Ps Sonia Fuentes - This Is Who We Are

So, we're going to get right into the word. So, as I was praying about what to bring this morning, we're in a new season as a location and also as a global church. And first, I just want to thank you so much for your prayers and your support and Vanya making me cry again as we navigate the unknown and the new season. And as I was praying for this morning, the Lord impressed on my heart to go start at the start. And I think remembering the basics when you're a believer is one of the most important things that we can do because so often we complicate, overcomplicate things as followers of Jesus, don't we? And so, you may know, or you may not know, that as a church, a global church, our vision this year is restoration. So, we had a streaming service recently and passed away in Alcorn, sent out this word for this season and for this House Numa Church. And, you know, Pastor Wayne was talking about that the Holy Spirit has already spoken to him about, he's already started this restoring work for us as a church. And if you weren't here, I encourage you to have a listen or re-listen to that. It's on the Numa Melbourne City podcast. And so, the revelation that God gave Pastor Wayne was about Haggai and the Unfinished Temple and believing for us as a global church that the glory of the present house will be greater than the former. That what is to come will be healthier and more fruitful for all. And not just when it comes to the church, but when it comes to each of our individual lives, when it comes to every marriage, when it comes to every family. And so, this is the overarching vision for us this year as the church. But when I was in prayer about, Lord, what are you doing at Numa Melbourne West? The Lord actually gave me three words. He gave me maturity, unity, simplicity. So, if we look at restoration, and if we want this to become a reality in our marriages, families, relationships, there is some stuff that only God can do. Only the Holy Spirit, I mean, restoration means better than original condition. So, that stuff is so supernatural that only the Lord can do. But there is a part that we play in it. So, it's about continuing to grow in our maturity and allow God to shape our character until we look more like Jesus. So, there also needs to be a unity among us as the body of Christ so we can grow together and sharpen one another. And simplicity is needed as well. I believe we're in a unique time in history where the ways in which we've done church before are being reformed. And the main things are becoming the main things again. Maybe we've ventured off a little bit. And this, some things that this looks like is like events becoming, I'm not saying that events are bad, like conferences and all these things, but they're becoming secondary to discipleship and doing life with one another, yeah? And presence overtaking performance, yeah? Hosting the presence, like the team did so beautifully this morning. And consecrating ourselves, setting ourselves apart for the Lord, surpassing duty. Not just like a tick box, but like, I want to set myself apart for the Lord. And then authenticity over falsehood, yeah? The Lord is after authenticity in His church. So, these things may seem simple, but in my experience, they're the hardest outwork in our lives because there's a battle that happens in our flesh with these things. And it's important to say from the get-go that maturity, it's a process and it's a process that we're all in. We all find ourselves in this process whether we've been a believer for five minutes or whether we've been a believer for 50 years. So, we're all in this process together. And so, with this said, I found it necessary to touch on who we are as a church. For Numa Church, the mission stays the same as it has for almost 100 years this year, to advance God's kingdom. Through reaching more people to encounter the love-changing love of Jesus, disciples, discipling people who then disciple people. Cultivating spaces where adults, children, youth, everyone can heal, grow and thrive. And, you know, global mission. Partnering with global mission partners and generously sowing into the work they do to bring the gospel, practical love and hope to many nations. This is still who we are. This is who we are. So, that's the title of my message Today. This is who we are. Every church has a unique vision and mission, but they come secondary to the blueprint we find in the Bible. And so, we're venturing today and in a fortnight's time on a two-part series of This Is Who We Are. Today, we're going to focus on our individual spiritual formation as followers of Jesus. And then, in two weeks, we're going to unpack what the church looks like when we are all bringing ourselves to the church, when we're on that journey of maturing and what that looks like. Is that good? Okay. So, today, we're going to unpack Ephesians 4. And I'm just going to unpack it as we go. I'm not going to read it in one whole block, but the scripture will be on the screen behind me. But, you know, Ephesians was written by Paul to the church in Ephesus. And, you know, when I read through this book of Ephesians, it's for us today, just as much as it was for the church in Ephesians. So, if you haven't read it in a while, I really encourage you to go back and read Ephesians. But we're going to go Ephesians 4. And in chapter 1, Ephesians 4, chapter 1, it says, So, we'll start one to three. Live a life worthy of the calling you have received. So, when you hear those words, there's a sense that what we have received is so precious and invaluable that in response to what we have received, Paul urges us, which means strongly advises or tries to persuade us, to live our lives worthy of the calling we've received. So, in essence, it's honouring Jesus with what we do, with the hope we carry, because of him and what we do with the calling and gifts that he's given to each one of us. So, when you think about living the life worthy of the calling we've received, what are the characteristics of it? I'm glad you asked because this scripture unpacks it all for us. So, it's all in one place, which is amazing. In verse 2, it says, With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Humility, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, or bearing with one another in love, are virtues that are challenges for humanity. Humility? Or is it just me? No? Patience. Come on. Come on, guys. Patience. Obviously, we're not all patient, right? Or else I feel really bad up here by myself. You know, so when we look at humility, you know, I read this week a quote by the amazing Tim Culler, and it says, Humility is so shy, if you begin talking about it, it leaves. And as soon as we think we're so humble, maybe we actually stop being humble and enter into false humility territory, right? True humility is something that's only grown and fostered at the feet of Jesus. And seeing him rightly, and therefore seeing myself rightly, so then I can see others rightly. Yeah? As he sees them. And so, you know, when we think about Jesus, you know, he was humble. Philippians 2, 5 to 80 says, He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Mark 10, 45. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. So he was humble. And then in 1 Peter, he tells us, Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another. It's a very important virtue. When we think about gentleness, it's a fruit of the Spirit. And we know Jesus was gentle. In Matthew 11, 29, we all know this. A lot of us know this scripture. It's very well known. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle. And the word humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. And it talks about it as, you know, the interaction between one another. Proverbs 15, 1 tells us a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 14, 4 tells us a soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the Spirit. And in Philippians, it tells us to let your gentleness be evident to all. Patience, another fruit of the Spirit. Romans 12, 12 says, be patient in tribulation. 1 Corinthians 13, 4, it says, what love is? Patient, yes. So this virtue goes really hand in hand with the fourth one, which is, you know, bearing each other in love. Or some translations use long suffering. Does anyone know what long suffering is? Yeah, kind of. Yeah, suffering long, yes. That's very good. But basically it is. It's the Spirit that, it's saying that while we are, we're patient and exercising self-control when we're faced with challenges. But I love St. John, and I can't say his surname, Christatom, I think, Christatom, oh goodness, defined long suffering as the Spirit that has the power to take revenge but never does. So it's a characteristic of forgiving, generous heart. In another church, in another time zone, in another planet, has anyone ever wanted to take another route other than long suffering? Yes, the routes. Yeah, exactly. It's hard stuff. It's not, you know, it's against our flesh stuff, you know. But this is the really beautiful thing about it. It's that we know that the Holy Spirit empowers us to outwork these virtues. And they can only be done well in love. We can easily see this in how these virtues are becoming less and less valued in our society today. You know, when someone is humble, gentle, patient, long suffering, it's like a rare thing. It's almost we celebrate it now because it's kind of so rare. But as the church, we're called to outwork and show evidence of these virtues to the unsaved world. Yeah? To people who don't know Jesus. To show them this is who we are. As the church, as the followers, as followers of Jesus, this is who we are. So we know these virtues are also the building blocks for unity. Yeah? So what does Jesus say about unity? In his high priestly prayer in John 17, I remember Pastor Levi preached a word on this scripture. It was beautiful. He prays for us to be one. This is Jesus praying to the Father. And he says, I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. And I am coming to you, Holy Father. Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. Isn't that beautiful? In the same prayer in verse 23, it says, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and love them as you have loved me. Isn't that precious? It's so beautiful that Jesus prayed these words about us. And, you know, we know the big scripture around unity is Psalm 133.1, how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. So, you know, here it says, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. You know, it's really interesting. We're not called to create unity. We're called to preserve the unity that already is established. Yeah? Because if you think of the Godhead, there's nothing for us. We maintain the unity of that. Yeah, that's what we're called to do. And Paul asks us to do this eagerly, eager to maintain. Because you know what? There will be so many attempts to disrupt the unity between us. And we have to guard against these attempts and keep the unity. So, when information comes our way, that's of a sensitive nature, you know, is our first response to pray about it or to gossip about it? You know, does our heart feel heavy and burdened for the church when stuff happens to it? Or do we feel a weight to be more like Jesus? Or do we enter into conversations about the bride of Christ kind of tearing it down? This is the unity that we're called to preserve. It's in verses 4 to 6. So, this is the unity we're called to preserve. It says, we're going to read from verses 4 to 6 in Ephesians 4. It says, So, at times, like I said, this unity will be tested. And we have been through such a season. But to have the life-giving conversations where we can point each other back to Jesus, strengthen our individual relationships with the Lord and encourage us about the church. We encourage each other because we are the church. So, you know, are we cultivating spaces where we can have crucial conversations with someone who doesn't agree with us and still walk away loving them and loving the church? These are really important things for us to think about as the church. And when we look at that Psalm 133, the unity in the body of Christ is so holy. And I love what Charles Spurgeon wrote about it, about Psalm 133. What a sacred thing must brotherly love be when it can be likened to an oil which must never be poured on any man, but on the Lord's high priest alone. Unity is life-giving. And it says in that chapter that it commands a blessing from the Lord. And so when we're talking about unity and maturity, they go hand in hand in affirmation as followers of Jesus and in building healthy community. So when we talk about maturity now, it really is becoming more like Jesus. Jesus is our standard. And we find parallels in spiritual maturity and physical maturity, our growth through the lifespan. And so when we go through verses 7 to 10, it tells us that each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. And in the verses that follow it, it's simply saying that everything is made by him and through him. He has the authority. So Christ gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers to equip his people for the works of service. The order here is very important. Our foundation is Christ, like that beautiful communion by Keely, our cornerstone. He is the foundation. And he apportioned the grace to us. But it's really important, verse 13, because Paul could have stopped there and said, you know, God, he's apportioned graces to everyone. But in verse 13, it says, So we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of Christ. So we all reach unity in the faith. We find unity in those verses in four to six. There is one body. There is one spirit. We're called to the one hope. This is the unity that we have as the body of Christ. Can we agree on that? Yeah? That's the unity in the faith. Knowledge of the Son. This is not just head knowledge, but this is the full experience of our relationship with the Lord. And just like we can't fully know someone through their words, we need to experience them, experience the deepest type of fellowship. That's what that's talking about there. And attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, becoming mature. In this life, we'll never, you know, no one's perfect. Yeah? We're all sin and fall short. But we should aim. It shouldn't stop us from aiming to be more like Jesus. We should still have that aim of becoming more like Jesus every day, a little bit more that we're in relationship with him. So let's expand on why maturity is so important. Verse 14. You know, the more we know Jesus and the more we read his word, the more we sit under teaching, the more we experience the fullness of who he is, the more we journey in life group, yeah, around the word together as a church family, we develop discernment. And we can say, you know what, this is a bit off here. This doesn't sound right to me. But if we aren't, there's a danger of being blown here and there by every wind. You know, a good example of this is, you know, reels. We take a snapshot of what someone says and then, you know, a lot of the time it's taken out completely out of context, yeah? If we don't have our foundation and our maturity, we're not maturing in the Lord, it's going to be very difficult when this wind and that wind comes. It will fall. And so, in verse 15, it says, You know, it's so important in maturity and unity as well, speaking the truth in love. I love this quote by Warren Wurbs. He said, Truth without love is brutality and love without truth is hypocrisy. So, truth in love is essential. And so, you know, for the body of Christ to be built up, we need this. We need the truth in love. And as the body, we need to be growing up into the head that is Christ, not growing independent of him, but growing up into the head that is Christ. So, you know, as we gather from these verses that maturity is continually building on our identity in Christ and being grounded in God's word. So, it becomes our guide to any and every situation we encounter. The goal for us is to grow in maturity as we grow older in physical years of following Jesus. And, you know, one of the things that is so interesting, it speaks to maturity being something that grows in community, not in isolation. We grow together. And so, this is where my argument comes in for anyone who feels that being planted in a church is an optional extra. Yeah? We're given to each other. These verses, you know, really read these verses that we're given to each other with specific graces for the mutual upbuilding of each other. Yeah? So, how can we grow in maturity without having situations where, or being exposed to a community where someone can encourage us? Like, that's a beautiful part of what we do as a church body, to encourage us. Like, hey, you know, like, you know, how we, I went up to Keely and said, I encouraged her because she did an amazing job in communion, right? We encourage each other and that's how we grow. But even, you know, we all have blind spots. How can we grow if we're not being corrected lovingly if we isolate ourselves from community? And so, you know, we need both of these things to mature. You know, or even being around in a community of people that the way they live convicts you. We all have one of these people, the way that they speak to their children. You're like, oh man, I feel so convicted. I yelled at my kids this morning, you know. They speak so beautiful to their kids. Like, that's amazing. Or their marriage. Oh, wow, I'm so, you know. And it's nothing that they do, but it's how they live their lives. How are we going, how is that going to bring encouragement to our lives if we're not connected in community? So, it's really important for us to do that. It's a part of our maturity. It's modelled out in community. So, you know, we need to get close enough to people in community and allow people to get close enough to us. You know, another thing that we need to think about as a church is, you know, are there safe, trustworthy people to have these conversations with, without judgment? Do we create, cultivate environments that are healthy, safe and life-giving, where people can grow and bring the stuff that is affecting them? Because we either cultivate that or we cultivate the opposite, where people don't feel safe. There's no safety with leaders and people. So, it's this whole thing about connecting with people before correcting them. It can only be done in proximity, in love, truth in love. Context is important. And so, we're almost there. We're going to, I know this is a pretty heavy word, but, you know, in, and I really encourage you to read from verses, the verses, let's see. Oh, yes, here, from verses 20, 17. Yep, 17, it's called the new life. In some translations, it's called instructions for Christian living. So, it's to 32, to the end of the chapter. These are some of the ways we live out our calling, as Paul initially encourages us to do at the beginning of Ephesians 4, engage in a new way of living. So, the biggest thing here is putting off the old self and putting on the new self. And so, not to walk in the futility of our thinking or of thinking that could be, that could happen, or in darkened in understanding and separated from the life of God and the hardening of hearts. That's not the way of life we have learned, it says. Put off your old self and be made new in the attitude of your minds. So, this is something, again, where we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. I mean, He's so good. He's so good. He leads us through this. It's not like we're on our own, like, hey, you're a new believer, now you're on your own, like, figure it out. Like, that's not the way He is. And we know, a lot of us in this room can testify that the Holy Spirit, how the Holy Spirit has walked us through healing, has walked us through these things. Because it's not easy. You know, when you've lived a life where you've been taught to think one way, even about yourself, if you have, you know, maybe you have anxiety or depression. It's not like, oh, I can just switch that off. We all know if you've dealt with these things, it's not like, oh, yeah, you know, I can just get over it. Right? Or when you've been taught to think, you know, really negatively of yourself. Oh, you're not going to get anywhere. You'll never be good enough. You know, maybe it's from, you know, upbringing or the people around us have told us those things. The Holy Spirit is so beautiful to help us to put on this new self, to help us to be made new in the attitude of our minds. Because we're created to be in God's, in true righteousness and holiness. And so the Holy Spirit partners with us to do this. And it's not going to happen all at once. I think we want it to. I think as humans we're like, I want it to happen now. I want to be, you know, down the road now. But it's a process. And, you know, I love when I've journeyed with people and they tell me what they might be struggling with at the start of their walk. But, you know, we're seven years as a church this year in May. We celebrate our seventh year. And when I look and I look at the people I've journeyed with, their journey of maturity, and I see how their perspective has shifted and their thinking shifts and they're marked with joy. That's like the most beautiful thing. It's amazing. But it doesn't happen in a day. We're in process. And so these things, I think they can, when we read them, we can feel like a bit, oh, gosh, I'm not there. I don't do that. When we read, you know, later down, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Who gets angry? All of us, because we're human. You know, you can feel like, oh, you know, it's a convicting thing. You know, I always say, one of my sayings is we're only responsible for our response. So what do we do with our anger? You know, but God's not condemning us. He wants to work through that. He wants to help us put off the old self and put on the new self, change the attitude of our minds, change our heart. And this is the journey that we're all on. And so, you know, the longer we hold on to anger, it will consume us. It's wisdom to take this on board in our lives. Yeah, this is wisdom to bring these things to the feet of Jesus. You know, things like do not give the devil a foothold. Fostering pride or hatred in our hearts gives the enemy a foothold. It opens the door to a deep rabbit hole and it can consume us, which is something the enemy loves to do because it distracts us. Right? Do not let unwholesome talk come from your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. You know, this follows the verse about unwholesome talk. This grieves the Holy Spirit. You know, when we wound each other as the body, as the bride, with our words and with our actions, it breaks his heart, brings sorrow to the Holy Spirit. So this is all wisdom. This is how it's worked out. I'm going to invite the worship team to come. When it says, get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger and slander. And then, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. You know, this is stuff that is really hard maybe for us to hear and it brings up a lot of things. And we're going to do a time of reflection in a moment. But it's really important. Like, this stuff is really important for us. You know, if we want to be more like Jesus, this is the stuff that we have to bring before the Lord and journey with him. You know, I mean, we could come to church every week and sit down and, you know, our lives are the same and, you know, things are good. But that's not the Lord's desire for us. He wants us to grow for the sake of the church and then for the sake of each other. Because who knows, the church is God's plan A. There is no plan B. We are it for the world. Yeah? So if we don't get this stuff, if we're not working on this stuff, when people walk through our doors, how are we going to love them? How are we going to journey with them if we haven't journeyed through this stuff ourselves? And just being honest with the Lord. Like, Lord, you know what? I have an anger issue. I have, you know, I struggle with rage. You know, I've got bitterness in my heart, Lord. There's things from my past that I haven't let go, that haven't gotten better. You know, this is really important. Our individual spiritual formation, it flows, it runs through the church when we come together. And in order for the church to be God's answer for all humanity, we need to be the church for each other first. This is who we are. We're followers of Jesus. Not by any means perfect. That's not even in the same hemisphere as being a follower of Jesus, that word perfect. But through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, growing to be more like Jesus. This is who we are. This is who we are. God calls us to be who God calls us to be as His beloved children. This is who God calls us to be as a part of His bride, the church. So I want us to just close our eyes for a moment. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come, Holy Spirit, come. What comes up for you when you read from this passage? What do you feel the weight of? Is it weighty? Is there a conviction you feel from the Holy Spirit? If there's nothing, I just want you to ask the Lord. Take a couple of moments just now to ask the Lord. Lord, would you search my heart? We just want to be more like you, Lord. Would you search my heart? Would you search my heart? Would you search my heart? And ask the Lord, Lord, what do you want me to do with this? What do you want me to do with this? I really believe that this is a word that we can't just sit on and be like, yep, yep, okay, I've heard it. The Lord wants us to grow and mature and be united as the church. This is His heart for us. To be free, to walk in freedom. To be free from our life before Jesus, the things that were holding us down, the things that affected us, sin, bondage. We can't just sit on this word. We can't just sit on this part or sit out. We can't beat you. We're the body. Amen.