We Are Family

When God created mankind, with it He created something very special on this earth. When Eve was given to Adam, God created the human family. God brought together two people, each created different with their own special characteristics and gifts. He brought them together and gave one to the other, and then He said something special to them in Genesis 1, verse 28. Genesis 1, verse 28, is where we will start out with this sermon.

Genesis 1, verse 28. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Then God saw, in verse 31, then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good, very good. God is a family, presently consisting of two divine beings, the Father and of Christ, but with many more to come who will likewise bear the family name. The human family was meant as a lesser model or type of this greater spiritual reality that each of us have the opportunity to be part of in the family of God. Physical families are thus a type of God's own spiritual family. There's something special that God intended when people and children are born into a family. You can see it on the smiles of the mom and the dads. You can see it on the relatives that come to visit the children in the hospital, the newborn. Or when that newborn first gets to meet their siblings and the smiles on the siblings, the excitement, there is something special that God intended when people are born into a family. God wanted a family to have special blessings of support, of structure, of teaching, and of love within that family unit. God desired that there would be a safe place for children to be raised, and He desired that His truth be taught. And in doing so, blessings were being poured out and passed on from generation to generation. We were created to partake in so much that God has wanted to give us. We know from Scripture that God created mankind to be His children. God's plan from the beginning was to first create people as temporary flesh and blood beans, and then to give us the opportunity to live forever as spirit beings in His eternal family. Let's read a few passages reminding of this. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 16. 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 16.

2 Corinthians 6 and verse 16. Here the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 16. And what agreement has the temple of God with idols, for you are the temple of the living God. And God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate. That's what we heard yesterday in the sermon. Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Here is the family that we are part of today physically and also spiritually. We are here as a physical people to honor, to worship, to love God. And our relationship is a spiritual one as well because we have God's Holy Spirit given to us and in us and working with us. And so if we believe and know this, then we must also believe that we are more than just a simple gathering of people. We here in Snowshoe are more than just a simple gathering of people, but we are family. Let's turn to Romans 8, verse 14.

You'd like a title for today's message. Today's title is, We Are Family.

Romans 8 and verse 14.

Here again, the Apostle Paul says, With this in mind, let's turn also to 1 John 3, verse 1.

1 John 3, verse 1.

Here the Apostle John says something similar. 1 John 3, verse 1.

It does not understand you and me because it did not know him and be in Christ. 2. Now we are children of God and has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3. In the beginning, God created family. God provided everything that the family unit would need. It was a perfect creation by the perfect, loving Father. So on this family day during this Feast of Tabernacles, I'd like us to consider the importance of loving and caring for our family and God. I want us to consider the importance of loving and caring for our family and God. All of us here.

After the perfect creation of family, something bad started to happen. Satan happened. It took no time at all for the family unit to come under attack, and these attacks have been relentless since the very beginning. Satan has always attacked the physical family unit as he has tried to undermine all that God is doing with mankind. From the very beginning, Cain turned against Abel, brother against brother, and there has been challenges and difficulties within the family structure ever since. Satan is described as the father of lies, and he has worked endlessly to undermine the truth in what family is and why God created this wonderful gift. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 4 in verse 3 as a reminder of who is attacking family. 2 Corinthians 4 in verse 3. Let's actually start reading verse 1. 2 Corinthians 3.

2 Corinthians 4 in verse 1. Again, the Apostle Paul says, Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the hidden things of shame and walked in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And here's the key. Verse 3. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose mind the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God, should shine on them.

We know that our family structures have come under attack. Satan has caused havoc within the family unit by introducing new ideas, new ways of thought that appear to be attractive, that appear to be good, that appear to be moral.

Satan is the one who has deceived the whole world and has attacked the family unit that God created. We have seen marriage and family continue to crumble in our current society, and in all the generations present here, every one of us from every single generation can find moments when family was under attack. The family structure has been crumbling for many, many, many generations. Marriage has been redefined, going completely against how God defines it.

Families have been broken up with moms and dads, leaving the children to the care of the other parent alone. We've seen husbands and dads dumbified and belittled in commercials and TV shows. We have seen women degraded and viewed as simply objects of lust for men. And our governments have even become involved in undermining what God created as they make laws and they pass policies that hurt the family unit and as they teach distorted family roles.

From the beginning, though, God intended family to be a place of support and love. But we see very clearly that this family unit is under severe attack. And as we sit here today on this family day of the Feast of Tabernacles, I must ask, how are we doing as a family?

How are we doing as a family? As Mr. Miller said yesterday, how am I doing at caring for my extended family that God has called me to be part of? Again, the human family was meant to be a lesser model or type of this greater spiritual reality that each of us have the opportunity to be part of as a family of God. We are made in the image of God. Put in your notes Genesis 1, verse 26 and verse 27. Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. You and I created in the image of God. This is how much our Father loves us and how much he wants us to be part of his family. God's desire was that each of us have the gift of family. We have what we call our blood family, which comes through generations of people having children and then their children having children and so on. When we reference family, this is often who we are talking about.

I've heard often in the church people refer to family, the family that we have in God, as our spiritual family to differentiate the two. So we got our blood family or what we just call our family.

And then here today, some call this our spiritual family. While I'm not saying that one way is right or wrong personally, I don't like putting spiritual on the front of family because to me, this is family, the end. What we don't need to designate blood and spiritual because there are scriptures that join us tighter together than often I think we put reason in our own minds. Blood family often carries a level of love and support that we would extend to this family above any others.

When we say our blood family, those that we were born into, that we'd extend love and support to this family above all others in the world. A good example of this is when people say, I can give my brother a hard time, but nobody else is allowed to. Or I may fight with my siblings, but you lay a finger on them and you will be facing me next.

This is how we often describe our blood family. But what about you and me today? Would you be willing to call me your blood family? Would you be willing to call the person sitting next to you, your blood family? I'd like you to really consider this question because I believe that the description fits you and I. Each of us, you and me, were bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. This understanding and belief to me makes us blood family. Let's look at a few scriptures. First being 1 Peter 1 and verse 18. 1 Peter 1 and verse 18.

When we consider that you and I are blood family.

Verse 18, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through him believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever.

There's other passages that describe this relationship that you and I have. Romans 3 verse 25 is one of them. Let's go ahead. These are important enough. It's not just breeze over. Let's go ahead and turn to a few couple more of these. Romans 3 and verse 25.

Romans 3 and verse 25. "...whom God set forth as a perpetuation by his blood," speaking of Jesus Christ, through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And you can put in your notes Revelation 1 verse 5, which simply says, "...to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood." Again, speaking of Jesus Christ. Throughout my life of growing up in the church, I have seen my family help provide the care and support that no one could understand outside, like friends at school, other people. They all know I have a family, and that family that I was born into is special to me. They provided a support and a structure, taught me God's way. I grew up in the church, sitting in these seats for feasts after feasts. This is my 42nd feast. I don't remember the first couple, I'll be honest with you. But I was born into this church, and that family support that I had is priceless. But throughout my life of growing up in this church, I have seen my family provide the care and support that I needed at times.

These are gifts from God. You and I, to each other, are gifts from God. And this is the family that we are part of. Over this past year, my family and I, we made a transition to Michigan. Two years ago, we were hired into the ministry, and we trained in Cincinnati. And then last August, we moved to Michigan, southeast Michigan, and started assisting pastoring there under Steve Schaeffer. And when we made that move, something happened the very moment that we transitioned. Our family grew. Our family grew tremendously.

One of our new family members was Miss Lenore Houghton.

Lenore was a retired deaconess when we arrived. Our local elder, Mr. Keith Hobb, told us that she's a retired deaconess because she was 95 years old. She had served tremendously for year after year. She was never married, had no children, and this is how she cared. She took other children on trips. She did things of volunteering in the community. And so early on in our move, we wanted to get to know Miss Lenore Houghton. And so we visited with her, or and I did, and it was a wonderful visit. She can't hardly hear, so we couldn't call her on the phone to even set up this visit. We had to have somebody else do it in person for us. But when you're there in her presence, she could hear you. And when she told us stories about the Great Depression, growing up in the Great Depression, about World War II, she told us stories about how she came into the church. She even told us some silly stories about things that happened in her life. She told us about her journeys, how many feasts that she went to overseas. And we're not saying that she did this when she was 40 or 50 years old. She was still taking these trips in her 70s and sometimes in her 80s. She would... other ladies from her congregation would travel with her, and they would have a great time. They said Lenore was their mat because she could never forget where she had been before. And so these other ladies required, relied on her to show her the way. So Lenore shared these stories with us. She wanted to know about us, our past, our growing up, the blessings we had. Her mind was very, very sharp, but her body was failing her.

She told us that she prayed every night that she would fall asleep and wake up in the kingdom of God. The first time she told us that, I had a tear come to the corner of my eye, but I had a smile on my face. Because of her faith, her strength, she knew that if she went to sleep and God allowed her to have that eternal rest where she would wake up that next moment, there was no doubt in her mind. And so as a new assistant pastor, to have somebody who has served the congregation, been part of the family, and now part of my family, tell me something that strong, I couldn't help but be emotionally moved, but also have that smile because of her strength and her faith. She encouraged us that we were doing a great job in the congregation. This was especially helpful to my wife, Laura. We served her at different times. We did a landscape project. She was old enough that she couldn't get out, and she was frustrated with her landscape. It is overgrown. Weeds took over. We were able to serve her along with others in the congregation and do a service project this past spring. We visited her in the hospital, an assisted living facility, after she had an issue in the middle of the summer in July. At one of the facilities, she told us that she loved us.

And we were able to tell her that we loved her, too. This is just one of our family members who encouraged and who prayed for us and brought us into her world as we did the same for her. Many, many people in Michigan have done this for us. Many people in your lives have done this for you through the calling that each of us have received by God and by your reception of this calling and your desire to commit your life to God. We have each been brought together to become a new family. We have committed our lives to follow a new path, to go a new direction, to believe something that goes contrary to what society wants us to believe. Overnight, when we moved to Michigan, again, our family was in the middle of the day. And even right here, as each of us meet new people, and we sit down and get to know another person and maybe even share a meal, our families grow in number. It's a beautiful thing that God has brought each of us together to be in this wonderful family. It's why you and I can travel to a new congregation, walk in the door, and instantly feel at home. I can't count the number of times I've visited a congregation. You go in not knowing a single person or maybe somebody you've seen at a feast site years ago, but you talk to a couple people, you talk to a couple more, you sit down and at a table before services, after services, and there's a comfort there. There's a peace. There's a home there. Just like we can come to this feast and experience the same thing. We can shake a hand of a complete stranger, yet feel comfortable knowing the core of who they are and what they're basing their life on is the same as what I'm basing my life on, what you're basing your life on. And that binds us together, that draws us tight. That's the Holy Spirit that was given as a gift to you and me, bought and paid for through the blood of Christ. And like any family at times, though, we can have issues that come up between one another. We can have challenges come in of a personal nature that strain the family relationship that we have. And at times, these issues have caused some to no longer want to be part of our family. Or others have become frustrated in their family roles, feeling like they should be doing other things within this family unit. You may think, my congregation won't let me serve in fill in the blank. Some people feel that way. Quite often, people sometimes feel that way. I often think of our family here as like a family at Thanksgiving dinner. If you'll allow me to kind of draw an illustration for you. Imagine grandmother and grandfather sitting at the head of the table and along this long table are children of theirs, in-laws of theirs, grandchildren and great grandchildren sitting at this table. I get that this is a Norman Rockwell type of painting. I'm not trying to plagiarize anything. This is maybe that ideal, that Pollyanna ideal, that overly optimistic view of our family. But that's the way that God intended it to be.

This family together, not separate, but looking after each other, enjoying the company that they have together. Grandparents looking down the length of the table as the kids and their kids and grandkids are laughing, talking, maybe throwing a thing of mashed potatoes across at one another. I couldn't do that. My mom wouldn't let me. Imagine those grandparents, though, for you who are grandparents, for you who've had this opportunity to have this. What was the love like in your heart as you look down this table and you saw this family of yours, this gift from God? And on the flip side, you little kids, you teenagers, you young adults sitting at the table, not at the head, but throughout the table and other spots, knowing that this is your family, that this is your grandparents at the end, who have shown you a good example to live, maybe even taught you things of life. And you're given your brother, your sister, a hard time, but they're your family, and you're enjoying this aspect. At times, though, in the church, I think we sometimes want to put the grandparents out on the back deck, because they're old. They don't get my generation anymore. They won't let me serve in the ways that I want to serve. They're holding me back. This is my congregation, my church, too. And so do we ever feel like we want to put Grandma and Grandpa out on the back porch, because they're not just, they're just, they're too old.

Or do the grandparents ever say, you know what, these kids that are coming up, they are nothing but trouble. My kids, my grandkids, I don't get them. I don't get their technology. I don't get their social media. I don't understand how they just come and go into our lives and do these things. They say they want to serve, but they want to serve the ways that they want to serve.

Do we ever have that within our family structure here? Do we ever lose sight that we are to be at that table, grandparents on the one end, kids on the other? Why is that? Because that's how God designed it to be, and that's what it should be in our congregations. And at times it is. Most of the time it is. But we have to strive to go above and beyond just that one time a year at Thanksgiving that we act this way as family. That we have to look and see that those kids sitting at the end of the table are our next generation coming up. I never lose sight of that when I go to camp and I've done pre-teen counseling for six years. And I tell those our assistant counselors when we go before the campers arrive, these kids are our future. I hope to retire from the ministry someday and some of them may be my pastor. Do we ever lose sight of that? That as mature members we have a responsibility to raise up, to teach, that next generation of our family of God's way, just like we heard in the sermonette. Me and Mr. Schultz again did not speak about our topics today. But aren't they? Isn't it beautiful when God brings two messages together? That you have an opportunity to help raise that next generation of the church. And for you teens who are crossing into that threshold of wanting to serve more, you young adults who are at the door ready.

You want to serve. You're ready. But remember, we don't throw Grandma and Grandpa on the back porch at Thanksgiving, do we? We respect that they have blazed a trail and that's why you are here today. They've learned from the School of Hard Knocks. They've served relentlessly when you were just a little tyke. And they went over to the widow's house for that service project. So as we look at each other, from opposing sides it seems like, across this table, let's not forget that we are family. This is the family that God has called us to be part of. We're not just, well here's my blood family and here's my spiritual family. Let's just drop this and just call ourselves family. Because that's what God, and that's how God looks at us. And this is, again, the lives of Satan that he wants to get in. He wants to blow this up. He wants us to have conflict. He wants us not to be able to figure each other out, to understand, to reach across. He wants us all, all this to just go away. He wants what we have here today in Snowshoe, West Virginia to be gone. That's why we must fight for family.

So how do you and I achieve this oneness together? How is all this even possible? It's only through the love of God and the love that is living inside each one of us that we can be united together as family. Let's look at John 13, verse 34.

John 13, verse 34. As we consider this love that we must have inside our hearts for one another. John 13, verse 34. A new commandment, this is from Christ, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. From the Life Application Study Bible, it says this about this passage. It says, to love others was not a new commandment, but to love others as much as Christ loved others was revolutionary. How we are to love others based on Christ's sacrificial love for us. Such love will keep believers strong and united in a world hostile to God. It goes on to say, love is simply more than warm feelings. It's an attitude that reveals itself in action by helping when it's not convenient, by giving when it hurts, by devoting energy to others' welfare rather than our own, by absorbing hurts from others without complaining or fighting back. This kind of love is hard to do. That's why people notice when you do it. Again, that's from the Life Application Study Bible. Let's flip two chapters forward to John 15, verse 9.

John 15, verse 9, As the Father loved me, I also have loved you, abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. From the New Living Translation, verses 10 and 11 of this passage in John 15, verse 10 says, from the New Living, When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in His love. He says, I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow.

Let's also turn to Colossians 3, verse 14. This was shared with us two days ago in the sermon, but that's not just read it once. Colossians 3 and verse 14.

Here the Apostle Paul says in Colossians 3, verse 14, But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you are called in one body, and be thankful.

The New Living Translation says this for verses 14 and 15, Above all, close yourselves with love, which binds us together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts, for as members of one body you are called to live in peace, and always be thankful.

Again, from the Life Application Study Bible, this passage, it says, Christians should live in peace. To live in peace does not mean that suddenly all differences of opinions are eliminated, but it does require that loving Christians work together despite their differences. Such love is not a feeling, but a decision to meet others' needs.

And another powerful passage is in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, of course.

1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 1.

1 Corinthians 13, verse 1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, and prophets may nothing.

But Paul gets into the heart of the issue. Verse 4. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. Is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely. Does not seek its own. Is not provoked. Thinks no evil. Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things. Believes all things. Hopes all things. Endures all things. Love never fails.

We are each given gifts from God that we should be using in service to one another, as Paul outlined in the beginning of these passages. But he says, if I'm doing the best, most awesome service to others, that nobody else can even do themselves, if it's done without love, might as well throw it in the trash. We see that it must, our lives must be based on love. The way that we serve one another must be based on love. The way that we are family must be based on love. Love is what makes our individual gifts and our individual actions useful to others. And it's that universal gift that every one of us has. Some have different gifts to do other things. We don't all have the same gifts, but we all have love. That's that universal item that each one of us has and can use and can use for helping others. Back to Lenore Houghton for a moment. Lenore was doing better. After being in the hospital back in July, she returned home and was gearing up to come back to services the Sabbath before the Feast of Trumpets this year. And then just a few days before the start of the Fall Highway Days, Lenore was found on the floor from a possible stroke, or just because her body failed her. We visited, Laura and I, and Kelsey visited her in the hospital the next day for the last time.

The doctors were trying to help her breathe and give her comfort. She wasn't responsive much at all, though, when we talked to her. Laura reached and moved the blankets and found Lenore's hand and held it while we talked to her. There's intimacy and family. We said a family prayer with Lenore. Kelsey, our daughter, and I each placed one of our hands on her shoulder. Laura continued to hold her hand as we said a prayer, thanking God for her being part of our life and for the ways that He's blessed us through her. There's love in a family.

Towards the end, when we were getting ready to leave, Laura talked to Lenore, and she told her that she loved her. Lenore's eyes moved just a tiny bit, and you could see her lips move, and she made a noise that I'm sure meant I love you, too.

This is family. This is family. So much more than physical blood, but spiritual blood through the blood of our brother and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Lenore died two and a half weeks ago on September 8th, the day after our last visit with her, and on the very Sabbath, she was planning to be with us at services. I couldn't help but think of this passage as I was working through this section of the sermon, 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 9. Because even with Lenore being 95 years old, she rarely missed the Sabbath. She couldn't drive, but people would take her to services, one person in particular just about every week. And even though she had lived a long life, and even though she prayed these prayers, that God would let her fall asleep and wake up in the kingdom, she still wanted to be at church. And I find it fun, in a way, to think that she was making plans to be at the Feast of Trumpets, which represents, as we know, Christ's return and the firstfruits being resurrected, that she so had on her vision. And as we think about 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 9, I couldn't help but think of this as I was working through this section. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 9. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify or strengthen one another, just as you also are doing. I share this experience with you because of the impact that one person was able to have on my family's transition to a new role in a new state. Our new family members in Michigan have welcomed us with open arms. They have shared the love that we so desperately need as coming to a new area. They have shared that with us. So many of them have shared that with us. But I can't share every single story. I can't tell you all the times that a meal was brought over, or people told me that they're praying for us, but I can share Lenore's story. We count ourselves as tremendously blessed to have the lives that we have in our new family. This is why we must each work towards becoming the family that God has called us to become. Whether you are young or old, we must move beyond the limits that age puts on us. Again, as we heard in the sermonette, we don't need to be broken always into these age groups that we sometimes see ourselves and figure out where we fit into. Because as life goes on, we move through these age groups, don't we? And as life goes on, we want to still interact with other people, younger and older, so we must move beyond the limits that age puts us in. We must love one another, as grandparents love their grandchildren, as siblings love each other, as aunts and uncles love their nieces and their nephews. So what can we do to strengthen our blood family that we have in God? I'd like to leave you with a few Lenores. To those of you who already have a Lenore in your life, give that Lenore a hug.

Because what you have is great, and it's awesome. Keep loving your Lenore and see if there is room to find another special Lenore in your life. To those of you who don't have a Lenore right now, look around you here at the feast. Look around in your home congregation and see who it is that can become your Lenore. Lenores are special.

Lenores are the ones you want to keep in your life.

Lenores are the ones that prop you up and keep you going. And if you want to be a Lenore to others, and you do want to be a Lenore to others, because others need your support. Others need your encouragement. They need your kindness. They need your laughter, and they need your love.

God has given us the physical in this life that represents such a greater spiritual eternity that He desires for you and me. Let us never forget that. That this physical represents such a greater spiritual eternity that He desires for each of us. As we close, let's look at 1 Thessalonians 4 in verse 1. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 1. Finally, then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more just as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God. For you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. And in verse 9, But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. And indeed, you do so towards all the brethren who are in all of Macedonia, and we could say in all of Snowshoe, but we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more.