Your Spiritual Family

Sermon Summary:

What does it truly mean to be part of a spiritual family? This powerful message takes us deep into 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul addresses a church struggling with division, competition, and status-seeking—challenges that sound remarkably familiar to our modern context. The Corinthian church had allowed the values of their culture to infiltrate their community, bringing competitive individualism and social barriers into what should have been a unified body. Paul’s remedy is striking: he reminds them that through Christ, we are all baptized into one body, regardless of our backgrounds, and each part is essential. The vivid imagery of body parts—eyes, hands, feet, ears—wasn’t just metaphorical for the Corinthians; it connected to their cultural practice of bringing terracotta body parts to pagan temples seeking healing. Paul transforms this image, showing that unlike those disconnected, lifeless pieces, the church is a living, dynamic body where every member matters. The central question for us becomes: are we allowing too much of our culture into our church, or are we being transformed by the gospel? When we gather around the Lord’s table, we’re reminded that the ground at the foot of the cross is level—we all come as sinners in need of grace. Our relationships within the church aren’t casual; they’re part of God’s grand mission to redeem humanity and restore creation. We are exhibit A of God’s redemptive work, and our unity and love for one another bear witness to a watching world.

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Sermon Points:

Key Takeaways:

• The church is a purposeful community of gathered believers following Jesus together in fulfillment of His mission
• The Corinthian church suffered from competitive individualism and social divisions that prevented true Christian community
• The problem was not that the church was in Corinth, but that too much of Corinth was in the church
• Every member of the body of Christ has unique gifts and an important role to play
• The church exists to fulfill God’s mission of redeeming humanity and restoring creation
• Relationships within the spiritual family matter deeply because of what’s at stake in God’s mission
• The cure for brokenness in the local church is for the church to believe and behave as the Lord intended
• Discipleship involves three stages: knowing God (salvation), experiencing God (being shepherded and shaped), and serving God (being sent)
• The church’s purpose is found in both the Great Commandment (love God and neighbor) and the Great Commission (make disciples)
• A disciple is a person being formed by Jesus as they follow Him in accomplishing His mission

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Scripture References:

• 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 (primary passage on the body of Christ)
• 1 Corinthians 11 (Lord’s Supper and unity)
• 1 Corinthians 1:4-18 (Paul’s prayer and the message of the cross)
• 1 Corinthians 10:31-33 (doing all for God’s glory)
• Matthew 16 (Jesus building His church)
• Matthew 28 (The Great Commission)
• John 16 (The Holy Spirit as guide)
• Psalm 1 (referenced through the church’s discipleship tree imagery)

Stories:

• The pastor’s childhood experience of eating only at the family table, where relationships were built and parenting happened
• The Temple of Asclepius in Corinth, where people brought terracotta body parts seeking healing from a pagan god, which Paul used as a contrast to illustrate the church as a living, unified body
• Taking a foreign visitor to a baseball game and struggling to explain the rules, illustrating how new believers need to be shepherded into understanding Christian community
• Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life” as the most popular selling book besides the Bible
• The pastor’s visit to the Medal of Honor Museum and his emotional response, illustrating patriotism balanced with Christian identity
• World Communion Sunday tradition beginning before World War II with Protestant churches agreeing to take communion together

Sermon Transcript:

Entitled this message, your spiritual family. We’re looking at relationships here at First Baptist Arlington, close social relationships as a part of our emphasis on flourishing together. And, you know, this is one of the domains that’s being studied right now, and it’s a vital one for us. We’ve already spent time in theological reflection understanding that God’s created all of us for community. We’ve also looked at what it means to be in relationship in a family.

Ryan Chandler shared a message about that with us, and last week we looked at our friendships. Well, today I want us to reflect upon our relationships within the church, this spiritual family, and hear this word from the Apostle Paul, 1st Corinthians 12 about the local church. He says in verse 12 just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one spirit so as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free. What else you need to add there, Democrats and Republicans?

I’m not sure what else needs to be added, but you get the point, right? We’re all given the one spirit to drink. Even so, the body is not made up of one part, but of many. Now, if the foot should say, because I’m not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being a part of the body. If the ear should say, because I’m not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being a part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, I don’t need you, and the head cannot say to the feet, I don’t need you. On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable, we treat with special honor. The parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God’s put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it. So there should be no division in the body, but that its part should have equal concern for each other.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is Honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church, first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles?

Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues?

Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts? Paul is challenging this church to live in communion with the Lord and with each other. And as we hear him share that challenge with the church at Corinth, we’ll apply it to the church in Arlington. You and I are part of this family, and family members fellowship around tables.

So I’m going to ask our ministers and our deacons to come and take their places here at the table. You know, when I was growing up in our house, we were not allowed to eat anywhere in our home except for at the table. We never ate in our living room. As a matter of fact, when I was a little boy growing up, our living room furniture still had the plastic on it. I’m not sure I ever saw another human being in there.

I just know we knew better than to go in there. And the last thing we would do, would take. Would be to take food in there. We ate food at the table, and it was at the table where we shared life. We shared our stories, talked about the day.

We listened to stories from my mom and dad. They parented us at the table in our own family. Cindy is a stickler about the table. It’s a. It’s a place where we come and we learn from one another.

There’s just something about being in community around a table. Well, isn’t it fitting that in the spiritual family that the Lord has given to us, we come to a table. It’s interesting, this church at Corinth, they had trouble coming to the table. They had problems with the Lord’s Supper, and Paul chastised them about it. And he reminded them that this wasn’t just any table.

This is the Lord’s table. The special is meaningful. There was division in that church. There were people who were treating others dishonorably. There were people who thought they were better than others in the church, and it burdened Paul.

And so Paul, in this very letter just one page back, chapter 11, Paul told the Corinthians, he said, whenever you come to this table, he said, if you’ll eat this bread or drink this cup in an unworthy manner, then you’re guilty. Of the body and blood of our Lord. So in other words, Paul said it’s serious to be a part of a church. You’re supposed to take it seriously. And the relationships that you forge and build within the church matter.

And we’re to take them seriously. And so this morning I want to invite you to this table where we will share in communion with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Because we’re a family. And if you know the Lord, you’ve been baptized, you don’t have to be a member of our church. You’re welcome to this table.

And here in a moment, our deacons are going to pass a tray in front of you and you’ll notice that there are two cups, one stacked on top of the other. You might be new to our church today. And so you’ll just take one of those stacks, if you will, and hold onto it. You can separate them. One of the cups has the bread, one has the juice.

If you need gluten free wafers, there in the middle of the tray. And then I’ll give you instructions here in a moment about receiving the elements. And this is actually World Communion Sunday. This began back prior to World War II, where Protestant churches across the world agreed on the first Sunday of October to take communion. Many churches take communion every Sunday.

Our church’s tradition now is to do share communion the first Sunday of the month. So. But today we’re mindful that we belong to a global community, a much fuller body of Christ than just what’s represented here in this room. But the one represented in this room matters, and it’s the body for which you and I are responsible. So I invite you to receive these elements today in humility and in gratitude.

So with that said, let’s pray together and ask God’s blessings upon this bread, this fruit of the vine.

So, Father, we’re grateful today for this opportunity to be together in communion as brothers and sisters around this table. We’re grateful, Lord, that we come all in need, regardless of our background, our upbringing, our ethnicity, our proclivities, whatever it is. We all come to this table as sinners in need of grace. For indeed, the ground at the foot of the cross is level, each one of us acknowledging the fact that we need what only you have provided. And that is your love and life and forgiveness and hope that we have found in Jesus.

And so today we express humbly our gratitude for what you’ve done for us. And we recognize that this bread for us represents the very body of our Lord in which he lived. The perfect life and offered up the perfect sacrifice. This juice for us symbolizes the very blood of Jesus shed on a cross for us about which we’ve just sung. And it is only through his shed blood that we have found forgiveness and grace.

So we pray your blessings on this bread, this fruit of the vine, and upon us as we will receive it together as a family. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen. So what was the deal in Corinth? Why were they having so much difficulty in so many areas?

What was at the heart of the problem in Corinth? As I said, Paul spent 18 months there, worked with Priscilla and Aquila there, and then this church is going to get four letters from Paul. Two of them we have in our Bibles. We’ve lost two of them. But it garnered so much attention, a lot of concern for one local church.

It expresses, though, the concern that Paul had for all local churches, not just this one. So let me just set for us this morning the context in Corinth. The Corinthian church was beset with a lack of social cohesion and characterized by breakdowns in relationships. They just had a hard time getting along with each other, and it’s evidenced by Paul’s comments to them in both letters. Now, Corinth was a fascinating cosmopolitan city in the ancient world.

It was a large city by ancient world standards, and it was known for a lot of things. They were very famous for their athletic competition. The Isthmian games, rather, were held in Corinth. But Corinth was known for something else. It had an infamous reputation in the ancient world.

It was known for its immorality. As a matter of fact, people in the ancient world coined a phrase to Corinthianize someone that meant to corrupt their morals. In fact, we have evidence that there were some captains of trade vessels that wouldn’t even allow their young sailors to disembark the ship and make their way into the city of Corinth while they were docked there playing their wares. It was somewhat of a dangerous context for young men. It’s quite fascinating, but the church was experiencing particular type of challenge that was rooted in its context.

Dr. David Garland for many years was professor of New Testament at Truitt Seminary in Waco. At Baylor, he was dean of our seminary for a while, and he’s written a number of just insightful commentaries. He’s written a good bit of material on First Corinthians, one of his significant commentaries in the Baker exegetical series. He describes the Corinthian Church and I just want to share a quote from that section in his commentary. Let me just read to you what Dr. Garland says about the church.

He says Corinthian society was riddled by competitive individualism. And this ethos spilled over into the relationships in the church as wealthier members competed for followers. Socially pretentious and self important individuals appear to have dominated the church. It is likely they flaunted their symbols of status, wisdom, influence and family pedigree. And they looked down on others of lesser status.

They appear to have wanted to preserve the social barriers of class and status that permeated their social world, but were nullified in the cross of Christ. For some, the Christian community had become simply another arena to compete for status according to the societal norms. You know, the early churches were house churches primarily. We do have evidence though, that there were some larger halls that might host occasional gatherings of Christians. We believe that’s true in Corinth.

We believe that one of the halls in that city was host to perhaps a monthly or regular meeting of all the church members there in Corinth. And that seemed to be where the problem was when they came together in that larger gathering, 75, 80, maybe 100 or so in that earliest church expression. And when they came together, they struggled. There was contention, there was division within that particular church. Dr. Garland talks a good bit about it.

As a matter of fact, Paul, when you read First Corinthians, he opens the letter, the early part of the letter, and he challenges the Corinthians to deal with their disunity, their seeming inability to just get along with each other. Dr. Garland says this. He says when they became Christians, what was supposed to happen was they were to be realigned on the inside. There was supposed to be an appropriate social and moral realignment because of the Gospel. Because in this quote, he says the cross nullifies all of those differences that we experience in our society.

And so when you come into the church, you become a part of a new family. Jesus said, you’re born again. So just like you’re born into your family, when you’re born again, you’re born into the family of God. But when you’re born again into the family of God, you recognize that you now share something in common with everybody, no matter who they are. We are all sinners in need of God’s grace, all of us.

We’re reminded of that when we come to the Lord’s table. But the problem was there were people in this church who were not allowing themselves to be transformed. Does that make sense in Other words, they got saved and they just showed up just like they were, as lost people, presumably. In fact, here’s what Dr. Garland says. He says the problem was not that the church was in Corinth, but too much Corinth was in the church.

Now, come on, y’. All.

Steve Besner is a new professor at Truett Seminary. He has a book entitled you’d Jesus is Too American.

It’s pretty challenging because I believe we could say something similar to a lot of churches. I don’t want to sit in judgment of other churches. So let me rephrase that. Perhaps we might be tempted to bring too much of America into our church. Can I just say it that way?

You have to be careful. I love America. I’m an American. This past week, I spent one whole day and part of another day at the Medal of Honor Museum. I can’t hardly even go in the Medal of Honor Museum.

It’s too emotional. I’m patriotic, but I’m a Christian first. And so in the church, we got to be careful, don’t we? Dr. Garland said, you got too much Corinth in here. Something’s got to happen.

Well, what’s the cure? What was the cure? Then I would just say, what’s the cure? Now here’s what I would say as I read my New Testament and as I have served as a pastor now for a handful of years, the church. Here’s the answer.

The cure. Rather, the answer for the brokenness in the local church is for the church to believe and behave like the Lord intended the church to believe and behave. I don’t know how to say it any more bluntly. That’s just the truth. The Lord has called us as Christians, as followers of Jesus, to believe and behave in a certain way.

And so the church needs to do just that. If you still have your Bibles open, if you go back to the beginning of this letter. First Corinthians is a challenging letter, y’. All. It just is.

It still speaks to us today. Paul’s burdened about them, and so here’s what he does. He starts off by praying. Verse 4. He says, I’m thanking God for you.

And here’s what he prays. He prays in verse eight that you will be blameless on the day of the Lord. In other words, all this strife and rancor and polarization and disunity and brokenness and hurt and anger and selfishness, everything I see alive in the church in Corinth, I’m praying that you’re going to get past all of that so that you will be blameless. In fact, he says in verse 18 of chapter one, I want to remind you about the message of the cross. It may seem like foolishness to people, but to those of us who’ve truly been saved, Paul says, it’s the power of God.

And then he says in chapter two, when I came to Corinth, I didn’t come trying to amass a following and impress you with my wisdom. That’s not what I did. He said, what I came is, I preached to you, Jesus Christ, and him crucified, because I know that’s what you need. And then he’s going to go on in this letter and just challenge them, rise above your brokenness, find healing, and hope you come to chapter 10. In verse 31.

They had all kinds of questions about what could you eat, what could you drink, how are you treating each other? He says in verse 31 of chapter 10, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God and quit causing people to stumble, whether they’re Jews or Greeks. I’m not trying to challenge you just with words. I’m showing you in my own life, he says, I try to please everyone in my own Way. Verse 33 of chapter 10.

I’m not seeking my own good, but the good of many, he says, so that they might be saved. Follow my example, Paul says. Paul says, look, these relationships within the body of Christ matters. They’re important. And so when you think about your relationships and you have these tiers of relationships, you have those close core friends we talked about last Sunday, you have those acquaintances, you have family.

But if you’re a follower of Jesus, you have these relationships, you live in community with each other in the church. And what I would submit to you is it’s more important than you think it is. Because, you see, here’s the challenge for us. Some of us think that when we come to church, we’re just coming to church, you know, it’s Sunday. This is just what you’re supposed to do.

We just come to church. What I want you to know is it’s way more important than that. These relationships within the body of Christ are incredibly important. Paul is trying to challenge us to understand how deeply important our relationships are in the body of Christ. So here’s what he does in this letter, this particular letter, when it comes to the church, Paul will use images.

He refers to the church as a field, as a building, as a body, to help the Corinthians better understand this new family. Now known as the Church because the church in Paul’s day was brand new. Okay, it’s just getting started. And he is trying to help people understand who the church is. What are these relationships supposed to be like?

Jesus used those kinds of images. Jesus said, I’m the vine, you’re the branches. Now you’re supposed to bear fruit. Paul says in this letter, in First Corinthians 3, you’re like a field I planted. Apollos watered.

Now we’re seeing the fruit in your lives. He compared it to a building. He said, we’ve laid a foundation there in Corinth. You’re now building upon it. But then he uses the imagery of a body.

It’s very striking. Have you ever wondered, you know, just reading through as a moment ago. That’s why I wanted to read it out loud. It’s very particular. Paul mentioned all these body parts.

Well, do you know there were some famous temples in Corinth? Do you know what one of the famous temples in Corinth was? It was the temple dedicated to Asclepius, which was the God of healing. People came from all over to Corinth to be healed. And here’s what they would do.

They would find their way to the Market, and as they went to the temple, they would have these craftsmen make terracotta images of the body part. They wanted to be healed. They would then take that body part to this pagan God and strow the body parts into the temple. So when you visited the temple of Asclepius, there are all these body parts just laying around everywhere. Some of you have been to Corinth, and perhaps you’ve been to the archeological museum in Corinth.

Some people call it the Temple of. I mean, the museum of body parts. Let me show you one of the displays from that. That museum. These are ancient body parts, terracotta body parts that people brought into the temple in Corinth and would strow them in front of the pagan God, saying, this is what needs to be healed.

So Paul spent 18 months there. So just imagine he has seen what these people are doing. He’s seen them walking through the Marketplace carrying a leg on their shoulder. Because they think that if they get to this temple, they can deposit this terracotta leg and somehow they’re going to be healed. Well, Paul says you got all these disjointed, dismembered, disconnected dead body parts laying all over this temple.

And what I want you to know is that’s not how the church works. You are actually a part of a full Body. It’s living. It’s dynamic. And every part is important.

Every part has a place to play, a role to play. You see, the church is not these disconnected, dead body parts that somehow another may find life on their own. That’s not how it works. When you become a Christian and you become a part of the church and you bring with you gifts that God has given you through his spirit, abilities, talents, tendencies, proclivities. And guess what?

The Lord takes all of those according to his wisdom and his spirit and his power and his leadership. And he brings us all together and he forms one body out of them. And for you and I to participate in that, we come willingly and humbly, offering who we are and what we have and how God has gifted us from for the overall good of the church. Not to impress everybody with our own particular skill. That’s not how it works.

We come humbly, and God has gifted all of us to do so many different things. Isn’t that awesome? Aren’t y’all glad? Not everybody is gifted to preach on Sunday morning? Aren’t y’all glad?

What would we do if every one of y’ all had to preach every Sunday? How long would it’s already hard enough for me to get something said on a Sunday morning. Can you imagine if every one of y’all had something to say on a Sunday morning? But that’s not everybody’s gift. But guess what?

Some of y’ all were gifted to teach this morning. Some of y’ all have been gifted to serve. We got people right now gifted to serve in our preschool children’s building right now. Loving your little preschoolers and caring for them. I just saw Sunday school teachers bless our first graders.

We had a bunch of first graders get their Bibles this morning. First graders, y’all got your Bibles in here. It was awesome. They’re teachers and Brother David giving them their Bibles this morning. We got people that are serving all over this place.

Well, the point is, everybody has a role to play. And Paul is trying to tell these Corinthians, just because you’re somebody in Corinth, when you show up to the church, you got to realize the only somebody that matters is Jesus. And you now have a role to play in the life of the church. And it’s based on the spirit of God. Paul says not everybody’s an apostle.

Not everybody has the gift of healing. Not everybody speaks in tongues. Not everybody has the gift of miracles. Not everybody is a teacher. But it doesn’t matter.

The Lord has enough of those so that the body can function. And Paul is chastising him. Now, let me just ask you this. What is the big deal that one church just has a hard time getting along with each other? Why does it matter?

Well, here’s what I want you to know. It’s a big deal. Why is the health of local churches such a huge concern? Because of what’s at stake. That’s why it still matters.

It didn’t just matter then, it matters now. Paul was looking at the challenges in Corinth. And if you want to know how challenging Corinth was, read Romans 1, starting in about verse 18. And Paul is writing to the church at Rome. He’s never been to Rome.

He was in Corinth when he wrote that. So if you want to know what Corinth was like, read Romans 1. Paul understood how hard it was, but Paul also knew what was at stake. What was at stake was a lot. As a matter of fact.

What I would tell y’ all is our church matters. We’re a local church, and it matters. Our relationships matter in this place. Being a part of this spiritual family is important. You know why?

Because of the mission of God. That’s why God right now is engaged in the redemption of humanity and the restoration of his creation. That’s what God is doing. God is about redeeming human beings. And so you and I guess what, this church was brand new in the first century.

We’re here 2,000 years later. The mission of God is always on display in and through the church. And so right now, you as redeemed humans, those of you who are saved, those of you who know Jesus, you’re part of this church family. You are exhibit A. You are evidence of God’s redeeming work.

Because God is redeeming humanity. That’s his mission. He is saving us. He’s transforming us. He is separating us from our brokenness and from our proclivities that are sinful.

And he’s sanctifying us so that we can be used by him to for his glory in his kingdom. And as we do that, he is leading us in this great journey of restoration where he’s restoring what’s broken throughout his creation, bringing redemption beyond the church, but through the church, because we’re agents of reconciliation and grace in this world. Because you remember, the church was not our idea in the first place. Y’ all remember that, right? It wasn’t like the disciples were all sitting around a campfire.

One night, one of them said, you know what we ought to do? Start a Church. That’s what we ought to do. Let’s start a bunch of them. No, they had no idea.

But guess what? Jesus established the church to serve as his instrument on earth to accomplish the mission of God. Matthew 16. Jesus said this on this rock. That’s a little controversial for some people.

But then he says, this is not controversial. I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. In other words, judgment, death, hell will lose in the face of the church. It will give way to God’s redemptive purpose at work in the church. So how does it work?

Why are these relationships so important? Why is it that we’ve got to somehow find our way in the life of the church? Well, let me just remind you about what matters, okay? So I want y’ all to stay with. Are y’ all still with me?

So here’s what I want to do. I want to give you a glimpse into 2026, okay? Y’ all know that every year in the summer, I take some time off and plan and pray. And, you know, we’re in this journey of flourishing together. But I’ve already made plans with our staff for 2026.

And I want to tell you what’s driving us as we make our way into 2026. Our theme will be flourishing together, Transformed on the Jesus Way. And here’s what I want you to understand. Because like I said, you’re not just coming to church. You’re a part of the grand mission of God.

That’s what’s really happening. That’s why this matters. So remember the commission. Here’s what Jesus said to the church. He’s commissioned the church to fulfill the mission of God through the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Jesus said this. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Summed up the commandments in those two statements. Then he says in Matthew 28, now go and make disciples of all the nations.

Teach them, baptize them, make disciples. You know, for us, our church is a Texas Baptist church. And right now, Texas Baptists are gathering around that theme of the Great Commandment and the great commission. The GC2 is what it’s called, embracing both of them. But here’s the thing.

The church, our job is to make disciples. That’s the challenge that we’re facing in our day. And here’s what I know about disciples. Disciples love God and they love people. And they’re committed to the mission of God, and they belong to the church.

Disciples are A part of a local church. That’s just how it works. So what is the church? Let me remind you, the church is a purposeful community of gathered believers following the Jesus way together in the fulfillment of his mission. That’s the church.

That’s who this church is. Any church that’s being obedient to the New Testament. That would be the definition I would give to any church. And the church is filled with disciples. Well, what’s a disciple?

The disciple is a person being formed by Jesus as they follow him in accomplishing his mission. So we’re being formed as we follow now. So here’s the question, y’. All. If y’ all can stay with me for just a couple more minutes, here’s where we’re headed in 2026.

How do we make disciples? You know, on the one hand, it seems really simple. Doesn’t feels like, well, you just make disciples, right? I mean, it’s just. That’s what you do, a disciple.

You make them. Well, how do you make them? Well, I’ve spent a good bit of time reflecting upon that, praying about that, thinking about that. I want us to be more definitive as a church. So 2026 is going to be about intentional discipleship.

And we’re going to focus together on what it actually means to make disciples. Because on the one hand, sounds really simple, but I would submit to you, it’s more complex than you might think. And so here’s what we’re going to lead people to do at this church. We’re going to lead people first of all to know God, because that’s where it all starts. You can’t be a disciple if you don’t know God.

Then we want you to experience God because you’ve got to walk with him, live with him, and then we want you to serve God. And they all fit together, each one of these stages of discipleship. There’s fluidity between them. There’s a certain dynamism, if you will. Now let me unpack them just a little bit more than just that.

So what does it mean to know God? Here’s what I would say about that. That means one of the things I was questioning while I was away this summer was what does everybody need? Think about all humanity. What do human beings need?

And I’ve read and studied and prayed. You know, one of the mentors in my life, not because I know him that well personally, but just we’ve ministered alongside each other for so many years, is Rick Warren. Rick Warren answers that question with five things he wrote that Book, the Purpose Driven Life. Well, what does Rick know? Right?

I mean, that’s kind of a joke, y’. All. What does Rick know? I mean, it’s the most popular selling book in the history of the world, besides the Bible. Okay, so Rick has a great answer, but I decided to bring it down to this for us.

This is where I’ve landed. What does it mean? Here’s what every human being needs, in my opinion. They need to know God. What does that mean?

It starts by being saved. Every human being needs to be saved because you and I are born sinners and we are lost in our sin and we cannot find our way on our own because we are depraved, if you will. We are born separated from God, even though we’re a child of God in the grand general sense, because human beings belong to God. He’s our Father. But in order for us to truly know him, we’ve got to come to that place in our own lives where we embrace the fact that we are sinners and we need to be redeemed by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

So everybody needs to be saved. Now, back in Alabama, they’d have said, amen to that right there. But it’s okay. It’s all good. But I’ll give you one more chance.

Everybody needs to be saved. And there you go. Thank you very much. Okay, but that’s not enough. People in the Corinthian Church were saved, but they had issues.

I would say, secondly, we got to experience God. And I would put that in two categories. One, we all need to be shepherded. Because here’s the thing. When you show up in the Christian life as a believer, when you first embrace Jesus, you don’t know what it means to live in community.

You don’t. You just don’t. You need to be shepherded. The good news is Jesus is the good shepherd. The Bible says In John chapter 16, God’s going to.

God’s given us the great gift of the Holy Spirit, and he will guide us. He will shepherd us. You and I need to be shepherded into community. It’s challenging to learn how to live as a disciple. It’s not easy.

You know, I think I’ve shared this y’ all before, but one time, we had a person visiting with us from another nation. Never seen a baseball game in his life. Knew a little bit about soccer, a little bit of American football. So I took him to baseball game. We’re sitting there and I’m trying to explain the game to him, and it’s challenging because he said, so what are they doing?

I said, well, the team that’s on offense, See, we’re on offense right now, so we have a stick, okay? Now the defense has the ball. He said, now, wait a minute. Why does the defense have the ball? I said, I don’t know.

This is just how it works, okay? And then he said to me, he said, you know, in soccer, the offense has the ball. I said, I know that, but what I’m telling you is in baseball, the defense has the ball. And he says, well, when does the offense get the ball? I said, well, you never get the ball.

You have to hit it with that stick, okay? So here’s the thing. Just watch, okay? And when they hit it with a stick, well, our guy got on first. And then I told him, he said, okay, now does he get the ball?

I said, no, he can’t touch the ball. Matter of fact, the ball touches him, he has to go sit down, okay? He said, I thought he was on offense. He is on offense, okay? But in this game, finally I said, just sit here and watch it for a little while, okay?

It’s complicated. Well, you and I, when we come to know Jesus, there’s so much we don’t know. And we’ve got to be shepherded into community. We’ve got to learn what it means to live in the body of Christ. Not only that, we’ve got to be shepherded past our past because we show up broken.

And what needs to happen is in the church. We’ve got to be shepherded, and we’ve got to get past our past. We’ve got to find healing and hope and forgiveness. We’ve got to learn the skills of what it means to be a believer. But also we have to be shepherded throughout our lives because we’re going to face so many challenges in life.

And we’re going to need shepherds within the body of Christ to guide us through those challenging days. We also experience God, though, by being shaped, because we don’t know what it means to be a disciple. When we’re saved, we’ve got to be shaped into a disciple. The Bible calls that being formed, being conformed, being transformed. The Bible says, and so you and I have got to learn how to read our Bibles.

We’ve got to learn how to pray, how to worship. We’ve got to learn about spiritual gifts, what Paul talks about so much with these body parts. We’ve got to learn what all that really means. How do I discover what my gifts are? How do I know how God has created me for whatever purpose it is.

How do I discover that? We discover that as you’re being shaped as a disciple in the life of a local church. And then we serve God, and that’s when we’re sent. We’re sent into ministry as believers. Now, we use that word, sent here sometimes specifically to refer to people that have been sent cross, culturally, overseas.

And that’s one way people are sent. But that’s not the only way we’re sent. We’re all sent by God. We’re deployed. In other words, whatever it is God has gifted us to do, that’s where he sends us in service.

As I said, there are people right now that have been sent by our church who are serving in our preschool area right now. They serve in all areas. We had people standing on this platform who were sent to serve us in worship. In the first worship service. We had a choir, an orchestra.

They were all sent to use their gifts and their abilities. Are y’ all with me? You all are sent. Everybody takes their gifts and we put them all in place. And when we do, then we function as the full body of Christ.

We’re saved. We’re shepherded into the body. We’re shaped by the power of the gospel and following Jesus, and we’re sent to serve him in his kingdom’s interest. Now, let me take all that and put it in our Psalm One Tree. Okay, so let’s look at our Psalm 1 tree.

Many of you are familiar with it. Some of you may be new today, but you notice what’s private, that foundation part of your life where we’re learning how to love God. Why am I here? Well, you need to be saved. And that’s how you start to know God.

And then once you become a believer, you start being formed and shaped. What’s happening within you? Well, you’re being shepherded and you’re being shaped while you’re seeking the kingdom of God. That’s how you experience God. And then you’ll notice we’re supposed to bear fruit.

What’s happening through me? Well, we need to be sent. As we’re loving others, we’re serving God. And so all of this fits together in an aim toward intentional discipleship. So when we cast our glimpse forward to 2026, this is what it’s going to be about, helping you grow more deeply in your understanding of being a disciple and understanding how more effectively this church will.

Will make disciples. Why? Because so much is at stake, that’s why. And it’s all for the glory of God. May it be so.

Let’s pray together.

Lord, today we do want to thank you, Lord. We want to thank you for the opportunity to live and serve in a local church. In fact, I want to thank you for allowing us to live and serve in this local church. We’re grateful for it. And I just pray, Lord, that we will come to a deeper, richer understanding of what it means to be a part of the body of Christ for your glory.

And we pray that in Jesus name, amen.