What Is the Church? (Part 4)
It Is
the Family of God
(Luke 18:28-30)
So far, we have looked at the “church” (or ekklesia) from three biblical perspectives, each of which highlighted an important aspect of its spiritual nature. As the Bride of Christ, we saw what the church is not – it cannot be an organization, it cannot be a building, and it cannot be a meeting or event. It is a Bride for whom Christ died. It is comprised of the souls of those who have come to know Jesus.
We also saw that the church is the Body of Christ, and the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, has placed each believer into this Body, and has sovereignly gifted each one of us to function in this Body. Since there is only one Head, there can only be one Body. That is why the only distinction we see made in Scripture between congregations is based upon geography and never based upon doctrine. To isolate one congregation from another based upon doctrine is sectarian thinking, and it goes against Jesus’ desire expressed in His priestly prayer: “that they may be one” (John 17:11).
Last week, we saw in the church a fulfillment of the types and shadows expressed in the Old Covenant tabernacle as we studied the truth that it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. This holy temple has a holy priesthood, which the New Testament teaches is a priesthood of those who know the Lord Jesus Christ. The focus of our priestly service in this holy temple is two-fold: our ministry TO the Lord and our ministry FOR the Lord. As we minister TO the Lord, He reveals Himself and His ways to us, and as a result we are equipped to minister FOR Him.
In the spirit of this ministry FOR the Lord that flows from our ministry TO Lord, I would like to suggest a fourth biblical perspective in answering this question about the Church: It is the Family of God. The name of this congregation is the “Community Worship Center” (CWC). Last week, we talked quite about the “worship” aspect of this name. In this article, I want us to focus upon the “community” aspect of CWC. We need to understand what God has told us in His Word concerning relationships within the Body.
Did you know that God has actually created us with a built-in need for fellowship? Look at the creation story in first chapter of Genesis. Notice how God evaluates His creation along the way with this phrase: “it was good” (1:10; 1:12; 1:18; 1:21; 1:25). After he created mankind, and evaluated all of creation, the Lord’s assessment was “it was very good” (1:31).
Think of Adam’s world at creation. He had all of the things that we think make for a “good life” here on the earth. He lived in a perfect neighborhood (the Garden). He had a perfect job (tending the garden of God). And, he had a relationship with God that was unmarred by sin. I mean, could you ask for more? And yet, God looks at this situation, and says, “It is not good.” Look at Genesis 2:18:
The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (NASB)
There is a term with which you may not be familiar called the “principle of first reference.” This simply means that the first occurrence of a word or phrase in Scripture is very significant and lends meaning to how that word or phrase is used in the rest of the Bible. And in this verse we see the first reference to the phrase: “It is not good.” God looks at a perfect world that He called “very good” and says, “It is not good.”
What is this thing that the Lord first calls “not good”? “It is not good for the man to be alone.” God created Adam with a need for a relationship, not only with the Lord Himself, but with other people. The Lord then met that need by giving him a “helper suitable for him.” The word translated “suitable” literally means “corresponding to.” Adam had the job of naming creatures that God had created but none of them were “suitable” companions for Adam. God then created Eve out of Adam’s genetic material (from one of his ribs – Gen. 2:21-22) and the man was no longer “alone.”
We should not be surprised that God created man with a need for fellowship, as God Himself has fellowship within the Godhead between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. God has eternally related to Himself in three Persons, and it is His desire that we be in relationship, not only with Him but with each other.
Keep in mind that this need for relationship that God had created was before sin had entered the world. If God has created a need in us and has also created the means to meet that need, then (this is important) it is “okay” to have that need. I realize many of us do not want to admit our “neediness,” but think of some of the “one-another” commands in the New Testament: “love one another”; “encourage one another”; “build up one another”; “accept one another”; “be kind to one another”; “comfort one another.”
According to these commands from God, we can conclude that these are needs God has given us, such as the need to be loved, the need to be encouraged, the need to be built up, the need to be accepted, the need for kindness, and the need for comfort. While some might look at these needs as weaknesses, we look at them as gifts from God. And why has God created these needs in our lives? He has done so that we might experience relationships within His church – the family of God.
This truth about our need for human relationships within the family of God becomes difficult for some believers to appreciate, especially if we evaluate our own families of origin (in other words, the households in which we were raised). Because of sin, every human family, to some degree, can be considered dysfunctional. Now, psychologists have created a category with that name for families with severe problems, but I would just view those families has being Dysfunctional with a capital “D.” All families encounter sin, and, as a result, all earthly families have some relationships that are not entirely healthy.
So, do not apply your experiential understanding of relationships from your earthly families to your relationship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. You have a bond and relationship with the family of God that transcends even that of your blood relatives. In Luke 18, Jesus had an encounter with a wealthy man who was unwillingly to give up his earthly goods in order to follow Christ. It is in response to this situation that Peter makes a point and Jesus responds with some important truth concerning the family of God:
Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” 29) “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30) will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.” (Luke 18:28-30 – NASB)
Peter had correctly observed that, unlike the wealthy man, he had left everything to follow Jesus, including his job and his family. The Lord points out that this is not such a great sacrifice from the heavenly perspective, as Peter would receive much more than what he left behind. You see, Peter had a new family – an eternal family. And he didn’t have to wait until he died and went to heaven to experience this family, because Jesus said he would receive this new family “in this age.”
In a parallel passage in Mark 10, Jesus said that we would receive “a hundred times as much now in the present age.” Why? Because we have a new family (“brothers or parents or children”). Those of you who have Christian families should be thankful that your earthly family is also part of your heavenly family. But for those of us who do not have Christian families, we can be encouraged to know that we have a spiritual family that is more real than any earthly family could ever hope to be.
Haven’t you noticed, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the greatness of the bond you have with your fellow believer than you do with those with whom you share a biological relationship? You most certainly have received “more” of a family, even “in this age.”
But why is it that we feel such a close bond to our brothers and sisters in Christ, even with some whom we have recently met? Because we share the same Father: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26). Remember the prayer that Jesus gave to His disciples? He did not tell us to say “My Father” but to pray “Our Father” (Matt. 6:9). It is our relationship to the Father that is the basis for our relationship with one another.
At the moment you came to saving faith in Jesus Christ, there were two separate realities related to your sonship that happened. The first is that you became God’s spiritual child, or what Jesus called being “born again” (or “born from above”) (see John 3:3). We see this spiritual birth as well in John 1:13: “Who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
But there is an additional teaching about our sonship in Galatians 4:4-5:
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5) so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (NASB)
This verse states the purpose of Christ’s birth (our redemption) and the result of that redemption – our “adoption as sons.” The Greek word translated “adoption as sons” is a legal term that means we receive the full rights of children. You see, when a child is born, even as a legal heir, he or she does not receive the benefits of their legal standing until they reach adulthood. They are kept “in custody” (Gal. 3:23) until they are old enough to receive their inheritance.
But the Lord has given us full rights now as His children. So, even though we are born of God, by His Spirit, we are also adopted as heirs with full legal rights. This is why Paul could write in Ephesians 1:3 that we have been blessed with “every spiritual blessing.” Praise the Lord for the spiritual and legal facts given to us by our Father in heaven.
What does all of this have to do with our relationship to the “family of God”? The Bible is quite clear concerning the link between our love for God our Father and our love for our brother or sister in Christ:
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. (1 John 5:1 – NASB)
Every Christian knows that the Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is to love God (with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength) and to love our neighbor (as ourselves), because “on these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:40). And yet, how many times do we try to separate these two commandments? The Word of God is quite clear. If we love God, we must love our brother or sister in Christ. If we don’t, then we are deceived into thinking that we are loving God. First John 4:20 uses an even stronger word:
If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (NASB)
If we try to separate our love for God from our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, the Bible calls us a “liar.” The Lord takes this matter very seriously, as you can see. True biblical Christian relationships must flow out of our relationship with the Father. We can’t make fellowship “happen” – it is an overflow from a heart that loves God. Why do we often find our relationships with each to be so shallow? Could it be that our relationship with the Father itself is shallow? May the Lord give us understanding, wisdom, and humility in this matter….
To use an expression from a more “southern” latitude, Brothers and Sisters in Christ: “We are kin.” We are part of the same family. Look at Galatians 6:9-10:
Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
10) So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. (NASB)
Of course we are to “do good to all people,” even loving our enemies. But there is a special love that goes beyond this in our relationship with the family of God. The Greek word translated “household” in verse 10 literally means “house members.” The NIV translates this word as “family of believers.” Spiritually speaking, we are living under the same roof.
The very language of the New Testament in describing our relationships confirms this kinship:
Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2) older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. (1 Tim. 5:1-2 – NASB)
How do we relate to those men who are older than us? As fathers. How do we relate to the younger men? As brothers. How do we relate to older women? As mothers. How do we relate to younger women? As sisters. And, guys, that is “with absolute purity.”
If we are in fact family members and if we are in fact members of the same household, then it is God’s desire that we share our lives together. We must be intentional about how we live out this community of faith. This goes way beyond just showing up on a Sunday morning to sing some songs and hear a message or two. For you see, “We are kin.”
Do you remember those “one another” commands I wrote about earlier? How can we possibly obey those commands if we do not know one another? How can I ever be used of God to encourage you if I do not know you and am unaware of your need for encouragement? How can you comfort me if you do not know my hurts and my struggles? How can we pray for one another if we do not know each other?
There are practical suggestions I could make about what you should do to live out this community to which God has called us. But I wanted you to first understand the truth before trying to live it out. So now, start reaching out to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Make it a habit, at least once a month, to invite people you do not know for supper. If you see a brother or sister you do not know, introduce yourself. Get to know them.
If you are not involved in some small group fellowship, find one. If God leads you to do so, start one! You are part of a family that will be with you for eternity. Start loving them now, because, you see, “We are kin.”
I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God,
I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His Blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I'm part of the family, the Family of God
Dave Lilligren
February 2007