Karis: PURPOSE

Apr 26, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Tears at the Communion Table

John stood in line, shoulders tense, expecting rejection. When he reached the front, tears streamed down his beard as he took the bread. For years, religious gatekeepers had told him he wasn’t worthy. But here, grace met him at the table—not as a spectator, but as a participant. [34:02]

Jesus builds His church through broken people serving broken people. John’s story shows how communion isn’t just about receiving—it’s about being restored to serve. When we welcome others to the table, we embody Christ’s scandalous grace.

Many of us carry shame from past exclusion. But Jesus invites you to not just take, but to give. Step into serving, even if your hands still shake. Where have you let old wounds keep you from fully joining God’s team?

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
(Ephesians 2:10, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to reveal one area where He’s calling you to serve, not just receive.

Challenge: Text someone today: “How can I pray for you this week?”

Day 2: Pitchers and Outfielders in Christ

Paul listed apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers—not to create hierarchy, but to highlight diversity. Like a baseball team needing pitchers and outfielders, the church thrives when all gifts work together. [23:10]

Jesus designed His body to depend on varied strengths. Prophets disrupt complacency. Shepherds bind wounds. Teachers ground us in truth. No role is “minor”—each fights for the same victory: Christ’s fullness in His people.

You weren’t meant to mimic someone else’s calling. Stop comparing your role to others’. What unique grace has God placed in you to strengthen His team?

“So Christ himself gave… pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
(Ephesians 4:11–12, NIV)

Prayer: Confess any envy or insecurity about your gifts. Thank God for how He wired you.

Challenge: Write down three strengths you bring to your community.

Day 3: Handiwork Hungry for Good Works

Paul insists we’re saved by grace, but also crafted for action. Like a sculptor shaping clay, God molds us not just to admire His mercy, but to leak it everywhere. [07:57]

Grace isn’t a trophy to display—it’s fuel for radical love. Jesus didn’t die to make us consumers of religious events. He died to unleash repairers of brokenness, starting in our homes and streets.

What “good work” is within your reach today? A neglected neighbor? A struggling coworker? Don’t spiritualize it—act. What ordinary space is God asking you to sanctify with His presence?

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… not by works, so that no one can boast.”
(Ephesians 2:8–9, NIV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for saving you, then ask Him to make you restless until you serve someone.

Challenge: Buy groceries for a friend without explaining why.

Day 4: No Longer Tossed Infants

Paul warns against spiritual infancy—being swayed by trends or fear. Maturity isn’t knowing more Bible verses; it’s wielding truth in love, like Jesus did. [19:15]

The world craves steady souls who won’t bend to outrage or apathy. Mature believers dig roots into Christ’s character, not cultural currents. They confront lies without crucifying opponents.

Where have you let noise drown out Christ’s voice? Turn off one source of chaos today. What compromise have you tolerated that needs truth’s light?

“Then we will no longer be infants… Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
(Ephesians 4:14–15, NIV)

Prayer: Confess one area where you’ve chosen comfort over growth.

Challenge: Delete a divisive app for 24 hours.

Day 5: Not Spectators, But Players

Jesus didn’t die to fill stadiums of passive fans. He recruits players—the addicted, the doubters, the excluded—to join His redemption game. John went from weeping spectator to communion server because someone said, “You’re up.” [35:38]

The church wins when every member touches the ball. Setup crews, prayer warriors, coffee makers—all advance Christ’s mission. Your presence matters, but your participation changes eternity.

Are you warming the bench or sweating on the field? What fear keeps you from saying “yes” to serving?

“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
(Ephesians 4:16, NIV)

Prayer: Beg God for courage to step into one uncomfortable act of service.

Challenge: Sign up for a ministry team before sundown.

Sermon Summary

Ephesians 4 unpacks grace as the foundation for communal life and practical ministry. Grace does more than secure individual salvation; it reveals God’s character and commissions people to participate in good works prepared in advance. The letter moves from identity to practice, urging a community to pursue unity, deepen relational knowledge of Jesus, and grow into maturity that reflects Christ’s fullness. Church functions like a team sport: strategy, roles, and partnership matter more than individual victories. Sports imagery highlights how shared goals, repeated practice, and mutual dependence form character and strengthen relationships.

Winning in this framework looks different from scoreboard success. Winning means a uniting community committed to God and one another, growth marked by knowing Jesus rather than numerical increase, and maturity that results in transformation into Christlike service. Paul outlines five leadership gifts that cultivate these environments: apostles who activate and start initiatives, prophets who call the community toward justice and integrity, evangelists who craft welcoming spaces, shepherds who nurture healing and reconciliation, and teachers who ground the community in scripture for faithful living. Healthy congregational life recognizes and cultivates all five, understanding that gifts inform how tasks are done rather than rigid job descriptions.

Participation sits at the heart of inclusion. The vision moves beyond mere access to belonging that includes active service at the table and in the work. Practical steps encourage engagement: joining relational conversations, signing up to serve, and using the APEST assessment to discover giftings. A story of a newcomer who moves from exclusion to serving communion shows how belonging and responsibility heal and redirect lives. The overarching call emphasizes widening the circle so more people can experience the good news as both comfort and commission. The trajectory of grace in community points toward a church that is united, growing in intimate knowledge of Christ, and maturing into an others-oriented, creative, and mission-shaped body.

Key Takeaways

1. Church is a team sport Team dynamics teach cooperation, shared goals, and patient skill development. When people view church as a cooperative endeavor, roles and practices focus on mutual flourishing rather than individual performance. This reorients ambition from personal prominence to collective fidelity and long-term transformation. [06:14]
2. Grace shapes purpose and action Grace grounds identity and then sends people into good works prepared beforehand. Purpose becomes participation in God’s stewardship, not an anxious quest for a single destiny. This frees daily work to become worship when done for God’s glory and neighbor’s flourishing. [07:13]
3. Winning equals unity and maturity True success appears as a community that unites around mission and matures into Christlikeness. That maturity resists consumerism and cultivates an others-oriented posture characterized by patience, humility, and truth spoken in love. Growth focuses on relational knowledge of Jesus, not numerical metrics. [13:12]
4. Gifts form five ministry environments Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers create activating, liberating, welcoming, healing, and learning spaces. Recognizing these environments helps place gifts where they flourish and prevents overloading a single role with all expectations. Participation flourishes when people bring their perspectives to common tasks. [21:03]
5. Participation heals and includes all Inviting people to both receive and serve transforms exclusion into belonging and vocation. Inclusion moves beyond presence to responsibility, letting formerly marginalized people steward and shape community life. This practice cultivates deep restoration and sustainable mission. [31:21]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:20] - Opening prayer and gratitude
[00:53] - Reading: Ephesians overview
[01:40] - Gifts given by Christ
[05:22] - Sports metaphor: church as team
[07:13] - Grace, salvation, and purpose
[13:12] - Unity, growth, and maturity explained
[21:03] - The five roles (APEST)
[28:00] - Practical next steps to serve
[30:22] - Story of inclusion and transformation
[35:55] - Closing prayer and communion

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV)
"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

Observation questions

According to Ephesians 4:11-13, what five roles did Christ give to the church, and what is their ultimate purpose?
How does Ephesians 2:8-10 redefine the relationship between grace, salvation, and good works?
The sermon compares church life to a team sport. What three characteristics of a "winning" church does Paul highlight in Ephesians 4? [13:12]
What practical example was shared about someone moving from exclusion to active participation in church? [30:22]

Interpretation questions

Why might Paul use the metaphor of a body "joined and held together by every ligament" (Ephesians 4:16) to describe church unity? How does this contrast with modern cultural views of individualism?
The sermon argues that grace is "not only about salvation" but also about God’s character and partnership with us. How does Ephesians 2:8-10 support this idea?
How does the sports analogy (e.g., needing pitchers and outfielders) challenge churches that overemphasize one type of leadership gift? [21:03]
In the story of John serving communion, why was his participation in leadership so transformative for him and the community? [34:02]

Application questions

The five leadership gifts (apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers) create distinct "environments" in the church. Which of these environments feels most natural for you to contribute to, and what’s one way you could lean into that this week?
The sermon warns against defining church success by numerical growth. What would it look like to prioritize "relational knowledge of Jesus" over metrics in your own spiritual life? [14:14]
John’s story shows how inclusion involves both belonging and responsibility. Who in your life needs an invitation not just to attend church, but to actively serve? How could you widen the circle for them? [35:22]
Paul says maturity means being "others-oriented" (Ephesians 4:15-16). What’s one area where you tend to default to a "consumer" mindset in church, and what’s a small step toward serving others in that area?
The APEST assessment helps identify how people contribute to the church. If you’ve never explored your gifts, what’s holding you back from taking a next step (e.g., emailing the pastor, joining a team, attending a conversation)? [28:00]
The sermon compares grace to a team sport requiring "repeated practice." What’s one habit or rhythm (e.g., prayer, serving, studying Scripture) you could commit to consistently to grow in "mutual dependence" with others?

Sermon Clips

39s

#NurtureAllEnvironments

“Now, a healthy church, a winning church, nurtures all five of these environments, identifies leaders who can help contribute to these environments. And again, I wanna make it very clear. Leadership is very important, but it's also not the end all, be all. Not everybody needs to be or or should be a leader, but all of us can contribute to each of these environments. Right? These are the environments that lead to unity and maturity and the fullness of Christ showing up in our community.”

44s

#UnityNotUniformity

“Now unity does not mean that we all look the same and act the same and talk the same. Unity is not uniformity. Unity is a shared commitment to God and to each other. Unity is a shared commitment to God and to each other. It is a commitment to keep the mission of God to restore his creation back to shalom at the center of everything that we do.”

34s

#ChurchSavedHisLife

“This might this might be pushing it a little bit. It might be heretical, but I think it is true. John or Jesus saved John's soul, but Reunion Christian Church saved his life. This is what Paul is talking about in Ephesians chapter four. This is what we are talking about here in this Carus conversation. This is what we are about as a church community here in Davis.”

27s

#MaturityOverConsumption

“Nothing about numbers or size or anything like that. He talks about growing in the knowledge of Jesus. And then the last piece, I think that a lot of churches are focused on consuming consumption versus maturity. Maturity is is an others orientation. It's being focused on other people more than yourself, whereas consumption is purely a self orientation perspective.”

27s

#RelationalKnowing

“Paul says. Also, this this idea of knowledge. Now, again, in our day and age, knowledge tends to get treated like information. And we live in a moment in in history where we have more information available to us than any human beings ever. But but knowledge, the type of knowledge that Paul is talking about here is not just about information. Knowing Jesus is is relational, not informational.”

25s

#GrowthInJesusNotNumbers

“Second, the American church, I think, does focus on growing, but it focuses on growing numerically. No. Here's an interesting thing. Almost nowhere in the New Testament does it ever talk about numerical growth. Isn't that fascinating? When Paul talks about growth here, what does he say? He talks about growing in the knowledge of Jesus.”

35s

#BeInTheGame

“The excluded, not just being included, but participating. Not just at the table, but serving the meal. Not just at the game, in the game. And so again, my question for you, are you in the game? Are you in the game? There there is a John who needs you to be in the game.”

26s

#StandFirmInMaturity

“And he goes for a walk on a very cold February morning, and he sees the sign for the church, and he comes in. He's like, at least it'll be warm in there. And he sits in the back, and he hears the good news of Jesus, and he's greeted by some friendly people. And then again, he has this experience at the end of that gathering, where he it just all sort of hits him, and and he's weeping back there.”

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Karis: PURPOSE

Devotional

Day 1: Tears at the Communion Table

Day 2: Pitchers and Outfielders in Christ

Day 3: Handiwork Hungry for Good Works

Day 4: No Longer Tossed Infants

Day 5: Not Spectators, But Players

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Karis: PURPOSE

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