Welcome To The Family Sermon Ii: Attribute Of Distinction Series

ATTRIBUTES ASSOCIATED WITH BELONGING TO THE FAMILY OF GOD . . . DISTINCTION

Upon my public profession of faith in Christ, followed by a unanimous vote of the Church to accept me into the Fellowship of Believers, pending baptism, the presiding officer said enthusiastically, “Fellow members, it is my distinct honor and privilege to welcome our newest member to the Family of God.”

From that moment until this day, my appreciation for being accepted by the Lord as one of His children and by the Church as a member of the family, has soared sky high: “They who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, will soar on wings as eagles, will run and not grow weary, will walk and not faint.”

What a tremendous analogy the Psalmist used to describe the distinction that is ours - comparing the glory of those whose God is the Lord to the glory of the majestic eagle that soars high above the earth!

The honor conferred upon you and me regardless of whatever differences exist among us is the distinction of sonship that is offered to any person who, by their repentance to God and faith in Christ, say yes to our Lord’s invitation to “Come”.

God our Father has endowed His children with a distinction that sets each and every one of us apart – not some of us, ALL of us. And, as persons of distinction, we ALL have been granted the ability to make a distinction between the ways of the world and the ways of God . . . how the world treats people versus how God treats people and therefore would have His children treat people.

Previously we saw how God’s gift of discernment grants the ability to separate who we are now from who we were before our new birth. We ALL are sinners saved by grace – a fact which makes none of us more important than the rest of us. In a community of believers where weaknesses as well as strengths are acknowledged, we feel at home and, accordingly, we desire to welcome others into our Fellowship wherein we become “one in the bond of love”!

That said, a nagging question was raised by an apparent misunderstanding by some members of the Early Church: Is discrimination that favors some folks over other folks a matter of “practicing the law of love” or is it just an excuse for unchristian behavior? Well, let’s see how this mis-interpretation came about:

Our Scripture lesson presents a sharp contrast between life according to worldly standards (which allows for discriminatory practices) and life according to the Christian faith (which must always be non-discriminatory) - James 2:1-10 . . .

God’s gift of distinction is granted to ALL who belong to the Family of God and therefore makes all God’s children important in the sight of God – differences of any kind notwithstanding. “With God as my Father, Jesus as my Savior, and the Holy Spirit as my Companion, I am somebody!”

Since all of God’s children are persons of distinction in the sight of God, it would be incompatible and inconsistent with our profession of faith to even think about making distinctions whether social or otherwise between persons who belong to the Family of God. Christians must treat all members of the Family the same!

When we consider the culture of exclusivism and therefore the climate of class warfare that existed in the first century – particularly with reference to rich versus poor, masters versus slaves, ruling class versus working class – easily we can understand awkward moments that must have occurred when Christians met for worship.

The New Testament Church was the only place in the ancient world where economic-socio-political distinctions did not (were not supposed to) exist. Also, since the Church at first was made up primarily of the poor, it’s easy to see why those folks made such a big deal out of the conversion of a wealthy person.

“But”, James the brother of our Lord and the pastor of the first-ever Church of Jesus Christ thundered, “the Church must be the place where all socio-economic-political distinctions are blotted out!” The only distinction that matters is God’s gift of distinction that applies to ALL God’s children.

In a society where the rich in fact oppressed the poor by dragging them into courts of law, it is not wealth per se that James is condemning, but rather, it is the conduct of the powerful toward common folks.

It was as if the rich and famous, much like the rich young ruler who went away shaking his head at the cost of true discipleship, cultivated a “plantation mentality” by which the few land owners considered it their right to “lord it over” the many hard-working peasants who, in turn, had to depend on the few for survival.