Sweet Sisters,
When Paul and I had been married a little over a year, he accepted a youth minister position in Albany, Oregon. We were living in Azusa, CA, at the time and Paul was working as a Youth Minister with the church he had grown up in.
We were young and excited. We were beginning a great adventure in Oregon, far from our families in a place neither of us knew much about. Paul’s family lived in California and my family lived in Arkansas. We would be on our own about 1,000 miles from either of our families. It was at this point in our lives that Paul and I began to learn what it meant to be a part of God’s family.
The church in Albany adopted us immediately. Church members stepped up to help us find a small trailer to live in until we could find a place. When we found a house, it was rented to us by a church member. Other church members gave us furniture and stocked our kitchen. We felt loved and cherished by a group of people who barely knew our names. We were now part of a family; not a “blood” family, but a family that showed the love of Jesus.
A year later, we found out that we were pregnant with twins. You couldn’t have found prouder grandmas and grandpas and uncles and aunts than the ones in our church family. Forty-two years later, now with children of their own, our twins have deep memories of the love they experienced until they were six years old in the Albany church.
Since that time we have loved and worked with other churches. Always we have had the same experience. God’s family. People who loved and accepted us because we loved and served the same God and had been redeemed by His Son and filled with His Spirit.
In John 1:12 – 13:
12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
John tells us that to those who believed in Jesus He gave the right to become children of God. That means to be part of a family. His family.
Jesus told the crowd in Matthew 12:50 that whoever does my Father’s will is my brother, sister and mother. God’s family.
Paul gives us a snapshot of God’s family in I Corinthians 12 when he discusses that there are many parts but one body. I especially like verse 26:
26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Paul tells us that when one part suffers, the whole body suffers and that when one part rejoices, the whole body rejoices.
One of the things I love most about being a part of God’s family is that we are all accepted.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Paul repeats this concept in Ephesians 2:19:
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,
Since we are adopted by God and have become part of His Family when we believe in Him and obey His will, what does that mean about how we treat each other? I’ve seen “blood” families where the members have nothing to do with each other. They don’t have any respect or concern for each other. The members of those families feel alone and afraid.
How is God’s Family different?
One of the last discussions Jesus has with His disciples before He returned to heaven, was about this issue. In John 13:34 we read:
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Jesus tells us to love each other.
Philippians 2:1-5 talks about what our relationships with each other should look like:
2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
As part of God’s Family, we treat each other the way Jesus treated us. John continues this concept of treating each other like Jesus treated us in I John 3:16-18:
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
John makes it very clear that we can’t just “talk the talk”, we have to “walk the walk”. As Bob Goff said in one of his books, LOVE DOES.
Paul writes in Galatians 6:10:
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Hebrews 10:24-25, encourages us to hang out together and help each other to grow in love and good deeds:
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Sweet Sisters, I’d like to conclude with a song that I think summarizes what I want you to take away from today’s lesson. It’s called “God’s Family” and it was written by Lanny Wolfe.
We’re part of the family
That’s been born again
Part of the family
Whose love knows no end
For Jesus has saved us
And made us His own
Now we’re part of the family
That’s on its way home
And sometimes we laugh together
Sometimes we cry
Sometimes we share together
Heartaches and sighs
Sometimes we dream together
Of how it will be
When we all get to heaven
God’s family
When a brother meets sorrow
We all feel his grief
When he’s passed through the valley
We all feel relief
Together in sunshine, together in rain
Together in victory
Through His precious name
And though some go before us
We’ll all meet again
Just inside that city
As we enter in
There’ll be no more parting
With Jesus we’ll be
Together forever, God’s family
And sometimes we laugh together
Sometimes we cry
Sometimes we share together
Heartaches and sighs
Sometimes we dream together
Of how it will be
When we all get to heaven
God’s family
Debbie