This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on March 16th 2025 by Navaz. For the audio & video please click here. For the worship please click here.Last week, we examined God's heart toward His creation made in His image. His heart always wanted to have an intimate relationship with us. But we saw how sin corrupted God’s perfect creation. Yet God made a covenant with Abraham's family and then with the nation of Israel, who was supposed to be a model to the rest of the world, but the rebellion was so deeply rooted in their hearts.
And then, in the fullness of time, as
prophesied in Gen 3, God sent His only son to die for us while we were steeped
in our sin. Jesus came to reconcile us to the Father and to make way for an
orphaned planet to find sonship through the Cross. We have been purchased by
the precious blood of Jesus and brought into His family. God has expectations
for each of us. We need to live to please the Lord. The Bible asks us to “find
out what pleases Him”. It is not just function but relationship. In God’s
family, the master and worker are brothers. The Cross brings down every barrier
and diving wall.
We then looked at God’s family. What are some of our features and characteristics? God is our father, Jesus is the head of the family, He is our brother, we are His household, and we are a caring community that seeks to live in harmony and unity.
We ended by asking where you are in the family
circle of life: an infant, child, young adult, reproducing parent, or
grandparent.
Jesus saved us to reconcile us to the
Father. We have been transferred from being orphans into a family, from
one kingdom to another. Our salvation has a plan and purpose: to bring
those who are not yet saved into the family.
So, after salvation, it is not a time to
sit around and sing lovely songs. We are called to co-labour, co-create, and
collaborate with Jesus. We have a job to do within the family and then get
involved in the family business or mission to seek the lost.
The last time, Colin took us through how
we live together as a family: Family intimacy, fellowship, encouraging one
another, carrying each other’s burdens, praying for one another, growing
spiritually together and serving one another.
This is by no means an exhaustive list.
Each member of the family of God has a role
to play. There are no spare tyres or parts
WE LIVE IN UNITY AND PEACE
- Ephesians 4:3 – “Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace.”
- Romans 12:18 – “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably
with all.”
While we celebrate our differences,
it also gives us opportunities to rub each other the wrong way. The planners
can get frustrated with spontaneity; the extroverts might find the introverts
boring. We all must learn to accommodate our differences with grace,
understanding, and respect.
However, we need to understand that the
Cross has saved us, but sanctification is a lifelong process. We live in
the now and not yet. So, we will face imperfections in our lives and
those around us. This will give us opportunities to practice unity,
forgiveness, and forbearance. etc
For this unity to work, we must work on a
few things, such as our character and our relationships.
Two things that Jesus highlighted a few
hours before His death are – our love for one another (by this shall all
men know that you are my disciples). And our unity (that they may be one
even as the Father and I are one).
WE FORGIVE ONE ANOTHER
This love and unity are vital if we are to
learn how to handle our differences well and forgive well. People will hurt
you, and you must learn to fight off offence (real and imagined). At least 20
passages of scripture address our need to forgive each other.
Ephesians 4:32 -
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ
forgave you.
Mark 11:25 -
And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone,
so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
Colossians
3:13 - Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint
against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you
also must forgive.
Matthew 6:12 -
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
WE CELEBRATE EACH OTHER AND ARE THERE FOR EACH
OTHER’S SUCCESS.
Though we carry the same DNA as Christ, we
are all uniquely shaped. Each one of us has been fearfully and wonderfully
made. We have different gifts, talents, temperaments and personalities. We must
honour and celebrate our differences and not try to clone each other.
How do we do this? We encourage one
another,
James 4: 2—3 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but cannot
get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have it because you do
not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive it because you
ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
1Cor 3:3 You
are still worldly. Since you are jealous and quarrelling, are you not worldly?
Are you not acting like mere humans?
WE SHARE AND GIVE GENEROUSLY
- Galatians 5:13 – “Through love serve
one another.”
- 1 Peter 4:10 – “As each has
received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's
varied grace.”
- Acts 2:44-45 – “And all who believed were together and had all things in
common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and
distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.”
- 2 Corinthians 9:7 – “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
At Word
of Grace, we circulate everything we can – from furniture to appliances and
clothes. There is no shame in this. This is what a family does. So, baby toys,
beds, clothes, etc., all make church rounds. In this way, we help the young
parents save money.
When
someone gets married or is renting a home, we look for what we can bless them
with to help with expenses. Whenever we buy new furniture, we give away what we
no longer use. We could have sold it, but we chose to give it away.
When
there has been a crisis of a major illness, we have often offered to help that
family with hospital expenses.
People
in the world do not understand this behaviour and so thing that we must have an
agenda.
WE LEAVE A
LEGACY
Every good parent plans an inheritance
for their children. We leave money and possessions behind for them. And
that is required and good. But the best legacy you can give them is a spiritual
one.
In the church, our job as brothers and
sisters, mothers and fathers, and grandparents is to multiply ourselves in
someone else. Whose life are you investing in? That legacy will live one for
generations to come. The Biblical word for that is discipling.
Titus 2: 3-5 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way
they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to
teach what is good. 4 Then
they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be
busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands so that
no one will malign the word of God.
V6.Similarly, young men should be
encouraged to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing
what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned,
so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to
say about us.
2 Tim 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.
FAMILY ON A MISSION
God always wanted a family that would work
with Him. That is why He created Adam and Eve—to co-work. He made this
magnificent creation and then put us in charge. And we know how that went. But
then the power and authority that we lost were redeemed and restored to us on
the Cross. The Gen command is echoed in Matt 28:18–20—Go make disciples
of all nations. It’s a command to multiply and to steward (make disciples and
teach them to obey).
Jesus is waiting for His gospel to reach
the ends of the Earth, and then the end will come.
We have a job to do. We are the only organisation that exists for the benefit
of its non-members. Everything we do and learn here is to prepare us for our
real vocation, which is outside these four walls—to be salt that flavours
society, prevents corruption, and preserves what is good.
We are to be a light to the nations, showing the way and shedding light on injustices.
Isiah 61 mandate is upon us.
One day, all imperfections will cease. That is the day when we will meet Jesus face to face, and there
will be a final restoration of all things. There will be a celebration of the
marriage feast of the Lamb where families from every nation, tribe and tongue
will gather before the throne of God and will be invited to this great banquet.
This is what we live for. So, let us be encouraged with these words. Let us
hold on unswervingly to the faith we profess, for He who promised is faithful.
Everything will be made new; no more sin, sickness, imperfections, or sorrow.
They will all flee away.
We will continue to live in the now until
then. We have a small taste here on earth. Now, we see dimly as in a mirror,
but one day, we shall see clearly.
Let us continue to love and serve our Lord
and His body, His family. Let us do the good works that He has prepared for us
because one day, we will have to give an account of how we have lived. Let our
lives give Him glory. Amen.
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