Central Community Church | Sermon Audio
Sep 6, 2026 · 41 min · 8 segments
1 Thessalonians 5:9-22 The church is called to be a counter-cultural family of faith where every member contributes, not merely attends. Believers build one another up, honour godly leadership…
When I say the word family, what comes to your mind? When I say family, what are the images and the memories and the feelings and the words that pop into your head? For some of you, I'm sure they're very positive associations with the word family.
You think of family dinners, maybe vacations, family reunions, times when your children were born, when your grandchildren were born.
And for some of you, I'm sure it's the exact opposite.
When you hear the word family, every muscle in your body tenses up because you're being reminded of current or past pain of, of people maybe that you haven't spoken to in years.
But one more question.
When I said the word family, did any of you think about anything related to the church? Because much like a family, the church is itself a family where every member contributes to the good of the family, where we are built up together, where we are healed, where we grow.
We are experienced the joy of being part of a family.
The church is a family that is shaped by the gospel that is marked by prayer and gratitude and love and ultimately the saving work of Jesus.
The church is a family where we put aside what divides us and we embrace what, and more importantly, who unifies us.
Jonathan Lehman says, God does not invite us to church because it's a comfortable place to find a bit of spiritual encouragement.
No, he invites us into a spiritual family of misfits and outcasts.
He welcomes us into a home.
That's rarely what we want yet.
Just what we need.
He says, if we don't attend to living as that family, we risk making Jesus look like a liar.
The relational health of the local church is not incidental.
It must not be an afterthought because his, Jesus's line is reputation is on the line.
And lastly, and I love this, J.I. Packer personalizes the church as a family where he describes that as a place where the traitor is forgiven, where he's invited in for supper and he is given the family name.
Meaning that the church is so much more than just a place that we attend.
The church is a, it's a family into which broken people are, are welcomed in that they are nourished, that they are loved.
And it is that church family that I want to talk about here this morning.
When I say the word family, what comes to your mind? When I say family, what are the images and the memories and the feelings and the words that pop into your head? For some of you, I'm sure they're very positive associations with the word family.
You think of family dinners, maybe vacations, family reunions, times when your children were born, when your grandchildren were born.
And for some of you, I'm sure it's the exact opposite.
When you hear the word family, every muscle in your body tenses up because you're being reminded of current or past pain of, of people maybe that you haven't spoken to in years.
But one more question.
When I said the word family, did any of you think about anything related to the church? Because much like a family, the church is itself a family where every member contributes to the good of the family, where we are built up together, where we are healed, where we grow.
We are experienced the joy of being part of a family.
The church is a family that is shaped by the gospel that is marked by prayer and gratitude and love and ultimately the saving work of Jesus.
The church is a family where we put aside what divides us and we embrace what, and more importantly, who unifies us.
Jonathan Lehman says, God does not invite us to church because it's a comfortable place to find a bit of spiritual encouragement.
No, he invites us into a spiritual family of misfits and outcasts.
He welcomes us into a home.
That's rarely what we want yet.
Just what we need.
He says, if we don't attend to living as that family, we risk making Jesus look like a liar.
The relational health of the local church is not incidental.
It must not be an afterthought because his, Jesus's line is reputation is on the line.
And lastly, and I love this, J.I. Packer personalizes the church as a family where he describes that as a place where the traitor is forgiven, where he's invited in for supper and he is given the family name.
Meaning that the church is so much more than just a place that we attend.
The church is a, it's a family into which broken people are, are welcomed in that they are nourished, that they are loved.
And it is that church family that I want to talk about here this morning.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
