As Christians, we often hear or use the
phrase brother and sister in Christ.
When I first attended the Memphis School
of Preaching,
it was a rule that we call each other
brother or sister so and so.
Not literally so and so, but insert their
last name.
So it was always Brother Mosier,
Brother Rutherford, Brother Clark,
Sister Tish.
Sister Evergarden, things like that.
We use the word brother and sister so
often among Christians.
But when we call someone by that name,
when we call them a brother or a sister in
Christ,
we are saying something about what God has
done
to them in their lives. We are also
acknowledging that we belong
to the same family.
That relationship should make a difference
in everyday life.
It should affect what happens when we
notice someone is struggling,
when someone new comes to us, and when two
Christians specifically have
a disagreement. The question is what is
whether our treatment of
one another matches the term by which we
are using.
Turn your Bibles over to Ephesians chapter
three,
specifically verses fourteen through
fifteen.
Listen to the way Paul begins his prayer
in Ephesians chapter three.
He’s explaining something very important.
He says, For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named.
Paul had been explaining how people who
were once separated have been brought
together into the very same family through
Christ.
In the previous chapter in Ephesians
chapter 2 and verse 19,
he writes the following words.
Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers
and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints and of
the household of God.
Now I want you to think for just a moment
about the change that happens
in that verse. People who have been
strangers up until now now share
the very household of God through Christ.
They have a place in his family,
is what Paul is saying. Their relationship
with God,
therefore, gives them a relationship to
each other.
Now, our experiences with earthly families
are going to differ.
For many of us, when we think of our
earthly families,
we have joy in those memories.
Unfortunately, for some, memories of those
families,
even immediately, could be pain.
Scripture directs us to the character of
God and teaches us that what life
in his household ought to be. We will need
patience with one another as we grow,
because God has made us children,
specifically his children, and we must
learn to treat each other as one family.
And so because of this, we’re going to
look at five different points this
evening,
and I’m going to go through a little
faster than normal,
because typically a sermon consists of
three,
not five. So I’m going to try to go
through them.
Of what all we share as members of
Christ’s family.
First and foremost, turn your Bibles over
to Second Corinthians eighteen.
And we’re going to look at the fact that
we all have the same Father.
The one speaking here is the Lord God
Almighty,
and just as a reminder, he has all
authority and all power throughout
the gospel that’s written. And he says in
chapter six and verse eighteen,
and I will be a father unto you.
And you sh ye shall be my sons and
daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty.
Now he’s speaking to people in very
personal terms.
He’s using terms like father, sons,
daughters. And we should pause long enough
when reading this scripture
to appreciate the promise that’s been
given to us.
We were received into a relationship in
which we belong to him.
The surrounding verses there, if you have
time.
Also help us understand what a
relationship requires.
Paul is calling the Corinthians to
separate themselves from idolatry
and uncleanness. But God’s promise to
receive them goes with his call
for them to live as his people.
His children under honor him by the way
they live.
That includes the way we treat his other
children,
the other membly members of our family.
If God is my father, and God is your
father,
then we have a reason to care about one
another before we discover.
Whether we have something else in common
or not.
Doesn’t matter if we both like sports.
Doesn’t matter if we’re both gearheads or
tech heads.
Doesn’t matter who won at the Super Bowl.
Whether we have something in common with
one another or not,
we need to treat each other the same way
as our relationship in Christ.
Because that relationship in Christ gives
us a place in each other’s lives.
It’s natural to spend time
With people whose company comes very
easily to us.
People who we have lots in common with one
another.
And we ought to enjoy those friendships.
But consider the member who comes in the
building,
takes a seat, and leaves scarcely with
anyone speaking to him.
He belongs to the same father as the same
person who is surrounded by friends.
His presence matters just as much.
And his burdens matter. We’re told in
another verse.
Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep
with them that weep.
We’re told to be one with all of our
family in Christ in both the good and the
bad.
Our common father also gives us a reason
to be careful
of things during disagreements.
A brother may need correction,
and we may need correction ourselves.
We should approach that work with a desire
to help one another,
first and foremost, please the God in whom
we serve,
and please the God in whose family we
become a part of.
Before we speak carelessly about a fellow
Christian,
we ought to remember whose child we are
discussing.
They are still a child of God.
We have the same father, and we both
answer to him.
But also we have the same mother.
Turn over to Galatians chapter four and
verse twenty-six.
Now before we read the passage,
there’s an expression we need to
understand in the setting of this verse.
Paul has been discussing Abraham’s two
sons and their mothers.
And Sarah. He uses them to illustrate two
covenants,
Hagar’s associated with Mount Sinai and
bondage,
while the free woman belongs to the
picture of promise and freedom.
It says in Galatians 4 and verse 26 But
Jerusalem,
which is above, is free, which is mother
of us all.
Paul is contrasting the present Jerusalem
with the Jerusalem above.
Not one that’s horizontal to us that we
can walk into,
but one that is vertical of us,
which he calls our mother.
Now he’s speaking figuratively about our
spiritual belonging.
He’s not talking in the physical sense.
But the next part of his explanation makes
the point very easy to understand.
Move forward to verse 28. Now we,
brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. Those that
are a part of the body of Christ,
those that have put on Christ,
share in God’s promise for them.
And it’s important to note that earthly
ancestry gives no Christian
a superior standing among other of God’s
children.
We’re all on the same level, we’re all
brothers and sisters.
That goes vertically.
One person may have been taught the
scriptures from childhood.
Others don’t get into the scriptures and
become a Christian until way later in
life.
We should be very thankful for the
blessing of a faithful upbringing
if we’ve been brought up in the church
since a young age.
But we need to be very welcoming of the
person who’s only recently obeyed
the gospel. So many times, I’ve and I’ve
seen it in other congregations
of the Lord’s church. Someone who was
raised in the church.
Treat someone who’s a newcomer completely
different than they should.
And that’s wrong of us as Christians.
A congregation can have families whose
connections go back many years.
And these relationships, again,
can be a wonderful blessing to the church.
But we should consider how a new Christian
experiences life among us.
Can that person find a place at our table
and in our conversations?
One of the rules that I had to learn very
quickly when I started at BI,
the Business Networking International.
that I go to with Aaron is one of the
rules that we have set is no closed
circles
of conversation. We don’t have our backs
turned outward.
We always leave part of the circle open so
that other people can come
in at any point in time. At no point in
time should the Christian have
a closed circle of conversation in this
church building or out
of the church building for that member.
We should always be welcoming to have
other people into the congregation.
Can that person find a place at our table?
Does he have someone to ask when he
doesn’t understand someone?
Does she know that her presence is wanted
in the room?
And a lot of that goes back to even
something as simple
as our bodies and how they’re standing.
Being new should never mean being treated
as less of part of the family.
Paul caused the calls the Galatians
brethren and children of promise.
This is how we should learn to see each
other,
both new and old. We share a belonging
that reaches beyond family into that which
we were physically born. It goes into the
spiritual family.
But now I want you to think about it as
well,
and we don’t typically have this problem
at this congregation here,
but we all eat at the same table.
Now we typically do that here in the
physical sense every Sunday,
and I’m so glad that we invite visitors
and everyone else to come and
sit down on us. Families depend upon
nourishment.
They depend upon food. My little one
couldn’t go more than three hours without
a snack, or he would lose it. But when we
talk about spiritual needs,
God provides for the spiritual needs of
his people.
Look at Isaiah chapter sixty six and verse
eleven.
Isaiah gives us a picture of that
provision.
He says in Isaiah 66 11, that ye may suck
and be satisfied with the breasts
of her consolations, that ye may milk out
and be delighted in the abundance
of her glory. Now, Isaiah pictures
Jerusalem here as a mother nursing her
children.
In the surrounding passage, God promises
comfort to his people.
The picture is of children receiving the
care and nourishment that they need.
It reminds us that our dependence is upon
the provision of
That our God makes from day to day.
Peter uses the imagery of a hungry child
in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse
2 to teach us Christians about the need
for the Word.
He says in 1 Peter 2 2, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the Word,
that they may grow thereby. As I told you
before,
my son Laios does not have to be persuaded
to eat his food.
So why is it that when we as adults have
to be persuaded when spiritual fruit food
is concerned? I want you to take into
account just a thought.
The human body, scientifically speaking,
can go one to two months without food.
I was looking into ~ weight loss programs
recently,
and I’m about to start a seventy two hour
fast,
but I wanted to make sure that that was
safe.
And I came across this and said,
Well, some people have gone as far as two
months,
to which my response was no, thank you.
I’m not going two months. It’s hard enough
to go the three days to try
to lose a little weight.
That’s provided you still have access to
water.
The body, without water, can only live for
around three days and then it dies.
We have a very solid dependence on water.
But spiritual matters are so far more
important than the amount of water
and food our body eats. So why?
Why do we make ourselves go so long
without eating at God’s table?
Why do we go without the nourishment that
our souls need?
To spend an eternity with them.
We are starving ourselves if we do not
spend time in God’s Word.
Peter tells us to bring that kind of
desire to the Word of God.
We need to know what God has provided if
we are ever going to grow and survive
in a spiritual manner. And this need
belongs to every single one of us.
Yes, the preacher still needs to receive
the very word he teaches.
And that’s something I have to remind
myself as a preacher on a daily basis.
When I’m studying and I’m getting these
ready for presentation for you to teach
you,
I have to apply these lessons to my very
own life,
first and foremost. The Christian who
studied for many years still needs
to examine his life in the light of God’s
word.
Let me be very clear. There is not a
single person on this planet,
no matter how intelligent, no matter how
wise they may be,
will ever reach a point.
Where they do not need to learn more of
God’s word.
It’s not possible.
Notice too that what Peter tells his
readers to put away immediately before
speaking
in this verse. He names several things:
malice, put away deceit, put away
hypocrisy,
envying, and evil speaking. Those things
are things that
can damage our relationships within our
Christian family.
As the Word of Christ helps us to grow,
it should become evident in the way that
we treat people around us.
A spiritually mature Christian is going to
love.
those that he’s around. A greater
knowledge of Scripture ought to
be accompanied by a greater willingness to
obey it.
And there’s a direct connection between a
shared table and our fellowship
in Christ that we observe every single
week.
Look at first Corinthians chapter ten,
verses sixteen through seventeen.
We remember as the Lord’s sacrifice
together as people who depend
on that sacrifice for our eternal
well-being.
The cup of blessing which we bless,
is it not the communion of the blood of
Christ?
That bread which we break, is it not the
communion of the body of Christ?
For we being many are one bread and one
body.
For we are all partakers of that one.
Bread. As a Christian, if I’ve been
nursing resentment towards a brother,
I should take that seriously. If I have
wronged someone,
I should be willing to seek forgiveness.
The fellowship we acknowledge together
calls for care in the way we live
together.
I was taught somewhere else in the Bible
that if you have aught against your
brother, you go to them. You take care of
that problem before making your alms
and sacrifices to God.
But I want you to also think that we wear
the same garments.
Not only do we have the same mother,
the same father, eat at the same table,
but we wear the same thing, Galatians
three,
twenty six through twenty eight.
Paul is going to bring several thoughts
together in this passage.
He speaks of being children of God by
faith,
of being baptized into Christ and the
unity shared by those who belong to him.
Let’s look and see what he wrote.
For ye are all the children of God by
faith in Jesus Christ,
the faith. Only one Lord,
one faith, one baptism. This is not
teaching faith only.
Let’s be very clear about that.
For as many of you have been, there it is,
baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
It’s something you wear. There is neither
Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female,
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
His expression to put on Christ gives us
the picture of clothing ourselves with
Christ.
As much as we want to admit it or not,
in the world that we live in right now,
clothing can very much influence how we
are treated by the outside communities.
A person in expensive clothes may receive
attention,
while someone dressed very simply,
very poorly, does not. Typically those
that are dressed in rags are looked down
upon
by the world standards. People can make
judgments about importance before
a conversation has ever begun.
I don’t know about you, but it happened in
my high school all the time.
If you weren’t wearing the football
jersey,
you clearly weren’t part of the jock crew.
They would put you in these labels,
these little boxes.
In this passage, Paul directs our
attention to the identity we share in
Christ.
And the differences he names were
significant in the lives of his readers,
the people he was directly writing to
there at the Corinthian church.
Yet none of them established a superior
claim to the blessings
of belonging to Christ. Every person in
him stood in need of his grace,
and they still do today. Every person in
Christ belongs to Christ.
And thus that should treat that should
shape the way a congregation treats
its members. There’s also a sense of
personal responsibility,
however, in this image. If we have to put
on Christ,
then our behavior should reflect to whom I
belong,
to what I am wearing. This is called
dressing for the job.
Everyone here would have something to say
if I walked up here in board shorts
and a Hawaiian shirt to teach the evening
lesson.
You dress the job. When we were at MSLP,
we had to have the tie, the jacket,
thankfully, after a while, was optional.
But you dress for the job. If you’re gonna
change the oil in the car,
you’re not gonna wear a three piece suit.
You’re not gonna wear your best shirt,
which I made the mistake of lying under my
truck the other day in one
of my favorite shirts and realized what I
was doing.
So now I have to rebuy said shirt because
I ruined it with a little bit of oil.
You gotta dress for what you’re doing.
His patience, his grace, his love towards
us should influence the way
we respond to other people. His humility
should influence how we’re willing
to admit how sometimes we’re wrong.
We always need to base all of our
knowledge upon his infinite knowledge.
We wear the same garments because we have
put on the same Lord in Christ,
and that shared identity gives us every
reason to treat one another with dignity
and love.
I also want you to consider that we work
in the same field.
We’re not all preachers, but we work in
the same field.
Matthew 13 and verse 38, Jesus is
explaining the parable of the wheat and
the tares.
He says in Matthew 13 and verse 38 The
field is the world.
The good seed are the children of the
kingdom,
but the tares are the children of the
wicked one.
Now he’s told us what everything is.
His people live in a world where evil is
so present,
awaiting the judgment he describes at the
close of the parable.
As his people live in that world,
they also have work to do.
What do you do with seed? If you’re
responsible,
you plant it. You water it. Paul gives us
a dire a direct relating farming
illustration doing this. In First
Corinthians three,
six through nine. He says, I’ve planted,
Apollos watered, and God gave the
increase.
So neither is he that planteth anything,
neither is he that watereth, but God that
giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth, and he that watereth
are one.
Hm. They’re doing different jobs,
but they’re working in the same field.
And every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor.
For we are fellow laborers together with
God.
Ye are God’s husbandry, planters,
farmers. Ye are God’s building,
the church.
This principle should guide the way we
work together.
Consider how someone may come to a Bible
study.
A Christian takes time to build the
friendship,
build the relationship. Eventually that
friendship creates an opportunity
for the study. Another Christian may help
teach,
and after the person obeys the gospel,
other people should help encourage that
person to grow further in
the knowledge of God. We all have a part
to play.
We can also learn something from the
ordinary responsibilities of a household,
not just farmers.
Lots of families organize their family
chores on something called a chore board.
Everybody has something to do.
Family life requires which we’re not quite
to that point with him yet,
he can’t read. But family life requires
one to notice what needs to be done
and how to contribute. Typically it’s my
job as the husband to take out the
garbage.
Typically me and Megan both share doing
the dishes.
If I cook, she does the dishes.
If she cooks, I do the dishes.
We don’t have a board yet, but that’s
coming.
The same willingness is needed among
Christians.
A congregation’s works depends on the
members who are prepared to serve.
We all have different ability.
Our circumstances differ from person to
person,
and sometimes it can change over time.
Some can do things today that others
cannot today.
Look, I’m good at some things,
as a friend of mine once said,
and you’re good at some things.
We all have different areas of expertise.
The question each of us should ask is what
we can faithfully contribute with
the opportunities God has given us.
There’s encouragement in knowing that we
do not labor alone,
that we serve the same Lord and God,
that we have a family backing us up
because we can strengthen one another
for the work that’s ahead of us.
Something that would be insurmountable by
ourselves is very,
very achievable and sometimes easy when
put together as a group.
Think of how the pyramids were made.
It wasn’t by one man.
And then I want you to think as well,
we dwell in the same house together
forever,
if we are part of God’s family.
David says it a real good way in Psalm
chapter twenty three and verse six.
David has described the Lord’s care
through the circumstances of his life.
The shepherd provides and guides,
and his present gives comfort even in the
valley of the shadow of death.
He says, Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Here David closes with confidence in God’s
enduring goodness and
the blessing of dwelling in his presence
at the end of his life.
But Jesus speaks directly to his disciples
about a home with the Father.
Let’s look at what he says in John chapter
14,
verses two through three.
And the comfort of this promise should be
very personal to all of us.
And I’ll explain why. In my father’s
house,
he says in John 14, 2 through 3,
are many mansions. If it were not so,
I would have told you, I go to prepare a
place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you unto
myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also.
First off,
We have the Son of God going and preparing
our room for us,
and he knows us more intimately than
anyone else on this planet,
probably ourselves. Definitely ourselves.
And in the first section of chat of verse
two,
he says, In my father’s house are many
mansions.
The Greek there does not mean multiple
mansions,
multiple houses. What it is accurately
describing is multiple rooms.
That’s one house,
one family under one roof.
God is not saying that we’re going to be
some extended family out there that
we can call up on the telephone line
because we’re in a mansion six doors down.
When we think on terms of earthly life
here,
one unit living under one household is
considered a family.
Now, if I had a brother over here that
also had a family,
yes, we’re all the same family,
but you would say they’re two distinct
families.
This is not the case in God’s case.
He’s saying we will be all one family
under one roof,
altogether brothers and sisters in Christ.
That’s why I say the comfort of that
promise is deeply personal.
A faithful Christian dies, and sometimes
congregations can feel the absence,
we miss people to whom we are connected
too deeply.
The person who sat beside us or encouraged
us at one point during a difficult time,
and those losses hurt because those
relationships matter.
Our hope in Christ should be something
that reaches beyond
the separations we experience now.
As we remain faithful to him, we can look
forward to the promise that those
separations will not be permanent.
We are a family with a future in Christ.
So we need to help one another remain
faithful toward the goal of reaching that
home
together. That’s the whole purpose of
Christ.
For the Son of Man came to seek and save
the lost.
Part of that is also to keep the family of
Christ in Christ.
Because if they leave the family,
they’re lost again, aren’t they?
Just like the fold of sheep, one that s
lids astray,
the shepherd has to go back and get.
When Paul prayed to the Father,
he spoke of the family that bears his
name.
We have considered what relationship means
in our lives.
We depend on the same Father, we share in
his promises,
we receive the nourishment he provides,
we put on Christ, and we have to do the
work together as we look forward
to the promise of living in the Father’s
house.
Now, where does this all culminate with?
Each of us needs to consider how we are
treating the family.
Perhaps there’s someone among us we
scarcely have taken time to know.
When’s the last time we invited each other
over to each other’s homes for dinner?
To really truly get to know them just
outside of this building.
We can begin changing that. Perhaps we’ve
allowed an offense to harden into some
sort of resentment. Could be something
small,
but now we avoid them. Whatever needs
attention,
we need to be taking a real step forward
to getting it right and changing it.
If we have aught against our brother,
we need to go to them. If you’re a
Christian who’s grown distant from the
Lord,
your brothers and sisters should want you
to help or help you.
Your brothers and sisters should want to
help you return back to Christ.
Turn from the sin that’s drawn you away,
seek God’s forgiveness, and encourage you
towards a new commitment towards Him.
There’s no better room to be in.
Our spiritual family here is going to
outlist
any physical ties on this earth that we
have.
Wearing Christ runs deeper than blood and
bone.
If you’ve never become a Christian,
the gospel tells you how to respond to the
Lord who died for you and rose again.
Paul writes in Romans 10, 9 through 10:
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth, confession,
is made unto salvation. And when those who
have heard the gospel
on Pentecost asked in response to this
what they should do,
Peter answered them in Acts chapter two
and verse thirty eight.
Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be
baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ,
for the remission of your sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost.
We’ve already read in Galatians that those
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
In faith they turn from sin. Confess your
belief in the Lord Jesus
and be baptized into him. God offers
offers forgiveness through his Son
and a place among his people. If we can
help you do that tonight in any way,
please let us know as we stand and as we
sing.
