The Family of God | Mark Estes

Good

morning, North Palm.

Amen. Wow. So good to see you this

morning. God is so good. I have Man,

worship was so powerful. And then the

move in the altar, man, it was so great.

I'm excited about what God is doing. I

want to ask you if you would to turn

with me in the Bible to 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

We're going to look at verse 27

through31.

Um that that's a wonderful chapter. I

love Paul's writing. I love all of his

letters. Um but we're going to focus in

on a truth in these verses. And I want

to talk to you this morning about the

family of God.

The family of God. And the and the fact

that you are not

on your own.

You're not on your own. So, would you

take a moment and just lift your hands

with me? Come on, everybody. Lift your

hands with me. Pray this prayer. Holy

Spirit,

>> open my ears

>> that I can hear what you have to say.

>> Open my heart.

>> Make it receptive.

>> Receptive.

>> I give you permission

>> to move deep in my life.

>> To form my heart

>> to form my character.

Jesus, have your way in me today.

>> Amen.

All right. 1 Corinthians 12 27. Now you

are the body of Christ

and members individually.

I want to read that again. Now you are

the body of Christ and members

individually.

Verse 28. And God has appointed these in

the church. First apostles, second

prophets, third teachers, and after that

miracles, and then gifts of healing,

helps, administrations, varieties of

tongues. Are all apostles? Are all

prophets? Are all teachers? Are all

workers of miracles? Do all have the

gifts of healing? Do all speak with

tongues? Do all interpret?

but earnestly desire the best gifts

and yet I show you a more excellent way.

Now go back to verse 27. Look at that

again. Now you are the body of Christ

and members

individually.

You see God did not design you to live

and to function alone.

He placed you in his family

on purpose

for purpose.

You see, God has a design for family.

And this is a foundational truth that we

really have to recover in this

generation that you were not just saved

from something.

You were saved into

and for something.

Now you need to understand you were

created for community.

You were fashioned for fellowship.

You were formed for family. And in the

word of God there is no such thing as

isolated believers. There are no solo

saints in scripture.

From generation or from Genesis to

Revelation,

God is always forming a people.

He's not just saving individuals.

He is forming a people.

Now, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12,

and and when he writes this, he's not

just trying to correct theology,

but he's trying to correct how believers

see themselves

in relationship to one another.

And his conclusion in verse 27 is

unmistakable. He said, 'Now you are the

body of Christ and members individually.

So I want you to do me a favor. Look at

the person next to you. Look them in the

eye and tell them, "You are not on your

own any longer."

>> You see, the church is a body. It is not

a building.

We've got to get this concept straight

in our minds.

And so Jesus uses one of the most

powerful metaphors in scripture.

The church is the body of Christ.

He didn't say like a body. He said the

church is

the body of Christ. Now the word body in

Greek literally means a living

functioning organism.

And when he said members, you are

members individually. The word members

literally is talking about limbs. It's

talking about organs, indispensable

parts.

You are the body of Christ and you are

members. You are a part. You are a you

are an organ. You are a limb, a hand, a

foot.

And so that means the church is not an

organization.

It is not an institution. The church is

alive.

And we are interconnected.

Membership's not about being on a list.

It's not about being on a roll.

It's not about being in a book.

It is about being a vital organ

in a living body.

So what does that mean?

You don't attend a body.

You function

>> in a body.

Now

if the hand

disconnects from the body,

it doesn't become independent.

It becomes dead.

You are you getting what I'm putting

down this morning? It becomes lifeless.

Imagine a a power grid for a a city

and each home in that city is wired into

the power grid. It's wired into the

larger system.

Now, if one house

in the neighborhood in the city

disconnects from the grid,

the grid still functions,

but that house

is powerless.

that house sets in the dark.

So disconnection doesn't hurt the grid

first,

it hurts the one who disconnects.

So in the same way you need to

understand you don't diminish the church

by isolating.

You diminish your own spiritual

vitality. You diminish your own life.

You disconnect from the living body and

eventually you die.

Amen, pastor. Boy, that's that's good

preaching.

Sometimes you just got to amen yourself,

you know.

You see, isolation is not independence.

It's disconnection.

So God set you in the family on purpose

for a purpose. Look at verse 28.

And God has appointed these in the

church. First apostles, second prophets,

third teachers, after that miracles,

then the gifts of healings, helps,

administrations,

varieties of tongues. He said that God

has appointed

these. That word appointed means to be

placed. It means to be set, to be

arranged

intentionally.

Intentionally.

This means that your placement in the

body is not accidental.

It's not some random thing of chance

that that you took some assessment and

oh wow, that's just random. You just

happen to be what you are. No. No, you

are intentionally placed, set and

arranged in the body.

This means that your placement is not

accident. It means that your role is not

random and your function is not

optional.

God did not just save you. He positioned

you. He placed you in the body. And so,

here's the key principle. You're not

just called, you are placed. You are

placed. So in a culture that says find

your preference.

God says fulfill your placement. Fulfill

your purpose. Do what you were created

to do.

I love orchestras. But you know in an

orchestra the violin can't say, "I think

I'll play percussion today."

The conductor assigns the placement

based on the design.

So if one section ignores its its role,

then the music becomes noise.

But when every part functions correctly,

there is a harmony. There is a sweet

mealy. There is a a beautiful sound that

erupts when every part comes together.

So you need to understand that you are

not selfassigned.

Oh dear Lord Jesus, help me communicate

THIS PROPERLY. YOU DON'T ASSIGN

YOURSELF.

>> YOU ARE GOD POSITIONED.

every member is necessary.

And so what's Paul doing? He dismantles

comparison

by asking rhetorical questions.

In verse 29 and 30, are all apostles?

Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are

all workers of miracles? Do all have the

gifts of healing? Do all speak with

tongues? Do all interpret? And the

expected answer is no.

So here's some insight.

Diversity is not a flaw.

IT IS THE DESIGN OF GOD.

GOD MADE YOU WITH YOUR GIFTING, with

your calling, WITH YOUR TALENT. HE

POSITIONED YOU IN THE BODY. IF EVERY ONE

OF US WERE THE SAME, there would BE NO

FUNCTION. THERE WOULD BE NO BALANCE.

THERE WOULD be no maturity. We would

have no use on this earth.

So the truth is this.

Uniformity

would destroy the body.

We're not all the same.

And that person that gets on your last

nerve fulfills a specific

calling and place IN THE BODY.

SO GET OVER YOURSELF.

>> IT'S not all about you.

>> We need each other.

>> What makes the body powerful is not

sameness, but it's synergy.

IT'S WHEN THESE DIFFERENT PARTS ALL COME

TOGETHER AND ALL WORK TOGETHER THAT

THERE'S POWER, THAT THERE'S MOMENTUM,

THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING.

So synergy

is when two or more elements,

people's,

systems, ideas,

when they work together in a way that

produces a result that is greater than

the sum of their individual efforts.

So to put it plainly, it's the idea

that together

we are better

than we are apart.

So in a team

individuals might have different

strengths

but when they collaborate effectively

their combined output is stronger than

what each one could achieve by itself.

In business,

companies

will merge

so that they can create synergy by

combining their resources, by combining

their expertise, by combining their

markets to achieve a greater efficiency

and a greater profit.

So the concept

is widely used in in business, in

science, and psychology to describe

cooperative

interactions

that create added value. God help the

church grasp this

cooperative interactions

that provide or create added value.

But you understand that being in the

family of God

requires commitment.

You can't have synergy without having

commitment. You can't be a functioning

part of the body without being

committed. And so here's where this

confronts the modern culture that we

live in. We live in a time of

independent individualism. We live in a

time of consumer Christianity. Hear me

now. We live in a time of church hopping

without covenant.

Oh, pastor about to go there.

Buckle up now.

Years ago, Rick Warren wrote wrote a

book and I would encourage you if you've

read it, read it again. If you haven't

read it, you need to read it. The

purpose-driven life.

And in there he calls he calls these

people spiritual orphans.

There is an orphan mentality

in so many churches and in the ministry.

There are orphans trying to be fathers

and they don't know how to do it.

They've never seen it, never experienced

it. They they have an orphan mentality.

He also calls them, this is kind of

comical,

bunny believers.

Not funny

bunny like bugs bunny bunny believers

because they're people who hop from

place to place.

They avoid accountability.

You try to hold them accountable, they

hop somewhere else. You try to deal with

some of their mess.

Oh, don't you know Holy Ghost not going

to do nothing with you unless you let

him in your mess?

Amen, pastor. Boy, that's good preaching

this morning.

They resist commitment,

but the Bible

Bible paints a different picture.

There's no rugged individualism in the

Bible. There's no no I'm on my own

attitude in in the Bible. IN THE BIBLE,

50 times over 50 times in the New

Testament, we see the term one another.

We are commanded to love one another. We

are commanded to serve one another. We

are COMMANDED TO BEAR ONE ANOTHER'S

BURDENS. We're commanded TO FORGIVE

one another. WE ARE COMMANDED TO

ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER. AND WE ARE

COMMANDED to submit to one another.

>> So the question

is this,

who are you working with and who are you

connected to?

Because you cannot fulfill the one

another commands of scripture in

isolation.

And and here's another truth I want to

just put out there.

You can't love Jesus and reject his

church.

>> Oh, I'm sorry. You didn't hear me. I I I

I said you can't love Jesus

and reject his church.

The Bible gives two powerful images.

The church is the body of Christ

and the church is the bride of Christ.

So let me make this plain.

You can't say I love Jesus

but I don't love or I don't need

the church.

>> That's like saying

I love you. I just don't like your body.

or I love you, but I don't like your

wife.

>> Don't be talking about my wife now.

I mean that that we'll fight over that.

Paul said in Ephesians 5:25

Ephesians 5:25

now and and this is one of those things,

you know, every couple that comes in for

premarital counseling, we get there.

Ephesians 5

talk about

wives submitting to husbands and

husbands loving wives. But look at look

at this in verse 25. Husbands love your

wives.

Now, most women like to stop there. Most

men don't like to stop there, frankly,

because the next part is what makes it

hard.

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ

also loved the church and gave himself

for her.

Oh, now that'll set your marriage free.

But this is the way. Here's the truth.

Jesus loved the church

and he gave himself for the church.

The eklesia, the calledout ones, the

governing body. Jesus died, gave himself

for the church. So the purpose of the

church in Matthew 16:1 18, Jesus said,

Matthew 16:1

"And also I say to you that you are

Peter and on this rock, I will build my

church and the gates of Hades shall not

prevail against it." Notice what Jesus

did not say.

He did not say, "I will build your

platform."

>> He did not say, "I WILL BUILD YOUR

BRAND."

There's a lot of branding going and I'm

not against that. It's individual and

each church has a niche in the body. But

Jesus didn't say I'll build your brand.

He didn't say I will build your

ministry.

Jesus said I will build my church and

the gates of hell will not prevail

against my church.

So the core purpose of the church is to

reveal CHRIST CORPORATELY.

>> If the community is going to have a

proper re revelation representation of

Jesus, it has to come here.

Our job is to re the world sees Jesus

through HIS BODY. AND I REMIND YOU, YOU

ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST.

>> The purpose of the church, the core

purpose is to build up believers.

Gifts are for edification,

not exhibition.

Oh,

>> the core purpose of the church is to

function as a family,

not as spectators.

>> God didn't put you in the church to come

and get your fat soul fed every week.

He put you in the church to function,

to participate in the body.

The core purpose of the church is to

advance God's mission.

When Jesus was on earth, he worked

through his physical body.

But now he works through his spiritual

body. So the church, his spiritual body

is to enforce heaven's rule on earth.

You got to get this. We're not an

institution. We're not an organization.

God didn't institute denominations.

What he did was he purchased the church

with his blood. He redeemed the church

and the church the ecclesia is the

governing body of Christ to enforce the

rule of heaven on earth. That's why

Jesus in Luke chap 11 when he taught

them how to pray HE SAID WHEN YOU PRAY

say our father in heaven

HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME YOUR KINGDOM COME

YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN

HEAVEN.

So the problem

is the church

is is the problem is using the church

but not loving

the church.

Many Christians use the church. They

just don't they just don't love it. They

use it. They attend without commitment.

They receive without giving

and they consume

without contributing.

>> And they come up with all these sideline

doctrines on why not to give.

Why? I was confronted yesterday with

somebody trying to convince me that

tithing isn't biblical.

I'm going to tell him, "Honey, you you

you started too late to to bring that

mess around here.

I've already experienced what God will

do.

>> I've already experienced what God will

do.

>> So, biblical membership

says you are responsible

for the family you belong to.

Somebody say pastor's on it today.

So the solution, that's the problem. The

solution is becoming a functioning

family member.

>> That's the solution. And Paul says in 1

1 Corinthians 12:27

Corinthians 12:27, "Now you are the body

of Christ and members individually."

This is identity language.

You don't choose whether you're part of

the body.

Hello.

You choose whether you will function in

the body. You're part of the body. You

have a talent. You have a gift. You have

an ability. You have God-given ability.

And you just can't take yourself out of

the body. What you're making a decision

is, am I going to function in the body?

So too many churches are dysfunctional

families.

And we have so much drama. There is too

much drama. There are too many power

struggles.

THERE THERE'S WAY TOO MUCH competition

for position.

There is too much insecurity.

THERE'S TOO MUCH LACK of family

identity.

So what am I supposed to do?

How about embrace your placement?

Stop asking where am I the most

comfortable. Please, oh dear Jesus,

please stop asking where am I most

comfortable. It's not about your

comfort. Start asking about WHERE HAS

GOD PLACED ME TO FUNCTION. HOW DO I

FULFILL MY ROLE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

How about commit to a spiritual family?

Move from attender to member. move from

observer, reporter to a to a

participant.

How about starting to fulfill the one

another commands?

Identify specific people that you're

encouraging. Identify people that you're

serving. Identify people that you are

praying for, that you are walking with.

How about value every role?

Honor the unseen.

Do you know just to have this service

here and to have an online presence,

there are so many people you don't know.

You never see them. THEY'RE THE BEHIND

THE SCENE, BEHIND the camera, behind the

computer, BEHIND THE LIGHTS. YOU DON'T

EVER SEE THEM. THEY'RE NEVER ON THE

STAGE.

>> BUT THEY HAVE VALUE. THEY'RE UNNOTICED.

VALUE THE UNNOTICED.

value the behind the scenes people that

don't get recognition because the body

depends on them.

How about pursue the gifts that build

others?

Corinthians 1 Corinthians 12:31, "But

1 Corinthians 12:31

earnestly desire the best gifts, and yet

I'll show you a more excellent way."

He didn't say

the most visible gifts. He's he said the

most edifying. So you need to anchor

everything in love. You know this is

such a powerful truth. Paul's

transitioning to first Corinthians for a

reason.

Now you got to understand when when the

when he wrote this letter, he didn't

divide it into chapters and verses.

It's a letter. Why do you read a letter?

You read the whole thing. So there's no

separation between between chapter 12

and chapter 13. Chapter 13, the love

chap. Oh, we all want to go to the love

chapter, don't we?

Oh, we got to go to the love chapter.

But you can't separate that from chapter

12 and chapter 14 where Paul talks about

the church and he talks about the gifts,

the spiritual gifts that flow that flow

and function in the body. And so it is

inseparable. So without love your gift

becomes noise. Without love your

ministry becomes performance. Without

love the church loses its witness.

So I make a declaration today over you.

You are not an accident.

You are not an observer.

You are not on your own. You are part of

a body. You are placed in a family and

you are called to function and you are

designed to contribute.

The church is God's plan for the world.

You need to accept that and you're part

of that plan.

So in conclusion,

stop visiting the family,

start living in the family, start

embracing the family, start loving the

family,

stop attending the body,

function in the body, fulfill your

purpose

in the body. Because when every member

takes their place, the body grows,

the church strengthens,

and Christ is revealed to the world.

We are a representation of Jesus

and we come together

to enforce the kingdom rule of heaven on