The Love of the Family

The following message is presented by John Elliott, a minister in the United Church of God. I'd like to tell you about a sign. Sometimes in our homes we'll have these little picture frames, and they have some words. Sometimes you can get some and transfer them onto the wall that say something. They're reflective. Usually the person who puts them up there takes the time, has a reason for putting them there.

A little inspiration, a little reminder. It could be a verse of the Bible. Sometimes it's, as for me and my house, we'll follow the Lord. Some of those good reminders. One of those says, life's greatest gift is the love of a family. And one might expect that in someone's home. We as humans need support. We need encouragement. We need to feel like there's somebody there for us. And who is there for you stronger than dad and mom, or family, or bloodline, or whatever it is. That family lineage, hopefully, is something there. And that becomes the solace on one occasion. That becomes sort of our trust on another that life is going to be alright.

So somebody somewhere wrote this sign, and you can buy it and hang it on your wall. But the interesting thing about that sign is, when you consider that, one of the greatest letdowns in life is the human family also.

And some of the complaints that people have often go back to their family, their family roots. And it'll be sort of a dark period in their life as they look back and think that, the one thing that should have supported me has let me down. So it can be a two-edged sword, can it? Because we are humans, and all of us aren't perfect, including those we're related to by blood, as it were. But another interesting thing about this particular sign, which incidentally hangs in a remote location of our home, bump into it once in a while, is the person who created the sign capitalized the word family.

And to me, that's why it hangs in the home. And that's why it is so encouraging. Because it's not about a human family, it's about the family of God. The greatest blessing in life is the love, the agape love, of a family. And that's what brings us here today. We are meeting together on God's Sabbath day, which is a family day for the God family.

We are here to honor our father, honor our elder brother. We are gathered here as brethren, as brothers and sisters. We are the betrothed bride of a future husband. And indeed, the agape love of a family truly is life's greatest blessing. It's what we have our faith in, our hope in, our trust in. It's what we have our steps, our efforts in, is becoming family. Now, you and I are called out of a different mindset of a family of a fake father.

Jesus said, to some, you are of your father the devil, and the works of him you want to do. And I'll have to classify myself at one time in life as being of that family, as it were. You might call it the family of man that got taken captive. And we've all had those self-seeking, self-energizing thoughts and ambitions that create so much problems in the long run. But we're to come out of that family, as it were. And Jesus, when he was here on earth, introduces us to a new author, a new person who has engendered us to be family to him.

And we're introduced to a new father, the new painter, the author, the originator of a family that really has life, and one that we can depend on. And as we participate, not only receiving something from the family, but participate in being that family, then there is no greater blessing in life than God and the family of God. I'd like to examine the concept with you of being in the family of God today.

And not just technically, not just sort of as a technicality, because we're in the church, because we're baptized, we are sort of in a theoretical family relationship. But actually, in a real family relationship, THE family relationship, the only true, true family, as it were, from God's perspective. How many times do you think family is used in the Bible? It's kind of surprising that that term family in the New King James is used 145 times. Family. When we think of family, again, our eyes and thoughts can go back to my family. Maybe at your home, my home, we have a picture of kids or grandkids or some relatives, and that's a personal family.

But really, we are called to a much greater family. And the first and last uses of the word family in the Bible are somewhat, I think, indicative of God's mind. In Genesis 12 and verse 1, the first time the word family is used, the Lord said to Abram, Get out of your country from your family. That's interesting. God says, Come out of your family. First use. And come, he says, to a land that I will show you.

You and I, in our calling, have a similar statement from God. Come out of your family. Come out of this world. Repent. Go through repentance. Die to that old mindset and be refreshed in a new man, a new woman, patterned after Jesus Christ.

Your older brother. Walk like your brother. Walk like God, Jesus says in Matthew 5.48. After 143 Bible references to family, it concludes with the last reference to family, which is found in Ephesians chapter 3. Let's go there. Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 and 15. Ephesians 3, 14 and 15. I doubt that this is by coincidence, that the first one is, Come out of your family. And the last one is Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 and 15, which says, Paul says to the church at Ephesus, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, Father of a Son. Remember, Mary was Jesus' mother, but Joseph was not his father. The God's Holy Spirit impregnated Mary. And Jesus' father was God the Father. But even more so, the author, the originator of all that Jesus thought and did on earth was his Father in heaven. And the words and the thoughts, he got those. He was given those by the Father. And so Paul says, I bow my knees to the Father of Jesus Christ, who is our Lord, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

The family on earth isn't Satan's family. It's not some family that's going astray from God. No, the whole family in heaven on earth now is God's family. We need to look at this through the lens and ask the question, am I family to God?

Without too critical an eye of others, because you'll notice that Jesus Christ in Revelation 2 and 3 identifies seven churches that he says are the churches of God, his churches. And yet, many of those were in various places and in various degrees of conversion. And many, if not most, had to have correction, but he was saying, this is still family. He didn't say, these are not my church, this is not my body. So in the various places we are within this family, we are nowhere said to ostracize people, throw people out of the family, that we're to hate people in the family. Rather, we are family, as we'll see very much like any human family, it's comprised of many, many different people. So you and I are called here to be in a family in verse 16 that God would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. You and I are then to be developing the nature of that family. Verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in agape, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height to know the love of Christ, which passes all knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. That's family.

That's a lot of work, isn't it? So the question is, am I that family? Am I full of Jesus Christ? Am I filled with the fullness of God? Am I living in the family of God, like a family member of the heavenly family, and am so named?

It gets a little bigger than just me, doesn't it? Me and my issues and my wants and my desires or whatever. This life is given to us as an opportunity to transition into the divine family of God and to live, to rule with Christ on his throne, to be the bride of Christ, to be the bride forever, helping and serving and loving.

The title of the sermon today is, The Love of the Family. The love of the family.

We know that God is love, and that's a big gap between the standard family, the standard humans. God says, my thoughts are so much higher above what we as humans tend to be involved in.

Sometimes our petty things that we want to take to God for him to fix are so trivial. When God just wants us to use all of these experiences and challenges and tests and blessings and miracles and sometimes the lack of them so that we can be matured in other ways, he wants us to develop that love and family as we read so that we have the fullness of a family member of the God family.

Humans, in the meantime, are busily chipping away and offending one another and ostracizing each other to the point where one of the common quests of humans is to make a colony on Mars. Have you ever heard of anything more stupid than a colony on Mars? If you were smart, you'd say, I can't stand all these people on Earth, so at least I'm going to make a colony in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Look what you'd have. You'd have good gravity, good air debris some of the time, you'd have at least oxygen, a moon, a sun. So many things to start with. You could drill down and get water. If you got real dire circumstances, you could import stuff. But Mars, give me a break. But that's where humanity is. We can't stand ourselves, so we want to go sort of try to survive from each other in some place that it's impossible.

But God, God has a family in a different dimension with a different mindset, and it's all about life. It's all about truth. It's all about love. It's all about things that are good and pleasant.

God developed this way. It's a bit difficult for us, as we just read here in verse 16, that He would grant you to be strengthened with might according to His Spirit and the inner man.

That's what we need. We don't need to recolonize the church somewhere and some other colony away from others. No, we need to be invigorated in the inner man, rooted and grounded in love, deeply rooted in the mindset of God through His Spirit. This involves God's grace or God's gifts, the calling, the recognition of who He is and the trust developing, trust with action, trust with repentance, trust with forgiveness, trust with the Holy Spirit that will lead us and help us to walk, to be reclothed, mentored, and encouraging one another along the way.

Now, you and I might ask the question, when and how do we come into the family of God? Jesus begins writing one of His early sermons, called the Beatitudes on the Sermon on the Mount, to tell us about how to be in this family. I don't mean in the future how to get in, I mean now, how to really be in the family of God. It says in verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit. So as you walk with your family and there's all types of us, I mean really there are all types of us. Some are sweet and easy, some are a little coarser, some are a bit corrective, some are talented this way, that way, some are just very good at being critical in a way. In a constructive way, pointing out flaws, others can be encouraging and reassuring when we're feeling down because of the effects of mistakes, some of those penalties that come in. So blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for others, not about me, but about others, about everything, state of the world, state of others, state of people's situations. They're thinking of others. Verse 5, blessed are the meek, the teachable, the ones that say, I don't have it. Of me there is no good. It's only God that can take credit, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They want something different than what they are, so they hunger and thirst for that which they are not, right in the eyes of God. They will be filled with that, filled with right, filled with living God's way. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Verse 9, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. At this point in time, we haven't had individuals who had had the Holy Spirit just poured out on them yet. And those who would be filled with God's Spirit of love, joy, and peace, harmony, would be blessed as peacemakers and called the sons of God. Why? Because they are part of the family, and God is a family of love and joy and peace. A few minutes later, he said in verse 44, this will show us a little about what a member of the God family in the flesh and in the Spirit is like. Verse 44, I say to you, love your enemies. Love never fails. It doesn't matter what comes back at you. Love never stops loving. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you. This isn't a family where people get their feelings offended and they excommunicate themselves, or they go off. You know, like the human family, you've got that one or two family members out there that are estranged. They don't talk to anybody. They don't talk to their parents. Why? Oh, they got their feelings hurt. They weren't treated right. Whatever, whatever. No. This is how this works in God's family, just as Jesus set us an example.

Notice verse 45, do these that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. That's what family is. This is God's family. This is putting one foot in front of the other and keep going. Keep being family.

There's a statement even that's to be encouraging. And, you know, count it all joy when you see that you are succeeding.

You know, it's a proof that you're in the family when you're persecuted, when you're thrown trials and darts, but you're still doing this. You're still loving your enemies, blessing those who curse you, doing good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. And you can say, wow, this isn't me. This is encouraging. You count it all joy and say, wow, as it says there, because this is a proof. This is a proof that you're a child of God. In Matthew 23, verse 8, we get a further definition of family from Jesus Christ. Matthew 23, verses 8-12, he's talking here about family wannabes, family likenesses. You know, there's always those who see a family, a model family that's, we might say, successful for whatever reason, and they want to show up and get the benefits from the family. You kind of want to show up and get to go on the trip with the family, get to do some of the recreation with the family, get some of the family food, you know, things like that. And so you have the Pharisees here, and they want to be in the resurrection, right? They believed in the resurrection. And they're doing the family-type things, they're being righteous. Whatever God said, they're being very, very careful here to make sure they do what God said to do. So they've got the one element of right as their focus. But they don't have the heart, they don't have the love, they don't, it's not their fault, they don't have God's Spirit. They're not really family. And so Jesus says here in verse 8, But you, don't be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all are your brethren. He's differentiating here those who are in the family of God in the flesh. We have a teacher. It's not me, it's not about me, it's not how big I can get, how smart I can get, how important I can be. It's not about me at all. Look to Jesus Christ as the teacher. You are all brethren. We're brothers, we're sisters. This is family. Nine, do not call anyone on earth your pater. Oh, he's the originator. Oh, I'm following him. Oh, he's the great leader. See? It's about this human being, this man, you see? No, no, no. There's one that your pater, the author, one is your Father, he who is in heaven. Stick to the family. And Jesus said again in Matthew 5.48, Be you therefore whole and complete, like your Father in heaven is whole and complete. And do not be called teachers, for one is your teacher, the Christ. Verse 11, But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, he who humbles himself will be exalted, just like Jesus Christ was. The greatest servant who humbled himself more than anyone else possibly ever could humble themselves. From the great word at the right hand of God, down to a tiny infant child, humbled all the way through and served, and now has been exalted back. That's how the family of God works. In Romans 8 and verse 14, we have the classic statement about family.

Romans 8 and verse 14, For as many as are led by the Holy Spirit of God, these are sons of God. These are family. Recently someone said, I thought it was an interesting statement, God cannot steer a parked car. The statement there means, we're supposed to walk, we're supposed to move. God and Christ want to lead us, we're to follow them. We're not supposed to sit down and stay in ramses while God says, come out of Egypt. And so, as many as are led by the Spirit of God involves participation, it involves action, faith with works, an integral buy-in, as it were, to the family. You brought in the family, now you contribute to the family, you perfect towards the family, you serve the family, you encourage the family. It's not just, oh, this is just me off by myself. A family is a composite of many different individuals. Many different individuals. We tend to think of a family, a nuclear family as kind of a small thing. Well, just consider, first of all, that any family, no two people are the same age. No two people in a family are the same age. No two people in a family may be of the same sex, even, depending on how big the family is. When you look at the broader family, you have grandparents and their relatives up and down on two sides, sometimes three if there's been a remarriage. You look at the siblings, they have uncles, aunts, cousins. And so, is this family unity, if you ever see a family come together in a reunion, what a collection of individuals, unique people. Now, would anybody in that physical family go and say, oh yes, every one of these people is exactly a perfect fit for my ideal of perfection? Well, no. You always have the quirky uncle, the weird aunt, maybe a sibling that is a little irritating. It's just life. It's what we are. We're a collection. Go to 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 24. And sometimes we need to celebrate that, actually, instead of criticizing. We need to celebrate it. Because in every one of those lives, in fact, some that are disregarded easily and set aside, in every one of those lives are unique personalities, talents, abilities, insights, characteristics, interests. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 24. Paul here is talking about the body of Christ. Let's just look up here a little bit.

I said 24, but I really want verse 18.

But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He pleased. So we're talking about family. We're talking about the body. Now if you think about the body, which one of us in the body of Christ is, let's say, the tendon attached to the elbow?

Well, nobody probably thought of that. I was thinking, am I the eye or the ear or the toe or the finger? Which one is the lymph node on the neck? The body has so many different members. He says here in verse 19, And if all were one member, where would the body be? And now indeed there are many members, yet one body. The eye can't say to the hand, I have no need of you. Or the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. We need to celebrate all the people in the body. Some are brand new, some have been a while, some are transitioning, some might be fading, some are coming back, etc., etc. Some are older, some are younger, some are given this gift or another gift. In order to serve in the body. Now, in verse 23, And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on those we bestow greater honor, and our unprecedented parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need, but God composed the body having given greater honor to that part which lacks it. Verse 25, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one for another. So this family, this family composed of so many different parts, really needs to care for one another, having the same care, the same love, the same humility, the same service. In verse 27, now you are all the body of Christ and members individually.

Does tracing one's ancestor back to David have any significance in the family of God? You know, I just think sometimes some people feel a little more superior if they can trace their lineage back and catch a king in England or something, then it goes back to David. Let's go to Galatians chapter 3 in verse 26. Galatians chapter 3 in verse 26. This is an important point. It's just a side note in a way, but I think sometimes people think, you know, if you're like me and you've got Italian in your background, you know, American Indian, you have some of these other nationalities and you think, well, I'm not just as pure as somebody, you know, of some other line or lineage or whatever.

But notice here, Galatians 3, verse 26. For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Who is he talking to? He's talking to the churches in Galatia, a region that was a mixture of all types of peoples. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

You've put on brotherhood. You've put on the Messiah. You have put him on. You are now part of this body. You've put on a part of the body of Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither Israelite or non-Israelite. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Jesus Christ.

We need to see ourselves through the lens of family, God's family. If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed. Yes, we are part of the Holy Spiritual Israel, the Israel of God. We are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Heirs according to the promise that all nations would be blessed through his seed, capital S, Jesus Christ.

We are in Christ. We are all part of the body of Christ. We are all sons and daughters in the family of God. In Matthew 8 and verse 11, Jesus, speaking to the Jews, spoke very early in his ministry here on earth of the great human family that God would bring into his family.

Matthew 8 and verse 11, he said, And I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God. They'll come from all over, as we see in other places, the ones who formed the bride of Christ from every nation, tribe, and tongue on earth. God's family, you see, isn't selective. It's not restrictive. We're all created in God's image to be in God's likeness, ultimately, spiritually, and then literally to shine like the sun in the family of God.

God's family is a direction that his church grows. Let's notice this in Acts 2 and verse 38, that passage which we use to direct us towards baptism, that process that God brings a person into the family. Acts 2, beginning in verse 38, Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Next verse, verse 39, For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord will call. What is the promise? Well, the promise is, if you repent and be baptized and receive God's Holy Spirit and are led by the Spirit, you'll be members of the family of God. Continue in that, we will be eternal members of the family of God. But then all humans have weaknesses, and we all have our logics.

And some of this comes apart. Here the church has thousands of baptisms taking place, and the church is filling up, and they're all with one accord until we get 30 years later, and we start reading some of the writings of Peter, and 30 years after that, writings of John, and we see that things can come apart, because we always have Satan's logic and his mindset coming in. And people will make one exception to the armor of God.

I'll just take out one thing, one piece. Or I'll just focus on this one thing, or I'll just, instead of being so loving and thoughtful of others, I'll just be offended this one time, and I'll just make it about me. Just once. I'll make it all about me, and I'll tell you all about me, and how I feel, and how I was hurt, and everything else, and I'll start withdrawing from the body, and I'll start not being of that loving my enemies, loving others, and it'll start being about how grand I am.

In Genesis 6, verse 1, we've seen this happen before, right from the very beginning. There were people of God. There was a righteous line, a godly line. In Genesis 6, verse 1, it came to pass, as men were multiplying on the face of the earth, verse 2, that the sons of God made it about themselves. The sons of God. This is talking about people whose parentage had taught them to live God's way of life. And these individuals said, hmm, the daughters of men look really good.

They saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful for me. In other words, these are daughters who are not of godly families. They were of different beliefs. Long story in the Bible of people who were godly that went after somebody who was a different belief and tried to work out a relationship there, and it doesn't work well. So they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, my spirit, my spirit of love, my spirit of right truth, is not strive with man forever. These individuals chose a different pater, a different father, a different mindset, a different family logic that was in conflict.

We read in the New Testament that the ways of man is hostile to God. The carnal man is hostile to God. And God said, I'm not always going to strive with man. In verse 5, the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every thought and intent of his heart was only evil continually. We can break out of this family mindset so easily, and Satan's there always wanting to tempt us. Make it about you!

Make it about you! When we do that, away we go. We have choices, and those choices have consequences. And if we dwell on irritations or hurt feelings, we have estrangement every time. We have division. We have breaking off from God. The lesson for the God family is actually in the Holy Days. Think about it. The Holy Days teach us how to be a member of the God family, us and all humans. First it begins with Jesus Christ, and us realizing that we are sinners, and that he had to die for us, and that we really need to be like him. We need to drink the wine.

We need to take the blood. We need to eat the bread. We need to have that shredded body in our minds and appreciate what it's for. And then in Days of Unleavened Bread, we need to be the bread. We need to become that bread.

We need to become Christ-like, just like that bread we took at Passover. That is what we've read already in the Scriptures today, is to have that fullness of God and Christ be real family. And that leads then to the Feast of Pentecost, the harvest of the first fruits, and to be joined with the God family in spirit, to then help the next large harvest through atonement, be atoned to God through the sacrifice of Christ, and the Millennial Phase, and then the Second Resurrection Phase, ultimately, eternal life.

It's a wonderful plan. It points us in the right direction, just as the Sabbath day points us in the right direction of being together, being together. After services today in Vancouver, we had a discussion, some of us sitting at the table, as we had a few snacks.

One individual said how divisive the world is, even in the things that tries to bring it together. For instance, the Internet, or some of the devices we have, to stay connected, we call it. Just rip people apart. People, instead of having the relationships with those around them, they disconnect with those around them, and they have some sort of an ethereal, limited little self-expression, much of the time, about themselves to people that they're not really with. I remember a few years ago, two lovely young ladies in our church were best friends, and I was watching them, they just happened to be sitting or texting, and they were just texting away on their phones.

Best friends sitting next to each other, just totally ignoring one another. And just for an hour or more, they were texting, and I thought, this is incredible, they're really chatting it up. Then it dawned on me, they were texting each other at times. And so I asked them, because I consider myself friends with theirs, I said, are you texting each other? And they go, yeah. You know, it's an interesting thing where, if we're not careful, we will follow the pattern of society which is becoming this.

Don't even come together in our store. Stay at home, and we'll send it, or we'll deliver it, right to your door. Just stay away from other people. We kind of have done this in the church.

You don't need to come to church and be with each other. You can get your sermons on the Internet. You can get what you need. You can get taught. You don't need to come together with others and share. You can stay by yourself and get what you need.

The Bible tells us to remember to keep the Sabbath day holy. It doesn't say remember to keep the Sabbath day. Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy. That's part of the Ten Commandments. How do you keep the Sabbath day holy? Let's go to Leviticus 23, verse 2. Leviticus 23, verse 2. It came out of a discussion. Why is our church attendance here diminishing over time? One of the reasons that individuals at the table brought up today was people think they don't have to get together anymore. They're just staying home. Leviticus 23, verse 2 says this, The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy, assemblies. These are my feasts. Verse 3, Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy assembly. Now we know over in Hebrews 10, in the New Testament, verses 24 and 25, that we are, I don't know if it's warned or encouraged or reminded, to assemble on this day. Notice Ephesians chapter 10 and verse 24. And let us consider one another in order to love and stir up good works. It's not about me. It's not about me getting fed and getting the sermons I need and getting all the stuff and me getting into the kingdom. It's about being family. So he says, let us consider one another, be thinking of each other, in order to stir up love. And the good works are the works from God's Holy Spirit, of loving one another, loving God, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.

See, it's a human tendency, then, to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. I've got to tell you about some people that, and you'll have these in your own life, but going back in time to when my wife and I were in South Dakota, we had great tracts of land there that were farmed, and so the people were few and far between on these massive farm tracts. And two individuals really set an example for me, personally. One was Elbert Chichester. Elbert's no longer living. Elbert Chichester was born deformed, highly deformed. He basically didn't have a chest. His whole upper was collapsed down, and he was sort of missing kind of part of a hip or something. So he was collapsed down, and he was sort of sideways. And he wore oxygen. He had an oxygen mask and a tank. And poor Elbert, I mean, every step you just felt for the man. Elbert didn't get married. Elbert was at church every week. But even more than that, Elbert wanted to be a rancher since he was a kid. So Elbert had a ranch. Elbert ran a ranch in South Dakota. One of those big acreages. He was a farming rancher, and he did well at it. And what I would say, oh, I've got an ache, or oh, I need some excuse, or I don't feel like, you know, look at Elmer. He is there. Elbert, he was always there. Another family that was there, the Johnsons. The Johnsons came every week to Sioux Falls Church. The thing was, they lived about halfway across the state on one of these vast tracts of farmland.

Vast tract. And farming didn't always go real well. There were droughts. There were various issues. Money wasn't always there. It was always a challenge. I can't tell you how many excuses, if I were the Johnson family, I could have for not driving all the way halfway across the state, approximately, to be at church. But you know who was at church every week early? The Johnsons. You know who left late? The Johnsons. You know who were always there? The Johnsons. I always remarked that some of us who lived in Sioux Falls didn't make it as often as the Johnsons. But you know, there are lessons like this that we begin to see and think, you know what? We need to keep the Sabbath holy. We need to assemble as God commands us on the Sabbath. And we need to love one another as He has given us direction. So, stirring up love and good works and assembling ourselves together. And so much more so, as you see the day approaching. In other words, God is about family. This isn't some little, well, if I do this, I'll get that. No, this is family. This is being here with God today, to hear the voice that God would inspire. And it's our prayer, whenever anybody gets up here, that God will speak through us. Honestly, we as humans have nothing whatever to say. Like Jesus Christ said, It's not my words that I speak, but those which the Father gives me. That's what we want. That's what we seek. That we can be part of God's family.

Jesus Christ's ministry is called to encourage. You recall, I think, in the last sermon I gave you, we went to Ephesians 11, and it talks about Christ appointed the various ministers in the church. And they're there to teach, to edify, which means to build up. And then those members would edify and build up by the love which everyone contributes, each part doing its share. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 11, as we wrap this up. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 11 through 13.

1 Corinthians 3 verse 11 says, For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He's the cornerstone. He's the foundation of the church. He was the forerunner. He was the first fruit. He was our elder brother. He lived it. He did it first. And He is the foundation. No one else can lay that. This is not about me or you or anybody but Him looking to God the Father, being family. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation, we in the ministry, now if we're going to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ, notice He says, with gold.

Well, the first thing we learn is in Revelation chapter 3, Jesus said, Come and buy from me gold tried in the fire. In other words, pure gold. It's at all the dross, you know, impurities taken out. So we need to build with gold. Some will build with silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw.

And that's where it becomes our responsibility. Anyone who is filling the role of teaching or ministry or serving, if we don't do it with gold, then we're doing it with something that's more and more impure as the list goes on. You and I, then, as members of the body, need to also consider who's teaching us. Who are we receiving this from? Is it really about Christ? Is it really about those family attributes? Or is it something that sounds a lot nicer, a lot sweeter, a lot more interesting to me than being of a godly mindset? See, the thing is here, we're all going to get tested. Verse 13, Each one's work will become clear, for the day we'll declare it. You know, Jesus is going to send out his angels, and they're going to bring in the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares, and he's going to separate it. It's going to be revealed by fire, because some is going to be burnt up. The fire will test each one's work, what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, that individual receives a reward.

If anyone's work is burned, he'll suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet as through fire. Do you not know that you are of the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. So we need to be part of that receptacle where God's spirit dwells. If we are not, God's going to burn us. It says right there, in verse 17. Jesus Christ wants us to be impervious to that fire. The point of his work is to make us where that fire can't touch us.

It says in Revelation 20, verse 6, Revelation 20, verse 6, Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. The day of Pentecost, the harvest of firstfruits, being a joy to those, to us. Notice, over such the second death has no power. The second death we read on is in verse 8. That's of chapter 21. That's the lake fire. We're to be impervious to fire because we're family, if we are family.

And that comes down to which family do I want to be part of today? That's the question for me. Which family do I want to be part of today? Jesus Christ gave us an excellent mind changer. It's called prayer in the morning. Follow the model prayer outline. Put you right in there with the family, starting with the Father, and working right down, being Christ-like and forgiving. That's the daily mindset that we need to put on every day, to put on Christ. Which family do I choose to be of?

If I choose to be of the physical carnal family, well, you know, that eventually will perish. But the divine family, as the sign says, is the greatest gift that we can have, that anyone can have, is to be part of the family of God. In conclusion, I'd like to go back to John 1 and look at a little bit of the legacy that Jesus Christ has left us from the very beginning.

John 1 will begin in verse 1. If you think of family who strives to do it well, do it right, you might think, I'd like to be like an Abel, not like Cain. I'd like to be like Enoch, and Seth, and Noah, Abraham, and Isaac. I'd like to be like David, Daniel. I'd really like to be like Jesus Christ, and those who were with him and saw him, and be convicted like the Apostle Paul, and enduring like John and James, and so many others.

In John 1 and verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Logos. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him, including you and me. And without him, nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And we've had that light shine on us, shine on us in a real way, that not only did we know about Jesus Christ, but we can become that light with him, and have him as our light internally.

And that light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. But we did, and we do, because we are children of the light. Dropping down to verse 9, That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. Everyone has the opportunity to have this light shine on them, either now or at the resurrection, in God's time. What will we do with that? Will we want to become that light? Dropping down to verse 12, But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God.

You and I have been given the right to become children in the family of God. God is adding to that family. We are to be encouragers of the development of the family mindset, destined to ultimately live and dwell as the bride of Christ, to be sons of God, forever, down through time, to bring and encourage other family members in a greater harvest that is yet to come.

Let us consider that life's greatest blessing is a loving family, and be a loving family, and thereby exemplify God's family.