This is a sermon that begins our new series, Vision and Values, Faith Anchored in Christ, Ephesians 4: 11-13. You can watch more here.
If you are new this morning, we typically go verse by verse through a book of the bible, but
this morning we are going to go through a series on our vision and values as a church
family, because have you noticed we don’t plan to drift off course as a church or in our life?
Like, nobody goes on a road trip and plans on getting lost. We just have that moment of
shock when we realize we missed our exit! Right? A marriage doesn’t plan to get a divorce
one day. Nobody gets married and on their wedding day thinks, “I can’t wait till we are
standing before a judge in a cold court room talking about how much we hate each other.”
Nobody plans for this!
As a church in Austin, nobody plans to drift into gossip and slander. There’s no church that
says, “I can’t wait till we focus on politics,” but this type of drift happens when we stop
talking about our vision and values for why we exist. Amen?
The reason each of us got out of bed this morning and showed up this morning is because
on some level we’ve sensed that our spiritual lives are being activated and encouraged here
on Sunday morning. Right?
If you’ve been with us for two months or ten years, there was a moment early on where
something probably felt different. Your mind was engaged. Your heart was connected to
people. So that, none of us are here by accident. We’re here because we sense something
was happening at the soul level.
It’s like what Linda said so beautifully last Sunday during Prayer and Worship. She had all
these questions and frustrations about life, and then the Lord grabbed her heart, so that all
those questions didn’t seem so important.” Is that right, Linda?
Yeah, it’s because in that moment Linda’s faith in Jesus intersected with her everyday life.
Amen? Isn’t that what we wall want? Therefore, this series is our way of trying to put our
arms around these God-like thoughts and feelings. We want to call it out! Does that make
sense?
This is what makes this series so important. If we don’t name those thoughts and feelings
we can’t own them individually and collectively. And, if we can’t own them as a church,
then we can’t replicate them as a community, and over time we will slowly drift into a
people who find some friends, similar stage of life, who talk about sports, enjoy a ministry,
and argue about politics, which nobody wants that in a church family! Right?
Therefore, as we go through this series my prayer is that all of us will have these “light
bulb” moments where we say to ourselves, “That’s it!” That’s why I show up on Sunday
morning. That’s why I give financially. That’s why I don’t freak out when Fred talks about
some political news events, because there is a bigger work of God taking place in our non-
denominational church in Austin!
In fact, let’s pray right now, “Jesus, you’ve brought us together. You’re working in us,
therefore, use these next 30 minutes to give us language and conviction to own why you have
brought us together.” Amen.
We have our values as a church on page 301 in our devotional, but Let me give them to you
with 6 quick action words:
Anchor: February 22 nd
Repent: March 1 st
Worship: March 8 th
Serve: March 15 th
Unite: March 22 nd
Multiply: March 29 th
If you miss, you can watch on YouTube. If you want an acronym to help you remember, you
can say, “We are Arwsum.” Like you are trying to say, “Awesome” with an Australian
accent. I’m just being silly.
These six words are six verbs to keep us on guard from drifting off vision and becoming a
group of religious people who gather for religious habits, so we want to know these values,
own these values so that what we sense, what drew us here, doesn’t disappear. Amen?
This is a collective effort. I can’t carry these values for all us. We have to see them, learn
them, value them and own them, and there is some urgency, because many of us have just
started committing to North Village Church in the last 12-18 months. That means as a
church family, we’re still incubating. You’re still learning my name. We’re still taking
ownership of who we are as a church family. That’s exciting! But it’s the men and women
in this room who need to own these values. Let’s look at our vision:
North Village Church is a family who are centered on Jesus, so that we become a people who are chasing after
every man, woman and child to experience the life transforming power of Jesus in Greater Austin.
North Village Church is a family, which means we are radically committed to having
healthy, vibrant relationships with one another. In addition, we are ridiculously committed
to Jesus being at the center of our lives, and then our belief is that when we are in deep
relationships with one another and committed to Jesus it will move us to chase after every
man, woman, and child in Greater Austin to experience the life-transforming power of
Jesus. (I am not doing stand-up comedy because I want to be a comedian. I am chasing after
these comedians to know Jesus! Yours might be working out, play-dates, school, work, but we
want to chase!) This is our vision as a church family!
Our values are how these words of this vision become a reality. Our values are how we
attract the type of people who embody this vision, and become a people who embody this
vision, therefore, let’s talk about our first value this morning, “Faith Anchored in Christ.”
Faith Anchored in Christ
I can’t stress this enough. If you’re wanting to see where you’re anchored then look at what
shapes your emotional temperature. As human beings, we are going to feel a pull to anchor
ourselves in status; cars, houses, clothes, titles, career.
Look at what makes you feel stable like theological arguments; Israel, salvation, spiritual
gifts, serving the poor; physical appearances and physical health, security of our finances,
security of our country or a political party, but we’re not interested in being anchored in
those areas of life.
When we say we value being a people who are “Anchored in Christ” it means as a church
family we are going to constantly challenge one another to find our identity and purpose,
not in the things of this world, but in Jesus, because our hope is in Jesus and Jesus is the
only anchor that will hold. Amen?
Recently, I have been learning a lot about parenting. My children are launching into
adulthood and I have been struggling to let go of them, struggle to trust the Lord with them,
and I didn’t realize it, but on some level I had anchored myself in the welfare of my
children.
This is a lot to process, but I didn’t grow up close to my parents. My father was a functional
alcoholic. My mother was up and down with schizophrenia, so as a result, I never felt
emotionally close to my parents.
I wasn’t angry at them. I just didn’t feel close to them, therefore, when I come to faith in
Jesus as a young adult, I made the assumption that I wasn’t emotionally close to my parents
because of the volatility in their life, and nobody taught me this directly, but I just assumed,
when I have children I will be emotionally close to them.
And I am close to my children today, but again, I just assumed my adult children would call
me every day, tell me their deepest dreams and fears, and we would basically be best
friends the rest of my life, therefore, when they started to become young adults who make
their own decisions, which is the goal, but I found it very jarring.
I found it jarring, because in that moment I was being untethered from the anchors of this
world! Metaphorically, I felt like a boat being tossed in and out of the storm, and through
this process the Lord is reminding me, “No, Michael, I am the only anchor that will hold you
and sustain you in all areas of life.” Amen? Listen to me, Jesus is our anchor, because…
Jesus is the anchor of our lives, because Jesus is God in the flesh. He is eternal. He never changes. Jesus is fully
man who can relate to our lives, but He lived a sinless life because He is also fully God.
This would be enough to anchor ourselves to Jesus, but Jesus also offered Himself at the
cross for our sin, and then to validated all those claims on that screen when He rose from
the dead, so that by grace through faith in Jesus we can be eternally anchored to Him.
Amen?
This might be new news for some of us. This might be familiar news we haven’t thought
about in a while. This might be news we are very familiar with us, but as a church family
we love anchoring ourselves to Jesus and pointing others to anchor themselves in Jesus.
That’s never going to change!
This is distinct to who we are as a church in Austin. We have had people leave our church
family, some because they get mad at me, and still today they say, “It’s hard to find a church
that talks so much about Jesus!” Isn’t that wild? I think it seems kind of obvious, but every
Sunday, every group, every conversation we want to anchor ourselves in Jesus! Amen?
Listen, the invitation this morning is to not only agree with it but own it in our hearts and
minds so that collectively we become a people who carry that value with us throughout the
week, so that when a new person walks in the door they don’t just sense, but they can smell
it. Sniff-sniff, smells like Jesus in here! Amen? Let’s look at God’s Word:
Ephesians 4:11-13, “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and
some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the
body of Christ;13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature
man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
The book of Ephesians is in the New Testament. It is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to
a church in Ephesus, which is in modern day Turkey. This is after Jesus’ life, deaeth and
resurrection. The apostles have taken the name of Jesus throughout the Roman empire,
and these are men and women in Ephesus, just like us today, have come to faith in Jesus,
and the Apostle Paul writes this letter to remind them who they are in Christ. Look at verse
11:
Ephesians 4:11, “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and
some as pastors and teachers,”
The list of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are roles within the local
church, but I want you to see the start of the verse, “He gave some as.” The emphasis is on
“He” which is Jesus. Jesus is the power source of the local church.
You might see different people on the stage, but Jesus is the focus. The only responsibility I
have this morning is to point you to Jesus. The only reason I tell stories about my life or try
to make you laugh on a Sunday morning is because I am trying to make it as easiest as
possible for you to hear, see, and be in awe of Jesus, so that you want to follow Jesus.
In addition, these roles of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are all
spiritual leaders in the local church, and none of these roles are self-appointed. Sometimes
you will hear people in the local church describe themselves as bishops, prophets and
apostles, and evangelists because it sounds more impressive than pastor or teacher, right?
We think, “Oh, those religious titles sound impressive.” But they are just titles. In fact,
every time a capital A-Apostle refers to themselves as an Apostle in God’s Word it is always
followed with “Apostle of Jesus Christ” because it’s not about the title, it’s about Jesus.
Our church in Austin doesn’t exist without Jesus. The roles of apostles and evangelists and
pastors don’t exist without Jesus. It is all by Jesus, through Jesus and for Jesus, so that we
anchor ourselves in Jesus, because if we don’t intentionally anchor ourselves to Jesus we
will anchor to something else. Look at verse 12:
Ephesians 4:12, “12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of
Christ.”
In verse 12 we see the word “for” so that it means explanation. Verse 11, Jesus gives roles
in the local church. Verse 12, explanation, “For the equipping of the saints.” The purpose of
the local church isn’t to be a place of entertainment. The purpose of the local church isn’t
meant to be a place for you sit and observe, but the reason we are here this morning is to
be “equipped” so that we might be anchored in Jesus!
This is a question you want to ask yourself at North Village or any church, “Am I being
equipped to be anchored in Jesus?” As you take ownership of this value on a personal level
you can ask, “Am I helping others to be anchored in Jesus?”
This is why we provide the devotional each year, so that we can make it as easy as possible
to get into God’s Word throughout the week and anchor ourselves in Jesus. I was talking
with someone and they said, “I couldn’t get out of bed this morning to read God’s Word. I
was so tired, but when I came home from work I made a point to read God’s Word and
God’s Word was so exciting I couldn’t stop!” Isn’t that great!
This is why we just went through a spiritual formation guide in January, because we don’t
want to plateau in our walk with Jesus. We want to keep turning up the temperature of our
faith. We want to keep growing. We are talking about the glory of God! Who of us can say,
“I have figured it all out!”
This is why we provide groups throughout the week. We don’t just want to sit next to
strangers on a Sunday morning. Sing songs. Nod our head in agreement. See you next
week! We want to get to know one another as we study God’s Word together, so we can
encourage one another to be anchored in Jesus, because if we don’t intentionally anchor
ourselves in Jesus we will anchor into something else.
Listen to me, we want to own this value individually, because when God’s people are
anchored in Jesus we are going to be spiritually growing in Jesus, but when God’s people
are simply going through religious habits then Jesus just becomes an accessory in our life
and we will drift. It won’t happen overnight, but one day we will wake up and we will have
lost that sense of awe that drew us together, and we will say things like, “Worship was
alright. Didn’t really get much out of it!” Nobody wants that! Let’s look at verse 13:
Ephesians 4:13, “13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to
a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
Look at the first part of verse 13, “Until we all attain to the unity of faith.” It means
maturity. It means men and women who are anchoring themselves in Jesus are going to
become mature men and women, and when we are anchored into something else it will
create instability and immaturity. Amen?
Without Jesus we are going to go through life like a roller coaster; extreme ups and downs,
highs and lows, living for every cultural event that comes our way. The market is up we’re
great. The market is down. The romance is up, the romance is down.
But through our anchoring in Jesus we will still have ups and downs in life but the ups and
downs will be more like dips and hills as we go throughout life, because we are anchored in
Jesus.
Yes, we might get distracted by some politics here and there. We might get distracted by
some circumstances in our lives, but by God’s grace the Holy Spirit will expose the lesser
anchors of this world through His Word, through the Holy Spirit, through His people, so
that the gospel is elevated, we confess, receive His forgiveness and we are in awe of Jesus.
Amen?
Let’s talk about politics. As a church family, we’ve lived through so many ups and downs
through politics over the last 5-years, and every time people run to the church to say, “You
have to take a stand on this issue or that issue, and if you don’t then you don’t this or that
we’re all going to die.”
We’ve seen it with Covid, racism, transgenderism, socialism, immigration, Trump,
environment, Charlie Kirk; and every time, “If you don’t say this or that, you don’t care
about people or you don’t care about Jesus.”
Listen to me, every time we’re going to say, “I am so sorry. We know how unsettling it is to
see the anchors of this world that we thought were stable and they become dislodged.” It’s
nauseating! I get it!
But, in those moments, we are going to point you to Jesus. It isn’t because we’re scared to
take a stand. It isn’t because we don’t care about people. It isn’t because we agree or
disagree with the position with some hidden agenda. It’s because we don’t exist for
anything other than exalting the name of Jesus and being in awe of Him.
Can you own this value? Listen to me, it can’t just be me to carries this value. The
invitation is for all of us to carry this value, because there is going to come a day when you
or me are going to waffle. We are going to become struck with fear, and we need someone
who will speak up and say, “No, it’s Jesus alone. Hold fast to our faith being anchored in
Him.” Let me try to make it concrete for us:
1. Anchor ourselves in Jesus Daily: Scripture before opinions.
If you’ve been attending consistently for over 6-months, “Anchored faith in Jesus” means
you are taking steps to take God’s Word seriously. You are grabbing that devotional. You
are reading through the Scriptures on your own. You are asking for help if you don’t
understand. And, you are resisting the temptation to simply observe on a Sunday morning,
but instead anchoring your soul in Jesus through His Word.
2. Anchor ourselves in Jesus Relationally: We are persistent to build community.
If you’ve been attending our church family consistently for over 6-months, “Anchored faith
in Jesus” means you’re taking steps to get to know the people around you. You are taking
steps to get involved on a ministry team once a month. We’re not a plug and play church.
We’re going to need everyone to get involved. We have a variety of roles and
commitments. It’s once a month. But, you are taking ownership in our church family,
because your faith is anchored in Jesus.
3. Anchor ourselves in Jesus Practically: We ask, “What does obedience to Jesus look
like?”
If you’ve been attending our church family consistently for over 6-months, “Anchored faith
in Jesus” means you’re talking to people about what it looks like to put Jesus first in all
areas of our life.
I want to say this carefully, because we are all at different places in our walk with Jesus.
None of us are 100% there. We won’t be until we are face to face with Jesus, therefore, we
all have thousands of areas of our life that are not consistent with Jesus.
So, we’re not looking for perfection, but we are looking to be a people who are constantly
looking to surrender our lives to Jesus and follow Him, because our faith in Jesus is
touching the practical areas of our life.
Listen to me, that’s the special part of North Village Church and if we lose that we will just
become a group of people with similar hobbies, similar stage of life and similar interests,
which is dumb. It’s dumb! There are more fun things in this world than playing church on
a Sunday. Who wants that? Therefore, we have to be intentional and take ownership of our faith in Jesus.
And that is not the good news of Jesus’s salvation. Instead, God’s words tell us that we are all
helpless and hopeless on our own. We need to confess and repent of our sins. We need the
wonderful grace of God and the sacrificial love of Jesus to save us from sin and to declare us as
righteous.
And even after we are justified, our life is not a steady and stable upward progression to Christ-
like perfection. Life is full of up and downs, twists and turns. In our brokenness, with all our
faults, we stumble through life making mistakes, committing sins, struggling with consequences,
much like everyone else in the world. But the big difference is, we have Christ with us, forgiving
us, guiding us, loving us, changing us, so that one day, we will be whole and complete like him.
That is why this is one of our Church core values. Broken yet redeemed is a posture, the way we
look at things, the perspective we adopt. We recognize our brokenness and repent and ask for
forgiveness every day.
I once saw a Christian speaking in a disrespectful, belittling tone to his employee. I was shocked.
Internally, I thought to myself, that’s a terrible way to speak to a person in a weaker position.
What kind of Christian would do that?
And then the Holy Spirit gave me an internal jab. What kind of person am I, that I would be so
quick and harsh in judging a brother or ister in Christ. Living our core value means adopting
postures of repentance and forgiveness. Recognizing that we are all broken people, broken in
how we can be harsh in speaking to people, broken in how we can be harsh in judging people.
Living this core value means that we do not expect perfection from ourselves or from those
around us. Instead, we see each other’s imperfections and love each other unconditionally, the
way God see us and loves us. And we rejoice with each other, for the grace and forgiveness God
poured out on each one of us through Christ. And we support and encourage each other, as God
works on transforming us to be more like Jesus.
We are people broken yet redeemed. Not just individually, but corporately. We travel the road of
failure, repentance, redemption, and transformation together, as a church family, so that we may
exude the grace of God and the love of Christ to each other.
The Christian life is a life of repentance and forgiveness as we live in the grace of God. The
Christian life is also a life of hope and transformation as we trust in our Lord. Because we are all
people broken, yet redeemed.
Let us pray.
North Village Church
This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in Austin. 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.
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.