HoHum:
On the playground one day, some girls were insulting an adopted girl. Finally, the adopted girl responded and said, “My parents chose me. Your parents got stuck with you."
WBTU:
Many of us have brothers and sisters. We did not choose them. They became our brothers and sisters because we have the same father and mother. Did not chose them, we just are.
God is our Heavenly Father if we are Christians. Every Christian is a part of the family of God and this means that all Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ.
We did not choose our spiritual brothers and sisters any more than we choose our flesh and blood brothers and sisters. Carl Ketcherside was fond of saying, “Wherever God has a child; I have a brothers.” There are some people in the church we may disagree with, have difficulty getting along with but we need to remember that we are still brothers in Christ. We have the same spiritual Father and are part of God’s forever family.
Brothers or brethren are common terms used in the NT to describe Christians. Often sing “The Family of God” one verse says this- You will notice we say “brother and sister” round here- It’s because we’re a family and these folks are so near; When one has a heartache we all share the tears, And rejoice in each victory in this family so dear.
Know of a man who had a large family and as he and his wife were getting older he would have a family reunion with all the children. At one point during the reunion the father and mother would ask all the extended family and friends to leave and they would have a private conversation for about 30 minutes. My father in law was there and asked what they talked about during those 30 minutes. Patriarch said that he reminded them that they were family and that when he and their mother died he did not want any fussing but to always be a loving family.
Thesis: How does God want us to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ?
For instances:
We are to treat all our brothers and sisters as equals
George Sweeting makes this comment: “No single factor has so limited the church down through the years as man’s inhumanity to man- sometimes outright cruelty, but far more often, sheer lovelessness.”
“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26-28, NIV.
Wait a minute, I am an evangelist, I am an elder, I am a deacon, I can lord it over others. No, “not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:3, NIV.
We are not to look down on our brothers and sisters or judge them harshly. “You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.” Romans 14:10, NIV.
One day a balloon salesman at Disneyland was filling his balloons with helium. A little black boy watched him fill a red balloon, tie it off, and then let it go soaring up into the California sky. The man filled a green one and let it go.. then a blue one. The little fellow tugged at the man’s pants and asked, “Mister, if you filled up a black one, would it go up too?” “Sure, son,” the man replied. “It’s not the color on the outside of the balloon that matters. It’s what’s inside that counts!” All are equal in the Heavenly Fathers sight.
We are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ
“To live above, with saints we love, that will be glory. To live below, with the saints we know, that’s a different story!” Sometimes it is difficult to love some of our brethren.
“Keep on loving each other as brothers.” Hebrews 13:1, NIV.
“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10, NIV.
“Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.” 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 10
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” 1 John 3:14-16
In a certain city down by the river there is a daily operation that occurs. To keep barges able to come in they have to constantly dredge the channel. When the sand is dredged up out of the bottom of the river it is dumped on the side. This makes a wonderful place to play because it creates huge sand hills. When the sand comes up out of the river bottom it is wet and creates a crust on top of the hills. There is a problem with these hills- they can collapse and the sand will cause the children playing on them to sink down inside the hill. Some years ago two brothers didn’t come home for supper and their bikes were found outside the fence where the dredging had been going on. The family began to search frantically. Other rescuers joined them in search for the two brothers. They finally found one. He was buried up to his chin in the sand. Because of the pressure of the wet sand around him he was not breathing so they began to dig hurriedly. When they uncovered him down to his waist he regained consciousness and was able to speak. The family, in hysterics, asked, “Where is your brother? Where is your brother?” And his reply was, “I’m standing on his shoulders.” The one brother had given his life for the good of the other. What a beautiful example of the kind of love we should have for our brothers and sisters in Christ!
The early Christians were known for the fact they love each other. They loved each other so intensely that Tertullian, a Christian writer and historian, wrote: It is our care for the helpless, our practice of lovingkindness, that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. ‘Look!’ they say. ‘How they love one another! Look how they are prepared to die for one another.”
The early Christians just did not say they love one another but they also put their money where there mouth was. “There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales” Acts 4:34, NIV. “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” 1 John 3:17, NIV.
We are not to fight with our brothers and sisters.
I know we shouldn’t, but sometimes we do. I have a brother 2 years younger. Often fought with him when growing up. Remember one time we fought over the radio as were driving to school one morning. I was driving and hit a curb and messed up the car. My dad didn’t let us drive to school for a long time after this.
We are all different. In spite of this we are to respect and love each other. We need to be concerned about how we grieve our Heavenly Father when we let things divide us. Cannot mention all the Bible says about quarreling and fighting and hating each other. A few verses:
“You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?” 1 Corinthians 3:3, NIV.
“If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Galatians 5:15, NIV.
Too often see Christians bickering and quarreling and fighting with each other. Many times this leads to division and this should not be. We ruin the car because of this.
So what?
There are two figures of speech used in NT to describe how we become part of God’s family. Being born again and being adopted into God’s family
1. Being born again.
The Bible is clear that no one is born naturally into God’s family. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12, 13, NIV.
Jesus let know how to be born a second time in his conversation with Nicodemus: “In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” John 3:3-5
2. Adopted
“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--” Ephesians 1:4, 5, NIV.
How? “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Galatians 3:26, 27, NIV.
I’ve been adopted into several families. However, when it came right down to it, I was not part of the family, just for a time. Glad to know that I’m a part of the family of God "not for the years of time alone but for eternity." Sing all 4 verses of #74 Blest Be the Tie that Binds.
