Very sadly not everyone’s experience of ‘family’ is a happy one: The reality of life in a world that is broken by sin means some families are dominated by neglectful, competitive or even abusive relationships. One of the many sad results of such experiences is suspicion of the whole idea of ‘family’ and all that goes with it.
We saw on Sunday morning from his letter to the Galatians how the apostle Paul uses the language of ‘family’ to describe churches:
- that every Christian’s adoption by Him means we can call the God of the universe our “Abba Father” (Gal 4:6);
- his reference to the “family of believers” (Gal 6:10);
- his last word in the letter being “brothers & sisters” (Gal 6:18).
Sadly even ‘church family’ can be far from perfect! Yet the fact is that with God as our loving Heavenly Father there is no more loving, sacrificial, loyal, understanding, powerful and gracious Father than He is! Also, amazing as it is to think in this way, the Lord Jesus “is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters.”! (Hebrews 2:11)
It’s tempting to dismiss these ideas as mere rhetoric that’s a quaint idea but not really relevant to the modern world with our fast-paced lives. Yet that’s not how the Bible describes it at all: as Christians we are those who have been redeemed by the Lord Jesus’ death on the cross and given living hope through His resurrection from the dead! Our identity is in Him, together. As Paul wrote to the Christians at Ephesus:
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household…” (Eph 2:19)
What might that belonging together look like when put into practice this week?
Spencer Shaw