Blessings of Christian Community

Mosaic Boston - Sermons

Audio Transcript:

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Welcome. We're thrilled to have you here. We're always praying for the Lord to send us just people asking questions about Christianity, questions about Jesus, how to be saved, and we're always praying for the Lord to send us people who already have vibrant, loving relationships with the Lord and are here to work. And this is an exciting time here to serve the Lord with us, join mission with us. And this is an exciting time of year where we always have a lot of fresh faces coming in at the end of summer, beginning of the year program, academic year and after a lot of people have left. So we're thrilled you're here. If you are new and you want to get plugged in, I hope you just talk to people next to you, but a formal way to do that is to fill out the connection card and take it to the welcome center or put it in the offering bin there at the back of the center aisle, and we'll get you plugged in.

And if you are new, again I said, I'm Andy. I was out for the past four weeks. The church blessed me with a long three-week vacation after a busy year, and I'll elaborate a lot on that. And today is an exciting time of year for us. We just ended a long series in the Book of Genesis, going through Genesis 37 through 50, talking about the life of a great saint Joseph and how his life pointed us to Jesus Christ in many ways, even in the first book of the Bible and how he pointed us ultimately to Christ and his sacrifice and the forgiveness he offers us. But today we're done with Genesis and we are taking up an identity series. We talk about our identity, we talk about our values every time this time of August, every September, and we're really trying to bring unity of identity, unity of purpose and vision to the body, and so I'll take us up.

My hope today is really to prime your hearts, prepare your hearts as we reflect on the past year together today in order to prepare our hearts to get going and flying in support of the slightly tweaked vision going forward. So today I want to begin by reading the main passage of the day, and that is Ephesians 2:11-22, Ephesians 2:11-22. And this is the living word of God. Ephesians 2:11-22, "Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands."

"Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God and one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near."

"For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit." This is the word of our Lord. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it is living. We thank you that it is authoritative. We thank you that it is powerful. Lord, we thank you for the reminder that we see in it today that who we are is rooted in the work of Jesus Christ and his life, death and sacrifice in the cross.

And Lord, we praise you that we can have an identity that is gifted to us by you. We do not have to work our way towards you, but in Jesus we can have peace simply by believing in his works. And Lord, right now, we pray as we work out our own identity, seek to understand it better, let it inform the way that we approach brother and sister, especially here in the church here at Mosaic. Lord, we seek to be a more faithful body. We seek to show the world who you are, show the blessedness that comes with faith in the gospel by loving one another better this year. Lord, we ask that your spirit would just refine our view, our understanding of church, our understanding of relating to brother and sister and, of course, our understanding of our relationship to you and Jesus today. Bless the preaching of your word. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

So happy New Year. To contribute to my introduction, I want you to look at the person next to you and say, happy New Year. And wow, some of you actually did that. I would've been the kind of person to just sit there. Thank you for your vulnerability and following my instruction. So why do I begin the day, this series, this little moment in the year where we reflect on who we are as a church with happy New Year? Why first? There's three reasons. First, because it actually is the real new year in Boston coming up this week. We have Labor Day weekend next week, and everybody who's been in Boston for a while and really the northeastern United States and America knows that this is really the start of the real new year, and this is New Year's Eve. We're at the point where we are looking back in preparation to looking ahead to the new year before we get running.

And I say this just as a little reminder to all of you, get ready for it. Next week, life speeds up. And if you haven't prepared your body, haven't prepared your heart before it takes off, you've got to be careful because you could just get lost in the wind as the dust of life speeds up. And so you know that preschools through postgraduate programs are starting in the coming week. You know that there's a lot of people starting new jobs, taking up new titles, they're actually getting real responsibility if they got the title in the summer now that September is here. And you know that everybody who survived May through August without leaving the city is processing, committing their hearts for another year of what's to come here, and you're welcome for the reminder if you've been snoozing on that a little bit. But I bring this up to you just because we at Mosaic, we don't want you to get lost in the storm, in the wind, in the waves of life.

We at Mosaic, we have a philosophy of ministry rooted in Ephesians 4:11-6 which says, and "He," the Lord, "gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers," and we pastors are shepherd, teachers, "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Jesus 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 and love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ, from the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly."

So at Mosaic, we are the pastors, we view our role to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, and we pause at this time of year to really calibrate your hearts, calibrate your minds to get prepared for really the program missional year ahead, for we don't want you to get lost into the waves and winds that come through life. And we know more than ever, since 2020, just how unpredictable life can be compared to those who grew up in the '90s and 2000s when things were pretty chill. Every year we hold this series and today's no different. Today, as the real new year approaches, again, I want to help us process in looking back, Pastor Jan will look ahead. And so the second reason though, why I say happy New Year is with facetiousness. As I acknowledge the approach of Boston's real New Year, I say it in a manner that's a little bit flippant and sarcastic.

It's a year, it's really stating, "Thank God 2022, 2023 is over," in the words of a blessed beloved member of Mosaic in my mind I say happy New Year, there's a little bit of, "Bye Felicia," as I think of 2022, 2023. There's a, "Sayonara, goodbye. Good riddance. Let's turn the page and move on." And I say that because it was a hard year, and today I just want to acknowledge that I really wish that it was as simple as moving on, turning the page and everything will be different after Labor Day next week, but we need to be honest as a church that it was a hard year. And so today I hope to process that with you a little bit. Now, keeping the last two reasons in mind for why I say happy New Year, the third reason why I say happy New Year to start off this missional program year in the church is because I really mean it.

I say it with deep sincerity. Why? Because even though I wouldn't have planned everything that the past year brought, even though it was excruciatingly painful personally as a church body, I'm so thankful that we as pastors, we as a membership, we as a body of believers here at Mosaic, went through what we went through. And just to give you a little bit, those of you who are new, in many years, it was a great year. We have a great membership at this church of a couple hundred people. People committed to be on mission here and we did maintain, we retained that membership and boy, did it grow up a lot. And I could give you dozens of examples of how people in this body came to faith, were baptized, grew in the faith, served the Lord through tremendous acts of charity and generosity, but really it was a year that was difficult.

The trajectory of Mosaic's history, we're a church that was started in 2011, and that's a time when Pastor Jan really took over, rooted this church with the vision, the values, the beliefs, the identity that is very similar to what we promote right now. And 2011 through 2020 just basically putting it in simplistic terms, lots of growth, lots of seemingly flourishing on the outside and a lot on the inside. But since 2020, what did we deal with in 2023? 2020 poured over into 2021, poured over into 2022, poured over into 2023, and we're just catching our breath in the past year. At one point in the year we had three pastors, Pastor Shane, a beloved pastor was here for 10 years. He felt called home to the Midwest in the past year. He took an extended period of rest. Pastor Jan felt the effects of the strain of engaging all that came with just being a pastor in the past few years.

And he took an extended break. I got a nice three weeks. I've never had that amount of time off in my adulthood. And so we as pastors, we as a body, we've faced challenges that we could have never imagined, and we're just feel like we're coming up from being underwater, grasping to stay afloat. And furthermore, we as a church, we confess to one another as a membership that we did commit some sin. There was some youthful, what we often phrase as youthful naivety, but there was some pride behind our method. Perhaps, we thought, "This is the way we're always going to go, just trajectory and growth as a body up, up, up." But furthermore, no, we pastors profess to this congregation that we functioned in our own strength a lot, especially since 2020. We didn't admit to one another when we needed rest, when we needed help, when we needed care.

Furthermore, we were guilty of breaking the Sabbath and keeping it holy, and in many ways that emanated and trickled down in our body. And so praise God, we have a united body. We've processed a lot, we've been through a lot, sometimes from the public pulpit a lot of it, and members meetings, deep family talks over the past year. And I go back to why I say happy New Year sincerely, I'm thankful we went through it for we're a young body, young pastors, pretty naive. We don't have old saints to really guide us in the way and the Lord has matured us. So as I look ahead at the new year, I'm excited to think about what the Lord can do with this body of believers, what the Lord can do with me as someone who's grown up a lot as we look ahead to 2023, 2024. And so I begin with this happy New Year. I have pretty raw, transparent explanations for, and in my flesh, this is the time of the sermon where I want to switch back to Mosaic mode and really enter into classic Love Jesus Simple sermons.

And if you go online, these are great sermons. Pastor Jan has preached these every year since 2011 except in 2020. And I want to just jump right into, "All right, said a little bit about what happened. Let's jump forward." But I want to use efficient language. I want to use just brilliant clear language that we've often used to articulate our vision. I want to make comparisons to our simple method of ministry to Chick-fil-A's simple method of business. I want to make comparisons to Michael Scott and Albert Einstein as we have over the years in pursuit of our vision and, of course, as all of their quotes pertain to scripture. But I don't want to run ahead, you're going to get that Pastor Jan, he's rearing and ready to go and I say, whatever you think, whatever you get today, come back. It's going to be very different.

But realistically, we as pastors, we called an audible. I told Pastor Jan after coming back from my time off in the past week about what I've been processing, and really we're just trying to hit the heart of those in our body who are still ailing a little bit, coming out of what we went through, for it was hard. And so I'm not jumping into classic Love Jesus Simple mode. Today's not a classic expository sermon where we, in a very logical sense, pull the analysis of the textile and very systematic, orderly manner. This is really a very reflective pastoral sermon. And we just want to be cognizant that you guys have hearts and that the church is something you've invested in, and we really want to engage you where you are. And we are a body with many members with Christ as the head, and to go forward before we jump forward, and it's going to come fast next week and in the weeks beyond.

We don't want anybody struggling, anybody holding on to pains, anybody questioning their commitment with us going ahead this year. And so I continue, therefore with a very transparent vulnerable tone, and I don't really want to go like this, but I think it's most appropriate to meet the season. So I just took three weeks off. It was my first chance to process this year and everything that transpired. And I have to admit that once I got a chance to breathe, once separated from the community, and I did have accountability in my wife, I wasn't just not working as a pastor and then rebelling and lashing out, no. I just want to be honest. I was really struggling with, "I just want to be a Christian by myself. Why do I need the church? It just makes everything so much harder. Why deal with the people? Why deal with the hardship? Why deal with standing on the truth? Why speak the truth to my brothers and sister in love when it often comes back to bite me? And then we have to do extra meetings to reconcile."

And I wasn't thinking about quitting my job, I wasn't thinking about walking away from the faith, but I saw the appeal of letting myself continue in my thoughts, and it's been a great year actually outside of the church. Great year for me socially. I've lived in Brookline for three years. My son was in second grade. It's like all of a sudden I have all these social connections in the community that took a few years to cultivate. And so it's easy to think, "Man, I could start my own ministry, my own little circles outside this church and just run without the impediments of truly committing to the body that I've committed to love here at Mosaic and in Boston." And in an attempt exercise wisdom, first thing I did was said, "I'm tired. I need to rest," and so first week I just shut my mouth and prayed.

And as I prayed approaching the trip and into that first week I just said, "Lord, bring me to the scriptures. Bring me to a Christian book. Bring me to a brother, a sister that can check my heart, check my mind, call me out in this position of frustration toward the church, disillusionment with the church," and the Lord in his grace was working on me and my wife at the same time at multiple times, separate ways we heard quotes and snippets of this book, Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the months leading to our time off, and separately unbeknownst to one another, we both ordered this book to read together during our time off, and there were multiple copies that arrived at our apartment and I said, "I ordered this. Why is there another one? Did you order one?"

And the Lord providentially arranged for us separately to take up this book. And it really appealed to us too because we have three kids under seven and you can't really take up a giant tome like a giant biography or theological treaties. This is 122 pages, and it really unexpectedly just spoke right to the heart of just a lot of the questions and a lot of frustrations I was dealing with. And so today the main text is Ephesians 2:11-22. I will open that up a little bit but not open it up as much as we often do with the text. The general outline flow of the message is going to be a list of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer says are the blessings of Christian community. He asked the question, "Why is Christian community a blessing?" And he helps press us to think about, "Why should we... Why should I, Pastor Andy? Why should we continue to gather with other Christians?" And I know some people in our body in moments are dealing with that.

I know that some people are new, and you might be coming here today, it could be your first time at church in years and you have pains and scars tied to dealing with church. And so I hope that this is an encouragement to those within our body already, those coming from the outside to really see the church as a blessing, see engagement with other Christians as an essential part to this life. And so the first point that I'll take up... And who is Dietrich Bonhoeffer? He was a Christian German pastor, theologian who was a pastor in the 1930s into the 1940s. And he saw the German church rooted in just the reformation of Martin Luther. He saw the German church leave God's word, leave the gospel and in its insecurity dealing with modernism, dealing with just technological advantages, dealing with politics, the German church in his day went with the Nazi party.

And so he was one of a minority of pastors that started a new confessing church that stayed true to scripture. Ultimately he died as for being a part of a plot to try to kill Hitler. And ultimately he offers us perspective for what are essential elements for church, and really as part of the Love Jesus Simple series, I hope today I help strip apart any views of church, expectations of church, expectations of other Christians that might not be biblical, and a man who faced such pressures really has a lot of wisdom and insight for us.

So why is a Christian community, a church, a blessing? First, Bonhoeffer says Jesus lived among his enemies. First paragraph, he just says this right away, "At the end of his life on earth, all of his disciples deserted him. On the cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause, he had come to bring peace to the enemies of God." I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but Jesus entire walk on the earth was really full of disappointment with community. Who rejected him? His brothers, the Jews. And then even his disciples, those intimate 12, even within the 12, his top three, they all were not there at the end. They all left him, and then the 72 and greater crowds came and went as they agreed and disagreed with his teachings. And so when we face hardship in community, we're not facing something that the Lord himself did not face.

And this is to start with this point, it's a kind of logic that says, "You think you have had it bad in your situation in your church. Think about how bad Christ had it, yet he endured faithfully to the end." And it's an effort to counter any entitlement we as Christians have thinking we deserve better. We deserve a better church. We deserve to be received better. Christ himself, if anybody of all people in the history of the earth, the Son of God deserved to be received better in community, and he really never was. And are we greater than him? John 13:16, "Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor a messenger is greater than the one who sent him." And so this isn't really the kind of reason to show the blessedness of Christian community that's soothing to the soul.

But I love that Bonhoeffer begins with this. He says, sorry he doesn't say this. Because if we really understand the extent that God went through Christ to show us love for us, the fact that Christ in the trinity, in the wisdom of the trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit for all eternity took on flesh to come and walk among enemies, walk among flakes that would abandon him simply to come, primarily to come and be our savior just fathoming that, fathoming the love of God shows us in doing that, that really should help us to look upon our struggles in this life with Christians and even the greater world, with a little more humility, we should be amazed what the Lord endured for us to procure our salvation. So why is Christianity a blessing? Because Christ didn't have it yet he is gracious enough to offer us the chance to gather with others.

Second, why is Christian community a blessing? Many Christians Bonhoeffer says, don't experience community. He says, "It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in the world to share God's word and sacrament. Not all Christians receive this blessing. The imprisoned, the sick, the scattered, lonely, the proclaimers of the gospel in heathen lands, they stand alone." Do you ever pause when you're pondering the challenges that come with gathering with the church, that there are people, there are Christians all throughout the world, people all throughout history who profess the name of Christ who don't have a regular gathering assembly of believers to gather with, people who don't have pastors to open up the word for them? And the truth is those of us who do have it, we take our community for granted, and this is my mind, my heart was drifting in this direction.

"It is true of course," "Bonhoeffer says, "that what is an unspeakable gift of God for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trodden underfoot by those who have the gift every day. It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of a Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed." And so if we have it, we should function with the awareness that the Lord could strip it right away. And how many of you... As I processed just my thoughts, my approach towards the church, I asked myself this question, "What would happen if Mosaic Boston Church just closed its doors, it just disappeared?" And I didn't really pause to think like this all throughout the turmoil of recent seasons, but I realized I would be broken.

I wouldn't be broken to the point of despair and unbelief, but I'd still have Christ, but man, it would be so hard to face that and just this perspective, others in the world do not have what we have. And so seasons of turmoil, they're not fun. But we should still bless the Lord and be thankful that he has provided our community. Third, Bonhoeffer goes on to say why the church is a blessing. "The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength for the believer. The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength for the believer." To support this, he mentions how Paul in 2 Timothy 1:4 talks about his longing to see Timothy in the flesh. Next, he talks about how the Apostle John in 2 John 12 says that his joy will not be complete until he can come to his people and speak face to face instead of writing to them.

Do you long to come to church and see your brothers and sisters like this? Bonhoeffer says, "It's okay to feel no shame... He says, "The believer feels no shame as though he was still living too much in the flesh when he yearns for the physical presence of other Christians. Man was created by a body, man was created a body. The son of God appeared on earth in the body. He was raised in the body and the resurrection of the dead will bring about the perfected fellowship of God's spiritual physical creatures. The believer therefore lauds the creator, the redeemer, God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the bodily presence of a brother." So Christ taking on a flesh shows us that this world, this life, the relationships we forge, especially in the church, matter. And it's okay as a Christian to say, "Lord, I need you," as we sung earlier, "but I also need my church," and to get excited about gathering with other Christians.

And I ask, do you have these people that you see and they just give you joy and strength? And I definitely feel this way broadly about Mosaic. I got to visit three different churches while I was taking my time off, three different worship services and they're good churches, love the Lord, preach the gospel, but it just wasn't the same as gathering with you. When I'm here, as processing the worship music, there's different things that every member of our band does that encourage me. Aaron put his hands up here in the front and I'm a stiff guy, but he encourages me to worship with more passion, and this body, there's so many people who encourage me like that. But in terms of just outside of worship, are there people who bring you joy and comfort Christians, people who you don't really even have to talk to them but their presence brings you joy?

And I can think of so many people here in the church who provide that, but do you have them, and if you don't, are you seeking to build those relationships? Only in commitment to a local church can you forge such relationships. People, friends that are nonbelievers can't be this presence for you in your life. And what's the benefit of them? Whether you have a great spoken relationship or it's really just about the presence, there's some kind of encouragement that comes with gathering with people who believe what you believe, who are fighting the good fight. Sometimes they stumble but they get back, they receive grace, they keep going and they just keep walking forward in the direction you're trying to go. And at Mosaic, that's what we're trying to do every Sunday and as part of our service, create a warm hospital strengthening environment and with community groups. A lot of times people come into our church and we have community groups that do discuss every week's sermon together.

They do sermon discussion, fellowship, just hanging out and prayer. But really we're trying to forge bonds where it's just the unspeakables of gathering that breed encouragement with one another. It's not necessarily just about the discussion and conversation. We want people gathering simply because they love each other and are encouraged by one another. And Paul and John show us that, that happens. And the thing about it is that we should pursue this, we should desire these kinds of relationships, but we should not become codependent, overly dependent on such relationships. For once we do so we commit the sin of idolatry and we're looking upon these relationships for our sense of satisfaction, strength, peace, joy instead of looking to Jesus Christ himself. And that's one of the main things that happens, we have a really young body, lots of people, very driven, lots of people who came to the city for academic programs, for work.

The way they grew was finding mentors, finding training and studying and climbing the way to the top, and they approach Christianity the same way. And I'm saying we want you to get relationships. We want you to build bonds where there's this unspoken connection. We want you to build a mentor relationships where there is spoken connection, but we don't want you to be overdependent on them. We want Christians to develop abiding relationships with the Lord where they one-on-one are engaging the Lord in their minds through prayer, in song, in worship, independently of others, for that is ultimately just the most life-giving relationship we can have. So we just don't want to overemphasize these relationships.

Next, why is a Christian community a blessing? And this is the hardest one to chew on, but if you get this, this is the greatest source of encouragement. Bonhoeffer says, "A christian has an alien righteousness and needs to be reminded of it constantly." So the Christian community is a blessing because it's a place where a Christian can go and be reminded of who they are in Jesus. What do I mean by alien righteousness? He says, "The Christian is the man or woman who no longer seeks his salvation. He's not trying to earn his way to God's love and favor. The Christian is the man who no longer seeks his salvation, his deliverance, his justification, his declaration that he is not guilty before God in himself but in Christ alone. The Christian no longer lives of himself by his own claims and his own justification, but by God's claims and God's justification."

"The reformers expressed it this way, our righteousness, our right standing before God is an alien righteousness that comes from outside of us. The reformers were saying that the Christian is dependent on the word of God spoken to them. God has willed that we should seek and find his living word in the witness of a brother in the mouth of a man." And there's scriptures that really open this up. God chose the foolishness of the preaching of men, of broken vessels to save people. God chooses the foolishness of his broken vessels in the church to exhort one another with the word. There's a lot of scripture around this. But what Bonhoeffer is stating is that the way Christian is saved with this alien righteousness, this right standing before God being applied to him by the Lord himself from the outside, the way Christian is saved through this signifies the way that he needs to be encouraged over and over again after he is saved. And when you understand this, he's really defining how a church should get engaged.

A man is saved by that which is outside of him, the righteousness of Christ coming to him and therefore over and over he needs to be reminded of that when he stumbles in sin, when he's discouraged by the events and circumstances around him, when the church faces hardship, a person, a Christian needs to be reminded of who they are that their right standing despite their circumstances before God does not change. And the thing about it is God has willed whether we like it or not, that the way that we are reminded of who we are in Christ is by other people, brothers and sisters in the church. And so if you're not gathering in a church, you do not have people who can remind you that you are not a sinner. When you fall into the just being overcome by guilt and shame, you are a beloved son and daughter of the living and true God because Jesus Christ died on the cross for you.

What happens when a person is saved, when they turn and receive God's forgiveness? They believe that their sinful record is applied to Jesus Christ, and in turn his perfect righteous record is applied to them, and it's a whole process initiated by God through the Holy Spirit. And once we experience this, we know who we are but we forget over and over again, and so what is the church? It's the place that we go to, to be reminded of who we are in Jesus. For when we know at the fundamental level the source of our identity, when we understand all of the promises of God, that we are forgiven of our sins, we're beloved adopted son or daughter, we are bestowed with the inheritance due to the firstborn. All the covenant promises due to the Old Testament fathers apply to us in Jesus when we have security of identity in who we are through this alien righteousness that's gifted to us, we can face the world, we can face others with the sobriety of mind and heart, and boldness that God can use us in the process.

And so what is the church? It's the place not where you go because there's people who might look like you, might be at a similar age, might have similar interests of you, might be in a similar life phase of you. You go to the church to be reminded of who you are in Jesus Christ, first and foremost. And that is the single most important center of your bond to the church. And as a member of a church, you have to fight to keep that central with the challenges of seasons, with the desires of the flesh, with the competing models and preferences that you have, that people in the church have. You have to look first and foremost at the church and identify, "Does this church remind me of who I am in Jesus?" And what does that change? The way we engage with one another. There is a huge part for listening to one another and Bonhoeffer has a great section on listening as one of the primary practices within the church.

But we also speak the word to one another and it's not therapy. We're not just consoling one another and trying to make each other feel better in the moment. A lot of our communication in the church when you understand we are all bonded together as recipients of this alien righteousness. We are the common practice. The way we engage is reminding of ourselves who we are in Jesus. And when we do that, we are setting ourselves up to be able to face all the challenges of life church around us. And Pastor Jan talked about this a lot over the years as we are not here... Once you know you're saved in Jesus, your identity is secured, the Father will never leave you or forsake you, and you have newness and you have freedom, and you have innocence before the Lord that even stumblings and sin can't take away for you after you turn and repent.

And so what we are doing, church is not, "I come and go to the sanctuary to receive therapy." It's the halftime talk. It's where we remind you of who you are in Jesus. You have all the promises and power of God working for you, and we are here to boost you up, build you up before we send you out, and then you have community group to get a little boost midweek as well. And so the church is the place, it's a blessing because we are reminded that we are recipients of this alien righteousness. And I connect this if you're not really buying fallen Bonhoeffer for following me on this, this is really a point that Paul makes in Ephesians 2:11-22, the text for the day in verses 11:12, it begins with a description of alienation separation between Jewish and Gentile Christians.

Verse 11 says, "Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision, but what is called the circumcision," that Jewish believers, "which is made in the flesh by hand, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." So what's going on here? Paul is saying there's a conflict in the community, from the context of the passage, we don't know exactly what the conflict is given the rest of the book and the specific verses. It seems to be rooted in the racial and ethnic differences, Christians, people who are Christian highlighting their ethnic, religious and racial differences. But important thing to point out is there is a conflict and how does the apostle Paul tell them how to face it?

What does he do? Verse 13, he reminds him of their hopelessness and exclusion from God's family, the Gentiles particularly. He reminds him of their hopelessness and exclusion from God's family before Christ came and died for them. Verse 13, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." Once you were alienated, once you were hopeless without the promises of God applied to you, without chance of coming into God's family, but now because of the blood of Christ, because this alien righteousness that comes to you, you are brought near to the Lord himself, "For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in the flesh the dividing wall of hostility." It's a really frustrating piece of advice like, if you're in conflict with someone and someone says, "Remember who you are, that's the way forward."

In a way, Paul is doing that. He's telling the Gentile Christians and then all of us Christians today for when we face conflict, really if you really remember who you were, whether you're Jew or Gentile in this situation, but God and his mercy was gracious to you. He offered forgiveness of sin. He saved you despite your rebellion against him. If you really process that, this identity that has been gifted to you, you can look upon your brethren and offer a similar grace and mercy to them. And so if you remember who you are that'll inform your way forward and help you to go forward faithfully. And one of, in Christianity, the main area where we see instruction similarly, Mark 10-9, "Let not man separate what God has put together," with regard to marriage.

Every good Christian marriage knows that there's points in the marriage because it's two sinners come together who both need grace from God and each other daily. There are going to be times where conflict and trial are so large that the only thing that makes them stick together is the belief that God has established their relationship, and that's the logic that Bonhoeffer, that Paul are trying to teach us. They're trying to get us to view our sense of personal security with God derived from the identity that he has given us. And furthermore, trying to say we have a bond with other believers and that bond was forged by God, and we need to commit and covenant and hold fast to our commitment to other believers, not walk on them or isolate ourselves from them because God has established the capacity for us to have peaceful relationship with them. And so it's not really practical, but he's calling through this appealing to alien righteousness. Paul and Bonhoeffer, they're saying it's a call in our walk with the Lord individually, how do we correct ourselves? We remember who we are in Jesus.

We remember this gifted identity that we have. For our walk in the church, we remember the gift that our community is and there's greater spiritualties. As an individual, who we are is not the one who is stumbling in sin over and over again. Who we are is a beloved son and daughter, and that's how we should view and see ourselves and that's what's going to help us march forward. Who we are in community is so much more than a body of believers at stray and get in the fickle arguments often. What does Paul say to end the passage? Paul alludes to, there's so much more spiritually going on with our believers. And Bonhoeffer and Paul, the next line, Bonhoeffer says, another reason why Christian community is a blessing is because we are going to be with each other in eternity. And so there's greater spiritual realities that we are called to live up to as individuals and as a body. And to continue what I was saying, Paul says, he appeals to these greater communal realities that take place when a group of people gather.

In verse 19 it says, "So then you're no longer strangers and aliens, but you're fellow citizens, Jew and Gentile. You're fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit." So what is taking place when Christians truly rooted in their identity in Christ, this blessed gracious gift of an identity that they have when they gather in community. There's some sort of spiritual holy, eternal temple suited to be a dwelling place of God that is being constructed. And I say that and we're getting up into the sky, but that's a reality that is happening when we covenant, when we commit to live with one another, when we don't isolate with one another, when we disagree but come and love one another and work out conflict for God's glory, this spiritual structure is being built. And does it always feel like that? No.

When we look back at the past year, did it feel like we were building this glorious, heavenly structure as we faced a lot of hardship that we never faced as a young church before? No, but we need to function with faith that, that is actually taking place as we go forward in faith loving one another, calling one another to the identity that we have in Jesus and the faithful ways forward, repentance of sin and faith. And so one of the things that Bonhoeffer really points out to close, I just want to bring up a thought. He says that until a church is really united and gathering around just the fact that everyone has this alien identity applied to them, this alien righteousness applied to them, until that is revealed as the primary connection point between a body of believers, the Lord is going to strip away pretty painfully all of those other things that appear to be the central bond that brings them together, and it's in his mercy.

He could just bring wrath and punishment for the folly of gathering around other things, but in his mercy, he strips away all that gets at the heart of our true bond with one another, which is our faith in Jesus Christ and his saving work and in his sanctifying work in our lives. Bonhoeffer frames it like this, "The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us." And that when you think about the past couple of years facing a little more challenges as a body, that's what I see happening. That's what we pastors see happening. Scripture talks about us maturing. Scripture talks about us being pruned. God is a vine dresser, and as we hold fast to Jesus, and we are the branches, he's going to pull off those fruits that are taken away, the nourishment for the good fruit and he's going to refine us, put us in the fire.

That's what God does to make sure that Christ stays central as the primary gathering point for our body, and that's love Jesus simple with Jesus at the center. Pastor Jan will elaborate in a whole lot more detail in a technical sense on how we apply these things. And I couldn't help but think that Bonhoeffer or Paul, they're alluding to imagery that comes with our name, our logo, Mosaic. "You are united by the blood of Christ," says Paul. "You are united by this alien righteousness that comes with believing in the blood and the cross of Christ," says Bonhoeffer. And isn't that what a mosaic is? We're a bunch of pieces, different shapes, different sizes, different backgrounds, different colors, different language, different nationalities, coming from different socioeconomic strata, life perspective, church background, non-church background, uniting together around the saving work of Jesus Christ. And my prayer, as I say, happy real New Year. My prayer before we cast the vision for next year is that Christ shows us more deeply that the most vital thing between us all is Jesus Christ and his work.

And if he has to continue to strip it away in slightly painful ways or sometimes really painful ways, then all praise and glory to God because ultimately we're developing a more pure and unified bond as saints and followers with him. So let me pray in closing. Heavenly Father, we praise you for just the blessing that this church has been. We thank you as our 12th birthday is coming up in October, we thank you that I could have spent weeks talking about just amazing stories of seeing your saving hand just call dead sinners to life in Jesus Christ and bring them to freedom from the power of sin in their lives. I could spend just weeks talking about ways that communities, brothers and sisters walking together have served you in the form of doing charitable generous works, have served each other in terms of speaking the truth and love, calling each other to accountability to the identity that you have bestowed upon them.

I thank you that we really have had such a blessed experience as your saints here in this city, in our short lifespan. But Lord, I praise you all the more for the hard lessons that you've provided in the past year. And Lord, we thank you for the perspective. We thank you for the maturity, the insight that we have developed for facing them. And Lord, I just ask, give us power to hold fast to you, hold fast to the cross of Jesus Christ, to always preach it, to always teach it, to always point ourselves first and foremost to it and your offer of salvation in it when we face personal challenges, when we face collective challenges as a body moving forward. Lord Mayor, we pray that our light would continue to shine brightly in this city, and we do ask for a harvest, Lord, just pour out the rains from heaven where you just call just thousands of people home in the months in the season ahead. I pray this then in Jesus name. Amen.