If I were to ask
you what the Church is, what would you say? Is the church a building? Is
it the place where believers gather to worship? Or is the church the people—the
believers who follow Christ? How we understand and perceive the church is quite
important in determining how we live out our faith.
I came across an interesting book titled,
“Stop Dating the Church: Fall in love with the Family of God.” The
author Joshua Harris addresses the casual attitudes of the church attendees, he
notes, “Putting in their hour or two on the weekend, many Christians take the
rest of the week off, neglecting the church and her needs. It’s not a serious
relationship. Some shop around, looking for a church that suits their lifestyle.
It’s dating, with no assurances, no obligations. He calls Christians to stop
playing the field and commit, just as Christ is committed to us, His bride. He explores
the ramifications of Ephesians 5:25–32, which proclaims the intensity and the
breadth of Jesus Christ’s love for His church.”
God has designed us to build our
lives around a local church; we cannot be indifferent or uninvolved. Rather, we
must be in love with and committed to God’s plan and purpose through the
church. How would you rate your love and commitment to the Church? Are you simply
dating the church, or committed to the family of God? Out of all the metaphors
used to describe Church in the Bible I like, “the family of God” the most as it
best describes the nature, intention and the purpose of God. We will look at
the Church as the family of God and see how that impacts our relationships with
one another as well as our mission as a Church.
II. BIBLICAL VIEW ON THE FAMILY OF GOD?
The concept of the family of God
runs through both the Old and the New Testament. Here are a few scriptural
examples: In Genesis 12 we read God calling Abraham from an idolatrous
background and setting him apart from the rest of the people for His purposes.
God commanded Abraham to leave his country, relatives and his father’s
household and go to a distant land where He was going to make him a great
nation and in him all the families of the earth will be blessed. So out of one
man God formed a nation of people for himself they were called; the house hold
of Israel or the children of
Israel ,
later on they came to be known as the Jewish people.
In the OT God was known as the God
of Israel and the Israelites were known as God’s children. Hosea 11:1-3, “When
Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more
they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals
and they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking
them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them.”
This scripture so poignantly
depicts the heart of God as the father of Israel and also the rebellious
nature of His children. What started as an exceptional and exclusive family of
God in the Old Testament which was primarily meant for the Jews became more
expansive and all inclusive by the arrival of Jesus in the New Testament.
Though Jews rejected Jesus as their
messiah; God has opened up the way for all nations and all families of the
earth become a part of the family of God. Again, this is not an automatic
inclusion of every one rather the admission to the family of God is based on
individual’s faith in Christ. John 12:11-12, “He came to that which was his
own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those
who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of
God.”
In Ephesians Paul emphasizes the
fact that the whole family of God derives its name from the father in heaven. “For
this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family (the whole
family referring to the family of God) in heaven and on earth derives its name.”
Ephesians 3:15 The Greek word for family (patria) is derived
from the Greek word for father (pater).
The family of God first and
foremost is our heavenly father’s initiation. How can someone become a member
of the family of God? It is by putting our faith in the son of God and his
redemptive work on the cross one becomes a member of this huge family of God. I
see a lot of similarities between an earthly family and the family of God the
Church. In other words what makes or breaks a family also makes or breaks the
family of God.
II. EARTHLY FAMILY Vs THE FAMILY OF GOD:
No one chooses their birth family;
similarly it is God who chose us and adopted us as his sons and daughters, in
His family that is the universal Church. However we can choose which local
congregation we want to belong to and once that choice is made, stay committed
to that particular church. In an earthly family there is structure and order
for the better functioning of the family. God has established the five fold
ministries, set up leadership structures such as deacons, and elders who would
serve as God’s faithful representatives.
Parents are given the task to train
and teach their children in the way they should go. In the family of God there
must be discipleship and mentoring of new believers. The three key ingredients
that make a family healthier are: Love, acceptance and forgiveness. I can not
overemphasize the importance of those ingredients in the family of God. Earthly
family is a place where children learn the joys of sharing and giving. These
were the two key pillars in the early Church and must be present in every local
Church even today.
However healthy an earthly family
might be it is common to have fights, quarrels and conflicts among family
members. Similarly in the family of God too we have fights, disunity,
divisions, strife, quarrels and conflicts, however we are required to work
through them in a peaceful God honoring way so that the name of God is not ridiculed
among the heathen.
What makes an earthly family
functional is obedience, and servant hood. The Church becomes healthy and makes
an impact when the members learn to obey Christ’s commandments, as He was
obedient to His father’s commandments and to walk in the path of servant hood
as Christ modeled during His life time.
Though the family of God is
universal in its scope, it is better expressed and functioned in a local
setting which we call the local Church or local congregation. Let me talk about
the local Church.
III. THE IMPORTANCE OF A LOCAL CHURCH
Hearing my case on the family of
God being the universal Church some may justify their non commitment to a local
church saying that they belong to the universal Church and why should they bother
becoming members of a local church? My answer to them is, yes you are in one
sense connected to the much larger family but at the same time your real growth
takes place in a local Church not in isolation or moving from one church to
another church.
Church can sometimes mean the
universal church (made up of every Christian in the world), but most of the NT
talks about a local church, ekklesia, which
literally means to "call out." The local church is an assembly
of people who have been called out of the world by God's grace to be together
for reflecting His glory and His character.
In the local church is where you
receive the right teaching of the word. It is where you are baptized and
brought into the communion with other brothers and sisters in the family. The local
church is different from a seminary, a conference, a campus fellowship, a
missionary trip, or a praise night. While those things can be great, they
can at most be called extensions of churches. I was part of a para church
organization for a long time and however good and godly environment that YWAM
provided it could never replace what a local church can provide. As a director of
a YWAM centre I stressed that all staff members should be part of a local
church of their choice.
In the setting of a local church
you will be tried, tested, challenged, comforted, delivered, healed, protected
and spiritually nurtured. In fact could it be that some of the emotional and
relational growing up that we haven’t done in our families of origin might be
happening right here in the local church setting? If that is so it explains why Church can be
so difficult because we put up with so and so with such and such habits and
Church has to put up with you and me who also are still a work in progress. But friends that also gives us glorious hope,
that right here those ‘baby steps’ of forgiveness, forbearance, and believing
against all hope are made so that we can become matured.
At Evangelical Congregational
Church we endeavor to preach nothing but the full gospel. Here we honor the
Lordship of Jesus Christ. In matters of life and conduct we place supreme value
on the authority of Scriptures. We believe we can not do anything without of
Him so we commit everything to God through prayer. We love people and practice
hospitality. We are actively engaged in both local and global missions.
If you have been attending this
Church for a long time or just visiting us for a short while, may I encourage
you to prayerfully consider whether or not you become a member of this family of
God expressed locally here in Quincy ?
So that together we will grow into all that God intends for us and together we
will make a difference in our immediate neighborhoods of Quincy . Are you merely dating or madly in
love with the Church? We can't be apathetic. Amen
