FORMED FOR GOD’S FAMILY

The Purpose Driven Life - Part 3

May 16, 2004

Last week, we looked at God’s first purpose for our lives, which is to get to know Him and to love Him.  The Bible calls that worship. Today, we're going to look at the second purpose. Notice this verse at the top of your outline, Hebrews 2:10: "God is the one who made all things, and all things are for His glory. He wanted to have many children share His glory." God wanted a family.  That's why we're here.  Look at the next verse.  “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ."   The entire Bible, this entire book, is the story of God building a family. 

 

All believers are part of God’s family.  I Peter 2:17 says, "Love your spiritual family." That's what God wants you to do.  You see, your physical family is going to eventually end here on earth.  But your spiritual family is going to go on forever in heaven.  It will last forever and ever. 

So God says, “I want you to practice now learning to love other believers.” 

So would you write this down, “My second purpose in life is Fellowship.”  That's the word that the Bible uses to describe loving each other.

 

Now, this word, like the word we looked at last week, Worship, is often misunderstood. I mean, if I were to go out and ask people on the street, “What do you think of when I say the word ‘fellowship’?”, some would say a casual conversation, some would say eating out together, some might say going to church.

Someone might say to another, “Let’s grab a pizza and call a few friends and watch the game together.  It will be a good time of fellowship.”

 

Now, is that fellowship?  No!  They‘re just hanging out with each other.  That's not true fellowship.  Write this down, “Fellowship is loving God's family.”  The Bible says this in I John 4:21.  Read it with me. "The person who loves God must also love other believers."  We have to love other believers. 

Paul wrote, "I’m writing so that you'll know how to live in the family of God.  That family is the church."  Now, would you circle the word "family” and circle the word "church," and kind of draw a line together -- because the church is a family. 

It is not a building; it is not an institution; it is not an organization; it is not a club.  Church is not a place you go to.  Church is a family you belong to.  Big difference.  It's more than a building, more than a service.  It is family that we are to belong to. 

And in God's family there are four levels of fellowship. 

The first level is "Choosing to belong," making the choice to belong.  We generally call it “membership.” That means you find a church family and you choose to get connected to it.  Look at what the Bible has to say in Ephesians 2:19.  "You are members of God's very own family and you belong in God's household with every other Christian."  The Christian life is not just a matter of believing.  It is also matter of belonging, and you and I must choose to belong. 

When you were born, you automatically became a part of the human race. But you had to choose to belong to the family of God, the church.  You weren’t born a Christian, you weren’t born Methodist.  At some point, you made a choice.

 

This next week in the Purpose Driven Life book, we're going to be reading together six reasons why you need to be a part of a church family.  The Bible tells us this in Romans 12, verse 5, “In Christ we who are many form one Body, and each member belongs to all the others."  Just like your hand is a member of your body, that's how tightly we're tied to each other.

 

So, the first level is choosing to belong.  The Second level of Fellowship is a little bit deeper.  I call this “the friendship level.”  It’s Learning to share.  The Bible says this in Acts 2:44. "All the believers met together constantly and shared everything with each other."  Circle "met together," and circle "shared." 

Notice two things: one, you can't develop friendships without meeting together; and two, you can't develop friendships without sharing. Now, the more frequently you meet together, the closer you're going to get.  You have to get together. And you can't develop friendships without sharing. It says, “they shared everything." 

 

So what are we supposed to share? The Bible says we're to share our experiences. Experiences. The Bible says people learn from one other “just as iron sharpens iron."  Have you ever heard of that phrase "it is wise to learn from the experiences of other people,” because you don't have time to make all the mistakes yourself? You see, if everything you learn in life is by trial and error, you're going to go through a lot of problems unnecessarily and about the time you figure it all out, you're dead.  You don't have enough time to learn everything on your own.

So God says you can learn a lot quicker if you learn from the experiences of others. Think of all the wealth of knowledge sitting here right now in this service, and how much we could learn from each other if we just spend time together.

 

Second, the Bible says we're to share our homes. The Bible says in I Peter 4:9, "open up your homes to each other."  It doesn't say if they are really nice ones, or only if you cleaned really well today. It just says open them up. Why are we to share our homes? Because you cannot fellowship in a crowd. You can only fellowship in a small group. Or one on one.

It is impossible to fellowship with this many people. We can worship together. We can learn together. But no fellowship will take place in this service. Fellowship only takes place in the small group. That's why the Bible says open up your homes to each other. That's where you really get to know people.

 

Did you know in the first 300 years of Christianity, there were no church buildings? All church meetings were held in homes. All of them.  And that, by the way, was the fastest period of growth for the church. One of the reasons we keep saying, “Go get in a small group” is because that's a Biblical principle and a growth principle.

How many of you are in a 40 Days of Purpose group? Can I see your hands? Look at that. That’s great. We have 57 people meeting in small groups this week. That's the church in action. One group I’d like to honor today is the hosts that opened up their homes for all of us. If you're a host, would you stand up and let us just appreciate you right now, because you're opening your home? Thank you, guys.

 

Now, I knew that when we started to do this thing, that a lot of you would have some fears. We made a little video that kind of captures our fear of small group leaders. Watch this. RON VIDEO PRESENTATION

 

Now, not only do we share our experiences in our homes, the Bible says we're to share our problems. The Bible says, “Share each other's troubles and problems.” Did you know that when you share a joy, it is doubled; and when you share a problem, it is cut in half?  The Bible says, “Weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.”  Sometimes in a small group you die of laughter and sometimes you're all shedding a tear.  Either way, you’re loving one another.

 

That's why the Bible says this in Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together. Instead, let us encourage one another.”  The primary purpose of a group is to encourage each other. And it says, “Don't give up the habit."  I hope you'll never give up this habit some of you are starting for the first time this 40 days, because you're always going to need encouragement.

 

The third level is Partnership. Partnership is doing my part, realizing that I’ve got a contribution to make; that the family of God needs you. Listen, God did not bring you to St. Paul’s to sit and soak in some spiritual hot tub.  He brought you here to serve.  He wants to make a difference through your life. In every family there are family responsibilities. This is God's family.  And every one of us has a part.

 

Let’s read this verse from 1 Corinthians. "We are partners working together for God."  Circle the word "partners."  We're partners working together for God. 

Did you ever want to be part of a great team?  Some of you guys maybe had a dream of being a part of a super bowl team or one that won the World Series. You're part of the greatest team there ever was in the church. What we do is going to last forever. We get to be part of God's plan for the universe.

 

But in order to be a part, you've got to find your niche. The Bible tells us we all have a niche. Look what Ephesians 4:16 says. “The whole body is fitted together perfectly.” "…As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole Body is healthy and growing and full of love."  We are a part of God's body. You have a part to play in the Body of Christ. And when we cooperate, we get more done together than we could ever get done by ourselves.

 

Now, the deepest level of fellowship in the family of God is what I call "Kinship."  Now, kinship is an old term.  We don't use it much anymore.  In fact, when I say “kinship” or “kinfolk,” some of you think of this: [Beverly Hillbillies]

 

But that's not what we're talking about. Kinship literally means your closest relationships. It means your closest family. When somebody has an accident, they say, “Notify the next-of-kin”. They mean you find the person they care about most, the person who is closest to them. And that's the kind of attitude we should have. 

 

That kinship, the deepest level, is loving believers like family; treating and loving believers like they’re family. You're completely committed to them. The Bible says in Acts 2:42. “They were like family to each other."  Romans 12:10 in the Bible says, "Be devoted to each other like a loving family." 

That is family relationship. That is kinship.  That is saying I’m at the level of being willing to sacrifice for you.

Many of you know John 3:16, "God so loved the world," but you don't know First John 3:16. That one is just as important as John 3:16. It says this there on your outline, "We know what real love is because Christ gave up His life for us. And we ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters."  It's the kind of love Jesus Christ had for you.  He died for you.

 

As a pastor, I have been at the bedside of many people as they were dying.  In all of those situations, I have never once had anybody say, “Bring me my diplomas. I want them close to me.” Nobody says, “Bring me my trophies.” Nobody says, "Bring me the gold watch I got at retirement."  Nobody says, "Bring me my palm pilot." 

It is in those final moments they talk about what matters most, and they say, “Bring me my family and friends.”

 

Loving God, that's called “Worship,” and loving each other, that's called “Fellowship.”  In John 13, Jesus said, “Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” 

You see, what we want St. Paul’s Church to be known for is not our size, not our sermons, not our decorations, not our antique show, not our building, but our love. We want people to say, “That's the place where they love each other,” because that's what Christianity is all about, loving God and loving each other. 

People are not looking for religion, they are looking for a family.  They are not looking for doctrine; they are looking for love.

 

Listen to this, right from the Bible. 1 John 3:10, "Anyone who does not love other Christians does not belong to God."  That's the Bible.  1 John 4:20, "Those who do not love their brothers and sisters, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have never seen." 

1 John 3:14, "But if we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to eternal life."   

 

Everybody is created by God, but not everybody is a child of God.  You have to choose to be a part of God's family.  God gave us one condition, the last verse on your outline. "You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”  You can do that today.