Based on WELCOME TO THE PLANET: WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR?
Part 3: You Were Formed for God’s Family 2/5/04
By Doug Fields
Pray : Would you pray with me? Prepare your heart to hear God’s word and maybe how you and I might be a little different as we leave here today. God, would you take my words as inadequate as they are and with the combination of Your Holy Spirit and the lives that are here may we just sense something different about this place. Lord, I pray for those in here that may be hearing a little tapping on their heart during this message as they say, “Yeah, that’s me,” or “I need that.” I pray that they might know that that’s you tapping, that you want us to be different as a result of being here today. Thanks for another day to be alive and celebrate life together. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
We are in part 3 of a series in which we are trying to find out what on Earth are we here for. We started by assuming that there was a God. The famous atheist, Bertrand Russell says, “Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless.” Because we hoped that we weren’t wasting our time, we started with the assumption that there was a God who was an intelligent being who did create the world. It follows logically then that we were Created by him for a specific purpose. We are no accident. And if that is true, then I must either pursue the purpose or ignore it. We then set out on the journey to see what the Bible says our 5 purposes in life are. Last week, we talked about the first purpose – to have a relationship with God. A relationship is a two way thing. It involves love being shown and a response to that love. God has shown his love to us and our response to that is what we call WORSHIP. If you were listening you would have heard that worship is not just singing. Worship is valuing, idolizing and honouring God. It is giving God our attention and giving God our focus and you can do that in many different ways – not just by singing. We learnt that worship is characterised by 3 things … giving God your love, your praise and your devotion. That is what our memory verse said – Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength – Mark 12:30.
Today I want to talk about the second purpose of life that the Bible teaches and it comes from worshipping God. You were formed for God’s FAMILY. Families are great things aren’t they – most of the time.
Wayne Bennett is one of the most successful coaches in rugby league history. For over a decade he has coached the "Brisbane Bronco’s" (a club side in the Australian rugby league competition). Bennett is revered by players, notoriously difficult for journalists, and widely admired and respected. In 2002 he released a book Don’t Die With the Music In You. Present at the launch were News Limited Director, Lachlan Murdoch, Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh, and a host of rugby league identities and corporate heavyweights. Yet when speaking of his greatest success in life he turned not to his achievements in football but to his home life. Bennett paid tribute to his wife Trish, saying "One of the greatest achievements is to be able to stay married to her, and I hope for the rest of my life that will remain my greatest achievement. It is the thing I want more than anything else. I want the relationship to be there forever and the relationship with my family to be there forever." Wayne Bennett has 3 children. 1 has severe brain damage after reacting to a triple-antigen needle. Another was born with a condition called arthrogryposis which causes all your joints to be contracted resulting in severe deformation. And Wayne Bennett still says “I want the relationship with my family to be there forever”
Let’s face it … relationships are a big deal to all of us. In fact, most problems we come across are the result of some relationship problem. Either a problem with a spouse, with a parents, with a friend, with a child, with a workmate, with a boss. Most problems in life are relational problems. Why? Relationships are important to us. That’s how we’re wired and created. We were created for relationships
Don’t fight it, Recognize God’s relational DESIGN. Think of it this way … God in all His creative wisdom hardwired your body to desire relationships. Think with me here. In God’s incredible design, in every cell of your body, in your DNA, God created you and me to value relationships. Relationships are part of how God designed us. And if we try to live in isolation we go crazy. Has anyone ever watched Castaway – the movie staring Tom Hanks and Wilson. Tom is a guy who is stranded on a tropical island with no other contact and he almost goes Mad because he has no relationships. His only saving grace is Wilson – a volleyball come best buddy that he shares the highs and lows with. It is interesting that when devoid of real relationships, people create relationships with animals or even objects to fill the void.
Today, I want to tell you that there are 2 types of relationships which we are specifically designed for. One is the VERTICAL relationship between each of us and God. The other is the HORIZONTAL relationship between us and other people. You and I work best when we have a relationship with God that’s working and then we have a relationship with others – in that order. We are designed for that purpose. Ephesians 1:5 says “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure.” God designed you to be in his family. That is what gives him pleasure – that is what his purpose for us was.
In my pocket right now I have a mobile phone. The purpose of this phone is to connect me verbally with other people. Obviously most of you understand that. But this phone also makes noise – it could also make some music if I wanted it too … but this is not a musical instrument. Can it make musical notes? Yes. But it is not a musical instrument. It is a phone. The primary purpose is to connect people verbally. Now I could also use this phone as a weapon. It is small enough. I have a fairly decent arm. I could probably throw it at some of you who don’t pay attention during my messages and talk through them. It wouldn’t be a good thing to go to church and the pastor throws a phone and it cracks your head open – imagine what the media would do with that story. Actually with my luck I would miss you and hit the one person behind you paying attention. So I won’t do that. But this phone could be used as weapon. It could be used to produce music also. But neither of these two fulfil its design. Its design is to connect me verbally with other people.
You can live your life outside God’s design for you, but you won’t find fulfilment. But God designed you to be in relationships and you’ll never be satisfied without both the vertical and horizontal relationships.
1. Our VERTICAL Relationship with God.
The first relationship you were created for was a vertical relationship with God. Last week we talked about worship being a response to God’s love. It is an outworking of having a relationship with God. Our memory verse last week was … “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” God desires that we love Him - that we have a relationship with Him. And note that a relationship by definition can’t be a one way thing. It goes both ways. When we have a relationship with God, a significant change occurs. We move from being just a CREATION to a CHILD.
You see, although we were all created by God, many people living in this world don’t want a relationship with God. They are living solely for themselves and don’t want a bar of God or His purposes. The fact that they don’t want anything to do with God, doesn’t change the fact that they are his creation, but it does mean that they can’t be his child. In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, John, talks about Jesus coming to earth. Read John 1:10
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him (We are his Creation), the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own (Because Jesus created us, he owns us), but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him (Those who develop a relationship with God), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right (Notice that Word – it’s our right) to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Bible teaches that outside of a relationship with God, you are a creation of God. But once you open your heart and you say, - “God, I’ve been the lord of my life. I don’t want to be the lord of my life any more. I’ve screwed it up. I’ve messed up. Would you come in and forgive me?” - you enter into a personal relationship with Him. You move from creation to child of God. And that is why you were formed - you were formed to be a part of God’s family. And being part of a family has a lot of benefits …
Galatians 4:7 says “You are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are His child, everything He has belongs to you.”
Wow – everything that belongs to God, belongs to us – his children. If you are a child of God – you are rich – you are absolutely loaded.
If you’re sitting here today and you are outside of God’s family, outside of Christianity looking in, you don’t have a relationship with God – do you know what God’s desire is for you? He wants you to be a part of His family. He wants you to move from being a creation to a child. He wants to wrap your arms around you and care for you as a good parent would for their child. He wants you to be his child and not be scared to declare it to the world.
I’m going to lose some of you on this next point because I want to speak to those who are already in a relationship with God, but who haven’t declared their hand yet. I want to encourage you that one of the steps in developing that relationship with God is BAPTISM.
Baptism shouts to the world - “I’ve moved from just being a creation of God to being a child of God!” It is a declaration of that change. Now I know that Baptism freaks some of you out because you wonder how long will we’ll hold you underwater for. Some of you are wondering whether you have to wear togs in public. Others don’t want to give your testimony. It’s all that fear stuff. Here’s what the Bible teaches about baptism. Baptism is a symbol that you’re in God’s family. It is a symbol that says, “I am a Christian.” It is a public declaration of faith. In the early church, people made a confession of faith and were baptised immediately in a public place – the local river was a common place. It was a sign to all those around that Joe, Henry or Jenny was accepting the Christian faith and was now following Jesus. It is a sign that they were moving from creation to child.
It’s like this gold wedding band I am wearing. What does this ring symbolize? It symbolizes that I’m married. Does this ring make me married? No it’s just a symbol. It’s a symbol that I am committed to Deanna. That’s what baptism is. It doesn’t make you part of the family, but it is an outward sign of an inward commitment. It’s a point in your spiritual journey where you say, “I’m tired of living in the closet, of working undercover. I’m tired of nobody knowing. I’m going to take that step and be baptized.” Now I know that for many of you baptism is a big hurdle. I was baptized or christened when I was a baby in the Methodist church. How many of you were baptized as a baby? As a baby, I didn’t believe in Jesus - I don’t even remember the event taking place. It was more for my parents than it was for me – it was meaningless for me. But when I became a Christian and began to understand what baptism is I then became baptized. Acts 8:12 describes an account of Philip in Samaria it says that when the people in the city believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. Baptism is supposed to occur after people believe. Believe and be baptised!!
Have you believed, but not been baptised? I want to encourage you to consider taking the plunge (pun intended). Don’t be scared about it … it is just an outward act of an inward confession. In actual fact, I think that we should be making outward declarations regularly because your circle of friends certainly changes more than once in a lifetime. Baptism is the sign that you have decided to swap sides and become part of God’s family. We are planning a baptism service for a couple of weeks time, if you are thinking about being baptised, see me afterwards and we can plan for you to be included.
The second type of relationship we are created for is the HORIZONTAL relationships with other Christians. Some of you are thinking, It would be nice if I was an only child in God’s family – because I don’t get on with my brothers and sisters. But you are not an only child. Anyone who confesses faith in Jesus is part of God’s family, so you have many brothers and sisters. You might not like all of them, but as the saying goes, you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family. In actual fact, the only way you can make horizontal relationships work is by having a healthy strong vertical relationship. Let’s face it, none of us get on with all the other people on this earth. We don’t even get on with every one sitting in this room. But we are still called to love them as brothers and sisters. How is that possible? It’s only possible because we first have a vertical relationship with God in which we recognise his love for us and for each and every other person in this world. When we see people through God’s eyes, we see their worth, we see their value, we begin to love them as God loves them. That is why when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he answered … Mark 12:30-31
The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ b 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ c There is no commandment greater than these.”
You can’t have one without the other. The vertical and the horizontal relationships go hand in hand.
There are 4 levels of horizontal relationships with our Christian brothers and sisters. It’s like a staircase. Each one leads further down and gets more intimate.
Level 1: God’s UNIVERSAL church (universal/Christians everywhere)
These are Christians everywhere. Not just in Gladstone or Australia, but all over the world. Some of them suffer great autrocities. This last week there has been a flare up in Muslim / Christian violence in Ambon province in Indonesia again. There has been a long running war between Militant Muslim groups and the Church. The conflict in the previously Christian dominated area has been going on for close to 20 years now, ever since Muslims have started to be strategically settled into the area. You see, in the 1970’s & 1980’s President Suharto established a policy to move Muslim settlers from other densely populated areas to dilute secessionist sentiment in non-Muslim areas like the Ambon region and Iran Jaya. 20 years on, Christians now complain that the settlers have come to dominate government work and the retail sector, siphoning off jobs and business from Christians. This recent conflict was sparked by a radical separatist group which the Muslims reacted against – unfortunately, their targets are not just the extreme separatists, but Christians in general. Some Christians have it incredibly tough. I don’t know them. I don’t speak their language. I’ve never been to Ambon. But those are Christians and they’re part of God’s church and part of my family. Mother Teresa was once asked by an interviewer: "What’s the biggest problem in the world today?" Without hesitating she replied, "The biggest problem in the world today is that we draw the circle of our family too small. We need to draw it larger every day." Let’s draw our family circle bigger today.
Level 2: The LOCAL church (i.e. Gladstone Baptist Church)
Whatever your church is, that’s the “local church”. Just down the road is Port City and then the Unitings, and the Church of Christ. These are called the local churches with people sharing a like mind. Here’s what you need to understand about the local church. Each of you have gifts that you can offer to this church. You have skills and abilities and dreams and desires and things that are going on in your life that you can offer to Gladstone Baptist church, if you call this your church home. God looks in your heart and says, “You have gifts. I want to use you.” Our memory verse today says … Romans 12 says “So it is with Christ’s body. [Christ’s body is used as an image of what the church is] We are all parts of His one body, and each of us [circle “each of us”] has a different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.”
There are other scriptures that talk about the concept of the body - that some of you are the head, some of you are the feet, some of you are the eyes. The eye cannot operate outside of the body – if I plucked my eye out and sat it on the table here, would it function? I turn it around this way – could it see? No. The eye will only work if it stays in the body where it belongs. They same goes for you. Our gifts fit together to form one body and hear this – if we make them available to God in the context of the church, He will use them to help the rest of the body because you are special part of the body with a purpose. Does our eye benefit the rest of the body? Sure does. Does the kidney benefit the rest of the body? Does the tendons holding the knee cap in place benefit the rest of the body? Every single member of the body has a purpose and is needed by the rest of the body – you might not like them, but you need them and are called to love them. That is why our memory verse says that each member belongs to all the others. We’ll talk a lot more about this in a couple of weeks.
Each one of these 4 levels, like I said, is like going downstairs. It’s taking a step deeper. It may be sometimes a step into a unfamiliar place which is a bit scary. But this is what true horizontal relationships are about. Level one is God’s church. Level two is the local church. Level 3: SMALL GROUPS I’m so excited that so many of you are involved with small groups. It has been a big step for some of you to commit to these. I acknowledge that. There is the fear – the fear of getting to know new people. The fear of being asked to do something you’ve never done before. The fear of the questions that will be asked. What if they make me sing or share the worst sin I’ve ever done or make me wrap myself in glad wrap and roll down a hill. Has anyone been made to do that last one by their small group yet? It’s probably coming next week. Look I don’t know what your fear is, but there is risk there isn’t there. But be careful you don’t let the fears scare you away because the benefits are more than worth it.
Let me tell you about the benefits … We’ve got 2 pastors here with a congregation of about 400+ people (children upto adults). Pastor Roger and myself can not pastor every one in this church. If I was to try, I would have to limit my time to about 3 minutes per person each week (that isn’t even allowing for travel time). Can you imagine how much support and concern I’d be able to show in just 3 minutes. There’s simply no way that you can be fully cared for and helped and discipled and coached and encouraged in your spiritual journey unless you’re part of a small group. As a pastor, I can come give a message and try my very best to help you spiritually and teach you the Bible every week. But when you’re in a small group, now all of a sudden you’re connected with a small group of other people who can share your struggles and your triumphs. They become like your immediate family who nurture and care for you. They can listen to your concerns, counsel you, pray with you. And this is why we are putting so much emphasis of small groups in this campaign. We recognise that pastorally, our church has grown to such a size that it is impossible for a couple of people to care for everyone else. We need to return to the Early church model where the care and the support was primarily provided by each member. Acts 2:42
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
If you’re not in a small group, could I encourage you to prayerfully consider it – that is where you will find real care and love? If you’re interested in being in one, it’s not too late. We’d love to get you connected so you can be cared for.
Level 4: IRON sharpens IRON (real close with at least 1 adult/peer)
This may take your whole life to get here. This is connecting with one or two other people that is either older than you or a peer in your life that you rub shoulders with, that you do life together. This is that person in your life that is making you stronger and deeper and more fruitful as a Christian because you’re doing life together. It may be a mentor, or a prayer partner or an accountability group. But this is true horizontal fellowship on its deepest level.
Do you know what ties all of these levels together? LOVE. If you haven’t got love, you can’t have real fellowship. And this love is practical love 1 John 3:18 says “Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other let us really show it by our actions.” John 13:35 says “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” All of those levels no matter where you are, require you to love one another. You may not like everyone in your family, but you are called to love them. This love comes from God. That’s what the church is. You are formed for God’s family. God’s family is the church.
Conclusion
So we were created to be in relationship – both in a vertical relationship and a horizontal relationship. If you are not it a vertical relationship with God, I encourage you to keep searching until you are convinced that these purposes in life do make sense. You are a creation, but I pray that you’d see yourself as a child soon. If you have a relationship, but you are hiding in the closet still, I encourage you to come out and consider baptism as a witness to your love for God.
And in the horizontal relationships. What level are you at? Might you be challenged to take a step to a deeper level? If you haven’t put down roots in a local church yet. Find one that you feel comfortable in and get involved. If you can’t find one, choose the nearest one, get involved and ask God to change you because that is probably where most of the problem lies. If you are not in a small group of like minded people. Find one and think creatively how you can fit your meetings around your busy schedule. But don’t say it’s too hard – Don’t give up the wonderful benefits of fellowship in small groups that easily. And lastly, consider finding one or two others who can constantly sharpen you.
The second purpose of life is you were formed for His family. I pray that as you continue to read and share this week with others in this local church, your small groups and friends, you will begin to get a real understanding of the fellowship that God really desires for you. Being in a family is not always easy, but you’d never give up being in a loving family would you.
