This sermon is part of One Year Later; a 4 part series that looks back over the 12 months that followed North Village Church moving to its new location. You can watch all 4 here.
Sermon manuscript:
This morning we are continuing our series called “One Year Later” because a little over a year ago we took the step of faith to enter into this building in Austin and we had no idea what was going to unfold over the last year.
Over the last year we had the roller coaster of a pandemic. We’ve rallied around our Yearly Focus “Look Around.” We’ve hosted Open Houses to invite people from the Crestview, Brentwood, Domain, Northwest, communities. We have had some people move out of Austin. We celebrated Pastor Keith’s last Sunday.
It’s a lot, but we knew as a church family we wanted to make sure we stayed focused on our vision as a church family. Some of those things were planned, some of those things were surprises but our vision doesn’t change, our purpose doesn’t change as a church family:
North Village Church is a family who places Jesus at the center of our lives so that it moves us to chase after every man, woman, and child in Greater Austin to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus Christ.
Does that excite you? I hope that excites you this morning. I hope that resonates with you personally this morning. I hope there is a part of you wondering, “How does that happen?” How is our church family going to influence two million people in greater Austin?
Partnering with Established Churches: I meet with 4 other pastors in north Austin every month to pray for our 78757. Sometimes we bring our churches together for events like the Good Friday Worship service.
In addition, we also partner with about 40 other churches all over the city that I meet with once a month because we know we can’t reach greater Austin alone.
Planting New Churches: Some of this has been slowed down through the pandemic but we are absolutely committed to starting new churches and specifically starting new churches in north Austin and greater Austin.
In the past we have helped two other churches get started and right now we financially send money to a Spanish speaking church in Round Rock because we believe in starting new churches.
Personal Ownership: Last one. This is our personal responsibility to the vision of our church. Each of us need to consider how these areas apply to our lives personally.
o Jesus at the center
o Family is critical
o Chasing after others is captivating
Last Sunday Pastor Keith walked us through Titus 3 to remind us of how important Jesus is to our life. That isn’t just a formality.
The Lordship of Jesus in our life is critical. Jesus is the One holding on to us into eternity. Jesus is the One walking us through the volatility of our day. Jesus is the One took our sin at the cross and conquered death in the resurrection. His name is Jesus!
This morning we are going to talk about the family part of our vision. Next Sunday we will talk about chasing after others but let’s get into family.
The idea of “family” is something that sounds so simple, but really, if you think about it, building a family is hard.
It’s easy to do what you want to do when you want to do it. It’s easy to give your life to your career. It’s easy to build a group of friends who look like you and think like you all the time. That’s easy. But building family is hard.
I am not talking about attending a worship service. I am not talking about 5 minutes of chat after the worship service. I am not talking about finding 2-3 people that are comfortable and always drifting toward those people. That’s easy. But building family is hard.
This morning we are going to see God’s Word remind us why family is so important to North Village Church. We are going to see three sub-points; 1. God’s Plan. 2. Jesus Saves. 3. Until Then. Let’s look at the first sub-point; 1. God’s Plan.
- God’s Plan.
1 Thessalonians 5:9, “9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”
Let me give you some context to get us on the same page. 1 Thessalonians is written by the Apostle Paul, and Paul’s life has been radically transformed in Jesus (Acts 9) so that Paul is declaring and demonstrating the name of Jesus all over the Roman Empire, and in Acts 17 the Apostle Paul, Silas, and Timothy roll into Thessalonica, a city in modern day Greece.
Thessalonica is a capital city. Thessalonica is thriving in commerce, thriving in diversity, thriving in influence, and Paul, Silas, and Timothy show up in Thessalonica and start talking to people about Jesus.
When we were in Mexico City last week, we took some time to walk up to strangers, speak to them in broken Spanish and ask them, “Can we pray for you?” 80% of the people would say, “Yes.” And one of those groups chased us down to hang out with us in back at the church. It was awesome.
These boys had a musical background. The pastor in Mexico City has a musical background and while we were there, we got to connect them together.
We have no idea what the Lord will do in those relationships but what we are reading this morning isn’t an ancient document of how people use to eat, live, and pray. The idea is that when we come to faith in Jesus, we start to live out our faith in Jesus just like they did 2,000 years.
In the context of 1 Thessalonians 5 there are hardships, challenges and the Apostle Paul is reminding them in verse 9, “For God has not destined us to wrath.”
The Apostle Paul is reminding the Thessalonians that God is still working because sometimes when there are hardships and challenges, we get discouraged but God’s Word is reminding us that “God has not destined us to wrath”
But that doesn’t mean the “wrath of God is a bad thing.”
At first glance it sounds like one of those positive posters like “all dreams come true.”
But the “wrath of God” is to bring judgment against the evil and corruption of this world. That’s a good thing. Could you imagine a world where evil and corruption was never held accountable?
If we were having a party at our house in Millwood by the Domain and someone walked through the door with a baseball bat and just started wailing on everyone, would you want me as the host to say, “Don’t worry. Just love that person?” No, you want me to bring judgment in that moment and stop them!
In the same way, God’s Word makes it clear that one day judgment is coming upon the evil and corruption of this world and just to be clear, the evil and corruption of this world isn’t out there, but it’s in here. The evil and corruption of this world is in our hearts.
Therefore, the hope of verse 9 is that the God of Scripture hasn’t abandoned us to His wrath. He could. He would be completely just to walk away from humanity and leave us in our evil and corruption, but He doesn’t. That’s not His plan for our church family in north Austin.. Let’s look at His plan in our second sub-point; 2. Jesus Saves.
- Jesus Saves.
1 Thessalonians 5:9, “9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
Are we all deserving of His judgment in Austin? Yes. Are we thankful for His judgment? Yes? We don’t want evil and corruption to go on for eternity. We want evil and corruption to be held accountable in the church and out of the church in Austin.
The good news is that Jesus has come to take the judgment we deserve upon Himself at the cross.
It is Jesus who lived a perfect life. It is Jesus who lays His life down at the cross. It is Jesus who conquers death in the resurrection.
Listen to me, it’s possible you are thinking, “I thought we were talking about family as a church in Austin, but we have to talk about the cross because what brings us together as family is the cross.
Look around the room. What’s holding us together isn’t our similarities. What moves us through the challenges and hardships of our day isn’t strong relational skills. It isn’t our stage of life. It is the cross that attracts us to one another, therefore, to talk about family you have to talk about the cross.
I wish we had time to dig into that phrase “who died for us” because it is so powerful. When Jesus dies on the cross it isn’t for His sin. Jesus wasn’t killed as a martyr for a cause. Jesus didn’t lay down his life at the cross as an example of love.
No, Jesus died in our place. Jesus died “for us who believe in Him”. Jesus dies to take our judgment at the cross. He who knew no sin became sin so that we might know the righteousness of God. He bore our sins. That’s the hope we have in Jesus. That’s what brings us together as family!
I have shared this illustration before, but it is appropriate. There is an old illustration of a pastor driving home from his wife’s funeral and trying to find words to share with his children, their mom, about what just happened.
At one point, the dad looked up, and the dad said to his children, “Do you see that truck? Do you see the shadow of that truck? Would you rather be hit by the truck or by the shadow?”
The youngest child said, “By the shadow.” The dad said, “That’s why Jesus is so important. Jesus was hit by the truck of death, so that your mother only had to go through the shadow.” That’s why we talk about Jesus so much! That’s what holds us together as family. Let’s look at our last sub-point; 3. Until Then.
- Until Then.
1 Thessalonians 5:11, “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”
The word “encourage” is the same word as “comfort.” Yes, we are going to be surprises in life. Yes, we are going to encounter challenges in life. Yes, we are going to hit moments that don’t make sense and God’s Word is reminding us “encourage one another, build up one another.”
In fact, did you notice verse 11 isn’t for mass communication. It is to one another. Literally, in the original language, it is one to one in our relationships with one another in Christ.
Over the last few months, we have had some key families move out of Austin, and those families were like relational anchors to our church family.
Those families were people who looked out for others, reached out to others, encouraged others, and lived out verse 11, therefore, the challenge for our church family right now is, “Can we develop those types of relational anchors with the people who are in the room?”
The Lord has developed those relational anchors in the past. Therefore, we need to ask the Lord to do it again and help us build heart strings with the people who are in this room.
Listen to me, this is a real challenge for us right now. I don’t know about you, but after the last couple of years, I can’t say that I am at my best relationally.
It’s like I look at my life before the pandemic and after the pandemic and I find myself thinking, “Have I forgotten how to talk to people? Did I forget how to hang out with people?”
Do you remember when we just hung out?” But for the last two years we had a completely different rhythm and I have to learn how to “hang out” with people again.
Therefore, if we are going to be a family we are going to need to grow in this area. We are going to have to build heart strings with the people in this room as a church in Austin. Not just 1-2 people but the Lord is going to have to give us an affection for one another as a church in North Austin.
Practically it means it means commitment. We commit to showing up on Sunday morning. We commit to gathering in groups to study God’s Word. We commit to honest relationships with one another. We commit to taking an interest in one another. We commit to forgiving one another when we let one another down. Why? It’s because we’re family.
I will close with a story. My family and I are opening our home for fostering in Austin. All through the training the leaders kept encouraging us to prepare for adoption as well.
But we told the agency that our purpose for going through the training is only to foster because, if possible, we want to get the children back to their family because family is so important.
In the same way, Jesus sees that we have all gone astray in our sin and Jesus has come to bring us back to His family. He takes our sin. He conquers death. He brings us into His family and that isn’t just when we get to heaven one day.
The body of Christ is a taste of the family we can have with him today, therefore, turn to Him. If you have yet to believe in Jesus, then do that today. If you have then turn to Him and ask for His help to build family. Will you pray with me?
North Village Church
This article was written by Pastor Michael Dennis, Lead Pastor at North Village Church; a non-denominational church in Austin, TX, established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching.
Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
North Village Church is made up of professionals, married couples, singles, and families who are wanting to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus. If you are a family with children or teens, we can support you with either or both our Kids Ministry and Youth Ministry.
Check out our North Village Church calendar highlights such as our Christmas Eve Service and Easter Sunday Service.
You are welcome to contact us if you would like more information.
NVC Online
Unable to attend this Christian Church in Austin? Don’t worry, because, through God’s provision, we have created NVC online, an Online Church streaming a worship service every Sunday from 10:30am Central Time. You can also watch our short, powerful sermons on demand and follow us on Instagram for daily Christ centered content.