The Church: The family of God

In I Peter 4:17, Peter uses another metaphor for the church—the family of God.


What makes a happy family? It isn’t the amount of time we spend with each other. Some people see their family every day and wish they didn’t. Others see them once a year, and hope to see them more. A family is not about how often we each other, but the love we have for one another whether we live across the street or across the country.

The thing that makes a family is mutual support. When we need them, they are there.

The first family crisis I remember was the death of my grandmother. One thing that struck me was how the family seemed to automatically know who was going to do what. They just sensed who would arrange the food and make the funeral arrangements. There was no disagreements, no quarrelling. The family just clicked into place. Most of all, I remember the openness and heartfelt feeling we had for each other.

Love was underneath the surface, the foundation for everything we had. We were proud of one another, proud of being a part of something bigger than ourselves which gave us our identity and our purpose.

Peter calls the church the “family of God.” As a Christian, we are members of two families—God’s family and our own.

Which is more important? To Peter, God’s family came before his own family. Throughout the Bible, the bond of faith is greater than the bond of blood.

There were very few extended families in the early church. Many had been cast out of their family for their faith. If blood had come before faith, there would not have been a church! Peter was married, but we read nothing of his wife. Jesus himself, when own mother and brothers came to take him home, pointed to the crowds who followed him and said, “These are my mother and brothers.” He said that if we do not deny our father and mother and follow Him, we cannot be his disciples.

I know how hard. Our concern for family is a huge part of who we are. But the concern we have for the family of God must come before our own. It is true for missionaries, who forsake their homes and their loved ones for years at a time and travel to foreign countries. It is true for ministers who leave their communities to become part of another. It is true for soldiers who give their lives for something greater than themselves. If blood comes before faith, then families become idols, and familial love becomes idolatry.

The church is our true family. It was true for Peter; it is true for us. In Peter’s time, the family of God was under attack by persecutions from without and heresies from within. Christians had to stand up and be counted as Christians, or face destruction. Peter told us what we should expect. He also told us how to react when God’s family is under attack.

The end of all things is near Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

1. As a family, we need to have a clear vision of our Father.

I keep all my pictures in my computer. Sometimes in idle moments I like to look at them. I have pictures of my grandparents and great grandparents. I even have pictures of many of my grandparents who died before I was born.

But I have no pictures of my Heavenly Father. All pictures I have ever seen of Jesus are artistic imaginings, The only thing I see of my Heavenly Father is his handiwork.

This may be why we find it so much easier to focus upon our earthly family, and so hard to focus on our heavenly one. Our children may be the future of the family, but our fathers and mothers are the binding that holds it together. Without the knowledge of our ancestors, and the appreciation of our parents, families fall apart.

Peter believed that the end of the world was near, so encouraged the church to have a sober, clear-headed vision of the Father. The closer we draw to Jesus, the closer we will in turn draw to one another.

Mixed iron filings with sawdust, and pour it on a table. It would take a long time to sort them out. But holding a magnet above and the iron filings rise to the magnet. In the same moment, they would be purified of the sawdust, and draw close t the rest of the iron. The magnet is both unites and a purifies the filings.

In the same way, the church is united by the view we have of God. The more real he is to us, the more we will want to be part of His family and the closer we will all become.

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

2. As a family, we need to have a genuine affection for each other.

We may love the brethren, but we do not always like them. As one wag put it.

“To live above with saints above, oh, won’t that be the glory/But to live below with saints we know—well, that’s another story.”

Peter doesn’t mean that we should love each other in the abstract. He expects us to love one another with genuine, real affection.

How do we get that affection? First, we must spend time to each other, listening and learning about their lives. Old people don’t get along with young people. Young people don’t like older people. Rich people and poor people don’t mix, neither to people of different social, ethnic or racial backgrounds. /the more we look at differences, the more we remain strangers, the less we can fulfill Peter’s command to love each other differently.

Some people enjoy only people who are exactly like themselves. Other people enjoy those who have interesting differences from themselves. But neither similarities nor differences are strong enough to enable us to find a genuine affection for everyone. But what if we looked to see what is like Jesus in everyone we met? The image of God is on all His people. Each of us has a different part. If we can find the aspect of others lives that is most like Jesus, we will love them from the heart

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

3.As a family, we need to open our homes and lives to each other.

Hospitality is an essential part of loving each other sincerely. We have become afraid to open our homes to anyone, even friends. It’s not that we fear for our lives, but we fear the embarrassment of not having perfect homes. We close our doors on others, because we think our job is to impress and entertain.

Nothing could be further from the truth. No one cares what your house looks like. They only care about knowing you. Homes are the natural place to get to know each other. If we are still afraid to open our homes, then meet each other at restaurants and shopping malls. Take one another fishing and hunting. Do whatever we can to welcome other people into your lives, just like you would your own family.

10--11 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides,

so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

4.As a family, we use our gifts for the benefit of all.

Have you ever seen one of those composite picture, where an image is made up of other images. Each photograph is complete in itself. Those photographs look nothing like the whole, but when you put them all together, they make an entirely different picture.

The church is like that. God never expects us to be like Jesus. He expects us to be like Jesus when we are put together.

Peter mentions some of these . Some people are good at speaking. Those are the people who are our preachers and teachers. Others are good at making friends. Those are our evangelists and pastor. Others are good at serving. Those are our deacons and doers of mercy. There is not a single one of us who cannot contribute in some way to the manifestation of Jesus.

When you put it all together, the church forms a single picture of God’s grace through Jesus. We do not see it alone. We are imperfect, foolish, selfish, and unreasonable. But put us together, each one encouraged to do what we do best, and together we form an incredible whole. We form the body of Christ,

12-19 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God ; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

5.As a family, we suffer together.

Today, there are more people living on this earth than have existed in all the years past.—more than six billion souls. There is instantaneous communication throughout the world. Everyone of us is attached by at least three transportation and communication to whe whole world—radio, television, roads and transportation, cell phones, internet, email, social networking, and others that are being invented all the time. Even so, all this connections has not made us united. Quite the opposite. We have never been more lonely.

We can go for days, months, even years in lonely isolation, with the illusion of connection by our electronic devices. When we suffer, we discover there is no substitute for flesh and blood. We need the touch of skin on skin, a kind look from someone else, and soothing words spoken directly to us, and not to others. In times of trouble, we need a family.

It used to be said that the average American had three good friends. Today, the number has decreased to two good friends. Many, many people do not even have one. We live in loneliness.

We must not allow anyone in the family of God to suffer alone. It is vitally important that we visit one another, and hold each other’s hands, offering spiritual, emotional, and physical support.