Sermon presented by Steve Myers on May 10, 2014 in the Cincinnati East, Ohio congregation. 

 

Someone sent me a clip out of the newspaper, and it was an interesting little poem. It originally was in the newspaper anyway. It was in the Australian Windsor Richmond and Hawkesbury Advertiser. We've all heard of that, right? They sent it to me on an email, because it wasn't anything that was very recent. It was something that was actually in that paper in December of 1881, and I thought it was kind of interesting. It was a little thing that was titled, "Why They Go To Church." It's quite a long poem, and there's lots of variations out there. But this one was written by J.S. Bouchier, and it was kind of an interesting way  I thought, well, maybe things that applied in 1881 have a way of still coming around today once in a while. It goes like this.

"Some go to church just for a walk,
Some go to church to laugh and talk;
Some go to church to use their eyes, and the newest fashions to criticize;
Some go to show their own smart dress,
Some go to their neighbors' to assess;
Others go there for speculation, and yet, others go there for observation;
Of course some go the church to doze and nod;
But actually, there are some that go to church to worship God."

So what is it for us? What are we doing here? As I read through those lines, I got to thinking a little bit. Are we the kind of church that Jesus said He would build? Are we in that kind of a nature that He intended? In fact, what is the church supposed to be? What characteristics should it reflect? Now, it might be helpful as we think about some of the things that the General Conference of Elders focused on. They focused on creating an environment for growth. And as I considered those things, I wondered about us, about us as the Cincinnati East P.M. congregation. Are we reflecting the types of things that Jesus Christ intended? I think there's a number of different ways you can look at the church. If you had to say, what is the church? What is your view of the church? I know some people would say, well, the church is an organization. It's an organization. Or maybe you could describe it like a foundation or an institution. It's like a  almost like a business, I suppose, in that sense. Have you ever thought of the church kind of like a business? I had never really thought about it that way.

But one day I was doing some visiting, and happen to stop we were trying to get a new hall. We were talking to the hall that we had been meeting in, and someone was new at the desk. They hadn't been there for very long. And as I was talking to them, I said, "Well, yes. I'm with the people that meet here." And he says, "Oh, is there some kind of business meeting going on or something?" I said, "No. No. We're a church. You know, we meet here on Sabbath, on Saturday, and we're a church." He said, "Oh, is that kind of like a  like a business Church of God or what?" And as I come to talk to him about it, it's because we carry our briefcases and we look like businessmen as we're walking in, and we're the business church. So I thought that was kind of interesting.

But some people do think of us  not necessarily us, but church as a business. Are there any indications that we're kind of like that? Well, we have a president, like a business would. We have operations managers. That sounds kind of like a business, doesn't it? We have directors. We have associate pastors. You know, some of those terms seem like a business. 

Now, we're not putting down organizations. The church must be organized. It's divinely instituted by God. It certainly has to be organized. But should we think of Cincinnati East P.M. as a business? Or did Christ maybe view it just a little bit differently?

Let's take a look over in Matthew. Matthew 12:46, I think, frames a view that's a little bit different. Not just an organization, but how did Christ view the church? Matthew 12:46 reflects the fact that Christ would certainly do the will of His Father. He said that. He did it. He lived it. And I think this section of scripture indicates some of His inner thoughts about how the church should reflect His intentions, how we should be shaped, how the nature of the church should be exhibited. Let's notice what He says. Matthew 12:46. Here Christ is talking to multitudes.

Matthew 12:46 And, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him.

So this is His physical mom, His real mom, and His brother, physical brothers well, halfbrothers, I guess you could say.

V.47 Then one said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You."

Christ replies, verse 48.

V.48 He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?"

He asked this question to begin to get them to think. Well, what was the answer?

V.49 He stretched out His hand towards His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother."

So Christ used something entirely different, I think we could say, than this business motif. You see He pointed to the design of the family when He was considering His body, when He was considering the church. Now, you think that's a fair statement? Does Christ identify family with church? Yeah, I think so. Didn't He talk about God? How did He address God? In what terms did He describe God? Who did He come to reveal? The Father. He came to reveal the Father. So that's certainly a family concept there.

What did He call His disciples? They're relatives. They're my brothers. They were brothers. He even taught the disciples He didn't say it's only My Father, but in Matthew chapter 6, didn't He teach them to pray "Our Father." So it wasn't just Christ and His family relationship with God the Father. It was all of us. That Christ as an elder brother, God as the Father, brothers and sisters in Christ.
And it didn't stop there. You know, as He taught them and as He directed them and guided them to help understand this family concept, that there needed to be an environment that the church would prosper. Well, what was that environment? Was it the business model? I don't think so. It was the family model. To have an environment for growth you need family. You need family. In fact, the apostles carried that right on. The apostle Peter, 1 Peter 2:15. Peter was the one that got out of that boat. He's rambunctious and ready to go. He was the one that said, "I would never deny you," and yet he did. After Pentecost what did he do? He began to teach powerful sermons, one that thousands would come to baptism.

You see, Peter understood what Christ's intentions were. He mentions it here in 1 Peter 2:15. He says:

1 Peter 2:15 This is the will of God. He said, do good that you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men,

V.16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.

Sets the tone. What did we do? He says,

V.17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

You see, Peter understood this concept of the church, of the brotherhood. We're a fraternity of believers, but we're more than that. We're more than just a fraternity of believers. We're a brotherhood of believers. In fact, the N.I.V. says just that. Not love the brotherhood, but love the brotherhood of believers. I think it's the N.S.R.V. says love the family of believers. Because we are a family. The apostles understood that that was Christ's intent.

In fact, it wasn't only Christ's intent. What is God doing anyway? What is the purpose? What is our destiny? What is God doing to human beings? He's creating a family, isn't He? He wants spiritual sons and daughters in the kingdom forever. God has a family plan. We know it was exhibited by Jesus Christ, so He talked about the Father. He talked about brothers and sisters. The apostles talked about the brotherhood of believers, the family of God, the household of God.

Paul wrote to Timothy the same things. As a young pastor, he gave him instructions on how to help and serve the church, and he told Timothy so clearly, how do you conduct yourself in the house of God, or the household of God? That's 1 Timothy 3:14. He instructed him God has a household. God has a family. It's not just a building. It's not just, you know, a structure, not just an organization, but it is a family.  It's a family of brothers and sisters, moms and dads. We could say, grandmas and grandpas that are all a part of the home. All a part of God's plan. And so as the church, sure, we say we're the ones that are called out. We're the ekklesia. We're the called out ones that are brought together.

But we're not just brought together as individuals. We're not just a collection. We're not just the congregation. We're a family, aren't we? I think that's God's intent. I mean, is it fair to say that? Would it be fair to say the church just doesn't exist for the sake of doctrine? Well, doctrine's important. Got to have it. Got to have the truth. Got to live that way. Got to do it. But isn't the reason the church exists for God's people, for His family? Isn't it the body of Christ that has been brought together as ultimately the Father, sons and daughters? Christ talked about that so much, and what kind of family are we to be.

What kind of environment are we to have within the household of God here in Cincinnati? I think it's pretty obvious, but not so easy to do sometimes. It's hard, because we're supposed to be close. We're supposed to know each other. We're supposed to be dear to each other. We're supposed to have an intimacy that a devoted family should have. And, boy, has that been destroyed in our world today, hasn't it? It is such an amazing thing when you look out at our world today. I believe satan has attacked the family, not just to get people, but I think to undermine God's plan as well, because the family structure should illustrate what God is doing.

We have a husband and a wife; we have a dad and a mom, and we have children: The family, a representative of God's family structure, what He's doing. And we have a spiritual Father and a spiritual Elder Brother. And so if satan can destroy our family, our physical families today not quite as obvious what God's doing we can't say, well, look. Here's this perfect role model of what God's intending to do. So we don't have that today. We don't have that today. We look out at America, we can't even figure out what a family is. You know, what is a family? It's two mommies, or two daddies, or whatever assortment of things you should have. Or how does it work? We have so many families that cannot function properly. We have so many that are abused and used and cast aside. We don't know how to treat each other anymore. And so we certainly can't look to society for the example of what a devoted, warm, intimate family that God intends us as His church to be.

So how can we become that kind of family? How can we become the family that is built on that Rock, built on Jesus Christ? How can we have that kind of a connection right here, because if we're going to create an environment for spiritual growth, we've got to be close to each other. We've got to understand each other. We've got to care about each other. There should be a warmth and a connection. And so I think it's got to start with how do we relate to each other? How do we relate to each other? Are we acquaintances? Are we friends? Well, we should be acquainted with each other. We should be friendly. But do we really know each other? Have we established a bond, a connection with each other that we are linked together by our spiritual calling, and that sets us apart from any other things that are out there in the world. You see, how do we relate to each other? We're going to be close to each other. We're going to be dear to one another. We have to have that kind of a relationship.

In fact, Christ spoke about this in the book of Matthew. May be an unlikely sounding chapter, in Matthew chapter 18, right at the very beginning of that chapter. Now, normally if you would say Matthew 18, we think, oh, there's problems and difficulties and we got to sort things out and go to my brother and all those kinds of things. Well, that may be true. At the beginning of the chapter, I think it gives us some insight on that relationship. How we need to relate to one another, if we're going to fulfill God's instructions, if we're going to fulfill what Christ intended His church to be. Notice what it says. Matthew chapter 18, right at the very beginning of the chapter.

Matthew 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

V.2 Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them,

V.3 and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

V.4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

He begins to map out, I think, in a way, how we should relate to each other. Do we have that kind of a bond? Children love people, naturally. It seems to just naturally come, you know, unless there's other problems, unless there's abuse, unless there's other types of kids just seem to have that natural love for people. They certainly came to Christ, and He picked them up, and He held them, and He cherished them.

And certainly this point said that we certainly cannot have partiality among us. If we're to be God's people, if we're to have a spiritual family, we can't pick and choose who we like and who we don't like. We can't show that preference and partiality that certainly the world shows. There certainly cannot be any favoritism. There cannot be prejudice. There is no race in the church. There shouldn't be. There can't be, if we're to fulfill the purpose that God has called us for.

We know Galatians says there's no Jew or Greek. It shouldn't matter what our skin color is. It should not be an issue. There should not be an issue of how much money we make, what our status is, where we measure up in society. That's unacceptable in the church to govern our relationships by those things. There should be no discrimination. But instead, we should be humble like these little children that Christ mentions. There should be gentleness. There should be a care and a concern. There should be a willingness to submit. There should be a willingness to yield.

In fact, it should lead us to have an independence on each other. We need each other. It's not that, well, we're just stuck together. But that we need each other. We care for each other. We support each other. We help each other. When we begin to do that, I think that builds an unbreakable bond, a spiritual bond together, where we can encourage, where we can we honestly show our care and our concern for one another, because we know each other. We know the challenges that we face. We know the difficulties. We know our strengths. We know our successes, so that we can celebrate together when we reach wonderful milestones, when we overcome, and when we strive together. Those are wonderful things.

But if we take away that ability to relate with each other, well, then we're just acquaintances. I think we miss the purpose that we're yeah, we're organized. We may have a group. We may have a foundation. We might have a connection, but not the kind that God intends. Because the kind that God intends is one that can show that concern for each other. We can care for each other. In fact, we must. We must care for each other.

Look back in Matthew, here once again. Look at Matthew chapter 18 verse 5. We skipped down just a little bit. It talks about receiving that little child. Imagine all of us. We're all, especially in God's eye, like little children. We're like His kids. He says,

V.5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives me.

V.6 Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

V.7 Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes?

Well, do we protect each other, like we watch out for little ones? Well, I think he says we should. We should watch out for each other. We should protect us. We should care for each other, which means we've got to know the challenges that we face.

Now, it's certainly not that we haven't done these things. Yeah, I believe that we have been doing these things. But I wonder if we can't take it up a notch. I wonder if we can't just step out in faith and be that much more thorough in getting to know our family, serving each other, caring for each other, getting to know each other. I mean, we have wonderful opportunities here in Cincinnati. When we were back in Minnesota, we had a congregation that was more than 200 miles from our home. You think there was much opportunity to get together during the week and any opportunities much other than maybe a Sabbath every four weeks that we could get together? And even getting there, people lived 100 miles from where we met.

You see, what a blessing it is here, that we could even run into each other at the grocery store. We can get together with each other. We have that opportunity. What a blessing that is. Is there any excuse why we shouldn't get to know each other better? Why we shouldn't understand one another better? That we shouldn't take advantage of the blessings that God's given us, and use them to really put into practice what Christ says we should? I don't think we should accept, "Well, it's okay," or "It's good enough."

You know, you probably heard about good enough. Is it good enough? I think we can do better. Well, someone once said, "Well, if I was 99 percent on track, that would be great. That ought to be good enough, right?" Well, I was reading the other day about 99.9 percent, if we think that would be good enough, which probably most of us, including me, think, hey, that's pretty good. I think that's good.

Well, imagine if 99.9 percent was good enough. If you went to get a soda, if the 99.9 percent was good enough, 5.5 million cases of soda would be flat, no fizz, none. If you went to drink that, that wouldn't be good enough, would it? I don't think so. Imagine if 99.9 percent was good enough. Over 300 entries in Webster's dictionary would be spelled wrong. And that would be the one I'd be looking up. I wouldn't be able to find it. You got to be able to spell in order to find it in the dictionary. Now, you probably could identify with this. 99.9 percent, if that was good enough, the Internal Revenue Service would lose 2 million documents. We'd say yep, that's the government. No doubt, right?

Bring it a little closer to home. We've had many little babies born in our congregation in the last little bit, haven't we? If 99.9 percent was good enough, 12 newborns this year would have been given to the wrong parents. Okay. Well, maybe it helps to see that, yeah, we can we can do better, can't we? With God's Spirit, we can become the kind of family that He wants. It doesn't mean we haven't been doing it, but we can continue to strive to improve and utilize the blessings that God has given to us, because we are brothers and sisters. We're not just an organization. We're united under Jesus Christ. He is the head of our body, the church. So through God the Father and our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, we are brethren. And we're not just brethren of each other. We're brothers and sisters with Christ himself.

And, of course, if we're to do what we're supposed to do we know it's not just a nice idea. It's not just the flavor of the day. Oh, we want to create an environment for growth. Is that the flavor of the day? Better not be, because it's our calling.

In God's family, in His church, we're supposed to be an environment for growth. In fact, it's a commandment. We're told to love God, right? Love the Lord your God, number one. Well, what's number two? Christ summarized those ten into two, and He said, love your neighbor as yourself. Well, we're brothers and sisters. We're definitely neighbors. We have to love each other. We have to honor each other. We have to uphold each other. And so what's important to you should be important to me. We should be able to share, and we should be able to express that love and concern so that we are the kind of family that God intends.

Sometimes that's tough. Sometimes we look back at our own lives, and we look at ourselves, and we say, I didn't grow up in a family that knew how to love each other. You know, I grew up in a world that mom and dad were divorced. They didn't get along. Maybe you were abused as a child. Those things are scars that can hinder us. But they don't have to be scars that lead us away from God. There are things that can be put in their place and can be overcome. And God intends that. God intends us as His people to be the right kind of family, a spiritual family, the kind of family that's willing and able to love.

In fact, I was reminded of this the other day. I saw the story of a man named Alvin Straight. And if you ever heard of this guy, Alvin Straight, a number of years ago, he was in an interesting circumstance. He was an old guy, and he had lost his eyesight. He could see just very dimly. In fact, he couldn't see well enough to drive, so they took his driver's license away. And he was in his late 70s, couldn't see very well. And then his brother got sick. His older brother who he always admired and loved had a stroke, was hospitalized. And Alvin wanted to go see him, but he couldn't drive. And he didn't have the money to take a plane. He didn't know what he could do. He couldn't hardly see well enough to do anything, but he had to do something. He had to show that he cared. So you know what he did? He got his lawn mower out of the garage, and he decided one way or another, he is going to go see his brother.

Well, his brother lived hundreds of miles away. Didn't stop Alvin. He got some camping gear. Got as much food as he could put on his lawn mower, and he started driving down the shoulder of the road to go see his brother.

Now, as you can image, this I think this morning I said California, but it was from a southern section of Iowa to a place in Wisconsin. It was more than 240 miles away. He started in July, and it took him almost to the end of August before he even got there. But he wasn't going to give up. He drove his lawn mower to the hospital and walked in, hugged his brother, and expressed how much he cared for him, that he loved him. So if you can imagine driving a lawn mower 240 it's hard enough to drive a car 240 miles. But he did it on a lawn mower. On a lawn mower!

Do you think he was going to do whatever it took to express his care? I think so. Are we ready to get on our lawn mowers? Well, a few years ago, Alvin died, and I read a little bit about his funeral. Do you know what they did to honor him? They pulled the casket with a lawn mower in the procession. But, you know, it's something as simple as that, you know. We may not be able to do everything. Maybe we're not able to do much. But can we ride a lawn mower? You know, can we do something? I think we can. And that's what family does. Family does what it takes, whatever it takes. That's what family does.

So to be a devoted family, to be the kind of family that God intends us to be, we got to be willing to get out there. Even when it seems impossible, God can open a door. And so I think it's so vital that we begin to find ways to do that. And if we're going to have this kind of spiritual family and if we're going to have an environment for growth, you know what a family has to do? A family has to function. We have to have a functioning family.

You know, out there in society, we have a word for families that don't work so well, things aren't quite right. What do you call that kind of family? Oh, we all know that word, don't we? Dysfunctional. Dysfunctional. Well, what kind of church family do we have? Are we a functioning church family? Are we the kind of family that can take on the challenge, take on the issues, take on the problems and function the way that God intends?

Now, it is kind of interesting. I was looking a little bit at a couple of different websites to help me get a better handle on this idea of dysfunction and dysfunctional. Wow, did I get off track? Spent all kinds of time looking at things that I couldn't put in the sermon anyway. But a couple of interesting things turned up. I looked at this one website that was called psychcentral.com. And one of the doctors that wrote on this site wrote a couple of interesting things about a functional family versus a dysfunctional one. And so if you were to think what is a functioning family, you might think they got it all together. Everything's great. Everything's perfect. There's never a problem. There's never an issue. Everything is smooth sailing because they're functioning. Nope. That is not what in fact, one of the first things that the doctor stressed in this page that I looked at, at psychcentral, said that a functioning family will have conflict. They will have conflict. So it's not the lack of conflict that determines whether you're functioning or not. It's what you do with it. What do you do with difficulties?

Isn't it a wonderful thing when there are difficulties, when there is an issue, when there is a challenge, and people get together and they work it out? Wow, what could be a better tribute to a family that's not dysfunctional, but a family that's actually figuring things out. Figuring how to put love into action. I mean, we know that's not always the case. You know, maybe part of that is:  Where do I fit in in that family? You know, if I'm the one that's caused the issue, I've caused the problem, maybe I brought the difficulty, then if I'm going to function correctly in the spiritual family, then I better recognize that. I better repent. I better go before God and ask Him to forgive me, and I better change, and I better go to those people they affected. And as a good family member I'm going to apologize to them. I'm going to ask for forgiveness. I'm going to ask them to forgive me, so that breach can be resolved and the family then begins to function the way that it should.

In fact, in this particular article that I was reading, the doctor pointed out that when that happens, the family actually becomes closer. Actually becomes closer. So just the lack of conflict doesn't mean we can't just say peace, peace, everything's fine. We need peace. We don't want to talk about that. We don't want to deal with this issue. That doesn't solve it. It's working through those issues and being willing being willing to do that very thing. In fact, a functioning family is one of those families that can say what's on their mind, and it might not be the most important decision or the most important opinion. It might not be the most agreeable. Not everybody agrees with that thought or that dream that you have or that desire or that feeling or that opinion, but you're free to say it. You're free to express it. And you don't have the fear that somebody's going to put you down and slam the door in your face. And they're not going to criticize or belittle you or just write you off, because that's not what a functioning family does.

You hear each other out, because you love each other and you care for each other and you encourage and you exhort. And sometimes, yeah, you rebuke. And sometimes Matthew 18 does have to come into play. But it's out of love and care and concern that we can become a stronger family, because strong families that are functioning in an environment for growth, they deal with the stress. They can withstand it. They can deal with it. Even the difficult things that may be even traumatic. It's amazing how families that are working bounce back and recover and recuperate and can be even stronger for it.

A number of years ago, in my inlaw's hometown, a tornado came through, wiped out the whole downtown. It just seemed like an unbelievable catastrophe. They didn't know what to do. FEMA came in from the federal government to try to help with the problem and all the refuge and the loss of jobs and all kinds of terrible things that went on. You can only imagine, how do you how do you live when everything's gone?

The amazing thing was that they began to pull together. The town in fact, my fatherinlaw was the mayor of the town, a town that was pretty disjointed. They had so many arguments on their city council and they could never agree with hardly anything. Somehow they were able to come together, and they came up with a plan for downtown. And with help from others, help from the government, they started to put that plan into action, and they rebuilt that downtown. And it wasn't the old broken down buildings that used to be there. It was actually refreshing to drive into town, and here were these beautiful buildings, and they all had a theme that seemed to carry over from one building to the next. They had the old town square that they refurbished. And you know what?

About seven years after that tornado, that town was more beautiful than ever before. It was functioning. The people got to know each other through the difficulties and the challenge, and they came together through this very difficult, difficult trial. And, yet, because they had that common goal, it worked out even better than it was before. They learned how to function together. Now, if they can do that out there in the world, in the physical world, can we do that spiritually? Can we be the kind of family that God wants us to be? You know, you think we can. And maybe sometimes we forget that we are this family.

I mean, one of my favorite parts of the baptismal ceremony, you know, when we baptize individuals, parts of the ceremony, I think, points to this very fact, that we are family. You know, once we ask the questions, you know, have you repented of your sins? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior? We get to that part just before we go under the water, and we say to them we're not baptizing them into any sect or denomination. We're not baptizing them into an organization, but you know what we say? We're baptizing them into the name the name, into the Father and the Son. We're baptizing them into the family. That's what we're saying. Whose name is it? Whose name do we live by? Who is our banner? Who is our guide, everything? Everything? There's nothing under heaven that isn't named in that sense. We're under the Father. We're part of the family. So we're thrust into the church, into the family of God, and so God designed it that way so that we can be a family. And that means as a family, since we are brothers and sisters, we allow people to grow. We allow people to change, and that can be pretty tough sometimes. Because sometimes we know each other well enough to say, "Oh, yeah. They'll never change. You know what they're like. They did that because of this. And I know what they're like."

And, you know, 30 years ago that's what they did to me, and I don't think they're ever going to change, and we kind of lock people into a pocket. We put them there, and we don't allow them we don't want them to change. You mean I have to change my perception of this person? Well, I think God wants us to do that, and that's what functioning families do. Functioning families do that. They watch out for each other. They help each other. They allow each other to grow and to change, and you know we have each other's back. We should. We should watch out, especially in those spiritual attacks.  We have to watch out for each other.

I remember growing up with brothers. You know, sometimes that can be pretty difficult, especially as you're a kid growing up. I remember my brother and I got into playing some pingpong for a while there. We had some I wouldn't call them mildmannered games. They were pretty intense. And so I remember one time we were playing, and it was like right down to the wire. Next point is it, you know. And we're going back and forth and back and forth, and finally my brother slams one on me, and I wanted to come across the table and just wring his neck because he ooh, how could I let him beat me? So I just wanted to take him out right there. Of course, that's long before conversion and long before being a part of the church.

But you know what was interesting is all right. I just wanted to just give it to him. Later that week at high school walking down the hall, and here's this kid pushing my brother around. Right away, it's like I'm right over there. All right. Knock it off. What do you think you're doing? You can't do this to my brother. I'm looking up at this guy. You know, I'm in trouble. Well, we had each other's back. Just a couple days before, I wanted to strangle the guy, but I loved him. And I was going to come to his rescue, no matter what.

And it gives a reminder that if we can do that maybe that's a bad example. We don't want to get into a fight or anything like that. But the point is, spiritually speaking, are we ready? Are we ready to defend off any arrows, any of those flaming darts that come at us? Are we ready to support? Are we ready to encourage and function together as the kind of family that God wants us to? I think we need to. I think God wants us to do that very thing.

In fact, there's a great scripture in Hebrews 10:24. Hebrews 10:24 is a reminder of part of our job responsibilities as families. Hebrews 10:24 talks about considering one another in order to stir up love and good works. We have that opportunity right here right now on the Sabbath day.

Hebrews 10:24 Don't forsake ourselves assembling together, as the manner of some, but exhort one another, exhort so much more as you see the day approaching.

So it's got to start with me. I've got to get my own act together. Consider myself got to get myself in that frame of mind. I'm not going to stir up love and good works in anybody else if I'm not doing it first. That's going to be pretty tough to do.

And so we have that opportunity. We don't want to miss church. We need to be at services. We're commanded to be at services. God tells this is a holy convocation. We're commanded to assemble together. It gives us that opportunity to serve and to love and to fellowship. We can fellowship with each other right here and get to know each other on a family basis, on a family basis.

And then we learn to give. We learn to serve. We learn to care. We learn to care. And it's not just that we serve. But it comes down to who we are. Because if we're family, then it's why we do what we do, because it's then who we are. We do these things because we are family and because we are servants.

You know, Christ spoke about that over and over and over again. Talked to the disciples about Lording it over. Gentiles Lorded it over them. But He said it's not the way it's supposed to be. He says you're supposed to be a servant. You know, Matthew chapter 20 certainly talks about that. We're to be not just served, but to be it's who we are. It's kind of our family thing that we are servants. And so we need to be strong. We need to have fellowship that is a spiritual fellowship, a spiritual fellowship.

And we have unique opportunities here in Cincinnati because every year we have ABC students that come in. This becomes their home away from home, and so we have extra opportunities to be outgoing and serving and caring. But it's even more than our home away from home. It really should be our real home, our true home. And what offsets a house from just a home? I think for us, Christ talked about it in John 13. In John 13:34 Christ showed the kind of relationship that we need to strive for. We read this at the Passover as well, so I'm sure the words will sound very familiar.

John 13:34 He says, A new commandment I give you, he says, love one another as I have loved you, as I Christ set the example. We're to love each other as Christ loves us. In fact, in the living Bible, look at verse 35. Living Bible says this in verse 35.

John 13:35 Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are My disciples.

So it's not all about the website. It's not all about magazines. It's not all about television. It's not all about articles. It's not about that. Not all about that. That's part of it. But have you ever thought that we can preach the gospel? We can be a representation of what the truth is all about by loving each other. By being an environment for growth right here in Cincinnati East, we can preach the gospel. We can be that living example of what Christ taught, as we use the gifts and the talents and the abilities. As we get to know each other that much more fully, we can be exactly what Christ intends us to be. We can exhibit the kind of love that He wants us to. It's His love in us. We got to let that come out of us. Got to let that work through us, so that we can be that close devoted family that He wants.

That means we got to spend time together. That means we got to be faithful about attending. That means we've got to widen the circle, because we could say, "Well, I talk to these people every Sabbath," and that's kind of where it starts. Well, step out of that. Widen the circle. We can't well, you know, this is my inner circle and this is all I share with. No. Make it your goal to step out and meet at least somebody new. If you don't know everybody, meet them. Get out that directory. Those are really key. "Oh, yeah. That's who they are. I'm going to remember their name and go say hello today." If it doesn't happen, do it next week. Make it your goal to do that. Make it your goal to look at that thing and get them in your and then go find out. Who are they? What do they do? What are they about? How did they come here? How did God work through them?

And I think what that does is, as we widen that circle, you know, we're going to get rid of just the cliques that we could have. Just those that we're comfortable with. I mean, we're a family. Okay. We've got all kinds of different people in the family. We've got grandmas and grandpas, and we've got moms and dads, and brothers and sisters, and we've got the children, and we've got teens and young adults. We've got the whole gang here. And, yeah. Okay. I've got my weird uncle over there too, and got some other but we love them and we care about them. They're a part of us. And as we do that, I think we could make it our goal to make an effort to be concerned about others, to be concerned about others. That's what Hebrews was talking about that, you know, you can't say what do they say? You can't love one another without having the other.

And so I think if we don't do this, that we really deprive ourselves of a blessing. That God wants to bless us. He's willing to bless us. He's certainly more than able to bless us. But if we don't step out in faith and strive to be a family, I think we lose that intimacy. I think we lose the possibilities for caring and encouragement if really to be able to put into practice the wonderful principles that God's teaching us, because we're certainly not a social club. We're the Church of God. We're a family of believers. We are to be one. We're to preach the gospel. We're to edify the brother, and we're to resort and restore and correct, yes, because we love each other and we care about each other.

We don't want someone just wandering off and getting into trouble. We love them. We care about them. We want to serve them. We serve the needs of the family, and that's spiritual. It's also physical as well. For, after all, we are claiming to be Christians, aren't we? We claim that name. We're named in a way at baptism. We are named Christians. We are followers of Christ. We are His disciples. We're His family. Well, how do we represent that name? Are we representing it in the way that God intends?

I thought about that a little bit when I heard the story of Alexander the Great. Of course, one of the great military generals of all time, conqueror of the world, all those things. I don't know if the story's true, but there's a story that goes: He was out on a campaign one night, everyone'sasleep. Starts walking, you know, through the troops, and comes to the guard who's supposed to be taking care of night duty. He's asleep. Of course, it's a pretty serious offense. I think even today it's a pretty serious offense. But back in the Greek world, it wasn't uncommon. If someone fell asleep that was supposed to be on duty, they would douse them with kerosene and light them on fire. So it was something that could be deserving of death.

So as Alexander's walking, finds this man asleep on the job, kind of walks by, and the man, oh, starts to wake up, notices him there, looks up, and, of course, worst of all things, here's the man. Here's the general. And Alexander looks at him, says to the soldier, "Do you know what the penalty is for falling asleep on guard duty?" The man was just scared out of his wits. He said, "Yes, sir." Alexander supposedly said, "What's your name?" The guy could hardly get his name out. He says, "Alexander." And he says, "What is your name?" He said, "It's Alexander." He said "Soldier, tell me what your name is." So finally he got a little bit braver. He said, "It's Alexander, sir." Well, Alexander the Great just looks him dead in the eye, and he says to him, "Either change your name or change your conduct." "Yes, sir."

And as I thought about that story, we carry the name of Christ. He doesn't want us changing names, does He? He wants us to be a family. He wants us to be close and devoted and caring and dear to each other.

I'd like to conclude with a passage in 1 Peter 4:8. I think it helps us to ask the question what am I doing to contribute so that the church will fulfill its Godgiven design to be His household, to be His family. What am I doing to contribute? Am I doing my part as a family member of God's family? Am I doing my part as a member of the household? 1 Peter 4:8 reminds us. Says,

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.

V.9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining.

V.10 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.

V.11 Whoever speaks, do as one speaking the very words of God. Whoever serves must do that with the strength God supplies so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

And so certainly we see so clearly it's time to take the next step. It's time to step up to the next level and determine we're going to do something about it. We are going to have an environment for growth. We can be a family. We can fulfill our Godgiven calling. And so we can make every effort to be here when we need to be here, and we're going to participate, and we're going to get to know one another that much better. We're going to pray for each other. We're going to pray for our own congregation. We're going to pray for our people. We're going to pray for the greater Church of God. We're going to be servants. Not just serve. We're going to be servants, and we're going to give, and we're going to care, and we're going to love, and we're going to maintain unity. We're going to work out our problems. We're going to deal with them in a way that shows we are a functioning spiritual family, because we do love each other.

And so let's do that very thing. Let's not just be an organization. Let's continue to strive to be the church. Let's strive to be the church that has an environment for growth. Let's strive to be the church that's built on the rock of Jesus Christ, and let's strive to be the church that is God's family.