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The Bonds Of A Christian Family
The Bonds Of A Christian Family
This morning I would like to talk with you about the bonds of Christian Family. As a church of believers, we are bonded together as family because: 1) we all have the same birth, 2) we all have the same worth, and 3) we all have the same Father. It is important that each of understands the bonds that tie us together as a Christian family. Being reminded of this bond and understanding it better will strengthen our church family and a stronger family will have a positive impact on our community and those that we come in contact with each day.
Introduction:
1. 1 Timothy 3:15 says: “if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth”.
In this text we see:
1) The house of God is the church of God.
2) The term “house” in the Bible often meant family.
3) We are truly God’s family.
4) Let’s talk about being bound together as God’s family.
5) There are two songs that we sing that really go along with this.
6) “Bind Us Together” by Bob Gillman (704)
7) “God’s Family” by Lanny Wolfe (744)
Please get out your songbooks and let’s look at the words in both of these songs together. (Read Songs)
As I mentioned at the beginning of this lesson, We are bonded together as a family because…
I. WE HAVE THE SAME BIRTH.
1. Those who are born of God are born of the word as we see in James 1:18 which says: “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” – Also in 1 Peter 1:23 which says: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
2. Those who are born of God are part of the family — John 3:4-7. (Read)
3. Those who are born of God do righteousness. 1st John 2:29 tells us: “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him”.
4. We know that those who are born of God do not continue in sin. 1st John 3:9 says: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God”. Also in 1st John 5:18, which tells us: “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.”
5. Scriptures tell us that those who are born of God love their brethren. 1st John 4:7 says: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
6. Those who are born of God believe in Jesus. 1st John 5:1 says: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well”.
7. We also see that those who are born of God overcome the world. 1st John 5:4 says: “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
II. WE ARE BONDED TOGETHER BECAUSE WE HAVE THE SAME WORTH.
1. Our lives are of equal value.
1) No Jew or Greek. 1 Cor. 12:13 says:“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink”.
2) We know that we have the same worth whether we are a man or a woman. Gal. 3:28 says:“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.
3) Colossians tells us that we have the same worth whether we are slave or free. Col. 3:11 says “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Chris is all, and is in all”.
4) We have the same worth whether rich or poor. We see this in James 2:9 which says: “But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers”.
5) We know that God is no respecter of persons; are we?
2. Our love is of equal value.
1) We must love one another equally — 1 Peter 1:22 says: “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart”.
2) We must not use our liberty as an occasion to lapse outside of love — We see this in Galatians 5:13 which says “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love”. This passage is very clear that we are not only supposed to love one another but SERVE another as Christians.
3) In Romans Chapter 12, we see that we must love without hypocrisy — Romans 12:9-18 READ
3. Our living is of equal value.
1) We all have the same unchangeable standard — Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”
2) Scriptures tell us that we all must live by the same standard — Phil. 3:16 “Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”
3) In 2nd Corinthians we are reminded that we must walk by faith — 2 Cor. 5:7 says: “We live by faith, not by sight.”
4) Faith comes from hearing the word as we see in (Rom. 10:17) which says: “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”
III. WE ARE BONDED TOGETHER BECAUSE WE ALL HAVE THE SAME FATHER.
1. He has given his only begotten son for us.
1) John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
2) 1 John 4:9 tells us:“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.”
2. We see from scripture that He has adopted us into his family.
1) Rom. 8:15 says: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by his we cry, Abba, Father.”
2) Also in Gal. 4:4-5 it tells us:“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law that we might receive the full rights of sons.”
3) Eph. 1:5 says:“He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”
3. These passages and others tell us that we are now his children.
1) We are children through faith in Christ. Galatians 2:16 says: “know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”
2) Think about it for a minute: What great love we must have from God to be called his children. 1st John 3:1 says: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called Children of God. And that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him”
3) We are to be obedient children as we see in 1 Peter 1:13-14.which says: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Chris is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.”
When you consider the family concept, it is a perfect parallel to the church.
- Family denotes a sense of belonging. Isn’t it wonderful to know that we have a place in the family of God? That we can belong to the greatest family in the world? Belonging to a family bond provides: Comfort – we see this in 2nd Corinthians 1: 3 – 7 which says: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”
- Belonging to a family bond provides: Strength. We see this in Ephesians 4: 11 – 16 which says: “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
- The family concept also signifies relationships. We have a unique relationship with the Father and with each other. Jesus says in John 16:23 “In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”
Colossians 1: 12 reminds us of our inheritance. It says: “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”
It’s important for us to remember that not everyone is in the family of God. The Lord designated certain requirements, and if these criteria are not met, one is not a member of the family. Merely running with the family does not make you part of the family. We all know that if you ask various people in the community, how someone becomes a part of the family of God, you would get many different answers. Notice again, how the Bible says we are born into the family of God. 1st Peter 1:23 says: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
As I bring my lesson to a close this morning I want to encourage each of us to keep in mind that we are all part of a church family and let’s remember the things that bind us together as we work to do God’s will.
