THOUGHTS ON CHURCH FAMILY

God’s grand plan is for believers to love and relate to each other as spiritual brothers and sisters -- as sons and daughters of the living God – doing life together with Him at the center as the core that holds the spiritual family together. A quick read of Acts chapter two through four sheds light on the relational dynamic of an organic body of believers -- the first century church -- doing life as a spiritual family. These saints were experts at sharing life, sharing God, sharing their “stuff”, demonstrating their faith through love for their brethren, worshiping God in the unity of the Spirit.

1Cor. 14:26-33 from The Message translation  paints a picture of this “participative” church family: “When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight ... Take your turn, no one person taking over. Then each speaker gets a chance to say something special from God, and you all learn from each other ... When we worship the right way, God doesn’t stir us up into confusion; He brings us into harmony. This goes for all the churches—no exceptions.”

This sounds good, but taking on a real extended family is costly, both literally and emotionally. Hear these commands of scripture:

*Sharing our stuff and our life.

*Loving others as we love ourselves.

*Rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn.

*Praying effectual fervent prayers for one another.

*Humbling ourselves toward others.

*Extending compassion and mercy.

*Forgiving faults and transgressions.

*Loving in deed and not in word.

And this is just a partial list! Love, Sacrifice, Passion, Obedience, and Humility, the things that bring a twinkle to our Father’s eyes, were the cornerstones of the first century churches. What they lacked in luxurious facilities, creature comforts, and choreographed assemblies was dung... as Paul would say, when compared with the experience of living life as God intended, as a real family of brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember, we can’t love the back of someone’s head… though we will try. And love… well, it is paramount, both our love for God and our love for others, birthed in us as we become what we behold, beholding God’s relentless love for us. Our love is demonstrated in sacrifice, passion, obedience, and humility, Christ’s nature flourishing in us fertilized by love. We need to emulate the first century saints in their desire to love as God loves…

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they'll know we are Christians by our love

(Peter Scholtes’ lyrics)