September 23, 2007 – Sermon Synopsis

“God’s Family” 1 John 3:1-2, 10-16 (3:12)

Who are my ancestors and relatives?
I showed the children a family tree. We talked about family and family reunions. Family reunions are fun times.

The Bible tells us that the church is a family – John 1:12 – if we believe in Jesus, we become Children of God. Jesus taught us that God is our Heavenly Father.

Every Sunday is a family reunion.

The Apostle John was the youngest of the 12 disciples of Jesus. As he grew older, he was highly revered as the patriarch of the church – the last living person who walked and talked with Jesus on this earth. He saw many changes in the churches through the years.

In many ways, the original church was not much different than our own churches. They were made up of people who had personal agendas and motives.

I’m glad that there were problems in the church. They are learning experiences. Just about all of the letters in the New Testament were written because of problems in the church. It showed that the church could come through problems and difficulties and still be a witness for our Lord Jesus.

John lived through many church fights and divisions. He wrote his first letter (1 John) as a response to a church split.
A group of Gnostics left and formed their own church. Who were they?
- those who didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God (Messiah)
- those who didn’t believe in Jesus’ authority in our lives
- those who believed that sin wasn’t a problem
- those who believed that you could be a Christian and not love each other. These folks believed that their relationship with each other wasn’t an important part of the Christian life. They believed that you could come together and worship with people that you did mean and hateful things to.

Our scripture passage is part of John’s response to these folks.

You need to know something: There are problems, conflicts, divisions, fights, etc. in the world. There are people who don’t get along. They each want their own way so much that they are willing to fight for it. Do churches have problems?

A preacher once made the observation:
When there is a big crisis in the world, people start showing up in church.
When there is a big crisis in the church, people stop showing up in church.

Why is it that we look to God and the church when there are external problems, but not when there are internal problems?

Churches filled up after the events of September 11, 2002.
But as the crisis wore off, people went back to their old way of life.
These folks didn’t feel like an integral part of the church. They weren’t integrated into the life and fellowship of the congregation. They didn’t ever become part of the family.

ANALOGIES FOR THE CHURCH
In these past weeks we’ve considered analogies presented in the New Testament for the church.
The church is a body
The church is God’s employees (workforce)
The church is a building (Temple)

The church is (like) a family.

Families are the building blocks of society … that’s why it’s important to define a family right from the beginning.

The apostle John knew about family. He is one of the few people in the NT identified by his Father’s line – one of the Sons of Zebedee – along with his brother James. We know about his cousins Simon (Peter) & Andrew. Family is important to John.

I have enjoyed learning about the families of Maple Grove. Each family has it’s traits …
There are Kennels and Kings and Umbles and Stoltzfus and Kauffmans and Fishers and Smokers and etc.

This is an amazing thing to me, as one who doesn’t have an extended family heritage.
Your ancestors and relatives make you family.

John tells those of us who believe in Jesus are a family. God loved us so much that we have become God’s Children. We were adopted – that means we were chosen!

How do you know what family you belong to? By the last name: “Oh, he’s one of the Cranes” It’s as if there are certain traits that pass down through the family lineage.
Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “He’s a lot like his dad.”

How do you know that someone belongs to God’s Family?
They have some of God’s traits, character, personality.

Genesis 1 tells us we are made in the “image” and “likeness” of God.

How can you tell who’s in God’s family?
1 John 3:10 – Love for each other.
1 John 3:11 – the message we’ve heard from the start – Love one another.

Did someone say, “Hey, he must be one of God’s kids?”

SOME FAMILIES ARE DYSFUNCTIONAL

We don’t like to hear it.
There's an old joke about a man sitting in a church pew amening everything the preacher said about sinners. His amens abruptly stopped when the preacher got on the subject of loving his brother. When his wife nudged him to give the preacher another amen he said to her, "What for? He's stopped preaching and gone to meddling!"

We don’t like to hear about problems …

It started right at the beginning. The first Brothers, Cain and Abel

It’s interesting that the first murder in recorded history was over religious practice.

Sibling rivalry led to murder – not a happy family.

Today’s Sunday School lesson – dealing with dissention in the family. Abraham – what a crazy family tree: eight children with 3 different women, tracing that family heritage is very interesting.

Jesus family tree included prostitutes, foreigners and illegal aliens.

Families aren’t easy – but it’s the way God works. In spite of our differences, our dysfunctions, our problems – God wants us to live and work as a family.

The church family can also be dysfunctional. How can you change things?

Jesus! Let God be the head of the family. Let God (and God’s word) define what the family does. Let God be the authority, the leader,

When Solomon dedicated the Temple, God spoke to him … (2 Chronicles 7:14)
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face ... I will forgive and heal them.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

John continually calls the believers back to that simple premise, the one that is so difficult to do: Love each other.

1 John 3:1 – one of my favorite verses in the Scripture

I like it because it reminds me of a father that was not willing that his son should die. My dad was like that when I died. (Ask me about that sometime; I think it’s an interesting story.). I’m God’s son. God loved me so much, he sent Jesus so that I don’t have to die.

Why do we love – “Because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
God is our model – we should also love as God loved us.

How much does God love us? Jesus said, “I love you this much.” And he stretched out his arms (on the cross) and died for us.

Christ laid down his life for us. As God’s family, we should love each other, so much that we would be willing to give our life for each other.

That’s how they’ll know we are Christians: by our love.

I hope to see you at the next family reunion.