Belonging to a Spiritual Family
1 Thessalonians 3:1-5
Intro: There are many organizations or groups you could be a part of these days, but I believe none is more meaningful to your life and spiritual health than belonging to and being part of a spiritual family. Your church family should be a source of encouragement and blessing. Your church family should be a demonstration of love and acceptance. Your church family should offer people safety, validity, warmth, and welcome. The spiritual family that does not offer these things is missing out on part of its mission and purpose and may be more akin to a dysfunctional family than a healthy, life-giving family. My prayer is that we at CLC will never settle for being anything less than a loving, humble, and obedient family that offers hope and life, and a place to belong for those who are searching for answers. Ultimately, whether they realize it or not, they are searching for Jesus, and I hope they find Him living though you and me!
-Just like a natural family with parents, children, and siblings, the church family is God’s idea. God knew that people would need help along the way as they struggle against an unseen enemy, so Jesus said, “I will build My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!” It is a privilege and a blessing to belong to a spiritual family. It is also a responsibility. Something is expected of us from our God and Father. When we belong to a spiritual family, there are family expectations that God will help us with as we learn to love and honor Him. Let’s look at some of these expectations.
1. Spiritual families care about one another
1 Thessalonians 3:1-2 “So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy…to strengthen and encourage you in your faith”
-Paul has already expressed his strong desire to come and see his spiritual family in Thessalonica. He has used terms of endearment to show how much he cares about the Thessalonians. Now he shows that his love for them has compelled him to action. He is sending a member of his team, Timothy, to help them in their faith. Paul loved them so much that he could not stand not knowing how they were doing, and was willing to do all he could to strengthen them and help them keep on growing!
-And that’s what spiritual families do for one another! They watch out for each other and make sure nobody misses out on the grace of God. A Biblical church family does everything within its power to support, protect, and encourage those who belong to it.
-I can remember standing up for my sister in high school. Some boy kept bothering her so I grabbed him and slammed him up against a locker one day and told him to leave my sister alone. He did! I’m not saying I handled the situation the right way or the best way. But when it comes to the church family, someone needs to be the big brother and stand up the enemy who wants to harass and upset members of the family! 1 Peter 5:8-9 “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
-We need to make this part of our motto as a spiritual family: Nobody suffers alone! When someone is going through a rough time, we need to rally around them in prayer and do everything we can to strengthen and encourage them. Here is a list of ways to encourage other people:
1. Become aware of what encourages you, and do those same things for others.
2. Learn individuals’ “love language”-the special way in which they feel most valued. In his book, The Five Languages of Love, Gary Chapman explains that not everyone’s emotional needs are met in the same way, and that it’s important to learn to speak others’ love language. The five love languages are: words of affirmation, spending quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service and physical touch.
3. If an encouraging thought comes to mind, share it! It may not have the same effect if you wait. Don’t let shyness hold you back. Instead, form a new habit: “Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today…” (Hebrews 3:13).
4. When you introduce someone, add a few words of praise for the person’s abilities, accomplishments, about how they’ve helped you or about the nature of your relationship. It’s encouraging to be praised in front of others.*
5. When someone is discouraged or hurting, offer specific, practical help. If you ask, “How can I help?” the person might be at a loss to answer. It’s better to ask, “Would it help if I…(specific action) or say, “I would like to…(specific action)?*
6. Remind fellow Christians of the specific promises of God and characteristics of God. We may know something with our mind, but need to be reminded in our heart. The Apostle Peter wrote, “I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have” (2 Peter 1:12).
7. Write someone a note to tell them that you’re praying for them. Tell them what you’re praying. You can pray specific Scriptures for individuals such as Romans 15:13, “[I pray that] the God of hope [will] fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
8. Make celebration a more regular part of your relationships. Celebrate others’ victories, large and small-with a note, with coffee together, with a special meal, a congratulatory phone call or just a high-five!
9. Be specific when you offer words of praise; it makes your encouragement more credible and concrete “You did a great job at…” “I really appreciate that you…” “I was really impressed that you…”
10. Encourage other believers with a reminder of Christ’s coming. It redirects our thinking to an eternal perspective and ultimate deliverance from the sin and death. “We who are still alive and are left will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17b-18).
11. Realize the power of presence. Just being there is encouraging! When you’re with others, you’re telling them that they’re important. The Apostle Paul closed his letter to the church at Colosse promising to send his friend Tychius “that he may encourage your hearts” (Colossians 4:8b).
12. If you’re part of a church, Bible study or fellowship, be committed to showing up. Your simple presence encourages others that they are part of a community of faith and that they are not alone. That’s why the writer of Hebrews says, “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as we see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
13. Use encouragement as an outreach. If anyone should be known for being an encourager, it should be the Christian. Write a letter of appreciation to people at work, your apartment manager, your child’s teacher or your doctor. Often when we interact with these people, we are asking for their services. Take time just to say thank you!*
14. If you really want to encourage someone who gives you excellent service, write a letter of commendation to the person’s boss.*
15. We could learn something from the way team athletes freely pat, touch and high-five each other in competition. Touch is a powerful encouragement. Be sure to be sensitive in this area, though. Ask someone if you can hug her first. And be careful to be above reproach with persons of the opposite sex.
16. When you see someone making positive changes in their lives, affirm them. Let them know that you have noticed their efforts and are proud of them.
Adapted from http://powertochange.com/experience/life/encourage/
2. Spiritual families believe in team work
1 Thessalonians 3:2a “We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker
-Some translations say “our fellow laborer” or “our co-worker.” However you phrase it, spiritual families work together for the Lord. God is so into teams and teamwork! When Jesus sent his followers out to teach people about the kingdom of God, He sent them out in pairs. He wanted them to learn to work together.
-We can accomplish so much more together than we each can separately, as long as we are joined together in the supernatural unity that comes from the Holy Spirit. And we also need to realize that it takes many different teams to make up the spiritual family of God. A football team has an offensive team, a defensive team, and various special teams, but they all make up one team. Perhaps we could think of different churches and congregations as different teams within the same team. Sometimes we don’t fully appreciate the value of a different team because they do things differently than we do. However, they have a different function and are trying to accomplish something unique. A goal line defense will look different than a prevent defense. A short yardage offense may look different than Hail Mary offense. But these might all function on the same team at different points in the game.
-We need to learn to appreciate our differences as much as we appreciate our commonalities. I can’t do things the way some other leader might do things. And some other leaders cannot do things the way I might do them. Yet, we can be workers together, serving the same God, striving to accomplish the same ultimate goal – knowing God and making Him known to others!
-Remember the purposes of the church? We exist to Connect with one another in friendship; Interact with God in worship; Grow in Biblical knowledge and practice; Help others by using our God-given gifts; and to Share God’s life through words & actions. Connect, Interact, Grow, Help, and Share. We believe it takes teamwork to do these things well. It takes a team to connect people with people; It takes teamwork to come to God in corporate worship; It takes teamwork to help people grow in their faith; It takes a team to help people discover their God-given gifts and to begin to put them into practice; and it takes a team to share the good news about Jesus with others!
-And how many of you know our mission statement? What are we trying to accomplish as we do church together? Experiencing God, Developing People, and Transforming Lives. There are individual aspects to all of these, but it still takes a team working together to really see them being accomplished in our spiritual family.
-I was reminded this week that God gives each spiritual family a vision of what He wants to accomplish. There cannot be 10 different visions of what needs to happen and how it’s supposed to happen. In fact there cannot be 2 different visions. That would result in di-vision. It is only as we seek God together and rally behind what we collectively believe He has called us to do that we can really see unity and teamwork rise to the level of effectiveness that it should.
-So let’s realize that we’re all on the same team and ask God to help us learn to work together with our brothers and sisters to accomplish what He has called us to do. And here again is one of the most important things He has called us to do.
3. Spiritual families proclaim the good news about Jesus
1 Thessalonians 3:2b “…in spreading the gospel of Christ,…”
-How can we spread the good news about Jesus in our community? How are we doing at it right now? When is the last time you talked about the good news with someone who did not yet know Jesus? Do you welcome opportunities to say something about God’s love and how He has changed your life? Are you praying for someone around you that they will receive God’s free gift of forgiveness and begin a relationship with Jesus?
-Again, it takes a team approach to share to good news, but each team member needs to do his or her part. I turn again to football to illustrate. If our team is going to throw a pass, we might need to fake a handoff to the fullback to occupy the middle linebacker; we’ll need every lineman to pass protect, not letting the defender get past him to the quarterback; we’ll need to tailback to come up and protect the quarterback as well; and then we will need our receivers to run the correct pass patterns so that one of them gets free to catch the pass. If any member of the team does not take his assignment seriously, either the quarterback gets sacked or perhaps the ball gets intercepted.
-Family, it takes all of us doing what we can to share the gospel with those around us! We may have to run 50 plays before the intended receiver catches the pass and scores. But we’ll keep running plays. Remember, it takes nearly 100 attempts on the average to bring one person to Christ. It is only when we are all working together doing our part that the goal can be reached and the celebration can begin!
-And don’t get uptight if you never seem to get your hands on the ball. Even when you’re blocking, you are helping your team win! You may not get your name in the paper, but it’s already in the book when you join the team and put your faith in Jesus!
-We need people on the team who pray, who serve, who teach and train others, who cheer the team on and build others up. And that leads us to the final point.
4. Spiritual families build one another up
1 Thessalonians 3:3-5 3 “…so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless.
-Spiritual families recognize that troubles can discourage and derail people from following Jesus wholeheartedly. Sometimes people fail. Sometimes people give up. Sometimes the enemy seems to get the best of people who are trying to follow Jesus. Spiritual families want to do at least 2 things to help people in these situations: First, we want to be there for people so they don’t lose their faith during the hard times. Second, we want to be there for people who seem to lose their way during the hard times.
-And I believe the best way we can go about that is to develop a consistent culture of building one another up. Paul sent Timothy to do just that for these new Christians in Thessalonica. He did not want any of them to be so unsettled by their trials that they would lose their faith in God, or their faithfulness to Him.
-God gives us many opportunities to speak life and hope and healing to those in our spiritual family. I would encourage you to make this part of your personal mission each day. When you start your day, say, “Lord, help me build someone up today and encourage them in their faith.” Sounds pretty simple but God will hear a prayer like that and use you to help someone else through a rough time. And encouragement is never wasted! Even if a person is not facing the worst crisis of their life, it is still a very powerful and moving thing when someone comes up to you out of the blue and says, “Hey, I’ve been praying for you,” or “Hey, you’re doing a great job! I really appreciate you!”
-Belonging to a spiritual family has its perks! Not only is there safety, comfort, and a sense of belonging, but there is joy and friendship, there is purpose and a mission; there is life and fulfillment as we work together, helping people until Jesus comes back to take us all to be with Him forever.
Conclusion: So, are you finding a place to belong in your spiritual family? God brought you here for a reason. Are you discovering that reason? Part of that reason will include caring for and encouraging those around you. Part of it will include working as part of a team, helping others grow and helping invite new members into the family. Living and sharing the good news about Jesus is part of the reason you have been placed in this spiritual family. And as you look for daily opportunities to build others up, you will find that you are growing and developing as a child of God, as He works in and through your life. If you don’t yet belong to Jesus because you’ve not offered yourself to Him, would you do that today? Or maybe you have, but you need to renew that again today….
