WEBVTT 00:00:00.241 --> 00:00:02.520 If you're a guest here this morning, I want to welcome you. 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:03.504 My name is Ian. 00:00:03.504 --> 00:00:11.140 I am a church planting partner here at Redeemer Church of Fremont, serving to help plant the church in St Jose. 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:28.425 Last Sunday we had a wonderful combined preview gathering down in St Jose at the Roseville Community Church, where God has provided us space for us to plant the church right there in a very strategic part of that city, and so thank you for your prayers and for those of you who were able to be there. 00:00:28.425 --> 00:00:29.640 It was so good to have you. 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:42.529 We'll be doing that one more time in September and we hope, if you haven't had a chance to do that yet, you'll be able to do that, primarily so you can see and sense with your eyes and feel with your heart and soul what God is moving us to do in the city of St Jose. 00:00:42.529 --> 00:00:49.200 Last Sunday we also began a new teaching series, and I want to be really upfront here with you. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:59.527 I am humbled and I am honored to have the opportunity to partner with you and teach this series on making much of Jesus joining God's unstoppable mission for the church. 00:00:59.527 --> 00:01:19.328 It is the heart and soul of your pastors here at Redeemer Church to make sure that you are equipped with a God-centered, a Bible-saturated, a Jesus-exalting view of the church that we have been called to not only worship together but to be sent on mission together. 00:01:19.328 --> 00:01:39.799 And there is much work to be done here in the Bay Area, and there's nothing that will fuel our hearts and propel our congregation in the direction of mission in this Bay Area than to have fresh teaching from God's Word that actually instructs us to do so, and so this teaching series is aimed at doing that. 00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:49.007 It's a teaching series that's not only meant to inform us on what the Bible teaches about the church and joining God's mission for the church. 00:01:49.007 --> 00:02:07.147 It's also a teaching series not only to instruct us but to invite us to get in on it, and I hope, as we see today in the teaching of God's Word, that we are called to full participation in what God is doing in the world to make much of Jesus Christ. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:12.199 Would you take your Bible and go to Matthew, chapter 16? 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:14.508 This is not going to be on the screen. 00:02:14.508 --> 00:02:17.949 This is actually my text for preaching next Sunday. 00:02:17.949 --> 00:02:36.165 But as we dive into this teaching this morning, looking at various scriptures, what we want to walk away with this morning is the amazing reality that we are His church, that we redeemer church. 00:02:36.165 --> 00:02:48.930 We belong to Jesus and Jesus gladly owns us as His, not only individually but collectively. 00:02:48.930 --> 00:03:07.992 Jesus is glad to grab you by your shoulder individually and to grab us around our shoulders collectively and say you are mine, he's not ashamed, he's overjoyed to call us His church. 00:03:07.992 --> 00:03:27.181 So if you don't have a Bible with you, just listen as I read, and would you get your ear ready to hear what Jesus says about us belonging to Him in this text and we'll be looking at this in detail next Sunday Let us hear the word of God Now. 00:03:27.241 --> 00:03:35.127 When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea, philippi, he asked his disciples who do people say that the Son of man is? 00:03:35.127 --> 00:03:41.264 And they said some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and others Jeremiah are one of the prophets. 00:03:41.264 --> 00:03:44.388 He said to them but who do you say that I am? 00:03:44.388 --> 00:04:14.650 Simon Peter replied you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus answered him blessed are you, son of Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven, and I tell you you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 00:04:14.650 --> 00:04:21.992 Redeemer church, we are His church. 00:04:21.992 --> 00:04:29.882 May the Lord have His blessing to the reading and preaching of His word by the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, amen. 00:04:30.860 --> 00:04:36.769 A story is told of a man who found himself stranded all alone on a deserted island. 00:04:36.769 --> 00:04:42.447 He had managed to survive and adapt to his surroundings for over three years. 00:04:42.447 --> 00:04:52.987 One day a survey plane did a fly over that island and noticed what seemed to be the shape of three structures that, from that distance, resembled huts. 00:04:52.987 --> 00:05:00.005 Soon after, a discovery team was deployed and they went to search the island and see if it was inhabited. 00:05:00.005 --> 00:05:08.399 And not too long after they arrived on the island they found the man who had been there and survived on his own for three years. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:18.810 As conversation began, they asked him about how he got there, how he survived, and finally they asked him about the significance of the three huts that he built. 00:05:18.810 --> 00:05:20.103 He explained. 00:05:20.103 --> 00:05:27.067 He said the first one is my house, the second one is my church. 00:05:27.067 --> 00:05:31.149 And then his head fell and he went in silence. 00:05:31.149 --> 00:05:36.408 The rescue team member could tell that he was troubled and said but what about the third hut? 00:05:36.408 --> 00:05:39.747 He said that was my old church. 00:05:39.747 --> 00:05:46.661 We laugh because we identify and for the gullible. 00:05:46.661 --> 00:05:54.942 That is not a true story For various reasons, some good, some bad and some in between. 00:05:55.083 --> 00:06:00.528 Almost all of us can probably say that we have an old church. 00:06:00.528 --> 00:06:06.524 Unfortunately, many Christians find it too easy to move from church to church. 00:06:06.524 --> 00:06:14.987 But I'm convinced that when we begin to see the church the way God sees it, it will not only be harder to church hop. 00:06:14.987 --> 00:06:21.427 The church will become precious to us, like it is precious to God. 00:06:21.427 --> 00:06:39.826 I love the way the 19th century pastor Charles Spurgeon, who I almost quote every single sermon I preach he, described what he saw in the church this way Follow along with me If I had never joined the church till I found one that was perfect, I should have never joined one at all. 00:06:39.826 --> 00:06:50.286 And the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it. 00:06:50.286 --> 00:06:58.822 Still imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us. 00:06:58.822 --> 00:07:04.029 There are no perfect churches. 00:07:04.029 --> 00:07:13.666 And let it be clear as much as we love Redeemer, redeemer is far from perfect, yet as imperfect as we are. 00:07:13.666 --> 00:07:24.949 The local church, this local church, your local church, ought to be the dearest place on earth to you. 00:07:24.949 --> 00:07:38.089 I'm convinced that when we see how dear the church is to God, then the church, the local church, our church, will become increasingly dear to us. 00:07:38.089 --> 00:07:46.427 In fact, until we see the church as God sees it, I am convinced that we won't be the church as God wants it. 00:07:46.427 --> 00:07:58.264 So during the sermon series we want to primarily focus our attention, from this next Sunday forward, on what it looks like to grow in our engagement in the church's mission. 00:07:58.264 --> 00:08:07.805 But I believe, before we are stirred to accept God's invitation to join in on the mission of the church, we must first begin at this place. 00:08:07.805 --> 00:08:15.209 As our affections for the church increase, our engagement with the church's mission will increase. 00:08:15.209 --> 00:08:19.848 We must love the church. 00:08:19.848 --> 00:08:24.262 So here's the big idea I want us to consider this morning from God's word. 00:08:24.262 --> 00:08:33.389 I want us to consider this morning that until we see the church as God sees it, we won't be engaged in the church as God wants us. 00:08:33.389 --> 00:08:36.828 Let's see this unfold in God's word. 00:08:36.899 --> 00:08:47.846 The other day I walked in on my daughter, piper, as she was browsing through some old photo albums that we have in a display case in our family room and, believe it or not, we used to print out photographs. 00:08:47.846 --> 00:08:52.187 Remember that we used to actually print them out and put them in an album, and everyone's small. 00:08:52.187 --> 00:08:55.628 You'd be pulling those albums out and you would just go through the pages of the album. 00:08:55.628 --> 00:09:01.203 I mean before 2008, when the iPhone took off, that's how we did it. 00:09:01.203 --> 00:09:02.926 We printed out pictures. 00:09:02.926 --> 00:09:04.225 And why did we do this? 00:09:04.225 --> 00:09:05.905 Why do we take pictures? 00:09:05.905 --> 00:09:07.385 Why do we store pictures? 00:09:07.385 --> 00:09:08.865 Why do we have picture albums? 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:21.163 Because our heads and our hearts love to connect and reconnect with images that transport us into experiences that we never want to forget. 00:09:21.163 --> 00:09:37.740 Both our heads and our hearts, we love to connect and reconnect with images that transport us back into experiences that are meaningful, that we never want to forget. 00:09:37.740 --> 00:09:39.129 Pictures are like time machines. 00:09:39.129 --> 00:09:57.759 It takes us back to a place, not just for nostalgic purposes, but so that our hearts can be reignited with the emotions of that moment, so we never forget, because those moments are so meaningful, not only to our past, but to our present and to our future. 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:01.955 So if you are the family photographer, I thank God for you. 00:10:01.955 --> 00:10:41.193 You archive moments that help us never forget what it means to be a family, and it shouldn't surprise us then that God has archived images that remind us of who we are as the family of God Images, word, pictures, metaphors that tell us who we are, not only to God as the church, but who we are to one another and who we are to a watching world that's in desperate need of Jesus Christ. 00:10:42.725 --> 00:11:00.456 So this morning I want to begin to just take a brief look at this photo album, if you will, that God has collected for us in the scriptures that tell us who we are as His church and as we see the church as God sees it. 00:11:00.456 --> 00:11:11.333 I believe we will be compelled to not only love the church more, we will be compelled to want to be more engaged in its mission and give our lives for heaven's cause. 00:11:11.333 --> 00:11:15.206 That's represented in the life and mission of the church. 00:11:15.206 --> 00:11:23.234 So let's take a look at five pictures of God's church, and the nature of this teaching is we're not plugged into one text. 00:11:23.234 --> 00:11:34.730 So as we look at these five metaphors, these five word pictures of Christ's church, we're going to be jumping around to different scriptures that portray the church as such, and so they'll be on the screen. 00:11:34.730 --> 00:11:36.091 You should be able to follow along. 00:11:36.091 --> 00:11:39.476 So here's the first picture how does God see us? 00:11:39.476 --> 00:11:41.811 How does God image us? 00:11:41.811 --> 00:11:43.649 We are first a bride. 00:11:43.649 --> 00:11:58.168 The church is a bride, and in this God wants us to see that Christ is committed to us or covenanted to us, and we are deeply loved by Him. 00:11:59.965 --> 00:12:26.235 Ephesians, chapter five, verses 25 through 32, this is God's word Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she, the church, might be holy and without blemish. 00:12:26.235 --> 00:12:30.975 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. 00:12:30.975 --> 00:12:42.638 He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we're members of his body. 00:12:42.638 --> 00:12:48.850 Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 00:12:48.850 --> 00:12:56.214 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 00:12:58.144 --> 00:13:01.404 I know you weren't coming this morning expecting to hear a teaching on what is the church. 00:13:01.404 --> 00:13:08.942 It's the secret to a healthy marriage, but first and foremost, paul is letting us in in order to have a healthy marriage. 00:13:08.942 --> 00:13:18.566 Here's one thing you must understand more than anything how much Jesus loves his bride the church First and foremost. 00:13:18.566 --> 00:13:26.693 When husbands love their wives like Christ loves the church, a marriage is in a healthy position. 00:13:26.693 --> 00:13:40.368 So notice that Paul is making the point in this text that I just read, that the way a man learns to love a woman is not by listening to Luther of Andrews Some of you got that when a man okay. 00:13:40.368 --> 00:14:02.118 The way a man learns to love a woman, and the most cherished of intimate human relationships, is to look and learn from the way Christ loves us, his church. 00:14:02.118 --> 00:14:13.796 In Ephesians 5, paul is giving us the picture that Christ's love and passion for the church is the perfect picture of how a husband should passionately love his bride. 00:14:13.796 --> 00:14:19.538 And we might be helpful for us to look at it from the reverse angle as well, because both are true. 00:14:19.538 --> 00:14:27.971 When we look at a husband's passionate love for his bride, it helps us see just how much Christ loves his church. 00:14:29.946 --> 00:14:36.942 I don't want to be trite here, but envision a love crazed husband and wife. 00:14:36.942 --> 00:14:43.573 Usually two days after they got married they're into public displays of affections. 00:14:43.573 --> 00:14:49.755 They sit on the same side of the table at a restaurant so they can do the selfies right. 00:14:49.755 --> 00:14:51.690 They love being together. 00:14:51.690 --> 00:14:53.250 They're into each other. 00:14:53.250 --> 00:14:58.414 They are passionately engaged in one another's lives. 00:14:58.414 --> 00:15:07.490 See the portrait of Christ's love for the church relating to a husband's love for his wife is supposed to make a step back and go. 00:15:07.490 --> 00:15:15.089 Wow, jesus really does Love his people. 00:15:15.089 --> 00:15:21.553 Jesus doesn't love us casually or distantly. 00:15:21.553 --> 00:15:26.474 He loves us personally and intimately. 00:15:26.474 --> 00:15:29.633 We are his bride. 00:15:31.409 --> 00:15:39.855 This is a deep text, but as you go through the text, the apostle draws out at least three dimensions of this covenantal love Christ has for the church. 00:15:39.855 --> 00:15:44.916 Let me just direct your attention to them so that you can see this picture more clearly. 00:15:44.916 --> 00:15:47.369 Christ's covenant love is sacrificial. 00:15:47.369 --> 00:15:52.552 He gave himself up for her. 00:15:52.552 --> 00:15:56.509 How much does Jesus love us? 00:15:56.509 --> 00:16:01.773 He gave up his life for us. 00:16:01.773 --> 00:16:05.467 Go to the cross. 00:16:05.467 --> 00:16:09.831 See the nails in his hands and his feet. 00:16:09.831 --> 00:16:13.631 See the crown of thorns upon his head. 00:16:13.631 --> 00:16:32.397 See him crying out in agony, thirsting, deserted, betrayed, alone, not to mention enduring the wrath of God in our place for our sin. 00:16:32.397 --> 00:16:39.758 Think of the physical and spiritual agony of Jesus on that cross. 00:16:39.758 --> 00:16:42.592 More than anything, what does that say? 00:16:42.592 --> 00:16:46.547 It says this Christ loves the church. 00:16:46.547 --> 00:16:53.322 How much does Jesus love us? 00:16:53.322 --> 00:16:57.169 How much does Jesus love his bride. 00:16:57.169 --> 00:17:13.800 He went through physical, emotional, relational, spiritual and infinite agony and suffering so he could call us his own. 00:17:15.786 --> 00:17:19.756 Christ's covenant love is sacrificial, but it doesn't stop there. 00:17:19.756 --> 00:17:23.489 Christ's covenant love is sanctifying. 00:17:23.489 --> 00:17:29.804 Christ's love for us here says that he sanctifies and cleanses his church. 00:17:29.804 --> 00:17:42.391 You see, christ's love for the church is on stop at the cross, but it continues, as he ever lives above, to sanctify and cleanse us by the washing of water, by the word. 00:17:42.391 --> 00:17:46.406 In other words, he's changing us, he's transforming us. 00:17:46.969 --> 00:17:48.836 I mean, think of the marriage illustration again. 00:17:48.836 --> 00:17:52.107 There's like husbands and wives rub off on one another. 00:17:52.107 --> 00:18:06.469 I mean, I've been married to Rachel now for 22 years and one of the most comical realities about our marriage that there'll be these moments where she will say something and I'll be like that's what I would say, or she'll say something and I'll be like or I'll say something and she'll be like that's what I would say. 00:18:06.469 --> 00:18:08.458 We've rubbed off on one another. 00:18:08.458 --> 00:18:08.638 Why? 00:18:08.638 --> 00:18:11.628 Because you become like the people you live with. 00:18:11.628 --> 00:18:17.517 Here's what Jesus is doing as the groom of his bride, the church. 00:18:17.517 --> 00:18:20.739 As that, we live our intimacy with him as our Savior. 00:18:20.739 --> 00:18:23.767 We become more like him. 00:18:23.767 --> 00:18:28.883 He loves us so much that he doesn't leave us where we were. 00:18:28.883 --> 00:18:33.799 He transforms our lives and he sanctifies his church. 00:18:33.861 --> 00:18:35.566 Christ's covenant love is also sustaining. 00:18:35.566 --> 00:18:40.883 He nourishes and cherishes the church. 00:18:40.883 --> 00:18:48.428 Because he cherishes the church, because he has deep affections for the church, he nourishes us. 00:18:48.428 --> 00:18:49.471 What's that mean? 00:18:49.471 --> 00:18:56.865 Jesus gives us everything we need to be a healthy, thriving congregation. 00:18:56.865 --> 00:18:59.998 Churches go through ups and downs. 00:18:59.998 --> 00:19:07.622 Churches go through difficulties and disappointments and frustrations and setbacks and heartaches. 00:19:07.622 --> 00:19:15.923 I mean, we know that personally, but the Bible is not shy to describe that. 00:19:15.923 --> 00:19:23.230 Even the churches 50 years out from the resurrection of Jesus were going through some hard times. 00:19:23.230 --> 00:19:30.380 And so these letters are being written by the apostles to encourage and instruct and correct and to care. 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:49.215 But more than anything, here's why every gospel believe in church can be assured that, even through all the ups and downs of being a broken church in this broken world, one of the reasons why we believe we can survive and we will not be stopped is because Jesus has committed to nourish us. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:20:01.584 As we look at this picture of the church as the bride of Christ, we are meant to step back and say we are so loved by God. 00:20:01.584 --> 00:20:10.771 There's nothing we can do, church, to make God love us anymore or any less than he already does. 00:20:10.771 --> 00:20:17.986 We are perfectly loved in Christ and nothing can separate us from this love. 00:20:17.986 --> 00:20:38.635 My brothers and sisters, if you have forgotten, or it's becoming a fading, faint reality in your soul, that you are loved, that we are loved by Christ, and look no further than the sacrificial, sanctifying, sustaining love of Jesus for his bride, the church. 00:20:38.635 --> 00:20:42.983 Do you see the church as a bride? 00:20:42.983 --> 00:20:46.209 Christ is covenanted to us. 00:20:46.209 --> 00:20:49.180 We are deeply loved by Christ. 00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:55.372 Second picture a family, a family. 00:20:55.372 --> 00:21:02.576 And here's the picture that God wants us to see, in this metaphor that Christ is at home with us. 00:21:02.576 --> 00:21:06.142 We are his family. 00:21:06.162 --> 00:21:09.508 1st Timothy, chapter 3, verses 14 through 15. 00:21:09.508 --> 00:21:27.384 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 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 truth. 00:21:27.384 --> 00:21:40.736 Paul writes to Timothy, who at this time is a young pastor, and Paul is training him how to effectively lead and care for his local church in a thriving, booming, cosmopolitan city called Ephesus. 00:21:40.736 --> 00:21:47.021 And he says to Timothy here's how you are to view your local church, here's how you're to view it. 00:21:47.021 --> 00:21:48.607 You're to view it like a household. 00:21:48.607 --> 00:21:52.298 In other words, you're to view it like a family. 00:21:52.298 --> 00:22:04.931 And then he instructs him to encourage the members of the household, the, the congregants of this church, to view the people in the church like their family and then to act like family. 00:22:04.931 --> 00:22:13.778 For instance, in chapter 5, verses 1 through 3 do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father. 00:22:13.778 --> 00:22:25.394 Treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers, younger women like sisters in all purity, honor widows who are truly widows. 00:22:25.394 --> 00:22:36.207 In other words, paul saying here's how you view the church, here's how you lead the church, here's how you interact in the church like a family. 00:22:38.396 --> 00:22:49.256 Vertically, this means that God is our father, that Christ is our elder brother and if the Holy Spirit is our unpredictable uncle. 00:22:49.256 --> 00:22:51.779 Just kidding, that was meant to be funny. 00:22:51.779 --> 00:22:56.583 We really don't have that familial connection with the Holy Spirit in Scripture as a metaphor. 00:22:56.583 --> 00:23:01.281 But the point is this vertically, we are part of the family of God. 00:23:01.281 --> 00:23:05.436 God is our father in Jesus, our elder brother who laid down his life for us. 00:23:05.436 --> 00:23:11.675 We are the sons and daughters of God and you are, to what another? 00:23:11.675 --> 00:23:15.923 Horizontally, brothers and sisters. 00:23:15.923 --> 00:23:22.075 The church around you, the people around you are your brothers and sisters and other local churches like ours. 00:23:22.075 --> 00:23:26.623 They are extended family, filled with brothers and sisters. 00:23:26.623 --> 00:23:39.692 So he wants us to see ourselves as family because he wants us to function like family, love like family support, like family care like family, be devoted like family. 00:23:39.712 --> 00:23:42.279 The church is really a family of families. 00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:57.104 That's why we officiate weddings, we celebrate the birth of children, we eat meals together, we mourn and memorialize the dead from womb to the tomb. 00:23:57.104 --> 00:23:59.853 The church loves and cares for what another? 00:23:59.853 --> 00:24:05.968 Like a family, because we are the family of God, and this is for another sermon. 00:24:05.968 --> 00:24:06.375 But let me just. 00:24:06.675 --> 00:24:08.461 Let me just put this little parenthetical here. 00:24:08.461 --> 00:24:28.192 This reality of the church is family and the shared life they enjoyed together, how they counted one another as brothers and sisters and they shared their belongings and no one clung to their own things but saw their things to be shared with the church. 00:24:28.192 --> 00:24:47.278 This reality of the church as a family and the hospitality that they experienced together was extended to the people outside the church and this became one of the most powerful apologetics for the gospel that the church is a family of God. 00:24:47.278 --> 00:25:12.838 So, with this picture of the church's family, it reveals that the church is a place to belong, a place to be known, a place to be safe, a place to be free to fail and not be rejected, but receive real accountability as we mature and grow in our faith, which includes maturing in our character, maturing in our conduct and maturing in our understanding of our creed. 00:25:12.838 --> 00:25:19.458 The church is a place to thrive and flourish as the sons and daughters of God. 00:25:22.044 --> 00:25:27.659 And let's be honest, just like no church is perfect, no family is perfect. 00:25:27.659 --> 00:25:40.041 This is true of our individual families and it's certainly true of our church family and we should love this place and we should love the people in this place. 00:25:40.041 --> 00:25:41.829 They are our brothers and sisters. 00:25:41.829 --> 00:25:42.791 But here's reality. 00:25:42.791 --> 00:25:59.338 We fail each other, we let each other down, we offend each other, we disappoint one another and, just like real families with real issues, have to have real conversations. 00:25:59.338 --> 00:26:03.510 We don't avoid them, we don't pretend they don't exist. 00:26:03.510 --> 00:26:11.894 We actually deal with them and talk about them, not talk about them without them. 00:26:11.894 --> 00:26:17.890 We deal with the issues and, as a family, we do what families do. 00:26:17.890 --> 00:26:19.452 What do families do? 00:26:19.452 --> 00:26:24.423 They're patient, they forgive and they move on. 00:26:24.423 --> 00:26:27.611 You know what the church is. 00:26:27.611 --> 00:26:31.761 The church is a family of forgiven sinners who forgive sinners. 00:26:31.761 --> 00:26:36.641 That's the church, no perfect church. 00:26:36.641 --> 00:26:39.468 Therefore, we need to get used. 00:26:39.468 --> 00:26:48.002 We should not be surprised when we rub up against our imperfection and, by the grace of our Savior, we do what good family, healthy families do. 00:26:48.002 --> 00:26:51.775 We deal with the issues and we move forward by grace. 00:26:51.775 --> 00:26:54.682 Do you see the church as a family? 00:26:54.682 --> 00:26:57.490 Christ is at home with us. 00:26:57.490 --> 00:27:02.340 We are his family. 00:27:02.842 --> 00:27:04.084 Picture number three a body. 00:27:04.084 --> 00:27:13.550 And in this picture God wants us to see that as the body, the church, as the body, christ works through us. 00:27:13.550 --> 00:27:15.195 We are his hands and feet. 00:27:15.195 --> 00:27:17.924 1 Corinthians 12-27. 00:27:17.924 --> 00:27:27.826 Now you are the body of Christ and individual members of it, or individual body parts of it. 00:27:27.826 --> 00:27:37.935 Jesus wants us to picture the church as not disconnected from him, not distant from him, but a part of him. 00:27:37.935 --> 00:27:42.106 We are his body, he is our head. 00:27:42.106 --> 00:28:02.035 Now there are so many implications of what it means to be the body of Christ and I'm not pretending to draw out the beauty and the significance of this metaphor in its totality, but let me just say this, much for our purposes this morning, about one of the implications of being the body of Christ that's both deeply humbling and truly encouraging. 00:28:03.479 --> 00:28:12.739 By using this word, picture, this metaphor Christ, as our head, is choosing to need us as his body. 00:28:12.739 --> 00:28:15.143 What do I mean by that? 00:28:15.143 --> 00:28:18.133 What is a head Without a body? 00:28:18.133 --> 00:28:30.240 Jesus' place is to go and things to do, and he has a church as his chosen means to get there and to get it done. 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:32.144 Now, don't be confused. 00:28:32.144 --> 00:28:37.395 God is completely and entirely self-sufficient. 00:28:37.395 --> 00:28:39.840 He is omnipotent. 00:28:39.840 --> 00:28:42.211 He knows all things. 00:28:42.211 --> 00:28:44.599 Omnipotent, he has all power. 00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:50.141 He is omnipresent, meaning he's at all places, at all times, in his entire being. 00:28:50.141 --> 00:28:56.765 God knows everything, can do everything he wills and can be anywhere he wants to be in his entire being. 00:28:56.765 --> 00:28:59.633 He sees all, knows all, can do all. 00:28:59.633 --> 00:29:13.503 However, god, in his sovereign wisdom and love, has chosen to use his church as his means of getting his work done on earth, as it is in heaven. 00:29:13.503 --> 00:29:16.576 The church is the body of Christ. 00:29:16.576 --> 00:29:31.873 We are his hands and feet, making a difference in this broken world as he works in us and through us, by our participation and union with him. 00:29:31.873 --> 00:29:38.977 And so what's one of the main significant realities that we're supposed to feel and sense from this imagery? 00:29:38.977 --> 00:29:41.141 Well, we all have a part to play. 00:29:41.141 --> 00:29:43.797 We're all part of it. 00:29:44.519 --> 00:29:47.049 Paul picks up this theme and the rest of 1 Corinthians 12. 00:29:47.049 --> 00:29:56.931 The picture of the church as a body made up of various body parts illustrates the reality that we all play a part in the work that God intends to do in us and through us. 00:29:56.931 --> 00:30:15.641 For Paul says in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 14, paul's main point is that every member matters, every body part matters. 00:30:15.641 --> 00:30:25.291 Just like the human body is made up of many diverse body parts that serve particular roles in the healthy function of a human body, so it is with the church. 00:30:25.291 --> 00:30:32.123 There are no insignificant limbs, there are no insignificant parts. 00:30:32.123 --> 00:30:34.172 Everyone matters. 00:30:34.172 --> 00:30:46.334 Jesus, as the head of the body, serves as the central nervous system directing us and moving us and leading us to do and be and go and serve how he wants. 00:30:46.334 --> 00:30:52.285 And so, as a local body, recognize this. 00:30:53.535 --> 00:31:01.038 God has much work to do here in Fremont and in Union City and in St Jose and throughout the entire Bay. 00:31:01.038 --> 00:31:04.404 There is much work to be done to make Jesus known. 00:31:04.404 --> 00:31:09.207 There's much work to be done to heal the broken things that exist in this fallen world. 00:31:09.207 --> 00:31:18.239 There are many people to reach who feel distant from God and separate from God and alone, walking through this wilderness of this world. 00:31:18.239 --> 00:31:20.884 And we are here to do the work. 00:31:20.884 --> 00:31:24.239 We have a part to play. 00:31:24.239 --> 00:31:33.243 You have a part to play, not just Redeemer Church in general, but Redeemer Church in its particular parts and members. 00:31:33.243 --> 00:31:37.222 Every single one of you matters. 00:31:37.222 --> 00:31:45.969 You might not be a big mouth like me, but you have a part to play, none the last. 00:31:45.969 --> 00:31:48.582 Just every one of you matters. 00:31:48.582 --> 00:31:54.785 Every one of you has a story written by the sovereign hand of God. 00:31:54.785 --> 00:32:12.886 He's put you in a particular place, around particular people, to do what you do, live where you live, work where you work, because you, as an extension of the body of Christ, are to be there in that place, with those people, to be the hands and feet of Jesus. 00:32:16.500 --> 00:32:27.480 One of the primary points of application is that this church, the church and this church is not a place for spectators, it's a place for participation. 00:32:27.480 --> 00:32:33.500 The church is not a place for consumers, it's a place for contributors. 00:32:33.500 --> 00:32:38.945 The church is not just a place to get grace, it's a church. 00:32:38.945 --> 00:32:52.084 This is a place to give grace, to give of your time, to give of your talents, to give of your treasure, to join God in His mission, to make much of Jesus right here. 00:32:52.084 --> 00:32:57.644 We can't do everything, but, my friends, we have an assignment to do something. 00:32:57.644 --> 00:33:03.644 Everyone has been equipped by God's Spirit to play a productive part. 00:33:03.644 --> 00:33:03.984 Why? 00:33:03.984 --> 00:33:06.018 Because we are His body. 00:33:06.018 --> 00:33:10.884 Do you see the church as a body? 00:33:10.884 --> 00:33:15.365 Just, is that work in us and through us? 00:33:15.365 --> 00:33:18.523 We are His hands and feet. 00:33:18.835 --> 00:33:21.101 Picture four a building. 00:33:21.101 --> 00:33:29.340 And in this word picture we're to see that Christ is with us and we are God's dwelling place. 00:33:29.340 --> 00:33:33.278 Ephesians 2, 18 through 22,. 00:33:33.278 --> 00:33:39.782 For through Him that's Jesus we both have access in one spirit to the Father. 00:33:39.782 --> 00:34:07.163 So, then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together, into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 00:34:09.275 --> 00:34:20.063 Here Paul gives us the picture that, as the church, we are a building, a structure, but not just an ordinary building, not just an ordinary structure. 00:34:20.063 --> 00:34:35.108 We are a sacred temple building, a sanctuary, a holy place, a sacred space, a place, according to verse 22, where God Himself dwells with His people by the Holy Spirit. 00:34:35.108 --> 00:34:49.797 In other words, just like God was present with His people in the tabernacle and temple in the Old Covenant, god is present with His church right now, until Jesus returns and makes all things new. 00:34:49.797 --> 00:35:02.324 What this means is that when we gather as the church, we have the unbelievable experience and privilege of encountering and experiencing the presence of God. 00:35:02.324 --> 00:35:13.047 We are a spiritual building where God Himself dwells, and so when we come together as the church, we never gather alone. 00:35:13.047 --> 00:35:15.762 We gather together with God. 00:35:15.762 --> 00:35:19.201 He promises to be here with us. 00:35:20.695 --> 00:35:31.286 These words are not figurative, jesus said when two or three are gathered in my name, I'm right there in your midst. 00:35:31.286 --> 00:35:42.737 When the church gathers like we are gathered this morning, we gather in the presence of God. 00:35:42.737 --> 00:35:51.166 This imagery reminds us that when we meet, we gather to meet with God. 00:35:51.166 --> 00:36:07.027 What this means practically is that all of our liturgy is experienced in the presence of God, and all of our liturgy is a means of freshly encountering the presence of God. 00:36:07.027 --> 00:36:27.286 We sing in God's presence, we pray in God's presence, we read Scripture in God's presence, we fellowship in God's presence, we give in God's presence, we hear God's word read in His presence, we receive the preaching of the word of God in His presence and we gather around the table in His presence. 00:36:27.286 --> 00:36:31.043 My friends, jesus is here with us. 00:36:31.043 --> 00:36:51.123 We are His dwelling place, and as we grow as a church and as we grow as churches being planted throughout the Bay Area, I believe the best thing that can be said about our churches are not that's great music or that's great preaching, or those are really loving people. 00:36:51.123 --> 00:37:10.367 My hope and prayer is that the churches that we plant and the churches that we are partnered with will receive a reputation around the Bay Area like this when you go there, god is there because we gather to meet with God. 00:37:11.635 --> 00:37:22.338 So do you realize that, as we've been gathered here this morning, we are not alone, you are not alone. 00:37:22.338 --> 00:37:30.947 Christ is with us by the Spirit to the glory of God, the Father. 00:37:30.947 --> 00:37:51.106 So do you come, anticipating, to meet with God, to have God bless you, correct, you, instruct, you, guide, you, encourage, you, change, you satisfy, you, send you? 00:37:51.106 --> 00:37:56.003 Do you see the church as a sacred building? 00:37:56.003 --> 00:37:58.257 Christ is with us. 00:37:58.257 --> 00:38:01.481 We are God's dwelling place. 00:38:02.795 --> 00:38:04.918 Finally, a final picture. 00:38:04.918 --> 00:38:12.322 Five points, ambitious, I understand, but let's see this final picture a flock. 00:38:12.322 --> 00:38:21.440 As we see the church as a flock, as we look at this image, we are to see that Christ takes responsibility for us. 00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:24.338 We are well cared for. 00:38:24.338 --> 00:38:40.228 Ask 2028, 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. 00:38:40.228 --> 00:38:43.603 Again, paul is instructing pastors in this text. 00:38:43.603 --> 00:38:49.378 He's instructing the elders of the church in Ephesus how to care for the church as servants of the church. 00:38:49.378 --> 00:38:57.940 He reminds them that the church of God ultimately belongs to God because it's been purchased by the blood of God's own son. 00:38:57.940 --> 00:39:04.945 He tells them to view the church, this precious possession of Jesus. 00:39:04.945 --> 00:39:11.427 Here's how you are to view the church and care for the church as belonging to Jesus. 00:39:11.427 --> 00:39:16.925 View the church like a flock of sheep that need to be cared for. 00:39:16.925 --> 00:39:25.322 This is possibly one of the most consistent pictures used in Scripture to describe the church the flock of God. 00:39:26.494 --> 00:39:31.085 Isaiah writes about God himself caring for his people like a shepherd in Isaiah 40, verse 11. 00:39:31.085 --> 00:39:33.601 He will tend his flock like a shepherd. 00:39:33.601 --> 00:39:41.505 He will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. 00:39:41.505 --> 00:39:48.500 Ezekiel writes about God seeking and saving his lost sheep In Ezekiel 34, verses 5 and 6,. 00:39:48.500 --> 00:39:49.643 My sheep were scattered. 00:39:49.643 --> 00:39:53.802 They wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. 00:39:53.802 --> 00:39:58.864 My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth with none to search or seek for them. 00:39:58.864 --> 00:40:02.378 I will rescue my sheep, for thus says the Lord. 00:40:02.378 --> 00:40:08.476 God behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 00:40:10.434 --> 00:40:24.237 As David writes a song about God's care for his flock, he declares, he sings, he celebrates in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I've got nothing to worry about. 00:40:24.237 --> 00:40:53.576 And don't fail to make the connection of all that's been said about the flock of God and God's heart to shepherd and to seek and to save his straying sheep, without reinforcing their connection to Jesus, who spoke of himself as the good shepherd who was sent to seek and to save his lost sheep and care for them with an unrelenting love. 00:40:53.576 --> 00:40:58.190 Hear from the words of Jesus himself John 10, 14 through 16. 00:40:58.190 --> 00:41:00.387 I am the good shepherd. 00:41:00.387 --> 00:41:03.619 The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 00:41:03.619 --> 00:41:05.764 I am the good shepherd. 00:41:05.764 --> 00:41:10.277 I know my own and my own know me, just as the father knows me and I know the father. 00:41:10.277 --> 00:41:11.619 I lay down my life for the sheep. 00:41:11.619 --> 00:41:14.865 I have other sheep that are not at this fold. 00:41:14.865 --> 00:41:20.842 I myself must bring them also and they will listen to my voice Also. 00:41:20.842 --> 00:41:24.528 There will be one flock, one shepherd. 00:41:24.528 --> 00:41:26.713 A beautiful imagery. 00:41:28.121 --> 00:41:35.487 The church is the flock of God, sought out and saved by Jesus Christ himself. 00:41:35.487 --> 00:41:56.594 The good shepherd, who obtained us with his own blood, sustains us by his own grace, protects us by his own power and cherishes us as his own, where we are daily attended to by his abiding and caring presence. 00:41:56.594 --> 00:42:15.791 He takes such responsibility for us that if one of us goes astray, he leaves behind the 99 and comes after us and brings us back where we belong, with him and the other sheep. 00:42:15.791 --> 00:42:19.626 That's why we sing Jesus sought me. 00:42:19.626 --> 00:42:27.291 When a stranger wandering from the fold of God, he, to rescue me from danger, bought me with his precious blood. 00:42:27.291 --> 00:42:32.248 This is how God wants us to see ourselves as his church. 00:42:32.248 --> 00:42:35.994 We are his flock. 00:42:35.994 --> 00:42:45.599 He will feed us, he will lead us, he will care for us, he will protect us, he will preserve us. 00:42:46.442 --> 00:43:12.090 And when we doubt his love and when we struggle to believe in his care, when we struggle to believe that he will give us everything we need, even if that need, at this very moment, has not been supplied yet, if we doubt that love, if we doubt that care, if we doubt that he takes full responsibility for us, let us look no further than the cross, where he laid down his life for the sheep. 00:43:12.090 --> 00:43:23.367 My brothers and sisters, here's how convinced and assured we can be of the care of our good shepherd If he already gave his life to me, our greatest need. 00:43:23.367 --> 00:43:39.626 How much more can we trust him with every other need, if he's already done everything necessary to forgive our sins, to cleanse us from our shame, to cover us from our guilt, to deliver us from condemnation? 00:43:39.626 --> 00:43:52.619 If he's already done the unimaginable by dying in our place on the cross and rising from the dead, securing our justification and sending his spirit to fill us and preserve us and seal us forever? 00:43:52.619 --> 00:43:58.867 If he's already done all of that, if he's already met our greatest need? 00:43:58.867 --> 00:44:17.887 If the good shepherd has already been that good, how can we doubt, redeemer Church, that he will not also give us everything we need to do, everything he's called us to do, to make much of himself here and around the Bay? 00:44:20.820 --> 00:44:22.646 Do you see the church as a flock? 00:44:22.646 --> 00:44:28.427 Christ takes responsibility for us and my brothers and sisters. 00:44:28.427 --> 00:44:31.952 We are well cared for. 00:44:31.952 --> 00:44:36.688 Do you see the church as God sees it? 00:44:36.688 --> 00:44:39.425 God sees us as His bride. 00:44:39.425 --> 00:44:42.346 We are deeply loved by Christ. 00:44:42.346 --> 00:44:45.505 God sees us as His family. 00:44:45.505 --> 00:44:48.206 We are at home with Christ. 00:44:48.206 --> 00:44:50.599 God sees us as His body. 00:44:50.599 --> 00:44:52.585 We are a part of Christ. 00:44:52.585 --> 00:44:55.706 God sees us as His building. 00:44:55.706 --> 00:44:59.088 We are in the presence of Christ. 00:44:59.088 --> 00:45:01.806 God sees us as His flock. 00:45:01.806 --> 00:45:07.181 We are fed and led by Christ Redeemer. 00:45:07.181 --> 00:45:09.688 We are His church. 00:45:09.688 --> 00:45:25.173 We are the love of His life, his precious family, his hands and feet, his dwelling place, the ones he will lead and love on earth until we are safe in the house of the Lord forever. 00:45:25.173 --> 00:45:32.132 How can we see the church the way he sees the church and not love it? 00:45:32.132 --> 00:45:38.871 How can we see the church like he sees the church and not want to be all in? 00:45:38.871 --> 00:45:54.250 How can we see the church as he sees the church and not want to pack out this room with men and women, young and old, from all around this area, who desperately need to know the saving, loving care of Jesus? 00:45:54.250 --> 00:46:14.474 I'm convinced, when we see the church as God sees it, it will compel us to be faithfully engaged, as God wants us, and we will join Mr Spurgeon in saying, as imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us. 00:46:16.021 --> 00:46:30.813 Let's pray, father, thank you for sending Jesus from heaven to earth to obtain us with His own blood. 00:46:33.800 --> 00:46:35.244 Thank you for your photo album. 00:46:36.619 --> 00:46:43.592 Thank you for these pictures, these word pictures, these metaphors that describe who we are to you and who we are to one another. 00:46:46.021 --> 00:46:54.652 We are so grateful to be the bride of Christ, to be covered by a sacrificial and sanctifying love. 00:46:54.652 --> 00:47:01.710 We are so grateful to be the family of Christ, to be brothers and sisters in the household of God. 00:47:01.710 --> 00:47:11.693 We are so grateful to be the body of Christ, to be a part of your son and to have a purpose and a mission and an agenda from heaven. 00:47:11.693 --> 00:47:23.255 We are so thankful to be the sacred space, this building, this holy temple where you are present as we worship and are equipped to do the work you've called us to do. 00:47:23.255 --> 00:47:38.994 And we are so grateful to be the flock of Christ, to be His sheep, to be under His care, to be fed and led by Him, to lack nothing. 00:47:38.994 --> 00:47:54.965 Father, would you send the Holy Spirit to open our eyes, to behold these pictures and to be amazed that, by your grace, we get to be a part of these pictures? 00:47:54.965 --> 00:48:01.954 We are in the album because we are your people and you are our God. 00:48:01.954 --> 00:48:07.135 All because of Jesus, amen.