Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction

            When my neighbor, Jake, who was also a member of our church, passed away, it was 1:00 in the morning.

I was called to the hospital and found many of the family members there.

We sang a few songs and prayed together and although sorrowful, it was a blessing.

As the days went by leading up to the funeral, the family was together at their mother’s place quite often.

A few times we joined them and they had times of singing, reminiscing and encouraging each other.

That is the blessing of family.

When our grandson was born, we went to the hospital to visit our son and daughter-in-law and Joshua.

There we were, her parents, us, and our children and their new child.

That is the blessing of family.

I remember supper time when our children were teenagers.

Some of those times lasted long after the food was finished.

Stories were told of what happened during the day and sometimes those stories were even acted out.

We played little games at the table and simply enjoyed being together.

That is the blessing of family.

The Bible gives us many images of the church.

It is a building(I Peter 2:4,5

), it is like a marriage (Ephesians 5:25-27), it is like the sheep and their shepherd (John 10:14-16), like a body (I Corinthians 12:12-14) and like a nation (Ephesians 2:19),

In Ephesians 2:19 the Bible speaks about being “members of God’s household” and Galatians 6;10, says we are “the family of believers”

            We are talking about the purpose driven life and we have been encouraged to read the book “The Purpose Driven Life.”

As we examine God’s Word, we discover that a second purpose for which we have been created is to be a part of God’s family.

The author says, “You were formed for God’s family.”

This morning, we want to look at the blessing of that invitation and at some of the implications of that reality.

!

I. Invited To Be God’s Child

            Last Sunday, we celebrated child dedication.

It was a joy to see those parents up there lovingly holding their children and to see the loving intention that those parents had for their children.

I remember how each of our children was a loved and desired child.

Some of you are adoptive or foster children.

One day, your parents made a choice that they wanted you in their family.

They care for you and love you and you are fully a part of their family by choice.

God has done a similar thing.

God does not need us.

Some people have children to meet a need within themselves for relationship.

Sometimes that is not a good thing, but God did not need us.

However, God is relational, as we see by the fact that He is a triune God and He wants us as His children.

What a blessing to realize that we have the possibility of being children of God.

Out of His self-giving love, God has chosen us to be His children and has invited everyone whom he has made to become a part of that family.

In Galatians 3:26 we have read, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…” God has created everyone on earth and in one sense we are all children of our creator, but every one of us has rejected God as our Father.

We don’t want to be a part of His family and we have sinned and so rejected God.

We don’t trust Him and we don’t want Him in our life, but God is not easily deterred.

He has created us for a relationship with Himself.

Ephesians 1:5 says, “he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.”

Because of this original intention and because of His love, He sent Jesus to earth to die on the cross and to invite us once again to be His children.

When we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for our sins and rose again and when we receive Him into our lives by faith, then we become sons and daughters of God.

That is what it means when it says, “you are all sons of God through faith in Christ.”

Perhaps you are not now a child of God.

What a wonderful invitation this is and it is made to each of us.

If you are not now a child of God, but would like to be, then I want to invite you today to accept Jesus Christ by faith and so allow God to embrace you as His son or daughter.

Being a part of a family has certain privileges attached to it.

When we become children of God, we receive a family name.

I Peter 4:16 says, “…if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”

We also receive a family likeness.

I John 3:2, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.

But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

We have the privileges of being part of God’s family and having access to God.

All of Ephesians 1 is loaded with a description of all the privileges and intimacy of being part of God’s family - “blessed with every spiritual blessing…chosen…redeemed…knowing God’s mystery…and so on.

Included in those blessings is the family inheritance, as we read in Galatians 4:7, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”

If you have become a child of God, it is important to demonstrate that relationship by baptism.

I Corinthians 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.” Warren says, “Baptism shows you are part of God’s family.”

So I want to invite you to become a child of God if you are not, to demonstrate that by baptism if that is the right thing and, if you are a child of God, to rejoice that you can call God your Father.

!

II.

Invited To A Family

            When a child is born, it is first of all in close relationship with its mother and then with its father.

As it gets older, it suddenly realizes that there are other beings out there - a brother, a sister and as time goes on, this child realizes that it is not an only child, but that it is part of a family.

When I do pre-marriage counselling with couples, one of the things we talk about is the reality that when you get married, you become one with a wonderful girl or boy, but already when you make the guest list for the wedding, you realize that you are not just marrying another person, you are getting linked up with a whole family.

When we become a son or daughter of God through faith in Christ, we suddenly realize that we are part of a family.

If we are sons of God, we are part of God’s family and that is God’s intention.

The world in which we live has promoted the individual to such an extent that we have forgotten what it means to be part of a community.

There are many people who are sons and daughters of God, but do not want anything to do with the rest of the family.

Warren says that some are “bunny believers,” hopping from church to church.

We need to understand from Scripture, this is not what God intends.

The entire New Testament is not written to individual Christians, but to a community.

The concept of belonging to a community, to a local church, is deeply a part of Scripture because it is deeply a part of God’s intention.

Ephesians 4:16 says, “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.”

I Corinthians 12:12, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.

So it is with Christ.”

Ephesians 2:21, “In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.”

Why is it so important to be a part of God’s family?

Warren identifies a number great reasons.

Some of them are:

1. John 13:35 says, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The loving relationship we have with one another in the church identifies us as belonging to God.

2. It moves us away from self-centred isolation.

I Corinthians 12:26 says, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.”

The caring community is such a wonderful part of being identified with a body of believers.

3.

It helps us grow strong in faith and obedience.

Ephesians 4:16 says, “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.”

            4.

It helps us keep from backsliding.

Hebrews 3:13 calls us to “…encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”

Just as every child born needs a family, so every child of God needs the family of God.

Some people don’t want the commitment to others that is required, but Biblically there is no choice about that.

If you are a child of God, you are a part of the family.

!

III.

Living In A Family

            But family living is not automatic or easy.

We all have them in our family - the uncle who plays too roughly with your children, the mother-in-law who meddles in things, the cousin who gossips about everyone, the black sheep of the family who is just different.

What happens?

Do we throw them out of the family?

No! We are still family and so we are kind to them, we encourage them and we continue to accept them.

The same is true in the church family.