October 16, 2005
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Building Relationships With Our Church Family

Ephesians 2:11-22.  Pastor Matt.  October 16, 2005

 

 

Ephesians 2:11-22.

 

11. 

 

-          “uncircumcised”

o       Slang term for a group of people other than/ different from who you are

 

-          “Gentiles by birth” people are who they are from birth

o       The religious Jews looked down upon all others because they were not born Jews

 

What they were saying is that because you are different from me, you can’t have my religion

            You can’t share in my religion

 

This still happens today.  People attend church based on the kind of people that already go there

-          rich churches

-          blue collar

-          country

-          city

-    black/ white

 

sometimes within the church, we form groups with people who are similar and we ignore the rest

 

the beautiful hang out with the beautiful

 

12.

 

Things change gears

 

-          “at one time you were separate from Christ” 

o       The Religious and lofty Jews were focusing on nationality, but Paul turns the focus to what it really is all about

-          As Gentiles, they were “not allowed” to partake of Jewish religion

o       (There was even a dividing law in the temple)

o       (Even though the Old Testament allowed room for foreigners to worship God, the people set up their own rules)

-          The issue is Christ, not our differences

o       Paul is telling us to overlook the differences we have with each other and focus on Christ

 

 

13.

 

-          the focus really is “you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ”

 

We are not going to focus on our differences but our Similarity

 

No matter how different people are, we are held together by a common bond.  Jesus Christ

 

  

14-18.

 

He is our Peace (14)

He has made the two one (14)

He has destroyed the barrier (14)

 

-          Diving walls create hostility

-          Division creates hostility.  What divides us destroys us.

o       I even find myself pushing people away who I don’t agree with…destroying the relationship I have with them

 

He has created one new man out of two (15)

He has made us into one body (16)

We both have access to the father by the same spirit (18)

 

No matter how different we are, as Christians, we are one, we are the same because of Jesus inside us

 

So, what does that make us???

 

19.

 

Fellow citizens

God’s people

Members of God’s household

 

WE ARE FAMILY…

 

…held together by the Word of God and Jesus Christ most importantly (20)

 

 

We were not born Christian.  We were born people, born into some type of family unit

But now we are part of this new, crazy family called the church.

 

Some of us were raised in the church but most of us are still trying to figure this thing out. 

 

None of us ever really figure things out but some of us live under this illusion that we’ve got it figured out, we’ve become spiritual, and “you lost people” need to get your act together. 

 

Some of us reach a point where we cross over to the other side, we separate ourselves from the new believers, from those who believe differently, from the “new in town,” from those who are not like us.  We become comfortable (like the Jews) separating ourselves from the Gentiles.

 

Remember what it was like when you first accepted Christ, How awkward you felt, how new it all was to you, how badly you wanted to be accepted by the group and now you are the group, but how are we approaching the new, new people. 

 

Some of us are missing the bigger part of our family.  We look across the room at our brothers and sisters and refuse to talk to them.  Refuse to spend time with them.  Refuse to be brothers and sisters with each other.

God took two different people and made them one.  God took opposites and united them.  God can take us, no matter how different we are, and unite us.  We are united by the Message of the cross.

 

We become a new kind of Family

 

 

Paul uses a word to describe this new family

 

Koinonia:  A close community of people. 

1 fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse. 1a the share which one has in anything, participation.

1b intercourse, fellowship, intimacy.

1c a gift jointly contributed, a collection, a contribution, as exhibiting an embodiment and proof of fellowship.[1]

Koinonia is when lives are intertwined and dependant upon each other

Example found in Acts 2:42-47

 

To the fellowship (42)

 

(42) they as a group were devoted to Bible, Prayer, Communion (keeping Christ as the focus) and KOINONIA – EACH OTHER

 

Everything in common (44)

 

Let’s look at how Jesus sees the church family (those who are Christians)

 

 

Matthew 12:46-50.

 

Jesus saw fellow believers as His true family

 

Blood is thicker than water but Jesus’ Blood is thicker than family blood

 

Jesus’ blood is the family blood

 

You are close to your earthly family but you are supposed to be as close if not closer to your Christian family

 

I am not telling you to place the church, as an earthly structure, above your earthly family

 

Modern day church is a new concept.  In the days of old, they were just people believing in jesus seeking the same cause together

 

But I am letting you know that your relationship with Jesus is to be placed above your earthly family…

 

…and sometimes that causes a separation

 

 

Matthew 19:28-29 

    28Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother[a] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

Some will leave so they can go other places and spread the Gospel, but some will be forced to leave because they stand up for the Gospel

Luke 9:57-62

57As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  58Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  59He said to another man, “Follow me.”  But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  60Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  61Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good bye to my family.”  62Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Once again we see this principle of our relationship with Jesus and the Gospel as more important than earthly relationships.

 

Some of us have a great sense of community outside the church…with our extended family, with those we work with, groups. Clubs, etc. but we are missing it at church.

 

We may even have little communities within the church but we are missing the greater community of the church.

 

Today I want to encourage you to love your church family the same ways, or better than you would love your earthly family.

 

Reach out to your church family and be a family with everyone.

 

How do we be a church family?

 

(Ask yourself how does an earthly family function?)

 

Earthly families:

 

-          help each other when in need

o       1 John 3:17.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

 

-          laugh together, cry together

o       2 Corinthians 1:3-5.   3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows

 

-          spend time together/ hang out/ do things together/ talk

o       Hebrews 10:25.  Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

 

-          they are a team/ work along side each other/ give and take/ doing things for each other

o       1 Corinthians 12:14, 26-28.  14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

 

§         When someone does not work, the rest of the body compensates and drags you along or cuts you off

§         The quickest way to feel like you are a part of the church family is to invest yourself in the work of the church

 

-          motivation is love, sometimes feels like obligation but deep down because you love them

-          fight then forgive

-          share life….koinonia

-          sticking together through the tough times.  (believers sharing our problems with each other)

 

The more we look into the Scriptures, the more we see God’s principles applying to our Family

Why is it important to see ourselves as family?

 

 

1 John 3:10.  This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother

 

People see that we are God’s children because we follow His commands and we love our brothers and sisters

 

 

Acts 2:47.  praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

 

It is a necessary ingredient for churches to have if the Lord is going to bring people to them to be saved. 

 

What Father in their right mind would send his children to a group of people who can’t function as a family?

 

 

 

When we combine our church family to our earthly family,

Christ mixes in,

becomes a part of,

influences the lost of our earthly we family. 

 

If we keep our families separate, the lost of our earthly family don’t get to experience God the way He designed it to be. 

 

 

 

If we are to love our family more than earthly family it makes sense to care for our churchly family as much if not mare than earthly

 

 

 

 

Closing

 

Take time to respond to whatever God has put on your heart.

 

If you need to join this family, you need to put your faith in Jesus.  Today is the day.

 

 

[1]Strong, James. Enhanced Strong's Lexicon. Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1996.