Family Circus – How God Takes Clowns, Animals, and Dare-Devils and Makes Them His Kids.

Steven White

Family Circus • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

1 Corinthians 1:1–3

Adoption

Family

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Intro -

Many people think of the church as a building full of people who pretend to be perfect. And honestly at times that can be true.

But that is not the Biblical view of the Church.

The Church is messy – filled with critters, clowns and daredevils.

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It is easy to fall into a couple ruts when we think of the church.

We can see the church as a building full of hypocrites, pretending to be holy.

But that is not the Biblical view of the Church.

The Church is messy – filled with critters, clowns and daredevils.

Or we can ourselves become so full of our own progress that we begin to judge the local church through a critical and even self-righteous eye. If only they were all more like me!

But maybe a better view of the Church is a mixture of a family/ hospital/ Circus

A family where the animals, clowns, and daredevils are slowly healed and molded into the image of God and given a mission to transform the world by growing the circus/family into all nations, tribes, and clans.

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The local church saved my life and the life of my wife –

I was a drug addict with divorced parents, deep insecurities, self-destructive behaviors, and a broken relationship with my dad.

Callie was a deeply insecure party girl with daddy issues.

Together we were her parent’s worst nightmare for a relationship.

In the local church we discovered God’s love and we discovered a family who deeply loved and accepted us.

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In the local church we discovered God’s love and we discovered a family who deeply loved and accepted us.

Our first child - I was more excited about the church visiting us at the hospital than our own family.

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The Church has always been an animal house and Family of God!

The Church of Corinth is our great example of God’s Embrace, Devotion, and Patience to His Family Circus.

1 Corinthians 1:2–3 NLT

I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

God’s church, called by God to be his people, made holy, God is their Father, Jesus is their Lord.

Sounds good right?

1 Corinthians 1:10–13 NLT

I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.” Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!

The Church is divided by a cult of personalities.

Wait it gets better

1 Corinthians 5:1–2 NLT

I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.

Can anyone say crazy town?

1 Corinthians 6:1–5 NLT

When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers! Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life. If you have legal disputes about such matters, why go to outside judges who are not respected by the church? I am saying this to shame you. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues?

In all this crazy mess Paul refers to the Corinth church as

Saints

Brothers and Sisters

Children of God

Temple of God

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The Church is a family of clowns, animals, and daredevils – Not clean, upper-crust, angels.

The church family is not a neat and tidy family.

It is a family of orphans, imperfect, flawed humans who are being transformed into the image of Jesus.

Our transformation will not be complete until Jesus returns, and we are resurrected.

Therefore, the Church in this age will continue to be a family circus – full of clowns, animals and dare devils.

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God Loves the orphans, clowns, animals and dare-devils so much He makes them His family.

John 3:16 NLT

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Ephesians 3:1–5 NLT

When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles … assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.

Galatians 4:4–5 NLT

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.

2 Corinthians 5:16–21 NLT

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Romans 12:5 NLT

so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

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Maybe, you are like me and you realize how big of a mess you really are.

It becomes easy to give up and to think God could never honestly love you.

But trust Paul we are never too far to be part of God’s family circus.

1 Timothy 1:12–17 NLT

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.

You are not too far for God.

You are not too far for God to use you in power like He did Paul.

I look around and I don’t see misfits, I see my family, brothers and sisters.

I look around and I get excited. I see a person who was once an atheist and now a disciple of Jesus.

I see people who just a few months ago were far from God, running in the other direction as hard as possible. Now, running towards God with passion.

I look out and see God’s family circus, my family.

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Maybe you have strayed away or maybe your faith is cooling off.

Let me help ignite your flame and bring you running back to Jesus and His family circus.

Romans 8:31–39 NLT

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today, I praise God for this family circus and God allowing me to be part of it.

Today, I would like to invite you into this family circus created by the Love of God.

- Take that step if you have not already and say Yes to God as your Father and Yes to Jesus as your Lord.

- Join us in the love of God, join the family circus.

We are not perfect, we fail, but we are deeply loved by God, rescued by God, being transformed by God, and we are truly a family circus.

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