The Church as a Family
Galatians 6:10; Ephesians 3:15; James 2:15; 1 Timothy 5:1-2
On Monday (May 19th), the manager of the Boston Red Sox baseball team – Alex Cora – missed a game against the New York Mets to attend his daughter’s college graduation events. His decision drew public criticism because the commencement ceremony occurred in the morning and the game started at 6:45 p.m., so it was possible for him to be at the game, especially since both events occurred in Boston. Radio host, Mike Felger, called Cora’s decision “preposterous” and questioned his leadership. But Cora defended his decision, saying that he chose to emphasize family over work with this choice. After all, Major League baseball teams play 162 games every year, but our children only graduate from college once in a lifetime.
This scenario raises an important question about the degree or level of closeness and obligation we have in our relationships with other people. Besides family relationships, we have other relationships, too, including friendships, professional / work relationships, social relationships in our community, and even online / virtual relationships. Though all these relationships enhance our lives somehow and require a level of commitment and involvement from us, family is the closest kind of relationship, so it calls us to a higher level of commitment and involvement than any other relationships call us to.
Family is the closest kind of relationship.
What is family? Strictly speaking, family is a group of people who are connected and related to each other. We can illustrate a family most clearly with the drawing of a family tree. Family relationships are formed either by blood (through birth) or marriage (through a covenant), while adoption is also a means of entering a family (through a legal commitment). In contrast to other relationships, family relationships are rooted in either a deeper, genealogical connection by birth or a sacred, binding legal covenant.
More than any other relationship, family calls for a deeper shared commitment and love to one another. Family members (or relatives) support one another throughout life, provide guidance and material resources to one another, walk with each other through hardship and pain, and celebrate one another’s triumphs. Family relationships are not intended to be casual, surface, or temporary. They are supposed to be deep and lasting, enduring through the seasons of life. Because of this deep connection, family relationships must be selfless relationships, giving for the benefit of others.
This’s why Scripture gives strong warnings that spouses be deeply devoted to one another, parents be committed to caring for their children, and children be serious about honoring their parents. In the Old Testament, violations of family commitments often received the death penalty, including adultery by a spouse or disrespect of parents. Consider how Paul makes such a strong statement about the responsibility of a man to provide for his own family:
If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Tim 5:8)
Elsewhere, Paul urges husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church and for wives to respect their husbands as the church is to honor Christ. No other relationships call for this highest degree of love and devotion.
Perhaps you’re familiar with how a primer bulb works. It’s a small rubber bubble, usually on a small engine machine, such as a weed eater, chainsaw, or push lawnmower. You push that bubble about three times to pull the fuel into the lines so you can start the engine. Knowing how close that family relationships should be is like a primer bulb because this perspective helps us understand how we are supposed to treat one another within the church.
Scripture calls the church a family.
It does this in various ways. Paul called the church the “household of faith” (Gal 6:10) and a “family” (Eph 3:15).
As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Gal 6:10)
The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. (Eph 3:14-15)
Christ himself called his followers his brothers and sisters (Mk 3:33-35), and followers of Christ commonly called one another “brothers and sisters” (Jam 2:15) and viewed themselves as a “brotherhood” (1 Pet 2:17; 5:9).
He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” (Mk 3:33-35)
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (Jam 2:15-16)
Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. (1 Pet 2:17)
The same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. (1 Pet 5:9)
Altogether, the NT uses the word “brother” in some form to describe other believers in the church about 70 times. We even call each other “brother” or “sister” when we refer to each other in the church, sometimes. This is a fascinating observation because we might think that church relationships are more like some level of friendship than family. Or we might view church relationships as something like a social relationship, such as acquaintances in a parent-teacher association, a high school graduating class, or a set of co-workers.
But when God through Scripture describes the nature of our relationships to one another in the church, he uses family language more than any other kind of relationship – by far. This reveals something important to us – that the church is a spiritual family – a very real family indeed. God does not use this language merely as an analogy or illustration, but uses it to reveal that we are, indeed, a spiritual family. Allow me to demonstrate.
We are born into this family.
One way that we enter a biological family is through birth. Christ himself said this:
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (Jn 3:3)
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to you, “You must be born again.” (Jn 3:5-7)
And both Peter and John speak about this, too:
[We have] been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. (1 Pet 1:23)
Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. (1 Jn 3:9)
So, to be born again is to experience a very real, spiritual birth that genuinely births us into the family of God as his very actual, real children. And since we are actual, real children in God’s family, we are also actual, real brothers and sisters, just as children born into a biological family become brothers and sisters as a result.
Heb 2:11 makes a deeply encouraging statement about this spiritual sibling relationship:
Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. (Heb 2:11)
This tells us that both Christ and we are all in the same spiritual family and that, because of this family connection, Christ is not embarrassed or ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters. So, not only is Jesus Christ our Lord and our God, but he is also our brother.
From this we see that by being born again, a follower of Christ not only receives forgiveness of sin and eternal life, but a follower of Christ also becomes a brother or sister to every other follower of Christ and to Christ, as well. We don’t simply call ourselves brother and sister because it’s a nice thing to say or because we want to sound or feel close to each other in some way – we call each other this because this is what we are.
We are also adopted into this family.
Not only are we born into the family of God, but we are adopted into God’s family, too. And while we only become a child in a biological family one of two ways, by birth or adoption, we become God’s children and one another’s spiritual siblings in both ways.
The NT describes our full relationship with God as an adoption in at least five places (Rom 8:15, 23; 9:4; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5).
As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God … you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. (Rom 8:14-17)
This adoption by God describes a formal, legal placement into God’s family by which we become full children of God who receive all the benefits, rights, and privileges that come with being a child of God. Just as my six children are beneficiaries and recipients of my care and protection as their father, and also of a possible, future inheritance from whatever resources I leave behind someday, in an even greater way, those who believe on Christ as God and Savior are adopted into the family of God with full child status.
As amazing as this may be, there is another feature of adoption that we must acknowledge – that is the challenge that comes with being an adopted child.
Adopted children often struggle to integrate into their new families due to a combination of emotional, psychological, and social factors. This is all even though they are fully legal children in their new family. Many adopted children feel loss, abandonment, or identity confusion stemming from separation from their biological family, which can lead to attachment or trust issues.
Adjusting to new family dynamics, cultural differences, or expectations can further complicate their sense of belonging. And past experiences, such as trauma or unstable environments, may challenge their ability to form strong relational bonds and make it hard for adopted children to fully feel like real, accepted members of their new family.
So, as amazing as adoption is, an adoptive family needs to recognize the challenges an adopted child may face so that they can be intentional about receiving and treating the new child with love, kindness, and patience. And the church should do the same. Perhaps it’s been a long time since you joined a church family, either because you did that many years ago or else you never did so at all.
Whatever the case, we need to be intentional as a church about how we treat one another. It’s not good enough to simply know that we are brothers and sisters, siblings in the same spiritual family, or to be encouraged by this amazing reality within ourselves. We must reach out to one another and truly treat one another as the brothers and sisters we are.
We should love each other as family.
Treating one another as family – real family – is challenging for so many reasons. But I will highlight only two reasons here.
First, it is challenging because we generally already struggle to develop good relationships with the biological family we already have. We live independent, isolated lives and do most, if any, of our serious conversation and interaction with other people by ourselves on a screen. And our own family environments at home often feature incommunicative and poorly communicating people – parents, siblings, and spouses who struggle to develop genuine, deep relationships of their own. As a result, we generally feel unable or overwhelmed to put ourselves out there to be close, communicating brothers and sisters to other members of our church family, especially those who are new.
Second, it is challenging because we generally feel too busy, stretched, and occupied in other ways, making it seem overwhelming to consider investing energy and time into building new relationships, especially at the brother and sister level. We are more apt to develop relationships at the more surface level of social relationships – polite acquaintances, busy neighbors, co-workers, classmates, etc. But to forge new brother and sister relationships? Yikes.
Biological children in an adopting family can feel the same way. They may feel as though adopting a new child is something that their parents want to do but that they, as children, are not as enthusiastic about. They may already like their family as it is and don’t feel like adding another sibling to the picture.
As children of God, we have a loving heavenly Father who has devoted himself to rescuing more and more people from their slavery to sin by bringing them into his family through Christ. We don’t have the option of saying ‘no thank you’ to new brothers and sisters. After all, we were one such new brother and sister ourselves once. We must embrace the loving heart of God for other believers and welcome them into the family, the church. And we must do so in real and tangible ways.
Listen to what Paul says to us in Romans 12:10:
Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.
In summary, this means that within the church, we should love one another the way that brothers and sisters are supposed to love each other in a biological family. Why? Because we are brothers and sisters for real.
To dig deeper, these words call us to treat one another in a tender and loving way. We are to be very affectionate with one another and warmly devoted to one another. This is something far deeper and more profound than, say, being socially polite, casually acquainted, and so on. And he goes on to describe how we should place the interests and needs of one another over the desires of our own selves, much like how a sibling is there for another sibling in time of need, even when it is inconvenient to do so. This is the kind of relationship that we owe to one another because we are brothers and sisters, not a relationship that we must earn somehow through good behavior. Bible teachers William Hendrickson and Simon Kistemaker explain this verse this way:
According to this teaching the bond that unites the members of this spiritual family are far more secure and lasting than those which bind together the members of a purely physical family (Lk 14:26). What the apostle is saying, therefore, is that the members of this spiritual family should do all in their power to be and remain devoted to each other in tender affection.
The apostle John makes similar remarks (1 Jn 4:20-5:2):
This commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. (1 Jn 4:21-5:2)
From this we see that if we say that we love God, then we must love our brothers and sisters in the church also. Why? Because we are born into the same family of God with one another and are equally children and siblings in the same spiritual family, which is the church. And how do we love one another? By knowing what Jesus teaches in the NT and following that teaching by faith through love.
How can we do this?
Since we live in a harsh and difficult world, we need to know that we stand together as “one for all and all for one.” We need to experience the acceptance, care, love, and support that God himself provides through the loving actions of brothers and sisters in the church as the family of God. And we need to do these things and be this for one another because we love one another, not because we are merely told to do so.
How can we be this way for one another? How can we move past the fear of trying, the stress of doing something new, and the discomfort of building new relationships at a deeper, sibling level within the church? Besides doing things and spending time together like I mentioned previously, let me encourage you most of all to think much about the gospel. Think much about how Christ loves you, and how God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son to die for your sins, so that he might birth and adopt you into his family. When we understand that this is how God loves us through Christ, then our hearts are warmed to receive and love one another this way, too.
It is my prayer that God will not only grow this church family in number and size, but that he will do so by deepening and strengthening our tender and affectionate love for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. This is what we all need so dearly, and this is what our community needs to see from us as well.
As the church entered the second century after Christ, the Christian faith had spread throughout the Roman Empire. Christians were often viewed with great suspicion by government officials and unbelievers around them. Wild rumors spread around which described Christians as horrible, untrustworthy people.
To clear the air and defend the good name of Christianity, an influential church leader named Tertullian wrote a brief explanation of Christian practices and corrected the wrong accusations against them. In his work, he wrote at one point that these attacks against Christianity were made out of jealousy, because Christians displayed a character of life that their pagan neighbors did not possess. Here is what Tertullian wrote:
It is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See how they love one another … how they are ready even to die for one another. (The Apology, Ch. 39)
May this kind of love for one another be always increasing here at Brookdale Baptist Church and may we be not only willing to die for one another but, perhaps more importantly, to live for one another and to serve one another in love.
Discussion Questions
On Monday (May 19th), the manager of the Boston Red Sox baseball team – Alex Cora – missed a game against the New York Mets to attend his daughter’s college graduation events. His decision drew public criticism because the commencement ceremony occurred in the morning and the game started at 6:45 p.m., so it was possible for him to be at the game, especially since both events occurred in Boston. Radio host, Mike Felger, called Cora’s decision “preposterous” and questioned his leadership. But Cora defended his decision, saying that he chose to emphasize family over work with this choice. After all, Major League baseball teams play 162 games every year, but our children only graduate from college once in a lifetime.
This scenario raises an important question about the degree or level of closeness and obligation we have in our relationships with other people. Besides family relationships, we have other relationships, too, including friendships, professional / work relationships, social relationships in our community, and even online / virtual relationships. Though all these relationships enhance our lives somehow and require a level of commitment and involvement from us, family is the closest kind of relationship, so it calls us to a higher level of commitment and involvement than any other relationships call us to.
Family is the closest kind of relationship.
What is family? Strictly speaking, family is a group of people who are connected and related to each other. We can illustrate a family most clearly with the drawing of a family tree. Family relationships are formed either by blood (through birth) or marriage (through a covenant), while adoption is also a means of entering a family (through a legal commitment). In contrast to other relationships, family relationships are rooted in either a deeper, genealogical connection by birth or a sacred, binding legal covenant.
More than any other relationship, family calls for a deeper shared commitment and love to one another. Family members (or relatives) support one another throughout life, provide guidance and material resources to one another, walk with each other through hardship and pain, and celebrate one another’s triumphs. Family relationships are not intended to be casual, surface, or temporary. They are supposed to be deep and lasting, enduring through the seasons of life. Because of this deep connection, family relationships must be selfless relationships, giving for the benefit of others.
This’s why Scripture gives strong warnings that spouses be deeply devoted to one another, parents be committed to caring for their children, and children be serious about honoring their parents. In the Old Testament, violations of family commitments often received the death penalty, including adultery by a spouse or disrespect of parents. Consider how Paul makes such a strong statement about the responsibility of a man to provide for his own family:
If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Tim 5:8)
Elsewhere, Paul urges husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church and for wives to respect their husbands as the church is to honor Christ. No other relationships call for this highest degree of love and devotion.
Perhaps you’re familiar with how a primer bulb works. It’s a small rubber bubble, usually on a small engine machine, such as a weed eater, chainsaw, or push lawnmower. You push that bubble about three times to pull the fuel into the lines so you can start the engine. Knowing how close that family relationships should be is like a primer bulb because this perspective helps us understand how we are supposed to treat one another within the church.
Scripture calls the church a family.
It does this in various ways. Paul called the church the “household of faith” (Gal 6:10) and a “family” (Eph 3:15).
As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Gal 6:10)
The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. (Eph 3:14-15)
Christ himself called his followers his brothers and sisters (Mk 3:33-35), and followers of Christ commonly called one another “brothers and sisters” (Jam 2:15) and viewed themselves as a “brotherhood” (1 Pet 2:17; 5:9).
He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” (Mk 3:33-35)
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (Jam 2:15-16)
Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. (1 Pet 2:17)
The same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. (1 Pet 5:9)
Altogether, the NT uses the word “brother” in some form to describe other believers in the church about 70 times. We even call each other “brother” or “sister” when we refer to each other in the church, sometimes. This is a fascinating observation because we might think that church relationships are more like some level of friendship than family. Or we might view church relationships as something like a social relationship, such as acquaintances in a parent-teacher association, a high school graduating class, or a set of co-workers.
But when God through Scripture describes the nature of our relationships to one another in the church, he uses family language more than any other kind of relationship – by far. This reveals something important to us – that the church is a spiritual family – a very real family indeed. God does not use this language merely as an analogy or illustration, but uses it to reveal that we are, indeed, a spiritual family. Allow me to demonstrate.
We are born into this family.
One way that we enter a biological family is through birth. Christ himself said this:
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (Jn 3:3)
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to you, “You must be born again.” (Jn 3:5-7)
And both Peter and John speak about this, too:
[We have] been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. (1 Pet 1:23)
Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. (1 Jn 3:9)
So, to be born again is to experience a very real, spiritual birth that genuinely births us into the family of God as his very actual, real children. And since we are actual, real children in God’s family, we are also actual, real brothers and sisters, just as children born into a biological family become brothers and sisters as a result.
Heb 2:11 makes a deeply encouraging statement about this spiritual sibling relationship:
Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. (Heb 2:11)
This tells us that both Christ and we are all in the same spiritual family and that, because of this family connection, Christ is not embarrassed or ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters. So, not only is Jesus Christ our Lord and our God, but he is also our brother.
From this we see that by being born again, a follower of Christ not only receives forgiveness of sin and eternal life, but a follower of Christ also becomes a brother or sister to every other follower of Christ and to Christ, as well. We don’t simply call ourselves brother and sister because it’s a nice thing to say or because we want to sound or feel close to each other in some way – we call each other this because this is what we are.
We are also adopted into this family.
Not only are we born into the family of God, but we are adopted into God’s family, too. And while we only become a child in a biological family one of two ways, by birth or adoption, we become God’s children and one another’s spiritual siblings in both ways.
The NT describes our full relationship with God as an adoption in at least five places (Rom 8:15, 23; 9:4; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5).
As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God … you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. (Rom 8:14-17)
This adoption by God describes a formal, legal placement into God’s family by which we become full children of God who receive all the benefits, rights, and privileges that come with being a child of God. Just as my six children are beneficiaries and recipients of my care and protection as their father, and also of a possible, future inheritance from whatever resources I leave behind someday, in an even greater way, those who believe on Christ as God and Savior are adopted into the family of God with full child status.
As amazing as this may be, there is another feature of adoption that we must acknowledge – that is the challenge that comes with being an adopted child.
Adopted children often struggle to integrate into their new families due to a combination of emotional, psychological, and social factors. This is all even though they are fully legal children in their new family. Many adopted children feel loss, abandonment, or identity confusion stemming from separation from their biological family, which can lead to attachment or trust issues.
Adjusting to new family dynamics, cultural differences, or expectations can further complicate their sense of belonging. And past experiences, such as trauma or unstable environments, may challenge their ability to form strong relational bonds and make it hard for adopted children to fully feel like real, accepted members of their new family.
So, as amazing as adoption is, an adoptive family needs to recognize the challenges an adopted child may face so that they can be intentional about receiving and treating the new child with love, kindness, and patience. And the church should do the same. Perhaps it’s been a long time since you joined a church family, either because you did that many years ago or else you never did so at all.
Whatever the case, we need to be intentional as a church about how we treat one another. It’s not good enough to simply know that we are brothers and sisters, siblings in the same spiritual family, or to be encouraged by this amazing reality within ourselves. We must reach out to one another and truly treat one another as the brothers and sisters we are.
We should love each other as family.
Treating one another as family – real family – is challenging for so many reasons. But I will highlight only two reasons here.
First, it is challenging because we generally already struggle to develop good relationships with the biological family we already have. We live independent, isolated lives and do most, if any, of our serious conversation and interaction with other people by ourselves on a screen. And our own family environments at home often feature incommunicative and poorly communicating people – parents, siblings, and spouses who struggle to develop genuine, deep relationships of their own. As a result, we generally feel unable or overwhelmed to put ourselves out there to be close, communicating brothers and sisters to other members of our church family, especially those who are new.
Second, it is challenging because we generally feel too busy, stretched, and occupied in other ways, making it seem overwhelming to consider investing energy and time into building new relationships, especially at the brother and sister level. We are more apt to develop relationships at the more surface level of social relationships – polite acquaintances, busy neighbors, co-workers, classmates, etc. But to forge new brother and sister relationships? Yikes.
Biological children in an adopting family can feel the same way. They may feel as though adopting a new child is something that their parents want to do but that they, as children, are not as enthusiastic about. They may already like their family as it is and don’t feel like adding another sibling to the picture.
As children of God, we have a loving heavenly Father who has devoted himself to rescuing more and more people from their slavery to sin by bringing them into his family through Christ. We don’t have the option of saying ‘no thank you’ to new brothers and sisters. After all, we were one such new brother and sister ourselves once. We must embrace the loving heart of God for other believers and welcome them into the family, the church. And we must do so in real and tangible ways.
Listen to what Paul says to us in Romans 12:10:
Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.
In summary, this means that within the church, we should love one another the way that brothers and sisters are supposed to love each other in a biological family. Why? Because we are brothers and sisters for real.
To dig deeper, these words call us to treat one another in a tender and loving way. We are to be very affectionate with one another and warmly devoted to one another. This is something far deeper and more profound than, say, being socially polite, casually acquainted, and so on. And he goes on to describe how we should place the interests and needs of one another over the desires of our own selves, much like how a sibling is there for another sibling in time of need, even when it is inconvenient to do so. This is the kind of relationship that we owe to one another because we are brothers and sisters, not a relationship that we must earn somehow through good behavior. Bible teachers William Hendrickson and Simon Kistemaker explain this verse this way:
According to this teaching the bond that unites the members of this spiritual family are far more secure and lasting than those which bind together the members of a purely physical family (Lk 14:26). What the apostle is saying, therefore, is that the members of this spiritual family should do all in their power to be and remain devoted to each other in tender affection.
The apostle John makes similar remarks (1 Jn 4:20-5:2):
This commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. (1 Jn 4:21-5:2)
From this we see that if we say that we love God, then we must love our brothers and sisters in the church also. Why? Because we are born into the same family of God with one another and are equally children and siblings in the same spiritual family, which is the church. And how do we love one another? By knowing what Jesus teaches in the NT and following that teaching by faith through love.
How can we do this?
- prayer / encouraging words (conversations, phone calls, text messages, notes in mail)
- time together (Sunday morning, Life Groups, discipleship relationships, retreats, camp, other special church events – like the Johnson Farm picnic, monthly Sunday evening events, etc.)
- building friendships with one another (informal hangouts and recreational activities)
- serving together (SS teaching, the worship team, soccer camp, car wash, etc.)
- giving financial aid (deacons’ fund, personal gifts)
- offering acts of kindness (a ride to church, visit to the hospital, meal to the home, etc.)
Since we live in a harsh and difficult world, we need to know that we stand together as “one for all and all for one.” We need to experience the acceptance, care, love, and support that God himself provides through the loving actions of brothers and sisters in the church as the family of God. And we need to do these things and be this for one another because we love one another, not because we are merely told to do so.
How can we be this way for one another? How can we move past the fear of trying, the stress of doing something new, and the discomfort of building new relationships at a deeper, sibling level within the church? Besides doing things and spending time together like I mentioned previously, let me encourage you most of all to think much about the gospel. Think much about how Christ loves you, and how God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son to die for your sins, so that he might birth and adopt you into his family. When we understand that this is how God loves us through Christ, then our hearts are warmed to receive and love one another this way, too.
It is my prayer that God will not only grow this church family in number and size, but that he will do so by deepening and strengthening our tender and affectionate love for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. This is what we all need so dearly, and this is what our community needs to see from us as well.
As the church entered the second century after Christ, the Christian faith had spread throughout the Roman Empire. Christians were often viewed with great suspicion by government officials and unbelievers around them. Wild rumors spread around which described Christians as horrible, untrustworthy people.
To clear the air and defend the good name of Christianity, an influential church leader named Tertullian wrote a brief explanation of Christian practices and corrected the wrong accusations against them. In his work, he wrote at one point that these attacks against Christianity were made out of jealousy, because Christians displayed a character of life that their pagan neighbors did not possess. Here is what Tertullian wrote:
It is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See how they love one another … how they are ready even to die for one another. (The Apology, Ch. 39)
May this kind of love for one another be always increasing here at Brookdale Baptist Church and may we be not only willing to die for one another but, perhaps more importantly, to live for one another and to serve one another in love.
Discussion Questions
- Why should Christians support family being a high priority for people?
- How does an opposite position contradict Christian teaching?
- What are some special ways in which we treat family that we do not do for others?
- How does biology (“bio” = life) determine our relationship to our family?
- Note: Of course, adoption is a beautiful exception.
- Does this help us to understand how “new life in Christ,” or being born again, determines our family relationship to the church?
- What are some ways that we can make our brothers and sisters, all of whom have been adopted into God’s family, feel at home in our church?
- What are the challenges of loving the church body as a family that concern you the most personally?
- How does remembering and meditating on the Gospel help us to be affectionate toward our brothers and sisters in the church?
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The Four GospelsThe Blessing of WorkThe First Two Woes of RevelationThe Blessing of MarriageAnother Dramatic IntermissionThe Book of ActsThe Making of a Godly Man, Family, Church & CommunityThe Tragic Entrance of SinPaul's Letters & TravelsThe Two WitnessesThe Sad Effects of SinThe Jerusalem Council and The Epistle of GalatiansAnnouncing the Seventh Trumpet
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