2.21.2021 - Why I Love My Church_ Joining God’s Family

February 21, 2021 - Joining God's Family Hello and thanks for being here today. To begin 2021, we've been doing a sermon series titled: Why I love my church. As we've already seen in the past few weeks - what we call "church" is so multi-faceted that one word is not enough to describe it. In fact, the NT includes numerous word-pictures to unpack what the church is & what it is meant to be about........ that the church is the gathering of God's people; the church is like a body (with many parts); and the church is like a classroom where we learn and are shaped by the word of God. Last week, Becca & Steph touched on another word picture found in the NT - that the church is a family. This has been so important in my own life and story - it's hard to fully describe. The family of God has been where I've found comfort in my deepest difficulties, and where I've been able to celebrate life's high points. God's family is where I've learned how to have healthy relationships and where I've been challenged to grow beyond what I ever thought was possible. In today's message, I want to take this theme of God's family a couple layers deeper by looking at a great passage in Galatians 3. The Apostle Paul writes this starting in v 26: 26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you. (Galatians 3:26-29 NLT) There is lots of family language in these 4 verses... Let's explore this a bit: If the church is a family, how do we join this family? And what can happen in and through our lives when we are part of God's family? First - We become God's children through faith (v.26) As verse 26 describes, faith is the doorway into God's family. This isn't automatic - we become God's children through faith. Now, I want to be very specific about what I mean by that word "faith." Faith is more than positive thinking or optimism. It is more than a feeling and goes beyond mere emotions. And faith is more than agreeing with a set of principles. In my early background, growing up in a small town traditional church, "having faith" meant believing the right facts about God, and there was a strong emphasis on having the correct theological doctrines. What I came to understand later, however, is that faith is essentially about hope. ● In what, and ultimately in whom do we place our hope? Here's the thing about us as humans. We are like magnets constantly searching for something to attach ourselves to... in the hope of discovering meaning, purpose, love and security. And what we place our hope in... that really, really matters. This is one of the things I love most about our church. We are unapologetic about inviting people to put their hope in Jesus. We have found that nothing else & no one else will be a sufficient object of our hope. Everything else is going to let us down. But when we anchor ourselves to Jesus, we can discover a kind of life that we never thought was possible. ● Through the years here at Duluth Vineyard, we have seen hundreds upon hundreds of people take the step of putting their hope in Jesus. Story after story of people trusting Jesus and having their lives radically transformed by him. It's an amazing, beautiful thing. And again, this is the way into God's family. I love how the gospel of John echoes what we read in Galatians 3. John 1:10-12 says: 10 He (Jesus) came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. If you are desiring that place of belonging that Becca and Steph spoke about last week, you can enter God's family through faith. Putting your hope in Jesus is how you become a child of God. ● Let's unpack a bit more of what that can mean for our lives. Gal 3 also says - in God's family We are united with Christ (v.27). More specifically, v. 27 points to baptism as a key expression of union with Christ. Baptism is an outward expression of the deep inner commitment that someone has made to Christ. And, through the centuries, baptism has been a primary marker of initiation into God's family. On the surface, baptism can seem a bit weird - folks get into this big tub of water. They get dunked and then are soaking wet in front of a room full of people. But there is so much that baptism represents and so many powerful spiritual exchanges that take place through baptism. ● Romans 6 says that when we join with Christ in baptism, we are joining him in his death. And - just as Christ was raised from the dead, we can be raised to new life as we put our hope in Him. ● Galatians 3 talks about baptism being like putting on a new set of clothes... In the Bible, that illustration is often used to describe being cleansed from our old way of life, and then pointing ourselves towards a new and pure way of living. ● Here at the Vineyard, we practice baptism by immersion. The original Greek word for baptism - baptizo - isn't originally a religious term. More commonly in Jesus' day, it would have been used to describe how when a piece of cloth is immersed in dye - the dye becomes inseparable from the cloth. Or they would speak of a ship that has sunk to the bottom of the sea as being "baptizo'd" - its previous state has been permanently altered. ● Similarly, in baptism - we are immersed into Christ. What is true about Jesus becomes true about us. We have a brand new identity in Christ, and we are on our way to becoming more like Him. We celebrate our entrance into God's family, and we rest in the promise that we will never be alone again. That's what baptism is all about. This morning, we're going to celebrate with a number of people that have decided to be baptized. I believe there are 9 people between the two services. As they prepare for this big step... let me offer a few other bits of encouragement to the rest of us. ● First - If you've already committed your life to Jesus and have been baptized - today's celebration can be an opportunity for you to reflect on what that means to you, and assess how your relationship with Jesus is going right now. We typically only get baptized once in water, but being immersed in Christ - living in union with him - is something we can experience every day of our lives. (LENT) ● Secondly, some of you have never been baptized before. And as you hear me talk about all that it represents, you're saying to yourself... I'm in - this is exactly what I need to do as a next step with Jesus. We do baptisms several times each year, so you can plan for a future date. But here's the other offer... you could actually get baptized today. ● We have towels and a change of clothes for you. And consistently, we have people decide to get baptized on the spot. Seriously, if this is something God is nudging you about, you can take that step today. ● And there's maybe another subset of folks here this morning. Maybe you wouldn't currently consider yourself a follower of Jesus. Whether you are skeptical, questioning or just brand new to this stuff of church - a great next step could be to check out the Alpha course that is starting up in Mid-March. Alpha is a 10 week introduction to the Christian faith, and is an environment where you can say or ask anything you want. You'll make some new friends and have a chance to explore what you think about Jesus and to consider if orienting your life towards him is something you want to do. We have both in-person and online options for our next Alpha. You can find all the details and register at our Alpha page. Okay, we've covered some good ground so far. Touching on how... we become God's children through faith & in baptism, we are united with Christ Here's a third item we discover in Gal 3. We are united in Christ (v.28). The union we experience in God's family is not meant to just be with Jesus - we are invited into unity with each other. Look again at verse 28. ● "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." Take that in for a moment, because that is a mind-blowing statement. Just like in our day, 1st century culture was seeped with divisions. There were divisions between races; division between social classes, divisions between men and women (and more). And yet, Paul says - IN CHRIST every single one of us has equal standing, and IN CHRIST, we can discover a unity with one another that is miraculous. Think about it: ● Even though we don't share a physical bloodline, we are all connected by the blood of Jesus that he shed on the cross ● Even though we have different last names, we give our shared allegiance to Jesus - the Name above every other Name. ● Even though we come from many different backgrounds, we have in common the mission of Jesus to make disciples, and to be partners in God's kingdom work of setting all things right again. Unity is so beautiful when it works AND it's one of the things I have loved so much about our church. When I moved here 4 years ago and began meeting people in our church, one of the immediate things I was struck by was the wide range of people that make up the Duluth Vineyard. Now, as we've talked openly about - we still have a ton of work to do to become more racially diverse as a church - something that we are deeply committed to. But, in nearly every other category, my mind was blown by how different the people in our church are. ● We have people in every life stage you can imagine. Kids/youth, college students and young adults. Men and Women in their 30's and 40's, as well in their 50's, 60's, 70's and beyond. ● We have folks that have been in church their whole lives, and people that are brand new to faith. ● Duluth Vineyard is made up of people from every socio-economic background you can imagine - and we have people in our church across nearly every spot on the political spectrum. ● Every fall, we have Vikings fans and Packer fans worshipping Jesus in their respective jerseys... all in the same row. Talk about miracles! ● I remember within the first month or two of being on staff... as I reflected on the people that I had met that previous weekend, I said to myself - "how in the world are all these different people in the same church?" Unity is a beautiful thing, but it is also incredibly difficult. In our current culture, there is immense pressure to make any and every issue a potential dividing line. We are tempted to slip into echo chambers where we only listen to people that have our same perspectives. And let's be real... the pandemic has made things even more challenging. As we are more isolated physically, it is easy to isolate relationally. With all these factors... how do we stay unified? Paul gives us the most important answer: we are one IN Christ Jesus. As we keep Jesus at the center, we can walk in unity with one another. ● One of the word pictures that came to my mind this past week was of a wheel... where you have the hub at the center and then the stems or the spokes angling out from there. ● When a wheel works correctly, it can bear the weight of what it is carrying and things move with freedom. ● It's the same thing in the family of God. As we stay fiercely committed to keeping Jesus at the center, we can all find our place in unity, stemming out from him. Okay here's a final item we see in Galatians 3. Verse 29 says that... We are heirs of God's promises (v.29) There is an interesting historical backdrop to this passage. In 1st century Greco-Roman culture, if a wealthy person did not have any natural born children, it was a practice for them to adopt an heir. After a little paperwork, this adopted son would start a new life with a new family, and that new status included two amazing blessings. First, any of their previous debts were cancelled. Secondly, they became the rightful heirs of everything that their new father owned. Friends, consider this: In Christ, we become heirs to treasures that far surpass the value of money or property. Being part of God's family enriches us in ways that earthly wealth never can. Earlier in Galatians 3, the Apostle Paul highlights two key promises we inherit through Christ. ● First, the Promise Of Freedom: "But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God's promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ." (Galatians 3:22) This is at the core of what the people are declaring through baptism this weekend: they needed to be rescued & Jesus bought their freedom. I also think of a conversation I had this past week with my friend Alex, who is in one of my small groups and a brand new follower of Jesus. Roughly a year ago, Alex was reeling from the impact of two tragic deaths within one week. He was battling addiction, as well as his own pride and greed. But - get this - in the midst of a pandemic, Alex has discovered a relationship with Jesus, and his life is being changed from the inside out. He is experiencing freedom and joy that he could never find before. Folks this is why we are so unapologetic about inviting people to put their hope in Jesus. It can literally change your life like it is doing with Alex. ● Secondly we receive the Promise of the Holy Spirit: "Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith." (Gal 3:14) The Holy Spirit is God's personal presence. When we put our hope in Christ, we have the Spirit's power at work in us and we can experience the ongoing security of being sons and daughters of God. That is all part of our inheritance as followers of Jesus. ● Invitation to experience that for yourself... maybe for the first time... maybe for the first time in a long time. Before today's service is done, I'd love to pray for us along those lines. As we finish up the message: here's the question I have for you: What is your next step? What is God inviting you into today? - Being part of God's family is not automatic. It's through faith that we become part of the God's family. - Next step to decided to get baptized - you could plan for the future, or you could get baptized right here, today. - Sign up for the Alpha Course - Could be to recommit to putting Jesus at the center of relationships that have been strained. - Maybe it's opening up to the presence of the Holy Spirit. We'll take some time to pray into those items in just a few minutes... but first - we're going to baptize some people. Sound good? ● Invite baptize-ees up front, as well as the worship team ● Explain COVID protocols: masks/shields, sanitizer, plenty of chlorine in the tub ● Make another invitation for anyone that wants to get baptized on the spot Going to walk through some statements of commitment. When you are baptized, you are asked ancient questions, variations of which have been asked of millions of people for nearly 2000 years: ● Question 1: "Do you believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord and King, and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life and grace? ● Answer: "I do." ● Question 2: "Do you renounce Satan and all his works and all his ways?" ● Answer: "I do." ● Question 3: "Do you confess your need for the forgiveness of sins and with a humble heart put your hope in God's mercy and your whole trust in Christ as your Lord and Savior?" ● Answer: "I do." ● Question 4: "And with his help, do you seek to follow him, becoming more like him until you see him face to face?" ● Answer: "With all my heart, I do!" Would you join me in praying for these folks... Explain how this is going work: ● Baptize these folks ● Worship while that is happening ● Invitation again for spontaneous baptism