Greater than #6)
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Northside Church
God’s family is better than
June 30,2024
Jamey Mills
Good morning!!
My name is Jamey Mills and I’m the lead pastor here at Northside Church…
It’s always good to be with you…
Last week was such an awesome week…
We heard from the PNG mission team
Prayed over two families that have husbands/dads deploying for a year
The Luau was fantastic… huge attendance… lots of great connections…
I think it’s important to celebrate wins like this… so after the service we have some good donuts coming… I just want to encourage you all to enjoy… and get to know some people. It’s what families do!
We are in our 6th week of series… Greater than…
Where we are sort of asking the question… Do I really believe and act like I believe that God, his design, plan, priorities and values are greater than… anything I can come up with or achieve and greater than anything this world could offer…
How do we know if we really believe it?
There is investment and growth in it.
Last week we talked about… how the Bible has incredibly powerful things to say about the church. These word pictures that help us to understand how God sees the church, its value, importance, significance, and purpose…
And you’ll notice that these word pictures aren’t cheap or chintzy… but powerful and important… and it's right for us to hear these things and evaluate… is this how I see, treat, serve, invest in the Church? If not, what needs to change…
Last week we looked at one of them… one of the metaphors God uses for the church is… His family.
That we… together… make up the family of God.
Ephesians 2:19 (NLT)
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.
I talked a little about adopting my kids… and how we don’t love, care for , provide 1\2 way for them… they are 100% my kids… my family. Even on the bad days.
And that is the exact word God uses for you…
Ephesians 1:3–5 (NLT)
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
100% part of His family… Heirs of his forgiveness, grace, and promise.
Once… because of sin we were not a part of God’s family, but now, because of Christ we are…
And we talked about how coming to know the Lord… and becoming part of His family… are intentionally and strongly connected in scripture. You are an irreplaceable part of God’s family.
Scripture makes it clear… that He takes it seriously and so should we.
So much of what God has for you… and for you to do… happen in the context of those two relationships… our relationship with Him and with our church family.
The Church is God’s Temple
Ephesians 2:20–21 (NLT)
Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
In OT times the temple was the place they understood that God’s presence powerfully dwelt.
The physical place they’d draw near to God, connect with Him, and offer sacrifices to be right with God… it was a sacred and holy place.
Hebrews tells us… that so much of what we read about the temple and sacrifices… are shadows pointing to a greater reality that we have in Jesus…
The temple… God’s powerful presence is not restrained or limited to some far off physical place… God was teaching them and us…
About the power of His presence in us
and in even greater ways… in our unity and togetherness.
Teaching us about following Him… and intentionally connecting with Him. This has discipleship connotations… people came to connect here and grow.
We as believers… both individually… but also corporately… are the temple of God.
Acts 2 talks about how the early Church gathered… devoted themselves to God’s Word, fellowship (intentional relationship/connection), eating together, and praying together… generosity, praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people… EVERYDAY… God added to their # to His family.
This picture of a structure… helps us understand that each part… supports and gives integrity to the whole…
And that's why division is one of Satan’s greatest tools… it has the potential to weaken the entire structure…
The key to strength and unity is what?
Christ, the cornerstone!
They would have known exactly what this was and meant. In those days… the cornerstone was the most important part of the building… more time and intentionality was given to choosing and laying the cornerstone than the rest of the building combined… It had to be perfect… if it wasn’t right… the building wouldn’t be right… if it was weak… the building would be weak… It would bear the weight of the entire structure.
That one stone… determined the shape, size, integrity of the entire structure…
And every other stone… had to be chosen, shaped and aligned with it.
And Ephesisans is saying… that is what Jesus is for the Church.
Christ is what we are built on and what brings alignment… it's not our way, our likes or our personal preferences… but authentic pursuit of Christ… Him first in us and in all things.
A huge necessary part of being God’s temple is being aligned with Christ.
As a church, we are only strong, only effective, and only meeting our true intention as we align with the cause, values, priorities, and heart of Christ.
Jesus is not some ½ cocked radical… The God of all creation. The maker and sustainer of all things. The always present, all powerful, all knowing… completely sovereign
1 Corinthians 3:16–17 (NLT)
Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
16 Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
We are the temple… called to be holy… set apart for God and His purposes.
God takes the temple… which is His church… with the utmost seriousness.
Does the church sound important to God? Yes
Is it important to us?
One other word picture God gives us to relay a significant truth about his Church is…
The Church is God’s body
Different parts, gifted in different ways, working together in unity under the headship of Jesus to accomplish God’s will and plan in ways we never could on our own.
The Bible talks about this in several locations…
And it’s intended to help us understand the make-up and role of the Church.
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is the head of the body…
We follow His lead and ques… we aren’t running off doing our own thing…
1 Corinthians 12:12–17 (NLT)
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
The body is diverse… every part gifted and put in place by Christ… playing a different yet important and unified role in which the body would be hindered without.
The body suggests self care… We talked about that last week some…
When one struggles we all struggle… when one wins we all win. I think of all the one anothers in scripture… that point toward internal health.
But it also points to the church… as His body… being his hands and feet…
One author called it the representation of His love, His grace, His forgiveness, His truth to the world around us… I do think that’s what
2 Corinthians 5:20 (NLT) is talking about…
So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
And I felt myself trying to push back on that… not because I don’t believe it, but because holistically, I’m not sure the American Church is crushing it.
In Matthew 5:13–16 (NLT) Jesus teaches…
“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
What does it mean to be the salt of the earth?
What does it mean to be the light of the world?
Preserving His truth… Shining His light… Accomplishing His purposes…
City on a Hill… Seattle…
When we lose our light… (just black picture)
Not a light on a bluff… a city on a hill. Together…
And… that's why we do things like the Luau…
Being salt and light… as a family… to our community…
Being good hosts… caring for… serving… and sharing with people who are created in His image… that He deeply loves…
CONC… Worship team and friend Dan come to help move us toward communion.
How are you doing at understanding the importance of God’s Church… of his family, of being part of His temple and body?
God has made it clear that part of what He has for you is to be part of His family… How are you doing there? How are you doing at taking up the responsibility that is uniquely yours?
Baptism… biblically a step we take in becoming part of God’s family… of accepting Jesus… as your Lord and savior… synonymously means joining His family.
Membership: can be hard to point to in scripture, but I believe it serves a purpose… to me membership is making your intention to active within this part of God’s family…
You can see those things on one click but also docs on the table in the back.
God gives several other metaphors… and the goal of each one of them is aimed at helping us to see with greater clarity the blessing, power and purpose of the Church.
The family of God, His temple, His Body, His bride, His flock, His vineyard, His ambassadors…
How does the way you see and invest in God’s family need to change?
