A Church Family

Why couldn't the bicycle stand up by itself? It was two tired.

Happy Daylight savings time!

Well, we’re a church family right?

Question: Can I be a Christian without joining or being a part of a church?

Answer: Yes, it is possible. It is something like being:

A student who will not go to school

A soldier who will not join an army

A citizen who does not pay taxes or vote

A salesman with no customers

An explorer with no base camp

A sailor on a ship without a crew

An author without readers

A tuba player without an orchestra

A softball player without a team

A politician who is a hermit

A scientist who does not share his findings

A bee without a hive

Now if you might say this differently but I think we can all get the picture. There’s an importance to what we call a church family.

So today we’re going to be simple…more of a reminder than anything else. Invitation song, closing prayer. Done.

Now I’m not trying to be minimalistic but I hope that what we do today is helpful.

We’re a church family…this family has been in existence for more than 140 years for this little area just south of Canton. Many people have called this their church family over the years.

Many families and individuals have called this home.

Now what I’m not saying is that this building is their home…not this address.

No where in the New Testament after the resurrection of Jesus do we see a place that is considered the church...

Rather, what we read, is that it is the people. The people have become the house of God. The temple...

We are now where God lives…Old Testament word…dwells. His spirit in us.

No building needed anymore…a change happened at a particular point in time.

But right after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, believers would meet together in, for awhile they’d meet in synagogues and then that went by the wayside…but mostly in homes.

The new testament calls these groups of believers…the church of Corinth or the church in Galatia....or the church in Rome. The group of people in that area.

Now for us…we have a name…North Industry Christian Church…but in reality we’re part of the group of people who call themselves believers in Jesus, followers, disciples…from this area. Very simple.

We have same or very similar beliefs…we have similar hopes…we meet to learn from each other to lean on each other.

Much like a family.

Are we perfect? Absolutely not. If we were perfect there’d be no need for Jesus or Him recreating everything.

We’re a church family.

Imperfect but attempting to do something. Even more than that, we’re attempting to be something....So what is that something?

Well, I think, if I asked you to take out a piece of paper and a pen or pencil…and name the top 5 things a church should do…we’d probably all have similar answers.

But I think there’s a better way of looking at what we “should” do.

The first thing I’d like us to do…is take out that word “should.” There’s been lessons and sermons and conferences on this idea of what churches should do. There’s a trap door in that endeavor. Checkboxes and lists…and sometimes you lose humanity for the sake of meeting an well intended agenda.

Let’s look at it a different way…what, or maybe who, was the church created to be?

Heart issues rather than shoulds and oughts.

A beautiful painting rather than again, a well intended to-do list. Are there things to do? Yes, but the goal is to love and serve…the goal isn’t to check boxes.

So what does this picture of the church look like? There are a lot of accounts in scripture that gives us great pictures of the church. There are a ton.

We’re going to look at one today that might help us just get a glimpse.

My hope today is that this is helpful…encouraging…maybe this will hopeful to you…bring you some peace as well.

OBJECT LESSON - Books and child.

Directions: This object lesson involved a few children as volunteers at the front of the class.

Begin by calling an older child to the front. Ask them to hold a single book above their head with flat palms. (See picture below).Give them a few seconds to feel the weight and ask them if this is getting hard. The delay is key to making the task harder with fewer books. If they are ready for more, carefully place another book on the stack. Repeat this process until the books slide off. Be sure to catch the books to prevent injury. Most kids will lose the balance of the books and they will slide off.Invite several children to try this “strong” test. Always congratulate them for the effort, but remark how hard it must be to keep adding weight.

Explain the point, “This is something like following Jesus. It may feel easy at first but over time it can feel heavy. The world we live in, plus our own hearts, is like a constant force making it hard to follow God’s plan.

But God gave us a wonderful gift. It’s a group of friends who are all working together to learn how to love God & love other people.

It’s called the church.

Let’s get some helpers to try our hard task together.”Invite 2-4 kids to try the books at a time. As you add more books, remark how it’s still hard but much easier than doing it alone. After several children get a chance to work together, restate the point.

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

So, let’s consider this idea of a church family.

We’re a family…a church family. And there’s a purpose in this thing called the church…remember the church isn’t a building…its a people.....love God…love each other.

There’s an account in the Gospels that gives us a picture of this.

We’ll look at the account from Luke’s book. Luke 5:17-26

Luke 5:17–26 CSB

17 On one of those days while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem. And the Lord’s power to heal was in him. 18 Just then some men came, carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed. They tried to bring him in and set him down before him. 19 Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus. 20 Seeing their faith he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” 21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.” 25 Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26 Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, “We have seen incredible things today.”

A few things we see here in this account. And we’ll quickly go through these…and of course there are more accounts and stories in scripture that give us pictures of the church family…but this one, I think is a memorable one.

In this great story God gives us some ideas or principles about how we can can reach out to each other and other people loving God and Loving others.

Compassion: This small group cared enough for a helpless friend to do something about his pain. Mercy is not just a feeling. It is love in action.

Compassion is often defined with this sense…that you can literally feel what someone else is feeling …that you have a true sense of what they are going through good or bad…celebration or struggle. And usually, when we think of compassion we think of not just connecting with someone emotionally…but that this connection drives you to react or respond in some way to celebrate with them or to care for …help in some way.

Centuries before electric signs, email and FB posts, churches would attract attention by their steeples…the taller the better. And many times there was a bell just under that steeple. So once upon a time there was a church that had a steeple and bell, but for years their bell wouldn’t ring. Experts had tried to come and fix it but no luck.

One day a short but sturdy man came to church and said, I can ring that bell. The church board chairman told the man, if you can, we would surely appreciate it.

He ran up the stairs, looked at the bell, and ran straight towards it as fast as he could and rang that bell with his face.

He was hired on the spot.

A few weeks into his new job as the bell ringer, he was atop the belfry, and as he began his sprint towards the bell, a gust of wind came through and he lost his balance and fell out of the tower…down the roof, rolled off and into a bush, landing unconscious but minimally injured.

As the crowd gathered around, the board chairman came out and asked, does anyone remember this man’s name?

One lady bent over the man and said, I don’t remember his name…but his face sure rings a bell.

Compassion goes beyond just knowing someone’s name.

It goes into who they are and what they need in life.

You might not know someone’s name and still have compassion for them.

Did you notice that Luke wrote, Jesus saw their faith? Their…plural. It was the faith of the group He saw…He noticed....compassion driven by faith in Jesus.

Action: The friends had a plan, and they put it into action.

We don’t know the previous discussions that might have happened…was this a surprize for him? did he ask them for help? were they good friends, or co-workers …or passers by as he sat on the street? We don’t know....but action followed the compassion.

Their hearts were stirred to do something.

Cooperation: God, through His spirit, gives us tasks in His church family. Paul says, “I planted the seed and Apollos watered it” (1 Corinthians 3:6 BSB). In other words, you don’t have to do it all yourself, we’re part of something bigger.

We might not all play the same part but we’re on the same team...

Compassion, Action, Cooperation.

Persistence: The friends could have been discouraged when they couldn’t get into the door because of the crowd, but they didn’t give up. They showed determination. They said, “Whatever it takes, we’re going to bring our friend to Jesus.”

Now what drove this persistence? That’s a really good question to ask. What drives you to your goals in life? Here we see, I think the ultimate driver...

Their Faith. What they believed to be true about Jesus drove them to have compassion, be driven to action…together…cooperating together...

Faith: Jesus says that the faith of this group…maybe just the friends…not completely sure. Nobody is beyond the reach of God’s love. God specializes in doing the impossible. So don’t give up on people you care about.

Have faith in what God can do in their lives.

This is a short little picture of the church. People helping people find, see, get close to Jesus.

When life gets heavy ....like those books…when our faith gets stretched…there are people we can go to.

Our church family. Not a group of perfect people. But a group of people who, in faith, are relying on Jesus.

It’s good to have a church family.

We’re not perfect, but I think we’re trying through compassion, consistent action, and faith? I think that can be us as we continue to grow in Jesus.