Families are great things! In fact one of the perks about coming to Sandridge was moving closer to my extended and immediate family. And some of My greatest and fondest memories are of Sunday afternoons at my grandparents house- Squeezing all of us in a compact car to ride into the country or all of us piling onto my grandmothers bed, and just talking, or eating piping hot bubbly macaroni and cheese and eating heavy crusted fried chicken. I could go on and on and I bet you could too. Family is important. Our families are something that we all treasure and value. As we make our way through our journey towards a life of purpose and focus we come upon purpose Number two: “You were Made to be in God’s Family!” Listen to what Ephesians 1:5 says:
The Bible says, “His (God’s) unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.”
The word adopt carries a lot of power. Sometimes children are born into families where they are unwanted, but seldom is a child adopted into a home who is not extremely wanted. Many families jump through many hoops and much red tape and gut wrenching risk just to adopt. God desired a family and the entire theme of our Bible is the story of God drawing us to that family. But just as adoption is a choice we have the choice to claim this adoption or not.
And while we flesh out and live out our life within God’s family. God has created another spiritual family on earth to connect with and it is called the church. I Peter 2:17 in the message translation says to: “Love your spiritual family.”
God wants us to be about loving our spiritual brothers and sisters- our fellow church members. He wants us to connect with his church and thus connect to our spiritual family.
So how do we do that? This morning I would like to share four action points that will help you connect to your spiritual family, His church.
The first action is to Choose to belong, choose to connect
Ephesians 2:19 says: “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household”
In order to take this action you must CHOOSE to get involved- To Belong- But what does it mean to Belong
You need to envision yourself as a puzzle piece- just one piece of perhaps a 50, 100, or larger piece puzzle. And You need to choose to allow your piece to be placed into the bigger puzzle. How many of you know the frustration of putting a puzzle together only to find out that a piece or two is missing? You, even you, are needed and necessary in this your Spiritual family.
Romans 12:5 says: “In the same way, even though we are many individuals, Christ makes us one body and individuals who are connected to each other.”
We must be connected to each other before we can have any depth in our family and to order to be connected we must choose to belong!
But practically what does this mean:
It means if you are an attender and have never chosen to join this church and become a member then you need to do it.
It means that if you are a member but attend irregularly then you need to attend more regularly.
It means that if you seldom contribute to the finances of the family by tithing 10 percent of what God has given you in the form of a paycheck, you need to do it
It means if you don’t attend a bible study class then make an effort to attend
It means ask the Lord to show you and whatever he says to do, Do it.
Make the choice today to Belong.
A second action needed is to learn to share.
Acts 2:44 says “All the believers met together constantly and shared everything with each other.”
As many of you know I have a toddler and a baby in my home and sometimes for whatever reason they don’t like to share. Even at an early age unable to speak many words Caleb clearly lets you know that something is his we he holds it tightly to himself refusing to let it go.
Many of us have so much to share, but just like Faith we clutch her stuff tightly and yell Mine.
As a church family we must share…
We must share our physical means
Right now if a stranger came to your door and asked to borrow you car, or needed money, or a place to stay you would most likely not say yes.
But if a family member were to come to that same door our attitude would change. If it was possible we would share what we have. In fact some of you who are parents would choose to do without just to make sure your child was taken care of.
In this same way together as members of Sandridge Baptist church we must welcome opportunities to physically give
We must share our time
I love getting to know some of you and see the things that come so naturally for you. This past week I stopped by and saw David Philips polishing and cleaning what looked like an alien spacecraft, but it was a truck motor. I marveled as Dave put it all back together. In Florida I marveled as many of you climbed on the roof and de shingled and replaced rotten wood Each of us have a skill that we can share with others.
Proverbs 27:17 says, “People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron.”
In the same way I love spending time with my church family outside the doors of the church. In fact this week I counted and over the last three years we have had over 80 days where we took day trips, retreats and mission trips. As we spent time together laughing crying, talking, working, eating… we draw closer to what God intended for his church to be- a spiritual family.
We must share our prayers
Life is hard and we need each other. Galatians 6:2 says; Share each others troubles and problems. It is here where we bond closer than ever choosing to lift each other up before the throne of God.
Finally, we need to love each other
The deepest and level of fellowship is the kind of bond you have between family members. This is the kind of bond between a parent and their children or the bond with a brother or sister.
It is an unconditional kind of bond that is for life! The deepest level of love possible, and it is with this kind of love that we are to love each other in this room.
The Bible describes this type church family in Acts 2:42: It says “They were like family to each other.”
People are going to know that we are followers of Christ not because of what we know, and not because of what we look like, but because they see us truly loving each other. When people see that in action, when they see us loving each other like family, it is the most powerful witness we could ever have. God made us for each other and we need to learn how to love each other and learn how to lay our lives down to serve one another.
A story is told about a little girl who had a large collection of dolls, of every description. It was obvious that her dolls brought her much pleasure. A visitor asked her which of her dolls was her favorite. "Just a moment," she said as she rushed into another room. In a moment she was back with a doll that would have been rejected by Goodwill. One of the eyes was off, the cloth hair was hanging by a single thread, the dress was worn and dirty, one shoe was missing. The visitor was surprised. "Why do you love this doll so much?" she asked. The little girl answered shyly, "Because if I didn’t nobody else would."
My friends we must love each other warts and all. For if we don’t love who will.
This morning God has called us to belong to His Family- His Church. May today we choose to connect like never before.
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