Scripture: John 13:33-35
I was talking to Lee last week and I realized that if he could tell you a little bit about his work with the Gideons, that would probably make a very good introduction to today’s message about the second purpose for which we were created by God, which is to belong to each other. So, Lee, would you please?
……………..(This testimony is in the audio format.)
Last week we talked about the greatest commandment, which is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” We said that this would fulfill the first purpose for which we were created: to know and love God, which is the essence of worship. The second greatest commandment addresses the second purpose for which we were created which is to belong to a family, God’s family. The second greatest commandment, according to Jesus is, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” which is actually Jesus quoting part of Leviticus 19:18. The whole verse reads, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
Similarly, the famous Ten Commandments are all about relationships. They reflect the structure of the Greatest Commandment. The first four of the ten concern how we relate to God, just like “Love the Lord your God with all your heart”… and the remaining six commandments concern how we relate to each other, just like “love your neighbor as yourself.” The word neighbor acknowledges that the commandment is about how we treat people outside the family. But the commandment ends up asking us to treat neighbors LIKE family. Love them as you love yourself, and certainly you are in your family. Believers are made to belong to the family of God. That’s the second purpose for which we were created. First, we belong to God. Second, we belong to each other.
This emphasis on relationships makes sense when we understand the nature of the Holy Trinity as an eternal, loving relationship between the three persons of the one God. They are even named in family terms for our benefit. Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always loved each other as the three persons in one God, since before the beginning of time, since forever!
Our God is a relational God. So why did he create humans? Not because he needed to, but because he wanted to enjoy our company also. He wanted to enlarge his loving family. In the beginning he walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. That is, they simply spent time together as members of a loving family would enjoy doing.
You know the saying, “You can’t take it with you.” But guess what. There is one type of thing you can take with you into eternity, that’s the relationships you have with your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Members of your biological family might not make it if they don’t believe in Jesus. Would you miss them? Then lead them to Christ! Because only believers in Jesus will be in Heaven. They are the members of your spiritual family.
You can’t overestimate the importance of family and belonging. We were made to belong. The idea of belonging is so important to God that he called a man out, Abraham, with his wife, Sarah, to start a family. God could have called out a group of people, but he singled out one couple, to become a family. That’s one reason why we see the betrayal of Joseph’s brothers as such a cruel event. These men didn’t betray a friend, they betrayed a brother, an evil that even pagans can understand.
Family ties have always been the strongest bonds in human community. It is the basic building block of society. God referred to the Hebrew nation as, “The children of Israel,” the way I could refer to my children as “The Children of Greg.” The sense of “family” defines them as a unique group, distinct from all other families.
When you read the genealogies in the Old Testament you realize that nations grew from tribes, which grew from clans, which grew from families. When King Solomon’s successor failed to understand how to lead the nation, the kingdom of Israel was divided back along family lines, ten tribes separated from the two tribes that remained loyal to David’s family.
Now, after the ministry of Jesus Christ to establish a people for himself, believers are afforded the awesome privilege of becoming children of God, part of his divine family! John 1:12 says, “to all who did receive him, [that is, Jesus] to those who believed in [Jesus’] name, he gave the right to become children of God.” We don’t start out as children of God. That is a common modern misconception to say that we are all children of God. When you believe in Jesus Christ you are transferred out of your biological origins, your human family, and transferred into your spiritual origins in Christ, to become a child of God, a member of the divine family of God.
We sing, “I’m so glad I’m a part of the Family of God.” His Holy Spirit has set us apart as a unique and distinct group as clearly as your blood ties set you apart physically. The awesome thing is, unlike human families that you must be born into physically, God’s family is added to when people are born into it spiritually. And multiple births aren’t a stress on God’s system the way twins or triplets may be on our physical family. In fact, in God’s family, the more the merrier!
Do you know that saying that goes, “Blood is thicker than water?” These days the origin of that saying has been largely forgotten because it has been shortened over the years. So, we think it means family is stronger than friendship. You know, blood ties are stronger than…why would friendship be signified by water? So, let me give you the original, longer saying. The blood of the Covenant in Christ Jesus is stronger than the waters associated with natural birth.
Many of our former muslim brothers and sisters as well as a multitude of Jews who came to faith in Jesus from the earliest days of the church, can testify that when they proclaimed their faith in Jesus, they were rejected by their biological families. And then they found that being connected to their new brothers and sisters in Christ was more life giving than trying to get back together with their biological families.
Jesus said that it would be so. In Luke 14:26 he is quoted as saying, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” That is not hatred as in despising. That is hatred as in making Jesus top priority even if it costs you your family. He also explained that this is the natural effect of the gospel.
In Luke 12:51-53 he said, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” But that is only because of what happens when some in the family believe in Jesus, and the others do not.
It is not that the Christians walk away angry. It is that those who reject the gospel reject everyone associated with it, and talking about it, and trying to warn the lost about how to be saved before it is too late for them. I know of a story of one muslim new believer who was pushed out of his home and rejected by his family and the whole town, so he had no place to go. He ended up sleeping on the roof of his family home, crawling up there only after he knew they were all asleep and leaving again before they awoke. And he prayed for them constantly. Of course, he still loved them. But he would not give up Jesus for them. So, they thought he hated them.
Do you know why believers are also called members of the body of Christ? It is because the body analogy is to be taken seriously. Believers not attending to community in a local congregation are like fingers and toes not attached to hands and feet. They are not much good on their own. If I were to cut off my finger and lay it on the table, I could still say it’s a member of my body. But it’s no use to me unless it is attached.
Similarly, for God’s purpose and mission, a person may call himself a Christian, but that’s no use to God if that person is not attached to a local body attending to their participation in the family of God, relating to their brothers and sisters in the Lord with love for one another, that forgives sins, is patient and kind and long suffering even as we also spur one another on to love and good works.
That kind of attachment takes a commitment to love the other people in the body. In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” In Matt. 5:16, Jesus says to let our lights shine before others so that they will see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. Our belonging together and loving each other with the love of Christ has evangelistic power!
I just want to briefly highlight the four levels of fellowship that Rick Warren identified because I think is so helpful for the development of our ministry together. Level one is the fellowship of sharing. Sharing a conversation, sharing a meal, sharing a resource or sharing time together. These are good things that are the beginning of true friendship.
Level two is that of studying together. It goes a little deeper than time and conversation, it includes a harmony of understanding that promotes unity in the Spirit as we are called to do in Ephesians 4:3, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Example of that are the Sunday school class, and the Leadership Essentials study that Ron led us through and the new one starting up this week, “All Things New,” at the Klein’s house. This is pictured in Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Level three is serving together. That is what Lee was talking about. His shared ministry with the Gideons created bonds of fellowship that go beyond casual acquaintance such as you might have with co-workers in an office setting or fellow students in a class. Serving together is already being experienced by the Session members, the Trustees and now the Vision Team, but each of the subgroups is intent on developing ministry that you can share in too.
You know, attending church without being involved in the ministry is about as meaningful as going to the movies. It can be a moving experience and there are lot of other people sitting around you, but your lives don’t really intersect at any other points. The people who produced the movie, who worked together to create something meaningful, they are lot more closely knit together by the end than the people who watch it will ever get.
That’s why I will insist that we all need to be missionaries reaching out beyond the walls of this church in today’s society. You might think the mission of this church is to put on a good worship service. Maybe that’s what it used to be. A few decades ago that worked. But now, the mission of this church needs to be: train up disciples who will have compassion for the lost enough to try to lead them to Christ, no matter what it costs you, with wisdom, and led by the Spirit of course.
And this leads to level four, the fellowship of suffering together. That is simply what happens when we do our best to live by faith and reach the lost and the world fights back. Matthew 10:22 & Matthew 24:9 say this quite explicitly. Jesus said, “You will be hated by everyone because of me,” “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” “but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” And, being willing to face that is what it means to take up your cross. But we can endure it in Christ, and especially as we insist on loving each other through it all.
Now let me end on another story from my life. I come from a broken home. And that is an important factor in why the story I am about to tell made such a big impact on my life. But this story is not about my family. It is about a family I met shortly after I came to saving faith in Christ and had finished my first year in the college God sent me to, Calvin College in Grand Rapids. This would be the summer of 1980, so almost 40 years ago now.
During that first year I had become friends with a Canadian student named Aart Van Goch. Can you believe that name? Aart, Van Goch? It’s real. He invited me to go camping with his family that summer. This was a real treat for a city boy like me. We traversed 7 lakes, in canoes, with six portages, to get to a really remote site in Killarney National Park off Lake Huron. I had never been camping like this before. Besides that, what really impressed me was Aart’s family, so full of fun and love. They were all Christians and I had never been part of a Christian family before.
One morning, Aart’s dad woke up early and asked who wanted to go hiking for blue berries. I was the only one who wanted to, so it was just him and me. It was a good day. We enjoyed the hike and I enjoyed our conversation. He was like the best dad I ever met. I was so blessed to see for myself what a real, healthy, wholesome Christian family could be. And the way we talked, it made me wish I were his son. It helped me look forward to life ahead as a Christian. This was really going to be worth it! So, can you imagine what I felt when the next fall Aart had to tell me that his parents were getting a divorce?
That really rocked my world and shook my faith in God. How could this happen to believers? My family broke up because they were not Christians. I could understand that. But in this case, I had to deal with the thought that maybe God’s Word in the Bible doesn’t work to help people love and forgive each other so that families can stay together? Well, I had to learn to accept the fact that Christians aren’t immediately perfected by their faith, and God’s word doesn’t work like magic just because you say you believe it. You still have to apply it, with faith in God’s wisdom concerning why he gave us these instructions.
Love is work. Would you gossip about your physical brother or sister? Would you lie about your physical brother or sister? Would you denigrate your physical brother or sister? If you have done any of these things, was it right? Was it love?
Even more so, these behaviors have no place in the Family of God. Our love for one another is supposed to be on display for all to see. It is supposed to be so amazing and so welcoming that everyone would wish that they could be a part of our family, our gathering! People are watching, just like I was watching Aart Van Goch’s family, and that failure really hurt my faith. And guess what, every Christian congregation is part of God’s family and people are watching to see how we love each other because, when we do it well, that will encourage them to trust God too. And they will feel like they want to be a part of such a great family, just like I wanted to be part of Aart’s family. That has evangelistic power.
But it doesn’t end there. We are only up to the second purpose for living. It’s not just about us having a good time together. There is real work to do together, the way the Gideon’s work together on their common mission.
A Christian named David Platt summarized the message of Biblical Christianity this way. It is not, “God loves me, period.” The message of Biblical Christianity is, “God loves me so that I might make Him—His ways, His salvation, His glory and His greatness—known among the nations. God is the object of our faith and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel. God is.
The only reason the family of God exists on the face of the earth is to make him known Let’s keep that as our focus for the rest of our lives together. It would greatly please God. Amen.
I was talking to Lee last week and I realized that if he could tell you a little bit about his work with the Gideons, that would probably make a very good introduction to today’s message about the second purpose for which we were created by God, which is to belong to each other. So, Lee, would you please?
……………..(This testimony is in the audio format.)
Last week we talked about the greatest commandment, which is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” We said that this would fulfill the first purpose for which we were created: to know and love God, which is the essence of worship. The second greatest commandment addresses the second purpose for which we were created which is to belong to a family, God’s family. The second greatest commandment, according to Jesus is, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” which is actually Jesus quoting part of Leviticus 19:18. The whole verse reads, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
Similarly, the famous Ten Commandments are all about relationships. They reflect the structure of the Greatest Commandment. The first four of the ten concern how we relate to God, just like “Love the Lord your God with all your heart”… and the remaining six commandments concern how we relate to each other, just like “love your neighbor as yourself.” The word neighbor acknowledges that the commandment is about how we treat people outside the family. But the commandment ends up asking us to treat neighbors LIKE family. Love them as you love yourself, and certainly you are in your family. Believers are made to belong to the family of God. That’s the second purpose for which we were created. First, we belong to God. Second, we belong to each other.
This emphasis on relationships makes sense when we understand the nature of the Holy Trinity as an eternal, loving relationship between the three persons of the one God. They are even named in family terms for our benefit. Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always loved each other as the three persons in one God, since before the beginning of time, since forever!
Our God is a relational God. So why did he create humans? Not because he needed to, but because he wanted to enjoy our company also. He wanted to enlarge his loving family. In the beginning he walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. That is, they simply spent time together as members of a loving family would enjoy doing.
You know the saying, “You can’t take it with you.” But guess what. There is one type of thing you can take with you into eternity, that’s the relationships you have with your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Members of your biological family might not make it if they don’t believe in Jesus. Would you miss them? Then lead them to Christ! Because only believers in Jesus will be in Heaven. They are the members of your spiritual family.
You can’t overestimate the importance of family and belonging. We were made to belong. The idea of belonging is so important to God that he called a man out, Abraham, with his wife, Sarah, to start a family. God could have called out a group of people, but he singled out one couple, to become a family. That’s one reason why we see the betrayal of Joseph’s brothers as such a cruel event. These men didn’t betray a friend, they betrayed a brother, an evil that even pagans can understand.
Family ties have always been the strongest bonds in human community. It is the basic building block of society. God referred to the Hebrew nation as, “The children of Israel,” the way I could refer to my children as “The Children of Greg.” The sense of “family” defines them as a unique group, distinct from all other families.
When you read the genealogies in the Old Testament you realize that nations grew from tribes, which grew from clans, which grew from families. When King Solomon’s successor failed to understand how to lead the nation, the kingdom of Israel was divided back along family lines, ten tribes separated from the two tribes that remained loyal to David’s family.
Now, after the ministry of Jesus Christ to establish a people for himself, believers are afforded the awesome privilege of becoming children of God, part of his divine family! John 1:12 says, “to all who did receive him, [that is, Jesus] to those who believed in [Jesus’] name, he gave the right to become children of God.” We don’t start out as children of God. That is a common modern misconception to say that we are all children of God. When you believe in Jesus Christ you are transferred out of your biological origins, your human family, and transferred into your spiritual origins in Christ, to become a child of God, a member of the divine family of God.
We sing, “I’m so glad I’m a part of the Family of God.” His Holy Spirit has set us apart as a unique and distinct group as clearly as your blood ties set you apart physically. The awesome thing is, unlike human families that you must be born into physically, God’s family is added to when people are born into it spiritually. And multiple births aren’t a stress on God’s system the way twins or triplets may be on our physical family. In fact, in God’s family, the more the merrier!
Do you know that saying that goes, “Blood is thicker than water?” These days the origin of that saying has been largely forgotten because it has been shortened over the years. So, we think it means family is stronger than friendship. You know, blood ties are stronger than…why would friendship be signified by water? So, let me give you the original, longer saying. The blood of the Covenant in Christ Jesus is stronger than the waters associated with natural birth.
Many of our former muslim brothers and sisters as well as a multitude of Jews who came to faith in Jesus from the earliest days of the church, can testify that when they proclaimed their faith in Jesus, they were rejected by their biological families. And then they found that being connected to their new brothers and sisters in Christ was more life giving than trying to get back together with their biological families.
Jesus said that it would be so. In Luke 14:26 he is quoted as saying, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” That is not hatred as in despising. That is hatred as in making Jesus top priority even if it costs you your family. He also explained that this is the natural effect of the gospel.
In Luke 12:51-53 he said, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” But that is only because of what happens when some in the family believe in Jesus, and the others do not.
It is not that the Christians walk away angry. It is that those who reject the gospel reject everyone associated with it, and talking about it, and trying to warn the lost about how to be saved before it is too late for them. I know of a story of one muslim new believer who was pushed out of his home and rejected by his family and the whole town, so he had no place to go. He ended up sleeping on the roof of his family home, crawling up there only after he knew they were all asleep and leaving again before they awoke. And he prayed for them constantly. Of course, he still loved them. But he would not give up Jesus for them. So, they thought he hated them.
Do you know why believers are also called members of the body of Christ? It is because the body analogy is to be taken seriously. Believers not attending to community in a local congregation are like fingers and toes not attached to hands and feet. They are not much good on their own. If I were to cut off my finger and lay it on the table, I could still say it’s a member of my body. But it’s no use to me unless it is attached.
Similarly, for God’s purpose and mission, a person may call himself a Christian, but that’s no use to God if that person is not attached to a local body attending to their participation in the family of God, relating to their brothers and sisters in the Lord with love for one another, that forgives sins, is patient and kind and long suffering even as we also spur one another on to love and good works.
That kind of attachment takes a commitment to love the other people in the body. In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” In Matt. 5:16, Jesus says to let our lights shine before others so that they will see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. Our belonging together and loving each other with the love of Christ has evangelistic power!
I just want to briefly highlight the four levels of fellowship that Rick Warren identified because I think is so helpful for the development of our ministry together. Level one is the fellowship of sharing. Sharing a conversation, sharing a meal, sharing a resource or sharing time together. These are good things that are the beginning of true friendship.
Level two is that of studying together. It goes a little deeper than time and conversation, it includes a harmony of understanding that promotes unity in the Spirit as we are called to do in Ephesians 4:3, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Example of that are the Sunday school class, and the Leadership Essentials study that Ron led us through and the new one starting up this week, “All Things New,” at the Klein’s house. This is pictured in Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Level three is serving together. That is what Lee was talking about. His shared ministry with the Gideons created bonds of fellowship that go beyond casual acquaintance such as you might have with co-workers in an office setting or fellow students in a class. Serving together is already being experienced by the Session members, the Trustees and now the Vision Team, but each of the subgroups is intent on developing ministry that you can share in too.
You know, attending church without being involved in the ministry is about as meaningful as going to the movies. It can be a moving experience and there are lot of other people sitting around you, but your lives don’t really intersect at any other points. The people who produced the movie, who worked together to create something meaningful, they are lot more closely knit together by the end than the people who watch it will ever get.
That’s why I will insist that we all need to be missionaries reaching out beyond the walls of this church in today’s society. You might think the mission of this church is to put on a good worship service. Maybe that’s what it used to be. A few decades ago that worked. But now, the mission of this church needs to be: train up disciples who will have compassion for the lost enough to try to lead them to Christ, no matter what it costs you, with wisdom, and led by the Spirit of course.
And this leads to level four, the fellowship of suffering together. That is simply what happens when we do our best to live by faith and reach the lost and the world fights back. Matthew 10:22 & Matthew 24:9 say this quite explicitly. Jesus said, “You will be hated by everyone because of me,” “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” “but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” And, being willing to face that is what it means to take up your cross. But we can endure it in Christ, and especially as we insist on loving each other through it all.
Now let me end on another story from my life. I come from a broken home. And that is an important factor in why the story I am about to tell made such a big impact on my life. But this story is not about my family. It is about a family I met shortly after I came to saving faith in Christ and had finished my first year in the college God sent me to, Calvin College in Grand Rapids. This would be the summer of 1980, so almost 40 years ago now.
During that first year I had become friends with a Canadian student named Aart Van Goch. Can you believe that name? Aart, Van Goch? It’s real. He invited me to go camping with his family that summer. This was a real treat for a city boy like me. We traversed 7 lakes, in canoes, with six portages, to get to a really remote site in Killarney National Park off Lake Huron. I had never been camping like this before. Besides that, what really impressed me was Aart’s family, so full of fun and love. They were all Christians and I had never been part of a Christian family before.
One morning, Aart’s dad woke up early and asked who wanted to go hiking for blue berries. I was the only one who wanted to, so it was just him and me. It was a good day. We enjoyed the hike and I enjoyed our conversation. He was like the best dad I ever met. I was so blessed to see for myself what a real, healthy, wholesome Christian family could be. And the way we talked, it made me wish I were his son. It helped me look forward to life ahead as a Christian. This was really going to be worth it! So, can you imagine what I felt when the next fall Aart had to tell me that his parents were getting a divorce?
That really rocked my world and shook my faith in God. How could this happen to believers? My family broke up because they were not Christians. I could understand that. But in this case, I had to deal with the thought that maybe God’s Word in the Bible doesn’t work to help people love and forgive each other so that families can stay together? Well, I had to learn to accept the fact that Christians aren’t immediately perfected by their faith, and God’s word doesn’t work like magic just because you say you believe it. You still have to apply it, with faith in God’s wisdom concerning why he gave us these instructions.
Love is work. Would you gossip about your physical brother or sister? Would you lie about your physical brother or sister? Would you denigrate your physical brother or sister? If you have done any of these things, was it right? Was it love?
Even more so, these behaviors have no place in the Family of God. Our love for one another is supposed to be on display for all to see. It is supposed to be so amazing and so welcoming that everyone would wish that they could be a part of our family, our gathering! People are watching, just like I was watching Aart Van Goch’s family, and that failure really hurt my faith. And guess what, every Christian congregation is part of God’s family and people are watching to see how we love each other because, when we do it well, that will encourage them to trust God too. And they will feel like they want to be a part of such a great family, just like I wanted to be part of Aart’s family. That has evangelistic power.
But it doesn’t end there. We are only up to the second purpose for living. It’s not just about us having a good time together. There is real work to do together, the way the Gideon’s work together on their common mission.
A Christian named David Platt summarized the message of Biblical Christianity this way. It is not, “God loves me, period.” The message of Biblical Christianity is, “God loves me so that I might make Him—His ways, His salvation, His glory and His greatness—known among the nations. God is the object of our faith and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel. God is.
The only reason the family of God exists on the face of the earth is to make him known Let’s keep that as our focus for the rest of our lives together. It would greatly please God. Amen.
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