You have a family

We all know that being alone isn't good. At the creation of humanity, God said the same thing. We were designed by God to belong somewhere and to belong to one another.

We were created for connection, and our connection with others shapes who we are.

You need a community that feels like family, and I have some great news: you have one!

Your family might be the people in this room. It might be the people who raise you, or your friends, teachers, mentors, aunts, uncles, and every person who has ever invested in you. These people are your family, and they shape who you are and who you're becoming.

Scripture |

For the last few weeks, we've been talking about a guy named Moses. We saw how God brought value and goodness to Moses' past, present, and future.

Just like you, Moses wasn't the only character in his story. Moses had a family — and I don't just mean his relatives. It wasn't a perfect community, but Moses was surrounded by people who loved, supported, and influenced each other.

Moses' life was tied to the lives of the people in his community. None of them could have survived alone.

We've already talked about how God used Moses to rescue the Hebrew people slavery, and then led them out of Egypt and into the wilderness. From there, God would lead them to a new land that God had chosen and prepared for them . . . but it was taking a while.

As God's people wandered through the wilderness for years, there were many moments when they needed to come together to care for and support each other in order to survive.

Exodus 17:8–16 ESV

8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

In this case, Moses literally needed support from his community in order to survive and do what God had called him to do. In this battle, everyone had a role to play.

Have you ever been apart of a group that came together to support each other or someone else?

Ecclesiastes 4

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 ESV

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Do you have any relationships like this right now? What makes those relationships feel like family?

Scripture |

Many years after Moses, the apostle Paul wrote about this same idea for the earliest followers of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:4–5 ESV

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;

1 Corinthians 12

Here, Paul tells us that followers of Jesus all belong to one body — the Body of Christ.

God has put this body together.

Every part of this body belongs to God.

That means the most important part of our identities are our identities as followers of Jesus and children of God. We belong to God.

But because we are all children of one God, and members of the same body, we are all a family. We belong to each other.

We belong to God.But because we are all children of one God, and members of the same body, we are all a family. We belong to each other.That means everyone who knows and follows Jesus automatically gets access to a greater family — a community that surrounds and supports each other.

That means everyone who knows and follows Jesus automatically gets access to a greater family — a community that surrounds and supports each other.

Scripture |

The exciting news about the family of God is that it is literally as vast as the world. The Bible says God's family is filled with people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

Remember those languages we talked about a few minutes ago? Each of those languages represents groups of people who are loved and known by God — sisters and brothers in God's family. It is the most beautiful, diverse, and eclectic group to which you could ever belong.

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John shares a vision of how all of God's people will someday come together to worship God as one family.

Revelation 7:9 ESV

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

No matter who you are, you have a family. And if you feel like you don’t, you still do. You’re sitting in a room full of people who can become your family, if you let them.

Reflection | Who is your family?

You have a family, but . . .

Maybe you need to be reminded who your family is.

Maybe you need permission to think more broadly about who your family could be.

Or maybe you need encouragement to invite someone new to be part of your family.

Who is your family? Who can you count on for support? Who shares your faith in Jesus? Who doesn't share your faith, but is part of your community? Who would you like to have a more consistent friendship with? Who might be thinking the same about you? Jot down some names as you think about . . .

Your relatives.

Your friends and peers.

Your teachers, coaches, and mentors.

The people in this room.Anyone who has ever invested in you.These people are your family, and they shape who you are and who you're becoming. You need them, and they need you.

What can your family do together?

It's great that God gives us a family, but maybe you're wondering what we're supposed to do when we all get together.

When Paul talked about the family of God (the body of Christ), he said we've all been given different roles and functions. A body that doesn't actually do anything is . . . well . . . probably dead. So what is the body of Christ supposed to do?

Like Moses, God has a mission for us too. Our mission may not be to liberate a group of people from slavery like Moses did, but, then again — it might be.

If we look at the world around us, we see beauty but there is incredible hardship, injustice, and division too.

Our purpose, as God's family, is to join God's plan to redeem and restore hope to a broken world.

As God's family, we're called to care for one another and for the world. So how can we . . .

Better care for each other.

Work together to care for people who don't know Jesus.

Can you imagine what God could do through us if we all decided to work together, as one body, to care for each other and for the whole world?

Together, I think God could change the world through us. That's the power of God's family.

What’s one thing our group can do to better act like family, to each other and to the world around us?

What you have is more than enough

We've talked a lot this month about what you have. I hope, after these last four conversations, you feel a little bit more hopeful about who you are and who you're becoming. Remember . . .

You have a past, and God can redeem it for your good.

You have the present, and you're invited to let God do something incredible with each day.

You have a future, and in God's hands, your future is good.

You have a family. With God and God's people, you are never alone.Don't believe the lie that you're less valuable than the people you're comparing yourself to, or that you're lacking something everyone else seems to have.

You are valuable and what you have is valuable. Now go live like you know what you have.

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