Good morning, everybody.
Well, you can see we’re trying something new. We’d like to welcome those who are here, who are seeing some new things, and those who are joining online as well.
Can we actually fill up the front row and not use the back row if possible, if you don’t mind? Feels like a band concert. Yes, yes, definitely. There’s a new setup. I think we are going to leverage our size to our advantage. I hope it feels like it’s God’s living room. I’m going to sit sometimes, and we’re going to discuss things.
If you have questions, I want you to ask and interrupt me. I want this time to be very helpful for you instead of answering questions that you’re not even asking.
So, as a church, we’ve been asking for wisdom. And finally, the Lord, he is starting to answer that prayer request. And the first word he gave me was reset. So we’re going to do a reset.
I feel, you know, Moses, when he was born into Pharaoh’s household, he definitely had a call upon his life from the very beginning.
Even the fact that he was saved from the river was a miracle of God. And God’s hand was upon him from the very beginning.
Moses had this call upon his life. At age 40, we read in Acts 7 that a burden came in, or something came in, and he saw two of his countrymen fighting. He decided to try to be a mediator between them. They said, who are you? you’re not our judge. you’re not even one of us. you’re Pharaoh’s kid. And so they rejected him.
He ended up killing one of the Egyptian slave owners, and news spread, and he went into hiding for 40 years. He quietly raised a family.
I bring that story to us today because I feel like for this last season, we’ve been somewhat hiding. We’ve been somewhat preparing. We’ve been caring for foundational things, like, for some of us, beginning homeschool. That’s a big adjustment for any family to make, to prioritize the household and marriage and kids. These are the kinds of things that the Lord was having us work on in this last season.
But then at age 80, Moses saw the burning bush, and he knew it was time to move in a new direction. And so I feel like we are also. It’s time to go to the pharaohs of this world and demand that he let God’s people be set free.
Also, Jesus, he ministered in different places, in different contexts, almost, it seems like, on a daily basis. So I know, Bellflower is our home base. I think we’re going to not prioritize as much the YouTube streaming. So on some Sundays we won’t have slides.
Maybe we’ll have new praise books that maybe Matthew and I can work together on. We can just keep on adding songs to a small three-ring binder and have a retreat feel.
We sing songs that you guys want to sing. Like this past week, I sang My eyes are dry. My faith is old. So a lot of oldies I want to teach you, and Matthew wants to teach all of us so we can bring that into our devotions at home.
And I just invite you to check the church website on Saturday night because there might be surprising announcements.
I would like to take this show on the road. Maybe since we’re small and agile and mobile, we can have a service at the ranch, for example. Why not? And minister there.
Or if there’s someone at UCLA that says, yeah, I’m looking for a church, why don’t we go and encourage that brother or sister? We could do a service about outreach on a Sunday. Great Commission.
And then after the service, instead of eating, why don’t we go and do the will of the father and pass out flyers to the neighborhood?
So there’s a lot of ideas that the Lord is starting to give me, and I feel like we do have a green light to start moving in this direction. I think the first is to just get our house in order, get some workers ready for the harvest field, and then we go out.
But please pray with me about these changes and pray. I’m praying that the Lord fill this place.
In the next few months, I think there’s going to be no more set program. Who said we have to start with a prayer, sing hymns, and listen to one guy monologue for 30 minutes and then end with communion?
You know, I hope we can come with an expectation. You know, today is like this. Next Sunday it could be a little bit different. We don’t have to follow man’s tradition. There’s nothing in the Bible that says the service has to hit these points and follow this order.
We want to be in step with the Spirit and be flexible. Like Jesus. He is preaching to thousands of people and feeding them one day, and then the next day he’s speaking to one Samaritan woman.
I want us to have that kind of flexibility. Like, what is the actual need of the brothers and sisters here? We want to answer those questions, not the questions that interest me, but we want to answer the questions that are relevant for you.
And before I begin, let me read a prayer, and then this will be our prayer for the next few weeks. I’ll read from Ephesians 3:14.
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.
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21, ESV)
Okay, let’s pray. Father, we read these verses, and they are so lofty, and we admit that we may understand it in our head intellectually, but it doesn’t quite hit us in our hearts.
So we ask that you would help us, that you would empower us, that you would strengthen us, so that these things can start penetrating not a hardened heart, but a softened heart.
Holy Spirit, may you come and minister before us as we study your word, that you would soften it, that you would edify one another as we speak to one another the truth and love. We pray that you would minister amongst us and be amongst us. We pray that we would meet you throughout this service.
In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Well, I want to give a family feel, so I’m going to sit down for a moment, and I’m going to ask you some questions, and maybe this will spark conversation.
I really don’t have a sermon today. I have an assignment from the Lord to ask two questions and to study God’s Scripture together. One book in particular that we just read: the book of Ephesians.
I want us to wrestle together with this question, but we’re going to stay on this book until we’re done. I’m not sure how long, but as you’re studying the book of Ephesians on your own for the next week. Two months. Two months? I’m not sure.
Let’s ask ourselves two questions and ask the Lord for revelation to understand how to answer these questions in a way that is impactful, relevant, and practical.
The first question is, what is a Christian? It’s come up in the last couple of weeks. I think it’s a good one. If we are Christians gathering at a Christian church, we should know who we are and what we’re doing.
So first, what is a Christian? And the second question, what is church?
There are individual components to this question, and there are corporate implications of this question.
The questions are very connected, because if you answer, what is a Christian? When we gather, Christians gather, it almost just amplifies what we’re doing personally, and it just strengthens more and more.
So what is a Christian? Let’s start with that. Any answers from anywhere in Scripture? If you have a verse in Ephesians, that would be even better. What is a Christian?
And there’s no wrong answer, because it’s such a broad question. What is a Christian?
Yes, Sophia? Someone who thinks of Jesus positively and thinks he’s a Messiah. That’s a great answer. Yeah. You have a good father who teaches you well at home.
Anybody else? What is a Christian or what is a church? You can answer either one.
Yes. Junior. Follower of Jesus Christ. That’s a great answer. Yes. Yes. Follower of Jesus.
Yes. Christian is a believer. And church is a community of believers. Yes. Yes. Amen.
Anybody else?
Jesus dwells in you. Yes. Ephesians 3:17. Jesus dwells in us. Yes.
That’s a big concept that I definitely want to unpack over the next few weeks. Anybody else?
A Christian is someone who has a personal relationship with Jesus. Yes.
To know the love of Christ. Yes.
For that to really hit us in our heart, that would change everything if we really understood the love of Christ, how much we’re loved by God as a child of God, how that would change everything if we believed it in our hearts.
Anything else? Well, those are great answers.
And part of your homework is, as you’re trying to wrestle with these questions through the book of Ephesians, I just want to point out one thing that jumps out at me, and you kind of all mentioned it, is the phrase in Christ, in him, with him. It comes up at least 20 times.
So that’s a critical piece of what a Christian is, what we’re doing as a church. We are in Christ. We are in him. We are with Christ. Things happened with him, in him.
So let’s ask the Lord for more revelation.
Like, what does it mean that we are in Christ? We are a minister in Christ. We’re someone who is united with Christ. Things that happen to Jesus. We are raised with Christ. Jesus was raised, and now we are raised. Something happens physically and spiritually with Jesus. And something happened spiritually with all believers who are part of his church.
So ask the Lord specifically and pay attention to that phrase. Read the context around Christ in him, with him, anything with Jesus. And to have 20 verses like that, and I probably missed a bunch of them.
Jesus is a big deal. Like what Jesus did and what he accomplished, who he is. I don’t know why it’s not talked about more, like we talk about so many topics in churches, but Jesus is the big deal.
Like, we need to talk about him, we need to know him, we need to somehow understand, what does it mean that I’m following him, I’m in him, I’ve been raised to new life with Christ, and I’m now seated in the heavenly realms with him.
Like all of these spiritual realities, we need to understand in our hearts what all of this means. And I try to do my normal Bible prep because God just says, okay, answer these questions and study the book of Ephesians.
So I thought, okay, I’m just going to read it all, all week and something will jump out and it’s going to be one point.
And I started, I listened to a bunch of times, and last night I started to try to come up with an outline. It turns out every chapter, I was pretty much writing out the whole chapter. There’s no verse in Ephesians that is not a key verse.
So I thought, okay, this one, it’s not going to be so clear. But let’s try to answer these questions together, and maybe we’ll try to do it a little bit differently than in the past.
I look down a little bit on expositional preachers because I look at how Stephen preached before he was martyred, or Peter preached before and after Pentecost. The Holy Spirit just empowered these men, and they connected the dots from the Old Testament, all pointing to Jesus.
To me, that’s my example for spirit-filled preaching. But I just can’t get around the fact that there are so many verses in Ephesians.
And rather than me trying to argue a single point and then list off like 20 verses, I think let’s just go through verse by verse for now, at least for today, and let’s see how far we get and if the Lord will give us some clarity on these questions.
What is a Christian and what is church?
Okay, Ephesians 1:1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. There’s that phrase, grace to you and peace from God.
Our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:1-3, ESV)
Again, that phrase in Christ. It’s almost like every day is Christmas for a believer. And Jesus is the gift, and every spiritual blessing can somehow be connected to Christ. Something about Jesus.
And it is the job of a believer, with God’s help and with inspiration and the aiding counseling of the Holy Spirit, for us to unpack.
Why is every spiritual blessing like everything, like not even one blessing is outside of Christ? Every spiritual blessing is in Christ. And so we need to unpack it for all of eternity and certainly for our earthly sojourn.
We need to understand, why is every spiritual blessing in Christ? What does it mean to be in Christ? Abide in Christ and follow Christ. Remain with Christ. Stay close to Christ.
There are so many verses that you can look to. Start unpacking. What does it mean to be in Christ? This is fundamental and central to the Christian identity.
Verse four. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, (Ephesians 1:4-5, ESV)
Of course, we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus. When God looks at us, he sees us as righteous because of Christ. We’re all sinners. There’s no one who is righteous. But it is our destiny that not only are we called to be chosen and saved, that is our primary calling.
But also, it is part of that calling to be holy and blameless. And to me, already I see a dot being connected with Ephesians 5, the chapter about marriage. We think, okay, that is a good sermon, a good chapter to choose for a wedding service, Ephesians 5. But it’s really not about marriage. Jesus says it’s really about Christ and his church. And what does God want for his church? Church like a bride on her wedding day, spotless, radiant, not a wrinkle, not a blemish.
It’s not like you’re driving through McDonald’s on the way to your wedding and you eat a Big Mac, and a ketchup stain goes on your wedding gown. You live your life with all of these stains, sins, and impurities. That’s not how it’s supposed to be for a believer.
We’re supposed to not only hide behind Christ, and it’s true, there’s a righteousness through Christ that God sees us in that righteous and holy way. But we also are supposed to grow into this.
It is part of our calling that we’re supposed to be holy and blameless in every way, because Jesus is our standard. He was holy and blameless as a man in every way. And he’s saying we can do it in Christ with his help.
If we stay close to Jesus, we can do it. We can be holy and blameless. Maybe not perfectly as Jesus did, but closer and closer to perfection in Christ. It’s possible.
And he chose, predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. I can think of no greater title for a Christian than child of God.
If you go to God as a church leader, like an elder, elder’s wife, pastor, that’s such an inferior title. Wouldn’t you rather go to God as a child? And he’s your father, he’s your abba, he’s your daddy. That’s so much better than any title.
And the world will flaunt their title, CEO, doctor, whatever. Those titles mean nothing. What we care about is title. You are adopted as a son or daughter. I’m a child of God.
And let’s grow into that identity as a Christ follower, a child of God.
Verse seven. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to the purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:7-10, ESV)
And I just don’t know fully what this means.
And so we have to ask the Lord, what do you mean that everything in heaven and on earth is going to be united in Jesus at the end of the age as a Christ follower?
That’s some revelation that we grow into. We understand pieces of this, we catch glimpses of this, and at some point in the future it’s going to become a reality. We’re going to see it with our natural eyes. It’s going to be part of our reality.
At some point when Jesus establishes the new heaven and the new earth, a new garden of Eden, a new Jerusalem.
Verse eleven. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory in him.
You also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with a promise, Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 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, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-14, ESV)
And so now we see one of the reasons why Jesus had to die and resurrect and ascend into heaven is so that the Holy Spirit can be given to his church, can usher in the church age. And one of the functions of the perSon of God, the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is to be a guarantee of our inheritance. So I think of the Holy Spirit’s ministry. One of them is he gives us an engagement ring, and right now we’re married to Jesus. But it’s not fully a reality yet until we get to the final marriage supper of the lamb.
But now we’ve been betrothed. Jesus came down and he says, you’re my bride to be. Here is my guarantee. I’m going to send the Holy Spirit. So any believer has this sense that Jesus is coming back.
Not in a general sense, but Jesus is coming back. For me, it’s a confidence that we have because the Holy Spirit in us is the guarantee. He put the wedding ring, the engagement ring, on us. The wedding ring is coming at the marriage supper of the lamb.
All of this is what Jesus promised. He says, I have to go. Better that I go in John 14 through 16, I will give you the Holy Spirit. And one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to give us this confidence.
Jesus is coming back for me. Verse 15.
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 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.
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 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, 18 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, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 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. (Ephesians 1:15-21, ESV)
And this is just so packed. Paul is looking to the Ephesians and saying, I have so many reasons to give thanks. May all of us, when we look around each other and see the faith that we see in each other growing, and see the love in this place growing for one another, have many reasons to give thanks, as Paul did for the Ephesian church.
We also know in the book of Revelation that this church, which was so praised and so commended, worked so hard, yet they lost their first love.
So it is possible, even for such a praiseworthy church, where Paul the apostle is praising them, that they can get sidetracked and lost in working and sniffing out false teachers and doing and discerning correctly all good things.
But if you read the book of Revelation, he says, you’ve lost the most critical thing. you’ve lost first love.
And may it never be said of us that our eyes have grown dry, our faith has grown cold, that our love has grown cold.
May it be never said of us that first and foremost we have to be people who love Jesus. He has to be the love of our life. He has to be the one we’re looking forward to spending all of eternity with, even your spouse.
You may love your spouse, but in heaven, there is no marriage. It’s a mystery. Like, what is this? How can this be? How can me and Jackie not be married in heaven? How is our relationship going to be different in heaven?
How is my marriage to Jesus going to be fully fleshed out? And this earthly marriage is just a shadow and a pointer. But we have to get there, that our love for Jesus grows hotter and warmer and more passionate and intimate as you do for your spouse. With your spouse, it may not be the same as in the early days, but there’s a deeper love, a deeper commitment, a deeper loyalty. I’ll never leave you. I’ll never disappoint you. I’ll never cheat on you. I’m with you all the way to the end.
That type of love, translated to Jesus Christ, that is what foremost he’s after. And if you have that love for Jesus, when we gather, you will see the faith, the love for Jesus on each other’s faces, hear it with each other’s words, and there will be much love that we can share with one another among the saints who have gathered in this place.
And all of this requires revelation. It requires wisdom. It’s like, not enough to just read it and, okay, I kind of understand what he’s saying. We have to ask the Lord for help.
It is so lofty. But if I really got it, if it really hit me in my heart, it would be a game changer. When I went to church, my church experience would be so different. If I really understood what these verses mean, if I had revelation in my heart, it would change everything. And he’s saying, the same power that raised Christ from the dead, I mean, that is power. A dead man being raised from the dead. That same power is now in each believer. That means it is within reach.
Everything that we’re reading here, it’s within reach because we have access to God’s great power. The same power that raised Christ from the dead now resides in us. We have a temple of the Holy Spirit, Christ himself, his spirit dwells in us. That is a great power.
So that all these verses are within reach. It’s within our grasp. It can become our reality. Verse 22.
And he put all things under his feet, and he gave a mess head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23, ESV)
Jesus put all things under his feet. That is a demonstration of power and authority. Jesus is saying, I am above everything you see in the earth. I’m above all the unclean spirits, all the demons, Satan himself, above all of the created order. I put it all under me, my feet. I am a ruler and a judge.
And Jesus, he said in the gospels, Matthew 28, Mark 16, various places. Now the same authority has been given to the church, and we should learn, what does that mean?
The same authority that Jesus demonstrated and now he says is over all the created order, natural and spiritual. He’s saying, now I’m giving you that same authority.
So should we live life as cowards? Should we live life always afraid? Should we live life insecure and wondering, oh, well, that person looked at me weird and now my day is ruined?
Like, should we, should we go around living life that kind of defeated way, easily bothered and irritated? Or should we live life more than a conqueror?
Because Jesus is this and he has given us the same authority, which puts everything under Christ’s feet. And now he starts introducing the topic of the church.
When you look at Hill Community church, do you see the fullness of Christ? Do you see the fullness of Christ?
You can fill in the blank with any church, even the best church, the biggest church, the best pastor and his church. Fill in the blank, any single church. Can it be said that you fill in the blank with the name of your church, and because it’s so special, therefore you go to that church and you see Christ in all of his fullness, because he is the head and we are the body?
When I read a verse like this, it tells me local church is important, but the universal church is really important, really important.
Like if I meet a brother at another church, but he believes what I believe, I can have instant fellowship with him, a kinship with him, a kindred spirit with him, and a bond with him, even though we never spent much time together.
And he attends a different church because there’s something very, there’s something so much bigger than all the local visible churches. There is this invisible universal church, which is one. There’s only one church.
When God looks at all the splintered denominations and Catholics and Protestants and Sundays, it’s like we can’t gather together because one doctrine, we disagree with you and we do baptism right, you do it wrong, and there’s so much division.
But when God looks at his church, he only sees one church. And that really needs to hit home that we have our distinctives at a church. We have things that we believe strongly as a local church.
But at some point, we put it aside because if we want to experience the fullness of Jesus, we need our Pentecostal brothers, we need our Presbyterian brothers and sisters. We need different denominations to fill in what we lack.
We will read even in Ephesians 4 that the leadership in the church includes apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, shepherds, teachers. I think we have a pastor here. I think we have some teachers here. Do we have apostles? Do we have prophets? Do we have evangelists? If we don’t have evangelists, we’re probably not going to grow much.
But that is one of the leaders that God has to raise up for churches.
So do we say, okay, we don’t meet the qualifications of a local church because we are missing key members of the leadership? Or do we say, okay, we play our part and we are the members of the body of Christ?
We are not full in ourselves, but we look across the road, we look across state lines, we look in another country, and we see they have certain things that we don’t have because they have certain giftings that we don’t have. They have certain offices that are being exercised in their church that we don’t have.
But together, when we join forces, we see more and more of the fullness of Christ. So we don’t ever elevate the name of a local church or a local church pastor, or denomination.
We lift up the Name of Jesus, and we say we are one in Christ, and there’s one invisible universal church that we’re all a part of.
Shall we keep going, or shall we stop? What do you think? Is this a discussion? Well, let’s just take a pause and see. Are there questions? So we can include some questions and answer component here.
So maybe not sure if we’re going to continue or stop, or it’s just a pause, but let’s pause to just address any questions that came up from the first chapter or anything that I said.
No questions. Should we stop? Blake, John, Sophia, Tim, what do you guys want? You want to? Okay. Yes. Janet. What’s the purpose of the church?
Yes. What is church? What is the purpose of church?
I think that is in chapter three and four. It’ll be a long time. Yeah, but it’s in there. The purpose is in there. So yeah, when you think about what is church? A sub point of that is what is the purpose of church? Yes.
We need to cover that for sure. Is the purpose of church spreading the good news? Let’s just read this section.
And this will be from chapter four, verse ten. He who descended is one, who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds or pastors, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and to the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the full of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:10-16, ESV)
So these are the verses that I think would be a great place to start, to start unpacking. What is the purpose of church? And we should ask the Lord for revelation.
I’ll just give you my first, just high level pass as I read it this past week. First of all, it is among the offices. I don’t know what I have. Maybe, I mean, I am a pastor. Maybe I am a teacher, evangelist. I have been more evangelistic in the past.
I don’t think I’m an apostle or a prophet, but to the best of my ability, I will now start beginning to equip the saints for the work of ministry.
So that is something. The Lord is giving me a green light to start doing this part, which I haven’t done for a while.
I think I did it in the early days of Hill Community church, but the Lord had to get some more foundational things in reset before I can go back to what I did in the early days.
And I think the following: we think work of ministry, and we kind of stop there because work of ministry, we automatically think of, we have to grow the church, we have to make disciples, we have to evangelize, which is true.
And I’m waiting for an evangelist to stand up and say, I have a heart of evangelism. I have a gift of evangelism. I want to do evangelism because I want to see this place packed out. Some of you, it doesn’t even cross your radar.
For me, it’s obviously on top of my radar all the time. We should pack this place out. If you have that kind of a heart, please come talk to me and let’s start praying together.
Let’s start brainstorming because even the flyer that I want to start working on, let’s work on that together. Let’s make sure we have the right images and the right verbiage because we’re here, Hill Community Church, but we’re kind of partnering with Canaan in some sense because we’re sharing their facility.
So should we really promote unity? I’m just throwing out an idea.
Should we promote unity and say, we are two churches, a Korean speaking church, an English speaking church gathered under one banner, under Christ? We are one in Christ, and we go out together. We say, if you speak Korean, go to Canaan. If you speak English, come to Hill. But we advertise. We go out to the neighborhood and we say, we are here. Two churches.
That’s just an idea that I had, which is already, if you look at our website, I tried to capture some of that on our website, but even how we promote, what messaging we want to do.
Do you want to say we’re a family church? Like some people, they’re only looking for a church that has a kids program. Unfortunately, right now we don’t have a kids program, but I think some families like worshiping together with their kids.
I personally think it’s a good thing that the kids are not shuffled off into a separate wing of the church, and parents and kids together are listening to the same message. Maybe the kid can’t understand everything, but they’ll catch pieces of it.
And then it’s a job of the parent to ask questions and say, were you confused? Did you get it? That invites a further discussion at home, in the family, which I think is a good thing, because the ultimate discipler for the kids is not a youth pastor.
I think it’s a father and the mother who disciple their own kids. And so maybe there are people who are looking for a family worship service.
I don’t mind if a baby is crying in the back. I don’t mind. I can live with that. Because I think Jesus, when he saw the little kids, the disciples wanted to put up a wall and say, don’t bring the kids to Jesus. Let only the important VIP, the adults, come to Jesus.
And Jesus says, no, he welcomed the kids. Even the small ones he said, just come.
I want to bless them. So I’m with the evangelist in the crowd. I’m with the people who want to work. I need more workers. Actually, I do need more workers because even to run this service, I do want to simplify it at times when appropriate.
Because when we have praise and it’s. And let’s say there’s, you know, Matthew might be busy. We don’t need to prioritize a praise for a YouTube audience. We can do a stripped down guitar and a circle, not worrying so much about the lyrics.
And we can just have praise books or printouts and just do it more casually. This will invite people or encourage people if they think they can have the same experience at home as coming. It’s not true. I want you to come. I want you to be physically here because every Sunday it may be different, and the YouTube experience and the in-person experience is gonna be different.
So I wanna encourage people, if possible, come in person. Yes, Janet?
Our modern church has become such a high class. Yes, right. Sometimes people like that, but we’re brainwashed again. You know, you go to church and dress up. Nice car. So they feel committed to church. But don’t worry about how you look.
Yes, yes, yes. Those are all great ideas. Doing YouTube for praise time. We could definitely do that. I am dressing down and maybe go back to what I used to do. I used to do jeans. Yeah. So maybe we’ll be moving that direction. And definitely Sister Janet has a heart of an evangelist, so I’ll be speaking with her for sure.
But if others of you have that heart to evangelize, and you don’t have to be the one, like, doing street preaching, but you don’t mind speaking to somebody and passing out a flyer, doing a quick little conversation, maybe praying for them, if they’re open, we can do something like that and have a shorter service.
And most of the service will be outside of the church walls. I like having that kind of flexibility. We need workers even to do the sound. Because I feel bad that the kids are back there.
I don’t want the kids to miss out on the service here because they’re in the back. And so if we have a rotation, and this is just as we grow in love for one another, the thought is, okay, I’m an uncle, I’m an aunt, and I see one of the children in the back. I have a heart for the kids. And so I want to give them a break and let the kids be here.
And then I’m going to sacrifice my Sunday experience a little bit on any given Sunday just to have that heart of we’re loving each other. We are mindful of the work that needs to be done. But I am definitely going to be asking the Lord, how do you want me to equip the saints for the work of the ministry?
But I do want to pay attention to. And we’ll end with this. I think the rest of the verses that I read is all about Christian maturity.
To me, this is a goal. It would be a tragedy if Hill Community Church celebrated our 50th anniversary and we were the same, but grumpier. That would be really tragic. That would be really tragic.
And we got deceived easily by many false teachers who seem sincere. That would be really sad. I think the job of the teachers, pastors, elders, is to guard the teaching and to whatever we do as a church, it is to. Yes, it is to grow. It is to evangelize. That is part of the work of the ministry.
But I think the purpose or the goal is each person, from newcomer to new convert, to young believer, to growing believer, to mature believer.
And if we gather a bunch of mature believers, then the fullness of Christ begins to come out. Even if we are few in number, if we’re all fully mature in Christ, this place will feel full. It will feel full.
You will want to come to Sunday because you have something to share, and you want also to hear from somebody else who has something to share.
And we are going to be edifying and growing each other and having testimonies to share. When we gather in a group like this, we keep speaking the truth in love. He says the truth is in Jesus.
Somewhere else in this chapter, we keep mentioning Jesus and we keep talking about our relationship with Jesus. In the end, we will be a place that will feel full, fully mature, fully in Christ. Whatever we lack, it doesn’t matter because we have partnered. We see beyond just Hill Community. We see there’s Calvary Chapel.
We see there’s other churches around the world, and we partner and we say, okay, they have something that we lack. We need to learn from them, partner with them, serve alongside of them.
And we want to promote to the world that there’s only one church. At the very least, at a small level, we should tell Bellflower, Canaan Church and Hill Community. We are one. Different set of doctrine, perhaps, different pastors, perhaps, different elder boards, perhaps, but we’re one church.
We should not confuse non-Christians and say, why are there so many churches? And why does every church have a slightly different statement of faith? And why does everybody seem to throw stones at one another? We don’t want to add to the division.
We really want to lift up the name of Christ. When you lift up Jesus, he will draw all men to himself.
And so we really focus on what unifies the body of Christ, not what divides the body of Christ. Okay, well, let’s stop there. Okay. Let’s pray.
Father, we thank you that you’re helping us to reset. We thank you that you’re giving wisdom and revelation.
You’re giving us a green light to enter the world and to demand from all the pharaohs of the world to let your people go.
We pray that we can experience miracles, that you would raise up apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors, teachers in this place.
We pray that the leadership together would be on one page on how to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.
And we pray that we will keep the purpose and the goal in mind: to stay close to Christ, to remain in Christ, to be with Christ, to be raised with Christ, to be a conqueror because of Christ, to grow up in the fullness of Christ, to become a mature man or woman who understands their identity.
Child of God, I pray that you would keep giving us more revelation, more understanding, more wisdom to answer, and to really embrace and allow the truth to come into our hearts about what is the church and what is a Christian.
Thank you, Lord, for beginning that work today. We thank you for Your Body that was broken for us and Your Blood shed. We understand that because of what Christ did, we are now raised with Christ in the newness of life. And now we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
Please reveal that the truth of this heavenly citizenship that we live out on earth. Thank you, Lord. We pray that you minister to us as we close out this service. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
