“2024 Vision Message: The Church as a Family - Living in Spirituality”
Sermon Title: 2024 Vision Message: The Church as a Family - Living in Spirituality
Scripture: ephesians 2:18-20 NIV
Introduction
Today, the word “Spirituality” correlates with some kind of inner reflection and meditation, dabbling in crystals and new age practices, living a certain lifestyle or principle, or simply being open to explore different religious experiences. In the Christian context, true spirituality (as it pertains to our vision statement) is relational aspect of our existence as sons and daughters of the Living God. True spirituality is about our relationship with God and with the people of God. Spiritual disciplines like prayer, daily devotional meditation and reflection on Scripture are all for the purpose of building intimacy with God as we grow in Christlikeness.
One of troubling concerns for churches all over the world is that many people are drifting away from the life of the church. It’s not simply about church attendance but the drifting of spiritual companionship, which is the drifting away from the nature of having relationships that keep us bonded to God and one another as a family in Christ. Not all respond enthusiastically to the idea of a family of God. Family can be a source of pain, trauma, and conflict for some. However, we cannot understand Scripture unless we recognize the truth that we are the family of God.
Concept of family in Scripture
Our individualistic society makes it hard to see how communal, how family-oriented Scripture truly is. In fact, the Bible is much more communal and community-oriented than individual.
· Much of biblical language and Jesus’ teachings are given with corporate language. For example, Jesus says “Our Father in heaven…”, not “My Father in heaven…” Paul also writes “our Lord” 53 times, while “my Lord” appears only once.
· Christianity is not a privatized individual faith. We are a community, a family. The ancient world was aware of this concept as we see a clear biblical emphasis on how individuals were identified. Individuals identified with the name of the father, one’s genealogy and bloodline (ex. Simon bar-Jonah; David the son of Jesse). This familial order is God’s divine establishment, and it extends to us today through Christ, joining together people who were once strangers.
Jesus tears down barriers
In Jesus’ days, significant tensions existed between Jews and gentiles in many aspects such as ethnicity, economics, tradition, culture, and especially religion.
· Ephesians chapter 2 highlights God’s will for the kingdom of God to be for both Jews and gentiles (Cf. Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:14; Matt. 28:18-20).
· “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers... (v.19)" The two words “foreigners and strangers” referred to the Gentiles’ (our) relationship to God. Through Christ who removed all barriers, we are no longer foreigners and strangers to God and to each other. We are now sons and daughters of the Living God, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
· “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, (v.14)” Therefore the gospel is the bridge that gets us to God and a sledgehammer that tears down barriers. Yet, many in the church do not live in light of this truth; they are brothers and sisters only in name. God calls us to be more!
Jesus demonstrates a new human family
Jesus demonstrated through the way he gathered his disciples to show us that a new human family in Christ is possible.
· He did not gather them based on personality compatibility, ethnicity, wealth, status, people who would get along with each other. They came from all walks of life, including Matthew the tax collector, who was regarded as a traitor (for working for Rome) by fellow Jews, and Simon the Zealot who was a rebel against Rome. Two people who would have been enemies. Jesus intentionally gathers these men together and shows them a different way. God’s family is open to all!
· Your sins, your addictions, your problems, your past, your present, does not keep you from being welcomed into the family of God. It is solely through your faith in Jesus’ name that we are brought into the family of God. In the family of God, we find true satisfaction, true purpose, and true love and healing. God calls the church to be the best demonstration of His family.
How do we live this out? How do we live out this reality?
1. Life is Shared
Family is the place where we are known and know others, share our hopes and hurts, and care for one another. Many stay anonymous and stay under the radar, but God wants more from you in the church. He wants you to be present, known by others and to know others, and to share your lives together. Sharing life will take time, but the important thing is whether you are moving in a way where you are others know you, your struggles, your background, and do you know theirs? God invites us to increasingly share our lives together as a family of God.
2. Conflict does not have the last word.
Being a family means conflict will occur from time to time, this is normal. but we must not allow conflict to have the last word. People will go through phases when they enter a church. First, there is an idealism or illusion that people project when they find a church that they like. After some time, this gives way to a second phase of disappointment as the illusion gives way to reality (and many people leave the church at this point). You realize that this church is just as broken as the other churches you’ve been to, which is absolutely correct, because church is where broken people gather to be restored in the Lord, to have their sins cleansed by the blood of Jesus. From disappointment we need to move to covenant, a promise to stay around long enough to see that there are no saints or devils, just a mixture of broken people struggling with light and darkness. Church is a place to help others carry their burdens and allow others to carry yours.
3. We, as a church family, are also to carry each other to God.
Our lives are to be marked by mercy and forgiveness and grace and intercession, and to be a people that carry each other to God. Our world is marked by division, hostility, and hatred, and it needs the church to show what's possible with God. The church needs to be the hope that the world cannot find on its own. There is great diversity among us, but what unites us is not our own blood but the blood of Jesus Christ running through our spiritual veins! God invites us into a new human family that the world has never seen, bound by the blood of Jesus Christ, sharing life together, bearing with one another in love through conflict and disappointment, carrying one another to greater intimacy with God. This is the true spirituality that we must pursue by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Reflection and Response
It’s easier to stay as strangers and foreigners and stay under the radar. It’s easier to keep others out than letting them in, and to be free of the worries of getting too involved with church. God invites us and challenges us today to take the next step in moving towards others as a family of God. There is spiritual power when we gather together in the name of Jesus and sharing our lives together that lifts us up in unexpected and surprising ways.
· Have you found it hard to accept that (as New Hope) we are a family of God?
· Perhaps you have tried to share your life and become a family of God, what are some of the challenges and difficulties you have faced and still face?
· Many looks at church as an event, product, or experience – when they get all that the church has to offer, or when they face disappointment, they hop to another church hoping to find the “perfect” church. How is God challenging your heart now?