I'm So Glad I'm a Part of the Family of God
Preaching the Hymns • Sermon • Submitted
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· 293 viewsWhat it means for the church to be a family
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As I prepared for this series of messages on the theology of the hymns I considered a lot of different hymns any of which would have made for a great sermon
But there was always only 1 way that I wanted to conclude the series, there was only one song for that in my mind and only one day on which to preach it
With today being the first Sunday of the new fall season as well as the Sunday that we meet for our annual church pic-nic I couldn’t help but feel that this song would not only speak to our situation today but would help to set the tone as we move ahead this fall
The song itself isn’t really a hymn but is a chorus written in 1970 by Bill and Gloria Gaither and called The Family of God
I know that you know it but here are the lyrics, “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God. I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood. Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod. For I’m part of the family, the family of God.”
You mention the word “family” to 20 different people and it is bound to illicit 20 different responses because family means different things to different people
Some people have great memories of family time spent together and laughter and love but to others it conjures up images of fear, violence, and abandonment
And in this age of constantly shifting values it’s hard to even know any more what defines family
But how many of you realize that God’s Word is immutable? That’s a fancy word meaning that it does NOT change
God has a plan for family and that plan does not change based on our experience or on the whims of societal influence and that also includes the family that He has designed the local church to be
In the coming weeks and months we’ll address some of what God’s Word says about these things but for today I want to take a look at this second aspect of God’s plan for family, that of course is being a part of the family of God
Let me read for you from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, this is and is from the New Living Translation, “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.”
Just let the incredible magnitude of what Paul said there sink in for a second,
You are no longer an outsider but because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ you have been adopted into the household of God and are now family
Together we make up the family of God
Turn to someone and tell them that together we make up the family of God
You may feel a little silly but it is important for us to be able to do that, to acknowledge that together we here are all a part of the same family because as the old saying goes, you can pick your friends but you’re stuck with your family
Now turn to that same person and tell them, “You’re stuck with me!”
The problem is that just as the definition of family has become blurred in society I believe that it has also become blurred within the family of God
To the extent that I believe some churches couldn’t even identify as a family if they had to and what a shame that is because that is exactly what we are called to be
And we could go on and on with so many other scriptures that specifically talk about how we are supposed to act as a family
And so this morning I want to spend my time describing to you what I believe is a Biblical definition of what it means for us to be a family
Let’s call this list our Family Values if you will
And then there’s the distant relatives, we may never even meet some of them face to face because they live far away but we’re still family
To do that I want you to open your Bible up to the book of Acts chapter 2 beginning at verse 2
But
I have no doubt that you have probably heard sermons on this text before about how the modern day church could and should be more like the N.T. church but this morning I want approach this from a different angle and I want to see what this passage says to us about being a family
To accomplish this I am going to use an acronym using the word “family” to spell out my points
So let’s look at the text shall we
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
We begin our definition of what it means for the local church to be a family with the letter “f” and that stands for “focused on Christ”
The local church was never intended to be a social club where people of like interests could gather and develop those interests
Now there’s nothing wrong with sharing an interest in something with someone else and developing a friendship over that shared thing and even spending time together exploring and doing that thing
Great friendships can be built over shared interests but only a focus on Jesus Christ can develop a family kinship, the kind of family kinship that the church is called to share
That’s why as a church everything we do, every meeting, every program, every budget, everything has as its first and primary focus, Jesus Christ
In verse 42 of our text Luke tells us that they “devoted themselves” to this and as a modern day church family that too is our devotion
Secondly is the “A” and that stands for Affirming one another
Verse 46 says,
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
There’s an old story of an elderly deacon who lay in the hospital with a prolonged illness
One day as the Pastor dropped in to visit him the deacon professed his profound disappointment in the church
He explained that despite being born and raised in this church and serving in many different capacities over the years, not one member had bothered to visit, or call or even send a note of encouragement to him while he was in the hospital
The Pastor listened to all that the deacon had to say and when the man had finished he asked him one simple question, “In all those years of being raised in and serving the church, how many people did you visit or call or send a note of encouragement to?”
If Sunday is the only time we have contact with others from the church than we are not a family, we are a religious institution
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Don’t wait for someone else to take the lead, call someone, visit someone, invite someone over for a meal
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Okay I have to move on, next is the letter “M” which means magnifying God in worship
Verse 47 which is a continuation of the sentence started in verse 46 says that every day they were praising God
Everyday as they would spend time with other members of the family the result is that God would be lifted up in praise
Now does that mean that they had a song service every time they saw another person from the church?
No what it means is that they were so focused on Christ that as they affirmed and encouraged each other God was praised through them
Their very lives “magnified God,” made God larger in the eyes of others andf easier to see
Singing is a great way to praise God but there are so many others, serving breakfast to kids at the public school is a great way to praise God, packing Christmas shoe boxes is a great way to praise God, sharing a piece of pie with someone else is a great way to praise God
Let me put it another way, the reason that we use the worship software in our worship service is because, while we can worship with just the piano, having the other instruments adds a fullness you can’t get from a single instrument
Well perhaps you have heard this expression before but YOU are an instrument of worship, you were designed and made so that your life can magnify God but when you join with others who are also instruments of worship it brings a fullness that you could never have on your own
It’s great to hear someone sing How Great Thou Art but I can tell from personal experience that it is powerful when several hundred voices join together to sing it
It’s great when one person sets up a float for the Santa Clause parade but it’s powerful when many people join together to make that happen
Next is the “I” which means that as a family we are always imagining new ways to love the lost
A church that exists to serve only the needs of its people is a church that is already dead
As a family it is our desire to see the family expanded that draws us together in unity
We all have different tastes in music and in decorating and what colour is our favourite and so on and if those were the cement binding our church together there’s no way that we could last
I want you to notice something interesting at the end of verse 47, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”
Notice how it doesn’t say that God added to their number every Sunday!
“Daily” people were getting saved and the reason is because these people didn’t “go” to church they “were” the church and they were always looking for ways to be the church and you cannot be the church and not love people and you cannot love people without them want more of that love
As a family we always need to be looking for opportunities to share God’s love
How can we better love the kids who come to kids club? How can we better love the parents that bring them? How can we better love our neighbors?
And then there’s the letter “L” which stands for Loving Each Other
This is perhaps the hardest part of being a family but is also the most important part
and and and and and and are all scriptures that speak specifically to how Christians are to behave towards one another
and and and and and and
Not how we are to be towards “outsiders” or “sinners” but to other people in our own church
And these are only a few examples, the list is actually much longer because it is the single most important thing that we can do
Jesus said,
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35
Unfortunately the spelling of the word family has dictated my point structure for today or else this would have been point #1 because until we can do this none of the other 5 points are of any consequence or, I believe, even possible
Jesus didn’t say it was a better way or even the best way, He said that it is the ONLY way that we can be the family of God
Well what exactly does it mean to “love” within the context of the local church?
The answer is simple
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
The last letter in the word family is the letter “Y” and it stands for being Yoked Together
Being yoked together has several implications for us
It means that we all have to be pulling in the same direction, working towards the same goal or else it is counter-productive
It also means we all have to be pulling
If we are yoked together and one person is not “doing their share” and means that others have to pick up their slack
We ALL have a job to do in the family, every single one of us
It might not be a big job or a glamorous job but there is not any person here this morning that does not have a role to play in the body and in the purpose of the body and if we’re not doing it we are cheating not only ourselves out of the reward God has for us upon the faithful completion of our responsibilities but we are also cheating the rest of the body from receiving from our gift and from making them do what we should have
Family isn’t perfect, there are flaws in every family and yet being a family is exactly what God has called to as a local church and it is the best thing that we could possibly be
What does that mean?
Well it means that as a group we are focused on Jesus Christ while we affirm and encourage each other.
That together our lives magnify God as an act of worship as we imagine new ways to love the lost all while loving one another because we are yoked together pulling for the glory of God
Let’s pray