You were formed for God's family - part 3 of current audio series

You were formed for God’s family.

This morning we continue with our series of talks based on Rick Warren’s excellent book – The Purpose Driven Life – which I’d urge you to read because it contains a huge amount of Christian wisdom and insight.

Campbell spoke last week about the first purpose for our lives – which is that ‘You were planned for God’s pleasure.’

And the second purpose for our lives which I’m speaking about today, is that ‘You were formed for God’s family’, and the readings I’ve chosen tie in with this theme.

So, the second purpose for our lives is that God wants a family and he created us to be part of it. God is full of love and he wants to share this love with us.

He loves relationships and he created human beings so that we can enjoy a relationship with him and with each other as members of his family.

We become members of this family when we put our faith in Jesus. God becomes our father and we become his children.

Someone asked at the third Sunday service a few weeks ago - about whether all humans were children of God.

Well the answer is that all humans are created by God – but we only become children of God through putting our faith in Jesus, and by being born again into it.

As Rick Warren says, ‘We become part of the human family by our first birth – but we become members of God’s family by our second birth.’

When we have truly repented and put our faith in Jesus, as today’s gospel reading shows - other believers become our brothers and sisters.

The church is the family of God – and it is composed of people from all nations and denominations – who truly believe that Jesus is the son of God. So, when we become Christians we should start to view fellow believers as members of our new spiritual family and we should do our best to love them.

Rick Warren says, “because God is love, the most important lesson he wants us to learn is how to love … Of course God wants us to love everyone, but he is particularly concerned that we learn to love others in his family.”

And this isn’t always easy. Just as with our earthly families, our Christian brothers and sisters can sometimes be frustrating or annoying or even hostile.

What I find helpful if I struggle to get on with another Christian is to consciously try and remember that Jesus died for that person and that they are incredibly precious to him.

And therefore, by doing my best to love them – I am pleasing God.

I think a large part of getting on with other people – but particularly with fellow Christians - is to do with demonstrating the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our own lives.

In other words, being loving, patient, kind, gentle and self-controlled ourselves. And humility is also very important.

As Paul says to the Philippians – “in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.”

If we have a tendency to be unfriendly, impatient, judgmental and proud and to always think we know best, it will make it much more difficult for us to form loving relationships with fellow believers.

I have a theory that some people have hard edges and some people have soft edges. It’s easy for people with soft edges to form friendships, but the only way to get along with someone with a hard edge is for other people to accommodate that hard edge by their own soft edge.

So, having a humble attitude and being willing to acknowledge our own shortcomings is key to loving one another.

As Jesus said; “How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”

But as Rick Warren points out God doesn’t just want us to be friendly, he wants us to from close and caring friendships and to share our Christian lives together, to experience ‘fellowship’ as the bible calls it.

Real fellowship is much more than turning up at church on a Sunday and chatting over a cup of tea. Real fellowship is about sharing our lives and what’s going on in them with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It’s about being real and honest and open and not afraid to ask for prayer or help when we need it – because we feel secure in the relationships we have with one another.

It’s about trusting our Christian brothers and sisters enough to be able to share our hurts, our concerns, our failures, our weaknesses, our doubts and our fears and being really honest with each other in the sight of God.

And like-wise its then loving and caring for and praying for and practically helping our fellow believers as they share with us. Seeking to build them up and encourage them in their faith.

Fellowship is about authentic caring and not being afraid to bring things that are troubling us into the light of Christ – where they can be dealt with through action and prayer and loving advice and counsel.

Jesus said; “where two or three are gathered together in my name I am there among them.” So, when we meet with fellow believers and share our lives and study his word together, Jesus is present with us in a special way.

We can also experience fellowship as we pray together with Jesus in our midst – not being afraid to share the prayers of our hearts – because we’ll often find the same prayers are on the hearts of our Christian brothers and sisters.

And as Rick Warren says, the best way to experience real Christian fellowship is in small groups where we can regularly meet together and really get to know each other.

This is why bible study or home groups are so important. They are not just about studying God’s word but they are a place where we can build relationships with fellow believers and where we can encourage one another and get the help and support and prayer we need, as we seek to walk with God through life.

Geese fly in small groups in a V formation. Firstly, this conserves their energy. Each bird flies slightly above the bird in front of him, resulting in a reduction of wind resistance.

And the birds take turns being in the front, falling back when they get tired. In this way, a small group of geese can fly for a long time before they stop for a rest. Whereas a solitary goose would run out of energy much sooner.

Like Geese, as Christians we need each other’s encouragement and support to live the Christian life.

Rick Warren makes the point that to live in real fellowship with our Christian brothers and sisters requires absolute commitment. We need to develop the habit of meeting together and to make this a priority in our lives.

He says, ‘real fellowship isn’t built on convenience – I’ll meet when it suits me; its built on conviction - I need to meet for my spiritual health.’

Fellowship is crucial to the health of any church. Without it we live solitary, unhealthy and stunted Christian lives.

We struggle silently in private and look to God to meet our needs directly - whereas more often than not God will meet our needs through fellowship and the community of our fellow believers.

And God’s spirit flows much more freely and abundantly where we there is real fellowship and love between Christians.

His love flows through the connections we have with each other. His love flows through the relationships we have with each other.

Where our relationships and connections are broken or unformed, his love struggles to flow.

In Church on Sundays a lot of us can wear masks – and act as if everything is rosy. We don’t share or open up with fellow believers. We don’t like to ask for help or prayer because we don’t want to appear weak or needy or vulnerable.

Our relationships with other Christians therefore, tend to be superficial and because we don’t enjoy real fellowship, we struggle to experience God’s love and to receive his help.

In her book ‘Unexpected Healing’ Jennifer Rees Larcombe tells of an occasion when she was going to speak to a group of women in Mayfield I think it was. And when she saw these women they all looked so together and smart and neat and self-assured.

And she thought ‘Lord, what can I possibly offer these women?’

And then God showed her how he saw these women – and she saw through their masks and their make up to all the pain and hurt and desperate need in their lives.

The same is true of course for men. We don’t want to appear weak or needy – but wearing a mask not only keeps others from knowing and loving and helping us – but also keeps God at arm’s length – because he lives in and works through our Christian brothers and sisters.

Fellowship is also crucial because as Christians – as believers we are part of Christs body – which is what our new Testament Reading is about.

And just as a human body needs arms and legs and eyes and teeth and hands and internal organs to function – so we desperately need each other if we are to function as God’s church both here in Brenchley and in the wider world.

Every single Christian has a vital part to play in keeping the whole body healthy and functioning as it should.

Nicky Gumbel points out that as humans we have over 600 muscles in our bodies – but we need them all. He gives the example of Usain Bolt running in Jamaican relay team in the 4 x 100 metre finals at the recent Athletics World Championships in London.

As he ran, just one of his muscles – his hamstring - gave up, and his whole body ground to a halt and he couldn’t finish the race.

And it wasn’t just him – the whole Jamaican relay team failed to win a medal - just because one muscle stopped working.

If you’re sitting here today and you’re a Christian you have a vital role to play in strengthening and building up the Church and in Jesus’ great commission to make disciples of all nations.

You are unique – no one can do your job – and you are needed. Your role matters.

And we discover the role we are called to play through offering ourselves to God in service and through prayer, but also through fellowship and interaction with other believers.

We may feel called to do something but we’ll only find out if we’re right when we actually step out in faith and do it.

We’ll only find we really have a gift for hospitality as we invite people to our homes or host events.

We will only find we have a gift for healing as we offer to lay hands on someone and pray for them.

We will only find we have a gift for working with young people if we get involved with a youth or children’s group.

We will only find if we can preach if we actually try it.

So, the family needs you. We all need ‘you’ or as a church - we won’t be as healthy or as effective as we should.

So, to tie up what I want to say this morning, God created us to be a member of his family – the church – both to share his love with that family and to experience his love through that family.

As Christians we are all brothers and sisters in Christ – and we should treat each other according.

But more than this we should make meeting together an absolute priority in our lives – because this is the major way we will grow in our faith and experience God’s love and help and guidance and encouragement.

God lives in our fellow believers and his spirit flows and works through our relationships – as we seek to bless and encourage and help one another.

God has created us to be a body of believers and we all need each other to play our part in the life of this body – or we won’t be as effective a Church as we should be – and God’s love and life-saving gospel message won’t impact the world as he intends.

In the name of the living God. Amen.