Welcome to church, Pt I

I don't know how it is with you, but it's easier

for me to think of me than it is to think of

us. It's easier for me to think of me than it

is to think of us. I think of myself as an individual

before I think of the group that I'm a part of,

whether it's the nation that I'm a part of, or

the family I'm a part of, or the church I'm a

part of, or the... sports team fan base that

I'm a part of, I tend to think of me first before

I think of us. Life is simpler that way, isn't

it? It's simpler when you don't have to think

of a whole lot of other people, you just have

to think of yourself, right? And our society

is really set up to have you think of me first

and then us second. The way that we... get you

to spend money in this world is to think about

you. And so we, you have a. You have your own

social media account and you have your own phone

that's personalized just for you and it looks

at your face and your fingerprints and you have

your own workstation and if you get high enough

at your job you'll have your own office where

you don't have to see other people all day and

you can be in your little box and you can and

you can have this car where you drive all by

yourself it's seat six but you drive alone and

you go down the road by yourself and then you

know you try to spend all day not being around

other people and then we come it's all it's seat

It's so easy to think of me. And it's simpler

that way, too. It's easier that way. Not last

week, the week before, I was in Orlando for a

conference. I did not go to Disney, but I went

to Orlando. And I'll be honest. Something weird

happened in Orlando. The hotel that we were in

was right next to a mall. And guys, I'll be honest.

I have no idea what's going on at the mall in

Orlando, because it is... Jumping. Like, I go

to my mall in Brunswick and I cry a little bit.

You know what I mean? Like, it's, you know, like,

you go to the food court and you're like, ugh,

you just sort of weep a little bit. I felt like

it was 1997. I walked in there, and there were

all these families shopping for school clothes,

and the music was going, and it was crowded,

and whatever. And because the hotel was right

next to the mall, we ate at the food court all

the time. And this food court didn't just have

one place. It had like 20. And you'd go with

hundreds of people, and so it was great because

there were all these people at the conference,

so you'd go to lunch with like 15 people, and

this person can go get five guys, and this person

can go get the healthy salad, and this person

can get the Mexican, this person can get the

teriyaki chicken, or whatever, and then you all

meet back together. It was so simple and easy,

rather than all sitting around going, well, I

don't know, where do you wanna go to eat? I don't

know, where do you wanna go eat? So it's just

easier when it's me instead of us. It's simpler.

And I'll be honest, I also think of it that way

when it comes to me and God, which is understandable,

right? You are told that you have to have a personal

relationship with Jesus Christ, and I believe

that, right? Nobody else can be a Christian for

you. You have to have faith in Christ. But I

also kind of think sometimes it just feels like

it's just me and God walking down the road together,

right? And even the songs we sing, which I love

our songs, but the songs are a lot more I than

they are we. I sought the Lord, and he heard

in the answer. I trust in God. I'll give thanks.

I raise a hallelujah. I will sing to the Lord

for he's been good. And there's not a whole lot

of wheeze. Because when it becomes us, it gets

kind of complicated, doesn't it? Doesn't it?

Like all of a sudden now we have to think about

how we relate to each other, how we're the same

and how we're different. how you get on my nerves

and I get on your nerves, how we all have to

do this thing together, and we're all supposed

to be pulling in the same direction, but it pretty

quickly becomes clear, we're not all pulling

in exactly the same direction. It's just more

complicated that way. But let me ask you this

question. I just want to ask you this question.

What if there is something that's true about

us that isn't true about me? Or you? What if

there's a reality that you do not have access

to? You cannot touch it, and I cannot touch it.

We can only touch it together. What if there's

something about us that is more than just a bunch

of me's? That's what we're gonna talk about today.

We're gonna look today in Paul's letter to the

Ephesians. So Ephesians is in the New Testament,

it's... Not easy to find if you don't know where

it is, but your Bible has a table of contents

in the front. If you don't have a Bible, we got

Bibles on the table. If you don't own a Bible,

take a Bible home. We want you to be looking

at the Word of God as we're talking about it,

Ephesians. And we're in Ephesians chapter one

this morning. And if you read Ephesians chapter

one, if you read the whole thing, there's a whole

lot of me in there. There's nothing wrong with

me stuff. There's a whole lot of stuff about

us individually as believers. Paul starts off

and says, I want to give thanks to God for all

the blessings that we have in Christ. He's done

for you, he has loved you, he has predestined

you, he has adopted you, he has forgiven you,

he has rescued you, he's given you the spirit.

There's all these beautiful things that God has

done for us as part of our relationship with

Jesus. And in the last part of chapter one, he

starts talking about how he wants each one of

us to know what is the hope of our faith? What's

the hope that we have? What is the riches of

our inheritance in the saints? And what's the

power that we have as believers. So he's talking

about hope and riches and power. And then he's

gonna talk a lot about power at the end of chapter

one. What's the power that you and I have as

believers in Jesus? And I don't know how you're

feeling these days. I will say this. I could

use some power. Can you use some power? At this

point in my life, I'll be honest, I'm not even

really picky about what kind of power. Like I'll

take really anything. If God wants to gift me

with the ability to raise dead cars to life,

I just put my hand on the hood and I pray and

it starts. There's like three families in here.

I can do a miracle for y 'all today, right? I

would love that. Or singing, I'll take singing.

I'll do, yeah, that's fine. I don't really care.

I just, here's the deal. I want, I don't know

if you guys are interested in this or think about

this, but I sometimes wanna feel like I'm not

trying to. push this thing, but it's sort of

pulling me along. You ever wanna feel that way?

That there's this current and God's power is

pulling us along. So Paul's talking about the

power that we have in Christ. And what he says

is that that power is resurrection power. This

is what he says, I'm gonna start off in Ephesians

chapter one and verse 20. and I'm picking up

in the middle of a sentence, Paul writes super

long sentences, so we're picking up in the middle

of a sentence, but he talks about the power that

we have in verse 19, and he says that power that

he worked in Christ when he raised him from the

dead and seated him at his right hand. in the

heavenly places. The power that we have is the

same power that God used to raise Jesus from

the dead and then to lift him up and seat him

in the heavenly places. I want to talk about

that for a second. When we talk about the resurrection,

I want to be really clear. There's a big difference

between resurrection and resuscitation. Resuscitation

happens all the time. Right sometimes it happens

because we try to do it and we have the paddles

or the CPR or whatever Sometimes it just happens

people just look like they're dead and then they're

not like it's just really weird Okay, that's

not what happened to Jesus He was three days

dead He didn't resuscitate into his former existence

He resurrected into something greater So when

God brought him to life, he didn't just take

someone who was down in the depths of the grave

and raise him back up to where he was. He raised

him up into a totally different plane of existence

and then 40 days later, physically raised him

up to the heavenly places so that Jesus today

is still human, he still has a body, he just

ain't here. He is in heaven at the right hand

of God and he is praying for you and for me.

That's the power Paul says and he's gonna be

setting this up because later in chapter two

He's gonna say that you and I are risen from

our deadness and that we are seated with Jesus

in the heavenly places So some somehow we're

here and we're also in heaven Just like Jesus

is somehow in heaven and he's also here because

we are in him that same power is working in us

and he says and he raised him up and Seated him

as right hand in the heavenly places. It says

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. When Jesus was raised from the dead, the

power that lifted him up actually elevated him

over some things. He leapfrogged over some things

and is now sitting above them. And the thing

that he leapfrogged over, Paul calls powers,

thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities. You

can read about this in the New Testament, okay?

These are spiritual authorities that are bigger

than you but not bigger than God. These are spiritual

things going on. These are things that are superhuman

going on that order and structure our lives that

are bigger than us. And what Paul calls them

is thrones or dominions or authorities. There's

a spiritual element to this. There are powers

that are standing opposed to God. That structure

our lives Guys the art in our culture we use

different vocabulary, but we're talking about

the same thing We build things that are superhuman

that then shape our lives in ways that can be

dark For example we build governments That sometimes

do the right thing and sometimes do the wrong

thing we build cultures That can lead people

into despair and hatred We build families that

shape people profoundly. We pass laws, we develop

economies, and these things become bigger than

us and larger than us, and sometimes the energy

that's animating those things is dark. And they

set the context and the contours of our life.

They sort of set the shape of our life. If you

don't believe that, ask someone who has grown

up in a family with generational addiction and

abuse. It's a power and authority that is over

them, that is animated by darkness, and that

shapes the way their life goes. Now listen, some

of y 'all don't believe in this demon stuff.

Some of y 'all don't believe in this spiritual

warfare stuff. That's okay. You don't have to

believe in lightning to get hit by it. It's fine.

You go go on out there with your umbrella Raise

it up. Go ahead. Go on the rainstorm and raise

it up. You don't have to believe in lightning.

It's fine Paul says That those things are actually

shaping our lives guys You know our local history

profoundly shapes us Profoundly shapes the way

that we relate it shapes where we live and where

we go to school and how we interact with each

other There's no accident there But here's what

Paul says. Jesus is above that. Jesus sits above

those things. He is not subject to those things,

but instead he reigns over them. So when you

and I are in him, we no longer have to stay bound

by those things. We no longer have to stay bound

by who our family was. We no longer have to stay

bound by our racist past. We no longer have to

stay bound by oppression and injustice. We can

actually walk in a different way because we have

resurrection power. Jesus is seated above all

of these things. And then it says in verse 22,

and it says, and he put all things under his

feet. And I've put quotation marks in there because

that's a quotation from the Old Testament. It's

from Psalm chapter eight, and it's a quotation

about humanity. It's a song about humanity. It's

a song about how humans have been strangely exalted

by God. On the one hand, we're just like all

the rest of creation, but on the other hand,

God has lifted us up and put everything under

our feet. and we actually supervise planet Earth.

It's a really strange position to be in, to put

all things under his feet, and what Paul is doing

there is he's playing with that and saying, you

wanna talk about exaltation? You wanna talk about

someone who's got everything under his feet?

You wanna talk about what it means to be truly

human as God intended it to be, that's Jesus.

We were meant to have everything under our feet,

and we blow it a lot, and we fall down a lot,

but Jesus truly has everything. Under his feet

he is who we learn how to be truly human and

when you and I are in Christ We become more and

more as we were meant to be Exalted in the heavenlies

and not under the dominion of evil That's the

resurrection power that we have he says he put

all things under his feet and gave him as head

over all things It says gave him to the church,

which is his body, the fullness of him who fills

all in all. This is really weird because Paul's

talking about the exaltation of Jesus and how

great he is and how high and how lifted up he

is, and he said, then God gave Jesus as head

over all things. He gave Jesus not to you and

not to me, to us. He gave Jesus to us. He gave

Jesus to the church, which is His body. You are

not His body. I am not His body. We are His body.

You are just a little pinky finger wiggling on

the ground. You're kind of weird and gross. We

together are the body of Jesus. I'm just a spleen

laying on the ground. but together we are the

body of Christ. And Jesus has not been given

to you, he's been given to us. He hasn't been

given to me, he's been given to us. And he says

the church is the fullness of the one who fills

all in all. The fullness, we don't use the word

fullness too much. Fullness means to be full

of something, okay? If you ever go outside on

like a spring, fall day where it's like super

windy and you're wearing like a windbreaker and

it's zipped up, And you know the wind just happens

to catch it just right? And then all of a sudden

you're like, the whole thing just sort of puffs

out. That's what fullness means. The church is

full of Jesus. Full of the one who fills all

in all. We are the fullness of Christ. And guys,

I want you to know that that is what's called

a proleptic statement. It is a future statement.

Jesus one day really will evidently fill all

in all and everyone will see and everyone will

confess and every knee will bow. Until that day,

the only place you can see that is us. That we

have a fullness that one day all of creation

will have. One day the marsh will be full. of

Christ. The city will be full of Christ. The

government will be full of Christ. The economy

will be full of Christ. Newborn babies and old

people will be full of Christ. But today it's

just us. We are full of Christ. The church is

the fullness of Christ. And I want us to sit

with that for a second because I think there's

a lot going on there. In particular, when I say

the church is the fullness of Christ, you see

that little word is? It's a simple little word,

but it's a pretty complicated verb. You can ask

Bill Clinton about that, okay? Is is a complicated.

Verb, sorry about that. Some of y 'all got that,

some of y 'all just went, look it up. Look up,

Bill Clinton is. Okay, sorry, all right. The

church is the fullness of Christ. So I wanna

talk about what the word is means. What do we

mean when we say we are, we are the fullness

of Christ? Church is the fullness of Christ.

The first thing I'll say is, it means that the

church, it really is, it is. It is the fullness

of Christ. This is a theological reality that

God has declared, right? God has declared that

the church is the reality. It is the fullness

of Jesus and it's his decision. Believe it or

not, he didn't give us a vote. We didn't get

an up or down, a thumbs up or thumbs down. He

just declared that this is what it is. And when

I say the church, I wanna be super clear. When

I mean church, I don't mean three good friends

who already like each other, who meet in a living

room and pray a little bit and then don't have

any accountability with each other and then call

themselves a church. That ain't a church. If

you look in the New Testament, what a church

is, is it's a group of people in a region, a

group of believers in a region who get together

across racial and social and generational lines,

and the word is preached, and the sacraments

of baptism and communion are served, and there

is structure, there is governance in a church,

there is authority and accountability in a church,

and the church bears witness to the wider world.

That's what I'm talking about as a church. And

God says that that is the fullness of Christ.

Here's what this means. This is what Calvin said.

You cannot have God as your father unless you

have the church as your mother. Let's say that

again. You cannot have God as your father unless

you have the church as your mother. You wanna

talk about an unpopular statement in America

today? Ain't nobody out there believes that.

But listen, here's the deal when I say it is

what I mean is you and I don't get that choice

It's a question of reality and it's a question

of permission It's a question of just where the

fullness of Jesus really is you can go do your

thing out there all by yourself You're making

it up It's not real. I Mean you can go tell me

that gravity is not real then go jump out of

a tree and see what happens It just is he just

is here in a way that he is not in other But

it's also a question of permission. It means

that you and I do not have permission to walk

with God and seek Jesus outside of the church.

That doesn't mean that you'll never have time

alone with him, of course you will. It doesn't

mean that you don't fellowship with other believers,

of course you do. It means that your family is

the church. And I'm not saying my permission,

I'm saying his permission. This is not me. I'm

in obedience to this. I'm not decreeing this.

I'm obeying this. We don't have permission to

seek God and walk with Jesus outside the church.

It is the way it is. It is. The church is the

fullness of Christ, okay? That's the first thing

I wanna say. Here's the next thing I wanna say.

It really isn't. It isn't. You guys know this,

right? I mean, come on, you've been to church.

Would you describe it as the fullness of Christ?

The church is a place of confusion, drama, hypocrisy,

dead legalism, boredom. There could be people

asleep right now. Don't look around. Don't look

around. You guys know this, and even darker things.

Guys, there's a church that I drive by all the

time. And I know that there have been toxic,

really bad things that have gone on, and people

have not been held accountable because the church

was not willing to hold them accountable. And

it's still trucking along. You guys know this,

right? It really isn't. We're sort of a mess.

But here's what I want to tell you. Paul knows

that. This is the apostle Paul. He wrote Galatians.

Which is like, has this passage, you idiot Galatians,

what are you doing? Have you totally forgotten

everything? He wrote 1 Corinthians where people

were getting drunk at communion and suing each

other. Like he's up neck deep in the drama and

the mess and the disgustingness of the church.

And he's the one that said, we are the fullness

of Christ. And so the great and beautiful irony

is that Jesus who is a seated above all authority

and power and every name that can be named has

chosen us, us busted broken people to be his

fullness. So we don't have to lie about church.

We don't have to pretend that it's something

it's not yet. We can just say like it isn't and

it grieves us and it hurts us. and we've had

pain. We have so many people in our congregation

who have experienced hurt in other congregations

and I don't want to paint us as the saints either

because there's been people who've gotten hurt

here. And some of those people we've been able

to, that's been our fault or their fault or whatever,

we've been able to clean it up and some we haven't.

Is it? But it can be. It can be. The church can

be the fullness of Christ. The church is not

gonna be flawless, this side of heaven, but the

church can be faithful. We can actually be who

God has called us to be. We can grow to be more

and more like him. That can happen. I'm seeing

it happen. I have seen it happen. We can be.

Here's the deal, guys. You and I, there's something

in you, isn't there, that just wants to change

the world? We want to change the world. We want

to see things different We want to see kids and

babies taken care of like we want to see we want

to see justice roll down and virtue spring up

We want to see the weak and the oppressed we'll

see racism broken We want to see these beautiful

wonderful things, and I don't know about you

But I feel like every other place that I've gone

every other vehicle that I have looked at Ends

up just being a power grab There's all these

online movements that raise millions of dollars,

and they don't only do anything There's these

people that talk about being environmentally

responsible so they can put a little label on

their product and continue to defraud a whole

bunch of people right Politics is sort of the

parade example of this like it's no longer even

human discourse anymore. It's just When we listen

to politicians talk these days, I don't care

where you are on the spectrum, if you listen

to a politician talk today, we no longer listen

for information. We listen for ammunition. We

no longer listen for information, we listen for

ammunition against them or against our enemies.

That's the state of discourse, right? And the

only reason that the church is different is because

the church has a Lord who is not subject to the

powers and the principalities and the way that

things go. But He is seated above them. He cares

about us. He is pure. He is holy. He will never

change. And He gives us a mission that will never

change. And He sends His Spirit here to guide

us and, hey, hey, discipline us when we wander

away and bring us back home. You know Jesus will

take our lampstand and give it to somebody else,

don't you? He will take our lampstand and give

it. We have accountability. Which is the only

reason that the church can be any different but

it can be it can be guys I am I Came later in

my life to Christ and much later in my life to

to to love for his bride his church If for a

long time I worked for para church ministries,

and I love para church ministries They're great.

They're wonderful, but I was working there partly

because I scorned the church And God had to take

me through a season of discipline and teach me

to fall in love with this church again because

we can be, we can be the fullness of Christ.

And we will be. We will be. You and I will be

the fullness of Christ. We are. His bride. Look

around, look around. Did you guys realize there

ain't no church like this in Brunswick? And I'm

not dogging other churches, I'm just saying God

is doing something unique here. He's doing something

unique in other places too, but He's doing something

unique here. This place did not exist a decade

ago. And a decade ago, I was telling people that

a place like this could not exist. And here I

am in public repentance, right? A gospel community

based on the risen Lord, following his word,

walking in his spirit that actually looks like

Brunswick. Wow. Do you guys know that we follow

the Lord and he will make it happen? We are,

we will be the bride of Christ. We will be dressed

in white. It will happen. It will happen. And

here's what that means. It means that if you

are a part of the church, there is a hidden beauty

in your life that no amount of dysfunction can

erase. There is a beauty in your life that will

come forth at the end. And it's untouchable and

unquenchable now. There's something that can

happen inside of you that nothing, nothing can

put out because we will be. I've been married

22 years. My wife is my favorite person. And

I cannot wait to spend 22 more years with her.

I'm head over heels for her. She is my bride.

And I know the quality of her character, the

beauty of her soul. And every now and again,

Mandy gets sick. She has a flu or something like

that. And if I can be transparent, I know. If

I can be transparent, sometimes when you have

the flu, you don't look your best. You, you know,

you're not dressing up. No, you're not getting

out there and putting on your fancy clothes.

Not paying quite as much attention to personal

hygiene, and you know you just you just But let

me tell you something when my wife is sick I

Don't lose faith in who she is I Don't make the

mistake of thinking that the state that she is

in now is who she is I know her I Know her I

know her beauty. I know her glory. I know her

strength, and I know that it will come back Do

you know that about us not you not me us? Welcome

to church Welcome to church. We are the fullness

of Christ We are and we aren't and we can be

and we will be welcome to church Would you like

to come in? Would you like to come in? I want

to invite you to be a part of the church. And

I want to be super clear about that, because

again, our culture, we get this really screwed

up. A lot of the times what we do to become a

part of something is we consume it. We buy the

product and we use it, and then we're a part

of a movement, which again is another ad trick,

right? Consumption is not the way to become the

part of the church. The way to become part of

a church is what Paul talks about is grafting

in. He talks about a branch that's cut off of

one plant and then grafted and stuck into the

trunk of another branch and is actually getting

in there so that it lives off of the life of

the tree and then it gives the tree life from

its leaves. There's a give and take. There's

a union that happens so that you are no longer

you, but we are us. and we are the fullness of

Christ. What does that look like here? We try

to make it as simple as possible. We talk about

worship. Worship is where we come and we sing,

but it's also where we participate and we serve

and we give. We've become a part of putting this

thing on on Sundays, but also throughout the

week it means community. It means that. You are

pressing into deep relationships. Of course you

have friends that are not in the church. Of course

you do. But here you're pressing into relationships

that are gospel relationships. You're developing

gospel friendships. You know it's gonna take

15 years and you do it anyway. It means formation.

It means risking yourself here. It means being

willing to be not just vulnerable, but open to

change. Open to change. And then it means influence.

It means we go out there and we reflect Christ.

in our lifestyle, in our words, we invite people,

we love people, we serve people, we share the

gospel and word and deed. That's what it means

to be a part of the church. Would you like to

come in? Would you like to come in and be a part

of the fullness of Christ? Let's stop there.

God, thank you so much for your word. Thank you,

God, that. Thank you God. I just want to personally

thank you for your discipline in my life that

keeps my attitude away from me and points me

to us So thank you for that God. Thank you for

that. Thank you for helping me to fall in love

with your bride the church Thank you for what

you're doing here at Union City We are that one

small manifestation of your church all over the

world and throughout the ages But God I pray

for my brothers and sisters here Holy Spirit

that you would help us to see how we are connected

to your body and how we can more fully participate

in the fullness of the one who fills all in all.

In Jesus' name, amen.