WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.440 Hello everyone. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.880 This is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.079 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:23.679 Please join me in reading the prayer of illumination. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:31.280 Gracious God, full of life and truth, by your word and spirit, give light to our lives. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:33.600 Through Jesus Christ we pray. 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:34.560 Amen. 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:38.399 Our scripture today comes from Ephesians 2. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:44.079 For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:01:04.480 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. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:11.519 In him you are being all you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:13.120 This is God's word. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:20.239 All right, you're awake. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:20.879 I love it. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:21.760 Good deal. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:24.560 Well, man, thank you, Ben. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:27.200 This is either going to be awesome or the worst ever. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:29.920 But I'm so excited to be with you this morning. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:32.879 I'd like to start off. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:34.719 I'd like you to travel in my shoes. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:36.000 No DeLorean needed. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:37.280 We're going to 2004. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:38.400 I've already lost some of you. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:40.000 You're like, Peter, I wasn't born yet. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:41.519 Hang in there, Chef Riddle. 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:42.799 So here's what we're doing. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:46.319 We're going 2004, and I'm a high school student. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:54.799 I've talked with my parents and said, hey, uh, my buddy Henry can get me a job at the Kingfish Grill at the Bay Point Marriott in Panama City Beach. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:56.799 The tips there are legendary. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:02.879 So I'm excited about stacks of greenbacks, getting the cold, hard cash, and being able to spend it on whatever I want. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:07.599 My parents have said, hey, you can have it, but you have to be home before 10:30. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:09.520 You got to be home, you got to get rest. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:10.639 You're a student. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:11.280 All right. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:12.319 Well, that's the setting. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:12.960 Here we go. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:18.159 If you've ever done fine dining in a restaurant, you know you're there a long time after close. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:18.879 I didn't. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:21.199 I'm wearing crisp black and white. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:26.560 I look like I'm prepared to serve at the Oscars, but instead I'm I'm bussing tables. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:28.800 I'm moving plates by the mountain load. 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:33.280 I'm pushing slop and I'm wiping down tables like it's a calling. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:35.840 We're at the end of our day. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:37.280 It's a long day. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:38.319 The doors are locked. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:41.360 I had to learn to roll silverware, so that's a thing. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:42.800 I know how to do it. 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:46.479 But my curfew at this point is absolutely toast. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:50.240 At this point, I have what you call the shift haze. 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:52.719 Your feet are sore and tired. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:55.360 Your mind is void of any good thought. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:58.960 And the only emotion I can muster is please tip out. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.199 I need to get home. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:06.960 But the manager comes out saying, Everybody, let's get back to the kitchen. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:12.319 And so we all scurry back, and one of the things he brings to our attention is someone has come into the restaurant. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:14.000 Well, the doors are closed. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:17.599 And this person is asking for our nicest steak. 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:18.719 The grill is off. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:20.000 The kitchen has done their job. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:20.800 They are grumpy. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:21.520 They're kitchen people. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:22.319 They know what they're doing. 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:23.840 They're ready to go home. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:26.319 But here's the deal: the name came. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.400 Stephen Colbert. 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:31.759 Stephen Colbert has come in and he's asked for a steak. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:34.000 Now, some of you might want to throw the steak at him. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.479 But at this point, he was actually pretty funny. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:38.960 And so we gave him a steak. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:40.240 But here's the deal. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:46.639 Stephen Colbert's celebrity was the key, accessing a closed kitchen. 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:50.560 And that's what I'd have us think on this morning. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:54.000 There are places you and I cannot go. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:55.840 We do not have access. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:58.960 We need a door opened to us. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:05.680 Whether it's backstage at a music concert, you don't belong if you don't have a backstage pass. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:09.919 You want to go to a penthouse at a condo, well, you've got to have the code. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:10.879 You need access. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:12.960 White House, you can't go in. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:14.560 You need access. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:17.920 You cannot just stroll in. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:24.959 So if you don't have your Bible open yet, open it up, Ephesians 2, 18 through 22, or get your devices out. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:46.639 What we're going to learn this morning is God's word in no uncertain terms states that by nature we do not have access, that our sins of omission, forgetting to do the things that the Lord has commanded us to do, neglecting them, or forgetting to do what is right, our sins, they separate us from God. 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:52.160 We're made by God for God, but we are cut off from him because of our sins. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:57.680 And yet God, in his mercy, not by our doing, has made a way. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:01.680 So today we're finishing up the Nicene Creed series. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:06.160 And if you look here at your worship handout, you'll see it in there. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:10.160 I believe in the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:17.839 Ephesians 18 through 22 is going to help show us what God is doing to make this confession both real and true. 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:24.160 He brings separated sinners, and he builds us up into his dwelling place. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.680 Alright, so here's what I want you to hear. 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:29.920 We're going to follow Paul's movement. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:42.000 Jesus is going to bring us in, and then he's going to give us access and belonging, and then the Holy Spirit builds us up with a foundation that is in Christ and makes us a beautiful dwelling place. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:43.360 So let's get started. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:45.759 Verse 18, would you read with me there? 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:50.720 For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:53.279 The word access, what does that assume? 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:54.959 There's a locked door. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:58.000 Maybe it's to a kitchen, maybe it's to heaven. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:05.439 But Paul says that we don't have access, we didn't naturally have it, and that's without Christ. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:08.560 Paul has told us earlier, we're in chapter two. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:14.959 What I'd like you to do is look at chapter 1, 3, and 12, and I'm just going to cursory look at a couple of those things. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:19.120 So would you do chapter 2, verse 1, take a look at it with me? 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:24.079 There it says we're dead in trespasses and sins. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:29.120 Looking at Ephesians 2, verse 3. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:38.480 By nature we are children of wrath, made by God for God in his image, and yet our sin condemns us. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:44.240 And so we are set apart from him, not in holiness, but in condemnation. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:45.920 We carry the worst title. 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:47.759 You would never want to put on a resume. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:50.160 I'm a child of wrath. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:52.000 Verse 12. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:58.959 It says, separated from Christ without hope and without God in the world. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:02.399 Our natural state is one of depravity. 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:04.560 We are in dire need. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:07.600 So it's not that we're a little lost. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:09.439 We are spiritually dead. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:11.360 You cannot save yourself. 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:18.639 It's not that we're occasionally maybe a little selfish or imperfect, but we're under God's wrath because of our sin. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:20.240 And it's not that we're a little distant. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:23.920 Peter, I'm one who maybe on occasion might roam. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:27.920 No, we're without hope and we're without God. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:31.120 That's why access matters. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:33.839 Dead people don't walk into a throne room. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:43.199 Children of wrath don't stroll into the presence of a holy and living God and begin to ask for help and for promises and privileges and protection. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:50.160 The outsider doesn't find welcome in God's covenant, protection and promises. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:54.319 So then in verse 19, Paul gives us a picture. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:56.560 Would you look with me there in verse 19? 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:03.839 So then you're no longer strangers and aliens, which means that's exactly what we are without Christ. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:06.879 Strangers, no belonging, no home. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:09.360 We're Eden exiles, wandering. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:12.240 We're aliens, there's no standing, no inheritance. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:20.800 You might know the king, you might know where his kingdom is, you might be a fan of him, but you have no right, you have no privilege, there is no belonging. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:27.839 So when verse 18 says, Through him you have access to the Father, the question is unavoidable. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:30.240 How can the dead come in? 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:33.600 How can the wrath bearing come near? 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:37.440 How can the outsider become family? 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:41.759 Verse 18 answers it in two simple words through him. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:46.480 Not through our efforts, not through Peter Young's great improvement. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:50.639 I'm gonna try to be more honest, put more effort into being a good person. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:55.840 Here, Paul assumes something massive about God. 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:59.759 He says, it's through a person, Jesus. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:04.240 The Nicene Creed safeguards a simple joy. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:07.840 It's God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:09.120 Ben talked about it. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.639 Men fist fought over this at the Council of Nicaea. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:19.440 Notice the shape of salvation through the Son and the Spirit to the Father. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:22.799 That is not advanced doctrine, church, family. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:25.759 It is the living shape of the saving gospel. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:30.240 Jesus says it with razor-sharp clarity in John 14. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:34.399 I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:38.240 No one comes to the Father except through me. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:41.440 Jesus is not confused about who he is. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:49.360 His message is very clear, and it's deeply offensive to the human soul should you love your sin more than his lordship. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:51.120 You must yield. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:55.679 Access then is no longer a method, a self-help book. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:59.200 If you're coming to a new city, you're going to get the unadulterated gospel. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.000 There is no chicken soup for your soul here. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:05.120 There's only the person of Jesus. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:07.120 He's the mediator. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:12.080 It's not a staircase of self-righteousness, it is a savior. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:16.399 So how do we have access through the Son and the Spirit to the Father? 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:23.600 So Christ opens the way, not by moral improvement or religious effort, but by his blood and his righteousness. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.399 Jesus takes on our deserved sin. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:27.759 He bore our curse. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:28.879 He pays our debt. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:34.320 If you remember or recount, maybe you're familiar with God's word, Jesus takes on our estrangement. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:39.200 He is distant from the Father of all the things Jesus suffers at the crucifixion. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:46.000 One of the most painful that we just cannot understand and relate to is that Jesus is separated from the Father. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:49.840 A breaking of a timeless relationship bound in love. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:53.679 Jesus experiences it for our behalf. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:58.559 But he rose again three days later and he takes up his life. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:04.240 He takes authority over sin and death, breaks the bind it has on us, should we put our trust in him? 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:10.480 And even right now, as you sit here this morning in your chair, he sits at the right hand of the Father in one. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:20.240 And you have access to the Father through Jesus, should you lean in, not on your own understanding, but on him, trusting in him. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:27.279 And for as long as Jesus reigns at the right hand of the Lord, in that seat, you have access. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.240 Jesus, folks, is not tired. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:31.840 Lean on him. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:35.039 Now in the Spirit, the Spirit unites us to Christ. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:35.919 It's so interesting. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:39.919 I used to do college ministry with my lovely wife, and we would go to Flagler College. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:41.200 There were different places we'd go. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:46.240 In all my time doing college ministry, students would say, Well, the Trinity's not in the Bible. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:47.679 I'd say, Well, sure it is. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:49.279 You're just not reading it. 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:51.039 Jesus is not confused. 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:53.200 He's not confused about who he claims to be. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:54.879 The Pharisees aren't either. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:55.919 They hate him for it. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:57.759 They want to crucify him for it. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:01.120 The Holy Spirit has a unique role to play. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:07.679 It's in John 146 through 22, pulpit check. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:08.080 I don't know. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:10.159 But anyway, I'm not a pastor, so we'll keep moving. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:15.120 The point is, Jesus is talking to the disciples, and they love him. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:20.080 They followed him, and he's speaking with them, and he's saying, Hey, I'm going to go be with the Father at the right hand, right? 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:22.960 But they say, Well, can you show us the Father? 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:25.039 He says, Guys, I'm in the Father. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:26.159 The Father's in me. 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:27.200 Believe it. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:30.799 And then, yeah, but it'd be so good if we could just see the Father. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:33.039 Jesus is so patient. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:34.960 Jesus is so patient. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:37.120 So what he says, he goes, Let me meet, you're down here. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:38.080 Let me meet you down here. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:39.519 He says, you know what? 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:42.320 Just believe me on the works that you've seen. 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:44.559 You don't understand the Trinity, that's all right. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:50.799 But understand we are connected because I have the power to bring dead people back to life. 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:52.720 The Spirit does a unique work. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:54.080 The Spirit binds us. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:58.159 He doesn't just stir our hearts as Josh and the others led worship. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:12:58.480 Thank you. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:12:59.440 And great job. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:04.000 He stirs our hearts, our emotions, our feelings, but he connects us to Christ. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:09.440 The union with Jesus exists because the Holy Spirit comes. 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:15.279 Jesus says, I will send you a counselor, a helper, the one of wisdom and knowledge. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:16.000 Why? 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:22.399 Jesus says, I'm leaving, but I will bring you one, the good counselor, who can continue my ministry in my name. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:26.720 Who has equal footing with Jesus, the Son of God, our living Savior? 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:28.480 The Holy Spirit. 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:33.039 So through the Son, in the Spirit, to the Father. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:38.320 I wasn't a congregant or a member yet. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:43.919 For some reason, there was a buddy of mine, Kyler Howard, here, and he was getting married. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:46.399 And I met this pastor guy here at New City. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:47.840 His name's Benjamin Kent. 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:50.240 Benjamin said, Let's go to Jimmy Hula's. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:51.759 So I go to Jimmy Hula's. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:53.600 Ben loves Jimmy Hulu's, I've come to learn. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:55.759 I'm sitting across the table from him. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:14:00.000 And through our amazing conversation, I'm like, man, Ben's weird like me. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:00.799 We both love Jesus. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:02.080 We're about making disciples. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:03.440 I think I like this church. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:05.840 Um, one of the things became really apparent. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:15.759 When Ben was talking to me about my personal relationship with the Lord, one of the things he said is maybe the reason you're struggling to see the Father as your father is because you're not coming to him as a child. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:20.000 Fighting back tears and trying to keep it cool. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.799 I went later in my car and cried my eyes out. 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:24.639 Because that's what guys do. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:32.399 But the father receives you as a child, not on your record, but on Christ's merit. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:39.200 You come as the beloved Son, and in him, therefore you are received. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:42.320 This is why the Trinity is not trivia. 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:51.679 This isn't something perfunctory, and I'm going to keep this to myself when I'm sharing Christ with my neighbor, and eventually we'll get to Trinity, but right now I just need you to understand Jesus really loves you. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:57.440 If you are not careful, you might commit what our faith fathers have tried to protect us from. 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:00.320 You might alter the image of God. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:11.919 The Trinity is not a barnacle on the bottom of a boat to sandblast off, to remove from, to make our faith more appetizing or understandable. 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:14.799 It is the essence of our faith. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:18.320 It is the main course, it is the reason we live. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:24.480 Jason gave me this book, Delighting in the Trinity. 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:26.559 It's by a guy named Michael Reeves. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:32.320 And he distills this so down uh really well, and it really blew me away. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:36.240 God is love because God is Trinity. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:42.559 I've never thought that his Trinitarian nature is what dictates his love. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:56.000 But if you try to simplify God, if you try to manage the nature of God, you don't become more spiritually savvy, more appealing to those who do not yet follow Jesus. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:58.399 You just become irrelevant. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:07.039 Prayers then kind of turn into a fog, and your access that I've already talked to you about a little bit, it, you know, just turns into striving. 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:11.279 But the gospel is gloriously specific in this way. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:15.440 Through the Son, in the Spirit to the Father. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:19.039 Now, John Calvin did a really good job, so quote guys that are smarter than me. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:25.039 If Christ remains outside of us, he says, all he has done remains useless. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:36.480 It is the Spirit who unites us to Christ, so that his righteousness becomes ours, his sonship becomes our adoption, his access becomes our access. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:39.840 So watch what access can produce. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.159 In verse 19, would you look with me? 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:48.559 For you, our fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:50.159 Do you feel the move? 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:54.000 We're going, access becomes belonging. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:58.080 A locked door becomes a family table. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:01.279 The outsider joins a household. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:08.880 God doesn't just rescue individuals, He sets sinners into a household. 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:16.400 One of my deep convictions I've developed in the last couple years, and I guess New City has been a part of it, is I've been in many churches. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:23.039 And I tell you, I have come to see some of the guys up the block of life of me a little bit, a little older, a little more experienced. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:25.279 I see them as like older brothers. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:31.680 I've had the great privilege of calling other men kind of faith fathers, but they're very few and far between. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:33.440 Men, we need you. 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:42.559 But one of the things it's such a bummer is that so many of us will take what we have in this room and we'll think this is like a religious thing. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:46.079 I'll come in on Sunday, passing the peace can be awkward for some people, I get it. 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:50.319 But you'll leave without having a conversation and being known. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:54.319 You come here to be known by the living creator who has made you. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:57.119 And then you leave not known at all. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:59.759 If there is a place that you are welcome, I love it. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:00.880 They say it here at the table. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:02.799 I can't do it yet one day. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:08.319 This is the place that you should feel most welcomed. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:12.960 Do not shortchange yourself and leave without telling someone your story. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:16.960 Or, maybe it's a little awkward, I just want to hear your story. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:18.720 Maybe that's easier. 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:22.000 But you are no more welcome than you are in the household of God. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:27.119 But we take this church congregation thing and we don't see it as a family. 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:32.880 When I have a hurricane coming and I am in a brand new house, I have no life skills. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:33.839 What happened? 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:35.519 A deacon came over. 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:36.559 The deacon. 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:41.599 Drew West came over with a bunch of extra wood, and he put together a thing to protect my window. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:43.440 And he did it in the rain. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:45.279 That's church family. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:47.680 My kids are sick, my wife is sick. 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:49.519 I don't have any more margins. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:51.200 I am burning out. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:55.039 Here comes Raquel West with a meal. 00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:59.759 Now, not all of us feel so welcomed in this church, but we can't stop. 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:06.799 We have to lean in because Jesus has purchased for us a family and a household. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:10.319 Once you're in that household, but here's the deal, hear this church. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:14.880 God doesn't leave you as you are, he starts building. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:24.960 He takes that family and makes it a dwelling place so that the question then shifts from can I come in to what is God doing at this place called New City? 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:27.039 And what role do I have in it? 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:28.880 Takes us to point number two. 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:30.319 Paul keeps going. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:33.839 He takes his household language and he presses in deeper. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:35.839 Verse 20, look with me there. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:42.880 Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, verse 21. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:49.039 In whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in verse 22. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:53.920 In him, you also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:58.319 Paul moves from family to building to a household. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:19:59.519 This is a big deal. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:02.319 Temple. 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:03.680 Why? 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:09.039 The triune God is not content to keep you at arm's length. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:13.759 If you guys remember, we did a series on Numbers or Into the Wilderness, as the cool kids say. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:20.960 And we were hearing about how God sought to dwell amongst his people, but he had to make sure that it was observed the correct way. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:28.319 Things were built intentionally, that his glory would be able to live with sinful people without wiping them out. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.440 Is that his problem? 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:30.480 No, it's ours. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:34.240 But he is gracious and he seeks to draw near to you. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:39.119 The triune God is building a temple. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:42.319 This is not a stuffy museum that ought to stay quiet. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:45.359 Bring your loud kids in this room. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:50.000 It's not an empty, expensive religious shell of a building. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:52.559 It's a living home. 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:53.920 It's joined together. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:55.759 It's growing and it's being built. 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:58.880 He adds to our number every day. 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:07.279 This is where the creed's words begin to glow, church family, because Paul is giving us the architecture of the church. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:17.759 He says apostolic means rooted, rooted in the once and for all gospel of Jesus, his teaching, his death, his resurrection. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:18.400 It's enough. 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:20.160 There's no need for reinvention. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:28.960 We don't need to bend to the sensitivities of our culture as that continues to change about every other week. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:33.359 Paul says it is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:37.680 That foundation is laid once, and it is not changing. 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:43.119 Christ is the same today, tomorrow, and forever. 00:21:43.119 --> 00:22:05.359 I was asked at a dinner table with some family, someone who has good intention said, Peter, well, if the church doesn't start ordaining certain kinds of people who are not traditionally ordained, you know, won't the church become irrelevant? 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:06.720 Won't it die? 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:12.640 I had my little kids, not all of them were born then, and I'm sitting here trying to figure out this is a sensitive spot. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:15.599 How do I show Christ's love and like speak the truth here? 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:18.480 Um, so I erred on being gentle. 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:25.200 But I said, no, I believe we don't conform God's word to our sensitivities, but we conform to it. 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:38.960 And I'll say this now: whether this building stays here or we ever move to another building, the only reason New City Church will continue is because the foundation is laid on Jesus and we have faithful staff and members that will not relent. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:40.480 Come rain or shine. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:50.720 So when Jesus is asking the church to receive his foundation, you need to understand the cornerstone. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:52.000 We got a lot of builders here. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:54.400 Some of you are gonna be like, I'm checking out for the next five minutes. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:55.279 It's totally fine. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:56.319 Cornerstone. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:03.759 Cornerstone is not just the first stone laid, but the cornerstone is what dictates the walls, it affects the roof and the entire structure. 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:07.279 The cornerstone must be square and true, and Jesus is. 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:20.720 But if it's not, if you build your life on something other than Jesus, Jesus plus uh my tribe, Jesus plus my politics, Jesus plus my really, really good efforts. 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:27.759 I take communion and I pray and I like try to love my neighbor or something, then that house, that church, it begins to creak. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:30.319 If you've ever been in a Florida hurricane, you know what I'm talking about. 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:34.559 You're like, I bought this roof, we did inspections, but I think it's gonna come off. 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:37.920 You know, the the trusses they begin to twist. 00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:48.880 And if your foundations are not laid on the rock, it will break under the false gospel burden of our tribalism, or you name it. 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:52.880 When Christ is the cornerstone, the creed makes sense. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:24:12.799 Holy, not because we're impressive, but because God is making us his dwelling, Catholic, universal, one people across all nations in time, loved and led by the same God, an apostolic, built on that foundation, laid not to be added to, not to be improved upon at any given point throughout time. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:18.240 Now notice that Paul repeats, verse 21, joined together, built together. 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:23.359 That means the Christian life is not a solo act, it's not a rolling stone thing. 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:28.319 Ben and others have really taught me when you're baptized, you're baptized into a community. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:30.160 That's where this really matters. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:33.200 You're baptized into a church. 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:38.640 He joins you not just to the Father, but Jesus joins you to one another. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:42.559 Jesus doesn't drop perfectly finished stones from heaven. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:46.480 That means if he's for living stones, there's a quarry somewhere. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:49.200 He's got some tools, that builder, Jesus. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:51.440 Uh Ben reminded me, he's a tecton. 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:53.920 That means he's a builder of stone and wood. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:55.440 Uh, he's got a resume. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:56.960 He knows what he's doing. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:24:58.079 So what's he got? 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:01.279 He's got a hammer, he's got a chisel, and he's going to work. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:04.960 If you're following Jesus, you better believe he's gonna change you. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:07.839 There's chiseling. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:11.680 Jesus is removing some of Peter's pride. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:13.680 Doesn't always feel so good. 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:15.039 There's hammering. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:17.759 He's gonna knock some idols loose in my heart. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:20.319 I'll worship you a little bit, not too much. 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:21.759 That's painful. 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:23.119 And there's sanding. 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:25.759 Jesus feels, ooh, there's some distrust right there. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:27.279 Let's buff it out. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:29.920 And then there's pressure. 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:35.200 He is purging me of my self-reliance, and he's doing it today, right now, in front of you. 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:38.240 But here's the deal. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:40.799 I've been able to see this up close. 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:44.160 Um, I have an opportunity to do it, so I'm gonna do it. 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:46.480 I'd have you all know a name. 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:48.400 You're not gonna know the guy, but you'll know the name. 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:50.240 His name is Daniel Hadab. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:53.839 Now he's with the Lord, he's seen him with his own eyes at the right hand. 00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:58.079 But Danny was my buddy for the longest time here in Orlando when we didn't know anyone. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:03.440 Danny and I would meet weekly, and when we would meet, we'd be talking through life. 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:08.960