1 Corinthians 12:12  "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body."

 
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Refocus Church

Series 3

13. I am a Member of His Family
   

  

Overall Series Concept:   Aspects of who I am as part of His Church

        

Underlying Theme:    How specific things help me be fulfilled as a part of the Church

   

Focal Idea No.1: Thinking about being a member of God's family, takes us from belief about belonging into the reality of fellowship as a FAMILY and the wonders of that.

 

   

1. Recapping ‘Fellowship'

 

In the previous series of five messages, we started out by seeing the warmth that comes with fellowship. Fellowship we said is about ‘togetherness'

 

We considered the following in respect of fellowship:

  •   it starts with ATTITUDE – how we think of one other
  •   it continues with ACTION – working together
  •   it works towards an AIM – to do God's will together
  •   it is reinforced by an AWARENESS – that we are one body, one family

It is this last part we will consider in more detail now.

 

B. Introducing the Family of God

 

Paul said to the church at Galatia :

 

Gal 6:10 as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

  •   i.e. all Christian believers are one family

 

The writer to the Hebrews wrote:

 

Heb 2:11 “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”

  •   i.e. we ARE holy because we ARE part of the same family as Jesus.

 

Peter also referred to “the family of God” 1 Pet 4:17

  •   i.e. it is God's family

Paul said to the church at Ephesus :

 

Eph 2:19   “you are …. members of God's household”

•  household is just another way of saying ‘family'

 

To Timothy Paul referred to:

 

1 Tim 3:15  “God's household , which is the church”

 

John explained how we come to be in God's family:

 

Jn 1:12,13  “all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”

  •   i.e. we are part of God's family because God made us His children.

Thus we see FOUR different NT writers referring to the church in terms of us being God's family.

 

C. A Difficulty in thinking about Church as ‘Family'

 

i) For many of us, our experience of ‘family' has involved

  •   abuse & pain and hurt
  •   arguments, upsets and divisions
  •   abandonment and isolation

    

ii) We need to remember, therefore, that

  •   Human families are tainted by sin – and so these things happen.
  •   God's family is holy and completely different
  •   We need to learn God's expectations and provisions for His family
  •   We can then live in a completely new way.

 

D. The Characteristics of God's Family, the Church

 

There are many things we could consider, but we will limit them to the following:

 

1. It is supernaturally created

 

We saw previously:

 

Jn 1:12,13 “all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”

 

This means as Paul later said:

 

2 Cor 5:17  “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

  •  i.e. every member of this family is a divine creation!

 

2. It is supernaturally continued

 

1 Cor 6:19 “ Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? ”

  •  i.e. because God lives within us, we are supernatural beings

    

2 Cor 3:18 “ we are being transformed into his likeness … which comes from…. the Spirit

  •   i.e. the Spirit works to change our character to be like Jesus and our actions to be expressions of Jesus.
  •   this is a supernatural work that enables us to be more than we would be just on our own.
  •   we no longer
    •   have to sin
    •   have to put up with bad attitudes
    •   have to express ourselves badly
      •  because HE is working in us to bring those change  
  •   This makes a warm and secure family!

 

3. That new creation is God enabled and directed

 

To conclude, remember 3 of the 4 things we considered previously:

  •   it starts with ATTITUDE – we now love each other with His grace
  •   it continues with ACTION – we work together as He leads us
  •   it works towards an AIM – we are led together by Him to do His will

 

We can simply summarise those as:

  •   We are God-enabled – to become Christ-like in character
    •   He helps me change
  •   We are God-guided – to become Christ-like in loving others
    •   He shows me who to bless

 

THIS is the family of whom we are now a part.

 

 

Summary-Conclusions

  

  •   Family is about ‘togetherness'
  •   There is this togetherness because:
    •  God is the Father of all of us, we are created by Him and belong to Him
    •  Jesus' Spirit is working to make us all like him – God's common activity in all of us
    •  He enables is to change together – we're all going through the same process
    •  He guides us into service together – we're all to be joyfully harmonising our gifts for a common aim
  •   Within this togetherness we find:
    •  warmth, security, support & encouragement
    •  help to change
    •  harmony to serve