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August 1, 2009
How important is family?
Paul writes
in Ephesians 2:19: “So then you are no
longer strangers and aliens, but you
are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s
household.”
Creekside
has been described as a collection of mixed nuts
(perhaps some are more
nutty than others). God
has brought us
together here as His household. By
God’s
choice and work we are the family of God.
That’s
amazing isn’t it? Our
oneness as the
church is the creative work of the Almighty God of
creation.
It really
doesn’t matter how “nutty” we are.
We are
brought together by the same broken body and spilled
blood of Jesus. Together
we proclaim one gospel. We
share one faith. We have
one purpose and one calling. We
serve the
same Lord, the same Spirit, and the same Father. With
Jesus
we’re heirs of the riches of God’s kingdom - an
unimaginable
eternity together with Him. We
share a God
given oneness that transcends background, race,
nationality, culture,
economic strata, or whatever potential differences
there may be.
A carnival
director was interviewing a young man looking for his
first job. “What’s your best
trick?” the director
asked.
“Sawing a
woman in half.”
“Isn’t that a
difficult trick?”
“Not really. I’ve been able
to do that one since I was a child.
I
always used to practice on my sisters.”
“And do you
come from a large family?”
“Well, I have eight
half sisters.”
We are not
step-children nor are we distantly related to each
other. You are not a
second class citizen in God’s family.
You are not an accidental member of Jesus’
church. You have the
privilege of being
chosen by the sovereign God of creation to be His.
How
important is family?
The family
relationship we enjoy is unique in this world. Isn’t
it? Where else is there
found so diverse a
people who live with such unity - potential and
realized? Who have such a
bond? Who can
be such a strength for each other?
Who
will cry, weep, and rejoice with each other?
Let’s
celebrate what God has done by taking advantage of the
opportunities we
have to hang out, to pray, to study, to worship, and
even to discuss
crucial issues together - to be together as a family. Let’s celebrate together the
joy of being His children.
With great
privilege comes great purpose.
Remember the
song?
We are the
family of God - YES!
We are the
family of God.
And He’s
brought us together
To be one in
Him,
That we
might bring light to the world.
How
important is family?
To those who
have no clue what it means to be God’s family -
crucial. One doesn’t have
to look too far to see that what we
experience as “family” is unimaginable to some. God
has
given to us the purpose of living out our family
relationship in a
broken world that those we live with may see what God
can do in their
lives.