The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 27: The Body

Episode Date: July 22, 2018

Although we are not saved by the church, we are saved into the church family. The body needs you and you need the body.

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Everybody good? Everybody's looking good. If you would, please stand for the reading of God's word. I'll be reading from Romans chapter 12, beginning in verse 3. God's word says this. For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. for as in one body we have many members and the members do not all have the same function so we though many are one body in christ and individually members one of another having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us let us use them if prophecy in proportion to our faith if service in our serving the one who teaches in his

teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. May God add blessing to the reading and the hearing of his word. You may be seated. Hey, I want to say hey to all of our locations specifically. I don't always do that, but I want to say hey to Mandarin. What's up Mandarin? I hope you're enjoying the construction in case you don't know this here. we're adding hundreds of seats to our Mandarin location because they have outgrown all of the seats at our Mandarin location. Unbelievable. All right?

Really cool. And so part in the mess is going to be better in a few months for however long. And I also want to say hey to Arlington. Welcome to Arlington. Arlington is like the crown jewel of all 1122 locations, all right? In case you don't know, it's like the best one because it's the latest one. Technology is better. We get smarter.

You should really check it out, especially if you attend here and you drive by Arlington. to get here, stop. Okay? And then also, hey, Bay Meadows. Bay Meadows are our pioneers of campusesing, all right? They were the first to go, and it's awesome. It really is. Except when it rains, it's not as awesome, but we're fixing the roof, I promise, all right?

And then also say hello to San Pablo, how are we here? So the reason I just say, hey, individually is this. This last weekend, last week, on Wednesday morning, at about 5.30 in the morning, I had a really unique experience. got up and got J.P., my son ready, because he was going to go to centrifuge camp. That's where our student ministry just went to camp. By the way, they took three times as many students this year as last year, and 15 students from 1122 surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

It's incredible. It's incredible. And I'm a little, I'm pro camp. I got saved at camp. I did youth ministry for 15 years. It was all about taking kids to camp. And in fact, as an adult Christian, you know what your problem is? You quit going to camp, all right, that's your problem, which is why we do saturated, but anyway.

So I pull up to, we all meet at the Bay Meadows location. I think it was just geographically central to everybody. And this was kind of cool, man. I pull up, you know, it's super early in the morning. Everybody's like groggy and, you know, there's a few of it. They hadn't been to bed yet, but that's okay. And so this is what's cool, man. First of all, it was really well organized.

which was way different than when I was in charge of student ministry. But there were like all these different tables for the students to register that they had arrived from all of our different locations. And as I walk up into the parking lot, so there's hundreds of students and hundreds of parents, and this was what was cool, is that none of us knew everybody. None of us. In fact, there were tons of us that were seeing each other for the very first time. It was sort of like a big family reunion.

I don't know if your family does this, but occasionally our family has had these huge family reunions. And when you'd walk up to the family reunion, you would look around, and one, you would be reminded of the grace and mercy of God in your own life that you came from this shallow end of the pool seemingly, and now here you are. But anyway, that's a different sermon. And even though you didn't know everybody there, you just somehow knew you were a part of everybody there. And so there was this kind of thing going on in the parking lot at Bay Meadows as everybody was dropping off their students that nobody there knew everyone there and yet everyone there knew somehow that they were a part of everyone there because we're just one church.

And it was cool to see people from all the different locations gathering in one place to go to one camp as one youth ministry because we're one church under the one name that is above every name, his name is Jesus. And that kind of vibe that if you were there in the parking lot, some of you, I saw you there, okay? That kind of vibe is in this text. That's what we find in this text talking about the body of Christ united together. Now, in order for me to hit verse three, right, I'm just to start preaching in verse three,

in order for me to hit it with the momentum it deserves, I've got to back up to verse one and two, because one and two set up verse three, and I'm not going to do all the same. sermon. Pastor Britt did a marvelous job last week unpacking verses one and two. He's going to listen to this. You know that. So you should encourage. See at the end it said, never mind. We'll get it there and more. So let's back up. Here's what he says. Now 12-1. Paul says, I appeal to you therefore. Now this is huge. We're about to shift gears to take us around like the last lap of the book of Romans. Chapters 1 through 8 are about justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, because of God's grace alone. That's what all of chapters 1 through 8 are about.

The Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God for salvation. First to the Jews and the Gentiles for anyone who would believe. He gets to 8-1, therefore now. is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If God is for us, who could be against us. That's what one through eight is all about. And then in chapters nine through 11, he puts on display the mercy of God. Can the faithfulness of God be trusted even when his people are not faithful? And of course, he answers, of course. And so from chapter one through chapter 11, and he has been laying out the grace and the mercy of God. And now in chapter 12, he's going to say, therefore, therefore.

Because of all of that, for 11 chapters or 26 weeks for us, because of all that, therefore it should change everything about everything, about everything about you. And for the rest of the book, he's going to lay out the application and implication of the gospel, in your life. And that's what that therefore is therefore. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God.

The mercies of God is his summation of chapters 1 through 11. And I think there's a couple of reasons he says mercy of God. One is because if we are justified by faith, then the only reason is because of the mercy of God. Because we find out in Romans chapter 3 that God is just,

And because God is just, every sin must be paid for. But because God is merciful, he delays the payment. But because of his grace, he is the just and the justifier. He makes the payment for us. And then not only that, in chapters 9, 10, and 11, Paul puts on display God's mercy. But it doesn't say, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercy of God. So I don't think Paul is only talking about the mercy. of God towards us in our salvation.

Now, the greatest demonstration of the mercy of God is for sure our salvation, but it doesn't say mercy. It says mercies. Like, there's a bunches of them. And that we should pay attention to that. And I think we forget the mercies of God. And I think every single one of us live on this continuum between gratitude and entitlement.

And everything in us. and around us pushes us to entitlement every single day. And Paul is saying to us, all right, if you're going to live out the therefore, then you don't start with you. You start with the mercies of God. You ever have one of those days? All right. I've had one of those days. To anybody I work with and been in staff meetings today, I apologize, but you have to forgive me. Jesus said so. Okay, so one of those days. some parts have been awesome some part's not as awesome just one of those days man and i i i want to be grateful i want to wake up every day and say good morning god and some days i wake up and go good

god morning okay that's what i do one of those days and uh been in a bunch of meetings and this sort of thing and then right i'm working on my sermon and i've been traveling so that always jacks me up because i don't get in the woods and i just you know airplanes aren't as conducive to the spirit of God moving in my life as a deer said. But that's just me, okay? And so I'm working on my sermon, just getting after it, feeling good, feeling the flow. I was a verse in. I was on this verse. That's how far I had made it so far. And then my computer has the little pinwheel of death. Do you ever get that thing? But somebody in IT told me, no, but we have apples. And they don't do that. And then I turned around and looked at it with the, see,

the bite out of it, I think it's a reflection of Genesis chapter 3. And then guess what? It's gone. Everything. And by everything, I mean everything. Devotions out of, and it just went. And so, pray for me, because I have a lot of sanctifying to do because the Bible says, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. And apparently I still have a potty heart, okay? Because that's just where it went. I did. I did. So I walk away, man. And, and, and, and, and, and, you know, and, and, and, you know, and, and, This is the part I was on in my sermon preparation. I hope this isn't too confessional for you. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God.

And in my notes, the part that I had written down was, remember the gratitude list? And I was going to remind you, all of you, entitled, ungrateful, sinful, parishioners of the gratitude list. In case you don't know what the gratitude list, this, man, it's probably four years ago or three years ago, something, I don't know, a long time ago. I said that you should not just like count your blessings, generally speaking, but specifically

you should count your blessings. And you should start a list. And for however old you are, you should write down one thing for every year you've been alive that you're just grateful to God for. and and so you know i was for some of you you're still writing them down glory to god we love you glad you're here all right so so uh i've got 44 things on my list and so i just sat down in my office and just read them to me here's 44 things that that are god's mercies now again i think his mercy is demonstrated through the gospel in your salvation more than anything else

but it doesn't stop there. Because if it stopped there, then the moment you're in church, you think, oh, my God, like the guy in the video, you're like, I'm ready to surrender. You'd raise your hand and then he'd just strike you with lightning and then bring you home. But he doesn't. He continues to pour his mercies and mercies and mercies upon you. So I made a list. Some of you get offended by my list. I kind of like that.

So I'm going to read it, all of them. If you haven't written your mercies list, your gratitude list, you should do this. There's homework. Number one is my salvation. Number two, Gretchen, that's my wife. Number three, my kids, J.P. and Reagan. Number four, you, church of 1122. Number five, a mom and dad that loved me in their own way.

Number six, my health. Number seven, wealth, globally speaking. Number eight, a staff team that follows and respects me. Number nine, being American. Can you still say that? I don't care. I am. I'm grateful to God.

Go American. Okay. I just got back from Germany. I really like America even more today than I did last week. Okay, so whatever. Number 10, being Southern, praise God. I'm an American by birth, but Southern by the grace of God, all right? So, and if you're a Yankee, then that's why you moved here.

See? You didn't say, I never met anybody. When we retired, we're moving to Maine. Never ever. You all come to us. Number 11, the elders of the Church of 1122. Number 12. Friends like Doug and Brad.

You don't know them, but I don't care. They're my friends. Number 13, a sharp mind. It's my list. Don't laugh. Number 14, Pastor Jerry Sweat and Beach United Methodist Church. Number 15, Coach Bull Lee in Camp Pine Hill. Number 16, a preaching gift.

Number 17, I get to work with my friends. Number 18, religious freedom. Number 19, Mert. That's my grandma, but you couldn't say Grandma was I was growing up because she had 12 brothers and sisters. So if you said Grandma, 12 old women will come after you. So we had to call her Mert. Number 20, Lynn.

Turner, she's the first person that gave me a job in youth ministry. Number 21, the woods of South Georgia. Number 22, Dr. Bill Ross for a chance. He hired me out of seminary. Number 23, the life and legacy of McKenzie Wilson. Number 24, my in-laws. Like, I like my in-laws. Now, they live in Virginia, so that could have a lot to do with it, but I'd really do. I love them so much. Number 25, modern medicine. I had an appendectomy six or seven years ago. 100 years ago, I'm dead, man, I don't make it. And yet, by the grace of God, he gave us things like hospitals.

And so, man, that's his mercy. Number 26, Taco Tuesday. I get to eat in a lot of cool places, but some of my dearest friends in the world we get together on Taco Tuesday and spend $6 and have the greatest meal ever. Number 27, people that consistently pray for me. number 28 clean running water number 29 cool fall mornings number 30 living in jacksonville i don't know why you live anywhere else in the world i think this is the greatest place on the planet number 31 the beach that's part of the 30 right there okay number 32 ministry connections number 33 good

bourbon this is the part where people get wigged out okay if that bothers you you can email me at jimmy cracks corn at i don't care dot com number 34 in my neighborhood. Number 35, Grette, my wife's gift of singing. Number 36, pheasant hunting in South Dakota. Number 37, our home. Number 38, my children's friends. Number 39, my truck. I love it. Number 40, my calling. I mean, I get to do this. Number 41, grace. Number 42, God's word being so accessible. Number 43, an opportunity to invest in other pastors. That's what I was doing in Germany last week. Number 44, I guess I wrote this around my birthday last year.

I wrote, I signed a lease with Tony Sleaman today on the H.H. Greg on the South Side Connector. That became our Arlington campus. Now let me tell you what happened, man. I'm reading through just mercies of God. And all of a sudden, my laptop thing just, it just changed. It just changed. As I'm reading, you know what God owes me on this list? especially after what I just said about the sermon about his mercies

that I was preparing that I lost that I had to start over. And yet it's the mercy of God that he even reminded me that I wrote down his mercies, 44 of them, to be reminded of who he is and what he's done. You see, what Paul's going to say here is I appeal to you, therefore, by the mercies of God to present your words, bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Again, right theology leads to right doxology. Right thoughts about God leads to the right

kind of response. And so he says in verse two, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. I won't get into the Greek nuances here, but three times in two verses, Paul is going to use the same root Greek word that means you got to change your mindset. This is why we had to back up a couple of verses, because that's where he's going to start with us today in verse three. But he says, you've got to renew your mind. That is the beginning of offering your body as a living sacrifice. He says, don't be conformed to this world. Be transformed by like a different mindset. You've got to change what you're thinking about. that by testing you may discern.

Here's the second time. Again, if you knew Greek, the word discern, has the same change your mindset root word that renewal of your mind does. What is the will of God? What is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think. Same Greek root word, for you got to change your mindset. So how are we going to pull off the therefore?

If Romans chapter 1 through 11 are true, and God is who he says he is, and he always keeps his promise, and that we're justified by faith alone, in Christ alone, because of his grace alone. And therefore, that should change everything about everything about who we are and the way we live individually and with one another. Then how do we do that? And he says this, first and foremost, you've got to change the way you think. You've got to change your mindset. And then with that, of all the things that he could go after, the very first place the Apostle Paul starts with is our pride.

The very first place he starts with, it's our own pride. Do you know why? Because we're all a bunch of prideful, arrogant, egomaniacs. Every single one of us. Every single one of us. Our biggest problem is our pride. And the crazy thing about it is when we hear the word pride, we think about the loud, obnoxious guy

that's talking about himself a lot. Don't look at me like that. And yet if you dig into the nuances of pride, the person that just thinks they're good for nothing and worthless has the same prideful issue. It's just the other side of the coin. You see, the person with the high self-esteem and the person with the low self-esteem had the same problem, their own esteem. That the gospel commands us that we are to esteem the one and only God, the giver of life, not to esteem ourselves, either too highly or too lowly,

but we are to give ourselves as a living sacrifice to the one who gave himself for us. You see, the person that thinks I'm awesome, it's pride, the person that thinks I'm worried, It's really pride. C.S. Lewis calls pride the granddaddy of all sins. That the fruit of pride is both rebellion and religion. It both comes from pride. The people that reject God, because they think they know better than him, I do what I want with who I want, when I want. I mean, think rebellion, think running from God, think sex drugs and rock a roll.

I'm just going to have fun, yolo, right? Which is so dumb. You don't live once. You live forever. You should deal with that. You reject God because you think you know better than God. The other end is the religious person. The religious person has a pride problem also.

Because they say, forget you, God, I don't need you, I got this. I can clean my own life up by my own good behavior. And the problem is not religion. The problem is not rebellion. The problem is a rejection of God because of our own pride. Listen, it's not just a theological problem, man. you got a problem in your marriage, guess what the problem is? Your pride.

Husband, you all been out of shape because she won't treat you right, because she won't respect you, because you work hard and you deserve, that's all pride speaking. If you think you married her for her to meet your needs, then you entered into that with a twisted, warped view of what a husband is. Look here, Scooter, you can be right or you can be married. Make a decision. I'm telling you, wives, if you're frustrated with your husband, you know why?

Do you know why? It's your own pride. If you think, well, he doesn't spend time with me and he doesn't value me and it's all these things, if you married him because you thought he was going to meet some deep need in you, then you are looking to the wrong source for your salvation. He ain't sleeping next to you with his mouth open, drooling every night. And the problem is your pride. The moment you understand that the covenant of a marriage is to die to yourself,

then and only then can you submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. You see, your fundamental marriage problem is a humility issue. Starting with you, whichever you I'm talking to. Or it's not just in your marriage, it's at work. Do you know what your problem is at work? Your problem. See, if I ask you, what's your problem at work? You'd go, my boss, or this Lisa that shares my cubicle.

No, man. James 4-1 says this, what causes quarrels and fights among you? If I were to ask you that question, okay, at work, you're frustrated, okay, what's the problem? And you would do it, my boss, my coworker, these idiots and shipping, whatever it is, right? You know what, the common denominator you've had with every fighting quarrel you've ever been in in your entire life? You were in it. that's it you were in it you are the common denominator and james the brother of jesus by the way if you ever want to know why james james wrote a book in the bible he was the brother of jesus by the way if you

need convincing that jesus is who he says he is what would it take for your brother to convince you that he was the son of god just think that through for a minute all right so when james write his books he's like i ain't telling no stories all right forget a sheep and a walk and i just got facts here you go All right, so he went straight after it. And so James says, what causes fights and quarrels among you? Is it not this? Your passions are at war within you? And then he says in verse 2, you want something, and you don't get it.

Do you know why you're frustrated with your neighborhood association? You want something, and you don't get it. You want, like, peace and quiet, let me alone, okay? And they want you to trim your hedges, whatever it is. And you get all like, there's one thing at the heart of that. Now, listen, man, if you think the Bible is impractical, then you're impossible. We're talking about every problem you've ever dealt with in your life. The root of it, the root of all my problems.

It's me. And it's fundamentally rooted in pride, in me thinking too highly of me. And this is the place that Paul. all sorts. I mean, come on. You got it. This guy can't be this smart. He can't be this smart. This must be inspired by God himself to be able to unpack the grace and the mercy of God for 11 chapters. And then, therefore, here's how it transforms your life. And the place that he starts is the core of every one of our problems. He says, so don't think too highly of yourself. Here's what he's saying, because of God's mercy demonstrated in the gospel, you must respond by offering your life

as a living sacrifice. How do you do that, Paul? Here's what you do. You change your mindset. Well, how do I do that, Paul? You focus on who God is and what he has done, and you quit focusing so much on you. C.S. Lewis said that humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's just thinking of yourself less. Tim Keller calls it the blessing of self-forgitfulness, that when we, renew our mind by not focusing on us and what we're getting or deserve or don't get, but we focus on who God is and the mercies of God. First and foremost poured out at the cross and then poured out day upon day upon day upon us. Then we begin to change our mindset and then we can.

By the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not think of himself more, highly than he ought to think, but think with sober judgment. And he throws this little phrase in there, each according to the measure of faith that God has a sign. Now, that doesn't mean that if you have a bunch of faith, then you think about yourself this way. And if you have a little bit of faith, you think about yourself that way.

What that phrase, to the measure of faith that God has a sign, that word measure is, it means like meter or basically what is saying here, is that you should see yourself in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the gospel of Jesus is how you see yourself neither too highly nor too lowly, because two things are simultaneously true in the gospel. The gospel lets me know not to think too highly of myself, because I am a sinner saved by grace. I am a wretched, wretched, wretched man.

That deep in my bones, there are these things that I don't want to do when I keep on doing, and there are these other things that I want to do, and I can't quite pull them off. What a wretched man that I am. That's Romans chapter 7. And when you see that, you don't think too highly of yourself, and yet simultaneously, the gospel won't let you think too lowly of yourself because you are a son of the most high king. You are a co-hear with Christ to all that is his, that you have been adopted into his family, that he is giving you his name, his inheritance,

the power of the Spirit of God lives in you. So get your head up, quit looking down all the time. And both of those things are true in the gospel. That the gospel is the primary cure for our pride. So see yourself in light of the gospel. That I am a saved sinner, that's humility, and a conquering saint, that's confidence. And both of those are true.

And then, and then Paul keeps going. You see, because this idea of personal self-reflection as the primary means by which we deepen our relationship with Jesus is a primarily Western and American way of understanding our faith walk with him. You see, so not only does he want us to see ourselves in light of the gospel, but Paul wants us to see ourselves in light of a gospel community. And this is important, especially in our individualistic American society. society, and in fact, this will rub many of us as individuals the wrong way, especially the thousands of people that think, I don't need a church to know Jesus. I understand what you're saying, but in the heavenlies, you sound silly. Like, to be a baseball player, you've got to be on a team. If you're not on a team, you're just a grown man in tight pants looking weird. You understand?

And in a similar way, this is what Paul is saying, that not only are we to see our lives in light of the gospel, but we are also to see our lives in light of gospel community, and he's going to give us three ways that we are to be a gospel community. Number one, we are to commit to one another. Commit. That's a crazy word in church, isn't it? That we are to commit to one another. In verse four, for as in one by one by the same. body, we have many members. That's an important word. And the members do not all have the same function.

So there is one body. There's one universal body, which is the body of Christ. And then there is a local expression of that body, like the church of 1122, is one local church. And that we, as believers, are one body and we are to be committed to one another. Now again, this is a continuation of how we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices in community. Why does God call us into community? Because he has predestined us to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus. And guess where Jesus lived? Before he ever was just cruising around the Middle East with his sandals and his boys, even before that, Jesus is the second person of the Trinity and the Trinity, the one true God, in and of himself, lives in perfect community. So if you are in Christ,

and not in community, then you're not doing it right. That's what you say. That God himself is community. Not only that, remember, seeing our lives in light of the gospel and seeing our lives in light of gospel community is where humility happens. Humility is not a mindset. Humility is an activity.

If I were to ask you, are you humble? First of all, if you say yes, you're a liar and you lose it, but you know what I mean. Humility is a posture. Humility only happens with one another. Humility is like exercising. Thinking about it doesn't change anything. Many of us have gym memberships.

That doesn't change. You actually have to go put it to work. And the humility happens when we want another one another. The Bible says in community, we are to sharpen one another. We are to encourage one another. We are to love one another. We are to bear one another's burdens. We are to outdo one another with honor.

All of these things one of they are supposed to do is they are like the sandpaper on the rough edges of our pride, taking those things away, not just by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, transforming us to be like Christ, but also by the work of God in community of the body wearing off the rough edges that we have. You can never do that by yourself. And so we're also to protect one another. That he calls us to commit to one another. That we begin in an effort to respond to the gospel as a living sacrifice to begin to take responsibility for one another. Why? Because we're all members of one body.

Around here we would call that covenant membership. Covenant membership. So I would say this. if you were a follower of Jesus Christ and you would consider 1122 your church and you've never considered covenant membership as a step for you, one of the primary reasons would be your pride.

It'd be your pride. Because either you think, well, I don't measure up and you need to think of your life in light of the gospel or you begin to think, well, what do I get out of it? It's why we call it covenant membership. It's not like country club membership.

like country club membership, you get stuff. Covenant membership, you know what you get? Jack. Actually, you give up everything. That any person that is a follower of Jesus and wants to move from being a receiver of the goods and services of 1122 to an owner of the mission, vision,

and values of what God is doing through this local body, you should be a covenant member. And here's some of the things that you would covenant to do. One is you would say, I'll go first. I'll go first. Like when we launch a new campus and we go, everybody's sitting over here, you got to go. Because you'd be like, cool, that's what I signed up for. You would give up your rights.

Covenant members don't go, no, this is my seat. This is my row. But I always sit here. If you're a covenant member, you go, shut up. That's like the most non-gospel thing I've ever heard in my life. Aren't you glad Jesus gave up his seat and glory? So you can scoot over. a little bit and let somebody else in. This is what covenant membership is. The covenant membership

is you gratefully belong. It does not take a great leader to walk around this place and point out a hundred things that are wrong. It takes two eyeballs and a pencil, okay? No problem. But a covenant member is the kind of person that begins to take responsibility for those things. A covenant member submits to pastoral authority. Let that one sit on you for a minute. You were to say, so you mean I was supposed to submit to you? That's crazy, isn't it?

You know what that takes? Humility. Do you know what? The first move I did as a pastor of this thing, put together an elder board, and submitted to them. Why? Because this is what,

this is what seeing yourself in gospel community looks like. It's, you show up and you participate in the spiritual formation of the church. Covenant members never ask the question, do we have to do this? I ain't got to do nothing. You realize when you begin to ask that as a believer, you sound like your child that says, do I have to clean the dishes? No, no.

You can run away and live homeless and eat out of the gutter, okay? That's an option too. But if you have an appreciation for what God is doing through a place you get to, the covenant members give sacrificially. You realize that's not a have to. Let's get to. That covenant members pray for the leadership of this church. Like, I need your prayers.

The elders need your prayers. The pastors need your prayers. The staff need your prayers. And it's not like a checkbox thing. It's like there's a thing in you going, yeah, we have to pray for them. A covenant member kills gossip. Not the gossip. You don't kill the gossiper.

But when people, you know what they about to do, you step in and go, no, I'm a covenant member. We are they. What are we doing? covenant members help people talk to people not about people that's Matthew chapter 18 covenant members invite accountability think about that covenant members say hey I want the rest of the body to make to keep an eye on me and if you see my life heading over to cliff I want you to go whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa

danger the end of that road leads somewhere you don't want to go now who in the world would sign up for that who you get nothing got to give up your parking spot. You got to give up every. Who signs up? I'll tell you who signs up for this. The kind of person that by the mercies of God wants to offer their life as a living sacrifice and not think too highly of themselves, but understand in humility they are

a part of the body of Christ here on earth. You see, seeing ourselves in gospel community, one, we commit to one another. If you want to do that, July 22nd, July 29th, August. August 19th from 1 to 4 p.m. at all campuses, we have covenant membership classes. And if you're like three hours, I don't have three hours, that is only your pride speaking. You are not that important. You really aren't. Secondly, secondly, is that we connect to one another. I mean, it's implicit in the word body.

It says, for as in one body we have many members and the members do not all have the same function. so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually, members of, members one of another. That were not only connected to Christ through the gospel, did you realize that you and I are connected to one another? That means what happens to you matters to me and what happens to me should matter to you. This is what Paul is talking about here for a whole bunch of reasons. I've shared this with you before, man. a disconnected body part is gross and its future is not bright. I mean, think about this.

You're walking to your car after the service. And if you saw a foot disconnected from the body, what would you think? You would not walk by that foot and you'd be like, well, who am I tell this foot that they can't live their own life? And they don't need a body. They can just survive out here in the parking lot. You would look at the foot and you'd be like, something has gone horribly wrong. Not only for the foot, but also for the body. Even a connected foot is not awesome.

You can paint it and scrub it and eat, fish eat it all you want to, but it ain't awesome. A severed foot, it's gross. It's going to shrivel up, stinking now. That's the future, and that is the future of the disconnected Christian. That we are connected to one another for a whole bunch of reasons. So we can one another one another. One of the main reasons so we can protect one another, protect one another, protect one another, The Bible says in 1st Peter, your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

I hope I've used this illustration enough that whenever you turn on animal planet and you see the impala, there's like 80 impala over here. And then there's one little impala. Like, I don't need y'all. I'm going to just walk on this side of the prairie. What's the future of the lone impala? Bro, it's going to cut to commercial. I'm telling you, here comes the lion. And then commercial, and that's just to give you enough time to change it before your kids see.

The Impala's dead, man. And that's you. One of the primary tools of the enemy is isolation. One of the primary tools of the enemy. He'll use shame, he'll use guilt, he'll use because I didn't get what I wanted. And the moment you begin to disconnect from the body. of Christ, then you are right where the prowling, roaring lion wants you to be. I mean, man, you're on a saucer for him to just take you out.

I bet you, if you've been around church for a while, you could list 50 people that used to be in the middle of the herd, and I'll tell you, confession on behalf of the church. And the crazy thing about the church, though, is what the church should be doing is looking for the people being isolated and really, you know, really. teaching out and say, come on, get in the herd, getting here in the middle. It's safe right here in the middle. But oftentimes what the church has done is take the people that need the most health. They have the most evidence of the need of the gospel of Jesus Christ externally

and kick them out of the herd and put them in the most dangerous places in regards to the enemy. See, this is a movement for all people. That means jacked up people. If some of the church has ever told you you don't belong, then you deserve to be right in the middle of this jacked up herd, okay? Do you know how I know? I am. I am.

How else are we going to one another, one another? That we are to protect one another. This year we were in Israel and we were in the Garden of Gassimony. And I was unpacking Matthew chapter 26 for our group. And something that you ever read the Bible and you've read, I don't know if you know, I've read it before. and it's crazy man this is why i think the bible says it's living and active because i'm reading stuff that i've taught on i mean you know i have like degrees in this stuff and i see this part in matthew 26 that somehow i'd never ever seen before in my life that jesus going to the garden of

gosemite he's going to have a rough day and he brings along his disciples and then he gets three of Peter James and John. He goes, we all come with me and pray. Here's what it made me think about. If Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, all things were created by him, for him, through him, and to him, and through him, all things are held together. All authority in heaven and earth has been put under his feet. He was crucified, dead, buried, resurrected, and ascended to the right hand of God, and one day will return to judge the quick and the dead. And yet, he got to appointing the point. He was crucified, in his life where he said, I don't think I can do this without y'all coming and praying with me. And yet you think you can do it on your own?

Who do you think you are? The son of God needs community, but you're good with just attendance every once in a while? You got to be kidding me. Do you know what's at the root of that? It's your pride. Your pride. If you could look at Jesus begging for prayer from his boys and you would look at your life, and go, I don't have people that I can invite to pray for me in a tough time, then you think

you can do things that Jesus can't do. You are thinking too highly of yourself. Do you have, you got three brothers or three sisters that right now, can't count your moms, he's been praying for you a long time, barely working, all right? You got those kind of people in your life? This is why we do disciple group. Some of you do, listen, it's not fair for me, okay? I have hired people. I have pastors that I meet with. I have elders. They committed to check on me and ask me stuff and pray for me and we do this kind of stuff. But this is why we have disciple groups so that we can connect with one another.

Like in homes and in restaurants, the point is not where you meet. The point is that you are connected with one another, praying for one another, helping each other stay inside the herd. In the moment you're like, I try a disciple group. It doesn't really work for me. That's just your pride. It's your pride. Or if you say, well, I didn't get a lot out of that. See, there you go.

You thought it was about you again. I mean, since you're so spiritually mature, don't you think you're robbing everybody else of your attendance in the disciple group since you could show them to weigh to self-sufficiency, which is what got the devil kicked out of heaven? Or do you think, I got nothing to offer

with your low self-esteem? Get over to yourself. It's not about you. I'm telling you, no matter what part of the body you are, if you're just the appendix. Mine got jacked up one time. Had to go get it cut out. It jacked up my whole body.

Not only do you need the body, but hear me, we need you. The Church of 1122 is not the body it was created to be if all of the members of the body are not connected. So if you've been out a while, it's time for you to get reconnected. And so the way we see ourselves in gospel community is we commit to one another.

We connect to one another. And then thirdly, we serve one another. He talks about the gifts here. He says, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them if prophecy in proportion to our faith. Here's what all this means. In proportion to our faith means this. Don't fake it.

And don't lean on your own giftings. You lean on the grace of God. I've been doing this for a living for a long time. I've preached pretty much every week of my life for the last 25 years. This year, I will open up a Bible in front of people sitting in rows 202 times. Okay, this is what I do. And every single week, when I sit down to prepare a message for you,

I do not start with what I'm going to say. I start with this prayer. God, they're your God, they're your people. What do you want to say to your people? And he does not owe me a sermon. That's not I can tell stories and be entertaining. That is trying to say, God, every gift is from you.

you, I just want to put myself under the faucet of your grace and just wait for you to turn it on. That's what a spiritual gift is. And so he lists some. People get really obsessed with these, which is funny. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. And then this is not a complete list. There is no singular complete list in the Bible. He just kind of is like a grocery list.

There's some over here and some over there and some over here. And the crazy thing is he writes a whole chapter in the book of 1 Corinthians talking about the gifts that unified. us as a church and nothing has divided us more than people arguing about the gifts. It's hilarious. So he says, if prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service and our serving, to the one who teaches and his teaching, to the one who exhorts and his exhortation, to the one who contributes in generosity, to the one who leads with zeal, to the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. Now, let me tell you, one of the problems is, you begin to immediately figure out, well, which gift do I have?

Look, you're not thinking about it right. Okay? See, first of all, if you are in Christ, every single one of us have at least one spiritual gift, and none of us have all the spiritual gifts. Therefore, we're only complete when we are together as a body. I don't know if you remember this, or maybe you experienced this, but I can remember being like in fifth, sixth grade, and the teacher would come in on Tuesday to my class and be like,

all the gifted kids come get you come with me. and then all these kids in my class would just get up and leave. We'd be like, hey, where are they going? Oh, Joby, they're going to do many much smart things that you cannot understand because these are the future doctors and lawyers. What about us? You can do stuff too, and that was ill. Okay, so the good news is, you remember that?

Yeah, so you get high school, you just beat those kids up for the rest of their time. So in Christ, the Spirit looks. it's you and goes, congratulations. You're gifted. Now, what people do is they obsess over what themselves. Do you realize this is Paul talking about how to get over yourself? And we get, so it, we stand in the mirror and go, what's my gift, what's my gift, what's my gift? And we obsess over these tests. I remember, see, I was in a Baptist church when I got to college. Everybody kind of flirts with charismatic stuff if you didn't grow up in that, right? Because they're like, ooh, the gifts are like superpowers. Am I? Who am I? You know, and you're getting into it.

And so I bumped into this kooky charismatic and he gave me a gift test. Now, I'm not saying all charismatic are kooky, but your percentage is pretty good. So, okay? So he gives me this test. And I'd taken these tests 100 times before, but they were kind of like, the test that I had taken in the Baptist world were kind of afraid of the sign gifts. So they had kind of either left them out or didn't say this one was about the sign gifts. And so they had gifts in there that the Bible didn't have. You understand?

And it was these questions, and I didn't even understand the question. It was like, if your left foot was possessed by a demonic angel, would you cut it off or cast it out? And I'm like, I don't, I reject the question. You know, I didn't even know what to do. So I get the test back. Me and these guys were on this retreat thing, and he's like, what did you get? I was like, I have the gift of martyrdom, which is awesome. You can use it once, and then you're done.

What do you do with that? Now, look at him. What did you get? And he was like, bro, I got the gift of celibacy. I was like, oh, I'd rather die. I'd rather die. So I think what Paul is saying here, and then he talks about it more, I don't have time, he talks about it even more in 1st Corinthians, chapter 12,

is that the best way to understand how you're gifted is get involved in the body and just see what happens. Just love one another by the grace of God as we're connected to one another and as we're committed to one another and as we're serving one another. And what we'll begin to, because here's what I find too. I work with a bunch of church planners, and they are convinced that they have the gift of preaching, and just nobody has the gift of hearing them preach, you know? And so sometimes, like, you don't self-assess real well.

You just get in the body and you start serving. And it's not like, well, this is what I do in my career, so I could be a great help here. It's more like, how can I serve the body of Christ? And over time, not necessarily overnight, then things begin to bubble up. And you realize, well, I didn't even know that this was a gift. In other words, that the body is more important than the individual gift. And so, you've heard me say this before, but it's so true. And this is not only God's gift to the church for the building up of his body,

but it's also God's gift to you. That you serving is one of God's greatest gifts to you. Nothing will deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ, like helping other people discover theirs. It's just true. And here's how I know, because 1122, you have been and are one of the greatest blessings in my life. For sure, without a doubt. But the accountability and responsibility of me living out the gifts that God has put in me to do this thing that I do has been the singular greatest catalyst in my dependency for Jesus.

And nothing, nothing will draw you to. him like a dependency for him. And a spiritual gift is not when you're leaning on your own giftings and ability. A spiritual gift by definition is when you've got to have the spirit in order for it to work. That's why you should serve. That's why you should serve. I have spent a whole bunch of my life trying to serve the body of Christ with the gifts that he has given me. And it was not my idea. Somebody else saw something. in me that I didn't see in me. I was cutting the grass

at a camp. That was my job. And Coach Bull Lee, the guy led me to Jesus, leans in and says, Joby, you're going to preach the sermon. And I was like, like, in two minutes when the IMAC song is over? He was like, yeah. I've told you here. I said, coach, I'm not comfortable speaking in front of people.

He said, comfortable, boy, did you say comfortable? You think Daniel was comfortable in the lion's den? Starts rolling through the Bible. You think Shadrack, Musha, and Abandigo are comfortable in the fiery furnace? I mean, he was that close to, like, pulling out the felt board, if you know what I'm talking about. Boy, you think Jesus Christ was comfortable on the cross? I was like, no, sir. I was like, well, what do I talk about?

He said, boy, that's easy. You talk about Jesus, you talk about 30 minutes. All right. I did. I had no idea the gift he was offering me. I had no idea the gift he was offering me. I mean, I thought I was serving those 73 middle schoolers or whatever it was. Little did I know that the Spirit of God was serving me in this gift for the glory of his name and my own enjoyment.

The reason I shared that with you is because I want that for you. I want that for you. You see, here's the point. Although we are not saved by the church, we are saved into the church. church. We're saved into the church family. The body needs you and you need the body. Both of those things are true. C.S. Lewis said this about the church. For the church is not a human society of people united by their natural affinities, but the body of Christ in which all members, however different. And then he says, and he rejoices in their differences and by no means was just ironed them out. They must share the

common life, complimenting and helping one another precisely by their differences. And you know who led me to Jesus? Wasn't a preacher. Wasn't an evangelist? God never been to seminary. He didn't go to Bible college. I don't think you knew a Greek word. And in fact, the way he tells the story, Coach Lee, he was a deacon at his Baptist church.

And the way he tells him, he goes, I was out of the deacon's meeting. I got up and go to the bathroom. room came back to put me in charge of Camp Pine Hill. That's how he tells the story. Or told it. And he just served. And in a time, my parents were getting divorced the first time I went to camp. In a time where I had the potential to be more isolated than ever, not only because of my

circumstances, but because of some horrible decisions that I was making. Again, not a pastor, not a spiritual formations director, but a JV football coach. reached out to an isolated individual outside the herd and said, why don't you just come cut grass here at camp and he just drew me in? That's it. And what if? What if he was too busy? He's a high school football coach, JV football coach at that point.

What if he's like, no, I got too much to do, man. I got camp and I got practice and I got to win another state championship. Or what if he thought too highly of himself? You kidding me, man, I've done all of this with my life. I can't spend all my time working with these little nobodies in nowhere? Or what if he thought too lowly of himself? Who am I? I can't do that. I'm not a pastor and evangelist.

It happened in the seminary. I don't know Greek words. What if? Or how about this? What if God used you? Just by stepping out and serving. Whether it's becoming a covenant member, whether it's connecting to the body,

or whether it's serving one another. What if God use somebody just like you? to reach somebody out there that was just like me. You know what hangs on the balance, folks? You have no idea. Would you please stand and pray with me? Our good and gracious, Heavenly Father. God, we love you more than anything.

God, it blows my mind that the almighty sovereign king of the universe would use people like us and declare us your body. God, we so deserve to be rejected and judged immediately. and yet, well, you're called and sanctified. And then not just that, but use, and not used up, but used by you. And somehow in that pouring out of ourselves, those are the times when we are most filled by you. God, you did not give us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of power and of love and of self-discipline. And so I pray for the Church of 1122

that we would be a God honoring, God glorifying, serving, connected, committed to one another kind of body. That the way we serve one another, the way we declare the gospel to the ends of the earth, the way we are connected to one another and committed to one another, out of reverence for you would bring you glory. And God, I pray, Spirit of God,

that you would move very uncomfortably inside, the lives of men and women all over our locations, that they would just take that one step to connect or commit or to serve. And then, God, we would watch you do what you do. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen.