In our series of the church series, and if you look at the bottom of the front side of your program, we have written the fourfold vision of our church, and each one of them starts out by saying our vision is to glorify God by establishing. And so I want to read it real quick with you because we're on the third one today, and then we'll get to the fourth one before we jump to the next series of teachings in the text.

The first and foremost, our vision is to glorify God by establishing a church that engages in God, God-centered worship and not man-centered. Number two, a church that equips every believer with God's inerrant word. Number three, a church that builds a community through love and accountability. And fourth, a church that reaches out to its community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So we've been talking about that these are the fourfold vision that we are trying to shoot as a goal. And again, this is not anything unique to Beroean Community Church. This is something that as we've been studying, we're convicted that these are the things that a church ought to focus on, a God-centered worship, equipping with the word of God, building a community based on love and accountability, and then fourthly, the Great Commission.

And so as we look at the third vision today, we want to be talking about the importance of the community, why this is so important, why this is a focal point of one of the fourfold focal points of our church. So let me pray and then we'll jump into the sermon this morning.

Heavenly Father, we want to praise you for your goodness. And again, we know that our very breath is sustained by you. We pray, Father God, that you would be merciful to us as you always are, that we would have ears to hear, hearts, Lord God, that are easily molded, and lives that can be challenged and directed toward a path that leads to Christ.

Help us, Lord God, to sift through your word and that nothing coming off of this pulpit is contradictory or contradicts anything, Lord God, that your word has to say. So we pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

You know, whenever we talk about the issue of the church, even though I've been a Christian for a while and I've been a pastor for a while, we, you know, not too long ago, we celebrated 18 years of our church anniversary. And prior to that, I was a pastor for about seven, eight years prior to that.

And so, you know, I've been a pastor for so long and our church has been around for so long, it's just kind of like, yeah, of course, you know, I'm a pastor and I'm committed to the church. But growing up, church was the last thing that I wanted to be a part of.

Some of you guys have come from churches where you've had experiences of split up and bad experiences. So naturally, humanly speaking, I would have easily been one of those people that if you were out in the street evangelizing, I would have been one of those people that's like, I hate the church, you know.

You know, it's not Christ or Christianity, it's just, I think the church is filled with hypocrites. I would have been one of those people, for sure. In fact, when I was younger, my memory of the church, at least not as a little child, but as soon as I began to understand the church, some of the things that I can tell you, the horror stories that I've seen, I've had a close friend of mine whose father was an elder after a Bible study, wanted to physically hit my dad.

And I remember sitting in there watching this, you know, thinking, man, why do people come to church? And I've heard so many times in the back of the car while my parents are driving, sitting in the back and listening to them talking about what was happening at church. And I'd be sitting in there, sitting in the back as a young kid, listening to all of this.

And again, years of this piling up, seeing the behind the story of people's complaints and attacks on my dad and my parents. And I remember one time, I don't remember my dad raising his voice too often. My dad was a pretty even-tempered person. And I remember one time he was on the phone with somebody else at church, and he was pretty upset.

And he was going at it with this person. And I was listening to what he was saying. And basically, somebody said something to my mom, and my dad was on the phone defending her to that person. And I don't know the background story behind that, but I remember listening to this.

And if I knew what it was and what they said, I don't know if I would have been able to control myself. So my earliest memories of church, I mean, to say it was negative would be an understatement. So as early as I can remember, I remember committing to myself inwardly.

I never shared this with anybody, but inwardly thinking, as soon as I'm 18, I'm gone. Church is not for me. And if it wasn't for the grace of God, I would not be here. And even after I became a Christian, now I realize the church was the condition that it was at, not because that's what God wanted, but because the church has gone astray.

So even after I became a Christian, the local church was the last thing that was on my mind. I wanted to be a missionary. I wanted to work on campus, work with college students. I wanted to do all kinds of stuff, but the local church was the last thing that I wanted to commit to.

So here I am, you know, so many years later, I'm a pastor of a local church. How did I get to this point? It wasn't anything supernatural. It wasn't like, "Oh, I went to this church and I started to see what a healthy church looks like and like, oh, I see, what I saw was wrong and this is right." There was no experience.

There was no eye-opening experience that happened to me. Basically what happened was, as I was teaching through the Bible, and it wasn't really even in seminary. I'm sure in seminary I was taught often the importance of the local church, but to me it was just, you know, okay, you know, that's what you say and that's what I heard.

But after I became a pastor, I started preaching through the Bible. I started preaching through Philippians. I started preaching through John and then went to Romans. And so I was just kind of working my way through the New Testament and then started to study and do quiet time through the Old Testament.

And certain things that I thought about Christian life started getting challenging. I realized a lot of my thinking wasn't biblical, even though that's what I was taught, even though that's what I was practicing for years. It just wasn't biblical. And one of the key things that I learned about Christianity is about the church.

And again, typically we tend to think like, well, prayer is important, evangelism is important, discipleship is important, but the church is kind of like, you know, like fellowship. Those are for we Christians, like who don't really want to pray and like, you know, level one Christians are the ones who are doing missions.

But the church, you know, that just, that's just like nominal people. They don't come and hang out and want a fellowship. But I, as I was sifting through the scripture and I realized just how important the church is to God. And I, one of the key things that I learned, one of the first things that I learned was God sees all of us in a context of a church, not just individually in a desert, in the church.

Now, I'm going to show you a few things and hopefully you can see what I'm, what I'm getting at. Turn your Bibles with me to Joshua chapter 7, 16 to 18. This is a passage where the Israelites are about to conquer Jericho and God tells the nation of Israel, I'm going to deliver this city to you and all you have to obey me.

But when you go in, this one stipulation is everything in this city is under a ban. It's under a curse. So, I don't want you to touch anything. Well, one of the Israelites from the tribe of Judah named Achan thought that he was going to be smart and say, you know what God, maybe God didn't really mean everything.

You know, there are some good things here that I can take away and benefit from. So, instead of obeying God, he decides to go and take some of the, some of the prized possessions and keep it for himself. He doesn't tell anybody. But because of that particular sin, they end up going to the next city to conquer and it's a much smaller city.

They should have, if they were able to conquer this big fortified city, this tiny little city up in the hill should have been a piece of cake for them. So they don't even send their whole army. They only send 3,000 of them. And then because of this particular sin, God withdraws his favor and then they get attacked and many Israelites die as a result.

So God speaks to Joshua and the leaders of Israel and say, this is the reason why this happened is because you did not obey me. Your strength does not come from your army. Just like I told you to meditate on my word, do not turn from it to the left or to the right if you want to be successful.

Well, Joshua chapter 7, 16 to 18 is a scene where God picks out Achan for the purpose of judgment. But look at the way he does it. Joshua 7, 16 to 18. This is the way he does it. This is a huge drama. It says, "Early next morning, Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes and Judah was taken." So again, they're pinpointing Achan, this one particular person.

But the whole nation of Israel had to come out. We're not talking about 20, 30, 40 people. If any of you have ever tried to organize a group of people, even 10, I get 10 of you guys get together and say, "Hey, let's go eat somewhere." You know what kind of headache it is just to organize even 10 people, right?

And it's like you run a picnic with 100 people. And I'm very thankful for our family ministry team who's organizing the picnic. But just to get the people to move from this table to this table sometimes takes 20 minutes. You know what I mean? And we're going to eat over here.

I said we're going to eat over here. Like where are we eating? Over here. When are we eating it? Now. Right? Just to get these people to move from here. Why this huge drama to pinpoint this one person? The nation of Israel is taken. And then after that, the clan of Judah is separated because that's the tribe that he's from.

So even the clan of Judah is now a small group of people, right? It's probably thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people. They come forward. And then he took the Zarahites within the tribe of Judah, this family group, the Zarahites. He had the clan of Zarahites come forward by families.

And Zimri was taken. So you see this drama of Israelites, the tribe of Judah, the Zarahites, and then the Zimri, right? So Joshua had his family come forward man by man, one by one. And Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zarah, the tribe of Judah was taken.

That's a lot of drama to pinpoint one guy, right? It would have been easy. It's like, where does Achan live? He's in that tent. Go get him. Comes back. Judges him. The end, right? This whole drama of all the nation of Israel coming out, and then the Judah, and then the Zarahites, and then the Zimri, and then his family, and then one by one, and then Achan.

See, this is not unique to this scene. If you study the Old Testament, every single individual is connected to his family and his tribe. So whenever they identify their God, they always say the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, meaning the connection that they have. And you'll notice that every individual in Israel is connected to a community.

And God basically was teaching the nation of Israel, because of this one man sin, Israel is guilty that each tribe is culpable. And the closer they get to him, they're more culpable. But the whole nation was guilty because of this one man. In fact, if you see all throughout the New Testament, and Old Testament, and the New Testament, you'll see that that's exactly how God sees us.

Anybody who's a parent will understand this. Like as a child, it's hard to understand. As a child, we kind of look at it as like, "Oh, I'm good. I got a good job." Right? But as a parent, it's not enough that my first son is doing well. I want my second son to do well.

And I want my third son to do well. And my daughter. I can't forget her. Right? So as a parent, you never, it's never individual. Like I don't feel well until our family is well. I don't feel rested until everybody is home. It's not just one. So if my children ask me, like, "What can I do for you?" The first thing that I would think of is, "Take care of your brother.

Be good to your sister." Because I won't be at peace until everybody is okay. And you see that God as the Father of the nation of Israel always sees them as a unit, as a family. And if you come to the New Testament, you can't practice Christianity outside of a devoted commitment to a community.

Look at the language of the New Testament, Romans 12.10. Be devoted to one another. Be devoted. He doesn't say just casually, just kind of, "I attend this church." He says, "No, be devoted to one another." Romans 12.16. Live in harmony with one another. Romans 16.16. Instruct one another. Galatians 5.13.

Serve one another. Ephesians 5.21. Submit to one another. Colossians 3.16. Teach and admonish one another. First Thessalonians 5.11. Encourage one another. Hebrews 10.24. Spur on one another. First Peter 4.9. Offer hospitality to one another. First John 1.7. Clothe yourself with humility toward one another. First John. Hold. First John.

Love one another over and over again. And then 2 Timothy 2.2. He says, "Flee the evil desires of your youth. Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Even when we practice communion in 1 Corinthians 11, what does it say?

He who eats and drinks off the table without acknowledging the body of Christ, he eats and drinks what? Judgment upon himself. It wasn't meant to be done in isolation. It wasn't meant to be done by yourself. It was in the context of the body of Christ. A Christian cannot be obedient outside of a devoted relationship with the body of Christ.

Again, I can sit here and spend probably the rest of this month, maybe even year, talking about this because almost every text in the scripture in the New Testament is written in the context of a local church. If you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, or so, you don't need to turn your Bible there, it's about the body of Christ, and how God has given each person different spiritual gifts.

Why didn't He give it to everybody? Why didn't He give different spiritual gifts as soon as you became Christian that you're able to do everything? He says some, He made eyes, tongue, head, feet, mouth, and each one is vitally connected to one another that a mouth, independent, is useless unless it is connected to the head.

A feet is useless unless it's connected to the hands. And God deliberately made it that way so that we would not be able to function without one another. In Ephesians 4, 16, that's exactly what it says. From Him the whole body, from Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.

So that's the body of Christ. The body of Christ is His physical presence on earth. And we can't function as a Christian. So somebody says, "Well, you know, as Christians, you know, I can be a Christian. I don't have to be a part of a church." I say, "Yeah, you could go to, you may be able to go to heaven, but it's just not like saying, 'I'm a Christian, I don't have to read the Bible.'" You're right, you can be a Christian without reading the Bible necessarily, but you wouldn't be an obedient Christian.

You can be saying, "Well, I don't have to pray." I say, "Well, you could technically, but you wouldn't be an obedient Christian." You can't practice, you can't be reading the Bible and practicing Scripture outside of the body of Christ. So it's kind of like, that's why when an individual is separated from the body of Christ, there is no application to Scripture.

The only thing that we look for in Scripture is encouragement. How to raise my kids, right? How do I find encouragement in this difficult world? How do I do this? The book is nothing more than a how-to for my own individual life. So if we're going to the Scripture, it doesn't come alive because I'm not committed to obey all that it has.

Again, it's no different than reading an instruction manual of how to build. Like I say, you buy an IKEA furniture and you have the instruction manual, but you have no intention of building it. You know, you just like reading it. And then after a while, it's just going to get old.

It's like, "Well, you know, I've read this before." Just getting old. We live in a culture where if things don't fit us, we try to redefine it. Because again, remember we talked about that? The beginning is God-centered worship, not us, but Him-centered. Sometimes we make the church a place for us.

Some of you guys may remember, remember the TV show Cheers? All right, three people, three people. So I don't know why. The earlier service had more older people, so they agreed. Okay, so Cheers was the popular sitcom before Friends. Right? Okay, yeah, it was a long, long time ago.

In the beginning. So Cheers was a sitcom, and I remember at that time when that sitcom came, and if you watch Cheers now, it's so tame. You know, it's, I don't even know if they would rate it PG. But I remember when this TV show was popular, there was a debate in the Christian community thing, should Christians be watching this because it's so raunchy.

You know, because they were talking about, you know, sexual encounters very openly. And then prior to this TV show becoming popular, it was all family-oriented, like the Cosby show, Family Ties, and Family Other Stuff. Right? I can't remember. But it was all family-oriented, it was pretty wholesome. This show came on, and it became really popular.

And I think part of the reason why it was really popular, it showed a group of friends at a bar where they had community. And this is how the theme song of that sitcom goes. At least the beginning part says, "Cheers. Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.

Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came. You want to be where you can see our troubles are all the same? You want to be where everybody knows your name." I think this particular sitcom tapped into a longing in our generation.

Because we no longer have communities in our neighborhoods. In fact, with so many families being torn apart, there's really not even communities even in our homes. And there isn't much community when you go to work. You go into a cubicle, do your job, cock in, cock out, and you come home.

So less and less. And again, part of the reason why Facebook and all this social media is so popular is because there is a longing, even if it is superficial, there is a longing for connection. Now at the core of what this song says, it is not wrong. In fact, that's what a church ought to be.

But here's the danger of this, if we're not careful. That we make church to be about this. A place where we can go where everybody knows my name, I feel connected to people. That we're all going through the same struggle. There's nobody judging anyone. There's no push to anything, that I feel accepted exactly the way I am.

And everybody knows my name. And they're always glad I came. No matter what I'm doing, no matter where I'm going, no matter what my life looks like, they're always glad I came. Wouldn't that be a great place to be? And I believe that, again, whether it's cheers, whether it's friends, or whatever sitcom that came, there is a longing in our generation.

And this song kind of captures that. And again, the danger of this being applied to the church is that more and more we're redefining the purpose and intent of the church based upon what our generation desires. Again, like I said, at the core of it, in and of itself, it is not necessarily wrong.

When we begin to redefine church based upon our generation, our need, and who I am, what I want. And the truth of the matter is, it works. If you build a church where people feel connected and love and accepted and not judged all the time, it grows. You don't have to have the best sermon, you don't have to have the best organization, but if people feel loved and accepted, no matter what, it will grow.

Because that's the longing of our generation. I'm pretty sure that's a longing that you have in your heart as well. But we need to be careful that whatever churches that we're building, that we're building because this is what the scripture tells us what the church is. So I'm going to do an exercise with you real quick.

So take out your program. Take out your program. If you have pencil or pen, I want you to do something for me as an exercise. I want you to draw one triangle, three square, and a rectangle. If you know what I'm doing, don't say anything. Draw a triangle, three squares, and one rectangle.

You can draw on the program. It is not blasphemy to do it. So there's nothing sacred on that sheet that you can't mess up. So if you don't have a paper, you can do it. One triangle, three squares, and one rectangle. Everybody did it? You're all done? Okay, can you put up the picture for me?

Okay, is that what you got? Why not? I told you to draw a triangle, square, and a rectangle. Right? All right, you can turn the light back on. All right. So you all failed then. You all failed. Okay. So when we don't understand the doctrine of the church, we can focus and be busy on evangelism, on fellowship, on discipleship, and focus on all of these things, and miss the big picture.

They're not recognizing that God's intent for the church is to build His church. Why we do evangelism is for the building of the church. Why God puts us in situations so that we can use our gifts to build the church. And if we don't understand the doctrine of ecclesiology about the church, and you don't see the big picture, we can be busy drawing rectangles and triangles, and that triangle looks great.

You know, some of you guys are focused on triangles, you know. It's about mercy ministry. You know, we need to be merciful. It's about the orphans. It's about this, about this. And some of you guys are about evangelism. No, it's about evangelism. We need to share the gospel. We need to do this.

Some of you guys are on discipleship, you know. So you got the rectangle, and it's like, it's a perfect rectangle. Look at this rectangle. You know what I mean? How come that square isn't shaped like me? And then the square is like, how come that triangle doesn't look like me?

Right? Not realizing the big picture. That in the context, when you read the scripture, all of these things put together build up the body of Christ. In Matthew 16, 17, this is the first place that Jesus uses the term "church," ecclesia. And the word ecclesia literally means a gathering of called out people.

And it was used for two specific purposes. A gathering of military. Before they go to war, they would gather together, have a rally, and say, "Hey, we're going to go for this particular purpose." Or the word ecclesia was also used for the Senate Assembly. People who were voted in for a meeting to help run the government.

So it wasn't just a random gathering of people. It was people who were selected in a gathering for a particular purpose. And so when Jesus uses the term ecclesia, it was not a new term. Today if we say church, we automatically think of the Christian church. But at that time, when they said ecclesia, they thought of the assembly.

A purposeful gathering of a small or gathering of elect people. That's what the church is. The church is a gathering. It is a physical gathering to represent the universal church. In Matthew 16, 17, where Jesus uses that term first, he says, "Blessed are you, Simon, the son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." That God's intention was to build His church. Not simply an individual. Not simply somebody who can preach. Not simply a place to preach the gospel.

But all of it collectively for the purpose of building His church. And the only reason why you and I are here today is because God has covenanted with us to do that. If you think about the 2,000 years of church history, the utter chaos, how often false doctrines have come in and done crazy things.

In the name of Jesus, they killed people. You know, I know, like right now, there's a lot of crazy things going on under the name of Allah and beheading people. Well, Christians at some point in Christian history, they were killing other Christians because they didn't agree with them. They burned people at the stake.

I mean, they – Christians, the church, did some crazy stuff. We would look at all this, and how do we get here? At one point in church history, they were selling salvation. If you gave the church a lot of money, you know, they'd say, "You're blessed and you're saved.

Not only are you saved, but all your ancestors are saved." The only reason why you and I are here and the gospel is still being preached is because God made a unilateral covenant with us. He said, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." We don't even have to look at church history.

Look at the people around us. I know for a fact there's some people in this room thinking, "This church is going to die if this church is filled with those people." How is this church even functioning with those people? Let's get even closer, okay? We don't even have to think about other people.

Look at yourselves. Look at – when I look at myself, how can God possibly think that this is a good idea? To entrust this message of salvation. He said, "You know, they will know you by the love that you practice with one another." And then we observe and observe ourselves, we observe the church, and it's like, "No, this church is going to die." How did we ever make it here?

And how does God ever think that for the next hundred years the church is going to survive when we look at the condition of the church today? The only reason why you and I are here today is because God made a unilateral covenant. And he said, "I will do it." You think about good marriages.

I know, you know, I know there's some people that have been married for a long period of time and I feel like Esther and I, we have a great marriage. You know, and some of you who are younger may think, "Oh, you found the right one." You know, and it was so perfect.

You know what I mean? We fit, you know, she finished my sentences before, you know, like it cleared my throat and there's water on the table already, you know. A marriage is strong because there are times when it, you know, if I didn't want to be married with her, I wouldn't have asked her, right?

But there have been times where we have persevered because of a covenant. Because there was a covenant that kept us together. You know, I think about it, I'm like, "What the fuck?" Am I telling you something that is shocking to you? Any human relationship, there are periods of selfishness, there's periods of misunderstanding, there are periods when it's so difficult where you start to think, "I don't know, man, my life is miserable.

She doesn't understand me, I don't understand her." But what keeps a good marriage growing and continuing is the covenant. See, the only reason why you and I exist is because God made a unilateral covenant to build His church. Despite our weaknesses, despite all the mess, despite all the divisions and all the things that we have seen, all the things that you see now, all the things that you experience from this point on.

Because God loves His church. Ephesians 1, 22 to 23, it says, "God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be the head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way." It is the body of Christ.

You know, I know some of you guys maybe here is thinking, "Well, you know, the body of Christ is a universal church." Everything that is written in the New Testament is written in the context of a local church, a local gathering. That's the term, ecclesia, is a gathering, a local gathering of people who've been called out for a specific purpose.

So when we talk about the church, we're not referring to the universal church, that's assumed. But we're talking about the expression of that universal church in the local church. And He says, "It's that local church which is the body of Christ, and it is that body of Christ, us, is the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way." Again, you and I, because of the internet, that there is more and more people thinking, "Well, I mean, church is the sermon.

So if I go and listen to a sermon, I participated in the church." That's not what the scripture says. It is the local gathering of believers where the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. You did not attend service because you listened to a sermon on that Sunday.

It is the local gathering of people. You know the passage in Ephesians 5, 25-33, you hear that passage often in sermons at weddings. And it's a beautiful description of a relationship between husband and wife. And let me read you part of it. It says, "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." And again, you'll hear that in saying, "Hey, husband, love her unconditionally." You know, "To make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as the radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." It's a beautiful picture of a husband that commits to his wife unconditionally as Christ did to the church.

And then it says to the wife, "In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church, for we are the members of his body." But here's the catch.

After he presents this beautiful picture of husband and wife and God-ordained relationship, he says in verse 32, "This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church." He wasn't using Christ and the church as an example to look at and say, "Look at the beauty of the relationship between husband and wife." He was referring to the relationship between husband and wife as an example of the beauty of Christ and the church.

Now why is this important? One, we see the love that Jesus has for His church. Even with all the blemishes. In you and in me, He still loves the church. Now, that's one thing. Like, even after I became a Christian, I mean, I can honestly confess to you, I loved God.

I even loved strangers. Because as I'm praying for salvation, like God would give me a heart and I'd be broken for, whether it was the homeless people or people who just didn't know Christ. Even as I'm driving on the freeway, I look at the people on the freeway and God would give me compassion for them.

So I'd be praying for them. But I can honestly tell you, I had no love for the church. Because to me, church is where chaos happens. Church is where hypocrites gather. Church is where people who, for whatever the reason, is using their flesh to kind of work up the ladder in the name of Jesus.

And it was ugly to me. And I wanted to commit to everything but the church. But what transformed my thinking was as I was looking at the scripture and found how much Jesus loved the church. He died for the church. He demonstrated His love while they were sinners. He loved the church.

And I realized that I cannot love this God who loves this church so much and ignore what He loves. Who am I to come before God and say, "God, you messed up. I know that that's what you're planning. We tried it for 2,000 years and it's not working." Who am I to come before God and question His judgment?

And I realized that I need to commit to what He's committed to. And that's what changed my paradigm. He loves the church. That's why He calls us to love the church. Not because it's lovely. He didn't love us because we were lovely. He didn't love us because we had potential.

He loved us because He made a covenant with us that I will love you despite. I will persevere with you despite. I will cause this church to prevail despite. So who am I to come before God and say, "No. Here my Lord sent me, but not to the church.

I want to go on missions. I want to go on campus. I want to do disciple making, but not to the church. It doesn't work in the church." And I, honest with you, there are days that in my heart I kick and scream because sometimes I notice certain things and it triggers memories and I think to myself, "I don't know if I want to do this." And it's all that baggage from when I was a kid and I projected upon the church and I have to take a step back and revisit, "Who am I?

Who am I to question if He loves the church for me to not to love the church?" See Colossians 118, it says, "He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have supremacy." What makes the church beautiful is not you, it's not me.

It's Christ. You know, those of you who are married and you've been proposed to, you know, you, I know not everybody, you know, got a diamond ring. My wife didn't get a diamond ring either, you know. But those of you who got a ring, when you get the ring, the focal point of the ring is the stone, whether it's diamond or opal, beautiful opal, right?

Whatever it was, right? The focal point of all of that, the setting, is to highlight the stone. I just call it diamond, okay? I just call it diamond for the purpose of illustration, okay? The focal point of that ring is the diamond, not the setting. The setting is only there to beautify the stone.

But imagine if you got it, if you got the ring, and there's no focal point. There's no stone. All you have is the setting. How many of you look at that, it's like, "That's an awesome ring," right? And there's a place for it, there's a little thing that holds up like this, but there's nothing there, right?

How many of you are going to look at that ring, it's like, "That's a beautiful ring," right? You're going to all look at that and say, "Where is this? What is this?" Right? Because the point of the ring that is the setting is to highlight the stone. And the better job it highlights the stone, the better job the setting does.

See, the scripture says the church is the setting for Christ. And our job is to be a setting so that Christ may be highlighted. And the moment where Christ is not the head, and He's not the purpose, and He's not the reason, then the church begins to look ugly.

There's something missing in this church. You have great friendship, you know, people love each other. I mean, you have a lot of money, you have, I mean, people are so nice. But if Christ is not the focal point, if Christ is not the reason why you're coming, sooner or later you will see the blemishes, and that's all you will see.

You will see the ugliness, you will see the insecurities, you will see the cliquishness in the church, and that's all you will see. What causes us to persevere? It's the stone. It's the cornerstone that the world looked at and said, "This is worth it, let's throw it away." But you and I know that that's the chief cornerstone that keeps up this church.

That you and I are dependent upon this cornerstone. And so what causes us to persevere through the ugliness, through the mess? It's the beauty of the stone. What causes you and I to persevere when we see ugliness in us? Is it because we're better than other people? We're more strong-willed and disciplined than other people?

No, because Christ is beautiful. And despite all my sins, despite all of your sins, Christ continues to call you and me to himself. And that's why he says, "If the church does not lift up Christ, if the reason why you come to church is not Christ, if the reason why you love the church is not Christ, eventually it'll become an ugly place." You have four selfish people together, it's difficult.

You have a hundred people who are selfish together, it's impossible. You have 400 selfish people looking for a place to feel significant, it will be a horrible place. And that's why he says, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." Why did he say that?

Because the only thing beautiful, worth upholding is Jesus. That's why he said that. "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ." I wanted to point you to Christ. I want you to think about Christ. I want you to be gathered around Christ. And I'm going to preach Christ, I'm going to talk about Christ, and I'm going to love Christ, and I'm going to proclaim Christ, and I'm going to magnify Christ, because there's nothing else in the church that belongs on that pedestal but Christ.

That's what the church is about. That's why we are sanctified. You and I learn how to be patient with one another so that we can be a better setting for Christ. We learn how to be hospitable so that we can be a better setting for the stone, the chief cornerstone.

You know, when I was younger in college, we lived, a lot of you guys know, I was in this intense apartment training, woke up in the morning, disciplined, evangelizing. And so I really appreciated that. But after about a year of living, I realized the real training wasn't the physical discipline.

Even though that was beneficial, the real training was happening in my heart. The bitterness I had toward my roommates, because they ate all the curry, you know what I mean? We made a whole batch of curry on Friday night, went to a leaders meeting Saturday morning, came back at 11 o'clock and it was all gone.

And that bitterness, you know what I mean? It's like, this guy's so selfish. That guy always eats, but he never does his dishes. Never! I've never seen him one time do his dishes. We're all sleeping at 11 o'clock, but this guy's playing guitar to throw in the morning. He just does not care.

This guy's so selfish! You know what I mean? This guy always pays his rent late! Because of him, we always have to pay penalty. I never want to live with a guy like that! Right? And all these things are building up inside, and at the end of the year, it's just like, I love Jesus, but this guy I hate, you know?

I realized at the end of the year, the real sanctification, the real discipleship was happening within me, to confess my sins, my pride, to love my roommates that were difficult to love, you know? And so God was forming the person in me, even though I was focused on what was outside.

And so all of that for what? You know? So if you're in the habit of coming in and saying, "Ha, these people, I rubbed these people wrong, and these guys are jerks, and that guy's insensitive," and then so you kind of pull back, you will never be sanctified. Because what God is really doing is in your own heart, your own pride, right?

Your own insecurities, your own insurance, right? Where you find safety, where you find comfort. God is challenging all of that to make sure that Christ is at the center, not you, not family, not possessions, not your job, not this world, not your health, that He'll tap into all of that to make sure that the setting, that place where at the center, that only Christ is there.

That's why if you look at the qualification of an elder, it is not his gifting. It's not like, you know, we would think if somebody's going to be preaching on a regular basis, the top quality, you would say that he needs to be at least articulate. He needs to enjoy reading.

He's good at communicating. He needs to be somebody who can engage people. He needs to be somebody who recognizes that people are not interested in the sermon and wrap it up, right? You have all these qualifications of what an elder should be, but if you look at the qualification of an elder, it's all patience, temperance, hospitality.

It's all character. And all of these characters are things that happen in the context of a community. How do you know if you're a patient person? You just walk out and say, "I'm so patient." Do you know you're patient if you're in the middle of the mountain with nobody around you?

Do you know if you're impatient? No. How do you know if you're hospitable? I'm so hospitable, you just don't know. You know, how do you know? Just know, right here, Holy Spirit told me, right? How do you know you're hospitable? In the context of the community that you belong to.

How do you know if you're a forgiving person? If you always run away from people that are difficult. All of these things God is sanctifying in the context of the community. So God is not simply bringing us together and saying, "Hey, you know, all the perfect people go to this church so that we can build up the body of Christ and do it." No, He brings us together.

Part of it is to make a setting for Christ. We're in the context of building, rubbing each other, wrong sometimes. Different personalities, different backgrounds, different anxieties, different sins. And in that context, we learn to be patient with one another. To be gentle, to carry each other's burdens. To be hospitable.

And as we are being sanctified, we make a greater setting for Christ. Isn't that exactly what Paul says in Timothy, 1 Timothy 3.14? I hope to come to you soon. I am writing you these instructions so that if I am delayed, you will know how you ought to conduct yourselves in the household of God, which is the church of the living God.

The pillar and foundation of the truth. The church is the pillar and the foundation of the truth. What's the truth? Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." The church is the foundation in which we lift up Christ.

Again Ephesians 3.10-11. His intent was that now, through the church, not just an individual, not just one person, not just an evangelist, not just a missionary, but through the whole church, with all our blemishes, right? With all our anxieties, even with all our divisions, he said, "Through the church." He covenanted that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.

Known to his eternal purpose. This was not plan B. This was plan A, from the beginning. You know, there are times when I look at the church and, you know, I know some of you guys are like, "You just don't know. You don't know how messed up the church is." These people, trust me, I know.

I probably know better than you. You know, you may think about it every once in a while. I think about it every single day. Because I'm the pastor. I hear it. I hear it. I get emails. I get, you know, if something's happening, it usually comes to my ear.

So, some days, some weeks, it just kind of piles up and like, "Oh my gosh! There's no hope for tomorrow!" You know, and really, I've shared this with you before, but there's sometimes I feel like a schizophrenic. You know, I leave church like, "Oh God, thank you so much for this church." And then I get an email and I hear these things like, "Oh my God, I don't want to do this anymore." You know?

And every time I take a step back, and again, with all the baggage that comes in, I forget my hope is not in me, and it's not in you. It's in Christ. It's because Jesus loved us. He loved us. He loved you. I can't, if you ask me why, I can't tell you why.

What is, man, that you are so mindful of us? Why do you care for these people who are so hard to move? Why do you care for me? I'm so stiff-necked. I, I, when I read, you know, when I first started reading about Israel, I would say, "Oh my God, what's wrong with these people?" Now when I read Israel, I'm like, "I could see myself doing that." You know, I went in the desert, I have all my kids, and they can't drink water.

I mean, think about it as a parent, you know, maybe as a single person, I don't know. Think about it as a parent. You've got three small kids, you're walking in the desert, and let alone milk, there's no water for them to drink. How many of you would think, "Why did we come out here?

I can't even, I can't even give them water." At least over there, I mean, I was working my butt off, but I couldn't give my kids water. And I read the Israelites, and I can say, "I can see myself saying that." I can see myself, every time they fall apart, I can see myself, now that I, I feel like I know myself a little bit better, I can see myself in every sin that Israel commits.

I can see myself doing what Peter did. And I could even see myself doing what Judas did. And despite all of that, we're here. We're still here. After 2,000 years of mess, of all the things that you brought into this room, and if we were to expose all of that, and we could see it with our eyes, we would say, "Oh my gosh, this church is in trouble." And yet, despite all of that, He said, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." I don't know why, but He chose to love us.

So who am I to say, "No, Lord, if you love the church, then I will love the church." I pray, again, with all my heart, that our commitment, that we would see the big picture, and not just see the little triangles and little squares, that what God is trying to build, that we would also build as well.

Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, You are a merciful, merciful God. Help us, Lord God.