Why Cross Connection? | Sunday, January 12, 2025

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28)

Why does this church exist, and why should you give your life to it? A new-year case for reaching a postchristian world with the whole counsel of God.

A Caveat: Why This Message Is Different

Today's message will not be the same type I typically deliver here at Cross Connection. If you're visiting for the first time, this is not how I normally go through the Scriptures—we usually work through whole books of the Bible. But at the beginning of each year I take time to talk about why we exist as a church, why God has placed us here, individually and together.

I've been serving this church since I was nineteen—first as a youth pastor, then associate pastor, and as senior pastor since 2008. As I thought about my call and our place, I realized there's something I don't think I've ever said: I want our church to grow. That may sound strange, but I've never said it, and I think I should.

Grow Qualitatively and Quantitatively

When I say I want us to grow, I mean it in two ways. I want us to grow qualitatively—I want you to grow in your relationship with God, to comprehend His word better, and to live out the teachings of Scripture more fully. But I also want us to grow quantitatively. There are empty seats in every service. We have parking. We'll add services if we have to, and God willing buy a different property someday. I want our church to grow.

I'll readily admit my motives may not be 100% perfect—I'm not perfect; ask my wife. But I believe it is also God's desire that His church grow quantitatively and qualitatively. We see this in the Great Commission. There are 8.25 billion people on this planet, and many are far from God. Jesus said to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things He commanded. Do you know what all means? It means all. God has no limited perspective on who He wants to reach.

Preach the Gospel to Every Creature

In Mark 16, Jesus gives another commission: "Go and preach the gospel to every creature." Now, maybe that even means your dog—I've got a Heeler named Watson—but it definitely means your neighbor and your coworkers.

If you've been here any length of time, you've heard me say that within ten miles of this building more than a million people live. Research has found that roughly 90% of people here in San Diego County are not connected to a gospel-teaching, Bible-believing church. And even many of the 10% who once were have been disconnected since 2020.

Last week a gentleman walked up and said, "Pastor Miles, great to see you—I haven't been here since COVID." That's a long time. There are a lot of people like that in our county who simply got out of the habit of being part of the body of Christ. The problem is, if you're not connected to the vine, things start to dry up—your love, joy, peace, kindness, patience. So you might think of someone you haven't seen in a while. It's not a bad idea to call them this week and say, "You should come to church. I'll pick you up if I have to."

God Does Not Want Anyone to Go to Hell

In many ways we're doing a great job reaching our community. On an average Sunday, between adults and kids in youth, children's, nursery, and toddler ministries, we average about 450 people. If everyone showed up at once it would be 650 to 700. That doesn't seem large to me—I have friends pastoring churches of 13,000, what sociologists call mega or giga churches. But the average church in America is only about 100 people, so this is a relatively large church. Still, I'm convinced God wants us to reach more.

Here is point number one: God does not want anyone to go to hell. I know Christians who don't agree with that—there's even a seminary here in town that wouldn't fully agree—and we have a theological disagreement. But I'm convinced Scripture is clear. Second Peter 3:9 says the Lord is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." What does all mean? All means all. Paul says in 1 Timothy 2 that God our Savior "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth"—the Greek word pas, all.

If God is not willing that any should perish, then I, as a follower of Jesus, should also not want any to perish, and should want all to come to the knowledge of the truth.

A Theologian Who Is a Practitioner

Next month I'll celebrate 26 years in pastoral ministry. I started as a pastoral intern on Valentine's Day, 1999, teaching junior highers through Galatians—and I'm thankful those messages weren't recorded. After 26 years of teaching the Bible, I'm convinced part of my gifting and calling is to make the theological truths of Scripture understandable, applicable, and practical. I'm a theologian, but a practitioner—committed to applied theology, which is really Christian ethics. That's the area of my PhD work.

I cannot stand purely conceptual or theoretical theology. I've seen a lot of it up close. Two and a half years ago I began a Doctor of Ministry—a doctorate for practitioners—in apologetics. The word apologetics comes from the Greek apologia, used in 1 Peter: "always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within you, with meekness and fear." I've studied apologetics since I was about fifteen. (For a stunning example, listen to the Canadian apologist Wesley Huff's recent three-and-a-half-hour interview with Joe Rogan—he hit it through the uprights time after time.)

This Is Not Theory—It's a Tuesday

In January 2023, at my first seminar at Southern Seminary in Kentucky—one of the top five seminaries in the world—I sat in a room with about a dozen other pastors and apologists under Dr. Andrew Walker, a professor of ethics. And I realized something: nearly everyone in that room was from a deeply red region of the country, presenting questions like "How do you share your faith with someone whose child is transitioning?" as conceptual, theoretical ideas.

I'm sitting there thinking, This is not a theory to me—this is a Tuesday. We don't live in a red state. San Diego conservatism is, to someone in rural North Carolina, majorly progressive. They think you're a Democrat, and maybe you are, and that's fine—but the point is, what's theory to them is daily life to us.

Many of you have a friend or family member who left this state over the last few years. But over the last fifty years, a lot of people came here—the atheists, agnostics, skeptics, those with alternative worldviews and lifestyles. You live next door to them. You work with them. We live in a postchristian environment.

Six months ago I moved out of that Doctor of Ministry program because Dr. Walker asked me to be his PhD student in ethics and public theology. I have a 31-page paper due Wednesday. There are mornings at 4 a.m. when I ask myself why I'm doing this. Here's why: I want to reach the people who are not connected to God, and the way to do that is to speak in a way they can understand. It's not theoretical for us. While I was at a seminar, a man from our church texted asking how to minister to his transitioning coworker. At the start of last year I had to write a letter to a family member whose five-year-old is transitioning. These are not theories; they are our cultural context.

Why Cross Connection? Why You?

All of that is context for two questions I've been thinking about. First, why Cross Connection Church? We exist to see people come into life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. Second, why should you attend, support, serve, give, and invite people to be part of this body?

First, here you will connect with God and others in simple, practical ways. God created you for this. We don't put weirdness around it—we gather on Sunday to connect with God through His word, through serving, through fellowship, and through giving sacrificially, and we connect with one another here and in our connect and growth groups.

Second, you'll be challenged to think critically and deeply about life and the Bible. I don't prepare surface-level messages, because shallow messages make shallow Christians. We've gone through Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges, and tackled the hard passages where skeptics claim the Bible supports slavery and genocide. I don't bypass those things; we ask what the text actually says.

Third, you'll receive a rigorous yet understandable teaching of the whole Bible, Genesis to Revelation. I don't preach platitudes or theory; I aim to present Truth with a capital T, because that's what sets people free.

Fourth, you'll learn an applied theology. In physics there are theoretical physicists who devise the theorems and experimental physicists who prove them true in the real world. I've met theologians who are super-geniuses with the theorems but couldn't explain them to regular people in Southern California. My aim is to bridge that gap.

Stretched, Challenged, and Confronted

Fifth, here you'll be stretched mentally, spiritually, practically, and personally. I've been told I move fast, use big words, and that a 40-minute message is really three or four messages in one. I'm not here to give sports illustrations—I don't know much about sports—or tips for a good life or business principles. We're talking about the deeper spiritual questions, and you'll be pushed to wrestle with God and to ask yourself hard questions: Should I watch this? Buy this? Work there? Parent like this? Treat my spouse, my kids, my coworkers like this?

The Bible says, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." You might know the verse, but do you do it? If you're not kind and forgiving, you're not a Christian. That's heavy, but it needs to become part of our lives. You'll be confronted: Are you living with honesty, integrity, and self-control? Do the people you work with know you're different?

You'll also be stretched in how you use your energy, assets, and time—notice the first letters spell E-A-T, and whatever you eat grows. Whatever you give your energy, assets, and time to becomes dominant in your life. Show me your calendar and your charge card statement, and I'll tell you what your God is.

I Won't Ask You to Do What I Don't Do

This is where I might lose, offend, or bother some of you. I'm not boasting, but throughout our entire marriage my wife and I have given a minimum of 10% of our income every year to the church or other ministries we support. I'll never ask you to do something I don't do. Beyond that, we spend thousands hosting people in our home—we don't have multiple homes—because my wife is the most hospitable person I know. We've hosted a group every month for years.

When I say you should serve, I serve beyond this church where I'm not paid: as a chaplain with the fire department. Pastor Mark serves with San Marcos Fire; Pastors Nick and Garrett with Escondido Police. I serve on the boards of Blue Letter Bible and Enduring Word, and for more than 20 years I've helped churches and organizations strategize, rebrand, replant, build websites and logos—unpaid. I don't say this to boast, but so you know I'm not asking you to do anything I wouldn't do.

I ask you to engage because there are a lot of people within ten miles of this building who, apart from the work of God's grace—and maybe your invitation or your sharing the gospel—may very well go to hell. That's my theology. It doesn't sound good to people in California, but it's what the Bible teaches and what we believe here.

God Blesses Obedience, Faithfulness, and Stewardship

I look at my life—my wife, my family, our home, all we have—and I'm more blessed than I ever imagined. I'm absolutely certain those blessings are the result of how we've used our energy, assets, and time. That's point number two: God blesses obedience, faithfulness, and stewardship. I've watched it happen.

Which brings me to the payoff. Why should you submit to the challenge of being part of this church? Because you're going to grow—spiritually, intellectually, in character, and practically as a spouse, parent, student, employee, son, daughter, and Christian.

You'll grow in the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. It's striking to watch someone come, dragged by a friend or spouse, a little skeptical, thinking, "These people are weird." And I'll grant you, we are weird—Peter calls us a chosen generation, a peculiar people. But they stick around, and a year later they're different. A transformation happens here as you add to your faith knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love—growing in love for God and one another, which is the Great Commandment.

You'll grow intellectually in the knowledge of God's word and the wisdom to work it out. Very practically, you'll learn to be a better parent or grandparent, a better spouse, a better single person, and how to think about your finances—how to earn, invest, give, and spend them. I've governed my finances by the basic principles of Scripture since I was nineteen, and I can hardly believe what we have now as a direct result.

Connection Is Hard, but the Results Are Good

Our mission has always been life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. Years ago, one of our more introverted members said, "Connection is hard." It is. It requires a lot to stay connected to God and His people. But the results are good.

As we close, I want to encourage you to pray about apprehending a few things this year by God's grace. Point number three: discipline yourself to run the race to win. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it... I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Unity, Humility, and the Interests of Others

Point number four: aim at unity, humility, and the interests of others. Paul writes in Philippians 2:

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ... fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

We live in a self-interested society, so this is countercultural—but it is deeply Christlike. Paul points to Jesus as the example: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God... made Himself of no reputation," becoming a servant.

Deny Yourself and Count the Cost

Point number five: deny yourself, count the cost, take up your cross, and pursue Christ. Jesus says in Luke 14:

Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost...? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able...? So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Paul builds on this in Philippians 3, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of him. The wonderful thing is that when you forsake those things to lay hold of Christ, you gain so much more than you lose.

God does not want anyone to go to hell. Within ten miles of this building more than a million people live, and many do not yet know God. And here's the kicker: you are God's plan A, and there is no plan B. You might say, "God, that's a bad plan," and God would say back, "I ain't got no other." You are His ambassadors to reach these people. God blesses obedience, faithfulness, and stewardship—so discipline yourself to run the race to win.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we definitely need Your help. We have a big task, but You are a big God, far bigger than anything we've been called to. Would You work in us by Your word and by Your Spirit that we would press on and lay hold of that for which You've laid hold of us. Lord, if there's anything I've said today that is out of line with Your word and Your Spirit, cause everyone here to almost immediately forget it. But if any of this is Your word and Your will—which I am convinced it is—cement it deeply in our hearts and let it nag our minds, compelling us to seek You and Your enabling by Your Spirit to fulfill the mission You've given us here in San Diego County and beyond.

Right now, remind us of the people we connect with daily and weekly who are disconnected from You. We lift them up to You, because the first move in evangelism requires a move by You and Your Spirit. We place those people into Your hands and ask that You begin to move in their lives, and in us, that we might move closer to them to share the good news of Your grace, that they might come to know You in 2025. Help us to reach more people here in this county with Your love and Your grace. We ask this in Jesus' name—and all those who agreed said, Amen.