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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.