Who Needs a Family?

Connection and Tension

‌Christ is risen!

One of my favorite movies about family is My Big Fat Greek Wedding? If you’ve never watched it, it is worth a rental. It tells the story of a Greek-American woman, Toula, who falls in love with a non-Greek man, Ian. However, the movie isn’t really about their love story. It’s more about Toula’s family and how they learn to embrace Ian as a non-Greek, and how he learns to love and appreciate who they are. As the story progresses you get a taste for what her family is like. They are loud, opinionated, and very proud of their Greek heritage. My favorite scene is when the family throws an engagement party for Toula and Ian, and they invite Ian’s quiet, reserved Midwestern mom and dad. They begin to introduce everyone to Ian’s parents - this is Nic, that’s Nikky, that’s Gus, then Nicholas, Nic, Nic, and Nikky. Like half the family is named Nic.

It’s clear that for them, family is their primary identity. They work together in a family restaurant. They have the same beliefs. They have the same values. They share the same heritage. As Ian gets to know them, we could say that what he is experiencing is this family’s witness about themselves. For those on the outside looking in, this is who this family is. What if he had rejected this new family, deciding his relationship with Toula wasn’t worth it. Well, there of course would have been no movie. But more importantly, he would have missed out on belonging to something that would become a massive blessing to him.

Let me suggest that this might we a good way to understand the church. A favorite way for NT authors to refer to the church is as a household - the household of God. We are a family, not by biology or blood but by Christ. Sometimes loud and annoying, sometimes quiet and reserved. But always a family.

I called the message this morning, Who Needs a Family? We can hear this in two ways. First, hear it dismissively, as in “Family, who needs it!” This is what some people who look at the church say - or at least think. Sadly, many often look at the church and think, “if this is what being a Christian means, I’m better off without it”. But we can also hear “Who needs a family?” as an invitation to those who long to belong and be welcomed. At our best, the church extends an invitation to belong.

Similar to Toula’s family, the church bears witness to the world of who God is and what he has done. We - together - serve as the living, dynamic testimony to the reality of the Resurrection.

‌Text and Participation

Acts 2:42-47

This passage talks about two ways the church testifies to the reality of the resurrection:

First, We testify to the Resurrection when we gather for worship.

This passage has been referred to as the “marks” of the church. It is one of the few descriptions we have of what the early church looked like. First, it talks about their more formal gatherings. They devoted themselves to four things:

The apostles’ teaching - this is how they learned the story of Jesus and began to live into his story.

Fellowship - the word used here means to share. They were known for what they shared in - their common faith in Jesus as the resurrected Lord. But also for what they shared out - their generosity to one another and to those outside the church.

Breaking bread - this is NT shorthand for Communion, which during this time was part of a larger meal they ate together.

The prayers - their gathering included worship through praying together.

But they also gathered in less formal ways, from house to house. It was this common life that made them distinct and noticeable to outsiders. Their witness to the resurrection showed that Their “me” was replaced by “we”.

The word the NT writers used for the church is ecclesia. It’s not actually a religious word. It originally referred to the political assembly of citizen in ancient Greek states where they met to conduct public business. Later it was used to describe any group of people who were called out to assemble for any reason. This is the word the NT writers used to describe the church. It is a called-out assembly, and the “assembling” part is necessary to the definition. The church is first and foremost an ecclesia in its gathering together. Christians are being the church specifically when we gather.

The fallout of the Enlightenment. Personal became individual. Canoeing alone.

I’m afraid in recent times assembling at church has become an optional add-on in the minds of many. I’ll go to church if I feel like it and don’t have a better option. Yet, when this becomes our attitude it reveals that what we really believe is that church is solely for our own personal benefit. It is a product I can consume if or when I feel I need it. It shows that we are still primarily “me” instead of “we”. This attitude is completely foreign to those who wrote the NT. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews writes, Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” We must maintain the priority of assembling despite pressures to diminish it.

Going to church doesn’t save us or get us brownie points with God. Nor have we committed an unpardonable sin when we miss. But our gathering is part of our witness to the resurrection. That something new and important and life-changing has happened through Jesus Christ. “Me” has become “we”. When we make this a priority it sends a clear message to those outside looking on.

Second, We testify to the Resurrection when we are sent on mission.

The early Christians were known by their gathering, but they were also known by their going. Their identity became that of those who were primarily givers instead of takers. They continued to heal the sick and cast out demons in Jesus’ name, relieving the suffering of those afflicted by the devil. They would sell property they didn’t need to ensure that those in their community - but even those outside their community - had their basic needs met. Their witness to the resurrection showed that Their “mine” was replaced by “ours”.

The early church soon learned that they were caught up in a much bigger story. That God was on the move in the resurrected Jesus, and that they were part of his plan. The book of Acts is filled with stories of the early missionary journeys of the apostles. However, in researching a paper in seminary, I learned that something else made a far greater impact in the spread of Christianity. It was the dynamic faith of ordinary Christians going about their everyday lives. The apostles may have brought the message of Jesus to new areas, but it was the believers in those areas that caused the message to spread. And what won them a hearing for the gospel was the way they lived. They had internalize that “mine” was now “ours” in how they served those in need. This doesn’t mean they became destitute or no longer had private property. But this kind of generous living made their message credible.

To be the church means to be those who are sent on mission - God’s mission. For some that will mean leaving family and friends to take the gospel to those in another place or culture. But for the vast majority, it means being God’s missionary right where you are. However we are called to do this, it includes earning the goodwill of people by our sacrifice of “mine” with “ours”.

Gospel and Invitation

Have you ever been to a family reunion? Growing up my dad’s side of the family had three reunions every year. The one we actually called our reunion was at Lake Murray State Park the last weekend of June. But we also gathered in mass at Thanksgiving and Easter. It was at these kind of gatherings that I learned that my family was much more than my mom and dad and sister.

As that generation’s kids and grand kids grew up and move to different places, we stopped attending these gatherings and eventually they just stopped. I am as guilty as anyone because I did not make these get-togethers a priority. We can never let this happen in the church. We, together, are the living and dynamic witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. By our gathering, and by our being sent.

Who needs a family? Well, we do. God saw that and created one. But the world needs a family too. They need the church to be that family where they can be welcomed in, where they can experience the saving and transforming power of God, and where they can find meaning and purpose for their life.

This morning I want to invite you to join this family if you never have. You become a member of God’s family through faith in Jesus - his death on the cross for your sins and his victory over the grave. I invite you to ask Jesus to forgive you and to make you a member of his forever family. If you’d like to find out more about this you can follow the link on the screen (next steps slide).

What will be our witness to the watching world? More locally, what will be our witness to a watching Fort Smith? A watching South Town neighborhood? When they look at us, will they dismissively say “who needs a family”. Or by looking at us will they come to realize they need this family. Not just the Vineyard, but the family of God.

Speaking to what would become the gathered church, Jesus said Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

How do we become this kind of family? We follow in the steps of the first church by our witness in gathering - “we” before “me” - and by our witness in going - “ours” before “mine”. Being this kind of family is how we become light-shining, living witnesses to the truth that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. Amen.