Growing Responsibly

Great to see all of you here this morning. Thank you for choosing to worship with us today. this is a big day in the life of our, church, and, we just wanna thank you for being a part of it, this morning. We're having our, service, right now, obviously, and that's why you're here.

And, and then, after the service, we'll be having a lunch in room 103 that we're providing, for you. and you, even if you've not signed up for that, you're welcome to stick around and join us for that lunch. And then, after the lunch, as close to 2 o'clock as possible, we'll see how things unfold with the lunch. We may get started a few minutes early, but, at the, at the very latest, we'll be starting at 2 o'clock here in the auditorium.

And I want you guys to know that we have, Tried to serve you by scripting the evening. Those that are gonna be presenting, we've actually asked them to submit written scripts to us, and given them time limits and told them to rehearse these things out loud so they know how long of time they're gonna take. I'm predicting, prophesying. I'm not, no, I'm not prophesying.

Put your stones away. but I am, but I'm predicting, that, that, by 3:45, you will be able to walk out of here. at least know that that's what we are striving for. We've done a lot of work to that end.

Your time is important to us, and we know that it's important to you and we've tried to serve you by putting together an evening that, will be profitable for you, give you an idea of what God is doing in the life of our church and send you on your way. At a good point in time this afternoon. All of you are invited to be a part of the meeting tonight, the lunch and the meeting, whether you're a member or not. in fact, if you're not a member, tonight is a great, or this afternoon is a great opportunity for you to just get a good vibe of what our church is all about, our vision and what is going on in the ministries of our church.

So we'd love to have you join us, for the lunch and for the meeting this afternoon. Well, what I wanna do, this morning is to just talk, it's a sermon, a quasi sermon and partly a stream of consciousness, as well. I wanna, I wanna just talk to you as a pastor on the subject of growing in, growing responsibly in the place of God's provision with a specific focus on us growing in, in community. and just lay some things, before, you, this morning, and we'll be interfacing with various passages of scripture as we do so.

let me start with this. CS Lewis in his book, Four Loves. talks about the nature of, of love and in the process, in one of the parts of the book, he maybe inadvertently makes one of the strongest, most compelling cases for community that I think I have read anywhere in just a very few words. Lewis shares how he had two friends named Charles and Ronald, and they were a threesome.

The 3 of them enjoyed spending time together. The 3 of them had great chemistry. when they were together. However, one day, Charles died, leaving only CS Lewis and Ronald.

In this friendship. Lewis tells how when Charles died, as painful as that was, Lewis comforted himself with the thought that, well, now that Charles is dead, at least I will get more of Ronald. Because I will not have to share him with Charles anymore. But Lewis realized soon enough how wrong his expectation was.

In the days after Charles's death, Lewis began to notice that he, Lewis, was actually getting less of Ronald than he was getting before. Even though they were spending just as much time together, if not more. The reason Lewis realized that he was no longer experiencing that part of Ronald that Charles seemed to uniquely awaken. In Ronald and draw out of him.

For example, he mentioned that he could no longer see the unique way that Ronald laughed at Charles' jokes. Soon enough, Lewis realized that far from having more of Ronald, having him to myself now that Charles is away. I have less of Ronald. Lewis realized that in losing his friend Charles, he did not just lose Charles, but he lost the part of Ronald that Charles awakened and drew out.

Lewis then makes this confession. He says, in each of my friends, there is something that only some other friend. can fully bring out. And he recognized that I am not big enough of a person to draw everything out of Ronald that there is to draw out of him.

I need other friends. Of Ronald in order to fully experience Ronald. Lewis said, could have said the same thing about himself. He could have said, and me.

There are things that only another person can fully awaken and draw out. And guys, this is part of why we need to live in community and in relationship with one another. There are things in you That only others and a relationship with others can awaken and draw out of you. If you lived on a deserted island, never knowing another human being, you would not only suffer from the absence of friends and whatever they could bring and contribute to your life, but you would also suffer the loss of all of those aspects of the image of God in you that are never awakened.

and drawn out of you. If you capture this vision, you begin to realize that living in community with others is actually the context in which you experience the fullest version of yourself. As you experience all the facets of the image of God in you that other people awaken and draw out of you. And there are aspects of God's image in your brothers and sisters that can only be brought out by you and by other people in their life besides you.

This is why you need others and why others need you and why you need your fellow Christians to have other Christians in their life besides you. This is why relationships with others should not be seen as a drain, but as a means by which we each are are brought to full flower in Christ and the means by which we contribute to the flowering of others as well. Community is a beautiful thing and it is the context in which we experience the image of God. And the beauty of Christ in fullest measure, the image of God in others, and even aspects of God's image that others awaken in us that we now see coming out of us in relationship with them.

This is part of why the church community is referred to by the apostle Paul as the fullness of him. Who fills all in all. We experience that fullness coming directly from God as we live in community with one another, but even that fullness is exuding from us and from others that we are relating to. This is what the church is all about.

If I were a better man, I would have experienced the truth of what I'm talking about to a greater degree than I have over these past 24 years, but to the degree that I have. Experience the truth of fullness and community with the people of this church. I want you to know that I am thankful. I am thankful to God.

I am thankful for you. This past week, I, I found myself, my heart is swelling over with gratitude for a number of things, with regard to you and with regard to this church and the privilege that is mine of being one of the pastors here. And if you don't mind, if you'll just indulge me, I'd like to express some of that. I'm thankful to Jesus Christ who is our Lord and Savior, who is the true senior pastor of Cornerstone and of every church of true believers around the globe.

That is the broader community that we are a part of and Jesus is the chief shepherd of the church. He is the one who leads us. He is the one whose vision matters, and this is his vision. He died to purchase for himself people of every tribe and tongue and nation, and he commissions us to go and make disciples of people of every tribe and tongue and nation, and it starts here in our own city and in our own spheres of influence.

I'm also grateful for the elders of this church, Mike Berry, Alvin Davis, Paul Kumamoto, Jonathan Jones, Carlos Limtiaco, and Bill Payne. It is a pleasure to serve alongside of these men and to seek to discover the mind of God together in community with these men. I've been in the trenches with these men for years now and I've seen their labor and their sweat and their tears on your behalf, and I am blessed to be on their team. I'm also grateful for you, the congregation of Cornerstone, the mighty congregation of Cornerstone.

I, I appreciate your love for Christ, your love for his word. You have no idea the sense of liberty that, that gives me and anyone else in this pulpit to just preach the word of God for whatever it says. Other pastors, better men than I, are pastoring congregations where they don't feel that liberty that we feel here. And I want you to know that we don't take that for granted.

We're thankful for your love for God's word and desire to follow it wherever it leads. I think about, just looking at you guys, I think about how much power is in this room today and week after week, Sunday after Sunday. And it astounds me, it sobers me, it imposes a very heavy responsibility on me as I prepare to preach God's word to you each Sunday. I think about how many of you go out each week and touch so many other lives.

Literally thousands of lives are being touched and impacted every week by the people of this congregation. As you go out into the world and into your classrooms and companies and Your ministries each week and seek to impart God's truth and grace to other people. You're doing the work of the ministry and as a pastor here at Cornerstone, I speak for all the elders when I say that it is a blessing for me and all of us elders to have the privilege of equipping you and teaching you and resourcing you from week to week so that you can be equipped to do the work of the ministry that you are doing.

I'm also thankful and I speak for the elders when I say this for your generosity and giving to the work of Christ this past year.

Alvin will be sharing more specifics in our meeting this afternoon, but your giving in 2015 was over $80,000 above and beyond what our budget was for the year. We never once kicked any shins or begged or pleaded with you for money, but you have given to the ministry here out of the overflow of your love for Christ and your joy in the gospel. From the 27, I think Thanksgiving baskets that were given out in November to the many angel tree gifts and Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes to the $13,000 plus that you gave in the gifts for Jesus offering back in December that went to the Whitworth family in Utah, you guys have overwhelmed us again and again with your enthusiastic giving to the Lord and to his work.

And I love this generous aspect of the image of God in you.

That is awakened and drawn out of you. As we operate in community with one another. I'm also grateful for this facility. Amen.

I'm grateful for the hospitality that the Burne's team has shown to us over the last couple of years. Our goal in coming to this location. was to reach more people specifically in our Sunday services as well as our other ministries and we've been thrilled to see that steadily happening over the last year and a half years since we have moved here. just to give you an idea, in the 6 months prior to our leaving the Linden Street campus, we were averaging 390.

In our morning services. we've seen a steady increase since we moved here. Just this month, the month of January, we've averaged 490, an increase of 100 twice so far this month, we've had over 500 souls, precious souls in our morning services. And I'm so grateful for this facility that God in His providence has provided for us that allows us to show the hospitality of Jesus Christ.

To more people here on what we often call our front porch. If this facility That we're gathered in today is our front porch, then the house. That that front porch is connected to is our care group ministry. We right now have an 11-room house.

Consisting of 11 care groups, and I am thankful for all of our care group leaders who care for the people in their care groups and help us. to carry out the shepherding ministry of Cornerstone. Daniel Ben Chandler, Mike Barry, Alvin Davis, Jonathan Jones, Brian Kearns, Chris Kidder, Paul Kumamoto, Mario Lemmon, Carlos Lemtiaco, Dave Schilling, and Moses Tay, along with their wonderful wives and their families who give so much. Thank you to all of you for Your sacrifice for your labor.

your love and your prayers and for opening up your heart and your life and your home to the people in your care group and thank you, to all of you that participate in our care group ministry, helping to make our care groups, the caring and the loving communities. That they are. by the way, last September, the elders, pulled me out of care group leadership. I was leading a group up until that time, but they pulled me out so that Donna and I, Donna's my wife, for those of you that don't know, so that the two of us can visit all of the care groups over the course of this, ministry year and we're about halfway through that.

Goal. And so if we have not visited your care group yet, I just wanna let, we'll give you advanced warning so that you can be on your best behavior. That Sunday. I, I'm grateful not just for our Care Group ministry and those involved in that ministry and our leaders, but I'm thankful for all of our ministry leaders and all of the workers in all of our ministries from our college career.

To our men's and women's ministries, from our Ajuana workers to our Sunday school leaders and teachers, from our youth ministry team to our nursery workers, our catering team, our agape team, our ushering team, our safety team, our communion team, our children's church team, our welcome team, our children's check-in team, our worship team, our AV audio visual team without whom you would not be able to hear me this morning. From the team of those who count the offerings each Sunday to those who helped set up and clean up this facility each Sunday, we salute all of you and say thank you.

You are the face of Cornerstone. You are Cornerstone, you are the hands and the feet of Jesus Christ and you are making A huge difference.

Amen. My heart, just to highlight one ministry that I, I was thinking about this week. My heart is blessed on many Sundays when I get here early and I see the team of people putting up the flag signs out front. There's something actually poignant to me about that ministry partly because it's a long and lonely walk.

Out across the front of the property, the parking lot to the grassy area along Columbia to put up those flags each week. It's a simple ministry, yet it makes a difference. In our latest new members class, we went around the room of about 20 people and gave each person who's somewhat new to Cornerstone the opportunity to share how it was that they ended up at Cornerstone. And one man said, I was on my way to another church.

And I saw the flags out front and realized, wow, there's a church here. So I eventually decided to check out this church I attended and I love being here at Cornerstone. He's not the first person to tell us that it was the flags out front. That they saw while driving somewhere else that they saw and then decided to come and visit Cornerstone.

So to our flag team, we say thank you. Thank you. Lastly, I just wanna say, and when I say lastly, I don't, don't mean the sermon's about over. This is, it's just one small part of my sermon.

I'm thankful for the gift of children and for all the households that are represented here at Cornerstone. We are a church of households. And over this past year, we've announced from this pulpit the birth of 19 babies in the Cornerstone family. And my wife, Donna had nursery duty last Sunday and she felt both blessed and exhausted.

When the service was over, the children being born to the families in this church are incredibly precious gifts, and they represent a huge responsibility and an incredible opportunity for you moms and you dads. Thank you parents for all that you are doing and seeking to raise your children in the nurture and the discipline of the Lord. I could go on and on this morning. I just want you to know that as, as your pastor, teacher, and as one of the elders here, I love you guys.

I'm thankful, I'm more than thankful. for each of you and for the contribution that you are making to this church and to the greater cause of Christ. As you make this church the community that it is, and I know I speak for all the elders when I say that. There's much to celebrate and to thank God for, and we could spend all morning and afternoon and evening doing that, but let's transition to, in the stream of consciousness to move our focus beyond just celebration and remind ourselves that celebration does not equal settling.

God did not bring us to this point of our church's journey so that we could just settle here. We, we, we celebrate what God has done and we are thus encouraged not to settle, but to journey on. In the journey that God is taking us on. What is that journey?

We're on a journey from brokenness to wholeness through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the means by which we are moved along in this journey. is the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you wanna know what drives us and what animates us and all that we do, it is the good news. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that Jesus died and he was buried and he was raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God so that from that position of absolute lordship, Jesus might now grant forgiveness.

And salvation and transformation. To broken sinners who believe in him and cry out to him for salvation. As we communicated to you last year, on this Sunday of last year, our vision for this stage of our church's history is growing responsibly in the place of God's provision. This has been our vision since we moved here to the Burns campus, and I wanna take just a few minutes to, put a few thoughts in front of us along these lines.

And saying that we want to grow responsibly in the place of God's provision, we're saying three things. Number 1, we're saying that we don't want to settle, but we want to grow spiritually and yes, even in the number of people that are being reached. We're saying that we want to grow in this place that God in His providence has provided for us. But we're also saying That we want to grow responsibly.

This implies that there is such a thing as growing irresponsibly. Our commitment to growing responsibly embodies a recognition that there is such a thing as good growth for a church and there's such a thing as bad growth. Just as there is in the human body. And that there is such a thing as the use of responsible means and irresponsible means of initiating.

Growth in a church. Theoretically, we know that we could use various worldly means and generate a lot of numerical growth here at Cornerstone. We could have a dog and pony show of some sort every Sunday and probably through those means generate growth and attract a lot of people. And if we did that, there might be growth, but it would not necessarily be good growth, right?

Here at Cornerstone, We, we want God to be the main attraction. and we know that if that's our goal, we're gonna gain some and we're gonna lose many because of that, and that's OK with us. One Christian observer made this statement. He says it is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God.

Isn't that often true today? Actually, that statement was made in 1962 by AW Tozer. And it's truer today than it was when he spoke those words. However, it's our belief, as John Piper suggests, that deep down people are starving for the greatness of God.

And here at Cornerstone, we wanna magnify the Lord. We wanna hold him high. And hold the name of Jesus high, to help people to see who God is and to see that he is the one that they have been thirsting for all of their lives. Here at Cornerstone, we want to experience good growth that is of God, to where the Lord is adding to our number and growing us spiritually.

And so one of the ways that we want to do that is by making rich use of the divinely ordained means of growth, which we believe will foster the right growth and in many ways prevent and protect us from the wrong growth. And I just want to take a few minutes to give you 5 of these. There's more, but let's just ponder briefly 5 of these, 5, we'll call them 5 catalysts for growing a church responsibly. First of all, it's the preaching and the teaching of scripture.

The preaching and the teaching of scripture, and 2 Timothy 4, Paul commands Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season. Why does he tell Timothy to preach the word? It's because a few verses earlier, Paul explained. That the scriptures are profitable for teaching and for reproof, and for correction and for training and righteousness, and it leaves God's people equipped for every good work.

Totally equipped is the language Paul uses. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 17. It's the word of God that feeds us and causes us to grow as a church and all the ways that we should in holiness and in ministry and in worship. Those whose hearts God is touching, as we preach and teach God's word will be drawn to the word.

And be fed by it, and those who have ears that itch for something else will go elsewhere. And we are protected from them. It is our belief that if we keep the scriptures central in all we do, the word of God will act as a filter and a divider. Drawing and feeding the souls of some whose hearts God is touching.

And redeeming and chasing others away. This is why we make the preaching of God's word a central part of what we do on Sunday mornings and in all of our ministries for that matter. This is why on Sunday mornings we have spent the last 14 months studying and preaching through a, a book that's over 3000 years old, the Book of Genesis. Preaching through Genesis 1 through 11.

This is why we will continue. In the months to come, preaching through the coming chapters of Genesis in the year ahead. This is why in a, in a few weeks here, in the first part of the year, we'll be doing a series on marriage. And our whole focus will be to hear what God has to say about marriage.

Let the world say whatever it wants to say. With their fluctuating opinions that change from generation to generation. Our only question regarding marriage is what has God always said? Timothy Keller, recently, I heard him say that if you just adapt your opinions to the fluctuating opinions of this world and whatever is conventional right now to believe, you just guaranteed that your opinion that you hold right now will be irrelevant in 40 years.

Because opinions change. God's word doesn't change. When it comes to marriage or any issue, our only question is what has God always said? And that's enough for us.

We're good with that. And our church will grow the way God wants it to grow as we keep our focus there on the preaching and the teaching of scripture. There's another catalyst for the responsible growth of the church, and that is a continual focus on the gospel, a continual focus on the gospel. Paul tells us in Romans 1 that the gospel is the power of God and literally salvation to everyone who is believing.

The gospel is not just a power, but it is the power of God. In other words, it is the ultimate entity in which God's power resides and does its most amazing work. Based on statements like What Paul says here in Romans one that we see in scripture, it is our belief that as long as we as a church community stay centered. And grounded in the gospel, we will never lack for the experience of the power of God in our midst.

And in our lives. And we'll grow the way God wants us to grow as a church, no more and no less. Back in 2007, I don't know how many of you were here at that time, we had Craig Hazen of Viola University come and speak at our church in the Sunday school hour and then in our morning services. And we were at Linden Street, the Linden Street campus at the time, and he came and he spoke in our Sunday school hour and then he joined us for our service and, and, and we were doing our worship, the singing part of our worship, and we had just finished the last song.

Of the singing part of our worship and Craig Hazen turned to me with this look of dawning realization. And he literally said, I know what this church is all about. You're all about the gospel here. And he knew that just from the song selections, which intrigued me.

After the service was over, we were saying goodbye to each other and he turned to me right before he left and this was his last words to me. He grabbed my arm. And he said to me, keep your focus right here where it is on the gospel. And I promise you that this facility will eventually not be big enough to contain your church.

And I've never forgotten that statement. By Craig Hazen and it proved prophetic. And what, we wanna keep our focus on the gospel. The gospel is the power of God for the lost, to be saved by, and the gospel is the power of God for believers to be transformed by as they keep the gospel in front of their face at all times and walk in the good of The gospel.

The gospel is the means by which the church grows to the degree that God wants it to grow, no more and no less. It's our belief here at Cornerstone that gospel motivated obedience is the obedience that God wants. God does not want your obedience. He wants your gospel motivated obedience.

We also have learned here over the years at Cornerstone from the scripture that the grace of the gospel is the most powerful stimulant to holiness and to ministry and service known to men. And so we want our ministry always to be soaked with gospel grace. To the wise people, the smart people of this world who might criticize our approach to ministry, we would just say, so what if the gospel is a stumbling block to some? And so what if the gospel is foolishness to others.

For those of us that are being saved by it, it is the power of God. And we intend to keep it central. In all that we do There's another catalyst that serves to further Good and responsible growth in the church and that is a congregation of ministers, which I spoke about earlier. A congregation of ministers with each member doing his or her part.

If you are a member of Cornerstone and you are truly in support of the ministry here, then I say to you, welcome to the staff. God has given to each of you gifts and he has intentionally left each of us with deficits. So that both these gifts and these deficits would drive us to one another. So that in community with one another in ministry to one another, we can experience the fullness of God, and the wholeness that God wants us to experience through the gospel.

And God wants every member to play a role in that. That's why he brought you here, because he wants you to play a role, and so many of you are. According to Ephesians 4, it is as the saints do the work of the ministry that the church is built up. Yes, there's apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers, but they equip the saints to do the work of the ministry, and as the saints do the work of the ministry, each one, the church gets built up.

That's why in Ephesians 4:16, If you break down the grammar of the passage, Paul says, and this is a part of the text, he says the whole body, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body. If a church body is to grow, then each member has to be a minister doing his or her part. It's not simply the leaders who grow a church, but each member doing their part and so many of you do. There's yet another catalyst or means of producing good growth in a church, and that is what we would call missional, households, Missional households.

we believe here based on the teaching of scripture that the home is a critical part of the life and the health and the mission of the local church, and we honor the home. And the leaders of our households. Paul calls upon husbands and wives to love each other and to mirror the glory of the gospel in their marriage relationship. Paul calls upon parents to bring up their children.

The idea quite literally is grow their children in the nurture and the discipline of the Lord in Ephesians 6:4. In Acts chapter 2. We see Christians meeting together, not only in the temple, but also meeting from house to house, taking their meals together with gladness and all sincerity of heart, praising God. And then literally, guys, I think I have the literal reading on the screen here.

This is literally the Greek of the text, praising God. And having grace toward all the people. Most English translations do not translate it that way. That's the literal Greek, however.

They met in the temple, and they met from house to house sharing meals together in a spirit of gladness. So have that visual house to house, eating meals with gladness, sincerity of heart, and they're praising God. And in the context of being in the temple and also in the context of being house to house, they are having or showing grace toward all the people. From those households and those gatherings.

Meaning they use their homes to show God's grace to the people of their community. And the text, not surprisingly tells us that the Lord was adding to their number those who were being saved. They grew exactly to the degree that God wanted them to grow, no more and no less. And the same can happen here at Cornerstone as we use our homes to exhibit God's grace toward others and the glory of the gospel emanating from our marriages and from our homes.

There's one more catalyst for growth. Good growth in a church and let's call it covenantal community. Covenantal community. Spiritual growth according to scripture happens most richly in a context of relationships and not just any relationships but covenantal, committed relationships.

We see how true this is with Christ, we would all say that we grow spiritually in the context of our relationship with Jesus, and what is our relationship with Jesus other than a covenantal committed relationship. This is why Jesus hands us the bread and hands us the cup and holds up the cup and says, this is the new covenant in my blood. Which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Part of what Jesus is trying to say by his use of the word covenant in that context is he's saying to you, I want you to know, he says to you and to me, I want you to know that my relationship with you is a covenantal relationship.

I'm not just a fair weather friend who's here today, and let's just see how tomorrow goes. I've made promises to you. And I am committed to you over the long haul. I will never leave you or forsake you.

I am covenantally committed to you for time and eternity and I want you to know that and I've created this ceremony in which you can always be reminded. Of the covenantal aspect of my relationship with you. It's in the context of that covenantal relationship with Jesus and with the triune God that we grow spiritually. And so think about it, guys, if Jesus If Jesus Christ covenantally commits himself in this way to my brothers and sisters, And if I really wanna be like him, then I would want to be covenantally committed to my brothers and sisters.

Even with all of their imperfections, warts and all, and my imperfections too. That's why our membership here at Cornerstone features a membership covenant to provide us the opportunity to mirror the heart of Christ. Toward one another. Look again at Ephesians 4:6.

Paul says the whole body being fitted and held together, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Long, notice here, the language of committed relationship, fitted and held together. The body, he says, causes the growth of the body when the various members of the body are fitted and held together. Not in loose relationships, not in casual relationships, but in committed relationships.

And as we as a church demonstrate that. In committed relationships with one another, loving each other, forgiving each other. for bearing with each other, ministering to one another through all the ups and downs over the long haul, the world sees that love and they are able to infer the truth about Jesus from the love that they see that we have for one another. By this, all men will know Jesus says that you are my disciples.

If you have love for one another, with the love that I have, which is committed love, covenantal love. So these are the catalysts. For good growth in a church and I end this section of the sermon on covenantal community for a reason, cause I wanna unpack that just a little bit and go on a final home stretch for this message. Because you might hear what I just said about being fitted and held together in covenantal community and you might say, Pastor Milton, I, I love that language and I practiced that in my life.

you see, Pastor Milton, I have a circle of about 10 Christian friends, and we are a tight knit group. We've been a group for 20 years now and I am comfortable with these friends. We have a shared history. These are the ones that I talk to every Sunday when I come to church.

These are the ones I sit with, these are the ones that I go and talk to during the greeting time. I don't really have room in my life for more people than that. I just like being fitted and held together with these few friends and practice community with them. And you may also say, pastor, I, I, I see that the church is growing at all, and I'm really hoping that other people will open their hearts to the new people.

that are coming, but I can't because I'm too busy doing true community with my few friends that I am knitted and held together with. It's easy For a group of Christian friends to maybe think that way, though none of us probably would say that out loud. But to settle into a mindset where our thought is, it's us and no more, and no one's getting out of our group and no one is getting in. That's what you call a click.

In fact, let me give you a definition of a clique. A clique is a group of people who have settled. It's a group of people who have settled. And let's be honest, it's easy for a care group to become a clique group.

A care group becomes a clique group when it's people start thinking it's us 25 people for the next 50 years. No one's getting out and no one's getting in. It's gonna be just us practicing real community with one another being knit. And held together.

But is that true community? What is true community anyway? What does it look like? Well, let's ponder that briefly as we go down the home stretch this morning.

I want to put before you three statements with each one spinning off of the other, which gives us an idea of what true community looks like. and you see this on the insert that's in your bulletin. let me just put these 3 statements before you and ponder each one. Statement A is this, God is a relational God.

A sending forth God, a going forth God, and a bringing in God, right? We all know that that is true. We know from scripture that God exists in a trinity of persons coexisting from all of eternity past who love each other. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

If there ever was a group of persons who got along perfectly, In a fully sufficient way, totally satisfying, loving each other perfectly and enjoying each other perfectly. It was this trinity of persons. If there ever was a group of persons who had the right to stay together and never ever experience any separations from one another, it was this trinity of persons, right? If ever there was a group that had the right to be exclusive.

And to allow no one into their midst. It was this group of 3. In the Triune Godhead. Yet in an explosion of love.

God sent forth His Son into the world. And his Son obediently went forth from the Father and came into the world. And died on the cross and experienced separation from the Father, while on the cross in order that he might through his death, be able to bring many sons to glory and bring us into the loving community of the triune Godhead. This is why in John 17, Jesus prays to the Father about us.

And he basically says this, Father, I ask, For those who believe in me that they may be in us. That's amazing. I want them To be in us. Those of us who believed in Jesus and have been saved, that's what's happened.

God has gathered us into this amazing community. Within the triune Goddhead. Where love. Exist like we cannot imagine.

Our family has been dog sitting over the last couple of months. beautiful dog named Jax, who is a boxer, German Shepherd mix. I've noticed that whenever my wife and I are hugging each other, Jax will often stop whatever he's doing, which is usually sleeping. And he'll, he'll get up and he'll come in between us.

And he looks at us with his tail wagging as if to say, it's us three friends forever, right? Us 3, yeah. I've noticed that when our kids were little that when Donna and I would be hugging each other or holding each other that they would get up, they'd stop whatever they were doing sometimes and they would come over to us and they would squeeze in between us. And their goal was not to push us apart.

They simply saw my wife and I loving each other in that moment and they wanted to be in us. In the middle of that. Being in the midst of love. is the greatest place to be and that's what God has done with us, and he went to great sacrificial lengths to make that happen.

He sent forth His Son, and his Son went forth from the Father in order to bring us into the midst of their loving relationship with one another. They're sending forth and they're going forth was not inconsistent with their commitment to community. It was an expression of their community. And for the inclusion of others into their community that they did what they did.

And so we're not surprised that when the triune God, is involved in creating a community of people like the early church that we see. In the New Testament, in the book of Acts, we're not surprised to see that the early church reflected these very aspects of the image of God. And this leads to the second statement that I want to make and put before you, and that is that the early church was a relational church, a relational people, ascending for people, a going forth people, and a bringing in people.

This is what community looks like.

The early church was committed to relationships. We see in Acts, how they were meeting from house to house and they even had everything in common. They were one, they were of one mind and one heart and one purpose. They prayed together, worshiped together, they labored together and met each other's needs.

They've been through many ups and downs. It started with 120 at the beginning of Acts, and they probably liked being that size. They all shared an amazing history. Over the previous 3 years with Jesus and might have been content to settle there.

Then on the day of Pentecost, that 120 turned into 3120 and they probably thought then, OK, that's good, thank you Lord. We can settle here but God kept adding more and more to their number, creating strains and frustrations that we see boiling over. In Acts 6 that they had to address. Later in Acts when a guy named Saul got saved, he tried to get in amongst the believers and no one wanted to embrace him and associate with him at first, but eventually they opened their hearts to this man named Saul and they embraced him.

He later was named Paul, who became the apostle. Little did these early Christians know the gift that this man would prove to be to the church and how their lives would be enriched by him and how the lives of saints over the last 2000 years have been enriched by him. You never know the gift that any new person who walks into our church might prove to be to us. And to the greater cause of Christ in the days ahead.

The early church was a communal people, a relational people. We also know they were sending out people, sending out their finest to Samaria, sending out Paul and Barnabas to go on missionary travels and plant new churches. We see Paul many times sending out precious coworkers. In order to let other Christians have the blessing.

Of the ministry of these co-workers. Paul was willing to share his precious friends and co-workers. The early church was also a going forth people. Peter and John were willing to go to Samaria to check on the Samaritan believers.

Saul and Barnabas were willing to go forth from the church of Antioch. Timothy was willing to leave his mom and go forth with Paul on his missionary travels. Paul was willing to go forth from many churches after he spent precious time with them. His heart would feel ripped in two as he did so, he would weep and they would weep.

Yet Paul was willing to go forth to further the growth of the community of Christ and these saints were willing to send him forth. Was Paul's soul impoverished by all these sending forth and going forth? Was he less of a man or experienced less of God's fullness because of that? I think we would all say no.

If anything, his experience of all these sending forth and going forth took him straight to the heart of the gospel, which is all about a God who is profoundly relational, yet willing to go forth and send forth in order to gather. People into the love of the Triune community. And Paul was able to experience the blessings of bringing in. Many sons.

Into the kingdom and establish new communities of saints around the known world called churches. Our salvation today is the result of a relational God who was willing to send forth and go forth for our salvation and a group of Christians in the early church who were profoundly relational themselves, yet also willing to send forth and go forth in order to bring more people in. How can we not do the same? This brings me to my third and final statement and guys, we actually are just about done.

Statement C, we should be a relational people, ascending forth people, a going forth people. And are bringing in. People. Guys, let's be, let's be like the triune God.

Let's be like the early church. Let's be a people committed to community but also be a people Who are willing to experience the sending force and the going force that might end up being a part of the process of welcoming others and bringing others into our midst. This might mean that you need to go forth. Even today from your group of friends during our after service time, our lunch time, it may mean That you need to go forth from your group of friends during our greeting times on Sunday mornings in order to greet somebody that you've never met before.

It might mean that you need to let your close friend go forth towards another person to be their friend also, even if that means that you now are able to spend less time. With your favorite friend. True community involves sharing our friends with others. It might mean that rather than the two of you, close friends hanging out, that you make it a threesome and welcome someone new into your friendship.

And you are enriched by that. It might mean that you need to send forth some of your favorite care group members to launch. Another care group. It might mean that you need to be willing yourself to leave your care group to help start another group.

It might mean that you need to be willing to split your care group and part ways with some very precious souls that you enjoy meeting with from week to week in order To be able to receive more people and that God is adding to our number. And I would just ask you, are you willing to do that on all of these levels if the need arises? The truth is here at Cornerstone, here at this facility, we have a huge front porch which is this campus, but our 11 room house of care groups is right now, frankly, not big enough.

And it won't be big enough if God continues to bring more people our way and we need to be ready to flex and send forth and go forth in order to enlarge the capacity of our care group ministry to embrace more people.

We may be needing as many as 5 new groups, care groups over the next year or so, and if that happens, we're gonna need new care group leaders to rise up. We will need some of you to be willing to send forth and go forth for the greater cause of enabling us to welcome more people into the body life, into the community of Cornerstone. As it relates to our care group ministry. I'm just putting this before you so that you can be praying about this and maybe getting a vision for this.

Guys, as our church attendance grows, our community will expand with it and we do well to embrace that expanding in all of our ministries. True community is not settling. True community is not being selfish. With each other True community sometimes involves a sending forth and a going forth in 1000 small ways for the greater cause of the gospel.

True community sometimes involves us giving ourselves to others. And even sharing our precious friends with others that God brings into their lives. We got a big front porch here at the Bourne's facility, but I just wanna ask you this morning, how big are our hearts? How big is your heart?

How daring are we to be like God, who is a relational God, a sending forth God, a going forth God and a bringing in God. Will we too embrace the adventure? Of that. If we're willing to be this way, we just might find our own soul expanding from our embrace.

Of other people And we just might discover a fuller vision of God, a deeper participation in the cause of the gospel, and we just might experience a fuller version of ourselves. In the process. And in the process we just might come to know more deeply why the church. is called the fullness of Him who fills all.

In a Let's pray together Lord, we're so thankful for The, the cause that you have, have laid before us and have, have made us participants in. You, you're such a good God. We thank you for all that you have done over the history of, of this precious congregation. Under Jim Brown's leadership for 10 years and then in the last 24 or so years, Lord, since then, under the leadership that we now have, you, you have blessed this congregation.

We have experienced your, your wonderful gracious hand and we just give you praise, Lord, for all the good that you are doing in our midst. We celebrate the good that you are doing in other churches here in the Riverside community and if what you're doing here and what we're doing here makes these other churches feel less alone in, in their ministries, then we are very grateful for that. We're blessed to be counted among these other great churches. But we ask Lord that you would help us to not be settlers.

But to press on in a spirit of pioneering adventure, asking what is it that you are putting before us. And how can we expand our hearts and our vision and the length of our arms as we embrace people. That Lord, people would not just be welcomed onto our front porch here at the Bournes facility, but then they would feel just as welcomed into the community life that goes on in the body life of Cornerstone. May everyone who comes to us, Lord, feel that welcome deep in their bones.

And find here a community that is a relational community, a going forth community, ascending forth community, and a bringing and welcoming in community. And so reflecting. The many facets of your beautiful image. In this dark world that is starving for a glimpse of your image.

We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to give our offerings to you this morning. Receive these funds, bless your people as they give. And do much with every penny that is given for the spread of the message of the gospel and for the glory of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. And all God's people said,