God's Family

First Baptist Church

God’s Family

March 8, 2020

A woman was about to pay for the items she was purchasing, when she opened her purse the cashier noticed a television remote control in her purse, so she asked, “I don’t mean to be nosy, but, do you always carry a TV remote in your purse?" The woman replied, "No, but my husband refused to come shopping with me, so I figured this was the best way to get back at him.”

A husband and wife were attending a Marriage Seminar. They broke up into groups, and had to answer a number of basic questions. One of the men was asked, “what is your wife’s favorite flower?” The man leaned over. Gently touched his wife’s arm and said, “It’s Pillsbury, isn't it?" The rest of the story gets rather ugly so I'll stop here.

Obviously he didn’t know his purpose.

Well, for the past weeks we’ve been looking at the question, “What’s the purpose of my life?” We’ve discovered we were created by God and for God. Our lives are not about us, they are about God. And for the past 3 weeks, we looked at how we were created by God and one super important part of that is to recognize God’s worth. As we recognize God’s worth, we are called to worship God. We give God glory and honor as we seek to enjoy God, as well.

my hope is that we would come here, focused and prepared, expecting to experience the power and presence of God. After worship, we then move into the world and worship God through our daily lives. There are some things that go along with worshiping God, because God has called us into relationship with Him and with others. And that leads us into this mornings worship . . . and the call from God which is the fact that we were created to be part of God’s Family!

In Ephesians 1:5, Paul wrote --

5 God predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. - Ephesians 1:5

The NLT says it this way - - “God’s unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.”

Have you ever realized and believed, I mean really believed that God wants to include you and me in His family? He wants to enjoy us. He wants to have an intimate relationship with us. Think about that - - - it’s always been God’s unchanging plan ~ consider what that means. God’s plan for you and I to enter His family is never, never changing.

It wasn’t because you suddenly did something God, and God said, “WOW! I need that person to join my family!” NO!! God always wanted you to be in His family. On your good days and on those bad days! God loves you with a deep and passionate love, which is not conditional. He has always wanted you and I to join His amazing family.

God adopts us, because until we become believers in Jesus Christ, we are not part of the family. In order to join the family we must believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that he’s the Creator and redeemer. That He died for you and rose again, that He has forgiven you of your sins and there is now a place in eternity, a heavenly home with your name on it, built exclusively for you.

And remember it is God who brings us into relationship with Himself through Jesus. We were created to be part of God’s family. You were made to last forever in God’s family!

So, not only are we in God’s family, but when we say YES to Jesus, we become part of a larger family. We become brothers and sisters in Christ. Peter said –

17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. - 1 Peter 2:17

In other words, honor everyone, but for those who are within the family of God, your brothers and sisters in Christ, love them. And the call is to love them with agape love, a sacrificial love which is based on Christ.

God wants us to practice loving each other. This life is the dress rehearsal for the real production, which will happen for the rest of FOREVER, and God wants us to learn how to get along and practice loving each other now.

So, when we gather together as a church family, we often use the word FELLOWSHIP when we speak of relating with our spiritual families. Too often we don’t know what fellowship means. We can talk about the state of the Colts or Pacers, or Cubs, or the weather. We can debate who’s going to win. Or we may talk about some other stuff which might be important, but is really superficial. We need to understand we didn’t engage in fellowship. It was just a nice conversation.