Joy That Builds Together: A Church Worth Belonging To | Pastor Rajiv Khatri

Well, welcome this morning.

For those of you who are new with us, my name is Rajiv.

I am, it's a tough name to say.

You can call me Raj if that's easier.

Uh I'm the newer pastor here at uh Belvedere, uh, joined here in November.

So I'm very grateful for to be here, grateful for you all for being here this morning.

I want you to think about West Palm Beach for a moment.

You drive down Clemata Street on a Friday night, you walk through City Place on a Saturday afternoon, you sit in virtually any coffee shop in downtown West Palm for about an hour or so, and just watch, just observe, and you'll begin to see it everywhere.

You'll see the student who doesn't know what they're living for, the worker who wonders is this all there is?

The family that has everything but still feels out of place.

Successful but empty, connected but lonely.

Everything on the outside, but nothing on the inside.

And look, I know that person.

I've been in rooms with over 200 people, heck, even 5,000 people, and felt completely alone.

I've hit goals that I worked years to reach and walked away feeling nothing.

I've been surrounded by people who called me a friend and still went home wondering, you know, if anyone actually knew me.

If they actually knew me.

Now look, this isn't just my story.

That's West Palm Beach's story.

This city is full of people who are successful on the outside and starving on the inside.

They're connected to everything, but belonging to nothing.

They're one bad quarter, one broken relationship, one diagnosis away from everything unraveling.

And look, West Palm Beach doesn't need another restaurant.

And look, I'm a foodie, I love good food, so I love restaurants, but West Palm Beach doesn't need another restaurant, another rooftop bar, another networking event, another place to perform.

What it needs is a community where you can stop performing, where the masks come off, where the broken aren't hidden, and where the successful people aren't celebrated above everyone else, where the rich and the struggling can sit at the same table, and both of them are known, like truly, genuinely known.

Now that community exists.

Paul describes it in one of the most joyful letters written from a Roman prison cell.

And what he says is going to change the way, it ought to change the way you see this room that you're in right now.

Now, if you're just joining with us for the first time, we are in a series going through the letter of the Philippians called Relentless Joy.

We have seen that real joy is possible even in chains because the good news of Jesus Christ advances even through suffering.

We've seen that joy isn't a feeling you just manufacture, joy is a person you can't lose.

And we've also seen what it looks like when a person builds their entire life on that foundation.

So today, Paul's going to show us what it's like when a whole community builds on that foundation.

Now, Paul, he has spent 26 verses, the first 26 verses of this letter, talking about himself, his chains, his trial, his possible execution.

And what's remarkable is that through all of that, his joy is still completely intact.

It hasn't been broken.

Because he has already told us why.

If you were here last Sunday, we learned that to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Both options are Jesus.

But then he turns.

He stops talking about himself, and he turns to them, the Philippians.

And there's a word he uses here to make that turn.

That's one of the smallest words in the letter.

That word is only.

In fact, the ESV translates it best.

It says, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

The NIV version in Philippians 1.27, you can put it on the screen, says, Whatever happens, whatever happens, same word for only in the ESV, whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Paul is saying, Whatever happens to me, only this.

A man who doesn't know whether he's going to be executed or released is writing to people he loves most.

And he's not asking them, understand, he's not asking them to pray for his release.

He's asking for one thing, only one thing.

Now you gotta understand something before I go on.

The Philippians, they didn't have bad theology, they had solid theology.

They knew what they believed, and what they believed was accurate.

But something has started to creep in, start to crack division, self-interest winning over the common good.

And Paul knows what that costs.

See, a divided church is not just a broken community, it becomes a broken witness to the world.

And that is what Paul is writing to prevent this one sentence, and everything from the rest of the passage actually flows from this one sentence.

Whatever happens to me, only this, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.

In fact, the word Paul uses for conduct yourselves comes from the Greek word for city.

And this is important.

It's civic language, it's the language of citizenship.

See, Paul's not saying go try to behave, you know, try to behave better, try to be better.

No, he's saying live as citizens of a different kingdom.

Now you gotta understand the history here.

Philippi was like a micro Rome of Rome, and they were proud of it.

Philip, the the Philippians, the the people in Philippi were proud of Rome.

They lived like Romans, even though Rome was so far away.

Paul is saying to them, that's you, but your king is not Caesar, it's Jesus Christ.

That is who your king is, and your job is to organize your entire life around that kingdom here, now, in this city, in this room.

That's what he's saying.

Now, for any of you football fans out there, you may know that the NLL NFL draft is coming up soon.

Every year in the NFL draft, a player's name gets called.

And in that moment, everything changes.

That player gives everything because being chosen changes everything.

Paul is describing the same moment for the church.

Christ called your name.

He put you here before you knew you needed to even be here.

Look, you didn't just stumble into this.

Jesus put you here on purpose.

So the question: ask yourself, are you living like someone who's been drafted in?

Or are you living like a visitor who's still deciding whether to show up?

You see, most of us are somewhere on the spectrum of between three things.

Right?

Some of you attend.

You come, you go, no one really knows you.

Some of you belong.

You're known, you're in the fight.

And then some of you build.

You carry weight for others.

Which one are you?

See, God is not calling you to attend, He is calling you to belong, and belonging leads to building.

Now, here's why it's harder than it sounds.

The world out there is not neutral, it is actively forming and discipling people away from exactly what Paul is describing.

See, the world teaches you this.

You are the customer, you are here to be served.

And when you're not, oh, you leave.

Friends, that's not the church, that's a store.

And listen, because underneath it is this deeper belief, I exist to be served, not to give myself away.

And in fact, underneath even that, all of that is this loneliness epidemic that's getting worse by the minute.

In fact, the Surgeon General declared it a national public health crisis.

I mean, think about that.

In this city, in a city with this many people, with this much connection, people are more isolated, anxious, and depressed than ever.

See, because connection is not the same as belonging.

And the church is the only community on earth built to answer both.

And that is what God is building here.

In fact, I would say it's the only word thing that's worth building is a community like this.

And look, here's what makes this even more urgent.

Okay, put this in perspective.

Within a 10-mile radius of where you are sitting right now, there are hundreds of thousands of people who do not know what you have been given.

Who do not know what you have been given, and they're hungry for it.

They're hungry for exactly what Paul is describing, and they don't even know it yet.

Or at least they know they're hungry for something, but they don't know where to find it.

That is why this community matters.

Not just for the people in this room, but for those people out there too.

And look, this city, it's changing.

We're becoming, I don't know if you guys have heard this term, but we're becoming the Wall Street South, Silicon Valley, FinTech, private equity, entrepreneurs looking for somewhere to plant roots.

And at the same time, we've got working families, immigrants, immigrant families that have been here, who have always been here and are still here.

And there's new buildings popping up, new residents coming up, there's new energy, there's momentum, and the momentum is real.

And you got to think about this.

In the middle, right in the middle of all of this, all around us sits this church.

God has this church that's been here for 65 years, planted in the middle of all this that's happening.

I don't know about you, but that's strategic.

God's doing something.

What this place is gonna look like, what our city is gonna look like over the next five years, is changing.

And we are strategically positioned for that change to be a beacon of light in that change.

Look, this is the place where you can have Wall Street professionals and the immigrant grandmother and a recovering addict all coming together and belonging to the same family, the same thing.

Why?

Not because we're we're something exceptional, but because we've all been drafted by Christ our King.

And He is enough for all of them.

So, friends, hear me when I say this.

Jesus put you here on purpose.

It is time to attend less and belong more, to stop watching and start building.

See, the the city outside these doors, it's waiting for a community that is actually worth belonging to.

And each and every one of you are a part of whether that community exists or not.

So it's time for us to live like it.

But that's who we are.

That's who we are, and that's who we're becoming.

But Paul doesn't stop there, he doesn't let us stay comfortable with who we are.

He immediately shows us what it costs to actually live like citizens of a different kingdom.

Continuing on in verse 27.

Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel, without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.

This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved, and that by God.

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Paul is not describing a community that meets on Sundays, sings songs, and goes home.

He's describing a community under real pressure.

He uses words like stand firm, strive together, don't be frightened, suffer together.

Folks, this is not the language of a social club.

That is the language of a unit in a fight together.

Paul uses a word that means fight together, not watch, not observe, but fight.

That's not a word for spectators.

That's a word for people who showed up to the fight together.

That's what he's talking about here.

Now, let me help you see what this looks like.

Roman army back then.

Soldiers, they stood shoulder to shoulder, shields overlapping.

Every man's shield protected the man next to him.

Your shield covered the man next to you.

If one dropped it, all become exposed.

That's the church.

That is what standing firm and striving together looks like.

Locked shields.

When your faith is weak, your shield is protecting her.

When her faith is weak, when your faith is weak, her shield is protecting you.

It's coming together, it's covering one another.

That's the design God has created.

And the way the community holds together under pressure.

I mean, are you starting to see what this looks like?

Does this picture help you all?

This is what it's like.

We are we are shielded together, protecting ourselves, protecting one another.

Because there's real pressure out there.

And when the community does that, when we hold together under pressure, we become a sign to a watching world.

People see something that they can't explain, and they have to ask what is holding these people together.

That's the fight.

Right?

We fight for one another.

We fight for the people out there.

Because it's grounded in the awesomeness and beauty of Jesus.

Now I want to speak to a few specific people in the room this morning.

Don't worry, I'm not gonna call you out by name.

Freeman.

No, I'm just getting.

Look, maybe you're the first kind of person.

You've been telling yourself you'll go deeper when things settle down, when the kids are older, when work slows down a bit, when you feel more ready.

But ready never comes.

Stop waiting to feel ready.

You were drafted before you were ready.

That's the whole point.

Friends, if that's you, I'm gonna say something to you that someone once said to me, it is time to get into the game.

So get in the game.

Maybe you're that person.

Or maybe you're the second person.

The one who thinks building is for someone else.

You've been sitting here thinking that the serving and the building, well, that's for other people.

People with more gifts, more time, you know, more confidence.

If that's you, what you're calling humility is actually just fear wearing humility's clothing.

Look, you don't need more gifts.

You need to open what Christ has already placed in your hands.

You see, you gotta stop telling yourself that you have nothing to offer.

If you are in Christ, understand this.

Every person who is in Christ has been given a gift.

Every person who is in Christ has been given something to contribute.

And look, if you're not sure what it is, I get that.

If you're not sure, I understand.

So, so honestly, I'm honestly saying this.

Honestly speaking, if you don't know what it is, come find me after the service.

And we will talk it through.

We will figure it out together.

We have ways of discerning and figuring out what gifts has God given you that can help serve the overall body of the church.

So let's figure it out together.

Or maybe you're the third person.

You have served this church faithfully for years.

You gave when you had resources to give.

You showed up when showing up was hard.

You prayed when your body wouldn't let you do anything else.

And now your body won't let you do what it once did.

Look, you are not who I am talking to right now.

That's not who this, the the the attending and the belonging and building that that's not for you.

You see, you're a veteran.

You're a veteran of this church, you're a pillar of this church.

In all honesty, you're the reason this church is still standing.

So we honor you for that.

We genuinely honor you for that.

And listen, do not think, do not think for a moment that your prayers are a lesser contribution.

The people on the front line, they need your prayers.

They need the people behind the line praying for them.

Your prayers are holding shields over people you may never even meet.

But eternity, eternity will show you what your prayers were worth.

So don't ever think that it's lesser of a contribution.

But I gotta move on.

Because there's something else that Paul will not let us avoid.

Verse 29.

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.

The root of that word granted is caris.

It means grace.

Paul is saying that suffering has been given to you as a grace gift.

I know how that sounds.

Because for some of you, this is not an abstract thing.

You're suffering right now, financially, relationally, physically.

So I want to be very clear and precise about what Paul is talking about here.

Because I don't want confusion.

He is not saying all suffering is a gift.

He is talking about a specific kind.

The kind of suffering that comes because you're actually living as a citizen of a different kingdom that wants you to conform to its kingdom.

Because you refuse to compromise your faith at work.

Because you chose integrity when dishonesty would have been easier.

Because you kept showing up for someone who was hard to love.

See, that kind of suffering isn't a sign that God has abandoned the mission.

It's a sign that you're in the fight.

It's a sign that you're actually on the field.

Look, some of you, you've been sitting in the stands calling it faithfulness.

It's not faithfulness, it's distance.

And God is calling you out of the stands and into the fight.

So get into the fight.

You know, Matthew Henry wrote that if we suffer for Christ, we are to prize it accordingly.

Not endure it, not survive it, prize it.

Because it means you're in the fight.

Now look, Paul has just described a community under real pressure.

He's shown us what the fight looks like, locked-in shields, and who it's for.

It's for one another, and it's for the hundreds of thousands of people out there.

But if you're honest, some of you thought I don't know if I have what it takes.

I don't know if I have what it requires.

Paul knows that.

Which is why he doesn't stop at the command.

He shows you the supply.

And understand, this is how Paul always works.

He never gives a command without first showing you what God has already supplied.

The gift comes before the command always.

We move into chapter two.

Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the spirit, if any tender tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others.

Paul lists four things just in verse one.

And these four things aren't suggestions of what the church should try to develop.

They're a description of what the church already has right now in Christ.

You know, my wife Sarah, when my kids were, when my first three were little, she used to, she used to love getting gifts for them.

And she would be very intentional about the kinds of gifts that she would get my kids.

And she would get it all gift wrapped, you know, wrapped all pretty and whatnot.

And she'd give the gifts to my kids.

In particular, this was very true of my boys.

My boys would tear the wrapping open, open the box, take the toy out, look at it, toss it, jump in the box, jump out of the box, toss the box in the air, roll each other around like a car in the box.

They started, they just kept playing with the box sometimes for hours.

Birthday after birthday, Christmas after Christmas, and you know, in all honesty, I thought we were past all that.

They've gotten older, they still kind of play with the box.

No, I'm just kidding.

My point is, many believers do the same thing with Jesus.

They've been given the greatest gift ever given, but they're content to play with the box.

Yeah, they come on Sunday, they sing the songs, they go home, but they never fully open what's inside.

They just play with the box.

So Paul is helping us to understand some of the contents of the box.

You know, this is this is like your spiritual bank statement.

And most of us have never fully read it.

So I'm gonna help us see some of the things that are already inside.

The first thing he mentions is encouragement from being united with Christ.

This is not encouragement that depends on your circumstances, it flows from being joined to Jesus Himself, right?

Being united to him.

And here's what it produces.

When every person in this room is drawing encouragement from the same Jesus, something gets built in this room that no amount of human agreement could ever create.

In fact, it's a it becomes a Christ-produced miracle.

That's why someone can walk, walk through a brutal week, they can have the most difficult, challenging, brutal week, and they find something here they couldn't manufacture anywhere else.

Again, not because we're exceptional, but because we're drawing from the same Christ.

Second thing he points out comfort from his love.

Not comfort, comfort that depends on people coming through for you.

It's a comfort that comes from a love that pursued you before you even knew you needed it.

And here's what that produces You got a Palm Beach professional and a person who barely made rent sitting in the same row, looking at each other as family.

They see each other as family.

Not because they have anything in common on paper, but because the love flowing through each of them is the same love, the same love from Jesus.

And it's that kind of love that crosses every line human community can't cross on its own.

It's what unites us.

Which brings me to the common sharing in the spirit.

The same spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in every person in this room who belongs to Jesus.

Look, you're not held together by compatible personalities.

Newsflash, we all have different personalities, some more difficult than others.

So we're not coming together because of compatible personalities.

You are held together by a living God dwelling in each of you at the same time.

The thing holding this community together is not human loyalty, it is the spirit of the living God.

And guess what?

He does not fracture, he does not divide.

That is why this community can put a 60-year-old Haitian grandmother and a 25-year-old tech entrepreneur in the same room and have them actually need each other.

Not because they figured out how to relate better than other people across every difference, but because the same spirit is moving in both of them.

And the fourth thing he points out is tenderness and compassion.

The capacity to see other people, to move toward them in their time of need, to prefer their interests over our own.

We have that already in Christ.

It's already yours.

In fact, it comes from a heart that has been tenderly treated by Jesus and is now able to treat others the same way.

That's why the person who's been hurt the most can still move towards someone else in their pain.

Not because they've recovered enough to give, but because they are drawing from a supply that doesn't require them to be full first.

Are you starting to see the picture of what's in the box?

Now look, here's the mindset shift that makes all of this possible.

You entrepreneurs in the room, you're gonna love this, I think.

Most of us approach community from a scarcity mindset.

A scarcity mindset.

You know, I don't have enough to give.

That's scarcity.

I don't have enough.

But Paul is describing an abundance reality.

An abundance reality.

Not a mindset you manufacture.

It's a reality grounded in what Christ has actually supplied.

The encouragement does not run dry.

The comfort does not run out.

The spirit does not deplete.

The source keeps giving.

See, every entrepreneur in this room knows the difference between scarcity and abundance.

But here's the difference, right?

This abundance is not self-generated.

It comes from Jesus.

It comes from Jesus.

It doesn't depend on your conditions, it depends on him, and he does not run out.

Scarcity says, I can't give what I don't have.

Abundance says, I'm not giving from what I have.

I'm giving from what he has already placed in me.

That's the difference.

The supply Paul is describing is not distributed according to your bank account.

The person with almost nothing in their pocket has the same exact access to the same supply as the person with everything.

The ground is completely level because the source is Jesus Christ, and Jesus does not play favorites.

So when the moment comes this week, and I know it's going to come this week, do not ask yourself, do I have enough?

Ask instead, what has Christ already placed in me that I can pass on right now?

What has Christ already placed in me that I can pass on right now?

And here's why that question has an answer.

He's a person.

And here's what he did.

He looked at a world of people running on empty, performing, hiding, never belonging to anything real.

And he didn't send a program.

He came here himself.

He was the only human being who never once put himself first, valuing others above himself, looking to the interests of everyone around him all the way to a cross.

And here's what that cross means for this room.

Every one of us has made the same calculation.

If I give myself away, I'm gonna run out.

If I go all in, I'm gonna get hurt.

If I stop protecting myself, I'll have nothing left.

So we hold back.

We attend instead of belonging.

We choose comfort instead of love.

The Bible calls that sin.

Not because the fear is unreasonable, because it's built on a lie.

The lie that you are the only supply you have.

Jesus went to the cross for that sin.

He carried all of it.

So the wall between you and God could come down.

Not so you could be tolerated, but so you could be welcomed and fully known and fully accepted.

And what he had to give didn't end at the cross.

He rose from the dead.

And look, he's not merely a figure in history you look back at, he's alive in the present.

He poured out his spirit into every person here who belongs to him, into this community, into every person in this room who has said yes to Jesus.

So the supply is alive because he's alive.

And if you're in him, you're being renewed every day by a risen Christ who is not finished building.

Look, friends, he didn't just save you, he drafted you, he handpicked you, he selected you before you were ready.

He looked at this city, this room, and he chose you specifically to be a part of what he's building here.

Not because you had it all together, not because you felt ready, not because you had enough to offer, because he is enough.

And he decided you were worth drafting into something eternal.

Look, from the beginning, God has not been saving isolated individuals.

He's been building a community.

A community where the masks come off and nobody leaves.

Where the people who never shared a table in this city can finally pull up a chair next to each other and actually call it home.

Where you stop performing and you start belonging.

Where you stop attending and you start building.

Look, that community isn't a dream.

It's something we're working towards.

But here's the crazy thing.

Christ has already supplied and given everything we need.

Because it's it's it's God who is building this.

It's what his spirit is already building, and we get to play a part.

Every one of you in this room, right now.

And look, here's how we get to build it.

One conversation, one meal, one act of showing up that nobody asks you to do.

See, the church West Palm Beach is desperate for already exists.

We just need to build it together.

Starting today.

I mean, just imagine for a moment.

Imagine a church where no one slips in and out completely unseen.

Imagine a place where the student finds purpose, a worker finds meaning, and the family finally finds a place where they feel they can say this is home.

Imagine a church when someone is weak.

They're not judged and condemned and beat up over it, but they're covered by your shield.

When a place where no one fights alone, where we're battling our sin struggles together.

Imagine a church where people don't ask, Well, what do I get from this place?

But instead they ask, Who can I carry?

Who can I help?

Imagine what your neighborhood will look like.

Your workplace, your family, if you had that posture.

Imagine the people out there searching, finally finding Jesus.

Like that's not a dream.

That's what Jesus is building.

And he's not he's not waiting for a better church.

He's building his kingdom, he's building his community through this one too.

So it's time for us to live like it.

Two things before I bring this sermon to a close.

For those of you who are already in Christ, the church West Palm Beach is desperate for doesn't get built on Sundays.

It gets built on Tuesdays, on a text you send to someone who is struggling, on a meal you show up when nobody's asked you to show up to, on a conversation you have with someone who doesn't look like you or live like you, but belongs to the same thing you do.

That's the church.

That's what you're a part of.

So go be it.

Stop attending, start belonging, start building.

And look, let me give you let me give you a next step.

Not not ten steps, but I'm giving you, I'm gonna give you one step.

Well, I'm gonna give you two options and you can choose which step makes sense for you.

If you've been drafted in, but you've never told anyone you're on the team, baptism is how you say it publicly.

It's how you say I'm in.

So if you've been drafted in but you haven't been baptized after the service, come find me.

Let's talk this through.

Come find me and let's talk about getting you baptized.

But if you've been baptized, and if you're ready to stop watching from the sideline and start contributing to what God is building here, find one of our team members here at the front after the service or even at the next steps table.

There's plenty of us that you can come and talk to.

Come and talk to us and tell us I'm ready.

Bring me in, coach.

Let us know.

And understand, you don't have to have it all figured out today.

All you gotta do is take a step.

One step's enough.

Now, for those of you who have never trusted in Jesus, if I can ask all of you to bow your heads down for a moment and close your eyes.

He proved it in an empty tomb.

And he's proving it right now with the fact that you are sitting in this room today.

Like you don't have to have it all together, you don't need to feel ready.

The supply doesn't stop flowing, but it can start flowing for you.

It starts the moment you say yes to the one who is the supply.

So if that's you, now's the moment to say yes to Jesus.

In your heart, pray to him, Lord Jesus, I am a sinner.

I need you, I trust you.

Would you save me and make me a part of your community, of your family?