Radiant Basics 2026 - Week 2 - James Marchetti

Again, hello. So I mentioned before that things

might be a little different this week, and we're

working through our Radiant Basics series. And

so normally we're working through a book of the

Bible, but we're taking four weeks, three more

after this one, or two more after this one, where

we're walking through this Radiant Basics series.

And it's the language that we use between...

all of the Radiant churches here in Alaska, and

it's not just because we want to all be the same

and say the same things, but because it points

us and focuses us back to the gospel. So we are

going to be welcoming up James Marchetti from

Radiant Anchorage, so he's the lead pastor down

there. Caleb, you may have noticed he's not here.

Caleb's actually up in Fairbanks, so I've been

calling him Musical Pastors. because the Radiants

are all kind of shuffling around, and we're getting

a chance to be able to visit the other Radiant

churches and speak. And what's so cool is all

of it is pointed back to the gospel. So it doesn't

matter if James is here or if James was in Juneau,

he's still going to be looking back to the word

of the Lord, and that's our focus. So I'm going

to welcome him up in a minute, but before that...

We're going to read our text this morning, and

this is in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 through

Ephesians 4:1–16

16. So if you don't have a Bible, there are some

on the back tables there. You're welcome to grab

one and take it home with you. So Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 4:1–16

4, verses 1 through 16. I therefore, a prisoner

for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy

of the calling to which you have been called,

with all humility. and gentleness, with patience,

bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain

the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you

were called to the one hope that belongs to your

call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God

and Father of all, who is over all and through

all and in all. But grace was given to each one

according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore,

it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host

of captives and he gave gifts to men. In saying

he ascended, what does it mean? But that he also

descended into the lower regions, the earth.

He who descended is the one who ascended far

above all the heavens that he might fill all

things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets,

the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to

equip the saints for the work of ministry, for

building up the body of Christ. Until we all

attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge

of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure

of the stature of the fullness. So that we may

no longer be children tossed to and fro by the

waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine,

by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful

schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love.

We are to grow up in every way into him who is

the head, into Christ. from whom the whole body,

joined and held together by every joint with

which it is equipped, when each part is working

properly, makes the body grow so that it builds

itself up in love. We're going to welcome James

up, and he's going to share the word of the Lord.

All right. Too loud. Too loud. I'm going to yell

at you. Man, it's good to be here with you guys.

So, so thankful to have family all across this

state preaching God's word, walking out their

faith and belief in Jesus. And so I'm going to

sit because Sermon on the Mount starts with Jesus

sitting down to preach. So I figure I'm going

to be like him. That's what I do. So for those

who don't know me, my name is James. I've been

in Anchorage my whole life. My wife, Christina,

and I both born and raised in Anchorage. I grew

up in the church in Anchorage and serving in

the church. And my twin brother and my best friend

became pastors at very young ages. And that looked

like a terrible job to me. So I was sure that

I was never going to be called to do that and

even told God no. And that's a dangerous thing

to do. So I hit a point, though, where I really

felt like there were so many people in our city

that needed to hear the good news of Jesus. I

ended up praying this dangerous prayer that God

would send someone to plant a church in our city

that would walk out their belief in the gospel

through daily life together. And I prayed for

a couple of years, and finally my thick head

realized that... The reason that I was feeling

the call to pray for that is because I was being

called to that. So we planted Radiant Church

in Anchorage starting in 2013 in my living room.

joining up with, at the time, Radiant Fairbanks

and Radiant Juneau, doing this work together.

And this is super fun for me today to get to

come and join up with you guys because this is

like the reality of that expression, that we're

better together. We are one body across the state

doing this work of gospel transformation, first

internally and then moving it externally as we

belong to Jesus and each other. Today, we're

going to do something different. Like Jared said,

we're jumping kind of out of what our normal

rhythm is, working systematically through a book

of the Bible. Often, what we see as we do that

is what we would call systematic theology. And

so today, I'm not going to stick in Ephesians

4. I'm actually going to try to articulate this

idea that we see throughout Scripture, and we

look at an idea through the lens of all of Scripture.

What do we call that? It's a test. It's pass

-fail. Somebody's just going to yell Jesus, right?

We call it biblical theology. So we've got two

lenses that we look at. When we understand what

Scripture says, we're going to test what Scripture

says by if it aligns with what the rest of Scripture

says. So today, as we jump back into this series

that we call Radiant Basics Together, we started

with what we have to start with. Last week, you

talked about what? nobody was here who god is

and what he's done we talked about the gospel

right the the the idea that that we frame all

of our understanding about who the church is

what the church is has to be based on who god

is and what he's done that must inform for us

as his people who belong to him who we are and

then how we should live in response to him and

so As we looked at the gospel, we saw that what

the gospel does is that it is the power of God

for salvation, first to the Jew and then to the

Gentile, that this is God's work that he does

on us and in us and through us. by the person

and work of Jesus, that then makes us into his

children. And then we said that, I don't know

if you said all of this out here, but we did

in Anchorage. And then I said last week that

when we look at the gospel, we see that the what

of the gospel is the power of God for salvation,

but the why of the gospel is not about us. The

why of the gospel is about him. And that's so

liberating because if the gospel was this, I'm

saved so that I can be good, then that puts a

lot of strain and weight and burden on us. But

if instead we see what Paul writes in Ephesians

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, that the purpose of the gospel was

that God in all wisdom and insight had this grand

plan before the foundation of the world to show

off the thing he's most proud of about himself.

And that is not his ability to choose the best

children. It's his ability to display the immeasurable

riches of his grace in kindness towards dummies

like you and me. And we see that refrain over

and over in Ephesians 1. To the praise of the

glory of his grace. Right? And so what that does

is it then liberates us as his people. to be

transparent about our failings. He gives us the

freedom to say, hey, I was a mess, and I needed

a Savior, and I'm still a mess, and I need a

Savior. And the more that we hide our sin, the

more that we try to pretend and play church,

the more we rob him of glory. And so instead,

we become those crazy people who confess our

sins to one another, believing that he's faithful.

to forgive us and cleanse us from all of our

own unrighteousness and to redeem us. And so

in this gospel, we get this good news that if

we put our hope in Jesus, we have been saved.

But from what? I don't ask rhetorical questions.

I know Caleb doesn't either. I'm looking for

some feedback. What has the gospel saved us from?

Sin, and primarily, we're going to look at this

in three perspectives. Primarily, the gospel

says you have been saved, if you put your hope

in Christ, from the penalty of your sin. On the

cross, Jesus says, it is finished. And Romans

says, that there is therefore no condemnation

for those who are in Christ. So the penalty's

gone, done, paid in full. But that's not it,

because the gospel goes on from there to say

to us, and if you put your hope in Jesus, not

only have you been cleansed and redeemed and

saved, but you are being saved. Today. But from

what? The power of sin. You guys know this stuff,

right? Like that as I believe that God knows

better than me, more and more and more day by

day. I start to act like it. Like the thing that

I could not keep from doing two years ago doesn't

even appeal to me anymore because he is more

satisfying. He is more joyful for me. And I believe

that he knows better than me how to rule over

my life. When we talk about this year, you guys

are focusing in on this idea of belonging, right?

Like if you belong to him, then you're his and

he knows better. what should happen in your life

than you do. And this is a wrestle for me as

a pastor, right? Like there's a lot of stuff

in my life that I think I would have done this

differently than you, and I think my plans are

better than your plans, God. That's just true.

And like day by day, the gospel is saying to

me, through this hope, through this belief, you're

given power over that doubt. over that distrust

of God, over temptation to sin and rebel. Praise

God. But not only that, because if we put our

hope in Jesus, we have been saved from the penalty

of our sin, and we are being saved from the power

of sin over us. But if we were just left in this

mess, redeemed and being sanctified, that would

not be, like, the good news. Because the gospel

also says to us, if you put your hope in Jesus,

you will be saved. From what? Yes, separation

from God. From the presence and effects of sin

entirely. Jesus is not in a tomb. He's coming

back for us. And when he does, he will wipe away

every tear from our eyes and pain and suffering

will be eradicated and death will be no more

and temptation to sin will be gone because we

will see him fully and we will believe with every

part of our being. And oh, I long for that day.

And the good news of the gospel that has the

past. present and future effects on us in our

hope in Jesus, then gives us a new identity,

right? Who God is and what he's done, that we

have been saved and are being saved and will

be saved by him, not by our good works, then

gives us this new identity. And so because of

who Jesus is, because of who God is and what

he's done, then we get a couple of... a couple

of analogies in Scripture, throughout Scripture,

about what that means for us as his people. And

so we talk about the church. We talk about it

being a family of servant missionaries who are

learning how to be and make disciples of Jesus

in all of life together. You guys ever heard

that? Probably every week. Right? So this is

not some out there idea. This is like what the

text says. So what is a family? Why are we called

a family? Because we have a good father? I would

say because we have the same father. Right? Like

what defines a family? You've got parents and

kids, right? And so throughout Scripture, and

Jesus teaches us to pray to this end, he says,

the disciples say, how do we pray? And he says

like this, our Father. Right? In Ephesians 1,

this idea of adoption. Or other areas in scripture

where it talks about a new birth being born again

into this living hope in 1 Peter, right? Like

that we get adopted, we get born into this family

of God with God as father and us as his children.

And like I could go on and on about this. I have

a large family. We have two biological kids and

then a pile of them that we've adopted. And so...

The idea of how God builds a family, yeah, I

have a big family, so like I fit in better maybe

out here in the valley than in Anchorage, right?

But if God is our father, that makes us belong

to him. And we'll see this in the text, right?

We are his family because God is our father.

And as we see that God is our father, that makes

us his children, that makes us brothers and sisters.

Siblings, right? Who God is and what he's done

defines for us who we are and then how we should

live. So then we live, if we actually believe

that we are a family, then we would live like

siblings. We would live like a family, and that's

what I want to talk about today. What is our

identity rooted in our belief in this? mean for

us in the way that we would live? So I'm going

to start with this, Galatians chapter 3, starting

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

in verse 24. I don't want to just tell you things.

We want, Caleb wants the same thing. We want

you to be a people of the book, right? That you

don't just take what we say on face value, but

that you test it against Scripture so that you

could grow up into maturity. And that's what

we'll be talking about today. So Galatians chapter

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

3, starting in verse 24, says, So then the law

was our guardian until Christ came, in order

that we might be justified by faith. This is

what we talked about, the gospel, right? But

now that faith has come, we are no longer under

a guardian for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons

of God through faith. So this is that idea that

we're talking about. If you were all sons, now

pause because some of you are ladies, right?

This is not saying that like we all lose our

masculinity or femininity and we all become homogenous,

right? He wants a beautiful people of every nation

and tribe and tongue that looks beautiful in

imitating him through all of the ways that he's

made us. But that the way that the scriptures

talk about us becoming sons has more to do with

our inheritance. Because in first century, Near

East, daughters didn't get an inheritance. But

if you're a woman in the church today, equal

with the males in your inheritance. That's good

news. So then the law was given to us. was our

guardian until Christ came in order that we might

be justified by faith. But now that faith has

come, we are no longer under a guardian. For

in Christ Jesus, you are all sons through faith.

For as many as were baptized into Christ have

put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek

nor slave nor free nor male nor female. For you

are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's,

then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according

to the promise. I mean that the heir, as long

as he is a child, is no different from a slave.

Though he is the owner of everything, but he

is under guardians and managers until the date

set by his father. In the same way, we also,

when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary

principles of the world. But when the fullness

of time had come, God sent forth his son, born

of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those

who were under the law so that we might receive.

adoption as sons. And because you were sons,

God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts,

crying, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a

slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir

through God. And so this is the idea, right?

That God, through the gospel, has given us the

spirit of his son through adoption. And like

I said, I could talk about this all day, Roman

adoption was cooler than our adoptions. Romans

often adopted their own slaves, their own servants,

because especially the rich families, the bio

-children became useless. And they would then

adopt the slave, and that slave that was adopted

became the primary or first heir. above all of

the biological children. And in Roman culture,

a wealthy family could disown any of their biological

children, but once you were adopted, it was permanent

and could not be undone. And that is what God

has done for us. This is permanent. Purchased

by the shed blood of Jesus cannot be undone.

And that makes us his children forever, which

makes us Family, right? So this is where we get

this idea of our identity as a family. We'll

talk about servant and missionary the next two

weeks, right? But if we are family, if God is

our father and we belong to him and as his children,

we're brothers and sisters, we belong to each

other, then we live like family, defined by sacrificial

love for one another. So Jesus presents this

idea. In kind of a shocking way to his culture

in Matthew chapter 12. I'm not going to turn

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

there and read it, but there's this interaction

where Jesus' mother and his siblings come and

they want to see him, but he's like doing ministry

work. And do you remember this story? And the

disciples come to him and they're like, hey,

pause what you're doing. Your mom and your siblings

are here. And what does he say to them? Anybody

know? Yeah, he says, first he says, who is my

mother and my siblings? Like Jesus is confused

or he's confusing them. I like that he kind of

has a sense of humor, right? And then he says,

everyone who does the will of my Father in heaven

is my mother. My father and my mother and my

siblings, right? This is the relation that he

gives. He kind of flips things on their head.

Now, what he's not saying in this is that we

should ignore or disown our biological families,

right? That's not the point he's making. He's

saying that there is this worldly perspective

where we have these families that we produce

here on earth. either through birth or adoption,

and that as parents, I pray and I hope that all

of my children will enter eternity with me, worshiping

Jesus, and I have no say over that. But those

of you in this room who have already put your

hope in Jesus, we're family forever. Thicker

than my blood, bought by his blood, right? So

the question then is, do we believe it, like

in a way that we live like it? What would that

look like for us to live like a family, to really

believe this? So in order to answer that, you

have to say, okay, well, what defines a family?

What is a family? look like, what does a family

do? Like, if we want to live like we're a family,

we have to say, okay, well, what does a family

live like? What defines the rhythms of the life

of a family together? They help to take care

of each other's needs, yeah. They eat together,

praise God. I love eating. You can tell. Yeah,

they're walking together through sickness. They

rejoice with each other. Like celebrate holidays

and birthdays and new kids being born and things

like that, right? Yeah. Anybody else? What's

that? They work through conflict. So they do

these things. They work through conflict and

they eat meals together and they celebrate together

and they grieve and mourn together and they suffer

together and they probably share a budget together.

There's like all of these things that a family

does that makes them distinct from like a neighborhood.

There's an identity that they hold together because

of who mom and dad are makes them have these

rhythms. And it's cool that most of these things

that you guys said are not like Western ideas.

It doesn't matter where you go in the world,

families do these things. That is what defines

a family. So it might look different, like the

way that a family eats in Indonesia might look

different than the way they eat in Germany or

Alaska, but families eat meals together. And

like... Your smaller family eats meals together,

and then your extended family gets to eat meals

together. So I get to come and eat your meal

today, right? Come to this table with you today

because we're family, because I am part of Radiant

Anchorage and a part of the greater body of Christ,

right? So families do these rhythms together.

And we see this in Scripture, in the text. not

that every family would do all of them the same

way but that all healthy families share these

types of rhythms and behaviors family rhythms

look different from culture to culture from from

from local church to local church but for the

church to be healthy as a family it has to have

some of these rhythms And so this is a challenge

for us in our Western idea about church. This

is why going through Radiant Basics is so important

because so much of the Western church has become,

and this is not me trying to throw stones at

the church. I love the church, right? But so

much of the Western church, because of our propensities,

has become more like a concert and a lecture

that you attend than a family that you're a part

of, that you belong to. Anybody experience that?

I have. I've been guilty of looking at the church

that way. And probably everyone else in the room

has at some point in their life too, right? That

the church is this meeting that we go to or a

building that we meet in, and it's this thing

we do on the weekends, but it definitely is not

something where I would lay down my life for

the person that's sitting next to me on a Sunday

morning. And I don't want to be inconvenienced

in the rhythms of normal life where I would have

to eat with them and mourn with them and be with

them in sickness. Stay away from me if you're

sick. Put a mask on and stay away from me. But

that's not what a family does. When my kids are

sick, I don't tell them put a mask on and stay

away from me. I go to them. Like, I want to say

put a mask on and get away from me, but I don't

do that because they're my kids, right? When

my wife is sick, like, I want to be there for

her. It's different, right? And like, do we really

believe that the church is a family? And so we

see these rhythms displayed even in the first

century church. This is what it looked like in

the book of Acts. As the church launches in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, starting in verse 42, we get this.

this description of what the church did after

Pentecost. Thousands come to faith in one day,

and this is what it says about them. Verse 42,

and they devoted themselves to the apostles'

teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking

of bread and the prayers. And all came upon every

soul, and many wonders and signs were... being

done through the apostles. And all who believed,

like listen to this, this is crazy. And all who

believed were together and had all things in

common and they were selling their possessions

and belongings and distributing the proceeds

to all as any had need. Gulp. That's not the

American dream. But that's what a family does.

And day by day, attending the temple together

and breaking bread in their homes, they received

their food with glad and generous hearts, praising

God and having favor with all the people. And

the Lord added to their numbers, day by day,

those who were being saved. See, the church starts

to look like a family when we know what we are

because of who God is and what he's done. We

start doing crazy stuff. like opening up our

homes to people we just met and starting a new

gospel community, right? Like that's not, for

those who are unaware, it is inconvenient to

host a gospel community. Since we started the

church, I think we're on our seventh couch because

kids break everything. And when you invite them

into your house, it is at a cost to you, right?

But if they're your family, You invite them into

your house, right? No? You guys keep your family

out? You stay outside. This meal is not for you.

Shun. No, so the family starts to do these things

that look like family. The church begins to act

like they believe that we belong to each other

because we belong to him. And even in our Sunday

gatherings, we get a picture of this, right?

Like as we come to a table together, and we sing

together in celebration, and sometimes we mourn

together, and sometimes we baptize people together,

and we devote ourselves to the apostles' teaching,

right? Like this is the kind of stuff that we

do together, Super Something Sunday, right? Like

that's not a convenient way to throw a concert

and a lecture, right? It's going to be a mess

in here and somebody's got to clean it. Also,

one of the things families do, chores, right?

Like that's what I tell, like if you're a guest,

a visitor in my house, you are not expected to

clean up after yourself and do chores. But if

you're family, get to work, right? If you belong

here, if this place is for you, get to work.

You've got chores to do. Correct, Lucas? And

so we have all these rhythms as the people of

God bought by Jesus' blood through adoption into

God's family as siblings to each other. And then

the question of this family thing is the why,

right? So when we talked about the gospel, we

said, here's what. The what of the gospel, and

here's the why of the gospel. We talk about this

God has made us family. We can talk about what

that looks like, but then we can look at, okay,

but we're not going to do it unless we know why.

Does that make sense? At least that's the way

my brain works. So the why, like what is the

purpose of a family? You ever thought about that?

The first institution God gave in Genesis chapter

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

2. Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and

subdue it. What was the purpose of him designing

us to multiply the way that we do in families?

Establish a feeling of belonging. Everybody else?

To show love. Display his characteristics, his

traits, made in his image. What was that? Because

it's not good to be alone? Yeah. Here's my very

not, like, spiritual take. The purpose of a family

is to grow up useless children into maturity,

to be productive adult human beings. Yes? Like

all of us as parents, if you are a parent, like

that's the hope, right? Is that our kids, like

I love the tiny little baby, but if like 14 years

from now, they're still like not doing anything

productive, we've done it badly. The purpose

of the family didn't work, right? The goal of

the family, the reason God gave us this institution

and made it in a way that we could not just like...

grow up in this little homogenous group and live

together happily ever after, right? But spread

throughout all of creation for his glory and

our joy is as we grow up into maturity in Christ.

And so that's true of the natural family and

it's true of the family of God. The purpose of

the family is to raise up from infancy to adulthood

and then send out mature adults. to do more of

that same work, hopefully having their own children

and raising them up from infancy to adulthood,

right? And then those children, as they've grown

up, having the skill set and the gifting and

being invested in in a way that they're ready

when they launch to have their own children.

and raise them from infancy to adulthood and

then send them out right and does this sound

like what the church is supposed to do and yet

what happens is when the church becomes a show

that we attend week after week it is not possible

for that to produce mature adults mature believers

but that's not the prescription that god gave

us he said you're my children We're family. Act

like a family. Live like a family. Do the rhythms

of a family. And what will happen inevitably

as you belong to this family? You'll be raised

up to maturity. And so I told a little of my

story at the beginning of this. I never wanted

to be a pastor. I didn't see this path coming.

You don't know where God will take you. My hope

and prayer is that some of you in this room will

be sent out to be pastors and evangelists and

ministers of grace and missionaries all over

this planet. Not because I want to see you go,

like I mourn when my children, like I celebrate

and I mourn when my children leave my house,

right? Like I'm excited for what God will do

in their life and I will miss them and that's

the right kind of tension that we should have

as churches. And you guys have some people out

here that we've sent out here as you launched

Radiant Matsu, and we miss them deeply, and we

love them, and we're proud of them. To see them

invest in this family out here. And so, I've

made it like a quarter of the way through my

notes. Buckle up. So if this is the purpose of

the family, is to raise up to maturity, then

we... then we need to know what the goal is and

how we get there. And so this is where our text

that we read at the start comes in. Ephesians

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. Paul writing from prison says, I therefore,

a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a

manner worthy of the calling to which you've

been called. With all humility and gentleness.

This comes from Ephesians 1 and 2. If this is

all about a display of his grace, then we don't

have to prove anything. We can be humble. And

we don't have to protect and defend ourselves.

We can be gentle. Do we believe the gospel? This

is what it looks like to believe the gospel.

Walk in a manner... which you've been worthy

of the calling, which you've been called with

all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing

with one another in love, eager to maintain the

unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There

is one body and one Spirit, just as you were

called to the one hope that belongs to your call,

one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and

Father of all, who is over all and through all

and in all. But grace was given to each one of

us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high,

he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to

men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean?

But that he had also descended into the lower

regions, the earth. He who descended is the one

who also ascended far above all the heavens that

he might fill all things. So this is the idea

he's getting at. This is what Jesus came for.

He came to this planet and he factually rose

from death to life and ascended and sent the

Spirit for this reason so that he could distribute

his goodness to the planet through his church.

And that's what he's going to say. Through his

family. And we get a couple of different illustrations,

a couple of analogies in this text because Paul

is writing in a different language first and

also because Paul is super complicated. Even

the other apostles are like, look, I don't understand

what Paul says sometimes, right? So he says this,

starting in verse 10, he said, he, sorry, verse

11, and he gave the apostles and the prophets,

the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers.

To equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

This is incredible. This is not he gave us clergy

and lay people. This is every one of you who

is part of my family gets to do work. Equipped

for the work of the ministry. If you belong to

the family. The goal of the family is to prepare

you for the work that you have. And so like all

of my kids at different ages have different kinds

of work. Yes? Anybody have like a wide range

of kid ages? And like my nine -year -old has

different chores than my 18 -year -old. Sometimes

I make him shovel the porch. They always do the

whole driveway, right? The scale is different,

and their skill level is different, and the things

they've been equipped for are different, but

they all have work. And the goal of this family

is to equip every person in the family to grow

up to do that work. Going on, he says, for the

building up of the body of Christ until we attain

to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of

the sons of God to mature manhood. to the measure

of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so

that we may no longer be children tossed to and

fro by the waves and carried about by every wind

of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness

and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth

in love, we are, this is like a command of Scripture,

we are to grow up in Christ in every way into

him who is the head into Christ. from whom the

whole body joined and held together by every

joint with which it's equipped when each part

is working properly makes the body grow so that

it builds itself up in love this is the call

we are to grow up in every way into christ and

often in this family especially in the west we

settle for I'm okay where I'm at, and I'm going

to invest myself in my career. I'm not anti -career.

The church needs people to be successful adults

who produce things in society. I worked as a

carpenter for 18 years. I loved it. Some days

I really want to go back to it. One day maybe

I'll get to. Am I investing myself in growing

up in every way into Christ? And, like, we see

this as the natural order in a family, right?

Like, what do your little kids want to do when

they watch their bigger siblings do stuff? The

stuff the bigger siblings do, right? Like, they

always, we had a two -year -old running around

last night, like. trying to keep up with my nine

-year -old playing tag. And it was kind of hilarious,

and he was going to get hurt, right? Like, he

couldn't do it. And so, like, this is the natural

order. Like, when we see others growing up and

being able to do stuff we can't do, we're like,

I want to be like my big brother. I want to be

like my big sister, right? And that should inspire

us and encourage us to grow up in every way,

but not just naturally, but spiritually. And

then the question is, have we as churches set

up intentional rhythms of life? Have we as church

members who belong to the church given ourself

to the reality of our family, given ourself to

the intentional rhythms of life that would cause

us to grow up in every way into Christ? The answer

for me is no. So have some grace for yourself

in this. And also, let's be honest about where

we've said, I want to do it my way. I don't know

if I'm ready to show up week after week and give

the way that Scripture would call me to give

and serve the way that Scripture would call me

to serve and be generous with my home the way

that Scripture would call me to be generous with

my home and set aside some of the... the fun

of this world and the toys and the time that

I might spend on my own things. Like I know that

you guys live in the valley because you like

to play. That's good. God likes to play. But

like there's this balance in it, right? Because

playing is one of the rhythms of a family. You

should do that. Like if you don't play, you're

probably not a healthy family, right? But families

don't only always play. They don't grow up if

they only always play. And so, this is the goal

of the rhythms of a family. And when our kids

are little, the days feel eternal and the years

fly by and we desperately hope and pray. That

the investment of time and the rhythms of life

that we've practiced together and the grace of

God get them to the point where they reach maturity

and they're able to become healthy, productive

adults by the time that they reach the age of

adulthood. And I will tell you, as somebody who's

already sent out five kids, you never think they're

ready. Because they're not. They almost always

think they're ready. And they're not. I remember

we were 17 when Christina and I started dating.

And when we were 18 and told our parents we were

going to get married, they said, you're not ready.

And they were correct. But we did it anyway.

And it's worked out pretty good for me so far.

I won't speak for her. And this is the reality

also, right? Like when some kids get to the age

of 18, and this is like a systemic problem in

our culture as families have broken down, is

that young men and women are getting to the age

of maturity and they lack maturity. They're not

ready to be adults. It's an epidemic in our culture

that our families have not prepared our children

to adult well. Anybody seen that happen? And

I would say it's also an epidemic in our churches.

That our churches have not prepared from infancy

to adulthood members of our churches to adult

well. Good news on that is, that is not new.

There is nothing new under the sun. And so the

writer of Hebrews says the same thing, right?

Hebrews chapter 5. He says this, about this I

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

have much to say, and it is hard to explain since

you have become dull of hearing. For though by

this time you ought to be teachers, you need

someone to teach you again the basic principles

of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid

food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled

in the word of righteousness since he is a child.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who

have their powers of discernment trained by constant

practice to distinguish good from evil. And when

we function as a church, like a concert and a

TED Talk instead of like a family, that's what

we produce. Some people who have some knowledge,

like 25 -year -olds today who are not prepared

for adulting, have been given more knowledge

than any generation that's ever existed. Is this

true? They just have no wisdom in how to use

it. They haven't been equipped on how to discern

what is good and evil. And so we want to be really

careful as we talk about who God is and what

he's done and what that means for us as people

giving us this identity as a family that we don't

slip into thinking that we should do the thing

that the world has done that hasn't produced

anything good, right? Like if the goal of the

church is to raise up to maturity and the goal

of the family was that and we watched our society

slip away from raising up. 20 -somethings that

are ready to launch by doing concerts and TED

Talks, why would we replicate that? Now, I love

a good concert, and I really enjoy a good TED

Talk, but it doesn't produce maturity. It doesn't

give us wisdom. What we need is to function as

a family. And so things like being there for

each other when they're sick, patiently enduring.

produces a kind of character that you'll never

get from a Sunday gathering. Being in someone's

home with them as they mourn the loss of their

friend who committed suicide. Having to wrestle

with the truths of God about that hard, dark

situation, that produces in us a maturity that

you'll never get from just eating a meal together.

You hear me? Doing crazy stuff like seeing where

there's a need and selling your possessions and

belongings and giving to those who had need as

anyone had need within the church produces this

posture of this is all God's and not mine. If

I belong to him and I belong to this people,

then everything that I have also belongs to him

and this people. In a way that no good singing

can do. And the question is, do we believe? Do

we believe what this says? I say almost every

week, we always do what we believe. That's the

human condition. From the garden and the tree

to today, we always do what we believe. And so

I could tell you a thousand times that I think

diet and exercise is the healthiest thing that

will produce the most happiness for me, but look

at me. You know I don't believe it, because every

time Moose's tooth is in front of my face, I'm

eating all of it. Right? So what do I really

believe? Actions speak louder than words. and

even outside the church we know this we always

do what we believe so then the question is not

how do we beat ourselves up how do we try harder

to live like this it's what do i believe what

do you believe do you believe that jesus through

through his perfect life and his sacrificial

substitutionary death the shedding of his blood

chose to do that, to pour out a display of grace

in adopting into his family children that look

like us so that we would live like family. And

if you believe that, that that was his goal in

saving you, you'll start to, maybe day by day,

more and more, as the gospel is the power to

save us today from unbelief, live like it. And

I think that is where the world starts to see

something different. Right? 1 Peter 3 says, be

ready in season and out of season to give a defense

for the hope that you have. Have you ever thought

about that? That means that there's an assumption

on the part of Peter that the way that you live

is going to be such a display of hope that other

people are going to be like, I don't understand.

Explain this to me. Explain this hope that you

have in the face of this world that we live in.

And we live in a time and place where people

are like deconstructing their faith because they

can't reconcile the reality of a good God in

a broken, fallen world. And I'm like, I don't

even understand how you can make any sense of

any of this without the gospel. That he would

come and join us in it. That he would endure

for us and with us. What we would do to him.

So that he could make us family. Where we were

orphans. Where we had no right and no place.

And so, I believe. And Jesus helped my unbelief.

Because in my life, I still struggle to live

like it. But I want to. When we do baptisms at

Radiant Anchorage, I ask people this. Are you

willing to go anywhere that God calls you to

go? And are you willing to do anything that Jesus

asks you to do? And everyone lies and says yes.

I want to be willing. It's a hard call to treat

this many people like family. How do we even

do it? To have our hearts and our homes and our

wallets open like we belong to God and his people?

How would we even do it? And I think it would

start to look a lot like those things we said.

We talked about the rhythms of a family. It would

look a lot like Acts chapter 2. The church would

Acts 2 · chapter mention

start to function as a family because it is.

Loving each other out of the overflow of belief

that God loves us and our spiritual siblings.

And this is how the world will know that we are

his. By our sound doctrine. By our good meetings

that we hold. Is that what it says? No, by the

way, we love each other. Man, would that be a

marker of this church? That the world, that all

of the valley would know that you're his because

of the way you love each other. That's my prayer

today. This doesn't mean that you never fight

or dislike something that someone else in the

church does or even dislike, like sometimes I

dislike family members. And I have a twin brother.

Believe me, there's been some fights. But we

belong to each other. So we reconcile to figure

it out. I have an amazing wife. Can't be married

for 25 years and not have some days where you're

not seeing eye to eye on some things. But you

belong to each other. So you figure it out. You

reconcile. If you're Christians, you repent.

Hopefully, like you're more eager than each other

to repent. And you believe the gospel. My deepest

hurts in my life have come from my family. But

I didn't cut and run. And that's true in the

church. Like some of my deepest hurts as a pastor.

Some of the deepest hurts in the history of my

life have come from members of my church. But

they're my family. So I don't cut and run. We

figure it out. Because we belong to each other.

Because of what he's done, we belong to him.

And so then the question is, How do we respond

to this? Some people in this room, I hope, have

come here not yet believing. That's a mark of

a healthy church, that there are skeptics that

don't yet know if any of this is true or real

or worth believing. And my hope and prayer is

that today, maybe for the first time, You've

heard something in this gospel that sounds like

good news that you want to believe. That you

want to belong. And if you put your hope in Jesus

today, you have been saved. Not because you did

something good enough to belong, but because

he did. For some today, You need to be trained

up. You just became Christians. You're spiritual

infants. Or maybe you've been a spiritual infant

for a really long time. Nobody's ever told you

you need to grow up. It's good that you're here.

This family wants to help you. This family wants

you to grow up to the full stature of the fullness

of Jesus. To be equipped for every good work.

To be useful. Not because you have to, because

you get to. Engaging in what God has made you

for, where you get fully satisfied and he gets

all the glory. Some of you maybe this morning

needed a rebuke and by now you should be spiritually

mature, but you aren't. Some of those people

are the first ones to say, I gotta go somewhere

else because I'm not getting fed here. Adults

feed themselves. Might sound harsh, but that's

the whole thing in Hebrews 5, right? If you're

on milk, that means someone else is feeding you.

We give our two -year -old a fork and they're

terrible at it, but they feed themselves, right?

Start eating. We'll help you. We want you to

grow up. God has good plans. Ephesians 2, right?

That he has good works that he's prepared beforehand

that you would walk in them. That's his plan

for you. Don't go find someone else to feed you.

Pick the fork up. For some of us today, you've

been doing this super well. Like, listen to me.

Radiant Matsu, I am proud of you. You guys are

killing it. I hear the reports from Anchorage

that you love each other, that you're opening

up your homes, that you're generous and you're

kind and you're gracious with broken people.

Thank you. Keep it up. We see that you believe.

Keep it up. Keep doing the chores. Keep sharing

the budget. Keep being productive members of

this family. Knowing that some days you're going

to be sick and not very productive. And the rest

of this family will be there for you. Because

they love you. Because you belong to them because

of who God is and what he's done. And to this,

today we respond. We respond today like we do

week after week at Radiant Church by singing.

I said this is not a concert or a TED Talk. This

was much longer than a TED Talk, I know. They

would not let me do that. And it's not a concert,

right? Like the reason we sing as the people

of God is first because we're commanded to sing.

But second, because we need to. Because this

is an opportunity for you and for me to rehearse

again and again and again and again and again

the goodness of the gospel that our hearts are

so prone to wander from. And I need to hear you

sing it on the days where I don't believe, and

you need to hear me sing it on the days where

you don't believe. And this is for our edification

that we might return again to the one and only

hope that we have. And Jesus lets us do that

by singing, which is way more fun than a lot

of other ways we could do that. We're going to

respond by giving. I don't know, you've got boxes

in the back and a QR code. We've tried to make

it easy to do this thing that demonstrates you

belong here. If you're a guest and you're a visitor

and you don't call yourself part of this family,

there's no obligation to give. But I don't gain

anything from this. So I get to say as the outside

pastor here today, if this is your church home,

then you are obligated to give. Sacrificially

and generously in imitation of Jesus and his

gospel. That's way more bold than I ever say

it in Anchorage. Because it's weird when you

get paid by that church to say it like that.

Right? But I'm just going to be real. Like, there

is an obligation for the people of God. And the

reason that we do it is not because we're obligated.

It's because we believe. Right? And I said it

about myself. Like, when you start to live sacrificially,

open up your wallet, it changes something in

your heart. God doesn't need your money. Are

you kidding? He created all of this by speaking.

He needs nothing from you, but you need to give.

That's for you. We respond by taking the Lord's

table together. And so we're instructed in Scripture

to come to this table week after week. Again,

this is not some dull ritual that we participate

in, but the body of Christ and the blood of Christ,

shed for us we go to to remember that's what

first corinthians 11 says right remember every

time you do this do it in remembrance of me i

remember who i am and what i've done that makes

you part of this family and so as we go to that

table we go with confidence confessing our sins

giving him glory for grace because we need that

table again today And so as you're ready, as

we start to sing, you can go back to the table

and take communion. And lastly, we're going to

respond by living like we believe this. Lives

that demand a gospel explanation with eagerness

to share the good news with a people that live

around us in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods,

in our extended families, even in our homes.

Where people so desperately need hope in Jesus.

I'm going to pray and then we can respond. God,

we thank you so much for your word. I thank you

so much today that even as I drive out to the

valley and sit with this people, I'm family and

I belong here. because of what you are, who you

are, and what you've done. God, I ask that you

would help us in every area of our life where

we've held up the American dream or the things

of this world or our own temptation or desires

above you that we would lay those things down

today and every day that you would, through your

gospel and our belief, give us the power to defeat.

Satan, sin, and death. And I thank you all the

more that your promise is true, that you are

faithful to complete the work that you've started

in us. For those today who have, for the first

time, put their hope in you, I ask that you would

help them to be nourished by your word and your

people. God, for those who have just been born

and are young in their faith, I ask that you'd

help them to grow up in every way. For those

who should by now be teachers, I ask that you

would, in your kindness, lead them to repentance

and give them the strength and the right friendships

and relationships within this church to grow

up into you. And for those who are like fathers

and mothers in this church, in their faith, I

ask that you'd help them not to grow weary in

doing good, but that you'd encourage them that

they would even this morning hear you saying

about them, I love you and I like you and I'm

proud of you. This is my beloved child in whom

I'm well pleased. And Jesus, give us the strength

to live like we believe. In your precious name,

amen.