Nothing can give you a reason to get up in the morning better than a sense of purpose in life. That’s why it’s important to discover why God made us. There are five purposes for which we were all created.
Last week, we looked at purpose number one: You were planned for God’s pleasure. God calls us to know Him and love Him. The Bible calls this worship. Everything we do in life should be done as an act of worship - as an offering of love to God.
Today, we will consider purpose number two: You were formed for God’s family. In our text, we notice how the early believers gave themselves to one another. This is God’s purpose for us as His children - that we involve ourselves with His family.
“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. - Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)
God wanted a family; and everyone who has responded to His offer of a personal love relationship with Him through faith in Christ, has been born again - born into God’s family. In fact, the entire Bible is the story of God building a family. God is building a family for Himself that is going to last not just here on earth, but forever and ever in eternity.
Now, once you understand and get started on God’s first purpose for your life, getting to know and to love God, God wants you to begin to focus and start practicing on His second purpose for your life.
“Love the family of believers.” - 1 Peter 2:17 (NIV)
That’s the second purpose of your life. God says, “I want you to learn to love the people in your spiritual family.” Why?
First, it makes us more like God, because God is love.
Second, he wants His children to learn to get along together. Parents always want their kids to get along with each other. God wants the same thing for His children.
Third, it’s practice for eternity. One of the things you’re going to do in eternity is you’re going to love God. And the other thing you’re going to do is you’re going to love the other believers that are there. It So God wants us to practice now learning to love other believers.
When I was born naturally, l was born into the family of man. But I identified myself with a particular family within the family of man - the McFadden family. It was through my connection with the McFadden family, that I have experienced love & acceptance, and have been helped to grow up as a human being.
When I was born again, born spiritually, I was born into the family of God. But just like being born into the family of man alone is not enough to help me experience love & acceptance, and grow up as a human being; being born into the family of God alone is not enough for me to experience love & acceptance, and grow up as a Christian. I need to be part of a local family of faith.
The word the Bible uses to describe the second purpose for which God made us is fellowship. Like worship, this word is often misunderstood.
“I am writing this to you now, so that, even if I cannot come soon, you will know how people should live in the family of God.That family is the church of the living God.” - 1 Timothy 3:14-15 (Easy to Read Version)
Note the words “family” and “church.” The church is a family. It’s not a building; not an institution; not an organization; not a denomination; not a club; but a family. Church is a family you belong to. And the truth is, in God’s family there are three levels of fellowship. We’re going to look at them today. Why? Because this is the second purpose of your life. But also because it is impossible to fulfill the other three purposes God has for you apart from fellowship.
1. Kinship Level
This is where fellowship with God’s family begins. You realize that since you share a common connection to Christ, these folks are your spiritual family. You also find that you share common convictions regarding what you believe and seek to practice.
The early church experienced and celebrated this when they gathered at the temple courts together (v. 46); and we experience and celebrate this each Lord’s Day when we gather for worship on Sunday mornings.
Some of you need to grow in fellowship by committing to weekly worship attendance. But for others of you, this is as far as you’ve gone. You attend worship every Sunday; but I want to encourage you to go deeper, and so does God.
But before we go on to think about the other levels of fellowship within the church family, I want us to celebrate this most basic level that binds us together.
2. Friendship Level
At this level of fellowship, you move from being part of weekly celebration with God’s family to fully participating with God’s family. Notice how the early believer participated openly with each other:
A. They opened their hearts to each other - v. 42
B. They opened their hands to each other - vs. 44-45
C. They opened their homes to each other - v. 46b
All of this speaks of getting to know one another at a deeper level than what is possible in a Sunday morning worship service. This is why we provide other opportunities for you to get involved in the life of our church beyond our Sunday morning celebration services. A great place to start is with a Bible Fellowship. There are different commands we cannot obey without being part of a local church family:
Love one another (John 13:34); Build up one another (Romans 4:19); Serve one another (Galatians 5:13); Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10); Rejoice or weep with one another (Romans 12:15); Admonish one another (Romans 15:14); Care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25); Comfort one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18); Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11); Pray for one another (James 5:16); and Confess your faults to one another (James 5:16).
None of these commands can be obeyed if we only see each as part of a Sunday morning worship experience. We need to go deeper and commit to spending more time together in settings that enable us to obey these commands regarding fellowship with one another.
Many of you are involved at this friendship level; and can testify to the blessings associated with being part of our church family beyond just attending weekly worship services. But some of you could go deeper.
3. Partnership Level - v. 47
The Bible tells us that the early church was on mission together. Their fellowship was not just a kinship and a friendship; it was a partnership. Partnership is realizing I’ve got a contribution to make and I make the commit to do my part.
God didn’t bring you here to sit and soak, but to serve. He wants to make a difference through your life. In every family there are family responsibilities. Everybody has their chores and does their part.
Well a church is God’s family. And every one of us has a part. It’s great to share your heart, but it’s even greater to do your part. That is what partnership is about.
Some of you are stuck at the kinship level - you’re part of the Sunday morning crowd here at FBC. Others of you are stuck at the friendship level - you’re part of the Christian community here at FBC. But all of us need to seek to move to the highest level of fellowship with God’s family - the partnership level - you need to become committed to the family of FBC. Yes, I am talking about membership.
You know, you hear some people say, “Well, I’m a Christian, but I don’t want to belong to any church.” That just doesn’t make sense. That’s like saying, “I’m a football player, but I don’t want to be a part of any team.”
(Picture - Indianapolis Colts Praying - 2007 Super Bowl Win)
You ever want to be part of a great team, something that just did something great? Like winning the Super Bowl? In this picture, we see a tightly knit group that had just experienced a great victory together. They were a group who had showed up for practice; had obviously grow close through involvement with one another on and off the field; and had experienced victory because each one was committed to doing his part.
Well, you’re part of the greatest team there ever was in the church. And while there is a degree of victory to know as an individual Christian, there’s nothing like the victory that is shared with God’s people, when you commit to doing your part.
But how did Tony Dungey, the coach of the colts, know who was supposed to show up for practice? How did they know who they could count on to build a winning team so they might win the Super Bowl? There was a time when every man on that team went on record as committing to the Colts, and had their name added to the team roster.
It is the same way with God’s family. Why not go on record that you want to partner with our church family today?
