Why You Need a Church Family — Part 1

Hey, everybody. You know, Pastor Rick Warren often says you were made by God and for God. And until you understand that, well, life will never make sense. Thank you for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and in our series called God's Vision for the Rest of youf Life. Today, Rick will continue in his effort to help you discover the unique purpose and vision that the Lord has for your life. And now here's Pastor Rick with a message called why youy Need a Church Family.

So this morning we're gonna look at why you need a church family as a second session. Now, the first session we talked last week about God has five purposes for your life. That's a big idea, but let me give you an even bigger one and it's this. You cannot fulfill those five purposes on your own. It is impossible. Life is not a solo act. You were created for community. You need a church family. The only way you can fulfill God's five purposes in your life is you need other people in your life who are giving you spiritual input. And so there are actually five specific benefits. And if you'll write these down, if you open it up, number one, the first benefit is the church helps me center my life around God. It helps me center my life around God. God didn't put you on earth to live a self centered life. His purpose is for you to build your life with him at the core. We talked about this last week. You were planned for God's pleasure. He made you to love you and he wants you to love him back. So God says, I want you to be, I want to be the hub of your heart. I want to be the focus of your attention. I want to be the center of your life. I want to be the axis of your existence. The Bible says this Christ's love has the first and last word in everything we do. And our firm decision is to work from this focused center. Now how can you tell when Christ is at the center of your life? God's at the center of your life. Well, I told you last week, you stop worrying. The next verse says this. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Now, there's a word for this and you might write it down. It's the word worship. Whenever you focus your life on God, that's called worship. Whenever you center your life on God, a focus center, that is called worship. And worship is the antidote to worry. If you wanna worry less, worship more. Because if you worship less, you're gonna worry more. Now when are we supposed to worship? Well, notice what the Bible Sundays. You have six days to do your work, but the seventh day of each week is holy because it belongs to me. No matter where you live, you must rest. Hear that workaholics? And come together for worship. God says once a week I want you to come together for worship, to refocus, to recalibrate, to recenter your life on me. Now where are we supposed to do it? Well, look at the next verse. The Bible tells us in acts that they worshiped together regularly at the temple courts. Now notice it's plural there. Courts. Why is it plural? Because they had too many members to meet in one spot. The Jerusalem Church had 100,000 members and they couldn't put them all in one place. So they spread them out in different courts because they ran out of space courts around the temple. So a church helps me center my life around God because I'm planned for his pleasure. Number two, a church not only helps me center on God, it helps me connect with other believers. That's the second purpose, to connect with other believers. God did not put you on this earth to live in isolated, insulated kind of life. Remember we talked in the first session that you're formed for God's family and while you're here on earth, God wants you to learn to love other people and he wants you to practice particularly loving others in his family. The Bible says this Christ makes us one body. And individuals who are connected to each other circle that word, connected. There's a connection here. Once you get in, once you become a child of God, you become my brother or sister. Now he says, what is this body? The next verse says the body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped off finger, a cut off toe, it wouldn't amount to much. He's saying, you know what? Your spiritual life does not amount to nothing if it's disconnected from the family of God. If I cut off this finger, it's not only not gonna grow, it's not gonna live. I have to be connected to the body. As I said earlier, life is not a solo act. God wired us to be created for community. We need each other. The California Department of Mental Health did a study and they discovered that if you isolate yourself from others and you don't develop close friendships like in a small group, you are three times more likely to die of an early death. You're four times more likely to suffer emotional burnout. You're five times more likely to be clinically depressed and you're 10 times more likely to be hospitalized for an emotional or mental disorder. So for your own mental health and the safety of others, get in a group. How many times do I have to say it? Get in a group. The Bible says this in first, John, the person who loves God must also love other believers. Now, the Bible has a word for this, too. It's called fellowship. You might write that down. Fellowship is simply connecting with other believers. Fellowship, connecting with other believers. And the Bible says this, be devoted to each other like a loving family. The Bible says you're members of God's very own family and you belong in God's household with every other Christian. So how do you join a church fellowship? Well, I don't know how they do it in other churches, but it's real simple. Here. It's two steps. One, you choose to belong. You, in your mind, at some point, decide, I'm not going to be an attender anymore. I'm going to be a member. I'm not going to just be a spectator. I'm going to be a participator. The Bible says this. First, they gave themselves to the Lord, and then by God's will, they gave themselves to us as well. These are the first two spiritual commitments of life. First, commitment to Christ. Then second, you commit yourself to Christ's family. To us. Membership is a commitment to other believers. It's saying, that's gonna be my home. Now, there are lots of good churches. Just choose one and say, that's gonna be my spiritual home and I'm gonna stick with it. That's where I'll share and be shared with. I'll give and be given to. I'll serve and be served with. That's gonna be my spiritual family. You just don't hop around from place to place. So you choose to belong. And the second thing you do is you identify yourself through baptism. You identify yourself and show your commitment. The Bible says this. This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized. Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body. Next verse says, that's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we're lowered into the water, it's like the burial of Jesus.

And.

And when we're raised up out of the water, it's like the resurrection of Jesus. So when we baptize a person, Jesus was buried in the tomb three days. So we take a person, we put them under the water, leave them there. 3 days, bring them back up and if they're still alive, they get to join our church. Now the fact is, fellowship is a proof of your salvation. Notice this verse. Jesus said, your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples. You know the real secret of Saddleback's growth is the love that's in this place. Because every week all of our members spread out into thousands of small groups, thousands of them in 83 different cities. And in those small groups, love is shown, friendships are built, prayers are answers and needs are met. Cares are taken care of. It is the church taking care of itself. That's fellowship. We worship in a large group, we fellowship in a small group. Years ago, when Kay was going through a terrible illness, it was a prolonged illness and to be hospitalized. And this church rallied around our family in a way that I could have never imagined with just life saving support. My church family helps me center my life on God on a regular basis. It helps me connect with other believers on a regular basis. Number three, it helps me cultivate spiritual maturity. God doesn't want you to remain a spiritual baby. We talked about this in the first session that the third purpose of life is. God says, I want you to grow up. I don't want you to be a spiritual infant all your life. I want you to become like Christ. He says, I want you to grow. But here's the catch. You can't do it on your own. No baby ever grows up on its own. It needs a family of some kind and you need a spiritual family. Just like you needed somebody to help you grow up when you were young. Physically. God says, we need each other. You need a family. The Bible says this Christ's body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work. It helps the other parts grow, circle that grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. By the way, this is my job. My job is to make sure you grow. It's the job of all of our pastors, all of our leaders, all of our Bible study teachers, all of us who are involved in small group leadership, host homes. In fact, the Bible says this about these people. Next verse. Their purpose is to prepare God's people to serve and to build up the body of Christ until we become mature and measure up to Christ, who is the standard. Now the Bible has a word for this process of growth. It's called discipleship. Discipleship is just the process of growing from a spiritual baby to a spiritual adult. It means I'm maturing In my faith, I'm getting stronger. I'm developing some muscle. See, a lot of people get stuck in perpetual immaturity. They're saved, but they're shallow. The Bible says in Ephesians, it tells us God wants us to grow up to know the whole truth and to tell it in love, like Christ in everything. Some of you last week opened your life to Christ and you're just a brand new baby in the Lord. Well, the Bible says take advantage of the time that you have. The next verse. Don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complimenting your basic faith. And then it lists about eight or nine things with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love. Each dimension fitting into and developing all the others. Now, how can I grow? Well, I've listed a couple ways there. You definitely need to join a small group. The next verse gives us how they grew in the Bible. This is the first church. It says those who believe. That's the first thing you do, is you believe. Then we're baptized. That's the second thing you do. You get baptized and then added to the church. That's the third thing you do, is you join a church family. Just pick one. Then they joined with the other believers and committed themselves to the apostles teaching. What's the apostles teaching? It's the Bible. The New Testament was written by the apostles. They worshiped together regularly in the temple courts like we do on our campus, and met in small groups and homes for communion and shared their meals with great joy. To grow, I need large group worship and small group fellowship. Now, one of the ways that God makes us grow is one that we hate. We hate this one. But it's God's favorite way. It's called testings. Are any of you familiar with this? Trials, testings, tribulations, problems, pressures, difficulties, delays, dead ends. All these things God says I'm using to help you grow spiritually. Why? Because God is more interested in your character than he is in your comfort. Comfort's coming later. Character development is now. So he's not trying to make your life easy. He's trying to help you grow up. And he says, I'll use testings and delays. And of course, here at Saddleback, we've had many, many, many years of testings and delays and difficulties and dead ends. Now, were the delays and the difficulties and the dead ends and all those growth opportunities over those 15 years worth it? Yes, because God's more interested in building people than in Building buildings. And God was changing us. And in all of that time, we turned two amazing lessons, learned them. Number one, that God's timing is perfect. And number two, you don't want to be on the wrong side of God because God is in control. My church helps me center my life on God. My church family helps me connect with other believers. My church helps me grow and cultivate character, become like Christ. And number four, it helps me make a contribution. God did not put you on earth just to live for yourself, but he wants you to make the world a better place. He wants you to use your talents and gifts. We talked about this last week. The fourth purpose of life you're shaped by, to serve God by serving others. See, God intends for you to use your time on earth to practice serving. The Bible says this. God has made us what we are and he's given us new lives from Christ Jesus. And long ago he planned that we should spend these lives helping others. But here's the secret. God doesn't want you to do it on your own. He wants you to do it with other people. Next couple verses. We work together as partners who belong to God. We do it together. You're not on your own. The Bible says two are better off than one because together they can work more effectively. Now there's a word for this, and it's the word ministry. It's my ministry is what the Bible calls it. Using your abilities to serve other people. And the Bible tells us in Second Timothy, complete the ministry God has given you now. Now, every Christian is a minister, not every Christian is a pastor, but everyone is. To be a minister, that means to use your talents and gifts to make a contribution in life. Not to just be a taker in life, but to be a giver in life. Now this basis, this value that we have, that every member is on mission and every member is a minister, it's a key value of our church. But I have to be honest with you, it wasn't at the start, I didn't understand this. In fact, when I started the church, I thought I was supposed to do all the ministry and you guys were just supposed to watch. Good job, Rick.

Yeah.

Woo hoo. You know, that's like a football game. 22 people on the field in need of rest, 22,000 in the stands in need of exercise. And in the early years, Glenn and I were the only staff. And we tried to do it all. All the preaching, all the teaching, all the praying, all the baptizing, all of the counseling, all the visiting at homes all of the hospital visits, all of the weddings, all the funerals. That's what a traditional church does. The average church has 150 people. Cause that's what one guy can handle. And we were trying to do it all. And finally, after about year four, I got up in front of the whole church, like this one time, and I said, folks, I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore. I'm burning out. I'm burning out emotionally, physically, and mentally, because the church is growing too fast. And there's no way that I can personally meet everybody's needs. But I said, you know, as I read the Bible, I'm not supposed to be doing that anyway. The Bible says pastors are supposed to equip the members for their ministry. I'm not the minister of this church. You are. Every person who loves the Lord is a minister. My job is to administer. I am to help you be effective and help train you and. And help make you successful in your ministry. Cause one day you're gonna stand before God and God's gonna say, what did you do with what I gave you? That talent, that ability, that opportunity? You think I just gave it for your own effort? No, it's to help make the world a better place. And so I said, you know what? My job is to help train you, and your job is to do your ministry. So I said, I'll make you a deal. If you will do your ministry, I will make sure you are spiritually well fed. And that day, the people said, you got a deal, Pastor. Okay, Rick. And we shook hands on it, and we signed a covenant. And it was right after that Saddleback exploded with growth. Why? I wasn't the bottleneck anymore. Holding it back so much. So much that the next year, there was a guy in our church who had a heart attack. And he was an original member of the church. His name was Walt. And I did something I don't get to do anymore. Make a hospital visit. Say, how do you. You don't visit members in the hospital. How could I? There are 82,000 names on the computer roll of this church. That's a city. How many people in a city are sick in a typical week? A lot. We could have three or four hundred people in the hospital this week. It'd be real easy. So how do you play favorites and say, well, I'll visit you, but not you? This guy was a charter member, and this is 15, 20 years ago now. And I said, I'll go see him. So I go over to Saddleback Hospital. And I walk into intensive care and go up to the head nurse and I go, hi, I'm Pastor Rick and I'm here to see Walt. The lady looks at me, she says, how many pastors does this church have? I said, well, you know, at the time, I said, I think we got seven or eight ordained pastors, but in our church, everybody's a minister. She said, well, I'm sorry, you can't see him. Too many pastors have already seen him. I said, ma', am, I'm the pastor, the head honcho, the big wapabanga, the founding pastor, you know, the big cheese. She goes, I don't care who you are, you still can't see him. I think, this is really funny. She won't let me in, so she walks away. And I snuck in anyway. So I go on in and Walt's got IVs in his arms, and, you know, he sits up in bed and he looks at me and goes, pastor Rick, what are you doing here? Like, man, I must be really sick. The big guy's here, you know, like near death. You know, near death. It's like my friend John Bassano, who's a pastor. He said a little lady asked him one time, said, pastor John, when are you going to visit me? He said, ma', am, you don't want to be that ill. I prayed with Walt, I read him some scripture, talked to him a while. He didn't need me. He didn't need me because in the last 24 hours, five people from his small group had already been to see him. And I walked out of there and I burst into tears freely coming down my cheeks. And I go, that is it. That is the way God meant for the church to act. He never meant for the church to be a one man superstar show where super pastor flies into the hospital room with his cape, you know, sprinkles pixie dust around the bed, you know, hear a prayer there, A prayer everywhere, a prayer prayer, you know, and says a few kind of cool things and then flies off into the sunset. And the guy in the hospital room goes, who was that guy? And I didn't even get a chance to thank him. Like he's a lone ranger or something. No. The Bible says 58 times, love one another, care for one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, help one another, counsel one another, support one another, on and on and on and on. It is the mutual ministry of every believer in the family of God, helping every other believer in the family of God. And that's the way God meant for it to be. And that's why this church has grown. Because we have thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of ministers in this church. Now the truth is serving God by serving others is not always easy. And sometimes you're going to get discouraged. So what do you do when you start to get discouraged? You remember two things. First, you remember that you're going to receive reward that's going to go on and on and on for eternity. The Bible says this. God will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other Christians. God says, I'm racking it up as if it's credit's toward me. And he says, you're going to be rewarded in eternity. The second thing is remember that God uses every little thing. Nothing is insignificant in serving God. The Bible says this. Keep busy in your work for the Lord. Since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless. It's not in vain. Number five. A church helps me communicate God's message. The life message that he has put in you. We said in session one that God has a mission for you on this planet and he has a life message that he wants to say to the world through you that nobody else can say. And that's part of your plan and that's part of what the church is to help you do. Now part of that is this. Here's what God expects. The Bible says through Christ, God made peace between us and himself. And then God gave us the work of telling everybody about the peace we can have with Him. He gave us this message of peace. So we have been sent to speak for Christ. Now the Bible calls this my mission. My mission. And I want you to circle that phrase. Message of peace. Message of peace. It's not by accident that we named our mission strategy the Global Peace Plan. And there are two parts to your mission. Sharing and serving. Sharing and showing. An audio visual believer. Notice these verses. You are God's instrument to do his work and to speak out for him. To tell others of the night and day difference he's made for you. That's the speaking part. Now here's the showing part. Live in a way that brings honor to the good news of Christ standing strong with one purpose that's purpose driven as you work together, that's in the family of God as one for the faith of the good news. And the Bible says this, this same good news that came to you is going out all over the world. And it's Changing lives everywhere. Just as it changed yours that very first day. You heard it and understood the truth about God's great kindness to sinners. Now, let me warn you. If you get serious about fulfilling your mission in life, you cannot do it without some cost. There's gonna be some sacrifices in your life. You cannot add it onto your schedule. Say, in my spare time, I'm gonna fulfill the purpose I was put here on earth to do. No, it is either God's plan or. And there's gonna be some sacrifices.

What a fantastic message from Pastor Rick. You know, Daily Hope is changing lives every day. Here's Pastor Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

You know, I love hearing from people who are growing closer to God through our Daily Hope broadcasts and emails. And it really encourages me when I hear your story. So please send them to me. You know, here's one that I got recently, recently from Suzanne that I think is gonna encourage you, too. Suzanne wrote, I've been listening to Daily Hope for over a year, and I get so much out of it. Sometimes it seems as though you're speaking directly to me. Well, I am, Suzanne. Somehow, she says, I started listening to your Daily Hope messages, and I feel that God made that happen because for the first time in my life, I'm understanding the teaching of Jesus. And I feel so alive. My eyes are open and I look forward to each day. I haven't had a boring life, but I was always missing something that I just never could find. Suzanne writes, you know, I was incarcerated as a teen and I was married, and I had a baby at 18. And that marriage was terribly abusive. And even at the lowest points in my life, I somehow had an optimism that somehow it would get better. And I now know that God was with me, even though I didn't recognize it at the time. So thank you, Pastor Rick, for spreading the word of good hope. You know, Suzanne, I wanna thank you so much for writing what you just wrote. And I'm so glad Daily Hope is helping you understand the Bible, and God is speaking to you through his Word. My friends, this story is what Daily Hope exists for. It's why we exist. We wanna share the hope of God's Word with people just like Suzanne. So I wanna say to all of you, thank you so much, those of you who generously support Daily Hope so that people like Suzanne can discover God's goodness and God's grace and God's mercy.

Your support of Daily Hope means so much to us. And if you'd like to help support Pastor Rick in this ministry financially. Well go to pastorrick.com or text the word Hope to 70309. Once again, pastorrick.com or just text the word Hope to 70309 and from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for your support. We hope you'll join us next time as we continue continue to look into God's Word for our Daily Hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.