileans, and they're trying to make sense of why this happened to these people. And I just want to read from Luke 13 says there was some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. They're just asking Jesus about the situation where Pilate, the governor had killed a bunch of Galileans. And he answered them, do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that those were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. They're trying to understand a thing from their perspective. And Jesus says, no, you need to understand what's more important. You need to repent or worse things are going to happen to you. So Jesus at various points is very. He takes sin very seriously. And it's. And we would say he's offensive, but for a reason. Because this is one of the most important, important issues to grapple with is our sin against a holy and perfect God. Sin is serious. And it's serious not just because the substance, the act in itself, but whom the act is against. And that's, I think, something that we fail to see, that we think that this isn't really harming anyone. Like, I don't really understand why this is a big deal. It's because we fail to see the sin who it's against, primarily.

> There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:1-5, ESV)

If I'm against. If I was at a football game a week ago and there was a guy behind me that was so loud and it was so evident he knew nothing about football. He was wildly obnoxious. He just. He kept yelling and calling the ref blue. And it's like, bro, that's baseball. That's not football. And he. You could see our whole section was just like, looking at this guy like, what are you even doing? If by the third quarter, when we're getting our teeth kicked in, and I'm just frustrated by what he's saying, if I just turned around and smacked the fool out of him, I mean, just crumpled him Just smacked him and he just collapses in his seat. If I did that, it would be bad. I mean, certain people in the section would celebrate. There would be a police officer who came up and put me in cuffs and took me away and I would be arrested for assault. It's bad, all right. If I got a chance to meet the President of the United States and I smack the fool out of him, way different, I'm going, I'm major prison time, treasonous act because the person is different. And I think sometimes we fail to see that when we're sinning, we're sinning against an infinite holy creator, wonderful being who thought is into existence. And we think that's just not a big deal. And it is. I love what theologian R.C. Sproul says about this. He has a famous line that says sin is cosmic treason that's been repeated over and over again for good reason. That's a helpful way to think about this. It's cosmic treason against the God of the universe. He goes on to say, sin is treason against a perfectly pure sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the one to whom we owe everything, to the one whom has given us life itself. That this sovereign God who created us, who formed us, it's an act against Him. He goes on to say, we are saying, God, your law is not good. My judgment is better than yours. Your authority does not apply to me. I'm above and beyond your jurisdiction. I have the right to do what I want to do, not what you command me to do. This Creator, infinite God who makes us when we sin against Him. We're saying, what you say isn't good. My ways are better, my judgment is more sound. You're not going to tell me how to live. I'm going to live my life on my terms. And that's a massive offense against the God of the universe. And it requires a steep price because we just, we believe the lies. So what if it's a little bit of this, what if it's a little bit of that? What is it really hurting? Who is it? And it's like, no. We fail to grasp that the Creator formed us to give him glory and honor and praise that he is due. And when we choose to live our life on our terms, we don't get to by our life, give a middle finger to God and say, deal with it. That's not how this works. That is a glory hungry disdain of how God designed us to live for him and his glory. And that comes at a Steep cost. The good news of the gospel is that in our glory, hungry disdain for his order, he looks at us and he says, I want to redeem that people. And that's what makes the gospel such good news. That's what Jesus coming is so wonderful that God took on flesh and dwelt among us and he lived a perfect life of obedience that we could not live. And then he goes to the cross to not just be tortured, but to endure the full wrath that we deserve for that type of disobedience and disdain, so that we can look to him as our man in the middle, as the one who takes judgment in our place. And when you believe that, as Austin declared as he entered into the waters that I've trusted in, Jesus is my only hope. When you believe this and you begin to search the Scriptures with more depth, you begin to see the reality of how heinous our sin is, of how it's not small, it's not light, it costs the blood of God, of how big a deal this is. And then when we look at passages like Romans chapter 2, verse 4, when it says, or do you presume upon, do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? It's like, I don't want to presume upon the kindness of God as forbearance. I want to see the kindness of a God who came to redeem me and see the reality of my sin and say, I want that to lead me to say, I don't want this anymore. I don't want to keep rebelling against you. I don't want to keep satisfying myself with lesser things. I want to turn from that and follow you. That as you press into the Scriptures and press into the Gospel, is the reality that becomes bigger as God becomes bigger in our lives. And because we believe that, and because that is true confession and repentance noticeably mark our lives. That's what we commit to that we need to heed the teachings of the New Testament that teach us to confess sin.

> Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4, ESV)

James 5, 16 says, Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. We have this command that would confess your sins. We confess our sins to the Lord, ask for forgiveness, but we do it in the context also of community, where we're confessing our sins to one another. So something we are called to live out first.

> Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16, ESV)

John chapter one says, if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in Darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. So we say, I have fellowship with God, I believe in him. But we don't acknowledge the reality of our sin. He says, you're a liar. You don't, you don't actually believe this. You're not walking in the light. But then he goes, verse seven. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus son, cleanses us from all sin. That if we will bring the sin and the darkness of the corners of our life into the light. Confessing our sin to God and one another as we have true fellowship, we have fellowship with one another like a depth that's just so rich that people can know me and know my sin and also love me. That's what awaits you. He says if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a beautiful promise. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and he's just to forgive us and cleanse us. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. We believe this, we believe this teaching. If we have the word inside us, we're going to be a people who confess and that listen, that's not just hear this, that's not just our sin, but that's also the confession of our Savior. You see when you look at the word confession in the New Testament, the majority of the times it's used is actually confessing our Savior belief, trusting him, faith in Christ. So as we confess our sin, we have a pattern of confessing our Savior. That's why when we have care nights in our community groups, about once a month we have a night where we all going to break out into guys and girls in different rooms. And we have opportunity for honesty about what's happening in our lives. Talking about brokenness and sin. But listen, care nights don't have to be this mopey. Sometimes we can lament, but sometimes we get to confess real sin in real honest ways. And in the same breath go thank you Jesus that your blood applies to this sin and that I'm covered. And someone gets to come and say absolutely because you are in Christ. God the Father doesn't look at you and see the depths of your sin. He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ. And we get to celebrate confessing our Savior, as we confess the reality of our sins. And that's what we want to be. A people that do this, that confess their sin, confess our Savior, and then repent, that take sin seriously and say, I don't want this anymore. I want Jesus. And I know I'm prone to wander, but at times I'm going to. No, I'm aggressively, intentionally, with accountability, going to move away from that, back towards Jesus. I appreciate that. One of the most meaningful compliments that I get to hear about our church is when folks jump into a group and they're just like, man, y'all are just so honest and real, and I so appreciate that. People will say, I've heard this over and over again. I just. I've been a part of ministries and churches, and it's fine. But, everyone just seems like they're okay all the time. And it's like, I just. But I just. I showed up one night and all of a sudden people were just real honest. I'm like, yeah, and I appreciate that. We seek. We're not perfect. We seek to live this out in a way that displays, I need Christ, and he's good. Yeah, my sin is serious, but my Savior is greater. So confession, repentance will noticeably mark our life. That's part of our commitment.

Let's move to the next part. He says, I fully. We say, I fully expect to be confronted and corrected as God allows other members of the Mill City family to see sin in my life. Okay. I want us to sit in the first part of that phrase. I fully expect. All right. That's carefully written. That's not. I partially expect. That's not. I kind of expect. That is full disclosure. I fully expect that at some point, someone who I'm walking with in this church family is going to come and look at me, and they're going to confront me. They're going to correct me. We cannot deceive ourselves into thinking that's not true and then be surprised that all of a sudden when somebody comes and does this, it's like, what are you doing? It's like, I'm doing what. What I literally. And you literally committed to doing. We fully expect to be confronted. And the reason why is because of what we talked about last week. Last week, Commitment 9 was we're bought into community. Okay. We're bought into life together. If we're bought into life together, there's going to be some friction. All right? It's a little bit like a road trip. Ever been on a road trip? With people, it's a lot of fun. It just is. Road trips are fun. I go on road trips sometimes with my family and it's fun to be silly and to listen to music and to have fun. But also you're in a five by five box with each other for hours. And I'm a sinner and they're sinners, which means at times it's going to get a little frictiony. I'm going to be drinking a drink and I'm going to get to the bottom of it and then I'm going to open the lid and then I'm going to put ice in my mouth and I'm going to crunch on the ice. And my wife is going to have to restrain herself from punching me in the face because that drives her crazy. But I like ice. It's good. We're gonna do things that just bother each other. A few years ago we went on a road trip as pastors. We went to Louisville, Kentucky. We went to a conference. It was eight hours in the car together. And we are friends, our pastor team. We are, we're friends. But eight hours together in the car, it's just, it's gonna happen, especially us because we take too many liberties with jokes sometimes. Someone's gonna, it's gonna feel the friction, someone's gonna fire back and then it's like, oh boy, it happens. That's what life together is like. When you journey through life together, time in proximity together, you're gonna feel the friction of sin. You're gonna be sinned against. If we bind to depth and proximity and life together and all this and journeying through life together, you should expect it. That's why last week I mentioned, I said this and I'm the only one that says this as a pastor. When I'm in a group of people, I'm like, listen, at some point I'm gonna sin against you. It's going to happen. At some point I'm gonna make a joke that you didn't find funny. Because I come from a family that has very dark humor and I've worked on it for years. The Lord's done a lot in reeling it in, but every now and then flies out. And I'm not excusing it, it's a problem. But just know at some point I'm gonna do something that hurts you and we're gonna work through this together. And I've had people in my group who sat me down and confronted me in sin and in humility. I'm like, absolutely, you're right. I need to repent here. And if you're committing to do this, depth and proximity over time, we're going to live this out. We're going to be a people who expect to be confronted and confront one another. And we're going to live out the teachings of Jesus in Matthew chapter seven. He says. He gives us a process for this. He says, why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there's a lock in your own eye? Which people will just pause there and be like, yep, that's why you don't go bothering people. That's like, read the rest of the passage. He says, you hypocrite, take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Jesus at no point was saying, don't bother people with their sin. He just says, do the work of looking within first. That's what we do. We want to be a people who, when we see sin, and a brother and sister in Christ. We go, okay, pause. Look in the mirror. What's happening in my own heart? Yep, that's gotta go. Gotta repent of that. I have to confess that. Do the work, soul, work before the Lord, then come to our brother and sister and say, hey, listen, I noticed this. I also had sin here. I'm confessing it, but I need to point out this. In your life, this is a problem. God has given us a means, an order of doing this, and we should expect it. We should expect to be confronted. We should expect to confront others. We work through sin together and we hold each other accountable. We believe this and y'. All. The reason why this is important is because we live in a culture that in many ways will say, how about you live your life on your terms? And I live my life on my terms. Don't get in my business and I won't get in yours. And in a lot of ways, there's some truth to that. And the Bible agrees. There's a whole bunch of, read the Proverbs, read the New Testament. There's teachings that say, live at peace with one another. There's some Proverbs. Talk about minding your own business. Don't get engaged in every single affair. However, when it comes to sin, that argument changes sin amongst God's people. God expects his people to confront and hold each other accountable. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, when they're dealing with a sin situation in that church, Paul says, for what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. And he says, we don't judge outsiders because they don't believe the Gospel. They don't know Christ. Why would we hold them to what we believe? We're not going to enforce our morals on other people that do not believe in Jesus. But if you claim to be a Christian and you belong to Christ and, and you are living in sin, absolutely judgment in the form of accountability is a reality. And we're going to do this, and we're going to hold each other accountable. This is what it means to live out the gospel in community.

> For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? (1 Corinthians 5:12, ESV)

Galatians, chapter six says, brothers, if anyone is caught in transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. If you catch your brother or sister in Christ in sin, you cannot remain neutral. You cannot just sit on the sidelines, because we understand the reality of sin against a holy and perfect God. And if that continues in an unrepentant manner, we know where that goes. We cannot just sit back and just be apathetic and uncaring about people who are on a path to destruction. I saw a news story out of Bozeman, Montana, a week or so ago. This guy left a convenience store and there's CCTV footage. He walks out of the convenience store. He gets into his car, seems to be in a hurry because he has his hand on the wheel. He puts it in reverse, and then he has his hand on the door. And as he's reversing back, he starts having a seizure. And he's stuck like this, and the car is reversing. And then at one point, his hand turns, and then it just starts going in a circle. And then eventually he falls out of the vehicle. And I don't know how the accelerator is stuck, but the car just keeps going in a circle around him. And at some point, you know that as it's going in a circle, it's eventually going to start edging closer to him. Now, at the same time, there's a guy that walked out of the convenience store and he walks out, he's walking to his truck, and he sees what he thinks is a car doing donuts in the parking lot. And then he looks a little closer and he sees that the car is circling with a Door open, this man. And he has a choice in that moment, he could just go. Seems pretty dangerous, pretty risky, call the cops, hope for the best. He can just get in his car and drive off and say, it's not my business. He's living his life, I'm living mine. But he doesn't. He immediately runs full speed. And listen, the car is moving. This is not just like slowly moving. This thing is going. And he times it perfectly. And he jumps in the vehicle and he puts it in park, hurts his foot in the process, saves the guy's life, calls 911, guy lives. But he could have just sat there and eventually the car circling, it's gonna run him over. And the reality is we have people in our lives. We have Christians, brothers and sisters in this church, in our lives. And if you see their sin, you're just like, not my business. That's their life, living their life on their terms. It's fine. It's gonna be hard. I don't know if I want to be in the middle of this. You're just watching it circle and circle, and eventually you're going to watch someone destroy their life. And God calls us to say, no. I want to stand in the way between them and judgment. I want to stand in the way between them and wrecking their own life. We should not be a people who are apathetic or uncaring or too busy or concerned with our own lives, that we would not lovingly, as it says, if anyone's caught in transgression, you who are spiritual should restore them in a spirit of gentleness. That we should come to them with winsome gentleness, not with a sledgehammer, but saying, hey, listen, brother. Hey, sister. I want to point this out and win them over to Christ and repenting of their sin. We should be a people that own this beautifully, pointing our brothers and sisters back to Christ. And yes, I know that's hard. It's difficult. It's hard. You're risking them getting mad at you. You're risking awkwardness, which we don't love. There's all sorts of risks involved in confronting somebody in their sin. But God calls his people to be courageous in our correction. And if we are not courageous in our correction with gentleness and love, then we are willing to watch people wreck their own lives and possibly their eternity because we don't want to get in the way. And that's not what God calls us to be. He calls us to be people who love deeply others in a way that would stand in the middle between them and the reality of what. And in the majority of circumstances, if you do this, it's going to go well. And the majority of circumstances, when you confront someone, it ends well. It ends with them knowing, loving Christ more, thanking you for having the courage of your conviction to stand in the middle. But in the few times that it doesn't go well, we have a process and that's the last part I wanted to read for out of our commitment. I submit to care through the process of church discipline as overseen by the elders and carried out by my church family. Okay. We have spent time on this aspect called church discipline. Now, if you're new or you've never heard this before, I'm not going to have the time to explain all this with the justice that it is due to. I will say we have taught on this in our Gospel of Matthew series. We spent three sermons on this. If you go to our website, go in the sermons and you go in the search bar and just type in church discipline. You'll see sermons pop up. And I would encourage you to go and listen to those to hear all the time we spent unpacking this. But I want to quickly kind of walk through the highlights of what this is and why we do it. We are being obedient in this process called church discipline to what Jesus commands us to do. In Matthew chapter 18. This comes out of the teachings of Christ. I'm going to read just 15 through 17 from this section. There's more context, but we don't have the space for it. But he says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. Okay? That is happening all the time in our church. One of the things we say is the church discipline is happening all the time. This is just what we do where someone sins, I'm hurt by it, confront each other, we reconcile and it's beautiful. A lot of times. Sometimes some folks will come up, this is a common thing that happens, or a common phrase that we use. Some folks will come up to us as pastors and they'll say, hey, so and so did this. And our go to answer is okay, what did they say when you talked to them about it? And they'll go, oh yeah, skip a step. Alright, cool, I'm not getting the middle of that until you've gone and talked to them. Do step one, go talk to them. It's probably going to go well and it usually does. If you've gone You've confronted, they have no. They just said, no, I'm not listening to you. I'm doing my own thing. It says verse 16, but if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you. That every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. That's step two. This oftentimes is a member and a group leader, a group leader and a pastor. Every situation is different, but it's a few people and then just getting in front of them say, hey, listen, please don't choose this. Please turn from this. Let's reason from the scriptures here. What does the scripture say about this? And compelling them. And again, most of the time, confronted by people who have the Holy Spirit in them. And this person has the Holy Spirit in them. Come to the conclusion. Person says, yes, I want Christ, and they repent. But if that doesn't work, verse 17, if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. So if they do not listen, you tell it to the church. The church gets involved. And what happens in this process is if the person is unwilling to listen to the collective authority of the church, they're to be treated, as he says, a Gentile and a tax collector. And Christ is using the language of an ounce. So what it means there is that they are treated as an outsider. They no longer belong to the body of Christ. Those who claim to be a Christian and are willing to pursue sin unrepentantly as their church family is confronting them, they are no longer part of the church family. And if you want to go to First Corinthians 5, that two verses I read earlier in context, that's 1 Corinthians 5. That is 1 of the biggest case studies that we have in the New Testament of church discipline as it was practiced. You can go and read that and understand the situation. A man was openly pursuing grievous, unrepentant sin with his stepmother. And Paul says, no. And he says, deliver that man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. He goes on to say, purge that evil person from among you. So we practice this as a church, and we have practiced this all the way to the end. And those situations most of the time are super Long, I mean, year over a year long process, often of just walking with people, lovingly compelling them to say, please don't pursue this, standing in the way between them and judgment. And listen, certainly if you've ever heard of this, it's been practiced poorly by churches. Certainly churches have abused this process by hurting others. I would argue that more likely the way this process has been abused in the Western American church is it doesn't get practiced at all. Because in most churches, that's the. That's the way this gets most often abused is that people just permit sin. But certainly there are times where this goes poorly. But we don't take situations that have not gone well and use that as the guide for what we do. We look at the scriptures and we trust God in the process as we seek to hold each other with this formal accountability. I mean, think about it. Imagine a church that just as willing to not ever address evil, not ever address sin. But think of the things that you would, the sins that you would not be okay with. And the church was just like, you know what? That person's living their life, they're doing their thing on their terms. It's like, you wouldn't want to be a part of a community that did that, who was just willing to watch evil play out, seeing it harm the individual and harm everyone else in the situation. God loves his people too much to permit the spread of sin and of the church that he bled and died. And as the church, we want to practice what the scriptures teach us. Because sin, one of the metaphors it uses is like gangrene. It's like an infection. And if it isn't addressed, if it isn't dealt with, it spreads. And if you've been around churches long enough, you've seen churches that have imploded because they just covered things up, they didn't deal with sin. And it spread throughout the body and it tore the church to pieces. And we're not going to be that. We're not going to be that kind of people. And if you're in a community group and all of a sudden a kid goes to the kitchen counter and grabs a butcher knife and starts running around the room. You see five adults aggressively get in front of the child, pull the knife out, because they're not okay with the child running himself with a knife. That's not going to happen. And we love each other too much to watch each other choose sin in a way that would end in horrific judgment. We won't stand for it. Apathy and cowardice have no place in the church that Jesus bled and died for. Therefore, we will take sin seriously. Our Savior did. Let me read this one more time. Confession and repentance will noticeably mark my life. I fully expect to be confronted and corrected. As God allows other members of the Mill City family to see sin in my life. I submit to care through the process of church discipline as overseen by the elders and carried out by my church family. We will be a people that takes sin as seriously as God does. We will be a people who are humble enough to be open to confrontation. We will be a people who are courageous enough to confront others. And we will be a people who are convictional enough to stay the course even when things get difficult, even when it's culturally frowned upon. Because God cares about his people and he cares about the sin that plagues us in a way that we would be obedient no matter what.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us be continually compelled to your teachings, even the difficult ones. God, I pray that we would be obedient, filled with love and a spirit of gentleness, confronting and being confronted. I pray that if there's anyone here right now that has been hiding sin, if there's any Christians and members of this church that are hiding sin, I pray that you would give them the boldness and faith to walk in the light. They would not leave this day without talking to someone in their group. I pray if there's anyone here that knows someone else is sinning that they would have the courage and the conviction to be obedient. And I pray that all of our collective efforts in addressing the reality of sin would glorify you, our creator and sustainer. In Jesus name, Amen. Band's going to come up. We're going to close in worship as we sing this final song. My hope as we set.

Mill City 10/19/25 Mill City 10/19/25

Re:Member Core Practices II

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. We are continuing to go through our Remember series, which is an opportunity for us as a church to revisit our membership commitments and remember the things we're committing to. The first half of it was going through the first seven commitments of our membership commitment, which is the gospel. And these last seven that we're going through week by week are the practices that flow out of the gospel, the things that we commit to do as a church because Jesus Christ rose from the grave. So we're going to be in number nine this week, which reads, I will pursue deep, genuine relationships with others in the Mill City family through committing to regular participation in Sunday gatherings and a community group where I can love and serve others and ensure I am surrounded by people who love Jesus and love me.

So last week we saw the importance of what it means to cultivate a personal relationship with Christ. And this week we get to see what it means to as Christians who've cultivated this relationship with Christ, where God has placed us in the context of community. We are made as image bearers in humanity. Like we're made in the image of a communal God who eternally exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who, when he made humanity, made him, made us in the image of our triune God. And he saw that it was not good that man would be alone. That's who we are. We're made to be in community in the same way that a fish is made for water in the context of what it is placed. Humanity is made to be in community.

So that if you have a child who gets really excited about taking their pet fish to show and tell, and they don't do what every child or what every person who thinks about this has done is putting a fish in the bag, sealing the bag, and then taking it to school. If they just simply put the fish in their pocket and went to school, it's going to be a super tragic moment at show and tell when that fish is pulled out. Because fish are made for water. That's the context for which they are created. And we as Christians are made to be in community. And there are some folks who will say, yes, I think we're supposed to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I get that. But I don't love the church. I've got baggage, I got church hurt, or I decided. I don't really love organized religion. I think I can have a personal relationship with Christ. What I would say is that the scriptures don't bear that to Be true. That's a fish out of water. Like we're made to be in community. When you read the rest of the New Testament, it bears this out over and over again. So yes, we want to have a personal relationship with Christ, but the idea that you can do that disconnected from God's people is a very recent Western idea. It is foreign to the Scriptures. And I want us to see that today as we walk through this commitment to. I want us to see how we're called to live this out and what's at stake as we seek to commit to this.

So let me pray for us and then we'll walk through this together. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us see the importance of what it means to have life together. God, I pray that you would speak to our hearts. I pray that you would help us be compelled to believe the Gospel and then live out the implications of it. Community. As a church, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

All right. So why should we commit to deep, genuine relationships with one another in a local church? As I already said, part of that's how we're. How we're made. We're made to be in community, made in the image of a communal God. And the church has been doing this since day one. Our scripture reading that we had earlier is Acts 2, 42, 47. So we were in the previous verses leading up to that last week, coming into verse 42 or picking back up in 42 today. But it's it. This is what the church has done that after the church begins, it says in verse 42,

> And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

So that when we look at our commitment, you can really put it side by side with this passage and really the pattern that flows out of this passage that when we say I will pursue deep genuine relationships with others in the Mill city family, we can see in verse 42 they devoted themselves the apostles teaching and the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers, they were devoted to one another. They deeply valued fellowship together. That when we say through committing to regular participation in Sunday gatherings and a community group. We see that's what the church was doing. It says, day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts that they were as the church gathering together to go worship in the temple. Now later on, they're not invited. They end up having to. They're not invited to the temple anymore. They start to be persecuted. And then this forms into worshiping on the Lord's day, which is guided the church, as the church has come together to worship on Sunday, the day the resurrection happened for the last 2000 years. And also they gather together in homes, which is why we have community groups. We come together on Sunday and then we live in the. In the context of our community groups living out the implications of the gospel. We find it right here.

And what flows out of this passage when we say, where I can love and serve others and ensure I'm surrounded by people who love Jesus and love me, we can see very clearly in verse 44, it says, and all who believe were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need that they so radically loved one another and served one another. They were selling off property, they were putting in money just so others could. Their needs could be met. So we look at this passage as foundational for how we live out the implication of the Gospel as a church and the rest of the Book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament. When you read the letters that make up the rest of the New Testament, continue to teach this over and over again. That's why we have this commitment for our church.

So what I want to do is I want to slow down. I want to walk through each part of our commitment and help us see how the rest of the New Testament helps us understand how we're called to live this out as a church. So let's deal with the first part. I will pursue deep, genuine relationships with others in the mill city family. Okay? That's very specific language for a reason. When you look at the New Testament, there's a lot of metaphors for the the church. So if you look at Ephesians chapter three, you see, the church is called a temple in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

> In him the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

This picture of the church is all different building blocks of the temple that the Spirit has come to live and dwell inside of the church is also called a body. It says in Romans chapter 12.

> so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

That we're all collectively the body flowing into Christ, who's the head of the body. And all of us are just different members of that body. We get. In Ephesians 5, the church is called the bride.

> Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

The idea of two becoming one flesh together, the bride, the church and Jesus Christ the bridegroom. It's called a holy nation.

> But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession...

1 Peter 2. There are all types of metaphors that we could choose to build off of with this language. We chose the language of family. There are passages like first Timothy, chapter three that says,

> if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

That's the household family of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and a buttress of the truth. One of the most common words that shows up in the New Testament is the Greek word for brothers and sisters. Adelphoi over and over again referred to brothers and sisters in Christ. You'd be the passages that talk about fathers and mothers in the faith. So we went with the metaphor family that we are devoted. We want to be. Have deep, genuine, loving, Christ exalting relationships with others in the mill city family. And that's what you see in the early church. They were a family. So much so they believed that they were selling off possessions because you take care of your family, you make sure they don't have needs. They, they believe this and they lived like it was true. Because listen, you, you don't sell your stuff and give it away to someone if you don't believe it. Like you're not doing that with any other person. No, they, they, they believed the gospel and they lived as if it was true. Because they understood if Jesus rose from the grave, if the God man took sin upon the cross and judgment on our behalf and he actually walked out of the tomb and he ascended to the right hand of God the Father, that if that's true, then I'm all in that you live a radically different life. If you believe that is true. If you go into the casino and you are guaranteed, as the roulette table goes, that it is going to be on red and you got all your cash, that's a win. Put it on red. I'm all in on that. So they believe if Christ, he's alive. Well, I'm all in on this. So we're going to have all things in common. We're going to be a family together. They believe this and they live like it was true.

So I don't want us to be a church that just throws around the word church family and then doesn't live like it is true. A couple of months ago, I saw a video compilation of a bunch of churches like ours doing their opening announcements. And they just took the same kind of clip over and over again from a bunch of churches. And it was the same thing. It was, hey, church family. Hey, church fam. Hey, church family. Good to see you, church family. And I heard it over and over again, and a part of me died because I hate. I don't ever want to seem cliche. And they just, in a rude clip, they just, absolutely, just belittled the use of that phrase over and over and over again. So part of me looked at that and was like, oh, goodness, should we, I don't know, should we? Do we ever use that? Should we not say that anymore? I said, oh. And then I thought more about it and I was like, no, no, that's only trite and played out and cliche. If we say it over and over again but don't actually believe it, if we use it over and over again but don't live like that is true. But if we say it and don't back it up, then, yeah, it's super cringe. But if we actually believe this and own this, then, yeah, we're going to keep using it over and over again. Because being a church family takes investment. Being a family is investing. It's this Acts 2 devotion devoted to one another, which you see in these relationships that they have as they go deeper with one another throughout the book of acts. So we want to be a church that pursues deep, genuine relationships with others and the Mill City family.

And the next part says, through committing to regular participation in Sunday gatherings and a community group. Okay, let's tackle that one at a time. Tackle groups first. Committing to community groups, y', all, groups are not just an event that you put into your calendar. We say this quite a bit. It's not just a thing, a programmatic thing that you go to. No, your group is the people that you journey through life with. It's the localized expression of family in the church. So you walk side by side with and sure, we do. We have a time that is helpful for all the family. For us in our groups to come together. We have a group meeting time that we come to once a week, and that's good for us to do. To practice the rhythms that the early church practiced. Says they devote themselves to the apostles teaching, to studying God's Word. They devoted themselves to prayer. They devoted themselves to a fellowship meal. We want to do that. And that's what our groups do. They come together once a week and they eat a meal together, which is incredibly valuable. It is good for us to come together and eat a meal together. There's something that God has designed in eating a meal with someone else that brings depth and connection, that builds relationship that is valuable.

If you bring your dishes, you're bringing a bit of your personality. So if you volunteer boldly to take the Mac and cheese for the week and you don't bring this wonderful creamy casserole esque, but not over the top, like just simplistically wonderful, tasteful Mac and cheese, and you, like, throw a bunch of lobster in it and stuff, that just doesn't belong there, then we know some things about you. We've gathered some things that honestly probably should change with sanctification over time in the context of community. So there's a little your personality that comes, but also you just in conversation over a meal. This is universal. Have you ever traveled the world? People sit down together, even more so than Western culture, because sometimes we treat it like it's a substance to be consumed and not an opportunity to enjoy someone else across the table. But it's a universal experience to come to sit down and to talk and tell jokes and to laugh and to hug and to even cry like that. There's something that God has built in that. So we have that, that built into our groups. We're gonna eat a meal, and we're also gonna study the Word together.

We're gonna open up the Bible. And one of the things that I so deeply appreciate is that I can spend all week in a text studying it, getting to know it, putting together a sermon, and I can preach that text and I can show up to group. And then all of a sudden, when we have our time together and we're studying the Word, I'll hear someone say something that I didn't catch after hours and hours and hours and hours of being in it. And I love that that happens to all of us. When you study the Word. We should study the Word, as we said last week, privately. But we also. We're meant to do this corporately so that when you open up the scriptures together you're going to hear how the Spirit worked through this person to grab that insight, and you're going to go, oh, that's a wonderful. That's a wonderful interpretation. I hadn't heard that. I didn't see that. So we study the word together and it sharpens us and it grows us together. And then we pray together. Though our groups, we should pray and grow in praying together.

My wife and I, we led groups for a decade, and a couple years ago, we transitioned out of group leading and I got to be a part of a group. And our last group leaders did this so well that at any given time, they just stop and pray. Not just someone share something difficult and then move on from it. Not even just share something difficult and do what is actually good too, which is to give good news before you give good advice, but actually to just stop and pray. And they stopped and prayed multiple times. And I've so appreciated that as an aspect of life, to just stop and actually pray. Not to just say, I'm gonna pray for that, but to pause and just say, let's pray right now. So we pray together and we practice these practices as a group. But again, it's not just something that we do at a meeting time. It flows out of that, that we're texting each other, that we're getting together, hang out afterwards, that we're living life together. Groups of the people that you belong to. And it's essential, so essential that we, as a church, run our membership through groups like, you cannot become a member of this church unless you belong to a group.

And what happens over time is that as you have your people in your group and it is your people, like this is your people that you rock through the most difficult times, that they come alongside you, and then you get the opportunity to do the same thing with them that as you live with them over time, eventually, God willing, in the next, you know, a couple of years, like, your group's going to multiply. And that's always bittersweet. It's exciting because it creates more opportunity for space for new people, but also it's sad because you're not going to be seeing them every week, but you do that a couple of times as you belong to this church for a few years, and all of a sudden you've built genuine depth with a variety of people in different parts of the church. So that when you come here on Sundays, you see each other, and it's just wonderful. But our groups are essential. And if you have been coming around for a little bit and you are not plugged into a group, please, like we say this every week and we, we want you to stop by our connect table. We want to talk to you about our groups because this is where you get to see the goodness of the gospel lived outside by side in life together.

So we commit to groups that's valuable and important for us to live out the implications of the gospel and also committing to Sundays. Let's talk about that for a moment.

Hebrews chapter 10 says,

> And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

So our church is a collection of community groups, but those aren't individual house churches. That's not how we practice. The other churches that do that, that's fine. We don't. Those aren't individual house churches. There are community groups. So in order for us to Collectively Obey Hebrews 10, we do what the church has done for 2000 years. And all of our community groups come together here for a few hours on Sunday morning where we come and we fellowship and we remember and celebrate like we just did about how good Jesus Christ is. So that's what we do. We come together on Sundays in the tradition of the church for the last 2000 years. And we also live out the teachings of the New Testament on what the church is supposed to do when we come together.

Colossians chapter three says,

> Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

So that's the command, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. And then the unpacking of how the Word of Christ dwells in us richly is teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Which means that when we come together in order for the word of Christ to dwell in us richly, someone stands up here after spending time in the text and prayerfully discerning how this is going to apply to our people. And they teach and we sing songs together like we just did. Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. And what I appreciate about this is that the understanding here is that yes, that's all primarily to God in worship, but there's a one anothering aspect of that. It says admonishing one another in all wisdom with singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. I appreciate the horizontal nature of worship so that sometimes when I'm singing and if you sit in front of me, sometimes you hear that I'm a loud Singer. And I'm sorry, because there's a reason I'm not doing that. Okay. But sometimes I just, I stop and I just listen. And in a morning like this morning, I just so clearly hear the saints collectively singing joyfully, worshipfully. And that blesses my soul. It's wonderful to hear one another sing to the Lord.

But this is what we come to do on Sundays as we continue, as we also have prayers and we fellowship, we spend time together. And so one of the things I love doing is getting here and seeing other people. I love my group, but also seeing people that aren't in my group and seeing people that I love and having times to hug and to laugh and to cut jokes and to also maybe get away and to talk and to cry and to do the things that Christians are called to do. But here's the deal. You can't accomplish any of that if you aren't here on Sundays. You can. There's a reason why I don't look at the camera back there and say, hey, online campus, that's never going to be a thing, ever. We were at times debated, like, should we just, like, not even film this? Like, just. And it's like, no, like, we think this is valuable for those who can't be here. Literally can't be here. You can watch this when you're on vacation. That's. Yeah, it's fine. But we prioritize here, being here together as the church, because it's not just the songs, it's not just the teaching. It's being here and being here early enough to fellowship, which you should do is get here early enough to see one another, not do the express version of just running through this, but actually embracing one another, serving one another. This is valuable. And we want to continue to live this out together as the church.

So in groups and on Sundays, that's how we assemble as our church. So I want to focus on this last part that says where I can love and serve others and ensure I am surrounded by people who love Jesus and love me. Okay? So the church gets to do this, Love and serve one another. Now those are a few of the one another commands that we see throughout the New Testament. And there are a lot of them. And because we have to be concise with our commitment, otherwise you just say all the things some of the people that we had, even in this process, people make really helpful, like, what about this and what about that? It's like, yeah, no, that's great. We're trying to make this as concise as Possible, but yes, absolutely. So I could throw in a bunch of one another commands in here. We chose Love and service as kind of the header for all of that. But when you read the rest of the New Testament, you see all of these one another commands. I just want to go through a few of them. Let's start with what we got on the page, which is love one another. Should love one another, which means knowing how people are loved and truly loving them.

There are folks in this church who know that I love baked goods. They know I love sweets because they know I love a sweet tooth. And they love me because they bring things that are baked and wonderful. And that's some version of that with so many other people. This happens over and over and over again. What I love is that as a pastor, I get to see all of that. Not all of it, but a lot of it, at a bigger view. And I get to see all these examples of how people love each other in profound ways. And part of it is like, I want other people to know this. I want to be able to tell them. But then there's a little bit of like, yeah, I know, but we're called to do all of this. Not the left know what the right hand is doing. And we need to do things in a way that's for the glory of God, not for ourselves. I get all that, which is why we don't publish all of that. But boy, oh, boy, to sit in my seat and to see all the ways that people love one another is amazing.

Love one another. And that command goes from the Gospel of John all the way to the end. First John's loaded with it, and they keep going. Serve one another. Galatians 5, 13.

> For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Serving one another. This is you using your gift and your abilities for the service of others. And again, I get to see this all the time. I get to see mechanics who turn a wrench 40 hours a week and would rather not do that once they clock out. Go and fix cars for other people in our church. I see people who build houses and work a trade, go and serve others with their time and their talents. I see people that are gifted in math, sit down with someone who's a kid that's not good at math, which I so would have appreciated growing up, and teach them homework. And that's what we're called to do, is to use how God has gifted you in service and to serve one another. That's not just in the regular Things that happen on Sunday, though, you should do that as well. Specifically Kid City. But also, that happens. And the one another service opportunities that happen regularly, week in, week out, serving one another.

It says, live in harmony with one another. Romans 12:16, which is living at peace with one another, which means surrendering sometimes your preferences, because it's not all about you surrendering your preferences for the sake of others to live at peace with one another. Y'. All, I have opinions. If you know me, you know that I have preferences, which, again, if you know me, unfortunately, you probably know that. But I don't get all of my preferences, and I appreciate them. I do. I don't get my preferences on Sunday morning. I get a say in what gets sung. And I don't even get my preferences with all the songs. Every now and then I'm like, you know what? Not my favorite. This is not. But then I hear y' all sing it, and I'm like, boy, oh, boy, praise God. It's not all about me. We shouldn't get our preferences. We should live in harmony with one another. We should live at peace with one another in a way that's consistently yielding in preference for and to one another.

We should bear with one another. Ephesians 4:2.

> with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.

That means being patient with one another even when that person is difficult, which is so valuable. And that's one of the things I appreciate about our church and our groups, is that if you've been in groups long enough, you know, this is that there are some people in your group that if you didn't have Jesus Christ in common, you would never hang out with them, ever. It just. It's just true. You can be in group. I can be in group with someone who's like, I don't really love football. I don't love sports. I don't love music. You know, I'm just like, what? What? What's wrong with you? I mean, I can just go down the list of, like, what are we even going to talk about? And then I have more depth with them than I do with someone who loves football and loves sports and loves hunting and loves all the things that I love, because the most important thing about me is the most important thing about them, and that's Christ. And when you build that kind of depth on him, you realize, oh, like this. This is what's most important. You can be in group with someone who is just difficult. Like, your personality and their personality. It's just. No, it's just like, I don't. You are so different than me. And what I appreciate is that in groups you get to die to your own sin, die to your own selfish desires, and bear with them in patience and love them, even though they are so much different than you.

Bear with one another. Be kind to one another. Ephesians 4:32.

> Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

To grow in kindness towards one another. Which means that when somebody on the group chat says, hey, will somebody watch my dog while I'm on vacation next week? And you know, their dog is the worst, is the kind of dog that absolutely will cause financial damage to your home and emotional damage to you and your family. You say, yeah, I'll do it absolutely. Because my life is more than my things and my comforts. And I want to be kind to you. Be kind to one another. Forgiving one another. Ephesians 4. 32. To practice forgiveness. Because we say this quite a bit, if you are in groups, if you're a part of our church, at some point sometime you're gonna get your feelings hurt. I have to say that to people I'm in group with that as your pastor, I'm also now side by side in group with you. And at some point I'm going to sin against you. Please do not be shocked. I am a sinner and you're a sinner. It's going to happen because that's what we do outside of the work of Christ in us and the Holy Spirit changing us, we. We are wretched. That's just the truth. So knowing that when it happens, and it will happen, we get to practice what Jesus commands us to do in forgiving one another. So important and so vital that in Matthew 18, that the parable that's given is, if you don't do this, you don't really know. You don't know God, you don't know his forgiveness. So that's what I love in seeing in our church, is people. I can see it. All of a sudden this person and this person have had friction, and then all of a sudden God moves in their heart and they go to a different part of the building and they just talk and they pray and they cry and they hug and they practice what it means to be a Christian and forgiving one another.

Do a few more. Encourage one another. First, Thessalonians 4, 18, which, as I saw this week, and thinking about that, how that's directly used there in the verses that lead up to it, in verse 18, is talking about the work of Christ and the return of Christ, which is the gospel, out of the gospel, encourage one another, which that's good news before good advice. You guys, we're doing it. Encourage one another to look at people who are struggling to remind them of who Christ is and how he works, what he has done, and who they are in him. And going out of your way to bring encouragement to those who need it.

Bear one another's burdens. Galatians 6:2.

> Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

This is something that shows up in our care night content for groups that we should, as Christians, bear one another's burdens. That means y'. All. That means when someone is sharing something that is difficult to listen intently, do not, do not feel like you're being robbed because you don't have the opportunity to speak. Do not feel like you're just biding the time until they get done. Don't be thinking about other things. Don't be trying to move past them, to really sit in front of them and say, yeah, absolutely, I'm so sorry you're struggling with this sin. I'm so thankful that Jesus Christ died for that and he's empowered you to put that to death and I want to help you put that to death. To hear someone who's burying their sufferings and their trials and to just sit with them and to weep with them and to love them.

Bear one another's burdens. The church is called to do. And I'll do one more. Outdo one another in honor. Romans 12:10,

> Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

which for me, the way I think about this is almost competitive honor. And I see this, I see this in people in our church where they're showing deference here and deference here. And it's. Sometimes a part of me is like, oh, that's nauseating. Just someone just, just take someone, get in line and get the food. And I just like, no, but this is it. We're just showing honor and showing deference and caring about others more than ourselves. But this is what we're called to do as the church, to love and serve one another, growing in these practices together.

And it's good for us to be knit like that together with this. When I was in high school, I got to do a trip with my stepdad, went out to California for a two week road trip. We started in Sacramento, we drove to San Francisco, we went down the one to la, but we stopped in a town called Big Sur south of San Francisco and we spent a night there. And there is the edge of the redwood forest. So if you've ever seen redwood trees, they're massive. We don't have these on the east coast, but I mean, any tree like this on the east coast, okay, these things are massive. They're like 300ft tall. They're huge. You look at them just like, whoa. And there's so many of them. And it may surprise you to know that redwood trees actually have a pretty shallow root structure. Like, that's a pretty shallow Beneath the surface root structure. It's not a deep tap root. It's a gigantic, massive tree that just has its roots just below the surface, spread out across the ground. You may wonder, how in the world is something that big, that tall, that massive, how in the world does it stay and stand when wind and rains and floods hit? And the reason is, is that they. They're. They're part of a redwood grove, and beneath the surface is a bunch of redwood roots interconnected, locked together in a system of support that they're tied together in a way that helps them as the. As. As they're growing taller and the seasons are getting harsher, that they're able to bear through storms together because. But no, beneath the surface, they're so deeply locked and interconnected and strengthening one another.

And I cannot think of a more beautiful metaphor of what we're called to be as the church, as we serve one another, as we love one another, as we live out the implications of the gospel, to be so deeply knitted together and interlocked together in a way that when life is difficult and when suffering knocks us down and when sin is crouching at the door, that we're so deeply locked together as the church that when it hits, we stand. That when it hits, we might be moved for a moment, but we are built upon the rock that is Christ together in a way that we can get through anything. That's what the church is called to be as we live this out together. And that's why we have this ninth commitment written in the way that we do, that we are about one another, which means we need to be present. Like, it's bad when you're not here. It's bad when you're gone. It's bad when you. It's not just that. At group, if you volunteered to bring the meat for the meal, and then all of a sudden you just like, 10 minutes out say, God, I can't make it today. Busy. It's not just now we have to eat cheese tacos, which is the word, is that. No, like you, the Spirit works in you in a beautiful way that when you're not present, that's missing. It's not just that your seat is empty on Sunday. It's that the spirit works in you in a unique way, that when you're missing, it's lacking. We're called to be this together, and that takes devotion and commitment.

So let me read number nine. Altogether, I will pursue deep, genuine relationships with others in the Mill City family through committing to regular participation in Sunday gatherings and a community group where I can love and serve others and ensure I am surrounded by people who love Jesus and love me.

So as we as a church are considering in this recommitment process, as we're looking through all of this again, I want you to ask yourself, I want us to ask, am I committed to pursuing deep, genuine relationships? Am I committed to this? Am I hiding things from my life? Am I hiding the real me? Am I actually committed to pursuing deep, genuine relationships even when it is hard and sometimes it's hard? Am I committed to being here on Sundays? Am I committed to being here and worshiping y'? All? We have older saints that literally break bones and are just hobbling in here on Sunday because they see the value in this. They see how important it is. And at times when it's raining outside and it's cold, I just know I'm like, we're gonna have less numbers today. And it sometimes bears to be true. And I'm like, no, it's the rain. Am I committed to being here even though it's difficult? And we have the caveat, y', all, for those that are homebound and cannot be here, they literally cannot be here. We have the caveat for those who work jobs, they just literally cannot get out of the trying or they have an essential job. We have the caveat for those that are. That are ministering elsewhere on a Sunday morning, but that is a small, small minority. The rest of us should be committed. Let's commit at times for some of us, course correct. And being here on Sundays, am I committed to being to the people in my group? Am I committed to my people? Do I see the value in driving across town for our group meeting time, to actually showing up to the hangout times that we schedule at different times? Am I committed to actually reading the messages that come through on my phone and praying for that person? Am I committed to being a part of my group?

And I'll tell you, one of the things I tell folks that are going through difficult periods of time, they're struggling with Suffering or sin or brokenness, anxiety, depression, lust, et cetera, is that at some point you've got to, as you are fighting sin, pick your head up and not just look at yourself, but look at the people that are around you. Because part of our spiritual health is developed through one another in and that happens mostly through groups. Am I committed to groups? Am I committed to loving and serving one another? Am I committed to the practices that God has called me to practice? About a year ago at a family meeting, Chet printed out all the one another commands. And then our group leaders at the time, I think they made a magnet of all of that and gave it to us and putting it on the fridge and seeing these over and over again was just so helpful and so encouraging to see this is what Jesus calls us to be. And I get to, by the power of the Holy Spirit, live these out even when it is difficult.

So all of this, all of this is difficult and it cuts against the grain of culture, a culture that's so drunk on itself and the betterment of self. This is difficult. But if the gospel is true and if Jesus is alive and he is, it's worth it. It's worth the effort. It's worth from the hope of the gospel leveraging our lives for the sake of him and one another.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us live out the implications of the good news that you came to save sinners and call them into a church that belongs to you to declare the excellencies of you who called us out of darkness into marvelous light and God. I pray that that you would help us see the value of that. I pray that there are folks here that do not belong to a church. I pray they would see the importance of trusting in you as their Savior and belonging to a church. I pray that there's anyone here that is hurting and suffering from bad experiences in the past. They would not grow in cynicism or fear, but they would take a leap of faith and belong. And that in all of us. You would grow in us a radical belief in the hope of the resurrection that empowers us to. To be not about ourselves, but about one another. In Jesus name, Amen.

We're going to come and we're going to close and sing and one final song. As I said earlier, may we be a people that as we worship, we worship joyfully. That may our souls be ministered to as we sing and as we listen and as we worship.

Mill City 10/12/25 Mill City 10/12/25

Re:Member Core Practices I

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning, My name is Spencer, I'm one of the pastors here. We're going to be mostly in Acts chapter two today. So you have a Bible. You can turn there now we're going to be in verses 36 through 42. We are in our series called Remember. This is an opportunity for our church to remember and rediscover our membership, commitment and the 14 statements that we commit to as a church. The first seven of those that we've walked through in the last month are the essential elements of the gospel. It's what we believe. Over the last month, as we walked through the seven commandments, we saw that because the triune God of the Bible saw humanity in sin and on a path to hell. God the Father sent Jesus Christ the Son to die on the cross and to rise from the grave to give us faith through grace, sealing us with the Holy Spirit to advance the kingdom until Christ comes to make all things new. So that's the summary of the seven statements and that's the summary of the gospel. That's our hope. And every commitment that we're going to walk through, we're going to take these week by week now, one by one. Every commitment that we're about to walk through, the things that we commit to doing as the church flow out of that hope, meaning that the gospel remains central to the works that God is called to walk in. And that's what we're gonna see over the next seven weeks as we walk through these.

So my son got a birthday gift. I want to grab it and show it to you. He got a birthday gift a couple about two months ago. It's a circuit board. You ever seen these? So he's 8 and he got a circuit board at 8. I was not getting stuff like this because I do not have the mind of my son. He has a mathematical mind in ways that I do not. So he's been taking this. It's got a power source here. And then basically it teaches electricity. So you do a bunch of different designs, a bunch of different circuits. It powers a bunch of different things. And he's been playing with this. And the other day he came downstairs and he was messing with it. He said, hey, it's not working. You can tell he'd spent a lot of time messing with the different circuits and the different designs, getting to do different things and just it's not working. And then he finally, he figured it out. He said, I think the batteries are dead. I was like, oh, but he's eight and he doesn't have the dexterity to pull these out. So I, being the hero father that I was, pried out the old batteries and put the new ones in and then, boom, flipped it on and it was working again. But it's neat. He's been playing with this, and it's been engaging his mind in a lot of different ways. But one of the things that I thought of as I was thinking through the remainder of this sermon series is that if you put all the coolest, neatest designs on this board, it's a fan that attaches to it. It has something that spins off the top. There's all types of neat designs. If you put all the different designs on here, but the batteries aren't working, this is pointless. This is powerless. And the reality is that as we walk through the rest of these commitments, we can have all the neatest and nicest language to talk about the church that we think we're called to be. But if the Gospel isn't central to what we're doing and what we're seeking to live out, it is as dead as a circuit board that doesn't work. It is pointless. It is powerless that all the things that we seek to be as a gospel center and community on mission, if they're not empowered by the Gospel, it is all meaningless and pointless. So what I want us to consider as we walk through each of these commitments is that though these are things that God has called us to be, the Gospel has to still be central. And God empowers us by the power of the Holy Spirit and belief in the Gospel to live out the implications of what it means to be a Christian belonging to a church.

So I'm going to read this 8th commitment with that in mind. And then each week as we read these, the hope is we will continue to remember this as we walk through it. Let me read this eighth commitment. Having placed faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord and been baptized as a believer, I will seek to foster my personal relationship with him, allowing the Gospel to saturate every aspect of my life. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would help us as we seek to understand what it means to live out the calling that you've called us as Christians and this church. God, I pray that you would help us as we seek to understand this from the understanding that all this is empowered by you and faith in you. So God help us understand this as we walk through your scriptures in Jesus name. Amen.

All right, so we're going to weave in and out of Acts 2 as we look at this commitment. I'm going to start off in verse 36, but before I do, let me give some context for we're jumping straight into the second chapter of Acts before this. The book of Acts is the early Acts of the Church. Jesus completes his work after the resurrection. He ascends to the right hand of God the Father. And then the Holy Spirit descends, the third member of the Trinity upon the church. And the church begins in Acts 2. And one of the first things that happens is that Peter preaches the Gospel. There's a crowd of thousands of people that he preaches to. I'm preaching from the book of Joel, connecting it to the work of Christ. And this is how he ends his sermon.

> Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36, ESV)

Peter highlights the reality that though we and those people, some of them there, were not at the cross, they were not the ones shouting for Jesus to be crucified. We, because of our sin, are the ones who put Jesus on the cross. Someone had to pay the penalty for sin. Jesus Christ stands in the way for us. That's what he's highlighting here. And then he says in verse 37,

> Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37, ESV)

So that's the work of the gospel. That message cut their heart. That's the work of belief. They heard the Gospel. They heard about Christ whom they had crucified, and it cut them to the heart. And they're responding in faith. This is what happens when you hear the gospel message, when the Holy Spirit works in our heart to remove the heart of stone and create a heart of flesh to bring us to new life in Christ to be born again. This is the work of what's happening here. Everything we walked through the last month as we looked at the seven commitments, the gospel at work in us changes us. And that's what happens to this crowd of people. And then they respond. Verse 38.

> And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." (Acts 2:38–39, ESV)

> And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." (Acts 2:40, ESV)

> So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:41, ESV)

So what we see here is they hear the Gospel, God works in their heart, they believe. And then he says, repent and be baptized. And that right there is the clear pattern that is established in the New Testament. Believe the Gospel, repent and be baptized. So our commitment says, having placed faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, and been baptized as a believer, we want to believe the Gospel and in response to that belief, enter into baptism. This is what we believe as believers.

Baptism. Baptism for us is a holy sign. Holy meaning set apart. Set apart in a unique way. It's a sign. It means it points to something else, a symbol that points to something else. The baptism is a holy sign that points to the inward change of belief when someone places their faith fully in Christ and they are changed by Him. It is the symbol that says that we are brought from death to life, from old to. Some of the language we use when we do baptisms regularly is it's an outward sign of an inward reality. The baptism doesn't save us. The act doesn't save us, but it declares we already are saved because of what Christ has done in our hearts, that we have trusted in him for our forgiveness of sins and he's covered us. And baptism gets to point to that. And the people hear this. And 3,000 plus people respond to faith in Jesus Christ and are baptized. And what happens here is really the installation. This is the installation of baptism as the ordained practice of just demonstrating that you believe in Jesus Christ. Sometimes we'll call it an ordinance. This is something God has commanded us to do as a holy sign that points to the Gospel and other traditions. It's also called a sacrament. And I'm actually fine with that language as long as we don't take it to the Roman Catholic understanding of sacrament that this is a holy symbol and sign that points to the inward change that has happened in our hearts. And that's the order of what happens in the rest of the Book of Acts. You believe the Gospel and then you respond in.

This goes back to the Great Commission. When Jesus commissions his disciples, he says,

> Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19–20, ESV)

So Peter does this. He preaches the gospel, he makes disciples, and then they enter into the waters and are baptized. And that is the process for the rest of the Book of Acts. Let me hit just a few passages in the rest of the Book of Acts. As you see the Acts of the early church In Acts chapter 8 it says,

> But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. (Acts 8:12, ESV)

Philip is evangelizing to the Ethiopian eunuch. It says,

> Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?" And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. (Acts 8:35–38, ESV)

He hears the gospel, he believes, and he enters into the waters and he's baptized. The apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul, when he trusts in Christ, after Christ blinds him on the road to Damascus. It says in Acts 9,

> And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized. (Acts 9:18, ESV)

Scales fell from Saul's eyes, which is his physical regaining sight. But also it points to the inward reality, what's happened in him, that he has eyes to see and believe. And it says he got up and was baptized. Belief, then baptism. This is what Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit in Romans chapter six is getting at when he says in verses three and four,

> Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3–4, ESV)

That as we come to faith in Christ and we enter into the waters, it's this picture of we were once dead in sin. That's all we baptized literally just means. The Greek word baptizo just means washing immerse in water. And the picture is that you are dead in sin, you come alive in Christ, picturing what has happened in our lives when we trust in him. So that's what we do. We practice. We reference this Romans 6 passage. Even when we are doing baptisms. And it's fun and it's awesome, we love baptism. That's why it's a celebration when we do baptism. If you haven't been here for baptism Sunday, it's serious. We take it seriously. We don't make light of it, but it is not somber, it's celebratory. It isn't toned down. We celebrate what God has done and we clap and we sing and we celebrate. We listen to testimonies. We're moved to tears because baptism is a wonderful, beautiful declaration of how Jesus saves sinners. So that's how we practice baptism in our church. And if you've been a part of our, if you're a member of this church, we've talked about this as making this addition to our membership commitment to clarify our beliefs on this, that we believe in believer's baptism. Now that is different than infant baptism. And if you have questions about that, because we believe in believers baptism, that you place your faith in Christ and then are baptized. But if you have a background like I did, I was sprinkled as a child, you might have questions about what does that mean? How do Presbyterians and Lutherans and, and Episcopalians and other people understand this? We did a whole YouTube podcast called Overtime. It's on our YouTube page for stuff that we don't have time for in the sermon. We'll spend some time in our recording studio downstairs. So Chet and I this week spent some time talking about this and went deep into the subject of baptism. So if you want to know more about that and how that differs from infant baptism and our beliefs on this and really some of the history of how this came about, I would encourage you to listen to that. It will be posted today alongside the sermon.

But this is what we believe that having placed faith in Jesus Christ, we are baptized, declaring the work that Christ has done in us. And the next part of this commitment is I will seek to foster my personal relationship with him, allowing the gospel to saturate every aspect of my life. Let me focus on this one part. I will seek to foster my personal relationship with him because Christ has saved us. We get to be in a personal relationship with him. We get to actually know our God, our God. Hear this. He is not a distant deity that from afar demands, works to appease him. Our God is imminent. He's near, he's with us. And he wants us to know him in relationship. And it's good to know someone in relationship and to have the intimacy that's bound up in that, to actually have depth in relationship with someone. Like if you've ever been, have you ever had a really good friendship with someone where all of a sudden you and your friend are in a situation and you both hear a Phrase, just a phrase. And both of you look at each other because that points back to like an inside joke from years ago. And then all of a sudden, like it's a serious situation, so you're trying to keep it together, but you're like both looking at each other. And then you can't look at each other because if you look at each other too long, you're both going to crack up laughing. Listen, those type of friendships are wonderful, but they come through depth. They come through time and investment. Like the type of depth that you see in a relationship between a child and their mother. Some children, they just know their parents so well, they know their mother so well that they know the right phrase they can use just to make them smile. That's depth and that's wonderful. You see it in marriages sometimes that there's. In marriage, sometimes you can have a whole conversation with your spouse without saying a word. I mean, I've been there where all of a sudden the kids are acting crazy and she sees my face and I'm getting stirred up, like I'm about to take one of these out back. I'm about to handle this right now. And then she looks at me and she's like, no, don't. And I'm like, mm, this is about to happen. And then it turns to like a pleading look, like, please don't. We're at my parents house, like they're tired. Like, just, we're about to leave. Can you just like wait until we get out of the house? Like you can have a whole conversation with just looks, but you don't get there without the depth that you've created within that relationship. And it takes time and that takes investment. That takes knowing the other person. If you decided to date someone tomorrow, and then as a part of, you know, the first couple weeks of dating, you just said, hey, look, I've only got about 15, 20 minutes a week for you. We can do that all in one day, like on a Friday, or I can space that out throughout the week. You know, five minutes here, five minutes here, five minutes here. But you kind of choose your own adventure in this. You will be single indefinitely. Because that's not how relationships work. But the reality is that we often will treat our relationship with God like that, where it's just, let me carve out some time. I give you five minutes here, five minutes there. And that's not how we create the depth that God wants from us. God desires us to be in relationship with him. And the more we get to know him, the More wonderful, we see how the goodness of his glory and his attributes and all types of things. Jesus Christ in his ministry in the Gospels makes this appeal over and over again. I'll just give you a few examples.

> Abide in me, and I in you. (John 15:4, ESV)

He looks at his followers and says, abide in me. Live in me and I will abide in you. I will live. I'll remain in you like a branch that flows out of the vine. He says, let's have this together. Then in the Gospel of Matthew, he looks at people who are struggling. He says,

> Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28, ESV)

Then In John chapter 10, he says,

> I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. (John 10:14, ESV)

and that's a wonderful picture as a shepherd knows his sheep, and the sheep know the voice of their shepherd. We've been in stressful situations with your child and all of a sudden they're in a crowd and they can't find you and you can't find them. But you hear their cry and then your child hears your voice. It's distinct because you know each other. And that's what Christ is saying, like, I know my sheep, my sheep know me. And that's a wonderful invitation that Christ gives over and over again. Our God wants to know for us to know Him. Our God desires us to have an intimate knowledge of Him. But the reality is that we will fill our days with lesser things. When the invitation is there for us to know God, we will pour ourselves into things that do not matter. And the reality is that God wants to be the central moving force in our lives. He wants to be the power source for all the different circuits that flow out of Him. He wants us to know Him. And that's a wonderful invitation. And that's precisely why when the people who hear the sermon at Pentecost from Peter and they place their faith in him and they're baptized, the very next act that we see that they do picks up in verse 42. Here's the response.

> And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42, ESV)

They sought to know their God. The word is devotion. Devotion. They devoted themselves. They wanted to know God. And there are a few different ways to get listed here. The apostles teaching. This would have been the teachings of Christ that eventually come to be the Gospels. So this is the scriptures that's being pictured here. The breaking of bread and fellowship. This is the fellowship meals they had together would have included the Lord's Supper and prayer. The humbling of ourselves to be dependent upon the Lord through constant communication for him, to him and with him, for every need in our lives. So next week we'll look more at the one anothering that kind of shows up in this breaking of bread and the community that's bound up in that. And that's a wonderful way to know God together. But I want to focus on two of devotion to the apostles teaching, that's devotion to the Word of God and devotion to prayer. Constant communication with God. I want to spend the most of our time left on those two things.

Listen, there are other ways to know God. There are other disciplines. The means of knowing God, worship and singing, fasting, evangelism, silence and solitude, serving the other means of knowing God. But the Word of God and prayer become foundational in the pursuit of actually knowing who our God is. So in fostering a personal relationship, let's focus on that first one, knowing him and His Word. J.I. packer, a theologian, he once wrote a book called Knowing God, which is an excellent book. And in this book he starts off by saying this. He says, for knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a person's heart. That the design of relationship with God is to thrill us to provide maximum enjoyment. He goes on to say, what happens is that the almighty Creator, the Lord of hosts, the great God before whom the nations are as a drop in the bucket, comes to you and begins to talk to you through the words and truths of Holy Scripture. Perhaps you've been acquainted with the Bible and Christian truth for many years and it has meant little to you. But one day you wake up to the fact that God is actually speaking to you you through the biblical message that many of us may be familiar with the Bible may have touch points with it here and there, but what he's pushing on is that God has designed the relationship with him to thrill our soul. And when you begin to understand that fully and how God has revealed Himself in His Word, that these don't just become verses or lessons or life stories or morals or anything. They just become. They're not just disconnected lessons to help us learn facts, but they're actually an opportunity, an opportunity and a medium to know him, to know the God who made all things out of nothing. It is an opportunity to know our God, which when we think about that, I want us to reflectively consider how we spend our days, how we spend each day in light of the opportunity to know God through His Word that many of us will wake up and in the early morning moments, we have the opportunity to look to the Lord, to spend time with him, to meet him in His Word, but how quickly we've trained ourselves to jump to our phones and jump to Instagram or sports scores or anything else. But we have this opportunity to meet with him in His Word. And that's one thing we teach in our church, is that you should set aside time daily to meet with God, to read His Scriptures, to think deeply upon the Scriptures in the morning. And there are some people that's literally just not possible. They cannot wake up early enough, they cannot carve out the time, and they make time in the day later on. But the overwhelming majority of us can make the time in the morning to meet with him, to know him in His Word. And then what we like to push on as well, is not just to take a few minutes in the morning and then we've segmented that off and we've moved on to the rest of our day. But what we teach is also meditation upon His Word. Christian meditation is thinking deeply upon God as He's revealed in His Word. And the invitation is not just to have 10 minutes in the morning, but to think deeply upon God throughout the day, to enjoy him as the day goes on. As Psalm 34 says,

> Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8, ESV)

The Word of God is not meant to be. Hear this. It's not meant to be a granola bar that you quickly unwrap and that you devour and that you discard and you move on from. The Word of God is meant to be like one of those giant jawbreakers, remember those from childhood, like the size of a baseball. The Word of God is meant to be like one of those. Got one of those as a kid, and it was a good time for weeks. You could just sit and savor every layer of it slowly and slowly and slowly. And that's what the Word of God is supposed to be to us, something that we slowly savor throughout the day, all our days. Psalm 1 gives a picture of this. The very first Psalm begins,

> But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2, ESV)

that we should consider the invitation that we have to delight in the law. The law is just another way of saying the word of God, to delight in His Word day and night, throughout the day, from morning to evening, to delight in God through thinking deeply about His Word. And we cannot do that if we apportion 15 minutes of segmented off, just different set aside. But it doesn't actually build depth in a way that builds throughout our days.

Now this means regularly coming to the Lord. What I fear is, and I felt this, I felt this, that the easy distractions of entertaining ourselves to death on things that do not matter, the empty, vapid, worthless pursuits of spending hours of our week on things that do not matter on YouTube and TikTok and Instagram and Netflix and podcasts and sports and all types of things, when we have the living God who wants us to know him, that we should take an accounting of this, we should consider what has become our primary hope, where our primary energy is gone. And then we should look at our God and how wonderful he is and then repent and to change and to turn back to him and recommit. Yes, I want to end this season, recommit to personal relationship with Christ. And as we take the Lord's Supper in a moment, you'll have the opportunity to be thankful that we have a Savior who continually calls us into that.

And we should be a people of word and a people of prayer as we seek to foster a personal relationship with him. Because God is wonderful and he's worthy of our time and our attention, and we just. We have to see these as means to knowing the God, the infinitely wonderful, amazing God. Like, if you could get 30 minutes with your favorite person in history, your favorite celebrity, how excited would you be? How thrilled would you be? Like, as a kid, if you told me I could have 30 minutes with Peyton Manning, I'd have been stoked, because I loved Peyton Manning. He was my hero. I watch him playing football games. I'm like, he's the best. And then he'd be in commercials. I'm like, he's the funniest. And then he'd be in the game again. He's the best. If I could just have 30 minutes to just hear about his greatness. What I've been thrilled and the reality is, is that we have that regular opportunity that is given to us to meet with God, who is infinitely better than Peyton Manning, who's infinitely better than any being we could meet with. May we be thrilled to meet with our God like this. This is what our God calls us into. I will seek to foster my personal relationship with him. Him allowing the gospel to saturate every aspect of my life.

That's what I want to end with, allowing the gospel to saturate every aspect of my life. One of the ways that we talk about this regularly is the language of gospel fluency. If you've been a part of our church for any given period of time, you've probably heard it. It's like the greatest hits of Mill City. We use gospel fluency a lot because it's wonderful. And the idea is like, my two youngest children are in a Spanish immersion program, which means that all their math and science is taught exclusively in Spanish. When I say exclusively in Spanish, I mean that's it. I go to parent teacher conferences and they don't speak English. And I'm like, uh huh, yeah, sure, sounds great. I've seen my son approach his teacher outside at the doctor's office and she did not break character. She knows English, she just spoke Spanish. Because they're trying to help them be fluent in Spanish. And the goal is by middle school they'll begin to start to think in Spanish, start to process in Spanish. In fact, I've heard that it's hard for them once they get to middle school to learn math from an English speaking teacher because they've just so thought of numbers in Spanish. And the idea of fluency is that you think in a language, you process in a language, you understand reality in that language, you can even dream in that language. And the picture of gospel fluency is that we be so fluent in the gospel, we so know it deeply in our soul. The way that we process our very days, the way we understand every given situation in life, is through the lens of the gospel. And the reason why it's important to be saturated every aspect of us by the good news of a Savior who came and rescued us. The reason why that's so unbelievably important is because it becomes so vital and necessary for every aspect of life, including all of the difficult ones. So that when you suffer, you're not caught off guard. That when you enter a time of suffering that you just are so fluid. In the Gospel, you know, I know that this isn't. This is painful and this stinks. But God is good. And he's purposed suffering in ways I can't fully understand. But I know that. That he has done this in a way that is for my good. That when you enter into temptation, when sin makes itself enticing and appealing to your flesh, that you have this personal relationship with Christ that's so saturated your soul that you just as soon as it begins, you're just like, I know that my flesh wants this, it desires this. But I also know that Christ is better. And I believe that Jesus is better. And not only did I believe Jesus is better than this sin, I also know that Jesus knows what this feels like because he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. And Hebrews 4 teaches me that he was tempted as I am, and he can sympathize with this. And I will choose him over my sin. That when death comes and hits us square in the face in ways we did not imagine, we're so fluent in the gospel that we just have this eternal mindset that says, I know this is painful, but I also know this is not the way it will be. That when we enter into conflict and we're dealing with conflict in life, that we're fluent in the Gospel in a way that knows that I am going to act like a Christian and I'm not going to just win to get my way here. I'm not just going to try to defeat the other person in the room. That I'm going to do the work of taking out the plank of my own eye so I can see the speck in theirs. And I'm going to reconcile with them. Because that's what Christ calls me to. That when we go through seasons where we experience betrayal, when we experience betrayal or get stabbed in the back or get abandoned or hurt by those we love, we're so fluent that we know that Christ knows what this feels like because he knows what it feels like to have one of his followers who be cared for for three years, sell him out for 20 pieces of silver. That he knows what it's like to have 10 of his friends abandon him and have only one of them stand at the cross. When we're fluent in the gospel and this becomes how we think and how we live, we can handle every aspect of life. We should consider this as individuals. Next Week, we'll spend more time on what it means to consider this as a community. Because it's not just a private journey, it's a corporate journey. It's together. The picture of all of us seeking to be gospel fluent, seeking us to know God individually, but collectively together, leaning on one another as the church as we leave lean on Christ, who is our rock.

But as we close out, let me make this final appeal. I want to talk to the members of our church as we do this remembering as we do our recommitment. I want us to look at this. I want us to consider what it means to place that having placed faith in Jesus, Savior and Lord, and been baptized as a believer, I will seek hear this commitment. I will seek to foster my personal relationship with him, allowing the gospel to saturate every aspect of life, my life. To do that, to really consider and take an accounting of our own souls and consider, are we doing this? I felt this. I felt this. That the easy distractions of entertaining ourselves to death on things that do not matter, the empty, vapid, worthless pursuits of spending hours of our week on things that do not matter on YouTube and TikTok and Instagram and Netflix and podcasts and sports and all types of things, when we have the living God who wants us to know him, that we should take an accounting of this, we should consider what has become our primary hope, where our primary energy is gone. And then we should look at our God and how wonderful he is and then repent and to change and to turn back to him and recommit. Yes, I want to end this season, recommit to personal relationship with Christ. And as we take the Lord's Supper in a moment, you'll have the opportunity to be thankful that we have a Savior who continually calls us into that.

But if. Let me make this last appeal. If you do not have a personal relationship with Christ, if Christianity, if church, if Jesus has always been a mere part of your life, someone you can pick up at some point certain seasons and put away, pick up at certain parts of the week and put away. But you've never actually had this personal relationship I want you to hear so clearly this morning. You are missing out on what it means to have a personal relationship with the God of all joy and beauty and wonder and goodness and glory. And he desires you. He desires you to know Him. And as we take the Lord's Supper in a moment, do not come to the table, but come to start a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us remember what it means to have you in our lives in a way that would compel us back to seeing you as worthy of devotion, so that you might saturate every aspect of our being. For some in this room, that's going to come through faith for the first time. Faith and surrendering to you. For others of us, it's gonna be the joy of repentance, the joy of going to our groups this week and being honest about where we've spent our best energy, where we spend our best moments in the day and our best thoughts and returning to you. But God, we pray you go to work in our hearts in Jesus name. Amen.

We're gonna take the Lord's Supper. I wanna read from Mark 14:22, 25 to prepare our hearts to read receive the Lord's Supper.

> And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." (Mark 14:22–25, ESV)

If you're a Christian, you get to come to the table remembering this sign that points to the gospel that Jesus Christ's body was broken and his blood was shed so that we could have joy and delight and satisfaction through relationship with him. So as you remember your sin and you remember the ways we need to repent joyfully, come to the table remembering our Savior. But if you have not trusted in Christ right now where you sit, I want you to bow your head and I want you to pray and I want you to humble yourself before the Lord and ask to start a relationship with him by trusting that he died on the cross for your sins, by trusting that he conquered death for you at the resurrection and starting anew with him. But when you're ready, come to the table.

Mill City 10/5/25 Mill City 10/5/25

Re:Member Core Doctrines IV

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

eah, I did that two weeks in a row. It's not a good start. All right. We are, as Matt said, we're working through our membership commitment, which is kind of uncommon for us normally. We're working through books of the Bible. We just finished First Samuel. We're going to pick up and go through Second Samuel next year. Don't cheer too loudly. I know you're super excited. You're like, I want to know what happens. Well, we're going to get there. But right now we're working through our membership commitment and we're trying to say, where do these truths come from if we're going to commit to these as a church, if this is going to guide us as how we're going to make disciples and how we're going to have life together? Where did we get that? And we are walking through each of these points and then looking at the Scriptures. If you want to grab a Bible and go to Matthew chapter 28, that's where we'll begin. But we are going to move all over the place this morning.

During World War II in 1941, the Ford Motor Company built the Willow Run plant right near Detroit, Michigan. It was about a mile long. And they were building B24 Liberator heavy bombers. That's an actual picture of the plant and where they were assembling them. They were assembling those one every 63 minutes was coming off the line. That's like a squadron of bombers a day just in that one plant. Now, in order for them to do that, they needed to have the right equipment. They needed to have the right people. The right people with the right equipment needed to be doing the right job. And in order for them to go as long as they did and as quickly as they did and as well as they did, they needed to know the purpose. They needed to know why it was worth the energy, the effort, the time, the focus in order to do this. And in some ways, I feel like that's what we're looking at when we look at commitment six and seven for us today, which we're going to look at those two, is that we, as a church, God has designed his church to function where they are equipped and working together for a purpose. And that's what we're going to look at this morning.

So commitment number six for us is I have been sealed by the Holy Spirit for salvation and empowered by him for mission and service. Now, we looked at sealing by the Holy Spirit for salvation last week. So we're going to start with and empowered by him for mission and service. That the Spirit has empowered us, has equipped us for what we need to do what God has called us to do. So Matthew 28. Look at verse 18. It says.

So that the church is commissioned. This is the Great Commission, where Jesus says, this is what you're supposed to do. This is the purpose. This is what I'm sending you out. That you would go and make disciples, that you would bring people into what it looks like to follow me, just as I've brought you into it. And then he says, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age, that Jesus is going to be with them, to empower them to accomplish what he sent them out to do. And the way that he does that is through the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ. It's referred to Jesus says that he's going to send the Spirit. It says that the Spirit proceeds from the Father, that we've got the Holy spirit, Spirit.

Acts 1:8. This is what he says to the same group, same disciples. He says,

> But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

So they're going to be empowered. That's why we use that word. We're empowered by the Spirit. They're going to be empowered. They're going to receive power, and they're going to receive power for a purpose. He says, you're going to receive power from the Spirit. And he doesn't just stop. He says, and you'll be my witnesses that this Spirit is going to empower what he's called them to do. If you showed up for your first day at work, they sat you down in the office and they gave you three pool noodles and a sword, you'd have some real questions about what your job was. But if you come in and they give you the exact equipment that you need for the job that you're going to do, it makes sense. And so when the Spirit empowers us, he's empowering us for what God has called us to do, for what he's equipped us to do, what he's sending us out to do.

So in Acts 2, 8 2, 38. Peter says this while he's preaching, and it's a helpful clarification for us to understand. Says,

> And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

so that the Spirit is received upon conversion. That when we place faith in Jesus, when we repent, when we're baptized, when we're following him, that the Spirit then goes to work in us. We're not waiting for some later manifestation of the Spirit or some later filling of the Spirit, but that we are equipped with the Spirit. The Spirit comes in when we're sealed for salvation. We're also empowered for the work that he's called us to. And this is going to be referenced throughout the New Testament letters. We're going to look at Romans 12 together. First Corinthians 12 also speaks of this, and it's Ephesians 4 talks about it, but it says Romans 12 having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. So if you're a Christian, the Spirit has sealed you for salvation. Spirit's at work in your belief, and the Spirit is at work in empowering you to fulfill the calling placed on the church. But we have gifts that differ. Now they're gifts given to us by grace, meaning we haven't earned them. They've been granted to us through the grace of Christ and through the work of the Spirit, but they're different. So there are some things that you are good at, empowered by the Spirit intentionally for the sake of the work of the church. And there are some things that you're bad at. And that's just how it works. And there's some people around you who are good at something else because we differ in this. But he says, let us use them.

> Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in his serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

So you are gifted and you should use your gifts for something. And we see this right? You see this in the church. This is actually one of the reasons why we exist in community groups. We're just trying to practice together as a church, what it looks like to be Christians. So in your community group, you're meant to bring the work of the spirit in you for the sake of the good of your group. This is why it matters. If you're consistently not there, that means there's work of the spirit that's consistently not there. This is why it matters. When your group says, hey, we're going to go do this as a mission effort, or we're going to go do this as a serving effort, and you just don't show up, that matters because the spirit empowers you for work, for service, for mission. But you see this in your group, right? There are some people in your group who, when they're like, hey, let's all go do this. Everybody all goes and does that. And they're somehow gifted to get people to lead, to get people to come along with them. And there are other people who are like, we're going to go this way. And they just head off by themselves. And it's like, hey, let's. Maybe that's not the thing that you're the best at. There's some people who, if they throw a party and they invite people, everybody shows up. My brother was like that. He could throw a party. He could get everybody to come. He wouldn't talk to them once they were there. Wasn't his thing. He was bouncing around, doing other stuff. There are other people who. They can't. They're not good relationally, socially getting everybody around. But when you're at a party. I was talking to some group leaders today. They were talking about this. They said, this person in our group, they can get people. And then they said, and I just show up and start talking to those people about Jesus. And that's my job. He said, I'm kind of feel a little socially awkward anyway, so conversation with me is going to be uncomfortable. Might as well be about Jesus. So he's just in there asking questions, talking to people. He said, that's what he feels gifted to. Do you know that there are people in your group, when somebody cries, everybody else just kind of looks at this person like, you gonna make them feel better? There are other people in your group who, when they go to encourage you, it's not encouraging. They're like, that's all right. One day you'll die. It's like, that doesn't. I don't feel better. Were you trying to make me feel better? Like, and we have gifts that differ, and we're meant to use these for the sake of building one another up. We're meant to use them. So if you were to say, well, I don't really have anything. The New Testament's going to say that you're wrong and that you're actually being a poor steward. What God has given you first.

First Peter four says it this way, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. That we are empowered for mission and service.

> As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.

Now, we're going to talk more about mission in a moment, because that's going to show up again in seven, in our seventh commitment. But we're empowered for service, that there are things that are meant to be used for the edification of the church, for building one another up in love. And if you aren't doing anything and saying, well, I don't really think I'm gifted, I would tell you that the reason you don't think you're gifted is because you aren't doing anything. You all know when Superman found out he was bulletproof is the first time someone shot him. That's how he figured that out. That's how that works. That the Spirit has empowered us for the work that he's called us to. But if we don't ever go and we don't ever serve and we don't ever try and we don't ever know, he's not empowering you to sit at your house by yourself watching tv. That's not the thing that is empowered in us. He's empowering us as we go, while we walk in faith, while we go into missionary efforts, while we go into service effort, while we talk to someone who's struggling, while we pray with somebody. He empowers us as we go, and then we begin to learn what it is that he's gifted us to do. This is why you should try things. This is why you should serve. This is why you should ask the Christians around you, am I any good at that? This is why when someone asks you that, you should tell them the truth. No, I'll tell people. Sometimes I think if you really desire that, you can get better at it. Sometimes we'll say, hey, because we believe the Spirit has gifted you somewhere, we don't mind telling you we don't think this is it, y'. All. I spent one summer serving with children. I just felt called into ministry. I was like, I'm gonna go serve with kids. That was the last summer I ever spent serving with children. I've gotten a little bit better at it now that I have children, but only in, like, select circumstances, like when I'm coaching and I can make you run, but, like, you go Try some things, go have some people witness and tell you and help you along in it. But we are meant to go and we're meant to steward it. And if you were saying, well, I don't really have anything, that's actually an accusation against the work of the Spirit, his goodness and his grace. So let's be good stewards and let's go. Let's begin to serve, let's begin to labor, let's begin to work. When you show up to your group, start asking them, are there things I'm good at? Are there things you've find encouraging or helpful? Or the things that I should be doing? And start intentionally putting forth effort to serve and to build up your group. And it matters if you're there or not there. And it matters if you're pulling weight or not pulling weight. But there's something beautiful that happens as we do that together. I feel like that every once in a while when my group eats a meal together. It's actually like this beautiful picture of what the church is. Because all I brought was taco shells, but someone else brought meat and someone else brought cheese and someone else brought lettuce. And together we've made something beautiful, a taco, something wonderful. But if somebody doesn't show up and they're the meat person, it's like, get them on the phone. What are you talking about? You're not showing up. I'm eating shell with cheese and lettuce. Have you lost your mind? But that's the way it works with the church. That when we aren't participating, we lose something. Okay, I've said enough of that. Here we go.

Number seven. Jesus will return to rescue his church and judge his enemies. Those who have trusted in something or someone other than Jesus will be separated from God for eternity. As a part of God's church, I'm sent to proclaim the gospel so that as many as possible might be saved. And through Jesus. Now it feels like a shift. And it is from. From our commitment number six to commitment number seven. But commitment number six, part of the reason we wanted to carry walk through these together is a number six says, the Spirit's empowered us for what God's called us to do. And then number seven begins to clarify, what is that? What is it we're supposed to be doing? Why are we building one another up in love? Why are we loving one another? Well, why are we caring for one another? It's so that the church might move forward and see people come to know Christ, so that we might see disciples made. So we're going to walk through this piece by piece and try to understand, where does this come from? So it says, Jesus will return to rescue his church and judge his enemies. This is often referred to as Judgment Day. The Bible calls it the Day of the Lord. We'll refer to it as the Day of Wrath, the day of Jesus Christ. Or often just that day, the day or that day that there is coming. A day, a moment in history when Christ returns. And when he does, there is judgment. Jesus will speak about this. Jesus actually says that on that day, people will be held accountable for every word they use. Acts 17, 30 and 31. Paul preaching says,

> The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead, so that God in Christ is the righteous judge. That Christ will judge all of humanity down to everything we've ever done that's coming.

First Peter four, five, he says,

> They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Now, this day is distinctly different, depending on whether or not you belong to Christ or you don't. And so I want to, as Christians, point out, that this is a day of joy for us.

Romans 5 says this.

> Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

So that the Day of Wrath is a day of salvation for those who are in Christ. If we've been justified by his blood, if we've been made right by his blood, if you've trusted in the blood of Christ to cover you where it says that there's a proclamation of forgiveness of sins, if we're trusting in the forgiveness of sins through the work of Jesus, then on the Day of wrath, we are saved from wrath. It's a day of salvation. Second Thessalonians puts it this way in chapter 1, verse 10.

> when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

So that on that day of salvation, the Church marvels and Christ is glorified. And I always feel like John Piper is very helpful in These kind of passages. So I looked to see. I was like, I'm sure he has something to say about this. So I went to see if he did, and he did. And here's what he said, and I thought it was helpful. He says, what is marveling? Another word for marveling is being amazed. Amazement and marveling are not thoughts, their emotions. If you see something marvelous and you feel nothing, you're not marveling. I don't care what you think. If you see something amazing and you don't feel any amazement, you're not amazed. Marveling is a feeling. Being amazed is a feeling, not a mere thought. And I think that's helpful, and I think it's true. I think he's onto something here, that we feel it. You're either amazed or you're not, but you feel it. You have this moment of. Catches your breath that you lose yourself for a moment, and it's something that happens inside of you. That's why you ever tell a joke. And I mean, I do this. I tell jokes a lot of all the people around me, unfortunately, if you're going to be around me, I'm going to make jokes about things. But I'll be around people sometimes and they'll go, that's funny. And it's like, well, then laugh. You must not have thought it was funny. You just made a comment on the humor of it. And that's what A little bit like, you ever tell somebody really good news and they're like, that's wonderful. And it's like, wrong. You've done this wrong. That's not how you respond to good news. You should feel something. You should respond better. And that's some of what he's saying, is that when this happens, it'll be something we feel. He goes on, he says, well, what kind of feeling is it? It's a good feeling. People pursue amazement, they pursue marveling. That's why we go to the mountains and the canyons. That's why we get out of the city light so that we can see the stars. People pay money to be amazed, to marvel. It's a good feeling. It's a desirable feeling. It's a species of pleasure, joy, gladness, and satisfaction. So he's just looking at this passage and he's saying, when Jesus shows up in the church, marvels, it means they feel something wonderful. And y', all, as Christians, and I feel like Christians understand what I'm talking about. You've had those moments you couldn't describe, but you wouldn't. You couldn't talk, tears just ran down your face. You just had these moments where you were caught by the beauty and the glory and the goodness of Christ. These moments when you were overwhelmed by it. And what it's saying is that when he arrives, all of Christianity, everyone who belongs to Jesus, is just going to go, it's here. He's here. The moment has come and we're going to feel it. John Piper goes on to say that God will get the glory and we will get the joy, and that in our joy he will be glorified. That's what's happening on that day. And this is why Jesus is going to use language like he's the groom coming for his bride. It's going to be these pictures of joy, of love, wonder. And this looking forward to this day offers us comfort in the middle of difficulty, when we're facing trials we can remember. I know where this goes is what we're saying about. I know how this story ends. It comforts us. It also calls us to endurance. This ought to help you say no to sin. There are times when I think, no, I have a Lord. I can't just do what I want. And I'm going to stand before him one day and I'm going to give an account. I can't just chase after the things I desire. I have a king. But it also gives us endurance in the midst of trial and persecution. We know where this is going and that the Lord sets it all right. But throughout the Scriptures, there is clear and compelling and startling language given to this day of judgment. Clear and compelling and startling language. So I want us to consider those who have trusted in something or someone other than Jesus will be separated from God for eternity. Those who have trusted in something or someone other than Jesus will be separated from God for eternity. I'm now going to read two passages. We're just going to try to take them in. The first is Jesus speaking about this day. It's found in Matthew, chapter 25. He says,

> "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Jesus says, there's a day when the Son of man will come and the glory of his angels will sit on the throne and he'll separate and everyone will head eternally in one direction or the other. This is the way 2 Thessalonians says it, this is the evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you he's writing to this church in Thessalonica may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed. So he's saying on the day of Christ, when he's revealed, there will be relief and affliction when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming the fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

> and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

We're told that no one comes to the Father except through the Son, so that in order to know God, you have to know Christ. Jesus says, if you reject Me, you reject him who sent me. So to know God is to know Christ, to know God through Christ. And he says, do not obey the gospel. I think that's helpful when you consider what we just read in Matthew, that the Gospel is the news that there's forgiveness of sins proclaimed in the name of Christ, that we would submit to and repent in light of what Jesus has done, and then walk in obedience so that all those things that he talks to the righteous about in Matthew 25 show up. Because we're following Jesus in obedience to the Gospel. So it's not a list of ways that you earned it. Jesus has qualified us through his death and resurrection. His blood has covered us. That's what he said. If we made, if we're justified by his blood, how much more will we be saved from the wrath of God? So that it's work of Jesus that saves us. But it shows up in how we live. And there is a moment when people are separated. Those who knows Christ and those who do not, verse 9. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed they will suffer the punishment, eternal destruction. This is what the Scriptures teach. This is what we believe. That there is a day where Jesus Christ, as the King of all things, judges the world, and that the stakes for that day are eternal. But at that moment, there is nothing left to do but to be sorted and evaluated, welcomed and cast out. And as we look forward to this day as Christians, and as we look to it as a day of joy, and as we look to it as a source of comfort and a call to endurance, it also should give rise to such compassion in our hearts that drives us into Willing, delighted obedience to proclaim this message, because we should not want to see any cast out.

So as a part of God's church, I am sent to proclaim the gospel so that as many as possible might be saved through Jesus. What we're saying is we understand this reality and we're supposed to go. It's what we say every Sunday when we're finishing up some version really of this. Our world is broken and marred by sin. The people around us are caught in it, in despair and headed towards destruction. And that Jesus tell us, tells us that judgment is coming. But we know that there's salvation in him and him alone. So empowered by the Spirit, you are sent. The church is plan A for this message. There is no plan B. We talk through this every week. We remember this every week because there are people around us who are going to be sorted with the goats on that day. So Jesus in Luke 24 says,

> and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

But there's a proclamation of the hope of the gospel that is to be sent forward. Acts 10. This is Peter speaking. He says,

> And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.

That we're commanded. Peter says, we were. He's talking about the. The disciples. But all of us that follow after them are commanded to proclaim this news that Jesus is the one who's going to judge and that there's forgiveness and hope in his name. Second Peter 3. He says,

> The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

There are moments when you think, I just wish the Lord would come back. I wish he would end this. I wish he would come get us. And in those moments, I want you to hear the voice of the Spirit say, he's not slow, he's patient. And there are more who need repentance. He's not slow, he's patient. And there are more who need repentance. The message hasn't gone far enough yet. It hasn't reached them yet. He's got some that are going to believe at the message that's proclaimed and are going to marvel and weep and dance for joy on that day, but they don't know yet. And he says, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief. We won't see it coming. Two weeks ago they said the Rapture is coming. I don't know if y' all heard that. No, it wasn't. That's not how it works. Facebook won't know about it. It's going to come like a thief. It's going to catch us off guard. But then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Why are we empowered? Why are we equipped? Why did they build a mile long factory? Because they were at war. And y', all. We should not be any less focused than someone who's building a bomber to fight Hitler. We should not be any less focused. We should not have any less ability to understand the purpose of what God has called us for. We should not lose sight of what really matters. Because there is going to be a day, and on that day, there's going to be a lot of things that do not matter. And there's going to be one thing that really, really does. Do you know Christ? Have you surrendered? Have you repented? Have you been saved by his blood? That's going to matter. But there's a whole lot of things that we focus on, spend time on, have energy in that do not matter. And we say things like, I don't know, it's been really busy. I don't know. It's hard for me to read. I don't know. I just feel so awkward. I don't. You know, I just. Bible's always been kind of confusing to me. Somebody's saying, hey. You say, hey, you need to be trying to build with people and share the Gospel. And it's like, well, I just don't know what to say. Then you say, well, read your Bible. Yeah, but it's hard for me to read. Okay. Didn't you quote stats to me about a sports team? Did you make those up or did you read them and memorize them? I don't know. I just kind of. It's hard. I'm busy. I can't. I can't make it consistently to this. I can't be a part of mission stuff. Okay. Do you miss a workout? Do we know what matters? Do we know that there is a day that will be to the glory of Christ, but there will be judgment on that day? Y' all have neighbors that don't know Jesus. Do I care or am I busy?

As I was working on this and considering It I was considering how our groups function. We meet with one another and we have time where we're intentionally. We're just trying to practice what it means to be Christians, trying to practice what it looks like to follow Jesus. So we study the Bible together. We're not just a Bible study, but we study the Bible because Christians study the Bible. We eat a meal. It's not just about eating a meal, but we belong to each other. So we share a meal. We confess sin, we encourage one another, we ask, how's your life going? And we have a section in our normal group rhythm that's called Review the Mission, where we ask, who are you building with? How's that going? Who are you sharing the gospel with? And I've been considering recently that we have care nights. So if you're not in a group, there's a thing called a care night. If you're in a group, you know what I'm talking about. We sit and we say, how are you doing? Where do you need to repent? Where do you need to believe the Gospel? And I know as a group leader that if someone just said consistently was like, nah, oh, I don't do this. This isn't my thing. Or when we went around and we said, how are you doing? They just went, you know, basically some form of pass. We would be telling them, hold on a second. No, you. You need to understand how Christ interacts with your life. You need to know that you have sin, you need to confess, you need to walk in openness, you need to be rescued, you need to be redeemed. Like, we'd be pressing on this, but I started realizing that they're consistently. I feel like our group sometimes when it comes to considering mission, we just kind of. I don't have anything to say because that's not really a thing I do. And we need to have the same understanding. If that's not acceptable for people who know this, you have nobody in your life that you're praying for, that you're going out of your way for that. You care about meeting Christ? Nobody. Then find somebody. Love somebody. We tell people all the time, join a bowling league, but join it. As a missionary. I'll tell people. Sometimes I say, it's so hard to work at my job because I'm the only Christian. And it's like, I want to hug them and praise Jesus because Jesus has already infiltrated a place where there's no Christians, but you're there. Start praying, start pleading with the Lord. Start building friendships. We're supposed to Go.

I was reminded as I was studying this, where Jesus says in Matthew, as he's telling the parable of the sower, he says, as for what was sown among thorns. So he tells a story. Somebody's casting out seed, and some of it lands in a place where crows come and eat it. And he says, that's the enemy. He just steals it away. They didn't understand. He tells about some lands in an area where it's got thin soil and it just burns up as soon as the sun comes out. He tells there's a place where it begins to grow, but thorns grow out. And he says, there's a place where there's good soil and it grows and produces. When he's talking about the thorns, he says this. He says, this is what that picture was. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word. But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful.

> As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

And I just wonder how much of when we talk about what it looks like to obey Jesus, what it looks like to share the gospel, do the things that we say are in the way, fit in the category of the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. And if we heard the Word, but it's being choked, there's hope in Christ. There's a day of judgment. And those who don't know Jesus and have not had him rescue them will spend eternity away from them. And on that day, there's a lot of things you're not going to care about on that day. There's a lot of things I'm not going to care about that I've spent time, energy and effort on. And I read this and I say, lord, stay patient. Because there's more people who need repentance and we need to go. Let's pray. Where we ask that your spirit would empower us, that you would burden us with the glorious weight of the good news, that we would carry this message, that we would risk awkwardness, that we would risk difficulty, that we would focus on, that we would see clearly that day so that we might be comforted, so that we might endure, that we might run from sin. And so, Lord, that we might proclaim that you were going to judge the living and the dead, but that you are the living God who died so that there might be forgiveness. May we go to hell in Jesus name. Amen.

The band's gonna come back up. We're gonna sing. But I would ask you at this moment to consider what needs to change? How do you need to organize your life if this is true? What does that mean? Who do you need to tell? Who do you need to tell today? Who do you need to call and say, hey, can we get together? Where do you need to be more intentional with the way that you organize your time so that we might go? This news is too good and that day is too real for us to stay quiet.

Mill City 9/28/25 Mill City 9/28/25

Re:Member Core Doctrines III: Salvation

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are working our way through our membership commitment. In some ways, it's like if you went and saw a band and they only played their hits, they didn't replace the drummer and he got to write a song about his child and you have to listen to that. None of that, just only hits. That's kind of what we're doing with our membership commitment. It's like these are the straightforward, clear doctrines of the faith and how we're gonna practice them together as a church family. And we're just walking through that together, trying to see where this comes from in the Scriptures, how it applies to us, how we're gonna walk that out here and so glad that you're here this morning and we're getting to do this together. Today we are looking at the doctrine of salvation. So this is commitments five and six, and we are looking at what Christ has done for us in salvation. And I feel a little bit this morning that you get to talking to a grandmother and y'all remember that it doesn't happen like it used to, but they would pull out of their purse this little thing of their grandchildren, and each one of them precious and wonderful and worthy of explanation of who's playing the clarinet and who's pre law and who's just so wonderful and precious. They'd get that gleam in their eye and you're, I'm going to be here a while. Now they can do it on their phone. And it's infinite. I feel that this morning as we look into salvation and we look into this statement that's just each section just packed with beauty and wonder and glory. And so we're going to take this time this morning to study the Scriptures on who Jesus is and what he has done for us in the work of salvation, this act of God on our behalf. My hope is that we would delight in that and respond to that in worship and faith. So take a moment with me as we pray.

As we begin. Lord, we are seeking to, through faith in the work of your spirit, to peer into things that are too wonderful for us. We ask that you would help us to delight in the wonder of salvation and the hope of your glory, and that you would help us to perceive it in our hearts how good and glorious you are and what you have accomplished for us in Christ in Jesus name, Amen.

So commitment number five says Jesus is The Son of God who died in my place for my sin, securing for me God's grace and relationship with him forever. I have been saved by God's grace through faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. My salvation is not a result of any of my actions, good works or morals. There's a whole lot in there. We're going to walk through it. Commitment 6. I have been sealed by the Holy Spirit for salvation and empowered by him for mission and service. We're only going to look at the first half of that this morning. So we'll just look at I have been sealed by the Holy Spirit for salvation. We will look at the second half next week.

Let's go to the beginning of this. Says Jesus is the Son of God who died in my place for my sin. Let's consider that first. When Gabriel comes to Joseph in Matthew chapter one, he says she will bear a son. He's declaring to him that Mary is pregnant, she's going to have a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

> She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21, ESV)

So that's what we looked at last week, that we have sin, that we are a part of the rebellion, that Adam and Eve rebelled against God, they fell into sin, and that we've joined that rebellion, that we've participated in that, and Jesus expressly is coming to save his people from their sins. Or as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15:3.

> For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:3, ESV)

Let me tell you, if you have approached Christianity and you have held something up as first importance, and it is not that, then you're confused about the message of Christianity. If you've come in with, well, let me understand this, or you talk to people sometimes and they're like, you're trying to talk to them about Christianity. I got a lot of questions about Noah's Ark. And it's like, hey, can I tell you, that's not the main point of Christianity. We can get there. But this is what Christianity has come to declare, that Christ died in accordance with the Scriptures, that this was prophesied and that he's come to save his people from their sin, that he died for our sins. That sin is a cancer that is killing us, and Christ comes as the physician to heal us. That sin is a prison that we are captured in, and that Christ is the one who opens the doors, lets the sun in, picks us up and carries us out. That he's the hero, the rescuer, the hope. That's the testimony of the scriptures. First John 4 says it this way.

> In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10, ESV)

So he displays his love for us in doing this. And he's the propitiation, which is a theologically dense term that means he absorbs wrath. That, as Paul says in Romans 1, that the wrath of God is put on display, that it's against all of the wickedness and unrighteousness of men. Or as he says in Romans 3, that we're storing up wrath for the day of wrath because of our lack of repentance, and that Christ comes as the propitiation for our sin, that he takes wrath, that he absorbs the wrath on our behalf. Tim Keller puts it in a really tangible way when he says that sin is like, if I come to your house and break a lamp. When you sin, a real thing happens. Something tangible happens in the world. He says that you can say, you owe me a lamp, or you can say, don't worry about it. But you saying don't worry about it doesn't fix the lamp. It just means you're going to pay for it. That's what Christ has done. When people say, well, why is it such a big deal? Why didn't he say don't? Why can't he just say don't worry about it? He gives us a way to say, don't worry about it, where he pays for it, where he comes and says, I'll cover the cost of your sin. I'll absorb the wrath. That's what propitiation is. And it's wonderful that when it says he died for our sins, it means that we really incurred debt that we have, debt that we owe, that we've caused, and he comes and pays for it.

Or in Galatians 2:20, it says,

> I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, ESV)

This is one of the reasons why it's personal in the way we have written it in our commitment, that he died in my place for my sin. That's the way Paul is saying it here, that he loved me and gave Himself for me. Yes, he loved the church and gave Himself for the church. He loved us and gave Himself for us. That he died for our sins, but he also died for my sin. That he also died for your sin. That he knows you, knows the cost and the debt of your sin, loves you and died for your sin. That if you are in Christ, that that is personal. That it's not something where you get brought into a big group and you just sneak in. I was at a South Carolina game and we were sitting near the little club thing and it started pouring rain. This wasn't yesterday, but it was a couple weeks ago and it just was pouring. We just charged into the covered area and there was no way for them to check everybody. We just snuck in. There's too many people coming, too much rain. You just were like, don't worry about me, I'm coming in. Some of us act like that's how you got into Christ, that you somehow snuck past and that he loves other people dearly and that he paid for their sin and that you somehow have just kind of gone in the back and stood in the corner and he's not really noticing you. But that's not the reality. He knows you personally, loves you dearly and personally and rescues you personally and pays for your sin personally. If you belong to Jesus, you belong to him and he knows you and cares for you. That's a reality of the salvation that we have in Christ. Do not let the enemy lie to you and say that you somehow got in on a technicality and that he loves the Church, but not really you, because that is not true. If you belong to Jesus, he knows and loves you dearly and has died for you, who loved me and gave Himself for me. That's the way Paul says it.

So what happens when he does this? The next part of this is he's securing for me. He died for my sins, securing for me God's grace, relationship with him forever. We're going to consider God's grace that he brought us into it. We're going to consider that in a moment. But first we're going to look at this relationship with him forever. In our sin, we are alienated from God. This is the way Colossians 1:21–22 says it.

> And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, (Colossians 1:21–22, ESV)

Alienated means there's a gap. There's no relationship, it's broken. You don't belong to each other. The tie and the love and the relationship severed. This is where we are in our sin. That if you are standing in Adam, you are alienated from God and you're hostile to him. You're an enemy. That's the way Paul puts it in Romans 5. He says, we're enemies of God, but he says we're doing evil deeds. He says he has now reconciled, which means to bridge the gap and restore the relationship. So it's undoing alienation. He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. The work of the Cross reconciles us to the Father. So you'll hear people say things like, sin separates us from God. And that's true if we exist in our sin. But if we exist in Christ, then we are reconciled and we are holy and blameless and above reproach before him through what he has done in his body of flesh by his death. So that you get moved to Christ, and then your sin does not separate you from God because he has done the work of reconciliation, that he's restored the relationship.

Reading a book recently written by Lee Strobel, he was talking with someone about heaven, and they were discussing the concept of reconciliation between people in heaven, that those that we've had animosity towards, that as we are redeemed in Christ, we are brought back into relationship. Lee Strobel was talking about the fact that he was very rebellious as a teenager. His father was a believer, but that he had contributed so much to the deterioration of that relationship. His father, one time, exasperated in anger, looked at him before his senior prom and said, I don't have enough love for you to fill up my pinky finger. Lee Strobel said we never fixed that. We never reconciled. We never sorted that out. My father's past, and I believe he was a true believer. I think he's gone on to be with the Lord. He said, I've thought over and over again about how much my sin contributed to our relationship. I didn't have a chance to repent. I didn't have the chance to reconcile. They were discussing that when he enters eternity, that relationship will be restored, that there will be peace, that there'll be forgiveness, that there'll be joy, that they'll be brought back together. I was just overwhelmed by the thought of that and this, that we would be reconciled to God, that our hostility between him and us would be restored through the work of Christ, that we would belong, that when we showed up, there would be nothing between us that would make us want to hide or shrink back because of the work of Christ, that we would have all the freedom and all the joy and all the delight to run to him and not feel like that's odd. And that he would have the same relationship with us. It's beautiful that we've been reconciled and we have a relationship with him forever. We should be overwhelmed by that.

It says this. I have been saved by God's grace through faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, that we are in Christ, that the gospel, the life, death and resurrection of Christ apply to us, and that we get to be brought into it, that we get to be saved through it. Let's consider the concept of grace. We've been saved by God's grace. Ephesians 2 says,

> But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved, (Ephesians 2:4–5, 8 ESV)

Let's follow the logic here. We're dead in our trespasses. So what did you bring? Trespasses. That's sin. You've crossed the line. You've trespassed. There was a thing that said, no trespassing, don't go here. And then you went there. Do y'all remember that, when y'all did that? Yeah, we've done that. We've trespassed. And what does that bring? Death. You've brought two things, death and trespass. That earned you death. But God loves us and is rich in mercy for those who have trespassed. He's made us alive together with Christ. When Christ rose, we get to be made alive with him. Then it says,

> For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9, ESV)

That does not tell us what grace is. It tells us that grace is wonderful. You read that and go, well, I'm so thankful for grace. Grace sounds great. If I told you the flux capacitor lets you time travel, you're like, wow, what's a flux capacitor? That's kind of what this is. Grace saved us. The salvation sounds wonderful, but what is grace? He says in verse eight, for by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. So grace is a gift. Another way of putting this an acronym somebody told me one time, is God's riches at Christ's expense Grace, or God's righteousness at Christ's expense, meaning that he pays for it and then we receive it. But it's a gift. I had someone a week ago say, hey, I have a gift for you. You know what I said, whoa, thanks. Sweet. Sounds good. I love that sentence. It's one of my favorite sentences. You know what? I didn't say, hey, I have a gift for you. I didn't go, okay, tell me what I gotta do. They just said, quit being weird. Open it. I don't take it from my hand when I hand it to you. Do you not know what gifts are like? That's how grace works. We don't come in and go, okay, what do I have to do? How am I going to be saved? All right, no, it's a gift. This is received. This doesn't get better than that. There's something in us that wants to earn something, that wants to achieve something. What has happened is that Christ has gone to work on our behalf, and graciously, as a gift, hands out salvation to those who believe. That's what it says, that we come in by faith. Romans calls it a free gift. It says that we've been saved through faith.

So let's consider faith. What is faith? If faith is what brings me into grace and grace is what gives me salvation, then I need to know what faith is. John 3:16 says,

> For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, ESV)

That's that relationship forever, that eternal life that we get brought into something that's going to last forever. That we're brought in by belief, that we're trusting in Jesus. Somebody asked Jesus in John chapter six. They said, what do I need to do? In John 6, Jesus answered them,

> Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (John 6:29, ESV)

You want to do the work. You trust Jesus. You might be inclined to say, well, that doesn't sound like work. Yes, wonderful. It doesn't. It's surrender. It's anti-work. It's us putting down the tools and saying, I'm trusting in Jesus. My hope is in Him. It's not in me. Romans 4:24 says, he's talking about righteousness, which would be the right standing before God. It says,

> but for us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, (Romans 4:24, ESV)

who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. He goes to the cross for our trespasses, our sin, and then he's raised. Justification means that you stand in God's holy court made right. There is no claim that can be made against you because he's made us righteous. His righteousness is counted to us through the work of Christ, and we approach it through faith that we believe in Him.

Trying to make this tangible. I want to talk to the elementary students in the room. But also at some point, all of us were elementary students, so you should be able to track. If you're in elementary school, you do not know how to drive a car. I know this because you live in South Carolina and most of the adults in South Carolina don't know how to drive a car. If you're in elementary school, you might be confident that you know how to drive a car, that you could do this or you've seen it and it seems pretty, but you don't. So you're dependent on the adults around you to get you places. There are a few simple rules for you. Get in the car, close the door, put a seatbelt on. That's it. Now one of the rules you have is see who's driving the car. Do you know this person? That's actually your biggest rule. Do I trust this person? You don't just get to hop in any car. If your parents haven't told you this, I'm telling you now. Don't just hop in any car. Someone who pulls up, kicks the door open and says, get in here. No, I don't know you. I don't trust you. I don't believe you'll take me where I need to go. Belief when we come to Christ is saying, this is the car and this is the driver that's going to get me where I need to go. One of the things we need to understand is that you have no other way of getting there. You don't know how to get there yourself. You actually can't get yourself there. What we're doing when we place faith in Jesus is saying, my hope is in him, and if he doesn't get me there, I won't get there. If he doesn't save, I won't be saved. If he doesn't have mercy, I won't receive mercy. If he doesn't have righteousness, I won't receive righteousness. If he doesn't give me his righteousness, I won't get it. If he doesn't do the work, I won't be able to participate in this because I have no means on my own. But I am putting all of my faith, all of my trust in him and I have no ability. I'm along for the rush. Faith is going to him and saying, Jesus, it's all on you. I believe that you have done what the Bible says you've done. I believe that you grant by faith to all those who will trust in you salvation and that none of us are put to shame. That's faith.

My salvation is not a result of any of my actions, good works and morals. Faith, I said, is the opposite of a work. It's the undoing of work. It's surrendering. It's stopping. If I tell my kids to stop, they do it, but they do it by stopping, by not doing anything. That's somehow faith. Works is us surrendering our actions, good works and morals. Let me show you this. Ephesians 2 just told us we were dead in our trespasses, says in verse 8,

> For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9, ESV)

If you boast about a gift, you're boasting about the giver of the gift. If I see you with something nice and I say, wow, that's really nice, and you go, yeah, I'm not trying to brag, but I had a birthday. It's like, yeah, you shouldn't be trying to brag. That was terrible bragging. You didn't earn who gave it to you. You could say, but then it would be pointing to the person who gave the gift. There's no boasting for us in salvation because we didn't do anything. We haven't earned this. Romans 3:20 says,

> For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20, ESV)

This is very important. If you've come into your hope of salvation and you think it's about doing the stuff right, being good enough, following the rules, that's not how this works. We are not justified by the law. We don't have any work that we can do to show to the Lord. Romans 11:6 says,

> But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:6, ESV)

If I said, I have a gift for you if you win it, well, it's not a gift, it's a prize. It's a trophy. You can now brag about it. I have a gift for you. Give me $500. We've exchanged something. There's some kind of contract. So if salvation has 10% you in it, well, then you get 10% of the glory. And when we sing, we should sing 10% of our songs to us. Every 10th stanza should be. Also we're great, but that's not how it works. Because work undoes grace, because grace is a gift. This is how it has to work. We can't save ourselves. If he doesn't do it, it doesn't happen. We're not able to earn this, we're not able to achieve it. It's not about you. Galatians 2:16 says,

> Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16, ESV)

So if you say, well, I'm a good person, that'll count. No, God gave us standards to show we won't live up to them, and then to drive us to Christ, who fulfilled the law on our behalf and grants us his righteousness. If it had anything to do with works, then you would be owed credit and he would owe you some sort of something, and it would somehow, to some degree, be about you. That's not how it works. We receive it by grace to the praise of his glorious grace, and not to the praise of anything else.

There's actually a way for you to use your good works to avoid Jesus. I'll be good enough so that he can't have a claim on me, so that he can't tell me what I'm supposed to do. He'll owe me. But that's not how it works. We come in and say, none of my actions, none of my good works, none of my morals have saved this for me. That's wonderful news because of what we see next, which is in Commitment 6. It says, I have been sealed by the Holy Spirit for salvation. If you didn't earn it, we also get to rejoice that we don't keep it. Let me show you where this is in the text. Ephesians 1:13 says,

> In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, (Ephesians 1:13, ESV)

When you entered Christ, when you placed your hope in him, you were locked up in Christ, you were sealed in your sin, and now you're sealed in Christ. You are held captive in sin, and now you're held in Christ. I want to read another place where he mentions that same letter to try to help you understand. What does that look like? Chapter 4, verse 30 says,

> And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30, ESV)

This sealing tells us two things. One is he's telling him not to sin, and he says, don't grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed. He doesn't say, if you sin, you'll lose the Holy Spirit. He just says, don't grieve him; he's with you and he'll mourn your sin. He doesn't like it, so don't walk in sin. You grieve the Spirit, but he doesn't say he'll leave you. You don't work your way into salvation, which means you can't sin your way out of it. We are called to continue to follow him in faith. We are called to obey. We're going to be there the whole time. But the Spirit's at work in us and we cannot fall out. We've been sealed for the day of redemption. This is why Hebrews calls Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. This is why in Philippians it says he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ. Christ is going to get you there because it's to the praise of his glorious work and grace on our behalf that he's rich in mercy, as Peter says it, that we're being guarded by God's power. You're not guarded by your power. You're not guarded by your strength. You're not guarded by your focus, love, energy. So often I get to go to the Lord and say, I'm so weak, I'm so distracted. I'm so small and I'm guarded by Him, I'm carried by Him. I'm like a toddler in a car seat in the back of the car. At no point did it suddenly become my responsibility. That's the salvation that we get to have in Christ. We don't have it in anyone or anything else. It's held for us in Christ. Accomplished by Christ, kept by Christ to the glory of Christ.

Let's pray and then I'll tell us how we're going to respond. Father, we are thankful for this salvation. We're thankful for you loving us, for you being rich in mercy, for you bringing us from death to life, for you keeping us, for you qualifying us for you, holding us, for you welcoming us. Lord, may our hearts be able to taste that so that we might rejoice in some measure fitting to the glorious nature of this salvation. Lord, for anyone in this room who still stands in their sin, who still walks alienated and hostile, for anyone in this room who is trying to stand in their own morality, who is trying to, by works of the law, justify themselves. Oh Lord, may your spirit break in. May they hear the word of the gospel and may they believe. May you seal them for the day of redemption to the praise of your glorious grace in Jesus name, Amen.

As a church, we study the Scriptures, we read the Word, and we respond. It's the way that God works on our behalf and then we respond to him. The way we're going to respond this morning is we're going to take communion as a church family. For those of you who are Christians and have placed faith in Christ, this is where we remember that on the night Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and he said, this is my body broken for you. And he took the cup and he said, this is the blood of my covenant poured out for you as a forgiveness of sins. When we take communion, we proclaim his death until he returns. We tangibly, physically remind ourselves that Christ did this for me and I am in him. I'll dip the bread, I'll hold it, juice will run on my fingers and I'll remember that Christ really tangibly actually came and died for me and that I get to partake, that he's in me, that he keeps me, that my hope is in Him. So take this morning and remind yourself that I was dead in my trespasses and sins. But he has grace. He's rich in mercy. My hope is in Him. Tell him once again, Lord, I need you. I need you to redeem me. I need you to keep me. I need you to save me. If you don't do it, it won't happen. But praise Christ that you came and that you died and that you redeemed.

If you're in this room and you have not trusted in Jesus, in a moment when we begin to move around, I want you to get up, place your faith in Jesus. I want you to walk down and get on your knees and ask the Lord to save you. I want you to tangibly lock in that I am going to Christ and I am surrendering to Christ, that it is about him and him alone, that my hope is in him and him alone. If you're in elementary school, grab your parent's hand, walk with them. They'll come pray with you. If you have clarifying questions or you need help, I'll stand down here and talk with you as well. But I want you to move and go. Lord, I need the hope of salvation. I need the work of Christ. I don't want to trust myself. I want to surrender. Don't fight with the Spirit. If he's calling you, come because salvation is a gift to be received. Come and ask the Lord to heal you and to save you and to bring you life.

Daniel's gonna come up, we're gonna play. We're gonna take communion as a church family. If you haven't trusted in Jesus, I invite you to come and to trust in Him. When you're ready, take communion.

Mill City 9/21/25 Mill City 9/21/25

Re:Member Core Doctrines II: Fall and Rebellion

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. My headset mic broke this morning, so I get to hold this. The only benefit I know of holding a mic is that at the end of my sermon, I get to drop it dramatically, if you will, grab a Bible and go to Genesis, chapter one. We are, as a church, working through our membership commitment, and we are walking through. Our membership commitment is one sheet of paper. And it's just bullet points. The first eight or so are theological points that we agree to, and then the second half really is how we're going to practice that here. Our hope for this series is that this is edifying, encouraging, helpful, and that we collectively as church can recommit to these things, if you like. I hadn't committed to this stuff. We're walking through what they mean, where they come from in the scriptures. We wrote these down, but we did not make them up. And so what we're doing is reading them and then showing where this comes from in the Bible, where this idea comes from, where it's anchored in. And so that's what we're doing. Last week we looked at the first two. The first one says that the Bible is inerrant and it is the authority over my life. So we're committing to, we believe the Bible. We're going to study the Bible. That's actually primarily what we do on Sundays is just teach through books of the Bible. And so we're going to study it, we're going to apply it to our lives. The second one is that God has existed forever as a trinitarian God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And today we are looking at numbers three and four. So I'm going to read them, then we're going to pray and we're going to get started. So number three is this. Humanity was created to live in perfect relationship with God, joining in the fellowship of the Trinity. However, the first humans rebelled against God and chose to live outside of God's perfect rule. And then number four, number three is really theological in nature. And then number four is taking that and helping see where we show up. It says, as a continuing part of that rebellion, I am in my natural state, sinful and separated from God because of my sin. I have earned God's wrath towards me and an eternity in hell. That is what we're going to walk through this morning. We're really going to take it sentence by sentence. It'll be basically walk through in four parts. If you are new to Christianity, new to the church, this is a Good morning for you. Because we're going to explain a whole lot of why. Why do we exist? What's God's intent for humanity? Why does God respond to us the way that he does? Why is Jesus coming such good news that we would gather consistently to sing about it. That's what we're going to look at this morning. So I'm going to pray and then we got our work cut out for us. Because whenever I have to face off against stuff like this, the whole Bible's at my disposal. And it says this stuff over and over and over and over again. And so I'm always in the tension of like, how much Bible are we going to read? All of it or just some of it? And we're, we're going to read a lot of it this morning as we kind of go through all of these. So let's pray and let's get started.

Lord, we ask for your help. We ask for the work of your spirit in our hearts so that this wouldn't just be something that we think about, but it would be something that we believe. It wouldn't just be something that we consider this morning, but it would go from our head to our heart so that we might see and reckon with the glorious nature of you, of our creation and of our salvation. Help us to see and feel our sin this morning so that we might respond to you in repentance and love. In Jesus name, Amen.

So the first one, we're going to take that first part. Humanity was created to live in perfect relationship with God, joining in the fellowship of the Trinity. I told you to turn to Genesis. We are going Genesis 1:1-2.

> In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

So the Bible opens up with God preexisting and in the act of creation. Then it's going to say that he begins to speak creation into existence. And this is where John the Apostle is going to pick up. He's going to say in the beginning when he starts his gospel and he's going to highlight something for us. He's going to say this in John chapter one.

> In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. The Word is personal.

> All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

> And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So at the beginning of the Scriptures, we are met with the Trinity working in creation. And then it says this, Genesis 1:26. After he's created everything, he goes and he creates humanity.

> Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

So far we see the Trinity at work, and we see that humanity was created. But in Genesis, if you were to ask, why was humanity created? The best answer you'll get is to have dominion over the earth. And that's true. But God's intent, His purpose for humanity is actually bigger than that and more beautiful than that. But we don't get to see it until we see how he responds to the Fall, until He responds to the rebellion and the sin of humanity. So I want to show you, I'm going to try to help you see that we were intended to be invited into this relationship with God. So once sin enters the world and God begins to respond to humanity's sin, and my page turning is going to be more awkward because I only have one hand. We see in Exodus, chapter 29 as God's bringing the people out of slavery, it says this.

> I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.

Original intent in the garden was that these people would belong to him and that he would dwell with them. There's this relational nature to God's design. And I want you to know that God did not create humanity because he lacked some sort of relation. He wasn't lonely because he existed forever in a trinitarian nature. We get invited into the love and the joy, the relationship that already existed. He created humanity out of an excess of love and relationship, not out of a need for it. But then he says his intent as he's bringing them out is, I'm going to live with you. You're going to be my people. In Exodus 34, when he displays himself to Moses, he says this.

> The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."

When he says what he's like, he speaks of it in these relational terms. He's merciful, he's gracious, he's abounding in steadfast love. He could say mighty, terrifying, awe inspiring. But when he starts talking, he says, no, he talks about his goodness and his relational nature. Deuteronomy 6, before they're sent into the promised land, they're commanded:

> You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

God's intent for humanity is that he would dwell with them, share his love with them, and that they, us, we might love him, that our response to him is love. That's wonderful. It fits in the same category where, I'll look at my boys sometime and I go, no, you're not gonna talk to your mama like that. You're gonna love your mama. That's your mama. You're gonna treat her. She exists in this. The nature of your relationship is one where you're gonna love her, you're gonna care for her, and for me to demand that is good for them. And when God says, I love you and you need to love me, this is how this is meant to work. That's wonderful news, because it could exist in all these other ways, but the nature of God's purpose in creation was that we would belong to him, they would love them. And he keeps going. This is Jeremiah 31, the prophet, speaking. He says,

> At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.

He brings them back. He says, they're going to belong to me. And he says,

> I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

The prophet Hosea, God specifically tells him to marry a prostitute because she's going to keep leaving him. He says, you're going to keep chasing her. And in that way you're going to picture what it's been like between me and Israel. And he says this:

> And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy, and I will betroth you to me in faithfulness.

What was God's purpose in creation? That he might marry his people, that they might have this type of a love relationship that should blow our minds. That God's desire, the Creator of the universe, his desire for humanity, is that they would belong to him, and that there would be this depth of relationship and love. This is what we were built for. When you think, what's my purpose? Why did God create us? Or why does humans exist? Is this all random? No, God created humanity. He created you that you might love him, that you might know him, and that he might love you. And that that might be wonderful. I feel like you all are less enthused than you should be, but okay. This is why Jesus, when he shows up, he uses bride and groom language. This is why John the Baptist says, I'm not the groom. I'm just the friend of the groom. But the groom's coming. This is why the book of Revelation takes us to the wedding supper of the Lamb. And then in Revelation 21 it says,

> Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

As it's picturing this redeemed relationship and this reconnection, his intent is that we would belong to him, that we would relate to him, that we would be invited into this love, that it would be shared and cherished. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. That was God's original intent with humanity, was this depth of relationship. Unfortunately, there's a big however that begins the next sentence. We didn't stay in this relationship long. So the next part of this theological statement that we agree to as a church is, however, the first humans rebelled against God and chose to live outside of God's perfect rule. They rebelled against God and chose to live outside of God's perfect rule.

So Genesis 2:15, 17 says,

> The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

He places them in a wonderful place there's no sin, no brokenness, nothing. And he says, one rule. You can have everything. Everything's yours except for this. Do you all know anything about humans? It doesn't go well for us. Pretty quickly, they were like, what's with that one rule? And Satan comes along. If you read the story, the serpent comes and he tempts Eve. He shows up, begins to lie about God. He says, did he really say, you can't have any of the fruit? And she says, no, we just can't have that one. And he says, this is going to be good for you. He starts working in that God's not trustworthy. So Eve eats, her husband eats. He's with her. And immediately sin and death and rebellion enter the world. And there's more going on than just mere disobedience. It's not just that God had a rule and they broke the rule. There's some fundamental things that happen in this moment. I want to read this quote from a friend of mine named Brandon Clements who wrote a book called For Our Good Always. He's a pastor at Midtown Fellowship in Lexington. It says this. It was an intentional choice because not eating from that tree meant that they were accepting that God was wiser than them, that he got to determine what was good and evil, right and wrong. That he was God and they were not. Eating of the tree meant no, I get to determine what is good and evil. This is why it's rebellion. This is why it's a revolt against God's good rule, that it's humanity saying, no, we want to be in charge of that. We don't want to submit to you. We don't want to follow instructions. We don't want to trust you. We don't want to believe that you're good or for our good. We'll take it from here. Thank you.

So sin enters the world. And it's interesting what happens if you look at Genesis 3, starting in verse 8, after they had done this. It says,

> And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Which is just a hint of how God intended it to be. He was just going to show up, walk around the garden. His presence was going to be with them. It was going to be delightful. But the LORD God called to the man and said, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. They were naked. When God created humanity, it says that they were both naked and they were unashamed. Then when sin enters the world, they notice that they're naked and they hide. And I believe that this has entered into the heart of humanity. We still dream about it. You still have that dream where you all of a sudden realize you are completely and utterly exposed. That was ripped away from us. This ability to have this sort of freedom and lack of self consciousness. Do you know how unselfconscious you have to be to be naked and not notice? It's one thing to forget your belt. It's another to forget all of that entirely and to not even notice and not even care. And the amount of freedom and the amount of peace that there is for that to exist in that way, and it's gone. Because sin brings guilt and shame and separation from the man to the woman and from us and God. So that from then on we want to hide from God. That's what enters the world. This is then the curse happens. The curse falls upon the people and God curses existence from this out of their rebellion. And this is known as the fall, which is where we existed in this state with the Lord that we have now fallen from. And then they are removed from the garden and death enters the world. And now they will die. And we've missed the garden ever since.

You know how you can get used to stuff? Stuff can just become normal. You don't even think about it. This is one of the ways I feel like that the world tells me that this story is true. One of my personal. Where it resonates with me, where I can feel this is because we're able to get used to so much. I remember when my wife and I, we had been married a couple years and we went to my family's like Christmas or Thanksgiving. It was something. We were eating a nice meal together. I don't remember exactly what it was. We went in the house and my mom has like a hutch, but it's like a glass case with stuff in it that you can look at, but you're not supposed to open the case, because inside the glass case is more glass. What protects glass better than glass? So we have one of those. We're there and my dad says, hey, come here, I want to show you something. And he opens the hutch, and inside of it he goes, check this out. And there is a dead hummingbird in there. He's like, isn't that cool? It's not like a stuffed dead hummingbird. Just one he found outside, he brought inside, stuck in the hutch. He says, usually they're beating their wings so fast, you don't ever get to see them. Look at how pretty their wings are. Also, look at how cool his tongue is, because its tongue was hanging out of its mouth. And I said, that's cool. We closed the hutch, we ate our meal. We get in the car, we're two minutes away, and my wife goes, what on earth was that? And I said, what? I had no clue what she was talking about. She said, the bird. I said, what bird? Because it had happened before the meal. And then I was like, oh. She said, the dead hummingbird that we ate next to that was in the display case. That bird. That's the bird. And I was like, oh. And then it dawned on me that that might be weird, but in my house, it's not weird. You find anything cool and dead or bonish, and you just bring it in and you go, look at this. You don't usually get to see what's on the inside of a turtle. Well, now you can. And then we just stick it somewhere in our house. Sometimes you stick it in an ant hill first, and then they get the stuff off of it. Then you bring it in your house. We're not psychos. That bird was in that hutch for several years. My older brother at one point said, it's cool. I cut the tongue out of it so it doesn't look as bad anymore. We're capable. There's so much stuff that you get used to as normal. You just get used to it. This is normal. This is how this works. This is normal food. This is normal dress. This is normal talk. This is what you know a house smells like. This is normal. And you only notice it when it's somebody else's stuff. Then you can see it. But you can get used to everything. But there's something in us that has not once ever gotten used to how broken sin is and how death works. You can bury someone who is 97, and something in you rages that, this should never happen. I should never have to say goodbye to people. This should never happen. And we can tell ourselves, yeah, but it was as good as it could be. And it's like, it's not. Because something in me tells me this is wrong. And there's a reality to eternity and the garden are in us because we were made for them. And we can still feel that we've lost them. This is in us, that something has been lost. And so we say, as we look at this, we say, we see it. We see that God made us for something beautiful. We see that we lost it. We feel it. Humanity was created to live in perfect relationship with God, joining in the fellowship trinity. However, the first humans rebelled against God and chose to live outside of God's perfect rule. And we've been living outside of that rule ever since.

So number four, it gets personal. As a continuing part of that rebellion, I am in my natural state, sinful and separated from God. I have earned God's wrath towards me an eternity in hell. Let's look at the first part of that sentence. As a continuing part of that rebellion, I am in my natural state, sinful and separated from God. That we have participated, we have joined Adam and Eve. This is known as original sin, that we're born with this. Romans 5 says,

> Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

There's not one of us that has not joined the rebellion. There's not one of us that has not sinned. And you say, well, what is sin? Well, certainly it is disobeying. Certainly it's that God says, this is how the world should work. This is what is good, this is what is right. And we don't do that. So you have things like the Ten Commandments. We're going to set aside the first few because those first few deal with how we relate to God. But let's just look at the ones that tell us how we relate to each other. We'll come back to the first few in a second. Don't steal, don't kill. Jesus shows up and says that anger is the same thing going on in our heart, that when we hate somebody in our heart, we're doing the same thing. Don't commit adultery. Jesus shows up and suggests, lust is the same thing happening in our heart, that it's going on inside of us whether we're acting on it or not. Don't covet, don't want something that someone else has. We can't even walk around without participating in these. And we would all agree the world would be better if those things didn't happen. We're not looking at them going, those are ridiculous. It's like, no, those would be good. It'd be great if I could live in a place like if I told you there's a city you can move to and nobody ever breaks the church Ten commands. You're like, sign me up. That'd be great. You know much money we lose to the fact that people steal constantly. How big of a drain on society that is? How much of your life is spent trying to protect yourself from someone harming you or stealing from you? How much of your thought process goes to that, how much of your energy goes to that, how much anxiety goes to that? We would love for that. But we participate in them. I've stolen things. I don't want people to steal from me, but I've taken stuff from other people. We've done this. We bear false witness. We've whispered about people behind their back. We've said, you know why they do that? You don't even know why they do that. You just got an angry guess. You want to hear my blatant angry guess about this person? You don't say that. You say, I know why they did that. I know why they said that. Would you like for me to share some false witness with you? But it's deeper than that. It's not just that we disobey, but the first ones are that we would love God, that we would have no other gods before him, that it would be him and him alone. And the second one is that we would not make any graven images. And that's exactly what happens. That we would not have any sort of idolatry. That's exactly what happens in the garden, where it's not just that they disobey him, it's that they want something else more than they want Him. And we do that. How often are we going, God, I really don't want you. I just want your stuff. I just want the good parts of life. I don't really care. A whole lot of people who are saying, I'm a Christian is really just, if he's the person who give me the good stuff, then I'll follow him. But I just want the stuff. I'm in it as long as my kids behave. I'm in it as long as my health is here. And if he won't give me those things, then I'll go find something else, because I really just want him to give me the stuff. He's a means to an end. This is what Romans 1 says, that we can see God in creation, but we don't want Him. We swap him out for anything else. We don't give him glory, which is a fundamental fracture of the existence of the world. We're turning it upside down that God is essentially wonderful. And we're going to say I want some other stuff, which is a rebellion against all of creation. It's a rebellion against your very nature. So we do that. The other thing that happens is we exalt self. Boy, you love you some. We do. It's like I can't see past myself sometimes. Even when you're depressed, you still want good things to happen to you. You're like, I'm the worst. Hope I get a raise. We can't. We're self centered. One of the best ways to see this is to take a group photo. Whose face you looking at in that picture? You're not like, oh, look at all my friends. You're going, where am I at? I've taken pictures with my wife and then been like, that's a good picture. And she's been like, my eyes are closed. It's like, I didn't even look at you. Her hair's in her face. It's going through her mouth like this. I'm like, this looks good. Are you on Instagram? Pop that thing on there, just looking at myself. And then we have self righteousness. So not only the self centeredness, the self focus, but then we turn it into, well, I'll be good enough and I'll earn enough, and then God will owe me because how great I am. So even in our righteous acts and our morality, and we'll talk more about that next week, we turn it inward. And then we want sovereignty. We want to be the people who decide what's right and wrong. That's what Adam and Eve were doing. And how much do we do that? How many times have you read the Bible? How many times have you been with your group and even where we're trying and you're going, I don't know, it just doesn't seem right to me. I don't know about that. I just don't feel like God would say that. It's like we just read it and we just react. There's something in me that wants to pick. How many people will go, well, if there's a God like that, then I don't believe in him. And all they're saying is, if I was in the garden, I'd eat that apple because I'm the one who's gonna pick what's good and what's evil, what's right and what's wrong. I'm in charge of that. I can feel it. I can just sense it. You all know how much we do that. I'm just gonna follow my gut on this one. Don't. You're bad at stuff. I'm a grown man, but within the past couple years, I got pink eye. I shouldn't be trusting me with, like, good and evil. We should understand that there's something wrong with us in this rebellion and that we've joined. So that's what we look, we say, okay, we see the rebellion that they committed, and we see that we've joined. Joined. We see that this is deep in us. I want to show you Romans 3, because Romans 3 is not. It's getting after it. Paul says, what then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks are under sin.

> As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

If you zoom out, if you're looking down from heaven, if you're in a place where there is no sin and you're looking at the earth, this is a really good description of it. Now we know that whatever the law says, so he's quoting the law, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

So we look at this and we say, okay, I see it. I see myself in this. Ephesians 2 says that we're dead and children of wrath that we're following Satan. Romans 5, 11 and Philippians 3 say that we're enemies of God. Romans 8 and Colossians 1 say that we're hostile to God. Romans 1 says we hate God. This is what we're like on our own. We don't want his rule, we don't want his instruction. We don't want him. We just want stuff to be good for us, whatever that looks like. Nobody had to teach you how to sin. Nobody has to teach little kids how to sin. I got two little kids. Nobody was coaching them up on sin at my house. I mean, we sinned in front of them every once in a while, but we weren't trying to get them to follow our, you know, we weren't sitting them aside and be like, hey, you hadn't discovered lying yet. Let me explain that to you. They're just doing it. It's crazy. You're talking to a three year old covered in powdered sugar and they're like, I don't know about donuts. What are you talking about? Donut. I don't even know if I've ever heard that word. And it's like, you little. What is this? And then we grow up, we learn these things are bad. They've happened to us. We don't like them. We know they decay society. We know that God tells us not to, and we still do it. There are things that you're actively fighting against that you don't want. You know, they're destructive for you. And you're going, there's something wrong with me. Yeah, there is.

So then it says, this second sentence in number four for us is, because of my sin, I have earned God's wrath towards me an eternity in hell. So I'm going to show you places in the Bible that articulate wrath and hell so that we can see it, because it's God's response to sin. He has two responses to sin. One is, he chases people to redeem them. And two, he has wrath and judgment. Romans 2 says, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. He just listed off sins, and he says, we know that God's judgment rightly falls on them. And the reality is we actually do believe it's right. You want them to catch the bad guy. You want there to be some sort of justice. You don't want evil people to get away with it. If you've watched a movie where the bad guy wins, you don't like that, that bothers you. You don't want to watch a movie where the guy you hated the whole time walks off and gets free at the end. You want the good guy to catch him. That we want justice. It's just when it turns on us that we start going, well, hold on a second. It says,

> Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

So he says, God's gracious to us, that we would turn away from these things, that we would repent. He says, but your heart doesn't repent, and you're storing up wrath for the day of wrath. When his judgment is revealed, there's a temptation for us to go, well, I thought God being wrathful was like an Old Testament thing, but in the New Testament, that doesn't happen. The New Testament articulates that there's a way out of it very clearly, that there's hope in the midst of it, but God's wrath is still coming on sin and sinners. Jesus talks more about hell than anybody else. And you know why he talks about hell more than anybody else? Because it's real and he loves you. When I'm with my boys and we're around something dangerous, I talk about it a lot. Back up. Get away from that. Don't touch it. It will electrocute you. Stop. I will tell them even aggressively at times. Back up. Get away from that. Jesus is doing that. This is what he says in Mark 9.

> If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

That hell in Jesus' description is internal and external eternal torment. There's a worm, it's an internal discomfort. There's fire. That's external comfort. And the worm never dies and the fire never stops. And if that's real, and if Jesus knows it's real so much that he would come to die to save us, isn't it beautiful that he tells us over and over again, you don't want to go there. You don't want that to happen. He talks about it a lot. He says it's a place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. He calls it outer darkness. He calls it destruction. Second Thessalonians chapter 1 Paul says,

> When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

We believe that there are certain things that are wicked and evil to do and that if you don't believe in hell, if you're going, I don't know about that. That seems awful. And we're talking about things we might look at someone and go, if they choose to pursue this type of life, that will lead them towards something awful that'll ruin their life. If they begin to do drugs like that, that'll mess their life up. They should not do that. That will be bad for them where Christians we believe in eternity, so we believe that when we choose a trajectory of rebellion, we just think the stakes are higher than just your life here will be bad. We also believe that sin unrepentance and lack of worship are a complete rejection of God and the fabric of all existence and therefore have eternal consequences. To reject God has massive consequences that go on for eternity. If we don't see our sin, then the fact that Jesus comes to live a perfect life where it says that all have sinned and therefore all have died. Jesus didn't sin, so he didn't deserve death. It was unearned when he died, and therefore he was the only one who had the credit to pay others. If you died on the cross, you'd be paying for your sin. But because Jesus didn't have sin, he's able to pay for ours. We look and say there's this rebellion and there's this people that are running headlong away from God and they're choosing willfully to do it, gleefully, spitefully, continually running from him and that he loves us so much and designed us to exist with him that he pursues to the point of dying. And then he rises so that we might know that his death was effective for sinners. And then there's a proclamation of forgiveness in his name. But the people who line up for forgiveness are the people who know they have debt. If we do not see this rebellion and our place in it, then we will not love Jesus. We will not be overwhelmed by the goodness of the gospel. If we do not see the depravity and the brokenness of our own souls and our inability to save ourselves without somehow exalting ourselves, that that would be the only route we could take would be some sort of moralistic self exaltation to the point that we are still fundamentally rejecting Christ because we just want more of ourselves. If we can't see that we're in a trap of sin that we cannot get ourselves out of because we're already guilty and we deserve death, and that the only way to try to fix it would be to declare our own righteousness which flies in the face of his goodness, and that we need Jesus, then we won't run to Him. But if we understand our sin, oh, the cross is beautiful. And we can feel the love of Jesus when He says he loves us, that he died for us, when John 3:16 says,

> For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

You see that he's not just doing something nice for you, but he's doing what he intended to do all along, which is to have us live with him and know him and love him, that we're invited in. There's going to be tears in our eyes on that day that he's going to wipe away, but he's going to be feeling the same sort of thing as he rejoices in the redemption of his people, because he longs for it too, that that joy will be shared because that's what he's wanted. I have the opportunity today to a young couple in our church is getting married and I get to be the officiant. One of the passages I love to talk about when I do that is Ephesians 5.

> Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

We look at our rebellion and we look at our sin. And then we see Jesus sprinting after the church and giving himself up so that he might have her. It says he washes us and there's no spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing. That's the type of love that we're invited into. But in order for us to see it and to love it and to rejoice in it, we have to know the type of sin that we have. Let's pray.

Father, I pray that our experience with sin, with the knowledge of our rebellion, would not be mental, but that you would help us to feel it and to know it, to see the darkness of our own hearts, so that the offer of forgiveness carried out in the cross by Christ would be good news and so that we might trust you. In Jesus name, amen.

The band's going to come back up. I would invite you if you have never really considered your sin. I would invite you to begin to try to understand the nature of your brokenness and the offer to believe in Jesus. To just say, I trust you. I don't trust me to do this. I trust you to reverse in some ways what happened in the garden where we said, I'll be in charge of this. To come and say, I can't be in charge of this. You have to do it. I need you to save me. To go to the cross and say, I don't want my sin. I want you and I need your rescue and I need your redemption. I need your hope. I need you to be the one who does this. And if we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth, we will be saved. And there are none that call on him that would be brought to shame. Nobody trusts in Jesus and is put to shame.

Mill City 9/14/25 Mill City 9/14/25

Re:Member Core Doctrines I: Word of God, Trinity

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. We started a new series last week. We finished up First Samuel. We'll get back to Second Samuel in the new year. We started a series called Remember where We Are Remembering. We are walking through what it looks like to be a member here as we walk through our membership commitment. So we're taking the next few months to walk through this commitment. Normally, as we study through books of the Bible, we get to look at the text and follow along with what God is doing in his redemptive story in this world. But this is something where we get to walk through 14 membership commitments that we have written that our membership abides by and see where these actually come from, the scriptures, to see why we believe these things and why it is good to be bound by these beliefs together as a church, as we seek to be a gospel centered community on mission. So this commitment actually a lot of ways, when you read it, actually functions a lot like a discipleship game plan. And that's one of the things that we'll see over the next couple of months that this is if you want to figure out who we're called to be and how we're called to make disciples. These 14 statements kind of provide an outline for that. So if you're new and you've been coming around for a bit, this is actually a very good time to walk with us as we walk through this membership commitment to see the things that bind us together in belief and practice. But if you've been here for a few years, my hope is that this would be an encouragement, that this would be a shot in the arm. This would be galvanizing. This would help us remember why we commit to be members of this church and what we hope to do. So what we're going to do is look at two statements this morning. The first two statements that are foundational for really the rest of the statements that flow out of them. So we're going to see these first two foundational statements. But let me tell you first about how 98 people lost their lives a few years ago. So a few years ago in Florida, there was a condo building that collapsed. I mean, it just looked like a demolition. It just completely collapsed. And 98 people instantly lost their lives. And I remember watching the video from that. I remember me kind of echoing the same sentiments that so many people have, which is, how in the world does that happen in America in 2021? Like, how is it possible for an entire building to just collapse? And everyone was like, I mean, you've seen throughout history, this has happened with different buildings, but with all the building codes, all the things we have here, how does a building just fall? And as they started to do the studies on it, it became very clear that what happened with this building is what happens with a lot of buildings over time. But the foundation of this building was not sound. It seemed they had cut corners. It seemed they had neglected things, and the foundation was crumbling, and it was unable to support the weight of everything above it. And when they did this, when they neglected the foundation of this building, catastrophe ensued. It was a disaster. It was awful. And I can think of no better metaphor than to think about what happens if you build your life upon the wrong foundation. That as you think about faith, what it means to build your life on the wrong beliefs. Because if you do not have a solid foundation to build your faith upon, it will crumble under the weight of everything above will not last. It will break and it will fall. And these first two commitments are unbelievably important to us. They're important for us. They are the foundation upon which we build the rest of our faith. So we're going to walk through these two commitments. We're going to see how important they are, because they are how we view the Bible and how we view our God. So let me pray, and then we'll walk through this together.

Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us either discover or for some of us, rediscover what it means to be a people that build our lives upon you. And may that be so compelling to our hearts that we not just be hearers of the Word, but we would be doers of the Word in responding in faith and in repentance and reorienting our lives in a way that honor you. In Jesus name, Amen.

All right, so we're gonna get this first. Commitment number one. The Bible is God's inerrant revelation of Himself to us. And I accept it as the authority over my life. Life. That's the Bible. The first 60 or the 66 books in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. If there's a blue Bible around you, that's it. That that Bible is God's inerrant, meaning it is truthful, it is trustworthy, the inerrant revelation of Himself to us that God reveals Himself to us in His Word. It's how we know God. And I accept it as the authority over my life, meaning I submit myself to this God through His Word and trusting him and believing him and being obedient. To his will. That's what this commitment says. And some will ask, wait a second, why are you starting with the Bible? Why don't you start with God? Why would you elevate the Bible above God? That seems out of order. And I could understand how it may seem that way. When you read a lot of systematic theologies, which are just theology textbooks that have organized our beliefs in a way that's systematic. That's why it's called systematic theology, you guys. In case you didn't know, they start with the Word. And the reason why is because before we get to who God is, we have to start with a baseline. How do we actually know who this God is to begin with? How can we actually know Him? What is our source? Now, there are two sources for how God reveals Himself to us. The first is what's called general revelation. This is creation revealing who our God is. That when you look at the Milky Way, that when you look at the Grand Canyon, when you feel that there's something bigger than yourself and you feel small and you start to see someone had to have made this. That is how God reveals Himself generally. Romans chapter one captures this in verses 19 and 20.

> because what may be known of God is plain to them, for God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:19–20 ESV)

What we see in that is this reality that the heavens, the stars, the beautiful mountains and valleys and sea and rivers, all of it in its grandness, reveals the. The invisible attributes of God, namely His divine power, that a creator made this, that feeling that everyone feels that's built into us because God has revealed Himself through creation. When you read Psalm 19, which is a psalm that regularly shows up in our call to worship, the first half of that psalm is picturing how God reveals himself to creation, how it shows his glory. So that's one way God reveals himself. The second way is what's called special revelation. This is how God specifically specially reveals Himself to us through His Word, through the Scriptures, through from Genesis to revelation, these 66 books in the Bible. And that's how we get to know God. Specifically the Book of Hebrews, which is a New Testament letter that is capturing how Christ fulfills the old covenant. So it very helpfully ties together the Old Testament and the New Testament.

> Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV)

Then we get this picture of he talks about our fathers by the prophets. That is the Old Testament, that God spoke through the prophets. That's how we have the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. But in the new covenant of Christ, Jesus speaks. And when you play that out, what that is is the Gospels, the recordings of Jesus teachings. And then the apostles who God used to write Scripture to. We saw this last week to churches in the New Testament, to people of the New Testament. These are the apostles who carried the teachings of Christ with them and God spoke through them to us. The Old, the New Covenant together, the Old and New Testament. This is God's word to us that reveal more of who God is in a way that creation cannot, in a way that is powerful. In 2 Timothy 3, 16, 17, it says all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training and righteousness. That the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work.

> All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV)

That language of breathed out. That's where we get the word inspired. That God inspires through men his eternal wonderful truth. And God uses this to bring us into faith. But he uses this to teach, to reproof, to correct, to train us in righteousness that we may be equipped for every good work that God has called us to do. The Scriptures are powerful and they are true. That God has spoken truthfully. We use the phrase inerrant means devoid of any error. This is something we've taught for years in our church. We've talked over and over again about how God speaks truthfully, that our Bibles are trustworthy. And after teaching this for years, this is something that actually in our membership commitment, we've added this word inerrant. And we'll talk about this at family meeting to help clarify. This is something that we've always believed and it's something we should build our faith upon to trust God that when he has spoken, he has spoken truthfully. That certainly there are times in the Bible where it's hard to figure out what this text means versus this text. But as at the end of the day, when the dust settles, we can trust our Bibles unbelievably trustworthy. There's so many people who've dedicated their lives to helping see some of the nuances of how the Greek and the Hebrew were transcribed over time and how it's completely trustworthy. We spent some time in this in the past to help us see that our Bibles are so unbelievably trustworthy. We've looked at some stuff from like, Wesley Huff. We've done some video work on that in the past to help us see that man. There's so much that we can see that we can build our lives upon this as being true. And the Bible testifies to this. We look at Psalm 19, the second half of Psalm 19. It begins in verse 7.

> The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. (Psalm 19:7–8 ESV)

Law, testimony, precepts, commandment. These are all phrases that mean the word of God. And it is perfect and it is sure and it is right and it is pure. And you'll see this over and over again. The Scriptures are trustworthy. They're reliable. That when God speaks, we can trust him. And not just trust him, but obey him. That we would see him as the authority in our lives. The Scriptures are authoritative. The way God speaks, we respond. So much so that when he says, flee from sexual immorality, we say, yes, my flesh wants this, but I'm going to flee. I'm going to run from this. Because I know ultimately I'm going to trust you over my own desires. That when God says, keep yourself from the love of money and be content with all things, we say, I know that I live in a culture that pushes me to build my life on success, the American dream, but I'm going to run from that. I'm going to keep myself free from that. I'm going to trust you above my own instincts, God. That when God speaks, we respond. This is unbelievably important. This is foundational. Because the Bible has to be part of this foundation that helps us trust who our God is. When he says who he is and it reveals who God is, which is our second commitment that we would know this God commandment number two. The God that scripture reveals has existed forever as a trinity. God the Father, God the Son, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit.

So the God that scripture, that's the Bible that you have reveals, just talked about, has existed forever, meaning that God is outside of time in a way that breaks our brain. That time is a linear thing that he has created and eternity past, which we don't know how that works. God forever existed. He exists in outside of time. And when time ends after time and eternity future, God forever exists, which again, we don't Know how that works. Our finite minds can't understand that, but has existed forever as a trinity. God the Father, God the Son, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit. Now, Trinity is not a word you will find in the Bible. It's not a word that you'll see in the Scriptures in the same way that inerrant is not a word you'll find in the Bible. But over time, we've had to. We've had to come up with words and concepts to describe what's happening in the Scripture and also answer false teachings over time. And that's where the doctrine of the Trinity came. In the first few centuries, as the early church fathers were looking at the Scriptures, trying to understand who our God is, we came up with the doctrine of the Trinity, built upon the Scriptures, which just means tri unity, our triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, three distinct persons, completely and fully one God. Which, as we try to understand that, again, our brains do not compute. I got three kids, 10, 8, and 6. When we read the Bible together, when we talk through different theological things I'm trying to instill and teach to them, they get to the Trinity and we've had this conversation, and they'll be like, wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. Our God is one, but he's three. But three isn't one. And they just go, what? That doesn't make sense. And I say, welcome to the party. Christians for centuries have sat in the mystery of who our God is, that he is one and that he's three. And, yep, what you're feeling right now is very normal. And there have been ways to try to explain who our God is as a triune God. There's a symbol that's been used for years in church history that I find helpful, and it's been very, very, very common for many centuries. And it helps us see that the Father is God, but the Father is not the Son, and is not the Holy Spirit. And Jesus is God, but he's not the Holy Spirit. He's not the Father. The Holy Spirit is God, but he's not the Father, and he's not the Son, Distinct, but all God. And it's like, what I know. It's hard. It's hard for us to understand it. It's paradoxical. It may seem contradictory to us because we operate in finite rules, in finite order of the universe. Our God is infinite and stands outside of the finite order that he created. So we take this in faith to understand who our God is. And the Church did this. Y' all looking at the Scriptures, looking at Genesis 1:26, it says, then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness.

> Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." (Genesis 1:26 ESV)

That is God, us, our in conversation with himself, making humanity in his image. That when Jesus gives the great commission, he says, go therefore, make disciples of all nations baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

> Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19 ESV)

That when we baptize people in the name of our God, it is Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Three in one. In the New Testament, when you get to certain sections that are encouragements, you see 1 in 2nd Corinthians 13:14. It says, the grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

> The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV)

And it's this language of Father, Son, Holy Spirit, that God the Father, in his deep love for us, sends Christ the Son to be crucified for us to conquer the power of death, of the resurrection, to bestow grace upon us. That the work of the Holy Spirit renews and brings to life in our hearts and carries us through to completion until we see God face to face. This is the work of our triune God. And it's something that the Church has grappled with for a very long time. That's one thing I don't think we appreciate in the modern setting. We don't appreciate that the first few centuries of the Church was really trying to understand this, really trying to get this right, really having big debates and trying to understand our God correctly. And I think we take those battles for granted. I do. We'll try to explain God with cheap illustrations that don't, not only don't do justice, but speak wrongly about our God. I've heard this for years. This is a classic illustration. Some will say that, you know, God is like water, and at room temperature it's a liquid, but when you freeze it, it turns into a solid because it's ice. That's the second form of water. But the third form of water is when you heat it up and it turns into a vapor, it's a gas. So it's all one substance. One substance, but three different forms. And people go, oh, yes, that's a great way to understand it. And church history goes, no, no, no, that's a historical heresy called modalism. One God, three forms. That is not what I just put on the screen earlier. No, that's something the Church fought over for a very long time. To not see as one God and three substances. No, one God, three distinct persons, three and one. And it's hard to wrap our minds around this, but we should go with what the Scriptures give us. We should not try to go outside of it. We should not try to oversimplify this for human understanding. No way. And we should acknowledge those false teachings that get the Trinity wrong and realize that there's danger in that it leads to judgment. That Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, Oneness, Pentecostals, Christian Scientists, Unitarians, all preach a heretical view of the Trinity and that leads to judgment. We should seek to remember our history and to remember our Bibles, because those versions are not true in any real biblical sense or historical sense at all. The Bible reveals our triune God, that we get to know who he is and all of his mystery and all of his wonder without trying to oversimplify this for our finite minds. I heard a lecture in seminary once. We had a guest lecturer who came in and he was lecturing on Trinitarian theology. And I so appreciated. He was quoting a guy named Gregory of Nazi Ansus as a church father. So don't get humbled on his last name. He's like 3rd, 4th century, so has nothing to do with the Nazis, just has an unfortunate last name for history. But he was quoting Gregory who said, I cannot think on the one without quickly being circled by the splendor of the three, nor can I discern the three without being straightway carried back to the One. And the lecturer was making a point that we should be overwhelmed by the threeness of our God, that our God is three. And we were so blown away and captivated by his three ness that we should run back to the oneness of God and see who our God is as the one true God. And we've thought too much of the oneness of our God. We should be driven to the splendor of the three ness of God and be driven back between three and one, three and one. And to keep our minds always there. And I've always found that to be wildly helpful for my soul. To think of our God as the one true God, and also to think about the Father and how loving and how wonderful he is, and how sovereign and wonderful our God is, and think of Christ and His beautiful work that's been given to us that we don't deserve, and to think of the nearness of the Spirit at work in us. We should be thinking about our God in trinitarian language, in our souls, in our speech regularly.

So that's our first two commitments. The Bible is God's revelation of Himself to us. And I accept it as the authority over my life. And the God that revealed the scripture reveals has existed forever as a trinity. God the Father, God the Son, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit. These two commitments are foundational, foundational to Christian belief. If you reject them, you're in danger of judgment. Listen, they cannot be just nice thought exercises. They can't just be neat ideas that are just floating. That we ascent. We agree. We agree to. It's like, yeah, I get that. And then just mentally agree with it without believing in it, building our life upon it and orienting our reality in line with it. Because if we don't do that, we're in danger. This cannot be just head knowledge. It cannot be. I mean, you can, with head knowledge, agree that gravity exists. In theory. You can have mental agreement that says, you know what? Yeah, it makes sense. It's a decent idea. In theory, that makes sense. But if you don't actually believe in gravity, if you don't actually orient your life as if gravity is a reality, you're in danger. You will find yourself on the Gervais street bridge thinking, I don't know, I mean, maybe it's true. Mentally it makes sense. But I also, I think I can invent my own beliefs here. Maybe I can fly. Maybe I'll float off this bridge. And if you do that, you will crash into the congaree. And if the crash doesn't kill you, one of those gators they've been taking pictures of near the bridge will snatch you up. You can't. This, this cannot be just mental. Yeah, yeah, no, no. Our reality has to be built upon this. And if it does, if that's not what we do, we are in trouble. We're in danger. But life is so much better when we orient ourselves on what is actually true and build our lives upon that.

So I have two challenges as we close up to think through these two commitments as we want to grow in this as Christians. And the first is we become people of the Word. That we should be a people that make the scriptures central in our lives and fight to do this over and over again. I have a few different ways we can do this. The first is we see that our worship is centered in the word of God. That our worship is centered in the word of God. That as we gather here on Sundays to realize and to celebrate that the Word is primary, that we begin with a call to worship that comes from the scriptures. When you hear the call to worship, you should not just be checking out and be thinking of other things, but should be thinking about the words that we are reading. That point to who our God is. That we have scripture readings, liturgy readings that we should not check out from. We should actually clue it and see the importance of reading the Word out loud together. That we should realize that our songs are chosen not haphazardly. There's a team that chooses songs that align with what we're teaching, that align with, that help teach us wonderful theology that we can sing deep into our souls and to sing that joyfully in a way that helps the Word be centered in our heart. This is why we preach sermons from the Bible and honestly why we do this. Most of our sermons are just going through books of the Bible. That's most of our teaching. Over 80% of our teaching is what's called expository preaching. For theology nerds, that'll mean something to you. For others of you, it just means that we're going through books of the Bible verse by verse, expositing the text, helping understand who our God is. And this. Most of our preaching is just going through books of the Bible. And every now and then we'll do a topical series like this. But we do that because a honestly topical series, not our best. Our best stuff is just being honest with you. It's harder for us. It's a lot easier, and it makes a lot more sense just to go through books of the Bible. But the more important reason is we just want to walk through the Bible. And if we're in charge and we get to pick text here, here, here and there, we're going to pick things that we want. I'd rather just pick books of the Bible, walk through them, not skip things, lean into the difficult stuff and get the Word into our hearts. And that's what our teaching is. Our teaching is scriptures centered in the scriptures. But we have to be, as a people, mindful of this and joyfully embracing this. The Word of God should be central in our worship. And when we leave here, every. Every time we leave on Sunday, we say the church is plan A for advancing the kingdom, for advancing the Gospel. There is no plan B. We mean that. Which means that our evangelism needs to be centered in the Word of God. That when we leave here and we take the word that we've been given, our evangelism needs to be centered in the Word of God. Which means that when we talk to people who are not believers, it cannot just be wise and persuasive arguments. Those can be helpful. But if you never get to the gospel that flows from the scriptures, you're not actually preaching the gospel. But if you think that preaching the gospel is just friending someone, befriending someone, which we should do as Christians, we should be the most hospitable, the best of friends, the most reliable. But being a friend to someone isn't the gospel. It's not. There's a phrase that gets thrown around quite a bit that says, use the gospel, preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words. And it gets attributed to somebody who didn't even say that. But that guiding ethos has for the last few decades just made us be, okay, I'll just share the gospel of my life. And it's like, no, you can live out the gospel in a way that makes the gospel compelling, but you have to say words. You got to declare who Jesus is. You should memorize some scriptures. You should know how to break down Romans 6:23 and sit with someone and help them see who God is. Our evangelism should be word centered. As we scatter into community groups. That's the third thing. Our groups are word centered. We come together as groups regularly and we study the Word because there's power in the word of God exposing the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. Hebrews 4:12 that we should see this. And as we are walking with other Christians, we should point each other to the Word. That means an accountability that when someone is sinning, we should lovingly and winsomely compel them from the scriptures to say, hey, here's what obedience looks like. One of the things we say is when we practice is we use the phrase good news before good advice. What that means is that when someone shares a problem, we don't want to jump to, okay, here's a bunch of life advice to be able to fix that. No, we want to start with the Gospel. We want to pause and say, hey, can I remind you of who you are in Christ? That your identity doesn't come from your work. It doesn't come from what you do in the office. Your identity comes from the God who saved you, who redeemed you, who set you apart to love him and delight in him. And one of the ways you do that is you actually glorify him in your work. But step one, like you need to believe that first. Now let's talk about your problem outside of that or flowing out of that. But that comes from the scriptures. Those ideas, the gospel comes from the Scriptures. We should be word centered in how we point one of the two Christ and our groups and our groups needed to continue in being word centered. We should be mindful of if the majority of things that we are saying are absent and detached from the Scriptures and we should course correct if that is the case. Fourth thing, our care is centered in the Word. The way that we care for one another is centered in the Word of God. That goes back to something similar. I just said that when someone has an idea about how to care for someone, we want to be able to take everything, every idea and filter that through the Word of God and see, is that biblical? Does that make sense in light of the teachings of the Scriptures? Because we want to be Bible people in how we care for one another. We want to be able to think scripturally and give Scripture when it's appropriate. Our pastoral counseling, which we do, is that at times it can be complex in the things that we go through, but ultimately at its root core, it's simply walking with other people who are struggling and helping them see. Do you see who God is in His Word? Do you see how knowing him and how delighting in him actually exposes some of the things in our own life? The brokenness, the sin, the struggles, the idolatry? We want to be a people whose care is centered in the Word of God. And lastly, we want to have spiritual disciplines that are centered in the Word of God. We want to be a people who stay disciplined in His Word in a way that truly takes the Scriptures, adores them, and meditates on them day and night. I want to be like that picture that we just read earlier and sang about in Psalm 1. It's planted in the streams of water that flow from our God and the living and abiding Word of God that bear fruit in our lives in wonderful ways. And I know over the years I've heard the popular rebuttal that says, okay, yeah, I mean, I get it, yeah, read your Bible. You know, I've been told that and I've done that and it didn't work. And as I've heard this over the years, I've thought about my own soul in this. What I've realized is I don't think we truly understand what it means to actually be rooted in the Word of God like we're supposed to. I don't think we truly understand what it means to meditate regularly in the Word of God. I think what happens is that, that our souls are so over entertained, so easily distracted, so glued to our phones that we are so now oriented to experience 20 second clips in a way that has made us so distracted, that the idea that we think is that alongside that we can Inject a few minutes of the Word in our day, here or there, every few days. And that. That somehow is supposed to counteract all of the things that we fill our soul with that rob us of joy in Christ. And God sometimes does, in those few moments, supernaturally, just in his wonderful power, work through the Word in that moment and reorient our souls. But often what happens in the lives of ordinary Christians in ordinary days is regularly meditating upon the Word of God in a way that seems saturates our souls so that when we are walking through whatever we're walking through, we're able to see it through the lens of the Gospel. And that's different, y'. All. When you study the faith of the people of old, of centuries ago, it's like they'd wake up and they'd read the Word of God and they wouldn't just leave it there. They'd pick it up and they meditated on it throughout the day. And they continue to think about it, continue to process it and chew on it and enjoy it. And then as the day closes, as their evenings close, they come back to the Word and they'd read it and they'd enjoy it. And even those Christians walked through seasons that were dry, that felt like a spiritual desert. But they persevered knowing that the path to getting to the other side of that is to continue to stay disciplined in beholding who our God is and His Word. So when I hear, yeah, I read my Bible, it didn't do anything for me. I'm just like, I don't know if we actually did. Not in the way the Scriptures outline, not in the way that we're supposed to. Not in the way that God invites us into. No, I don't. We cannot reject the power of God's Word as people under the authority of God's Word and make God the least influential position on our screens and in our souls. That cannot be. And I feel this, y'. All. I feel this personally right now. So as we look at our commitments, I know some of our commitment is going to cover this. We need to come back to being men and women who are disciplined in the Word of God, which means at times you're going to read things that you don't like. You're going to read the Scriptures and go, I don't know if I'd like that. One of the things I've appreciated over the years of walking with people is at times when you come up against something in the Bible that says, I don't like this. It's like that's okay. But in faith, trust the God who wrote it. And in faith what you'll see is that over time you may not like that, but at time you'll grow to believe that is actually ultimately what is good for you. And that God willing, he's going to change our hearts. That we might love the things that we once did not like at all. But that takes discipline and that takes some pursuit and that takes making God central in our lives. We should be people of the Word.

The second and the last is we should become people of God, become Bible people and God centered people. People love God. I don't mean that in a way that says that this is how you make yourself a Christian. That's not what I mean. I mean that if you're in Christ, we should be just of God in a way that Jesus taught when he said, pursue God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul. That we should be a people. That our intellect and our affections, our emotions, our whole being is oriented towards our triune God. We should think about God the Father in a way that says, I love our heavenly, my heavenly Father. That he's a better Father than any earthly Father I could have. He's a better authority figure than any authority figure I could have. That I'm going to trust in my heavenly Father. That I want to behold Christ the Son and think about all the ways every day as I sin, every day as I struggle to remember Jesus. Thank you that you bled and you died for my struggles, for my brokenness. That we remember the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives in a way that helps us remember that every moment of our lives, in every room, God is present with us. To believe that, that God is present with us. That even when we can't feel it, we know by faith he's with us. We should think and dwell and enjoy our triune God. One of the normative ways to do this is through prayer is to seek our triune God in prayer. Jesus taught the normative pattern of prayer is to the Father. So we should pray normally to the Father. Most of the prayer you see in the New Testament is to the Father, our Father who lives in heaven. But we also should pray with the rest of the Trinity in mind with Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit and be trinitarian and how we think about prayer. To think about God the Father that we are submitting to and enjoying in prayer. And Christ our great High Priest who offers our prayers to the Father and the Holy Spirit who prays for us when we don't know what to say ourselves. Our God is wonderful and he is good and we should orient our souls to toward our triune God and be God centered people, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one true God. And if we make him our pursuit, make him the goal of our affections, of our desires, God will form us in the people that he's called us to be. And I believe that if we build our lives on these first two commitments we walk through that we will set a foundation that is meant to last. That we will build our lives on a foundation that will not crumble. Y', all, I have. I'm serious. I have watched friends who seemed like they were on fire for Jesus, that raised their hands and worshiped and knew all the right phrases and knew all the right correct answers, who did not build their life on this foundation, who began to question the Bible, who began to question the validity of it, who became skeptical, who began to slowly drift in a way that they didn't just walk away from God, they became enemies of God and to this day are still throwing stones at Jesus and his movement. It is important for us to evaluate what are we building our life upon. What is the foundation that everything is built upon? These two commitments are vital for building a foundation that will last.

Let me close with the words of Jesus at the end of the Sermon on the mount in Matthew 7 and I want you to hear these if you have to close your eyes to focus, do so. But I want you to hear what Jesus says to us. He says, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

> Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:24–27 ESV)

What he just said is that everyone who hears my words hears Christ's words, believes, trusts, obeys, and builds their life upon them. It's like a wise person who built their house on the rock. Verse 25 and the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. That when the storms of this life shift you and beat upon you, when you feel suffering and trials and the storms of temptation, everything that begins to shake, you won't shift off of the rock because you were built on a solid foundation. He goes on to say, and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell. And great was the fall it that Jesus warns and says, if you don't build your life upon me, upon Christ, upon our triune God who's revealed himself in his word. If you don't, it will not last. And when the storms of life come, you will be shifted. But we as a church resolve to commit ourselves to be built upon the rock that is Christ. These two foundational commitments are vital. And if we will build our lives upon pursuing and knowing and delighting and trusting our God and His Word, so that we might know who God is and respond to him in faith and repentance and delighting in him and trusting him and walking out joyfully in obedience, we will stand.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us begin. Some of us begin to see the beauty of the scriptures that reveal who you are. That we would not believe in anything else, in anyone else, that we would build our lives upon you as our solid rock and faith foundation. But Lord, that comes through your redemptive work in our hearts, through helping us to see you more clearly and growing in us spiritual fruit that helps us know you in Jesus name. Amen.

We're going to respond here by taking the Lord's Supper. I want to read from Mark chapter 14 to prepare our hearts to take the Lord's Supper. Here Jesus.

> And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." (Mark 14:22–25 ESV)

That when Jesus was sitting with them and he took the bread and he broke and he took the cup of the new covenant, he said, this is my work done for you. The second member of the Trinity looking at us saying, I love you so much that I came to have my blood shed for you. And if you're a Christian and your life is built upon the rock that is Christ, you get to in a moment joyfully come to the table confessing our sin, but confessing our wonderful Savior as revealed to us in the word of God. So in a moment, prepare your heart. There's gluten free back in that back corner over there. But come and take the Lord's Supper. But hear this. If you are not a Christian, if you haven't trusted in Christ My hope is this morning is you would not come to the table, but you would come to Christ. You would place your faith in him, and you'd build your life on the wonderful foundation that is our God. But when you're ready, come.

Mill City 9/7/25 Mill City 9/7/25

Re:Member The Why and What of Membership

Group Guide

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. So we, as I said last week, we are taking a break. We just finished up First Samuel and we are not going to jump straight into Second Samuel. We're going to do that in the new year. We're going to do a series called re member series called Remember. We'll do that through the fall and then we'll do give series and we'll come back to Second Samuel. We're excited about this series. This is an opportunity for us to revisit and remember what it means to be a member of this church. See how clever we are with titles, you guys. There you go. One clap. It's an opportunity for us to revisit what it means to be a member of this church. So we're going to over the next few months walk through our membership commitments and revisit the things that bind us together as beliefs and practices. And then if you are a member of this church, we'll have the opportunity this fall to actually recommit to membership. We're excited about that and we're going to have more information about that at our upcoming family meeting. So make sure that you are there if you're a committed member of our church, to be at family meeting. But we're thankful that we get to walk through this over the next couple months. These 14 different membership commitments that we have before we jump into those commitments today, I want to look at the why and the what of membership. We need to look at the why and the what of membership before we jump into what we actually commit to as a church. Because some folks will pose the question, why membership in the first place? Why do you have membership? Why belong to a church? Some people ask, is church membership even biblical? Like, where do you get this idea? So we're going to examine that idea while also being clear about what it means to be a member of this church. Like what is our membership commitment all about? And there's some language that we use that is going to sound very familiar, that if you ask what does it mean to be a member of of Mill City Church of Cayce, There's a phrase that will show up as we walk through this today. I know it's going to blow your mind like you've never heard it before. But we are a gospel centered community on mission. It's the language we use over and over again. I'm pretty sure it's on the wall somewhere in the lobby. But there's a reason we are that and there is a Reason why that really defines who we are as a church. And we're going to see that as we walk through why membership, but also what it means to be a member of this church. So I want to pray for us and then we will walk through this together.

Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us have ears to hear this morning. I pray that you might help us see why it is good to belong, why it is good to commit to following you, to delighting in you, to loving one another, to being obedient, to take the gospel to our city. God, I pray you'd help us be present and we'd be not just hearers of the Word, but we would be doers of the Word. As we trust you, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

All right, so why do we practice church membership? Someone will ask, where in the Bible do you find the command to be a member of a local church? Now, this may come as a shock to some of you, but you're not going to find any one verse in the Bible that commands for you to be a part of a church through church membership. There's no Third Corinthians that shows up and says, and be a member of a local church and submit to the elders of that local church. There's not any one verse that really makes this crystal clear, which is if there was, it might make the conversation about membership a little bit easier over the years as we've had it. But what you will see is as you look through the Scriptures, you'll see that God is doing something in setting up his church. And that's what I want to do. For the first part in answering why membership? I want to do what's I want to do a biblical theology of church membership, which is going from the Old Testament to the New Testament to see how God is developing this people that is going to belong to him, with him at the center to declare His Excellencies to a lost world. So that's what I want to do, starting off in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis. So God chooses in the Book of Genesis, Abraham that he's going to form a people through. He promises Abraham he's going to have a great nation that's made through him. And in this selection of Abraham, we see that God is going to have a unique, special relationship with him and his people, unlike the rest of humanity. And there's this promise of this great nation, this great people that he's going to bless the nations through. And then when you get to the next Book of The Bible, the second book, the book of Exodus. You see that God takes his descendants, the twelve tribes of Israel who have been slaves in Egypt. He brings them out of Egypt. And when they're wandering in the wilderness in Exodus 19, you see really the formation and the formal covenant relationship that God establishes with his people. And in Exodus 19 he tells his people in verse 5,

> Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words he shall speak to the people of Israel. Then he tells them that you are my treasured possession. And as this is going to play out, he's going to take this people, his treasured possession to the promised land. He's going to set himself up in the center of his people to be a God centered people that are uniquely his, unlike any other aspect of creation, unlike any other people. And that this people is going to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This people was meant to be separate from the nations that look different, that proclaim the excellencies of God as a light to the surrounding nations. And then this is Exodus 19, right before Moses goes up to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. When he gets the Ten Commandments, you see the first four commandments and the Ten Commandments are God centered commandments. This is how to have right relationship with God and worshiping God alone. And then the next six are how to live in good community with one another, how to love one another, how to trust one another, don't lie, don't murder, don't steal. And then the rest of the Old Testament law is really expounding upon those 10 Commandments. It's helping them see in their context, in their time, this is what it means to be a people who has God at the center, who loves one another fiercely in a community that takes care of one another, that looks separate from the nations, that declares how good our God is. And when you read the rest of the Old Testament, you see a people that most of the time falls on their face in trying to live that out, that over and over again. They don't put God at the center, they worship other gods, they don't love each other, they don't serve each other, they take advantage of one another. And instead of looking separate than the nations in order to show how good their God is, they look just like the nations. And that is the reason that they need a Savior and there's this hope from the prophets proclaiming this Savior is going to come. And then Jesus comes.

Flip to the New Testament. When Jesus comes, he begins to develop this with new and better language. You see, if you just take the Gospel of Matthew, just start there. When you start reading the Gospel of Matthew, you're going to see what God is doing. In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus begins His ministry by preaching the gospel, proclaiming the gospel of his kingdom that is coming, and declaring the good news. And then he also chooses a people. He chooses the 12 disciples, these disciples whom he's going to build his church through. He begins teaching them. You keep flipping. Go to Matthew chapter five through Matthew chapter seven. You read the Sermon on the Mount. This is a retelling of the law and new and really better language, showing the heart of God all along for his people. What it looks like to put God at the center, what it looks like to take sin seriously, to live in community. We see some of this and more teaching, more of his ministry. When you get to Matthew chapter 11, you see that he commissions out his disciples. He puts them on a mission trip to begin to declare the good news of the Gospel to the people in the surrounding areas. You keep reading the Gospel of Matthew, you see more teaching, you see more of his work and his ministry. And then you get to Matthew chapter 18. And then Jesus begins to use a word to describe what this people is going to be, that he's making this new covenant people, and that is the church. The Greek word for that is ekklesia. It means church or assembly. And it shows up in Matthew 18. And Jesus begins to describe what this church is going to look like. It's going to be a people who take sin seriously, who hold each other accountable, who practice radical forgiveness. That is unlike the rest of the world. Jesus continues to teach. He continues to form his people. He continues to disciple his disciples. And then it is time for him to do the work that no one can do. He does the work of salvation. He takes his perfect record of righteousness with him to the cross. He dies on the cross for our sins because we were unable to to obey the law. He dies on the cross, taking judgment upon himself. He conquers death at the resurrection, removing the power of death over his people. And then he looks at his disciples at the end of Matthew and he tells them,

> Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

He tells them, you're going to take everything that you've learned from me over the last three years. This message of the gospel that I came to redeem you and save you. This message of what it looks like to be a people that are committed to having God at the center and loving one another. Well, you're going to take that to the nations where they're going to hear the gospel and believe and you can read Mark and Luke and John and you're going to see this story over and over again. Then you get the book of Acts where Jesus ascends to the right hand of God the Father being king over all creation. And then the Holy Spirit descends upon his people and the church begins in Acts 2. You read that Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit stands up, preaches the first sermon at Pentecost and 3,000 people, people place plus people place their faith in Jesus and are baptized. And then we see some of the very first acts of this church and responding to Christ in faith and baptism. It says in verse 42. We'll have more time to study this exact passage in community group this week. I just want to hit some of the highlights to help us see what God is doing here. In verse 42 he says,

> And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

That's the teachings of Christ. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. They were a gospel centered people. And it continues into the fellowship and the breaking of bread and prayers. You go to verse 44.

> And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

That they were a people that believed the gospel, devoted themselves to that teaching, but they devoted themselves to one another. They fellowshiped together, they broke bread together, they took care of each other's needs. They saw their brothers and sisters in Christ as more important than money and material things. And they're selling their stuff so that they can take care of one another. And then it goes in verse 47 and finishes.

> And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

That this message continues to be introduced to people who hear and believe and are brought into the church to continue to be a gospel centered community on mission to take the gospel to the world that desperately needed it. The church in Jerusalem continues to expand as you follow the story. Keep flipping through Acts. All of a sudden God has a plan to see scatter his people and involves the death of one of his servants, Stephen. He ordains the death of Stephen who's proclaiming the Good news of Jesus Christ and he's murdered for it. And in Acts chapter eight, after he's martyred, it says, and Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And now we see that the plan is spreading, that it's not just a church in Jerusalem now, it's in Judea and it's in Samaria. And the church is going global. One of the ways this has been described is that the church globally is the big sea church in creeds. That's called the Catholic Church. It's not referring to the Catholic denomination, but the Catholic meaning universal. That there's this global, universal church bound together by Christ. But it's not just in Jerusalem, it's in Judea, it's in Samaria. It's scattered in communities across the world in local churches. That's usually called the little C church. But there are little C churches who are forming together with Christ at the center, seeking to be what God has called them. Now the church is spreading past Jerusalem. And then that man who was involved in the killing of Stephen Saul in Acts chapter nine is on his way to persecute more Christians. And then Jesus blinds him, converts him. And then we know him mostly as Paul. And then Paul is set apart to take this even further. And he plants churches all over Asia Minor, all over Europe. And the church begins to spread and expand. As you continue to read the Book of Acts, you see the gospel spreading all over that region. But as these churches are getting established and they're seeking to be a gospel centered people that are taking the gospel to the nations as they're seeking to be this, they start to run into problems. They start to run into different things, different sins, different struggles. There's a bunch of people who the thing that the. The central binding idea that holds them together is Christ. But they're very, very different. Different ethnicities, different cultures, different classes. And as you continue to read the rest of the New Testament, you see that God had a plan for this, that he starts to write letters, inspired scripture through servants like Paul to these churches to help them see what it means to be a gospel centered people. How to fight for what is good, how to repent of sin, how to live in community, how to still have some missional hustle to take the gospel to the nations. But when you read the beginnings of these letters, you see very clearly that these are individual churches. I'll run through a Bunch of them. Really quickly. The letter to the Corinthians, in First Corinthians, Chapter one, it says, to the church of God that is in Corinth, that is that church in that city with their unique issues. This is a letter to that church. Not all the churches, though all the churches, will eventually benefit from this, helping us see now it's not just one global church. There's individual churches where these people belong to one another and have their own leaders and their own issues they're facing. It continues to the churches of Galatia, that's a whole region of different churches that Paul planted in his first missionary journey. To the saints who are in Ephesus, that's the book of Ephesians. To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, that's the book of Philippians. To the church of Thessalonians and God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, that's the church in Thessalonica. You start to see that there is one global church made up of individuals, communities of Christians who are seeking to be centered in Christ, loving one another fiercely and taking the Gospel to their friends and their neighbors. And you follow that thread all the way through the letters and you'll get to the end. The Book of Revelation, which we did last year. And as we saw the Book of Revelation, it's not just apocalyptic literature. It's not just proclaiming what's going to happen. It is also a letter written to seven churches. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and as we saw last year, all churches with different problems, with different sins, some needing encouragement, all of them mostly needing a smack across the face from Jesus. But those are all individual churches where those people belong to Christ and. And one another seeking to be obedient in following him and taking the Gospel to those who needed it. So that's Genesis to Revelation. While you're not going to find one specific verse that makes this so clear, what you can see from start to finish is that God had a plan to form a people. And that plan was to be localized in churches where there were people that were so deeply committed to following Christ and having a zeal and a desire to worship and delight in him over all things, to be a people, a community that so deeply loved one another and cared for one another, that looked radically different than the rest of the world. So much so that historians at the time were looking at these Christians and saying there's something different about them. And to be a people who are not so self focused that they were going to use their energy and their effort and their time and their money and their lives lives to proclaim the good news to those who didn't know. That is God's plan for redemption. One global church working through individual local churches all around the world. That is God's plan for the church. So when someone says I don't see membership in the Bible, I just want to say it's, you got to read the whole story. You need to see what God is doing. You need to see God's plan for redemption that is through the local church.

I was talking to a pastor a few weeks back and he was telling me a story about a guy who had been coming to their church and he said, did this guy come? And he was kind of coming for weeks and they started to introduce the idea, maybe you should think about committing here. And he said, oh no, I don't believe membership is biblical. He's like, I'm a part of the big C church, we're all a part of the same church, but I'm not going to commit to membership here. And he was kind of taken aback and he engaged with the conversation. He said, okay, take what you're saying, so you're a member of the big sea, the, the big church universal. He said, yeah. He said, okay, well am I like a pastor in this big old church in the world? And he said, yeah. He said okay, so does it make me like your pastor? He said, yeah. He said, alright, let me share with you Hebrews chapter 13. He said,

He said, do you believe that's true? He said, yeah. He said, okay, so if I'm your pastor and you're gonna submit to me, you should go through the membership process at our church. He just laid it out for him and the guy said no and he left and he never came back. And I thought that was quite the clever way to be able to explain and poke holes in the guy's argument. But that passage is incredibly helpful. You read the New Testament letters and you see that God has structured for these local communities that he has pastors, elders that are overseeing the church. So when I look at that passage, obey your leaders and submit to them. It's helpful for me when I'm talking to people about membership. It's like, I belong to this church, I'M one of the pastors of this church. I belong to them, they belong to me. My people aren't down the road. They're the brothers and sisters. They're not across town, they're not across the world. I don't pastor them, I don't oversee their souls. I don't answer for their souls. No, it's this people. And you see that God has a plan and even the oversight of his church. And I think this is important, especially in Southern culture. And here's why. In Southern culture, pretty much still everyone, if you ask them, are you a Christian? They're gonna say, yeah. The overwhelming majority of people in the south are still gonna say, yeah, I'm a Christian. And if you begin to press into that, a lot of times it's, well, I'm Methodist or I'm Presbyterian or Episcopalian, or I'm Baptist or I'm Catholic. And it's like, what does that mean? I was just born Christian, I was born a Methodist. And as you look at the scriptures, you're not born a Christian. And if you continue to press into this, what you also see is there are a lot of people that claim the name of Christ that don't really belong anywhere. They don't commit to any people, don't commit to the Lord locally anywhere. They're just free floating in a way that is so foreign to the scriptures. And then what you'll also see is you'll see people that go, yeah, I mean, I don't really, not really. I don't really, I'm not a member anywhere. I, I like this church for the worship. I like this church for the teaching. I like this church for their Bible studies, like this church for their small groups. I like this church for their outreach. And I kind of just, you know, take everywhere like it's a buffet. And it's like, man, to make the church of Jesus Christ for your own benefit is so foreign to what the scriptures teach about the church that is not the church that Jesus bled and died for. You should be committed to God and his people somewhere. And my hope is that as you look at the grand story, you'll see, yes, you should belong. You should be a member of a church somewhere. Christians are not designed to be outside of the church or just not. And over the next couple months, I hope we continue to see that over and over again as we walk through this.

Now that's the why of why we should belong to a church. Now I just want to, as we end look at the what, what does it mean to belong to this church? And it's gonna sound like a broken record, but it's a good one. It's a record we spend every Sunday. It's what Chet Phillips calls the bee's knees of belonging, which I don't know why he calls it that, but it's really important to us. And that is being a gospel centered community on mission. And that's what you're going to see over the next two months. Walking through this, you're going to see 14 different commitments that highlight that. So let's start with that first part. What does it mean to be gospel centered? It means that we are a church that is bound together by. By one shared story. And that story is the message of the gospel. We are bound together by this one shared story in a way that not just defines us at the beginning in belief, but defines us in belief and practice the rest of our lives. If you look at the American story, okay, if you look at the American story at the beginning, you see that it's a group of people that are anti tyranny. Okay? No taxation without representation. No king's going to tell us what to do. You'll see that it's a people that love freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of worship, freedom of speech. Don't step on my freedoms. You'll see that it's a people that have some hustle, some dogged determination to exist. That's how America began. But that's also the story that permeates through its people throughout time, that even today, Americans don't like kings. Don't tell me what I can and cannot do. We like freedom and there's still some dogged determination to exist. That's the American spirit and it still flows through its people. And we as Christians have a much better story. We as Christians have a much better story. That's not just our origin story, but it permeates through us in our lives. It is the story of Jesus Christ. It is the story of a God who looked on humanity, that rejected him, that spit upon his goodwill, that decided that they wanted to worship what they wanted to worship and find what they thought fulfilling and rejected him over and over again. And God and His mercy does not give us judgment. He sends His Son that Christ comes and he dies on the cross for sinners. And he conquers death at the resurrection. And he gives us grace that we don't deserve to be in relationship with Him. And he forms us more into his image through his work, through his will and desire and good pleasure and that story continues to work within his people. It is the story that saves us, but it's the story that sustains us. In the same way that as foreigners come to America and they become American citizens and in a lot of ways embody the American spirit in beautiful ways, they start loving freedom. They start. They have this dogged determination within them. We do not belong to this world as Christians. Scriptures say that we have. Our citizenship is in heaven. From we have with a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are part of the world that is to come. And as citizens of that kingdom here on this earth, as sojourners and strangers and foreigners, that we embody what it means to belong to him more than anything else. So what we'll see over the next coming weeks as we walk through these commitments, we'll see what it means to be a gospel centered people bound together by that story. But we will also see what it means to be a community. What it means to be a gospel centered community. One of the metaphors that we see in the New Testament for the church, for the this community is the body. So Romans 12, we'll talk about one body, many members. So one body, different body parts, different members of the body in a way that each person is doing their gift to be able to serve one another well. And man, when you see that actually in practice, when you experience what it means to belong to the church of Jesus Christ and have different members of the body who, who love and serve you, it is a glorious story. I mean, if you ever see someone who loses their job, which is a massive loss, and they're crushed, and then someone in their group finds out, and all of a sudden their whole group is messaging them saying, hey, we love you, like we're praying for you. You need to know that your identity is not in the work that you do. Your identity is in the God who loves you, who sustains you. God's going to provide for you. He's going to take care of you, we're going to take care of you. But you need to remember the gospel. And then all of a sudden, they're behind the scenes organizing things. By the time he gets home, there's already been a meal delivered and there's meals to be delivered the next few days. All of a sudden someone else in the church hears about this and they put $1,000 in an envelope and drop it on the doorstep. And all of a sudden he's being provided for, his family's being loved. And then more people in the church find out all of A sudden they ask, can we be praying about this? That you would find a new job that ends up in our prayer message that goes out to our members. Now the whole church is praying and then someone else in the church hears about that and says, wait a second, I know what he does for a living. I got a friend who's hiring for that position right now. They reach out and say, hey, hey, can you talk to this, Talk to my friend. He's hiring. And then within a week, he's already got a job lined up. When you see the church respond like that over and over and over and over again, it makes me so thankful for the church of Jesus Christ and how his church responds over and over again. We've seen this over and over again in our church and it's wonderful. And I wish in some ways more of those stories were told. I know why we don't. Because we don't let the left hand know what the right is doing. I get that. But the stories that go viral are the church hurt stories. And yes, those stories exist. They're real stories with real pain. I'm not denying the existence of them. But boy, oh boy, the amount of church help stories where people rally around one another, it's like 100 to 1 to 1 compared to that. The church is a wonderful people to belong to, to see them in action over and over and over again because they're centered in Christ in a way that helps us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, see something beyond our own interest. And when you see it in action, it's beautiful. It's a family. And that's the language of the New Testament. Often when it talks about the church and is family. When you start learning New Testament Greek, one of the first, you start with the vocabulary words that are the most, most used in the New Testament. And one of the first words you learn in Greek is adelphoi, it's the word for brothers and sisters. Because it shows up over and over and over again in the scriptures to talk about God's people, that we are a family, that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul, when he's making converts, talks about his converts like spiritual children. That we are a family, that we love one another, that we belong to one another. And when you study the Book of Acts, you see this. The church functions like a family. I was trying to explain this to someone recently. I was trying to explain this concept and I was just saying, listen, I'm close with my earthly family. I'm close with my parents, my brothers, and my sisters, like we are, we're close, but boy, oh boy, there's some eternal depth that I have with brothers and sisters in this church that when crap hits the fan in my life, the first few messages are not to family. And that's not to lower my earthly family. I'm real close with them. It's to elevate what the importance of church family is here. And when it hits the fan, I'm messaging people in this church and I got people in this church who rally around in wonderful ways. To belong to a family that fiercely loves God and one another is beautiful, it's compelling, it's wonderful. It is so good to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. And as you walk through the membership commitment with us over the next couple of months, you're going to see this. You're going to see how we fight for this, how this is so unbelievably important to us. We want to be a gospel centered people. We want to be a community that's like a family, but we also want to take this thing that we hold dear to those who don't believe. We're a gospel centered community on mission. And that's what we're also going to see in our membership commitment. We do not exist to be a holy huddle. We do not exist to be inwardly focused. We exist to take this wonderful news that brought us from death to life, to people, to friends, to neighbors, to co workers so that they might taste and see that the Lord is good and be brought into the family of God. We care deeply about this.

Now, one of the downsides to you using the word membership is because sometimes the word membership in our culture has a consumeristic bent. I mean, you could be a member of Costco. It's a pretty low commitment. You pay, what is it, 80 bucks a year? You know, and then you get to go and buy all sorts of bulk goods that certainly will, certainly some of it will spoil in your cabinets because it's just hard to use up all that stuff before it goes bad. Maybe your family's better than ours. We couldn't do it. Or Walmart. Plus, that's not important. There's a consumeristic nature sometimes to the word membership that makes it about self, that makes it about our interest. And I still think the word membership is worth fighting for. I still think it's worth reclaiming from our culture to help us see that it is not about self, that membership is about something bigger than us. It's about a people who leverage their time and their Talents and their energy and their money and their efforts and their lives so that others who do not know Christ, others who are sprinting towards an eternity apart from God under his wrath, who desperately need to know the love of a savior who bled and died for them, that it's worth our energy and our hustle and our grit to take that. To those who don't believe. It's not a country club. It's more like a military outpost. The membership we have here, we don't want to be a country club. Country club is low commitment. You pay your fee, you get to go play golf, get to enjoy the pool, but you don't keep the greens and you don't scrub the pool. We don't want to be that. We want to be more like a military outpost. Our country has military outposts all over the world. And the members of the US Military who are at those outposts, they are there to serve the interest of America. They. They're there to serve the interests of their commander in chief. They are there bound together, laser focused, whether it's promoting the values of America in that area of the world or at times, whether it's fighting a war, but they are laser focused, committed to the mission of America. And we have something so much better than that. We are citizens of a kingdom that is not of this world. And we serve a king who. Who reigns for eternity. And we get to serve him in a land that we do not belong to, that is foreign to us. And we get to serve his interests taking the gospel to people who do not know him, making enemies, friends, making the lost found, making the dead alive in Christ. That's what we want to be. The church is supposed to be. And I'll be honest, we've had folks in the past who came to our church looking for a country club and they just didn't stick. And we're not perfect. We got our flaws. You've been here long enough, you go learn them. But that's not what we want to be. But we've also had folks who've been there and done some of the Southern consumeristic Christianity. And they see the things that we're fighting for and they love it and they jump on and they see I do. I want to be a people that loves one another fiercely, that chases after Jesus together. That is taking the gospel to those who don't believe. I want to be a part of that. And they jump in and we hustle and we fight to be the church of the New Testament and the scriptures that we see that hustled and fought and was missional and had some dog in it. Like we want to be that type of church to missionaries, be everyday missionaries here in this city, in Columbia. So we want to be. And as we walk through the membership commitment over the next few months, this is something that is going to show up. And at times it's hard. I'm not going to lie. At times living out the ideals and the practices and the beliefs of our commitments is difficult. And what's helpful for my soul, maybe it'll be helpful for you, is I like to take the 10,000 year perspective when I think about all this stuff. 10,000 years from now, are you going to regret when you look back at this life not picking up more hobbies, not being the best pickleball player in the world, not using all your money to level up to the next part of society, to the next class, Are you going to regret not fulfilling the American dream and all of its trappings? Or are you going to be so insanely thankful that the work of the Spirit went to work in your heart in a way that helped you leverage your time and your energy and your heart's desire to be a people so deeply centered on the gospel, so deeply, fiercely loving one another and so outwardly focused that you took the gospel to some of your co workers who currently right now are walking as enemies of the cross of Christ because you love them, because you served them, because you stood in the way between them and hell and said Jesus is better than everything else. And they placed their faith in Jesus and they got baptized and they joined a group and they kept fighting to believe all the way to 10,000 years from now. They are standing in the presence of their Savior, worshiping him with you because you gave your life away to something that matters. That is what our commitment is all about. And that's what we're gonna look at the next couple of months. My hope is that for the members of this church, you'd be so deeply excited that you be so thankful for the work of Christ in our lives that we get to do this together. But if you're not new and you're checking us out, I hope you stick around. I hope my yelling didn't run you off. It's just, I'm just excited, you guys.

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